PARK AND CEMETERY 
1 15 
3. Purple Fruited Aronia. Purple 
Fruited Chokeberry. Aronia atropur- 
purea N. L. Britton, n. sp. 
This is perhaps the most abundant 
species of Michigan, is much taller 
than the other species, usually above 
5 feet high, sometimes 12 feet or more 
tall. While for a background this is 
the best species, because of its height, 
it is not as handsome a species as the 
next, however, in foliage, the, leaves 
not being shining as in the next spe- 
cies, but it is usually much neater in 
habit of branching than next species. 
It is emphatically the swamp species, 
usually found in swamps. Calyx; pedi- 
cle, and lower leaf-surfaces, woolly; 
flowers small, white, pretty; fruit, ob- 
long to globose, smaller than that of 
next species, purple-black. Flowers 
from April to June, according to lati- 
tude. Range: Northern States to 
Florida, in wet soil. Type from Ar- 
lington, Staten Island. 
Black-fruited Aronia. Black Choke- 
berry. Aronia nigra (Willd.) Britton. 
For its foliage effect, much hand- 
somer than the preceding, but in habit 
— save when very young — much in- 
ferior to it, however, its very hand- 
some foliage completely hides its de- 
fective habit in the summertime. While 
it is sometimes found in swamps, it is 
usually found in more or less dry, 
sandy, soils, on both plains and high- 
lands, seeming to prefer the low sandy 
plains. Leaves obovate or oval, short- 
petioiled, crenulate, dark shining green 
above, paler on under side, both sides 
smooth or nearly so. It is not nearly 
as tall a shrub as the preceding, usual- 
ly less than 5 or 6 feet tall, commonly 
about 4 feet tall. The young shrubs 
are very slender and whiplike, with 
but few short branches, as it grows 
older, the branches become more 
coarse and scraggly, not neat and slen- 
der like the preceding, but its ill-shape 
is more than compensated for, by its 
handsome foliage, and the fact that it 
is the lowest growing Aronia makes it 
an important shrub in planting out. 
Aronia atropurpurea is' the tallest of 
the genus, Aronia arbutifolia the next, 
Aronia nigra, is the lowest in height. 
Fruit at first green, then changing to 
red, and then to purple, finally be- 
coming nearly clear black, all covered 
with russet spots like an apple, glo- 
bose or oval somewhat smaller than 
that of the last, falling off much 
sooner than- the second species, which 
sometimes keeps its fruits until early 
winter. Range: Northern States, to 
Ontario, and Michigan, south to Flor- 
id. Season: March to June, according 
to latitude. 
All these shrubs are worthy of a 
place in parks, cemeteries and larger 
private grounds. Aronia arbutifolia is 
more common eastward than in the 
west. I have never met it wild in 
-Michigan, where both other species 
are fairly common. They are all spe- 
cially recommended as shrubs to grow 
for bird foods, birds being very fond 
of their small apple-like fruits, which 
are totally inedible even to the small 
boy. 
Wilfred A. Brotherton. 
BEDDING vs. SHRUBBERY ON STATION GROUNDS 
The use of both bedding plants 
and shrubs should be governed by the- 
surroundings, the size of the grounds, 
their location and shape and by the 
training of the patrons of the road. 
What ivould be' fitting or in keeping 
in one place would be out of place in 
another. 
Grass alone with one or two pic- 
turesque trees would please a certain 
class of people far better than the 
best display of flowers that could 
be put on the grounds. One or more 
shrubs rightly placed will hide some 
unsightly object the entire year and 
give a sense of repose and refinement 
which otherwise wmuld be lacking. 
In another locality wdth a different 
class of patronage a brilliant or even 
a gaudy display of color would make 
the people Oh ! and Ah ! and make 
them brag about their station as hav- 
ing the best layout on the road. To 
some people shrub.bery alone is tame 
after it is out of bloom; they want 
color all the time — foliage, shape, 
blending of the colors of shrubs and 
their habits do not appeal to them. 
Some pieces of land are too small for 
the use of shrubs to be effective, the 
land would have a choked up, a 
crowded appearance. On these small 
plots care would have to be taken 
not to overcrowd even with plants; 
a sufficient foreground will heighten 
the color effect. Too many plants 
will give the effect of an overdressed 
woman with too much ornament; it 
B ! E A. Richardson, Newtonville, Mass., Land- 
scape Gardener, Boston & Albany Railway, 
may attract but ' will not finally sat- 
isfy. In railroad gardening w'e aim 
to get a pleasing picture as well as 
finely grown and attractive plants. 
Where one can, the smaller pieces of 
land should be used for the bedding 
plants whether for flower or foliage 
effects, leaving the larger plots of 
land to be treated with shrubs and 
trees. Here judgment should be 
used; bordering streets not tree 
lined, trees can be planted inside on 
the railroad land where their train- 
ing can be controlled b}^ the railroad 
gardeners and not be subject to 
changes of town and city manage- 
ment. 
If there are trees on the street the 
effect can be attained by shrubs, 
avoiding a double line of trees and 
giving the shrubs in beds, groups or 
single specimen, more room to de- 
velop, and there will be less robbing 
of the soil from the tree roots. With 
shrubs one occasionally sees a good 
combining of color effects either con- 
tinuous of kind or by one variety of 
flowers following another, giving suc- 
cession of bloom during the season. 
The extent to w'hich bedding 
plants can be used will have to be 
governed by the amount of money 
the management of the road will ap- 
propriate for the purpose. If the 
plants are bought in the open market 
and a succession are put in the differ- 
ent beds the bill will not be a slight 
cne, and will be the same from year 
to year. If a greenhouse is furnish- 
ed men will have to be hired by the 
year instead of by the season be it 
long or short. If the land is of the 
right shape and size for the planting 
of shrubs the first cost need not be 
more than for one season’s cost of 
bedding plants on the same area and 
the cost of maintenance is less al- 
though the effect cannot be varied 
from year to year as it can wdth the 
bedding plants. On the other hand 
shrubs wdll give effects in winter at 
the north as fine in their way as those 
of any summer bloom, with the added 
advantage over the bedding plants 
of there being no open beds of bare 
earth to look at for six months in the 
year. In the south a wider range of 
treatment can be used. If careful 
men can be kept the year through, 
part of the color effect of the bedding 
plants can be obtained through her- 
baceous planting. 
This brings in again the element of 
labor, for the head gardener has to 
leave the care of the beds to those 
under him. If he is limited to means, 
to the fixing of the rates of wages so 
that he can not hire the right kind 
of men, he must plan to use the ma- 
terial which will look the best with 
the least care and skilled labor. Flow- 
ers must be kept looking trim and 
neat and grass borders edged or the 
general effect is that of slackness. 
