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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



December, 191 4. 



One of Seven Flower Bed* Planted Last Spring by the Gait Horticultural Society 



For three years the members of the Gait Horticultural Society have been conducting a campaign 

 of civic beautifioation. It hae been, attended by excellent results. Many former unsightly BDOte 

 have been transformed. The school children have been Interested. 



Lastly comes the "Reflexed" Japanese, 

 where all the florets or jsetals are shorter 

 and have a sharp downward turn at 

 the tip. 



If the two main divisions are kept 

 well in mind, there only remains to re- 

 member the Pompon, the Single or 

 Daisy, the Anemone, and the Reflexed. 



With very little shelter, all those var- 



ieties may be grown together and in 

 profusion, and while the highest skill is 

 required to produce blooms for exhibi- 

 tion purposes, there is no other flovv-er 

 at this season of the year which can 

 afford us so much pleasure or give us so 

 much variety of bloom and color as the 

 chrysanthemum, or which can be more 

 easily cultivated. 



Hardy Conifer s^^ 



W. T. Macoun, Dominion 



THERE are many varieties of the 

 American Arbor Vitae, Thuya oc- 

 cidentalis, no less than seventy- 

 two having been grown at Ottawa. 

 There are a few, however, that are out- 

 standing:. The ordinary wild form makes 

 a beautiful evergreen, and when grown 

 in masses with the branches sweeping 

 the ground they are very effective. It 

 makes the most satisfactory evergreen 

 hedge at Ottawa. 



Among the best varieties are Ellwan- 

 geriana of compact, rather dwarf but 

 vigorous habit and having slender 

 leaves and branches ; Hoveii of rather 

 dwarf habit with bright green leaves 

 and the branches flat and parallel, giving 

 the shrub a remarkable and attractive 

 appearance; Compacta, a dwarf com- 

 pact, roundish shaped variety with bright 

 green leaves; Pyramidalis, a very com- 

 pact upright grower. Its colummar 

 form makes it one of the most con- 

 spicuous objects on the grounds ; Saun- 

 dersii, a somewhat pyramidal form with 

 deep green foliage and somewhat twisted 

 branchlets ; Douglas'-Golden, probably 

 the best golden-leaved form, and the So- 

 called Siberian Arbor-vitae, T. occiden- 

 talis Wareania, which in the severest 

 winters has not been injured, while al- 

 most every other variety has been. It 

 is compact, of semi-dwarf habit, and 

 has deep green blunt leaves, which keep 

 their color in winter. Thuya plicata or 



Horticulturist. Ottawa 



gigantea, the species which grows wild 

 in British Columbia and which makes a 

 very beautiful tree there, does not suc- 

 ceed very well in the drier atmosphere 

 of Ontario. 



THE HEMLOCKS 



The hemlocks are beautiful, graceful 

 trees, and while rather slow growing, 

 eventually become magnificent speci- 

 mens. The native species of Eastern 

 Canada, Tsugra canadensis, is the most 

 satisfactory. As an evergreen hedge it 

 is very attractive, and on account of its 

 slow growth can readily be kept within 

 bounds, but should not be used where 

 a quick effect is desired on this account. 



THE SPRUCES 



There are three species of spruce na- 

 tive to Eastern Canada, namely the 

 white, red, and black, but the white is 

 much the best for ornamental purposes, 

 and the black spruce has not done well 

 under cultivation at Ottawa. It grows 

 naturally in swampy ground and appears 

 stunted when grown in well drained 

 soil. The red spruce, which is a very 

 prominent tree in the Maritime Pro- 

 vinces, is a good deal like the Norway 

 spruce in. color of foliage, but is not as 

 graceful a tree as the Norway. The 

 white spruce is, however, a very desir- 

 able tree. One should get the bluest 

 specimens that can be obtained as in- 

 dividual trees vary much in color, some 

 being much bluer than others. This na- 

 tive spruce is a more graceful tree than 



the Colorado blue or Rocky Mountain 

 blue spruce, but both are necessary. 

 VVheie there is only room for one the 

 preference is given to the Colorado blue, 

 as one cannot get quite as blue an effect 

 from the white spruce and the Colorado 

 blue spruce takes less room. Moreover, 

 the white spruce suffers from the Spruce 

 Gall Louse, which in recent years has 

 injured the appearance of it. The variety 

 of Colorado blue spruce known as Kos- 

 teriana is particularly blue. They are 

 obtained grafted. If one has a large 

 place and needs many trees the cheapest 

 way to obtain blue specimens of this 

 spruce is to buy small mixed seedlings 

 and select those of best color, as the 

 Coi'jrado blue spruce varies from a most 

 attractive shade of steely blue to green, 

 and all gradations are found in the seed- 

 lings. Well grown specimens of the 

 bluest shades are expensive. This spriace 

 is one of the hardiest. It succeeds well 

 in the prairie provinces, where the tem- 

 peratures are very low sometimes. It 

 is a rather slow grower, but eventually 

 reaches a good height. 



One of the best spruces is a western 

 native species, Englemann's spruce, which 

 grows in the Rocky Mountains. This 

 does very well at Ottawa. It has a 

 more graceful outline than the Colorado 

 Blue Spruce and while the leaves are not 

 quite so blue they are of an attractive 

 bluish green shade. The Norway Spruce 

 has been planted on private grounds in 

 Canada, more, perhaps, than any other 

 species. There are several reasons for 

 this. It is one of the cheapest spruces 

 to buy; it grows rapidly; and it is quite 

 ornamental particularly for the first 

 twenty-five or thirty years. The Norway 

 Spruce is the fastest growing spruce of 

 all the species which have been tested at 

 Ottawa. Its pendulous branches make 

 individual specimens very attractive and 

 its large cones add alsoto its interest. It 

 has been much used for wind-breaks in 

 the province of Ontario and is very de- 

 sirable for this purpose. Many hedges 

 have been made of this tree and where 

 they get plenty of light are quite satis- 

 factory, but if the hedges are shaded 

 they lose their foliage at the bottom. 

 There are large numbers of dwarf, varie- 

 gated and weeping forms of the Norway 

 Spruce but none of them are very attrac- 

 tive. The Servian Spruce, Picea Omor- 

 ica, is a beautiful species which it was 

 thought was going to be hardy at Ot- 

 tawa, but in a very severe winter it was 

 killed back. Picea bicolor or Alcockiana 

 is a handsome hardy distinct species. 

 The dark green of the upper part of the 

 leaves and the bluish silvery green of the 

 lower surface, make it very attractive. 



The outdoor hydrangea does not re- 

 quire any protection during winter. — 

 Wm. Hunt, O.A.C., Guelph, Ont. 



