28 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
THE BEST SHRUBS FOR ALL PLACES 
Their True Value in the Landscape Scheme of Various Grounds—Desirable Sorts and Best Arrangements 
for Boundaries, Masses and Single Specimen Effects 
GRACE TABOR 
T HE ideal conception of 
domestic grounds, un¬ 
less they be very small, in¬ 
deed, and in a thickly popu¬ 
lated section, regards them 
as space upon which growth 
both large and small has 
been pushed back in all direc¬ 
tions, more or less irregu¬ 
larly, to provide opportunity 
for the buildings needed. In 
other words, they represent 
a glade cleared in the midst 
of forest growth, and both 
trees and shrubs should be 
planted along such general 
lines as are thus suggested. 
This is not, of course, to 
say that only outer boundary 
planting should be made, but 
boundary planting is cer¬ 
tainly the first that should be 
planned for and the first 
done. The lesser boundaries 
and special groups will be 
taken up in turn. 
Lawn Divisions 
Immediately it becomes 
apparent that certain kinds 
of shrubs will be better 
suited than others to the 
rougher growth, if I may call 
it that, of outer boundaries. 
Some shrubs naturally dupli¬ 
cate more readily than others 
the effect which this clearing 
up process produces, though 
any shrubs chosen with dis¬ 
crimination and planted at a 
suitable age will grow into 
pleasing natural thickets. 
The looser, grosser types are 
undoubtedly closest the ideal. 
Within the outer confines 
of the boundaries there come 
into existence, as soon as the 
buildings are built and walks laid out and constructed, a series 
of smaller units of ground space, each requiring its individual 
boundary treatment. Every division of lawn, for instance, is 
in itself a unit, a little glade within the greater clearing where 
the growth has again been pushed back. It is this conception 
of lawn division which permits the planting at the edges of 
driveways and walks, not the fact that driveways and walks 
require concealing. To conceal a walk, indeed, is not always 
desirable. 
It is to be understood that the foregoing applies to large 
or fairly large plots of ground only, and not at all to small 
suburban areas. These latter would be manifestly absurd if 
treated in imitation of the forest glade. Landscape planting 
does not belong to the suburban plot, and no greater mistake 
can be made than to introduce natural effects or attempts at 
them within such circumscribed areas. 
The Purpose and Use of Shrubs 
The purposes of shrubbery are numerous, of course—the 
utilitarian purposes, if you please, as distinguished from the 
esthetic—but whatever may be the reason for planting a group 
at any given spot, arrange it as if its only purpose were the 
esthetic one, as if it were being planned solely to carry out 
this conception of a shrubbery glade. Failure to do this with 
a group planted as a screen, for example, may make its utili¬ 
tarian purpose so apparent 
that it is a failure from the 
esthetic standpoint because 
it calls attention to the fact 
that it is hiding something 
instead of hiding it so suc¬ 
cessfully that no one sus¬ 
pects anything is behind it. 
Plant shrubs for screens, by 
all means, but never let the 
purpose of such a group be 
apparent. Select and ar¬ 
range it so that the beholder 
recognizes in it simply a 
pleasing bit of the general 
frame of the space before it. 
Their True Value 
The all-pervading fault in 
the use of shrubs, as we find 
them planted ordinarily, 
arises from a misconception 
of their true character. Rare¬ 
ly are they found in a state 
of nature growing as soli¬ 
tary specimens; nearly al¬ 
ways they are thickets. And 
it is in thickets that they will 
always be most effective, al¬ 
though it is not by any means 
necessary to duplicate Na¬ 
ture’s ways in order to pro¬ 
duce a rich effect. In a 
natural growth we find one 
variety usually matted to¬ 
gether in a tangle that can¬ 
not be reproduced save by 
Nature herself. 
Thickets of enough varie¬ 
ties to ensure bloom for the 
longest period possible; va¬ 
rieties selected and arranged 
according to their possibili¬ 
ties of harmony; and finally 
all specimens small enough 
when they are planted to 
give them a chance to grow 
together and actually to form a thicket—these are the ideals 
which govern successful shrubberies. Never think of shrubs 
as individuals; always think of them and visualize them in the 
mass, unless you are confined to a typical suburban plot. 
Planting on Small Places 
Suburban garden schemes are a thing quite of themselves. 
In design and execution they should follow lines distinct from 
those that guide larger plantings and schemes. In the very 
nature of things the suburban garden must be very formal in 
atmosphere and more severe in line, and attempt both of these 
without sacrificing one iota of charm and individuality. Gar¬ 
den making, wherever it may be carried on, is never the best 
that is possible, unless it is the most suitable. 
Shrubs suitably planted on the suburban plot may very well 
be planted as individuals—and I would say that this is about 
the only place where they may be so planted except for those 
instances always developing at the deep points of the mass on 
large plantings where one or two are dropped away from it as 
islands drop off a promontory that juts into the sea. These 
can hardly be called specimens, however, for they are actually 
a part of the mass, although detached a bit from it. 
Select for such specimens as are allowable for a plot 50' 
by 100', let us say, only those varieties that are distinguished 
for a pleasing habit of growth when planted by themselves. 
The lilac is associated ivith our earliest garden recollections, 
and ire cannot exclude it from our plantings of to-day. Like 
old friends , it “wears well” 
