CHAPTER XIII 

 PENDULOUS TREES. 



IN the garden proper, pendulous-branched, or " weeping," trees are often 

 undoubtedly very effective ornaments. But it is easy to plant them too 

 abundantly and thus produce an effect of monotony. To my mind a 

 weeping tree is seen to best advantage in a position isolated from other 

 trees. If that position be on a lawn so much the better, for nowhere 

 else do the best of weeping trees, such as the pendulous forms of holly, 

 hawthorn, ash, beech, wych elm, and birch, look so well. A weeping tree 

 is essentially a product of the garden ; it has no place in the sylva of the 

 British Isles. Therefore it is better fitted for the trim neatness of the 

 garden than anywhere else. Even in the park, where the grass is 

 grazed or only mown once annually, weeping trees do not meet one's 

 sense of fitness. On lawns near the house, weeping trees of more 

 spreading form, like the beech and wych elm, make delightful shady 

 arbours in summer. Weeping trees, again, have a peculiar value in 

 association with buildings whose contours are severe and angular, just 

 as rigid-branched trees like cedar of Lebanon enhance the effect of 

 domed buildings and rounded architectural lines generally with which 

 they may be associated. 



In the training of weeping trees it is important to attend to the 

 training up of one or more leading shoots until the tree has attained the 

 desired height. Unless this is done the tree increases extremely slowly 

 in height, and loses much in elegance by keeping low and dumpy. Many 

 weeping trees are really prostrate in habit, and unless grafted on high 

 standards or artificially trained to form an upright stem, would merely 

 remain low sprawling shrubs. On the other hand, a number of trees 

 naturally pendulous, like Salix babylonica and Tilia petiolaris, although 

 they form no distinct leader, increase sufficiently in height without 

 assistance, as does also a third type of weeping tree which forms a 

 clean erect leading shoot and stem whilst its branches are pendulous; 

 this latter type is illustrated among others by an ash, Fraxinus excelsior 

 var. Wentworthii, and a beech, Fagus sylvatica var. miltoniensis. Other 



