Friday, October 12, 2007

[shrubberies] set out at your own peril

Throughout history, shrubberies have been dangerous to everyone from passing knights to unattended virgins on winding paths and their design is a matter of the utmost importance.

Always check that your guests have been well fed before setting out and have returned before nightfall.

Do not think for one moment that a shrubbery is just a collection of low trees and flowers in a garden bed. Nor is it a forest.

It is, in fact, a curved path through fairly dense foliage kept back from borders which run alongside and designed to provide surprises at almost every turn.

The best shrubberies allow one to stroll through a blend of colour and size, bush and tree, flowering and non-flowering until one eventually ends up back at the starting place, if one has been lucky.

Leading your guests into labyrinthine mazes is not really cricket.

The hydrangea - a good stock plant to lighten the overall effect

An added touch is a small arbour halfway along to pause, sit and enjoy one's labours or "lostness" in a spirit of tranquility or despair.

It is possible for you to design and tend your own shrubbery but for Heavens sake be careful!

You have to take infinite care over the layout, even down to the time of day you trim the shrubs, as this Orange County Senior Cit shootout, two Sundays ago, illustrates:

Butterfly weed is a good "filler" which adds a splash of colour.

A landscaping dispute on a quiet Anaheim Hills street turned violent Sunday afternoon when a 65-year-old woman shot her neighbor in the shoulder and then barricaded herself in her house before surrendering, authorities said.

Police said the argument began about 3 p.m. when Anita Spriggs apparently started trimming a hedge she shares with her next-door neighbor, 64-year-old Gary Hall.

"Spriggs then grabbed a handgun and [understandably] shot the victim in the shoulder," said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department.

Sgt. Rick got right to the heart of the problem when he explained:

"We're not sure where she got the gun."

Ideally, the effect you want to achieve is to induce the guest to set upon the path through an archway, giving no inkling of the peril lurking within but gradually increasing the sense of foreboding through Erica Prunus bushes and the like.


4 comments:

  1. Yes, it is a good shrubbery. I like the laurels particularly.

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  2. Lordy, lordy, now the senior citizens are shooting each other. Is this an example of hedge rage?
    I like the images.

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  3. That two layer effect, Shades.

    Hedge rage - good one, JMB.

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  4. Yes, jmb - hedge rage is good. I'm not sure the virgins were that unattended, though.

    ReplyDelete

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