146 



• * • GARDENING. 



Feb. /, 



PLAN FOR A SUBURBAN LOT 



a mistake to hide them in this way. The 

 architecture, whatever the style, shcmld 

 be good and distinct in each case, and it 

 will be found that good architecture is 

 always ornamental with appropriate 

 environment. 



fl SUBURBAN LOT. 



The accompanying plan made for Mr. 

 J. E. Porter, of Sewicklev, shows an 

 unconventional treatment of a corner lot 

 that few people would have the courage 

 to carry out Yet it has many attrac- 

 tions and advantages for the own- 

 ers and their friends. The objection is 

 likely to be urged that the public can not 

 see the garden from the street, but neither 

 is the interior of the house to be seen from 

 the highway, and privacy in the garden is 

 as certainly desirable as it is in the library 

 or dining room, and all the public the 

 owner is interested in will be invited to 

 enjoy his garden as well as the hospi- 

 tality of his house. The plea that it is 

 selflsh to exclude the public from one's 

 grounds is not reasonable. I never knew 

 of anybody being kept out of a garden 

 that cared enough about it to ask to see 

 it, and the charm and beauty of a garden 

 is greatly enhanced by shutting out of 

 view the dirt and ugliness of the street. 



EXPLANATION OF PLAN. 



1. Masses of shrubs, evergreen and 

 decidious, small trees with a few groups 

 of bold herbaceous plants. 2. Crab ap- 

 ple. 3. Hardy perennials. 4. Magnolia 

 conspicua. 5. Japanese maples. 6. Rho- 

 dodendrons with Lilium auratum planted 

 among them. 7. Japanese snowball. 8. 

 Paulownia imperialis, to be cut to the 

 ground every spring. 9. Pin oak. 10. 

 Pyrus Toringo. 11. Rhododendron Er- 

 erestianum. 12. Lonicera Bella Rosea. 



13. Group of Aralia Japonica. 14. Old 

 spreading Seckle pear. 15. Tulip tree. 16. 

 Tulip tree. 17. White birch. 18. Low 

 spreading old apple tree. 19. White 

 birch. 20. Scarlet oak. 21, 22, 23, 24. 

 Cedar or locust saplings to be covered 

 with vines, for clothesline posts. 25. 

 Arched entrance to be covered with Rosa 

 Wichuraiana. 26. Border of hybrid per- 

 petual roses. 27. Scarlet maple. 28. 

 California privet hedge. 20. Pin oaks 

 planted forty feetapart between curb and 

 sidewalk. 



In addition to planting shown on plan 

 the following vines are to be planted to 

 shade porch, Hall's honeysuckles, Crim- 

 son Rambler roses, Chinese wistarias and 

 Clematis paniculata. Awpelopsis Roylei 

 is to be planted to cover brick walls of 

 house. J. Wilkinson Elliott. 



EVERGREENS IN WINTER ATTIRE. 



At this season of the year, Januarv, 

 the color of many evergreens is so differ- 

 ent from what it is in summer and in 

 many cases so beautiful, that I am sure 

 some notes regarding the subject will be 

 of interest to many. In this vicinity we 

 rarely get early snows, hence it is quite 

 customary to plant certain evergreens 

 especially for their color in early winter, 

 and I could name several owners of nice 

 grounds who plant beds of the various 

 kinds, chiefly for the pleasure the various 

 colors of the evergreens afford. 



In this connection we owe a good deal 

 to the retinosporas from Japan, as we do 

 as well for their usefulness at all times. 

 I think it is generally understood that all 

 the varieties of this evergreen belong to 

 one or the other of two species, pisifera 

 and obtusa. I will, therefore, allude to 

 them by their garden names. R. plumosa 

 aurea is well known. It is a bushy 



grower, the latest growth always a good 

 yellow. About the commencement of 

 November there is a deepening of color. 

 R. pisifera aurea has a freer and much 

 prettier growth. The yellow tips are of a 

 deep, pleasing tint at the present time. 

 There is a pretty dwarf-growing variety 

 of it, called R. pisifera aurea nana, the 

 color of which is even deeper than that of 

 its parent. One called R. Sieboldii is 

 noticed more than any other. It is now 

 a deep bluish purple, which color it holds 

 till spring. It is universally planted for 

 the purpose spoken of, and is very useful 

 up to a size of about three feet, after 

 which, in these parts, it does not thrive 

 well, seeming to lose its lower foliage. 

 R. squarrosa is the well known steel, or 

 grey colored one, pretty at all seasons of 

 the year. The dwarf one known as R. 

 obtusa nana aurea is pretty now, the 

 golden color being more pronounced than 

 it is in summer. R. ericoides takes on a 

 reddish grey color, while A'. leptoclada is 

 darker, more like iron. R. filifera, some- 

 times called the weeping retinospora, is 

 well known. There is a golden form of 

 it, which is ver3' pretty. R. plumosa 

 argentea is of a silvery color. There are 

 little white shoots appearing here and 

 there among the foliage, giving it the 

 appearance, to some extent, of having 

 been in a light snowstorm. 



Among biotas the common golden arbor- 

 vita;, B. aurea, changes to a pleasing 

 light bronze color. But the gem among 

 them is Rollinson's golden, B. elegantis- 

 sinui. This assumes a deep flame color, 

 beautiful, and differing in color from all 

 others. It is one to be well recommended. 

 The Thujas, arbor-vita:, furnish several. 

 The dwarf one, T. occidentalis ericoides, 

 is of an iron red color, and T. Meebam 

 has golden tinted tops. The best by a 



