14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



August 27, 1908. 



house of Muscat and Hambro grapes 

 and two fine divisions of English melons; 

 also a good house of tomatoes. Fewer 

 flowers for cutting were being grown 

 than usual, in the family's absence this 

 season. 



At Edgar Scott's, A. Mitchell gar- 

 dener, we saw an interesting garden of 

 the old-fashioned type, containing a 

 wealth of flowers, but somehow these 

 lady aesigners do not produce the pleas- 

 ing effects of some of their male com- 

 petitors. Sweet peas, hybrid tea roses 

 and carnations outdoors were good here. 



At D. C. Blair's estate, Blair Eyrie, 

 there are, among other features, an 

 Italian garden and rose garden. The 

 grounds are picturesque and commanding 

 views are to be had from the highest 

 points. Eugene Mitchell is gardener 

 here. 



A. W. Ekstrom has charge of the es- 

 tate of Joseph Pulitzer and his produc- 

 tions prove him to be an expert plants- 

 man. We were unable to see the grounds 

 to good advantage, owing to a drenching 

 rain, but they were attractive and the 

 ocean view was superb. 



Joseph S. Kennedy has a large and 

 tastefully laid out estate, one of the 

 most interesting it has been our lot to 

 see. The Italian garden appealed to 

 us strongly. There are many larger 

 and more expensively constructed ones, 

 but we have not seen any which give 

 the seclusion and generally restful feel- 

 ing of this one. There are no paths, 

 but velvety turf, with occasional speci- 

 mens growing from beds of pentste- 

 mons, calceolarias, swainsona, verbenas 

 and other plants blooming superbly, side 

 borders of perennials and lilies and ev- 

 erything in perfect taste. Sweet peas 

 here were unusually fine, growing with 

 a vigor sufficient to excite the envy of 

 anyone from a warmer and drier clime. 

 In the greenhouses several divisions are 

 devoted to melons, one to peaches and 

 nectarines, and others to begonias, 

 gloxinias, geraniums and other summer 

 flowers. Mr. Burton, the skillful gar- 

 dener here, has everything in splendid 

 condition. 



E. C. Cushman, John Benwick gar- 

 dener, was one of the most successful 

 exhibitors at the late show, capturing 

 no less than twenty-one first premiums. 

 His big specimens of fibrous begonias 

 in tubs were a feature on the lawn. 

 Pentstemons, phlox, cannas, tuberous be- 

 gonias, salpiglossis, geraniums and hy- 

 brid tea roses were all unusually fine. 



W. N. Cbaig. 



PLANTING FOR WINTER EFFECT 

 Br Gkorge E. McCI/URE, Buffalo, N. Y. 

 [Presented to the Society of American Flo- 

 rists, In convention at Niagara Falls, August 

 18 to 21. 1008.] 



During the really marvelous decade 

 through which we have passed, in which 

 the masses have shown a response to the 

 education which has been imparted to 

 them by the many landscape gardeners, 

 artists and nature lovers who have la- 

 bored with such untiring devotion to the 

 cause of outdoor art, the people of the 

 northern states have learned to appre- 

 ciate the beauties of the winter season. 

 To many, no doubt, the term winter is 

 equivalent to death, in that all activity 

 of growth is at rest; they do not realize 

 that rest is as necessary as growth and 

 that even in the tropics therfe is a season 

 of rest, though it may not be expressed 

 in the same manner as in our snow-bound 

 latitudes. Yet to others winter means 

 only a change from the pervading green 

 of summer, through the high coloration 



of fall, to the gray effect of the woods 

 and the brilliant berry and evergreen 

 effects with a groundwork and back- 

 ground of glistening snow. The subtle 

 effects are always lost in summer by the 

 massive foliage and it is only the hand 

 of winter that can reveal them to us. 



The Long Northern Winters* 



When we realize that in the northern 

 parts of the northenl states there is a 

 winter season of from four to five 

 months' duration, it behooves us to study 

 our material thoroughly, in order to 

 make our home surroundings, whether 

 large estates or small city lots, as at- 

 tractive and delightful as the art of the 

 landscape artist can suggest. 



The aim of this paper, which might 

 more properly be called "Planting for 

 Winter Effect in the Northern Part of 

 the Northern States," is to stimulate the 

 growing desire of aesthetic people in this 

 belt of our country to produce landscape 

 pictures which will gladden and cheer 



The Kdltor Is pleased 

 when a Reader 

 presents his Ideas 

 on any subject treated In 



t'Jf^ 



As experience Is the best 

 teacher, so do we 

 learn fastest by aa 

 ezohanKe of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 are brought out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanship, spelling and gram- 

 mar, thoufrti desirable, are not neces- 

 sary. Write as you would talk when 

 doing your best. 



WK SHALL. BE GLAD 

 TO HCAR FROM TOU. 



through the winter season. Although 

 many excellent articles have appeared in 

 recent years in our best journals on the 

 subject of planting for winter effect, yet 

 almost all of this valuable information 

 has been written for winter effects which 

 could be produced in the latitude of New 

 York city or along the Atlantic coast as 

 far north as Boston, and in many cases 

 this information, as applied to the region 

 of the Great Lakes, has often resulted in 

 partial, if not complete, failure. This 

 has served to discourage those who 

 sought to reproduce the winter pictures 

 painted by writers from a more tem- 

 perate region. Although a great many 

 of the trees and shrubs which are useful 

 for planting for winter effect come from 

 foreign lands and are useful in this coun- 

 try only when extremes in temperature 

 are not very severe, yet a long list of 

 iron-clad materials is at hand to select 

 from for the extremely cold regions of 

 our northern states. 



The Beautiful Winter Woods. 



When we contemplate planting for 

 winter effect, the mind turns first to the 



evergreens, then to berry plants, and to 

 the bright colored branches of the dog- 

 woods and osiers, etc., but seldom do we 

 think of the beautiful effect of the win- 

 ter woods, the persistent foliage of some 

 of the beeches and oaks, which, although 

 brown and dry, yet is cheerful in its ef- 

 fect. Little is thought of the beautiful 

 shades of brown, gray and white, in the 

 trunk and branch, or of the variety of 

 the framework of the various trees, 

 which gives an element of strength to 

 the winter landscape, or of the variety 

 in trees and shrubs, in the delicate 

 tracery of their smaller twigs, as evi- 

 denced by some of the birches and alders, 

 etc., in the trees, and in the shrubs by 

 such as Stephanandra flexuosa, the coral 

 berry (Symphoricarpus vulgaris) and 

 some of the spiraeas. 



Deciduous Trees in Winter. 



Among the deciduous trees which are 

 attractive during winter might be men- 

 tioned the oriental plane ^_i-latanus occi- 

 dentalis), which, with its pendent balls 

 of fruit borne high against the sky, 

 seems to take away the barrenness of 

 the deciduous trees, and is suggestive of 

 the Christmas decorations so admired by 

 the young folks, on Christmas trees. 

 While this tree is beautiful in winter, it 

 has also much to recommend it as a fast- 

 growing tree for summer effect. Its 

 beautiful bark, with the irregular patches 

 of green and gray, are also interesting in 

 the winter season. In much the same 

 manner the liquidambar (Liquidambar 

 styraciflua) is interesting, with its fruit 

 in pendent spiked balls. Its symmetrical 

 form of growth and extremely corky 

 branches are noticeable to those who are 

 only casual observers. The shellbark 

 hickory (Hicoria ovata), while suggest- 

 ive of strength, is also especially inter- 

 esting on account of its peculiar bark 

 formation, which is unlike that of any 

 other common species of tree. If plante<l 

 near the shellbark hickory and other 

 trees with rough bark, the American 

 beech (Fagus ferruginpa) shows to ad- 

 vantage, as its gray bark is the smooth- 

 est of any of our hardy American trees, 

 and never fails to attract attention from 

 those who seek the beauties of winter 

 as found in our woods. It is also espe- 

 cially attractive in winter, as the young 

 trees often hold their dry leaves, as do 

 some of the oaks, well into the winter. 



Among other trees which might be 

 mentioned as being attractive in winter, 

 from the standpoint of their bark colora- 

 tion, are: The yellow branched linden 

 (Tilia platyphyllos var. aurea), the 

 Babylonian willow (Salix Baoylonica), 

 and the white willow (Salix alba), with 

 its brownish yellow branches; the white 

 poplar (Populus alba) and its fastigiate 

 variety, Bolleana, with their gray-green 

 bark; Acer Pennsylvanicum, with its 

 white striped bark and greenish twigs; 

 the redHsirch (Betula nigra), with its 

 brown bark; the canoe birch (Betula pa- 

 pyrifera). The white birch (Betula po- 

 pulifelia), and the European white birch 

 (Betula alba) are the most beautiful 

 white-barked trees. Their graceful out- 

 lines are one of the delights of winter 

 landscapes, but unfortunately they are 

 aflUcted with the birch borer, which in 

 some localities is so destructive that the 

 culture of the trees has been abandoned. 

 When it is possible for them to thrive 

 they are charming, if planted along with 

 some of the pines, such as the white pine 

 (Pinus Strobus), and the pitch pine 

 (P. rigida). The birches also thrive in 

 sandy soil, which is favorabie to the 



iiiin imAtii ffl *h'ni4 



