246 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1912 



curves; and a place of beauty which chil- 

 dren will love all their lives and which will 

 eventually make our coming citizens as 

 loyal to primary, secondary and vocational 

 schools as they now are to colleges. And 

 is not this principle just as important with 

 respect to its effect on inmates of hospitals, 

 asylums and even corrective institutions? 

 Then you will have money enough to buy 

 top soil and manure enough to make trees 

 and shrubs grow happily instead of sulking. 

 All honor to the men who gave Mr. Kelsey 

 the opportunity to create these beau- 

 tiful grounds, because they have done 

 so much better than most school boards, 

 yet how much better everything could 

 have been done, if planned from the 

 beginning, instead of being an after- 

 thought, because the funds are then totally 

 inadequate! 



There is nothing new about screening 

 unsightly objects. Every landscape archi- 

 tect will try to do that every time. But 

 it is very pleasant to see on the borders of 

 these grounds a lusty plantation of poplars, 

 willows, locusts, sumachs and Hercules' 

 club. And it is better still to see these 

 quick, cheap plants used as nurses for 

 nobler and longer-lived, but slower-grow- 

 ing trees, such as pines, oaks, and thorn 

 apples. 



The "turn around" is a problem which 

 is not satisfactorily solved once in a 

 thousand times. Flowers and bedding 

 plants are too trivial. Trees are usually 

 objectionable when they hide the curve 

 because a horse thinks he is going into a 

 blind alley and gets frightened. Fig. 4 

 shows one of the best turn arounds I have 

 ever seen. It has mass enough to support 

 the building, and is interesting the year 

 round. The bulk of the planting is ever- 



green, the centre being composed of 

 Rhododendron maximum and Catawbiense. 

 There are a few hybrid rhododendrons in 

 front of these to give variety of color. 

 Azalea Vaseyi and arbor escens have the 

 advantage of this evergreen background. 

 The bed is edged with yellow-root (Xan- 

 thorrhiza apiifolia) to keep the children out. 

 The fillers are tall yellow iris {Iris Pseu- 

 dacorus) and lilies {Lilium superbum, Can- 

 adense, and speciosum). 



I am sure that Mr. Kelsey loves children, 

 because he has provided a note of welcome 

 for them when school begins. It is not 

 practical to have a lot of flowers in the 

 school yard in September, as a rule. Some 

 faithful teachers inspire their children to 

 raise flowers around the base of the build- 

 ing, but that is no place for flowers. Drip 

 is bad enough, but the main reason is 

 that flowers cannot hide the foundation 

 line and they are too small to give any 

 support to a large building. Shrubbery is 

 more dignified, costs less to maintain, and 

 the bushes with attractive berries will pro- 

 vide enough of color in autumn and winter 

 to give that note of cheery welcome which 

 every schoolyard in the land should radiate. 

 Photography cannot show these berries 

 well. Fig. 5, indicates only one of many 

 shrubs with brightly colored fruits — the 

 snowberry. When I saw this school in 

 September, attractive bits of color were 

 furnished by such berries as these: 



Aronia arbutifolia, scarlet. 



Aronia nigra, black. 



Japanese dogwood {Berberis Thunbergii) , 

 red. 



Dutch honeysuckle {Lonicera Belgica), 

 red. 



Snowberry {Symphoricarpos racemosus), 

 white. 



Fig. 4. A better turn-around than flowers or trees. Rhododendrons and azaleas edged with yellow root, 

 with lilies and irises as fillers. Attractive the year round and helps "support" the building 



Fig. 5. A note of welcome when school begins is 

 given by shrubs with brightly colored berries, e.g.. 

 snowberry {Symphoricarpos racemosus) 



Highbush cranberry {Viburnum Opulus), 

 red. 



Arrow-wood {V. dentatum), blue. 



-Wrinkled rose {Rosa rugosa) , red. 



Winterberry {Ilex verticillata) , scarlet. 



Regel's privet {Ligustrum Ibota, var. 

 Regelianum) , blue. 



Panicled dogwood {Cornus paniculata), 

 white. 



Rhodotypus {Rhodotypos kerrioides), 

 brown. 



In addition to these I noticed a double 

 row of Viburnum tomentosum, which is 

 designed to make almost a covered walk. 

 This bush has showy white flowers in May, 

 followed in September by interesting red 

 berries that turn black. 



Mr. Kelsey is not entirely opposed to 

 using shrubs against buildings. Indeed, 

 he uses Forsythia intermedia as a feature on 

 the walls of this school, planting entirely 

 around the building between basement 

 windows and areas. Of course, yellow 

 flowers would not show well against a 

 yellow building and therefore he provided 

 an evergreen background by the free use 

 of Euonymus radicans, a vine which is 

 hardier than English ivy and bears red 

 berries that last all winter. Forsythia 

 intermedia is one of the best plants to plant 

 against a wall because it takes as little 

 room as a vine and has both upright and 

 arching lines, the former harmonizing with 

 architecture, while the latter bend over to 

 meet the grass. The marvellous shower 

 of golden bells in early April from such a 

 liberal planting of Forsythia makes a warm 

 good-bye to vigorous winter and a joyous 

 promise and welcome of spring. 



It takes an expert to harmonize all the 

 necessary and beautiful outdoor features. 

 A school board cannot do it. It pays to 

 have a first-class landscape gardener, for 

 it is the only satisfactory way, and in the 

 end it is the cheapest. 



