The marginal fringe of big trees is helped out with Hemlock, Arborvitae, etc., as 
a screen 
Making the Best of [t—srepruen r. HAMBLIN, Mises, 
Lily-of-the-valley is the best herbaceous ground cover close up and around the trunks 
of trees 
Massa- 
IV. What Will Grow Under Lawn Trees 
[Eprror’s Nore.—Zach article in this series deals with a different commonplace problem. 
a sow to fit certain preconceived desires in planting, it is generally much more practical (and unquestionably better gardening) to find the plants 
that really belong to the soil and conditions and use them. This method gives more lasting results and a feeling of fitness.] 
most conspicuous is sure to be in 
the immediate vicinity of the 
house, in the lawn right under the 
largest trees. Patches of plain bare 
earth the year round seem to be satisfy- 
ing to nature, for the lawn grass re- 
fuses to grow, no matter how you coax 
it. Maybe you have not tried the right 
kinds; you might ask your seedsman for 
some of the Fescues, particularly Fes- 
tuca heterophylla. 
It is not altogether the shade and drip 
from the trees, for grass grows under 
those on the farther parts of the lawn, 
but the soil is sure to be poor and too 
well-drained near the house, unless the 
grading was carefully done when the 
house was built, and continuous walk- 
ing over the spot does not help matters. 
If grass can be made to grow it is with- 
out doubt the best ground cover, for 
there is no more an artistic reason for 
dotting beds of flowers under the lawn 
trees than in the open spaces. But if 
grass won’t grow, then something else 
must be used, for it is no garden virtue 
to display barren areas between the 
house and the. street. 
Now, there is a most marvelous dif- 
ference in the effect of specimen trees 
upon the growths beneath them. I am 
speaking now of :pecimens of at least 
fifty years’ growth, venerable giants 
that have a wide and well-established 
root system, whose real feeding roots 
are several yardsfrom the trunk. Under 
young trees the best cover is grass— 
Bluegrass, Red-top, Bent, etc.—in a soil 
that is undisturbed by manure or spade 
after the tree is properly set. Let none 
think that I advocate the “ring-around- 
rosy” planting seen about young lawn 
trees. A ring of Barberry, Golden Glow, 
F ALL places trying to the pa- 
O tience of the garden lover the 
or Scarlet Sage about a sapling is bad 
business, slow starvation for both par- 
ties, and an arrangement of no horti- 
cultural or artistic merit. 
Specimen conifers, as Spruce, Fir, 
Hemlock, Arborvitae, require no ground 
cover. If well-grown and symmetrical 
the lower branches hide the soil and 
sweep the lawn on all sides. This is as 
it should be, and there is no bare spot 
problem. But such open conifers as 
White Pine and Norway Spruce, having 
by chance or design lost their lower 
limbs, give us a planting problem to 
worry about. An herb that will thrive 
and increase under a dense White Pine 
whose lower limbs are no more than ten 
feet from the ground deserves special 
mention. Japanese Spurge (Pachysan- 
dra terminalis) will do this, and we 
may discover others. 
THE DIFFICULTY OF THE BEECH 
It is not all easy sailing under decid- 
uous trees. Nothing usually grows 
under a Beech but a green mould on the 
soil crust, but I know one spot where 
Garden Crocus (Crocus vernus) comes 
up in masses year after year under an 
enormous European Beech. Near an- 
other home Siberian Squills (Scilla 
sibirica) flourishes inside a _ privet 
hedge, so I fancy a Beech tree would 
not discourage it. The commonest 
specimen lawn tree in the northern 
“original states” is the American Elm, 
and if that tree is not monarch of all he 
surveys then none deserves the title. 
The fine feeding rootlets fill the soil 
surface from trunk to far beyond the 
ends of the branches. Grass is sup- 
posed to give up there—the soil belongs 
to the Elm; yet under a massive speci- 
men of unusual thick and spreading top 
J have seen for years a happy colony of 
295 
While it may be possible sometimes to remake 
Grape Hyacinth (Muscari botryoides) 
close to the trunk. What the little bulbs 
live on is beyond my understanding— 
the soil is so full of Elm roots that you 
can’t get a spade into it. On the other 
side of the tree there is a big bed of 
Myrtle (Vinca minor) nearly flowerless, 
it is true, but thick and green the year 
round. 
For density of its shade no tree can 
rival the Horsechestnut, and a real big 
fellow has a scanty lawn beneath it 
strewn with débris from above—leaves, 
leaf-stems, and fruit. Yet I recall a 
turn-round in front of a Colonial man- 
sion that was an even carpet of Lily-of- 
the-valley (Convallaria majalis) while 
in the centre was a magnificent Horse- 
chestnut as'high as the house. 
The very worst cases are bad indeed, 
for light, food, and moisture are cut 
down to a degree below the minimum re- 
quirements for most plants and the soil 
is in a condition very unfavorable for 
the root growth of small plants —the 
tree exhausted it long ago. To replace 
the soil would destroy many tree roots 
and new roots would soon come in 
again. It is better to turn up the soil 
as little as possible and trust to plants 
to cover it. 
Low shrubs are the quickest solution, 
and if evergreen so much the better. 
Of coniferous evergreens the only can- 
didate is Ground Hemlock (Taxus can- 
adensis) a native of our Northern 
woods, and scarcely to be domesticated 
on our lawn, but sometimes it will grow 
amazingly well under Hemlocks, Oaks, 
and other forest trees. You might sub- 
stitute the dwarf form of the Japanese 
Yew (T. cuspidata var. nana), but it 
does not grow very fast. Dwarf Juni- 
pers are ruled out because they insist 
on sun. 
