82 TRE (GAR DEN AS Gree Zale Nee 
Marcu, 1916 
Do not despair if your site be pure sand; see here how Nature furnishes a sandy tract. 
In the foreground the 
Evergreen Bearberry and Pines beyond 
Deciduous trees should be planted to 
nurse the evergreens, some of them per- 
haps to be permanent. Black Locust 
(Robinia Pseudacacia) will outlive the 
planter and bear a load of fragrant 
white flowers each spring. The best 
nurse tree is the Gray Birch (Betula 
populifolia) on account of its rapid 
growth; if it becomes too tall cut it 
down and its vigorous sprouts are soon 
trees again. 
Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus glandu- 
losa) will thrive on the poorest soils; 
for fruit effects plant the female form; 
the male with its ill-smelling flowers 
should be cut back for vigorous sprouts. 
For large shrubs in very sandy soil 
try the Wild Black Cherry (Prunus 
serotina) and the Choke Cherry (P. 
virginiana) ; neither will become trees 
under these conditions, but will flower 
and fruit as freely as ever. A low 
spreading shrub is the Beach Plum (P. 
maritima) of the sand fields of the At- 
lantic coast; before the leaves appear 
the flowers make a sheet of white. Two 
smaller shrubs are the Sand Cherry (P. 
pumila) and the Western Sand Cherry 
(P. Besseyi) ; they seek the sand plains 
throughout the northern United States. 
As evergreen ground cover in sand 
nothing can excel Bearberry (Arctosta- 
phylos Uva-Ursi), a creeping mat of 
small shining leaves. And the pink 
flowers in May and the mealy red ber- 
ries in August are worthy of notice. It 
is not easily dug from the wild, but nur- 
serymen offer rooted cuttings. Once 
started it spreads rapidly. For bloom 
in midsummer try New-Jersey-tea (Cea- 
nothus americanus) whose stout red 
roots penetrate the soil deeply. In 
August the clustered white flowers are 
effective along dusty roadsides. The 
Western Redroot (C. ovatus) is quite 
similar, but blooms a few days earlier, 
and it would perhaps stand the sand 
treatment. 
In autumn the Japanese Bush-clovers 
ought to give satisfying bloom. Three 
of them are offered, Lespedeza bicolor, 
the tallest species, with purplish flow- 
ers, L. Sieboldi (Desmodium penduli- 
florum) which is usually herbaceous, 
and bears rosy pea-flowers in panicled 
racemes, and L. japonica, which is simi- 
lar but with flowers white. 
If herbs are to be planted the whole 
area should be plowed or well spaded, 
and if available a little loamy soil or 
compost added. It won’t be possible to 
add enough soil to ever make the site a 
fertile garden, but whatever can be 
given to help the plants get a good start 
will show in the first two years’ growth. 
It is the scarcity of plant food and lack 
of water that make growth difficult. 
There are two chief classes of herbs 
as to their ability to withstand desert 
conditions. Many plants have a deep 
root and draw their moisture from sev- 
eral feet below the surface; such herbs 
are often not easily transplanted. Other 
herbs have succulent stems or leaves 
and store food and moisture there; 
these usually lie close to the ground and 
are soon smothered and lost on flat 
areas among taller herbs. 
There are not many showy native 
plants thriving in sand that bloom early 
in the spring. The little Cinquefoil 
(Potentilla canadensis) appears early 
in our dry fields, but the little yellow 
flowers do not give much mass effect. 
Sand offers little nourishment for bul- 
bous plants, though you might get Si- 
berian Squills (Scilla sibirica) to stay 
with you. For early blooming, Ever- 
green Spurge (Huphorbia Myrsinites) 
does very well. It is a sprawling plant 
with fleshy glaucous leaves which are 
bright at all seasons. The greenish- 
yellow flower clusters are not striking, 
but come very early in the year. 
In late May our sandy meadows be- 
come a waving blue sea of Wild Lupine 
(Lupinus perennis), a true garden 
where seemingly nothing else will grow. 
You can easily duplicate this natural 
planting, but don’t try to dig the plants, 
for you won’t get enough of their root 
system to make them live. Wait until 
July and gather a pint of their seed, sow 
at once in place in your sand garden 
and they will sprout as readily as beans 
The native Hudsonia is here shown in the foreground, quite at home in almost pure sand. White Pine and 
Gray Birch in background at Shinnecock Hills, L. I. 
