The wild plum makes a good ornamental hedge of five feet or more ; it has 

 attractive flowers and fruit 



The common lilac holds its foliage longer than any other shrub and Is also 

 most beautiful in flower 



Hedges for the Northwest-By c. l. Meiier, 



North 

 Dakota 



WHAT ACTUAL EXPERIENCE HAS SHOWN WILL THRIVE IN THE COLDEST REGIONS AND WHERE 

 THE EVERGREENS OF THE EAST ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE— NEW USES FOR SOME OLD FAVORITES 



HPHE Northwestern climate is strenuous 

 -*- in every detail. It differs essentially 

 from that prevailing east of the Great Lakes 

 to the Atlantic Coast. Comparatively few 

 of the coniferous evergreens will serve for 

 hedge purposes, and none of the broad- 

 leaved evergreens. A boxwood hedge is 

 impossible. For this latter, however, a fair 

 substitute can be found in a hardy native 

 shrub — the buffalo berry. Likewise shrubs 

 that in the East are used but occasionally 

 for hedge planting are used in the North- 

 west quite frequently because of some quality 

 that fits them for a particular location or 

 purpose. 



LILACS FOR LATE FOLIAGE 



The common lilac is our nearest approach 

 to a broad-leaved evergreen. No matter 

 what any one may say about other lilacs, 

 I advise you to confine yourself to the com- 

 mon one, not alone for its fragrance and its 

 hardiness, but primarily for the fact that its 

 green foliage lingers after the frost has 

 scattered the leaves from nearly every other 

 shrub and tree. There still lives vividly 

 in my mind a picture of the green of a lilac 

 setting off a birch's white and thinning gold 

 and the reddish brown of a spirea. 



For a hedge that is to be allowed a height 

 of at least six feet, the lilacs afford a splendid 

 material, but they cannot be held to a less 

 height for any number of years, as the bushes 

 do not take kindly to severe pruning. The 

 common, old-fashioned purple lilac is the 

 best one to use, with the white variety a 

 close second. Plant not less than eighteen 

 inches, nor more than two and a half feet 

 apart. Start with two-year-old plants, if 

 possible; older material can be used, but 

 it is difficult to prune a neglected hedge into 

 any semblance of form. 



The white lilac may easily be whip-grafted 

 upon the purple, and vice-versa. But it 

 is seldom advisable to set out a hedge of 



white lilacs, for when fully blown they have 

 a dingy appearance. You can obtain flowers 

 of the two colors in the same hedge by grafting 

 better than by setting out an occasional white 

 plant among the purple ones. 



FOR CLOSE-SHEARED HEDGES 



None of the privets have proven themselves 

 hardy in these regions. All things con- 

 sidered the best available material that we 

 can at present boast for a closely sheared 

 hedge is the buckthorn. Other hedges 

 when severely pruned die out in spots, but 

 a buckthorn never. In fact, within a limit 

 of about six feet, a buckthorn hedge can be 

 trimmed to almost any height or form desired. 

 Being abundantly supplied with thorns and 

 carrying its foliage well down to the ground, 

 a buckthorn hedge should be used around 

 the home grounds where it is desired to 

 exclude dogs and street gamin from a lawn. 

 It is advisable to start with young material, 

 so that the hedge may be trained exactly 

 to one's liking. The two-year-old plants 

 should be set about a foot apart. The first 

 winter after planting is the critical time in 

 the life of such a hedge, as some of the plants 



The buffalo berry offers a sort of substitute for the 

 box-wood of the East though deciduous 



20 



are sure to succumb. On this account it 

 is necessary to start the hedge in spring to 

 enable the young plants to gain a good 

 root-hold in the soil before winter sets in. 

 It seems impossible to avoid this loss, and 

 one must not become discouraged if a buck- 

 thorn hedge does not start evenly. The 

 leaves of the buckthorn are sometimes 

 troubled with an aphis, which causes the 

 affected leaves to curl up, but as the pest 

 appears only occasionally, it is scarcely to be 

 considered a drawback. After the first of 

 August no pruning should be attempted as 

 it induces a new growth which has no time 

 to ripen its wood, and consequently suffers 

 severely from the winter. 



The common sloe (Prunus domestica) , 

 which, in its general appearance, resembles 

 the privets much more closely than does the 

 buckthorn, also endures hard shearing, but 

 aphis or lice infest its foliage to such an 

 extent each year as to make spraying a 

 positive necessity. Where, however, the 

 effect of a privet hedge is to be produced as 

 nearly as possible, an attempt with this 

 material might be made. 



The Russian olive (Eleagnus angusti- 

 folia) requires vigorous pruning to be at its 

 best as a hedge. Not only the top but the 

 sides as well need attention. An untrimmed 

 Russian olive hedge is irregular in its growth 

 and far from pleasing in its outline. It can 

 be held for many years as low as three feet, 

 is compact in its growth and brings its 

 foliage to a line with the lawn. The olive 

 green leaves, greenish-gray on the underside, 

 produce a distinct effect — somewhat gray, 

 slightly dusty, green. In winter and early 

 spring its peculiarly colored bark makes 

 such a hedge appear dusty, by no means a 

 disagreeable contrast with the white of the 

 snow. It is an excellent shrub to use in dry 

 and expesed locations. Nor should the 

 fragrance of its inconspicuous yellow flowers 

 be altogether overlooked, for, though this 



