274 



GARDENING. 



J ti7i e 



SPECIMEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 



In ornamental planting, almost all 

 trees, shrubs and vines have their place. 

 If not suited to stand out as specimens 

 on their individual merits, they find their 

 indispensable place in groups, which is 

 the unit in all landscape work. So much 

 bv r way of apology to the minor position 

 of some of our beauties of nature. The 

 specimen tree or shrub must have such a 

 variety of merits in form of growth, color 

 of foliage and bark or flower that enables 

 it to assert its claim above all others in 

 its peculiar attractiveness. The student 

 of nature sees many things to please and 

 charm not seen by the heedless observer. 

 Indeed, he is almost overpowered by the 

 variety, beauty and glory of the orna- 

 mental in nature. To illustrate, take 

 Fagus sylvatica, the European beech, 

 as a parent variety from which are de- 

 rived F. cristata, crested beech, with its 

 tufts of curled foliage; F. Iwterophylla, 

 the fern-leaved beech, with its fine fern- 

 like foliage; F. laciniata, cut-leaved beech, 

 a tree of fine habit; F. cuprea, the copper 

 beech; P. purpurea Riversii. Rivers' purple 

 beech, the finest specimen of all purple- 

 leaved trees; F. var. tricolor, purple- 

 ieaved, with vivid rose border; F. var. 

 pendula, the weeping beech, a specimen 

 tree of remarkable vagaries, but very 

 impressive; and last of all but not least, 

 F. var. purpurea pendula, the weeping 

 purple-leaved beech, rare and beauti'ul, a 

 specimen in its own right. If one spe- 

 cies of tree furnishes so many varieties 

 and so many specimens where shall we 

 begin or end with our specimen varieties 

 in ornamental planting. 



Among the evergreens, remarkable 

 specimens are found in each variety of 

 that most essential growth in ornamen- 

 tal work for summerand.moreespeciallv, 

 for winter scenery. Again it seems invid- 

 ious to distinguish one beautv over an- 



other, when each has its peculiar charm 

 and use. As a specimen evergreen Abies 

 pungent, the Colorado blue spruce, stands 

 at the head, followed closely by Abies 

 concolor, the Colorado blue fir, by some 

 considered superior to the blue spruce. 

 These specimens are so rare and in such 

 demand it is somewhat difficult to obtain 

 a first class one. The color is a rare and 

 delicate sheen. 



In the long list of arbor vitaes are found 

 some rare specimens, such as Peabody's 

 Golden, twenty to twenty-five feet, one of 

 the best for its rich and constant golden 

 coloring; the Douglas Pyramidal Arbor 

 Vitae, ten to twelve feet, foliage distinct 

 and resembling a retinospora, very desir- 

 able as specimens in smaller lawns or in 

 groups of deciduous shrubbery. But for 

 specimens in smaller grounds, or grouping 

 in more extensive ones, nothing excels 

 the varieties of the Retinospora, or Jap- 

 anese arbor vitae; Rct.plumosa, fifteen to 

 twenty feet high and nearly as much in 

 diameter, a mass of delicate glaucous 

 plumev foliage; and a still more interesting 

 specimen is Ret. plumosa aurea, a strik- 

 ing form, brilliantly golden throughout 

 the season. We cannot omit mention of 

 Ret. hlifera and A'et. filifera aurea, the 

 golden thread-branched, very distinct and 

 lovely foliage. As a specimen variety the 

 Ret. sijuarrosa, fifteen to twenty feet 

 high, with steel blue colored and finely 

 feathered foliage, excels all others of this 

 most exquisite class of evergreens. These 

 rare specimens are sold at very reasonable 

 rates by some nurserymen, from one ot 

 whom I received a fine assortment of 

 hardy varieties. They require a little pro- 

 tection during the severity of lake shore 

 winters until they become acclimated 

 and well rooted. 



Returning to the deciduous trees, 

 Wier's cut-leaved maple must not be over- 

 looked as a rare and beautiful speci- 



men tree of rapid and graceful growth; 

 foliage deeply cut and of brilliant 

 green color, upon long recurving and 

 pendulous branches. Schuedler's Nor- 

 way maple, purple leaved, must not 

 be omitted from the specimen list of 

 trees. It is twenty to thirty feet in 

 height; foliage bright crimson in early 

 spring, changing to a purplish green. 

 The large nurseriescan furnish this. It is 

 valuable as a specimen tree, or grouped 

 with other trees in parks, or planted as a 

 street tree, as the writer has done in 

 front of his Springdale home. 



G. N. Cakri'tiiers. 



NUTTflLfS DOGWOOD. 



We take pleasure in presenting a picture 

 of this handsome western dogwood (Cor 

 nus Nuttalli), one among many on the 

 beautiful grounds of Mrs. C. E. Ladd, 

 Portland, Oregon. To those who have 

 seen only our eastern form (Cornus Ror- 

 iila), it may be of interest to state that 

 this one was photographed from the 

 third story of the residence, which fact 

 enables one to form some opinion of its 

 height. This species is indigenous to the 

 Pacific Coast from Monterey, California, 

 northward to the Frazer river, being a 

 a small tree in some localities, but reaching 

 height of fifty to seventy feet under favor- 

 able circumstances. It resembles the east- 

 ern form quite closely, and although con- 

 sidered a separate species by Audubon, 

 who gave it a specific name, the late A.S. 

 Fuller in his "Practical Forestry" states 

 that it may be only a western variety of 

 the eastern flowering dogwood. Its fruit 

 is a little larger than that of the latter. 

 As is generally known, what are casually 

 considered the flowers of the Cornus flor- 

 ida and this species also, are merely the 

 bracts. The flowers proper of the east- 

 ern dogwood arc small, greenish white, 

 and only noticeable upon close obscrva- 



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