PLANTS FOR UNDERGROWTH PLANTING IN WOODED AREAS : Page 531

As a rule these plants succeed best when planted in small coloniesand when used to face down clumps of shrubs which may in turn beused against an evergreen background. Thus, plantings may begrouped so as to provide interesting combinations along the sides ofpaths and at ends of vistas. If the natural mulch layer has disappearedan effort should be made to reproduce it as soon as possible afterplanting and care should be taken to see that forest fires do not burnoff" the autumn leaves which nature provides for a winter cover. Whenleaves drift in so thickly as to threaten to smother the smaller plantsa portion of these leaves may be removed; but as a general rule it is notwise to do too much cleaning up unless the desirable plants are indanger of being overwhelmed by the mulch or by larger native plants.One of the most common faults in woodland landscape developmentsis the attempt to "clean up" existing undergrowth rather than tostudy its interesting possibilities in combination with many types ofplants valuable for foliage, flowers, and fruit.