72 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



THE SHRUBBERY IN WINTER. 



3ff N another column a correspondent calls 

 aN attention to some winter effects in the 

 ^ wild shrubbery which interested him, 

 and, perhaps, it is worth while to repeat 

 what we have often said — that when home- 

 grounds are planted there are many cases 

 where more attention should be given to 

 their winter aspect. Where a house is oc- 

 cupied in summer only, the principal aim 

 should be to make it attractive at that sea- 

 son. There are many trees and shrubs 

 which are conspicuously beautiful in spring 

 and autumn, and, of course, there are places 

 were the selection of species and varieties 

 should be made with special reference to 

 these seasons. But where a country house 

 is occupied in winter it can readily be seen 

 that in some part of the grounds commanded 

 by the windows of rooms appropriated for 

 winter use provision should be made for the 

 prospect at this season. In the middle of 

 this century it was not uncommon to have 

 a glade or lawn in such a position bounded 

 by spruce, firs, hemlocks, pines and other 

 conifers with such broad-leaved evergreens 

 as kalmias, rhododendrons, American hol- 

 lies, and some herbaceous plants with per- 

 sistent foliage, like yuccas, for example, 

 and the whole brightened by a few shrubs 

 with colored fruit, like the Carolina rose, 

 black alder, cockspur thorn, snowberry and 

 bittersweet. Such an arrangement has 

 some merits, although the idea that this 

 green foliage brought in a touch of summer 

 when January was at its bleakest was rather 

 fanciful. Any effort lo produce summer 

 scenery in winter must be a failure, as, in- 

 deed, it ought to be, for what is desirable 

 at a particular season in the landscape is an 

 effect which will harmonize with the preval- 

 ent tone of that season, rather than one 



which conflicts with it. As a matter of fact, 

 however, there is no hint of summer in the 

 winter aspect of evergreens. In freezing 

 weather their darkened foliage only empha- 

 sizes the strength of the cold, and the par- 

 ticular human interest they have at this sea- 

 son is their hospitable suggestion of shelter 

 against the driving winds. Whatever is 

 especially home-like and companionable or 

 genial in their winter appearance is not that 

 they remind one of summer verdure, but 

 that they are sturdy enough not only to 

 brave the wildest weather, but to give us 

 some protection against its blast. 



Following the fashion imported from the 

 mother country, coniferous trees were too 

 exclusively planted in the early years of the 

 century, and we can all remember country 

 houses which were half-smothered in sum- 

 mer under the gloom of their heavy foliage. 

 Perhaps the reaction against this has been 

 too decided, and some of these trees which 

 are beautiful at all seasons are too much 

 neglected. Nevertheless, there is an abun- 

 dance of beauty and variety to be found in 

 deciduous trees and shrubs at this season, 

 and in any scheme of planting for winter 

 effect in this climate they should have the 

 largest place. Most trees have a beauty in 

 winter which is quite as distinct and indi- 

 vidual as it is in any other season. Indeed, 

 this is the best time for studying the pecu- 

 liar structure or framework of a tree — that 

 is, for noting how its branches diverge and, 

 the manner in which they break into spray. 

 The special characteristics of a particular 

 species, whether of dignity or grace, are 

 shown as well when the trees are stripped 

 of their summer garments as at any other 

 time, and never until leaves are gone can 

 we mark the peculiar beauty of the different. 



