THE GENERAL PLAN OR THEORY OF THE PLACE - Continued
Plant-forms.
Before one attains to great sensitiveness in the appreciation of
gardens, he learns to distinguish plants by their forms. This is
particularly true for trees and shrubs. Each species has its own
"expression," which is determined by the size that is natural to it,
mode of branching, form of top, twig characters, bark characters,
foliage characters, and to some extent its flower and fruit characters.
It is a useful practice for one to train his eye by learning the
difference in expression of the trees of different varieties of cherries
or pears or apples or other fruits, if he has access to a plantation of
them. The differences in cherries and pears are very marked (Figs.
34-36). He may also contrast and compare carefully the kinds of any
tree or shrub of which there are two or three species in the
neighborhood, learning to distinguish them without close examination; as
the sugar maple, red maple, soft maple, and Norway maple (if it is
planted); the white or American elm, the cork elm, the slippery elm, the
planted European elms; the aspen, large-toothed poplar, cottonwood, balm
of gilead, Carolina poplar, Lombardy poplar; the main species of oaks;
the hickories; and the like.
[Illustration: Fig. 35. Morello cherry.]
[Illustration: Fig. 36. May Duke cherry.]
It will not be long before the observer learns that many of the tree and
shrub characters are most marked in winter; and he will begin
unconsciously to add the winter to his year.
Various specific examples.
The foregoing remarks will mean more if the reader is shown some
concrete examples. I have chosen a few cases, not because they are the
best, or even because they are always good enough for models, but
because they lie in my way and illustrate what I desire to teach.
A front yard example.
We will first look at a very ordinary front yard. It contained no
plants, except a pear tree standing near the corner of the house. Four
years later sees the yard as shown in Fig. 37. An exochorda is the large
bush in the very foreground, and the porch foundation is screened and a
border is thereby given to the lawn. The length of this planting from
end to end is about fourteen feet, with a projection towards the front
on the left of ten feet. In the bay at the base of this projection the
planting is only two feet wide or deep, and from here it gradually
swings out to the steps, eight feet wide. The prominent large-leaved
plant near the steps is a bramble, Rubus odoratus, very common in the
neighborhood, and it is a choice plant for decorative planting, when it
is kept under control. The plants in this border in front of the porch
are all from the wild, and comprise a prickly ash, several plants of two
wild osiers or dogwoods, a spice bush, rose, wild sunflowers and asters
and golden-rods. The promontory at the left is a more ambitious but less
effective mass. It contains an exochorda, a reed, variegated elder,
sacaline, variegated dogwood, tansy, and a young tree of wild crab. At
the rear of the plantation, next the house, one sees the pear tree. The
best single part of the planting is the reed (Arundo Donax)
overtopping the exochorda. The photograph was taken early in summer,
before the reed had become conspicuous.
[Illustration: 37. The planting in a simple front yard.]
A ground plan of this planting is shown in Fig. 38. At A is the walk and
B the steps. An opening at D serves as a passage. The main planting, in
front of the porch, fourteen feet long, received twelve plants, some of
which have now spread into large clumps. At 1 is a large bush of osier,
Cornus Baileyi, one of the best red-stemmed bushes. At 2 is a mass of
Rubus odoratus; at 5 asters and golden-rods; at 3 a clump of wild
sunflowers. The projecting planting on the left comprises about ten
plants, of which 4 is exochorda, 6 is arundo or reed, at the back of
which is a large clump of sacaline, and 7 is a variegated-leaved elder.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Plan of the planting shown in Fig. 37.]
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Diagram of a back-yard planting. 50 x 90 feet.]
Another example.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. The beginning of a landscape garden.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41. The result in five years.]
A back yard is shown in Fig. 39. The owner wanted a tennis court, and
the yard is so small as not to allow of wide planting at the borders.
However, something could be done. On the left is a weedland border,
which formed the basis of the discussion of wild plants on page 35. In
the first place, a good lawn was made. In the second place, no walks or
drives were laid in the area. The drive for grocers' wagons and coal is
seen in the rear, ninety feet from the house. From I to J is the
weedland, separating the area from the neighbor's premises. Near I is a
clump of roses. At K is a large bunch of golden-rods. H marks a clump of
yucca. G is a cabin, covered with vines on the front. From G to F is an
irregular border, about six feet wide, containing barberries,
forsythias, wild elder, and other bushes. D E is a screen of Russian
mulberry, setting off the clothes yard from the front lawn. Near the
back porch, at the end of the screen, is an arbor covered with wild
grapes, making a play-house for the children. A clump of lilacs stands
at A. At B is a vine-covered screen, serving as a hammock support. The
lawn made and the planting done, it was next necessary to lay the walks.
These are wholly informal affairs, made by sinking a plank ten inches
wide into the ground to a level with the sod. The border plantings of
this yard are too straight and regular for the most artistic results,
but such was necessary in order not to encroach upon the central space.
Yet the reader will no doubt agree that this yard is much better than it
could be made by any system of scattered and spotted planting. Let him
imagine how a glowing carpet-bed would look set down in the center of
this lawn!
A third example.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. A meaningless back-yard planting, and an
unnecessary drive.]
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Suggestions for improving Fig. 42.]
The making of a landscape picture is well illustrated in Figs. 40, 41.
The former shows a small clay field (seventy-five feet wide, and three
hundred feet deep), with a barn at the rear. In front of the barn is a
screen of willows. The observer is looking from the dwelling-house. The
area has been plowed and seeded for a lawn. The operator has then marked
out a devious line upon either border with a hoe handle, and all the
space between these borders has been gone over with a garden roller to
mark the area of the desired greensward.
The borders are now planted with a variety of small trees, bushes, and
herbs. Five years later the view shown in Fig. 41 was taken.
A small back yard.
A back yard is shown in Fig. 42. It is approximately sixty feet square.
At present it contains a drive, which is unnecessary, expensive to keep
in repair, and destructive of any attempt to make a picture of the area.
The place could be improved by planting it somewhat after the manner
of Fig. 43.
[Illustration: V. A subtropical bed. Center of cannas, with border of
Pennisetum longistylum (a grass) started in late February or
early March.]
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