THE GARDEN AND LA WN 



What trees shall I plant, is a question 

 so often asked, we must give a few hints 

 in reply. For clumps and thickets 

 where you wish to hide any ugly barn, 

 or other objectionable features, nothing 

 is better than the well known Norway 

 Spruce, Hard Maple, or if you choose 

 some of the quick growing willows or 

 poplars. For thickening up a border, a 

 great variety of trees and shrubs can be 

 added, and at little expense, if you will 

 go to the country and ask permission to 

 take home some of the many excellent 

 natives that grow so freely in our woods. 

 You will find the White pine, Hemlock 

 spruce, White spruce and Arbor Vitas 

 very common along the Niagara Escarp- 

 ment, and of deciduous trees, not only 

 the ones referred to, but also fine young 

 elms, beeches, oaks, basswoods, ashes, 

 hickories, birches and poplars. Besides 

 these, you will find some interesting 

 trees for special planting, as, for example, 

 Cornus florida, with its showy dress of 

 large snow white flowers appearing about 

 the first of June, and its shrubby sister 

 Cornus stolonifera, with its bright red 

 twigs, beautiful even in winter. 



Another striking native is Platanus 

 occidentalis, commonly called the But- 

 tonwood, with its peculiar bark of white 

 and drab. Another, a smaller tree, is 

 Amelanchier Canadensis, or Juneberry, 

 with early white blossoms and edible 

 fruit. Liriodendron tulipera, called the 

 Tulip tree from the shape of its flowers, 

 is also a native, not uncommon in the 

 Niagara district. It grows to a height 

 of upwards of a hundred feet. Sambucus 

 pubens, the Red berried elder, is beauti- 

 ful in fruit and well deserves a place in 

 the outside boundary of the lawn. 



For single specimens there are a good 

 many beautiful trees, such as Wier's 

 Cut Leaved maple, Scarlet oak, Catalpa 

 speciosa, Cut leaved Weeping birch, 

 Copper beech, Purple birch, Maiden 

 Hair tree. 



493 



Among the evergreens, the dwarf 

 Arbor Vitaes are very good, as Thuja 

 siberica, globosa, Tom Thumb ; but for 

 single specimens in a small yard, we 

 know of none prettier than pyra- 

 midalis, a beautiful upright grower 

 which needs no pruning to keep its 

 pyramidal form. It is beautifully adapted 

 to prominent positions near the house, 

 at the corner of a path or near the 

 porch. Similar use can be made of 

 some of the upright Junipers, e.g., those 

 known as the Swedish and Irish Junipers. 

 Juniperus Virginiana is pretty for its 

 berries, but the color is almost too dark 

 a green to suit me. 



Pinus Cembra, a Swiss pine, is a 

 pretty, slow-growing conifer for the small 

 lawn. 



Of the spruces, I believe I would 

 prefer our own White spruce, Picea 

 alba, to the grand, but too rapid grow- 

 ing and less durable Picea excelsa (Nor- 

 way Spruce, which is too rampant for 

 small yards, and yet we often see these 

 giant plants as a hedge for small lawns, 

 close along a narrow walk, by people 

 who never realize that it will grow to an 

 enormous size, and unless cut back 

 annually, cover an area on the ground 

 of thirty feet in diameter. 



Of exotic shrubs valuable for Ontario, 

 the following are hardy in the latitude 

 of Hamilton, Viburnum opulus, Syringa 

 vulgaris, Persica and others, Philadelphus 

 Coronarius (Mock Orange), Rhus Co- 

 tinus (Purple Fringe). The Spiraeas, 

 Diervilla Japonica Weigelia rosea Pru- 

 nus nana (Flowering almond), Forsythia, 

 Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, Paul's 

 Double Red and White Thorn, Ptunus 

 Pissardii (Purple leaved plum), Lonicera 

 Tartarica (Tartarian honeysuckle), Sym 

 phoricarpus racemosus (Snowberry), 

 Viburnum plicatum (Japan Snow Ball), 

 Ligustrum vulgare (privet), Mahonia 

 aquifolia (Dwarf holly evergreen), Pyrus 



