156 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1911 



Example of permanent winter beauties — black 

 alder, a shrub with red berries 



is to make the bulk of your planting of 

 shrubs and perennial flowers. They cost 

 more at first but are cheaper in the end, 

 because they require less care, and labor 

 is the greatest item in gardening. Even 

 with trees and shrubs, labor usually costs 

 more than material. 



The fewer trees in and near a garden the 

 better, because they rob flowers of moisture 

 and sunlight, the roots are sometimes 

 poisonous, and they increase your bill 

 for fertilizers. Bay trees or boxwood in 

 tubs will give height, but must be taken 

 to a shed in winter. The best permanent 

 trees for gardens are small ones, e. g. 

 flowering dogwood, Chinese magnolia and 

 its hybrids, silver bell, styrax, white 

 fringe. These should live longer than 

 white birch, laurel-leaved willow, Caro- 

 lina poplar and their relatives. 



The best evergreen trees for gardens are 

 small, permanent kinds that are not dull 

 in winter. For example, red cedar is 

 more appropriate than arborvitae; dwarf 

 hemlock than dwarf retinisporas ; Mugho 

 pine, Pinus densiflora and Korean pine 

 than Swiss, Himalayan and umbrella pine; 



prostrate and Chinese juniper than Irish 

 or golden; dwarf Japanese and spreading 

 yew than English, Irish or golden. 



The most valuable shrubs for gardens 

 are evergreens, especially the broad-leaved 

 kinds, e. g., box, rhododendrons, mountain 

 laurel, mountain andromeda, and Ilex cre- 

 nata. They are more permanent than most 

 deciduous shrubs. The only plant which 

 usually lives more than a century in 

 neglected gardens is box. 



The best way to choose deciduous 

 shrubs is not to make a list of those famous 

 for their flowers, because they generally 

 have uninteresting foliage. Flowers last 

 a fortnight; foliage lasts seven months. 

 Famous flowers that have comparatively 

 interesting foliage and no winter value 

 are lilacs, hydrangeas, althea or rose of 

 Sharon, weigela, pearl bush, Tartarian 

 honeysuckle, mock orange, golden chain 

 and snowball. It is right to put some of 

 these in the back of the border where their 

 deficiencies will be obscured, but you should 

 also plant bushes that give more for the 

 money, especially viburnums and shrubby 

 dogwoods. Other bushes that have good 

 flowers and better foliage are white fringe, 

 Morrow's honeysuckle and Japanese snow- 

 ball. Worth growing for foliage alone 

 are Aralia pentaphylla, Hercules club, 

 bayberry, silver thorn, aromatic sumach. 



HOW TO PREVENT COLOR DISCORDS 



One simple principle will enable you 

 to prevent nine-tenths of the most serious 

 color discords. One color is responsible 

 for nearly all the trouble, viz. magenta 

 and tones near it. 



Therefore the best purchasing plan 

 for a beginner is this: Buy now nothing 

 that you have never seen which is catalogued 

 as purple, crimson, crimson-pink, or 

 mauve. Next year purchase whatever 

 colors of this sort you need, selecting the 

 varieties when you see them in bloom. 



Another good buying principle is 

 founded on the fact that green and white 

 are the great peacemakers. Buy green- 

 leaved plants instead of variegated, or 

 abnormally colored, and buy white- 

 flowered varieties of plants that have 

 trouble-making colors. 



For instance, instead of purple-leaved 







^♦^WW^B'qp^H 











■ Bl f ^T 4 





♦' 



&La.; 







^'r9f 



3S" ^MQMl 









Example of broad-leaved evergreens — Kalmia. Best 

 permanent material to plant round a house 



barberry, golden elder, variegated weigela, 

 golden evergreens, golden privet, and 

 other bushes margined with white or 

 yellow, buy their green-leaved or normal 

 varieties. 



Whenever you wish a change from green 

 foliage buy gray, because it is quieter and 

 more harmonious than the strong colors. 

 For example, instead of Prunus Pissardii 

 buy sea buckthorn, Japanese oleaster, 

 silver thorn, and buffalo berry. Gray is 

 a peacemaker. 



Buy white-flowered varieties of such 

 dangerously colored plants as peony, 

 phlox, chrysanthemum, foxglove, pyre- 

 thrum, Lychnis, pinks, Michaelmas daisies, 

 Japanese anemone, rugosa rose, lilac and 

 redbud. Avoid the Anthony Waterer 

 spirea, desmodiums, etc. Buy Azalea 

 Hinodigiri instead of A . amo?na. 



The following lists are designed to 

 help beginners analyze all their needs. 

 Two solutions are indicated in every case. 

 One costs less at the start but more in the 

 end. The other may cost more at the 

 start, but is cheaper to maintain. Choose 

 the permanent way! 



PART II.— THE BEST PLANTS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES 



ALL YOUR SERIOUS PLANTING PROBLEMS CONVENIENTLY ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER — 

 SHORT-LIVED AND COSTLY METHODS ARE ALSO INDICATED SO THAT YOU CAN AVOID THEM 



AGE EFFECT QUICKLY GOTTEN 



The wrong way is to plant "quick growers," 

 e. g. poplars and silver maples. The right way is 

 to plant big trees of long-lived species, e. g. red, 

 pink, and scarlet oak, red cedar, sugar maple. It is 

 right to plant big evergreen shrubs, e. g. , box, rhodo- 

 dendron and laurel, but don't waste money on big 

 deciduous shrubs. The small ones will catch up in 

 three or four years. 



Save three to five years by buying trained arches 

 of red cedar. They are better than privet. 



AUTUMN ATTRACTIONS 



The costly way is to try to keep up a floral dis- 

 play in September and October by sowing of an- 

 nuals in June, etc. The economical way is to 

 plant trees and shrubs, because all have attrac- 

 tive autumn colors and many have attractive 

 berries. 



An avenue, strictly speaking, is a formal ap- 

 proach to a large building. Japanese yew is 

 probably best, if one can wait. The best 

 round-headed trees trimmed to balls and avail- 



able in large sizes are usually sugar maples 

 and lindens. The worst is Catalpa Bungei. The 

 best columnar tree is red cedar; the worst Lom- 

 bardy, poplar. 



BANKS AND BLUFFS 



The costly way is to use grass, which is hard to 

 establish and cut. Use vines and shrubs, and if 

 necessary cheap trees, e. g. pitch pines. Rosa 

 Wichuraiana, which is nearly evergreen, propagates 

 itself without cost. Use Virginia creeper, Hall's 

 honeysuckle, Indian currant, bayberry, red- 

 twigged dogwood. 



