May 22, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



727 



Winter Color in the Garden 



When one considers the large number of people who 

 spend the winter and early spring months in their 

 country homes it is somewliat surprising that more at- 

 tention is not given to tlie beautifying of the garden at 

 this period for, while every efiort is made to produce a 

 bright display during the spring, summer and autumn 

 months one very rarely sees any attempt made to make 

 the grounds more interesting and brighter throughout 

 the dull season of the year. Among hardy ornamental 

 shrubs there is an abundance of excellent material suit- 

 able for this purpose which, I believe, only requires to 

 be better known to become more largely used, and if a 

 portion of our public gardens and grounds was devoted 

 to the grouping of these shrubs with brightly colored 

 stems their value would soon become apparent. In the 

 Arnold Arboretum and on the Boston parkways, 

 especially around Jamaica Pond some good examples, 

 principally of the scarlet barked willow, may now be 

 seen and one can easily imagine the brilliant mass of 

 coloring produced by planting a group of so highly or- 

 namental a shrub as this. 



The number of subjects capable of producing a 

 bright effect with their stems, is as I have previously 

 said, quite large and if one has sufficient space to devote 

 the best results are obtained by planting groups, either 

 large or small, of different varieties in a juxtaposition 

 to each other so that the various scarlets, whites, greens, 

 browns and reds of different shades form a most pleas- 

 ing contrast. Such planting when once accomplished 

 requires very little attention, but some of the varieties, 

 which I shall enumerate, must be pruned hard to the 

 ground every spring so soon as the sap commences to 

 rise, for by only allowing the varieties to make an annual 

 growth the color is much more vivid and uniform. 



In addition to their winter beauty many of the un- 

 der mentioned shrubs are valuable for their flowering 

 properties while others are conspicuous in the autumn 

 by reason of their highly colored foliage or ornamental 

 fruits, and for massing on the banks of streams or 

 ponds some are specially well adapted, the reflection in 

 the water being doubly efl:ective. No country possesses 

 better advantages for producing these vivid colors at 

 their best than North America as the warm sunlight of 

 summer is necessary to thoroughly ripen the wood and 

 the subsequent frosts also help to intensify the various 

 shades of the barks. 



The majority of shrubs with scarlet or bright stems 

 belong to the Comus or Dogwood family and conspicu- 

 ous among them are C. alba and its varieties siberica, 

 Goucliaulti and variegata. The two latter have, in 

 addition to their bright red stems, very handsome varie- 

 gated foliage which produces a most effective sheet of 

 color when gi'ouped. Cornus Baileyi and C. stolonifera 

 are also very desirable, the stems of both being of a 

 brilliant color. One of the brightest reds we have is the 

 Red Osier or scarlet-barked willow which is a very ex- 

 cellent subject for grouping and will grow freely in any 

 good soil though one naturally expects to find it by the 

 water's edge; a position in which it looks thoroughly at 

 home. Golden barked shrubs are not quite so numerous 

 but there are two very excellent varieties which contrast 

 well with the reds. They are Salix alba vitellina, the 

 golden stemmed willow and Cornus stolonifera flavira- 

 mea. Golden Dogwood. All the above excepting the last 

 named produce the most pleasing results if pruned hard 

 back to the ground every year and the Golden Dogwood 

 is improved by receiving this treatment occasionally. 

 Shrubs with bright green stems are very ornamental if 

 planted in quantity and specially noteworthy sorts are 

 Kerria Japonica and its two varieties flore-pleno and 



variegata. These require very little pruning, it being 

 only necessary to remove the old stems when they be- 

 come brown with age. For sheltered positions where 

 the North and East winds will not mar their appear- 

 ance the Cytisus and Genistas are very valuable, for few 

 shrubs are more admired when in flower and in winter 

 they are an effective mass of green. The most suitable 

 varieties of Cytisus are: albus, praecox and the several 

 forms of C. Scoparius, all of which resent being pruned 

 after they have attained a fair size. 



A large number of flowering shrubs have warm brown 

 stems in winter which associate well with the brighter 

 liues and materially assist in producing a pleasing com- 

 bination of color. Some of 'the most desirable are 

 Spiraea Douglasii, which should be pruned right down 

 every year when it will form a level bed of pink blossom 

 in summer; Spiraea canescens, a white flowered species; 

 Forsythia suspensa with pale brown stems; Berberis 

 vulgaris and the Symphoricarpus. Although the Pynis 

 family are not particularly noticeable, in the same way 

 as the dog^voods, for the beauty of their stems in winter 

 there are two varieties, viz : P. nigra and P. arbutifolia, 

 which are very attractive when planted in quantity. In 

 the Eastern Nurseries at Holliston I recently saw two 

 fine plantations of these pyruses, and the color of the 

 stems which is red with a suffusion of white made them 

 very attractive. In addition to their winter beauty these 

 two shrubs are desirable for their wealth of spring blos- 

 som and magnificent foliage in the autumn. 



The above list includes only a few varieties suitable 

 for this kind of planting and is by no means exhaustive. 

 There are, in fact, many more equally useful as I have 

 mentioned, which are hardy, of easy cultivation and 

 have something to recommend them at all seasons of 

 the year. 



Arnold Arboretum. 



Beautifying the Waste Plots | 



The societies which are in operation in New York 

 and Philadelphia for cultivating the waste lands in the 

 towns have their counterpart in an organization which 

 has been formed on this side. Mr. Joseph Fels, the 

 Hon. Sec, infoi-ms me that the work of the English 

 Vacant Land Society during its first season has been so 

 successful in actual tangible results that it now feels 

 justified in applying for further financial support. From 

 landowners or their agents the committee solicit the loan 

 of unused and vacant plots of land, either in the Metrop- 

 olis or in the country. The committee agree to give up 

 possession of the land within seven days, if required to 

 do so. An appeal is made to seedsmen, growers and 

 merchants for seeds, plants and garden tools for the use 

 of the cultivators. Financial support is also invited 

 from the pviblic for the approaching season, when some 

 £20,000 will be needed. Already a successful start has 

 been made in the cultivation of vacant plots in various 

 parts of London, and it is now hoped to considerably 

 extend this list in the approaching season. R. Lewis 

 Castle, who has a wide experience in commercial horti- 

 culture, is acting as the superintendent, and he is doing 

 his utmost to promote the complete success of the under- 

 taking, which fills an undoubted want amongst our Brit- 

 ish institutions. 



yp^rf, Cieli»^, 



London, Eng. 



