HOW TO SECURE IT

The planting of shrubbery about the home is so important that it may well take precedence of the flower garden proper or even the grading of the lawn itself. Indeed, if one owns the site of a home and the building is yet in the future, no better expenditure of one's spare time and dollars can be inaugurated than such initial planting as shall insure the presence of blooming shrubs about the home at the time of its completion so that all may be beautiful and perfect together, rather than that two or three years must elapse before one can begin to enjoy the results.

Hardy shrubs vary very greatly in the precociousness of their bloom, certain forms giving quite noticeable results the second season, while others need two or three years' growth even to indicate what their ultimate beauty will be.

The location, too, will have much to do with results. For a low planting about the foundation of the house, in front of porches or to top low terraces many plants may be employed which would be unsatisfactory in places at a distance where a general effect is desired more than an intimate relation. For masking a building, hiding an undesirable view and the like, tall-growing shrubs and flowering trees are usually preferred and these being of more or less slow growth require time to develop.

In all shrubbery planting it will be found that a number of plants of one sort is far more effective than one or two plants each of many distinct kinds. The mistake is often made of planting only shrubs which bloom together, producing a medley of more or less inharmonious colors and form for a few weeks in spring leaving the shrubbery bare and uninteresting for the remainder of the year. This is a mistake I have often made in my own garden, but one which I usually rectify by planting in other shrubs which will come forward when the first have ceased to bloom.

For a number of years a very beautiful hedge of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora has separated the lawn from the flower garden; only one objection could be urged against it—its flowerless condition throughout most of the summer. To overcome this objection, scarlet salvias were alternated between the plants and an edging of scarlet and white phlox made a mass of color from mid-June until well into October. This, of course, was not legitimate shrubbery planting, so recourse was made to alternating Hydrangea arborescens with the paniculata. These coming into bloom late in June gave a very satisfactory arrangement, but this year Deutzia-Pride of Rochester, which also blooms in June, was introduced and I am anticipating much pleasure from the addition.

A hedge of SpirÆa Van Hutti extending from the house to the road is very beautiful in early May, but inconspicuous and uninteresting the remainder of the summer. If it had been in a situation demanding a heavier planting I should have alternated the plants, setting them behind the spirÆas, with forsythias—whose golden yellow blooms make bright the garden in earliest spring—and between the forsythias introduced the deutzias.

There are few more satisfactory and graceful plants for use in front of a porch than this SpirÆa Van Hutti; its gracefully curved branches, though growing to a good length, curve away gracefully from the building, bending with their weight of snowy bloom almost to the ground and the growth is very strong and rapid, but never coarse. It is the very best early blooming shrub to date.

Very lovely effects may be secured by alternating the spirÆa with the Weigela Eve Rathke, and keeping this down to a somewhat prostrate habit; this will give a perfect sheet of bloom from early May until the last of June and a less-pronounced show of flowers throughout the remainder of summer from the weigela.

There is a strong tendency when purchasing shrubbery to select a little of everything—one plant of each, perhaps. I do this myself—not without excuse perhaps on my part, for we people who write for the benefit of others have to get our knowledge by, often costly, experience, and not by the mere reading of nursery catalogues. It is sometimes a most excellent thing to gratify this inclination providing one has a piece of land which can be devoted to experimental purposes and where one can shift things about until one has gained just the right combination and exposure for each plant. A strip of ground twelve or fifteen feet wide and as long as available will give room for a very successful planting of small trees and shrubs and hardy perennials may be introduced to fill in until the shrubs have reached an effective size. Ulmarias, hardy phlox, oriental poppies, rudbeckias and the like will be found very useful and tall clumps of lilies should always be interspersed in all permanent plantings.

It will often be found that some shrub which one has admired at close range is entirely ineffective in the shrubbery border; take, for instance, the Tartarian honeysuckle—a pretty enough thing close at hand but ineffectual and insignificant at any distance.

For a long shrubbery border of twelve or fifteen feet wide no better selection of shrubs can be made than these seven perfectly reliable and hardy shrubs—Forsythia, April; SpirÆa Van Hutti, May; Deutzia Pride of Rochester, June; Hydrangea arborescens, July, August; Hydrangea paniculata, September; Althea, October and November. These are—with perhaps the exception of the althea, which is sometimes uncertain—absolutely hardy and reliable plants which increase in size and beauty from year to year and insure a constant succession of bloom throughout the summer and fall so that by their use the shrubbery border need never be without flowers.

In planting a border of these mixed shrubs attention to arrangement will have much to do with success. Of course it will occur to the most inexperienced that the taller shrubs should be in the rear, but it is not necessary or desirable that they should be planted in a rigid, unbroken line. Better that the line be somewhat waved, dipping forward occasionally a step or two. Then it will, of course, occur that the lowest forms will be in front, but this line, too, maybe broken occasionally with advantage, allowing the second row to step forward enough to prevent too much formality of outline.

Where immediate effect is desired, and this is invariably the case, either large specimen shrubs should be used or, if the smaller sorts seem more available, then these should be set as close again as would be done in the planting of large specimens and after they have made two or three years' growth and have begun to crowd, every other plant may be lifted and used to start a new shrubbery elsewhere.

This was what was done with my hydrangea hedge, started as a border between the front lawn and a pear orchard. The plants were first set three feet apart in a single row. When they had filled up the intervening space they were lifted and used for a hedge in the rear of the lawn, this time being set six feet apart, a distance which they soon closed, and for weeks in the fall were a wonderful mass of bloom. A hedge of SpirÆa Van Hutti replaced the hydrangeas in the front and these will probably remain undisturbed for a number of years as, owing to the proximity of a magnificent maple tree, they do not make the strong growth they do in more favorable situations.

Although I have suggested the forsythia, spirÆa, deutzia, hydrangeas and althea, etc., as the seven very best shrubs for general planting there are very many more worthy of adoption. Among these the various weigelas, especially the red varieties, the syringas and the lilacs should not be overlooked. Of the latter, far too little is known, most people being content with a bush or two of the old-fashioned purple and white of their grandmothers' garden, and perhaps, as a truth, these old sorts appeal to our hearts more strongly than the newer, more showy varieties and it is in no spirit of disparagement that I urge the adoption of some of the newer sorts—not to displace, but to supplement and extend the lilac season over a period unknown to the old-time garden.

Syringa vulgaris, alba and purpurea are usually through blooming by the twentieth of May, or thereabouts, but Emodi, with its rosy-white flowers, is ushered in with the early days of June and Josikaea shows its first purple blooms late in the same month about the time that the creamy-white panticles of Japonica appear. The new double-flowered, named sorts come into bloom about the time of the common sorts and are well worth the extra cost they involve. Mme. Cassimire Perier and Pres. Grevy are two of the finest sorts and should be in every collection.

In buying lilacs it will pay well to purchase those on their own roots. Most of the named lilacs are grafted on common stock and the suckers are annoying and worthless and if allowed to grow will seriously interfere with the blooming of the graft. Such shoots as come from true roots can be detached and used to increase the supply of plants and are, therefore, most valuable additions.

One of the most beautiful small trees for planting where a light and feathery effect is sought or against a background of evergreens is found in the tamarix. I know of nothing so airy and graceful as these at all times and especially when in bloom. The flowers, which are very tiny, quite cover the branches at the time of blooming in May, in mid-summer and in fall according to their season and there is a marked difference in the foliage which in certain species shows a decided blue tinge which is very beautiful. Unfortunately they are not always entirely hardy at the north and require a somewhat protected position. They are very useful at the seashore, being one of the few things which can stand the salt air. As they make a rapid growth one can afford to experiment with them until just the right environment is found for they are well worth trying for and planted in groups of the different sorts will give a succession of bloom all summer. They are very useful for cut-flower work, making exquisite bouquets when placed in dull green majolica or similar holders.

Very careful preparation of the ground for shrubbery is essential as once planted they usually remain undisturbed for years; for this reason the earth should be dug very deep, underdrained, if necessary, and thoroughly fertilized.

After planting the ground should be kept cultivated by hoeing or by the use of the scuffle-hoe—anything which will maintain a dust-mulch, prevent the earth drying out and caking and retain the moisture. The success of the planting depends upon this one feature more than upon any other one thing. A plant insufficiently supplied with moisture during the growing season is quite certain to succumb to the rigors of the succeeding winter—not, indeed, on account of the cold itself, but the condition in which it entered the winter.

The best season for the planting of all hardy shrubs is early spring, before growth starts, the next best, late fall after the foliage has dropped. Altheas and white birch trees, however, do better with spring planting.