16 



H ORTI CULTURE 



January 6, 190& 



THE IDEAL COUNTRY HOME FOR 

 THE MAN OF MODEST INCOME 



A paper by Oglesby Paul. 

 Read before the Society of American Flor- 

 ists at Washington Convention. 



No doubt many of you will laugh at 

 the title of my paper, "The Ideal 

 Home" and yet seriously how many 

 people have ever thought this subject 

 out and reached a definite idea. Most 

 people I have found are like sheep in 

 their home making, following where 

 others lead, and judging from the evi- 

 dence at hand the leaders usually wore 

 blinders. Take the average suburban 

 settlement for example, where the 

 properties are an acre or less in ex- 

 tent, and it is of small places only 

 that I shall speak. The houses In 

 such places are usually comfortable 

 and attractive now, thanks to the skill 

 of our architects, and the real estate 

 man may usually be trusted to sue 

 that they have all modern improve- 

 ments of water supply, drainage, light- 

 ing, good roads and the like, of the 

 necessities as we call them of modern 

 life. The land, too, has been improved, 

 the roads are shaded by trees and the 

 gardens are neat lawns with here and 

 there a tree or clump of bushes. So 

 far, so good. But after all does this 

 represent the ultimate perfection of 

 home making? The houses are vastly 

 more home-like and interesting than 

 those of thirty years ago, almost as 

 homelike as those of our grandfathers' 

 day some malicious critic would say, 

 but the gardens are still woefully bare 

 and dull. Think of what one can do 

 with a half acre, what a paradise some 

 half acres are, yes, and what paradises 

 they so often were in our grandfathers' 

 day, and then wonder at the bare half 

 acres you see today. Surely the house 

 and grounds together make the home, 

 and the grounds even more than the 

 house should reflect the personality of 

 the owner. Study and the mental pic- 

 turing of your grounds as you would 

 have them look will alone make this 

 possible. And then remember that 

 planting, and once again planting, is 

 the secret of success. How many hand- 

 some houses do you see in a day on 

 lots bare of individuality and interest, 

 dotted with a few trees and scattered 

 bushes which might be made beauti- 

 ful by intelligent planting. The passer- 

 by on the highway can run his eye 

 over the entire estate and take in at a 

 glance everything save possibly the 

 kitchen door in the rear. What privacy 

 Is there left in such a home? 



The plot we will assume is rectangu- 

 lar, without features of any sort and 

 nearly level. The house faces west 

 towards the street and stands some 

 fifty feet back from it. To mark the 

 separation from the street we will 

 carry a hedge of privet across the 

 front, and lead a walk directly to the 

 front door from the street. By screen 

 plantings of bushes from the corners 

 of the house we will cut off the rest of 

 the place from the public eye which 

 must be content with a view of our 

 front yard and no more, this much we 

 concede to the general good. (And 

 here I know there are some who will 

 say I am conceding too much and 

 should shut the public out altogether 

 with a high wall; however, walls 

 whether good or bad cost money that 

 we need for more important things). 

 Either side of my walk I» would have 

 a little lawn and back of it next the 

 margins irregular enclosing borders of 

 shrubs. Stout coarse growers are not 



wanted or they will so outgrow our 

 space, but there is wealth of material 

 at hand for our purposes. In the cor- 

 ners where height is needed might be 

 forsythias, those golden glories of the 

 spring, preferably only Forsythia For- 

 tunei and suspensa, as viridissima is 

 too coarse and Sieboldi differs but 

 little from Fortunei. Of the viburn- 

 ums we can find room for plicatum 

 (the Japanese Snowball) and opulus 

 (the single type), the old bush cran- 

 berry of our grandfathers. The wei- 

 gela, especially the newer varieties 

 such as Eva Rathke may find a place, 

 as also of the bush Loniceras tartarica 

 and bella Candida, charming for their 

 bright fruits in July, and fragrantis- 

 sima for its perfumed flowers in early 

 spring. As lower growers with these 

 would be the lavish tribe of Rosacea, 

 Spiraea Thunbergii or arguta, the 

 bridal wreaths most lovely of spring- 

 flowering bushes, with the more vig- 

 orous Spiraea Van Houttei for later 

 bloom and perhaps in a pocket in front 

 of the border the dwarf Spiraea An- 

 thony Waterer and Spiraea salicifolia. 

 Rosa rugosa alba and Mme. Bruant 

 deserve a place, and if we can get it, 

 the new rugosa alba repens. The list 

 of roses should include our native 

 Rosa lucida, Mr. Dawson's new lucida 

 alba, Rosa nitida, that hedge of thorns, 

 Rosa Caroliniana, the tall swamp rose, 

 and Rosa setigera, the wild July 

 blooming rose of the prairies. Ribes 

 sanguinea and aureum, the red and 

 yellow currants, Rubus deliciosus and 

 Exorchorda grandiflora (the pearl 

 bush) are worthy of places. The old- 

 fashioned Spiraea prunifolia with its 

 wealth of double white flowers invalu- 

 able for cutting will delight you if 

 tucked in behind some such spreading 

 grower as the dwarf privet (Ligus- 

 trum Regelianum) to soften the effect 

 of its stiff habit of growth. The 

 althea, its companion in old door 

 yards should be included, especially 

 the red and white varieties as they 

 occupy little space and bloom in mid- 

 summer when few shrubs are in 

 flower. Of dwarf spreading bushes for 

 the foregrounds of these borders we 

 have Berberis Thunbergii, Ligustrum 

 Regelianum and media, the latter a 

 seiuom planted but valuable form of 

 ovalifolium of dwarf growth and an 

 abundant bloomer, Hydrangea panicu- 

 lata grandiflora and quercifolia (inter- 

 esting in its semi-prostrate habit, hand- 

 some leaves and graceful heads of 

 flowers). A corner, too, may be found 

 for the climbing hydrangea, Schizo- 

 phragma hydrangeoides, and where it 

 can be trained over the side of the 

 building there are few plants more 

 handsome. Then where we wish to 

 bring the shrubbery down to the grass 

 line without that harsh margin com- 

 mon along shrub beds we have a 

 charming plant of low stature. Deutzia 

 gracilis and Lemoinei, Hypericums 

 aureum, prolificum and Moserianum, 

 Xanthorrhiza apiifolia, Euonymus ob- 

 ovatus and many more. Still further 

 to break up the stiffness of the bush 

 forms a plant of bittersweet, Celastrus 

 Ecandens or the Japanese Celastrus 

 articulata, and Lonicera Halleana are 

 invaluable rambling over the ground 

 or mounting on the nearest bush, every 

 breeze sweeping their graceful 

 outstretched tendrils to and fro in the 

 air. In the grass near the walk there 

 is space for a small flowering tree or 

 two such as the double scarlet thorn. 

 Crataegus oxycanthra rubra fl. pi.. 



the English thorn, C. oxycantha, 

 the white thorn of Milton, the 

 golden shower tree (Laburnum), 

 the pink dogwood, Cornus Flor- 

 ida rubra or the like. For detail in 

 the shrubberies there is an array of 

 interesting seldom-grown bushes for 

 some of which we can find space. 

 Styrax Japonica, Symplocos cratae- 

 goides (a hardy bush, bearing bottle- 

 brush white flowers), Caryopteris mas- 

 tacantha (the blue spiraea of the trade 

 list), Pyrus Japonica for its cheerful 

 red blossoms so early in the season, 

 Prunus amygdalis, the flowering al- 

 mond, Rhodotypus kerrioides for its 

 neat habit, clear white flowers and 

 black fruits, and Kerria Japonica, 

 preferably the old single form, as its 

 growth is better and flower more 

 graceful. 



Now let us pass from the front door 

 yard through the screen planting into 

 the wild garden which lies on the 

 south side of the house, shut out from 

 the public gaze by those screening 

 bushes. It will be simply treated, 

 consisting of masses of wild flowers 

 and rock loving plants through which 

 we pass by a trail that divides into 

 two winding walks. The grading 

 would be that of a little vale, the 

 ground rising at the sides, forming 

 slopes which are to be clothed with 

 the rambling, sprawling bushes and 

 plants found in the wild spots such as 

 the brambles, Rubus odoratus, incisus 

 and dumetorum, struggling down be- 

 tween taller lycium, symphoricarpus 

 and sambucus. The back ground 

 would be of such things as Rosa multi- 

 flora and canina, Cephalanthus occi- 

 dentalis (the button bush of our North- 

 ern swamps which vies with the sam- 

 bucus and clethra to make glorious 

 the bogs in midsummer). The feath- 

 ery Tamarix, Eleagnus multiflora, Ber- 

 beris aquifolium, Andromeda speciosa, 

 Fendlera rupicola, Robinia hispida, 

 Rosa spinosissima and many others, 

 and on the irregular sloping fore- 

 ground tufted masses of heather, Erica 

 vulgaris, Iberis sempervirens and Ten- 

 oreana, Daphne cneorum, junipers of 

 various kinds from the creeping pros- 

 trata and sabina to the upright japon- 

 ica, sinensis and virginica, yuccas. 

 Azalea amoena, Spiraea ulmaria, pal- 

 mata, tomentosa and aruncus, carpet- 

 ing the ground in the inter spaces with 

 Euonymus radicans, Lathyrus latifoli- 

 us, the everlasting pea, broken by 

 tufts of Armeria maritima, Orobus 

 vernus, Arabis alpina, Alyssum saxa- 

 tile, Aquilegia canadensis, Oenotheras 

 Youngii, biennis, the white flowered 

 speciosa and the aster-like O. Mis- 

 souriensis. 



The walks might be of soil and 

 leaves, pine needles or tan bark and 

 as a grass edging would be stiff and 

 wasteful of room as well, carpets of 

 moneywort-Lysimachia numularia will 

 form a delightful irregular margin and 

 when in bloom is covered with its yel- 

 low flowers. By sinking an old hogs- 

 head in one corner and making an oc- 

 casional use of the hose we have the 

 ground work of a water garden where 

 Nymphaeas may bloom amid iris, myos- 

 otis, mallow (Malva moscheutos), and 

 lythrum with a backing of the water 

 side cephalanthus, clethra and arundo. 



From the wild garden by an entrance 

 arched with clematis and wistaria we 

 pass into the flower garden occupying 

 the rear or eastern portion of the lot. 

 Here all is formal. A neat hedge of 

 privet encloses it and the space within 



