CHAPTER XX 



FRUIT TREES AS FLOWERING TREES 

 By HUGH A. PETTIGREW 



The importance of apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees' as fruit producers 

 has tended to obscure the fact that they are invaluable in the somewhat 

 minor character of ornamental flowering trees and shrubs. The very utility 

 of these trees has, so to speak, almost blinded us to their floral value, and so 

 much so, that their use in the pleasure ground, shrubbery, or any other position 

 than the fruit garden, would be regarded as a doubtful proceeding. Where the 

 end in view is the production of the best fruit then the fruit garden is cer- 

 tainly the place for these trees, but where floral beauty and picturesque effect 

 are the primary considerations, as in large shrubberies, fruit trees may and 

 ought to be used. 



All our hardy fruit trees, with the exception of the currants {Ribes), belong- 

 ing as they do to the rose family, produce an abundance of beautiful flowers, 

 and what still more enhances their value, they come into blossom at a period 

 of the year when shrubberies are dressed in their most sombre apparel, and the 

 ordinary border is almost bare. In the early days of spring it is impossible to 

 pass through the orchard or fruit garden without being greatly impressed with 

 the beauty and charm of the surrounding fruit trees in flower, even when the 

 mind is distracted by hopes and fears as to the successful consummation of 

 the display in a crop of fruit. If the beauty of fruit trees appeals to one so 

 much when seen in the formal fruit garden, where few, if any, contrasts exist, 

 and where the trees are planted in regular lines at set distances apart, how much 

 more intensely would it do so if the fruit trees were among other trees and 

 shrubs— amidst the many contrasts of form and colour to be seen in the most 

 ordinary shrubbery. 



It is difficult to imagine a prettier spring picture than is provided by groups 

 of pyramidal fruit trees growing in a large shrubbery, with a foreground of 

 the dwarfer evergreens, and a background of dark-green conifers, with here and 

 there clumps of the sloe. 



All kinds of hardy fruit trees are suitable for shrubbery planting, and when 

 once used in this way and their value realised, one wonders why they are not 

 more commonly seen outside the fruit garden. For many years past we have 

 seen pear, cherry, plum, almond, medlar, and apple trees used in the shrubbery, 

 and with the best results. 



Having decided to plant fruit trees for their ornamental value, the question 

 naturally arises as to which are the best kinds and varieties to grow. In making 



