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Segregation
Segregation is the first law of artistic composition. Your
garden must be set off by a tangible barrier. An imaginary
line is not enough. There must be "enclosure" or "enframe
ment." Any landscape composition, to be effective, must be
enclosed or enframed so that it may be seen by itself without
outside competition. A group of flower beds in the open lawn
does not make a garden composition. It lacks artistic mean
ing. The beds remain just beds. There is little charm, and no
pleasing reaction in the beholder.
Don't misunderstand this. The flowers may be individually
beautiful, and within the beds they may be arranged with
meticulous order, but without a frame the group fails to har
monize with its surroundings or to become part of a larger
composition. So, artistically, it fails. Segregation, in garden
ing, serves the same purpose as a frame for a painting, or a
pedestal for a statue. It sets apart and at the same time holds
together the composition within.
This shutting out of the larger landscape is important. At
tention always wanders to the distant view or follows move
ment in the offscape. This may be only flapping wash on a
neighbor's line or your own, if you have not adequately
screened your service yard. Such things detract from the ef
fectiveness of a garden picture. Enclosure shuts them out and
concentrates attention on the pleasing detail you have assem-
bled and arranged.
The means of segregation depend on the type of garden
picture you are creating. A formal scheme calls for fences,
walls, or at least hedges of clipped evergreen. Less rigid pat
terns require softer enclosures of shrubs and trees. Some
times complete enclosure is impossible or even unnecessary.
In such cases, partial separation can be achieved by an ar
rangement of trees and shrubs placed to block out objection
able views and concentrate attention on important elements
in the picture. This method is called pictorial enframement.
Unity
The second law of composition is unity-oneness-all parts
of a design uniting into a single major idea with individual
identities merged in the greater whole. A simple experiment
will indicate whether your design has unity. On your plan,
cover up certain elements in the design, perhaps a bed or
border, or a group of plants. Does the design suffer from the
subtraction? If not, the part covered is unnecessary and tends
to destroy unity. In extreme cases of bad composition you
may find that any section can be removed. If this is so, dis
card the whole scheme and try again.
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