March, 1907 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



77 



A veget&ble elephant HKe this ought to be Kept 

 in a secluded part of the grounds, not the middle part 

 of the lawn. Weeping linden. 



like that at the bottom of this page, because 

 when the branches come right down to the 

 ground, the whole tree has a billowy effect 

 and there is an easy transition from lawn to 

 tree, which is not the case when the trunk is 

 visible. 



II. THE FREAKS 



Of these, the worst is the Kilmarnock 

 willow (Salix caprea, var. pendula) which is 

 usually allowed to grow about four feet high. 

 At first it forms a ball on a stick, like an "all- 

 day sucker," later the branches droop dolor- 

 ously to the ground. Its grief is exaggerated, 

 like that of a hired mourner. It has a 

 certain formal beauty, and is rather pretty 

 in the spring when the catkins, or "pussies" 

 are out, but nobody takes it seriously except 

 hod-carriers, who plant it in their front yards 

 or over their graves, where it weeps so hard 

 as to be ridiculous. 



I know some estimable nurserymen and 

 country gentlemen who would be deeply 

 offended at classing Tea's weeping mulberry 

 (Morus alba, var. Tatarica pendula) under 

 the freaks, for the mulberry has a singularly 

 interesting leaf and Tea's variety will grow 

 to a considerable height, but it is essentially 

 artificial and exotic. It stands up like a sore 

 thumb and is difficult to harmonize with 

 other planting. Whenever you see one in the 

 middle of a front yard, you may know the 

 owner has not grasped the first principles of 

 landscape gardening. 



Wier's cut-leaved maple {Acer saccharinum, 

 var. Wieri) is one of the most popular of the 

 weeping trees, but its leaves are so deeply 

 and sharply cut that this characteristic is 

 more noticeable than the pendulous habit 

 of the branches. It is a variety of the silver 

 maple and is therefore fast growing but short- 

 lived, because the wood is weak and easily 

 broken by heavy storms. In the South, it 

 is ravaged by the cottony cushion scale. 

 Personally, I would not accept a Wier's 

 maple as a gift because its cut -leaved charac- 

 ter is too pronounced, and as a young tree, at 

 least, its head of foliage is too thin. It is 

 said that this defect can be easily overcome 

 by cutting back the tree occasionally and 

 making it a dense bush, just as one may do 

 with the willow. Many people admire this 



maple for the silvery under-surfaces cf the 

 leaves and the long leaf-stalks which are 

 tinted with red. 



III. THE FLOWERING SECTION 



In this section, the palm belongs to the 

 Japanese weeping cherry (Primus pen- 

 dula, but known to nurserymen as Cerasus 

 Japonica). This has single rose-pink flowers 

 from three-quarters to one inch across, which 

 appear before the leaves in early spring. 

 This tree rarely grows as tall as a man, and 

 when well grown, the blossoms hang in per- 

 fect strings down to the ground. It is some- 

 times rather wayward and grotesque in its 

 growth, and the whole plant seems to bear 

 the label "made in Japan." It differs from 

 the famous ornamental cherry of Japan in 

 having unbranched, stalkless flower-clusters. 

 It has a certain gem-like beauty and deserves 

 as good a setting as a precious stone. Put 

 it in a corner of the house or in some other 

 nook and give it an evergreen background 

 to set off its extraordinary beauty while in 

 bloom. 



There is not so much point in growing the 

 weeping dogwood (Cornus florida var. pen- 

 dula), because the pendulous habit is ex- 

 traneous and only distracts attention from 

 the overpowering splendor of the bloom. 

 Personally, I should rather put my money 

 into the ordinary dogwood and have more 

 of it. 



IV. THE ARBOR OR PLAYHOUSE SECTION 



The most familiar example of this is the 

 Camperdown elm {Ulmus scabra, var. pen- 

 dula, but known in the catalogues as Ulmus 



A good place to serve tea on a hot summer's day — 

 shady, but airy 



montana, var. Camperdowni). This makes 

 a famous playhouse for the children and 

 even adults have been known to take tea 

 under its grateful shade. It is generally 

 grafted at the height of six to eight feet, and 

 the branches zig-zag outward and downward 

 until they reach the ground. 



A less common but more distinguished tree 

 for this purpose is the Japan pagoda tree 

 (Sophora Japonica), a tree which attains 

 sixty feet and has yellowish-white, pea-like 

 flowers, one-half inch long, in loose panicles 

 fifteen inches long. The pendulous variety 

 has tortuous limbs and lets its branches drip 

 down somewhat like the Japanese wistaria. 



An ideal weeping tree — a tumbling, billowy mass of foliage; looking like a tree and not an animal; and 



with all the lower branches preserved 



