76 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



M 



ARCH , 1909 



Dwarf horse-chestnut (Afsailus parriflnra), example 

 to death in the ordinary mixed 



the middle of April. Therefore, the present 

 article deals only with the deciduous bushes. 



And now comes the third great advantage 

 of our shrubbery, for we can beat England 

 on red berries that last all winter and on 

 shrubs with brightly colored bark. And 

 just as the Canadians have made their long, 

 steady winter an attractive season for 

 tourists by their picturesque sports, so 

 the fickle winter of the northern United 

 States can be made to draw people from all 

 parts of the world to experience the unique 

 charm of highly colored berries and branches. 



Now, then, the threefold superiority of our 

 shrubs is apparent — the burst of flowers in 

 spring, the vivid foliage in autumn, the 

 brilliant berries and branches in winter. But 

 have we developed our shrubberies along 

 these natural lines? Not at all. On the 

 contrary we have blindly and slavishly 

 followed European precedents. We import 

 all their man-made freaks and dot our lawns 

 with them, so that they look like Joseph's 

 coat turned inside out or the side-shows of a 

 circus. For, every great personality among 

 the shrubs that we ought to know and love 

 for its own sake has its cut-leaved, weeping 

 or purple-foliaged variety, and as to such 

 gaudy stuff we are simply mad. It is worse 

 than a crime to plant one's place chiefly with 

 such truck; it is a blunder. I explained the 

 reason of this last month in the article on 

 trees. 



The only one of nature's suggestions we 

 have followed is that which culminates in the 

 "spring garden." The most superb example 

 of this, I suppose, is the estate of Mr. H. 

 McK. Twombly, at Madison, N. J., where 

 nearly every plant was chosen because of 

 some attraction it presents between the 

 middle of April and the first of June. Per- 

 sonally, I like better the year-round-home 

 of Professor Sargent, where the spring garden 



of the many slow-growing bushes that are crowded 

 border by the quick-growing kinds 



is only one of many beautiful features, all 

 well proportioned, related, and secluded. 

 But I have no quarrel with wealthy Ameri- 

 cans who choose to glorify spring to the 

 utmost, so that they may walk amid a dream 

 of beauty for the six weeks such an estate is 

 used by the family. For private specializ- 

 ing on a princely scale gives us visions of 

 new and better things that everyone may 

 enjoy when the world gets better organized. 



But for the ordinary person an exclusive 

 specialty is all wrong. The quickest way 

 to make America beautiful is not to have a 



rosarian in one house, a dahlia crank next 

 door, and so on, but to have every place 

 interesting the year round. The obvious 

 reason is that the vast majority of us cannot 

 afford more than one home at a time. And 

 in order to make a place attractive 365 days 

 in the year we ought to put more thought on 

 shrubs than on any other plants. There 

 are many reasons for this. One is that they 

 give us brighter color in winter than ever- 

 greens and at less expense. On a great 

 estate trees are a bigger item, because they 

 form the framework of every home picture, 

 while shrubs are only the trim. But city 

 and suburban lots are so small that only a 

 few large trees, if any, are desirable, and 

 therefore we must always look to shrubs as 

 the main attractions, because they are more 

 permanent than other flowers and cheaper 

 than evergreens. 



Therefore, I believe, the instinct of the 

 American people in making shrubbery a 

 national institution is thoroughly sound. 

 The American idea is to have the front 

 yard of every small place composed of an 

 unbroken lawn flanked by irregular borders 

 of shrubbery. This frank, open treatment, 

 which subordinates the individual's rights to 

 the park-like effect of the whole street, is a 

 fit expression of a democratic people. But 

 such publicity is abhorrent to the English, 

 with whom privacy is the dominant passion. 

 Therefore in England front yards in city or 

 suburbs are surrounded by a hedge or wall, 

 and generally contain straight rows of broad- 

 leaved evergreens, such as holly, box, and 

 aucuba. The almost daily showers in Eng- 

 land keep these noble decorative plants free 

 from dust. In all parts of America the sum- 

 mer is too dry for mile after mile of streets 

 lined with broad-leaved evergreens. 



But if we have the right instinct about 

 shrubbery, we are pitifully weak in carrying 



Japanese crab (Pyrus Jloribunda), example of the many April-flowering shrubs which bloom before the 

 leaves and therefore show best against an evergreen background 



