292 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Januakt, 1908 



The nearest approach to the Irish yew suitable for 

 the South, the Korean yew (Cephalotaxus pedunculata, 

 var. fastigiaia, Syn. "Podocarpus Koralana) 



and should, distinguish. The white cedar 

 of the South and the incense cedar of Cali- 

 fornia have a flat spray of foliage like an 

 arborvitae and I shall therefore treat them 

 under that head. The true cedars belong 

 to the genus cedrus and have characteristic 

 bristly leaves and produce cones, while the 

 junipers have a berry-like drupe containing 

 bony seeds. 



The most famous of all cedars is the 

 cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus Libahi), which 

 does not like our climate. "However, Profes- 

 sor Sargent has introduced a form of it that 

 is hardy even in New England and may 

 prove adapted to our coast. 



Scarcely inferior to it in fame and beauty 

 is the deodar, (Cedrus Deodar a), a sacred 

 tree of India, which attains 150 feet in the 

 Himalayas. Happily, it thrives in the South, 

 where some specimens have attained seventy- 

 five feet. It is prized for its feathery bluish- 

 green foliage and is one of the very best tall 

 exotic trees for the Middle South. It is a 

 most stately and rapid-growing tree, adapts 

 itself to any soil not too arid or naturally 

 moist, but succeeds best in a good gravely 

 soil. In some trees the branches are more 

 rigid than in others, they are slightly pendu- 

 lous. Again, the foliage assumes a more 

 or less glaucous hue in different trees. Its 

 only drawback is that it is apt to be infested 

 with the white pine weevil, which causes its 

 leader to die and which must be replaced. It 

 is hardy as far north as Washington, D. C. 



The African cedar (Cedrus Atlantica) is 

 of more rigid and medium growth than the 

 deodar. The foliage is dark green in some 

 forms and quite ashy in others. Its probable 

 ultimate height in the South is thirty to fifty 

 feet. It is reliably hardy as far north as 



Washington, and is grown in a few sheltered 

 spots as far north as New York. 



Our native red cedar (Juniperus Virgini- 

 ana) has the same sort of bristly foliage as 

 the true cedars but the expression of the tree 

 is wholly different, since the red cedar is 

 symmetrical, often columnar, dense and dark, 

 while the true cedars are generally picturesque, 

 open and often light colored. However, it 

 is certainly the best tree of the cedar type 

 both North and South, as it ranges from 

 Nova Scotia to Florida. It is in great de- 

 mand for formal gardens, wind-breaks and 

 seaside planting, for it grows not only in 

 dry, gravelly and rocky upland but also on 

 the sandy coasts and even in wet soils. Its 

 maximum height in nature is a hundred feet. 

 This tree affects many forms, from a tall 

 column as to very open growth. By selecting 

 trees of these various forms and differently 

 colored foliage, a valuable material is afforded 

 for landscape work. 



The most cosmopolitan member of this 

 genus, however, is the common juniper 

 (Juniperus communis). This is distributed 

 throughout the north temperate zone and 

 has a multitude of showy varieties. The 

 forms that everybody wants and buys are 

 the English and Irish juniper, the latter a 

 columnar form planted in cemeteries, but 

 these are not long-lived in eastern North 

 America. We have no exact equivalents of 

 these, but our native forms are excellent, 

 especially the variety Canadensis, a bush that 

 grows only three feet high but may spread 

 ten or twenty. 



For covering rocks two trailing kinds are 

 much used in the North, Juniperus Sabina 

 and its variety prostrata, but the finest of 

 all trailing sorts is /. squama ta, a native of 

 Nepaul, which is hardy as far north as New 

 Jersey. In a few years, this will cover a 

 square rod of ground with its dense branches 

 and dark green foliage. 



A dwarf conifer with silver-tipped branchlets, for 

 garden decoration. Juniperus Chinensis, var. argentea 



The Chinese juniper (Juniperus Chinensis), 

 extending from the Himalayas to Japan, 

 has almost as many ornamental varieties for 

 garden decoration as the common juniper 

 and these are probably better adapted to 

 our climate. A form of this species with 

 silver-tipped branchlets, is here illustrated 

 (var. argentea ) and there is one whose 

 foliage is interspersed with gold (J. Sinensis, 

 var. procumbens aurea). 



[The next article by Mr. Berckmans will be 

 0} absorbing interest, as it describes most 0) 

 the tall conifers best adapted to the South 

 (the cypress and arborvita types) and will 

 tell the true story of the best golden conifer 

 raised; also what happened when several 

 thousand Asiatic arborvitoz were raised from 

 seed by Mr. Berckmans. — Editor.] 



The two utterly distinct things people mean by "cedar." At the left is the bristly red cedar (Juniperus''; at the 

 right is the flat spray of white cedar (Chamaecyparis), which is liKe an arborvitae 



