,54 
House Garden 
DESIGNING AN INFORMAL PLANTING 
The Most Elusive Phase of the Gardening Art is That 
IVhich Deals veith the Future Appearance of Trees and Shrubs 
F uturism in planting is a very literal 
matter. For instance, any planting you 
make of trees, shrubs and herbaceous things, 
but particularly any large informal plant¬ 
ing, must be designed for the appearance it 
will achieve at some more or less distant 
date. A freshly planted grouping, in what¬ 
ever state of maturity its plants may be set 
out, rarely gives at once more than a faint 
anticipation of its ultimate effect. And to 
get the ultimate effect you want the per¬ 
formance of each plant must be known 
with reasonable certainty in advance. Dur¬ 
ing the development of such a planting as 
this there are plenty of chances, from one 
cause or another, for bitter failure; and there 
are all the rest of the chances in the world for 
fine success. That is what makes the de¬ 
signing of an informal planting a thing of 
strange difficulty, yet one of the greatest 
sports in gardening. 
The accompanying plan is an example of 
successful shrub planting whose principles 
have been demonstrated over a period of 
ten years. Bit by bit the unrelated units 
were built up and modeled until the various 
ELIZABETH LEONARD STRANG 
parts were blended in a harmonious whole. 
The results of this work are set down on the 
accompanying plan. Much detail is neces¬ 
sarily omitted but it is possible to outline 
the broad principles of procedure. 
To begin with, the general arrangement 
was excellent. The original site comprised 
two 6o' by 120 ' lots in a thickly populated 
city. The placing of the house at one side 
of the property left a splendid area for pleas¬ 
ure and gave to the service section only its 
necessary minimum. The entrance drive 
does not cut the place in two as severely as 
one might think from looking at the plan; it 
lies so far below the porch that the eye car¬ 
ries directly across it to the expanse of 
green beyond. 
The outline of the lawn has been kept 
simple. I used to think that shrubbery 
masses achieved the weirdest shapes on sea 
or land. Snake-like lines laid out on the 
lawn, making beds in which the naked 
shrubs were stuck, seemed to me distressing 
and crude. Accordingly with the execution 
of my first garden I determined to avoid 
these phenomena. Trials have shown me. 
however, that some kind of a bed line is 
necessary to expedite weeding and grass 
cutting. But at least, its curves may be un¬ 
dulating instead of tortuous, and the bare 
soil need not be obtrusive if properly man¬ 
aged. 
It is a mistake always to plant in clumps, 
each variety by itself. Observe some time 
any natural shrub border along a wall or 
woodland’s edge. There might be Viburnum 
cassinoides with coral berries turning to 
dark blue, fragrant white azalea, spicy pep¬ 
per-bush, high bush blueberry, red and 
black chokeberry, northern holly, and to 
break the monotony, a few birches with a 
mingling of seedling pines. For bloom, fra¬ 
grance, fruit, autumn color or mass effect it 
cannot be surpassed. All are blended. Na¬ 
ture did not feel constrained to plant in 
masses, each variety by itself. Occasionally 
she does this, as when we see a whole moun¬ 
tainside of laurel or pink spiraea, but she 
paints her nearby pictures with painstaking 
regard for detail. 
Such an effect has been deliberately 
{Continued on page 90) 
This plan of an imits- 
iially successful in¬ 
formal planting con¬ 
tains solutions for 
many similar prob¬ 
lems met with on 
countless other places. 
The various interest¬ 
ing details of its de¬ 
sign are fully described- 
on page go 
