LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY MRS. NELL-IE R. PREUSS A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS KALMIA LATI FOLIA A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS HHttlj &isgg?0ttati for Arrattgrmrttt J. WILKINSON ELLIOTT (Landscape Architect) rRANSACTIONS OF THE MASSACHU? ETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, PART I, 1895 WITH ADDITIONAL PLANS AND COPIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. HORACE MCFARLAND AND OTHERS SECOND EDITION New York: 1907 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY COPYRIGHT 7907 sr J. WILKINSON ELLIOTT I uunt flraaant Prr J. Horace McFarland Company Harrisburg. Pennsylvania JAPANESE CRAB APPLE INTRODUCTION HIS book has not been written to teach the art of landscape gardening, but the need of it. The stu- dent of landscape gardening will find many excel- lent books on the subject, but the public hardly knows that there is such an art, and that good gar- dens and grounds, like good houses, are always the result of intelligent study and design. The annual expenditure for suburban and country homes is enormous, and while an architect is always employed to design and plan the house, with but few exceptions the treatment of the grounds is intrusted to the nearest two-dollar-a-day jobbing gardener, or the owner is his own landscape gardener. The result is always unsatisfactory, although often the expendi- ture would have secured most beautiful effects if directed by skilled advice. The folly of this is more apparent when it is considered that fully fifty per cent of the cost of the better class of houses is expended with the desire of producing beauty ; one dollar intelligently spent on the grounds will afford more beauty than will ten spent on the house, and the attractive- ness of the house is greatly enhanced by the beauty and fitness of the grounds. I have endeavored to show this by good pictures rather than with much writing. } WILKINS ON ELLIOTT Pittsburg, September fo, 1902 RHODODENDRON ALBUM GR.1ND1FLORUM A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS T must be remembered that my experience has been with a more western civilization, and some of my remarks may not have much force addressed to so enlightened a gardening community as that of Boston and its suburbs. Yet I am told there are some people in this neighborhood who persist, and at considerable outlay and trouble, in using thousands of tender bedding plants to make poor representations of inanimate objects. If this is true they cannot make the plea of not knowing better, for all about them are many of the best and most tasteful gardens in America splendid exam- ples of garden schemes in which the so-called bedding plants cut little or no figure. There has been so much written and said on the subject, and the great advantages of gardening with hardy plants and shrubs are so apparent, as compared with tender bedding plants, that it seems a waste of time and words to make any argument in favor of one and against the other; but the argument is needed as much as ever, for it is an undeniable fact that nine-tenths of the ornamental gardening in America is still done with a few commonplace and uninteresting bedding ROSA SETIGERA A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS ii plants. Think of the pity of it, that all this enormous annual expenditure should be wasted an expenditure that leaves our gardens in the fall exactly as it found them in the spring, bare earth, and nothing in it. Is it because the people prefer bedding plants to hardy ones? You who know hardy plants know that this is not so. Who would prefer, let us say, a bed of coleuses or geraniums to a fine group of rhodo- dendrons, or azaleas, or Lilium auratum, or Japanese anemones, or to the hundreds of fine things to be had in hardy shrubs and plants? Any one of these has a beauty incomparably greater than can be pro- duced with the most lavish use of bedding plants. Then the bedding plants are a yearly expense, while an investment in hardy plants and shrubs returns the investor an annual dividend in increased size and loveliness. Every dollar spent for them secures a permanent addition AZALEA NUDIFLORA 12 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS to the garden, and the time soon comes when the annual outlay can be devoted entirely to care and culture. I know a gentleman who carried a fine stalk of Lilium anratum flowers into the office of one of the largest business houses in our city. Not a man in the office knew what it was, and all were unwilling to believe that it grew in his garden. They supposed it to be some rare and costly flower grown in a conservatory. Yet these lilies, and dozens of other things as fine, can now be bought as cheaply as bedding plants. The people do not prefer bedding plants to hardy ones. They have no choice in the matter. They buy what the local florist offers and what they see in their neighbors' gardens. They are not sufficiently interested to make inquiries. They do not read the gardening papers; and, with few exceptions, the managers of the city parks, who should be educators of the people in gardening, are content with what might be called an annual pyrotechnical display of bedding plants, as it is of such short duration and little artistic value. The popularity of bedding plants is happily on the wane. It occurs to almost everybody after a time that they do not get much for their money when they buy this sort of material; but I cannot say that hardy plants are gaining much. There is no considerable effort made to attract the public attention to their merits; and when some man, more enterprising than his neighbors, does take the trouble to hunt them up and do his gardening with them the result is not always happy. He is very apt to use them as he would bedding plants that is, in formal beds cut out of the grass of the lawn. Of course, hardy plants do not lend themselves to this treatment, and it is one of their greatest merits that they do not. Better no flowers at all than that the lawn should be cut up in formal beds for their accommodation. An objection often urged against hardy plants is their short dura- tion of bloom, but this really is one of their greatest merits. Let us consider the garden that depends exclusively upon bedding plants for its decoration. It is usually the first of June before they can be planted, and it is well into July before they are effective ; often by the end of September they are killed by frost, and every day during their short season of three months they are as unchanging in appearance as the carpets in our houses, and about as interesting. On the contrary, the well-planned and well-planted garden ot hardy ROCK-GARDEN AND POOL AT WELLESLEY, MASS. CHINESE WISTARIA m 1 plants begins its season with earliest spring and terminates it not with the first light frosts of fall, but when November brings some real winter weather, and then only goes to rest to delight us afresh with the coming of another spring. Almost every day throughout its long season the hardy garden is changing with the changes of the season, some- thing new is coming into bloom, and before it becomes monotonous its season is over and its place taken by some other flower equally beautiful and inter- esting but entirely different. Our gar- den is never tiresome; its past is a pleasant memory, its future a delightful anticipation, and its bloom an accurate calendar of the seasons. Is this true, or only fanciful writing? It is true, every word of it hard but pleasant facts. Snowdrops are in bloom with the first pleasant weather in spring; some springs they are in bloom during the first week in March. They are quickly followed by scillas and crocuses, and then comes the A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 15 season of tulips and narcissi, with their countless varieties. What a variety of form in the narcissi ! What a wealth of color in the tulips ! Their season is fully a month, and before it is done the early-flowering herbaceous plants are showing bloom and the flowering shrubs have begun a display that will end only with fall. By May scores of hardy shrubs and plants are in bloom creeping phloxes, columbines, do- ronicums, Oriental poppies, German and Siberian irises, and in shrubs, lilacs, early spireas, Japan quinces, magnolias, and Mollis and Ghent azaleas. We must not forget the hardy climbers, of which the clematis, in its numerous splendid varieties, covers a season of fully six months and with which alone a most charming and interesting garden could be made. June brings such a wealth of bloom that we are at a loss as to what to use and what to reject. Rhododendrons in many varieties and colors, HERBACEOUS PEONY i6 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS kalmias, Lilium candidum and elegans, and hardy roses are the flowers, perhaps, that hold the greatest share of our admiration at this season, and if June gave us hardy roses alone, our garden should be satis- factory. The memory of a fine collection of hardy roses in full bloom is worth more than all the rib- bon- and carpet-beds ever devised ; and in saying j this it is with full knowledge of the much-adver- ' tised rolls of carpet, vases, worlds of flowers, etc., which South Park, Chicago, exhibits to a wondering world. I fear that much of the benefit of the /example of Mr. Olmsted's and Mr. Codman's work at ' j,< A the World's Fair was lost. It was so well done and so naturally done that a ma- jority of the visitors never suspected that a landscape gardener had been employed. After the glori- ous beauty of June we might be con- tent to have our garden tame for a month or two. But there is no need for tameness. At the beginning of July the magnifi- cent Japanese irises are in bloom, than which there is noth- ing finer. Wealthy men build and maintain glass houses at great expense to shelter FORSYTH1A FORTUNEl A NOBLE SPECIMEN, ABIES CONCOLOR VIOLALEA FOXGLOVES IN A GARDEN AT EDGEfTORTH, PA. things not half so fine. After the irises come the Japanese lilies, and with a little management these will give a brave show of bloom through- out the summer and fall until frost comes. To carry us through the summer we have also tall phloxes, yuccas, rudbeckias, gaillardias, tiger lilies, hollyhocks single and double campanulas, Rosa rugosa, day lilies, altheas, hydrangeas, tamarix, hardy sunflowers, bocconias, bol- tonias, the splendid tall delphiniums, and the curious and beautiful Liatris pycnostachya, which attracts all the butterflies in the neighborhood. These and many other lovely things give a succession of beauty through- out the summer days. And when fall comes we have still some of the best flowers in reserve, notably the Japanese anemones and the old-fashioned and really hardy chrysanthemums. The flowers of both these good things will endure the early frosts and early snow-storms and delight us with a show of bloom on such sunshiny days as we may be favored with in late fall. 20 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS It may be thought that to win my admiration a flower must be hardy. Nothing of the sort. Certainly the basis of all good outdoor gardening must be hardy material ; but the skilful gardener or amateur will find a place for many tender plants, and especially for the so-called summer- blooming bulbs, such as gladioli, dahlias, and tuberous begonias, all of which are easily wintered in any dwelling-house; and he will even find a place for the new large-flowering cannas, but that place is not in isolated beds on the lawn. I have seen them used to the best advantage in small groups in the margin of shrubbery, where the full benefit of their really fine coloring was attained, but their stiffness and ungracefulness concealed. And the many fine annuals which are so cheaply and easily raised from seeds are not to be overlooked Phlox T)rummondn, Shirley poppies, sweet peas, asters, calliopsis, are all fine, and I am free to confess that there are but few things among hardy plants that I admire more than a fine mass of tall nas- turtiums. The garden of hardy plants is within the reach of the humblest gardener, yet it will satisfy the demand of the most ambitious; and the finest show places of America and Europe are de- voted almost exclu- sively to hardy ma- terial. If a great collection is desired, there are countless thousands of species and varieties to be obtained ; or if it is desired to show great cultural skill, the rare al pines, the lovely California poppy (Romneya Coulteri), the stately eremurus, the HARDY ASTERS 22 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS charming rock roses, the noted edelweiss, the dainty trailing arbutus, and scores of other lovely but difficult plants will try one's ingenuity and patience to the utmost. In gardening, as in other pursuits, the greater the labor the greater the reward. I have almost overlooked the water garden,* which of all gardens is perhaps the most interesting and charming. What possibilities here of lovely and artistic arrangements with all the great variety of aquatic and POND LILIES, WITH HARDY HYDRANGEAS IN THE BACKGROUND semi-aquatic plants! What can be more lovely than the nymphasas, now obtainable in a score of shades and colors, or grander than the stately nelumbiums, with their splendid pink, white or yellow flowers? How charming the water garden can be has been shown by Mr. Wilson, of *Since this lecture was delivered, Miss Jekyll's charming book, "Wall and Water Gardens," has been published. It describes and illustrates two very interesting phases of gardening in an exhaus- tive way, and is altogether a delightful book, with some of the best gardening pictures that have ever been published. 24 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS Wisley, England, and if there are any more interesting or lovely gardens than this I have failed to see them. Recently there have been introduced a great many new varieties of nymphaeas, all interesting to the collector; but Mr. Robinson says, and my experience confirms it, that the really desirable hardy garden kinds can be included in a selection of six varieties, that is, varieties of such vigorous growth and free-flowering qualities that they make garden pic- tures. The varieties he names are Nymphaa alba candidissima, N . Glad- stoniana, N. Marliacea rosea^ N. Marliacea chromatella, N. odorata, and TV. odorata rosea. The most important thing we have to consider in connection with gardening hardy plants and shrubs is their arrangement. We must study to produce a pleasing effect at all seasons and to have a succession of bloom, so that the garden will never be dull or uninteresting. First, let us take the smallest garden that we can hope to make a gardening success with, that is, a fifty-foot city or suburban lot. This is a lot usually considered too small to do much with in a gardening way, yet it is the lot owned by thousands of well-to-do and cultivated people, and well worthy of consideration. I can best illustrate a good arrangement for such a lot by describing a garden in my neighborhood. The lot is fifty feet front and one hundred and twenty feet deep to an alley. A path leads from the sidewalk to the steps of the front porch; thence around the west side of the house to the steps of the kitchen porch, and thence straight out to the alley. The house is thirty feet from the street line. The owner of the lot believes with me that every garden should be inclosed, and has selected as the most desirable inclosure a hedge of California privet, which furnishes him a background of verdure to set his flowering plants against. He has some difficulty in establishing a portion of the hedge immediately between his house and those of his neighbors, on account of the shade, but has overcome it by extra culture and deep trenching and draining. The plan of his extremely simple but effective garden is as follows : A border has been made entirely around the house except at the entrances, varying from one to three feet in width. The front porch is covered with Hall's and golden honeysuckles, Clematis Jackmani, C. Henryi, and C. paniculata. The borders in front of the porch are planted with Eulalia gracillima, erianthus, Funkia Sieboldiana and F. subcordata the funkias in front of the eulalia and erianthus. As all these plants are grown for BORDER OF TULIPS ALONG EDGE OF SHRUBBERY Showing an effective and permanent way of using spring-flowering bulbs form and foliage, they are effective throughout the season. A group of tuberous begonias is also introduced in this border, and of course has to be planted every season. The border on the east side of the house is quite shaded, and consequently is planted with shade-loving plants, prin- cipally native ferns, with groups of native cypripediums, trilliums, lilies-of-the-valley, tiarellas, and a large group of Lilium lancifolium at the end of the border where there is the most light. The garden back of the house is almost fifty feet square, but one side is perhaps sixty feet on account of the shape of the house. This garden is completely inclosed by a border, except where it is broken by the necessary path. This border commences west of the kitchen porch steps, and follows the line of the house until it reaches the division between the front and back gardens; it then crosses to the hedge, which it follows, so that there is a flower bor- der in front of all the hedge back of the line of the house. This border is five feet wide except on the west side of the lot, where the entire space, 28 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS about seven feet, is taken up, except a narrow border of grass between- the shrubs and the walk. This space is planted with fifty hardy roses, mostly hybrid perpetuals, in thirty of the best varieties. In front of these roses is planted a narrow border, about ten inches wide, of various narcissi; among the roses gladioli are planted every spring. The remainder of the border is planted with herbaceous plants in groups, with a selection that secures a succession of bloom. This selection includes columbines, Japanese anemones, irises, lilies, peonies, German irises, Hf Kan thus l 3- 3 1 . 3 2 - Specimen trees. 33. Hemlock hedge, with border of hardy perennials in front. 34. Spirtfa f^an Houttei. 7 8 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR A FIVE-ACRE PLACE This plan is for a rectangular piece of ground of about five acres, with one street frontage. The conventional location of the house is as near the center of the grounds as it is possible to get it, but the present plan contemplates placing the house in the south- west corner of the grounds, about eighty feet from the street. The advantages of this loca- tion are the extremely convenient arrangement of the grounds it admits of, and far greater extent of unbroken lawn than if the house were placed anywhere near the center of the plat. The one objection that might be urged against this unusual location of the house is its nearness to the street ; but this is overcome by the massed planting on the south line, which makes the nearest point on the street from which the house is visible over two hun- dred and fifty feet away. The treatment of the vegetable garden is quite important; usually, even in quite ambi- tious places, it is left fully exposed to the house and grounds. While a growing crop of vegetables is not unsightly, it can hardly be claimed that it is a desirable landscape feature; and the seasons and the necessary work of the garden keep it in a condition, for a large part of the year, that had better be kept out of sight. This design encloses the garden with a hemlock hedge, which I think is the most beautiful and satisfactory one that can be grown in this climate. California privet makes a very fine hedge and can be grown to a height of five or six feet in three seasons, and is almost evergreen. Unfortunately, this privet is not quite hardy in all localities. The design of the garden provides for vege- tables, fruit (such as dwarf pears, grapes, and dwarf apples) and hardy and annual flowers for cutting from early spring until November. In addition to the planting shown on the plan, a row of trees is to be planted along the west line of the place, and the porches are to be covered with vines. As I have said before, these plans can only serve to show some correct principles of arrangement and planting. The plan for any given place must be specially made for it, and all local conditions and limitations considered. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1. I, I. Massed planting of deciduous trees, 11. Magnolia Soulangeana. evergreens and shrubs, with groups of 12. Colorado bl-ue spruce and weeping strong - growing herbaceous plants in hemlock. the margins. 13. Nordmann's fir, oriental spruce, and 2. Group of trees. Abies pendula. 3. Border for single hollyhocks. 14. Tulip tree. 4.. Border of hybrid perpetual roses. 15. Pin oak. 5. 8. Border of hardy plants, lilies, and 16. Specimen rhododendrons. spring-flowering bulbs. 17. Weeping beech. 6. Border of summer-flowering bulbs. 18. Rose -flowered Japanese weeping cherry 7. Border of annuals. (high grafted). 9. Japanese maples. 19. Abies concolor and Picea excelsa. 10. Magnolia stellata and golden yew. 20. Magnolia conspicua. FO/? y? FIFE-ACRE PLACE 8o A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR FIVE-ACRE PLACE, continued 21. Fruit along inside paths of vegetable garden grapes, dwarf pears, dwarf apples, etc. 22. Saplings eight inches in diameter with branches cut back to five or six feet. These posts can be covered with wis- taria and similar vines. 23. Summer house or pavilion. 24. Shrubbery. 25. Chinese cypress. 26. Rhododendrons. 27. Purple beech. Vegetable garden to be inclosed with a hemlock hedge, which is also to be planted along the west side leading from the street to house and stable. ./ SUBURBAN LOT The accompanying plan, made for Mr. J. E. Porter, of Sewickley, Pa., shows an uncon- ventional treatment of a corner lot that few people would have the courage to carry out. Yet it has many attractions and advantages for the owners and their friends. The objection is likely to be urged that the public cannot see the garden from the street ; but neither is the interior of the house to be seen from the highway, and privacy in the garden is certainly as desirable as it is in the library or dining-room, and all the public that the owner is interested in will be invited to enjoy his garden as well as the hospitality of his house. The plea that it is selfish to exclude the public from one's grounds is not reasonable. I never knew of anybody being kept out of a garden who cared enough about it to ask to see it, and the charm and beauty of a garden is greatly enhanced by shutting out of view the dirt and ugliness of the street. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1. Masses of shrubs, evergreen and decidu- ous small trees, with a few groups of bold herbaceous plants. 2. Crab apple. 3. Hardy perennials. 4.. Magnolia conspicua. 5. Japanese maples. 6. Rhododendrons, with Lilium auratum planted among them. 7. Japanese snowball. 8. Paulownia imperialis, to be cut to the ground every spring. 9. Pin oak. 10. Pyrus Toringo. n. Rhododendron Everestianum. 12. Lonicera bella. 13. Group of A r alia Japonic a. 14. Old spreading Seckle pear, a 5, 16. Tulip tree. 17. White birch. 1 8. Low-spreading old Apple tree. 19. White birch. 20. Scarlet oak. 21,22,23,24. Cedar or locust saplings, to be covered with vines, for clothes-line posts. 25. Arched entrance, to be covered with Rosa Wichuraiana. 26. Border of hybrid perpetual roses. 27. Scarlet maple. 28. California privet hedge. 29. Pin oaks, planted forty feet apart be- tween curb and sidewalk. In addition to planting shown on plan, the following vines are to be planted to shade porch : Hall's honeysuckles, Crimson Ram- bler roses, Chinese wistaria and Clematis paniculata. Ampelopsis Roylei is to be planted to cover brick walls of house. PLAN FOR A SUBURBAN LOT 82 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS AN IDEAL SUBURBAN ACRE The unusual location of the house in the accompanying plan probably makes it imprac- ticable for a majority of suburban acres, but it serves to show some correct principles of arrangement and planting, and that is about all any plan can show, except for the special grounds for which it is designed ; for good plans cannot be had ready-made but must be made to order, and all local conditions and limitations considered. The many desirable features of the plan I think are evident. By locating the house close to the northern boundary of the lot, a southeast corner one, the greatest possible unbroken expanse of lawn is obtained, and all principal rooms of the house have a southern and eastern exposure. The massed planting on the western and northern boundaries gives protection to house and grounds from wintry winds, affords grateful shelter for the choicer shrubs and plants, and secures privacy for the rear of the house, drying ground and stable. The driveway and driveways are now usually made so as to serve the double purpose of driving and walking gives entrance from one street and the curved path from the other. This path, winding in among the shrubbery, affords opportunity for some very effective planting. Massed planting of shrubs, while the very best arrangement for them, gives many chances for the planting of groups of herbaceous plants, narcissi, and lilies in the margins, and no better setting can be had for the splendid new flowering cannas. The grounds are to be inclosed with a fence, low wall, or hedge, preferably a hedge if properly planted and cared for, and for grounds of this size no more satisfactory hedge can be planted than California privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium) . It is quick-growing and has a rich, lustrous green foliage, and it is almost evergreen. The plan ignores bedding plants, with the exception of the beds of cannas and carpet-border in front of the porte-cochere, a very appropriate place for a bit of formal gardening; but where the annual expense of bedding is objectionable, the cannas could be changed for tall hardy grasses and the carpet-border for one of tulips carpeted with Phlox subulata, or it might be omitted altogether. Nine-tenths of the bedding done detracts from, rather than adds to, the grounds it is intended to beautify, and is an annual waste of money, which, if spent intelligently in carrying out a good design, would in time make a sylvan paradise of many a suburban home. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1,1,1. Shrubs, with hardy plants and spring- 8. Purple beech. flowering bulbs planted in margin. 9. Evergreens and birches. 22. Rhododendrons, kalmias, small ever- 10,10,10,10. Scarlet maples; can be used greens and lilies. for clothes-line when large enough. 3. Border for herbaceous plants and spring- n. Hemlock spruce. flowering bulbs, or could be used for 12. Weeping dogwood, hybrid perpetual roses. 13. Wier's maple. 4. Untrimmed hedge of hemlock spruce. 14. Pin oak. 5. Untrimmed hedge of lilacs. 15. Tulip tree. 6. 6, 6, 6. Posts covered with vines for 16. Magnolias. clothes-line. 17. Chinese cypress. 7. Bed of new flowering cannas and carpet- 18. Rose-flowered Japanese weeping cherry. border of alternantheras, echeverias, etc. 19. Magnolia stellata. AN IDEAL SUBURBAN ACRE A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 20. Cut-leaved birch. 21. Fern-leaved beech. 22. Japan maples. 23. Funkia Sieboldiana. 24. Eulalia gracillima. 25. Weigela Candida. AN IDEAL SUBURBAN ACRE, cnntintteJ 27. Maples, pin oaks or tulip trees. In addition to planting shown on plan, Japanese honeysuckles, Clematis paniculata, and Clematis Henryi are to be trained on the porch, and a Chinese wistaria is to be car- ried up the east end of the house, trained 26. Evergreens, small trees and shrubs. along the eaves. TWO SMALL PLACES TREATED AS ONE It is now quite common in suburban neighborhoods to do away with all fences and make one continuous lawn in front of the houses of an entire block. I am opposed to this, except for small lots of less than one hundred feet frontage. The inclosure need not be a fence or a wall ; much better effect can be obtained by a hedge. The continuous lawn plan does not permit grounds to have individual character or privacy, and I think privacy is as desirable on a lawn as it is in the living-rooms of the house. Sometimes, however, the grounds of two or three small places may be combined and treated as one place, and fine landscape effects obtained which would not be possible with the separate places. The accompanying plan, made for Mr. W. J. Buttfield, of Plainfield, N. J., illustrates this very well. 1. Edge of woods back of grounds. 2. 33. Rows of old Norway spruce, twenty feet high, which were allowed to re- main, as they protected the grounds on the north and west, but the regu- larity of their outline was broken by additional planting. 3. Purple beech. 4. Border of hybrid perpetual roses, herba- ceous plants and spring-flowering bulbs. 5. Group of Japanese maples, retinisporas, and specimen shrubs, ground carpeted with Hall's and golden honeysuckles. 6. Magnolia conspicua. 7. Sciadopitys verticillata. 8. Magnolia parviflora. 9. Shrubs. 10. Abies concolor. 11. Nordmann's fir. 12. Colorado blue spruce. 13. European beech 14. Massed planting of shrubs, evergreen and deciduous. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 15. Cut-leaved birch. 16. Paulotvnia imperialif. 17. Abies concolor. 18. Mugho pine. 19. Nordmann's fir. 20. Massed planting of deciduous and ever- green shrubbery. 21. Fern-leaved beech. 22. Magnolia Lennei. 23. Japanese snowball. 24. Specimen rhododendron. 25. Puea alba carulea. 26. White-leaved weeping linden. 27. Magnolia stellata. 28. Cedrus Atlantica glauca. 29. Weeping hemlock. 30. Specimen rhododendron. 31. Magnolia Soulangeana. 32. Group of white birch. 34. Philadelphus and Weigela Candida. 35. Pin oak. 36. Tulip tree. WA* /&* k xxy^r 86 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR A LARGE CITY PLACE The accompanying plan, designed by Mr. Caparn, I think an especially good one very original and artistic and, properly carried out, would make a very charming garden. It is designed for a city home, rather than a country one, where it is desirable to secure privacy from numerous pedestrians and to conceal from view surrounding streets and buildings. Some would object to the arrangement shown on account of its exclusiveness, but after the making of many gardens I am still of the opinion that privacy is one of their best quali- ties. Mr. Caparn explains his plan as follows : " This plan is for a place of average shape and about two and a half acres in area. The unusual location of house and lines of walk will show that economy of space is quite consistent with convenience and breadth of effect. Picturesqueness is obtained by arrange- ment of planting, not by meandering of sinuous ribbons of gravel. By placing the house in the corner the greatest possible extent of unbroken lawn space is secured, while the porch fronting the lawn is as private as it could be on a place of this size. The lawn runs up to the house unimpaired by any stripes of arid pavement, and the lines of the house are relieved only by the creepers covering it (Boston ivy on the walls and clematises, wistarias and Hall's Honeysuckles on the porches) and the tall conifers to the south of the house. "This kind of design is suited only to land level, or approximately so, but within those lines could be easily adapted to many places. An ideal contour map would show the lawn gently sloping from all sides to the middle, with the walks on level ground. Along the front boundary runs a wall or iron fence ; the entrance is through iron gates into a court large enough to admit of a carriage being turned. There is a smaller gate, admitting pedes- trians to a paved walk leading to the front and back of the house. The carpet-bedding on each side of the entrance court is justified by the formal lines of building and macadam which it supplements. The shrubbery behind it sets it off and separates it from the main part of the grounds. The drying ground is inclosed on three sides by a hedge or vine- covered trellis. The stable is placed at the corner of the vegetable garden and entered from a side street, thus being kept entirely away from the house ; but if the place were not on a corner the stable could be placed opposite the drying ground and the paved walk widened to allow the passage of vehicles. "The interest and value of the vegetable garden could be added to by borders of annuals, herbaceous and tender plants for cut-flowers, grape-vines, and dwarf fruits. It is inclosed by a wall. A hedge would be a good protection, would look better and be far cheaper, but would take several years to become an effective defense. If the walks are made wide enough to admit of a horse and cart being used in the garden, six and one-half ifeet will be wide enough for them, and the inner corners should be rounded a little to allow for turning; in this way manure may be carried to all parts of the garden with great convenience. If desired, breaks could be left in the shrubbery to admit views from the street without injury to the general design." EXPLANATION OF PLAN I. Japan maples. 4. Magnolia parviflora. .2. Retinispora obtusa. 5, 5. Shrubbery, with small trees and groups 3. Yulan magnolia. of large herbaceous plants in margins. PLAN FOR A LARGE CITY PLACE 88 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR LARGE CITY PLACE, continued 6. Oriental spruce. n. Balsam fir. 7. Rollison's arborvitaes, or golden retinis- 12. Norway spruce. poras. 13. Colorado blue spruce. 8. Nordmann's fir. 14. Purple beech. 9. Scarlet maple. 15. Irish juniper and beds of herbaceous plants. 10. Andromeda arborea. 16. Vine-covered summer house. PLAN FOR GROUNDS OF TWENTY ACRES The accompanying plan is that of the grounds of Mr. Henry S. Turner, at Elash, 111. These grounds are beautifully situated on a bluff five hundred feet above the Mississippi river, and about thirty miles from St. Louis. The grounds are comparatively level except for a steep declivity on the southern boundary, commencing on a line a few feet south of the house, and a valley commencing at path a, and extending beyond the northwestern boundary of the grounds. This valley is wooded north of the carriage drive which crosses it from b to c. The grounds slope gently to this valley from path d, and from the road from e to /. The steep declivity referred to above extends about three hundred feet south of the house to a sheer bluff above the river. The house is located to get the full benefit of the magnificent river and prairie view, which is only limited by the power of the eye. The pond was a natural one, the outlines of which have been changed. This pond was retained to provide a place to grow aquatics and bog plants. The grounds are very elaborately planted with a large variety of trees, shrubs and her- baceous plants, and promise to become one of the most interesting and beautiful country places in the west. In addition to the ground shown by the plan, Mr. Turner owns several hundred acres adjoining, which is devoted to a stock-farm. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1, i, i. Woods. 10. Path from house to farm, with flower 2. Steep declivity, planted principally with border on both sides, planted with evergreens, but some open spaces left, hybrid perpetual roses, herbaceoi^ in which wild roses and other native plants, spring-flowering bulbs, sum- plants are naturalized. mer-blooming bulbs, and annuals 3 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3- Trees and shrubs. 11. Summer house. 3, 3 ^* *.&-~-^t wi * r * - v?> *i * ^ | ^^i^J---^^!^* rf-*. o GROUNDS OF TWENTY ACRES 9 o A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR GROUNDS OF SIX ACRES The accompanying plan was made for the grounds of John Markle, Esq., Jeddo, Pa. As these grounds were surrounded by the various buildings of a large colliery, the first consideration was to make the grounds as private as possible and shut out the unsightly objects that were in view in every direction ; although I hold that privacy is always as desirable on the lawn and in the garden as it is in the living-rooms of the house, and secure for the family and its friends much freer and greater enjoyment than when the grounds are fully exposed to the highway. In the present instance privacy was secured by massed planting of shrubs and by a hemlock hedge completely surrounding the grounds. The landscape gardener often finds that his lawns are spoiled, in spite of his advice, by being cut up for flower beds by some ambitious gardener anxious to show his skill in making colored lines of coleus, alternantheras, and other tender plants. Such a contin- gency is provided for in this plan by making an inclosed formal garden for bedding plants in summer and Dutch bulbs in spring, and this garden in no way spoils the repose of the lawns. It is inclosed by a hedge of Siberian arborvitae and massed planting of shrub- bery, and must be visited to be seen. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1. i, i, i, i, i. Massed planting of decidu- 22. ous and evergreen shrubs. 2. Specimen shrubs. 23. 3. English beech. 4. White-leaved linden. 24. 5. Nordmann's fir. 6. Cut-Leaved Japan maple. 25. 7. Group of Aral'ia Japonlca. 26. 8. Scarlet maple. 27. 9. Eulalia gracillima and yuccas. 10. Group of small deciduous trees. 28. 11. Nordmann's fir and Colorado blue spruce. 29. 12. Specimen shrubs, evergreens, and Chinese 30. magnolias. 31. 13. Deciduous trees and evergreens. 32. 14. Group of Chinese and Japanese mag- 33. nolias. 34. 15. Scarlet oak. 16. Scarlet oak, weeping cypress, and weep- 35. ing Norway spruce. 36. 17. Sugar maple. 37, 18. Tulip tree. 38, 19. Fern-leaved beech. 40. 20. 20. Pin oaks. 41, _2i. Evergreens and white birch. 42. Evergreens, rhododendrons, and Kalmia lati folia. Formal garden for bedding plants and spring-flowering bulbs. American beech, liquidambar, and tulip tree. Scarlet maple. Group of Japanese crab apples. Wier's maple, pin oak, English beech, black walnut, and white oak. Tulip tree, Magnolia macrophylla and scarlet maple. Group of deciduous trees. Mass of wild crab apples. American elm. White, scarlet, and pin oaks. Summer house. Rockery on both sides of path leading into woods. Group of evergreens. Lombardy poplars. Border of annuals. 39. Border for hardy perennials. Border of hybrid perpetual roses. Bed of A rundo Donax and Eulalia gracillima. Lilacs, assorted. 92 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR GLEN COVE RAILROAD STATION Some of the railroads, notably the Pennsylvania and one or two of the New England companies, have been devoting considerable attention, of late years, to gardening along their lines. Station-grounds have been beautified, and the steep banks made by grading cuts have been planted with vines and shrubs. This work is not costly, and is a distinct gain to the companies by making their roads more attractive to travelers and the seekers of suburban homes, and in the case of steep banks saves them from loss and trouble by pre- venting the slipping of loose surface soil, which is very apt to happen after heavy rains, or when the frost comes out of the ground in the spring on unplanted banks. The present plan was made for the station-grounds at Glen Cove, Long Island, near which station are the country homes of many wealthy New York people. These grounds are much larger than those usually surrounding suburban stations ; but I believe the resi- dents joined the railroad company in buying and improving the grounds, and the result is a very attractive little park that is a pleasure and credit to all concerned. The grounds have been laid out and planted as attractively as possible, but the prac- tical purposes of the station have not been overlooked, and ample space has been left for standing room for carriages at the platforms. The planting list includes many beautiful trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, but all of easy culture, things requiring care, of course, but not the care of an expert. It may be interesting to know that the famous " Dosoris " is near this station, and to this Glen Cove owes much of its progressive spirit. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1. Magnolia macrophylla. 22. Oriental sycamore. 2. Scarlet oak. 23. Weeping rose-flowered Japan cherry. 3. Magnolia conspicua. 24. American elm. 4.. Nordmann's fir. 25. Salix pentandra. 5. Sugar maple. 26. Group of hemlock spruce. 6. Abies concolor. 27. White-leaved linden. 7. Wier's maple. 28. Mains Halliana. 8. Silver maple. 29, 29. Massed planting of trees and shrubs. 9. Picea polita. 30. Pin oaks planted fifty feet apart, with 10. White-leaved weeping linden. Carolina poplars planted alternately. 11. Colorado blue spruce. The poplars, which are of extremely 12. Groups of white birch. rapid growth, are to be cut out as soon 13. Cut-leaved birch. as the pin oaks are of an effective size. 14. Magnolia conspicua. 31. White ash planted fifty feet apart and 15. Magnolia parviflora. Carolina poplars planted alternately, 16. Magnolia Soulangeana. to be treated as noted above. 17. Tulip tree. In addition to the above a California 1 8. Oriental spruce. privet hedge is planted along both sides of 19. Douglas' spruce. the main entrance driveway and along one 20. Abies Cephalonica. side of the driveway paralleling the railroad 21. American elm. track. * n * 1 ; *: 1 FOR GLEN COVE RAILROAD STATION PLAN FOR SUBURBAN LOT 75x160 FEET It is usually thought the small suburban lot is unworthy of the landscape gardener's skill; but I think the accompanying plan, which is for a lot 75 x 160 feet, or about one- fourth of an acre of ground, proves the contrary. This plan gives what is not always found in larger places small but good lawn effects, a considerable variety of choice plants and shrubs, changing effects from spring until fall, and outdoor privacy for the family and its friends. The present plan ignores bedding plants, with the exception of the French cannas against the front porch, and I am inclined to the opinion that Eulalia gracillima (that lovely tall Japanese plumed grass,) with a border of Siebold's funkia, would be better and would make the entire planting of a permanent character. The new French cannas, such as Mme. Crozy and Alphonse Bouvier, are, however, despite their one fault of fading in hot sun- shine, fine enough for any grounds, and their splendid coloring in September and October reconciles us to their summer weakness. A disagreeable feature of almost every small place is the use of four ugly turned posts for the clothes-line. These can be avoided by using saplings of about eight inches in diameter, cut to a proper length, and the branches short- ened to about five or six feet. These can be covered with such vines as trumpet creeper, Chinese wistaria, or Hall's honeysuckle, and so arranged as to form part of the garden design. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1. California privet hedge. 2. Border of hybrid perpetual roses and hardy herbaceous plants. 3. Scarlet maple. 4. Shrubbery, with groups of herbaceous plants in margins. 5. White birch. 6. Single hollyhocks. 7. Rhododendrons, with Lilium auratnm planted among them. 8. New French cannas, or Eulalia gracillima and Funkia Sieboldiana. PLAN FOR SUBURBAN LOT, continued g. Retinispora plumosa aurea and Andromeda floribunda. Retinispora is to be kept sheared to not over three and a half feet high. 10. Japan maples. 11. Magnolia stellata. 12. Magnolia conspicua. 13. Posts covered with vines for clothes-line. 14. Pavilion. 15. Low stone wall, partly covered with vines (tropae- olums). In addition to planting shown in plan, three pin oaks are to be planted between the side-walk and curb. PLAN FOR HARDY BORDERS PLANT The accompanying plan is designed to be used on both sides of a walk. These borders would be equally suitable for placing in front of a wall or hedge. The walk, instead of being gravel, might be one of grass, making the entire space between the borders grass, and this would be much more effective. As hardy borders are intended to be permanent, the initial preparation of the soil should be liberal. The border should be dug out to the depth of two feet, preferably two and one-half feet, and filled with all good surface soil mixed with one-fourth its bulk of thoroughly rotted stable manure. After planting, the border should be mulched with two inches of stable manure late every fall, care being taken that the tops of no evergreen plants are covered, as it would cause them to rot. Borders planted as shown in plan will give a suc- cession of bloom from early spring until fall, but the hardy plants and bulbs should be supplemented by plantings of annuals, such as Shirley poppies, Phlox 'Drummondii, nasturtiums, sweet alyssum, and asters, and the narrow strip for bulbs in front of the bor- ders might be planted entirely with forget-me-not, which would not interfere at all with the growth or bloom of the bulbs. % SK 8 9 6 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS PLAN FOR SMALL SUBURBAN GROUNDS These grounds are, for the greater part, practically level, but have an elevation of about forty feet above the street they front on ; the front of the grounds being a steep embankment covered with a natural growth of trees and shrubs. The road shown at the side of the grounds is a right of way which gives en- trance to three or four contiguous places. Privacy is secured for the front lawn by the topog- raphy of the ground, by the mass of shrubs and by hedges. This lawn is two feet higher than the level of the carriage road, and entrance is gained to it by steps through the hedge, which extends from side of house to boundary of grounds. Designed for F. H. Russell, Esq., Edgeworth, Pa. These grounds, although only half an acre in extent, have proven most successful, due as much to the enthusiasm of the owner as to a good plan faith- fully carried out. Many large places are less effective and comprehensive. A very successful flower and vegetable garden is a feature, and some fruit is grown. The shrubberies contain a good assortment of varie ties, and the little lawn is quite perfect. The natural topography of the grounds, which has been undis- turbed, adds greatly to their beauty. EXPLANATION OF PLAN 1, i, i, i. Massed planting of shrubs. 2, 2. Hardy perennial plants. 3. Arundo < Donax and Eulalia gracillima. 4. Vines and shrubs to cover steep bank. 5. Natural growth on steep embankment. 6, 6. California privet hedge. 7. California privet hedge. 8, Q, 10, n, 12, 15. Fruit trees. 13, 13. Grapes on trellis. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. Posts for clothes-line. 22. Tulip tree. 23. Pin oak. 24. Purple beech. 25. English beech. 26. Scarlet oak. 27. Magnolia Soulangeana. 28. Japanese snowball. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. A 000 559 431 2