THE GROWING OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS
THE CLASSES OF PLANTS, AND
LISTS - Continued
Bougainvillea, Bougainvillaea glabra and B. spectabilis.
The magenta-flowered variety, sometimes seen in conservatories in the
North, is a popular outdoor vine in the South and is profusely used in
southern California. The red-flowered form is less seen, but is
preferable in color.
Wire-vine (polygonum of florists), Muehlenbeckia complexa.
Abundantly used on buildings and chimneys in southern California.
[Illustration XV: Scuppernong grape, the arbor vine of the South. This
plate shows the noted scuppernongs on Roanoke Island, of which the
origin is unknown, but which were of great size more than one hundred
years ago.]
Climbing roses.
[Illustration: 267. Climbing rose, Jules Margottin.]
The roses do not climb nor possess any special climbing organs;
therefore they must be provided with a trellis or woven-wire fence. Some
of the roses classed as climbing are such as only need good support,
Fig. 267. For culture of roses, see Chapter VIII.
The most popular climbing or pillar rose at present is Crimson Rambler,
but while it makes a great display of flowers, it is not the best
climbing rose. Probably the best of the real climbing roses for this
country, bloom, foliage, and habit all considered, are the derivatives
of the native prairie rose, Rosa setigera (native as far north as
Ontario and Wisconsin). Baltimore Belle and Queen of the Prairie belong
to this class.
The climbing polyantha roses (hybrids of Rosa multiflora and other
species) include the class of "rambler" roses that has now come to be
large, including not only the Crimson Rambler, but forms of other
colors, single and semi-double, and various climbing habits; a very
valuable and hardy class of roses, particularly for trellises.
The Memorial rose (R. Wichuraiana) is a trailing, half-evergreen,
white-flowered species, very useful for covering banks and rocks.
Derivatives of this species of many kinds are now available, and
are valuable.
The Ayrshire roses (R. arvensis var. capreolata) are profuse but
rather slender growers, hardy North, bearing double white or
pink flowers.
The Cherokee rose (R. Icevigata or R. Sinica) is extensively
naturalized in the South, and much prized for its large white bloom and
shining foliage; not hardy in the North.
The Banksia rose (R. Banksice) is a strong climbing rose for the South
and California with yellow or white flowers in clusters. A
larger-flowered form (R. Fortuneana) is a hybrid of this and the
Cherokee rose.
The climbing tea and noisette roses, forms of R. Chinensis and R.
Noisettiana, are useful in the open in the South.
7. TREES FOR LAWNS AND STREETS
A single tree may give character to an entire home property; and a place
of any size that does not have at least one good tree usually lacks any
dominating landscape note.
Likewise, a street that is devoid of good trees cannot be the best
residential section; and a park that lacks well-grown trees is either
immature or barren.
Although the list of good and hardy lawn and street trees is rather
extensive, the number of kinds generally planted and recognized is
small. Since most home places can have but few trees, and since they
require so many years to mature, it is natural that the home-maker
should hesitate about experimenting, or trying kinds that he does not
himself know. So the home-maker in the North plants maples, elms, and a
white birch, and in the South a magnolia and China-berry. Yet there are
numbers of trees as useful as these, the planting of which might give
our premises and streets a much richer expression.
It is much to be desired that some of the trees with "strong" and rugged
characters be introduced into the larger grounds; such, for example, as
the hickories and oaks. These may often transplant with difficulty, but
the effort to secure them is worth the expenditure. Good trees of oaks,
and others supposed to be difficult to transplant, may now be had of the
leading nurserymen. The pin oak (Quercus palustris) is one of the best
street trees and is now largely planted.
It is at least possible to introduce a variety of trees into a city or
village, by devoting one street or a series of blocks to a single kind
of tree,--one street being known by its lindens, one by its plane-trees,
one by its oaks, one by its hickories, one by its native birches, beech,
coffee-tree, sassafras, gum or liquidambar, tulip tree, and the like.
There is every reason why a city, particularly a small city or a
village, should become to some extent an artistic expression of its
natural region.
The home-maker is fortunate if his area already possesses well-grown
large trees. It may even be desirable to place the residence with
reference to such trees (Plate VI); and the planning of the grounds
should accept them as fixed points to which to work. The operator will
take every care to preserve and safeguard sufficient of the standing
trees to give the place singularity and character.
The care of the tree should include not only the protecting of it from
enemies and accidents, but also the maintaining of its characteristic
features. For example, the natural rough bark should be maintained
against the raids of tree-scrapers; and the grading should not be
allowed to disguise the natural bulge of the tree at the base, for a
tree that is covered a foot or two above the natural line is not only in
danger of being killed, but it looks like a post.
The best shade trees are usually those that are native to the particular
region, since they are hardy and adapted to the soil and other
conditions. Elms, maples, basswoods, and the like are nearly always
reliable. In regions in which there are serious insect enemies or
fungous diseases, the trees that are most likely to be attacked may be
omitted. For instance, in parts of the East the chestnut bark-disease is
a very great menace; and it is a good plan in such places to plant other
trees than chestnuts.
A good shade tree is one that has a heavy foliage and dense head, and
that is not commonly attacked by repelling insects and diseases. Trees
for shade should ordinarily be given sufficient room that they may
develop into full size and symmetrical heads. Trees may be planted as
close as 10 or 15 feet apart for temporary effect; but as soon as they
begin to crowd they should be thinned, so that they develop their full
characteristics as trees.
Trees may be planted in fall or spring. Fall is desirable, except for
the extreme North, if the land is well drained and prepared and if the
trees may be got in early; but under usual conditions, spring planting
is safer, if the stock has been wintered well (see discussion under
Shrubs, p. 290). Planting and pruning are discussed on pp. 124 and 139.
If one desires trees with conspicuous bloom, they should be found among
the magnolias, tulip trees, kœlreuteria, catalpas, chestnuts,
horse-chestnut and buckeyes, cladrastis, black or yellow locust, wild
black cherry, and less conspicuously in the lindens; and also in such
half-trees or big shrubs as cercis, cytisus, flowering dogwood,
double-flowered and other forms of apples, crab-apples, cherries, plums,
peaches, hawthorn or cratægus, amelanchier, mountain ash.