THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
103 
seiitial ])arl of the daily routine of home life, do not add 
to the attraetioii of the plaee. 
Tlie lawn of a home is coming to he considered the out 
door living- room. Fortunately America has lived through 
most of her publicity period and has awakened to the joy 
and health and eomfoit of out door privacy. Here with 
])roper screening the children can romp, the man of the 
family can plant his garden furniture, the mistress can 
sew, tea can he served all with the same freedom from 
the public gaze, as when one draws the curtain of the in¬ 
door room. 
The garden of the place must he determined by the ar¬ 
chitecture of the house and the tastes and desires of the 
owners. With the house as the pivotal point of our plant¬ 
ing it should he our aim to make it become through judi¬ 
cious treatment the chief incident in the picture rather 
than an excresence foisted upon nature. 
It is for this reason that our boundary planting must 
include native trees and shrubs. There must be a na¬ 
tural link binding us to the surroundings. In other words 
we must play fair with nature with whom we have upon 
our own initiative formed a partnership. She long ago 
set the stage and while an architect of genius will at¬ 
tempt to fit his house to the scene, ninety-nine times out 
of a hundred, it jiroduces a raw, crude bald blot and it is 
the province of the landscape architect to soften, subdue 
and tie the house and its surroundings together. And 
when one sees sometimes the lovely results accomplished, 
it might be nature rather than an old French king who 
originated the saying—“I and Time against any man.” 
With an intermingling of native growth in our bound¬ 
ary jilanting one may use more freedom in the approach 
to the house, selecting shrubs and trees best suited to 
the style of architecture employed. 
To soften the startling crudity of the house itself one 
must employ vines. Much ugliness is transformed into 
beauty through their graceful prodigality. The old 
theory that they make a house damp is false for as a 
matter of fact they absorb the moisture from the walls. 
For a tenacious dinger we must resort to the Ampel- 
opsis Veitchii. At the Arnold Arboretum last summer I 
saw the Ampelopsis aconUifolia, (luite the most beautiful 
form of the Ampelopsis which I have ever seen, hut I 
have not found it in any of the catalogues. For a loose 
riotous growth nothing equals the Wistaria. 
When we come to a consideration of the foundation 
])lanting there is much latitude. 
If there is need for a green effect the year round we 
must resort to low growing conifers in this climate as the 
broad leaved evergreens are not de])endahle, and cannot 
he ])lanted with any assurance of a permanent effect, 
lint there should he a liberal comingling of deciduous 
shrubs with the conifers or the result will he heavy. I 
know of nothing more charming in conjunction with 
low growing confers than Spiraea Tlianhergii. It pos¬ 
sesses all the requisites to lighten, soften and fill in the 
spaces. It is never advisable I thiidv to plant intense off 
colors near the house. I spent one violent summer sur¬ 
rounded l)y Spiraea Anthomj Waterer and the memory is 
still painful. I need not speak of Sjaraea Van Ilouttei. 
We all know it and love if for its beauty and its gracious 
generosity in fitting itself to all eonditions and surround¬ 
ings. But one must confess that when cottage and man¬ 
sion puts a planting of this free flowering shrub around 
its foundation and sits hack in snug satisfaction we are 
minded of a day out in her nice feather boa. 
I think we have never planted enough of the conifers 
of larger growth in our boundary planting or in our 
screening but as a class they are most useful and beau¬ 
tiful. As screens, windbreaks and shields they are in¬ 
valuable as well as holding the general design and out¬ 
line of the planting. 
The most graceful evergreen that grows is right at 
our door almost, the Hemlock spruce, yet it is not nearly 
so widely exploited in the nurseryman’s catalogue as is 
the Norway Spruce, a vigorous fine tree in its youth but 
a poor creature after attaining maturity when it gives it¬ 
self up to despair, pessimism and sagging muscles, add¬ 
ing lugubriousness and melancholy to any scene. What 
could be in greater contrast than the White Pine in all its 
majesty of age with its soaring head stretching skyward 
and far flung arms dropping benedictions of peace and 
beauty on all wbo come within its range. I have read 
that the White Pine is classed the valuable tree, commer¬ 
cially and artistically of America. 
If we do plant these large growing conifers let us not 
fail to plant with them some of the flowering tree-crabs, 
double flowering peach and Japanese cherries and we 
will have as heavenly a vision as we need hope for in 
the next world. Neither must we forget the combination 
in which nature so delights,—evergreens and birches,— 
nothing could be rarer or lovlier. 
I also wish to make a plea for more planting of the 
Crataegus or Hawthorne family. They are all lovely, of 
the most picturesque habit of growth, of the shiniest 
glossiest of leaves, flowering in spring and carrying gor¬ 
geous berries well into winter and even when absolutely 
bare possessing unusual beauty in their intricacy and 
multiplicity of branches while if one has never seen them 
covered with snow and ice they have not seen one of the 
most exquisite pictures I know in all nature. 
May I register a protest against freaks? Variegated 
foliage should be dealt with very carefully. One of our 
most distinguished landscape architects has confessed 
that he has never been ablt to use Primus Pissardi, the 
purple plum—that it did not stick out like a sore toe. 
Nothing more wonderful than the copper beech grows 
but it needs to be nlaced by an artist. Sambucas Cana¬ 
densis aiirea is a glorv in itself but it shouts its existence 
from the farthest and most hidden spot. 
The Catalpa Bungei is such a grotesque little tree, I 
should like to persuade everyone who thinks they want 
to plant them to use Harthorn instead. I am sure that 
the coming generations would feel some of the reverent 
gratitude for us that we do for our forefathers who filled 
New England with the glory of the Elm. 
Among our boys who have made the supreme sacrifice 
in the war just ended was one who was a poet. He 
left to us a little poem whieh will become classic and 
which if you do not know I will pass on to you. 
‘T think that I shall never see 
A poem lovely as a tree. 
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; 
