624 



HORTICULTURE. 



May 11, 1907 



A Plea for the Picturesque in Landscape Gardening 



(A paper read before the Gardener's and Florists' Club of Boston by B. K. Howard.) 



In regard to the different characters 

 shown in different trees: they are 

 classified by Downing under three 

 heads. The round-headed trees like 

 oaks, chestnuts, ash, beech, hickory, 

 elms, and many others; the pyramidal 

 or oblong, Lombardy poplar, cypress, 

 cedars, the spiry-topped such as larch, 

 pine and spruce, with horizontal limbs 

 and straight leading stems. The trees 

 of this latter class are nearly all ever- 

 green, with dark foliage and where 

 many of Lhem are together they make 

 a dark spot in the landscape which is 

 sometimes good if not too isolated. 

 The white pines are the best of this 

 class. Of the oblong group, the Lxjm- 

 bardy poplar is the most character- 

 istic. In some parts of the middle 

 west Where scarcely any kinds of trees 

 except those of the poplar family will 

 thrive, an occasional group or broken 



{Continued from page 693 ) 



ever been proven that it does. It 

 seems to me that the beauty of the 

 tree should not be sacrificed at any 

 cost. If a tree is going to die let it, 

 but do not maim and disfigure it for 

 a few added years of crippled exist- 

 ence. If it is considered that a tree 

 has too many limbs to support, it 

 seems to me a much better relief for 

 that would be to cut off such limbs 

 as can best be spared, right down to 

 the trunk of the tree. That will make 

 the contour more irregular and will 

 often add to the picturesque appear- 

 ance of the tree. Some trees, like 

 horse chestnut, maples and lindens, 

 are too symmetrical for the picturesque 

 plantation and it would often be well 

 to break into them in this way as it 

 would make the contours more inter- 

 esting from an artistic point of view. 

 White oaks are very handsome and 



Delicacy 



Group of Birches. 



line, not toe long, of Lombardy pop- 

 lars is a wejceme variation in an 

 otherwise dead level and monotonous 

 landscape They . are also occasion- 

 ally fine silhouetted against a high 

 distant hill, as they help to send the 

 hill back into atmosphere. Oaks are 

 suitable for almost any location. They 

 are most ornamental and most express- 

 ive of majesty and strength. There 

 is a great depth ot shadow and rich- 

 ness, and at the end of the day when 

 they are wind-tossed and the last rays 

 of the sun strike them, they look like 

 ' trees of gold. It is when they have 

 reached a great age that they are best 

 and have greatest character and 

 beauty. 



It is becoming the fashion to cut off 

 the ends of the limbs of great trees, 

 called heading in, I believe. This 

 amputation is supposed to prolong the 

 life of the tree. It may be true that 

 It will but I do not know that It has 



the limbs are usually long and twisted 

 and knotted and are said to quite 

 nearly resemble the English royal 

 oak. Nearly all the white oaks I have 

 ever seen have been growing within 

 or on the edge of a forest and they 

 do not usually attain a very great size 

 under those conditions. The white, 

 black, red, and scarlet oaks are the 

 kinds that are most common around 

 New England and they make the great- 

 est of ornaments to the landscape. The 

 American elm and English elm are 

 both fine trees for shade and ornament 

 and the American elm is especially 

 good for .avenues. The plane or but- 

 tonwood tree is best when planted 

 singly or in small detached groups. It 

 has fine light foliage and irregular and 

 picturesque shape. The best trees of 

 this kind that I have ever seen are 

 at Pine .Hank. The .American white 

 ash has a fine appearance especially 

 when old, when the lower limbs droop 



almost to the ground, then turn up in 

 graceful curves. • The summer foliage 

 is a light and airy green and turns a 

 deep brownish purple in the fall. The 

 lime or linden tree is rather too sym- 

 metrical for picturesque planting but 

 makes a line avenue tree. Beech trees 

 look best in a dense wood of their own 

 kind, and they are quite apt to grow 

 that way, often covering large areas, 

 to the exclusion of all other kinds. 

 The hark is snjooth and grey and in 

 a shady grove looks cool and inviting. 

 They often retain a portion of their 

 leaves, though dried and withered, 

 through the winter and when the sun- 

 light strikes them they lend a charm- 

 ing bit of color to the dreary land- 

 scape. The hornbeam belongs to the 

 beech family and is a twisted and 

 picturesque tree and makes an inter- 

 esting edge to a forest. The Lombardy 

 poplars are fine to use in connection 

 with architecture. They are excellent 

 to break the monotony of a high wall 

 or terrace. As they make a strong 

 contrast to the other trees they are 

 good to use to fix the attention to 

 some particular point in the landscape. 

 Horse chestnuts have handsome leaves 

 and beautiful blossoms in the spring, 

 but the tree is so regular in shape and 

 so solid that its other beauties are 

 nearly lost. I have seen them when 

 their regularity had been broken into 

 by judicious trimming and they had 

 quite an improved and interesting ap- 

 pearance. Where they are planted 

 thickly together it changes them into 

 a more loose and better form. Birches 

 are quite airy and graceful and will 

 grow almost anywhere. White birches 

 look best in clumps by themselves. 

 Where they are mixed with other trees 

 the trunks look too chalky and make 

 too much contrast. They need to be 

 sihlouetted against something delicate. 

 Yellow birches have a peculiar light 

 golden bark which makes quite an 

 agreeable note in a forest. The alder 

 is very suitable for bordering a stream; 

 net a continuous monotonous hedge 

 but in detached groups. Maples are 

 fine avenue trees, but they are so 

 regular in shape that they are almost 

 as impossible as the horse chestnut 

 for the picturesque plantation. The 

 scarlet maple does well to mix with 

 ash or elms or cedars. The red blos- 

 soms in the spring and the brilliant 

 autumn foliage make them very at- 

 tractive. Chestnuts almost rival oaks 

 in beauty and character and longevity. 

 They fulfil almost the same conditions 

 and are fine in a forest or groups in 

 ornamental plantations or standing 

 singly where a large and beautiful tree 

 is desired. When old sometimes the 

 lower limbs lie flat upon the ground 

 and are wonderfully picturesque. All 

 the hickory family are very handsome. 

 Shellbark and pignut hickories are 

 most paintable on account of their 

 agreeable shape, the fine color and 

 texture of the foliage, and the pleas- 

 ing variety in light and shade. Shag- 

 barks grow to an immense height and, 

 when confined in a forest, shoot up 50 

 or 60 feet without branches. Willojvs 

 are useful for the border ot streams or 

 ponds. Not too many of them should 

 be used howevei', as it makes the effect 

 too fuzzy. The common white and 



