178 



GAKDhNlNG. 



A /a; 



SHRUBS FOR UTflfl. 



F. A., Salt Lake City, writes: "1. On 

 the north of mv house is an alley 12x50 

 feet which I wish to convert into a shrub- 

 bery border. A picket fence divides this 

 strip from the neighbor's broad lawn. 

 There are no large trees to interfere. 

 There is plenty of air and light, but sun 

 only early in the morning. My desire is 

 to grow flowering shrubs, particularly a 

 variety of lilacs, and small trees, or rather 

 anv trees that may be grown in so small 

 a space. 2. Are'there any varieties of 

 magnolia that will bloom in this climate? 

 3. Is the Russian olive a desirable tree?" 



1. First, unfasten that strip of ground 

 all over at least two feet deep, keeping 

 the good soil on top and the poor soil in 

 the bottom as before, then mark it off' 

 with stakes for planting. Now it is a 

 question of water. If your ground gets 

 as dry as Sahara in sm'nraer nothing will 

 do well in it, but if you can give it lots of 

 water in the dry season and mulch it to 

 retain the moisture you can grow lots of 

 shrubs notwithstanding your hot sum- 

 mers. Plant the larger subjects at the 

 back, the lesser shrubs in front, many 

 bulbs and hardy perennials between the 

 bushes, and vines against the fence. As 

 vines Japanese honeysuckles will do for 

 the coolest part, and" Clematis coxinea, 

 Flammula and paniculata for the rest. 

 Small trees to set next the fence and about 

 twelve feet asunder may be tree lilacs 

 (Syririfa Japonica and S. Pekinensis), 

 flowering dogwood, American red bud, 

 European burning bush. As large plants 

 to set in front, between them use lilacs 

 Frau Emma Damman and Marie Le- 

 graye,vwhite, and Chas X, Souv. de L. 

 Spath and Philemon, purple; Exochorda 

 grandidora, American snowball, fragrant 

 and large flowered syringas (Philadelphus 

 coronarius and P. grandiSorus), Chinese 

 tamarix, white flowered altheas {totus- 

 alhus), Tartarian bush hone3'Suckles. In 

 front of them have red and white Rosa 

 rugosa. Hydrangea paniculata grandi- 

 Hora, Van Houtte's spir.-ea, Deutzia 

 crenata and purple leaved barberry. You 

 can not use all of these in so small a space, 

 merely choose and use which ones you 

 like best. In planting these don't crowd 

 them unless you intend in a year or two 

 to chop out a lot of then to give the re- 

 maining ones more room. Scattered near 

 the front you may plant lots of grape 

 hyacinths,' narcissus and Hlies, and let lily 

 of the valley spread at will among the 

 bushes. Considering the rather sunless 

 situation a row of white flowered funkia 

 would make a very pretty edging to that 

 shrubbery belt. But remember, if you 

 want thrifty, healthy shrubs j-ou must 

 not spare the water in summer. 



2. All magnolias love good moist 

 ground, give them that and you should 

 be able to grow most any of them. Try 

 M. stellata, small, lovely and earliest of 

 all; M. conspicua, the white Yulan; M. 

 Soulangeana, white and purple, a hybrid, 

 to begin with. 



3. Yes, a beautiful small tree, and well 

 adapted for the west. 



Fifteen feet from the dining-room win- 

 dow of my country house, "Marietta," 

 its branches brushing the walls of the 

 house, stands a holly sixteen inches in 

 the trunk eight feet from the ground, with 

 its top on even terms with the ridge of the 

 roof. As the front of the house is half a 

 basement, two full floors and attic above 

 ground— the basement five feet, the first 

 floor eleven, the second floor ten and the 

 attic ten feet (to the ridge pole) making, 

 with the joist spaces, thirty -nine feet, I 

 judge the holly to be quite that much in 

 height. Seventy-five feet from this one 

 stands its companion, a little larger in 

 everv wav and about seven or eight feet 

 taller. These trees are truly a picture till 

 about mid-winter, especially so when 

 tufts of white snow rest on the coral red 

 of the bunches of berries and the dark 

 glossy green of the leaves. After mid- 

 winter, particularly when much snow 

 has fallen, the trees are completely 

 denuded of their berries by the robins, 

 jay birds and a pair of English mocking 

 birds that live with us the year roimd. 



But at a neighboring place to me, "Bel- 

 Air," the former residence of the lateGov. 

 Ogle of Maryland, there were some hollies, 

 a row of six or eight of them, that I am 

 sure would have astonished Mr. Leahy. 

 I say "were" because after the war the 

 place changed hands, like many others in 

 the county, and the new tenant — God save 

 the marki— put his axe to them and cut 

 them down! These trees were certainly 

 half as large again as mine, in every way. 

 and were truly giants of their kind as far 

 as my experience goes. If desired to do 

 so bj' the curious I could measure their 

 stunips, which yet remain in the ground, 

 and which I am sure are not less than 

 two, but nearer two and a half feet in 

 diameter. 



I may add that in front of my hoiiseare 

 also three pecan trees of unusual size for 

 this localitv— two of them measuring two 

 feet in the butt, with their tops high 

 above the large black walnuts near them. 

 These are grand and beautiful shade trees 

 and their long, lithe limbs, swaying in the 

 wind, are a fascinating sight during a 

 summer's storm. They are well draped 

 in their abundant foliage while yet most 

 other trees are in bud, and retain their 

 leaves in the fall after most other trees 

 are bare. They nut quite freely. 



G.\BRIEL Dr V.\L. 



Prince George's Co. Md. 



FINER flOLLY TREES. 



I think Mr. Giles Leahy, who writes of 

 "The Finest Holly Tree" in G.\rdening, 

 page 150, cannot be familiar with holly 

 trees in general when he asks if any of 

 your readers "know of a finer holly?" 

 than the one he describes, meaning, I sup- 

 pose also, a larger holly, as he speaks 

 much of its size. I am familiar with the 

 one near Assateague Light House, as 

 Chincoteague is a favorite fishing and 

 shooting ground of mine. 



EVERGREEN FOR WINDBREAK. 



J. E. P., Moosup, Conn., asks: 'What 

 everygreen will succeed best, as a wind- 

 break, on drj' soil? Location, a hill-top, 

 with two feet of sandy loam on a ledge. 

 Oak and hickory flourish on same land. 

 Will hemlock spruce do weli under above 

 circimistances?" 



Austrian pine. Be sure to dig deep wide 

 holes for it and fill them up again to the 

 required depth before planting. Set out 

 small trees, say two feet or under, be- 

 cause in exposed places the wind, the first 

 winter after planting, is apt to play havoc 

 among tall open plants. As regards the 

 hemlock look around among your neigh- 

 bors, if it does well well with them in 

 similar places, you may tn,- it; but 

 although so hardy and so beautiful it 

 often is uncertain. 



PRUNING AN ARBOR VITAE HEDGE. 



I would suggest that your Michigan 

 correspondent, page 150, cut the main 

 stems three-quarters through, then bend 

 the tops down horizontally, leaving a 

 good portion of the green leafy growths 

 to carrv up sap. The stems will then 



sprout below the cut, and they might not 

 if the tops are cut clean of. In a year or 

 two cut the tops clean away. All arbor 

 vitEes succeed with this treatment, but 

 pines or firs don't. James Stew.\rt. 

 Memphis, Tenn. 



X ANTHOCER.\s soRBiFOLiA.— Under date 

 of February 20 W. S., Hartford, Conn., 

 writes: "Our gardens are yet under two 

 feet deep of snow, and under it snugly 

 covered up with straw are three little 

 xanthoceras plants raised from seeds you 

 kmdlv sent me last year. I fear their 

 loss. ' Then we had lO" below zero. But 

 I had not the heart to pull them up and 

 store them in the cellar last fall." The 

 little plants are probablv all right, and a 

 great deal better off' than thej- would 

 have been in your cellar. 



Eucalyptus globulus.— .\ correspond- 

 ent asks if this tree is hardy in NewY'ork. 

 We answer: No, nor anywhere else in the 

 northern states. It makes a magnificent 

 shade tree in California. We grow it 

 from seed everj- year, sowing the seed in 

 a warm greenhouse in February or 

 March as stated page 148. The seed is 

 cheap and germinates easily. 



A BOOK about shrubs.— Edgemoor, 

 Chicago, asks: "Can you inform me 

 where a book containing colored illustra- 

 tions of ornamental shrubs can be pro- 

 cured?" There is no modem book on the 

 subject. 



The Flower Garden. 



SOME HARDY PLANTS-NOVELTIES. 



For the benefit of amateurs, who will 

 doubtless try in large numbers the follow- 

 ing advertised plants this season, will 

 you kindly state if they will bloom well 

 in a bed "receiving only about three or 

 four hours morning sunlight. Zinnias, 

 marigolds and alyssum did well in the 

 same position last j-ear: 



Kosteletzkya Virginica. 



Caryopteris Mastacanthus. 



Boltonia latisquama. 



Anthemis tinctoria. 



Lychnis Viscaria splendens /?. pi. 



Begonia Evansiana. 



Lychnis Flos-cuculi /?. pi. 



Hedychinm coronarium. 



Echinops exaltatus. 



Hvpericmn Moseriamim. 



New York. L. C. L. J. 



We believe every one of them will live 

 and do well in the bed you have. But 

 remember the hedychiura isn't hardy. As 

 some of our readers may want to know 

 something more about these plants we 

 have written the following notes, for 

 apart from the kosteletzkya we have 

 grown them all. 



Kosteletzkya Virginica, or Virginia 

 hibiscus, is a stout, hardy, perennial 

 native plant found in moist or marshy 

 ground from New Y'ork southward. As 

 a cultivated plant, however, we know 

 nothing about it. 



Caryopteris M.4.stacanthus is a 

 Chinese plant and old in cultivation, but 

 so little known that the florists are justi- 

 fied in re-introducing it as a novelty. It 

 grows freely, making bushes 2 feet or 

 more high. It begins to blossotn in late 

 simimer or early fall, continuing in bloom 

 till frost comes. The flowers are pale 

 violet blue, small, and borne in axillary 

 bunches running nearly the full length of 

 the wand-like shoots. ' While (juite pretty 



