February, 1919 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



19 



The "Tree Lilacs" come into bloom just after the true Lilacs, 

 grow 25 ft. high, have white flowers. Useful in large gardens 



England. It seems immune to conditions which 

 would threaten the life of many ornamental 

 trees, and is well adapted both for lawn plant- 

 ing and park decoration. 



A much newer flowering tree is Cornus kousa, 

 which in general appearance suggests its close rel- 

 ative the American Dogwood. 

 It blooms, however, long after 

 our trees are out of flower. To 

 find a Dogwood in full bloom on 

 the lawn in July is an unexpected 

 pleasure, but one which can be 

 enjoyed every year if the Japan- 

 ese Dogwood is planted. This 

 Cornus does not need a great 

 amount of room, for it seldom 

 grows more than twenty feet 

 high, so that it can be used con- 

 sistently for the ornamentation 

 of small places. The tree is a 

 native of Central Japan, but Mr. 

 Wilson has found it growing in 

 Western China and both Japan- 

 ese and Chinese plants have 

 flowered in the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum. Although [comparatively 

 rare, the tree is in commerce, and 

 is likely to obtain considerable 

 vogue as its merits become known. 

 The late Admiral ,Ward had a 

 well developed specimen in the 

 garden at Roslyn, L. I. 



Of course the Tree Lilacs must 

 ■not be omitted when flowering 

 trees from the Far East are being 

 discussed. In the group are 

 several plants from different sec- 

 tions and they begin to bloom just 

 true Lilacs are fading. The first to 



who spent several years teaching in an agricul- 

 tural college established in Northern Japan. 

 This is a round topped tree of 35 feet and bark 

 like a cherry tree. It prefers a moist soil. 

 Although Tree Lilac blossoms have a disagreeable 

 odor similar to that of the closely related Privet 

 blooms, they are very attractive, being white or 

 yellowish-white, and borne in large clusters. 

 Coming later than the true Lilacs, they prolong 

 the season of bloom. There are many places 

 where these Tree Lilacs can be planted to great 

 advantage, and they are to be recommended for 

 large sized gardens throughout the North. 



There is a Japanese Fir which promises to take 

 rank among the very best evergreens to be grown 

 in this country, called Abies brachyphylla, and 

 also Abies homolepis. This tree reached this 

 country by way of England, where it was intro- 

 duced in 1861, by James Gould Veitch. The 

 finest specimens to be found in the United States 

 are growing in the pinetum of the late Horatio 

 H. Hunnewell, in Wellesley, Mass., where also 

 are many other trees of great interest. The 

 largest tree there is at least fifty-five feet high, 

 and the branches sweep the ground. Another 

 very large and handsome specimen is growing 

 in the Long Island garden of the Jate Charles 

 A. Dana. Few trees are handsomer at all 

 seasons of the year, and its violet-purple cones 

 add to its beauty. As this Fir has proved to be 

 perfectly hardy in the Northern States, it can 

 be planted without fear of failure. 



Eastern Siberia has given us a magnificent 

 tree in Populus Maximowiczii, which in its na- 

 tive land grows to be eighty feet high, with a 

 trunk three or four feet in diameter. It is also 

 found in Northern Japan. Indeed, it was intro- 

 duced from the latter country, being brought to 



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The Asiatic Dogwood blooms in summer! Mixed with our own spring flowering kind it gives flowers 



apparently "out-of-season" 



is the 

 flower 

 is Syringa amurensis, a large shrub with flat 

 heads of white flowers, from Eastern Siberia, 

 which was introduced into cultivation by the 

 Botanical Garden at St. Petersburg, and sent 

 from there to the Botanical Garden of Harvard 

 College, at Cambridge, Mass. Then comes 

 Syringa pekinensis 25 to 30 ft. high, from North- 

 ern China, introduced by Dr. E. Bretschneider^ 

 in 1882, the flower clusters of this are compara- 

 tively small. The last to flower is Syringa ja- 

 ponica, a Japanese species, seeds of which were 

 sent to the Arnold Arboretum in 1876 by Col. 

 William Clarke, at one time President of the 

 Massachusetts State College of Agriculture, 



America shortly before 1890 by Isaac Hicks & 

 Son, of Long Island. This is another of the very 

 good trees to be tested out in this country before 

 Europe had seen it. Coming from a very cold 

 region, there is every reason to believe that this 

 Poplar will be hardy in all the Northern States, 

 and through much of Canada. Professor Sar- 

 gent, thinks that it should make a very valuable 

 shade tree for states like Northern Minnesota 

 and the Dakotas, where few trees of large size 

 can be successfully grown. At any rate, it is 

 among the handsomest of all the Poplars, and 

 well worth using, but it should not be confused 

 with Populus suaveolens, another Siberian species 

 being offered by nurserymen, hardy in the cold- 

 est regions, also growing on the Pacific slope. 



Sargent's Cherry, already pretty well known by name, makes a 

 big tree quickly and is useful in avenues, etc. 



Perhaps Eucommia ulmoides, the so-called 

 India-rubber Tree, must take a lower rank than 

 the other trees mentioned, yet it is an interesting 

 and thrifty plant, and its large, dark green leaves 

 make it attractive. It hasn't enough rubber to 

 give it any commercial value, but the strings 

 found when the leaves are pulled 

 apart show that the cells contain 

 a perceptible amount. This tree 

 was introduced into the United 

 States by the Arnold Arboretum, 

 where some very good specimens 

 are growing, and where its hardi- 

 ness has been demonstrated. It 

 came by way of England, but 

 was found in Central China, where 

 it is cultivated for the bark, yield- 

 ing a drug valued by the Chinese. 

 Zelcova serrata, or, as it is often 

 called, Z. Keaki, might be a more 

 popular tree in the United States 

 if it had a less forbidding name. 

 It is not known in many nurseries, 

 and yet individual specimens have 

 been growing in this country for 

 a great many years. There is one 

 in Barnstable County, Mass., 

 which probably was planted by a 

 Cape Cod sea captain back from 

 a trip to Japan. There are also 

 trees in Warren, R. I., planted by 

 the late Dr. George R. Hall, in 

 1862, which produce a great many 

 seedlings some of which have been 

 saved. This is a fine tree for 

 avenue planting, and well adapted, 

 too, for lawn decoration, having a 

 graceful, round topped head certain to be admired. 

 It is a tree which the Japanese value very 

 highly because of its tough, elastic wood. 

 Indeed, it makes the best building timber which 

 the Japanese have, although it is too scarce to 

 be used except for temples; but it is universally 

 employed in the manufacture of ginrickshas. 

 It seems that this tree might well be grown in this 

 country for its extra high quality of lumber, al- 

 though its value as a shade tree gives it its greatest 

 importance now. The name of this tree is pro- 

 nounced as though spelled Zelkoua, which is the 

 vernacular applied to a species growing in Crete. 



Editors Note. This is the beginning of a series of articles dealing 

 with worth-while plant material now available for our gardens and 

 which merits the attention of progressive gardeners 



