68 
House & Garden 
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SANFORD MILLS, SANFORD, ME 
Native Shrubs for American Homes 
(Continued from page 52) 
There are a few nurseries which have Another family of native American 
already foreseen this trend of thought, 
and have been helping it along con- 
i siderably by adding new native varieties 
to their list each year. Some of them 
have much valuable information in re- 
\ gard to native plants and their uses, 
which they are giving to the people 
through interesting and descriptive cata¬ 
logs. The idea of this article is to in¬ 
troduce and bring before the reader a 
few of the many shrubs which are na¬ 
tive and hardy in this country, espe¬ 
cially in the northeastern section of it. 
These shrubs have wide and varied 
uses as well as great beauty, but unfor¬ 
tunately they have not been well known, 
and therefore not widely used. 
Perhaps one is safe in saying that 
Nature has nothing more beautiful or 
effective than the drifts of snowy white 
blossoms with which the flowering dog¬ 
wood (Cornus florida) fills the woods 
in early spring before the leaves are 
out. And then again after the first few 
frosts, it tints the landscape with the 
wonderful touches of gold, scarlet, and 
crimson of its leaves and berries, which 
last until spring. There are few things 
which are as decorative the year ’round, 
so hardy and so widespread in our 
woodlands, and so little used and ap¬ 
preciated. The dogwood which we see 
growing in the woods is very beauti¬ 
ful, but even so it is not at its best, for 
the other things crowd it and shut out 
the sunlight. When it is moved into 
the shrubbery or planted as a specimen 
it develops and rounds out into a per¬ 
fectly formed small tree with an abun¬ 
dance of bloom. 
Another member of this family, and 
one with much the same characteristics, 
is the Japanese dogwood ( Cornus 
Kousa). This, while not a native, is 
very hardy, and gives a longer period of 
bloom than its American cousin. 
Shrubby Cornus 
The above mentioned Cornus are 
small trees. A larger share of this fam¬ 
ily is of shrubby growth. These have 
practically the same characteristics in 
coloring and leaf habit, but the flowers 
are not as showy. They serve as ad¬ 
mirable “fillers” in the shrub border, or 
as plant material for moist and partially 
shaded places. Their bright stems and 
brilliant berries are welcome additions 
to the scene in winter, as they show up 
wonderfully well against the somber 
background of leafless bushes, ever¬ 
greens, or in the snow. Silky dogwood 
(Cornus sericea) has flowers in flat, 
close clusters in June, which are fol¬ 
lowed by a blue fruit. This shrub 
grows well in moist situations, which is 
also true of the red osier ( Cornus sto- 
lonifera), which also has brilliant stems 
in winter, and the peculiar habit of 
spreading into clumps by means of 
sending out long, wand-like shoots. 
Red is the most cheerful color in win¬ 
ter and this is the color of the stems of 
the red-twigged dogwood (Cornus alba). 
The alba refers to the fruits of this 
plant, which are white and interesting 
against other foliage in winter. The 
stems of this shrub are more red than 
those of the red osier because there is 
an absence of purple which thn former 
possesses. An interesting thing in these 
red-stemmed shrubs is that they lose 
this color in summer, when the stems 
are bright green, but as soon as the 
leaves begin to fall the red returns. 
Cornus sanguinea sounds more red, but 
this also has a large amount of purple 
in it; however, it is a good grower and 
an interesting shrub to plant. 
The panided dogwood (Cornus pani- 
culata) has very showy blossoms in 
small, loose, cone-shaped clusters in 
May and June, followed by white ber¬ 
ries the size of a pea on scarlet stems. 
plants which are suited and adaptable 
to nearly every garden are the vibur¬ 
nums. No garden is complete without 
them; in fact, hardly any garden is 
without them, for the popular snow¬ 
ball or the Guelder Rose of the English 
garden belongs to this tribe, as do also 
the snowberry, coral berry, and bush 
honeysuckles. 
The viburnums are valuable for 
their thick leaf-masses, their pleasing 
masses of creamy white bloom in spring, 
and their interesting berries in the fall 
and winter. They serve as good fillers, 
as screening material in the border, they 
grow as well in shade as they do in sun¬ 
light, they will adapt themselves to 
moist places, and with their fruits they 
attract the birds in winter. 
The flowers of these shrubs are inter¬ 
esting. They remind one of a hydrangea 
bloom gone wrong. The outer ring of 
flowerets is composed of large showy 
ones, while the inner rings are formed 
of smaller flowerets which do not ap¬ 
pear to be fully developed. The large 
showy ones serve as advertisers and at¬ 
tract the insects. This advertising idea 
has been carried to the extreme in the 
case of the snowball, and that is why 
the blossoms of that shrub are so large 
and showy—they are all developed. 
The snowball is the developed form 
of the common high-bush cranberry 
(Viburnum, opulus), which grows from 
3' to 10' high, is very handsome in leaf- 
mass, and has attractive scarlet fruit 
which is often used as a poor substi¬ 
tute for the cranberry. 
Dockmackie or maple-leaved vibur¬ 
num ( Viburnum acerifolium) is a shrub 
3' to 6' high, and resembles a young 
maple sapling. It grows very well in 
shade, as it is a native of the woods. In 
the autumn its foliage turns to a bril¬ 
liant crimson, while its fruit, which is 
at first pink, turns to a dark purple. 
Arrow-wood (Viburnum dentatum) is 
very widely used as a filler and as a 
mass planting in moist shady places. 
The leaves of this shrub are deeply in¬ 
dented, while the stems are long, arrow¬ 
like shoots. In fact, this was one of 
the best sources of arrow material for 
the Indians. It grows from S' to 15' 
high and has a blue fruit in the fall. 
Withe-rod ( Viburnum cassinoides), 
which blooms in May, is followed by a 
pinkish fruit which slowly turns dark 
blue, is persistent through winter. 
Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) has 
a very abundant bloom of white in May 
and a pleasing blue fruit in October. 
It grows from 5' to IS' high. 
There are a number of other varieties 
in this family, but they do not have in¬ 
teresting enough characteristics to place 
them in a very favorable position as 
plant material. 
The Sumacs 
Still another family of native mate¬ 
rial which has long gone begging in 
foreign countries is the sumac. The 
American landscape would lack a great 
deal if we did not have the brilliant 
flashes of gold, scarlet and crimson of 
this shrub. It grows luxuriantly along 
our country roadsides and in our 
thickets. It prefers the sunlight but is 
not partial as to soil conditions. It 
makes a good variation in height among 
the other shrubs in the border; it gives 
a change of color, and also adds as a 
valuable plant in screen plantings. 
Perhaps the best known of this family 
is the stag-horn sumac (Rhus typhina ), 
for this variety grows most commonly 
and its large spikes of scarlet, velvety 
fruit in the fall make it noticeable even 
at a distance. This plant has been 
known for its utilitarian qualities rather 
than for its landscape effects for a long 
(Continued on page 70) 
