The Garden Magazine 

 March, 1919 



Orderly Planning for Ornamental Purposes 



As Seen from Two Sides 



In Ornamental planting the sole purpose is not yield 

 but effect. Moreover the effect to be a success must be 

 made in two directions at once; or rather it must be 

 successful when viewed from each of two standpoints, 

 namely, that of the owner and inhabitor of the garden, 

 and that of the observer and passer-by outside. 



Considered From the Inside the Home Grounds Must: 



1. Provide attractive pictures to be viewed from all important 

 windows, doors, and porches of the dwelling. 



2. Provide suitable frames for all attractive vistas of both the 

 immediate and the distant landscapes. 



3. Hide unattractive features of the environment. 



4. Offer, enclose, and furnish an outdoor living room to be 

 used as a place for both recreation and enjoyable work as features of 

 the daily life of the family. 



5. Reflect the personality of the owner as well as the 

 characteristics of the flora of the locality and the region in general. 



6. Express privacy without snobbishness. 



7. Give maximum results without necessitating care and ex- 

 pense out of proportion to the size of the place and its owner's 

 means. , 



As Seen From the Outside, the Grounds Should; 



1. Provide a suitable background, frame or setting in which 

 the house is the central picture or focus. 



2. Provide an attractive, inviting approach to the "front," or 

 most used, door. 



3. Hide the less attractive and private features of the place, 

 such as the service yard, the kitchen entrance, and, usually, the 

 kitchen garden, the stable or garage, etc. On the other hand, a 

 well kept vegetable garden or the entrance door to the dairy of a 

 neat farm house with its equipment of bright, scoured milk pails, 

 etc., might sometimes prove a picture worthy of special framing so 

 as to be made especially noticeable from the road. 



4. Soften harsh, straight lines, corners and foundations of the 

 dwelling, abrupt turns in paths and driveways, etc. 



5. Express taste, unity, restraint, and appreciation of native 

 plants and varieties. 



6. Be at all times neat and well-kept suggesting real interest 

 and constant attention on the part of those that live there. 



Ornamental Materials and Their Uses 

 a. Trees. 



(a) Shelter the house and garden from prevailing cold winds of 

 winter or hot, dry winds of summer, 



but they should not give an impression 

 of smothering the buildings, nor prevent 

 free circulation of air. 



(b) Supply shade somewhere about 

 the lawn at all times of the day, but 

 without causing excessive darkness or 

 dampness anywhere. 



(c) Frame distant vistas, and, in the 

 form of evergreen screens, provide a back- 

 ground for flowering shrubs or smaller 

 plants; a thickly planted belt of ever- 

 greens may also provide an effective 

 screen to give privacy to a garden or 

 shut off unattractive prospects. 



(d) Supply turning points around 

 which to curve drives or walks. The 

 White Birch is especially effective in 

 this connection, because of the way it 

 looms up at night. 



(e) Provide homes for birds, with- 

 out which no garden is complete. 



"Who does his duty is a question 



Too complex to be solved by me; 

 But he, I venture the suggestion, 



Does part of his that plants a tree." 



—J. R. Lowell. 



SELECTED SHRUBS FOR PERMANENT PLANTING 



With large or fragrant 'flowers: Carolina Allspice, Golden 

 Currant, Elder, Lilac, Roses, Snowball, Flowering Al- 

 mond, Judas-tree, Spice-bush, Smoke-tree, Forsythia. 

 Weigela, Mockorange, Althea, Rosa rugosa, Oleaster, 

 White Kerria, Spirea. 



Evergreens: Juniper, Mountain Laurel, Mahonia, Rhodo- 

 dendron, Pieris floribunda. 



With effective foliage: Thunberg's Barberry, Burning-bush, 

 Strawberry-bush. Dwarf Sumac, Golden-leaved Elder- 

 berry, Flowering Raspberry. 



With attractive bark or fruit in winter: Snowberry, Barberry, 

 Dogwood, Yellow-barked [Willow, Strawberry-bush, 

 Winterberry, Japanese Bramble, Bailey's Osier, Kerria. 



Suitable for seashores: Red Bearberry, Sand-cherry, Swal- 

 low-thorn, Tamarisk. 



Suitable for cold places: Buttonbush, Daphne Mezerum, St. 

 John's Wort, Sheepberry. 



Suitable for wet soil: White Alder, Mountain Holly, Spice- 

 bush, Virginian Willow. 



Suitable for heavy soil: Cinquefoi!, Lilac, Althea, Thorn. 



Valuable recent introductions: Cotoneaster hupehensis. 

 multiflora, calocarpa, racemiflora, soongarica, and 

 nitens, Rosa Hugonis and R. Jackii, Syringa Swe- 

 ginzowii and S. reflexa, Diervilla florida venusta, 

 Prinsepia sinensis, Aesculus georgiana and Spiraea Veitchii. 



d. Flowering Plants in General. 



Supply the jewels in the garden setting of lawn, shrubs, and 

 trees. 



Provide the high lights of color against the green background. 



Supply cut flowers for the adornment of the inside of the 

 house. 



Provide material with which each and a"hy individual can sat- 

 isfy his personal desires along lines of cultivation and plant improve- 

 ment. 



Fill borders along walks and drives, and against the dwelling or 

 the boundary fences. 



Attract bees whose presence in the garden has an aesthetic as 

 well as a practical utilitarian value. 



e. The Lawn. 



This is the most important single feature of any garden. Even 



b. Shrubs. 



(a) Talce the place of trees as frames 

 and backgrounds on small places, and • 

 elsewhere supplement them, standing in 



respect to herbaceous perennials as the trees do in respect to the 

 shrubs. 



(b) Soften the lines of buildings, piazzas, summer houses, etc. 



(c) Supply material for hedges. 



(d) Supply special features in the garden through some es- 

 pecially beautiful characteristic of form, foliage, flower, or fruit. 



(e) Clothe steep banks and rocky spots that cannot support 

 forms less hardy, persistent, and adaptable. 



(J) Brighten the winter aspect, either as evergreens or because 

 of their bright colored bark or berries. 



c. Vines. 



(a) Cover walls, fences and arbors, either as screens or because 

 of their intrinsic beauty of form, foliage, flower, or fragrance. 



<b) Cover and hold in place steep banks where shrubs are noC 

 suitable. 



(c) Used over and around doorways to provide a summer screen 

 and adornment that will not keep off the sunlight in winter. 



(d) Cover the walls of houses, especially those of brick, stone 

 or concrete, where there are no trees to break the large, flat ex- 

 panses. 



Isn't it really worth while to give some attention to the outside adornment of the home? There can be no question 

 as to which one of these two dwellings appeals as the most home-like 



HEDGE PLANTS AND SCREENS 



Arborvitae* Hemlock * Norway Spruce * Japan Holly,* 

 Osage Orange, California Privet, Japanese Quince, 

 Tartarian Honeysuckle, Barberry (Thunberg's), Flowering 

 Dogwood. (* indicates evergreen). 



VINES FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES 



For doorways and arbors: Roses ( Dorothy Perkins, Tausend- 

 schon, etc.), Japanese and Jackman's Clematis, Wistaria, 

 Fors) I hia (suspensa). 



For fences and screens: Dutchman's-pipe, Trumpet-creeper, 

 Moon-Hower, i loneysuckle. Japanese Hop, Cohoea, 

 Kudzu, Wild Cucumber, Perennial Pea, Bittersweet, 

 Matrimony- vine, Morning-glory. 



For walls and houses: Boston lyy, Virginia-creeper, Climb- 

 ing Euonymus, Bittersweet, Wistaria, Actinidia arguta. 



/or quick results {annuals): Balloon-vine, Scarlet-runner 

 Bean, Canary-bird vine, cup-and-saucer Vine, Morning- 

 glory, Maurandia. 



For steep banks: Hall's Honeysuckle, Matrimony-vine, 

 Trailing Roses. 



by itself it is beautiful; whereas, without it, no other feature can show 

 to best advantage. 



It is the real setting for the house and the grounds as a whole 

 as well as for each individual tree, plant or shrub. 



It is the carpet of the outdoor living room, attracting by its 

 smooth, uniform softness or repelling by its uneven, stony, patchi- 

 ness as the case may be. • 



It is the talisman by means of which depending on its treat- 

 ment, a small garden can be made to look larger, and a broad ex- 

 panse prevented from losing its coherence and informality. 



It is a gauge by which the neatness of the whole garden, and 

 consequently, the character of the owner can be judged. 



/. Walks and Drives. * 



These, like the doors and windows of a house, are features not 

 beautiful of themselves, but essential and therefore to be handled 

 carefully. 



They should be honest and direct, leading one to his objective 

 with the least possible deviation consistent with the nature of the 

 ground covered. • 



They should be firm, of sufficient but not excessive width, , 

 so built as to be dry at all times if possible, with a surface pleasing 

 to the foot (and to the ear), and so arranged as to border, outline, 

 etc., as to be easily kept neat and free from weeds, etc. 



Walks across a lawn should be as inconspicuous as possible and 

 so planned as to interfere to the least possible degree with its mowing. 



Where walks and drives intercept one another, provision should 

 be m;t<l<r against accident by permitting a clear view in each direction, 

 and not screening the roadway from the walk up to the last mo- 

 ment. 



They should be constructed with the slightest possible grades; 



74 



these should be distributed or, if considerable, accepted as inevitable 

 and traversed by two or three steps, the ground on each side bftng 

 terraced to correspond. 



Some Planting Pointers 



In following suggestions as to the choice of species 

 and varieties of material, take geographical and cli- 

 matic conditions into account. Remember that an 

 increase in elevation corresponds to progress north- 

 ward. Therefore plants that are adapted to northern 

 conditions may do well in mountainous sections of the 

 South though they fail in the valleys and at sea level, 

 and vice versa. 



Leave the lawn open and undotted with beds of 

 annuals and specimen shrubs. Concentrate your 

 flowering plants and larger materials in borders, at 

 the base of shrubs, around the house and close to it, 

 etc. 



Strive to attain each result with the least possible 

 amount of material. Remember that every plant 

 tends to get bigger every year and that crowding does 

 not constitute beauty even though the materials are of 

 the costliest. 



Make the plan of the entire garden at one time, but 

 carry it out gradually, using in each successive step 

 the experience gained in improving the methods em- 

 ployed in the preceding. 



Vary border plantings with well placed clumps and 

 receding bays as well as with different kinds of plants. 

 A row of the same kind of shrubs, set in a straight line, 

 and of uniform size and shape may make a good hedge, 

 but it offers no attraction as a real border. 



Don't overlook the possibilities of large trees, which, 

 by modern improved methods can be moved with prac- 

 tically no danger of loss, thereby creating results that 

 it would take a quarter of a century to obtain other- 

 wise. 



If you _ are a collector of curiosities, keep them 

 together in a private section of the garden as 

 in a museum or a laboratory. _ Such material 

 can rarely if ever be combined with and worked 

 into a general planting scheme 

 for a home garden, which nor- 

 mally should be planned, carried 

 out and maintained for the bene- 

 fit and enjoyment of the whole 

 family and all its friends. 



In planting a permanent gar- 

 den to surround a permanent 

 home, rely mainly on hardy 

 shrubs and perennials. Annual 

 bedding plants are useful as a 

 source of cut flowers and for 

 filling in temporarily empty 

 spaces in borders and mass 

 plantings that will ultimately 

 disappear as the perennials in- 

 crease in size and number. 



Develop and improve the gar- 

 den layout whenever a means for 

 doing so suggests itself. Trees 

 and shrubs can be moved with 

 impunity while dormant, while many of them can be 

 transplanted when in leaf or even in bloom with good 

 chances of success, if care is taken that the roots never 

 get a chance to dry out during and after the operation. 

 Practically all perennials may be safely moved just 

 after flowering. * 



Plant for all seasons, not for one alone. Flowering, 

 shrubs may be unsurpassed in spring and summer, but 

 evergreens and certain non-flowering deciduous sorts are 

 both graceful in warm weather and most welcome and 

 attractive in winter because of the color of their foliage 

 or bark. 



The most successful home grounds are those that in 

 the highest degree are natural — that is, look as if they 

 had just grown up, and really belong there. One way 

 to attain such a result is by careful placing and arrange- 

 ment. Another, and a very important one, is by using 

 very freely native, hardy materials and few of the un- 

 usual strikingly noticeable (whether by form or color) 

 \ unfamiliar exotics. 



DESIRABLE TREES FOR HOME PLOTS 



Large, for shade: American Elm, Sugar Maple, Red and 

 White Oaks, American Beech, European Linden, Gingko, 

 Buttonwood. 



Evergreen: White Pine, Hemlock, Norway Spruce, Giant 

 Laurel (Rhododendron maximum). 



With fragrant or showy flowers: American Linden, Magnolia, 

 Black* Locust, Papaw, Tulip-tree, Yellow-wood, Fringe- 

 tree. 



With striking foliage, fruit, or bark: White Birch, Catalpa, 

 yellow Willow, Staghorn, Sumac, Mountain Ash, Purple 

 Beech, Kentucky Coffee-tree. 



