108 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



metrically and compactly from the ground upward, form- 

 ing natural companions for the willows. 



Willows appear with their catkins, or blossoms, in early 

 spring, and take almost equal pleasure in wet ground. 

 They grow with great rapidity, and even better than 

 alders, thrive on almost any kind of soil, although as 

 they grow old they become coarse looking, and are apt 

 to fall into early decay. This applies especially to the 

 weeping willow, salix babylonica, the long soft shoots of 

 which soon begin to droop in a forlorn and distressed 

 condition after it has attained the size of a tree and ice 

 storms and other accidents encounter its brittle wood. 

 It is evident that it is only in extreme youth that the 

 weeping willow exhibits any shapely vigor or positive 

 charm. Bushy forms of willows, of which there are 

 legions, last longer than the weeping mllow, and perform 

 excellent work in accomplishing attractive effects in the 

 landscape. The yellow-stemmed willow (salix aurea) is, 

 perhaps, the best of these bushy forms, growing in great 

 clustered masses in almost any soil, and, although natu- 

 rally liable to become coarse in time, is likely to thrive 

 well for a long period of years. Laurel-leaved willows 

 (salix laurifolia, or pentandra) are less interesting, and 

 grow less attractively and more stiffly than the golden 

 kind. Their foliage is very fine, resembling that of the 

 orange tree. 



For such large-growing shrubs plenty of room is re- 

 quired. On small plots, owing to the limited amount of 

 space, willows of this character should be planted at the 

 extreme rear. 



There is a wide range for effect in color in autumn 

 among American trees and shrubs, and chief among the 

 latter may be ranked andromeda arborea, the sorrel tree. 



