THE
LANDSCAPE GARDENING
BOOK
GRACE TABOR
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OF THE
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The person charging this material is re-
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
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THE
LANDSCAPE
GARDENING
BOOK
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THE
LANDSCAPE GARDENING
BOOK
V/HEREIN ARE SET DOWN THE SIMPLE LAWS OF BEAUTY
AND UTILITY WHICH SHOULD GUIDE THE
DEVELOPMENT OF ALL GROUNDS
BY
GRACE TABOR
JAN n\^^^
UNIVERSITY OF m^.
NEW YORK
McBRlDE, WINSTON & COMPANY
1911
Copyright, iqii. bt
McBRIDE. WINSTON & CO.
First Edition
Printed April, loii
7 IZ
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Introduction i
II. Utilizing Natural Features 6
III. The Style of a Garden 29
IV. Getting Into a Place 41
V. Vines as Harmonizers 5^
VI. Vistas Good and Bad 62
VII. Boundaries 73
VIII. Entrances and Gateways 80
IX. Deciduous Trees 86
X. Evergreen Trees 98
XL The Use of Shrubs 107
XII. The Place of Flowers 118
XIII. Winter and the Garden 135
XIV. The Vegetable Garden Beautiful 143
XV. Garden Structures 15°
XVI. Garden Furniture and Accessories 157
XVII. Planting and General Care 164
Index ^75
List of Illustrations
A mountain home adapted from the Swiss ch&let, in Cahfomia
Frontispiece
FACING FACE
A svunmer home and its garden at Saratoga, N. Y 2
An old Salem garden 3
A house and enclosed garden at Cornish, N. H 4
A house on a wooded hillside, Englewood, N. J 5
The lily-pond, Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Mass 20
An English treatment of a rocky slope 21
An American treatment of a rocky slope 26
Stone steps in a Cornish, N. H., garden 27
Nature's shrubber}' by a brookside 27
The Red Rose Inn of Stoke Pogis, near Philadelphia 30
An old-fashioned city garden 30
A lajyn spoiled by a flower bed 31
An old English garden showing the extreme of complicated bedding. . . 31
A house in the wildwood left to Nature 38
A house on the rocks left to Nature 38
Steps and fountain in the garden of the Villa Lante 39
Trees and columns in an old Italian garden 39
The formal entrance to an estate 50
The informal entrance to an estate 50
An informal entrance path 51
A formal entrance path 51
The luxuriance of two years' growth 52
Vines from within a pergola 53
A wall trellis supporting climbers 53
Four of the best house vines 58
An vmpretentious cottage simply treated, Magnolia, Mass 59
Ham^ony of lines in a widening vista 62
Harmony of lines in a narrowing vista 62
PACING PAGB
A screen for a service yard 63
An English wall boundary with flowers 68
Marble against a wall of green 68
Flower garden secluded by an evergreen hedge 69
A spruce hedge properly trimmed 69
A wooden fence with arbor gateway 74
An architectural boundary on a small place 74
A lattice enclosure for the rose garden 75
Combinations of hedge and stone wall 78
A boundary at the top of a grade 79
A landscape boundary 79
A hedge boundary with lych gate entrance 80
An entrance flanked by poplars 81
A doorway in a garden wall 84
A board fence topped by a lattice 84
Fence and gate, Longfellow Home, Cambridge, Mass 85
Arched wooden gateway in an old stone wall 85
A "house" — and a "home" 86
Birch trees on a lawn and in the wild 87
An Italian effect with cedars 98
Evergreens along a drive 99
A planting of evergreens in the curve of a drive 99
The skyline of an evergreen group 100
Natural planting of young hemlocks 100
Old conifers sheltering a homestead loi
Shrubbery too dense along the base of a house 106
A shrubbery thicket in bloom 106
Cymes of the common elder 107
A solitary Deutzia 107
A shrubbery- group of one species in many varieties no
A flowering hedge I'o
A massing of trees and shrubs creating a vista in
Narcissus naturalized on a river bank 120
New England asters 120
An old-fashioned flower garden 121
Lupines in a border 128
FACING PAGB
A grass walk and flower border 129
The beauty of bare branches 136
Three shrubs with attractive berries 137
Unpleasing winter protection 138
The Christmas rose 138
Winter's test of the garden 139
Crocuses in the snow 139
An inviting entrance to a vegetable garden 142
A garden of vegetables 143
Annuals bordering a vegetable garden path 144
The charm of order and straight edges 145
An old garden path with box borders 145
A sim-dial and rose arbor 150
A garden shelter mirrored in a pool 151
An arbored seat 151
The pergola of the Capuchin Monastery at Amalfi 154
The inspiration for the pergola 155
A pool among trees 158
A seat beneath a pine tree 158
A well furnished garden 159
A bird bath 159
Rude steps and urn in the wild garden 160
A herm among the roses 160
A pair of garden benches 161
An exedra in wood 161
A garden retreat with carved stone seat and table 162
A pleached alley 163
CHAPTER I
Introduction
GARDENS do not happen. A Garden is as much the
expression of an idea as a poem, a symphony, an essay —
a subway, an office-building or a gown! But ordi-
narily we fail to recognize this until the actual work of evolving
a garden lies before us.
And even then the truth is not always revealed, as witness the
imcertain efforts which are made — the aimless setting of things
into the ground here and moving them afterwards to there —
the lack of coordination everywhere evident around the greater
number of places.
It is as if the bricks and mortar and wood which, properly com-
bined, will make a house, were assembled on the ground and then
arranged by the builder in some sort of way, without a plan or
any specifications to guide him. Something would result, of
course — but who cotild foresee the form of that something?
Not even the builder himself coiild know what the finished
appearance of the thing which he was constructing, might be.
And certainly there would be very little chance of such a dwell-
ing — if dwelling it proved to be — being either practical or
beautiful.
The analogy is extreme perhaps, yet who that has tried, or is
trying, to develop his place, and has felt the sense of bewildered
(i)
2 The Landscape Gardening Book
helplessness which sometimes overwhelms his aspirations,
will say that it is exaggerated? To svicceed in only having
trees and shrubs and flowers instead of a Garden — is it not a
common experience?
Yet a Garden is what we all want. The vague disappointment
in an effect, the feeling of incompleteness, of falling short of
what we hoped for and were seeking to attain, all of these are the
indication of that desire for a definite something — a something
so subtle that to express it in words often eludes us, though
we may feel it ever so keenly.
Obser\dng that " when ages grow to civility and elegancy,
man comes to build stately sooner than to garden finely ; as if
gardening were the greater perfection," Bacon went, as usual,
straight to the heart of the matter. For gardening is the greater
perfection. Distinguished by refined subtleties that may escape
even a keen perception, it is probably more elusive than any
other art; but it is by no means indefinite nor incapable of
analysis on this account.
That we fail to attempt such analysis usually comes from our
failure to appreciate the necessity for it — from lack of a true
conception of the art. But without such analysis, and the defi-
nite understanding which it brings, it will rarely happen that
even the most enthusiastic attempts succeed.
Suggestions for such analysis are the aim of this volume — to
help in Garden Making rather than in gardening. There is a
vast difference; though it is not to be expected that one may
do the former without learning the latter. Many books, how-
ever, which deal with gardening in all its branches, are to be had
for the asking. Therefore plant culture is only touched upon here.
Indeed, so highly specialized a subject has properly no place
here, demanding, as it does, volumes devoted to it alone.
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Introduction 3
The arrangement of the book seeks to oflfer means for the solu-
tion of the garden maker's problems in the order in which they
present themselves to him. Each of these is analyzed rather
than solved, the solution being obviously something which
must be individually decided upon, according to individual
circumstances.
The standards which are universally acknowledged by the
greatest students of the subject, are carefully maintained, and
explained and accounted for, so far as space and conditions will
permit. Examples are given to suggest the manner of applying
the knowledge which analysis furnishes.
Lists of all kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers, designed to
be of definite, practical value, are given. To this end they
have been broken up into groups containing only a few of each,
the arrangement of the groups being made with a view to their
use as units. Thus the wants of the garden maker who has
room for only a handful of plants, as well as the one who may
do work on a forestry scale, are met. And the confusion which
besets a layman upon reading over the names of fifty desirable
perennials — all equally desiralile, to judge from their description
— in an attempt to choose something to plant in a ten-foot
border, is thus, it is hoped, avoided.
The lists follow each chapter and are complementary to the
chapter, as far as it is possible to make them so. That they
contain all the desirable plants in the special classes which they
represent is of course not claimed for them. They could not,
possibly, and keep within a rational limit. That they contain
the most desirable plants in the successive classes, some will no
doubt question; for many favorites are indeed omitted. But
that they comprise a wise selection for the actual beginner can
hardly be denied — and this is the important thing. To this
4 The Landscape Gardening Book
standard they have been held, and by it they have been tested,
and cut down, and simphfied, until they are what they are.
Many native flowers — "wild flowers" still, some of them —
are included, preference being given to these wherever conditions
allow, and whenever an effect will be equally as good with them.
The height of each plant, wherever height matters, the color of
its flowers, the form of its inflorescence, and the time of bloom,
are given, with comments based on each plant's native habit, on
soil and other features. Suggestions as to the method of
planting and the best means of securing the plants have also
been made, and any special requirement or peculiarity of an
individual has been mentioned.
To the end that all of this matter might be fully presented,
the lists have not been arranged in tabular form. Botanical
names are given precedence over the vernacular, but the com-
mon name follows closely and identifies the plant, if it need
identification. The index includes both.
The lists and the diagrams of plantings may be used literally,
or they may be used as suggestions only. Combinations may
be formed of several of them, for extensive plantings ; or one
group may be adapted to a large area by increasing the numbers
of each kind of plant which it contains. Where this is done it
is better to increase greatly the number of two or three kinds
and let them dominate the group, rather than to increase the
number of each kind equally. Those marked with an asterisk
are the best to plant in greatest number, in each group. Many
of a few kinds are always better than many kinds — and constant
restraint is necessary in planting, else the lovely simplicity will
be lost, and the beauty of line and mass destroyed completely.
Go slowly ; practice rigid self-denial in the matter of varieties ;
learn, by stem discipline, resignation to the tmalterable fact that
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Introduction 5
everything will not go into one garden. When this is learned,
then — and not till then — it is possible to go cheerfully ahead in
the happy task of making the most out of what may be put there.
And then the Garden Making will have grown to be a joy.
CHAPTER II
Utilizing Natural Features
EVERY plant in the world that springs up naturally in any
spot, has selected that partictilar spot because it finds
there the conditions of light and air and moisture best
adapted to its needs. In other words, you will find that every
square foot of soil all over this round earth is covered by the
vegetation that likes that particular kind of soil and location —
and other things will not grow there without a struggle.
Of course this is the statement of a perfectly obvious fact —
yet it is not so very long ago that the owner of a charming coun-
try home complained to me of the fruitlessness of all his efforts to
establish a smooth and conventional lawn at one side of his house
"because water would settle there in spite of all that he could
do. ' ' Subsequent investigation revealed a group of little springs
under the fine old trees — Nature's marvelous provision for a
multitude of wild, elusive things of exquisite beauty which defy
domestication in the ordinary garden.
He gave up trying to defeat Natiu-e's purpose by filling in
what he had always regarded as a miserable, low, wet, soggy
area and, taking Nature's hint, he now has a lovely and unusual
bit of garden where pitcher plants, orchids, trilliums, iris and
ferns mingle genially with other less familiar bog-loving things.
The whole is deftly inclosed and hidden from the outer world by
(6)
Natural Features 7
a grouping of marshmallow and tall, reedy grasses ; and not the
least of the joys of this garden is its startling unexpectedness.
All of which points a moral, does it not? — a moral that leads
to a certain very definite rule, which I would urge every maker
of gardens, actual or expectant, to learn by heart and deeply to
impress upon his inner mind. Here it is, briefly and simply:
Plan and plant a garden always along the line of least resistance.
What with the rain when it ought to be dry and the drought
when it ought to rain ; the slugs, and the blights of varying form
but unvarying fatality ; the moths, and the bugs, and the beetles,
and the borers, and all the other unpleasant things which lurk
around, determined to evade the wariest and the wisest of those
who plant either for pleasure or profit, gardening is one of this
life's most tantalizing uncertainties, the best way we can fix it.
Therefore we owe it to ourselves and to the patch of ground we
seek to beautify, to mitigate this unhappy state of affairs as much
as lies in our power — to make our heads save our hands and our
backs, and incidentally our garden hopes — by teaching us to
garden according to Nature's laws instead of against them.
So we come to the question which should always be the first
consideration: what has Nature done with the land where you
are going to build your garden? Before a stone or brick of a
building is laid or even the style of the house is determined upon,
this should receive attention; for on a property of any size at
all it governs not only the kind of garden one is to have but also
the location of the buildings and their "kind."
A wild garden ought not to be actually under one's windows,
while a formal garden very appropriately may — and the set of
conditions which calls for the former imperatively, will, quite as
imperatively, preclude the possibility of the latter, or vice versa,
thus affecting the position of both house and garden. Plan
8 The Landscape Gardening Book
therefore, if possible, before any building is doney both the house
and the garden. Take every natural feature and peculiarity of
the land, topographical or otherwise, into consideration.
Is it rocky or is it stony? — there is a big difference. Is it wet
or dry? Is it hilly or flat? What is the nature of its soil?
What can be done with it most easily and simply? What is the
line of least resistance?
The very hopelessness of changing things where great boulders
and shelves of solid rock thrust themselves up through the earth,
prevents the possessors of such land, usually, from even trying.
They are convinced from the beginning that nothing will grow
there, so what is the use of attempting to make it ? That is,
they are likely to be thus convinced, if they are unfamiliar with
plants.
There are a great many things that will grow there, however —
not what is seen in common gardens to be sure, but is that not
in their favor? Distinctly rock-loving plants must have the
conditions which they like, and these cannot be supplied them
everywhere. You are fortunate if your location affords them.
Such species are spoken of sometimes as " alpines, " but this
is incorrect. True alpines are too difficult for the amateur to
attempt to grow, as they are at home only above the line where
trees and shrubs cease, high up in the mountains. Make your
selection from the long list of rock-loving plants that do not need
the high altitude — the simple, easily grown, hardy and charming
things which almost any good nursery carries in stock. These,
with suitable ferns and mosses, which you may find already
growing among the rocks, will supply the needs of such a situ-
ation perfectly.
The arrangement of such a garden should of course conform
to Nature's grouping; there should be no attempt at precision,
Natural Features 9
either among the plants or in the walks or paths, and the look of
extreme tidiness which spoils everything but the most formal
plan, should be avoided like the plague. Keep out the weeds,
but do not trouble about stray wildings that may take up their
abode among your treasures. There is as much beauty in com-
mon toad-flax as there is in many highly prized aristocrats of the
flowery kingdom — and long feathery grasses are more in keeping
with rock or wild gardening than closely cut, trim turf; likewise
edges should never be sharply defined nor trimmed.
Stony land requires rather more consideration in the planting
than in the planning, and is therefore to be considered more
especially from the horticultural point of view. There is one
thing to be remembered in dealing with it, however, and that is
that any attempt at formal design will almost certainly result
in failure, no matter how carefully it may be planned. The
reason for this is that the stones are thicker in some places than
in others, and the soil cannot conserve moisture equally and
evenly. Consequently the plants will not grow at an even rate —
which they simply must do in a formal design. Otherwise the
lines and the proportions will soon be utterly lost.
Of the bog garden on wet land I have already spoken. If
there is so much water that it lies on the surface constantly,
it is better to dig out enough earth at the lowest point to make
a pool, even though it is a very small one. This will give the
birds a bathing place, besides furnishing an opportunity to grow
one or two real aquatics, as well as the other things which love
dampness, though they do not actually live in water.
If this pool can be located in the open where it will catch the
simlight, have it there by all means rather than in the shade.
A shaded bit of water is sometimes gloomy and depressing, but
water in the sunlight has just the opposite effect — it is all light
lo The Landscape Gardening Book
and cheer — and cheeriness is essential to the success of any sort
of garden.
Stock the pool with a few goldfish — or something more ordi-
nary if these cannot be had — to keep the mosquito larvae down ;
and you will have a garden infinitely more interesting than the
conventional lawn would be, at much less than it would cost,
both in labor and money, in such a situation.
Uncleared land, full of rank underbrush and wild growths, is
not common, because one of the first things that an up-to-date
development company does is clear away every scrap of growing
thing. Even the trees are not always spared. But now and
then one does come across such a plot and it is a great piece
of good fortune, if handled properly.
Leave the wild growth along its boundaries and let it form
the backing for whatever shrubs you may wish to plant, instead
of mowing down and digging out every thing on the place.
Many times there are shrubs which, left to grow, will develop
into as fine specimens as anything you may buy — and the
advantage of having them native is immense.
Common elder is much used in shrubbery borders by the best
landscape architects, also simiach, which grows so freely wild.
Cornels and vibumimis between them furnish more — and more
pleasing — varieties for general landscape work than any other
two species in the world, and both are to be found in almost
any patch of woods or underbrush. The native ivy which some
call Virginia creeper and others know as woodbine, clambers
about luxuriantly very often, over all the rest.
One should, of course, learn to distinguish this from the
noxious poison ivy, before venturing to handle or plant. To
the casual observer they resemble each other very much, though,
as a matter of fact there is very little likeness between them.
Natural Features ii
The creeper has five leaflets to the leaf — with comparatively
rare exceptions— while the poisonous plant has only three.
Avoid, therefore, all tri-lobed climbers. The creeper is a charm-
ing, graceftd thing, and it may be trained over anything you wish
by giving its twining tendrils something to cli:tch.
Little Jack-in-the-pulpits spring up under foot in such a place,
and often there are lovely ferns hidden away under the rest,
if you look carefully for them. Keep the character of a spot like
this unchanged and bring in wild flowers rather than the usual
garden favorites. And here, as on stony ground, make no
attempt to carry out formality of design. Nothing is lovelier
than architectural gardens, in their own distinct and proper
place — but luisuitably placed they are an abomination.
Even a very gentle slope aff'ords a charming variation in a
garden, while a hillside is a fascinating site for both house and
garden. Yet not infrequently, with the former at least, elabo-
rate grading is resorted to, to level the place up ; which is proof
of our unhappy bondage to a conventionality that stifles all
original ideas. Unless the slope is so steep as to be actually
impassable, not a particle of grading is necessary. If the getting
up and down is too much of an effort, a very little cutting and
filling will break it into terraces, which not only make every
part accessible but also give a succession of levels, along which
walks may be carried from which to view the whole.
Where this plan is adopted bear in mind that the entire gar-
den, whether seen from above or below, is seen at once, unless
screens of planting are introduced. The design may be formal
or not, according to outlying conditions, the style of the dwelling,
the owner's taste, and the evenness of the slope. But land which
descends sharply at one point and slopes off gradually at others
is obviously not ready-made for an architectural design to be
12 The Landscape Gardening Book
carried out upon it ; therefore the line of least resistance takes
us to the informal, rambling, quaint, and unexpected upon
such a site.
On the other hand, an even, smooth slope seems to demand
the classic treatment; but the house in this case must conform
to classic standards as well, else the place is in danger of becoming
a ludicrous anomaly. This does not necessarily mean a dwell-
ing patterned after an Italian palace, however. The simple old
white houses of New England are classics quite as truly as any
Grecian temple — and in the midst of their prim, old, box-bor-
dered little gardens, they present far saner and safer models for
us generally, than those which many are too prone to follow.
Where the environment of a place is that of the usual suburb,
and the house is not distinctly unusual, some adherence to
formal lines is better than utter disregard of them. Formal
lines afford a transition from the work of Nature to the work of
man which harmonizes the two; and they may be restricted to
the most limited area without loss to the design. Attempts at
broad, sweeping lines in the planning of a typical suburban
place are a great mistake, under any but exceptional circum-
stances.
Park-like effects require acres where the suburban plot meas-
ures square yards. Efforts to secure such effects within such
limits only result in making a place seem smaller than it actually
is. Boundaries and corners may be somewhat thickly and
irregularly planted, but along the approaches to the house
regularity should rule, whether it be a turf edge, a row of flower-
ing shrubs, or a border of perennials.
Not many places, perhaps, have the features that have been
here dwelt upon — features that are commonly held to be distinct
disadvantages, and which sometimes lead to the rejection of land
Natural Features 13
because they are present — yet natural variations in even small
plots are not uncommon. No matter what these may be, be
sure that they are never a disadvantage if you are willing to study
them a little, and think and plan. They mean an individuality
for the place, if they are carefully made its motif, which can never
be achieved by the most cunningly contrived artificial means.
Lists of Plants
Rocky Land
This list includes plants which may be used where natural
ledges of rock project through the earth and the soil is thin ; or
where similar conditions have been artificially created. They
are what are commonly termed " rock garden plants. " Special
pockets of soil may be prepared for special requirements, under
the latter circumstances particularly; but where the natural
condition exists it is seldom necessary to alter the soil. Plants
are arranged in the order of their flowering. Those marked with
an asterisk should be planted the more freely.
IN FULL SUN
I — Arabis albida: rock cress; four inches high ; adaptable to any
dry soil ; dense green carpet-like growth ; masses of small,
white flowers ; fragrant ; may be raised from seed, sown and
transplanted, or sown where it is to grow; blossoms in
April and May.
*2 — Papaver nudicaule: Iceland poppy; twelve inches high;
light, loamy soil, fairly rich; foliage at the ground, the
flowers raised on straight, leafless, wiry stems; colors clear
yellow, orange, and also a white; grown easily from seed,
which must be sown where the plants are to stand, as pop-
14 The Landscape Gardening Book
pies do not transplant successfully ; may not bloom until the
second year unless sown very early; blossoms in May and,
if cut freely, on to October.
3 — Helianthemum vulgare (or H. mutabile—this is a variety of
vulgare and the name most commonly found in catalogues) :
rock rose or sun rose; six inches high; will thrive in poor
soil but should be planted in a protected place, with south-
em exposure; growth is nearly evergreen, forming thick
mats; profusion of flowers, yellow in vulgare, pink and
pinkish white in mutabile; buy plants; blossoms in hot
weather — usually June or July.
4 — Geranium sangnineum: cranesbill; eighteen inches high;
ordinary soil ; erect -growing, branched plant, foliage attrac-
tive and loose ; single, large crimson flowers ; may be raised
from seed, sown outdoors; easy to naturalize; blossoms
from June to August.
+5 — Sedum Sieholdii: stonecrop; six to ten inches high; sandy
soil, which must surely be dry in winter; branches growing
up, then curving downward; the round leaves are bluish
with a rosy tint at the margins ; flowers rose-colored ; may be
raised from seed but it is better to buy plants ; blossoms in
August.
6-^Silene maritima, flora plena: seaside catchfly, double-flow-
ered; trailing, and must be planted where its stems may
hang over a ledge of rock; ordinary sandy loam; white
flowers which weight the branches down; this does not
produce seed, therefore it is necessary to buy the plants;
blossoms in July and on.
Natural Features 15
IN SHADE
I — Camptosorus rhizophyllus: walking-leaf fern; fronds four to
eight inches long, evergreen, growing in tiofts and taking
root at the tips when they touch the ground ; requires black
soil made of leaf mold, and a place at the margin of rocks
which are always shaded; buy clumps.
2 — Saxafraga Virginiensis: rockfoil; four to ten inches high;
dry soil in a cool, shady place, where the intense heat and
drought of svunmer cannot reach; foliage low and rosette-
like; cymes of many small white flowers; buy plants;
blossoms in April.
3 — Mitella diphylla: bishop's cap or mitrewort; six to eight
inches high; soil of rich woods; delicate white flowers in
slender racemes ; buy plants ; blossoms in May.
*4 — Gentiana acauUs: stemless gentian; four inches high; likes
a deep soil, quantities of moistvire with thorough drainage
and a cool location ; crushed granite, rich loam, and meadow
soil in equal parts make up a compost for it ; clear dark blue
flowers — the celebrated gentian of the Alps; plants are
obtainable but they are likely not to live as they seem to
resent transplanting; may be raised from seed indoors and
transplanted when very tiny; it requires patience as the
seeds sometimes are a year in germinating, but when once
established this is a very permanent thing, and a deUght;
blossoms in May and June.
*5 — Galax aphylla: coltsfoot or beetle- weed; six to twelve
inches high; soil of humus and leaf mold, in a northern
aspect, cool, moist and shady; leaves shining and leathery,
heart-shaped, evergreen, coloring to beautiful bronzes and
reds in winter; wands of delicate white flowers, lifted on
i6 The Landscape Gardening Book
leafless stems well above the plant; buy plants; blossoms
in July.
*6 — Campanula rotundijolia: true harebell or bluebell; twelve
inches high; any fair soil in a rock crevice that is well
drained; bright blue flowers; easily raised from seed, sown
indoors in early spring and transplanted; blossoms in Jvily
and August.
SHRUBS
*i — Rhus aromatica: fragrant sumach; usually about three feet
high but sometimes reaching eight feet ; any soil ; especially
good for dry and rocky banks, in sun or shade; yellow
flowers in clusters on short spikes; fruit coral-red; buy
plants; blossoms in spring before the leaves appear.
*2 — Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi: bearberry; prostrate, forming a
mass two feet in thickness ; well drained light loam or sandy
soil, on rocks and banks; evergreen; flowers small, white,
in terminal clusters; red berries follow; buy plants; blos-
soms in May.
3 — Comptonia asplenijolia (or C. peregrina) : sweet fern ; one
to three feet high; sterile, dry soil, among rocks; foliage
fern-like and fragrant; buy plants; brown catkins of incon-
spicuous flowers in May and June.
*4 — Daphne Cneorum: garland flower; trailing, forming a mass
twelve inches in thickness; light and well drained soil, in
partial shade or all sun ; leaves small, glossy and evergreen ;
many clusters of small pink flowers, very fragrant; buy
plants; blossoms in early May and at intervals through
summer.
5 — Hypericum prolificum: St. John's wort; three feet high;
sandy or rocky soil, aU or partly shaded; stout and dense.
Natural Features 17
leaves glossy and dark green; yellow flowers in profusion,
in cymes; buy plants,- blossoms in July and on to Septem-
ber.
6 — Juniperus Sahina, prostrata: prostrate juniper or cedar;
eighteen inches to three feet high, prostrate branches; dry
rocky or gravelly soil will do though a fairly moist sandy
loam is preferred, in a sunny and open situation; usually
the branches are long and trailing, and numerously branched ;
evergreen foliage, bluish-green; buy plants.
Stony Land
Some of the plants listed here are useful in rock gardening
also; but the distinction here made between stony land and
rocky land is such that they fall naturally under this head.
Stony land means earth which has been deposited under glacial
action and is full of boulders and round stones. It is sometimes
dry and sometimes quite moist; not infrequently springs
abound; it is usually well drained however, owing to the pres-
ence in it of so much loose matter.
IN FULL SUN
I — Dicksonia punctiloba: hay-scented or gossamer fern; one to
two feet high ; dry soil or moist soil well drained ; delightful
when massed in open places, the plants set eight inches
apart ; buy plants or clumps.
2 — Phlox subulata: creeping phlox, grovmd or moss pink; four
to six inches thick, creeping, tufted and forming dense mats ;
dry and sandy banks, up to and around stones and boulders;
perfect ground cover, moss-like in effect; sheets of white
and rosy red flowers — the white form, shaded to pink, is the
best; buy plants; blossoms in May.
i8 The Landscape Gardening Book
*3 — Aquilegia chrysaniha: golden-spurred columbine ; three feet
high; sandy, moist, well drained soil; many and large
flowers, yellow tinted with deep red; may be raised from
seed easily; blossoms in May or June and remains long in
flower.
4 — Saponaria ocymoides: soapwort; six to nine inches high,
trailing ; easily established in any soil ; loose cymes of bright
pink flowers ; seeds or plants ; blossoms in June.
*5 — Asclepias tuber osa: swallow wort, pleurisy root or butterfly
weed; eighteen inches to two feet high; any well drained
soil; is a member of the milkweed family; bright orange
flowers, in numerous umbels; plants or seed; blossoms in
July and Augtist.
*6 — Liatris pycnostachya: prairie or Kansas gayfeather; three to
five feet high; any soil, even very poor; long dense spikes
of purple-red flowers; raise from seed, sown in the autumn
early enough for plants to get a start before frost; blos-
soms in August and September.
IN SHADE
*i — Anemone nemorosa: wood anemone; four inches high; rich,
well drained, sandy loam ; single white flowers tinged with
pvirple; will not mind some sun; buy plants; blossoms in
April and May.
2 — Sanguinea Canadensis: bloodroot; six inches high; light
rich soil; solitary white, pink-tinged flowers, one to two
inches across; will stand sunlight; buy plants; blossoms
in April and May.
3 — Dodocatheon media: shooting star, American cowslip or
American cyclamen; twelve to twenty-four inches high;
open, moderately rich soil, not dry but well drained and
Natural Features 19
cool; leaves clustered at the ground, flower stem erect;
flowers rose and white, in loose umbels; leaves die down
after flowering season is over; plant maiden-hair fern —
Adiantum pedatum — or wild ginger — Asaruni Canadense —
between and among the plants of Dodocatheon, to take the
place of its short-lived foliage ; buy plants ; blossoms in May
and June.
4 — Sniilacena racemosa: false Solomon's seal; eighteen inches
to three feet high; moist loamy soil; stems rise from the
■ ground, are not branched, and the plant is flexible and pliant,
making a graceful mass when planted in numbers; white
flowers clustered in panicles along the stems with the leaves ;
blossoms in June and July.
*5 — Sedum spectabile: showy sedum or stonecrop; eighteen
to twenty-four inches high; said to prefer a rather heavy
soil but this is not essential, though good drainage is; rose-
piirple flowers in broad, flat cymes; buy plants; blossoms
in August and remains in bloom until October.
*6 — Aster corymbosus: native wild aster; two feet high; dry
rock soil ; loose corymbs of characteristic small white
flowers; may be raised from seed readily; blossoms from
August on to frost.
Shrubs for Uncleared Land
This hst gives the careless forms of native growth which will
harmonize with the character of rough land, and with the natural
growth allowed to remain as a backing for the planting. These
may also be used in stony localities.
I — Amelanchier Canadensis: common shadbush, Juneberry or
service berry; tree-like, fifteen to thirty feet high; white
flowers in loose clusters; fruits in June, sweet and edible;
20 The Landscape Gardening Book
buy plants; blossoms very early in the spring, sometimes
before the leaves appear — usually early April.
*2 — Berberis vulgaris: common barberry; from four to eight
feet high; many small, bell-like, bright yellow flowers,
pendant along the branches; frviit abundant, bright red,
ornamenting the bush during much of the winter; blossoms
in May and June.
(This is not native but has escaped and is naturalized in
the east.)
*3 — Viburnum opulus : highbush cranberry ; twelve feet high; tiny
white flowers in cymes four inches in diameter; fruits scarlet,
remaining all winter ; buy plants ; blossoms in May and June.
4 — Sanibucus Canadensis: common elder; twelve feet high;
flowers white, in large flat cymes, very fragrant ; fruit is
ornamental and useful; buy plants; blossoms in July.
5 — Rhus glabra: smooth sumac; ten to twelve feet high ; flowers
greenish-pink, in characteristic terminal panicles ; foliage a
gorgeous color in autumn; buy plants; blossoms in July.
♦6 — Clethra alnifolia: sweet pepperbush; eight to ten feet high;
likes a moist sandy soil; white flowers in erect, pyramidal
spikes ; very fragrant ; buy plants ; blossoms in August and
late summer.
Bog Land
Wet, marshy spots where water settles, or where springs are
numerous, is the sort of land referred to here. The banks of
lakes often present the same conditions. Peat bogs are rich in
the decomposing mosses which flourish there; for this reason
they are somewhat different from ordinary bog land, and plants
which are native to them are especially mentioned as peat bog
dwellers.
Natural Features 21
IN FULL SUN
I — Hellonias hullata: swamp or stud pink; leaves clustered at
ground; flower stalk eighteen to twenty -four inches high;
flowers in three-inch racemes, pink or purple ; grows in both
sun and shade but always in wet bog earth when in the sun ;
it may be used in drier situations in the shade ; buy plants ;
blossoms in April and May.
*2 — Iris pseudacorus : yellow iris; two feet high; any marsh soil ;
foliage showy; flowers large, bright yellow; plants or roots,
only; blossoms in May and June.
3 — Sarracenia purpurea: pitcher plant; flower stalk six to
eighteen inches high; leaves erect, six to twelve inches long,
deep purple; peat bog land; flowers large, purple; plants
only; blossoms in May and June.
4 — Osniunda regalis: royal fern; may be planted imder two or
three inches of still water, setting the plants so that the
crowns are just above water; plant two to three feet
apart where many are used; fronds two to six feet high;
will bear partial shade.
*5 — Lobelia cardinalis: cardinal flower; two to four feet high;
wet places, along the borders of pond or brook, or in water
two to three inches deep; scarlet flowers in large, showy,
close, terminal spikes ; buy plants ; blossoms in July and on
to September.
*6 — Hibiscus Moscheutos: swamp rose mallow or marsh mallow;
three to five feet high ; along streams or in marsh land any-
where — even salt marsh ; large rose-pink flowers in profusion ;
buy plants; blossoms in August and September.
IN SHADE
*i — Caltha palustris: marsh marigold ; ten to fifteen inches high;
may be planted at edge of stream, in bog, or in water two
22 The Landscape Gardening Book
to four inches deep ; flowers bright golden-yellow, sometimes
two inches across ; buy plants ; blossoms in spring and on to
June.
*2 — Cypripedinin spectahile: showy lady's slipper (a native
orchid); two feet high; flowers white and rose-purple;
buy plants; blossoms in Jvme.
3 — Calopogon pidchellus: native orchid; twelve to eighteen
inches high; at edge of bog; flowers pink-purple, at ends
of leafless stems; buy plants; blossoms in June and July.
4 — Veratrum viride: Indian poke or native white hellebore;
two to five feet ; moist or wet black peat soil ; flowers small,
yellowish-green; foliage effect is its especial feature; buy
plants; blossoms in July.
5 — Habeneria ciliaris: yellow fringed orchid ; eighteen to twenty-
four inches high; spike of brilliant yellow flowers, borne
at the top; buy plants; blossoms in August.
♦6 — Gentiana Andrewsii: closed or bottle gentian; eighteen
to twenty-four inches high ; rich, deep, stony soil, along the
banks of stream or pool; flowers bright blue, closed; buy
plants; blossoms in August or September.
Shrubs
I — Pyrus arbutijolia (or Sorhns arhutijoUa): red chokeberry;
four feet high and up; damp thickets and swamps; flowers
white, tinged with red, in corymbs; red and ornamental
fruits follow; buy plants; blossoms in April and May.
*2 — Ledum latifolium: Labrador tea; two to three feet high;
swampy places, sandy and peaty soil, sun or part shade;
clusters of white flowers; evergreen — the leaves are said
to have been used during the Revolutionary War for tea,
hence the name ; buy plants ; blossoms in May and June.
Natural Features 23
*3 — Rosa Carolina: wild rose; eight feet high, slender and up-
right; swampy and moist ground; flowers single, pink, in
clusters sometimes, two inches in diameter; buy plants;
blossoms in June on to August.
4 — Ilex verticillata: black alder or winterberry; eight feet high
or more; wet places and swamps, though it grows elsewhere
also ; flowers tiny and unimportant ; scarlet fruits remain on
all winter; buy plants; plant one staminate plant to a group,
specifying that all the others shall be the pistillate or fruit-
ing form ; set the former in the midst of the latter ; blossoms
in June and July.
5 — Azalea viscosa: clammy azalea or white swamp honey-
suckle; four to eight feet high; at home in sandy swamps;
flowers white, tinged with red, not large but abundant and
very fragrant ; buy plants ; blossoms in June and July.
*6 — Cephalanthus occidentalis : buttonbush; four to twelve feet
high; sandy moist soil or marsh; foliage glossy; tiny white
flowers in perfect balls ; buy plants ; blossoms in July and on.
Aquatics
Water plants for the pool or stream which is, perhaps, the
heart of a bog. These are hardy and may remain out all the
year around, if they are planted below the frost line — that is if
their crowns are below it. Plantings of these may be made by
pushing the roots into the mud, or by tying a stone to them and
throwing them out into a pond or pool, if the depth is too great
to allow of the other method. These always require full sun.
I — Peltandra Virginica: water arum; plant twelve inches deep
in the mud, under water one foot deep, near the margin of
the pond ; leaves four to six inches long, raised twelve inches
above the water suggest the leaves of a calla; flowers
24 The Landscape Gardening Book
greenish and curious; buy plants; use from one to three
plants for a clump ; blossoms in Jime.
2 — NymphcBa odorata: common sweet water lily; floating;
flowers white and very fragrant, open for three days, from
sunrise tmtil noon; buy roots; plant in quantity, eighteen
inches apart; plant from April to September, by pushing
the root into the soft mud luitil it is covered; one foot of
water over it is enough at first; when one or two floating
leaves appear this may be gradually deepened in artificial
pools; when planting in a pond or large body of water, tie
roots to a stone as suggested; blossoms in June and on to
September.
*3 — Limnanthemum lacemosum: floating heart; may be planted
in still water five feet deep, though two feet is better;
creeps or floats on water surface ; foliage mottled and attrac-
tive ; yellowish- white flowers are abundant, small and dainty ;
plant in colonies; buy plants or roots; blossoms in July
and August.
4 — Brasenia peltata: water shield; plant in from two to six feet
of water ; floating ; greenish and purplish leaves two to three
inches across — useful for variety in foliage effect; flowers
inconspicuous, dull purple, at surface of the water; blossoms
in June and August.
5 — Po-ndeteria cordata: pickerel weed; rises eight to twelve
inches above the water surface; grows in still or slightly
moving water about one foot deep; flowers blue, small, in
dense, short spikes; buy plants and plant in colonies;
blossoms in July and September.
*6 — Nymphcea pygmcea (N. tetragona) : dwarf water lily ; floating ;
leaves dark green with brown blotches ; flowers white, one
to one and one-half inches across, freely produced, open for
Natural Features 25
three or four days, from noon until sunset ; buy roots ; plant
as directed for Nymphcsa odorata, using many roots for a
colony, as this does not spread at the root ; blossoms in July,
August and September.
Submerged aquatics (these should always be used to aerate
the water in still ponds):
I — Anacharis Canadensis, gigantea: giant water weed, water
thyme, or ditch moss; rank grower but may be pulled out
and used as a fertilizer if it crowds too much ; useful also in
aquariums.
2 — Cabomba viridijolia: Washington grass; fan-shaped, glossy
green leaves ; plant by tying a clump together and weight-
ing ; this is not certainly hardy in the north, except in well
protected ponds; it may be kept from season to season
however by bringing a clump into the aquariiim in autumn.
The Average Place
The garden flowers and the shrubs which adapt themselves to
all ordinary situations.
IN FULL SUN
I — Dianthus barbatus: sweet William; eighteen to twenty -four
inches high; flower heads in mixed colors, from white to
pink and deep red, or it maybe had in pure colors; seeds
or plants; use in masses; blossoms in May and Jtme.
*2 — Iris Florentina: "orris root" iris; two feet high; flowers
white; large, fragrant and lasting; buy plants or clumps;
use singly or in groups ; blossoms in May and June.
*3 — Delphinium, "gold medal hybrids"; hardy larkspur; four
to seven or eight feet high ; blue flowers in spikes sometimes
two feet long; buy plants; group; set out in October or as
26 The Landscape Gardening Book
soon as warm enough in spring; stake when they reach a
height of three feet ; blossom in June, but, by cutting down
after each crop has faded, they may be carried on through
September.
4 — Hesperis matronalis, alba: dame's rocket or damask violet;
white ; two feet to thirty inches high ; white flowers, clustered
in pyramidal spikes ; very fragrant at night ; plants or seeds ;
group; blossoms as early as June sometimes, and on into
August.
*5 — Anemone Japonica, " Qneen Charlotte"; Japanese wind-
flower; two to three feet high; flowers large and semidouble,
silvery pink ; buy plants ; masses of from twenty up ; blos-
soms early in August and on until frost.
6 — Chrysanthemum — hardy pompon varieties; two to three feet
high; flowers small, double, button-like, in white and all
shades of yellow and red to bronze ; plants about three feet
in diameter ; may be massed or planted singly ; buy plants ;
blossoms early in August and on until after hard frost.
IN SHADE
I — Actcea alba: white baneberry ; eighteen to twenty-four inches
high; likes a rich soil; white flowers in clusters; buy plants;
groups of six or more ; blossoms as early as April sometimes.
*2 — Cornus Canadensis: bunchberry; six to ten inches high;
greenish-white flower followed by scarlet berries in a close
bunch; buy plants; group in masses of twelve or more;
blossoms in May.
*3 — HemerocalUs Thunbergii: lemon day lily; twenty-four to
thirty inches high; likes a moist soil but will do as well
almost anywhere else ; bears sun perfectly but may be more
G'u
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The abrupt transition from one level to another may be made the
occasion for structural work that in itself adds much beauty
Elderberry growing wild; a choice and lovely shrub that responds
delightedly to the attention which it merits
Natural Features 27
liixuriant in partial shade; bulbs or tubers; lemon-yellow
flowers; blossoms in July and on.
*4 — Digitalis purpurea, gloxinceflora: foxglove; four to six feet
high; flowers in long, erect spires, white and shades of pur-
ple, rose and lilac ; plants or seed ; groups of six or more, or
irregularly through a border; blossoms in late June and on.
5 — Cimicifuga raceniosa: bugbane; four to six feet high; white
flowers in rigid, erect racemes, unpleasant smelling; buy
plants; group; blossoms in July and August.
*6 — Heuchera sanguinea: alum root or coral bells; twelve to
eighteen inches high; ordinary soil, sun or shade; robust
and bushy; bright red flowers in loose spikes; buy plants;
plant in groups of four or more ; blossoms in July and August.
shrubs; in full sun
I — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: golden bells; eight feet high,
branches spreading, pendulous tips; flowers yellow and
bell-like, the entire length of the branches, before the leaves;
buy plants; blossoms in April or earlier.
*2 — Eleagnus longipes: silver thorn; six feet high; yellowish-
white, fragrant flowers, wreathed along the branches; fruits
bright scarlet, olive-like, edible; buy plants; blossoms in
May.
*3 — Rosa rugosa: Japanese rose; six feet high; large pink single
flowers; very showy red fruits; buy plants; blossoms in
June and at intervals all summer.
4 — Buddleia variabilis, Veitchii: Buddlea; eight feet high;
reddish- violet flowers in long, upright, pyramidal clusters;
foliage suffused with a rosy white, leaves long and slender;
buy plants ; blossoms in July.
28 The Landscape Gardening Book
*5 — Hibiscus Syriacus," ]oa.n of Arc": rose of Sharon; twelve
feet high; very double pure white flowers; buy plants;
blossoms in July and on to September.
6 — Caryopteris mastacanthus : blue spirea; five feet high; blue
flowers in loose clusters, along the upright branches with the
leaves ; buy plants ; needs some protection winters and may
kill to the ground like a perennial, but new shoots will come
up in time to blossom; blossoms in late August and on
through November.
shrubs; in shade
I — Deutzia, "Pride of Rochester": Deutzia; eight feet high;
double white flowers tinged with pink, in loose clusters; buy
plants ; blossoms in May.
*2 — Diervilla, "EvaRathka" Weigela; six to eight feet high;
spreading and arching branches; red flowers, abundant,
the length of the branches; buy plants; blossoms in May
and sometimes through the summer.
3 — Cornus stolonifera: red osier dogwood; eight feet high; likes
wet or damp places; small white flowers in dense cymes;
branches blood-red and striking in winter; buy plants;
blossoms in Jime.
4 — Ligustrum Ibota: Japanese privet; ten feet high; spreading
branches ; small panicles of white flowers along the branches ;
buy plants ; blossoms in June and July.
*5 — Symphoricarpos vulgaris: Indian currant; six feet high;
all kinds of soil; flowers inconspicuous, fruit dark red, the
berries of irregular size ; buy plants ; blossoms in July.
*6 — Ceanothus Americanus : New Jersey tea; three feet high;
white flowers in a profusion of small upright panicles; buy
plants; blossoms in July and sometimes on.
CHAPTER III
The Style of a Garden
ALL the lovely gardens of the world are ours to draw sugges-
tions from. Let us do just that, and stop there, scorning
ever to copy. When all is said and done, let us have, here
in America, American gardens — not imitation Italian, or English,
or Dutch gardens, or any other sort.
Italy, in the splendor of its gleaming, time-stained marbles
and solemn cypress trees, is Italy adorned as its life, its climate,
its social peculiarities and its evolution through twice a thousand
years have adorned it. England, with her castles and ancient
abbeys, and their moats and fish-ponds — relics of feudal days
and cloistered monasteries — her clipped yews and velvet turf,
is England after centuries of wars, of invasions, of murders and
pilferings, and all the shifting conditions of life which these
things bring. Is it not time we younger folks over here recognize
this, and give up the ridiculous task of attempting to build
Elizabethan and Italian gardens? Good taste and common
sense would both seem to indicate that it is.
There are three factors which have directed the evolution of
these old-world gardens quite as definitely as they have directed
the evolution of the races which built them. And these three
factors are at work here among us now and they will always be
at work among men, and will always so direct. Climate is one,
(29)
30 The Landscape Gardening Book
though possibly the least important; the life of the people —
their occupations, temperament, tastes and amusements — is
another; their economic condition is the third.
Of these three the first is predetermined beyond man's inter-
ference; the second is variable; the third is practically fixed,
as far as a home site is concerned. If an owner's position changes
economically he moves into the place which that change fits
him for, whether it is up or down in the scale; and the new
tenant of the house he has left acquires it because his position,
economically, approximates the original position of its former
owner.
In other words, a place worth $10,000, costing $500 a year to
maintain, will always be in the hands of owners of the same
average income, though it may change hands frequently. There-
fore we may say that its economic position is practically a fixed
one.
Plainly then, whatever the amount to be invested in a garden
may be, it is a matter for consideration most carefully under the
second factor. This is the factor which stands for the changing,
shifting, human equation; herein the degree of cultivation, the
temperament and the taste of the builder will reveal themselves,
in the production, through living mediums, of something that
is good or bad, beautiful or ugly, truly artistic or falsely artificial.
The two great schools of landscape architecture are familiar
enough; we have all shared, to a greater or less degree, in the
bitter warfare that has raged between them since the long-ago
days of Queen Anne — for it was in her reign that the reaction
against "formalism," which grew into an hysterical obsession,
first set in. It is doubtful if more belligerent partisans have
ever represented opposing factions than those who have ranged
themselves respectively on the side of "formal" and " informal"
A broad sweep of country and a rambling house demand a free treatment, yet even
here the hedge-enclosed flo\ver-garden is thoroughly appropriate
The restrictions of small city yards are charmingly compensated by turning them
into such definitely designed gardens as this
■ UJ^jCdtw^w ol
.fl*-
Miiu irii iiitmi lain
There are places for some flower beds but not for such as these, and
never, for any, in the midst of a lawn
Small wonder that these suggest the pastry cook; liitle lin cookie-
cutters have just such whorls and flutings
Style 31
— or natural — style in garden design. The contempt with which
the latter have always regarded the former is only equaled by the
disdain which the former have ever entertained for the latter.
But it looks very much as if the long controversy were draw-
ing to a close. Not that it is fought out — oh, dear no! — but
in spite of the resolute defense each faction has made of its chosen
position, and the tenacity with which it has cltmg to it, force
of circumstances is bringing them both on to a common ground — a
middle ground that is neither strictly formal nor painstakingly
and laboriously natural, but rather a happy compromise.
This is precisely as it should be. No amnesty, voluntarily
but grudgingly declared, could be as binding as this which a
constantly growing appreciation of the beautiful in art and
Nature is forcing. And the equilibrium which is thus becoming
established furnishes the most favorable condition for the develop-
ment of a national taste and skill in gardening, which shall be
indicative of and harmonious with national life and character.
The most ardent adherents of the landscape or natural school
can hardly claim for it suitability to small areas, yet the small
area is the typical American home site ; while, on the other hand,
the loyal advocates of that exquisite perfection of line and bal-
anced detail which are the formal garden 's structural necessity,
must admit that these features demand an outlay in the build-
ing, and a skilled care in the maintenance, far beyond the
capacity of anything less than a truly plethoric purse. But
both sides must agree that all buildings, of whatsoever form they
may be, are artificial — hence, following strictly the logic of the
"natural" school, are abominations, out of harmony with
Nature. What is to be done about this?
The apostle of Nature untamed and free, has tried to answer
by planting out base lines of buildings and the angles of masonry
32 The Landscape Gardening Book
or wood, with vines and low shrubs— but discerning eyes see that
something still is wrong, though their possessors may not know
what. A house rising from an irregular planting of trees and
shrubbery is far better, to be sure, than a house rising bare from
the ground on which it stands— yet this is not enough.
There is but one reasonable and logical reconciliation between
Nature and the artificial. They cannot be brought into har-
monious relations except by carrying out architectural lines
beyond the hmits of stone or wood, in the more plastic materials
which Nature supplies, direct out of the garden— namely the
trees and shrubs. By this means, and this means only, there is
the gradual transition from Nature wild to Nature tamed, and
from Nature tamed and brought into a seemly order which
approaches graciously yet unmistakably towards geometrical
precision, to the actual and beautiful precision of the artificial
structure man has contrived, by the aid of his compass and
square.
And now it looks very much as if we had reached the position
of formal and informal, instead of a choice between the two —
which is exactly the answer to this troublesome question that a
study of the wonderful old gardens yields. So it develops that
we have just gone arovind in a circle and are no farther now than
when we started!
Does it? No — for here is the pith of the argument; here is
what I have been talking all this time to get ready to say. The
formaHty of America is individual and distinctly American,
It is not to be expressed in alien modes, whether of building,
gardening, salutation, or what not. Upon occasion we are quite
as pvinctilious as may be, but we are punctilious in our way,
and not according to a foreign fashion.
Therefore we are botmd to produce very different results.
Style 33
even within the restrictions of conventional lines, from those
accomplished by other races — if we go quietly along and permit
oiirselves to develop. Let us not refuse to be guided by the
fundamental laws which govern proportion and design; but,
within these laws, let us create something beautiful ourselves.
The first of these fundamental laws or principles assures us
that a formal, architectural, or conventional garden must con-
tinue along one of the principal axes of the house. If it cannot
do this no attempt should be made to have such a garden. And
any formal design, of even the most limited extent, must be car-
ried out on the axis of some feature of the house, such as an
entrance, a porch, a large window, or some important detail.
This latter rule unerringly picks out the prominent architec-
tural lines which may be carried on beyond the wood or stone
of the building, although the building itself is absolutely irreg-
ular; and it supplies the necessary motif for planting even the
tiniest dooryard — which, by the way, ought always to be planted
upon such a motif.
The smaller the garden area the more strict should be the
adherence to conventional lines, though they need not approach
the limits of a 50 x 100 foot suburban plot, by any means.
Rarely, indeed, does the average suburban house lend itself to
any very extensive formal scheme, for it itself is seldom laid out
upon the regular lines of more pretentious dwellings. Some
detail must therefore be chosen to work from — and usually this
will be the entrance, it being naturally the most prominent.
With this well worked up and well blended into the general
scheme, conventionality may stop right here, and broader lines
may be followed in the rest of the work.
Planning, however, is not all that there is to a formal garden.
The lines laid down must be carried out with material suited to
34 The Landscape Gardening Book
them, for unless this is done the whole will inevitably fail.
Plants are as differept in their manners as people, and quite as
likely to look and seem queer, when put in the wrong places.
Stiff and prim little trees and shrubs are to be had in plenty —
but they must be of a shape conforming to the position which they
are to occupy; and though a tangle of flowers may fill a given
space iji the formalest of gardens, the space itself must be set
aside in a distinct and precise manjier.
Evergreens furnish such a variety of shapes, from Gothic
to globular, that they are naturally much used in architectural
planting. Formal design becomes, therefore, especially desira-
ble in places where winter effect is sought, as an aid to this
effect as well as a means of transition from Nature to man.
Let there be wildwood, and daisy-studded meadows, and grand
old trees, and parklike sweeps of lawn by all means, wherever
there is space. But do not outrage these by setting in their
midst an artificial excrescence in which to dwell, without softening
the affront as mvich as lies within your power, by all the means
at your command.
Even if there were no beauty in formality this need for it
would be argument enough in its favor. But it is beautiful;
in and by itself, it possesses a serene and stately beauty absolutely
unrivaled. It is only the extravagant abuse of it that is un-
desirable — ^but is extravagance ever anything else, whatever
form it takes? And is intemperance ever anything but vulgar?
Lists of Plants
Plants for formal gardening are divided into two classes : the
untrimmed and untrained natural forms, and the trimmed and
trained artificial forms. In the first class there are columns.
Style 35
pyramids, globes and standards; and therefore this class
contains, as a matter of fact, all the material required in formal
planting. These possess great advantages over the plants of the
second class, inasmuch as their care is practically nothing at all.
Clipped forms must be constantly watched and kept in shape by
ever repeated shearings, at the proper season — and it requires
no mean sculptural skill to maintain them in perfect symmetry.
Evergreens furnish a large proportion of the material for for-
mal gardening, though deciduous specimens are by no means
lacking. Formal hedges must of course be sheared, whichever
may be used, for nothing but shearing will develop the density
of the growth, or keep it perfectly equal and true to the trim
lines laid down.
Evergreens should be sheared just before the season's growth
starts — in March or April— while they are being developed ; that
is, while they are being allowed to grow. After they have
attained the desired size, they should be sheared annually, in
Jtme. Deciduous plants may be sheared in spring, just after the
growth starts, and twice during the summer, as may be necessary
to keep them in shape. Winter clipping induces strong growth
of shoots usually and where this strong rank growth is desirable,
winter pruning may be done. It will encourage density of growth
also and is useful therefore when the plants are not as large as
desired, or as bushy.
Hedge Plants
evergreen
I — Tsuga Canadensis: common hemlock; makes an impene-
trable, dense green wall of any desired height up to fifteen
feet; prefers a rather moist soil, well drained; the most
beautiful of all evergreens for a hedge; stands pruning
2,6 The Landscape Gardening Book
perfectly; plant two to three-foot plants eighteen inches
apart ; take off the tips of the leaders and of all branches
in March or April, until large enough to shear; when this
size is reached, trim as directed, in late May or June.
2 — Thuya occidentalis : American arborvitae; grows naturally
in moist places but does well when planted in any ordinary
soil ; plant and trim the same as hemlock ; will require very
little clipping on the sides at first, as the width is not great
for the height.
DECIDUOUS
I — Ligustrum Atnurense: Amoor privet; grows to fifteen feet
high; any soil and will not mind shade; set three-foot
plants nine inches apart, in a trench twenty-four inches
deep ; this plants them six inches deeper in the groimd than
they were ; trim the tops evenly at a height of twelve inches
after the hedge is planted, and trim away the tips of all
side shoots; keep low imtil a dense base growth is well
established.
2 — Fagus sylvatica: European beech; to any desired height;
loamy soil; the bronze-gold leaves persist all winter; they
are large and the character of the hedge is less solid in
appearance than privet, though it makes an impenetrable
screen, winter and summer; set two or three-foot plants
twenty-four inches apart ; prune before growth starts each
spring and trim off straggling shoots at any time afterwards;
especially desirable for high and large hedges.
(All hedges, whether evergreen or deciduous, should be
trimmed narrower at the top than at the base. The ideal form
is a straight-sided or a slightly convex-sided wedge- in the
Style
37
former the top is flattened to a width equal to half the base, in
the latter it is not flattened at all but is an actual wedge form.)
Edging for Beds and Walks
I — Buxus sempervirens, suffruticosa: dwarf boxwood; four to six
inches high; set four-inch plants four inches apart; protect
lightly with litter from hot sun during the first two or three
winters after planting.
2 — Ligustrum ovali folium: California privet; any soil and will
do perfectly well in shade; may be kept trimmed to four
inches in height — when this is done the leaves become small
and the general appearance very like boxwood; Amoor
privet may be treated in the same way.
Columnar — Natural Forms
evergreen
1 — Juniper us Virginiana: red cedar; may attain forty or fifty
feet in time; any soil — poor and stony, or low and damp
ground, or even immediately on the seashore; nearest
approach to the classical cypress form, but may not retain
this in extreme old age, as it has a tendency to lose its lower
branches and spread into picturesque irregularity at the top.
2 — Thuya occidentalis, pyramidalis : pyramidal arborvitse ; finally
reaches thirty feet in height; prefers a moist, loamy soil;
very slender and spire like.
3 — Juniperus communis, Suecica: Swedish juniper; attains to
forty feet in height; any soil; narrow and slender ; light
bluish-green in color,
DECIDUOUS
i—Populus nigra, Italica (P. nigra, fastigiata) : Lombardy
38 The Landscape Gardening Book
poplar; sixty feet high; any soil; rapid growing; effective
when used after the manner of the old world cypress.
Columnar — Trained Artificial Forms
evergreen
1 — Buxus sempervirens: boxwood; three to five feet high; grows
slowly and therefore does not require much shearing.
2 — Tsuga Canadensis: hemlock; may be kept at any height;
shear in the same manner as when used for a hedge.
DECIDUOUS
I — Ligustrum: privet; from three to seven feet high; retains its
leaves during winter, so is actually half evergreen ; shear the
same as when used for a hedge.
Pyramidal — Natural Forms
evergreen
I — Thuya occidentalis, Sibirica: Siberian arborvitae; to thirty
feet high, of slow growth ; loamy soil ; broad at base and
tapering ; dense ; brighter green than other arborvitass.
2 — Retinospora pisifera, plumosa {Chamcscyparis pisifera, plu-
mosa): Japanese or Sawara cypress; three to eight feet
high and same width at base ; moist but well drained sandy
loam, partly shaded, and sheltered from drying winds.
2 — Retinospora ptsijera, squarrosa (C. pisifera, squarrosa) : blue
Japanese cypress; same as above; foliage silvery-blue, dense,
feathery.
There are no deciduous natural pyramidal forms. Pyramidal
trained artificial forms, both evergreen and deciduous, may be
had in the same varieties as the Columnar forms.
A house in the wildwood nestling among trees is one of the few dwell-
ings whose approach does not rccjuire at least a modicum of formality
-Vii-Mn^i t.-^cLpLio]i tw ilic (Iluuiii.; i^.r ii-riiiai Irealaicni i> LJic
house which rises from rock formation: the third is the bungalow
crouched upon sand dunes
A bit from the Villa Lante: structural work of this sort should never be
undertaken unless the dwelling harmonizes perfectly
The mellow, time-worn gardens of Italy and the Old World generally,
may be rich in suggestion but ought never to be slavishly imitated
Style 39
Globular — Natural Forms
evergreen
I — Thuya occidentalis, glohosa: button-shaped arborvitae; two
feet high and the same in diameter ; bright green foliage.
2 — Thuya occidentalis, "Little Gem": dwarf arborvits ; two feet
high, broader than high; moist, loamy soil; dark green foli-
age.
DECIDUOUS
I — Viburnum opulus, nanum: dwarf viburnum; two feet high,
broader than high ; common soil ; compact and well formed
and holds its shape.
2 — Catalpa bignonioides, nana (C. Bungei) : dwarf catalpa ;
three to eight feet high, eight to ten feet in diameter; any
somewhat moist soil; will do well at the seashore; large
leaves and luxuriant growth.
Globular — Trained Artificial Forms
evergreen
I — Thuya occidentalis: American arborvitae; shear as directed
for evergreen hedges.
deciduous
I — Ligustrum: privet; shear as directed for hedge.
Standard or Bay Tree Forms
(These are always artificially produced.)
evergreen
I — Buxus sempervirens: boxwood; stems up to eighteen inches
high; heads to two feet in diameter; should be shaded from
the midday sun of winter; give light winter protection
for two years after planting.
40 The Landscape Gardening Book
DECIDUOUS
I — Ligustrunt: privet; stems from two to six feet high, as de-
sired; heads three to four feet in diameter; half evergreen,
retaining its leaves all winter ; must be sheared to maintain
its form; small leaves and dense, compact growth; shear as
directed for hedges.
2 — Catalpa Bungei (C bignonioides, nana— grafted high) : bay
tree form of catalpa; stems six to eight feet high; heads
eight to ten feet in diameter ; this retains its form naturally
and does not require shearing at any time ; large leaves and
heavy foliage, making dense heads.
Arches and Niches
evergreen
I — Tsuga Canadensis: hemlock; may be bent and trimmed in
any desired form ; shear same as directed for hedges.
2 — Thuya occidentalis: American arborvitae; shear same as
directed for hedges.
DECIDUOUS
I — Ligustrunt: privet; may be pleached^ woven together —
and trimmed as desired ; shear same as directed for hedge.
CHAPTER IV
Getting into a Place
IT is the fashion of some landscape architects to consider all
roads or walks as simply necessary evils, to be slid over
and made as inconspicuous as possible — and then forgotten.
This has always seemed to me, however, a rather extreme view
to take of a thing so essential as our exits and our entrances —
a view that is likely to lead to over-elaborate efforts at con-
cealment of them. This in turn leads to freakish results — or is
liable to.
Entrances we must have, therefore let us first of all be frank
with them. And then let us spare no pains to have them beau-
tiful ; for the entrance gives to the whole place its characteristic
first impression. But to make them beautiful we must find out
very carefully, at the outset, what constitutes a beautiful
entrance.
The beauty in a gateway itself — ^the entrance in a narrow sense
— is secured, I should say, first of all by suitability. But gate-
ways we will leave to a chapter by themselves, and deal
here with the plan, on the ground, of the approaches from the
highway. These constitute the entrances in a broader sense,
being the way in ; and their arrangement is the first thing to be
considered and decided upon when developing the layout of a
place. They are one of the absolutely vital features. Indeed
(41)
42 The Landscape Gardening Book
it is not too much to say that more places are ruiiied by badly
located driveways and walks than by any other one thing.
No absolute rule can be formulated for laying out a walk or
a drive. Generalities for certain circumstances may be de-
veloped, but no certainties for general application reward even
the most earnest study — excepting this: Walks and driveways
should always be direct — as direct as the line that a tired man
or a lazy man or a hurried man, coming into the house or driving
to the stable, would naturally follow.
I am perfectly sure that no one can go wrong in placing a
gateway, or mapping a walk or drive, who understands this one
truth, and acts upon it intelligently.
Let us take a glance into the realm of psychology for a moment
— after premising that the location of the house and all other
buildings, being governed by the formation of the land and other
local conditions, has been decided upon before the question of
entrances comes up at all. It should be ; the very choicest site
which the land affords should be selected, regardless of how the
drive or walk is to reach it, or where the gate is to be. There
is never any kind of path, anywhere in the world, that does not
lead to something that was there before it.
Given, then, a house situated where you want it on the land;
fronting in whichever direction is to the greatest advantage,
according to the arrangement of its rooms; with its doors and
windows placed where they are tuider the twin considerations
of convenience and beauty; locating the gateway and mapping
the walks and drives become problems of psychology, pure and
simple.
Lives there a man who does not want to cut across the lawn ?
Even though it may save him less than half a dozen steps to do
so, the impulse is nearly always there. Why is it ? Why does
Walks and Drives 43
this tantalize him and keep him ever on his guard against yield-
ing to it ? Why this wellnigh irresistible desire to go some other
way than along the walk laid out? Is it just human nature — or
is there a reason for it?
Undoubtedly it is, just human nature; but there is a reason
for it, even so. And there is a way of getting at the reason —
which brings us to psychology, does it not? For this great
science of the mind is surely, after all, first the science of human
nature — the science of analyzing and classifying those curious
twists which individualize us.
In this matter of walks it resolves again into the line of least
resistance. Indeed this is continually revealing itself as the
most compelling influence. Therefore the highest degree of
success attainable in mapping a walk lies in working with it —
in humoring whimsical human nature, which after all is not
altogether as unreasonable as it sometimes seems. In other
words, it Hes in placing a gate at the psychological point and a
walk along the psychological line. The walk or drive — I must
be understood as referring to both in all generalizations — that
carries a capricious human creature to a given point, without its
having occurred to him that a difference in direction here or
there would get him there with completer satisfaction to his soul,
is a success. That is unquestionably the supreme test.
But how are we to determine this line? And will it not
interfere sometimes with a great many important things, if
literally followed?
To the latter, yes it will— sometimes — if literally followed;
to the former, we are going to determine it by predetermining
just where it shall fall. That is, we are going to create the con-
ditions which will establish the direction we wish it to take,
instead of accepting the direction established by conditions as
44 The Landscape Gardening Book
we find them — providing of course that conditions as we find
them do not already direct it along the easiest, best and most
generally beautiful course.
On a large place this is as likely to be the case as not, if the
ground is rolling. Long, sweeping curves will come naturally
from following the easiest grade and avoiding mounds and
hummocks. But with less land, natural contours are less
varied; and something must be done to supply the lack of them.
What shall it be?
Decide, in the first place, at what point of the grounds travel
towards the house naturally focuses. If you will notice where
your own steps tend to leave the sidewalk and stray truantly
across the lawn, or the place where the lawn is going to be,
you will easily fix this point. Then, starting from it, determine
the course that is ideal for the walk to follow— the course which
will suit you perfectly as you walk over it, and that will look
best from house, grounds and street. This will almost never be a
straight line.
When it is found, if no excuses exist for its deviation from a
straight line, provide them. Plant a tree squarely in the way,
with another near enough to give both the appearance of
happening to be there. Reinforce these with groups of shrubs
if necessary, which the walk will have to avoid. Lead and coax
it along in this way until, adjusting itself to the obstructions
you have furnished, it follows your own sweet will, with nothing
to hint that it could have taken any other course.
In view of the fact that the " direct ' ' Hne is usually interpreted
to mean a straight line, this will of course seem to be an absolute
contradiction of the one general rule with which we started. But
the direct line, as a matter of fact, is almost never a straight line,
running at a right angle from the street. It is instead a direction
Walks and Drives 45
line, which bears off from the street at the point where the mind
and the feet naturally turn towards the house entrance, leading
to that entrance irresistibly yet not violently.
The tired individual, sauntering homeward, will very rarely —
indeed I doubt if he will ever — find it the natural thing to walk
to a point directly opposite the house door, turn a right-about-
face, and walk in, in a beeline, and up his front steps. And it
is not fatigue, as a matter of fact, that makes the idea of doing
this irritating. It is the lack of actual directness, and the
violent interruption in the force which is impelling him forward,
which his feet and his subconscious mind are aware of, even
though his active consciousness may not be.
The small suburban place, with its restricted area, offers
possibly the most difficult problem of all, in this as in other
respects. Its limitations are decided, and conventional ugliness
has long been accepted as the proper thing — indeed, the only
thing. In fact the small suburban place, commoner than any
other kind of place in the land, is the one thing which we go on
t^glifying year in and year out, in Simian imitation each of the
other. There is almost never an attempt to break away from
the commonplace treatment that makes all such places ordinary
and uninteresting.
Once in awhile, however, something is done which gives a hint
of the possibilities of even such places as these. And on the
next page is a little diagram showing a departure from the
tiresome old ways, which illustrates some of the things I have been
saying. The arrangement of the entrances is of course the
feature which makes this place so different from all others.
But it is worth while to note that, by planning these as they are,
the whole place is vastly improved and much space saved. It
is therefore an excellent example of good landscape gardening.
46
The Landscape Gardening Book
Origmally there was the usual walk, leading straight from the
sidewalk to the front steps of the dwelling. This of course cut
the already small lawn into two parts, the two patches being
each about eighteen by twenty-five feet. The lot is fifty by
one hundred. The walk to
the kitchen was where it is
now, and had to stay there
because of the general plan of
the house. Only two courses
therefore were open as a
means of improvement.
One was to move the point
of departure of the kitchen
walk from the sidewalk, along
six feet to the left ; to broaden
this walk to four feet, and
branch it into a Y when
within six feet of the house.
The right arm would then
disappear^ as kitchen walk,
arotmd the corner of the build-
ing, while the left would termi-
nate at the foot of the steps.
This would of course have made one gateway and one walk,
for a certain space, serve two entrances. And the disadvantages
of having a service entrance and a main entrance the same, even
on a very small place, are obvious. But this was not the only
thing which decided against such an arrangement as that just
outlined, and in favor of the scheme as it is here shown. The
unalterable way in and out to this place is at the left hand corner.
That psychological influence which is forever at work in this
A typical suburban lot redeemed by an
unusual arrangement of walks
Walks and Drives
47
matter, so decreed. Its decree was accepted and wisely fol-
lowed — and the result is an absolute verification of the principle.
There was no hedge and almost no planting of any kind when
the tests were made to determine the location of this important
point. It was therefore an exceptional opporttmity to observe
the impulse, not only of those living in the house, regarding it,
Yr- — ^-^ —
Plan A — Planting detail of entrance
walk as shown
Plan B — Planting detail of a slightly-
different arrangement
but of casual visitors as well. And all kinds of subterfuge were
resorted to, to trick the unwary and lure them into wandering in,
across the Httle squares of green that lay on either side of the
prim granolithic walk.
Nine out of every ten left the sidewalk just where the gate is
now — and the tenth looked longingly at that point, though he
kept dutifully to the walk. None made the exact right-angle
turn at the porch which the walk shows ; but a group of shrubs
close to the walk, m this angle, backed up by a tree which shades
the porch, deludes one into going that way now, willingly and
contentedly, because it is plainly the most direct — or seems to
48 The Landscape Gardening Book
be. The sharp turn was used because the small amount of space
made it important to conserve every foot of lawn surface. A
curv'e would have sacrificed a little ; and though it would have
been better, strictly speaking, it would not have been enough
better in so small an area to make up for the loss.
The house was a rambling affair, irregular enough and informal
enough to have almost any kind of a garden, except a formal
one. So the hedge-enclosed front lawn was planted with a
border of old-fashioned flowers on two sides, with more against
the house for good measure. To provide a way out to the
kitchen entrance, as well as a private way in from that side if one
happens to need it, a line of stepping stones was carried across
the front, past the bay window, to a wicket in the half hidden
hedge.
Similar stones at the end of the porch prevent the tramping
down of the grass which is sure to result from much running
across in such a situation. Always remember, by the way, to
put two stones at the end of such a line. These divert footsteps,
now this way, now that, so that the grass will be worn evenly
instead of just in one place following the last stone.
By shifting the front walk on this place the dimensions of the
lawn became 42 x 25 feet, the former being the distance across
the front from the inner side of the hedge which excludes the
kitchen walk, to the inner side of the boundary hedge opposite.
This increased area is all in one undivided stretch of greensward,
which makes it appear even more of an increase than it actually is.
The kitchen walk is utilitarian, pure and simple, yet passing
between the two rows of hedge as far as the comer of the house
and between vine-covered house and hedge from there on, it is
by no means unattractive. A stout gate admits it to the kitchen
yard, which is completely latticed.
Walks and Drives 49
The sidewalk remains of cement, but once inside the front
gate — painted white, this is hung between white posts, above
which the privet of the hedge is trained to form an arch — there
is no longer a sign of such massive material. The house walks are
both appropriately graveled as becomes a simple cottage scheme.
The hedge is trimmed at shoulder height, rising higher, as already
mentioned, at the gate. The seclusion of the place is delightful,
yet it is not at all shut in.
There is much about this little place that is generally suggest-
ive and helpful. Walks and drives are simply longer or shorter
according to the distance they must cover; they are never very
different one time from another, excepting on uneven ground.
And even here there is no method of laying them out better than
the one described — of this I am long since convinced— unless
the circumstances are very exceptional.
Plants Used
plan a — partial shade
I — Daphne Mezeremn: Mezereon pink; three to four feet high;
any soil, said to prefer a light rich one and part shade — will
do well in sun however and even in dry soil; flowers deep
red-purple, very fragrant, close along the stems in twos and
threes; blossoms in March, sometimes in February, long
before the leaves appear.
2 — Berberis Thunhergii: Japanese barberry; four feet high; any
soil; low and dense, horizontal-branching shrub; flowers
pale yellow, small, strvmg along the branches Hke little
inverted cups; blossoms in April and May; scarlet hemes
follow which remain all winter.
3 — Deutzia corymbiflora: Deutzia; four feet high; any soil; the
branches are long and slender and spreading ; white flowers
50 The Landscape Gardening Book
in large clusters at the ends of branches and twigs, covering
the bush ; blossoms in Jvme.
4 — Cornus sanguinea: variety of cornel; twelve feet high; any
soil, sun or shade; greenish- white flowers in dense, roiuid,
flat clusters ; blossoms in May and Jvme; black fruits follow;
the branches of this shrub are a deep blood-red in winter
and very decorative.
2 — Syringa vulgaris: common lilac; twelve to twenty feet high;
any soil will do but a moderately moist one is preferred ;
familiar lilac-colored flowers; blossoms in May and June.
6 — A cer rubrum : red maple tree ; reaches one hundred and twenty
feet high in time ; any soil ; the earliest of the trees to flower, its
scarlet blossoms appearing in March or April ; very gorgeous
in autumn color.
PLAN B — FULL SUN
1 — Chrysanthemum — hardy pompon type ; two to three feet high;
any soil; flowers in greatest abundance, small and button-
like, in white, all shades of yellow to deep coppery-bronze
and all shades of mauve-pink to deep maroon ; keep to one
or the other of the two latter color divisions in selecting,
and do not attempt to use both; blossoms in September
and on tmtil frost cuts the plants down.
2 — Deutzia corymbiflora: as described in the hst for Plan A.
3 — Lonicera Morrowi: Japanese bush honeysuckle ; six feet high ;
any garden soil; flowers white, turning to yellowish; blos-
soms in May; covered with ruby berries from late in July
on through the summer and tmtil hard frost.
4—Diervilla hybrid, Pascal: hybrid Weigela ; six to eight feet
high; branches erect, arching and spreading; deep red
flowers in great abim dance covering the bush down to the
The perfectly balanced house may be approached by a direct entrance but the ettect
of such an approach is not always gracious
Suggestive ami inviting glimpses lend charm, as dues nothing else, to an eiUr.uiLe
Even a very smaii i nvn area ac<niires ^p.iciuusness and dignity if its mass is un-
broken by the entrance walk
miumm m t » t-h — ii jl'. J\
sal Js^L mm
Perfect symmetry aLv.ji ,.i:'l ir.i; ;.; ■■ .u.'\-v: \.,,ii,^ i,.n.! \\i
and there is a suggestion of artiliciaUty
n ..re lacking
Walks and Drives 51
ground; blossoms in Jmie and sometimes again later in
the summer.
5 — Forsythia siispensa, Fortunei: weeping Forsythia or golden
bells; eight feet high; branches arching and tips touching
the grotmd; yellow bell-like flowers along every branch
and twig; blossoms before the leaves unfold in early spring;
attractive in foliage.
6 — Spircea VanHouttei: VanHoutte's spirea; six to eight feet
high ; any soil ; slender arching branches ; dense round clusters
of tiny white flowers, burying the bush; blossoms in May
and June.
7 — Rosa rugosa: Japanese rose; six feet high; any soil, in sun;
large single flowers, white (alba) or rose-colored (rosea);
blossoms abvmdantly, in June and on throughout the sum-
mer until late in the autumn; flowers followed by very
ornamental red hips or berries that persist all winter.
8 — Hydrangea paniculata, grandiflora: great-panicled hydrangea;
might reach twenty feet in height but is usually kept back
by pruning, which helps to produce finer bloom; any well
drained soil, with plenty of moisture; enormous panicles
of white flowers ; blossoms in August and holds the clusters
until late autumn; color changes from white to pinkish
Hlac.
n. OF ILL L!R.
CHAPTER V
Vines as Harmonizers
IT would scarcely appear at first glance that vines need occupy
the attention of the landscape gardener for very long, or
that they hold a place very peculiarly their own in land-
scape work. Yet they are possibly the one class of plants upon
which we are dependent more than any other, in every circum-
stance, and whether the work to be done is very great and pre-
tentious or vei-y himible and modest. For vines— or to speak
more accurately, climbers— area paramoiuit necessity at the very
beginning.
Nature, sober, staid and dignified, objects, I take it, to being
surprised. Witness how aloof she holds herself from any newly
finished work of man, until even the most unimaginative feel
her absence and are chilled. And of course the work of man is
a surprise! Possibly it is a presumption— certainly it is arti-
ficial and vmnatural— and possibly her averted face is no more,
indeed, than a very justly deserved rebuke.
But, however that may be, if man, with understanding of
Nature's peculiarities and acknowledgment of his own crude-
ness, will offer her the apology which is implied in an appeal to
her for aid, she is graciousness itself. All her resources are
immediately at his disposal, and the exquisite fabrics of her looms
are flung with careless grace here, or hung with rich splendor
(52)
Vines 53
there, according to the need. Airy draperies and heavy there
are — enough kinds to suit the demands of every place and occa-
sion. Encourage her to spread them — that is all she needs.
In common parlance, plant vines — that is appealing to her,
directly and frankly for aid. Plant them first of all, and plant
them plentifully around new buildings. And plant them as
soon as the builders have gone, quite independent of whatever
other work may be intended and quite independent of the
garden design.
Whether a place is large or small, formal or informal, matters
not at all so far as this detail is concerned. The vital thing is
that every building must have vines upon it to impart that sense
of oneness with the earth which is the first essential. Until
this is acquired the eye will not rest upon it with any sense of
real satisfaction.
But vines themselves are formal and informal in their habits,
quite the same as other plants; and they mtist therefore be
chosen to suit the place which they are to occupy and the mate-
rial which is to be their support. Then, too, they are quite differ-
ent one from another, in other ways; and the qualities which
distinguish them in these other ways must guide very considera-
bly in their planting.
In the first place, though we speak generally of "vines" and
though all vines are climbing plants, all climbing plants are not
by any means vines ; and in the second place, all do not " climb ' '
tmassisted. Climbers are defined as weak-stemmed, tall-growing
plants which are incapable of rising from the earth without
support. Of this very general class the true vines lift them-
selves; the others are simply prostrate unless lifted.
The means by which vines lift themselves are the determining
factor as to their use, and these means are three in number.
54 The Landscape Gardening Book
Some twine bodily around their support, some catch it with
tendrils or twining leaf stalks, and some cling to it with aerial
rootlets, or with numerous tiny sucker-like disks provided for
the purpose.
The latter of course are the vines which furnish the dense,
compact and beautiful wall coverings — the most formal growth
that there is. The ivies ascend in this way, also the " clarion-
flowered" trumpet creeper. Morning-glories and Wistaria are
twiners — note that they are more airy and careless in their
growth — while the grape, in both its ornamental and its purely
utilitarian forms, is an example of those still more careless
growers which draw themselves to their support with coiling
tendrils.
The so-called climbing roses do not climb at all, but must be
helped up and tied to their support; the matrimony vine, so
often found in old gardens, is at a similar disadvantage, but this
is usually planted where it may fall over a wall and in such a
position needs only to be let alone. A variety of the famihar
Forsythia, which has slender, pendulous branches, is practically
as much of a climber as either of these, though it is all too sel-
dom used as such. This is suited to a similar location against or
above a wall. And there are numerous hardy plants Usted as
prostrate shrubs which send out long runners quite the equal
of many reputed climbers.
Of course only the climbers that belong to that class which
actually holds fast to a surface by disks or rootlets, are entirely
independent of a trelhs or support of some sort; but this very
quality of close surface clinging, on the other hand, makes its
possessors unsuitable for use in many places. The grip of the
tiny disks or rootlets carries the plant over and around an object
until it is practically lost to view— and that is going a little too
Vines 55
far. A shapely white column, for instance, is lovely when
ornamented by a green tracery that shows against it — but
clumsy when obscured by a thick, verdant blanket that destroys
its outline. For, after all, though Nature is to be placated as far
as possible, we cannot allow her to obliterate our abodes.
Generally speaking, all porch vines should be provided with
a trelhs to climb on — and right here let me say that the orna-
mental possibilities of various forms of trellis are rarely taken
advantage of as I should like to see them, and as they very
easily might be. There is permanent beauty in a well designed
and well constructed permanent support, that frankly takes its
place and makes no attempt to hide when the plant which it
supports does not conceal it. It is a feature that deserves
more consideration than it usually receives.
Strings and chicken wire are not to be despised in their place,
but the dignity of heavy-growing and profuse-blooming hardy
chmbers requires something worthier than these to support it —
and this something should always be built. The architecture of
a building will usually suggest the form and the design to be
adopted, and some architects, indeed, include such suggestions
in their elevation drawings for a house.
Vines over a porch, however, whether supported on a trellis
or climbing directly on the uprights which sustain the roof,
should always follow the lines of construction and should never
cross the open spaces between columns or uprights ; nor should
they be allowed to fill these by hanging over them from
above.
Primarily a vine is a drapery and should be treated as such.
Where it is wanted for shade it should be trained out over a
horizontal, awning-like framework or extension to a porch root
rather than in a dense, vertical wall that closes the porch in from
56 The Landscape Gardening Book
light and air and view. Vines clothing walls should likewise
be trimmed sharply away around casements and other openings.
Indeed the effect is better if they are not allowed to cover an
entire wall surface but are restrained at suitable points, so that
the wall itself is visible for perhaps a third of its area. The con-
trast between wall and foliage is usually more pleasing than the
unbroken expanse of green — and cornice lines, comers, and angles
here and there should always be left imcovered, to reveal unmis-
takably the definite form and strong sharj) outline of the
building.
The use of flowering climbers against a house is never a source
of any particular pleasure to the dwellers therein, for the blossoms
are borne where they cannot be seen excepting from without.
It is well to bear this in mind in selecting and planting ; not that
it is a reason for not planting flowering climbers, but rather that
it is a reason for planting two of them — one against the house,
if you will, and one against a trellis or an arbor or outbuilding,
where it can be seen from the house.
It is a good rule to keep to the green and leafy vines for the
dwelling, however, because of their freedom from insects and the
absence of litter in the shape of falling petals and flowers.
Roses require spraying invariably, and other flower-bearing
climbers are likely to. It is a very great nuisance to accompHsh
this where they are trained against a surface which may be
stained by the spray.
Chmbers are the one means whereby Nature's green may creep
up and cover foundation walls where they rise from the groimd —
and that is the particular place where they need covering. The
work of garden construction on any place is well begun when
plants to furnish this cover are once established. The planting
of shrubs later, at points along a foimdation, is a matter to be
Vines 57
decided by the plan of the place as a whole — and must wait for
such plan to be matured. But vines — again let me urge it —
need wait for nothing. They may be planted at any time, as
soon as the outside of a building is done.
As a very first step, then, it is safe to say that Boston ivy or
one of its varieties, may always take its place on a building's
sunny side, while English ivy may be used where no sun will
reach, if one wishes. The English i\'y is more formal in growth
of the two and is therefore especially suited to buildings of a very
formal nature or style. Its hardiness in this climate, however,
depends on its being protected from the warmth of the sun during
cold weather — the sun kills it, not the cold — and this of course
renders its general use on all sides of a structure out of the
question.
On buildings other than dwellings several vines may some-
times be mingled with good effect, if the right kinds are chosen.
With those which, like the honeysuckle, are inclined to be bare
of foliage near the ground this combination planting is indeed
quite essential to a pleasing result. Clematis also needs the
leafiness of some companion to make up for its own lack of foliage,
especially low on the stems.
Combinations to insure all-summer bloom are easily worked
out. Lovely and striking hedges may be made up of a tangle
of two or three climbers like honeysuckle and Wistaria, sup-
ported by and mmgling with the common wild rose of the
fields and roadside (Rosa lucida), or the even lovelier Michigan
rose (Rosa setigera). These form a practically impenetrable
barrier, and will grow almost for the planting. They require
more ground, to be sure, than an ordinary fence, but they are a
garden in themselves, and the only care they need is the cutting
away of enough of all three annually to prevent them from
58 The Landscape Gardening Book
choking each other. The honeysuckle will require the severest
pruning usually, being a rampant grower.
Finally, it is worthy of note that, while vines are indispensable
to the great place, regardless of how much other planting it may
boast, they are also the one thing which the tiniest scrap of land
will support. They are the material par excellence which will
furnish the greatest possible results in the least possible space.
Roothold is practically all the ground that they require, conse-
quently the most restricted area may accommodate one or two.
No wall or fence, even m the heart of the largest city, need
ever be bare of some sort of restful green. They are the one thing
adapted to every place, with positively no restrictions.
Lists of Plants
Vines for Use on Buildings
SURFACE clinging
I — Ampelopsis tricuspidata (or A. Veitchii): Boston ivy; any
soil; climbs to any height; will grow practically anywhere,
though it Ukes some sun.
2 — Euonymous radicans: Japanese evergreen creeping euonym-
ous ; slow-growijig ; fine leaf, glossy and strong ; very beau-
tiful for masonry.
3 — Hedera Helix: English ivy; high-climbing; any soil, though
it prefers a rich and moist one, always in shade ; the north
side of a building usually suits this best; evergreen, with
thickened leathery leaves.
TWINING
I — Wistaria Chinensis: Chinese Wistaria; climbs to any height;
prefers a deep rich soil but will make the best of that that
Fresh green Boston ivy. fragrant Hall's honeysuckle, large-flowered clematis and
the exquisitely lovely Wistaria are perhaps the four best house vines
Vines 59
is dry and sandy; flowers light violet -blue, in long, loose
clusters; blossoms in May and again, less freely, in Septem-
ber; stem twines and grows woody with age; clings by
twining tendrils also; always buy pot-grown plants as others
do not transplant readily.
2 — Clematis paniculata: Japanese virgin's bower; climbing to
twenty or thirty feet ; rich, light loam — add lime to the soil
every other year ; sheets of fragrant white starlike flowers ;
blossoms in August and September; seeds are also very
ornamental ; climbs by twining leaf stalks.
3 — Akehia quinata: Japanese Akebi; tall-climbing; well drained
soil, in full sun; clusters of bluish-brown flowers, spicily
fragrant ; blossoms from early spring on through May ; the
fruit, a long purple berry, is eaten in Japan, but it is
rarely produced in this coimtry; plant with the clematis —
Number 2 — to clothe the latter 's bare lower branches.
VINES FOR COLUMNS
All vines must be trained and held around columns; heavy
wire supports are usually best, being least conspicuous; a wood
support may carry them up a short distance from the ground
and they may then be carried over and around the column and
secured in place.
I — Viiis vulpina: riverbank or frost grape; tall-climbing; any
soil; flowers very fragrant — with the garden grape; fruits
small, black -purple, sour and not pleasant to eat ; lifting by
tendrils, this must have something for the tendrils to
grasp, provided for it.
2 — Vitis Lahrusca: fox grape; strong, tall-climbing; any soil;
leaves furred densely underneath with reddish wool,
making them particularly rich in color under sunlight;
6o The Landscape Gardening Book
fruits large and very like the common grape in looks but
falling when ripe ; musky and sweet ; this lifts by tendrils and
must be provided with tendril supports.
3 — Clematis lanuginosa, Henryi: large-flowering clematis;
climbing to fifteen feet; deep loamy soil in full sim; cream
white flowers, four inches across; blossoms in August and
September ; lifts by coiling leaf stalks ; give strong and rigid
support from the groimd some distance up, so that the
plants will not whip in the wind ; an iron rod or a light wood
trellis is the best thing.
4 — Tecoma radicans (or Bignonia r.): trumpet creeper; strong
iiigh chmber; any soil; scarlet trumpet-shaped flowers;
blossoms in July and through August ; lifts by aerial rootlets
which clings to surfaces as persistently as the disks of disk-
climbers.
5 — Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Engelmanni: variety of Virginia
creeper ; high-climbing ; any soil ; colors brilliantly in autumn ;
varies in habit so that it may require tying up or it may lift
by disks.
6 — Lonicera Periclymenum, Belgica: Dutch honeysuckle; climb-
ing to twelve or fifteen feet; any soil; flowers red outside;
blossoms all summer; climbs by twining.
LOW SHRUBS SUITABLE FOR BASE OF BUILDINGS
1-^Berberis Thunbergii: Japanese barberry; two to four feet
high; any soil and in sun or shade; small pendant yellow
flowers in April or May; bright scarlet berries persisting
all winter; fine foliage, very brilliant in autumn color.
2 — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: pendulous golden bells; eight
feet high; any soil; yellow flowers Uke bells the length of
the branches before the leaves appear in spring ; the branches
Vines 6i
arch and tips fall to the ground so that the bush is seldom
actually as tall as its height in feet would indicate.
-Symphoricarpos racemosus: snowberry; three to six feet
high; any soil, sun or shade; flowers small, red; blossoms
in July; quantities of fat white berries, crowded and irregu-
lar in size, follow, persisting until winter storms destroy
them.
-Pieris Mariana (or Andromeda Mariana): lily-of-the- valley
shrub, or stagger bush; four feet high; moist well drained
soil, free from lime, part shade; pinkish- white flowers in
wands three inches long and over, fragrant; blossoms in
April to June.
CHAPTER VI
Vistas Good and Bad
A BARRIER of living verdure makes an unpleasant pros-
pect practically non-existent, whether space be measured
in acres or in feet. Therefore it does not seem an exag-
geration to say that the possibilities which lie between what
are termed "planting out" and "planting in" are the greatest
boon of the garden builder, wherever he may be working.
Nothing need be endured, for even the tiniest of snug Uttle
places has room for a screen of one sort or another. And the
tinier the place the greater is the likelihood of its needing a
screen somewhere.
Distance is the primary consideration in planning a screen —
not the distance away of the object to be screened, however,
but the distance between it and the screen. What this distance
shall be is determined by the relative size of the object and the
place from which it is desired to hide it. Therefore, this de-
mands attention first.
Let us suppose that the small building at the right in the
diagram is to be cut oflF from the window of the house only.
Then, in order to be made up of the least number of shrubs
possible, the screening group must be placed close up to the
window. But if the same building is to be "planted out"
from the entire porch it will be necessary to set the shrubs of
(62)
The transition from the formality of the garden to the salt meadow
beyond is beautifully accomplished by means of reedy grasses, all lines,
even the screen at the right, being horizontal, low and spreading
Here 1^ .1 1I1.1--UI iiu iiariiiony between terrace wall, shore and sky line,
the whole embodying the perfection of dignity and repose
Latticed- top screen for a service yard with a latticed arch entrance; this
is obviously a barrier but it is so interesting that it is unresented
The same screen from within, showing detail, and also showing that
even a service yard may have its charm
Vistas
63
the screen as close up to the building as they may go, in order
to use the least possible number — therefore at the greatest
distance from the porch.
So we find the rule to be that when the object is larger than
the space from which it is to be screened, economy in numbers
The relative sizes of object to be screened and view point determine
the location and size of the screen
is served by shortening the distance between the screen and the
observation point. But when the object is smaller than the
region from which it is to be excluded, the reverse is true.
Fewer shrubs will be required if the distance between screen
and observation point is extended to the fullest degree.
The material to be planted cannot be decided upon tmtil the
position of the screen is thus determined, as its selection depends
greatly, of course, upon the amount of space allowed. Naturally
evergreens are the things ideally adapted to screening, for they
fulfil the purpose winter and summer. If it is not possible to
plant a screen entirely of them it is well to make them form a
large portion of every such group.
Lack of space need not exclude them. A wall of hemlock will
take up as little room as a wall of stone or brick, and it may be
64 The Landscape Gardening Book
brought to any desired height and will stand shearing into any
form. Its impenetrable soft, thick, beautiful green is lovely
enough to need no excuse foi- being.
When a screen has to be situated near at hand this is impor-
tant. Indeed mider such circumstances it is well to present it,
itself, as a feature, frankly drawing and centering attention
upon it, instead of attempting to make it unobtrusive and xm-
noticed. Such an attempt is bound to fail when the distance
is short ; and the irritating suspicion of what may be beyond
which constantly recurs when the vision is intercepted by a
group that, of itself, is not interesting enough to distract at-
tention, is something to be avoided if possible. It is a subterfuge
to feature the screen, but a perfectly excusable one.
Coiuitless ways to make such a barrier itself of special inter-
est will suggest themselves, according to a situation. With a
hemlock hedge, if the hedge itself is not enough, a semi-formal
treatment is excellent. A pedestaled faun or a row of them,
placed before it at intervals of ten to fifteen feet and gleaming
white against the green, will never grow wearisome. Or if
these are too ambitious for the rest of the place, substitute a
sun-dial, an urn, or a garden seat, with a flanking pair of small
pyramidal boxwood or juniper trees, or a pair of flowering
shrubs.
Ramblers or pillar roses, gathered up and tied to a straight
young sapHng, take up very little room; and grown this way
they are marvelously effective, lending themselves especially
to cramped quarters. Simpler than anything else would be a
row of these to form columns of bloom against the hemlock's
dark green. A selection of several varieties will give a long
period of bloom.
Privet grows much faster than hemlock and costs a great deal
Vistas 65
less — and it holds its bronzy leaves persistently even against
wind and snow and frost. So, for prompt results, and cheaper,
it is very satisfactory indeed. Even without a leaf upon its
branches an old privet hedge that has been properly trimmed, is
so twiggy that it very effectually hides the thing beyond it.
Where there is room enough a thick planting of arborvitae,
hemlock, spruce, or cedar, left untrimmed to form a natural back-
groimd for a border of flowering shrubs, cannot be improved
upon. Shrubs having ornamental fruits or highly colored winter
bark may be chosen, and will add to the winter beauty of the
group. For screens to be placed at a distance, on a place of
considerable size, I should always recommend conifers as the
dominant note, with deciduous trees beyond in as natural and
forest-like relation as possible.
Whatever the thing may be that mars the outlook from within
a dwelling or offends the eye at any point of the surrounding
grovmds, let me urge that something be done to annihilate it
promptly. There is no necessity for contemplating a neighbor's
chicken yard from the library windows, nor for tolerating a
view of his tool house or wood pile from the front gate. A
little contriving will find a way to hide them. Similarly, even
remote objects may be blotted from the landscape, if not in
one way then in another — for what a bush will not hide a pine
tree will.
The reverse process, whereby the outer world is included in
one's private grounds or garden — the " planting in" process — is
obviously not altogether that, Hterally. Rather is it a great
deal more than that, for the term applies of course to any
arrangement which brings an object or a view — usually the latter
— into the general scheme of a place, even though it is miles
distant from it.
66 The Landscape Gardening Book
Leaving the intervening space unobstructed and quite free
from any planting would seem to be the simplest way of accom-
plishing this, but curiously enough it often fails utterly. For
a view must be more than there to give us the fullest apprecia-
tion of its beauty; it must be there-for-our-benefit. And some-
thing must be done to make us feel this, to assure us unmis-
takably that this is so, as we look out upon it. It must be
incorporated into the place from which we behold it.
The one thing which surely accomplishes this very much to be
desired result — the thing that is the key to success in this phase
of tree and shrub planting- — is a thing that is generally over-
looked and tmsuspected. Yet it is so important that it cannot
be over-estimated nor over-emphasized. Briefly it is this: the
dominant line in a view must dominate the planting which
carries the eye to that view.
In other words, the lines along which the planting carries the
vision must be made harmonious with the object which ulti-
mately meets that vision. They must be what someone has
very aptly termed " eye sweet. " At first glance this may seem
impossible, in some instances anyway. For example, how is the
vision to be carried straight ahead by means of lines that conform
to a sea horizon ? Certainly the dominating line of that is hori-
zontal ; and a horizontal line is at a direct right angle with the line
of vision as one looks out to sea.
True enough; nevertheless the vision travels straight to the
seascape over broad lines of planting which sweep to left or right
or both, in lines that are generally horizontal, much more swiftly
and directly than it does where an effort is made to actually
carry it forward with lines of planting that run against the hori-
zon. The rule holds because, as a matter of fact, the planting
cannot force the vision through tunnels or along ruts or ridges
Vistas 67
of green. It can only persuade it and lead it on. It is a matter
of suggestion, not coercion. And successful suggestion always
presents but the one idea — it offers not the subtlest hint of a
resistant force or, in this instance, an antagonistic direction.
The idea in the case just cited is all breadth and expansion, and
nothing should occur to distract the mind, through the eye, from
this.
A view that follows a valley requires "planting in" on pre-
cisely the same principle — that is on the lines of the valley,
whether they be oblique to the view point, or horizontal, or
straight away. Similarly a view of field or mountain or stream
must determine, by the line which dominates it, just how the
vision shall be helped along the way.
I have yet to find an instance where the rule does not apply.
Consciously or unconsciously the artist makes use of it in a
landscape, and views that give a sense of complete satisfaction
will be found to measure up to the standard which it furnishes.
It not only legitimately includes a prospect in your own domain,
but it emphasizes its presence there; and by this emphasis
enhances its value to the whole.
Happily, circumstances require the planting of barren tracts
to create vistas, rather more often than they require the cutting
out of Nature's growth to clear them — happily at least for some
of us. I doubt if many who love outdoors and all that lives
outdoors, can see a tree felled without a shivering pang of regret.
I am perfectly free to confess that I cannot. Yet it is quite as
important to eliminate vegetation under some conditions as it is
to preserve it tmder others. But let there be no uncertainty
about when to do one and when the other — for the hour in which
a tree may be laid low is tragically brief, compared to the half
a hundred years or so it may have been growing.
68
The Landscape Gardening Book
When circumstances force a choice between trees and a view,
and it is the only view, choose it every time — tmless there is
chance for an interloper to come between and steal it from you
at some future day. Settle this beyond all doubt. Never open
a vista that may end in an eye-sore some time, through a neigh-
bor's freak, or folly, or indifference.
But do make as much of the world your own as you can, right
down to the rim. There is something none can afford to be
without in living with a horizon, either of land or sea, and trees
that hide it are cheating you. They are robbing you of soul
expansion that is rightfully yours. Condemn them and take
them out without compunction. Their room is better than their
company tmder such circumstances — though it may hurt to see
them go.
rm '^K
^.)7:.^'
>^^-
Planting of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs forming a screen group
two hundred feet long.
Lists of Plants
evergreen and deciduous trees in the screen group
I — Pinus Strobus: white pine; one hundred feet high or more;
adapts itself to any soil; the most beautiful of all native
evergreen trees; care must be used in setting this out and
■.'^.
A very high wall and its immediate foreground should be made so inter-
esting by planting that wonder about what lies beyond will never arise
- ■ it
5 '^"/'■'^:'
.^'u^-f ■ . .; ''^ . 'i^r
■ ^ .;■: ^^^
-
is: f -
11 j
^^^^^y^^^M^^^^^- "'• ■■
S'''-l
M
M
•te*?^" .
White marble against evergreens is always enchanting, and fauns are
particularly appropriate garden subjects
Nothing is more restful than thi- l-ng v\\i\ hu.- ■ :. , \ ergreen hL-dge,
and it furnishes a deHghtful note of contrast for flowers
Winter and summer a screen of living grtin is aLtually a screen,
well as a pleasant feature of the grounds
Vistas
69
Details of shrubbery groups from the large screen group, laid off in
three-foot squares ; this gives the exact location of every plant.
70 The Landscape Gardening Book
young plants only should be transplanted ; the long tap root
makes this precaution necessary.
2 — Tsuga Canadensis: hemlock spruce or common hemlock;
seventy-five feet high and over; any soil, not too dry; ranks
next to the white pine and is quite as beautiful in its way;
easily transplanted.
^—Betula papyrifera: canoe or paper birch; sixty to eighty feet
high; fairly rich soil, but may be very generally planted;
very white bark, peeling readily from the tree; used by the
Indians for their canoes.
^—Populus nigra, Italica: Lombardy poplar; sixty to eighty feet
or more high ; any soil ; pyramidal trees which are familiar to
everyone.
5 — Sorbus aucuparia: European mountain ash or rowan tree;
forty feet high, sometimes more ; any soil ; white flowers in
flat clusters; blossoms in May and Jtine ; brilliant red berries
follow, which remain all winter; the rowan tree of old folk-
lore.
SHRUBS IN THE SCREEN GROUPS
I — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: weeping or pendulous golden
bells; eight feet high; any soil; yellow flowers the length of
the branches in early spring ; branches arch and dip to the
ground.
2 — Ligustrum Ibota, Regelianum: variety of privet; six feet high;
any soil; low and spreading growth; small lilac-like clusters
of white flowers; blossoms in June and July; black berries
follow.
3 — Hibiscus Syriacus, pa:oniflora: rose of Sharon; twelve feet
high; any soil; solitary white flowers with red centers,
abtmdant; blossoms in August and September.
Vistas 71
4 — Forsythia intermedia: erect golden bells; twelve feet high;
any soil; yellow blossoms the same as Forsythia suspensa, F.;
fine clear foliage.
5 — Cornus candidissima: panicled cornel; fifteen feet high; an
upright-growing, dense shrub with smooth gray branches;
tiny white blossoms in closely packed clusters, numerous
and attractive; blossoms in May and June; ornamental
white berries follow.
6 — Cornus alba, Sibirica: Siberian dogwood; ten feet high;
any soil and will do well in sun or shade; erect-growing,
with bright red branches and twigs ; small white flowers in
flat clusters; blossoms in May and June; has bluish- white
berries.
7 — Viburnum pruni folium: black haw or stag bush; fifteen feet
high; any soil; tiny white flowers in dense clusters four
inches broad ; blossoms in April or May.
8 — SpircBa VanHouttei: VanHoutte's spirea; six to eight feet
high; any soil; slender arching branches; dense rotind
clusters of small white flowers which weigh the branches
down and cover the bush; blossoms in May and June.
9 — Lonicera Morrowi: bush honeysuckle; eight feet high; any
ordinary soil; flowers white changing to yellow; blossoms
in May and June ; is covered with very ornamental translu-
cent ruby-colored fruits which persist a long time.
10 — Diervilla, Eva Rathke: hybrid Weigela; six to eight feet high;
a rather moist soil and partial shade; abundant deep red
flowers ; blossoms in Jvme and on during the summer.
This two-hundred-foot group may be broken up into smaller
groups in almost any way that seems desirable. Trees alone
72 The Landscape Gardening Book
of any cluster may be used, or shrubs alone where only a low
screen is necessary. The details of each of the four shrubbery
groups show the location of each shrub. These are laid off in
three-foot squares, for convenience in calculating the distances
and also to faciUtate getting the plan onto the ground.
CHAPTER VII
Boundaries
A BOUNDARY is "a visible mark indicating the limit" —
those are the exact words — hence there can be no greater
anomaly than an "invisible boundary." And happily
we are outgrowing the affectation that led us, a decade or so ago,
to such violation of good sense as the total elimination of hedges,
fences and all other "visible" evidences of limits.
It must have been affectation pure and simple, for there is
absolutely nothing in human experience or human instinct
which prompts such action. Rather indeed, do these urge an
opposite course. A little bit of the earth with a fence around it
is the honest demand of human nature, common to all but the
anarchists. These want the fences down to be sure — or they say
they do — but is it so others may walk in, or because they them-
selves wish to walk out?
The sacrifice of boundaries in suburban communities has
usually been made, I think, under a doubly mistaken idea.
There is an impression, widely prevailing, that an effect of spa-
ciousness is thus gained. And there is a feeling, widely cherished,
that this particular effect is the great desideratum, to which all
else should be willingly sacrificed.
As a matter of fact spaciousness is of small consequence,
alone and by itself. When it results naturally from conditions
(73)
74 The Landscape Gardening Book
which have been carefully taken advantage of m the layout of a
garden, when the greatest attention to economy of space has
produced it or emphasized it, well and good. In other words,
when it actually exists, where there actually is " space" to take
advantage of and to emphasize, then and only then is it suitably
made the motif of a place. Efforts to produce it under other
circumstances are misguided; none more so tha:i the unhappy
obliteration of boundaries to that end.
The position of a dwelling, and its relation to other dwellings
or other buildings about it, show plainly where the boundaries of
the land with which it is furnished, lie. Hence the observer is
never deceived by lack of definite markings. And all the lovely
seclusion and privacy which good taste demands for the home,
and which may be the attributes of the tiniest scrap of a door-
yard if it is well planned, are after all sacrificed in vain. Only
barrenness, or garish publicity, or vulgar ostentation result —
never the delusion of space fondly and commonly hoped for.
Boimdaries should therefore be marked — always. By this I
do not mean simply defined as property limits, but marked
defensively — aggressively if you will — as a beginning to the
gradual process of home building which is to go on within them.
They separate the home from the outside world and suggest its
aspect of refuge and snug retreat, of safe and pleasant harbor.
And the smaller the place and more thickly settled the neighbor-
hood, the more imperative the need for this defensive setting
apart ; the greater the gain from this resolute planting out of the
big world and planting in of the little, individual one.
Suburban plots are usually small and cramped, to be sure —
obviously too small for a marginal planting of trees and shrubs ;
but no matter how tiny the place may be there is some suitable
enclosure for it. It is simply a question of finding out what that
.::n ■ iij,i:-'..i'l witli ..n :;vi';i . n ' .;:;te like this gives distinction
:ind character to the simplest kind of enclosing barrier
This architectural Imundriry does not shut out a glimpse of the garden
beyond, yet it is definitely a line between the outer world and the inner
Boundaries 75
may be. There is seldom anything better for a small place than
a hedge. Whether it shall be evergreen or deciduous depends
upon the amount which is appropriated for its cost — have the
former if possible. Whether it shall be formally clipped or left
to grow in natural, informal abandon should depend upon the
style of the house and the place generally.
Nature offers the best possible model for boundary planting on
a larger scale. Observe her treatment of any irresponsible water-
course where some truant brooklet loiters and hurries alternately
on its way ; or of an old roadside where she is left undisturbed, or
along an old fence or roughly piled stone wall.
Look first at the form — the general shape — of the mass of
wild growth. Its irregular skyline will impress eyes that are
opened to it at once, likewise its varying width upon the ground —
here thick and dense, there sparse and thin. This irregularity
and the varying form are more important than its color or than
the variety of plants composing it, for the picturesque charm
which distinguishes it is almost entirely owing to these.
Then note that the direction of such a boundary changes,
even though it may follow a generally straight line, and that the
comers are never sharply turned. And finally, record carefully
the fact that Nature uses lavishly one or two kinds of plant and
allows only a fugitive specimen here and there of others, half
hidden among them. A soHtary umbel of flaming bunchberry
which once caught my eye from beneath a mass of sumach and
elder, along a meadow boundary near a patch of old woods,
always recurs to me in this connection.
Who but Nature — imless possibly a Japanese — ever composed
with such cunning simplicity? Fifty bimchberries would have
made more show — but how much less of an impression!
Even where space will permit a border planting varying from
76 The Landscape Gardening Book
ten to twenty feet in width, it is better to limit the varieties to
three or four, rather than risk the jumbled and crowded effect
which is so likely to result from the use of too many. Trees may
accent a point here and there, but they are not absolutely neces-
sary, for with four kinds of shrubs, properly selected, a suffi-
ciently varied skyline is assured without them.
A botmdary which seems to be completely forgotten nowadays
is the old plashed hedgerow— a style which came from England
in the early days of the Colonies. For uncleared land it is sim-
plicity itself, and it is by no means impracticable on smooth
and treeless wastes, though on the latter it requires planting and
consequently a little more time for results, of course.
On uncleared land a row of saplings are simply left along the
boimdary line— saplings of whatever may constitute the growth
cleared away. These are then bent down along the ground as
close as may be and tied, each to its neighbor, to hold them in
place. All the branches on either side of the line of the boundary
are taken off close at the boles, leaving only those on what is now
the top and the tinder side of the saplings, to grow. And these
are "plashed" — that is they are woven, in and out and about
their neighbors, until a network is well begun which each suc-
ceeding year's growth will make more dense and impenetrable.
Enough trimming back must be done each year of course, to
keep the line even and straight. Climbing and prostrate grow-
ing vines or shrubs, set here and there along the hedgerow, soon
make themselves at home and help in the boundary building.
And wild growths will spring up of themselves, in short order.
Such a boimdary is not suitable for ^•ery close quarters,
naturally, but for larger places, where natural lines may prevail
to a great extent, it is much to be regretted that it is not more
often used. A planting may very easily be made for it where
Boundaries 77
all natural growth has long since been eliminated, in which case
young trees of the same species as the native growth should be
chosen, if possible. Beech, oak, dogwood, alder, hornbeam —
anything that is young enough to be soft and pliable, and that is
indigenous, is suitable for this woodsy, umbrageous wall of old-
world charm and permanence. Three or four kinds may be used,
just as in the natural sapling growth.
Within the outer boundaries of a place there are numerous
lesser " hmits " to be marked. The service or kitchen yard needs
its screen, the vegetable garden its protection, the chickens their
restriction, and perhaps a rose or flower garden its shelter and
seclusion. Each of these inner bovmdaries should be made the
motif for some particularly individual treatment, thus combining
utility and beauty. A high service yard lattice is the best
possible place for those fruit trees which in English and European
gardens are trained on walls.
Arbors and trellises should always mark a boundary instead
of being set aimlessly down anywhere, with no reason for being
there. In fact if there is any one thing about garden design
that I beheve needs emphasizing more than another it is this:
nothing should ever be built or planted without a reason; a
reason, mind — not an excuse.
Finally, never leave a fence or wall or other boundary un-
planted. Whether the defense which you have adopted is a
brick wall or chicken wire strung on gas pipe, be not satisfied
with it and it alone. Give it clothing ; if there is only room for
a hedge inside it or for vines to clamber through or over it, have
the hedge or the vines. Always have some living green to frame
the lawn and furnish the background for flowers, or whatever
may be introduced.
Not a single summer need go by with a fence or a wall barren,
yS The Landscape Gardening Book
for sweet peas or morning glories — get the Imperial Japanese
variety — will cover it in no time, while the slower, hardy stuff is
making growth. The evergreen honeysuckles are, of all fence-
climbers, the most satisfactory, to me at least. This not only
because they are so hardy, and practically evergreen, but because
they blossom freely and fill the air with such deUghtful fragrance.
Planted at ten-foot intervals and " layered " f or a couple of years
— a long branch from each plant laid down along the fence to
root, covered lightly at the joints with earth — they form a
growth in a very short time so dense and compact that it is
virtually a hedge.
FLOWERING HEDGES — TRIMMED OR LEFT NATURAL
I — Berberis Thunbergii: Thimberg's Japanese barberry; four
feet high ; any soil and will endure shade ; hardy everywhere ;
there is no better plant, in every way, for a hedge; dense
and defensive, twiggy, thorny growth which becomes like
a solid wall if sheared ; foliage fine and clean, autumn color
brilliant; bright scarlet berries persistent all winter; at all
seasons beautiful; set small plants eighteen inches apart if
the hedge is to be sheared, twenty-four to thirty inches
apart if it is to be left natural.
2 — Berberis aquifolium: holly-leaved barberry; six feet high;
any soil; an evergreen, beautiful in winter color; yellow
flowers small and numerous along the branches; blossoms
in May; set eighteen to thirty inches apart, as above.
3 — Cratcegus Crus-galli: cockspur thorn; to twenty-five feet
high ; any soil, though it usually chooses rather rich localities
when growing wild; flowers very like the flowers of apple
trees, white, in loose clusters; blossoms in May and June;
Alwnlute privacy and seclusion are secure^l ny such a treatment as this;
grounds that are on a higher level than the street are essential
The same idea, executed in loose stone work, with, a boxwood hedge and
minus the ivy on the wall; perfect seclusion without arrogance
An entrance from a street that is higher than the property; here th re
is an evergreen planting outside the wall to aid in securing privacy
On a large place a boundary of trees, shrubs and llowers framing a
sweep of lawn, suggests Nature at her best
Boundaries 79
prune not later than August first; set plants twenty-four
to thirty inches apart ; branches of this are armed with long
and extremely sharp thorns.
4 — Hibiscus Syriacus, cornea plena: variety of rose of Sharon;
twelve feet high ; any soil ; many flesh-pink, solitary flowers
all over the bush ; blossoms in August and September; prune
after flowering ; set the plants eighteen to twenty-foiu- inches
apart.
Almost any flowering shrub may be used for a hedge that is to
be allowed to grow in a natural way. The selection is largely a
matter of taste and personal preference. The following are
some of the best: Spircea FanZ/oMi/ez— VanHoutte's spirea;
Rosa rugosa — Japanese rose; Syringa vulgaris— common lilac,
white or purple; Rosa ruhiginosa — sweetbriar rose; Hydrangea
paniculata, grandiflora — great-panicled hydrangea.
CHAPTER VIII
Entrances and Gateways
THE destruction of boundaries took away, among other
things, every vestige of an excuse for one thing which had
ahvays been, on every place, an object of special considera-
tion and painstaking thought. It took away gateways and
definite entrance treatment. For naturally where no enclosure
is, there can be no opening or gateway admitting to an enclosure.
With the "within" and the "without" all the same, and boun-
dary lines obliterated, gateways are imnecessary — though we
do see them sometimes, standing beside a highway that is in no
way divided from the grounds to which they offer entrance and
pretend to give access.
And what an air of mute dejection they wear as if they
felt real mortification at the ridiculous position in which they
find themselves. For surely nothing is less of a necessity than
the fenceless gate across an entrance, arotmd the supports of
which one may skip as easily as through it.
But if we restore boundaries, gateways will of course come
with them. And we shall then have once more that feature
which goes a long way in determining the character of a place ;
for the entrance to grounds, whether they are great or small, is
an important focussing point. Here generali!zation ends and
individualization begins; here the dweller within the portals
(80)
lych gate is hospitably inviting; in a hedge or a stone wall it is particu-
larly eflfective ; the frontispiece shows the latter
Flanked by the poplars and the well placed shrubs, these gate-posts, carrying tiie
particularly graceful gate, focus the attention with the pleasantest of impressions
Entrances 8i
steps away from the mass and becomes a personality. Hence
right at the gateway appear the signs and tokens of that per-
sonality. And hence the gateway itself is the place at which
to begin with careful consideration.
Like every other part of a place the gateways or entrances
from the highway must first of all be appropriate. Stately and
massive pillars, supporting elaborate gates, are only sviitable
for large and stately places, which are enclosed by a wall of
correspondiiig scale and material. But there are gateway
treatments for every place, however small, that are as suitable
for it as heavy masonry is for the large place, though these are
rarely seen and rarely even considered, at the present time.
Quaint charm and a certain exclusiveness are always the
attributes of a gateway of any size whatsoever, that is arched
over with vines or a trellis, or covered in some manner. I
do not know why it is that this covering adds so much, but it
does. It contributes a something that makes for decorum and
dignity, that instantly commands respect for a place and for
its occupants.
Perhaps it is because entrance through such an opening is
more like going through a door and into a room or building, than
through an ordinary gateway. It is suggestive too of the lovely
old walled gardens and dooryards of the South, into the leafy
coolness and sweetness of which, through a little door in the high
brick or stone wall, one steps with a gasp of surprise, direct from
the hot city pavement.
Such gardens are the vestibules of the houses which they lie
beside, for the entrance to the house is only reached after admit-
tance to the garden has been gained — and the garden gate fastens
with a latch and bolt. The wall of the garden is a continuation
of the front wall of the house, in which possibly, on the lower
82 The Landscape Gardening Book
floor at least, there are no windows. The rooms overlook their
own garden only, betraying a fine indifference to the vulgar
things of the street. Indeed they go further; they carefully
exclude them. And admittance to the groimds is obtained only
upon the summons of the bell at the garden gate — or door.
Truly these are gardens to live in, gardens with an air about
them, even though they are small, and cramped by city
conditions.
A wooden arch or a lattice-trellis whereon vines may climb is
about the simplest cover for a gateway. And winter and sum-
mer it is attractive, if kept trim and neat; but this is a gate
treatment which seems to conform only to a certain type of
house, and it always has an out-of -place look unless such a house
lies beyond it. It is a part of the white paint and green shutters
epoch, of the exact perfection of box borders and Colonial door-
yards. It must be painted white, like the house, to look right ;
and it belongs above the picket gate in a spotless, straight and
precise picket fence. So this, though an easy way of securing a
desired result, is not a very generally available one. For pure
Colonial architecture is not common.
Gates with hooded roofs suit admirably the informal and un-
conventional lines of houses of the half-timbered, bungalow and
craftsman type, and have great, and as yet almost entirely un-
developed, possibilities. Executed in the same wood as that
used in the house construction, stained the same color, they may
have either a shingled or a thatched roof. The latter seems
actually appropriate to only rustic conditions however, and to
the general surroundings where such construction may be in-
dulged in. The gate itself in such a structure naturally will
conform to the rest of the structure.
For the entrance through a rough stone wall these hooded
Entrances 83
gates are charming; or through brick, concrete or any solid sub-
stance. They are perfectly suitable and harmonious for use with a
hedge boiindary indeed, if the latter is trained high and is dense
and wall-Hke in appearance. But they are inappropriate to
any open means of enclosure, through which it is possible to look.
Universally appropriate to every size and style of place are
the arches of boughs and of green which are formed by pleaching
shrubs, set at either side of the gateway. Pleaching is a process
of tying together and interweaving the branches of separate
plants so that they hold fast and mature and continue growth
across the space between the plants. It is of all forms of arbor
the most enchanting, when well done, with the proper kind of
shrub for its mediimi ; but it has never been used in this country
to any extent owing to adverse conditions which prevail during
our extremes of winter.
Pleached alleys as they were called, were the glory of many
great English gardens, but even in England where they flourish
famously and have no difficulties of ice one day and sunny
warmth the next to contend with, they seem not to be in as high
favor now as they were long ago. There is at least one notable
example of this work here in America, an arbor near Boston over
one hundred feet long.
For the long alleys or arbors a framework of iron-hoop arches,
placed at regular intervals, is provided for a number of years,
until the branches have grown woody and strong and are well
gripped together and interlocked. But for pleaching above a
gateway such a framework need not be left for any great length
of time. The distance spanned is not great, and the plants, being
more free of light and space, make their growth faster. There
is not so much roof surface exposed to snow, either, in winter,
therefore there is less weight to be supported.
84 The Landscape Gardening Book
A hedge of privet may be carried in a straight and unbroken
hne the length of a boundary, its gateway being an opening
provided by pleaching an arch at the required point and swinging
under it, from wooden posts, a wooden gate of suitable design.
Nothing ever looks more lovely in this position than a simple
gate, painted white; and this will ordinarily suit any kind or
style of house, when used in this way, in a hedge.
The pleaching itself is done in early spring by binding several
of the longer branches down first onto the framework, and tying
them with raffia. Then they are woven or braided together and
tied, carefully and not very tightly, else their tips will be choked.
AU upstanding and outstanding shoots are cut off when the
pleaching is thus well begun, and a second shearing may follow
in August, if there has been much growth. Frequent shearing
makes for density of growth in this form as in every other.
Privet, beech, wych or slippery elm, willow and the tall grow-
ing cornels {cornus) may be used for pleaching, besides the plants
listed below. Of these the willow and privet will furnish the
most rapid growth.
The tough wood of hombean however is practically indestruc-
tible, while the flower effect of the Judas tree or red-bud is
exquisite. Consequently these two are given prominence such
as they seem to merit.
Lists of Plants
for pleaching
I — Carpinus Caroliniana (or C. Americana): American horn-
beam or blue beech; forty feet high sometimes, but very
slow-growing; endures pruning particularly well.
.i wiirihy bairit-r bcUveeii the outsiJe world and a home, in the best
sense of the word; the construction of this fence is notably strong and
permanent; the be?.i'.*v of the desicri is striking
What delights may not lie within such a garden wall as this, which, once
built, grows mellow and more beautiful with time
Entrances 85
2 — Cercis Canadensis: red bud or Judas tree; thirty feet high
sometimes; any soil; rosy flowers very early, before the
leaves; get small young plants, not over three years old, as
this does not transplant well when older ; blooms when four
or five years old.
WOODY VINES FOR ARCHES
I — Lonicera Japonica (or L. HalUana) : evergreen honeysuckle ;
climbs fifteen feet ; any soil ; very fragrant flowers ; blossoms
from Jime to August.
2 — Vitis CoigneticB: crimson glory vine; very strong, growing
to almost any height; large heavy leaves, unusual color;
colors to brilliant scarlet in the autumn, whence its name.
ROSES FOR ARCHES
1 — " Dorothy Perkins : ' ' hybrid climbing rose ; twelve to fifteen
feet high; flowers small, pink, in large clusters; blossoms in
July; foliage of this is clean and vigorous.
2 — Rosa Wichuraiana: hybrid, "Pink Roamer"; fifteen feet high;
hardy and strong growing; flowers bright pink, single, two
inches in diameter, fragrant ; blossoms in July.
3 — Rosa Wichuraiana: memorial rose; fifteen to twenty feet;
hardy and strong with splendid foliage — one of the sur-
passingly good roses; flowers covering the plant, white,
single, one and a half to two inches in diameter, faintly
fragrant; blossoms in July and on at intervals during
the summer ; very ornamental red berries persist all winter.
CHAPTER IX
Deciduous Trees
THERE are two distinct aspects under which the question of
tree planting, and the shade and shadow resulting from
tree planting, must be considered. One is shade in its
relation to buildings, the other is shade and shadow in their
relation to landscape composition— in other words one is a
purely practical, the other an esthetic, aspect. The small
place is limited usually to the former. The practical aspect
being therefore of more general application, we will give it first
attention.
It is very difficult not to go to extremes in the use of trees.
The tendency is invariably to plant either too many or not
enough, according as the planter loves "cool shade" or abomi-
nates "somber shadow;" and in this connection, as in many
others, personal prejudice is very strong and does not take kindly
to being reasoned with. There is a standard, however, set by
hygienic demands as v/ell as by those of beauty— the two are in
absolute harmony, by the way— which will regulate this unruly
tendency to extremes, if it is permitted to do so.
In the triangle of air, light and shade that this subject of tree
planting resolves itself into, there is one member which we cannot
Hve without. We need all three of course, to live happily, and
comfortably, and healthily; yet light and shade are not vital.
(86)
The burning heat which glim ners over sunbaked lawn and walks robs a home of its
rightful attributes o£ comfort an_l restfulness during half the year
Fine old trees are not to be had for the wishing, yet there are varieties of not too slow
growth which will give a generous shade within a few years after planting
fie
- D
- '^ o
; c a
- , T1BkWfc 1i h-* ^
3!^
Trees 87
Life does not depart if these are withdrawn from us ; but it does
immediately if air is withdrawn. We can live longer deprived
of anything else than we can deprived of air — indeed we cannot
live at all if it is taken away from us.
This little abstract may seem to have nothing to do with tree
planting, but it has. Anything that will emphasize the im-
portance of an element which can be excluded from our houses
so easily, by wrong placing of trees, has an important lesson for
prospective planters of trees. Of course foliage will never be
dense enough anywhere to smother anyone, but it can very
easily be dense enough to seriously interfere with that free circu-
lation of air which is so essential to comfort in hot weather, and
to health at all times. That is the point.
On the other hand, a dwelling situated in the open, with no
trees near it, is subjected to such a glare of sun and heat during
the summer as to seriously affect those living in it. Even with
awnings or shutters it is impossible, when exposed to full stm,
to secure that depth of shade needful to repose in scorching
weather. Nor is a breeze sufficient compensation — man needs
rest from heat and glare as much as he needs cooling ; something
to soothe his disquieted nerves as well as something to lower his
temperature. A certain measure of darkness is comforting as
nothing else can be.
Thus it is evident that air is not enough without shade. We
must have both. But ventilation cannot be perfect where the
sun's rays do not reach. Heat is necessary, in other words, to
help us keep cool. So, though air is the prime essential and
shade next, the ideal conditions provide all three. All three are
what we must aim to secure, the first in fullest abundance, the
second and third in needful proportions.
I doubt if the real secret of the relation between shade and
88 The Landscape Gardening Book
a building — the thing which makes the planting around it a
success or otherwise— presents itself very often to the gardener.
Certainly I have never found any mention of it in any work on
planting, though hints leading in its direction are given in one
or two very ancient tomes on the subject. Some gardens,
especially those of India and other tropical countries where the
art has been greatly perfected, seem to show a development of
the idea; but it may or may not be conscious. Yet this one
thing is to my mind the most important thing in the whole
matter of shade tree planting.
Trees should be placed so that their shadows fall upon the
ground around a building, rather than upon the building itself.
No structure is ever one whit cooler for having the sun kept
away from it on any side, if it shines directly and hot upon the
earth immediately about it. It may look cooler from without,
but that is all. Even a lawn reflects light and heat up and back,
into windows and doors and porches; and awnings afford no
relief from this reflection, for it rises imder them.
A house is itself complete shelter from the sun. Into its
windows, however, the sun ought to shine. Every room should
have light, and unobstructed outlook — which means of course
that trees must not stand very near. But this unobstructed
outlook from windows and doors and verandas should be cool
and inviting, should rest upon shade instead of a dazzling ex-
panse that glimmers with heat.
Shade aroxmd a house means cooler air around it, therefore
cooler air coming in at its open windows ; whereas shade that is
only upon it cannot affect the surrounding atmosphere in the
least. Shade at a considerable distance from it is of course
offset by the intervening sunny area, whence come blistering
little puffs of heat that are the last straw on a hot summer day.
Trees
89
The little diagram of tree arrangement around a dwelling is
given as a study in shade only, and to illustrate the manner of
finding out what results any given arrangement of trees will give.
At noon, with the sun approximately a httle south of overhead,
the trees will cast their
shortest and least shad- PT''^
ow, and this will of course
fall on their north side.
The object is to place
them where this shadow
as it swings on towards
the east and lengthens, in
the hottest part of the
day, is seen at its maxi-
mum from the house.
This has been effected
with every tree as here
shown save the two small ones in the upper left hand comer, and
the single one opposite on the right. The latter is placed to cut
off the hot sun of early morning, while the two former, which
might very well be some tall, spire-like tree such as the Lombardy
poplar, will stretch their lengthening shadows aroimd as the day
wanes, until they reach along the grass to the house at sunset.
The tree nearest the house is fifteen feet from it and, though the
shade of several will fall on the building's foimdations and part
of the lower story at some hour of the day, the building itself is
actually in the open, and the sim has free access to every side.
In passing it is worth while to remark that a house pla'ced thus
at an angle to the points of the compass enjoys the greatest
number of those advantages which arise from svm and weather.
Every room has sunlight for a little while daily, winter and sum-
Arrangement of trees showing their mid-day
shadows, which should fall on the ground
about the house rather than on the building
9© The Landscape Gardening Book
mer, and the prevailing south and west breezes will, either of
them, strike two sides of the building.
It is very easy and always very wise to work out shade out-of-
doors on the ground, using rather long stakes. Where there is not
much space this is particularly advantageous; the direction of
the stake's shadow will of course be the direction of the tree's
shadow. Very exact locating of a tree is sometimes necessary
to get shade just where it is wanted.
Always bear in mind that the promotion of individual growth
is not the most desirable thing to foster in tree planting. Sym-
metrical specimen trees are interesting, impressive and sometimes
very beautiful as specimens, it is true, but the effect of many
solitary, evenly branched individuals, even though irregularly
placed, is never equal to masses planted so closely that their
branches intermingle and crowd. Remember too, that though
it may make no great difference when viewed from a distance,
it always assures more charm in a plantation to set two trees of
the same variety from six to eight feet apart than to use a single
tree anywhere. Once in a great while circumstances may war-
rant the planting of just one, but very, very rarely.
The species to be used is always a matter for the exercise of
very great restraint and caution, and one ought really to know
something about trees before venturing to select. It is better
to employ many of one or two kinds than one of many kinds;
and although there must be a certain amount of diversity to
prevent monotony, we should ever be mindful of the fact that
Nature continually presents thickets, and groups, and patches,
dominated by one variety. Sometimes there are a few of one
or two others, but many times not. If it is a beech wood there
may be a few chestnuts, a sweet-gum here and there, and now
and then a tall, straight maple or an oak, but these are scattered.
Trees
91
The ranks of sleek, gray, satin-coated beeches rising on every
side are in an overwhelming majority over all the others com
bined — a majority of from 75 to 90 per cent.
This proportion is not possible always of course, nor necessary,
but if three trees are to be planted, let two be of one kind and
one of another. If ten, use five or six of one kind, three of another
and one or two of still another, rather than three of one kind,
two of three others, and a solitary specimen of a fifth species or
variety.
There is a system of selection which has been used in some of
the best and greatest landscape parks in the world, that is worth
considering by the owner of even a half acre, though he may not
be able to apply it fully. This is the formation of groups com-
posed entirely of different varieties of one family or species.
Take for example the maples ; there are in all between sixty and
seventy species, out of which a dozen are found in North America
— enough to make up a very respectable group from just native
species, even though some must be omitted as not hardy north.
The red maple is a beautiful tree in winter and summer,
whether yotmg or old, and grows from eighty to one himdred and
twenty feet high ; the silver maple attains the same height but is
distinctly different in habit, being more spreading. It is swifter
growing too, but its wood is soft and branches and even giant
limbs are easily broken, therefore it has not the permanent value
of the other varieties. The sugar maple, seventy-five to one
hundred and twenty feet high, is probably the finest of the genus,
when all its good points are considered. Beauty, permanence,
shade and utility are some of these, but unhappily " it is the host
of many fungi;" and insects aid and abet their malicious work.
The black maple is very Uke it, but differs in its habit and the
shade of its green; the large-toothed maple is smaller and dif-
92 The Landscape Gardening Book
f erent from all the rest in many ways ; the ash-leaved maple or
box elder, quick growing and from fifty to seventy feet high —
this, by the way, does not look like a maple at all to untrained
eyes — is still different; and then there are three small species
which are scarcely more than shrubs — the moimtain maple,
growing to thirty feet, the striped maple which ranges from a
shrub to forty feet, and the dwarf maple of the west which stops
at twenty-five feet. These are sufficiently dissimilar in size,
shape and color to furnish variety in abundance when added to
the group.
The form of a tree is important architecturally when it is to
be placed in intimate relation with a building which belongs to a
distinct style or period. With the Gothic, for instance, trees of
the Gothic type should be used — poplars and any of the spire-
shaped evergreens are examples — for harmonious lines are more
effective than those which oppose. This is of course a fine point
and need not ordinarily be raised, for ordinarily our dwellings
are not designed with such strict adherence to the purity of a
style as to demand such care in their surroundings. It some-
times presents itself, however; usually after a wrong selection
has been made. I mention it for the benefit of those to whose
case it may apply.
Shade and shadow in their relation to the living picture which
all planting aims to create, are subject to the same laws of com-
position that govern the painter's use of them on his canvas. A
landscape is cheerful or gloomy, happy or sad, according as
light or shade predominate in it. It is a difficult matter to say
just what the proportion shall be, and even more difficult for an
untrained eye to determine just what it is, in any given landscape ;
but approximately light and shade should balance, with the
excess running a little to shade under most circumstances.
Trees
93
Sharp emphasis of the contrast between light and shade brings
a crisp Hveliness into a composition that assures its distinction
and interest, tmder all conditions and in all seasons and weather.
Every means by which such emphasis can be made ought always
to be taken advantage of. A pool of water in the midst of dense
shade, yet so placed as to catch the light and reflect it, is perhaps
the most striking example of emphasized contrast, and well
illustrates the point.
In this connection it is well to remember that still water greatly
intensifies any effect, reflecting as it does shade, or sunUght, or
sky expanse. Especially is this true of shade and the gloom
that results from it or accompanies it. Deeply shaded water
becomes black to the eye, and correspondingly suggestive of
dark unpleasantness.
Trees vary greatly in their effect of shade, the variation being
due usually to their leaf form. For be it noted that the amount
of shade with which a tree impresses . its beholder, is not the
amoiuit of shade which it casts, but the amount which it holds.
Looking out upon a landscape, it is not the shadows under the
trees which meet the eye — only a very small proportion of those
are seen at all — but the depth of shade which lies among the
leafiness of the tree's head. This, therefore, is the shade which
must be considered with trees, in their relation to a picture or
composition. Elms, while casting a perfect shadow, do not give
the impression of as dense shade as maples, because their leaves
are differently shaped and smaller. The sky shows through an
elm top, but rarely through a maple and almost never through
a horse-chestnut, a catalpa or any other large-leafed and densely
furnished species.
In sharp contrast to these heaxy trees is the white birch, so
delicate in leaf and color that it is hard to associate it with
94 The Landscape Gardening Book
shade or shadow. Indeed it rather seems as if Hght had been
captured and were held among its tender greens, instead of
shade. This tree therefore is particularly suitable for positions
near still water. It is lovely in reflection, and never gloomy.
The lines of a large border planting, or the forms enclosed by
the lines, are very aptly likened to the land formation along a
coast. There are promontories and peninsulas, capes and isth-
muses, with now and then a deeply receding curve where some
great bay or gulf sweeps in from the sea — the lawn being the
"sea"— and here and there an island or a series of diminishing
islands carried out from a bold headland. Plant detached trees
always in this relation to the mass, either as one single island —
a tree or an irregular group of trees ; or as a series of islands —
an irregular group of trees, a lesser group, and then perhaps one
lone specimen. In either case, however, be sure that they are
carried out from a point or " headland" of the mass.
Where the most complete imitation of Nature's planting is
aimed at, set two or three young trees into the same hole, once
or twice among a mass. This ineffectual attempt to crowd each
other out is very common among seedlings, in the woods and
out. The trick lends interest even to those plantings which are
in no sense intended to be wild, and though the idea seems very
radical at first, try it. It will prove itself well grounded.
Best of all, however, for a small place, is a fairly close adherence
to just one kind of tree — that is, to one variety of a given species.
This means a result that is distinctive and full of character, and
is more completely in line with the principle of mass planting
than any other system. It carries the assurance of success with
it, too, for if a particular variety thrives in the soil and con-
ditions prevailing in any given spot, the use of that variety
insures a stand of trees that are all robust and strong growers.
Trees 95
To illustrate this scheme of planting from the diagram, the
two trees of smaller diameter than the others, in the upper left-
hand — or western — comer, are Lombardy poplars. Assuming
that the soil is a good average one we may select for the five trees
next to these, leading to the front, red maple. This has already
been mentioned at the head of the maple family. In addition
to being a tall, upright growing tree which, at maturity, furnishes
shade from high up, somewhat after the manner of an elm, it is
a wonder of beauty in early spring when the clusters of bright
red flowers open, long before the leaves. It is indeed spring's
most advanced herald among the trees, and in autumn it is again
a blaze of glory in the scarlet of its foliage.
Next to the red maples, out at the boundary in front, a silver
birch may stand alone. Coming back to the eastern comer of
the house, plant a linden nearest, for its fragrance, with a sixth
red maple shouldering it and a seventh bringing up the rear in
the northern comer.
For special soils selections may be made from the Hsts given ;
or, better still, a choice determined by letting it fall, wherever
possible, on trees that have at some time flourished in the locaUty
and that may consequently be depended upon to do well.
Lists of Trees
for poor soil
I — Betula popuUjolia: poplar-leaved birch; forty feet high;
has the smooth ashy-white bark characteristic of so many
birches; not a long-lived tree, yet valuable for a dry and
deserted sterile ground.
2 — Prunus serotina: wild black cherry; one htmdred feet high;
96 The Landscape Gardening Book
white flowers soon after the leaves in the spring; small black
fruits ; this is a fine tree.
2^—Rohinia pseudacacia: black or yellow locust; eighty feet high;
has delicate airy foliage ; white flowers in pendant clusters,
very fragrant and abundant ; blossoms in May and June.
^—Celtis occidentalis: hackberry or nettle tree; eighty feet high
or more ; its one aversion is swampy soil ; endures shade, so
may be planted tmder or with other trees or in a dense group ;
in appearance this is something like an elm to a casual
observer.
FOR LOW AND WET SOIL
I — Quercus hicolor (or Quercus platanoides): swamp white oak;
seventy feet high, sometimes more; a fine and sturdy tree
with pale bark, shaggy as it ages; silvery-green foliage in
summer turning to yellow in the autumn; this tree hkes a
fertile soil, in swamps or on borders of streams.
2 — Betula nigra (or B. rubra): red or river birch; eighty feet
high; bark reddish brown or gray, separating and rolling
back so that the lighter, warm, rosy tones of the inner
layers show; shaggy and picturesque; this will thrive even
on swampy land that is under water for lengthy intervals,
or on banks of streams or ponds.
3 — Fraxinus nigra: black ash; fifty to eighty feet high; very
slender trvmk; bark dark gray, even, and closely furrowed;
foliage very dark green ; grows on the banks of streams and
lakes, and in deep swamps.
4 — Larix Americana: American larch, tamarack or hackmatack;
fifty to sixty feet high ; narrow and rather pyramidal when
young, but spreading somewhat, later; larch is a needle-
leaved, cone-bearing tree that is not evergreen; inhabits
Trees 97
deep swamps and bogs and prefers northern exposure;
grows rapidly; this must always be transplanted in very
early spring only, before the growth has shown any signs
of starting; always plant in groups of not less than four or
five; the earliest of all trees to put forth leaves; does not
cast a dense shade, as the needle-like leaves do not offer
sufficient obstruction to the sxm.
FOR ROCKY LAND
I — Quercus coccinea: scarlet oak; seventy to eighty feet high;
leaves delicate, bright and glossy; the autumn color of this
tree is a particularly bright scarlet.
2 — Quercus Prinus: chestnut or rock chestnut oak; sixty to
seventy feet or more, with a large sturdy trunk excepting
in very exposed high and dry places, where it may not
reach more than thirty feet; leaves shaped like chestnut
leaves.
3 — Prunus Pennsylvania: bird, pin, or wild red cherry; thirty
to forty feet high unless growing under most adverse condi-
tions, when it may be less; has reddish-brown, satiny bark;
white flowers; blossoms as the leaves come; bright in effect,
with foliage full of Hght.
4 — Betula lutea: yellow or gray birch; sixty to ninety feet high;
in northern sections, less than this in the south; bark satiny
and giving the impression of a tone of silvery-gray overlaying
a warm yellow ; the bark and branches are faintly aromatic ;
the tree is one of the largest deciduous- leaved trees in eastern
North America, as it grows in the wild state.
CHAPTER X
Evergreen Trees
IEGEND has it that the pinon was the first tree to rise from
_j the bare, brown bosom of the earth. Certain it is that
something deep and elemental stirs the heart when the
voices of all this great whispering tribe breathe their mysteries
into human ears. And equally certain it is that evergreens
always have struck, and always will strike, the supreme note in a
landscape — a note that Hfts the imagination to splendid heights.
But it is all too seldom that they are planted with reference
to this. In modem gardening they are too apt to be " speci-
mens, ' ' such as the glaucous-f oliaged spruces, or golden arbor-
vitaes; or else they are relegated to the merely utihtarian, and
planted as shelter belts for something that stands before them
and focuses the attention. Which is a great pity, for in either
case the real and lofty grandeur of the order is overlooked and
hopelessly dimmed, if not altogether obscured.
To be sure, the question of purpose must be kept in mind quite
as much here as in all other phases of gardening, for a reason for
planting must exist, else there can be no excuse for planting
— ^but this reason need not altogether lack an esthetic side.
Precise, straight rows of hemlocks or spruce may afford shelter
from the wind, and may hide a view that is objectionable;
but it is such planting, utterly devoid of imagination and feeling,
(98)
A bit that is strongly suggestive of Italy: certain sites and styles of architecture
develop this naturally and without effort, and when this is so, none can decry the effect
w^
One
variety o£ conifer do:r.:n;iUs Here, and though deciduuus uxc.> Ijack
up the planting they are an incident and not a feature
\ clump of Muijho pines in th.- Day or a anvev.-ay aoes not, ol.>,iilkc Jie
'vision sufficiently to be dangerous, yet it affords a rich mass of green
throughout the year just where such a mass is needed
Evergreens 99
and resulting in a forbidding gloom, that is largely the cause
of the prejudice which some cherish towards evergreens as a
class.
It is quite as possible to group eflfectively and still secure pro-
tection, or shut out objectionable features, as it is to plant in
rows to do so — and in the former case a definite interest is
created, a bit of true landscape is formed, so that the utilitarian
is lost sight of completely in the end. Nevertheless the reason
for planting existed and continues to exist, though it is not
apparent to the observer.
Fancy varieties of a tree are seldom worth while, whether
evergreen or deciduous — and this can never be emphasized too
much. With evergreens particularly, the temptation to indulge
in some of the many novelties is constantly before the unwary
and the true types or natural forms are almost lost sight of.
Horticultural forms may be interesting in themselves, but re-
member that it takes something with a greater claim to con-
sideration than "interest" to build up a beautiful picture.
The very quality too that makes them interesting when they
are a novelty, is usually the very thing that makes them tiresome
when the novelty has worn off. So on the whole it is the ordi-
nary and accustomed variety which wisdom will select.
Nothing is more beautiful than the familiar white pine, which
is native over such an extended area of the United States^
and which will grow practically everywhere ; so what excuse is
there for using a novelty in place of it? No novelty can have
withstood the test of generations as the native has — if it had it
would no longer be a novelty — and the weaknesses it may
develop cannot even be conjectured. The changes which age
will bring to it are likewise a matter of guesswork. For there
are two distinct forms in the life of the majority of the cone-
loo The Landscape Gardening Book
bearers. The first— the youthful— is regular, pyramidal and
somewhat formal ; the last— the mature— is rugged and irregular
and altogether quite different from anything to be imagined,
judging from the earlier. With evergreens, where we are plant-
ing for all time, these differences are very important.
The period of transition from symmetry to irregularity comes
at about the twentieth to the twenty-fifth year in some, up to the
fortieth or fiftieth in others. Hence it is apparent that not
until a variety has been grown for fifty years in a given soil and
climate, can it be said positively whether or no it is a success
under those particular conditions. Fifty years hence seems a
long way ofT in this day and age of haste — and of course it is a
long way off— but building a landscape is not a task of to-day
nor of this year ; indeed it is not a task that the builder can
much more than begin. Even with wisdom and industry beyond
price at his command, he still must wait on Time.
And Time goes straight ahead, even though the builder's
work is ill, quite as bent on finishing it as though it were well,
and quite as determinedly piUng emphasis onto every point
where emphasis can be made to lodge. This is the thought
that ought always to be before us— this is the thought that,
guided the builders whose work now remains in the wonderful
old gardens of the Old World. So, though we may plan for
to-day, and this year, and the next, of course— plan to get all
into the present and out of it too, that is possible — we shovud
plan ahead at the same time. Patience and this looking ahead
are always essential in gardening, but especially so when the
subject of the work is evergreens. Keep an eye constantly to
the future. Have the quick -growing, short-lived trees for the
immediate need, but do not omit planting the slower-growing,
long-lived species to take their places, in the course of time.
One kind again; the greatest depth in the plan .m the gDiun.! i-a at the point of
greatest height of skyline; this is invariably true of well arranged planting
A well-placed group' of young hemlocks which will be exceptionally tine as they
mature into a spicy grove
Evergreens ioi
All that has been said about fancy varieties and novelties
applies with even greater force to the "golden-leaved" and
" silver-tipped " conifers so much in use at present. It is always
a question whether any tree or shrub with abnormal foliage —
and variegated foliage is, with one or two exceptions, abnormal
— is in good taste; and the doubt makes it safer to draw the
line quite this side of planting them, altogether. Certainly no
artist would ever dream of painting them, unless many were
grouped together in such a way as to give them the meaning and
force which unity might express.
This is the test which will ultimately decide the merit of any
garden work. No planting can be regarded as a complete sue
cess if it does not offer, finally, a subject worthy canvas and
paints and brushes — and a cultivated eye and trained hand to
use them. It occurs to me that a soUtary blue spruce in the
middle of a lawn will hardly permit even its fondest admirers
to hope or expect this for it.
Generally speaking, the grouping of evergreens should follow
the same lines as the grouping of deciduous trees. Fewer will
ordinarily need to be planted however, because of their stronger
individuality and dominating qualities. They may either be
combined with deciduous trees or planted by themselves. In
combination with the former, however, they should occupy the
prominent positions, and should be in either a decided majority
or a minority. Never use an equal, or nearly equal, number of
both kinds.
Usually one variety of evergreen will be found repeated more
or less often, in any patch of woods or within any special area,
just as we have noted previously that one variety of deciduous
tree is nearly always to be found dominating in a similar growth.
The reason of course lies in the fact that all the conditions are
I02 The Landscape Gardening Book
exactly suited to give to that variety a little advantage, and
though other trees may not be crowded out altogether they
do not multiply as rapidly as the favored one. This leads to
a "mass effect " quite in line with what Nature continually
offers — and furnishes the best example possible of ideal plant-
ing, from the practical as well as the esthetic side. It is, of
course, in the last analysis, a survival of the fittest.
Learn what evergreens are best suited to a place before plant-
ing any, by ascertaining what are native to the region, and to
the immediate territory. Then make use of these or their nearest
relatives in all broad-scale planting, governing the selections,
of course, by the soil conditions of the particular piece of land
to be planted. A tree that may thrive on a moiintain side will
very often not tolerate the moist valley at themovmtain's feet,
hence the necessity for judging from those trees found growing
in the immediate territory.
Pines do not like close, heavy, clay soil, nor will they do well
on shallow soil because they have a long tap root. Loose sandy
earth svuts them best ; and because they have this tap root that
reaches deep for moisture, they can endure dry soil. The white
pine is not so particular as the rest of the family, however, and
will usually adapt itself to imcongenial places very cheerfully.
Pines are very intolerant of shade, but the latter will make the
best of a certain amount of this, too.
Cedars are at home on wet, even swampy, soils, though as a
matter of fact they will do better where it is dry. They will
stand some shade.
Spruces are shallow-rooted, which always means that a tree
is adapted to soil that is moist — and they thrive in extreme cold,
being natives of high altitudes. They mind shade less than
either of the two first named.
Evergreens 103
Firs are trees of high regions too, and some can not endure
a dry, hot climate at all, unless shaded and given the coolest
spots.
Hemlocks are not exacting and will grow in almost any kind
of soil providing it is moist. Hemlocks and white pines, by the
way, are one of Nature's combinations and may often be found
growing together in large forests, which is a hint toward group-
ing. Hemlocks stand shade well, as well as the close shearing
which makes them so good for hedge service.
The use of two or three varieties of a species is not to be
recommended with evergreens as with deciduous trees. They
do not take kindly to mixing, and either the one variety chosen
should be used, or the combination before referred to which
Nature herself furnishes in the hemlock and pine. This, with
deciduous trees interspersed, is as fine an arrangement as it is
possible to make. Wherever it is possible to make an evergreen
group the background for some floral display it is well to do so,
providing the flowers do not detract from the trees. The whole
should form a picture rather than either one furnishing a feature.
Rhododendrons fill the requirements of such a position per-
fectly, being themselves evergreen and harmonizing as almost
nothing else can with the dignity of the trees. It is not by any
means essential, however, to carry out such an arrangement
in order to get the best results from planting the latter, for they
are sufficient unto themselves.
The form of the smaller and slower-growing species is of more
importance than anything else concerning them, for these are
essentially the material for small places and for formal work.
Some of these are very thin and long and pointed, others are
broad and low and globular; selection in this instance should
be gtiided by the style of the place, of the house and its garden,
104 T"E Landscape Gardening Book
rather than by any thought for the garden's future appearance.
This attitude is allowable to meet the limitations of a small
place, if one is willing to throw out unsuitable material as fast
as it becomes unsuitable. As a matter of fact, the growth of
the horticultural varieties which produce these various forms
is so slow that, after all, changes will seldom need to be made
because of increase in size; and the priming shears may be de-
pended upon to keep them to the lines which they are expected
to fill, if they show any tendency to overstep. In many, the
forms are pretty well fixed and they adhere to them without
pruning.
Boxwood should find a place in every garden, great or small,
the selection of its form also being guided by the style of the
garden or of the house. The formal, pyramidal box naturally
takes its place in the formal, stiff and precise garden, or at the
entrance of the dwelling that is symmetrical in its line. The
rugged and unconventional bushy box suggests old dooryards,
and the easy lines and picturesque charm of farmhouse or cot-
tage, or the tangle of old-time gardens— suggesting at the same
time its suitable environment beyond doubt or question.
Ordinarily evergreens are not regarded with any consideration
for their shade, yet they offer a most restful depth of it and a cool
dimness that deciduous trees do not have. The nearest trees
to a dweUing, however, should be from twenty-five to thirty-
five feet distant, where their shadow cannot fall upon it. Always
plant them near enough together to support and defend each
other tmder the stress of severe storms, thinning out in subse-
quent years when they begin to crowd. And plant always two
deep at least— two deep in an irregular grouping, not two rows,
one back of the other.
And, finally, place the deciduous members of a boundary
Evergreens 105
group or a screen mostly in the background to allow the ever-
greens to show dark and well defined before and among them.
Leave plenty of room between the two kinds of trees — rather
more than between the trees that are the same — remembering
that deciduous trees expand very much more and very much
more rapidly than evergreens, and therefore need a wider berth.
List of Plants
for poor soil
I — Juniperus Virginiana: red cedar; usually about fifty feet,
sometimes one hundred feet high; this naturally reforests
arid hills and stony, barren, abandoned lands; will grow
also on the seashore.
2 — Pinus rigida: pitch pine; sixty feet high or more; becomes
contorted and picturesque with age; plant in groups of
several.
3 — Picea pungens: Colorado spruce; sometimes one hundred
feet high, and rapid-growing for an evergreen; foliage is a
light silvery green, becoming true green with age.
FOR WET SOIL
I — Cupressus ihyoides (or Chamoecyparis thy aides): white cedar;
seventy feet high or more ; grows in swamps which are tinder
water part of the time.
2 — Thuya plicata: Nootka Sound arborvitas, or red, or canoe
cedar; one hundred and fifty feet high or more; native to
low moist bottom-lands ; this has not been used as much as
it should be, but happily it is growing in favor; it is truly
a giant arborvitae.
3 — Thuya occidentalis: white cedar or common arborvitae;
io6 The Landscape Gardening Book
reaches sixty- five feet high in the wild state were it grows
thickly on swamp grounds.
EVERGREENS FOR ROCKY SITUATIONS
I — Pinus montana: Swiss mountain pine ; variable, being some-
times forty feet high and sometimes a mere shrub; this is
more likely to remain in the latter class and stop growing
when it has reached a height of from six to twelve feet.
2 — Picea Engelmanni: Engelmann spruce; sometimes one hun-
dred and twenty-five feet high at maturity; plant always
in a group.
3 — Pinus moniicola: silver or mountain white pine; one him-
dred feet high; dense in growth; silvery in color.
Slirubbcry very close to house foundations is always doubtful ; this mass
is ■n-ell_ arranged as to height, but the effect would be better if the line
were interrupted and the house wall allowed to show part of the way
In iLiiidscape work the individual specimen must always give way to the
effect of the mass as a whole; the. number of spireas here is of no con-
sequence ; the thicket effect is
Common elder is beautiful in flower and in foliage but it.s niL-nts h.i\ e
not been appreciated fully as yet; if it were difficult to gro.v perhaps
they would be
Deutzias are of infinite variety and range from pure white to rosy pink;
one specimen is pleasing, but how much greater the beauty of a half-
dozen in a riot of bloom
CHAPTER XI
The Use of Shrubs
THERE seems ever to have been an antagonism between the
view of a plant which the horticulturist holds, and that of
the landscape architect. To the former it exists as a
specimen, an individual that is filling an important place in the
world, in and by itself. The spread of its branches and the size
and quantity of its blossoms are the things by which he judges
it, and by which he values it. Consequently the more these are
increased, the more any characteristic is exaggerated in it, the
more valuable does it become to him. Naturally, therefore, his
whole aim is to provide it with those surroundings which will
promote such exaggeration to the highest degree.
But the landscape architect views it from a very different
point. A plant is to him what a single note is to the musical
composer, or what the tubes of raw, pure color are to the painter.
One note, struck by itself, can mean nothing, no matter how
loud and startling or soft and sweet the tone; one color in a
great vivid blotch on the canvas expresses nothing, no matter
how clear and striking it may be. It is only as the note is
brought into relation with other notes, the color with other
shades and colors, that a composition takes shape. And plants
are subject to the same law, producing nothing worthy the name
when isolated.
(ro7)
io8 The Landscape Gardening Book
It seems, sometimes, as if the time would never come when
this truth about them would be realized by everybody. Year
after year sees the same mistakes made, even on the great
estates where large sums have been paid for the services of
professionals, presumably skilled and cunning in the craft. Yet
with all the money spent the well planned and well planted place
remains the exception, so rare as to be startling when one comes
upon it; while examples of wrong ways, wrong from their
fundamental ideas up, are everywhere. Almost every village
and surburban street presents a solid front of garden miscon-
ceptions disheartening to behold.
The two views just cited are of course antagonistic, and
everyone can readily see how utterly impossible it is ever to
make them anything else. So no time need be wasted in attempt-
ing to harmonize them. Instead let us get at once to the business
of seeing what reasons there are for adopting one and rejecting
the other.
First of all it is necessary to realize that there are certain
special things, grown for show, and for competitive shows, which
have no more to do with gardening, considered as a fine art,
than chalk has to do with cheese. The biggest Dahlia in the
world, winner of all the prizes, would add little or nothing to a
garden's beauty if it stood outdoors, among the growing things.
The carefully trained and framed chrysanthemum plant, bearing
a thousand blossoms, might as well— yea, it might better — be a
coreopsis bush, for all the effect it would create in relation to
other plants in the border ; and the rose bush, coddled and pruned
and petted till it produces a single four-foot-stemmed American
beauty, becomes a sorry spectacle, once its solitary flower is
plucked. Yet the Dahlia, the chrysanthemum and the rose are
universally acclaimed as wonderful horticultural products.
Shrubs 109
These may be exaggerated examples, to be sure, but they
illustrate the point we need to impress upon our minds — that
individuahsm is not the garden's ideal. And though they are
exaggerated, they are after all only the result of going a few
steps farther along the path of individual culture than the usual
practice goes ; the practice which aims to plant shrubs in isola-
tion "so they can develop."
Any view that persistently puts the development of a shrub
before other considerations governing its location, is a mistaken
one ; and until we once and for all get over cherishing such views
we shall continue to go wrong in design, and to fail in attaining
our proper effects. Abandon completely and absolutely the
mental picture that dissociates "shrub" from "shrubbery,"
and create in its place a picture which unites the two so closely
that you will come to feel them one object, and synonymous
terms.
Then live up to this creation determinedly, and let no remarks
of misguided neighbors — however well-meaning they may be —
about things choking to death and having no chance to grow,
shake your resolution nor divert you from your course. They
may think you crazy — that is to be -expected — ^but you will know
that you are not. And time, and your grounds, whether little
or big, will be your vindication ; so what matter what they think ?
It is very simple if one wishes to reason it out. Any plant
set in an open space and encouraged to " develop, " is but a few
steps short of the plant trained with the avowed purpose of
producing phenomenal flowers or fruits: phenomenal flowers
or fruits are of absolutely no merit as garden ornaments, and the
plant trained to produce them suffers a loss in the process
exactly corresponding to their gain. Hence it follows that a
plant — or, to speak more definitely, a shrub — set singly, as a
no The Landscape Gardening Book
specimen, in a garden or for the adornment of grotmds, is an
anomaly. Groionds are not adorned nor ornamented by shrubs
of this kind, for it is the shrub itself which holds attention vmder
these circumstances. Wonder and perhaps a certain crude ad-
miration are excited by it — but the idea of the place as a whole, or
of a garden, is lost sight of completely. There is no impression
of charm and beauty resting upon all ; of a dwelling rising from
a suitable setting ; of an outdoors that appeals and satisfies ; of
a picture that is complete. These things are all sacrificed to a
monstrous something calculated to draw an astonished "oh!"
from the beholder.
With the resolution always to mass " shrubs" until they form
"shrubbery" and to always plant them so near together that
they will interfere and encroach upon each other outrageously,
firmly and immovably fixed so that nothing can shake it, let us
examine first the points that come up in laying out the ground
plan of such border or mass. The ground plan naturally takes
precedence whether it be gardening or architecture that one is
engaged upon; consequently it is upon that that the gardener
must concentrate in the beginning.
Regularity, so far as that implies planting in rows or squares,
is of course to be avoided in an informal shrubbery border.
But haphazard, grotesque, zig-zagging is not the way to avoid
it, neither is what nurserymen call "staggering." A carefully
worked out plan is the only way, with an equally careful transfer
of it from the paper to the ground. Such a plan is made by
first drawing in lightly the general large curves, representing the
inner line of the shrubbery — the line next to the lawn. It is
assumed of course that the plot to be planted has been laid oif to
scale on the drawing paper, with all existing features shown.
Then, starting at either end, the first shrubs are located at
A thicket composed of many kinds of mock orange, several of each being used; the
period of bloom varies enough to make such a group interesting and the intlorescence
is quite different in different varieties
A hedge of rose of Sharon is a mass of bloom when flowers are few ; this stands prac-
tically any amount of cutting back if it is desirable to keep it to any given height
Shrubs i i i
prominent intervals along this line — that is, at the deepest and
the shallowest portions of the border. With these placed as a
sort of general guide, proceed to work from the back out towards
this line, leaving a space of four feet between the tallest and
largest growing shrubs which make up the back planting. Come
forward to theboundary border line with the lower growing shrubs,
finishing with the lowest of all, planted about two feet back of
this line so that their branches may fall approximately upon it.
This working from background to foreground insures an easy
and flowing line at the edge of the border, whereas the reverse
method — placiiig the shrubs along this inner border line first and
working thence back to the outside — though easier perhaps, is
likely to result in a stiff and hard inner line that is neither natural
nor beautiful. Do not attempt to have the shrubs along the
foreground line equally distant from each other; rather avoid this
and let them come as they will, keeping them always from two
and one-half to four feet apart at least. They may in many
places be five to seven feet apart.
The species and variety of practically every one should be
determined as the shrub is set down upon the plan, otherwise
difficulties will arise over the distances between them. In a
very large planting this is not always essential as there will be
certain locations calhng for many of one kind. But even here
it is well to have a general idea of what each lesser group com-
posing the large group is to be, as they are set down. It takes
time— but it is the only thorough way.
For field work the plan is divided into squares of convenient
size, and every shrub in a given square is located by a stake
driven into the ground, which is labeled to correspond with the
label on the plan and on the shrub. This is done before any
planting in that particular square is begun.
I 12
The Landscape Gardening Book
Reference has been made in a previous chapter to sky line. It is
as much to be considered in planting shrubs as trees, for although
the top of shrubbery may not cut the sky when viewed under
ordinary circumstances, the outline of its top, taken as a whole,
has an important place in a composition. To give this sufficient
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The lawn ought always to run into the border, making little vistas that
suggest distance and space
variation there must be intervals of comparatively low-growing
varieties that are not backed up by larger specimens ; and these
intervals, constituting the variation in the "profile" or vertical
section of the border, must be as carefully thought out and
planned as the ground plan of the group.
Generally speaking, they will take the groiuid plan for their
guide and rise from it, quite as the elevation of a building rises
from its plan; but here, as in architecture, the designer must
Shrubs 113
have the instinct which adopts the right form and rejects the
others. The diagram appended shows the principle, and the
manner in which the plan serves as a guide to the profile.
Notice that wherever the border deepens on the groimd, it rises
higher in the elevation. By determining the grovmd plan first
therefore, the elevation will rise from it almost automatically,
with no trouble to the designer and no confusion. And a glance
at the elevation shows exactly where the tallest and the lowest
shrubs must stand, and the intermediate ones as well.
Make your plan therefore first, in rough sketch form; then
develop the elevation or profile above it on the paper — this for
convenience in carrying the distances and lines directly from one
to the other — and then proceed to the planting detail. This
matter of lines and forms sotmds very dry and technical I know
when one is longing for lilacs and roses and all the summer's
sweetness, and I can well imagine the impatience with which
many a heart will bum at the idea of calculating beauty in so
tinpoetical a fashion.
But the most careful calculation is all that genius is. really
— an "infinite capacity for taking pains" — and no lovely garden
ever just happened. I have said it before but it will bear repeat-
ing, many a time and oft. For it is so little reahzed — and so
true. Consciously or unconsciously the creator of every beautiful
garden has calculated every effect of line as well as color, of back-
ground as well as foreground, of light and of shade.
And so I have placed the emphasis on plan and line especially,
for just the reason that the thought of them is so hateful to so
many. They are classified in the adult mind about as scales,
and five-finger exercises, and grammar are in the mind of the
child — things to be slid over and gotten around by hook or crook
if possible. But you cheat yourself on your garden, by such
114 The Landscape Gardening Book
evasion, quite as much as you would have cheated yourself on
your English, if you had been allowed free rein as a youngster.
At last, however, with the plan and sky line outlined before
us, we can go on to the joyous phase of shrub planting — the
phase which has to do with their greenery and their flowers and
all their lovely poesy, the phase which is commonly considered
to be real gardening.
Briefly, there are five things constantly to have in mind when
grouping shrubs; their height, their time of flowering, their
flower color, their habit, and their preference for sun or shade.
And there are two things to be aimed at in every mixed shrub-
bery border; succession of bloom and harmonious coloring.
The profile drawing will show locations as to height, the ground
plan locations as to spread — or habit. These two are therefore
practically disposed of and predetermined, so the questions of
inflorescence and sun or shade are all that one need trouble
about. The plans here given are detailed for sun; partial
shade will not require any change however, and complete shade
is a circumstance that is hardly likely to arise in a border of this
extent.
Finally, as the last word, let me urge the open center. This is
more important than grouping, or bloom, or sky line, or any-
thing else. Always confine shrub masses to outer edges or
boundaries, leaving broad sweeps of lawn framed by them, but
never cut into by either beds or solitary bushes. The single
shrub which the plan shows at the end of the mass, and the one
isolated from it, yet a part of it, midway, are not exceptions to
this rule, for neither of these breaks the continuity of the mass.
That is the test always — the continuity of the mass — whether that
mass is lawn, flower border, shrub border, or woods and thicket.
Shrubs 115
List of Plants
shrubs used in the border given
I — Hypericum prolificum: St. John's wort; usually three feet
high — varies; any soil, sun or shade; dense-growing with
glossy, dark green leaves ; flowers yellow, large and numerous ;
blossoms continuously from July on through September.
2 — Deutzia gracilis, rosea: dwarf Deutzia; four feet high; any soil,
sun or shade; flowers white, tinged with pink, in long loose
clusters ; blossoms in May.
3 — Lonicera Morrowi: Japanese bush honeysuckle ; six feet high;
any garden soil; flowers white, turning to yellowish; blos-
soms in May; covered with handsome ruby berries from
late in July on.
4 — Diervilla, Eva Rathke: hybrid Weigela; six to eight feet
high; branches erect but arching and spreading; likes a
rather moist soil and prefers partial shade; shade is not
essential, however ; quantities of deep carmin'e-red flowers ;
blossoms in June and on during the summer.
5 — Forsythia suspensa, Fortunei: golden bells; three feet high;
any soil; upright growing with low arching branches;
yellow flowers along every branch and twig; blossoms
before the leaves appear in earhest spring; fohage dark
green, clean and attractive.
6 — Hibiscus Syriacus: Rose of Sharon; twelve feet high; any
soil; erect, almost stiff, upright growth; blossoms from
July on through September.
a — variety Due de Bretagne, rose-colored flowers.
l) — variety Joan of Arc, pure white, very double flowers.
y — Syringa vulgaris: common lilac; twelve feet high or more;
any ordinary soil; familiar lilac-colored flowers; blossoms
usually about the middle of May on into June.
ii6
The Landscape Gardening Book
8 — Viburnum Lantana: wayfaring tree; twenty feet high; any
soil; small white flowers clustered in dense flat cymes;
blossoms in May and Jtine; scarlet berries follow.
9 — Amygdalus communis (or Prunus Amygdalus), rosea plena:
double rose-flowered almond; peach-like tree, sometimes
ten to twenty-five feet high; any soil; flowers large, pink
and showy, before the leaves ; blossoms in April or May.
lo^Hydrangea paniculata: hydrangea; ten to twenty feet high,
tree-like; any well drained soil, with plenty of moisture;
flowers white, in large loose panicles, less heavy and dense
than in Hydrangea p., grandiflora, but more pleasing in
many ways; blossoms in August and September.
This border requires eighty-eight shrubs to plant it. These
are divided among the ten varieties as follows; of number i,
two are required; of number 2, eleven; of number 3, nine; of
number 4, fourteen; of number 5, nine; of number 6-a, eleven;
of number 6-6, eight; of number 7, fifteen; of number 8, seven;
of number 9, one; of number 10, one.
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perpetual fragrance
Same size comer planted with three
of the commonest wayfarers
SHRUBS IN SWEET-SCENTED BORDER
I — Callicarpa purpurea: purple "beauty fruit"; four feet high;
any good soil; small pink flowers in abundance; blossoms
Shrubs 117
in August; branches slender and later weighted with
quantities of pinkish-purple berries.
2 — Phtladelphus Lenioniei, Avalanche: hybrid mock orange;
six feet high ; any well drained soil ; will grow under trees :
branches arching and graceful ; flowers white, showy, along
the length of the branches, very fragrant ; blossoms in June.
3 — Calycanthus floridus: sweet shrub, Carolina allspice or straw-
berry shrub; six feet high; any well drained soil, sun or
shade; solitaiy brown flowers, very fragrant; blossoms in
June; branches and leaves also fragrant.
4 — Clethra alnijolia: sweet pepperbush or white alder; eight to
ten feet high; likes a moist soil such as woods afford, but
does well in border; small white flowers in spikes, showy
and fragrant ; blossoms in July and on through September.
5 — Benzoin odorijeruni: spice bush; twelve feet high; any soil;
tiny yellow flowers along the naked branches; blossoms in
March or as soon as frost is gone ; very fragrant, wood and
leaves also aromatic.
SHRUBS IN BORDER OF THREE VARIETIES
I — Rhus typhina: staghom sumach; eight to twelve feet high;
any soil; fine glossy foliage, brilliant auttmin color and
characteristic "sumach bobs" all winter.
2 — Sambucus Canadensis: common elderberry; six to eight feet
high; any soil; flat clusters of white flowers, familiar;
blossoms in early June; berries tiny, black, edible.
3 — Rhus aroniatica: fragrant sumach; low-growing usually, three
to four feet high, or less; spreading as an undergrowth;
fine autumn color and foHage velvety in texture and attrac-
tive always.
CHAPTER XII
The Place of Flowers
IT is decidedly contrary to our American ideas, but it is never-
theless a fact that a garden may be absolutely flowerless,
and yet be lovely. And on the other hand, one may have
a world of flowers and yet have no garden, in the true sense. In
other words, flowers do not make a garden, revolutionary though
the thought may seem. If you are tempted to doubt, consider
how many places you know where it is possible to go and look
at quantities of beautiful flowers, but quite impossible to feel
or to say, as you look, " what a beautiful garden!"
The conception of them which immediately establishes their
real place, holds them to be the garden's jewels — the bright gems
with which its design is embellished and "picked out," as a
jeweler would say. They may be used in quite as lavish abun-
dance with this idea prevaiHng as any enthusiast can wish —
but they will be used quite differently from the customary
fashion of planting wherever fancy strikes, and the space pre-
sents itself.
However beautiftd the ruby, the opal, the sapphire may be,
lying unset within one's hand, none will deny that their loveliness
is brought out and shines to far greater advantage when the
craftsman has worked them into proper relation with each other.
Associated with the metal that forms a clearly thought out and
(ii8)
Flowers 119
purposeful pattern around them, supporting them and binding
them into place, their beauty gains as they attain to the dignity
of meaning, of purpose. And, to carry the analogy still farther, the
designer gives the eye intervals of rest from the dazzle of precious
stones in a piece of jewelry, which correspond exactly to the relief
from color and brilliance which should be provided for it in the
garden.
The rule of contrast that came in for attention when light and
shade were under consideration, here presents itself again.
Applied to the question in hand, it shows us at once that there
must be places where no flowers bloom, in order to accent and
emphasize the flowery spots. It more than hints that the secret
of brilliancy and a spirited liveliness in the garden Ues in the
liberal use of white flowers — because, of course, white furnishes
a much more vivid contrast with many colors than green, and
contrasts more vividly with green itself. Indeed, white blossoms
are in one way the most precious of all — the diamonds of the
collection, that enhance the colors of all they are brought in
contact with and at the same time reconcile them to one another
when they are inclined to clash. But this I mention only in
passing ; the questions that have to do with color are premature
just here, for the first proposition must deal with the locating
of flowers in the garden — with the manner of determining their
place in any particular garden design.
Sometimes it is easier to find out what ought to be done by
ehminating the things that ought not to be done than by any
other process. I think this is especially true of gardening, from
the landscape or pictorial side, at any rate. We have grown so
accustomed to doing it wrong that the habits are fixed, and we
cannot oust them by the accepted simple plan of ignoring them,
and cultivating the right ones in their places. They simply
120 The Landscape Gardening Book
will not be crowded out, even though the better ideas are re-
quired. They crop up continually, like noxious weeds — so up
by the roots let us drag them, and start anew.
First, here is the flower bed habit. This is surely the greatest
abomination of them all! It is going to die hard, even with
those who truly wish to kill it. Many there are, alas ! who will
not wish to; for its star and its crescent, its circle and its triangle,
have so impressed themselves upon its victims that they cannot
see a stretch of smooth and velvet turf without an instant tempta-
tion to fall upon it, and carve some one of these mystic symbols
from its heart.
But lest I seem imduly prejudiced, let me hasten to say that
there are places for flower beds — a few places — and that, in
their place, I am not objecting to them in the least. True, I
have never been able to see any beauty in the gimcrackery which
shapes them on the elaborate lines that good, wise, old Bacon
dismissed contemptuously with, "They be but toys; you may
see as good sights many times in tarts ' ' — but they need not be
shaped on such lines. He spoke of the parterre filled with
colored sands instead of flowers, to be sure — ^but the fancy beds
of to-day, filled with exotic and perishable stuff, are the direct
descendants of these sanded parterres; "knots or figures with
divers-coloured earths.
A flower bed brings us again to the flowers' likeness to jewels;
for properly placed, a bed occupies a position in the garden corre-
sponding to the position of a properly used jeweled pin or buckle
on a robe. (I say "properly used'" to evade the dictum of
fashion which is sometimes known to strain a point for the sake
of adding a Uttle extra trimming.) A study of the costume of
any well clad race will show at once that pins clasp two portions
of a garment together, or hold the folds of some drapery in
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Flowers
121
place; that buckles buckle something. Indeed by going back
to derivatives, the idea can be emphasized still more, for " buckle ' '
comes from " bode, ' ' which is the boss at the center of the ancient
skin-covered, wicker- woven buckler or shield — the meeting and
gathering up of the wicker at the center being the reason for the
prominence.
Here is exactly the demonstration of reasonable and proper use
that we need. Likening the flower bed to a jeweled buckle, it is
at once apparent that the places where it may suitably be located,
must be focusing points in the general design. They must be
centers; not necessarily in the midst or middle of the general
scheme, but points in the design to which the strong lines con-
verge, or from which paths branch. In such positions a flower
bed of simple form — circular or oval or conforming to the lines
which approach it — is in good taste. Elsewhere it is exactly
what an elaborate, jeweled buckle or pin is, when attached to a
gown in some utterly and obviously useless position — a gaucherie
of which one does not like to feel oneself capable.
The beds which carry out the design of a formal garden are
of course exempt from this condemnation, having as they do, a
very real place in the design. These too, however, should be of
the simplest form and outline, and so arranged as to give the
relief already spoken of, which comes of suitable spacing. All
other flower beds fall under the ban. Let them be taboo to those
who want them — and who, for wanting them, deserve them.
In every branch of landscape planting there is one question
that ever and ever again recurs; that question is, "Is there a
reason for doing this?" Not simply the personal reason of
like or disHke, but a real reason, based on logic and good sense
and utility ; this is the kind that must be advanced to gain the
approval of the highest standards. And this is the kind that may
122 The Landscape Gardening Book
be advanced for the garden form known as a "border." The
name alone impUes that.
A border follows something, borders something, ornaments
something ; is an attribute of something greater than itself. It
is secondary to some more important thing, to a conception of a
whole — in the case of a garden, secondary to some particular por-
tion of it, taken as a whole. Possibly it follows a walk or a
drive, or the side of a building, or the line of a terrace, or the
margin of a lawn. It really does not matter what it follows
so long as it follows something. So long as it is truly a border,
be sure that it cannot go wrong ; the limitations of that definite
name will keep it what it ought to be.
It may be straight and narrow, like the path of virtue, or it
may dawdle along in all manner of curves, according to the
thing it follows. That is a matter of secondary importance that
will settle itself; likewise its length is pre-determined by cir-
cumstances and sometimes, though not always, its width. A
border that can be reached from both sides may of course be
wider than one which must be tended from only one.
Generally speaking, it is safe to say that walks within private
groimds ought always to have a border, on one side anyway, if not
on both — the exigencies of the situation will decide this. The
hedge, fence or lattice divisions between different parts of the
grovmds also invite such treatment, invariably. I should, how-
ever, hardly call the planting of perennials in the foreground of
shrubbery, a border in themselves, for they are placed inter-
mittently when thus used, and only when they and the shrubs
are considered together, does a "border" result.
Any wild roadside, where Nature has been al-lowed to have
her way undisturbed, is usually an unrivalled object lesson in
planting, for both color and mass. One of the loveliest borders
Flowers 123
I have ever seen followed the bank of a tiny brooklet, as it mean-
dered across a meadow which lay at the foot of a gentle slope,
whereon dwelt some splendid beeches. Here Nature and Art
combined and from early, tender, spring until the lusty autumn,
color succeeded color in the magic broidery that fringed the little
stream, and divided the pleasaunce from a hay field beyond.
Only the native plants and " weeds ' ' had found lodgment there,
and it was wild in the best sense of the word. One thing or
another dominated it at different times during the season, but
there was never an unbroken line of bloom the entire length of it.
Early in the summer fugitive clumps of iris, bearing a scattered
dozen blossoms, broadened suddenly here and there into great
masses which presented a marvel of almost soUd blue. Between
these masses, however, the blue gave way to long stretches of
vari-colored green, where no blossoms were.
Later, marsh mallows spread their pink loveliness like rosy
clouds, at intervals; daisies flourished in dazzling whiteness, and
elder and the meadow sweet ; then came goldenrod, and white and
purple wild aster. Each fortnight or month brought its domi-
nant note ; but always there were quantities of green and plenty of
white, so nothing ever clashed though each strong color held over
until its successor was well established. And the whole length
of this " border ' ' — several htmdred feet — was always a treat for
even the weariest eyes, or head, or heart, every day, all summer.
Here then is one of the fiindamental secrets — if secrets they
be — of planting a border, or, speaking more broadly, of planting
flowers. Let there be a succession of dominance, not merely a
succession of bloom. Let one color, in different shades, be
repeated, here in a mass, there in a few fugitive blossoms,
throughout the whole. By this I do not mean that other colors
are to be excluded, by any means — but everything should be
124 The Landscape Gardening Book
secondary to blues when blues prevail, to yellows when they lead,
to scarlet, to pink, to any dominant hue.
Of course this means that clumps, varying in size, of the lead-
ing varieties chosen, should be planted more than once and possi-
bly several times in the length of a border. These, blooming
simultaneously, carry the color throughout the whole; then,
when they have finished blossoming, they furnish the necessary
intervals of green, while their neighbors, who have been their
green reinforcement, go on with the procession under the color
which they have to offer. White-flowered plants of one kind
and another will supply blossoms to keep each delegation com-
pany, while odds and ends, planted, one kind in a group here,
another kind there, may fill in the " chinks" and give sufficient
variation to stimulate interest.
In other words a multitude of colors may and should be pres-
ent at all times, but in this multitude one should always be more
in evidence than the others. It is practically the same as a color
scheme in anything else: a gown, a room, a jeweled bauble, a
picture — each one has its color motif. Other colors appear, com-
plementing sometimes, contrasting or harmonizing, as the case
may be, but always secondary to the leading color. If this is not
so, what a disastrous failure any one of the things mentioned is
sure to be !
Certain tones dominate when used in much less quantity than
others. Yellow for example comes right out and shouts wherever
it appears, and for this reason less plants producing yellow flowers
are needed, than of any other hue. Blue, on the contrary, con-
tinually retires, consequently it must be used in profusion ; this
is true of purple also, only in less degree. Red stands about
midway between the yellow and blue, growing less obtrusive as
it grows darker. Remember, too, that blue is the color to use
Flowers
125
when a sense of distance in small space is to be produced, or
actual space exaggerated ; while yellow diminishes space in rather
more than inverse ratio, bringing even remote points forward
and into the picture, in a sometimes startling fashion.
The kinds of flowers to plant are of course largely a matter
of individual preferment. Annuals, lovely though they may be,
can hardly be seriously considered in a composition that must,
primarily, be permanent in order to enjoy that charm which is
one of a garden's chief est — that exquisite mellowing, like fine
wine, under the
lapse of time.
And certainly the
mixing of hardy
perennials and an-
nuals is not advis-
able, though there
is no objection to
a few seeds of
some favorite
among the latter
being scattered in
a vacancy, or a
sparsely filled spot
in a hardy border.
There is always
room for a little
more, even in a well filled planting, and that is the chance which
the quick-growing annual may take advantage of; but as a
class, annuals should be kept by themselves. Certain borders
can be given up to them, such as the space above the early,
spring-flowering bulbs. After these have bloomed is plenty of
Garden suggestion for a fifty-foot square; simple lines
are best whatever the area
126
The Landscape Gardening Book
time to sow the seed, and neither kind of plant suffers by reason
of the other's presence.
A turf margin should always divide borders from a walk, drive
or path, while an edging of some one, low-growing white flower
or a dwarf, ornamental grass is an advantage in all other locations
except, of course, the absolutely informal and very wild.
The natural fashion of plant-
ing certain things should be
employed even though no other
flowers are possible — or even
though a large garden may be
laid out and luxuriantly filled
with all sorts of rare and beau-
tiful things. Certain spots will
admit of no other treatment,
and effects are possible that sur-
pass all others in charm through
this scattering with a lavish
hand, just as Nature herself scat-
ters. Every lawn thus may and
should have its quota of flowers
growing in the grass, and the
tiniest lawn is not too tiny to
be spangled, for all time, with the flowers of two early blooming
and consequently precious bulbous plants that are perfectly
hardy, and that will not be killed out by ever so close mowing.
And grass that is not to be cut until late and then only with a
scythe — meadow growth or the semi-wild — may be planted with
other later flowerii:ig things.
The naturalization is accomplished most easily, I find, by
scattering the bulbs from a basket or pail, held high enough —
Thirty-five by fifty feet, de^'eloped room-
ily by means of a vista through the
entrance arches to sun-dial and seat
Flowers i 27
shoulder height — to drop them with sufficient force to send them
rolUng in every direction. The number of bulbs to be used runs
all the way from twenty-five to a thousand or as many more as
there is space for. Spill them recklesly in the smaller groups by
simply turning the basket upside down; in larger quantities it
may be given a toss as it is overturned, flinging them just as
water would be flung along the groimd.
They will roll off in all directions and some will lie in close little
clvmips and others will spread and journey far, and there will be
bare spaces where none are. This is exactly the way they should
do: plant them just where they finally He. When two kinds
are to be used together, scatter the larger ones first, then the
smaller. This gives the latter a chance to roll in around the
former in the same way that they would naturally work around
them underground, in the process of growth.
Lists of Plants
Herbaceous perennials is the term commonly used to indicate
hardy flowering plants which, given a place in the garden, do not
need renewing from year to year. They do, however, need a
little care and attention in the shape of digging up and dividing
every three or four years. The tendency of these plants to
spread at the roots causes them to crowd themselves in the course
of three or four seasons; division is therefore quite necessary,
if they are not to choke to death.
Herbaceous plants die to the ground every winter and rise
from the roots each spring. Their stems are succulent instead
of woody, hke a shrub ; and they are of all flowering plants the
most satisfactory, because the most permanent.
128 The Landscape Gardening Book
HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS — BLOOM CARRIED THROUGH
SUMMER
I— Adonis Amurensis: bird's eye; nine inches high; any soil,
Hght and moist being preferable ; does equally well in sun or
part shade; foliage femlike; flowers broad and yellow;
blossoms in April.
2—Pcsonia officinalis: peony; eighteen inches high; rich soil — it
cannot be too rich nor too much enriched, for peonies are
greedy; there are a myriad hybrids and special lists are
issued by all dealers; the choice is a matter of color pref-
erence more than anything else; the flowers of the double-
flowered forms usually last longer, on the plant or cut, than
the flowers of the single varieties ; blossoms in May ; flowers
fragrant and as showy as the finest roses — this is one of the
finest flowering plants in the world.
3 — Lupinus polyphyllus: lupine; three feet high; any garden soil,
give water after sundown in very dry weather ; long straight
spikes of blue to white flowers; blossoms in May; plant in
groups of half a dozen or as many more as desirable, or
possible.
4 — Phlox decussata (or P. paniculata) : hardy phlox; two to five
feet high according to the variety ; any good garden soil ; in
selecting phlox it is largely a matter of seeing the plant in
bloom and choosing the colors preferred, always using a
quantity of white if several colors are chosen; a color pro-
gression leading from white to deep red is one of the most
effective ways of using phlox, where there is space for so
many plants ; in such a planting all inharmonious magentas
must be kept out and only the gradually deepening pinks
■ that blend used; get early and late varieties and cut the
flower heads off as soon as they have faded ; this will insure
Flowers i 29
blossoms from ]xme on throughout the summer; always
plant in masses, setting the plants eighteen inches apart.
5 — Delphinium elatum: bee larkspur; three to five feet high; rich
garden soil; tall slender spikes of blue flowers, varying in
shade from light to dark ; blossoms in Jime and on.
6 — Althea rosea: hollyhock; four to six feet high; well drained
soil, but give plenty of water during drought ; double- and
single-flowered forms are both fine ; as they are easily raised
from seed, planted outdoors where they are to grow, it is
possible to get a mixture of colors and then save the plants
that are most satisfactory, after seeing them bloom ; seed-
lings will blossom the second season if the seed is sown before
July 1 5 ; as hollyhocks are subject to a fimgous disease, it
is best to start new plants from seed every other year; these
seem to be healthier than old and established plants, coming
from roots that have been long in the garden ; blossoms in
July.
7 — Digitalis lanata: wooly foxglove; two to three feet high; any
soil, rather Hght and rich ; will endure shade ; flowers some-
what funnel-shaped, ranged along the very tall, strong
upright stalks half their length, the lower ones opening first
and the upper end of the stalk continuing to grow higher as
the inflorescence ascends it ; gray, yellow, purphsh or whitish ;
blossoms in July and August; may be raised from seed;
plant in masses, setting the plants from fourteen to eighteen
inches apart.
8 — Clematis recta: bush clematis; two to three feet high; ordi-
narily rich garden soil ; white blossoms in large loose clus-
ters, fragrant; blossoms in Jime and on through August.
g — Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, hybrid: Shasta daisy; two
feet high ; any soil ; large white daisy flowers ; blossoms from
130 The Landscape Gardening Book
July on through summer and fall ; may be raised from seed
easily.
10 — Boltonia latisquama: false chamomile; three to five feet
high ; any soil ; flowers similar to the small wild asters of the
fields and roadsides, pink tinged with lilac; blossoms in
July on to September; produced in greatest abundance;
use in the back of the flower border or before the shrubbery
border; may be raised from seed.
II — Gypsophila paniculata, flora plena: double-flowering "ba-
by's breath;" three to three and a half feet high; any soil,
in the sun; tiny white rosette-Uke flowers in abundance
all over the plant, making it look like gauze; blossoms in
August and September; not likely to come true from seed,
though it may ; plants are a more certain way of securing it ;
plant from three to five in a group.
12 — Funkia subcordaia, grandiflvra: white plantain lily; two to
two and a half feet high ; any soil, in sun or shade ; large shin-
ing, heart-shaped leaves ; white lily-like flowers ; blossoms in
August and September; excellent for edging a border as the
foliage is charming throughout the season; plant singly or
in clumps; buy plants.
ANNUALS TO BE USED FOR IMMEDIATE EFFECT
1 — Delphinium ajacis, hybrid: annual larkspur; three feet high;
likes a cool and moist soil; many colors — shades of pink,
blue variegated and pure white ; get the mixed seeds or any
preferred color; sow outdoors where the plants are to grow
as soon as frost leaves the ground; will germinate in about
a fortnight ; thin until the plants stand about a foot apart.
2 — Aster Sinensis, hybrid "Comet": giant-branching China or
annual aster; eighteen to twenty-four inches high; heavy
Flowers 131
loam well enriched with manure and treated to wood ashes ;
flowers very full and plumy, resembling the florist's chrys-
anthemum; blossoms in August; mixed colors; start seed
indoors in late March or April for early-blooming plants and
transplant the seedlings to out-doors as soon as frost has
gone; for later-blooming plants sow the seed outdoors
where they are to stand, not later than May ; plants should
be nine to twelve inches apart finally.
3 — Arctotis grandis: African daisy; two to three feet high;
ordinary soil, in sunny place; large and showy daisy-Hke
flowers, white above, tinged with Ulac beneath; blossoms
in July and on to hard frost; start seed indoors or in the
groiind after frost is gone ; will germinate in about a week ;
keep in masses but give the plants as much room as they
seem to need.
4 — Calendula officinal is : pot marigold; twelve inches high; any
light warm soil; flowers in all shades of yellow to white;
blossoms from early summer on until frosts kill the plants;
mixed seeds will give a harmonious collection; start in the
groimd as early as possible.
5 — Iheris amara, hybrid dwarf: annual candytuft; six inches
high; any soil; small upright clusters of white flowers, fra-
grant; blossoms in June; sow seed outdoors early in April,
thin out when the seedlings are an inch high ; sow again the
end of May and again late in July for succession of bloom ; in
this way it may be had in blossom all summer; especially
suited for edging.
6 — Centaurea cyanus, double-flowered: blue bottle, ragged
sailor, bachelor's button or bluet; eighteen inches high;
light soil; this may be had in blue, rose or white, but the
characteristic color is blue, and pure seed therefore seems
132 The Landscape Gardening Book
to be the better choice; blossoms from midsummer imtil
frost ; sow in the ground as early as possible.
7 — Cleome pungens: giant spider flower; three feet high; any
soil; particularly useful among shrubbery, being rank of
growth and showy; flowers rosy-crimson with a suggestion
of violet ; curious, clustered in heads at the top of the upright-
growing stems ; sow seed in the open ground as early as may
be; thin so that the plants may develop, but keep in masses
of from six to any desired number; very effective in long
hedge-Uke border at some distance, also useful for screening.
8 — Papaver Rhceas, Shirley: com poppy, Shirley strain: two
feet high ; sandy loam ; single flowers in white and shades of
pink to deep crimson, no two alike; blossoms from mid-
summer on; sow thinly, very early in spring while ground
is cool and moist, where they are to be ; poppies will not bear
transplanting; thin to six inches apart; make successive
sowings during the summer for successive bloom.
g — Phlox Drummondi, gmni^"/?om.- large-flowering annual phlox;
twelve inches high; light loamy soil; white, pink, lilac,
crimson or primrose ; sow in the groimd as soon as possible
or indoors very early and transplant ; thin to about twelve
inches apart ; blossoms from midsummer on ; keep in masses.
JO — Mathiola incana, hybrids: stocks, " cut-and-come-again ; "
twelve to eighteen inches high ; deep garden soil ; white, pink,
blue, yellow or lilac flowers crowded along the erect stalks ;
blossoms in July and on ; sow seed indoors in March for early
flowers and transplant on a cloudy day; or sow in the ground
as early as possible ; get seed in mixture or in any preferred
color.
The length of blooming period for annuals depends almost
entirely on the planting of the seed. The earlier the seeds
Flowers i33
are started, the earlier will the flowers come, of course. But
with even the very earliest possible sowing out-of-doors the
blossoming period can hardly be reached before July. It usually
extends to frost however, and if it does not, successive plantings
will carry it on as late as one may choose.
The ten varieties here given are all that a good-sized garden
should attempt to entertain. Grouped and arranged according
to the methods which would be followed with hardy perennials
in the same amount of space, there is no reason why these should
not furnish as lovely and brave a feast for the eyes as perennials.
It is simply a question of arrangement— of keeping to the stand-
ards of line and form and mass.
Bulbs for Naturalizing
for close cut lawn
Scilla Sihirica: Siberian squill; four inches high, lily-Uke
leaves ; any soil ; plant in quantities of never less than twenty-
five; set the bulbs out in early autumn, planting to a depth
of twice their diameter; flowers a deep and beautiful blue,
on an erect stem; blossoms in March and April; endures
shade nicely.
Galanthus nivalis: common snowdrop; six inches high; ordinary
soil, which should however be cool and shady, where mid-
summer sun cannot reach the ground to bake the bulb;
flowers white, solitary and drooping ; blossoms in March and
sometimes earlier, coming actually through the snow ; plant
in quantities of never less than twenty-five — fifty or a htm-
dred will be better; the foot of a tree, either evergreen or
deciduous, suits them admirably; for meadows, orchards
and fields.
134 The Landscape Gardening Book
Narcissus poeticus: pheasant's eye or poets' narcissus;
twelve to eighteen inches high; any soil that is thoroughly
well drained; famihar white solitary flowers, fragrant;
blossoms in May ; plant this only where the grass is not cut
until late June and then only cut with a scythe.
Orniihogalum umbellatum: star of Bethlehem; six inches high;
foUage hly-like and abundant; flowers white, numerous;
blossoms in May; plant in patches often to twenty-five or
any nvmiber desired, where grass is not cut by a lawn mower.
CHAPTER XIII
Winter and the Garden
THE garden should be, always, a delightful place, "a very-
pleasant spot," according to the old definition of the
word. Yet this is just what it so often is not, in winter —
not because of the winter, but because of our way of meeting the
winter. The forlorn dejection of rose bushes, trussed up in
straw until they look like tombstones, is too woeful a sight for
even the stoutest hearted to behold unmoved. Rhododendrons
enclosed with chicken- wire, with a litter of autumn leaves
covering them and filling their disreputable cages, are a distress-
ing and ignominious transformation from the summer's royal
splendor. And all the other homesick little things that are shut
up in dark box or barrel prisons — how their loneliness and dreari-
ness penetrates! It is more chill than winter wind.
All shrubs are of course hardy in their native clime; therefore
the simplest way out of the question of winter protection of
plants is to evade it altogether by using only native species.
These will not need protecting. However, it is useless to counsel
such restraint as this, I know; no one will practice it, for there
are too many lovely things that grow in kindlier climes than ours
and yet that may be grown here, " with winter protection, ' ' for us
to resist. The next best thing therefore is to find a way of giving
this protection with the least possible offense to the eye.
(135)
136 The Landscape Gardening Book
The thought of it should always lie back of every garden's
arrangement. Every garden may be planned so that the pro-
tection of its delicate citizens need not present such difficulties
as it commonly does. It is only a question of beginning right,
just the same as practically all the other garden questions —
beginning right and using common sense, along with a little
ingenuity.
First of all it is necessary to know just what it is that con-
stitutes the winter's danger to vegetation. Commonly we think
of it as being the cold, and the snow and sleet and storms gen-
erally; but as matter of fact, these are not as grave a menace to
many things as the stmshine. The rays of the sun stimulate
plants to premature activity if allowed to fall directly upon
them, on even what may seem a cold winter day ; and this pre-
mature activity is what is so fatal. Winter protection is designed
to keep warmth away from them — to keep them in the cold
quite as much as it is to keep them from it — in other words, to
keep them dormant during the season when they should be
dormant.
The sunlight that is injurious to their tops is just as injurious to
their roots too ; for, although it only reaches ground above the
roots, it thaws this after it has frozen, and warms it too much
during the middle of the day. Then follows a chill when the
sun sets and freezing begins again. So the groiind aroxmd roots
needs protecting as well as the top of the plants; indeed this
shielding over the roots is all that many very tender things
require. Some of the most disastrous winters have demon-
strated this beyond question.
Nature's own protection is leaves — leaves scattered on the
ground where the roots get the benefit of them. Nature groups
her vegetation too, so that one plant affords defense for its
Thunberg's barberry; especially lovely in winter with its flaming red berries
All the viburnums bear ornamental fruits, some
red, some black, some purplish
The fat white berries of the snowberry are familiar to everyone ; a bush
grew in all grandmothers' gardens
Winter 137
neighbor. Large trees shelter smaller ones, and these in turn
shelter lower growing shrubs — and creeping things wander in
and out beneath these ; and all are snug and shaded and suitably
protected, without a single straw jacket, or chicken-wire cage, or
barrel prison. Thus we see that it is first a matter of arrangement.
Roses are perhaps the most difficult things to deal with, in
winter as well as in summer — that is, if one cares to have them
attractively placed in the landscape. That they shoiild grow in
an enclosure set apart for them — a rose garden — I always insist.
But even when so placed, they are ghostly and forlorn-looking
when jacketed in straw. Locate the rose garden, in the first
place, with the idea of its winter exposure in mind. See that
this exposure is such that the roses are protected by some
growth of shrubbery or evergreens — a hedge or a border — from
the prevailing winds, if these are severe.
Make the beds from six to eight inches lower than the surface
of the ground around them. This is a vast improvement, in
summer as well as winter, over beds level with the walks, espe-
cially if the walks themselves are grassed. The view across the
rose-garden is not interrupted by bare and unattractive earth
patches showing around the plants, if this method is followed;
and when winter approaches, the bushes may be bent down,
tied each to its neighbor's base, or to a stake, and the space
around and above them filled until it is a little more than level
with the general surface.
Leaves of the oak are unsurpassed for this filling, but straw
is perhaps easier to get, in most instances. With this a rough
thatch that will help in shedding water, should be formed; and
over all some branches of evergreens or of any tree may be laid,
to hold it from blowing away. This work should not be done
however, until there has been a freeze which will have driven the
138 The Landscape Gardening Book
field-mice into winter quarters, else they may take up their
abode among the straw and dine on the roses' winter buds, as
field-mouse living goes up under the season's advance.
Such a covering for roses is unobtrusive and inoffensive; it
does not suggest the dismal side of winter, and it is quite as
effective as boarded-over shelters, providing the shelter belt of
shrubs or evergreens is properly placed. Both, however, must
be resorted to, to make the work assuredly well done. Usually
branches of hemlock may be used to clothe almost anything
requiring it, in such a way that the objectionable features
attending the use of straw are entirely done away with, and a
resemblance to a small evergreen tree is created. Where a
shrub must be boimd up, I should advise always using such
material.
Personally however, I should have nothing in a garden which
required elaborate winter cover. Some of the tenderest things
are grown in chilly northern sections, with simply a suitable
arrangement of windbreaks and shelter belts. A specimen of
the giant tree of California has been raised from a tiny seedling
until it has reached a height of probably forty feet, on a Long
Island estate, by placing it in such a position that winter's fury
is tempered by hardier native trees, which do guard duty on
every side. These are not close to it, but they are so placed that
what one fails to intercept in the way of winter wind, the next
one catches — and the protection is very complete without in the
least obscuring the Sequoia.
A large garden should have provision for its tender plants — if
its gardener insists upon growing them — in the form of pits and
outside cellars. Whatever cannot be protected without calUng
attention to its infirmity, and thereby spreading an atmosphere
of gloom over all the landscape that is within view, should be
The graveyard effect which comes of using many tender plants and trying
to make them comfortable during the winter detracts greatly from the
pleasure of having a garden
Christmas Roses bloom actually through the snow, and will sometimes
show flowers from October to spring, without protection: this is the sort
of thing worth while
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Winter i 39
taken up and housed. Whatever may be protected by a mulch
of leaves, or straw, or sod, or by branches of evergreen, or by
twining herbaceous vines around or above it, so that it is not a
blot on the landscape, may , of course, remain.
With this matter of protection met, through shelters that
are not an offense to the eye, the question of introducing some-
thing into the garden that will be a positive feature of winter
beauty, should be considered. There are shrubs innumerable
that have bright berries, and others with beautifully colored
bark — and all shrubbery is decorative, when well placed, even
out of leaf. Just the lacy mass of its bare branches against the
snow is charming, or their warm color against the browns of
vegetation generally, or against the deep tones of evergreens,
when these form the backgroimd.
Masses of cornel give ruddy warmth to the comer where they
live; the black alder holds its bright red berries practically all
winter ; rugosa roses bear hips as large as French chestnuts that
are a lovely, translucent scarlet-orange; the purple barberry is
purple in branch, leaf and berry; the viburnums have fruits
that are scarlet, blue-black, and pink-and-duU-blue ; while the
old-fashioned snowberry and its twin, the Indian currant, are
familiar to everyone, with the fat white berries of the first,
btmched in odd sizes, offering a most attractive contrast to the
coral of the latter. But more decorative than all other fruits,
perhaps, are the berries of the corky euonymus, and its relatives
of the spindle tree family. These are contained in a capsule,
which bursts as the fruit ripens, rolling back to show the brighter
colored, or differently colored seeds within. The capsule is
usually a bright orange-scarlet ; the seed itself is black in one
variety, a deeper, brighter red than the capsule in some others,
and almost white in another.
140 The Landscape Gardening Book
So it is not difficult to plan an all-the-year-roimd garden when
planning, and cheat the winter. And in a climate where so
many months are dull and colorless, if not actually wintry, this
is something which ought never to be overlooked. It is, in fact,
hardly too much to say that winter should have as much con-
sideration in the arrangement of the garden as summer.
Where frosts are likely to come late in the spring or early in
the fall, a windbreak or shelter which is so dense that it does not
allow the passage of air at all, tends to encourage them by
keeping the air still within the space which it encloses. Still
air is, of course, favorable to frost. For this reason privet is
better, in some situations, than a denser hedge which excludes
all wind. It is a matter of tempering the wind, rather than
shutting it out altogether. Privet, as I have already said, holds
its leaves nearly all winter and grows so twiggy, through
repeated prunings, that it forms an impenetrable barrier to
animal life, and likewise to snow and biting winds.
An evergreen winter garden, enclosed with a hedge so high
that winter is shut out, is something which every all-the-y ear-
round home should boast, for the encouragement which it will
give to outdoor life. This may be somewhat apart from the
subject under consideration, but I feel that it should be men-
tioned, because we are dealing with winter in the garden. Where
there is space to set apart such a spot, even though it is very tiny,
it ought to be done. Surround the evergreen shelter hedge —
which need not be trimmed, by the way, unless one prefers, but
may grow unrestrained — on the outer side with a shelter planting
of deciduous native trees, mingled with evergreens. Carry the
"walls" of the garden north and south, so that all the sun's
warmth may pour down unobstructed into it ; furnish it with
some weatherproof rustic or white-painted, wood seats, or
Winter
141
benches, and a table — then get into the habit of loitering there
an hour daily, during the sunniest time of day.
All plants have a winter beauty quite as distinctly their own
as the flowers which they bear in summer. Observation and
study of them in winter alone will teach it — for it is brought out
or obscured very often by the plant 's situation and surroundings.
In developing a garden, aim to find out what particular quality
each plant depends on for this winter charm. Learn to look at
winter landscapes as having something positive to offer — and
to look at plants in winter undress as likewise having a positive
beauty, and not the merely negative, dead-and-gone-to-seed
aspect which long habit has made us associate with them. Then,
having found this beauty, group and arrange the garden to bring
it out to its best advantage.
Generally speaking, a group that is pleasing in summer will
not be bad in winter, though this may not follow if the work
is highly artificial. The final test of garden and gardener, is
the test of winter. Truly good work will be good in winter,
with no unsightly winter armament guarding delicate interlopers,
to disfigure the picture. For, when all is said and done, that is
the last word in gardening, whether it is realistic or foj-mal; it
builds a picture. Whether it is a picture that lies under a
mantle of snow, or under the staid brown of autumn, or under
the radiant green of young spring, should not matter; the
picture quality must be there. If it is, no season can take it
away.
List of Plants
shrubs for briu.iant winter effect
I — Rosa lucida (or R. humilis, lucida): wild rose; six feet high;
showy clusters of crimson fruits on bright red stems, con-
142 The Landscape Gardening Book
spicuous from September on through February; single,
bright pink flowers in June and July.
2 — Viburnum cassinoides: withered or Appalachian tea; six to
eight feet high; upright growing, with brownish gray
branches; bears dense clusters of berries that are pink,
changing to deep blue, all gradations appearing at once,
in one cluster; small white flowers in dense heads, in June
and Jtily.
^—Cornus stohnifera: red osier; eight feet high; spreading
bush with bright crimson winter bark; bears abundantly
white berries slightly tinged with blue; small white flowers
in dense showy heads, in June.
4 — Berberis vulgaris: common barberry; eight to ten feet high;
pendulous, sweeping branches, weighted along their length
by clusters of vivid scarlet berries, persisting all winter;
fragrant yellow flowers in early spring; one of the most
attractive of the berry-bearing shrubs,
e — Viburnum dentatum: arrowwood; fifteen feet high; dense-
growing, vigorous upright shrub with gray-stemmed
branches, bending under a load of brilliant blue berries
that last vmtil hard freezing weather; quantities of tiny,
faintly-sweet flowers, in close heads, in May and June.
6 — Cornus candidissima: panicled cornel; fifteen feet high; up-
right dense shrub with gray smooth branches ; warm- white
berries on red stems lasting through October; white flowers
in profuse clusters in May and June.
In grouping these in a border planting, the rose may be used
for facing down before the others, its given height of six feet
being its height at the middle, not at the outer edges. Its
branches spread and arch enough to come well down to the
ground. The barberry is also suitable for the same location.
Climbing roses are always possible along the walks of the vegetable gar-
den, carried on arches of wire or of wood lattice
CHAPTER XIV
The Vegetable Garden Beautiful
THE vegetable garden is very badly treated. Our attitude
toward it is unfortunate, both for ourselves and for it —
and there is no excuse for it. There is positively no
reason for hiding it in out-of-the-way comers, or squeezing it
into grudgingly yielded spaces, if really worthy care and thought
are given it. If it began with a plan just as painstakingly worked
out as that for a flower garden or a landscape we would have
no reason for hiding it.
Vegetable gardens are not usually attractive from an esthetic
point of view, to be sure — but small wonder w^hen we consider
how shabbily these most useful of all gardens have been dealt
with, for time out of mind. They have been given no chance to
be beautiful, because everyone is thoroughly convinced that
beauty and utility are hopelessly incompatible — in gardening
anyway. Daily we hear more and more about beauty and
utility being sister and brother — some are even putting forth
the claim that they are twins — still no one ever seems to think of
testing the truth of the assertion, outdoors, on and in the
ground.
Yet, if it is true at all, this is just as true outdoors as it is in;
with plants and fruits as with furniture and fittings. In the old,
old days, in the old world when gardening was carried on behind
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144 The Landscape Gardening Book
protective walls of massive stone, and only the monastery gardens
escaped pillage and destruction under the incessant warfare of
the times, flower gardens, as such, were unknown. Gardens
were a vital necessity and not an ornamental luxury in that
stem age. They were stocked with those plants which furnished
either food or medicine, with no room for aught else. But many
of the latter were the flowering plants which are the isolated and
pampered aristocrats of to-day's gardens; so after all the old-
time utility did not mean the grim utiloveliness which modem
garden methods have led us to associate with the word.
It is just a return to this ancient sincerity and simplicity that
I would urge, in the development of our present-day gardening.
This by no means implies approval of a potato patch adjacent
to the entrance drive or cabbage under the living-room windows.
It only implies a plea for a sane restoration of useful vegetation —
and by useful I mean, in this instance, of practical, material
use — to its rightful place and dignity.
We are called a nation of suburban dwellers, yet there are
thousands and thousands of suburban places in the land where
a vegetable garden is never dreamed of, though much time is
spent — and money too— in the care of flowers and lawns, and
in "polite gardening." Students of economics have recently
pointed out that the enormous waste which this system entails,
is unquestionably one of the causes of the high cost of living,
under which American shoulders are groaning. This seems
more and more reasonable, the more it is considered.
Eight plots, 50 X TOO feet, are, roughly speaking, equal to one
acre of land. Reser\'ing one-third of such a typical plot for the
house, and one-third for lawn and as a concession to neighborhood
conventionalities, there remains one-third for garden. Multiplied
by eight this amounts to one-third of an acre; and one-third
An entrance to a vegetable garden which is singularly appropriate and ex-
tremely simple; a grape vine festoons it, and flowers border the path
Even without a ilL-sij^ii tlierc i , iv.il Lctuty lu neat borders i"r the walks and Well
trimmed hedge boundaries
Within this old box-bordered area vegetables and flowers dwell in friendly mtimaey .
the splendid stone wall closes the place in from the street, while the white fence
divides garden and lawn
Vegetable Garden 145
of an acre, under the intensive farming system, will produce
all the vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, that a dozen
people can eat in a year. We may consider, therefore, that for
every eight subtirban places, the vegetable food of twelve per-
sons is sacrificed; all because of an artificial attitude which
looks shamefacedly at a vegetable garden as something inele-
gant and vulgar. Surely we are able to put all this affectation
away, once it is realized, without great effort. Let us turn our
backs on these old ideas and get at the problem of beautifying
the Vegetable Garden, taking as much pains with it as we
would with a Rose Garden, or a Garden of Old-time Perennials.
To this end we must see first what its demands are — what the
culture of vegetables absolutely requires — regardless of where
they are planted, or what they are. Undisputed possession of
well and constantly tilled soil is their one imperative need.
That is, they must not be crowded by weeds, by other plants,
nor by each other — though all vegetables really may be planted
much closer together than the old-fashioned farmer commonly
puts them.
The chief obstacle therefore in the way of securing a pleasing
effect where vegetables are grown, is the amount of brown earth
necessarily exposed. In a flower garden, where masses are
thrown together luxuriantly and individual specimens are not
desired, the earth is covered; but this sort of treatment simply
cannot be resorted to in raising vegetables. Neither is a ground
cover, no matter how low growing it may be, permissible, for
any plant other than the vegetable, will steal moisture and
food which should be its individual and undivided own.
We have here nothing worse, however, than the identical
problem which confronts the rose grower, for roses are quite as
particular about their residence, and will brook no intrusion.
146 The Landscape Gardening Book
Yet the rose enthusiast is not balked by it. For want of the
best solution, though, I am bound to say that the beauty of most
rose gardens is very seriously impaired; for even with roses
blooming all around, the eye instinctively longs for something
more refreshing and pleasing than bare earth, beneath them.
The one satisfactory solution for the rose garden is sunken beds
with grass walks dividing them; and this is likewise the vege-
table garden's redemption — this, and that beautiful order which
is the first law of all things. A vegetable garden, to develop
the highest beauty, must be perfect in its formality and balanced
symmetry.
Beds lowered six inches below the general level, with turf
walks four feet wide, outlined with low flower borders for main
divisions; and walks of a foot less width, similarly edged or not,
for subdivisions, will produce an effect that no one who has not
tried it, nor seen it tried, can conceive possible with such
respected but socially vmcultivated plants as beets, lettuce,
radishes, salsify and the like. Plan such a garden on paper as
carefully as any landscape, centering it on some division of the
house if possible. If this is not practical let a walk leading to it
be its axis, and plan from this.
Make its form whatever the space permits ; it will not matter
whether it is a square or a rectangle, if it is planned on an axis
ninning either way. Do not over-elaborate the design nor
introduce intricate forms in the beds — this is bad taste, whether
flowers or vegetables are to fill them — and be careful to arrange
so that the low-growing vegetables shall occupy the central
positions, with the taller kinds at or near the garden botindaries.
Perfect orderliness must guide the planting of every seed sown,
and immaculate neatness must reign in the garden at planting
and perpetually thereafter as it grows.
Vegetable Garden
147
The plan given is for an area of 50 x 100 feet. The same
amount of care that would keep a lawn this size, with flowers
and shrubbery planted on it, in perfect order, will take care of
such a garden as it shows. The vegetables for it wotdd of course
i^\>a.Ycu^u.a
— ^.™. ^<Nlr>„ f'l '■
r
if ^^' _
Suggestion for the development of a vegetable garden enclosed with
a lattice or fence. The paths are all of turf
be selected according to the gardener's taste, and from it all that
from four to six people could eat, with the exception of potatoes,
would be harvested.
While all of the above applies especially to gardening within
a very limited space, the little effort required to design and lay
out a vegetable garden on Hnes that shall please the eye and
satisfy the ever-constant craving for beauty and charm, is well
expended no matter how wide the domain. Indeed, I am not
sure but the large place owes it to itself and to the world at
large, to take especial pains in this direction. For it is to the
large place, where money expenditure does not have to be
reckoned so carefully, that all places look for an example and
for inspiration.
A vegetable garden once laid down on good lines, with garden
148 The Landscape Gardening Book
omamerts exposed here and there, at suitable spots— a dial with
a rose clambering arotind its base, perhaps, or a fountain,
or a bird pool to encourage the presence of the bird allies, so
that they may be early and often on hand to devour the pernicious
worm — may be as permanent as any formal flower garden.
Rotation of crops is perfectly feasible within its limits, as well
as the successive planting which prolongs the enjoyment of its
products — and if it is enclosed, as I should strongly advise
its being, fruit trees trained in the European fashion upon its
walls, add just so much more to its advantages, as well as to its
very real beauty.
List of Plants
Edging Plants
Annuals will be better for edging the beds and the walks in
the vegetable garden where the work is done by horse power.
Perennials are likely to be trampled badly and the lines along
which they are planted destroyed when plowing is done. Annuals,
not being sown until after this is finished, are not in the way and
consequently do not suffer. Perennials may be used where the
wheel hoe or the spade and rake do all the work.
PERENNIALS
I — Armeria maritima, splendens: sea pink or thrift ; flower stems
nine inches high; any soil; evergreen tvifts of foliage
on the ground; small pink flowers in dense heads, lifted
above the leaves on wiry stems; blossoms continuously
from early spring on ; may be raised from seed.
2 — Iheris sempervirens : evergreen candytuft; twelve inches high;
any soil ; may be raised from seed easily, sown where it is
to grow, either in spring or early in the fall.
Vegetable Garden 149
ANNUALS
I — Alyssum maritimum, "Little Gem": mad-wort or sweet alys-
sum; four inches high; any soil; sheets of white flowers
throughout the summer, fragrant ; sow early where it is to
grow.
2 — Ageratum, "Princess Pauline": floss flower; eight inches high;
any soil ; compact growth, bright blue flowers ; start indoors
and transplant or sow outside in May ; blossoms from early
summer on.
An edging of turf eight to ten inches wide should always
inclose the walks unless they are entirely of turf, whether a flower
edging is used for the beds also or not. Back of this turf and
at an even distance from it set the edging plants or sow the
seed for them, in a carefully drawn furrow. Then draw an
exact line twelve inches back of this furrow or the line of the
plants, and bring the vegetables, in straight and carefully laid
out rows, just to this. If a taller plant is desired along the
walk it will be necessary to allow greater space for it on the
ground. A border of sweet Williams, for instance, will require
eighteen inches in width between turf edge and vegetable line ;
a border of day lilies will need twenty-four inches or more,
and so on.
CHAPTER XV
Garden Structures
ALL the great gardens of the world have countless loitering
^ places— some indeed fairly palatial in themselves,
though only garden incidents — and all little gardens
may usually, and certainly should if possible, have at least one.
I know of no better and surer emancipation from the artificial
than that which comes from much lingering in a garden.
But it is out of doors and away from doors, out in the garden
that we must go, if we would company with the sweet garden
spirits. They that dwell imseen among blossoms and leaf and
branch and ride swift and far on the free winds, are not to be
enticed onto porches — nor yet even up to a terrace. Only quite
away from the rigid walls of man's daily habitation will They of
gardens linger — away, and truly in the garden.
How many, many gardens are wasted ! How many gardens are
planned and planted and carefully tended — ^but never lived in
by anyone. Indeed the commoner practice with gardens ranks
with the old fashion of "using" the best room. Carefully shut
up and darkened, with all its treasures in immaculate order, it
may have been a source of complacent satisfaction; but surely
it was never anything else.
A garden house, whatever name we call it — some call it a
gazebo, some a casino, still others a belvedere, a loggia, a bower,
(ISO)
Here tliere is absoluUly iKjlliing left to be desired; a retreat at a distance frum the
dwelling should afford actual protection from the elements or else be just an arbor
Such a seat fulfils the purpose of a semicircular seat but is simpler in construction;
the overhead work is just right
Garden Structures 151
just a plain summer house, or even a pergola or an arbor, though
these latter two apply only to roofless structures — a garden
house provides that definite livableness to the garden, which is
needed to encourage hving in it. Assuring protection from the
elements, it invites repose; yet, being open and vine-draped and
sylvan, it loses nothing of outdoor redolence in doing so. It
remains still a temple of Pan.
If such a retreat is never to be used however, it ought never to
be built. For of all the dismal things anywhere in the world,
the deserted, dejected, down-at-the-heels garden house is surely
the most dismal! It wears the look and the air that a pass6
beauty might wear, in the gray dawn, the morning after a ball.
One shivers at the stamp of desolation so emphasized by con-
trast with what once was.
A garden house is a reasonable project whenever it is able, and
only when it is able, to fulfil the purpose for which it is built.
This purpose is to provide an outdoor sitting-room stifficiently
secluded to invite occupation and to insure its intimate enjoy-
ment ; a room apart from, and far enough distant from, the dwell-
ing to afford a complete change and relaxation.
Obviously the circtmistances of every garden are the factors
which will determine independently the opportunity for a sum-
mer house in that particular garden. Most places afford a
situation that fits, or may be made to fit, the requirements,
but there are many of course that do not. Where the limita-
tions do exclude such a structure, give it up absolutely. It is
worse than useless when it is crowded in ; it is absurd.
This is a simple matter, however — this deciding whether or
no it is a reasonable, and therefore a permissible, member
within the limits of a certain garden. But the choice of the sort
of a structure to build does not seem to be so simple, if the
152 The Landscape Gardening Book
mistakes not infrequently made by those who ought to know
better, are anything to judge by. It is a lamentable fact that
there is an amazing lack of comprehension of true fitness dis-
played in many pretentious gardens. And until it is the rule
for us to think first and think intelligently, I am afraid that such
errors will go on being made.
The pergola madness results from one of them. Who the
man was that perpetrated it in the first place, no one knows; but
over the length and breadth of the land it has spread — and the
end is not yet. Jacobean mansions, EngUsh half-timbered cot-
tages, Swiss chalets, French chateaus, and our own comfortable
Colonial manor houses alike display, with astounding impartial-
ity, a riot of (alleged) Italian pergolas, at front or back or sides,
or maybe all four and again in the garden ; to say nothing of the
nondescript dwellings of the nondescript class which have added
or been added to, a pergola.
Nothing in architecture has caught the popular fancy to such
a degree since the deluge of " Queen Anne" style which engulfed
the builders of a generation ago. And just as the good and
charming Queen Anne domestic architecture became sponsor
in those days for dreadful monstrosities, little and big, so the
lovely pergola of Italy is to-day responsible for endless absurdities.
Perhaps if the foreign word were dropped and the literal
translation substituted, it would be possible to consider these
structures in a more rational manner. "Pergola" is literally
" arbor, " " pergula, ' ' from which it is derived, being " vine arbor. "
Here surely we gain a better sense of relation — and proportion.
The English equivalent, being honest, is more conducive to
honesty — for who would build an " arbor ' ' in place of a roof, over
a porch? Yet many have put "pergolas" there; and as a
crowning absurdity we hear therefore of the "pergola roof."
Garden Structures 153
Pergolas have no roof other than the leafiness of the vines
that overrtm them. And even the cross-pieces that uphold
these vines — those members which are familiar to us as rather
heavy rafters, sometimes elaborately shaped at their overhanging
ends — are more or less temporary and fragile things.
Nowhere probably is there a truer example of the pergola in
its honest simplicity, than in the gardens of the old Capuchin
monastery at Amalfi. Along the mountain side these arbors
ranged, tier after tier, in the old monkish days — true vine arbors
and nothing else. Approaching the monastery buildings the
upright supports became architectural, and a part of the retain-
ing wall which nms along the steepest part of the slope ; but the
long, thin saplings forming the overhead framework remained
the same.
Thus the sense of permanence and stability prevails in the
upright work, while overhead repairs may easily be made. The
stone coliunns are hollowed transversely at the top, to receive
the saplings, which are simply laid across from side to side.
Now there is a wretched little railing running from column to
column, to keep the hotel's guests from tumbling off and down
the mountain side, but this is a latter-day "improvement."
The monks grew flowers in this space. It is worth noting, by
the way, that the vines are, in some places, planted inside the
columns.
So the good old monks built just as good sense would prompt
anyone to build. Their "pergolas" are simply permanent,
convenient, and easily repaired grape arbors carried along the
hillside — architectural only where they approach the dwelling.
Elsewhere they are of the crudest, though at the same time
most picturesque, construction, easily managed and made of the
most primitive materials. With their outspread vines they
154 The Landscape Gardening Book
furnished a grateful shade to the keepers of the vineyard, who
must labor there under the hot Italian sun ; and they afforded the
best possible means of training the vines, for best results.
When the pergola mania seizes a victim, let him stop long
enough to ask himself two questions. The first one is: If it
were an arbor that thus possessed my mind, would I wish to
build it? The second is: Shall it be — or is it possible for it to
be — an immediate attribute of the house?
If the first question meet with an affirmative answer and the
second a negative, then an architectural treatment will not be
the best and most appropriate. Remember that the Capuchins'
arbors are architectural only as they lead off from the pile of the
buildings. It is not, however, that architectural treatment
should be applied only to a structure that is an attribute of the
house — that is by no means so. But architectural treatment of
an arbor — of a roofless, simple, vine support — is appropriate
only when this is the case.
It is not, either, that we should imitate the Capuchins; but
they have done what they have done the very best that may be.
When the best has been done, when simple, straightforward
reasons have been the guide and a beautiful result has been
attained, anything that goes against the principle thus estab-
lished will be lacking in merit and lacking in artistic effect.
So much for the pergola — for the arbor, to think of it as we
should. Words — and we — are such deceivers; we should be
careful how we use them.
A loggia is architectural, indeed is fairly monumental — yet
a loggia may be btiilt with perfect propriety in any part of a
garden. For a loggia is primarily an outdoor, roofed, sitting-
room, usually enclosed on one long side, and open on the other
and on the ends. Often, though not necessarily, it is a part of
Nowhere is there as good an example of the true pergola as the Capuchin ilonas-
tery at Amalfi shows: remote from the buildings it is of most primitive construction
Reproduced, by permission, jroni "Archiieclur:
Adjacent to the buildings, architectural columns take the place of the sapling supports
but overhead the vines rest on precisely the same support in one place as in another
Garden Structures 155
the house, and is indeed practically a porch that is not used for
entrance. In many of the old Italian palaces it is on the second
floor; but it may furnish a garden boundary, and it is placed
with delightful effect opposite the dwelling sometimes, across
a formal garden. Any favorite spot in the groimds indeed may
be chosen for its site. Being an architectural structure it should
of course conform to the style of the buildings on a place, and
be as elaborate and pretentious, or as simple, as these.
A belvedere is a garden building occupying a lofty position,
built there especially to command a fine view. Only a structure
so located is entitled to the name. A gazebo is also high up,
occupying a position chosen for outlook ; but a gazebo is usually
part of a garden wall, partaking of the character of a watch
tower. It is intended more as a place from which to look over
and outside the walls, rather than to command a broad and
stately sweej:) of landscape.
These therefore require certain surrovmdings and presuppose
certain elements in the garden where they are built. But a
casino or a bower — I must confess a liking for the latter old,
deep-rooted Anglo-Saxon word — is just a summer pleasure
house. It alone therefore gives us something definitely suited
to all sorts and conditions of gardens.
Constructed of any building materials that may be preferred,
it may follow the lines of the house or not. The only restraint
put upon its designer is the restraint of good taste — and good
taste only means after all , appropriateness. Perhaps the meaning
of this may be clearer if it is explained that a little roimd or
octagonal structure, built of birch trunks and branches, with a
shingled roof stained to match the house, set out on a trim lawn
at a distance of thirty feet possibly but not more than that from
the house, with never a trace of vines nor shrubs nor trees around
156 The Landscape Gardening Book
it, is as complete an example of bad taste and inappropriateness
as I believe it would be possible to find. Yet this sort of thing
is not tmcommon — with perhaps some monstrous unusable and
immovable chairs, made of the same raw forest product, standing
grimly at either side.
"Rustic work" is only suitable to the most primitive sur-
roundings. It is as out of place on a smooth-shaven lawn as a
shooting- jacket would be at a formal dinner. Such a bmlding
belongs in the woods, if it belongs anywhere — I am not sure that
it does belong anywhere— and its roof should be of split boughs
or sheets of bark, never of tiles or shingles.
A simple building, well proportioned, with a deep shadowing
cornice and a roof of not too steep a pitch, is always satisfactory
anywhere. If this roof, made with a steeper pitch, is of rush
or straw thatch, the charm of the structure is assured regardless.
I am tempted to say, of design and proportion. Of course this
is not altogether so; but clematis and honeysuckle and akebia
will soon hide defects of design, leaving the picturesque roof
alone in view. Such a structure takes its place in the midst of
greenery as if it, too, had grown from the earth. It suits any
kind of house and grovmds, great or small, and is preeminently
the sort of thing to use with the free lines of landscape or abso-
lutely informal gardening.
Luxuriant planting should back up any garden house, on one
side or another. It may hide it indeed from everywhere, yet
leave vistas from it to any charming bits of planting, natural
or artificial. Or the structure may be a part of the garden
design and as such occupy a position of comparative prominence;
but even here it should be planted in and well clothed with ver-
dure as well as backed and framed by it.
CHAPTER XVI
Garden Furniture and Accessories
THE garden which is too small to permit the building of a
bower within its boundaries may yet have a garden seat,
or several resting places. No garden is too tiny for this.
Let us therefore examine the possibilities of garden benches first
of all.
They must be comfortable to sit on, primarily, and com-
fortably placed. This does not mean always in shade however,
for there are many days when to sit in the sun is greater delight.
But they should be located where the most charming bits are
most easily seen and enjoyed by their occupants. Make a
point too, of having something fragrant growing close by —
mint under foot or some sweet herb, or a sweetbriar rose near
at hand^something that smells sweet perpetually. Fragrance
is one of the garden's essentials, everywhere.
The classic exedra is of all forms the best for a garden seat.
This is curving its entire length, usually indeed a semicircle,
thus bringing its occupants together equally or nearly so.
Executed in stone or marble it had an important place in the
gardens of antiquity, and executed in stone, marble, terra-cotta
or wood it is worthy an equally important place in gardens
to-day. Its size may vary according to existing circumstances.
Usually it has a back, sometimes high but not always. Thus it
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158 The Landscape Gardening Book
is not only a comfortable seat for a group, in that it brings them
together, but a restful and comfortable seat for the individual.
It is not at all likely that the charming, old, curved, white-
painted seats which some old gardens harbor, were consciously
modeled on this stone conversation bench of the Greeks, but
the same need furnished the idea for their form. The same
gregarious instinct prompted their making. And such a seat
offers naturally the suggestion and the place for a roimd garden
table, with all the sociable delights which it brings.
The two together need take up very Uttle room. A seat
that is a complete semicircle, large enough to seat six persons
easily, with its round table placed on the center from which its
curve is drawn, will only require eleven by seven feet. This
style of seat may be cut in half, if only half the size is desired,
or a semicircle constructed with a shorter radius. A radius
of less than thirty inches, however, is not practicable, as it does
not allow sufficient space in front of the sitters. Usually a
radius of four feet is the best for a bench to seat any number
up to six. This gives a pleasing and stifhcient curve to even
a very short seat, cut off at the quarter circle or less and
accommodating only two or three.
The radius for any desired size of bench is very easily deter-
mined. Allow two feet along the inner circumference of the
seat for each person to be accommodated. This will be the meas-
ure of half the circumference of a circle. One-third of this will
therefore be the radius required to swing that circle; for the
diameter is one-third the circumference and the radius one-half
the diameter, or one-sixth of the circumference.
For example, the number of persons to be seated is six: two
feet to a person makes twelve feet, which must be the length of the
inner edge of the semicircle, which is half of the circumference.
A pool well placed to mirror light and yet reflect the trees which stand beside it
'^■^^'
This seat beside a path commands a lovely prospect and itself is a charming bit, with
the deep green of the pine branches reaching above it and casting their shadows upon it
Accessories 159
One- third of this, or four feet, is the radius of the inner edge; this
is increased sixteen or eighteen inches according to the width
of seat desired, to give the Une of the outer edge or back of the
bench. The table may be any size up to four feet across, and
allow ample room between it and the bench. It should always
stand on the center, and the ends of the bench should always
be cut on a line drawn from the center.
Using this same circle and cutting it down so that only four
people may occupy the seat, it is possible to use only seven by
seven feet, with the table. Without the table a seat this size
could be put anywhere that any ordinary straight seat would go.
Next to seats — which simply must not be omitted from any
garden — I rank sun-dials. These too ought never to be omitted,
and certainly of all garden furnishings they are, in one way,
the most important. It is not because they are of less conse-
quence than the garden seat but because they are less likely to
keep us out-of doors and in the garden that I have spoken of the
latter first.
There is a mystery of eternity in a sun-dial, and I will venture
to say that no one who has dipped ever so little into dial lore,
or thought of dials at all, has missed the realization of it. To
me, however, it is not so much in the quaint old mottoes that
adorn the dial face and admonish the observer, nor in all the
beautiful lore that surrounds dials, as it is in the dial's constant
intimacy and familiarity with the swinging spheres in space.
It brings an enfolding sense of the oneness of all things in the
great march through eternity.
For this reason perhaps I have no patience with the gloomy
dial mottoes, with the lugubrious warnings that thunder them-
selves at unsuspecting persons who come to this, which has been
so beautifully called the "garden altar," to mark the shadows
i6o The Landscape Gardening Book
passing. They belong to the dark ages when men governed
themselves through their fears, when virtue lay in gloom, and
when the fairest hours must always have some dismal thought
to temper them, lest anyone by some mischance should be
completely filled with jo>.
How much better and finer is the thought in this old Latin
motto : ' 'Let the mind know no twUight. " Or in this other, which
furnishes a motto for right living, " I count the bright hours
only. ' ' The same idea is in the charming couplet :
" The hours unless the hours are bright it is not mine to mark ;
I am the prophet of the light, dumb when the sun is dark. "
And how happy and simny is "Amidst ye fioweres I tell ye
houres. " What a sense of duty well and contentedly performed.
The location of a dial should be worthy of it as an "altar."
Indeed the garden may well develop around it, or to it, as its
crowning achievement. A delightful position for it is on the
center of a curving seat, in place of the table suggested. This
means that the seat will be in the sun, for of course the dial must
be. But trees back of the seat may give it partial shelter, and
a combination of a seat with the dial ought always to be made.
Put another seat somewhere else, for shade; a seat by a sun-dial,
to use in the moonlight, is worth sacrificing shade and a good
many other things, to have.
Its setting is a thing to be determined by circumstances in a
measure, though I do not feel that any really crude device for
upholding it can ever be very effective. A thick tree trunk
cut at the convenient height may not be unattractive when
clothed with ivy, but a huge stone or boulder seems far better,
if a natural pedestal is desired. The stone has a sort of Druid
dignity which the rough wood lacks. It ought never to be low
simple whit
iiiling; out-of-doors
ought to be liberally furnished with such as these
Following the same lines a single st-rit nf the '^fiiii. :
another focussing point in the same garden
■ccupies
Accessories i6i
as some that I have seen however, certainly never lower than the
height of a tea table.
The simpler the pedestal the better, ordinarily. A straight
ttimed column with plinth base and simple square cap, a square
and imornamented shaft of concrete drawn in at the top ever so
little, or a quadrangular column tapering towards the base,
patterned after the ancient hermae of the Greeks, are each of
them good. A low-growing vine may be planted at the foot of
the pedestal, but nothing should ever be allowed to grow up
and around it and obscure it completely. Neither should any-
thing ever grow about its base thickly enough to prevent close
approach to it. Fragrance here is most fitting, however —
dense mats of thyme, mint or pennyroyal, or a sweetbriar.
kept within bounds.
A little bit of water somewhere for the birds is my third
essential, for little gardens or for big. Where a pool in the
ground is out of the question, some kind of small bathing pool
for them is still possible. A large boulder, hollowed into a basin
deeper at one end than at the other — for tiny birds as well as
for the bigger fellows — is the simplest and in some places the
most easily provided; and a pailful of water poured into it
daily, though a primitive method of supplying it, is quite as
good as any other. This daily agitation keeps out the "wrig-
glers ' ' too, and insures freedom from mosquitoes, as far as their
breeding there is concerned.
An earth pool which may be stocked with goldfish and sub-
.aquatics does not require elaborate construction, for it may be
filled with the lawn hose if it lowers during dry seasons. The
plants and the sunlight will keep it as sweet and as fresh as an
aquarium indoors.
Fountains are a delight in hot weather, but, unless of very
1 62 The Landscape Gardening Book
excellent design, they are dismal things in winter, minus the
water. So unless they can be very well done, they are better
omitted altogether.
Bees are not furniture exactly, but they belong in every
garden where flowers grow. Fruits will be scarce on many a bush
without bee visits, and vegetables too, within the kitchen garden.
They are a little trouble at swarming time perhaps, but well
worth it in the practical advantage of having them, to say
nothing of the dehght they are to watch and study and ponder
over.
The possibilities of the lattice are inntunerable and cannot
more than be mentioned in a general way. For divisions in the
garden, for blotting out disfiguring objects where there is not
space to plant them out, and for insuring the privacy of tiny
gardens, there is nothing equal to a lattice. High board fences
that are an eyesore take on real beauty when stained a dark rich
green or brown, and topped by a white painted lattice, half their
height or thereabouts. And lattices fixed against a building are
in themselves most decorative, as I have already pointed out in
a previous chapter.
Finally we come to statuary, and here is one thing to be very
careful about. A statue has no excuse for being unless it is
excellent in conception — unless it carries some big meaning.
Abominations in the shape of deer and hoionds and other
" realistic " animals, which found their way somehow into some
grounds awhile back, are not likely to break into any garden of
to-day, I trust. But meaningless groups are almost as bad
as these were.
We do seem to be somewhat at a disadvantage in the matter
of subjects, to be sure, when we compare our resources with
the rich mythology of the ancients, inspiring as it did so many
Accessories 163
beautiful pieces of sculpture. But after all, is this so? We
have not their many pagan gods to model, but what about the
eternal verities for which they stood? These, each and every
race must always have, and must always go on representing,
each in their own way.
Keep to these in garden images rather than admit the feebly
pictorial. Even a mediocre faun, representing the spirit of
woods and dells and all out-of-doors, is better than a most
excellently executed girl tying her sandal, or boy with a sliver
in his foot. A statue is a permanent thing and should repre-
sent a truth, not an incident. Make this the test, outdoors
at least : I find it a very satisfactory one for all places.
CHAPTER XVII
Planting and General Care
THE best time of year for general planting, according to my
experience, is autumn. Everyone may not have found
it so — many have not, I know— but that does not alter
the fact that I have And it seems to me perfectly logical that
it should be the best time, except for certain special things.
Plants stir in the spring long before they wake, precisely like
a sleeper in a snug bed, conscious of a summons yet not quite
able to grasp its meaning. Through all their tender roots the
life force thrills first; then, little by little, it mounts until we
one day see the signs and say the " sap is running — soon the buds
will burst" — and spring is here!
This waking-up time is a time of abovmding vigor and, if it
were not for things outside the plant itself, the period just pre-
ceding it would unquestionably be an ideal time for moving a
plant into new quarters. But spring weather conditions are the
most uncertain of uncertainties — and herein the danger lies.
Lifting a plant from the place where it has been growing
deprives it of countless numbers of its fine feeding roots ; there-
fore it shuts off a portion of its food supply. New roots form
rapidly to take the place of those lost, when the ground is not
waterlogged, and when it keeps at an even temperature. In the
spring, however, the ground is more than likely to be water-
(164)
Cultural Suggestions 165
logged, and it cannot keep anything like an even temperature,
with a blizzard one day. a thunder storm the next, and sun only
half shining when it does shine — or else blazing forth like mid-
summer for a few hours.
So everything is unfavorable for a month or so, if early plant-
ing is made, to a plant's establishing itself — that is, to its making
new roots to take hold upon its new home. And if planting is
delayed until late spnng, sudden scorching heat may come and
bum things up before the new roots have reached sufficient
development to supply the needs of the fast-growing leaves.
In the autumn, however, things are getting ready to goto
sleep anyway. Activity is quieting down. The next year's
buds are formed and tucked away, under the leaf stalks perhaps,
or wherever they belong, and the season's growth is ripening
from green succulence into tough wood. And the ground is
warm from the summer — warm away down deep, and mellow.
This is just the condition most favorable to the growth of new
roots, and plants transplanted at this season are in a state to
give all their energies to root growth. There is no call upon
them from above
The best time therefore to transplant is about a month before
they are actually asleep — or dormant — and that varies, of course,
with different latitudes. A month of activity gives them time
to take hold and then they fall asleep, to wake up in the spring
ready to go at their work without a setback.
Of course it is not always easy nor possible to time transplant-
ing with such nicety as this, and it is not indeed necessary.
This is simply the ideal which the planter has in mind. Trees
and shrubs may usually be moved with success at any time when
the ground will allow planting, during the dormant season.
Large deciduous trees are generally moved in the late autumn,
1 66 The Landscape Gardening Book
but evergreens recover from the operation best when it is done
in August or early September.
The pruning of deciduous trees at the time of planting is
governed entirely by the necessity for keeping the balance
between root and branch, with the advantage on the root side,
if on either. If one-third of the root system is lost or injured
in taking a plant from the grovmd, one-third of its top must
be sacrificed when it is put back. Ordinarily all limbs and
branches may be shortened equally, but on trees like the Lom-
bardy poplar, the single definite "leader" should not be cut.
This carries the tree up into its characteristic spire-like form,
and any interference with it will impair the growth sufficiently
to be a detriment to that form, in all likelihood. Shorten the
branches only, on such a tree.
All roots that are broken or wounded must be removed with
a sharp, even cut, before replanting. All top pruning should
of course be done while the tree is lying on the ground and the
top within easy reach. Cut just above a bud always — prefer-
ably a bud turning away from the bole of the tree, which is
called an outside bud— and cut on a downward slant so that
the raw end may shed water readily.
In removing an entire branch from a tree, at any time and for
any purpose, always cut as close as possible to the branch or
trunk from which the branch to be removed rises; and always
cut parallel with that branch or trunk. Never take off a branch
by cutting across its axis at right angles to it, and at some
distance from the trunk, as so often is done. This leaves a stub
over which the bark cannot possibly grow and it will ultimately
die and carry decay to the heart of the tree. The close, parallel
cut, on the contrary, heals completely, for the bark has only to
draw together and cover the flat surface of the wound.
Cultural Suggestions 167
The planting of evergreens is always a more hazardous under-
taking than the planting of deciduous trees, for the reason that
the foliage of evergreens transpires constantly. This means that
it is constantly demanding moisture from the earth, through
the tree's network of fibrous roots; and consequently any injury
to these roots or any drying out of them is a death-dealing
catastrophe.
This is why evergreens are always shipped from nurseries with
an earth root-ball, carefully wrapped and sewed up in burlap.
Their roots must never be vmcovered, even for a minute, during
the whole process of digging up, moving and setting out again.
Obviously needle-leaved evergreens cannot be pruned without
destroying their from, therefore every bit of root must be guarded
carefully, for it means life itself to them. There can be no
cutting away at tops to make up for loss at roots. Broad-
leaved evergreens however, such as holly, may be stripped of
their leaves at planting. This brings about the balance by
reducing the leaf action until new root growth is made, just as
cutting back does for a deciduous tree.
Some broad-leaved evergreens, however — such as rhododen-
drons and their family — have their own special predilections too
numerous to enter into in a general planting talk. These, by
the way, are among the things best planted in the spring accord-
ing to the consensus of expert opiaion.
All shrubs and trees, whether evergreen or deciduous, must
have an excavation the full diameter of their root-spread made
to receive them. It should be deep enough to bring the tree
down into the ground as far as the earth mark on its bole above
the roots shows it to have been before ; and all the roots should be
laid carefully in place by hand, allowing them to take the posi-
tion and directions which they seem naturally to wish to assume.
1 68 The Landscape Gardening Book
In other words every plant should go into the ground exactly as
it grows — exactly as it came out of it, as nearly as is possible.
A long round stick — a broom handle, top down, is ideal —
should be used to tap the loose earth down among, and under,
and around all the fine roots, as it is thrown onto them, after
placing the specimen. It should be closely packed aroiond every
rootlet, so they may begin drawing their moisture-food from it at
once. This does not mean, however, that it requires beating
down to stony hardness.
A little water in the bottom of the excavation at the beginning
is very good, but guard against using too much, as it is likely to
cake mud around the small roots and strangle them. Pour on
half a pailful of water when the hole is partly filled in and let it
settle completely into the ground before finishing the work.
This may take some little time, but give it as long as necessary.
It works the earth against the roots as no amoimt of tamping
can — and when it has finally disappeared and the rest of the loose
dirt is thrown in and firmed by tramping, you may feel sure that
every root is pretty comfortably fixed.
Mulching is essential for all autumn-planted things, and herein
lies the secret of failure when autumn planting fails, invariably.
The heavy winter mulch must never be applied until the ground
has frozen; and then it must be applied at once, six to ten inches
deep. The object of it is to hold the cold in by holding the
warmth out, and save the killing alternation of frost and thaw.
Remove it in the spring when danger of deep freezing is past.
Pruning of trees other than the shortening done at planting
time, should be done just as the sap starts in the spring. With
flowering shrubs it is usually better to wait until just after they
have finished flowering, for many bear their blossoms on wood
of the previous season's growth. If this were cut away all the
Cultural Suggestions 169
bloom of the year would go with it. By waiting vintil the blos-
soming period is over, however, one is sure of being on the safe
side.
The formation of a lawn is so largely a matter of good pure
lawn seed, and keeping out the weeds, that it does not seem
necessary to say much about it here. Special mixtures of seed
for various places, combined to meet special conditions, are pre-
pared by the best seedsmen and are usually what they claim to
be. A goodly proportion of white clover is, to my mind, always
desirable, for the tiny blossoms, strewn star-like in the green,
are lovely, and its leaf form gives a depth and quality of color
to a lawn that is unrivalled.
Ground must be carefully prepared and should be of as even
a texture and quality as possible. This is much more important
than that it should be rich. Any soil will grow grass if the right
kind of seed is chosen, and it is really better if not extremely rich.
Strong sure growth rather than quick and luxuriant growth, is
the aim in building up a lawn. Sow the seed any time in the
spring up to about the tenth of May. Later sowings than this
are likely to bum away, if they ever come up at all. It is well,
on a newly made lawn, to sow again lightly between the first
and middle of September, which gives an opportimity for good
growth before winter comes, and fills out bare spots.
Weeds may always be expected in a newly made lawn. They
simply must be fought, tooth and nail, iintil a strong stand of
grass is established. Weed seeds are said to lie dormant down
in the earth for years ; and it certainly seems as if they did lurk
aroimd and wait the opportimity to spoil things. The opera-
tions of grading and working the soil of course bring them up to
the surface where they can germinate.
Some of the most troublesome weeds, however, are fortunately
lyo The Landscape Gardening Book
annuals; if they are not allowed to go to seed, the task of getting
rid of them is therefore greatly reduced. But everything that
it is possible to get hold of should be pulled up by the roots as
well — crab grass and caterpillar grass will come out beautifully
after a rain, in great thick mats — for many times these unde-
sirables spread from the roots as well as from their seeds above
ground. And some go so far as to take root at the nodes of
every branch, too; crab grass is one of these.
Do not fertilize with manure if you hope ever to get rid of
weeds. I have known many lawns to be ruined by one winter
mulch. Rag weed and plantain are two of the most persistent
of lawn enemies, and seeds of both are present by the million
in stable manure. They germinate in a twinkling and crowd
everything else off the field with the advent of spring.
Watering the lawn, and plants generally, is a problem that
sometimes gives the planter much concern, if he has not had
much experience. Ordinarily it is folly to undertake hand
watering — or hose watering either, for that matter — for it is so
nearly a complete failure, as far as actually giving the plants
any help is concerned, that it cannot pass as even a fraction of
a success. Plants need water where a hose can never put it-
down at their fine and hair-hke feeding roots. A deluge above
ground is of no use to them except as it sinks in and reaches these
roots.
It seems at first thought that enough water poured on top of
the ground, must sink down to them ; but as a matter of fact it
sinks in but a very little bit before it is absorbed, by capillary
force, through the top soil, spreading out mushroom fashion
instead of going down. The grass roots around a tree get the
benefit, not the tree ; weeds get the benefit not the deep-rooted
things that are worth while.
Cultural Suggestions 171
When it rains all over the ground, this spread out absorption
is of course not possible. The surface being wet all over, water
must go down — which makes the difiference between real rain
and the make-believe rain sprayed from the end of a hose. Give
up the thought of watering anything — unless it may be some
especial thing that according to its cultural directions does
require watering, and turn attention to tilling. This is the great
conserver of moisture. The garden that is well tilled will never
suffer during any ordinary drought.
It is as old as the everlasting hills, that phrase "tilling the
soil, ' ' yet it is only lately that there has been a general reawaken-
ing to the great importance of the operation thus expressed.
Thorough tillage means ground surface always loosened. This
provides a Uttle blanket of earth through which the sun cannot
draw the precious water back up again, after the earth has drunk
its fill, and the rain has ceased, and he has come out to lord it
over everything once more. For that is what happens ; the rain
comes down and the parched earth takes it in like a sponge,
and it sinks down deeper and deeper, as long as it goes on raining.
After weeks of rain the ground is wet to a great depth.
As soon as the rain is over, however, and the sun begins to
shine, the contrary movement of the moisture at once begins.
First that at the top moves up and off into the atmosphere,
under the sun's vital pull; then that that is lower down feels the
force, and so on imtil every bit of moisture from the deepest
part has traveled back up to the surface and off again — every
bit that is, that has not run away in springs and streams to the
rivers and the sea.
The only thing in the world that will stop this upward move-
ment is tillage. Tillage does it because it moves the upper
particles of earth so far apart that capillary attraction cannot
172 The Landscape Gardening Book
act and consequently "when these loose particles are themselves
pumped dry, the moisture below is protected by them. It is a
very pretty little process — one among a thousand others so inter-
esting and wonderful, when one stops to examine them, that the
greatest wonder is the little comment they provoke.
Garden pests I am not going to talk about. They are too
specialized to have any place here — and space is limited. But
I believe they will never prove as bad as apprehension paints
them, if they are dealt with in the right way. Each state has
its agricultural station where they will tell an inquirer very
freely and fully just what to do for the special bug that is
a-ravaging. The shrubs and trees included in the lists recom-
mended are all exceptionally free from such enemies and will
withstand attack, should it be made, better than many others.
Aphids I am tempted to give a paragraph, however — I
abominate them so myself — and they are so common. They are
the odious little things, soft-bodied, sometimes winged and
sometimes not, which appear by the tens of thousands, over
night, on almost any plant they may take a notion to. Some
are tiny, some are giants, and some are middle size — that is,
as aphids. And all sizes hobnob together and crowd and push
each other on leaves or along branches until one wonders how
there can be so many of anything in the world. Sometimes they
are green, sometimes blue-black, sometimes deep purple-red —
indeed they are resourceful as to color schemes, for they dye
themselves, from the inside, with the juices of the plant they feed
upon.
By this you will know that they belong to the vampire class
of creation — they are sucking insects and not biters. They must
be treated from the outside therefore, for nothing put onto the
surface of a leaf will reach their interiors, as their bills are pushed
Cultural Suggestions 173
away down into the plant's tender tissues, pumping at its life
fluids. But common soapsuds will kill them, happily. It may
take a lot of it and the task of spraying it onto them is by no
means an easy one, for they tuck themselves craftily away
underneath leaves, which then curl around them and make
regular little tents, shedding soapsuds as well as rain.
All plants are liable to suffer from the depredations of these
creatures, They are indeed the commonest of the minor insects,
living alike on a willow tree sprig or a nasturtium flower, a rose
bush or a lettuce head. Some things seem to be ever free from
them, but I always have a haunting sense of "no telling" —
they may be almost anywhere next time one looks. The main
thing is just to look ; getting rid of them is not really hard.
It should be done promptly, however, and thoroughly, for they
soon take all the life from the thing they attack. Use white
Castile or Ivory soap, pour on boiling water and work up a
strong foam, then cool until the hands can be borne in it
comfortably and use at once. Spray twice, on successive days
and then watch and spray again after a day or two perhaps.
A solitary individual remaining will mean a bush alive with
them again within an tmbelievably short time.
As a last word, let me caution all who buy plants to buy of
only the recognized first-class nurserymen. Money is wasted
when put into plants from any but the very best stock ; care of
the best stock is expensive and good plants cannot therefore
be produced at cheap rates. It is better to buy less, if necessary —
to extend the planting of a place over two or three years or more —
than to buy inferior specimens, whether the inferiority is in size
or quality. Make a point too of buying always from a nursery
north, rather than south, of your own latitude.
INDEX
Abies, 103
Accessories, 157
Acer, 50, 90, 91, 92, 93, 9S
ActcBa, 26
Adiantum, 19
Adonis, 128
Aesculns, 93
African daisy, 131
Ageratum, 149
Akebia, 59
Alder, 23, 117, 139
Almond, 116
Alnus, 23, 117, 139
Alpines, 8
AlthcBa, 129
Alum root, 27
Alyssum, 149
Amelanchier , 19
Ampelopsis, 10, 11, 57, 58, 60
Amygdalus, 116
Anacharis, 25
Andromeda, 61
Anemone, 18, 26
Annual, 125, 130, 149
Aphid, 172
Appalachian tea, 142
Aquatics, 23
Aqiiilegia, 17
Arahis, 13
Arbor, 77, 83, 151, 152, 154
Arbovitae, 36, 37, 38, 65, 105
Arch, 40, 82, 83, 85, 126
Arctostaphylos, 16
Arctotis, 131
Armcria, 148
Arrowwood, 142
Arum, 23
Asarum, 19
Asclepias, 18
Ash, 70, 96
Aster, 19, 123, 130
Azalea, 23
Baby's breath, 130
Bachelor's buttons, 131
Bamboo, 7
Baneberry, 26
Barberry, 20, 49, 60, 78, 139, 142
Bearberry, 16
Beauty fruit, 116
Beech, 36, 84, 90, 91
Bees, 162
Beetleweed, 15
Belvedere, 150, 155
Benzoin, 117
Berbcris, 20, 49, 60, 78, 142
Betula, 70, 93, 95, 96, 97
Bignonia, 54, 60
Birch, 70, 93, 95, 96, 97
Bird bath, 125
Bird cherry, 97
Bird's eye, 128
Bishop's cap, 15
Black alder, 23
Black haw, 71
Bloodroot, 18
Bluebell, 16
Blue bottle, 131
Blue spruce, loi
Bluet, 131
Bog, 6, 20, 96
Bog garden, 9
Boltonia, 130
Border, 122
Boston ivy, 57, 58
Boundaries, 73
174
Bower, 150, 155
Boxwood. 12, 37, 38, 39, 104
Brascnia, 24
Buddlea, 27
Buddleia, 27
Bugbane, 27
Bulbs, 125, 133
Bunchberr>', 26, 75 (see Cornel)
Butterfly weed, 18
Buttonbush, 23
Buxus, 37, 38, 39, 104
Cahomba, 25
Calendula, 131
Callicarpa, 116
Calopogon, 22
Caltha, 21
Calycanthiis, ii'j
Campanula, 16
Camptosorus, 15
Candytuft, 131, 148
Cardinal flower, 21
Care, general garden, 164
Carolina allspice, 117
Carpyiniis, 84
Caryopteris, 28
Casino, 150, 155
Castanea, 90
Catalpa, 39, 40, 93
Catchfly, 14
Ceanothus, 28
Cedar, 17, 37, 65, 102, 103
Celtis, 96
Centaurea, 131
Cephalanthiis, 23
Cercis, 85
ChamcBcyparis, 105
Chamomile (false), 130
Cherry, 95, 97
Chestnut, 90
Chokeberr}s 22
Chrysanthemum, 26, 50, 108, 129
Cimicijuga, 27
Clematis, 57, 59, 60, 129
Cleome, 132
Clethra, 20, 117
Climbers, 52, 53, 54
Cockspur thorn, 78
Coltsfoot, 15
Columbine, 18
Columnar forms, 37, 38
Comptonia, 16
Convolvulus, 54, 78
Conifer, 65, 98
Coral bells, 27
Coreopsis, 108
Cornel, 10, 26, 28, 50, 71, 84, 139,
142 (dogwood)
Cornus, 26, 28, 50, 71, 84, 139, 142
(dogwood)
Cowslip (American), 18
Cranberry, 20
Cranesbill, 14
Crataegus, 78
Crimson giory vine, 85
Ciipiressiis, 105
Cut-and-come-again, 132
Cyclamen (American), 18
Cypress, 38
Cypripedium, 22
Dahlia, 108
Daisy, 123, 129, 131
Damask violet, 26
Dame's rocket, 26
Daphne, 16, 49
Day lily, 26
Deciduous, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 65.
68, 86, 104
Delphinium, 25, 129, 130
Deutzia, 28, 49, 50, 115
Dianthus, 25
Dicksonia, 17
Diervilla, 28, 50, 71, 115
175
Digitalis, 27, 129
Dodocathcon, 18
Dogwood, 28, 71 (see Cornel)
Driveway, 41, 42, 49
Edging, 37, 148
Elder, 10, 20, 117, 123
Eleagnus, 27
Elm, 84, 93
English ivy, 57, 58
Entrance, 41, 46, 80
Euonymous, 58, 139
Evergreen, 34, 35-37. 38. 39. 4°. 65,
68, 98, 105, 140, 167
Exedra, 157
Fagus, 36
False chamomile, 130
Fence, 77, 82
Ferns, 6, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21
Field work, iii
Fir, 103
Floating heart, 24
Floss flower, 149
Flower bed, 120
Flowering hedge, 78
Flowers, 118, 125, 126
Formal garden, 7, 30, 31
Forsythia, 27, 51, 54, 60, 70, 71, 115
Fountain, 162
Foxglove, 27, 129
Fragrance, 116, 157
Fraxitms, 96
Funkia, 130
Furniture, 157
Galanthus, 133
Galax, 15
Garden, i, 2, 29, 125, 126, 135
Garden furniture, 157
Garden house, 150
Garden structure, 150 .
Garland flower, 16
Gate, 82, 83
Gateway, 41. 80
Gayfeather, 18
Gazebo, 151, 155
General care, 164
Gentian, 15
Gentiana, 15, 22
Geranium, 14
Ginger, 19
Globe forms, 35, 39
Golden bells, 27, 51, 60, 70, 71, 115
Goldenrod, 123
Goldfish, 10
Grape, 54
Gypsophila, 130
Habeneria, 22
Hackberry, 96
Hackmatack, 96
Harebell, 16
Hawthorn, 78
Hedera, 57, 58
Hedge, 35, 65, 78, 84, 140
Helianthemtim, 14
Hellebore, 22
Hellonias, 21
Hemerocallis, 26
Hemlock, 35, 38, 64, 65, 70, 103
Herbaceous plants (see Perennials)
Hesperis, 26
Heuchera, 27
Hibiscus, 7, 21, 28, 70, 79, lis
Hillside, 11
Hollyhock, 129
Honeysuckle, 23, 50, 57, 60, 71, 78,
85. "5
Hornbeam, 84
Hydrangea, 51, 79, 116
Hypericum, 16, 115
Iberis, 131, 148
176
Ilex, 23
Indian currant, 28, 139
Indian poke, 22
nsects, 172
Iris, 6, 21, 25, 123
Ivy, 10, 54, 57, 58
Jack-in-the-pulpit, 11
Judas tree, 84, 85
Juneberry, 19
Juniper, 17, 37
Juniperus, 17, 37, 102 105
Labrador tea, 22
Lady's slipper, 22
Larch, 96
Larix, 96
Larkspur, 25, 129, 130
Lattice, 82, 162
Lawn, 169
Layering, 78
Ledum, 22
Lemon lily, 26
Liatris, 18
Ligustrum, 28, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 64,
70
Lilac, 50, 79, 115 (see Syringa)
Lily, 26, 130
Lily-of-the-valley shrub, 61
Limnanthetniim, 24
Linden, 95
Liqiiidambar , 90
Lobelia, 21
Locust, 96
Loggia, 125, 150, 154
Loniccra, 50, 57, 60, 71, 78, 85, 115
Louse (see Aphid)
Lupine, 128
Lupinus, 128
Lycium, 54
Madwort, 149
Maidenhair fern, 19
Maple, 50, 90, 91, 92, 95
Marigold, 21, 131
Marshmallow, 7, 21, 123
Marsh marigold, 21
Matrimony vine, 54
Matthiola, 132
Meadowsweet, 123
Mezereon pink, 49
Mitclla, 15
Mitrewort, 15
Mock orange, 117 (see Philadelphus)
Morning glory, 54, 78
Mosses, 8
Moss pink, 17
Mountain ash, 70
Mulch, 168
Narcissus, 134
Naturalizing, 133
Nettle tree, 96
New Jersey tea, 28
Niche, 40
Nymphcca, 24
Oak, 90, 96, 97
Orchid, 6, 22
Ornitlwgahim, 134
Osmnnda, 2 1
Paeonia, 128
Papaver, 13, 132
Peltaiidra, 23
Peony, 128
Pepperbush, 20
Perennials, 12, 13 to 19, 21 to 27,
128, 148
Pergola, 151, 152, 153
Philadelphus, 117 (mock orange)
Phlox, 17, 128, 132
Picea, 102, 105, 106
Pickerel weed, 24
177
Pieris, 6i
Pin cherry, 97
Pine, 68, 99, 102, 105, 106
Pink, 17, 49
Pinon, 98
Pinus, 68, 99, 102, 105, 106
Pitcher plant, 6, 21
Plan, 46, 47, 63, 68, 69, 89, 112,
116, 125, 126, 147
Plantain lily, 131
Planting, 47, 68, 112, 116, 164
Plant louse (see Aphid)
Plash, 76
Pleach, 40, 76, 83, 84
Pleurisy root, 18
Poison ivy, 11
Pondetcria, 24
Pool, 9, 93, 161
Poplar, 37, 70, 89, 95
Poppy, 13, 132
Populus, 37, 70
Pot marigold, 131
Privet, 28, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 64,
70, 84, 140
Protection, 136
Pruning, 35, 166, 168
Prunus, 95, 97, 116
Pyramid forms, 35, 38
Pyrus, 22
Quercus, 90, 96, 97
Ragged sailor, 131
Ramblers, 64
Red-bud, 84, 85
Red osier, 142
Retinas pora, 38
Rhododendron, 103
Rhus, 10, 16, 20, 117
Rhus toxicodendron, 11
Road, 41
Robinia, 96
Rock cress, 13
Rockfoil, 15
Rocky land, 8, 13
Rock plants, 8
Rock rose, 14
Rosa, 23, 27, 51, 57, 64, 79, 85, 141
Rose, 23, 27, 51, 54, 57, 64, 79, 85,
108, 137, 139, 141
Rose mallow, 7,21
Rose of Sharon, 28, 70, 79, 115
Rowan tree, 70
Rustic work, 156
Salix, 84
Satnbucus, 10, 20, 117
San guinea, 18
Saponaria, 18
Sarracenia, 21
Saxifraga, 15
Saxifrage, 15
Scilla, 133
Screen, 62, 63
Sea pink, 148
Seat, 126, 157
Sedmn, 14, 19
Sequoia, 138
Service berry, 19
Shadbush, 19
Shade, 15, 18, 21, 26, 28, 49, 86, 88,
92, 93, 94, 104
Shadow, 89, 92, 94, 104
Shasta daisy, 129
Shooting star, 18
Shrubbery, log, 112
Shrubs, 16, 19, 22, 27, 28, 69, 70,
107, lis, 141
Silene, 14
Silver thorn, 27
Smilacina, 19
Snowberry, 61, 139
Snowdrop, 133
Soap wort, 18
178
Soil, poor, 9, 17, 95, 105
Soil, rocky, 79, 106
Soil, wet, 96, 105
Solidago, 123
Solomon's seal, 19
Sorbiis, 22, 70
Specimens, 37
Spice bush, 117
Spider flower, 132
SpircEa, 28, 51, 71, 79, 123
Spruce, 65, 70, loi, 102, 105, 106
Squills, 133
Stagbush, 71
Standard fomis, 35, 39
Star of Bethlehem, 134
Statuar^^ 125, 162
Stepping stones, 48
St. John's wort, 16, 115
Stocks, 132
Stonecrop, 14, 19
Stony land, 9, 17
Strawberry shrub, 117
Structures, 150
Stud pink, 21
Style, 29
Sub-aquatic, 25
Suburban, 25, 46
Sumach, 10, 16, 20, 117
Siunmer house, 151
Sun (plants for) , 13, 17, 21, 25, 27,
SO
Stm-dial, 125, 126, 159, 160
Sun rose, 14
Swallow wort, 18
Swamp pink, 21
Sweet fern, 16
Sweet gum, 90
Sweet pea, 78
Sweet pepperbush, 117
Sweet-scented plants, 116, 157
Sweet shrub, 117
Sweet William, 25, 149
Symphoricarpos, 28, 61
Syringa, 50, 79, 115 (Lilac)
Table, 158
Tamarack, 96
Tecoma, 54, 60
Terrace, 11
Thrift, 148
Thorn, 78
Thuya, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 105
Tilia, 95
Tillage, 171
Transplanting, 165, 167
Trees, 68, 70. 86, 93, 95, 96, 98
Trellis, 55. 77. 82
Trillium, 6
Trumpet creeper, 54, 60
Tsuga, 35, 38, 40, 70, 103.
Ultnus, 84, 93
Uncleared land, 10
Vegetable garden , 143
Verairum, 22
Viburnittn, 10, 20, 39, 71, 116, 139,
142
Vines, 52, 53, 55, 58, 85
Virginia creeper, 10
Virgin's bower, 57, 59, 129
Vista, 62
Vitis, 54, 59, 85
Walk, 41, 42, 43, 46, 49
Walking leaf, 15
Wall, 77
Washington grass, 25
Water arum, 23
Watering, 170
Water lily, 24
Water shield, 24
Waterweed, 25
Wayfaring tree, 116
179
Weeds, 169
Weigela, 28, 50, 71, 115
Wild cherry, 95, 97
Wild flowers, 4
Wild garden, 7
Wild ginger, 19
Wild growth, 19, 75, 122
Willow, 84
Windflower, 18, 36
Winter, 135
Winterberry, 23
Winter garden, 140
Winter protection, 136
Wistaria, 54, 57, 58
Witherod, 142
Woodbine, 10, 11
Wych elm, 84
THE LISnARY OF THE
JAN 7 1S33
UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOiS.
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