PLANTING 



PLANTING 



2681 



ing touch of loveliness by encouraging mosses on the 

 shady side and lichens on the sunny. This type of 

 garden is not common in America because it is very 

 costly to make and also to maintain, owing to the 

 higher cost of skilled labor for training fruits. Moreover, 

 a wall is not necessary in our own hot summer climate 

 for the ripening of grapes and peaches. However, the 

 walled garden will gradually increase in numbers, for 

 several reasoas: It offers better protection from thieves 

 than hedges or shrubbery; it makes a kitchen-garden 

 yield from one to three months longer by giving pro- 

 tection from cutting winds and frost; it makes a shel- 

 tered outdoor playground for children in winter; it 

 makes an effective background for hardy perennial 

 flowers; and it gives privacy and charm, which gardens 

 open to every eye do not possess. 



Wall-gardening, on the other hand, is a modern 

 application, growing out of the English passion for 

 alpine flowers and based largely upon the fact that many 

 of these exquisite flowers perish in the hardy borders, 

 because of the wet English winters, but flourish per- 

 manently in the chinks of a wall, where they get better 

 drainage. This is true of wallflowers and snapdragons, 

 which have glorified many ruins for centuries, while on 

 the level ground they are short-lived. Thus, dry-walling 

 became fashionable at the beginning of the twentieth 

 century. It was customary, whenever grading opera- 

 tions left a bank of earth, to put in a retaining wall, 

 avoiding cement, and laying alpine plants between the 

 stones. The popularity of this type of garden is attested 

 by Gertrude Jekyll's "Wall- and Water-Gardens," 

 which has thirty-three plates illustrating the construc- 

 tion and main floral effects. Steps are commonly made 

 in such a way that nearly all parts not actually needed 

 for treading are filled with carpets and cushions of rock- 

 loving flowers. 



In America, wall-gardening was welcomed as an 

 opportunity to replace some of the artificial, monoto- 

 nous, and ill-kept grass-banks by retaining-walls clothed 

 with the natural and varied beauty of flowers. Unfor- 

 tunately, much of the most refined beauty of English 

 wall-gardens, such as the mossy saxifrages give, is 

 impossible here, because the hot summers are unfavora- 

 ble to the choicer alpines. Analysis of the four largest 

 and most successful examples of wall-gardening known 

 in America in 1914 shows that great and new beauty 

 has been achieved in this way, but that the largest 

 floral effects are made by plants that are not particu- 

 larly associated with mountains or rocks and which are 

 easy to grow in ordinary gardens without the expense 

 of dry-walling. Such desert plants as the houseleeks 

 and stonecrops spread over large areas. Other suc- 

 cesses are rock cress (Arabis albida), woolly chickweed 

 (Cerastium tomentosum) , snow-in-summer, woodruff, 

 wild pinks, alpine forget-me-nots, Kenilworth ivy, and 

 veronicas. Such carpets, however, do not have the 

 charm of the dainty rosettes and mossy cushions of the 

 high-altitude alpines, such as saxifrages, primroses, 

 gentians, and edelweiss. 



It is possible to have some of these finer things, if 

 one does not stuff the walls with too much earth. This 

 practice, which seems reasonable to every beginner, 

 encourages the plants to make roots within the walls, 

 and such roots are naturally destroyed by the first hot 

 weather. It is better to give them a little grit and only 

 a pinch of earth, so as to force the plants to send long 

 roots through the walls into the earth banks where they 

 will find the moisture, coolness, and drainage that are 

 demanded by high alpines. 



Steps have been successfully filled in America with 

 chink-loving flowers, but most gardeners are conserva- 

 tive about experimenting, declaring that the colder 

 winters of America will cause damage to stone and 

 flowers by the heaving action of frost. It is certainly 

 unwise to have wide spaces between stones filled with 

 material that will expand too much, but the aim should 



be to give the plants as little root-room and food as pos- 

 sible in order to encourage their rooting outside the 

 stonework. WILHELM MILLER. 



Screen-planting. 



From the landscape architect's point of view, screen- 

 planting may be used to hide unsightly objects, to 

 afford protection from prevalent winds, to give a back- 

 ground to the house, to lend an air of privacy and 

 seclusion, or sometimes to add an ornamental feature. 

 It may take the form of deep border planting, nar- 

 row hedge lines or 

 mere vine-covered 

 screens. Trees, 

 shrubs, and vines 

 are all avail- 

 able; but, what- 

 ever is used, the 

 denser its habit of 

 growth, the better 

 screen it will 

 make. Other 

 things being 

 equal, evergreens 

 are better than 

 deciduous plants, 

 for the latter lose 

 their leaves in 

 winter. However, 

 if evergreens are 

 not available, 

 there are still 

 many deciduous 

 plants whose 

 dense habit of 

 growth make a 

 good screen even 

 after the leaves are 

 gone. A border 

 planting, as in Fig. 2999, is really a screen against 

 objects l>3yond; so also are such cover-plantings as 

 those in Figs. 3000, 3001, 3031 and others. The real 

 screens, however, are those plantings made for this 

 particular purpose, mostly narrow in form but dense. 



Vines for screen-planting. 



For brick, stone, tree-trunks, or other solid surfaces. 

 Deciduous: 



Hydrangea petiolaris (climbs by root-like holdfasts). 



Parthenocissus quinquefolia var. Engelmannii. A variety of 

 Virginia creeper with disks, or suckers, on the ends of the ten- 

 drils, which enable the plant to fasten itself to a surface. 



Parthenocissus tricuspidata var. Veitchii. 

 Evergreen: 



Evonymus radicans var. vegeta (climbs by root-like holdfasts). 



Hedera helix. Somewhat tender; in the N. should be planted 

 where it will be shaded from winter sun or at least have its 

 roots thoroughly mulched and the ground shaded by low 

 growth about its base; climbs by root-like holdfasts. 

 Rapid-growing vines for banks or unsightly objects. 

 Annuals: 



Boussingaultia baselloides. Twining tender perennial treated 

 as an annual, growing from 10 to 15 feet a season; roots 

 must be taken up and stored away from frost. 



Calonyction aculeatum (twining). 



Echinocystis lobata (self -seeding -^tendrils). 



Humulus japonicus (twining). 



Ipomcea purpurea (twining). 



Phaseolus multiflorus (tendrils). 



Herbaceous perennials (dying down to the ground but springing 

 up again from the root): 



Ipomoea pandurata (twining). This and next have fleshy roots 

 and may become a nuisance if allowed to spread. 



Pueraria hirsuta. This is known also in commerce as Dolichos 



japonicus; grows 40 feet in a season; twining. 

 Woody perennials (woody stem persisting above ground). 



Actinidia arguta (twining). 



Aristolochia macrophyUa (A. Sipho) (twining). 



Celastrus scandens (twining). 



Lonicera japonica var. Halliana (twining). 



Lycium chinense and L. halimifolium. Both are shrubs with 

 recurving trailing stems which do not twine. Plant must 

 be fastened to its support. Excellent to hold banks, but 

 very vigorous and may become a nuisance. 



3031. A screen subject in a corner. 



