Photographed in Illinois 
Photographed in Maine 
Attaining to a height of fifteen feet the 
Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) is of deli- 
cate and lively beauty, even its greenish 
flower-spikes being showy and its whole 
character most decorative 
Photographed in Massachusetts 
The glaucous-grayish berries of 
Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) 
The Crowberries are a dauntless group, 
carpeting the most inhospitable banks as 
this growth of Empetrum nigrum, over a 
rocky promontory between the forest and 
the waters of Frenchman’s Bay, shows 
PLANTS FOR GARDENS FARTHEST NORTH 
ARTHUR G. ELDREDGE 
Beautiful Natives That Languish In the Warmth of the Aver- 
age Latitude Are Nature’s Provision for Less Hospitable Climes 
SUITABLE hardy plants for northern latitudes have long 
been a problem, inasmuch as the use of materials 
which endure the average low temperature does not 
' " insure against failure in an exceptionally cold winter. 
But the northern tier of states and southern Canada are favored 
with many fine plants, very noticeable in traversing this region, 
which will not grow farther south. They have become adapted 
to the peculiar climate and conditions in which they find them- 
selves through a long, hard struggle since the last glacial period 
and for this reason they command our attention. These plants 
are of three distinct classes: — the aquatics; the plants growing 
in peaty or sphagnum soil; and the plants growing in the upland, 
rocky or otherwise. We must further divide this whole region 
into coastal and inland, for there are many things of marked 
beauty which will thrive only 
in the moist air by the sea. 
This whole cool region is 
dominated by the Heath fam- 
ily, particularly the Ericoi- 
deae and Vaccinoideae. Its 
members are marked in their 
variation from creeping vines 
to strong wooded plants, a 
large number having great 
individual beauty. These 
two groups have a few very 
noticeable characteristics. 
The foliage is in most cases 
coriaceous, the wood hard 
and of slow growth, and they 
require an acid soil which 
for many must also be wet 
and cold. 
Photographed in Northern Wisconsin 
A LAKE MARGIN WITH DEEP WATER JUST OFF THE SHORE 
Here are Water-lilies, Pickerel-weed and Bog Rosemary — the lat- 
ter afloat — while the grassy banks are thick with Coreopsis 
Far northward desirable aquatics are very few. We might 
name the two Water-lilies, Nymphae or Castalia, odorata and 
tuberosa, the Cat-tail (Typhus latifolia), the Arrow-head (Sagit- 
taria) a Bog Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia and glaucophylla) 
and Chamaedaphne calyculata. The Water-lilies are easily 
first in favor, but are not common north of 48°. The Cat-tails 
and Sagittaria are splendid plants for water edges, growing where 
little else that is attractive will grow. They make a pleasing 
border at water margins which in dry seasons become unsightly. 
It is not usual to think of Andromeda glaucophylla as an 
aquatic, but having seen it do so well in that capacity I suggest 
it for that use. In northern Wisconsin this plant is of maximum 
size, while near the Eastern coast it is smaller. On the coast 
of Cape Breton I have found A. polifolia growing in rather dry 
sphagnum soil. It is a 
rather small recumbent plant 
and, like glaucophylla, has 
quite large pink or white 
flowers. The foliage of both 
is a delicate light green, some 
more glaucous than others. 
Both grow far north to the 
Arctic, but not south of Penn- 
sylvania. The Leatherleaf, 
(Chamaedaphne or Andro- 
meda calyculata) grows in 
locations usually flooded in 
spring, and on higher banks 
occasionally. Its drooping 
branches, strung with pearly 
flowers for a foot along their 
lower side with ascending 
leaves on their upper side. 
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