CHAPTER VII
THE GROWING OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS
THE CLASSES OF PLANTS, AND
LISTS
In choosing the kinds of plants for the main grounds the gardener should
carefully distinguish two categories,--those plants to compose the
structural masses and design of the place, and those that are to be used
for mere ornament. The chief merits to be sought in the former are good
foliage, pleasing form and habit, shades of green, and color of winter
twigs. The merits of the latter lie chiefly in flowers or
colored foliage.
Each of these categories should be again divided. Of plants for the main
design, there might be discussion of trees for a windbreak, of trees for
shade; of shrubs for screens or heavy plantings, for the lighter side
plantings, and for incidental masses about the buildings or on the lawn;
and perhaps also of vines for porches and arbors, of evergreens, of
hedges, and of the heavier herbaceous masses.
Plants used for mere embellishment or ornamentation may be ranged again
into categories for permanent herbaceous borders, for display beds,
ribbon edgings, annuals for temporary effects, foliage beds, plants for
adding color and emphasis to the shrubbery masses, plants desired to be
grown as single specimens or as curiosities, and plants for porch-boxes
and window-gardens.
Having now briefly suggested the uses of the plants, we shall proceed to
discuss them in reference to the making of home grounds. This chapter
contains a brief consideration of:
- Planting for immediate effect,
- The use of "foliage" trees and shrubs,
- Windbreaks and screens,
- The making of hedges,
- The borders,
- The flower-beds,
- Aquatic and bog plants,
- Rockeries and alpine plants;
and then it runs into nine sub-chapters, as follows:--
- 1. Plants for carpet-beds, p. 234;
- 2. The annual plants, p. 241;
- 3. Hardy herbaceous perennials, p. 260;
- 4. Bulbs and tubers, p. 281;
- 5. The shrubbery, p. 290;
- 6. Climbing plants, p. 307;
- 7. Trees for lawns and streets, p. 319;
- 8. Coniferous evergreen trees and shrubs, p. 331;
- 9. Window-gardens, p. 336.
And then, in Chapter VIII, the particular cultures of plants needing
special care are briefly discussed.
Planting for immediate effect.
It is always legitimate, and, in fact, desirable, to plant for immediate
effect. One may plant very thickly of rapid-growing trees and shrubs for
this purpose. It is a fact, however, that very rapid-growing trees
usually lack strong or artistic character. Other and better trees should
be planted with them and the featureless kinds be gradually removed.
(Page 41.)
The effect of a new place may be greatly heightened by a dexterous use
of annuals and other herbaceous stuff in the shrub plantations. Until
the shrubbery covers the ground, temporary plants may be grown among
them. Subtropical beds may give a very desirable temporary finish to
places that are pretentious enough to make them seem in keeping.
Very rough, hard, sterile, and stony banks may sometimes be covered with
coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara), sacaline, Rubus cratœgifotius,
comfrey, and various wild growths that persist in similar places in the
neighborhood.
[Illustration: Fig 236. Stump covered with Japanese honeysuckle.]
However much the planter may plan for immediate effects, the beauty of
trees and shrubs comes with maturity and age, and this beauty is often
delayed, or even obliterated, by shearing and excessive heading-back. At
first, bushes are stiff and erect, but when they attain their full
character, they usually droop or roll over to meet the sward. Some
bushes make mounds of green much sooner than others that may even be
closely related. Thus the common yellow-bell (Forsythia virdissima)
remains stiff and hard for some years, whereas F. suspensa makes a
rolling heap of green in two or three years. Quick informal effects can
also be secured by the use of Hall's Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera
Halliana of nurserymen), an evergreen in the South, and holding its
leaves until midwinter or later in the North. It may be used for
covering a rock, a pile of rubbish, a stump (Fig. 236), to fill a corner
against a foundation, or it may be trained on a porch or arbor. There is
a form with yellow-veined leaves. Rosa Wichuraiana and some of the
dewberries are useful for covering rough places.
Many vines that are commonly used for porches and arbors may be employed
also for the borders of shrub-plantations and for covering rough banks
and rocks, quickly giving a finish to the cruder parts of the place.
Such vines, among others, are various kinds of clematis, Virginia
creeper, actinidia, akebia, trumpet creeper, periploca, bitter-sweet
(Solanum Dulcamara), wax-work (Celastrus scandens).
Of course, very good immediate effects may be secured by very close
planting (page 222), but the homesteader must not neglect to thin out
these plantations when the time comes.
The use of "foliage" trees and shrubs.
There is always a temptation to use too freely of the trees and shrubs
that are characterized by abnormal or striking foliage. The subject is
discussed in its artistic bearings on pages 40 and 41.
As a rule, the yellow-leaved, spotted-leaved, variegated, and other
abnormal "foliage" plants are less hardy and less reliable than the
green-leaved or "natural" forms. They usually require more care, if they
are kept in vigorous and seemly condition. Some marked exceptions to
this are noted in the lists of trees and shrubs.
There are some plants of striking foliage, however, that are perfectly
reliable, but they are usually not of the "horticultural variety" class,
their characteristics being normal to the species. Some of the silver or
white-leaved poplars, for example, produce the most striking contrasts
of foliage, particularly if set near darker trees, and for this reason
they are much desired by many planters. Bolle's poplar (Populus
Bolleana of the nurseries) is one of the best of these trees. Its habit
is something like that of the Lombardy. The upper surface of the deeply
lobed leaves is dark dull green, while the under surface is almost snowy
white. Such emphatic trees as this should generally be partially
obscured by planting them amongst other trees, so that they appear to
mix with the other foliage; or else they should be seen at some
distance. Other varieties of the common white poplar or abele are
occasionally useful, although most of them sprout badly and may become a
nuisance. But the planting of these immodest trees is so likely to be
overdone that one scarcely dare recommend them, although, when
skillfully used, they may be made to produce most excellent effects. If
any reader has a particular fondness for trees of this class (or any
others with woolly-white foliage) and if he has only an ordinary city
lot or farm-yard to ornament, let him reduce his desires to a single
tree, and then if that tree is planted in the interior of a group of
other trees, no harm can result.
Windbreaks and screens.
A shelter-belt for the home grounds is often placed at the extreme edge
of the home yard, toward the heaviest or prevailing wind. It may be a
dense plantation of evergreens. If so, the Norway spruce is one of the
best for general purposes in the northeastern states. For a lower belt
the arbor vitae is excellent. Some of the pines, as the Scotch or
Austrian, and the native white pine, are also to be advised,
particularly if the belt is at some distance from the residence. As a
rule, the coarser the tree the farther it should be placed from
the house.
The common deciduous trees of the region (as elm, maple, box-elder) may
be planted in a row or rows for windbreaks. Good temporary shelter belts
are secured by poplars and large willows. On the prairies and far north
the laurel willow (Salix laurifolia of the trade) is excellent. Where
snow blows very badly, two lines of breaks may be planted three to six
rods apart, so that the inclosed lane may catch the drift; this method
is employed in prairie regions.
Persons may desire to use the break as a screen to hide undesirable
objects. If these objects are of a permanent character, as a barn or an
unkempt property, evergreen trees should be used. For temporary screens,
any of the very large-growing herbaceous plants may be employed. Very
excellent subjects are sunflowers, the large-growing nicotianas, castor
beans, large varieties of Indian corn, and plants of like growth.
Excellent screens are sometimes made with vines on a trellis.
Very efficient summer screens may be made with ailanthus, paulownia,
basswood, sumac, and other plants that tend to throw up very vigorous
shoots from the base. After these plants have been set a year or two,
they are cut back nearly to the ground in winter or spring, and strong
shoots are thrown up with great luxuriance during the summer, giving a
dense screen and presenting a semi-tropical effect. For such purposes,
the roots should be planted only two or three feet apart. If, after a
time, the roots become so crowded that the shoots are weak, some of the
plants may be removed. Top-dressing the area every fall with manure will
tend to make the ground rich enough to afford a very heavy summer
growth. (See Fig. 50.)
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