A species motive is a theme that is representative of a large and important class. You can do it with pine trees, oak trees, maples, eucalyptus, and anything else, really. If you make a rose garden all of roses, the way a rose garden should be made, you are handling a rose motive. If you create an iris garden, or a peony garden, or a garden of water lilies, your motive in each case is one species, genus or group of plants. Such species motives are good choices, as they are artistically pleasing and easy to manage.

A motive doesn't need to be made up exclusively of plants and trees. You can use wall fountains and garden statuary as well, adding to the effect with the types of statues that compliment the mood of the plants. If your garden consists of quiet, modest plants, you can use a more solemn selection of statuary.

If your motive is not a species but rather something apparent in the landscape itself, such as a brook, it would be classified as a topographic motive. T opographic motives are often useful in landscape gardening. For example, a lake, or even a lake shore, could be a highly desirable feature, if the design was done correctly. A very acceptable park theme could even be made on sand dunes.

A steep, rocky slope has its own good points and possibilities. It can be effectively planted with suitable trees, shrubs, vines and blossoming plants, and you could build paths to the top. It can easily be made into a thing of beauty and a joy .

The pine tree can be presented in several ways. For example, you could have in one area just the single specimen tree, and in another you could have a whole group. Think of these sections of the composition as paragraphs in an essay.

Just as we divide our essay into paragraphs when we write a theme, so we develop our motive in paragraphs when we do a good job of landscape designing. In each paragraph, we try to give a different treatment; and this statement holds true whether we are speaking of rhetoric or of gardening.

We always need to arrange these paragraphs in some logical order. The first would be an introductory section, presenting the subject for public attention, but not expounding it. The last section would be a summary or a climax.

At any rate the best paragraph—the climax—would be reserved to some point near the end. Between the introduction and the last paragraph there would be others present ing the different features of the motive, but always, if possible, with accumulating force.

It should be clear that the matter of selecting good motives and developing them with the best effect possible is one which requires knowledge, skill and experience. It is impossible to explain in detail all about it in such a short article as this one, but the very great importance of the motive will be evident. It should not be too much to hope that the student, by long observation and much study, will come to understand better what is involved in complex landscape design.

When you undertake the practice of landscape gardening, it is important that you take into consideration how complex and serious the whole art really is. In this you are dealing with living things, and although they do not necessarily think for themselves, they will never be totally under your control.