124 



HORTICULTURE 



July 24, 1909 



LAWN DECORATION. 



(A rapor read Before tlie Florists' Club of 

 Philadelphia by Edwiu Lonsdale.) 



Lawn adornment opens up a very 

 wide field, altogether too wide to be 

 considered at all satisfactorily in the 

 brief space that may be allotted to its 

 consideration this evening, so that the 

 best that can be done with so impor- 

 tant a subject under existing condi- 

 tions is to give same a "touch and go" 

 treatment. 



The first thing that naturally sug- 

 gests itself when considering the em- 

 bellishments to a lawn is to produce 

 an inviting and restful effect, and the 

 very best material to make use of is 

 shrubbery and shade trees judiciously 

 planted, and what is of equal impor- 

 tance is a seat here and there; let 

 these be as informal or as rustic, yet 

 ac comfortable for the purpose intend- 

 ed as it is possible to have them. Let 

 shrubs, both the deciduous flowering 

 and the ornamental evergreens be dis- 

 posed as nearly with natural effects as 

 it is possible to do. Many of the strong 

 growing grasses add a grace to any 

 plantation that nothing else can give. 



Don't Dot the Lawn With Plants. 

 Do not dot plants on a lawn unless 

 same is made to appear to have nat- 

 urally escaped from a nearby group. I 

 once saw a lawn planted with such 

 regularity that in the distance the 

 bushes had the appearance of cocks of 

 hay. 



Let the shrubs occupy spaces on the 

 extreme outsides of the lawn, avoiding 

 straight lines in the planting in all 

 cases, allowing sufficient space between 

 each plant for the future development, 

 and for the first few years after plant- 

 ing what may seem too much room 

 may be occupied with such flowering 

 annuals as may suggest themselves to 

 those who have the work in charge, 

 and the more lasting hardy perennials 

 could to advantage be interspersed be- 

 tween. 



Avoid Clashing Colors. 

 Great care must be exercised in the 

 association of the various colored an- 

 nuals and the perennial flowering 

 plants lo avoid clashes in coloring. It 

 Is by far easier to avoid color clashes 

 in the tender bedding plant combina- 

 tions than it is with the hardy out- 

 door flowering plants, although too of- 

 ten we do see the scarlet zonale pelar- 

 goniums and the majenta-pink colored 

 varieties of the same, in too close prox- 

 imity with each other to be harmoni- 

 ous. 



Vases judiciously placed, which means 

 never in the centre of a plot or lawn, 

 and where water is of easy access so 

 as to give in abundance when requisite, 

 which is generally once a day and fre- 

 quently twice, are oftentimes very ef- 

 fective. Especially is this the case on 

 the edge of a pond or lake, but by all 

 means retrain from planting purple 

 petunias in the same vase with scarlet 

 geraniums or any other colors with 

 which they may produce discord. 



Many of' my hearers will remember 

 that strong paper read at a conven- 

 tion in the early history of the Society 

 of American Florists, held in Buffalo, 

 N. Y., in which the essayist advocated 

 the omission of all flowering plants 

 from lawns and pleasure giounds, to 

 have nothing but grass, trees and 

 shrubbery, and you will also remember 

 what an uproar went up all over the 



country in vigorous protest. And only 

 last summer a lady visitor at Girard 

 College, on entering the lodge gate, 

 stood, and in no unmistakable terms 

 declared, "What a pity to cut up the 

 lawn and plant thereon those horrid 

 geraniums," and so it goes. It is im- 

 possible to please everyone. 



Cactus Bed a Great Attraction. 



The cactus bed which we have in 

 Girard College grounds attracts more 

 attention than all the croton, geran- 

 ium, or miscellaneous beds combined. 



The President of Girard College only 

 a short time ago said Vith much ap- 

 parent gratification that the "front" 

 never looked better. While the .too 

 plentiful use of the scarlet geranium 

 (zonale pelargonium) may not be con- 

 sidered in the very best taste as we 

 have it this year, I believe its very 

 brilliancy in coloring in the past has 

 attracted many persons' attention to 

 the gardening, and when once a per- 

 son's interest has become aroused in 

 gardening, the rest is easy. The end 

 has justified the means. It has acted 

 as a means to an end, and has acted 

 as a primer as it were, or rather the 

 kindergarten to aid floriculture. 



In a public, as well as any other 

 garden, the geranium appeals to the 

 popular fancy, and for that purpose I 

 believe it will hold its own for a very 

 long time to come. Personally, I have 

 no use for the pink varieties, for the 

 most part, because they do not har- 

 monize with the brighter reds or scar- 

 lets. At one time I did not like the 

 salmon-tinted varieties of geranium, 

 but now I welcome them, because they 

 harmonize with the brighter reds and 

 scarlets. There is no color clash with 

 these brighter colors, provided the blue 

 combination is kept in due subjection. 



A Hammock Corner. 

 It should be understood in this con- 

 nection that the landscape gardener 

 has completed his work, though one 

 suggestion I will venture to propose, 

 and that is when space admits, I would 

 advise that a triangular tree planta- 

 tion be made not loo far away from 

 the residence, and that these trees be 

 the pin oak (Quercus palustris) where 

 said trees render a good account of 

 themselves, or some better tree for a 

 given localiiy when such suggests it- 

 self. Let same be planted at least 16 ft. 

 apart, in triangular form and those of 

 my hearers who contemplate such a 

 planting will be surprised how amen- 

 able they will be to the prescribed land- 

 scape effects and, what is of equal im- 

 portance, after they have had a few 

 years growth they may be brought into 

 requisition as hammock supports. 

 Three trees properly disposed will sup- 

 port or rather furnish supports for 

 three hammocks, which will undoubt- 

 edly furnish another point in the rest- 

 ful effect so much desired in all lawn 

 adornments. 



Keeping Up a Succession. 

 The planting of flower and foliage 

 beds in lawn adornment is considered 

 to.be worthy of our best thoughts. Es- 

 pecially does this apply in public and 

 semi-public gardens connected with 

 our popular institutions. In the Girard 

 College grounds with which yours truly 

 is connected, the idea is to make as 

 much display with the plants we have 

 on hand as is possible, and we proceed 

 as follows: In the spring time we 



plant pansies, forget-me-nots, Alys- 

 .sum saxatile, and Arabis alpina be- 

 tween and associated with tulips, hya- 

 cinths, etc., which had been planted 

 duiing the late October and early in 

 the November previous. This combi- 

 nation, for spring flowering, is very ef- 

 fective. Wall-flowers are also found to 

 make good for spring bedding when 

 planted as above indicated between 

 bulbs of last fall's planting or for in- 

 dependent planting in spaces unoccu- 

 pied. Wall-flowers sown late in June 

 or early in July, if taken care of, as 

 to transplanting once or twice, will 

 make very effective planting for spring 

 work, and for summer blooming there 

 is nothing superior to geraniums and 

 when we desire foliage plants nothing 

 is comparable to crotons. The ,iirprife 

 is, .-judging from how well these showy- 

 leavf-d plants cover themselves with 

 glory in and around Philadelphia, that 

 more of them are not used elsewhere. 

 Canuas, as a large flowering plant for 

 distant effect are most satisfactory, and 

 as edging plants nothing is superior 

 to Abutilon Savitzi, which gives the 

 "white line" more effectively than any 

 other plant that I know. Echeveria 

 and alternanthera are much used where 

 formal designs are desired, but these 

 are being used less and less as truly 

 artistic instincts are developed, and 

 the time is not far distant when the 

 formal flower bed will be a thing of 

 the past. 



PUBLICATION RECEIVED. 



The Grapes of New York — It is a 

 splendid service that the Department 

 of Agriculture of the State of New 

 York has rendered to the fruit cul- 

 turists of the country in issuing this 

 noble volume. The preface states that 

 the purpose of the work is to record 

 the state of development of American 

 grapes and that while the title im- 

 plies limit to a locality, yet this local- 

 ity (New York) is really representa- 

 tive of the entire country. The book, 

 which is a quarto of 564 pages, is the 

 lesult of years of recorded observa- 

 tions by the New York Experiment 

 Station staff and is the second in the 

 scries of fruit publications being pre- 

 pared under the supervision of Direc- 

 tor W. H. Jordan, the Apples of New 

 York having been previously issued. 

 The author, U. P. Hedrick, and the 

 ether gentlemen who have assisted 

 him in the immense amount of labor 

 which such a work involves have evi- 

 dently done ail in their power to cover 

 their subject completely from all stand- 

 points and the book bears on every 

 page distinct evidence of the pains- 

 taking devotion with which their task 

 has been carried out. While a vast 

 amount of data has been recorded, yet 

 "the text is notably tree from dry sta- 

 tistical flavor and all is presented in 

 the most interesting narrative form. 

 The history of the origin of the Rogers' 

 hybrids is almost a romance. Grape 

 breeding should and undoubtedly will 

 receive a great stimulus as a result of 

 the issuance of this volume and the 

 ins|)iration which its pages yield. Not 

 the least of the interesting and instruc- 

 tive features is the series of full-page 

 color plates of which there are 101, 

 each showing a bunch of one variety 

 with foliage and stem, beautifully exe- 

 culprt. A portrait of Edward Stani- 

 ford Rogers is given the place of honor 

 as a frontispiece. 



