178 



GARDEISERS' CHRONICLE 



Beautifying Home Surroundings 



ARTHUR SMITH 



THE next important feature is the lawn, which is in 

 a double sense the groundwork of the gartlen pic- 

 ture, and a good, open lawn is the natural founda- 

 tion of a natural landscape. 



We emphasize the necessitj- that the lawn should be 

 a good one. otherwise it will always remain a blot upon 

 the picture, however beautiful the other features may be. 

 A properly made lawn, suitably cared for. will continue 

 a good lawn for all time. It is therefore worth wdiile to 

 construct it right at the outset, as this is the only w'ay to 

 ensure success. \^'e are aware, however, that there are 

 in this country climatic conditions existing which entirely 

 prevent the formation of perennial lawns, and tliat they 

 have to be sown or otherwise remade, every season. 



Speaking generally, with due regard to the fact that 

 Bvery rule has its exceptions, all the center and interior 

 of any constructed landscape should be devoted to open 

 lawn, and in all cases a lawn should be as large and as 

 little interrupted as conditions will permit, with plant- 

 ings confined to the boundaries. 



The actual surface of a lawn should of course be 

 smooth, but it is unnecessary to alter the grade to an 

 absolute level : in fact an undulating or sloping contour 

 is a distinct advantage because it is more natural. Some- 

 times, to obtain this natural effect, undulations are made, 

 but this requires considerable care so as to avoid tlie 

 slightest appearance of artificiality. 



In connection with lawns of considerable extent, it is 

 permissible to have a few really good trees growing 

 away from the boundary plantings, mainly towards the 

 sides, with one or more about two-tliirds of the length 

 of the lawn distant from the house. Trees used for this 

 purpose should be something really worth while and not 

 common-place, and they should have sufficient room not 

 only for the spread of their branches, such spread being 

 invariably equal to the height of the tree, but also to 

 always aft'ord a vista between them. Trees on lawns 

 should not be placed closer than fifty or sixty feet from 

 each other. 



It appears, to say the least, somewhat in bad taste to 

 desecrate a lawn with what we term "horticultural mon- 

 strosities" like weeping trees, plants trimmed into 

 grotesque or other unnatural .shapes, or anything com- 

 ing under the head of toi)iary work. We recently saw 

 in the center of a lawn a planting of Privet which is 

 kept trimmed in the form of a couch and two chairs. It 

 is imi)ossible to imagine what beauty can be discovered 

 in this kind of thing; it does not even have the excuse 

 claimed for some garden discords, that it is useful for 

 the purpose which the articles of furniture are made for. 

 Topiary work may be clever and require skill, but those 

 liking it should relegate their collection of furniture, 

 zoological specimens, and other freaks, ci instructed from 

 living plants, to a place by themselves, entirely shut off 

 from the landscape, as features of this character can 

 never become part of a landscape but only excrescences 

 upon it. 



Having the lawn entirely open to the street prevents a 

 garden in its real sense existing at all, as the word garden 

 means "enclosed space.'' Seclusion and privacy are 

 certainly desirable if only for the purpose of checking 

 the entrance of flust. noise and the smell of combusted 

 gasoline. 



Deciduous flowering shrubs are the most important 

 element in boundary plantings, although unfortimately 



too many of them contain nothing else. In selecting 

 plants for this purpose, effects for all the year should 

 be provided for. To this end interplanting with some 

 evergreens is conducive, as it will not only increase the 

 color and texture in the Winter, but will also give that 

 feeling of seclusion which is as important at that season 

 as in Summer. Then there are the important points of 

 •Autumn colored foliage and berried effects to be pro- 

 vided for during wdiat is sometimes erroneously called 

 the dead season; the latter not only for beauty but to 

 feed the birds. 



We have previously called attention to the desirability 

 of lifting our shrubberies out of the region of the com- 

 monplace. One may pass many gardens in succession in 

 each of which the planting is confined to the same four or 

 five species of siirubs, such as lilacs, forsythia, snowball, 

 mock orange and deutzia. These are of course all beau- 

 tiful, and one would not care for a garden entirely with- 

 out them, at the same time endeavor should be made to 

 do away with the monotony by having something differ- 

 ent and making use of some of the less common and 

 rarer subjects. 



It is of course impossible, without copying a nursery 

 catalog, to mention all the shrubs which are worth 

 while planting, we therefore confine ourselves to calling 

 attention to a few of those deserving of greater recog- 

 nition and of more extensive use. 



We have always considered that greater ap[>reciation 

 should be accorded to our native plants, more especially 

 wh.en we have to deal with difficult situations in which 

 shrubs and trees indigenous to the locality are certain to 

 be successful. Those members of the Rhododendron 

 genus known as .\zaleas fit in well with other shrubs. 

 All the native Azaleas are deciduous and are more or less 

 sweet scented and afford a succession of flowers from 

 April to June. Interesting and instructive articles by 

 Frank Meyer upon Rhododendrons are now appearing 

 in this journal which readers will do well to study. The 

 native \'iburnums are all good and have the advantage 

 over those known as .Snowballs in that they produce 

 beautiful fruit. Others of this genus such as the Japan- 

 ese dilatafuni and Sieboldii are valuable for the same 

 reason. Another rare shrub, Syniplociis paniculata, has 

 berries of the exceptional color of lovelx' tnrc|uoise 

 blue. 



The Cotoncasters appear to be little known, but they 

 are all pleasing for their flowers and fruit; those which 

 are evergreen arc additionally valuable for that reason. 

 Some species of this are less hardy than others. .\ val- 

 uable shrub for its edible fruit is Elcagiuts longifcs. It 

 is also worth planting for the distinct silvery hue of its 

 foliage. There is no genus of shrubs which gives a 

 longer ]>eriod of beauty in some form or another than 

 Bcrhcris, several species of which have .some attractive 

 feature in every month of the year. The sjiecies best 

 known in the more northern -ilates is thunhcrgii: this is 

 absolutely hardy and should \iv mure used for Iiedgc pur- 

 poses instead of the more tender .nnd less beautiful Privet. 

 The most beautiful of this genus is dan^'inii. but this 

 unfortunalely is not hardy in the north. .Among others 

 which are hardy in the latitude of N'cw A'ork mav be 

 mentioned, arislnia with red flowers in June: ainurcnsis 

 and diaphana, the l.itter being c|uite dwarf. Bcrhcris tuI- 

 gari.\ and its varieties may be left out of consideration, as 

 thev are the intcrmedinto hosts to a rust attacking wheat. 



