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HEDGE PLANTS ^ "

OFFERED BY

EAIREAX FARMS NURSERY

FAIRFAX, VA.

This nursery is located at Sideburn Station on the main line of the Southern Railroad sixteen miles west of Alexandria and four miles south of Fairfax, or Fairfax Court House, as it is often called. It may be reached by automobile from the hard surfaced Little River turnpike that runs from Alex- andria west through Fairfax, turning south either at Ilda or Fairfax. Inspec- tion of our stock is invited.

Barriers are often needed about the home, either to protect from thoughtless trespassing, to add to the appearance, or to seclude limited areas for special uses. Where year around screening is needed of course an evergreen of suffi- cient height should be used, but for marking boundaries either evergreens or deciduous plants will answer, although the evergreens are attractive for a longer season than the deciduous plants Some locations may require a strongly de- fensive hedge, another slight defensive qualities, while a third location may not require any. Each proposed hedge should be selected with these requirements in mind.

Hedge plants are often planted in a double row wnth the plants alternating in the two rows but the better practice is probably to set a single row more closely together. In a double row each plant is forced to be one-sided and the tendency may be for the hedge to pull apart while with a single row both sides of the plant can develop and thus balance one another. A hedge with a pointed top is less likely to be broken by heavy snow falls than a flat topped one.

Hedge plants should be set near enough together that the branches inter- lace when set so that immediate effects will be obtained and injury to the plants by breaking through the Hedge will be discouraged. The larger the plants used, the fewer will be required.

These hedge plants are discussed in somewhat the order of the height of hedge for which they are most commonly used beginning with the lower ones.

Dwarf box hedges used as edging in a garden with a tree box on the right.

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DWARF BOX OR BOX BUSH — (Buxus sempervirens suffruticosa) —

Undoubtedly the finest ornamental hedge plant for hedges less than three feet in height. Although it does not afford protection in the manner of Thunberg’s Barberry, for example, it should nevertheless be used wherever the most orna- mental hedge possible is desired. It is hardy at Washington, and will in a few years make a close, even hedge.

REGEL’S PRIVET — (Ligustrum regelianum) — Is a dwarf form of the Ibota privet that makes a thick compact hedge of five feet or less in height that responds to pruning as well as the California privet but is truly deciduous. It is more likely to bear its delicate white flowers under hedge conditions than the California privet and these are followed by small black berries.

THUNBERG’S BARBERRY— (Berberis thunbergii)— Probably the best hedge plant for this vicinity as it is naturally a compact grower. Its thorns are sufficiently emphatic to demand respect from dogs or poultry, while not so aggressive as to be a menace to legitimate traffic in its neighborhood. The foliage is small and dark green when mature — the immature foliage much lighter and the growing tips are often bronz^e, making beautiful contrasts. It bears relatively inconspicuous yellow flowers, followed by bright scarlet berries in abundance, many of which hold until spring. Without pruning it will form a hedge 3 or 4 feet high and as much through of graceful outline or it can be sheared as closely as box or privet and then will form a beautiful compact mass as nearly comparable to box as a deciduous plant can be.

It is a near relative of the barberries that harbor the wheat rust fungus but is apparently free from that trouble and its planting is advocated by those who are trying to eradicate that disease.

A Thunberg’s barberry hedge as it grows without pruning.

TREE BOX — (Buxus sempervirens) — Box is the aristocrat of hedge plants without exception. It was largely used in southern colonial gardens and is still worthy of the high esteem in which it was then held, and can be successfully grown in Washington and Philadelphia. It is an evergreen with small, very dark green leaves and when not pruned will attain a height of more than 20* feet. It stands pruning exceptionally well. For hedges of three feet or more in height this form should be used.

HEDGE PLANTS

CALIFORNIA PRIVET — (Ligustrum ovalifolium) — One of the most used hedge plants throughout this section of the country on account of its rapid growth attractive large dark green foliage that is almost evergreen and the amount of pruning it will stand without apparent injury. It will attain a height of more than 15 feet if permitted to grow without pruning but may be kept to a height of 6 inches by pruning every week or ten days, making a compact close hedge if pruned frequently enough. It is liable to be killed to the ground in exceptionally cold winters, but the roots usually survive.

A hedge of California privet.

AMOOR RIVER PRIVET — (Ligustrum amurense) — Much hardier than the California privet but truly deciduous. It stands pruning as well as its more used relative but is not subject to the same disappointment after a hard winter. It is largely used where California privet kills out completely. If left unpruned it will attain a height of 15 feet and if unpruned, it, like the California privet, will bear beautiful clusters of white flowers followed by blue berries.

VAN HOUTTE’S SPIREA— (Spiraea van houttei) — An attractive decidu- ous shrub that makes a handsome hedge about 5 feet high with over-arching top and poorly covered or open base. The white flower clusters will completely cover it in late spring or early summer and the foliage is excellent but the plant is suited to mark a boundary rather than protect it. If its characteristic form should be destroyed by severe pruning much of the attractiveness of the plant would be destroyed.

ARBOR-VITAE — (Thuya occidentalis) — This native of the eastern United States makes an excellent ornamental hedge with its yellowish-green color given by the foliage and much flattened frond-like branchlets that together form spray-like masses with distinct upper and lower sides. It responds well to pruning and is suitable for hedges from 18 inches to 20 feet in height.

RED CEDAR — (Juniperus virginiana)— ~A handsome, compact, useful, na- tive evergreen that is outlawed in the apple growing sections of Virginia be- cause it is easier to cut the trees than to remove the cedar apple that is one stage of the cedar rust fungus of the apple. It is bluish green with a tendency to become somewhat bronzy before spring, especially if not frequently pruned. It stands shearing admirably and with care a hedge can be developed with the foliage down to the ground, although if not trained it will form a short trunk that is usually objectionable in a hedge. It will attain a height of 40 feet and more under favorable conditions.

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HARDY GARDEN HYDRANGEA — (Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora)

— A deciduous shrub that can be used as a showy marker for boundaries rather than as a tight protective hedge as the growth can hardly be made thick and bushy at the bottom by the most severe pruning, but on account of the large showy panicles that are borne in abundance in late summer it may be used for a separating barrier where a close growth is not essential but where beauty is desirable. The foliage is rather large but attractive.

ROSE OF SHARON — (Hibiscus syriacus) — Also called althaea — is suited to screens or hedges 8 to 10 feet high. Tt has white, pink or purple varieties that flower in mid-summer and later, the flowers of some of which fade an in- conspicuous color and drop off promptly while others fade magenta and many kinds remain hanging on the plant a long time. The plants have few branches near the base so the bottom of the hedge will be rather open unless planted to low growing plants. It will stand severe pruning.

HEMLOCK — (Tsuga canadensis) — A cone-bearing evergreen that stands shearing well and is adapted to the making of hedges 3 or more feet in height. It is irregular, but graceful growing with small dark green foliage. It does well in some shade and requires a soil retentive of moisture.

HOLLY — (Ilex opaca) — Is a native evergreen tree that is found near the coast from Long Island southward and makes a splendid defensive ornamental hedge as its stiff branches and tough, prickly leaves resent tresspass most ef- fectively. It is of slow growth but extremely showy. 'I'lie pistillate plants bear small, scarlet berries in abundance, but a closely trimmed hedge is not likely to be so fruitful as a specimen plant.

WHITE PINE — (Pinus strobus) — One of the finest of our American plants and adapted to large hedges and screens. It stands pruning reasonably well, but on account of the character of its growth, it is not suitable for low hedges. Its foliage is long, bluish-green needles.

An Arborvitae Hedge.