AN INFORMAL THATCHED SHELTER dominant part in the composition.
As elements of landscape design, the natural forms of ground, rock, etc., offer infinite variety to the designer. In large scale work he deals with hills which may be welded into the composition by harmonious or contrasted planting; with valleys which may be displayed by effective choice of viewpoints; and with bodies of water, which, when all boundaries are visible, con stitute unified and dominating elements in landscape compositions, and when seen only enframed by a series of promontories, give incomparable effects of extent and mystery.
Lakes and ponds, islands, shores and beaches, streams and stream banks, may all be included in large designs, or some part of one may form a striking feature in a smaller composition. In naturalistic gardens, often a brook with little waterfalls may be encompassed, the water falling over rocks laid in natural forms. Rocks as boulders and ledges are often important elements in design, their colour and texture contrasting with the green of trees or shrubs or rock-garden plants, and their ruggedness serv ing as the motive of larger picturesque scenery.
Even in small designs the minor modelling of ground surface must be handled with artistry, and its effect in the composition studied in relation to planting and structures. Earth banks and slopes necessitated by construction of roads and buildings can be designed with smooth flow of surface which moulds them imper ceptibly into the surrounding natural forms.
Plants as elements in composition are subject to seasonal varia tion, and the time factor in planting design makes the handling of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants the most complicated prob lem of the designer. The intricate form of deciduous trees covered with foliage or bare in winter, the more constant shape of ever greens, the texture of leaf and bark, the colour of foliage and flower in garden border or shrubbery, are almost impossible to classify exactly; but certain typical sizes, shapes, colours and textures can be designated, which with time and season can be expected to fulfil the designer's schemes. A large body of garden literature has accumulated in which may be found lists of plants classified in every conceivable way for practical use in design. Not only must the compositional aspects of plants be studied, but their oecology, their suitability to the soil and situation. Also
the expected amount of care and maintenance may preclude cer tain choices, as well as immediate questions of cost in selection. Plantations fall naturally into several classes : boundary or enclosing Plantations, including informal shrubberies, formal hedges and garden edgings ; specimen trees and shrubs, selected for their individuality; tree and shrub groups composed within them selves and with the larger design; herbaceous beds and borders, either as parts of enclosed gardens or as units in bays of boundary plantings; and ground cover, whether turf on lawns, carpet bed ding on parterres or plants as naturalistic surface texture.
Plantations may be considered primarily in relation to the other main elements of composition : to topography and to water fea tures; to architectural structures, whether buildings or garden details ; and to roads and paths. The composition of plants with buildings is one of the most common problems ; and here planting may serve as enframement, as a transition between ground and structure or as decoration of wall or window.
The design of architectural structures in relation to landscape may involve either their subordination to natural character or the recognition of their dominance, according, for instance, to whether a building is an incident in the grounds, as in a park, or the grounds a setting for the building, as in a small estate. While form relations of buildings to their landscape surroundings are the most obvious, considerations of colour and texture are equally important ; for example, compare a successful composition of a long, low stone house, with green slate roof, fitted to a rocky ever green-clad hillside, with an unsuccessful combination of a high thin building of bright red brick staring out from the same situa tion. Similar considerations govern the appropriate use of shelters and pavilions in landscape settings, of terraces with their ac companying walls and parapets, of steps in formal or naturalistic compositions, of walls and fences of various materials and decora tive qualities, of gates and gateways, and of the many garden details such as seats or sun-dials. Statuary may be incidental but it more usually marks a dominant point in the design ; and fountains, pools and basins, and other architectural and sculptural water features are apt to occupy key positions because of their striking individuality.