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II Dim CULTURE 



June 1. Idi' 



EFFECTS OF THE SEVERE WINTER AT THE 



ARNOLD ARBORETUM 



Most of the Taxads which have been 

 Krown successfully In the Arboretum 

 have suffered from the cold of the 

 winter All the forms of the Japanese 

 Tiisus cuspiilnta. however, are now 

 as Rreen and fresh as they were in 

 October. As the years pass the con- 

 fidence in the value of this plant in- 

 creases and it has never been as great 

 as it is this sprint;. Among all the 

 plants which Japan has contributed 

 to the gardens of the eastern United 

 States no other Is so generally valu- 

 able. Fortunately .American nursery- 

 men are at last beginning to realize 

 that this Yew has some commercial 

 value, and It will soon be within the 

 reach of everyone who has a garden or 

 wants to plant the best possible ever- 

 green hedge for New England. The 

 form of this Yew (var. chim'nsis) in- 

 troduced by Wilson from western 

 China is less hardy than the Japanese 

 plant. In a collection of young plants 

 of the Chinese form, in as protected a 

 position as could be found in the Arbo- 

 retum, some are slightly injured and 

 others are dead. It is not probable 

 that this fine tree, therefore, will ever 

 become established in .Massachusetts. 

 On all the forms of the European Yew 

 (Tojrus bnccata) there are dead leaves 

 and dead or injured branches. All the 

 plants of T. baccatii erecta have been 

 killed, and there are a few dead branch- 

 es even on T. baccata repandtns. the 

 plant with wide-spreading, semipros- 

 trate stems wliich has lived in this cli- 

 mate for several years without injury 

 and has been considered here the hardi- 

 est and most desirable of all the forms 

 of the European Yew for New Eng- 

 land. Plants of the fanadian Yew (T. 

 canadciisisj, the so-called Ground hem- 

 lock of northern woods, planted in the 

 shade or in full exposure to the sun, 

 have been badly disfigured as the tips 

 of most of the branches and all the 

 upper leaves have lieen killed. The 

 leaves on upper branches of the Jap- 

 anese Torreya mwifrra are dry and 

 beginning to turn brown, but the buds 

 appear to be uninjured and the plants 

 may recover. It has not suffered here 

 before and for the last two or three 

 years has been producing fruit in the 

 Arboretum. The California Torreya 

 /T. californicaj. which has been nursed 

 along in a sheltered position for years 

 and has suffered more or less every 

 winter, appears to liave at last entirely 

 succumbed. Young plants in a shel- 

 tered position of the Japanese Cephalo- 

 taj-iis (Jnipncea are little injured but 

 the handsomer C. h'nrltinei from west-' 

 ern China has suffered and it is doubt- 

 ful if this fine tre^ will live through 

 many years in this climate. 



Bro.id leaved Evergreens 

 .\s It was natural to expect, the 

 plants of (his class have been more in- 

 jured by the winter than any others, 

 for with few exceptions they cannot be 

 successfully grown in this climate 

 under even the most favorable con- 

 ditions. Ilex opacd. which has grown 

 well In the Arboretum for many years 

 Avhere it has been the only broad- 

 leaved evergreen tree which has lived 

 here, has suffered seriously. Nearly 

 all the leaves have been killed and 

 some of the plants appear to be dead. 

 The large plants of the Japanese U<\t 

 crcnala. which were raised from seed 

 at tlie Arboretum twenty-five years 

 ago, have been so badly injured that it 

 is doubtful it they can recover. The 

 Inkberry (Ilex pUibra). a common 

 shrub in the region of the coast from 

 New Hampshire to Texas, has lost the 

 ends of many branches and most of 

 its upper leaves. Plants of an ever- 

 green Holly tiler prtluneuldtnl intro- 

 duced by Wilson from western China 

 have, however, not been injured by the 

 winter. This is a handsome tree with 

 long-stalked red fruits, and is distrib- 

 uted through Japan and western Cliina. 

 Judging by our experience here with 

 other evergreen Hollies, the chances 

 that it will ever grow to maturity 

 are not very good. For the first time 

 in the Arboretum there are brown 

 leaves and dead branches and flower- 

 buds on some of the Laurels iKalmia 

 latifolia). The damage is not serious 

 but it is interesting as showing how 

 the hardiest native plants, even when 

 planted in exceptionally good positions, 

 may be injured by a winter like the 

 last, which has killed also the ends of 

 the branches of such common New 

 England evergreen shrubs as the little 

 Sheep Laurel fKalmia att-g list i folia) 

 and the Leather Leaf fChaviacdaphne 

 eali/eulataj. The leaves of Lruvothoe 

 Catesbaei are badly browned even on 

 plants in moist shady positions wliich 

 this species prefers. A native of tlie 

 southern Appalachian forests, it has 

 been considered one of the hardiest 

 and most satisfactory broad-leaved 

 evergreens which could be planted in 

 this climate. Leueothoe oxillaris has 

 also lost its leaves but will probalily 

 recover. Pieris or Andromeda ftori- 

 hunda is uninjured and is now cov- 

 ered with flowers, and its condition 

 confirms the belief here that this is 

 one of the hardiest, handsomest and 

 most desirable broad-leaved evergreen 

 shrubs which can be grown in this 

 part of the country. Its Japanese rel- 

 ative. Pierus japonica. seems e<|ually 

 hardy, but its larger and more beauti- 

 ful flowers open earlier and are often 

 injured by si)ring frosts. 



Evergreen Barberries. 

 The four Chinese evergreen i3ar- 

 berries, Berberis JuHanae. B. Saryen- 



/Kiii'i. II I I 1 1 1(1 III, is'i and /(. liaijiii 

 paiiiH, from which so much huM been 

 expected, have suffered seriously. B. 

 ■fulianiw and B. Sarin-ntiana will prob- 

 ably not recover, and there Is Utile 

 hope that much garden iMjauiy will 

 ever be obtained In this region from 

 evergreen Uarberrles, for all the .\Ia- 

 honlas whicli have been grown here 

 are in unusually bad condition this 

 spring, with the exception of the dwarf 

 Miihoiiiii or Hiiberis repens from the 

 Ro<Uy .Mountains, and even this has 

 lost many of its leaves. .Ml the forms 

 of the European Box, although care- 

 fully protected, have suffered badly and 

 .some have been killed. Even the Jap- 

 anese Box I Buxus japonica I. which has 

 been growing in an expo.sed iMisition 

 here for twenty years without protec- 

 tion, will lose for the first time .some 

 of its leaves from the ends of the 

 branches. This handsomest plant has 

 suffered, however, less than might have 

 been expected, and if Box is to be 

 planted in eastern Massachusetts with 

 the expectation that it will be a per- 

 manent garden ornament it is this Jap- 

 anese species wliich must be used. The 

 Chinese climbing l-loneysuckle i Loni- 

 lera Henri/H. which has proved per- 

 fectly hardy until last winter and from 

 which much was. expected, has lost all 

 its leaves, but as its stem^ are still alive 

 it may recover. Teucrium ehamaedrijs 

 and 'Salvia officinalis are nearly killed, 

 and Daphne cneorum. has suffered seri- 

 ously. The two evergreen Cliinese 

 Viburnums, yihurnum rhytidophillluin 

 and V. buildleifoliiim, have lost all 

 their leaves but may possibly recover. 

 Thanks probably to the aliundant 

 rains of the summer and autiiinn, the 

 Rhododendrons in the Arboretum 

 liave suffered less than they did three 

 years ago, although in some of the 

 gardens near Boston the loss of these 

 plants has been more serious than 

 ever before, whole plantations which 

 have been growing for thirty or 

 forty years having been destroyed. 

 In the .Arboretum the only species 

 which has suffered is R. mii ninlhum. 

 tlie only evergreen Chinese Rhodo- 

 dendron which has ever lived long 

 enough in the Arboretum to flower 

 and which has now lost many of its 

 uppers branches. There are dead 

 branches on some of the Catawbiense 

 hybrids, and among them, in addition 

 to a number of hybrid seedlings sent 

 to the Arboretum for trial by an Eng- 

 lish nursery, the following have been 

 killed: .lames Smith. .Marshall Drooks. . 

 .Mrs. Thomas .\gnew. Marquis of 

 Waterford and Comer Waterer. One 

 specimen of Mrs. C. S. Sargent, which 

 has always been considered one of 

 the hardiest of all the Catawliiense 

 hybrids, has been so injured that it 

 will have to be removed. Uhododen- 

 dron azaleoiden. or fraijrans,. one of 

 the hybrids between a Rhododendron 

 and an Azalea, has also been killed. 



— Arnold A rhoretum Bulletin. 



