WALKS AND TALKS AT BREEZE HILL— III 
j. Horace McFarland 
Wherein Is Reflective, Critical, Philosophical and Friendly 
Comment Inspired by Personal Experiences in a Pleasure Garden 
THE NATIVE ASHY-LEAVED HYDRANGEA 
The ashen gray effect of the under side of the leaf when stirred by the breeze gives a pleasing sensation 
of coolness in summer time. H. cinerea (or H. radiata) is native from' North Carolina to Tennessee 
W*pH EN I began, in 1910, to work out 
IrWMM a § arc l en at Breeze Hill the dom- 
Mwvli inating features, aside from the 
great Button-ball and several Pines 
and Spruces, were some old Arborvitae 
hedges, averaging about twelve feet high, 
which had bordered an entrance road and 
marked a farm division of the former vine- 
yard enterprise. These were probably 
planted about 1875, allowed to grow at ran- 
dom, and then — when their stems had reached 
a diameter of an inch or two — had been ruth- 
lessly sheared off at three to four feet. 
The result was to induce a heavy, spread- 
ing sidegrowth, as the younger shoots sought 
light on either open exposure. No further 
training occurred, and consequently, at the 
time when 1 began to occupy Breeze Hill, 
they were decidedly picturesque and informal 
in aspect, and much more decidedly weak 
and decadent. Mr. Manning, who supplied 
the first landscape suggestions, insisted that 
they formed a salient and distinctive feature 
which must be retained. 
A Tale of Evergreens and Maples 
A DOUBLE row edged the farm lane 
curving to the west house entrance 
which became “ Lovers’ Lane,” and was 
dedicated to native plants exclusively. But, 
where the Arborvitaes had failed, there were 
bad gaps in the hedge which it seemed 
necessary to fill. - Three times young Arbor- 
vitaes were planted in those gaps; three 
times they died. (I now know why.) 
Then came the possibility of getting a half 
carload of West Virginia Rhododendron maximum to fill these 
gaps, both in Lovers’ Lane and in the hedge south of which, on 
the old greenhouse site, I was establishing what has since become 
the‘‘Center Garden, ”of a semi-formal character. 1 providedleaf- 
mold from the Pocono Mountains (at $4.13 P er cubic yard, de- 
livered — I now make it at home for nothing!), and in due time 
the great Rhododendrons from the wild came and were planted. 
The planting was done by a nursery worker in whom my 
confidence has decreased. 1 think he planted too closely, for he 
set the plants — rather “leggy,” it is true — over each other. 
But with much leaf mulch and much watering they took hold, 
grew, bloomed, and seemed happy. They fitted the hedges, 
and gave the impression of age and permanence that 1 like. 
It will be noticed that I use the past tense. The Rhododen- 
drons that remain are not now happy, and all too many of them 
have died and been removed. Therefore 1 sorrow! 
“There’s a reason,” I believe, and that is why I am telling 
the tale, which may warn others. Three husky, self-planted 
Norway Maples were in the Lovers’ Lane Arborvitae row when 1 
came on the land, and it was their hungry roots that had done 
for the near-by evergreens. One I removed, but as the other 
two supplied a desirable note of foliage, shade and color, they 
were permitted to remain. To keep them from absorbing all 
the Rhododendrons’ food their roots were literally “fenced in” 
with slate and concrete. This protection has proved effective 
against the Maple roots. Another protection, however, has 
proved to be disastrous. It was against the fierce northwest 
winds, which hit those Rhododendrons. 
The nurserymen proposed the hardy, quick-growing, good- 
looking Privet (Ligustrum Ibota), as a shield to the neighboring 
Rhododendrons. The Privets grew apace, and beautifully; 
their flowers and foliage alike attractive. They tempered the 
winds all right, but too late I found that their hungry, insati- 
able, fibrous roots, far worse than those of the Norway Maples, 
had robbed the Rhododendrons of water and food, in the end 
killing many of them. 
Robber Roots of Respectable Shrubs 
T HE LESSON is easy to read, though it is hard to endure. 
The thoughtful planter must consider the root systems of 
the plants he uses, and whether they will work together or 
whether one will, in Nature’s ruthless way, wipe out another. 
1 have found, for example, that the Thunberg Barberry hedges 
about Breeze Hill — full eight hundred feet of them — are growing 
far taller and thicker than is their presumed normal habit, 
because of the abundant fertility I have supplied to the borders 
inside. It is necessary each year to cut down into the ground 
with a sharp spade all along these husky plants, to discourage 
for a short time their fibrous, foraging yellow roots. Five to 
six feet high, six feet through, in nine years! 
The Arborvitae hedge is slowly going. As I have before re- 
marked last winter was very hard on these evergreens. Spread 
