Pleasing Shape at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Medium-sized, main-feature plants can be grown with stronger-growing trailing plants to keep the display well in scale. Trailing plants will help to soften harsh outlines, but remember to leave sufficiently exposed any container with a pleasing shape, especially if it has prominent decoration. To COUNTERACT the long narrow shape of a window-box, you should make every attempt to avoid planting in straight rows. More informality can be given to the display by varying the heights of the main plants and by softening the effect with filler plants. One way to make an attractive planting is to group main-feature plants first and then put fillers in between.

Finally, there are the horizontal shapes. They keep the eye peacefully arrested, moving neither up nor down. There are endless variations within and between these categories, but when planning a layout they are very useful devices. As well as looking at the overall shape of a plant, do not forget to focus in on the form of its flowers. Choose flower shapes that complement one another in some way, either a combination of pleasing contrasts or harmonious similarities. Remember, too, the shapes of individual leaves, and even the branch patterns of trees and shrubs.

Note, however, that balance does not mean sameness. The lines may be full of "accident" and change, but the general balance, when it is right, gives satisfaction such as we feel in the irregularity of a tree. Remember, also, that the outer edge of a picture is part of its composition. The "holes" or open spaces just inside the margin should have variety of shape. Lines should disappear into the margin at agreeably varied points. When they do this best, a diagram of the picture may be turned upside down and still seem pleasing in itself.