THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



Not infrequently builders of houses do their own grading, or hire some 

 third-rate so-called " landscape gardener " to do the work, and scatter 

 round a few shrubs. We have seen lots of these plantings and there is 

 always a painful duplication in the stock used. Too often the soil is thin, 

 and has been improperly prepared. In such cases it is uphill work to 

 achieve success. With a good depth of loam to support lawns, flower 

 borders, or shubberies, we can reasonably look for satisfactory results, as 

 during droughty periods the plants will suffer less than those in thinner 

 soil, and their growth will be far more luxuriant. Well-rotted cow- 

 manure, when obtainable, is the best fertilizer ; stable manure comes next 

 in value. When these are not procurable, pulverized animal manures, 

 humus, and well-concentrated chemical fertilizers must be utilized. 



One of the great faults on both large and small estates is overplanting. 

 This is more especially emphasized when the work has been placed in the 

 hands of some landscape architect or nurserj^man. In such cases, the 

 usual habit is to crowd as many trees, shrubs, or plants as possible into a 

 given space without much regard to their eventual development. Shrubs 

 with a diameter, when mature, of ten to fifteen feet, will be found planted 

 twenty-four inches apart each way, in order, we are told, to make an 

 immediate effect ! In such cases, unless the owner or whoever manages 

 his place uses some judgment, a tangled mass of shrubbery will grow up 

 where there should be a few well-developed specimens, each showing their 

 individuality. 



Don't be too much impressed by the words " landscape gardener " or 

 "landscape architect" on letterheads; the former is usually a jobbing 

 gardener, and in many cases the latter may know how to design and build 

 a home, and even plot out the grounds, but when he comes to planting it, 

 he knows very little. The work had better be entrusted to some one who 

 realh" knows trees and shrubs. There are good landscape gardeners and 

 architects who are a credit to the profession, but a host of irresponsible 

 ones are now at large, and the person with the small home garden had 

 better give these persons a wide berth. 



In the way of flowering shrubs we have a rather painful repetition of 

 varieties in too many places. If a particular plant like Hydrangea pani- 

 culata grandiflora happens to be of easy culture, everyone feels they must 

 plant it. Because one man plants a blue spruce, his neighbors think they 

 should go and do likewise, oblivious of the fact that our native spruces 

 with green foliage are just as beautiful; and so on through the list. We 

 see the Japanese hydrangeas everywhere, yet we have a variety equally 

 beautiful, just as hardy, and flowering over a far longer season, in our 

 ever-blooming Hydrangea arborescens grandiflora, which flowers from 

 June until October, and carries immense circular clusters of pure white 

 flowers. We all admire the well-known mock orange, Philadelphus ccro- 

 narius, yet how few are yet growing the beautiful Lonoinei varieties, 



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