CHAPTER XXVIII 



PLANTS FOR UNDERGROWTH PLANTING IN 

 WOODED AREAS 



THE plants which most successfully fill the requirements for under- 

 growth planting are our native woodland species. These requirements 

 are mainly the ability to succeed in partial or dense shade and also to 

 survive the struggle for moisture, food, and room which always exists 

 in a naturalistic planting where the ground below and the air above 

 are already well occupied by large trees. Our northern forests con- 

 tain a profusion of plants which will succeed as undergrowth. But 

 too often in the past not enough care has been taken to choose only 

 those plants which are desirable from an ornamental point of view. It 

 is possible, however, to select from the large amount of available mate- 

 rial all the plants which are necessary to carry out an undergrowth 

 planting on any scale, and at the same time use only plants which are 

 desirable on account of their flowering habits, their fruits, the autumn 

 colouration of their leaves, their evergreen character, or some equally 

 valuable characteristic quality. 



One of the best examples of a successful shrub for undergrowth is the 

 well-known maple-leaved viburnum, which produces white flowers in 

 June and blue fruits in the autumn, and whose leaves in autumn have a 

 striking pink colour. Other shrubs which lend themselves very readily 

 to undergrowth planting are the sweet pepper bush, with its profuse 

 white flowers; the Carolina allspice, on account of its fragrance and 

 autumn colour; and the chokeberries and winterberry, useful for their 

 striking autumn fruits. Among the coniferous evergreens the native 

 hemlock and the balsam fir are very satisfactory plants. The Douglas 

 spruce also promises well and is adaptable to almost any soil. 



In choosing smaller plants of perennial herbaceous character much 

 care should be taken to avoid weedy species or those without some 

 especially worth-while characteristic. There are many native forms 

 which are valuable for their green foliage alone, such as the Christmas 

 fern, which is evergreen also, the ostrich fern, Clayton's fern, and the 



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