The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Small Home Landscaping
Think—Before You Plant
Before you plunge into the adventure of landscaping, pause to reflect on the scene which will soon refresh.
BEGINNING the task of landscaping the grounds around your home brings you to an entirely new field of activity. All new fields have their problems and landscaping is no exception. But whatever its problems, landscaping can give you a lot of satisfaction, continued pleasure and not a little adventure. Your first adventure will undoubtedly be the stimulating one of studying catalogs, magazines and other literature. There, the tantalizing pictures of velvety lawns and stately evergreens will give you visions of grandeur. Shrubs and trees carry masses of bloom, fences drip roses, fruit trees are burdened with luscious fruits, the corn, squash and melons "are out of this world." It all looks so easy.
Then you will be exposed to the advice of well-meaning persons. You will get suggestions about what (and what not) to plant, and what you should do with sections of your garden. Some will even give you cast-away plants. Look out for these. Much of the advice will be confusing for no two persons will agree in their recommendations. But in one way or another you will form ideas about certain plants you would like to have. It may be their flowers, or their time of flowering, the color of their leaves, the shape or some other attraction.
The order to a distant nursery for a collection of shrubs may bring you, instead of the large box you expected, a little bundle—and dismay. Your first actual visit to a nursery is a little bewildering, too. There is such a profusion of plants in so many different kinds, sizes, shapes and colors. It seems easier to select plants from a catalog. However, the nursery itself is your best instructor. Visit it often. Walk among the rows of plants and learn to know them. When puzzled, ask a salesman or an attendant. They should answer your questions without pressuring you to buy anything. Soon you will be able to select plants without difficulty.
Naturally all the interest of the beginner in landscaping is concentrated on plants. Planning is something to think about when the plants arrive. Or there are a few vague ideas about forming certain pictures in spots here and there. Rarely is there ever a concrete plan for the whole area. So when the plants arrive you are faced with the problem of where to plant which. For even though you may have had some ideas before, you'll find that the plants themselves don't seem to fit the particular spot you had previously selected for them.
