PARK AND CEMETERY 
152 
plants are scattered about and morning glories have 
been trained over stumps of dead trees and across 
wires stretched from tree to tree. The general ef- 
fect is of a green and blooming oasis. 
Improvement workers should note that the general 
appearance would be improved by the removal of 
the elm tree in the middle of the picture (its case is 
evidently hopeless) and by planting permanent vines, 
such as wild grape, ampelopsis quinquifolia (Virginia 
creeper) a. Veitchii (known to many as Boston ivy) 
and Celastrus scandens (bitter-sweet) to clothe the 
tali bare trunks of some of the other trees. Vines 
are sometimes difhcult to start at the base of living 
trees, partly because the ground close to the base of 
such trees is too much shaded, and partly ‘because 
the trees rob the ground of the moisture and nour- 
ishment needed by the vines. These trees, how- 
ever, have been trimmed to such an abnormal height 
(perhaps some past Alderman had in mind their future 
value as tmber), that the earth beneath them gets 
full sunshine. But before planting vines or anything 
else, such ground should be thoroughly enriched. 
The trees on this triangle have suffered in various 
ways but perhaps chiefly from starvation. 
In starting the permanent vines named, it is quite 
possible to start several of them at some distance 
from the trees they are to climb, and to lead the new' 
shoots across to their intended support. If this meth- 
od is followed, a better appearance will result from 
placing the vines as a part of a border or of a group 
of shrubbery. That is, the vines should form a part 
of some other planting because massed planting pro- 
duces a more pleasing effect than polka dotting the 
turf with too many scattered groups. 
The attention of improvement workers is called to 
the enclosing fence shown in the illustration. In a 
simple and inexpensive low fence around a small 
space like this, when gas pipe is used it should be of 
small diameter, and the posts should be light. In 
this case, poultr}^ netting has been added (presumably 
as a protection against dogs) which w'ould make an 
excellent basis for an informal hedge of certain hardy 
vines. If such vines are used in a border quite around 
the inside of a low fence, being clipped on the out- 
side to keep them within bounds but allowed to grow 
informally on the inside, the result is a pleasing green 
boundary looking from the outside like a low hedge, 
but without any of the stiff formality of a clipped 
hedge of shrubs. When hardy vines are used, the 
support may be limited to two or three strong wires 
stretched on low posts. 
If the expense of maintenance is an object, small 
parks, triangles, circles, and play grounds are more 
appropriately designed when the planting is limited 
to strictly hardy material throughout — such planting 
as will require the minimum of care and attention 
w'hen once established. 
Grass as a ground covering is attractive and restful 
when well kept, but requires constant cutting and 
watering to keep it in good order; geraniums and 
other tender bedding plants that must be raised or 
bought and planted each year, are bright and showy, 
but they are expensive and leave the ground quite 
bare during the greater part of the year. To replace 
such planting, a border bed, say from two to five feet 
in width, might be made entirely around a small space 
of this sort and in it might be planted first (next to 
the fence) hardy vines such as Lonicera brachypoda 
and L. brachypoda aurea reticulata, the two Japanese 
twining honeysuckles ; Clematis paniculata and C. 
flammula, small flowered fragrant white varieties 
that bloom at different seasons ; C. coccinea, bearing 
oddly shaped red flowers of curious texture through- 
out the entire summer and fall and which, though 
making but slender growth for the first year or two, 
send up numerous vigorous shoots after becoming 
established; and Clematis Jackmanii, w’hich some- 
times thrives and sometimes fails, but is well worth 
striving for, as it is extremely satisfactory where it 
succeeds at all. These are all for covering the fence, 
but where allowed to grow freely, some of them will 
also serve to cover any part of the bed that it is 
deemed desirable to devote to them. The remainder 
of the border bed of irregular width may contain a 
few carefully selected shrubs that will furnish flowers 
in succession or supply a crop of attractive orna- 
mental fruits in the fall, and the rest of the border 
space should be devoted to herbaceous flowering 
perennials and to hardy ferns. Such a border should 
not only serve as a decorative boundary fence, but 
should be attractive at all seasons and show some- 
thing in flowers from the earliest spring flowering 
bulbs and shrubs until snow flies. 
If the care of turf is objectionable on such grounds, 
it is possible to get excellent results without it by 
carpeting the entire space with Euonymus radicans, 
vinca minor, phlox subulata or the variegated Japan- 
ese honeysuckle that has been mentioned. In mild 
climates such spaces, especially if the ground is 
shaded, are frequently carpeted with English ivy, and 
similar effects may be secured by using the plants 
mentioned above as well as some others, all of which 
must in every case be chosen to fit the prevailing 
conditions of soil, climate, exposure, etc., etc. 
Grounds planted in this way require a little prun- 
ing in spring, summer or fall (according to the varie- 
ties used), thinning and renewing as needed, top 
dressing at intervals as indicated by the plants them- 
selves, weeding and watering as conditions demand. 
The method of planting and treatment broadly out- 
lined here will never produce the spick and span ap- 
pearance secured by turf, lawn mower and clipping 
shears, but it insures attractions that many find 
equally pleasing, and at far less expense. 
