![[Illustration: Fig. 48. The screening of the tennis-screen.]](images%5Cfig048.png)
![[Illustration: Fig. 49. At the bottom of the clothes-post.]](images%5Cfig049.png)
Strong and bare foundations should be relieved
by heavy planting. Fill
the corners with snow-drifts of foliage. Plant with a free hand, as if
you meant it (compare Figs. 46 and 47).
The corner by the steps is a
perennial source of bad temper. The lawn-mower will not touch it, and
the grass has to be cut with a butcher-knife. If nothing else comes to
hand, let a burdock grow in it (Fig. 1).
The tennis-screen may be relieved by a background (Fig. 48), and a clump of ribbon-grass or something else is out of the way against a post (Fig. 49).
Excellent mass effects may be secured by cutting well-established plants of sumac, ailanthus, basswood, and other strong-growing things, to the ground each year, for the purpose of securing the stout shoots. Figure 50 will give the hint.
![[Illustration: Fig. 50. Young shoots of ailanthus (and sunflowers for variety).]](images%5Cfig050.png)
But if one has no area which he can make into a
lawn and upon which he
can plant such verdurous masses, what then may he do? Even then
there
may be opportunity for a little neat and artistic planting. Even if one
lives in a rented house, he may bring in a bush or an herb from the
woods, and paint a picture with it. Plant it in the corner by the
steps,
in front of the porch, at the corner of the house,--almost anywhere
except in the center of the lawn. Make the ground rich, secure a strong
root, and plant it with care; then wait. The little clump will not only
have a beauty and interest of its own, but it may add immensely to the
furniture of the yard.
![[Illustration: Fig. 51. A backyard cabin.]](images%5Cfig051.png)
About these clumps one may plant bulbs of glowing tulips or dainty
snowdrops and lilies-of-the-valley; and these may be followed with
pansies and phlox and other simple folk. Very soon one finds himself
deeply interested in these random and detached pictures, and almost
before he is aware he finds that he has rounded off the corners of the
house, made snug little arbors of wild grapes and clematis, covered the
rear fence and the outhouse with actinidia and bitter-sweet, and has
thrown in dashes of color with hollyhocks, cannas, and lilies, and has
tied the foundations of the buildings to the greensward by low
strands
of vines or deft bits of planting. He soon comes to feel that flowers
are most expressive of the best emotions when they are daintily dropped
in here and there against a background of foliage, or else made a
side-piece in the place. There is no limit to the adaptations; Figs. 51
to 58 suggest some of the backyard possibilities.
Presently he rebels at the bold, harsh, and impudent designs of some of the gardeners, and grows into a resourceful love of plant forms and verdure. He may still like the weeping and cut-leaved and party-colored trees of the horticulturist, but he sees that their best effects are to be had when they are planted sparingly, as borders or promontories of the structural masses.
![[Illustration: Fig. 52. A garden path with hedgerows, trellis, and bench, in formal treatment.]](images%5Cfig052.png)
The best planting, as the best painting and the best music, is possible only with the best and tenderest feeling and the closest living with nature. One's place grows to be a reflection of himself, changing as he changes, and expressing his life and sympathies to the last.