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LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
CNOSNYT] *¥Y NIMUO,) Aq HUIQWIDG ay) WOdT)
: HONGHAVY HINGTAGS GNV LHAULS AHLNIN-ALAI ‘“MUVd IVULNAO OL AONVULNG
LANDSCAPE
GARDENING
STUDIES *™*™
BY SAMUEL PARSONS
JOHN LANE COMPANY
NEW YORK sw» s~ ws» MCMX
Copyright, 1910, by
JOHN LANE COMPANY
PUBLISHERS PRINTING COMPANY, NEW YORK
IYNPI ADOC Ds
PREFACE
Tue work illustrated and described in this
unpretending book represents the author’s own
undertakings, with one single exception, the
pond in Central Park. ‘These concrete examples
are selected to show by picture and pen how some
problems of landscape gardening were solved by
him. They represent certain leading types of
work and in a simple way some of the basic prin-
ciples of the art.
It will be noticed that no reference has been
made to the actual design of architectural struc-
tures. The difficulty with the landscape architect
has often been, that he will insist on designing
buildings, something which is really outside of
his domain. His province is to deal with Nature
and render her more beautiful, more enticing,
more lovely in every respect; but always herself,
always Nature. It needs a lifetime of study te
catch the spirit of her beauty and transfix and
utilize it by intelligent manipulation for man’s
use and enjoyment.
There are broad and simple principles of the
art, which should be reflected in a more or less
modified way in all good landscape-gardening
work. ‘Thus, in order to secure a good composition
developed from the surroundings to meet man’s
physical needs and at the same time secure a
PREFACE
due satisfaction of his higher esthetic and spiritual
nature, the designer should keep large motives
in view: breadth, simplicity, a skillful adjust-
ment of the relations between the different parts
of the place so that there will be a proper bal-
ance throughout the scheme. The place should
not be all garden or all pleasure grounds or merely
well-groomed and planted farm fields. ‘There |
are instincts and sentiments which naturally
well up in the mind when the scheme of develop-
ment is undertaken that should be allowed to
lead the designer into pleasant harmonious rela-
tions with the landscape, not forcing or contorting
existing conditions, but allowing Nature to guide
in all things with her supremely artistic hand.
A wind-swept knoll with distant views should
not be obstructed by many trees. On the other
hand, when a nook at the back or one side of the
house suggests a garden or a retired valley, trees
and shrubs should further emphasize, perfect,
and complete the sense of seclusion.
This faculty of design in landscape gardening
is, of course, the highest and most difficult attain-
ment of the art. ‘The promptings of its suggestion
can be trusted, however, only by those who have
sought with long and diligent study its manifold
secrets. The habits and strange vagaries of
individuality characterizing different trees, shrubs,
and flowering plants must be well understood.
The treatment of the special soils in which these
plants are to grow needs attention that many fail
to give. The change of the surface of the ground,
PREFACE
usually termed grading, also represents an impor-
tant field for study and involves much artistic
training and natural ability. Finally, roads and
paths are required to enjoy the finished effect,
provided they are so arranged as not to mar it.
When sufficient skill and knowledge on these
points have been attained there should be associ-
ated with them for entire success a breadth of
vision and a matured judgment which can be
arrived at only by a sympathetic study of the
works of masters in landscape architecture. The
study of such great examples as Central Park,
New York, and Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and
in Europe such places as the great park laid out
at Muskau, in Southern Prussia, by Prince Puckler;
some of the parks in the neighborhood of Berlin;
certain of the great English country places, notably
Haddon Hall, will do much to give soundness
of vision and the needed critical faculty. It may
be said also that the study of all landscape-garden-
ing designs affords a source of more or less valuable
education.
It is with this end in view that the following
chapters undertake to present by means of text
and illustrations the efforts of one student of the
art.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE . ; f Z ; s : r ag
LAWNS 4 ' ; P : 5 ¢ § ase
Tue REHABILITATION AND COMPLETION OF CENTRAL
Park, New YorK . : E : : Ai |
A HixisipE Park (Str. NicHoLas) . : inpedes
A SEASIDE Park (Coney Isuanp) . Mea 42
SomE DersiGns FoR New York City Puay-Grounps) 25
PLay-GROUNDS CONTINUED . A ; Rae
LANDSCAPE TREATMENT OF LAKES AND Ponps . 29
Park TREATMENT OF CEMETERIES . : pmae |
HoMEsTEAD Parks : i : ; ; aioe
A Park FoR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL . : Bie ates I
A Mountain Roap oN THE HUDSON . ; ee AS
An AUTUMNAL HILLSIDE : ! i AG
THE COLONIAL GARDEN (VAN CORTLANDT) . «49
Two Country-PLacEs . : oe
A JAPANESE TEA-GARDEN . : ; Sea Ok
Tue Sace Sac Harsor Home . ‘ sche
Pierson Hicu Scuoon, Sac HarBor . . 69
An Istanp Home . ' : i ; : Ean
EVERGREENS . f Ff foe
RHODODENDRONS . : ; : : te OG
Mrs Russeiu Sace’s MILE or RHODODENDRONS
IN CENTRAL PARK : : : A pat
INDEX . : ; ‘ ; ’ ; 5 ce, 99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Entrance to Central Park, Fifty-ninth Street and
pee mnt emetic RR Frontispiece “
Baym. Central Parks, New Yorkers. 202.32. 0 ou. Ove "10
Denudation of Roots of Trees in Central Park............... 14
Play-ground Lawn in Central Park—Bad Condition.......... 16
Play-ground Lawn in Prospect Bark Gecd Condition. 2.35% - 16
Dee WICH OMS) Eames sles bos seca ie olga ay Sials elose a he ak aie helms @ are 20
Poneyilahkiid Parlin ty iil tos tl gb 12 ad Xo oi ad eather aia Bee 22
A blay-cround—_ | homas/setierson: Park) 0)... bjt). ves ae 25
a Eliy-sround——W.7l oeward! Parks jcc. 08 Get. aie 26
de Tlay-cround—-De Witt Clintom Bark): 2025) oo. ois seas 27
View of Fifty-ninth Street Pond in Central Park.............. 28
Another View of Fifty-ninth Street Pond in Central Park...... 29
Niewon bake ny Centralbark yoshi. st:clewae ae ines ee atts 30
Eliza ot bine, Wawim Cemetery . ooo. ace oe se eee Stee el 32
Miew of Mountain berrace 60.05 oao¢e venta yee RS oe 33
Elaniot Glenwood’ (A Homestead Park)... 6...) oe ee 34
Plan of Park Treatment of Territory situated between the Capitol
Grounds and the Washington Monument, Washington, D. C.. 37
Study of Bridge over Sunken Transverse Road in Park Treat-
MEMiPGhy Vy AS mINeLOno bark 2h) Os otiaaia Memmi a Od ate 39
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
A>Mountain Road is26 7.2 Se ss Sr ae ee ee eee 44
Plan of Colonial Garden in Van Cortlandt Park....... pp aan 50 -
Perspective View of Colonial Garden in Van Cortlandt Park. 52
Plan of Miss Bosler’s Grounds, Carlisle, Pa. ......,.......... 54
Plan of F. Nelson, Jr.’s, Grounds, Birmingham, Ala........... 58
Japanese Garden Plantations: 05.605 cs aac vse oe eeieee 62
Mrs. Russell Sage’s Home at Sag Harbor, L. I.............. 66
Original Contours of Pierson High School Grounds ........... 69
Proposed Contours for Grading of Pierson High School Grounds 71
Planting-Plan of Pierson High School Grounds............... 73
Plan of a Small Garden on Sheffield Island, Conn.............. 78
A Study in Grouping Evergreens at Houghton Farm, Orange
Counliys NoMa eros ante eee one ee eee 82
View of Rhododendron Plantation given by Mrs. Russell Sage to
Central Parkes) 55 7 a ee ee eee 94 .
LANDSCAPE
GARDENING STUDIES
I
LAWNS
i es grade a lawn properly, requires the eye of
an artist and the skilled hand of a true
artisan. One has to feel and study not only
the contour of the land itself but also the surround-
ing conditions. A level lawn in the midst of a roll-
ing territory will be forced and ill fitted. The
contour of a lawn should form an integral part of
the general character of any special region.
A level surface, even if it could be obtained,
would seldom have value, for no territory is abso-
lutely level. ‘Therefore, whether long flowing lines
or shorter ones be employed, they should be so
graduated as to blend and lose themselves one in
the other.
If drainage is necessary, the lawn should be
underdrained with tile laid about two feet below
the surface. Clay loams and heavy clay soils are
nearly always improved by such treatment. In
England so fully is the value of drainage appre-
ciated that landlords will lend money to tenants
for this purpose, believing that the returns will
secure the payment of the debt.
The ideal way of fertilizing a lawn is to secure a
chemical analysis of a number of samples taken
[9]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
from different parts of the lawn to determine its
alkalinity, its clay and humus content, and possibly
the lack of some mineral plant-food element. If
the clay content is low a coating of two or three
inches of clay loam spread over the ground and
incorporated with the natural soil will add greatly
to the power of the soil to retain moisture and fer-
tility, together with the mineral salts it may itself
contain. But if the lawn is deficient in organic
matter there will be no hope of satisfactory results
unless this condition is corrected by increasing the
humus content. Under favorable circumstances
the best method of securing this humus is to bring
it from some thoroughly drained swamp which
has been long cultivated. Such humus soil must
be well rotted, thoroughly disintegrated, sweet,
and well supplied with nitrogen and nitrifying soil
germs so essential to active fertility. One or two
inches of this material should be harrowed in the
same as manure. It might be interesting to know
the chemical formule of a highly fertile soil.
ANALYSIS
ON DRY BASIS
MECHANICAL—
DONG cca ic Pee ioe > releae pee eee 54.5 per cent
Clay 2 Se Ee eee ee 25. werk
Dime |.) eee eee eS Bib Sass
Bums 3s ee ee eae 18 ne
100.
TEXTURE—60 per cent passes 50-mesh sieve to the inch.
[10]
MYOX MAN “MUVd TVULINAO NI NMVI
LAWNS
CHEMICAL—
Grevme hamus material: |... 5. kee eee 18.
(Containing ammonia .90).
ESSN 0) A eG RE a Eo ec tea 82
Contaming Limes. 2), 600s. . 2.50
Phosphoric acid ... 35
Pole ca aie .40
Silica and residue .. 78.75
82.00 100
ALKALINE—
This is an ideal soil, well balanced and of long enduring fertility.
If the soil is acid, which condition can be dis-
covered by the use of litmus paper to be obtained
from any druggist, lime should be used at the rate
of one thousand pounds to the acre. Water
slacked (hydrated oxide) is the best form in which
to use it, broadcasted and harrowed or raked in.
Stable manure can also be used with excellent
results to furnish the humus or organic matter
for the lawn; but it must be remembered that it
should be thoroughly rotted by proper composting
in a pit or other situation, where leaching is pre-
vented and the drainage liquor can be returned to
the heap. In this way a large part of the noxious
weed seeds are destroyed and a prolific cause of
bad lawns eliminated. An acre of lawn should
have at least a hundred loads of well-rotted ma-
nure, preferably cow manure, spread on its surface
and spaded or plowed under.
Before seeding, the soil must be made thoroughly
fine by plowing or spading and repeated harrowing
[11]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
and raking. If the soil is sandy it might be well _
to roll it before a final, very light raking, so that —
when the seed is put in it will not be planted too
deep. Whether the seed be sown with a machine,
in order to spread it evenly, or by hand, it should
be sown in both directions. After seeding, the
lawn should be rolled and kept watered if the soil
requires it.
The foundation of every lawn should be blue-
grass, either Kentucky or Canadian. It is long-
lived and very hardy, making a thick compact sod
that endures drought well. A lawn made of this
grass will not come to perfection until the third year.
Other grasses, quick-growing and suited to fill in
while the blue-grass is coming to maturity, may
be mixed in. Such are Pace’s rye grass and Rhode
Island bent; the latter, by the way, does specially
well in sandy soil. In shady places the best grass
is wood meadow (Poa sylvestris). Very soon after
the grass comes up, almost as soon as the mowing-
machine will nip it, cutting should be started.
Only in this way can the lawn be made to grow
compactly and luxuriantly. The knives of the
mowing-machine should not be set too low in
doing this cutting, especially in hot periods and
dry weather.
[ 12]
II
THE REHABILITATION AND
COMPLETION OF
CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK
FIFTY-THREE years ago the construction of
Central Park was well under way. General Viele
had prepared a plan and Mr. Frederick Law
Olmsted was Superintendent of Parks. Something
had been done but not a great deal, so that when
dissatisfaction with the way things were going de-
veloped, it was not difficult to call a halt and ad-
vertise for the best plan and to offer an adequate
reward.
The Greensward plan of Calvert Vaux and
Frederick Law Olmsted took the prize, and
thereafter both of these artists retained during
their lives a more or less dominating influence for
good over the carrying out of the design of Central
Park. It is largely due to these conditions that
we have Central Park as it is to-day; though per-
haps the result is still more due to the fact that
there were intelligent citizens in New York, Mr.
Andrew H. Green among the number, who were
willing to fight long and hard for the retention of
the original design.
It might be well to note that the design of Central
Park means the working out of several ideas, which
[13]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
were felt to be necessary to the proper park concep-
tion of the situation and the peculiar character of
New York City. The park consisted of a territory
belonging to the city, bounded by 59th Street,
110th Street, Fifth and Eighth Aves. Within this
boundary were the unformed elements of a picture,
with suggestions of open-air joy for every citizen
from childhood to old age. Here was an open
meadow where the breezes could play on the rolling
surface of the cool greensward, and there a valley,
and woodland and lake, with quiet country ef-
fects, offering rest and charm for all classes, a
place where on a clear, sparkling day every human
being could take in with delight the open air
undefiled.
The problem which the first designers kept
before them was to take advantage of the natural
features which existed in this territory and so bind
‘them together with planting, grading, roads, and
paths as to make not only a picture of the highest
artistic value, but to afford pleasure, rest, and
comfort to all who come within its confines, to
give freedom and enjoyment to all without inter-
ference with the rights of any. Round all this
charm of natural scenery it was intended to
place a frame of foliage that should not only form
a fitting border for the picture, but also conceal
as far as possible the sights and sounds of the city.
Yet Central Park is not completed. Before
he died Mr. Vaux had planned almost every de-
tail for the final accomplishment of the work.
To-day, however, there are large sections of the
[14]
DENUDATION OF ROOTS OF TREES
IN CENTRAL PARK
COMPLETION OF CENTRAL PARK
park which still remain unfinished after some
fifty-seven years of effort on the part of citizens,
superintendents, landscape architects, and com-
missioners: notably the territories from 79th
Street to 86th Street, east side; from 96th Street
to 100th Street, east side; all along the west side
from 110th Street to 100th Street and from 81st
Street to 77th Street. Indeed it may be said that
the border plantations and grading need in a
great many places throughout the park, not only
restoration, but actual completion in order to carry
out properly the ideas of the designers.
Central Park well deserves all the reputation
it has. But these lovely bits of landscape, both
open meadows and sylvan dells, have not been
brought together with the artistic skill which the
original designer intended. So beautiful, how-
ever, has the park appeared in the eyes of the
general public and the disbursers of the public
funds that from the early days of the park down to
_ about 1890 or 1895 little thought was given to the
completion of the entire design of the park. It
is doubtful whether even to-day any considerable
number of those who visit the park realize how far
it still is from completion.
So long was this lack of completion delayed
that finally, after scores of years had passed, a new
condition appeared, increasing twofold the park’s
imperfection. 'This was that the trees and shrubs
finally reached the limit of their span of life, a
necessarily short one in the poor soil and unnatural
conditions of a large city. The lovers of the park,
[15 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
were confronted, therefore, with a sad condition
of things. The great design had never been com-
pleted and such beauty as had been secured in
large degree had lapsed into decay.
At the time a commission of experts was em-
ployed to confer with the park authorities with a
view to devising aremedy for this incomplete and
decaying condition of the park, while the press
insisted loyally and persistently that New York
should safeguard its greatest art treasure from
failure and decay at any cost.
Year after year efforts were made to secure ap-
propriations for the prosecution of the work of
restoring and renewing the soil and plantations of
Central Park, but all without avail. The authori- —
ties acknowledged the necessity for the work, but
considered themselves unable to vote the money
in view of the greater necessities of other depart-
ments of the city. Finally in 1907, after a specially
convincing and complete report had been made by
the park commissioner of that time, pointing out
where in the park the work should be done and
estimating the cost of such work, Mrs. Russell
Sage came forward and generously offered to make
liberal donations toward the restoration be-
cause her husband had always been fond of the
park. Her noble gift of more than half a mile
of rhododendrons resulted. Thus the great work
of the restoration, and also it is hoped of the
completion, has been fairly commenced. Surely
from one source or another there is reason to hope
that funds will be forthcoming to rehabilitate this
[ 16]
NOILIGNOO Gvd—wMuvd TWULINHDO NI NMVWI GNOOWD-AVId
NOILIGNOO GOOD—MuUVd Li adsOuUd NI NMV'TI GNNOUD-AV Id
gevea ree ¢
Xe
COMPLETION OF CENTRAL PARK
most charming bit of water and sylvan landscape.
In order to realize better the needs of Central Park
and how much should be spent on it, it is worth
while to turn to the chapter of this book which
gives an account of Mrs. Sage’s gift of rhododen-
drons. It might be interesting to go farther and
state that the cost of the soil, clay loam, and
humus used in making this plantation was $20,000,
while the total cost of the gift only came to about
$50,000. There are twenty tracts of the park where
similar treatment should be given. Besides the
need for restoration and completion already re-
ferred to, employment of new and rare species
of trees and shrubs needs far greater attention.
Certainly Central Park, in view of its reputation -
as the foremost pleasure ground of America,
should present to the world an exhibition of
landscape gardening art in its latest and most
perfect expression.
[17]
III
A HILLSIDE PARK
St. NicHotas Park is built on a portion of a
precipitous rugged mass of rock extending from
below 110th Street up to 155th Street, New York
City. From thence the same ridge extends along
the speedway to Dyckman Street and is of nearly
the same character.
It forms a distinct barrier between two portions
of the city, both of which are now becoming popu-
lous. It is so precipitous that it is a hard climb
to reach the upper level from the sidewalk. Steep
roadways have been devised at a few points. By
far the greater number of streets, however, abutting
the park can not be carried across it at reasonable
grades for traffic, this rocky tract forming an
almost insuperable obstacle.
In order to use this ground profitably and devise
ways of crossing for pedestrians, a series of parks
have been bought and established by the city,
including Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park,
and Colonial Park, all veritable steep hillside
reservations, and the Speedway which is bordered
by park lands of similar character, in all a distance
of some five miles. The most noteworthy of these
parks is St. Nicholas.
Along the upper level, a hundred feet above
[18 ]
A HILLSIDE PARK
St. Nicholas Avenue, is St. Nicholas Terrace, bor-
dering the park for its whole length on the west
from 130th to 141st Street. This terrace is sup-
ported by a rough cut-stone retaining wall from
ten to thirty feet high. On this wall is built a
cut-stone parapet of gray granite, and at intervals
on its front are constructed flights of steps to the
park below, with landings and balustrades. ‘The
space beneath these flights of steps is utilized for
comfort stations, tool-rooms, ete.
On the extreme north corner of this park wall,
on the other side of St. Nicholas Terrace, is situated
the great quadrangular graystone Gothic mass
crowned with numerous castellated turrets and
towers, the five-million-dollar City College of
Greater New York. This Gothic mass suggests
and almost forces a Gothic treatment of the parapet
wall, steps, and comfort stations.. Opposite the
main entrance of the college building comes
naturally the most important entrance to the park,
down winding flights of steps to the street below.
The park itself is narrow, and therefore only
two paths are carried through its entire length.
One on the higher level connects the various flights
of steps; the other on a lower level connects the
various entrances from St. Nicholas Avenue.
Between these two longitudinal streets, transverse
ones wind about, seeking the easiest grades up
the steep slopes till they find their exit at the steps
leading out of the park.
In order to secure reasonably comfortable grades
for foot passengers, a large amount of cutting and
[19 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
filling has been done, so that sometimes a path
will lead through a rocky defile and again creep
along the base of a cliff with grassy slopes falling
away below. The curves and junctions of these
paths are made with long flowing lines and easy
turns atthe corners. ‘The lawn spaces are enlarged
as much as possible because of their necessarily
restricted area, extra rock having been blasted in
many places to bring this about.
The general sweep and configuration of this side
hill is kept as close as possible to the original
surface as designed by Nature. In order to retain
this appearance, the borders of the walks, especially
where the land slopes off sharply, are mounded up
so as to form a screen and prevent the eye detecting
the walks from below, except in a few places, as
where one approaches an entrance and necessarily
sees much of the length of the walk. Along the
steps, of which there are a great many, at points
where the grades are too steep, the earth is
mounded up in still larger quantities and rocks
are used to diversify its effect. The borders of
all these steps are planted heavily with trees and
shrubs so as to mask them.
Trees and shrubs are also planted at the various
junctions of the paths and about the entrances to
St. Nicholas Avenue and around the flights of steps.
Along rocky defiles are planted whole borders and
masses of native gray willows and similar trees.
On another hillside are set red cedars the conical
forms of which tend to increase the appearance
of ruggedness. This is done on the principle in
[20]
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A HILLSIDE PARK
landscape gardening that the dominant note must
be followed with a harmonious treatment, a high
hill made higher, a rugged slope more rugged, a
deep valiey made deeper, thus invariably following
Nature’s lead.
All walks are shaded at intervals of forty to
fifty feet with large trees; and against the support-
ing park wall above are planted masses of ever-
greens and deciduous trees and shrubs of a more
or less woodland type. ‘The largest types of trees
are planted where the wall is highest, thus pre-
venting their ultimate growth from shutting off
the view from St. Nicholas Terrace of the park
and surrounding country.
[21]
LY.
A SEASIDE PARK
At the foot of Ocean Parkway, fronting on
Sea Breeze Avenue which bounds the bathing-
beach at Coney Island, is a park completely ex-
posed to the ocean. The whole side of the park
bordering Sea Breeze Avenue is affected by the
spray for a distance of a hundred feet into the
park. On the west side are situated all the
celebrated buildings for amusement, including
Luna Park and Dreamland. For many years
this park was a waste where only a few stunted
trees and shrubs managed to live. |
About seven years ago this waste land was
covered from one to one and one-half feet deep
with good top soil well supplied with clay brought
from neighboring farm lands. The original flat
surface of the ground was made more attractive by
long flowing undulations by means of carefully
managed grading. In low places, and especially
where shrubs and trees were expected to stand,
the layer of soil was deepened in some cases a foot
or more. The original soil being nearly pure
sand and the exposure most unfavorable to vigor-
ous plant growth, this liberal supply of strong top
soil was necessary.
The theory of the design of this park was to
[ 22]
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A SEASIDE PARK
carry walks around the outer portions of the terri-
tory, leaving a long oval with a broad stretch of
greensward, a specially important feature in this
arid region skirting the sea. At the junctions of
the various paths and at the entrance gates abun-
dant plantations of trees and shrubs were set out.
The entire park is enclosed by a high iron fence to
protect it from the multitudes that throng Coney
Island many months of the year. The walks are
made of rubble stone and trap-rock screenings.
The most interesting feature of this place is the
planting. The trees and shrubs have been very
successful all over the tract, except where the
spray actually falls on them. ‘The privets, plane-
trees, and English elms (Wheatleys) stand the
exposure specially well. Masses of hybrid and
maximum rhododendrons and a few kalmias are
planted at different points in the park and thrive
remarkably under the unnatural conditions to
which they are subjected. Nearly as hardy as
the English elm and Oriental plane-tree are the
American elm and Norway maple. Specimens of
yellow birch also thrive, catalpa, pussy willow,
weeping willow, and gray willow. Among the
various evergreens that have been tried on this
place the only ones which have done well are the
Austrian pines of which twenty remain out of an
original planting of twenty-six.
The deciduous shrubs that have succeeded on
this place are somewhat numerous. Those that
do the best are probably Baccharis halimifolia,
or the groundsel; Myrica cerifera, the common
[23 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
bayberry of the coast; California privet and its
relative L. ibota; hydrangeas and hibiscus suc-
ceed; the crimson rambler roses and viburnums;
bush honeysuckles; Philadelphus and _ barberry,
and even the white dogwood. Hybrid tea roses
flourish in this sea air and even, in a secluded
corner, the ordinarily tender Aucuba japonica,
the bushy dogwoods, Alba sanguinia, and the
others, forsythia and the Japanese raspberry
(Rhodotypus kerrioides). These shrubs, helped
by the rich clay-loam top soil, all are vigorous
on the portions of the park where the spray does
not reach them.
Another interesting feature of this park is the
brilliant show of bedding-plants displayed through-
out the season. Cannas, geraniums, and other
plants of similar character are set in large beds.
These bedding-plants seem better here by the sea
than elsewhere.
Hydrants are placed at distances of two hundred
feet throughout the park, and the needed moisture is
liberally supplied grass, trees, and shrubs through-
out the summer.
[ 24]
PARK- :
A PLAY-GROUND—THOMAS JEFFERSON PARK
v
SOME DESIGNS FOR NEW YORK CITY
PLAY-GROUNDS
At 111th Street on the banks of the East River
is what may be termed a large city park devoted
chiefly to children’s play-grounds.
A reason for its existence just here is found in
the thousands of Italians living in tenements all
around the park and only a little further away
even a greater population of Jews. The park
consists of ten or twelve acres lying almost level
between 110th and 114th Streets, with a gentle
slope to the banks of the river across one arm of
which, a short distance away, extends Randall’s
Island with its hospitals and House of Refuge.
From the extreme west of the park the effect
obtained is that the river is lost to sight and
Randall’s Island appears to be a continuation of
the park with no water intervening. On the
edge of the gentle slope, about three hundred
feet from the water, is a large handsomé shelter
building, the level of the floor of which is reached
by steps. A band occupies this space during
certain days throughout the summer, and the shade
is always grateful to mothers, babies, and children
at play. Underneath in the basement are shower
baths for the use of the public.
[25 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
On the other side of the house to the west extend
winding walks enclosing somewhat formal areas
of ground which are set apart for games of various
sorts, gymnastics, ball, little children’s sand piles, -
swings, older girls’ basket-ball—in short, every
sort of game that can be devised for girls and boys
of various ages.
At the extreme west and bordering the main
avenue is a considerable lawn. Around each of
these plots for games shade trees are planted, and
around the entire outer boundaries of the park
is a high iron picket fence, with shade trees and
shrubs arranged along its borders.
In front of the building toward Randall’s Island
is the only truly park-like feature on the place.
Indeed, the only way to make parks to be used as
play-grounds is to isolate certain territories on the
outskirts of the park or across one entire tract
and treat this in a thoroughly park-like manner.
The play-ground portion ean not be made to look
like a park; but shade trees can be made to
grow, provided they are well protected with tree
guards. The boy, however, in his semi-civilized
state will be sure to make war on trees and shrubs
when at play; the fear of neither policemen nor
parents will stay his hands. Sometime and some-
where his exuberant spirits will cause the foliage to —
suffer.
[ 26 |
Hester St.
Suffolk St. 2
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: WILLIAM fi: SEWARD :DARK:
_ William R. Willcox.
Landscape Architect. Hee Parks Board .
~ Samuel Darsong Jr.
A PLAY-GROUND—W. H. SEWARD PARK
@)
Samucl Parsons Jr
landscape Architect,
A PLAY-GROUND—DEH WITL CLINTON PARK
VI
PLAY-GROUNDS CONTINUED
Wiuiam H. Sewarp Park is situated along East
Broadway, with Jefferson Street, Division Street,
Suffolk Street, Hester Street, Essex Street, and
Canal Street bounding it. This spot was a few
years ago one of the most congested in New York
City. The tenement houses which were cleared
from this location to make way for the park were
dilapidated and noisome in the extreme. The
area is less than three acres, but around it is carried
a real park effect of trees, shrubs, and lawns,
with a central mall extending from Canal to
Hester Street. On one side of this mall is a
children’s play-ground with every game and amuse-
ment for girls of all sizes. A high fence surrounds
it in order to afford every means of protection to
the little ones in this crowded part of the city.
High fences also surround the exterior boundary
of the park, and around all grass plots are lower
fences with pointed crestings to increase some-
what their effectiveness. A double row of trees
is planted along the mall.
On the west side of the mall are a large gymnasi-
um ground and running track, and back of that,
adjoining the extreme west boundary, is a hand-
some building affording music and shelter for the
mothers and little ones. Underneath it are many
baths for public use. The walks are asphalted
[27]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
and everything is done to protect the park from
the persistent stress and wanton destruction of
the surrounding mixed population.
Dewitt Clinton Park is a children’s play-ground
situated on the banks of the Hudson River,
bounded on the west by Twelfth Ave., on the south
by 57th Street, on the east by Eleventh Ave., and
on the north by 54th Street, between nine and
ten acres in extent.
This park is specially well arranged for the
introduction of play-grounds. The borders on
three sides are more or less steep and through the
center extends a level plateau which has been
made more level by grading. Walks wind up
from all the four corners and at two intermediate
points on one side and one on the other. The
steepness of the ground makes it possible to pro-
duce a picturesque, park-like effect of trees and
shrubs over a large extent of the territory.
Natural rocks appear in several places through-
cut its surface. A broad path leads from the
center of the park on Eleventh Ave. to a gymnasium
ground surrounded by trees; and in front of this,
on an undulating lawn of its own, is a fine music
stand. Beyond this a farm garden for children
has been established and five hundred or more
little ones from this neighborhood farm their little
plots throughout the season. Beyond this, in turn,
on a high, steep bank overlooking the Hudson,
extends a long pergola or arbor beneath which are
rooms used as night schools by the farm children,
where they are taught domestic economy.
[ 28 ]
MUVd IVULNAO NI GNOd LAAULs HLININ-ALAIA FO MATA
MUVd IVYLNAO NI GNOd LAAULS HININ-ALAIA AO MAIA YAHLONY
Vil
LANDSCAPE TREATMENT OF LAKES
AND PONDS
TuHE pond in Central Park is close to the 59th-
Street entrance near Fifth Avenue; it lies thirty
feet below the surface of the street and is long,
winding, and narrow. Much of the effect of this
sheet of water was increased by piling on the pre-
cipitous shores on the northwest side quantities
of the earth excavated from the lake, which was
probably originally only a stream. On the south-
east side the ground was graded more gradually
in order to carry a walk along the borders of the
water and further to give more suitable planting-
space for the large trees between it and the street.
On the high rugged promontory to the northwest
were planted large trees to increase further the
effect of height. ‘This ruggedness and picturesque-
ness are made more noticeable by the way the lake
is led to wind and lose itself behind the promon-
tory, terminating at a grassy slope or dell which
completes the picture.
To the northeast, at a narrow part of the lake,
a bridge spans the water. It is built of large
bowlders of native stone, with the joints so made
as tohide the cement. The weather-beaten sur-
faces are exposed and _ there is very little sign of
the tool on the bridge except where a bluestone
coping finishes the top surface of the balustrade
[ 29 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
and where the arch stones perfect and hold to-
gether the structure.
The entrances to this massive stone bridge are
heavily screened with quantities of trees, shrubs,
and vines, particularly the ivy-like creeper
Ampelopsis veitchi clinging by its rootlets to the
rough surface of the bridge and covering a con-
siderable part of it. Here and there within a short
distance of this bridge, and at intervals all along
the shores, bowlders are seen just above the water,
and back of these, extending over the water, grow
white birches and other woodland trees. Wild
shrubs, sumacs, and dogwoods appear among
these trees and extend up the hillside in great
masses. A walk leads over the bridge and along-
side a little dell at the end of the lake to the Sixth
Avenue entrance at 59th Street. Along the pre-
cipitous sides of the promontory on the northwest
side of the lake no walk is made. .
The walks on the other side of the lake are
planted with trees of a less woodland character—
European beeches, Norway maples, and others.
The view to the north from the bridge completes
the charm of the picture. The eye is led through
a series of pools and connecting rivulets away
from the lake past low undulating grassy banks
and obstructing bowlders into an ever widening
lawn, where it loses itself at the base of a gentle
slope merging into the woodland beyond.
The planting of this lake and the curves of the
shores are all designed to give limited views,
except at one or two unexpected points.
[ 30 ]
MUVd IVUYLINHO NI AMVI AO MOUIA
VILL
PARK TREATMENT OF CEMETERIES
Ir is unnecessary in this present day and country
to advocate the use of the parking system in ceme-
teries. Its value and beauty are generally con-
ceded. The difficulty experienced, however, is so
to balance the portions used for lots and those set
aside for parking effects, that the picturesque,
natural scenery appears dominant, and the land
sold for burial purposes is retained in sufficient
quantities to insure a financial success of the enter-
prise, which, after all, is the controlling considera-
tion. It would be well in the beginning to make
a general and emphatic protest against all designs
involving a gridiron arrangement of lots. This
should not, of course, be understood to imply that
one or more angular lots might not occur here and
there in the general scheme. All this would
depend largely on the character and configuration
of the land. For the same reason it is difficult
to make hard and fast rules as to the arrangement
of any cemetery grounds. ‘Three things, however,
should be barred in park cemeteries: they are
fences, hedges, and tall monuments.
The simplest way to illustrate the proper develop-
ment of cemetery ground is to consider an actual
example on Long Island. The problem that
presented itself was a treatment of two thousand
acres of nearly level territory supporting a few
[ 31]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
scattering pines within its area. In order to avoid
the monotonous treatment which the place dis-
tinctly invited on account of its level surface, the
scheme of a series of concentric circles was devised
because it was recognized that the best effects of
park design are produced by massing large features
of the landscape together and securing prolonged
vistas and continually curving lines in every
direction.
The whole area was bisected by two long avenues
running nearly at right angles. At the inter-
section of these roads was established a large
park of seventy-five acres which was devoted
entirely to lawns and trees, burial places being
excluded. Extending in four directions from this
center a series of concentric circles were laid out,
with one of the avenues before mentioned in every
case passing through the center; and connecting
the different circles were various areas of irregular
form with roads devised to fit their. outlines.
The interior of these concentric circles was
arranged for burial lots by more concentric circles
with connecting roads and paths just as in the
larger scheme. The curve of the arc of these
circles forming a side or an end of an individual lot
was so slight that its deviation from a straight line
was barely noticeable, yet viewed as a whole the
gridiron effect was entirely eliminated. Points or
areas were established at the center and other
portions of the curves where trees and shrubs
could be planted in such masses as would secure
a natural park-like effect.
[ 32 ]
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PLAN FOR PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT
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MOUNTAIN TERRACE
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IX
HOMESTEAD PARKS
Ir we find the gridiron design or checkerboard
pattern frequently applied to cemeteries, even
more do we find it applied to real-estate develop-
ments for the purpose of the sale of lots.
The profit to be derived governs in both cases.
Greater foresight should be used to insure beauty
as well as convenience and comfort. If one
would but think a moment it will be evident that
such a combination commands a higher price
than convenience and comfort alone. It is pos-
sible, of course, on a perfectly level plain to devise a
square system of lots that will give a picturesque
effect by the use of trees and shrubs in a park-like
way, each plot indeed being a miniature park. But
such conditions rarely prevail and even then, as
we have seen in the case of Pine Lawn Cemetery,
there are more attractive ways of accomplishing
the same result. Each hill and valley, whether
large or small, in a park of this character has a
definite individuality of its own—an outlook, a
vista, a charm of contour that may be retained by
proper subdivision of land.
In order to illustrate the application of the
above principles it will be helpful to refer to
Albemarle Park, built a number of years ago, and
[33 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
Mountain Terrace, a similar reservation recently
treated in the same manner.
Albemarle Park is a tract of land of about sixty
acres situated in Asheville, North Carolina. The
scheme is the usual one of a hotel with cottages
around it. The unusual feature of the place is its
steepness. ‘The natural contours in many places
will hardly allow one to reach its upper portions
without the most strenuous effort. Consequently
it is not surprising that the roads ascend on this
place with almost spiral curves as may be seen
on the accompanying plan. The entrance to the
place is happily worked out by the architect in a
simple building with a reasonable amount of dis-
tinction, with a fine archway giving a glimpse up
a winding road. ‘This building is largely massed
with trees and shrubs.
The lots on this territory are naturally hilly
and sometimes the front door has to be reached
by steps. But the very ruggedness of the ground
suggests more picturesque buildings and the wind-
ing of the roads gives opportunities for masses of
foliage to increase the beauty of the place.
The views from points all over the park, as one
comes from behind a mass of trees or foliage,
ranges over the most entrancing scene of mountain
and valley, and at the highest boundary of the
place one emerges on a road called Sunset Drive
which commands the most distant and striking
prospect.
The lots, which range from one-half acre to
three acres in extent, were in each case carefully
[ 34]
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HOMESTEAD PARKS
studied with the architect in the original plan.
The spot for the house was designated. ‘The
scheme for planting was worked out and in many
cases carried out. Individual taste was allowed
to dictate preferences as to the use of certain trees
and shrubs within certain areas of the lot. Noth-
ing was permitted, however, that would tend to
destroy the natural woodland effect. Indeed, very
many native trees were left standing. Many lots
had a bit of lawn, a house, a few natural shrubs
like dogwoods, and a background of native trees.
It should be understood that, although every
appearance of naturalness is preserved in the con-
tour, even to the steep declivities of the hills, much
change of surface has to be made to keep steep
hillsides from washing and to soften by filling the
rough and deeply scored hollows and uneven
depressions.
To illustrate further this method of treatment
of a building-lot system, reference may be made
to the Glen Wood tract at Birmingham. Here
we have a territory, generally of a less steep char-
acter, with lower hills around it. The bird’s-eye
view of the park, as seen in the picture, indicates
the way in which roads on such territories have
to find their way along the contours, creeping up
the hillsides on the easiest possible grades.
It will be noticed that in this tract of fifty or
sixty acres few main roads are used. ‘The lots
are so irregular and difficult of approach on most
sides that it is necessary to carry small winding
drives to many of the lots so as to make them
[ 35 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
properly available. Walks are made in the hill- |
sides, five or six feet or more above the drives,
and narrow alleys are sometimes employed to
reach a stable at the rear of a lot. It is interesting,
however, to observe how completely every inch
of ground is managed so as to make it salable in
the form of a lot. Heavy cuts and fills occur
throughout the roads on this tract, some of the
grades being at least ten per cent. The lots
themselves have not been changed in contour to
any considerable degree, thereby allowing the
native trees to stand in large numbers wherever
they do not interfere with the construction of the
house and lawn in front. Along the borders of
the roads is a liberal space of greensward. Shade
trees are planted three or four feet from the curb.
Around the entrance gate of fine stone work
appear great masses of foliage, rare and choice,
including many evergreen trees and shrubs which
thrive specially well in this climate. Another
great advantage which this Glen Wood _ tract
possesses is that its roads are curbed and guttered,
macadamized and in some cases asphalted, sew-
ered, and lighted with electricity.
[ 36 ]
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X
A PARK FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
In 1900 Congress passed an act providing for
the preparation of plans for the creation of an
extensive park, covering about three hundred and
fifty acres in the center of the city of Washington,
extending from the Capitol to the Washington
Monument and beyond to the Potomac. The
preparation of these plans was entrusted to
Samuel Parsons who submitted his report to
Colonel Theodore A. Bingham, Corps of Engi-
neers, in November, 1900.*
The following extract from the report will give
an idea of the scope of the undertaking and the
general style of treatment proposed.
In seeking to solve the problem of designing a
park in the heart of Washington, a park which
will be worthy not only of a great city, but of a
great national capital, it is highly important at
the very outset to discover and define the natural
limitations that grow out of the original structural
lines of the landscape and out of the demands both
of the residential and of the business interests
of the city.
I think that these propositions will not be denied
by persons who have really considered the subject:
* Fifty-sixth Congress, Second Session, Document No. 135.
[ 37 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
(1) A park, as a pleasure ground, should be set
apart and isolated as completely as art can con-
trive it from sound and sight of the surrounding
city; and (2) On the same line of endeavor the
interior of the pleasure ground should be made
to suggest woodland and meadow scenery so
laid out as to afford convenient and agreeable
access, by means of carriage and bridle roads
and footpaths, to all points of interest and land-
scape charm.
Such a treatment would also assume that while
every condition necessary for the comfort and
enjoyment cf the public should be kept clearly
in view, the landscape should be made to take
coherent and artistic shape from the original
peculiar genius or idiosyncrasy of the place.
Under these terms public buildings could not be
generally included as part and parcel of the essen-
tial scheme of the park, but they would properly
find special territories of their own on the borders
of the main pleasure ground, where they could
be screened with thickly planted trees, and given
a landscape treatment suitable to their character.
In order to explain what I consider an ideal
plan, I beg leave to call attention to the peculiarly
fortunate outline and configuration of the pro-
posed park. At present it is intended to cover
approximately three hundred and fifty acres,
which lie in a space bounded by Pennsylvania
Avenue and B Street, S. W., with the Capitol
looming up at the east, and Washington Monu-
ment at the west. An oblong territory occupied
[ 38
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A PARK FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
mainly by the Botanical Garden, the Mall, the
Smithsonian Institution, the Agricultural grounds,
and the territory around Washington Monument,
already belongs to the nation, and it is proposed
to condemn by law and secure a triangle of land
running from Pennsylvania Avenue on the north,
B Street North, on the south, and 15th Street on
the west. I would suggest that in addition to
this land, in order to secure the ideal park, another
parcel be acquired, bounded by Maryland Avenue
on the south, B Street on the north, and 15th
Street on the west; a range which would be won-
derfully effective as seen from the base of the
Capitol. There the view would widen over a great
perspective that would include in its very heart the
celebrated vista over almost level ground through
grand old trees to the Washington Monument,
which would be the very kernel and innermost
jewel or shrine of the landscape.
No arrangement could be more fortunate than
this. Its steadily widening reach and its unsur-
passed vista would make as it were a foreground
and park for the Capitol, emphasizing the fact
that, owing to the special growth of the city
to the west, this side has gained paramount
importance.
The management of the streets is a difficult
problem, if we adhere to the vital principle of
isolating the park from the city, and recognize
the fact that the grades of the streets can not be
materially changed, owing to the proximity of
the subjacent water. But the difficulty may be
[39 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
overcome by retaining only cross streets for
traffic, and turning them into transverse roads
of ample width, screened by embankments of
earth surmounted by trees on each side, and con-
nected, at the center of the park and in the exact
line of the vista, by bridges arching twenty feet
above the present roadbed.
In this scheme most of the pleasure movement
would cross the park by slightly curved but toler-
ably direct drives located close to the transverse
roads, and nearly parallel with them, thus carry-
ing out more completely the generally elliptical
scheme of the park. This plan, whenever it can
be used conveniently, has special artistic value,
particularly when, as in this case, a blending veil
of shade trees can be made to diversify the slightly
formal appearance of the oft-repeated ovals.
This arrangement of drives and masked ,trans-
verse roads, and bridges kept in close relations
with the vistas, it will be readily seen, will naturally
force the main scheme of park development into
a series of ovals, commencing at the Capitol and
extending to the White House, where the same
idea is repeated in the already constructed ellipses
of the White Lot and the adjacent public territory.
It is a fortunate circumstance that the positions of
the transverse roads cause the ovals steadily to
diminish in size, dropping progressively to lower
and lower grades as they approach the Washington
Monument. Thus in the widening spread of
territory they impart to the landscape a finished
and consistent perspective, a harmonious cadence
[ 40 ]
A PARK FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
and rhythm of effect, and a finely lengthened
appearance of distance.
Outside the ovals, the simplicity and effective-
ness of the symmetry of which constitutes the
keynote of the park, we find the drives seeking
the points of interest and convenience by long
curving lines, which are so arranged as to mass
together as much as possible wide stretches of
lawn, and in that way increase the large and
dignifred quality of the design.
Owing to the concentration of the most dis-
tinguished park effects about the main vista and
ovals, and owing to the proper demand that
walks, bridle path, and drives shall be close to
one another so as to afford easy human intercourse
and to avoid the great inconvenience of losing
one’s way—a risk that accompanies a more wander-
ing, loosely constructed system—I have placed
the roads near the lines of the ellipses. I am
convinced a greater variety of effective views can
be secured in this way than in any other.
The treatment of lawns is simple. It is planned
to leave hollows, meadows, and wide expanses
of greensward, excepting on each side of the
pathways and roads; there the shade of trees
is encouraged, and, fortunately, easily attained.
Extended masses of foliage already exist, portions
of which, when displaced by the construction of
the transverse roads, can be transplanted, after
proper root pruning, to assist in emphasizing
and extending the effects of the main vista to
the Monument.
[41]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
Concerning the parkway from Washington Mon-
ument to the Potomac and the Zoological parks,
it should be said that, as far as the beginning of
the precipitous portion of the banks of Rock
Creek, a formal arrangement of footpaths, drives,
and bridle roads is secured, whereby the house
lots are reached by two roads, one on each side
of the parkway. The space of eight hundred
feet in the middle is occupied by a park drive,
by footpaths, and a bridle road, each of which
takes a direct course parallel with the adjacent
houses, as shown in the accompanying detail
plan.
When the parkway reaches the steep hillside
of Rock Creek, it is allowed to seek the easiest
grades. It occupies a large portion of the pictur-
esque slopes with the winding curves of its drives
and bridle paths, ending at the boundaries of
the Zoological Park at the junction of Cathedral
Avenue and Connecticut Avenue, where it com-
pletes its course in an entrance so enlarged as
to include all three avenues.
[ 42]
XI
A MOUNTAIN ROAD ON THE HUDSON
Au. roads have a character of their own which
affords some interest to the passer-by; but now
and then a road is met that has a striking
individuality, as is the case with one climbing
Storm King Mountain. ‘This road is replete with
features peculiar to itself, rugged beauty, grandeur
of outlook, and quaint woodland charm. ‘Though
some beautiful roads have been evolved in a hap-
hazard way this is no chance road.
A quarter of a mile from the highway, in a
nook blasted out of the rocky hillside, the house
was built. After long study and much weary
tramping a line of road leading to the house was
devised, creeping along the difficult contours and
crossing them at times so as to double twice on
itself in a length less than a mile. It passed through
thick woods; across deep ravines; plowed through
necks of land, forcing its way upward to the
house, its final destination. Much of the road
was dynamited from the solid rock and the hollows
were filled with the blasted fragments.
Thus a solid rock foundation existed every-
where either by nature or by filling. Rocky walls
towered at places and at others steep declivities
dropped abruptly away to unseen depths. At
certain points drainage streams, flowing out of
[ 43 J
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
the sides of the hills, crossed the drive and forced
the construction of small bridges. For a large
part of the way the presence of thick deciduous
woods—oak, birch, beech, dogwood, and other
native trees—mellows the sunlight which sifts
through their leaves. Along the sides of the hill
and slopes vines, such as Virginia creepers, bitter-
sweet, woodbine, and other native climbers, relieve
the torn surfaces. ‘The great attraction, however,
of this road are the vistas cut through the woods
at various points, especially at the turns. From
these outlooks wide-reaching views are obtained
to the east and north over a broad stretch of the
Hudson River for ten or fifteen miles. Across
the river one sees to the southeast rugged moun-
tains repeating on a smaller scale the effect of
Storm King itself.
The grade of this road is necessarily steep, ten
per cent in many places. As we climb around
its sharp curves we suddenly come out on an open,
comparatively level field with a lovely outlook
toward the west and north of hill and valley
dotted by human habitations at rare intervals.
Above in its nook stands the homestead of Mr.
Pagenstecher.
From this rugged shelf on one side of the house
extends the opening into the forest, which has been
cut away. Here through a narrow vista in the
woodland the eye obtains another and wider view
of the Hudson. Above the house rises ledge on
ledge of rock clothed with trees, six hundred feet
to the top of Storm King.
[ 44]
2 au ¥ bese eww Lf
A MOUNTAIN ROAD ON THE HUDSON
The wild fastnesses of this mountain road with
its woods and flowers and utter seclusion, and
glimpses of river and highland, have a wondrous
charm in autumn. Then it is that the dogwoods,
oaks, maples, and liquidambars turn crimson and
gold with the shortening days of approaching
winter. Not less beautiful are these woodland
aisles clothed with snow when the autumn glories
have passed. ‘Through the bare branches we get
glimpses of the Hudson, often ice-bound, but
always grand and impressive.
Always this mountain road with its woodland
beauty and its various distant views reveals con-
tinual charm throughout the changing seasons.
[ 45 ]
XII
AN AUTUMNAL HILLSIDE
Out in the wild, rugged, broken territory of
New York not far from Tuxedo is a steep hillside.
All around are mountains, valleys, and lakes that
suggest the wilderness of the Adirondacks. At
its base is a wide-spreading mass of forest trees,
where Nature placed them—chestnuts, oaks, and
quantities of dogwoods. On top of this hill, two
hundred feet high, a spot was found for a vine-
clad arbor from which could be seen an extended
view—-homestead, meadows, lake, farms, forest-
clad mountains, and valleys. On one side, the
forest trees extend part way up the hill and
include within their borders great masses of lichen-
stained and weather-beaten rocks. Clustering
among these rocks have been planted ferns,
wild native azaleas, various wild flowers suited to
shady places, sweet fern, Comptonia asplenifolia
and hosts of small woodland plants.
Passing along the base of the hill by the edge of
the forest a road has been carried from the more
cultivated part of the place. Here a turn for the
carriage encloses a group of tangled wild Michigan
roses, six or eight feet high, which bear abundant
clusters of small, single, pinkish-white flowers in
late June, and from among them rise several fine
[ 46 ]
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AN AUTUMNAL HILLSIDE
specimens of the Andromeda arborea, (Oxydendron
arboreum), or sourwood.
This charming and little-known tree is from
the region of Kentucky. It has large, deep green,
velvety leaves and bears in mid-summer tassels
or plumes of milk-white flowers, rising high above
the mass of its foliage. ‘This plant is used here
to the number of many hundreds, extending right
and left to the very crest. In autumn the richness
of its color is unsurpassed. At certain hours of
the day when the sunlight falls on these leaves its
fire seems to have transfused itself into the texture
of the leaf, so vivid is the color.
Another plant on this hillside that is equally
rich in color but quite different is Euonymus alatus
or Japanese burning bush. ‘The color of its leaf is
pure crimson of a peculiar shade. With the
Andromedas are mingled large quantities of white
flowering dogwood so well known throughout the
country for its autumn color. Sumac springs up
here and there, sweet gum, or liquidambar, and
Viburnum prunifolium or nannyberry.
Down through the center from the arbor at the
top of the hill extends a narrow open stretch.
Here, in order to give a vista and sense of variety,
were planted a lot of low shrubs red in autumn,
Itea virginica. Along winding grassy paths skirt-
ing the place are planted quantities of native
azaleas and hybrid azaleas of similar shades, their
autumnal foliage rivaling the beauty of their
spring flowers.
Throughout this plantation are not only such
[47]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
trees as the liquidambars and red maples planted
for autumn effect, but white birches and graceful
ash trees to lend variety to the scene and enhance
the typical woodland effect. Many smaller forms of
woodland flowers and foliage are dispersed among
the rocks, and on the banks are honeysuckles,
saxifrages, sedums, and some wild grape vines.
Standing at the base of this hill or in the vine-
clad arbor at the top and looking over its steep
slopes, the masses of rich color embraced by the
eye form the ideal of an American autumn
landscape.
[ 48 ]
XIII
THE COLONIAL GARDEN
In Van Cortlandt Park, near the railroad station
and the skating-pond, was until a few years ago a
marshy depression lying four-square between high
banks. To the north of it stood the colonial
mansion of the Van Cortlandts.
In the course of time the Colonial Dames
leased this mansion for a long term of years and
filled it with all kinds of revolutionary and colonial .
treasures.
Coincident with the development of this colonial
treasure house the idea of a sunken garden was
conceived. As it progressed in development, it
took on naturally the term colonial by virtue of
its association with the colonial mansion and
because its character suggested the formality of
the gardens of those days. Circumstances which
very properly govern the design of gardens led
to the use of canals on three sides. Owing to the
fact that a rapid stream ran out of Van Cortlandt
Lake a few hundred feet away, these canals were
employed to curb the irregularities of the stream
and give a definite boundary to a greater part of the
garden. ‘The presence of these canals has sug-
gested the name Dutch Garden which it is some-
times called, but in reality the Dutch character
[ 49 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
ends with the canals themselves. Nearly every-
thing else recalls American scenery conventional-
ized.
The garden is arranged in squares and planted
formally for the purpose of conveniently exhibiting
its tree-and-flower effect to those using its paths.
The banks surrounding it have no formal lines
in their treatment, being left as Nature made
them, except that their natural charms are en-
hanced by plantations of native shrubs, rhodo-
dendrons, laurels, dogwoods, etc.
In the center of the group of squares is a circular
fountain basin with water-lilies. The spray from
this is reduced to such a degree that the aquatic
plants are not injured by the spatter of the water.
On the outer edge of the open space around the
fountain are seats. Behind these again are large
specimens of the beautiful American shade tree,
the bronzed leaf ash, which naturally assumes
formal and compact shapes. ‘These trees stand
also on the extreme outer boundaries on the
corners of the tract and form the most striking
feature in the garden. Lower, more refined and
delicate, and less positive in tone are the pairs of
weeping birches set on each side at the entrances
to the bridges which cross the canal and lead to
the central fountain.
A scheme of pairs of specimen evergreens on
each side of the walk, and opposite each other,
is established throughout the place. Every one
of these specimens, which consist of junipers,
spruces, arbor vite, pines, yews, hemlocks, and
[50]
MUVd LONVILHYOO NVA NI NACGUVD IVINOTOO JO NvwiId
THE COLONIAL GARDEN
other erect-growing trees and shrubs, is carefully
arranged in relation to its neighbor to secure the
most agreeable gradation of color from golden
green to the almost black tone of the yews.
A touch of golden color is allowed here and
there, but is kept thoroughly in abeyance; for
yellow is suggestive of abnormal and unhealthy
eonditions—decay.
A large part of these squares is left open and
free to encourage a rich velvety turf intended to
lend breadth and dignity to the picture. In front
of the evergreens along the borders of the paths
comes the floral or perennial plant effect in narrow
beds. ‘These beds are about eight feet wide and
all parts are easily reached from the path or
greensward without trampling the plants. The
height of these plants is kept comparatively low
by selecting lower-growing species in order to
retain the breadth and simplicity of the place.
Plants from six inches to three feet high are used,
and consist of certain kinds of irises, hardy tulips,
narcissi, anemones, columbines, pinks of various
sorts, sedums, saxifrages, coreopsis, daffodils, lark-
spurs, fox-gloves, hollyhocks, hyacinths, the more
dwarf forms of lilies, lilies of the valley, peonies,
phloxes, salvias, snowdrops.
Beyond the canals at the west, as far as the
bank, is arranged a rose garden with the climbing
sorts on the outer borders covering the bank or
trained on trellises. Within the area are the free-
blooming sorts that flower from June to October.
It should be explained that, in order to secure
[51]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
a well-drained and fertile soil for this garden, it
was found necessary to raise the level with many
thousands of cubic yards of ordinary earth to
overcome the ill effects of the underlying marsh
land on which the garden is built. Sufficient
agricultural tile drainage was used to prevent the
undue accumulation of water from any source.
Over this tile drainage was spread a layer, about
one foot and a half thick, of rich garden mold
containing well-balanced amounts of the necessary
constituents of fertile soil, sand, clay, lime, and
humus.
The lawns were sown, not sodded. ‘The bor-
ders of the walks were sodded at least a foot wide
and the walks themselves were made with rubble
foundations and trap-rock screenings. Instead of
balustrades or rails, the borders of the entrances
to the bridges and the steps of this garden are
guarded by means of rock-work contrived to re-
semble nature, the rocks peering out here and
there from the earth, with vines and low shrubs
and birches intermingled.
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XIV
TWO COUNTRY-PLACES
A COUNTRY-PLACE like the one we shall now
consider at Carlisle in the rich farming land of
lower Pennsylvania, has many advantages. ‘The
country is gently rolling and the soil is a sandy
loam free from stone and naturally fertile. The
place is situated between two roads and ends at
their junction. It is in wedge form and about
fifteen acres in extent.
The house was an old-fashioned one and has
been given the modern colonial touch in the way
of columns and other classical suggestions. A
number of fine old trees, maples, elms, chestnuts,
etc., exist in the neighborhood of the house.
Otherwise the area of the grounds had been given
up chiefly to meadow and pasture lands. When
the recent improvements were undertaken the
ground was found covered with a dense growth of
alfalfa, and though by nature beautifully rolling
with gentle swells, the entire territory had to be
broken up and graded ‘in order to manage the
drainage properly and to soften all contour lines.
For the purpose of securing the most effective
approach to the house and of giving opportunity
for effective grouping of trees and shrubs with
long vistas, the main road was brought in near
[53 |
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
the extreme apex of the place. After passing
thirty or forty feet into the grounds this road turns
with a short sweep to the middle of the property
and then follows its course on long gently curving
lines which gradually approach the rear of the
house situated on a plateau, thus affording a fine
view of the most attractive side of the building.
Just after the road passes the house it divides,
going in one direction to the garage and out-
buildings, and in the other to a turn in front of the
main entrance to the house and then off to the
extreme corner of the place to the highway. Two
short walks lead to an entrance to the house
from the main road. ‘The endeavor has evidently
been to give long graceful lines of roads and
walks and so divide the territory as to set apart
at least three large lawns with a long vista reach-
ing across at least two of them.
The planting on this place is especially worthy
of attention because on a very favorable piece of
land it illustrates well how open lawns and attract-
ive approaches can be greatly improved by a
carefully devised scheme of planting.
At the entrance gate near the apex of the prop-
erty are planted two Norway maples, one on each
side. Around them are Forsythia viridissima with
their yellow flowers and vigorous growth. Smaller
in growth and size of leaf, but picturesque and
compact, are the Regel’s privet planted on the turn
of the road on each side.
At the apex and farthest point of the place,
about three hundred feet away, are planted a mass
[ 54]
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TWO COUNTRY-PLACES
of hemlocks. ‘The theory of the planting of ever-
greens is to shut in the coldest exposure of the
place and give it greenness of color the season
through and the sense of warmth in winter.
Following the most approved practice, almost all
the evergreens on this place are in one great mass
or series of groups blending one into the other.
It might be well to point out that in this partic-
ular situation some considerable length of factory
buildings thrusts its ugliness into the. view of nearly
the entire area of the landscape treated. ‘To shut
out this objectionable feature as quickly as possible
a number of white willows were planted, and
mingled with them were a few of the red-stemmed
kind. These willows were intended to grow
rapidly to a great height and then to be removed
when the evergreens had grown to sufficient size
to screen the place satisfactorily.
The majority of the evergreens used were
white pines, Douglas spruce, Colorado or blue
spruce, the Oriental spruce, and Alcock’s spruce,
all of which are hardy, compact, and in the course
of years attain great size.
Extending all along the fence bordering the
highway clear to the house are irregular groups
of shrubbery disposed in bays and points of
foliage so as to give a park-like effect. ‘These
shrubs are dwarf barberries, white flowering
dogwoods, forsythias, hydrangeas, bush honey-
suckles, snowballs, and here and there dotted
among them several specimens of the beautiful
Chinese and Japanese magnolias.
[ 55 |
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
The drive itself is shaded with maples, elms,
and ashes planted at irregular distances from the
edge of the road and occasionally running out
into the lawn so as to take away the effect of a
mere open field. At intervals on the turns of the
road groups of large-sized shrubbery are thrown
boldly and effectively on each side so as to give
a sense of variety and surprise to persons driving
to the house. As the road sweeps up to the
house it finds masses of deciduous shrubbery and
trees, shutting out the kitchen and laundry end.
At the point where it reaches the front door and
the large open porch a liberal turn has been
devised, and here in the oval are planted two
fine groups of Japanese maples and on both
sides of the porch are arranged large groups
of beautiful evergreen Japanese azalea amoena.
A short path leads to the side of the house where
is another door and two paths diverge a short
distance to the street. |
Massed on both sides of these foot entrances,
and extending one hundred feet both ways along
the front fence to where the deciduous shrubs
begin, are masses of hybrid rhododendrons of the
finest and richest-colored varieties backed up in
the center by hardy native rhododendron maxi-
mums, while hybrid rhododendrons of smaller size
and greatest beauty of flower are kept generally
in the foreground. The outline of the bed and the
contour of the masses change continually in
graceful curves and billows of foliage.
A drive leads away from the main entrance of
[56 ]
TWO COUNTRY-PLACES
the house around the turn and out to the highway.
Around this entrance large masses of white pines
are grouped. From them, leading across the
place to the evergreens which cluster around the
garage, are masses of deciduous shrubs forming
an irregular hedge with a number of large shade
trees, existing and planted, rising from their midst.
The road from the house to the garage is shaded
by occasional maples, and where it joins the main
drive a considerable mass of trees and shrubs is
gathered together. From openings in this road
one can get a long view through a shallow valley
unimpeded by trees or shrubs which wander out
but do not obstruct it.
There are several other open lawns and vistas
of a similar kind on the place, and the art of the
planting is made to increase their value and
effectiveness.
An Alabama country-place shows quite similar
treatment in respect to contriving vistas and to
planting on both sides of the entrance gate and
at the sharp curves of the drive.
The hillside is extremely steep and, it will be
seen, the road had to be contrived so as to run as
much as possible on the contours of the property
with considerable cut and fill at different points.
The main open part is kept in front of the house
so as to give a sense of breadth to the view from the
principal entrance. ‘The steepness of the road
has been necessarily allowed to take the heavy
[57]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
grade of ten per cent which is considered in
most cases beyond the limit of comfort. Much
of this hillside was sodded on account of its abrupt-
ness, and other portions of it were planted with
Bermuda grass which thrives well in this climate
and although brown in winter gives a beautiful
green surface in summer. In some places this
winter condition has been overcome by sowing
perennial rye-grass which comes up quickly and
gives a bright greensward during the winter
months.
The peculiarity of the climate of Alabama is that,
in spite of its being hot and more or less dry, a
large proportion of the deciduous trees and shrubs
of the North will grow there. On the other hand,
many beautiful evergreens that thrive throughout
Europe and do not thrive in the North will also
erow there, such as the beautiful Cedrus deodara
or Indian cypress, the southern Magnolia grandi-
flora, and others. It is a little too far south for
rhododendrons to thrive well, but the shining
leaves of the laurel seen in Great Britain by the
million do well here, though in the Northern
States they are almost always cut down by the
frost. Large numbers were used on this plan
at the points marked 15. Their growth is very
rapid in this climate. It might be said that this
remark applies to all trees and shrubs growing
so far south, probably on account of the compara-
tively long seasons and the warm stimulating
climate.
It may be noted that here, as was the case in
[58 ]
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TWO COUNTRY-PLACES
the other country-place in Pennsylvania and as
should be the case in all country-places, the ever-
green trees are massed together in a territory
by themselves, diversified only now and then by
an outlying birch or other graceful deciduous
tree. A group of the fine blue spruce of the seed-
ling type, finer in color and shape than the deep
blue of the grafted form, stands by itself in the
middle of the lawn next to the street on a steep
slope. Nearer the house are the beautiful blue
concolor spruces with an English yew and a
Lawson cypress not far away.
The mass of the evergreen plantation is made
up of the Douglas spruce, Colorado blue spruce,
hemlock, noble silver fir, and nearer the house
the finer forms of the Indian cypress and pinsapo
fir with a mingling of Retinospora obtusa and the
green form of our northern red cedar. Near the
garage are Douglas spruces, junipers, and ret-
inosporas. In front of the house on the turn are
more junipers and yews and near by are the laurel
eroves. ‘These evergreens are located so as to shut
out regions and buildings which need screening
and to give a warm, solid background to the home
territory throughout the year.
In front of the house alongside the road and
alk are masses of deciduous trees and shrabs
so disposed as to open unexpected vistas and
shade the place. ‘The trees are the ordinary ones
of the North, elms, lindens, plane-trees, and the
quaint and hardy gingko or maiden-hair tree.
Adjoining the house in beds around the bay-
[59 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
windows and corners and alongside the entrance
are Azalea amoena and one or two other forms
of the beautiful flowering Japanese azaleas, and
bush honeysuckles. The autumn colors of this
place are illustrated by masses of white flowering
dogwoods and the native Andromeda arborea or
sour-wood.
[ 60 ]
XV
A JAPANESE TEA-GARDEN
UNDER the unfavorable circumstances for locat-
ing a Japanese tea-garden, a landscape-gardening
project at Southampton to which we shall now
give attention, the best that could be done was
to hide it in a corner, where large trees screened its
sides and rear with the help of an adjoining
carriage-house and garage. In front, a softly
rolling lawn extended one hundred yards to Mrs.
Thompson’s cottage and a little to the south more
than twice the distance to the shores of a lake.
The building erected by Japanese carpenters
was, for a tea-house, somewhat lofty, but pictur-
esque and characteristic. It was impossible to
give the full Japanese spirit to the surroundings
on account of conditions; therefore, it was thought
best to avoid the introduction of many common
features of Japanese gardens such as artificial
pools, iris borders, miniature winding streams
crossed by diminutive bridges, and in addition
numerous dwarfed oaks, pines, etc., a foot high
and perhaps fifty years old. All this seemed too
strained and artificial, in short, entirely unsuited
to the place.
The trees and shrubs used were simply Japanese,
the growth of some of which in time would be
[ 61 |
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
twenty feet or more and tend to shut in and isolate
from the rest of the place the Oriental air of the
building.
These trees consisted of cryptomerias and the
following :
Juniperus Chinensis, Arg. Var.
Juniperus Japonica aurea
Juniperus Japonica pfitzeriana
Juniperus squamata
Retinospora obtusa gracilis
Retinospora obtusa — gracilis
nana
Retinospora obtusa pygmea
Retinospora obtusa nana aurea
Retinospora obtusa lycopodi-
oides
Retinospora obtusa tetragona
aurea
Taxus cuspidata brevifolia
Tsuga Sieboldii
Cryptomeria Lobbi compacta
Pseudolarix, Kaempferi
Pinus Massoniana
Sciadopitys verticilata
It may be possible in such a situation to make
something that represents in a fashion a Japanese
garden, though it is doubtful whether in America
good taste in landscape gardening can afford to
admit its presence, so alien is it to our modes of
thought and action.
Under the best conditions, wherever visible in
our landscape, any Japanese garden will be almost
certain to strike a note of discord. The best
that can be done with it, outside of an art museum,
may be illustrated by a description of the way it
was used on a small estate seen by the writer on
the outskirts of Paris. Here a territory of three
or four acres was treated in a thoroughly scenic
and academic way. Qn one side of the French
windows and open veranda of the villa were the
vegetable garden and the outhouses. At the
[ 62 ]
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A JAPANESE TEA-GARDEN
front extended a bit of turf like a rich, green velvet
carpet, bordering which bulked a thick mass of
native trees, beeches, maples, elms, horse-chest-
nuts, etc. From the end of this plantation
appeared a winding stream or brook, planted
with wild flowers and spanned by rustic bridges,
with groups of trees and shrubs used in a natural
style, which contrived to help the perspective
scheme and lent the effect of distance. This
apparently completed the place, making Nature
quaint, dainty, neat, polished, and highly civilized.
Passing down a walk bordering the main group
of trees the tour de force of the place suddenly
appears from unexpected spaces: a Japanese tea-
garden and a perfect one. ‘The brook is bordered
by Japanese flowers and Japanese maples and
cherries, both dwarf and large-growing. ‘To com-
plete it all, there appeared an actual Japanese
_home in the shape of a little cottage occupied by
the gardener and his wife. The place was small,
but the labor and genius applied to it were in their
way astonishing. You were in another world
when you reached it, and before you reached it
you did not dream of its existence.
All this is very admirable and it is characteristic
of the way the French do much of their landscape
gardening. In America we want things different;
hedge-rows full of bright-berried bushes and varied
autumn colors; meadows full of pepperidges,
liquidambars, and thorns growing in irregular
groups along flowing brooks; wide-spreading grass
lands backed by woods generations old; hillsides
[ 63 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES |
of sumac and dogwood. On lines like these we
should work out our landscape art in America,
holding Nature as we find her, with only such
changes as our daily needs demand in the way of
comforts and conveniences and those horticultural
enrichments which do not violate the native spirit
of the scene.
[ 64]
XVI
THE SAGE SAG HARBOR HOME
Mrs. SaGeE selected a home in Sag Harbor
because she had many relatives and associations
there. The old homestead she had lived in as a
child, and the entire town, recalled memories
of her youth.
The house she finally bought had been, fifty
years ago, the domicile of an old whaling merchant,
and had the simplicity and dignity of the best
houses of that period. High Colonial columns set
off the front, extending two stories, as one often
sees in New England. Such a place, it was
thought, should be kept with as little change as
possible, so much only as was essential to fit
the necessities and comforts of modern days.
A fence made of round, white pickets, quaint
and in keeping with the buildings, enclosed about
three acres of ground. The lawn in front of the
house was dignified by the presence of three or
four great arching elms, with trunks three feet
in diameter and about sixty feet high. Along
the side of the house was a border of box and a
little terrace across reaching a lower level. Old-
fashioned flowers peeped up in corners and nooks.
The entire grounds had a distinctly old-time air.
It was not easy to suggest a landscape treat-
[ 65 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
ment of this place because anything of the garden-
esque, picturesque, or other typical landscape ~
method would certainly mar its spirit. It was
felt necessary to sacrifice nearly all ambitious
attempts of this kind. Straight walks bordering
the house and extending back to the stable and
vegetable garden were made; not because they
were, in the ordinary sense, beautiful, but because
they were fitting.
The grounds in front of the house were developed
in conventional landscape style by means of a
curving road coming in at one gate and passing
the house-front to the other gate, following more
or less the arc of a circle. The same landscape
treatment for the front was completed by arrang-
ing, in irregular beds along the borders of the
fence and curving in and out, great masses of
hybrid rhododendrons of the richest and most
hardy kinds—crimson, purple, pink, and white.
The plants on the remainder of the place con-
sisted almost entirely of roses and old-fashioned
flowers like larkspur; while shrubs and trees com-
pleted what was not accomplished by the rhodo-
dendrons, various kinds of dogwoods, snowballs,
bush honeysuckles, and some silver maples and
ash trees. ‘The old-fashioned flowers were planted
on the borders along the edges of the paths.
The principal landscape effect of this place,
after all, is the lawn. Here it was possible to
secure a long sweep of turf extending from the
front to the rear of the grounds with bordering
plantations on each side. It should be said that
[ 66 ]
GNVISI DNOI ‘NOdUVH DVS LV ANOH S.ADVS TIESsoy ‘SUN
THE SAGE SAG HARBOR HOME
this scheme of treatment has been amplified from
time to time by extending it over such additional
ground to the west as has been bought by Mrs.
Sage to enlarge the surroundings of the house.
The construction of this place was somewhat
difficult. The soil was poor and sandy. The
dry climate made it peculiarly difficult to grow
grass or trees and shrubs. In order to overcome
the difficulties presented in the character of the
soil, quantities of clay loam were brought from
several miles away. It is a scarce article in that
region. ‘This material was spread over the ground
to the depth of six inches and on its surface was
spread and well incorporated three inches of
thoroughly decomposed humus, without which
the clay loam would not have been a perfect soil.
The shaping and grading of the lawn with this
soil were very carefully done. Wherever the
planting was located, there elevated areas a few
inches above the general level were made. ‘The
remaining surface of the lawn was kept on easy-
flowing lines, just varying enough from the original
to give it a certain touch of elegance and artistic
effect.
The border of the drive and the edges of the
shrub and flower beds were carefully sodded with
strips about one foot wide. The roadbed itself
was made of an asphaltic earth which had been
found elastic and enduring, agreeable to the
tread, and not open to the objections of ordinary
asphalt. The character of the rhododendron
plantations was made irregular in appearance,
[ 67 |
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
up and down just as Nature under favorable
conditions would do it, but with just a touch of
art. These beds, moreover, consist of masses
of single kinds of rhododendrons, a large group
of red here, a mass of purple there, the whites
carefully kept where they would blend well from
purple into red. Some beds, again, were laid
out all of one kind, Altogether there may be
fifteen or twenty varieties. It should be said that
the climatic conditions at Sag Harbor are favor-
able to rhododendrons. Some of these groups
surround the elms, and the eye is led in and out
among them in a way that tends to magnify the
area of the grounds. The large size of the house
made it necessary to give the grounds as extended
an effect as possible.
The lawns were sown with Kentucky blue-
grass and have now developed into fine turf
without further fertilization than the harrowing
into the sandy soil of a liberal ae of thor-
oughly decayed humus.
In a corner of the place in the rear, to one side,
and shut off by the lattice work of a clothes-
drying ground, is a vegetable garden containing
asparagus and strawberry beds, raspberries, black-
berries, and the usual vegetables for the daily
use of the house. Across the extreme rear of the
place is a road arranged for service purposes in
connection with the garden, outbuildings, and
kitchen.
[ 68 ]
7
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CONTOUR MAP
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ORIGINAL CONTOURS
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Division St
Farrer St
HIGH SCHOOL GROUNDS
XVII
PIERSON HIGH SCHOOL
THE situation of this school is on a high knoll
with hummocky rolling land all around. Coarse,
gravelly sand constitutes the soil of the entire
property, sterile in the extreme. The location
of the building evidently had to be on the apex
or highest point of this territory; but the space
was so narrow that the entire crown of the hill
was cut down two to three feet in order to give
a sufficient space in front of the structure to allow
a vehicle to turn conveniently and give the build-
ing a sense of fitness to its surroundings.
The grading of the rest of the place was com-
plicated and difficult. Irregularities had to be
removed and hollows filled up to secure long
sweeping lines and graceful contours. Wherever
the planting-spaces came, slightly raised contours
were made to give prominence to the effect of the
trees and shrubs set there: larkspurs, hollyhocks,
irises, bleeding heart, and the like. At least
twelve thousand cubic feet of soil were moved
from one place to another before this work was
completed. This scheme was carried out from
calculations in accordance with sections made
from a contour map with elevations of one foot
shown at the intersections of squares of fifty
feet. 3
[ 69 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
The enclosure of this territory was accomplished
by a wire fence made of netting and iron posts
anchored in the ground.
A short drive with an open plaza in front of
the main door of the school-building was laid out,
and two winding walks lead from the two corners
of the property adjacent to the most important
road bounding it.
The scheme of the planting was suitable to
that of most small places, an irregular border of
trees and shrubs around the outskirts with the
entrance and corners emphasized with larger
groups of trees and shrubs.
The theory of the treatment of the grove of
oaks, in the rear, was to keep it open and encourage
grass. Appropriately placed are seats, swings,
and other devices for outdoor amusements.
Owing to the somewhat bleak and dreary
character of the scenery and the fact that the
climate of Sag Harbor is softened by the misty
sea air and favorable to the growth of evergreens,
a considerable plantation of Douglas firs and
white pines was used around both foot entrances
in order to give the place a cozy and comfortable
appearance in winter. These are among the
best evergreens for such a climate and soil.
On both sides of the walks, about forty or
fifty feet apart, and along the borders of the prop-
erty as far back as the school-house, were planted
Norway maples which do well in comparatively
poor soil, attain considerable size, and retain their
health and beauty for many years. On each
[70]
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PIERSON HIGH SCHOOL
side of some steps, constructed on one of the
paths to overcome a steep grade, are planted
several Norway maples and between them a
large mass of the beautiful Regel’s privet which
keeps picturesque and comparatively dwarf for
many years. On the other side of the building,
at the junction of the path and the drive, a con-
siderable group of native hawthorn is placed, and
at the entrance of the drive are grouped large
masses of snowballs, known as the highbush
cranberry, and Regel’s privet. In front of the
building no trees are planted, so that an open
vista may be left directly across the longest way
to the main street.
Throughout the entire borders among the
Norway maples are planted hydrangeas, bush
honeysuckles, forsythias, Japanese raspberries,
snowballs, Spirzea opulifolia or ninebark, and other
shrubs. ‘These kinds are selected for their various
bloom throughout the season and their vigorous
nature adaptable to all kinds of soil. Al newly
planted trees were carefully staked to prevent
blowing over.
The wire fence surrounding the place was
planted with Japanese honeysuckles which in a
year or two will make a complete hedge effect
_ of almost evergreen foliage.
In reference to walks and concrete steps which
in this instance were used to overcome an especially
difficult grade, it should be mentioned that where,
as in this case, the arrangement is feasible, steps
should be clustered together with frequent land-
[71]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
ings and always at the steepest part of the terri-
tory traversed. The risers of the steps should
never be more than six inches high, and even an
inch less is better. ‘The tread should be eleven
or twelve inches. A low curb on the side will
protect the bordering bank from injury by those
afoot. The banks on each side should be heaped
up and on them trees and shrubs so planted as
to keep the steps out of view.
No rock-work was used in connection with the
steps of these school-grounds as the country
there is sandy and free from anything suggesting
the use of rocks.
The improvement and preparation of the poor
gravelly soil for the purpose of making the lawn
were brought about by carting clay loam from a
place three miles distant and spreading it about
six inches thick and then mixing with it two
inches of well-decomposed humus to supply the
necessary organic matter.
The borders of the walks had to be made with
strips of sod, but the main lawn was sown with
Kentucky blue-grass as a base, mixed with Rhode
Island bent, creeping bent, and redtop. This
seed was raked in thoroughly and then rolled
with a heavy iron hand-roller without further
treatment except to supply moisture from hydrants
which were set every two hundred feet throughout
the grounds. ‘These hydrants were rendered neces-
sary because of the sandy soil and infrequent
rain which characterize the climate of Sag Harbor.
Were it not for the humid air from the near-by
[72]
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ocean, growth would be almost impossible. Finally
the bare appearance of the school-building was
relieved by covering a considerable portion of the
walls with Japanese ivy.
The walks and roads were covered with the
same kind of asphaltic earth as that used at Mrs.
Sage’s Sag Harbor home and for the same reason.
This High School was built and the grounds laid
out by Mrs. Sage as a donation to her native
place.
[73 ]
XVIII
AN ISLAND HOME
In the midst of Long Island Sound, a mile or
more from the Connecticut shore, stands a sandy
bowlder-strewn island and a house or two of no
particular consequence not far away. A light-
house for years has stood on one point. Other-
wise the island has been little developed, having
principally been the abode of a wide-spread growth
of ailanthus, the suckers of which have overrun
almost everything. No one apparently knows
whence the ailanthus came, but it has taken full
possession with the exception of a few isolated
outlying patches of bayberry bushes and wild
vines.
The last owner conceived the idea of making
himself a home on this barren island with its
pure air and tide-swept shores. Sailing and
boating he could easily command, and the house,
barns, garden, lawns, and boat landings he pro-
posed to create in a somewhat leisurely way that
would fit it gradually to his needs and secure
for him the greatest enjoyment of the natural
beauties of the place.
The house designed for him is simple and
fitted to the spot. It is of no special type of
architecture unless it be that of a Norman farm
[74]
AN ISLAND HOME
house. It is long and rambling and affords
every comfort and even luxury. The dining-room
and associated apartments stand a hundred feet
away from the main house, connected by a vine-
clad pergola and a garden. At the other end
of the group of buildings has been erected a
boat landing and all along the front is con-
structed a great sea wall, at some points twenty
feet high, forming a series of platforms on the
highest of which stands the main house.
This sea wall makes one of the most notable
features of the place, with its massive pile of big
bowlders, some of which are many tons in weight.
The base of the sea wall is much wider than the
top, thus giving a sense of solidity. ‘The topmost
edge, where cut coping would be generally placed,
is finished with water-worn bowlders of smaller
size and comparatively even surfaces, giving only
a slightly waving line. On the inside of this
first parapet wall is carried a hidden path about
two feet below the top of the wall and bounded
on the other side by the wall supporting the upper
terrace on which the house stands.
Pockets of earth are contrived along the edge
of this path on both sides where vines can be
planted, particularly Virginia creeper, actinidia,
and the hybrid wichuriana roses. ‘The object of
these climbers, especially on the outer wall, is
to modify its bleak aspect by occasional masses
of clinging foliage. ‘The front of this sea wall
is usually wind and wave swept. An attempt
has been made still further to modify the bleak-
[75]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
ness of the bare wall and bowlder-strewn shores
by planting bullrushes, the tall salt marsh-grass
with its brown plumes, and the native grass of
the island.
One peculiarity of the sea wall is that it presents
the appearance of having been built without
cement, consequently it contains many nooks
and corners which, by the use of a few scraps of
stone here and there, can be made to hold a
considerable quantity of earth. These inter-
stices have been filled with a strong clay mold
brought from the mainland, the native soil
being too light and sandy to hold plants in
these spaces.
Some of the nooks are occupied by dwarf
plants like andromedas, and certain evergreen
azaleas and rhododendrons are planted at the
base of the wall, where also are the vines. In
the holes above are planted saxifrages, sedums,
prickly pears, and other small rock plants that
grow with little moisture or depth of soil. In
other places, especially in the cracks of the pave-
ment of the terraces, wild tuft grasses are set out
in spots here and there. All this is done to give
the effect that nature had retained or at least
regained some foothold on these bare rocks.
With the same view of suggesting that nature had
undertaken to regain possession were planted
many red cedars and Douglas spruces from
five to ten feet in height, on the land side of the
group of buildings to the north and east. Between
these cedars and the group of buildings masses
[ 76 ]
AN ISLAND HOME
of deciduous trees and shrubs shut in and protected
the house from northerly storms.
The island itself in other parts was given over
to open lawns, groves of evergreen and deciduous
trees, and occasional masses of wild bayberry-
bush effects. The ailanthus was almost entirely
rooted out except an occasional isolated specimen,
which was retained on account of its essential
beauty, for there is no more desirable tree than
the ailanthus if it were not for its suckering pro-
pensities and disagreeable odor.
The general appearance of the island was not
seriously modified by all this work; just enough
home-like effect of lawns and trees was introduced
to suggest the idea of human habitation.
The vegetable garden was shut in on at least
three sides by farm buildings and high rough
banks constructed of roots and turf accumulated
in removing the ailanthus and cultivating the
soil. Over these rough ramparts were planted
wild vines of all sorts; Virginia creepers, grapes,
honeysuckles, and bittersweet. Within this inclos-
ure were set the vegetable garden and poultry
yard. By this means the general effect of the
place was kept comparatively natural and wild.
The only essentially artificial feature of this
island treatment lay in the house garden, and
this was entirely screened on all sides by vine-
clad pergola, house, dining-room, and shrubbery,
deciduous tree and red cedar plantation.
Three designs were made for the treatment
of this one-hundred-feet four-square garden.
Pree
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
The first result to be sought for this house garden
was to inclose it with deciduous shrubs and vines
on all sides. To the north a solid row of California
privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium, was set three feet
apart in the row. This privet is liable to become
somewhat stiff in form on account of the
pruning necessary to fit it for a hedge. For
the same reason it is apt to become bare at the
bottom. In order to overcome this tendency
and vary and solidify the effect, the Regel’s
privet, Ligustrum regelianum, was used along
the base of the hedge. This, with the trees and
the shrubs on the farther side, afforded very
necessary shelter to ‘the rose garden adjoining.
Next to this rose garden was arranged a border
of deciduous shrubs with herbaceous plants on each
side and then the general grouping of the garden
across to the pergola. At the extreme eastern end
of the garden is a small water-lily pool and against
the dining-room building are masses of rhododen-
drons with red cedars among them. ‘The general
effect of the place is an irregularly bordered
series of three paths of grass, running at right
angles to the house and forming long vistas.
For the treatment of the garden itself, which
is one hundred feet four-square, these alternative
designs were made.
The first of these schemes contemplates an
effect of evergreens in the main garden through-
out the year. This presupposes the presence
of climbers, roses, and deciduous shrubs in other
parts of the garden. The evergreens used are
[ 78 ]
PLANTING PLAN FOR GARDEN BELONGING TO
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Lilacs
Luonymus Alatus
Viburnum Sebold)
Spiraea Anthony Waterer
Acer Polymorphum
Viburnum Olatatum
Spiraea Thunbergit
Fhodotypus Herrioides
Bhododengrons
13. Anemone YVoponica Fink
Aremona Japonica White
Iris Heempferi
Phlox Decussata
Aloses
Ligustrum Ovelifolium
Ligustrum Plegehanum
White Birch
Bred Ceaar
SOSNAGAUNK
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Joparese /ris
Goilardtie Grandiflora
Poeonia Officinalis
Sforesia Cyorea
Anemone Queen Charlot:
Anemore Whirlwind
Phlox While
Phlox Pink, or Crimsan
Dienthus Latifohus
Sedum
Sax ifraga
A
a
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ia
F
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J
n
6
Samvel Forsons & Co.
St dares
Londscope Archtfeate
Blég Wom York
PLAN OF A SMALL GARDEN ON SHEFFIELD ISLAND, CONNECTICUT
AN ISLAND HOME
different varieties of Japanese retinospora, juniper,
yew, both Japanese and American, and the curious
umbrella pine of Japan closely allied to the yews.
By the employment of about a dozen varieties
of these evergreens a wide variation of color effect
is produced, ranging from the deepest green
through the shades of gold, purple, and blue. In
all cases the most dwarf plants are kept in the
central beds, with the sizes increasing in undulating
contours, with high points carefully developed in
each group, a system without formality. These beds
spread like a Persian carpet over a broad stretch
of the center of the garden. Many low dwarf
evergreens are kept along the borders of the
grassy walks, thus varying somewhat their line
and color. In order to keep these evergreens in
perfection and in proper relation to one another
for a considerable length of time, it would be
necessary to pinch them or use the knife just
before the young growth comes to ripeness in
order to induce compactness.
The beauty of such a garden as this for both
winter and summer would be unrivaled if it were
not for the danger of winter killing some of the
evergreens. Moreover, there would be a little
monotony in the purely evergreen effect, brilliant
as it is during certain parts of the season. Also
fewer herbaceous plants could be used in this
than in the other scheme of treatment.
The second design, which was the one eventu-
ally chosen by the owners of the island and
carried out in detail, contemplates the use of de-
[ 79 |
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
ciduous plants united with a large quantity of
herbaceous ones. The dominant effect of this
scheme is June and autumn color, especially |
that of autumn. It comprises Thunberg’s bar-
berry, Andromeda arborea, white-flowering dog-
wood (Cornios florida), E-uonymus alatus, Japa-
nese maple, Thunberg’s spirea, all splendidly
colored in autumn. ‘There are lilacs here and
other spireas and snowballs and the Japanese
raspberry (Rhodotypus kerrioides). With these
are mixed in great quantities herbaceous plants
like Japanese iris, pinks, phlox, and anemone
for autumn effect. In the center are two groups
of beautiful varieties of sedum and saxifrage,
spreading out like mats of coral brought up from
the bottom of the sea.
This whole arrangement is unrivaled in beauty
in June and possibly in autumn, although that
might afford a reasonable subject for discussion;
yet, though there are splendid effects among the
different colored evergreens, there is nothing
more refined and delicate than this beautiful
autumn deciduous foliage of tree and shrub.
The third and last scheme for this garden,
though like the first not acted upon, may prove
suggestive for projects of a similar character. It
is essentially a bedding arrangement. It involves
the growing of tender plants, annual or biennial,
in greenhouses or cold frames, such as Coleus,
geraniums, alternantheras, cannas, castor-oil beans,
acalyphas, and achyranthas. More than this,
it involves planting the color designs of the bed-
[ 80 ]
AN ISLAND HOME
ding with tulips in the autumn for the following
spring effect. This spring effect can also be
accomplished with pansies and daisies, the latter
of which is perhaps the more lasting. The plan
calls for its most splendid and most dwarf effect
in the middle of the garden, where two beds are
made of two varieties of the brilliant red achyran-
thas. The other beds are arranged as elsewhere
with varying contours with castor-oil plants and
cannas and réd salvias at the highest points.
Many of the borders are planted with the low
grass-like growth of the brilliant red and yellow
alternantheras and at other places taller plants,
such as geraniums and centaurias, push out to
the very edge.
These bedding-plants, properly treated, can pre-
sent their full effect by the first of July if planted
about the middle of May. But they are fine
from the moment they are set out and they increase
in splendor and glow of color until just before
a heavy frost strikes them in October, when they
seem to surpass themselves in richness of tone.
In suggesting a plan involving this showy kind of
gardening it was considered that the results
would fully justify the expense and _ trouble,
because there was a greenhouse on the place which
in any case had to be heated and here the gardener
could readily produce the bedding-plants required.
[81]
XIX
EVERGREENS
EvrerGREENS have their place in landscape
gardening and should be employed wherever
they look well and do well. The difficulty is
that they are a little sluggish in their habits, owing
to the fact that they retain their foliage for so
long a period. Some of them are hard to trans-
plant, others are peculiarly sensitive to cold in
early spring when warm days and hot winds suc-
ceeded by cold blasts will chill the sap and brown
the evergreen foliage in an hour. In other words,
they are handicapped by their leaves.
The function of evergreens in the landscape
is to give a warm and agreeable appearance of
foliage in winter and to diversify and strengthen
the character of the landscape in summer.
To accomplish this it is especially necessary
to mass evergreens together; to isolate them from
deciduous trees; to concentrate and cumulate
their effect. ‘The tones of their color should be
studied and blended in groups. The different
shades of green should be brought together and
the bright yellows and shining blues used spar-
ingly, if at all. Decorative effect in borders,
window boxes, etc., admit of other and more
artificial effects.
[ 82 ]
HONVUO ‘NUVA NOLHONOH LV SNAAUOUATAT ONIGNOUD NI ACNLS V
MUOA MAN “ALNNOO
EVERGREENS
Evergreens may be divided into two distinct
classes of form, namely erect and spreading, and
much good taste may be displayed in devising
agreeable relations between these types. There
are spots doubtless where evergreens of the erect
form have their place standing alone in isolated
beauty, but this erect form should be kept per-
fectly natural. The knife and _pruning-shears
should never be allowed to mutilate them in
order to produce fancied symmetry which really
destroys their natural form.
Certain freakish growth of branch or twig may
require removal on rare occasions, and a great
deal can be done by pinching and starting the tree
in the right way by stakes when small. But
when the tree assumes its specific form it should
be nourished and cultivated but otherwise let
alone.
The list submitted below includes only ever-
greens that can be safely depended upon in the
climate of our Middle and Eastern States. If
they are likely to be exposed to specially cold
winds or other like vicissitudes of winter and
spring, it is well to protect them during their
earlier years with some loose covering like corn-
stalks, sheaves of straw, or boards. Coverings of
any kind which exclude the air are injurious. Need-
less to say, evergreens above all plants should have
fibrous roots produced by frequent transplanting,
should be planted in mellow, well-drained soil and
above all not too deeply. The soil should not be too
rich and stimulating, as evergreens are apt in that
[83
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
case to produce immature growth late in the season
and winter ill.
LIST OF EVERGREENS FOR MIDDLE AND EASTERN
STATES.
Abies homolepis (P. brachyphylla).
Cilicica, Cilician fir.
concolor.
Douglasii, Douglas fir.
Mariesil.
Sachalinensis.
Veitchii.
Biota Orientalis elegantissima.
Cryptomeria Japonica lobbi compacta.
Juniperus Canadensis ........:........ Canadian juniper.
Chinensis procumbens : Shoe
2 : re eee Chinese juniper.
Chinensis
communis PUeCIEA « .2/).\ sos vee a Swedish juniper.
communis Cracovica.
PAOONICA SO hi coke che chek We gees Japanese juniper.
Japonica Pfitzeriana.
Virginiana. |
Virginiana glauca. U Ren Ore oe Gate ey Red cedar.
Virginiana Schottii. |
Picemralien © eis) Fa aren oe eee tle wie wee White spruce.
Wicetkiana sc yes ea ees Alcock’s spruce.
Hinpelmiantincer sais, v ae ee Sine eas Engelman’s spruce.
PXCOISH GY bo nite ted Meee cee ce otek Norway spruce.
Omorica.
Onrientalis (s23)5.2 eee eae Oriental spruce.
polite ts hieo ae ere oe ee ea Tiger-tail spruce.
PUNBENS <5 eee ee eae eae Blue spruce.
Pins Austriaca, ss. sn see ee ee Austrian pine.
Cembraico2 03 304 eae eee Swiss stone pine.
densiflora.
CXCEISASS Ssh coe Sao e iee yeas Bhotan pine.
ee eee ee
SS ws =
EVERGREENS
Pinus flexilis.
Koraiensis.
Massoniana.
Mughus.
parviflora.
SUrUaIS Le ea lee ecve ee da yiboss (elles 2% White pine.
Retinospora obtusa gracilis
obtusa filicoides
obtusa pygmea (nana)
pues Japanese cypress
ee oe ae
pisifera filifera
pisifera filifera aurea
pisifera squarrosa
eciadopitys veruciiata. 0.25 .\. se. os Japanese umbrella pine.
Taxus cuspidata brevifolia
: Gav ena to 53 . Japanese yew.
cuspidata capitata
@anadensisie ys ayia cs na neces Canadian yew.
Canadensis repandens............. Spreading yew.
Canadensis Washingtonii.
Manga Canadensisn (acs ea ys es shein American hemlock.
diversifolia.
le Diabet cf cayenne latin sis 37a on Japanese hemlock.
[ 85 ]
XX
RHODODENDRONS
Iv has been often said that England and Hol-
land have the advantage over America in growing
rhododendrons, while America triumphs in her
deciduous trees and shrubs of which she has so
great a variety. When it comes to evergreens,
including both conifer and broad-leaved types,
such as rhododendrons, the difference is less
marked when one understands the subject. In
America a large portion of the culture of rhodo-
dendrons has been carried on by gardeners who
have gained their experience chiefly in England
or on the Continent. In this country, with a
peculiar and perhaps natural prejudice, these
gardeners have often adhered blindly to the
kinds they were accustomed to use in England
and simply blamed our beastly climate for their
repeated failures.
During the last ten or fifteen years, however,
increasing wealth and a love for horticulture
have greatly advanced the growing of rhododen-
drons in this country. This has led to a more intelli-
gent study of the shrub in its new environment.
As an actual fact, however, America is the home
of several of the best species.
In North Carolina the exhibition of maximum
and catawbiense rhododendrons excites the won-
[ 86 ]
———$—$_____ —
RHODODENDRONS
der of all travelers; and it has come to pass that
larger and larger plantations of the native kinds
are being used in parks and country-places. ‘The
foliage of both those varieties is entirely satisfactory
and if it were not that the flowers are somewhat
insignificant and wanting in richness of color
there would be no necessity for going to England
for rhododendrons.
In the process of improving the various kinds
in both England and on the Continent, hybrid-
izing and selection of seedlings have been used
with most remarkable results. Ponticum from
Asia Minor; arboreum from the Himalayas,
and still other kinds have been used to enrich
and vary the color of the petal and increase the
size of the truss of flowers. Many of these kinds
have failed to be hardy in England, others- do
well there and yet do not thrive in America.
The skill of the growers is great, but they can not
make the kinds that are imbued with the southern
blood always stand the rigors of the north even
in England. Moreover, many more plants die
there than is ordinarily supposed. On the other
hand, there are nooks and corners all over Eng-
land and Scotland, particularly in the South,
where the tenderest rhododendrons thrive in an
astonishing manner; but this affords no criterion
for selecting kinds suitable to America. The
more tender varieties are likely to have a strain
of the arboreum blood in the catawbiense type,
although the breeding of plants is apt to reveal
strange freaks of inheritance.
[87]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
The only safe test for the hardiness of a plant
is its behavior in any locality for a long period of
years. Even then one will be surprised to see
a kind, always deemed hardy, fail in an apparently
well-protected place, while in another specially
bleak spot a comparatively tender variety will
astonish us by thriving. What is the deduction
from this somewhat baffling experience? Simply
that the behavior of the different kinds should
be studied throughout ten, fifteen, or twenty
years in several adjacent localities with different
exposures.
From the notes obtained in this way a general
average of excellence is established. This kind
of scientific observation has been going on for
at least twenty years in at least one or two places
in America, with the result that the whole body
of rhododendron-growers has been thereby greatly
enlightened.
Some of the hardiest and best kinds have been
produced in America from the selection of good
seedlings.
The so-called process of hybridizing as applied
to rhododendrons in most cases is really not
hybridizing at all, but a development from repeated
selection from a multitude of seedlings of individ-
ual plants showing excellent qualities or marked
characteristics and repeating the process for
several generations.
A list of hardy rhododendrons suited to the
climate of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia
will be found in this chapter. ‘The list may seem
[ 88 ]
RHODODENDRONS
a short one, but it is conservative and based on the
experience of nearly two generations in America.
There are several other species of rhododendrons
which are dwarf and very hardy, Rhododendron
punctatum from the mountain slopes of North
Carolina, Rhododendron ferrugineum, and R. hir-
sutum from the European Alps. From the Cauca-
sus come at least two hardy species, Smirnoi and
Ungerni, with foliage like the Edelweiss or Alpen
snowflower. Rhododendron Wilsonii is an attract-
ive species. All of these are extremely hardy.
From China come several hardy species, notably
Rhododendron Kaempferii, which has been tested
for a number of years in the Arnold arboretum.
Still others may be expected from the same source.
The character of soil has much to do with
the success of rhododendrons. In the woods a
sandy soil covered with plenty of leaves seems
to favor them, doubtless because it enables the
wood to ripen properly. In cultivated grounds
where humus is usually deficient the addition of
a strong soil containing plenty of clay and a good
modicum of organic matter is best suited to their
development. On the other hand, it should not _
have too much stimulating manure where the
easily liberated ammonia tends to produce a
succulent growth in the latter part of the summer
and even in autumn, which exposes it to injury.
during the following winter and spring. This
stimulation also leads to an overgrowth of leaf
buds instead of flower buds.
The surest way to obtain a healthy, vigorous,
[ 89 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
normal growth is to mulch heavily with leaves or
other rotting organic matter soon after planting.
The value of the mulching effect is well under-
stood.
Care of rhododendrons consists chiefly in remov-
ing the excess of flower buds, taking away the
fading flowers as soon as they show signs of decay,
and watering during dry periods even as late as
November if the drought has been considerable.
The weakening effect of autumn drought has
caused more rhododendrons to die in the following
March than the extreme cold of the winter. A
good way to break the severity of the winds
throughout the winter and the spring is to place
evergreen boughs thrust in the ground throughout
the rhododendron groups, thus sheltering them.
The maintenance of a large group of rhododen-
drons calls for almost daily attention throughout
summer and autumn. Not only are the foregoing
precautions necessary, but protection must be pro-
vided against the insects which will come as they
come to all plants. Fungous growths may appear.
Mice may invade the mulch in winter, all of which
must be guarded against. After planting rhodo-
dendrons and mulching them, there is no need
of cultivation with fork or spade. Indeed, it
may prove positively injurious.
LIST OF HARDY RHODODENDRONS
Abraham Lincoln, rosy crimson
Album elegans, light blush, marked with straw-color, fading white
Album grandiflorum, light blush, fading white
[ 90]
RHODODENDRONS
Alexander Dancer, bright rose, with lighter center
Amarantinora, large light rose
Atrosanguineum, blood-red
Boule de Neige, blush white
Candidissimum, blush white, fading pure white
Catawbiense bicolor, rose, white center
Charles Bagley, cherry-red
Charles Dickens, dark scarlet
Charles S. Sargent, rich crimson
Charles Thorold, purple, with beautiful bronze blotch
Daisy Rand, deep crimson, beautifully spotted
Delicatissimum, white blush, edged pink
Dr. Torrey, rose
Edward S. Rand, rich scarlet
Everestianum, rosy lilac, spotted yellow
Flushing, rosy scarlet, beautifully spotted
F. D. Godman, crimson, with a beautiful dark blotch
F. L. Ames, pale rose
General Grant, rosy scarlet
Glennyanum, blush white
Hannibal, rose
H. H. Hunnewell, rich dark crimson
H. W. Sargent, crimson, enormous trusses
Henrietta Sargent, pink, with yellow blotch
Henry Probasco, deep carmine, fringed
Ignatius Sargent, rosy scarlet, enormous trusses
James Bateman, clear rosy scarlet
James Macintosh, rosy scarlet, spotted
J. R. Trumpy, rosy crimson
Kettledrum, rich purplish crimson
Kissena, lavender, beautifully crimped
King of the Purples, beautiful purple
Lady Armstrong, pale rose, beautifully spotted
Lady Grey Egerton, light mauve or silvery blush
Lee’s dark purple
Mabel Parsons, rose blush
Macranthum, large bright rose
[91]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
Maximum roseum, pink, with a yellow blotch
Maximum superbum, large rose
Melton, rich purple, with very dark center
Metternichi, common white rhododendron of northern Japan
Mrs. Arthur Hunnewell, pink with primrose center
Mrs. H. S. Hunnewell, white
Mrs. Harry Ingersoll, deep rosy-lilac, greenish-yellow blotch
Mrs. Milner, rich crimson
Mrs. C. S. Sargent, bright pink with yellow blotch
Old Port, rich plum color
President Roosevelt, plum color
Purpureum crispum, clear purple, fringed
Purpureum elegans, fine purple
Purpureum grandiflorum, large purple
Parsons grandiflorum, rosy purple
Rosabel, pale rose
Roseum luteum, pink, with yellow blotch
R. S. Field, scarlet
Scipio, fine rose, deep rose
Sefton, dark maroon
Senator Chas. Sumner, rose and light purple
S. B. Parsons, very dark crimson
Smirnowi, beautiful rose
Speciosum, showy pink
[92]
— ee =
LEO —
XXI
MRS. RUSSELL SAGE’S MILE OF RHODO-
DENDRONS IN CENTRAL PARK
Wuen Mrs. Russell Sage decided to give of
her bounty to Central Park, where she and her
husband had spent so many happy hours, she was
led to select as a suitable place for improvement
the barren and somewhat bare bank along the
East Drive commencing at 86th Street.
It was suggested to her that the spot lent itself
well to rhododendrons. Surrounding conditions
resembled favored spots in the native woods where
rhododendrons grew. ‘The place was sheltered
by a bank fifteen feet high and partially shaded
by large maples, elms, beeches, and _plane-trees
standing at considerable distances apart. The
appearance of rhododendrons, both as to foliage
and flowers, seemed enhanced by this partial
seclusion.
The theory followed in making this plantation
of rhododendrons was to mass the taller and
hardier ones (the maximums) at the back and
high up on the slope, and to keep the smaller ones,
fine-flowering hybrids, and Rhododendron cataw-
biense, in the front. The arrangement was con-
tinually varied by boldly breaking this rule at
certain points. For instance, on a higher point of
[93 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
land rising up from the general contour of the
bank would be carried out almost to its point a
mass of the large maximums. Creeping in a great
bay or mass of foliage up the bank would go, on
the other hand, a lot of smaller hybrids. And
so, throughout the entire length of the drive,
following the contours of the ground as they
waved up and down, would alternate promon-
tories of maximums and deep bays of hybrids.
Under the trees as far. as possible were planted
maximums of small size, as they endure shade
better than any other species of rhododendrons.
The hybrids, moreover, require sunlight to develop
the beautiful colors of their flowers and were
therefore planted in the more open spaces. One
readily sees, by considering the accompanying
picture, that although a certain system is visible
in the disposition of the plants, yet the bays and
promontories are very marked and the billowing
effect of the planting is clearly indicated. Al-
though the bank does protect the plants to a
considerable degree, yet it is bleak and exposed
to sweeping blasts of the cold north wind in March
and April, just after a premature bit of spring-
like weather has opened the pores of the plants
and started the sap moving. Because of this it
was found necessary to select unusually hardy
kinds of hybrid rhododendrons which had been
tested in this particular climate and soil for many
years, as it is well known that the hardiness of
rhododendrons is very unreliable. A hundred
miles difference in latitude, or a few hundred
[ 94]
MUVd TVUYLNGO OL
AOVS TTASSOU SUN Ad NAHAIO NOILVLNVId NOUGNHGOGOHAU AO
Att AICS
ena ge ree
MUIA
MRS. SAGE’S MILE OF RHODODENDRONS
feet in altitude, or the proximity of seashore or
mountains, would mean the difference between
success and failure.
The fertility of the natural soil on the entire
area of this tract was leached out by the rains
washing down its steep slopes, leaving hardly
anything but sand. The rhododendron likes mel-
low, fertile soil and revels in decayed organic
matter. However, an overabundance of nitroge-
nous food, such as stable manure or certain chemical
fertilizers furnish, is liable to produce an excessive
growth of wood throughout the season. This
invites partial or entire destruction of the plant
during the following winter or spring.
The rhododendron does not necessarily prefer
heavy clay soil, but often grows well in a sandy
one where shade and natural conditions abound.
In the exposed and dry conditions of Central
Park, however, a heavier soil than the very sandy
one found there is required. It was thought that
at least twenty-five per cent of clay should be
used, whereas in the sandy park soil only five
to ten per cent of clay existed. ‘To this was added
a modicum of natural decayed organic matter
or humus, producing a soil containing about
twenty per cent of organic matter as compared
to five or six per cent in the natural soil where
the plantation was made.
After the Sage rhododendrons were planted
somewhat deeply in this soil it was covered with
a mulch of four or five inches of leaves because,
unlike most other hardwood shrubs, the rhodo-
[95 ]
LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES
dendron shows a continual tendency to make roots
upward to the very surface and the rotting mulch
protects these roots in winter and spring and retains
the moisture.
The moisture-retaining power of this made soil,
moreover, is greatly increased by the large humus
content, as this material will retain several times
its own weight in water, while sand will not hold
more than one-fourth of its weight.
The care of these rhododendrons in the park is
deemed most important, and it has been the prac-
tice to use the sprinkling-hose freely in the evening
during the growing-season when the sun is setting
or in the early morning. ‘This is done only during
dry periods, as overwatering is harmful and unduly
stimulates the growth. The watering is dis-
continued in August when the actual growth of
the plant is finished and the proper ripening of
the wood becomes important. Sometimes, how-
ever, an extreme drought in the autumn makes it
advisable to water freely every few days, as many
rhododendrons die during the following winter
and spring from a drought in the fall. In the
season of bloom all faded flowers are immediately
removed to give the plant full play for leaf develop-
ment.
It is well worth while to any one visiting Central
Park in the latter part of May or early June to
see this mile of Mrs. Sage’s rhododendrons, purple,
crimson, pink, and white masses of solid color
hardly equaled in the whole range of floral effect
in the temperate zone.
[96 ]
NOILVINVId NOWANAGOGOHU S.ADVS ‘SUN FAO MHIA ZAHLO
MRS. SAGE’S MILE OF RHODODENDRONS
LIST OF RHODODENDRONS
Abraham Lincoln
Album Elegans
Album grandiflorum
Alexander Dancer
Atrosanguineum
Boule de Neige
Chas. Bagley
Chas. Dickens
Delicatissimum
Edward 8S. Rand
Everestianum
General Grant
H. H. Hunnewell
H. W. Sargent
Kettledrum
Lady Armstrong
Mrs. Milner
Old Port
President Roosevelt
Parsons grandiflorum
Purpureum elegans
Purpureum grandiflorum
R. S. Field
[97]
A
PAGE
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Walle aster Se arene ar CRIME Ae RAID LON geared te ca 47, 76
B
Baceharie halimafolia is hoe fete ee eats hate 23
15-720 65) oan oa RnR uP gn rr RSE SAO ec amg A a 55, 74, 80
| 521) C RAORA carl OR ME IMCL ate Pk Sotel AbD Al tay Crs oy OPER EAE ee CER aT
PAGE
Bayberry: 25305 Spun Team ohee A ee tele Bake Cae ee 24, 74, 77
Bedding-plants 3). 500 oo Gee otek eee ee 24, 81
Beech os as es ee ee ea Ee ae ee ene 63
Beech, Huropean.. 0055 stoke eee eee ee on eee 30, 44
Bermuda grass: .2si.2. So Wine stat aang nie eee ne ee 58
Birches ie k Fae ee Se ee ee de 59
Birch; weepitig s 00:52. G ie s5 fate ane ane ace eee eee 50
Birch; white ose Se ee Sindbis 2 oe es eee 30, 48
Birch; “yellow vis-3s bodes SSS as ae reer et ee ee 23, 44
Bibters week occe wick Se es oe aso aad ec ene ee 44, 77
Bowlderses . ion tes eee acts oe a oe 29, 74, 75, 76
I STTUL Gti) chet: ROedet MPN pec lem D Pu FurORB, Maem aces S A OF 5 ters ck 76
Burniug bushy. o 357s. Or oe ons be hoe ee eee ee 47
C
Cannas 23 cy Be Ce Se OPO OT ee ee ee 24, 80, 81
Carhishe eek asc gos Sage Race ee I ee be ee 53
Castor-oll beatiss is fo ac Rw ad oc es eee 80, 81
Gaal pa eo ei why ick tire wine Peo ea ae eens are eee nea ae 23
Sedans TOI ee aco gone Se er eels OR ae 20, 59, 76, 78
Cedrus deedara (Indian cypress): . 22. 2 oS ee 58, 59
CEnTAMmIaS: 9.) Sev wae Dae Ek we eee ee 81
(C0) 2 Ml ae | dee RRR RT AoE VAC Gs Maman ene aeRe esa) TI > Se 15, 29
Cherries, dapanese J) cic. Se einen ec ce ate ane eee 63
presi 920 ee ree way LAS oe plik wet eats anne epee 53
Cry Colleen 5 ee a ae Os SSS Stans bs ana pres es emer 19
Chay Sane ent aa enn re aoe nae 10, 52
Clay Pome i SA a ee saline aise amen Saye 9, 10, 24, 67, 72, 76
COLEUS ESO A eee Se ha OR a a 80
Colonial park Sc P. aia ae taal cena rte re re ee 18
Columbines roe er hee ee Re re ee eee 51
Coney: Island). 2255. jcreator nee ne ee 22
Conifers 265. oo iy oe eo eee eee eee 86
Contour 2h ee 2 ae See ee 9, 59
COTEOpsis SoS oe Re Shee is Bae lee eee oe 51
PAGE
UGG ate pe hase crate cise ales’ ots icigsels was Rial sole bray nae’ 62
Nay CLE SSE DA Seo la aii a a eM reas en ara ap Sara each 59
D
1 SIL 05 VS Gh aa a adage rte Aa gael are be a eset eee es P/E 51
PATE Sy eh Lea SU SEES ane aalal We die Shah auto ig ce Nesebar Mba eel 81
Pementeuntom, Parke is. aero late ok wont telnet eeiatren 28
Warwoods tii ogc is eeu t 30, 35, 44, 45, 47, 50, 55, 60, 64, 66, 80
Daewoo) Wiberg tla acal whee nde a ie Peete aoe ene iw ee Met 24
Br aIM Ae Het esi a cok aay ere n Maan anes Rear crt 9, 53
E
[EES RSE SOR Pag A ara er 53, 56, 59, 63, 65, 68
BEER TIVO E VOCE 2) oo. Se: ach ome coc sense iar ge cee ee 23
ATS SpE RPMS Fe re NAP oi rekrear s w,ci cle ahaa ase Sache ec oarae aie) wrere rene 23
Euonymus alatus ......... a crate cat ehne a wast te Heat y Spe mae 47, 80
BIVEESTCEMS) eis) idie etre res 4s 50, 55, 57, 58, 59, 70, 71, 78, 82, 86
F
Ari PAR CR get ge ai tay rey cer cel, cede eats citar nae at a 28
eee BINS 0 ies ree chcns Sis Sod atte code Ore) alee mata we Modest See Se aha 9, 68
BS RELAIS HS Cia wir alo & Sueis oles aii pice Ristns Gia eeieiaencat ta wn tae 70
EPP a SEMAN! Ay 5 Po. sraita als occa ie hve l ve ior dleigs Stale We aslwod: esate owie ace 59
IASI Cer eee salon Mr knee micteorc sm ic nul. Miatetatallclame 59
BOrsyilla se ere ie ths Ma Ney wl ohare ain 24, 54, 55, 71
OX OLOVOS I ea. eyes ors ia ta ieee aye aso iener A GN ene Saas) Wawel uate. ata iecg meatal 51
G
(155 5) 1 RE ON ae Me Ra ae tara peehaaeie! A8c7s Cs Prior Nake Canal Pete 49, 50, 52
AARC, WEPCERIIE fe ood olsy's pt stern oe orto harms Mueie lasts suse DeckC onde 77
(OR Sr gra TDN T1 Ws GANGA get Mire eM Ie panna Amana Manat is kia) wt Bae lye ita 24, 80, 81
Ginigko ‘tree: (maid en- Bair) 54). ease a ie eae aods en eee 59
PAGE
Grading). i300 ee ee ee 9,19, 22, 29, 44, 53, 58, 71
Grape VINES? sass! 5 oe ieeie nhs ee Peele eee oleh ee 48
Grape vines:s Wild sss 0.5 als colette hea tere meu al acct secre ae 17
Grass, Bermudac (cs is fle so ae oe steer ce ee eee 58
Grass, creeping BENE 3.7.93 een) .o Sosa cane ee ee 712
Grass; kentucky blue=2.2ch as os) ees re eee 68, 72
Grass, Ned Gop? oops soo toes s Sine ont Sata seafarers 12
Grass, Rhode Island: bent 0 302. oo 32 eek aii eee 72
Grass; TYCO N. cctee ities metre acco Be Oe 58
Grass; Salt marsha) ob nk eo koe ee eee ee 76
Grass Seed AW Cae Ae ee he Pe eee PTA e «ol se
GIGIPOM eee ea eR a ee ne a ae ee 31,3
Groundsel’? so 5 0 a ae Fo a RE cae 23
Geymanasiann 2.) oo oer kes ee ane an Cake a eras eee ee Q7
A
Hawthorns 6 6356s ee ea eG so eee 71
Hemloekse 6 tapers aoc eee ee eee Sagan a 50, 55, 59
Herbaceous plants -/.\,. 20 soi cat hu cele acta aneurin 78, 79, 80
| a eT Ys.) CP hteee aeee nA ot RE EU MAyLo N Ke ON cc tie et) es Q4
Hirhbush cranberry... 003s. ss ee eee gi
Hollyhocks i: o5c.o i. eie easel bearer ae: Pane ae 51
Ploneysuckle sooo) 2 os aes te ee ee cue ee .. 24, 48, 77
Higteysuckie. buses as ese oe cls ee ese een ee 55, 60, 66, 71
Honeysuckle, Japaneses. o.:o250). 5505 Oh a ee ee 71
Hlorse-chestaruts: 4 oessee ieee so fe ae ee 63
|G Gove] F Roe ema Rn nM nora: SHA UL Man Ne) SE ae a MRC SRB 10, 52, 67, 68, 72
Hyaemths: 20008. b ihe cacios © itinte oy in ie eee ee 51
Piydrangeds 22 ie Pci athe Staak en oe 24, 55, 71
I
Indian cypress (Cedrus deodara)...........:.....--+0++ 58, 59
Prises: 3s .c.25 5 oe Ei ee es ee er 51, 61, 80
ny, Japanese. oon ve weal ae vad ec eee 13
J
PAGE
"LEO EV SGTE) 712 19 8) 10 a al a ie ete a a Rar a EE 61
TaoamesereaspOennies 6. ic j08 5 iat eta os (ae Eins aw agiwraestemened 71, 80
MITES cee eos cgi yaceltr os aun ce Sate pen Bear Cine ace pa eee 50, 59, 79
K
Np n easier cis eon i) sodinae oes, hag aoe cao MRD W Salta se eta eit ce ge a as
iF
Rapdscape-pardening’ principle: <7) ove 5 indo xe ete le veo es 21
MS cai VUE Sev Leal SO IAN Me le arte patent int ch aa Se Map Asda 51, 56
MC ERURTENS aed re Tot yg I Oa ahs ie eee occa mat ee tte 0 Leaves Sedat we ticietinds 50, 58
1 ORS eS ie Ee eae Ne ea 9, 41, 52, 54, 57, 61, 65, 67, 68, 74, 77
LOTUS) we DOSE UAATT 02) 2 aii aee Gg Oat ae MAU E se MEARE ce mea ho aileets 24
ACS Meet Pes RINT er ced Chto: ek nal Mig ae Nae Me aie A oka 80
ETE Se Preiss cree CaN) chante. Seis Mlew Gy v7 pe ae Aa MME go a an 51
inhies of the valley ii4.....:: areas Reco te Se Mea ace are Adee ee 51
1 BST rnd SNE ca a une er apr Rael diet tieialy ae ieee ee De 10, 11, 52
NET (as 0 Seeger eer SEH bashes ea ne Oo uo PA ua ONDE lah TG Rs SS 5 59
DEE n ov Ic aera eee OR! tiie relate ARAN ead ACB GAA AM Spiers ai Seana eG i
Biquidamiburs eye ere ies cacy ee Mi cy ok heel an oe 45, 47, 48, 64
M
myiirrriey. OMINERe 7. fee eo MMe nana Gearon ee eee 55
Wagnolia Japanese © ou. icine oes Shee ee ake cle ewe: 55
Maiden hairrires (Ginkgo .\o.2 825 0 ode ae nara eager es 59
1 LOY CSS GAPE alae GA eM gC des gee ee dE Aa 53556. 51. Go
Wales; dapaneserd let ates sais ane arene ee ree 56, 63, 80
Wales, Natwaysi cisco .c cakeharamerns te Menetants 23, 30, 54,70, 71
WVEaplese Silver ace k sade ce iC a, mae Aca a i aan ae 66
D1 TG) (a Mas Me SRA a at na eae ee at 3 Career a ek I 52
vPormingside Waele: boat! e0), ute Stee carta mea ahem Oa cnet rar a 18
IVP S824 de ec eh Skt NAN tail a ene eC a a LAN ae aE 96
Ml yates CORE ras oi hen atrr te ar ee eee Ne Rents.) Sues Mane im 23
N
PAGE
Nannyberry ois.) 282.2555 aces Gino ee alee ae ake ag ble geen 47
WAPGISSI «522 ec hie Sea ee ale SRE eee RI a ee on
Natures). ib st oe bias es pitas ata lene ee ee ees 20, 63, 64, 76
Ninebark (Spires opulifolia)...< os. Roker ees ce 71
O
Oakes as eee Oe ae A a een Cae eee re teetes 44, 45, 61
Ovcean Parkway 2.5055 3. Ss: Se sae ee ee 22
Organic matter... 53202 ee ee eee 72
@xydendron ‘arboreum =: .:).5. oo. k- 2 eee ee 47
P
PANSIES S52 20s SR LE eae ee Fe ee 81
Paris soe ea rr seca ee Se Le a ee een 62
Parka eo 35s te he Le a Gate ORE Te 25, 27, 49
PERS 8 ioe Sh ie ae a ca a a ES ne ee a 19, 20
Peonies 5 22 Os ak oe eee ee Re Oe ot
Pepperidoes o 205.5095 4% sales ee eee eee a oe eee 64
Persolas ose kines eo ees ae Ree Oe a ae eee 405 4450 te
Perladelphins (ct) 3c. cors he Sag Maw tie eee ne ee We eats 24
Ps Soo Fas aa cs IO Be ae ae 51, 80
Phosphoric, acid 365 Broo tee ee erties eevee 11
Pine Lawn Cemetery. i o225. (S405 ah eo eee ee eee 33
Pines 2b sas Bae sata CE en eee 50, 61
Pines, Ausiziali= 2005's ces sek one Pvc ee ee eee 23
Pines, ‘unibrella <6 iss fo ok oe he ae a oe eee ne ee 79
Pinés, Whileoos sco ee ee eee ee 55, 57, '70
Porm 2 es San le Rae one 51, 80
Plane-trees (055/23 Bo ae 23, 59
Plantations 3..G3' kee es Soe ee ea ca eee epee eee 23
Planting: 00. Sete: S . se bae Relee ele ee ee 54
Pheabeaty 252. eS a ae ae Re ee 54
Play-pround * : j oivecc 22. carunttn oak a eae ee ee 27
INDEX
PAGE
1 EOpTG LEE es ag lc MS Ae ae UA ROR RTE 29
5 LG TIS LU RT les i a li ae NH a sa ag Be aL nec gL 11
BPR oly eee AS ister So oe a. an jy) ugk abel hs emits bode Mite with SOMERS aes 76
LECRRICELS) Sn Claas ae ay Saas Lege area chee AOR YARED YAS 23
Riv ea OUTIND 3 1560s ok Oe oh ee One 24, 78
Paivets tevels or Regelianim ioe i .5 io ic woes oe. os. 54, 71, 78
I ERSSACHAREY) cre uk Ths cr Sie magne ae heratctge ian is a Seen, ob tat eres ena nat te 29
EPEC PSO ere Ga wes seine ee faacia eter sis pane oe 41, 78, 79, 83
R
| Berio 1! 1g] (Fey 000 ERaeee ce ae pean cre ne Ried ORR aR AW Corneal MEEPS n RCM? ot Q
BVCUIMGS DORA ele cyte c noche th lath eek! Se ant Gey Stee oly Alar aang 79
RVEIIMOSDORa OD UUSee hice a Us tieitns a ca wana te, sev cage debe on emerge 59
Rhododendrons «':):. 0.5.2. 16, 17, 23, 50, 56, 58, 66, 67, 68, 76, 86
Be Homo y pis mePriGides eho. /205c. i325 ana gae nes oe eee me 24
ROARS Peete = che nl alba 3, alate aa cae gat 43; 53, 54, 56, 57
toch phase oh ox oie hia sis aru Nero Geog eee 76
PROSE UAT Cet Hoy bes Mel Mah Stree Re Va ear nk Wo a a 78
PROSE sess eater ee Lae atte Sa TET ened et eee ii pee la 66
POSES s Wry eid Neds hhc or pe Sue hie wales nyse ea eg cree 24
ftoses} hybrid wichurianay isc anne otros waldas alu eee 75
EROSES er alin eRe ie ee oe ee ei oe ne te en a eae LE BE an 24
PS AMBIT VEDA C Keio Gav.ce stat ov Spee care Gue: oo Arya eve aera e age 27
S
APC EES EMMIS. Bol. 41% 040 Sa tenant <patunea a er Sal see ee ae 16,17
rested Rg bs Fe ge IEICE ap ae eA Ree TM NT rn) ea ct ts) bred |
Semen ee ier et eae Rn ag ee eg a 10, 52, 69
RA NAPPA ane ccs ait co ctate tance agree wr aaNy ti 48, 51, 76, 80
DE CMTE SY ser raster ae ie Pande ae econ de aarti ba 48, 51, 76, 80
a, GUA) 0 08) bts 1 «et mabeetD RU Ua ae ny Aas mi A TOYO Corr RPO TM Mle a Q7
Suellen muidime ace ikea ot 4) ailerons clatter Gap ean eee PASE 25
BOWER cpa Lliste ae ki Se ered aie dn ea ee a5)
PAGE
SATUS: os.5 b's Bhs acts Ae ote ce RS Eee te ee 20, 24
Shrubs; decidwoust 22:5 Si) a ak eee et oe ee eee 23
oer: a renin OMe marine iy A eben ee Mek gs LAS 11
Snowballs os 282s Su OE ee ee 55, 66, 71, 80
DPHOWGEOPS: 23) OF. a kas fe te na tse vee eee eae Micaee aa 51
No. 61) OAR Cee Mere mE Uta Ahan tn erg eM RoI TL. 53,-67,.69; 10, 12, 83
Soil fertile: os cco. ache kw coe oes ae ete eee eee ae
Sourswood 2 S260) secs be 6s Se See ke Pe ee 47, 60
SPCemway te LN AG Fie iE ra Leal whe) cae a 18
Spires: opulifolia, (Ninebarkk):).)0 30550: oto oe eee 71
Spirea, “Phumbery's on. rio scyec See io ores aia aie aner oo eee 80
SPRUCE fs ag oh oe eae ore eR eee 50
Spruce; Alcoekisy yy) icc, Secure sade a pen © sae ae 55
Dpeuces lve cs hs eee. Serie ic sane ere ee ee eee ane 55, 59
MPFUCE; CONCOIOE (45.01. oe eee ta eos lets eke Rie ay, ee eee 59
spruce; Douglass: ost eke ct nes oe here a ieen ae 55, 59, '76
prUce COmenta cyte hh. eis ie ee i ne ee ee 55
bale wae: (o-oo eas ka SE ee eee 11
DORE RS 2 Cor os So nore eoay Dra id re AG te ae eee Ae 20
ORC aD GHEE has te a hon oa eile eine Mak yeaa rated eae a eee 43, 44
SE Nicholasiearikccnt kG vcs ston celole we ieics Meee ee ere 18
re ULE Ue h APU, AA wren be He bay RCP REA cin BEANIE EN AN ba oF we hy 30, 47, 64
PRCG LOUIE ease Fi tals ot ant DNAS halk ohh ence ac ht ep ee 47
a
dr opie ee Ace Ra aa ei a Oa nan yy Lenn tose Wath PAAR CRS RWG re 9, 52
BBG SOUS was aes ee See Oe SIRES eee OCA ee 22, 24
CRED OS Ds 2 See tates aos “acter na eile atl iste Ce 51, 81
V
Sele i ih a1 rh 60 see eee oe ee Ime eye nee MER Batemans Go 24
Virginia creeper... ...... - CT INE Ce ee eee 44, 75, "77
SC eer ane MOU inne phy mM ES AS pi! Se. 53, 57
W
PAGE
VGA DES 21 Sc is AGI RS Oe een re eA Ga ea 21, 54
WON Pe ere etree Cette ete h rn AEE ee ditiae. ts 4 duo reciata oll end 75
Walermoehomudendrons:. 0306.06 Vee oes o's Sa eee es 96
DV iertecmre SIMMER teat Serene rks nik MRO PR TTR Mos eae nal 50, 78
PV ers bam PY Ge). sre VON SiN oscars seth aie Sia oy a ow wi boy aCe tes 37
PNR Si CAVE Geta cichatts cha ge en Nea seneiin in uane slows acl /a Weatign 20, 23
PY LGN SK TUESSY <5 ela ae tome ene ene lehtoid die US ace we coke else 23
DV aWSoreu-SLGMIIMEG 7am Biter ee a row CT Ie le An Re 55
WVillows;Wweepllg tcc. uel ilies. PSA ei eae ie saa 23
CEN arms WIL IU ety eat cae NE ee rice aie CL eae Nese eG aa TL 55
We timber tallies ies rary sttm ies tamer 2b, Wve usogert) we! Maothn dha ile 79
Wioodlaime aeenit yn amten make Mearns Sialkot Gee Neen ech i 44
i
Set 38004 ES] GT cea, AMM BN oe SO a PE 59, 79
BYE Sit sine as ch Sms EN aR iM Sea Sena RE I aracds Bal 50, 51, 59
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