.nill'> iBsH'Fi'T 
 
Cornell XDintvetstti? 
 
 OF THE 
 
 mew IPorft State College of Harlculture 
 
 ft.f.....a.i4..t ^QiyaD-iy^ 
 
Cornell University Library 
 SB 472.E46 1910 
 
 A plea for hardy plants, with suggestions 
 
 3 1924 002 994 568 
 
'1^2 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002994568 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
KALMIA LATIFOLIA 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY 
 PLANTS 
 
 Wttlj ^«ggpatton0 for 
 lEffprttfap Arrangpttiipnt 
 
 "By J. WILKINSON ELLIOTT 
 
 (Landscape Architect) *" 
 
 Reprinted from the 
 
 Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Part I, 1895 
 
 With Additional Plans and Copious Illustrations 
 
 BY J. Horace McFarland and Others 
 
 Third edition 
 
 New York: 1910 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
(? 
 
 
 \c^.Tm 
 
 COPTRIGHT -. igoy 
 
 Br 
 
 J. IVILKINSON ELLIOTT 
 
 flaunt Plraoaiit {Ireaa 
 
 J, Horace McFarland Company 
 Hjrrisburg, 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. j WILKINSON ELLIOTT 
 
 Pittsburg, September lo, igo2 
 
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 RHODODENDRON ALBUM GRANDIFLORUM 
 
 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 enUghtened 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 
 
ROS^ SETICERA 
 
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 auratum 
 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 ofifers 
 and what they see in their neighbors' gardens. They are not sufficiently 
 interested to make inquiries. They do not read the gardenmg 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 of hardy 
 
ROCK-GARDEN AND POOL AT IVELLESLEY, MASS. 
 
f <• j*' .* 
 
 . ^HT 
 
 
 j4f- 
 
 m 
 
 CHINESE WISTARIA 
 
 I'^i 
 
 [fll 
 
 ISS*"«« I 
 
 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 
 
 / V 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 
 f wondering world. 
 
 I I fear that much of the benefit of the 
 
 example of Mr. Olmsted's 
 and Mr. Codman's work at 
 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 
 
 FORSYTHIA FORTUNEI 
 
%i (<^ :««* 
 
 
 **\1^ 
 
 
 
 
 A NOBLE SPECIMEN, ABIES CONCOLOR VIOLACEA 
 
FOXGLOVES IN A GARDEN AT EDGEfTORTH, PA. 
 
 things not half so fine. After the irises come the Japanese hlies, 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, rudbecicias, 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 gladioH, 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 Tirummondu, 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 
 )f 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, IVITH 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 Nymphoea alba candidissima, iV . Glad- 
 stoniana, N. Marliacea rosea, N. Marliacea chromatella, N. odorata, and N. 
 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 war 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, 
 Helianthus ladflorus, Coreopsis lanceolata, gaillardias, Rudbeckia hirta, hardy 
 asters, campanulas, phloxes, delphiniums, and Heuchera sanguinea. In 
 front of these is a narrow border of tulips, narcissi, millas, etc., 
 which is carpeted with Phlox subulata. Room is also found for some sweet 
 peas, Phlox Drummondii, and nasturtiums. 
 
 (Placing a border of hardy plants in front of a hedge is one of the 
 most effective arrangements that can be made, but for cultural results 
 about the worst, as the roots of the hedge rob the plants of needed suste- 
 nance. This difficulty is easily overcome, however, by placing a sunk par- 
 tition, say two feet deep, of two-inch oak planks between the hedge and 
 the border.) 
 
 The kitchen porch of this house is covered with honeysuckles and 
 clematis and the brick walls with Ampelopsis Veitchi. At one corner of 
 the house is planted a Chinese wistaria, which is trained upon a single 
 wire to the top of the house and then along the eaves. The neces- 
 sary, but usually unsightly, posts for the clothes-line are converted into 
 a charming feature of the garden in this way: For the posts, locust 
 saplings about eight inches in diameter, with the branches shortened back 
 to five or six feet, have been used; these are covered with Japanese 
 honeysuckle, trumpet creeper, and Clematis paniculata, one over each of 
 three posts ; and golden honeysuckle and Clematis Jackmani together 
 on the other. As the space for flowering shrubs is extremely limited, 
 only the choicest are used — a Magnolia stellata and a red-leaved Jap- 
 anese maple in the front garden, and a Magnolia Soulangeana, a Mag- 
 nolia conspicua, and a Japanese snowball in the back garden. The 
 magnolias will in time become too large for the garden, but it will not 
 be for many years, and the owner is content, for the sake of their great 
 beauty, to cut them out and replace them with smaller ones when he must. 
 
 In addition to all this planting, the lawn is filled with crocuses, 
 scillas, and snowdrops, — a very pleasing way of using them. 
 
30 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 This garden is the most effective, beautiful, and interesting in the 
 neighborhood, yet is made on a lot usually considered too small to 
 have gardening possibilities. It cost more than most gardens of this 
 size, but it is complete ; nothing more need be bought. On the con- 
 trary, the overflow of the natural increase is brightening the gardens 
 of neighbors and friends. This garden has also privacy, which I hold 
 is as desirable in a garden as it is in the living-rooms of the house. 
 
 Suburban lots of one hundred and fifty feet frontage, and from 
 that to an acre or two acres in extent, are popular sizes in this country. 
 Such lots admit of a combination border made with hardy shrubs and 
 plants — one of the most attractive ways in which they can be used. 
 Such a border will vary, of course, in size, shape, and formation, with 
 the requirements of individual places, and must be designed to suit 
 them; but let us suppose a lot of one hundred and fifty feet frontage 
 and two hundred feet depth, with an eastern exposure. The house is 
 
 
 ** ' ^i''! O" 
 
 CROCUSES NATURALIZED IN OPEN IVOODS 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 31 
 
 placed midway in the lot and only 
 far enough away from the northern 
 boundary to permit of a screen of 
 planting. It is common to place 
 the house as nearly in the center 
 of the lot as possible, but it is a 
 mistake, for such a location reduces 
 the size of the lawn and the gar- 
 dening possibilities greatly. We 
 would occupy the entire southern 
 and western boundaries of the lot, 
 and perhaps a portion of the east- 
 ern, with the border, which should 
 vary in width from five or six feet 
 up to twenty feet, with a curved 
 outline on the lawn. This border 
 should be planted principally with 
 shrubs arranged in groups, but a 
 few trees, such as birches, magnolias 
 and Judas trees, should be used, 
 and a few evergreens, such as reti- 
 nosporas, and quite a number of 
 evergreen shrubs. Where a great 
 variety of hardy plants is desired 
 the entire margin of this border 
 might be filled with them, but a 
 more effective arrangement is to 
 plant them in bold groups, — one 
 variety in a group, — and alternate 
 them with groups of shrubs. Some 
 of the stronger-growing plants, such 
 as sunflowers, foxgloves, and single 
 hollyhocks, might be placed in the 
 middle or back part of the border, 
 and the Japanese lilies — auratum, 
 rubrum, and album — and our Ameri- 
 can species, superbum, can always 
 be planted in, and combined to ad- 
 
 LILIIM jtURATCM -4SD HARDY HTDRASGEAS 
 
32 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 vantage with groups of rhododendrons and azaleas. After such a border 
 is completely planted with shrubs and hardy plants there will be many 
 opportunities for introducing colonies of spring-flowering bulbs — tulips, 
 narcissi, etc. — and the advantage of using bulbs in this way is that the 
 planting is permanent and that they are really more efiFective than in 
 formal-shaped beds cut out of the lawn. It is the intention to keep 
 this border in a cultivated condition, free from weeds and grass, and 
 to give an annual mulching of manure. A lot of this size, planted so 
 densely on its boundary, should have its lawn kept quite free and open 
 and have only a few choice specimens planted on it, and no large trees, 
 except street trees on the edge of the sidewalk. 
 
 I do not claim that this is the most artistic arrangement that can be 
 made for a small suburban place. I have in mind a most artistic place 
 that is almost inclosed by a quite narrow planting of ordinary trees and 
 shrubs, with a mass of trees back of the house and a single magnificent 
 specimen tree on the front lawn. This is a satisfactory arrangement, as an 
 example of fine architecture is satisfactory, but all the variety, interest, and 
 pleasure of gardening is lost. 
 
 In larger grounds, where a vegetable garden and perhaps an orchard 
 are features, the opportunities for using hardy shrubs and plants are much 
 greater and more varied. The vegetable garden may be made the most 
 interesting and delightful place imaginable. Usually it is simply a field of 
 vegetables, fully exposed from all points of the ground and very often 
 unsightly. Now, the vegetable garden should be concealed from the lawn 
 and house; and this necessity at once suggests a border, or boundary 
 planting, of shrubs and herbaceous plants as described for the smaller 
 suburban lot. This planting should not only hide the garden but should 
 hide its outlines, which are usually rectangular. The garden itself should 
 be inclosed with a hedge, which should show from the inside of the garden 
 but never from the lawn. California privet makes a very satisfactory 
 garden hedge, but where that is not hardy, hemlock spruce can be used. 
 Nothing makes a finer hedge than this, but it is slower growing than the 
 privet, of which I have seen a perfect hedge five feet high made in three 
 seasons, starting with two-year-old plants. A convenient walk from the 
 house should pass through the shrubbery into the garden, and of course a 
 convenient entrance will be made for bringing in manure, etc. A walk 
 should be laid out all around the garden five to six feet wide, with a six- 
 foot border for flowers between the walk and the hedge. There should 
 
34 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 be also two walks, six feet wide, crossing each other at right angles and 
 dividing the garden into four rectangular pieces of about equal size. On 
 both sides of these walks, grapes, dwarf pears, and small fruits can be 
 planted, and also on the inner sides of the outer walk if desired. The 
 walks can be made of any material that is convenient, and need not be 
 expensive. In one garden that I know, they are made of grass and kept 
 as a lawn would be. I know that there are objections that can be urged 
 against grass walks, but the owner of the garden in question does not 
 find them objectionable, and they are certainly more pleasing to the eye 
 than gravel walks. The border between the walk and the hedge should 
 be given up entirely to flowers ; hardy plants should predominate, but 
 there should be liberal spaces reserved for summer-blooming bulbs and 
 annuals. In the hardy plants each variety should be grouped and as 
 many sorts used as thought desirable, but in making a selection flowers 
 suitable for cutting, as well as for making a garden effect, should be 
 preferred. Such bold and striking plants as single hollyhocks and fox- 
 gloves should be planted in decided masses, and a border with eastern 
 or southern exposure should be used for hybrid perpetual roses. 
 
 A vegetable garden, arranged as described and properly cared for, 
 in addition to being an interesting and pleasant place to visit, would 
 furnish an abundant supply of cut-flowers for the house, for the church, 
 for the hospital, and for friends; and I think one of the keenest pleas- 
 ures a garden can afford is the ability to give away flowers without stint. 
 The garden of hardy flowers enables one to give away plants as well 
 as flowers, for the natural increase soon makes a surplus. 
 
 In large grounds there are often opportunities for using hardy 
 plants and shrubs in a freer and more picturesque way than any I have 
 suggested ; that is, the planting of them in groups and masses to pro- 
 duce the same effects as if they were growing wild. Indeed, after the 
 first careful planting, they should be allowed to grow wild, without cul- 
 ture and uncontrolled. The naturalizing of hardy material does not 
 mean that we should attempt to imitate the thickets, woods, or meadows 
 on our lawns. It does mean the taking advantage of a brookside for 
 groups and colonies of irises, narcissi, hardy ferns, the splendid 
 Lilium superbum, and the scores of beautiful things that will thrive in 
 the grass if it is not to be cut with the lawn-mower. It means the 
 planting of an irregular group of foxgloves on the edge of a wood, or 
 the covering of a rough bank with a mass of kalmias or native azaleas 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 35 
 
 or native rhododendrons, or with all of these shrubs together. It means 
 increasing the beauty and interest of wild and rough parts of a place 
 a hundred-fold, but considerable taste and knowledge of materials are 
 needed to produce good results. 
 
 We must not overlook the claims of climbing shrubs and plants 
 
 DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLETS 
 
 to our consideration. No gardening scheme, large or small, should 
 ignore them. We can imagine a most, delightful garden \^here they, in 
 connection with trees and shrubbery, alone are used ; and, if we consider 
 their decorative effect, foliage, gracefulness of growth, and the great 
 beauty of flowers that many of them have, we must admit that they are 
 entitled to a more important place in our gardens. The free use of the 
 clematis family alone would give a thousand-fold more beauty than is 
 
36 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 obtainable with the most lavish use of bedding plants; and here we not 
 only consider the large-flowered type but the smaller-flowered sorts as 
 well, with their luxuriance of growth and their charming efi^ect when used 
 as tree, shrub, hedge, or fence drapery. And then the climbing roses — 
 what a glorious possibility here, with their showers of bloom in June ! 
 
 Climbers will not exhibit their best charms if trained in a stiff and 
 formal manner; they must, in whatever position used, be allowed to grow 
 untrammeled. My neighbor's garden furnished a good illustration of this. 
 He planted common morning-glories all about his porch, with the inten- 
 tion of training them on strings later; but he was diverted from his inten- 
 tion and the morning-glories were allowed to grow as they would. The 
 effect was most charming ; they clambered over every shrub they could 
 reach, shared a trellis with a clematis, and, where they could find nothing 
 to climb on, formed mounds of green of the most tangled and pleasing 
 description. Morning-glories, common as they are, if used rightly, pro- 
 duce the most delightful effects. One of the right ways is to sow them 
 among tall grass, or among low bushes and shrubbery; and as they renew 
 themselves annually from seed they may properly be considered hardy. 
 As a rule, vines should not be trained in a formal manner. If you would 
 have them exhibit their best graces they must be allowed to grow uncon- 
 trolled. All know the uses that vines are commonly put to — that of cov- 
 ering the walls of the house, furnishing shade for porch or arbor, and the 
 covering of screens and trellises. Besides these, almost every place of any 
 size ofi^ers opportunities for their growth in a freer and more natural way 
 that will greatly add to the charm and delight of the garden. Perhaps a 
 neglected shrubbery, unsightly in itself, will afi^ord support for such easily 
 grown things as honeysuckles. Clematis Virginiana and C. Flammula ; or 
 the common wild morning-glory, so plentiful in many places, would be 
 quite at home here. An unsightly fence might be partly concealed and 
 made a thing of beauty with climbing roses, honeysuckles, or clematises ; 
 or an old tree, past its prime and beginning to be unsightly, would be the 
 very thing on which to grow such vigorous vines as the aristolochia, 
 wistaria, trumpet vine, and the common Virginia creeper. In how 
 many places are seen evergreens in a half-dead condition, which only pro- 
 crastination has spared from the axe, and as unsightly as could well be ; 
 but nothing could be better on which to grow the large-flowered 
 clematis, which furnishes a profusion of lovely bloom that no words can 
 describe. Some vines, like the golden honeysuckle, planted in the grass. 
 
IRIS SIBIRICJ 
 
 will pile themselves up in masses, and if any shrub is within reach will 
 clamber over it, producing an effect entirely pleasing. There is nothing 
 more charming in nature than the combination of shrub or tree with wild 
 vines. Who has not seen the living canopy of green formed by the wild 
 grape over the top of some tree or the stronger-growing shrubs, or how 
 some wild vine converts a thicket of brambles and an old fence into 
 objects of beauty that the most ambitious gardener might copy? 
 
 It is not possible to name all of the desirable hardy shrubs and 
 plants now obtainable; but I think it is well to give a list of what I 
 would commend as the very best, taking into consideration their ease of 
 culture, as well as the beauty of their bloom, form, and foliage. I know 
 many would disagree with me as to the contents of this list, but I am 
 confident that the beginner could make no mistake in including any 
 or all of the varieties named in this planting list. I have tried to name 
 these plants and shrubs somewhat in the order they hold in my esteem ; 
 but this is a difficult matter, as I am very apt to think the finest thing 
 to be the last fine thing that I have seen. 
 
18 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 Hybrid perpetual roses in 
 variety, including 
 Mrs. John Laing, 
 Paul Neyron, 
 Ulrich Brunner, 
 Mme. Gabriel Luizet, 
 General Jacqueminot, 
 Anne de Diesbach, 
 Magna Charta, 
 Baroness Rothschild, 
 Captain Christy, and 
 Clio, 
 
 Anemone Japonica alba, 
 
 Anemone Pennsyhanica, 
 
 Single hollyhocks, 
 
 Japanese irises, 
 
 Lilium auratum, 
 
 Rudbeckia speciosa, 
 
 Rudbeckia, Golden Glow, 
 
 Aquilegias in variety, 
 
 Tucca filamentosa, 
 
 Paonia f estiva maxima, 
 
 Herbaceous peonies — single 
 and double, in variety, 
 
 Lilium speciosum, 
 
 Helianthus orgyalis, 
 
 Helianthus mollis grandiflorus, 
 
 Helianthus Maximiliani, 
 
 Helianthus latiflorus, 
 
 Foxgloves, 
 
 Phlox, Miss Lingard, 
 
 Tall perennial phloxes in 
 variety. 
 
 List of Plants 
 
 Delphiniums in variety, 
 
 German irises, 
 
 Aster Novee-Anglia roseus, 
 
 Chrysanthemums — old - fash- 
 ioned hardy sorts, 
 
 Iberis sempervirens, 
 
 Lilium superbum, 
 
 Lilium Canadense, 
 
 Lilium Hansoni, 
 
 Lilium 'Brownii, 
 
 Lilium excelsum, 
 
 Lilium Thunbergianum in va- 
 riety, 
 
 Lilium tigrinum, 
 
 Lilium tigrinum fl. pi., 
 
 Lilium Krameri, 
 
 Phlox subulata and the variety 
 alba. 
 
 Phlox divaricata, 
 
 Phlox Carolina, 
 
 Phlox reptans, 
 
 Pyrethrum uliginosum, 
 
 Sedum spectabile, 
 
 Doronicum plantagineum excel- 
 sum, 
 
 Gaillardias, 
 
 Oriental poppies. 
 
 Tree peonies, 
 
 Eulalia Japonica gracillima, 
 
 Funkia Sieboldiana, 
 
 Funkia subcordata 
 
 Funkia cucullata, 
 
 Funkia carulea, 
 
 Funkia variegata, 
 Arundo Donax, 
 Hibiscus Moscheutos, 
 Heuchera sanguinea, 
 Pyrethrum roseum — single and 
 
 double varieties, 
 Spiraa palmata, 
 Spiraa Filipendula, 
 Spiraa Aruncus, 
 Spiraa lobata, 
 Tiarella cordifolia, 
 Myosotis palustris semperflorens, 
 Helianthus rigidus. 
 Campanula turbinata, 
 Platycodon Mariesi, 
 Viola cornuta, 
 Cypripedium spectabile, 
 Native ferns in variety, 
 Thalictrum aquilegifolium, 
 Liatris pycnostachya, 
 Tritoma Pfitzerii, 
 Tritoma in variety, 
 Polyanthus, 
 English primrose, 
 Asclepias tuberosa, 
 Hemerocallis flava, 
 Hemerocallis Thunbergii, 
 Hemerocallis aurantiaca major, 
 Hemerocallis fulva, 
 Bocconia in variety, 
 Monarda didyma, 
 Pentstemon Torreyi, 
 Lythrum roseum. 
 
 Spring -Flowering Bulbs 
 
 Narcissus, Bicolor Horsfieldii, 
 Narcissus, Poet's, 
 Narcissus, Emperor, 
 Narcissus, Van Sion, 
 Narcissus alba plena odorata, 
 Narcissus, Golden Spur, 
 Narcissus, Trumpet Major, 
 Narcissus, Bicolor Empress, 
 
 Narcissus incomparabilis alba 
 
 Stella, 
 Narcissus, Barri conspicuus, 
 Narcissus, Sir Watkin, 
 Tulips, Early-flowering single. 
 Tulips, Gesneriana — 1 a t e • 
 
 flowering single. 
 Tulips, Late-flowering, 
 Tulips, Show, 
 
 Tulips, May-blooming, 
 Tulips, Parrot, 
 Tulips in variety, 
 Milla uniflora, 
 Crocuses in variety, 
 Scilla Sibirica, 
 Scillas in variety, 
 Single snowdrops. 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 39 
 
 Clematis paniculata, 
 Clematis Henryi, 
 Clematis Fitalba, 
 Clematis coccinea. 
 Clematis hybrids, 
 Ampelopsis Veitchi, 
 Lonicera Halliana, 
 Clematis Jackmani, 
 Purple Chinese wistaria, 
 Clematis Firginiana, 
 Clematis Flammula, 
 
 Kalmia latifolia, 
 Rhododendrons, Catawbiense 
 
 hybrids, 
 Rhododendron maximum. 
 Rhododendron Catawbiense, 
 Magnolia stellata, 
 Ghent and Mollis azaleas, 
 Japan maples in four varieties 
 
 — sanguineum, aureum, dis- 
 
 sectum, and dissectum atro- 
 
 purpureum, 
 Hydrangea paniculata grandi- 
 
 fiora. 
 Hydrangea paniculata. 
 Hydrangea radiata, 
 Japan snowball. 
 Lilacs in variety, 
 Tamarix tetranda, 
 Tamarix Chinensis, 
 'Berberis Thunbergii, 
 Forsythia suspensa, 
 Exo chorda grandiflora, 
 Desmodium penduliflorum, 
 Spinea Lindleyana, 
 Spiraa Reevesiana, 
 Spir^a Reevesiana fl. pL, 
 Spirea, Anthony Waterer, 
 Spiraa Bumalda, 
 
 Climbers 
 
 Trumpet creeper. 
 
 Golden Japan honeysuckle. 
 
 Crimson Rambler rose. 
 
 Rambler Rose, Helene, 
 
 Rose, W. C. Egan. 
 
 'Rjisa Wichuraiana, 
 
 Upsa JVichuraiana rubra, 
 
 Aristolochia Sipho, 
 
 'Rj)sa multiflora, 
 
 Akebia quinata, 
 
 "Bignonia radicans, 
 
 Shrubs 
 
 Spiraa Thunbergii, 
 
 Spiraa prunifolia ft. pi., 
 
 Spiraa sorbifotia, 
 
 Rhus aromatica, 
 
 Clethra alnifolia, 
 
 Cercis Japonicum, 
 
 Sambucus Canadensis, 
 
 Sambucus pubens, 
 
 Halesia tetraptera, 
 
 Viburnum dilatatum, 
 
 Viburnum oxycoccus, 
 
 Viburnum dentatum. 
 
 Azalea calendulacea. 
 
 Azalea arborescens. 
 
 Azalea nudiflora. 
 
 Azalea Vaseyi, 
 
 Spiraa Fan Houttei, 
 
 Spiraa arguta, 
 
 Rosa rugosa, 
 
 Rosa setigera, 
 
 Rosa spinosissima, 
 
 Rosa Carolina, 
 
 Rosa arvensis, 
 
 Altheas, dwarf single white, 
 
 Buist's variegated, and 
 
 double varieties, 
 Japan quince, 
 "Deutzia crenata fl. pi., 
 Deutzia gracilis. 
 
 Bignonia grandiflora, 
 Celastrus scandens, 
 Celastrus paniculatus , 
 Euonymus radicans, 
 Euonymus radicans variegatus, 
 Polygonum Baldschuanicum, 
 Fitis odor at a, 
 Lonicera Heckrotti, 
 Lonicera fuchsioides, 
 Actinidia arguta. 
 Berchemia racemosa. 
 
 "Deutzia Lemoinei, 
 Hydrangea quercifolia, 
 Philadelphus coronarius, 
 Philadelphus Avalanche, 
 Philadelphus erectus, 
 Weigela rosea, 
 
 fFeigela rosea nana variegata, 
 Weigela, Eva Rathke, 
 Weigela, Conquete, 
 Weigela, Saturne, 
 Weigela, Lavellei, 
 Weigela, Abel Carriere, 
 Weigela Candida, 
 Forsythia Fortunei, 
 Golden Elder, 
 Andromeda Japonica, 
 Andromeda floribunda, 
 Andromeda arborea, 
 Elaagnus longipes, 
 Snowberries, white and red, 
 Prunus maritime, 
 Prunus Pissardi, 
 Hypericum aureum, 
 Ligustrum Ibota, 
 Upright honeysuckles, 
 Xanthoceras sorbifotia, 
 Mahonia aquifolium, 
 Leucothoe Catesbai. 
 
40 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 I have placed hardy roses at the head of the list of plants, although 
 they are really shrubs, but they belong in the flower garden and not 
 in the shrubbery. None will dispute their right to the place of honor; 
 but, notwithstanding the universal admiration that is expressed for them, 
 they are grown in but comparatively few gardens. It requires consid- 
 erable effort to have them in perfection, but the results amply reward 
 the labor. I cannot go into cultural directions; but I wish to say, and 
 with considerable emphasis, that in my experience in growing roses, 
 which has been as an amateur, I have found roses on their own roots 
 much more satisfactory than budded plants. 
 
 I know that Japanese irises and a dozen other herbaceous plants 
 
 have as strong claims perhaps for 
 consideration as the white Japanese 
 anemone, which has my unqualified 
 admiration. It has so many good 
 qualities — individual beauty of flow- 
 ers; great effectiveness in the gar- 
 den, shrubbery, or border ; good 
 foliage at all seasons ; a long sea- 
 son of bloom, and flowers that will 
 endure a degree of frost that 
 destroys almost everything else. 
 Its only limitation is that it will 
 not thrive In light, sandy soil, but 
 in a heavy, rich soil it grows with 
 great vigor. I have often seen It 
 five feet high, and that, too, in 
 places where it had been natural- 
 ized and received no attention 
 after planting. 
 
 Why is It that single hollyhocks 
 are not offered for sale or grown by 
 nurserymen and plantsmen? Surely 
 they are the most stately, pictur- 
 esque, and decorative herbaceous 
 plants In cultivation, and I have 
 never met anybody who did not 
 greatly admire them ; but, so far as 
 
 l-AULOPfNIA IMPERIALIS 
 
 Showing effect of growth when cut to the ground 
 
 every spring 
 
PYRETHRUM ROSEUM 
 
 I know, they cannot be bought — not even the seed. The single sorts 
 are always very much finer than the highly cultivated double sorts, whose 
 culture has been made difficult of late on account of the hollyhock dis- 
 ease. On the contrary, the single varieties are of the easiest culture, and 
 once established will take care of themselves in almost any location. 
 
 Equally neglected are the old-fashioned and really hardy chrysanthe- 
 mums, which are still to be found in an occasional garden. I know 
 these chrysanthemums would cut but a poor figure at exhibitions and 
 in florists' windows, but they have far more gardening value than all 
 the hundreds of new varieties introduced in the last few years, which can 
 only be grown in perfection by the skilful florist or by the amateur 
 who has all the facilities of the florist. 
 
 The numerous fine exhibitions of chrysanthemums every fall are 
 very enjoyable, but I fail to see that they have helped gardening any, 
 except that of a very limited class. On the contrary, outdoor gardening 
 has been retarded by the disappointment of thousands of people who 
 have tried to grow the exhibition pets in their gardens. 
 
44 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 In a recent number of "Garden and Forest," Mr. Gerard has very 
 properly called attention to the possible field of the hybridizer in improv- 
 ing really hardy chrysanthemums for garden purposes; and in a later 
 number a writer takes exceptions to his remarks, claiming that the 
 flowers are always damaged by frost and that their habit is straggling 
 and poor as compared with the improved greenhouse varieties. 
 
 Now, I think we have all seen chrysanthemums in farmhouse yards 
 and village gardens that have endured for years, and that have, with- 
 out any special culture, produced an annual mass of very satisfactory 
 flowers and foliage ; and there is no doubt that the flowers of these 
 sorts will go through considerable frost and snow without tarnishing. 
 
 These chrysanthemums are certainly useful material for the hybridizer, 
 but for the present we shall be very well satisfied if some enterprising 
 nurserymen will collect from old gardens such varieties as now exist and 
 give us the opportunity of using them in our gardens. 
 
 Before I conclude I wish to give a special word of praise to my 
 
 BED OF SWEET WILLIAMS 
 
46 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 favorite shrub, Kalmia latifolia, which is known in Pennsylvania, where it is 
 very common in the woods, as the small-leaved mountain laurel. It is 
 greatly admired as a wild flower, and an occasional unsuccessful attempt is 
 made to transplant it from the woods; but nurserymen have made no 
 attempt to introduce it into general culture, and it is somewhat curious 
 that it is necessary to send to England to get fine specimens of this dis- 
 tinctively American plant. Excepting odor, it has every good quality that 
 a shrub can have — evergreen foliage and good habit, great quantity of 
 durable bloom, extreme daintiness and beauty of individual flowers, and 
 usefulness as cut-flowers. If the flowers are cut just as the buds are about 
 to open, and placed in water, they will last for two weeks in the house, and 
 if arranged with taste nothing is more decorative. 
 
 In one of his books, Donald G. Mitchell suggests that the kalmia 
 would probably make an excellent hedge. I have never seen it tried, but I 
 am confident that it would — perhaps as fine as the holly hedges in England, 
 
 
 HEMLOCK HEDGE 
 
BLACK SPRUCE IN THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM, BOSTON 
 
 and, with a little discretion in trimming, a hedge of it could be made to 
 produce a fine crop of bloom at least every other season. 
 
 With nursery-grown plants to start with, the kalmia is of the easiest 
 culture, requiring no special soil or location, and it is perfectly hardy. 
 Like all evergreen shrubs, it should be transplanted in the spring. 
 
 All the hardy plants I have named, with two or three exceptions, will 
 thrive with ordinary garden culture, and some of them without any atten- 
 tion after planting ; but, as they are usually planted where they are to 
 remain for years, it would be well to make the initial preparation of the 
 soil for them a liberal one. I usually specify that borders for hardy plants 
 should have two feet of good, friable soil, mixed with one-fourth its bulk 
 
48 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 of rotted stable manure, and that they should be prepared in late summer 
 or fall, the planting to be done in the fall and the following spring. Fall 
 planting is not recommended for everything; my experience is that many 
 plants are winter-killed after fall planting that would be quite hardy it 
 they had the benefit of a growing season to establish themselves. Of 
 course special plants require special treatment ; for instance, the bulbs of 
 
 HOME OF AN ENGLISH COTTAGER 
 
 Showing the beauty of simple but tasteful planting. Compare this with illustration of stone house on opposite page 
 
 the Lilium auratum should not come in direct contact with manure, and the 
 fine double and single varieties of Pyrethrum roseum should be planted in 
 beds raised a few inches, to prevent their rotting out in cold, wet weather. 
 I would advise the same liberal preparation of the soil for shrubs that 
 I do for hardy plants, though in many instances the expense would be pro- 
 hibitory, or thought so ; but In any event I should Insist on the ground 
 being subsolled or trenched and a liberal application of manure being made. 
 An annual mulching of manure is beneficial to shrubs and hardy plants. 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 49 
 
 I have had a somewhat extended experience with rhododendrons, and 
 my opinion of the proper soil to grow them in may be worth something. 
 Their beauty is now pretty generally known and appreciated, but they are 
 popularly considered tender and difficult to grow. This is largely owing 
 to the selling of improperly grown plants and tender varieties, and to late 
 fall planting, which is very apt to be fatal. I have found that when 
 
 HOUSE AND GROUNDS OF AN AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE 
 
 Photograph taken twelve years after completion of house 
 
 Catawbiense seedlings, or the well-known hardy named varieties, grown on 
 their own roots from layers, were planted, there was no difficulty in grow- 
 ing them in any ordinary soil or in any position, except immediately under 
 old-established trees. I have seen them grown with peat and with leaf- 
 mold, but the best results I have ever seen in this country were where an 
 excavation two and one-half feet deep had been made for them and filled 
 in entirely with turfy, fibrous sods, chopped up, and allowed to stand over 
 winter before planting. No manure was mixed with the sods, but after the 
 
so 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 rhododendrons were planted a mulching of rotted cow manure was 
 applied to the surface of the soil. 
 
 It seems to me I have said a great deal about the merit of hardy 
 plants and shrubs, and but very little about their culture; but it must be 
 remembered that my mind is more occupied with the designing of gardens 
 than with their care, and I think it is quite as important to create an 
 interest in hardy material as it is to teach how to grow It. Cultural skill 
 will soon follow enthusiastic desire, which your society is doing so much to 
 create, ^nd when we can have horticultural societies of like intelligence and 
 breadth of object in all our large cities the advancement of the best 
 gardening will be rapid. 
 
 Note. — The plans illustrated on pages 71 to 96, inclusive are intended to show some 
 correct principles of arrangement and not to be used for any particular place. A plan, to 
 be worth anything, must be made for the grounds for which it is intended, and all sur- 
 roundings and conditions must be considered. 
 
 SYRINGA VILLOSA. A SPECIES OF LILAC 
 

 
 W' 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 F:M 
 
 ' ■i^-" "'""'''"' 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 •?%^""' 
 
 
 
 - -■■■ '-:• * 
 
 4.-^^;, 
 
 
 ;^^'- 
 
 
 
 
 M|^ 
 
 
 
 
 •^,«j':f ■ 
 
 w?m 
 
 
 -■ 
 
 ■Lm^:- 
 
 
 :*'--,« J-; -^ „■■- t . 
 
 r ' ■'^-■1 
 
 
 
 Bhtti^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^^&&^^ 
 
 m^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 NARCISSUS POSTICUS IN GRASS 
 
 NATURALIZING HARDY PLANTS 
 AND BULBS 
 
 "2 HERE are two extremes of gardening: one, known as formal 
 gardening, is receiving considerable attention at the pres- 
 ent time and is earnestly commended by many architects, 
 for the reason that it is the only possible garden of their 
 designing. The other is wild gardening, or the arrang- 
 ing of the hardy bulbs, plants and shrubs in natural 
 groups and masses to simulate the eflfect of wild growth. 
 It has been my fortune recently to see the best two exam- 
 ples in America of these extremes of gardening, and both 
 were very beautiful. The formal garden was on the grounds 
 of Mr. Lars Anderson, Brookline, Massachusetts. The gar- 
 den is splendid, — so is the expenditure. It cost a fortune to 
 make and a princely income to maintain. Such a garden is possible to per- 
 haps two hundred men in this country, and there are not a score of gardeners 
 with sufficient skill and executive ability to maintain it successfully. It is a 
 garden of walls and pergolas, strictly formal and finely designed, but the 
 planting— the most skilful I have ever seen— is largely informal, and this is 
 what saves it from the commonplace ugliness almost always to be found in 
 
52 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 formal gardens. Thousands of the finest hardy plants are used with a skill 
 that excites wonder and admiration. Great masses of color are maintained 
 at all times. This is easy enough with bedding-plants, but their use would 
 rob this garden of all its beauty. To produce a complete and continuous 
 display of bloom with hardy plants, it is necessary to grow thousands of 
 plants in an auxiliary garden, so that those that are done blooming may be 
 replaced with ones that bloom later. 
 
 At West Manchester, Massachusetts, Mrs. Henry L. Higginson has a 
 garden of thirty or forty acres on a rocky hill overlooking the sea, and many 
 people agree with me in thinking it the most beautiful and interesting gar- 
 den in the land. The natural growth of trees and shrubs is supplemented 
 with thousands of plantings of bulbs, plants and shrubs, all planted in per- 
 manent and natural-looking groups and masses. There is not a formal bed 
 or border on the place, and no walks except lovely grass ones which disap- 
 pear among the shrubbery in every direction and give access to all parts of 
 the garden. Many people object to grass walks on account of their wetness 
 in the morning and evening and after rain, but the efifects obtained here would 
 surely justify the use of short skirts and rubber shoes, or even rubber boots. 
 There is nothing on the place which one might call a lawn. There is a little 
 open space of shaven grass about the house, but even this is thickly starred 
 with the lovely single English daisy, which does not seem to mind the lawn- 
 mower, but serenely blooms beneath its cutting blade. A steep declivity 
 necessitates a terrace in front of the house, but it is roughly and unevenly 
 built with stone picked up on the grounds; every cranny is filled with a 
 charming colony of flowers and numerous flowering vines clamber over it, 
 and even at the base of the house forget-me-nots and daisies spring up in 
 wild profusion. This garden is lovely and interesting beyond description 
 at all seasons. Except in winter, it has beautiful flowers In the greatest pro- 
 fusion. Commencing with the snowdrops in March and ending with chrysan- 
 themums in November, the aspect of this garden constantly changes. Every 
 day something comes into bloom — every day something goes out of bloom; 
 but the arrangement Is so perfect that there Is never any bare ground or 
 unseemly gaps to be seen. This, the finest garden I know of, would not 
 have required any attention whatever after planting if it did not contain a 
 small collection of rare Alpine and half-hardy plants. These could be easily 
 replaced by perfectly hardy plants and then there would be no cost for 
 maintenance, except the mowing of the grass walks. To describe this gar- 
 den In detail would exhaust the limits of this article, the purpose of which 
 
NARCISSUS POETICUS 
 
54 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 is to give a short list of the material suitable for naturalizing, with some 
 suggestions of arrangements but; I would strongly advise the designer of a 
 wild garden to study with care William Robinson's delightful book, "The 
 Wild Garden." 
 
 The results obtained in this garden, and scores of others I have seen in 
 this country and in England, have convinced me that naturalizing suitable 
 hardy bulbs, plants and shrubs is the most beautiful, interesting, permanent 
 and least expensive style of gardening that can be practiced. Of course, 
 artistic results are obtained only with considerable taste, experience and 
 effort, but easy gardening, as to arrangement, is always poor gardening. 
 
 Small city places do not offer many opportunities for naturalizing, but 
 some of the spring flowers can be used in this way on the smallest lots. 
 Snowdrops and Scilla Sibirica can be planted in the grass of the most closely 
 shaven lawn; they are so dwarf and bloom so early that the bulbs ripen 
 perfectly and will continue to bloom year after year. This is not true of 
 crocuses, which are frequently planted on lawns. If the grass is mown, the 
 crocuses must be replanted at least every two years. 
 
 When small bulbs are planted on lawns, care must be taken to arrange 
 them in natural-looking groups. Often I see crocuses scattered over the 
 entire surface of a lawn, a foot or two apart ; the effect is extremely bad. 
 In naturalizing bulbs or hardy plants, each variety should be held together 
 in irregular-shaped groups, which should be closely planted in the center 
 and more thinly as the margin is approached. I find it a very good plan to 
 scatter all the bulbs to be planted over the surface of the ground before 
 planting any of them. I stand in the center of the proposed group, drop- 
 ping some of the bulbs at my feet and throwing others out in every 
 direction, planting them where they fall. Circular groups should be 
 avoided. They may be made of almost any irregular shape, but always 
 longer than they are broad. The arrangement largely depends upon the 
 situation; a bay or recess in the shrubbery may be thickly and entirely 
 filled with one variety of bulbs, a sloping bank may be a mass of narcissi 
 or tulips, or an orchard in which the grass is not mown until after July 
 first will afford opportunities for many groups and a succession of bloom 
 for two months or more. One of the illustrations shows a strip of grass 
 between a pond and a path completely filled with the poet's narcissi. The 
 desirable arrangements are innumerable and hard to describe, and the 
 planter should study available Illustrations and the groupings of wild 
 flowers in the neighborhood. 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 55 
 
 The great advantage of using flowering bulbs in this way is that the 
 plantings are permanent and need never be renewed, but increase in size 
 and beauty year after year; which is much more satisfactory than the 
 present annual waste of millions of bulbs used for inartistic beds on the 
 lawn. These bulbs are all destroyed, as they must be removed before they 
 are ripened in order to plant the undesirable bedding-plants which follow 
 
 ANEMONE CORONARIA AND DORONICUM 
 
 them. It must always be remembered that the foliage of bulbs must not be 
 cut ofiF before it has ripened, but this does not prevent them from being 
 planted in orchards and meadows, as the foliage is ripened by the time the 
 grass is ready to cut for hay. 
 
 The only tool we use in planting bulbs 
 trowel, with which a hole is dug for each bulb 
 bulbs, on an average, with about an inch and 
 planted about six inches deep. Years ago, when I used to plant bulbs 
 myself and found that the trowel-handle soon blistered my hands, I used a 
 
 is a good, strong garden 
 
 We cover spring-flowering 
 
 a half of soil, and lilies are 
 
PHLOX DIVARICATA 
 
 tool for planting bulbs. It was made by taking a piece of brass or 
 wrought-Iron pipe two feet long and an inch and a half or two inches in 
 diameter. One end of this was ground to a sharp and cutting edge; on 
 the other end was placed a fitting which, I believe, is called a "cross" ; in 
 two openings of this cross were placed short pieces of pipe for handles; in the 
 pipe was placed a round piece of wood, a little smaller than the pipe and a 
 few inches longer, and a nail was driven in one end of this to keep it from 
 falling out. This tool was used by pressing the sharpened end of the pipe 
 into the ground the depth desired to plant the bulb; it was then removed, 
 and carried with it a piece of sod with the soil; the bulb was then dropped 
 into the hole, the tool placed on top of it and the soil pressed back into the 
 hole by pushing the round stick. In moist ground (and I always wait until 
 we get sufficient rain to make it moist before planting), bulbs can be 
 planted very rapidly. If my memory serves me, I used to plant three or 
 four thousand a day with it. The tool cannot be used in rough, hard 
 ground. It is extremely satisfactory for planting bulbs on the lawn, as it 
 leaves no mark whatever in smooth sod. 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 57 
 
 Of the great variety of spring-flowering bulbs, the daffodils or narcissi 
 are the most desirable and beautiful; their fine forms and coloring 
 and graceful habit leave nothing to be desired, and they are as easily grown 
 and as much at home in the grass as dandelions. Of course, the delicate 
 high-priced sorts must not be used, but there is no lack of cheap sorts that 
 are entirely satisfactory. The poet's narcissi can be bought for less than five 
 dollars per thousand. They are charming flowers, blooming in May after 
 almost all other bulbous flowers are gone, but sometimes they will not bloom 
 at all. A few years ago my brother planted ten thousand for cut-flowers and 
 got hardly a dozen flowers a year. After a few years he was disgusted and 
 plowed them all under; much to his surprise, they bloomed profusely the 
 following spring. My explanation is this : Narcissus bulbs do not like a 
 wet soil, and the plowing of the ground . during the summer gave the soil 
 a chance to dry out and the bulbs to ripen. Narcissus poeticus will not 
 
 LYTHRUM SALICIFOLIA 
 
58 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 bloom on my ground, which is also wet; neither will Narcissus alba plena 
 ■odorata; but both do well on dry ground and are excellent for steep, stony 
 banks or for open woods where the ground is dry. Narcissus poeticus ornatus, 
 the early variety of the poet's narcissus, increases rapidly and blooms 
 profusely every spring on my ground, which is excessively wet in some 
 places. So do Emperor and Empress, Barrii conspicuus. Golden Spur, 
 Princeps, Figaro, Alba Stella, Cynosure, Sir Watkin, Orange Phoenix and 
 Biflorus, all of which are desirable and not too expensive to use in quantity 
 for naturalizing. On my own grounds I have used some twenty thousand 
 or more of these kinds, and the daffodil season, which is also the magnolia 
 season, is the most delightful in our calendar. 
 
 Some claim that tulips are not suitable for naturalizing, and I will 
 admit that the striped and variegated sorts are not at home in any natural 
 planting; but the self-colored sorts are entirely fit, and what can be finer 
 than those glorious late tulips, Gesneriana and Bouton d'Or, blooming in 
 the tall grass? But they will not do any good in wet ground. I have 
 planted thousands, and they disappear entirely after the second year. On 
 the contrary, twenty years ago I knew a florist who planted on a stony hill- 
 side thousands of exhausted tulip bulbs which he had forced for cut- 
 flowers. That he would get results from such stock I thought extremely 
 doubtful, and told him so. He replied that it was waste land and waste 
 bulbs, and he could afford to take the chance. After a year or two the 
 tulips commenced to bloom freely, and are still blooming every spring 
 among the grass and weeds, which have vainly striven to choke them out. 
 
 The snowdrops are perhaps the most delightful of all bulbs for natu- 
 ralizing, on account of their blooming in March before there is a sign of life 
 in wood, field or garden. They can be planted on the lawn, but the most 
 -eflfective way of using them Is to plant thickly around the trunks of trees 
 in open woods. As the lovely white flowers are very small, the biilbs must 
 be planted thickly and by the thousand to be effective. 
 
 Equally charming is the exquisite blue Scilla Sibirica, which blooms a 
 little later; it also requires close planting. Scillas are all good, especially the 
 varieties of S. campanulata, which produce rather large spikes of blue, white 
 ■or pink flowers and are among the latest of the spring-flowering bulbs to 
 bloom. Equal in daintiness are the grape hyacinths and the various kinds 
 of chionodoxa. No one will regret planting good-sized masses of Chionodoxa 
 Lucilia, which covers the ground early in the spring with a carpet of exqui- 
 .site blue and white bloom. Many of the alliums, some of the fritillarias. 
 
6o A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 the leucojums, and the ornithogalums are also fine for naturalizing; and 
 where they are hardy, which is only in warm, sheltered situations, on thor- 
 oughly well drained soil, the various varieties oi Anemone coronaria are lovely 
 beyond description. Also charming are our native dog's-tooth violets, 
 Erythronium Amerkanum (see page 35), which delight in a deep, wet soil. 
 Another native bulb especially valuable for planting in shady places is the 
 wood-lily, or trillium. The best kind is T. grandiflorum, and it delights in a 
 moist soil and shaded situation. On a precipitous north and wooded hill- 
 side across the river from my place, millions of them grow wild. When 
 they are in bloom in April or May no lovelier floral display can be found, 
 and many garden-lovers come from the city to view the show. Daintier, 
 but not quite so showy, is our bloodroot, Sanguinaria Canadensis, which 
 covers our steep southern hillsides with tens of thousands of its lovely 
 starry white flowers in March. Unfortunately, the bulbs are difficult to 
 handle in a commercial way, but if one can collect it and replant at once 
 there is no difficulty. It grows wild in partial shade or full sunshine and 
 almost always on a southern slope. 
 
 Of the later-blooming bulbs, the lily family offers several varieties that 
 are perfectly at home under the conditions required for naturalizing. Lilium 
 superbum, L. Philadelphicum and L. Canadense grow wild in our meadows. 
 The first is tall, stately and really superb, as its name indicates; and a valley 
 meadow with graceful pendulous Lilium Canadense mingled with its grass is 
 as charming a bit of nature's gardening as one could wish to see. Of 
 exotic lilies, the numerous varieties of L. tigrinum (tiger lilies) , L. umbellatum, 
 L. Chalcedonicum and L. Thunbergianum are all quite happy when left to take 
 care of themselves in grass or shrubbery margins and are most effective in 
 brookside planting; and of all graceful things the Siberian lily, L. tenuifolium, 
 with slender stems and lovely coral scarlet flowers, easily leads the proces- 
 sion. The bulbs can now be bought at a price not much greater than that 
 of the choicer tulips, and I picture with eager anticipation a meadow filled 
 with them this coming year. 
 
 When it comes to hardy herbaceous plants, both native and exotic, 
 suitable for naturalizing, the list is almost endless. I must be content to 
 tell of a few things that I have found especially eflfective. First in useful- 
 ness, perhaps, are our native phloxes. Phlox divaricata, known as wild sweet- 
 william, grows in great abundance over a large section of this country. It 
 is easy to collect and transplant, and its graceful habit and sweet-scented 
 light purple flowers make it very attractive; it will thrive in either sun or 
 
ROSA WICHURAIANA 
 
 shade. Phlox divaricata carulia, a rare species from the South, is identical with 
 p. divaricata in foliage and habit but with the bluest flowers of any phlox. 
 P. reptans is a very dwarf variety with pinkish flowers, and both it and P. divar- 
 icata carulia will grow well in either sun or shade. Millions of geraniums 
 are planted annually, yet with the difi^erent varieties of Phlox subulata, or 
 moss pink, color effects can be produced not to be equaled in any way by 
 the most lavish use of geraniums. Yet the first cost of the phlox is much 
 less than that of geraniums, and its first cost is its only cost, as nothing 
 increases more rapidly and nothing is hardier. The Germans describe it as 
 "winter-hart," that is, hardy in winter, and it is absolutely so in every situa- 
 tion. It can be used advantageously in more ways than any plant I know 
 of, but it is seen at its best when used to cover a steep, rocky bank. It is 
 evergreen and its foliage covers the ground as completely as the grass of a 
 lawn, and when it is in bloom in May it is a solid sheet of pink or white 
 bloom which lasts for a month. It blooms again in September, but not so 
 freely. The colors are light to deep pink, purplish pink, pure white and 
 white with pink center, and I have had recently a blue variety from England 
 
62 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 which promises to be valuable. Last June I saw in Franklin Park, Boston, 
 two splendid masses of Coronilla varia and our native hawkweed, Hieracium. 
 Both had evidently established themselves in an unmown meadow and 
 completely covered the ground they occupied, and in all this beautiful park 
 no finer effects were anywhere to be seen. The hawkweed, with its bright 
 orange-crimson flowers, is invaluable for covering any bare, impover- 
 ished ground, and the coronilla, when properly placed and allowed to grow 
 as it will, will make most effective floral pictures. It is a creeping plant or 
 semi-climber that piles itself up in most effective masses and, when in bloom, 
 is literally covered with beautiful pink and white flowers. 
 
 Among the most beautiful scenes in England are the meadows and 
 orchards filled with the common yellow primrose. Primula vulgaris, in the 
 spring. This charming flower is equally hardy in this country and so 
 are the Japanese primroses, P. Japonica and P. Sieboldii, — the latter with 
 lovely large flowers ranging from pure white to deep purple-rose, the 
 
 m^mr^ 
 
 ^I^HI|R|';:;4. ' ^^. 
 
 ^■>W' ■ ■ .. •• '■''^;**i^ 
 
 ^ y-'. ■; ■"•-.■,.■ '*■' ^:- ■■■' 
 
 '■■•-'' ''■^'^- ' ■ J^?^'^ 
 
 
 ^^ly ■/.;=:■.•',"- '■';■:"■ 
 
 ^0!-,^\ 
 
 i?^^fe»ir« . -''"w,,^.: ■ 
 
 '■■ ■Vr"-:'%;^;iy-' 'l^-^i;^- 
 
 ,,<; ■ ■ i^-; :. i,j^p 
 
 fe^^5:^y;;, : ■ ;^. , ' 
 
 ■■': '-^Alt:^. ;-^ 
 
 
 ■■/■:■■';_ ' '■ ■ ■■ ■^ '"-^>;*!.>"-'"'C,"? ' ' 'y?" 
 
 
 -" ..:. '1,'' }^m 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 "• ^; - ^ 
 
 . ^^m 
 
 
 
 7«/S SIBIRICA AND RHODODENDRONS 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 63 
 
 former with bright purple flowers thrown well above the foliage. The poly- 
 anthus section of primroses, Primula veris, are equally desirable for natural- 
 izing and are among the earliest of spring flowers. 
 
 Our bright and cheerful native columbine, Aquilegia Canadensis, has 
 freely naturalized it- 
 self over a large sec- 
 tion of our country 
 and is well worth 
 consideration in any 
 scheme of natural 
 gardening. It is quite 
 happy in sun or par- 
 tial shade, and so is 
 the exquisite Rocky 
 Mountain columbine, 
 Aquilegia aerulea, and 
 indeed any of the 
 wild species, either 
 native or exotic. The 
 butterfly weed, As- 
 clepias tuber os a, has 
 shown on many of 
 our broad prairies its 
 adaptability for nat- 
 ural planting. One 
 cannot escape its 
 glorious masses of 
 orange - scarlet color 
 even from the car- 
 window, and quite as 
 efi^ective are the nu- 
 merous varieties of 
 hardy sunflowers to 
 be seen throughout the West. They are all vigorous growers and are most 
 effective when grouped among or on the margin of native shrubbery. The 
 orange or yellow day-lilies, Hemerocallis, have escaped from gardens and have 
 naturalized themselves in many places. Usually H.fulva, the brownish yellow 
 variety, is seen, but the bright clear yellow sorts, H. flava, H. Thunbergii 
 
 HARDY PRIMROSES AND FORGET-ME-NOTS 
 
TRILLIUM GRANDIFLORUM AND ANEMONE PENNSYLVANICA 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 65 
 
 and H. Sieboldi, are more beautiful. Quite as easy to establish is the sweet 
 rocket, Hesperis matronalis, which some people think to be a tall and poor 
 variety of Phlox paniculata. I need not dilate on the beauty of our native 
 asters, which contribute so much to the splendid coloring of our fall land- 
 scapes; but the best of all of them, the red New England aster, A. Nova- 
 Anglia, var. rubra, is not indigenous in many of our states. Many of the 
 European sorts are worth consideration, and A. Tataricus vies with Helian- 
 thus Maximiliani in being the last flower of the fall; indeed, they bloom so 
 late, to use a Hibernianism, that they do not bloom at all when overtaken by 
 an early winter. Both are tall and stately. For rocky banks and partial 
 shade there is nothing better than our dwarf windflower. Anemone Pennsyl- 
 vanica, which blooms in June, and in fall-blooming plants there is nothing 
 finer than the Japanese anemones when planted in a deep and heavy soil in 
 partial shade. In light and sandy soil they are quite useless. In the old 
 Jackson garden in Schenectady I have seen hundreds six feet high, with 
 flowers in countless thousands, in the fall. There are many varieties all fine, 
 but the old pure white sort known as Honorine Jobert is the most beauti- 
 ful of all. What can I say that will give any conception of the exquisite 
 loveliness of the tall evening primrose, CEnothera Lamarckiana? Tall and 
 stately, its large soft yellow flowers open just at twilight, and in this light or 
 on a moonlight night, its charm is indescribable. It is only a biennial, but, like 
 the showy foxglove, freely renews itself from self-sown seed. The foxgloves 
 grow wild in meadows and hedgerows in England, and will take care of 
 themselves quite as well here. They are showy and efi^ective in large or small 
 groups and will do well in considerable shade. Showier still are the single 
 hollyhocks, but some people think these too suggestive of the garden for 
 natural plantings. But I am not sure of this and have seen great masses 
 that have escaped from gardens and became established in the grass or on 
 bare banks and flourished year after year. A more modest flower, but delight- 
 ful in many situations, is the English daisy, "Bellis perennis. This is the daisy 
 Burns writes about and is lovely when naturalized, either in the double or 
 single kinds, and it is one of the few flowers that is perfectly at home on a 
 closely mown lawn. Our own ox-eye daisy is beautiful, but it is hardly neces- 
 sary or safe to naturalize in any section of this country. Doronicum planta- 
 gineum, var. excelsum, is a difficult subject for the nurseryman, but I have seen 
 it perfectly at home on the banks of a rocky and partially shaded ravine. It 
 grows eighteen inches high and produces a mass of beautiful yellow flowers 
 in the spring, and there is nothing else to take its place that I can think of. 
 
66 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 The great iris family must not be overlooked. Many of its members 
 are most effective and quite happy in wild plantings. Our native sorts, 
 I. Pseudacorus, with its lovely rich yellow flowers, and /. versicolor, are equally 
 at home in marsh or waterside and will thrive quite as well on a dry soil. 
 /. Sibirica, var. sanguinea, is one of the best subjects for naturalizing and is 
 most effective on bank of stream or pond edge, and so are the lovely and 
 showy Japanese iris, which should be planted only in the self-colored varie- 
 
 ENGLISH DAISIES ON EDGE OF POND 
 
 ties. There are many fine things for planting in marsh or waterside. Our 
 brilliant cardinal-flower is sometimes difficult to establish; less difficult is 
 the showy Lythrum roseum, which grows so plentifully on the banks of the 
 Thames in England, where its plentiful pink flowers reflected in the water 
 make many a lovely picture. Many who read this have seen the marshmal- 
 low. Hibiscus Moscheutos, growing in countless thousands along the ditches 
 in the swamps on the D. L. and W. R. R., between New York City and 
 Newark. Nothing is more striking and showy, and it is equally at home in 
 wet or dry ground, and this is true of many swamp plants. Usually seen in 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 67 
 
 wet places is the joe pye-weed, Eupatoriiim purpureum, which is tall, bold 
 and effective. Equally strong and vigorous are the bocconias, which have 
 noble foliage, and the giant knotweed. Polygonum cuspidatum, which grows six 
 feet high and makes a most effective mass of foliage and flower; but it must 
 never be planted where it can choke out weaker plants, as it spreads with 
 
 HESPERIS ALBA 
 
 great vigor and rapidity. The giant parsnip is a coarse and somewhat 
 weedy plant, but effective in some situations where a bold foliage is needed. 
 To return to daintier things: the water forget-me-not, Myosotis palustris, 
 var. semperflorens, is exquisite and most useful for naturalizing on the edge 
 of ponds and small streams. Planted close to the water's edge, it will often 
 extend a few inches over the water's surface, and is covered with lovely blue 
 flowers throughout the season. Another lovely blue flower is the Mertensia 
 
«>-ia***!ti«ra 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 69 
 
 Firginica, sometimes called bluebells. It grows about eighteen inches high,, 
 blooms in early spring, and likes a moist and shady situation. I need say 
 nothing of the lily-of-the-valley, as everybody has seen it grow wild in old 
 gardens and it is still more eflFective in woods and meadows. The list is 
 almost endless, but two prime favorites of mine must still be mentioned. Spiraea 
 Aruncus^ or goat's beard, is one of the most desirable of native plants and 
 perfectly happy in almost any position or soil. Its tall and stately growth, 
 
 MERTENSU VIRGINICA 
 
 splendid foliage and great spikes of feathery white bloom in June make it 
 distinguished in any collection; and the thalictrums, — what can I say of them? 
 T. aquilegiafolium is fine in foliage, seed and bloom; its feathery flowers, 
 ranging through many delicate shades from white to purple, are an annual 
 delight. T. polygonum grows six feet high and, while the flowers are not so 
 fine, the foliage and habit leave nothing to be desired. T. glaucum, with its 
 abundant yellow bloom, is almost equal in beauty. 
 
 A beautiful wild garden might be made of vines alone, and the wild 
 grapes, climbing roses and wild clematises of this and other countries would) 
 be the chief reliance. I dare- not describe the multitude of shrubs suitable 
 
70 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 for naturalizing, but think of the many lovely pictures which could be made 
 with the numerous varieties of azaleas and rhododendrons which fit so well 
 in any scheme of natural planting; and the most beautiful of all shrubs, our 
 mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, is seen at its best only when growing wild 
 or arranged in natural groupings. 
 
 The spring-flowering bulbs must, of course, all be planted in the fall, 
 but lilies and herbaceous things may be planted either in spring or fall. 
 Lilies, if obtainable, are better planted in the fall, and I prefer early fall plant- 
 ing for all perennial plants of sufficient hardiness. It is beginning to dawn on 
 the popular mind that there are other plants desirable besides geraniums and 
 coleus, and better uses for flowers than spoiling lawns with beds of them. 
 Some years ago it was my misfortune to live in a city house, and I filled my 
 Lilliputian lawn with crocuses, scillas and snowdrops. When they bloomed 
 the neighborhood was quite taken by surprise, and one of my neighbors, a 
 successful business man, eagerly inquired what kind of fertilizer I had used. 
 He really thought that the bloom which he admired was spontaneous and 
 the result of the superior quality of my fertilizer. 
 
 KALMIA LATIFOLIA IN ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
 
A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 71 
 
 DETAILED PLAN FOR FLOWER GARDEN 
 
 The accompanying plan is a section of the planting plan made for the grounds (five acres 
 in extent) of the late C. L. Magee, Esq., of Pittsburg. The scheme of this garden is suffi- 
 ciently explained by the specifications. The variety of plants and shrubs used insures a suc- 
 cession of bloom from early spring until November. All the walks in this garden are of green 
 sward, which makes it far more attractive than if they had been made of gravel, cement, or of 
 any of the materials usually employed. 
 
 There are a few old trees in the garden, and the planting near them is suitable for a shady 
 location, and vines have been planted to climb over some of them (old cherry trees). 
 
 The beds used for spring-flowering bulbs are also used for annuals, such as petunias, 
 poppies, Phlox 'Drummondii, pinks, nasturtiums, and mignonette in the summer. 
 
 A portion of the planting of tall shrubs and small trees is designed to shut out of view 
 outbuildings on the adjoining property. 
 
 PLANTING SPECIFICATIONS 
 
 9- 
 
 10. 
 
 II. 
 12. 
 
 I3. 
 14. 
 
 IS- 
 16. 
 
 17- 
 18. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 
 2+- 
 25. 
 26. 
 
 Magnolia Soulangeana. 27, 
 
 Spiraa ariafolia. 28. 
 
 Clethra alnifolia. 29. 
 Rhododendrons, with Li Hum auratum 30. 
 
 planted among them. 3 1 . 
 
 'Deutzia gracilis. 32. 
 
 Snowberries. 33. 
 Rhododendrons, with Lilium auratum 34. 
 
 planted among them. 35. 
 
 Ligttstrum Ibota. 36. 
 
 Coriius sanguinea. 37. 
 
 Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. 38. 
 
 Colutea arborescens. 39. 
 
 Spiraa Van Houttei. 4.0. 
 Cercis occidentalis. 
 
 Viburnum plicatum. 41. 
 
 Rhodotypus kerrioides. 42. 
 
 Magnolia Soulangeana. 43. 
 
 Ilea Virginica. 44. 
 
 Rosa moschata. 45. 
 
 Aralia Japonica. 46. 
 
 Viburnum Lantana. 47. 
 
 White birch. 48. 
 
 Single white altheas. 49. 
 
 Penzance sweetbriers. 50. 
 
 Philadelphus cordifolius. 51. 
 
 Eulalia Japonica gracillima, 52. 
 
 Cydonia Japonica. 53. 
 
 Rbus glabra laciniata. 
 
 Magnolia purpurea. 
 
 Weigela floribunda. 
 
 Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. 
 
 Forsythia Fortunei. 
 
 Polygonum cuspidatum. 
 
 Vitex Agnus-castus. 
 
 Cornus florida. 
 
 Cratagus Oxyacantha. 
 
 Hydrangea quercifolia. 
 
 Weigela Candida. 
 
 Clethra alnifolia. 
 
 Corchorus Japonicus. 
 
 Azalea calendulacea, with Lilium superbum 
 
 planted among them. 
 Lonicera fragrantissima. 
 Spirea, Anthony Waterer. 
 Viburnum acerifolium. 
 Viburnum Oxycoccus. 
 Viburnum dentatum. 
 Viburnum dilatatum. 
 Viburnum Oxycoccus. 
 Viburnum Nepalense. 
 Viburnum nanum. 
 Spiraa Lindleyana. 
 Euonymus radicans variegatus. 
 Cephalanthus occidentalis. 
 Hydrangea radiata. 
 
72 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 5+ 
 55' 
 S6, 
 
 57. 
 58. 
 59. 
 60, 
 61, 
 62. 
 
 63. 
 6+. 
 6s. 
 66. 
 
 67. 
 68. 
 69. 
 
 70. 
 
 71. 
 72. 
 
 73- 
 7+- 
 75- 
 76. 
 
 77- 
 78. 
 
 79- 
 80. 
 81. 
 82. 
 
 83. 
 8+. 
 85. 
 86. 
 87. 
 88. 
 89. 
 90. 
 91. 
 92. 
 
 93- 
 94. 
 
 DETAILED PLAN FOR 
 Rubus odorala. 
 Foxgloves. 
 
 Snowberries, red and white. 
 Euonymus atropurpureus. 
 Ilea Vtrginica. 
 
 Corchorus Japonica variegala. 
 Aster Nova-Anglia. 
 Weigda rosea. 
 'Berberis Thunbergii. 
 Clematis paniculata. 
 Spirtea tomentosa. 
 Erianthus Ravenna. 
 Azalea Mollis, with Li Hum lancifolium 
 
 planted among them. 
 Sambucus pubens. 
 Hypericum Moserianum. 
 Ghent azaleas, with Lilium canadense, 
 
 Martagon, 'Brownii, superbum and longi- 
 
 ftorum planted among them. 
 Mahonia aquifolium. 
 Spiraa Thunbergii. 
 Rosa rugosa alba. 
 Rosa pomifera. 
 Euonymus atropurpureus. 
 Ceanothus Americanus. 
 Rosa rubrifolia. 
 Spiraa salicifolia. 
 Berberis Thunbergii. 
 Assorted flowering almonds. 
 Rosa rugosa rubra. 
 Hybrid perpetual roses. 
 Aquilegias, single long-spurred. 
 Hardy pinks. 
 Japanese iris. 
 
 Single early tulips and annual pinks. 
 Narcissus, Sir Watkin. 
 Narcissus, Orange Phoenix. 
 Narcissus, Ard Righ. 
 Narcissus, "Bicolor Horsfieldii. 
 Narcissus odorus, 
 Sweet peas. 
 Lobelia cardinalis. 
 Platycodon Mariesi. 
 Tiger lilies. 
 
 FLOWER GARDEN, continued 
 
 95. Dictamnus fraxinella. 
 
 96. Tall phlox. 
 
 97. Myosotis palustris semperflorens 
 
 98. Spiraa palmata. 
 
 99. Japanese iris. 
 100. German iris, 
 loi. Tall phlox. 
 
 102. Spiraa Filipendula. 
 
 103. Sedum spectabile. 
 104.. Tritoma grandiflora. 
 
 105. Funkia alba, and Clematis paniculata to 
 climb tree. 
 
 106. Tall English delphiniums. 
 
 107. Narcissus, single jonquils. 
 
 108. Narcissus, Bicolor Empress 
 
 109. Narcissus, Campernelles. 
 Narcissus, Emperor. 
 Narcissus, Golden Spur. 
 Single early tulips and Phlox Drum- 
 
 mondii. 
 Florists' pinks, assorted. 
 Boltonia latisquama. 
 CEnothera biennis. 
 Iberis sempervirens. 
 Single hollyhocks. 
 Single hollyhocks. 
 Pentstemon Torreyi. 
 
 120. Anemone Japonica alba. 
 
 121. Phlox subulata. 
 Anemone Japonica rubra, 
 Desmodium penduliftorum. 
 Rudbeckia, Golden Glow. 
 Rudbeckia speciosa. 
 Cypripedium spectabile. 
 Viola cornuta. 
 
 128. Lily-of-the-valley. 
 
 129. Campanula Carpatica. 
 
 130. Montbretia crocosmaflora. 
 
 131. Chrysanthemum latifolium. 
 
 132. Liatris pycnostachya. 
 
 133. Viola pedata. 
 
 134. 'Delphinium formo sum. 
 
 135. Gesneriana tulips and gladioli. 
 
 136. Parrot tulips and calliopsis. 
 
 no. 
 III. 
 H2. 
 
 113. 
 114. 
 115. 
 116. 
 117. 
 118. 
 119. 
 
 122. 
 123. 
 124. 
 125. 
 126. 
 127. 
 
74 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 DETAILED PLAN FOR FLOWER GARDEN, continued 
 
 137. Sweet peas. 
 
 138. Late tulips and Shirley poppies. 
 
 139. Narcissus biflorus. 
 
 140. Narcissus, Silver Phoenix. 
 
 141. Narcissus, Van Sion. 
 
 142. Narcissus Campernelles. 
 
 143. Single jonquils. 
 
 144. Gaillardia grandiflora. 
 
 145. Tall phlox. 
 
 146. Heliopsis Pitcheriana. 
 
 147. Single peonies. 
 
 148. Heuchera sanguinea. 
 
 149. Tritoma grandiflora. 
 
 150. Spiraa Aruncus. 
 
 151. Aquilegias, assorted single. 
 
 152. Pulmonaria maculata. 
 
 153. Hemerocallis flava. 
 
 154. Tall phlox. 
 
 155. Heliopsis Pitcheriana. 
 
 156. Helianthus rigidus. 
 
 157. Double peonies. 
 
 158. Helianthus latiflorus. 
 
 159. Helianthus orgyalis. 
 
 160. Funkia Sieboldiana. 
 
 161. Onoclea sensibilis. 
 
 162. Struthiopteris Germanica. 
 
 163. Coreopsis lanceolata. 
 
 164. Phlox subulata alba. 
 
 165. Rhododendron Everestianum. 
 
 166. Japanese maples. 
 
 167. Rosa setigera, to climb old cherry tree. 
 16S. Lonicera Morrowi. 
 
 169. Japan weeping cherry. 
 
 170. Chinese rhubarb. 
 
 171. Iron wire arch, with Rosa Wichuariana 
 
 trained on it. 
 
 172. Iron wire arch, with Crimson Rambler 
 
 rose trained on it. 
 A, A, A, A, A, A. Large old trees — cherry, 
 elm, etc. 
 
 PLAN FOR A CITY GARDEN 
 
 This plan, made for Mr. J. R. Mellon, of Pittsburg, shows a very elaborate and com- 
 prehensive garden, and one that proved very successful. The garden is entirely inclosed 
 with stone walls and shrubbery. The garden-house is a reproduction of an Irish thatched 
 cottage, and the garden in the rear of it is a miniature vegetable garden. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF PLAN 
 
 1, I, I, I. Deciduous shrubs. 
 
 2, 2, 2, 2. Herbaceous perennials. 
 
 3, Rhododendrons and lilies. 
 
 4, Ghent and Mollis azaleas, and lilies. 
 
 5, 5. Single and double peonies. 
 
 6, 7, 8. Specimen shrubs. 
 
 9. Hybrid perpetual roses, and dafifodils. 
 
 10. Specimen plants. 
 
 11. Tree peonies. 
 
 12. Pond for water lilies and nelumbiums. 
 
 13. Rockery, waterfall, and brook. 
 
 14. Inclosed space for soil manure and 
 
 rubbish. 
 
 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Specimen shrubs and 
 
 small trees. 
 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. Specimen trees. 
 
 In addition to planting shown on plan, 
 climbing roses and other vines are freely 
 used to cover walls, buildings, and arches 
 over paths, and thousands of spring-flower- 
 ing bulbs are planted among the hardy 
 plants and in the margins of the shrubbery. 
 

 0, 
 
-fer 
 
 ^^uif .-'' ^<:\- 
 
 PLANTING PLAN FOR 
 FIFTY-FOOT LOT 
 
 1. Kalmia latifolia or rhododendrons. 
 
 2. 2, 2. Ghent azaleas. 
 
 3. Rhododendron or Japanese maple. 
 
 4. Yucca filamentosa. Spaces be- 
 
 tween the yuccas to be covered 
 with Cerastium tomentosum. 
 
 5. Nasturtiums and Bybloem tulips. 
 
 6. Single hollyhocks. 
 
 7. Lilies-of-the-valley. 
 
 8. Spiraa venusta. 
 
 9. JVoodsia obtusa. 
 
 10. Anemone Robinsoniana. 
 
 11. Asplenium Felix-fcemina. 
 
 12. Trillium grandiflorum. 
 
 13. Adiantum pedatum and Cypripe- 
 
 dium spectabile. 
 
 14. Tiarella cordifoUa. 
 
 15. Anemone Japonica alba. 
 
 16. Sweet peas. 
 
 17. Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, 
 
 18. ^OM rugosa alba. 
 
 19. Tiger lilies. 
 
 20. Forsylhia viridissima. 
 
 21. Aralia Japonica. 
 
 22. Sedum spectabile. 
 
 23. Heuchera sanguinea. 
 
 24. /n'j Sibirica. 
 
 25. Narcissus Emperor, followed by 
 
 golden moneywort. 
 
 26. Linum flavum. 
 
 27. ^io/a cornuta. 
 
 28. Phlox, Miss Lingard. 
 
 29. Tall delphiniums. 
 
 30. Oriental poppies. 
 
 31. Foxgloves. 
 
 32. Gaillardia grandiflora. 
 
 33. Japanese iris. 
 
 34. Tiger lilies. 
 
 35. Spiraa Van Houttei. 
 
 36. Deutzia gracilis. 
 
 37. Gentiana acaulis. 
 
 38. Funkia variegata. 
 
 39. Andromeda Japonica. 
 
 40. Lilium roseum. 
 
 41. Wahlenbergia grandiflora. 
 
 42. Coreopsis lanceolata. 
 
 43. Narcissus, 'Bicolor Horsfieldii, fol- 
 
 lowed by Jberis sempervirens. 
 
 44. Spiraa astilboides. 
 4;. Platycodon Mariesi. 
 
 46. 'Dicenlra spectabilis. 
 
 47. Cornus Spathi. 
 
 48. Lilium elegans. 
 
 49. Hybrid perpetual roses. 
 
50. Narcissus Van Sion, followed by Phlox 
 
 subulata. 
 
 51. Lilium superbum. 
 
 52. Iceland poppies. 
 
 53. Mixed aquilegias. 
 
 54. Herbaceous peonies. 
 
 55. Plumbago Larpenia. 
 
 56. 'Berberis Thunbergii. 
 
 57. Spiraa 'Bumalda. 
 
 58. Silvermaples on outer edge of sidewalk. 
 
 59. Phlox subulata and Gesneriana tulips. 
 
 60. Mixed tulips. 
 
 61. Exochorda grandiflora. 
 
 62. Magnolia Soulangeana. 
 
 A GOOD PLAN 
 
 The accompanying plan made for Mr. 
 Samuel W. Black, of Edgeworth, Pa., 
 shows an unusual arrangement, but one 
 that has proven quite satifactory and effec- 
 tive. There are two houses on the grounds, 
 one occupied by Mr. Black, the other by 
 his sister, and while each house has a sepa- 
 rate lawn the garden between the houses 
 is used in common. This garden is so 
 screened by hedges and shrubbery that 
 eventually it cannot be seen from the street. 
 The entrance road to Mr. Black's house is 
 between two hemlock hedges, with strip of 
 grass on either side. 
 
 EXPLAXATIOX OF FLAX 
 
 1, I, I. Shrubbery. 
 
 2, 3. Rhododendron and lilies. 
 
 4. Bank covered with Rosa JVichuraiana. 
 
 and R. Wichuraiana hybrids. 
 
 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 12, 13. Specimen 
 
 trees and shrubs. 
 
 14. Groups of upright honeysuckles. 
 
 15. Tulip tree. 
 
 16. Magnolia Soulangeana. 
 
 17. Japanese maples. 
 
 18. Euonymus radicans, to cover walls of 
 
 house and terrace. 
 
 19. Group of 'Berberis Thunbergii. 
 
 20. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. Specimen trees 
 
 and shrubs. 
 
 27. Aralia Japonica. 
 
 28. Specimen rhododendrons. 
 
 29. 30, 31, 32. Specimen trees. 
 
 33. Hemlock hedge, with border of hardy 
 
 perennials in front. 
 
 34. Spirtea Van Houttei. 
 
 F. U. 4 
 
78 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 pear 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, ii. Magnolia Soulangeana. 
 
 evergreens and shrubs, with groups of 12. Colorado blue 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 concoler and Picea excelsa. 
 
 10. Magnolia stellata and golden yew. 20. Magnolia conspicua. 
 
^ 
 
 P A D D C K 
 
 PLAN FOR A FIVE-ACRE PLACE 
 
8o 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 PLAN FOR A FIVE-ACRE PLACE, continued 
 
 23- 
 
 Fruit along inside paths of vegetable 
 garden — grapes, dwarf pears, dwarf 
 apples, etc. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 J 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 conspkua. 
 
 5. Japanese maples. 
 
 6. Rhododendrons, with Lilium auratum 
 
 planted among them. 
 
 7. Japanese snowball. 
 
 8. Pauhzvnia imperialis, to be cut to the 
 
 ground every spring. 
 
 9. Pin oak. 
 
 10. Pyrus Toringo. 
 
 11. Rhododendron Evereslianum. 
 
 12. Lonicera bella. 
 
 13. Group of Aralia Japonica. 
 
 14. Old spreading Seckle pear. 
 
 15. 16. Tulip tree. 
 
 17.. White birch. 
 
 18. 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 
 v?aste 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. 
 
 2, 2. 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- 11. Hemlock spruce. 
 
 flowering bulbs, or could be used for 12. Weeping dogwood, 
 
 hytrid 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 sUllata. 
 
AN WEAL SUBURBAN ACRE 
 
84 
 
 A PLEA FOR HARDY PLANTS 
 
 AN WEAL SUBURBAN ACRE, continued 
 
 zo. Cut-leaved birch. 
 
 21. Fern-leaved beech. 
 
 22. Japan maples. 
 
 23. Funkia Sieboldiana. 
 
 24. Eulalia gractllima. 
 
 25. Weigela Candida. 
 
 26. Evergreens, small trees and shrubs. 
 
 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 
 along the eaves. 
 
 TfFO 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 chis very well. 
 
 EXPLANATION 
 
 1. Edge of woods back of grounds. 15 
 
 2. 33. Rows of old Norway spruce, twenty 16 
 
 feet high, which were allowed to re- 17 
 main, as they protected the grounds 1 8 
 on the north and west, but the regu- 19 
 larity of their outline was broken by 20 
 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. 
 
 1 1. Nordmann's fir. 
 
 12. Colorado blue spruce. 
 
 13. European beech, 
 
 14. Massed planting of shrubs, evergreen 
 
 and deciduous. 
 
 OF PLAN 
 
 , Cut-leaved birch. 
 
 . Paulownia imperialis. 
 
 Abies concolor. 
 
 Mugho pine. 
 
 Nordmann's fir. 
 
 Massed planting of deciduous and ever- 
 green shrubbery. 
 
 Fern-leaved beech. 
 
 Magnolia Lennei. 
 
 Japanese snowball. 
 
 Specimen rhododendron. 
 
 Picea alba carulea. 
 
 White-leaved weeping linden. 
 
 Magnolia stellata. 
 
 Cedrus Atlantica glauca. 
 
 Weeping hemlock. 
 
 Specimen rhododendron. 
 
 Magnolia Soulangeana. 
 
 Group of white birch. 
 
 Philadelphus and Weigela Candida. 
 
 Pin oak. 
 
 Tulip tree. 
 
p?" 
 
 ://|*^#:#^'|^t^^^^V^ 
 
 
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 itiacadam 
 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 
 feet 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 
 
 1. Japan maples. 4. Magnolia parviflora. 
 
 2. Retinispora obtusa. J, 5. Shrubbery, with small trees and groups 
 
 3. Yulan magnolia. of large herbaceous plants in margins. 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
PLAN FOR A LARGE CITY PLACE 
 
90 
 
 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 Aralia Japonica. 26, 
 
 8. Scarlet maple. 27, 
 
 9. Eulalta 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. 
 i6. 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, 
 
 21. Evergreens and white birch. 42, 
 
 Evergreens, rhododendrons, and Kalmia 
 
 latifolia. 
 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 oiArundo Donax and Eulalta gracillima. 
 Lilacs, assorted. 
 
Q2 
 
 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. 
 
 2. Scarlet oak. 
 
 3. Magnolia conspicua. 
 
 4. Nordmann's fir. 
 
 5. Sugar maple. 
 
 6. Abies concolor. 
 
 7. Wier's maple. 
 
 8. Silver maple. 
 
 9. Picea polita. 
 
 10. White-leaved weeping linden. 
 
 11. Colorado blue spruce. 
 
 12. Groups of white birch. 
 
 13. Cut-leaved birch. 
 
 14. Magnolia conspicua. 
 
 15. Magnolia parviflora. 
 
 16. Magnolia Soulangeana. 
 
 17. Tulip tree. 
 
 18. Oriental spruce. 
 
 19. Douglas' spruce. 
 
 20. Abies Cephalonica. 
 
 21. American elm. 
 
 22. Oriental sycamore. 
 
 23. Weeping rose-flowered Japan cherry. 
 
 24. American elm. 
 
 25. Salix pentandra. 
 
 26. Group of hemlock spruce. 
 
 27. White-leaved linden. 
 
 28. Malus Halliana. 
 
 29. 29. Massed planting of trees and shrubs. 
 
 30. Pin oaks planted fifty feet apart, with 
 
 Carolina poplars planted alternately. 
 The poplars, which are of extremely 
 rapid growth, are to be cut out as soon 
 as the pin oaks are of an effective size. 
 
 31. White ash planted fifty feet apart and 
 
 Carolina poplars planted alternately, 
 to be treated as noted above. 
 In addition to the above a California 
 privet hedge is planted along both sides of 
 the main entrance driveway and along one 
 side of the driveway paralleling the railroad 
 track. 
 
PLAN 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 i6o 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 auratum 
 
 planted among them. 
 
 8. New French cannas, or Eulalia gracillima 
 
 and Funkia Sieboldiana. 
 
PLAN FOR SUBURBAN LOT, continued 
 
 g. Retlnlspora 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 PLANT 
 BORDERS 
 
 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 
 T>rummondii, 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. 
 
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 PLJN FOR SMALL SUBURBAN GROUNDS 
 
 These grounds are, for th,e 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. 
 
 m0f^ 
 
 EXPLANATION OF PLAN 
 
 1, I, I, I. Massed planting of shrubs. 
 
 2, 2. Hardy perennial plants. 
 
 3, Arundo Donax and Eulalia gracill'tma. 
 4.. Vines and shrubs to cover steep bank. 
 
 5. Natural growth on seeep embankment. 
 
 6, 6. California privet hedge. 
 
 7. California privet hedge. 
 
 8, 9, 10, II, 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.