558 



HORTICULTURE 



December 27, 1919 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



I have been interested to find the 

 popular magazines taking up the idea 

 of winter gardens. It seems passing 

 strange that so little attention has 

 been given in the past, in this coun- 

 try at least, to the making of small 

 gardens or the planning of large es- 

 tates so that there would be an abun- 

 dance of color throughout the winter 

 months. There is no lack of material 

 for use in this way and when properly 

 employed it is most effective in rob- 

 bing the landscape of the drab and 

 dreary appearance by which it is too 

 often characterized. 



Of course the evergreens are of 

 paramount importance. The list of 

 those available for planting in New 

 England and other northern states is 

 not large, but fortunately it includes 

 some splendid specimens, such as 

 the native hemlock, Abies concolor, 

 the Carolina hemlock, the common 

 spruce, the white pine, and the splen- 

 did Japanese fir, Abies homolepis or 

 brachyphylla. Of course these trees 

 must be used with discretion, and are 

 less available for small places than on 

 large estates, but they can be made 

 effective by proper planting. 



Although quite different in char- 

 acter, and depending upon their bark 

 for their beauty, white birches add 

 much to the beauty of the winter land- 

 scape. It is unfortunate that many 

 birches suffer greatly from attacks of 

 borers, which pests have made the 

 growing of the cut-leaf weeping birch 

 difficult if not impossible. 



Among the smaller plants which de- 

 pend upon their bark for their winter 

 beauty none are more valuable than 

 several of the dogwoods, particularly 

 Cornus stolonifera and its variety, 

 flaviramea. The former has red stems 

 while those of the latter are yellow. 

 Cornus sibirica is another red twigged 

 dogwood while C. lutea has yellow 

 stems. 



Then there comes the green stems 

 of Kerria japonica, although it must 

 be admitted that the general habit of 

 Kerria is not as good as that of the 

 dogwood, its growth being made in a 

 straggling manner. 



Some of the willows help, too, in 

 giving a fine note of color to the 

 grounds in winter, as anyone may ob- 

 serve by walking through the Arnold 

 Arboretum at this season, when the 

 willows are well worth studying. 

 Salix vitellina has both golden and red 

 barked varieties. Given a moist and 



open situation and they impart a nice 

 note "l color. As with all willows the 

 brightest colors come on the young 

 wood, and when winter effects are de- 

 sired care should be taken to give the 

 trees a severe cutting back every 

 spring. 



Still another tree, the bark of which 

 is highly attractive in winter as well 

 as in summer, is the native beech, 

 Fagus americana. This is a noble, 

 symmetrical tree, the silvery gray 

 trunk of which stands out particularly 

 well against a mass of evergreens. 

 The English beech, P. silvatica, is also 

 attractive, but its bark is not quite so 

 highly colored as that of its American 

 cousin. This applies also to the weep- 

 ing beech, F. silvatica var. pendula. 



Another but much smaller tree 

 which may be used to advantage, is 

 the striped barked maple, Acer stria- 

 tum, a native tree which is unique be- 

 cause of the fine white stripes running 

 up and down through the wider shades 

 of green, reminding one to some ex- 

 tent of the Shadbush. 



Certain of the trees are always mak- 

 ing an appeal to the eye, even though 

 lacking in conspicuous and bright 

 colored trunks or branches. One of 

 these is the Gingko. The shape of its 

 branches is unusual and its cork-like 



bark is quite different from that of 

 most trees. The Sweet Gum, Liquid- 

 amber Styraciflua, is found witn curi- 

 ous corky protuberances on its trunk 

 and branches similar in character to 

 those found on the common burning 

 Imsh. Euonymus alatus, although not 

 so pronounced. 



Another tree which is interesting 

 because of its corky bark is the 

 Pbellodendron. 



It is unfortunate that the hawthorns 

 have been neglected for several of 

 them hold their fruit well into the 

 winter and occasionally even until 

 spring, making them among the most 

 attractive of all plants for outdoor 

 winter decoration. The hawthorn hav- 

 ing the most persistent fruit is the 

 common Washington Thorn, Crataegus 

 cordata. Others which hold their 

 fruits for a long time are C. succu- 

 lenta, C. nitida an C. pruinosa. 



The private gardener has a fine 

 subject in the baby primrose, which is 

 a splendid plant when well grown. It 

 requires a dry atmosphere and plenty 

 of ventilation when the weather Is 

 favorable for opening the ventilators. 

 The roots of these plants should be 

 watered only when moisture is abso- 

 lutely necessary, for if they are kept 

 too wet the plants will damp off. 

 These plants should be grown in a 

 house having a dry, warm atmosphere 

 and a temperature of 50° to 55°. It 

 will be worth while to give weak man- 

 ure water occasionally. 



Firs Add Much to the Beauty of the Landscape 



