THE GROWING OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS
THE CLASSES OF PLANTS, AND
LISTS - Continued
The making of hedges.
Hedges are much less used in this country than in Europe, and for
several reasons. Our climate is dry, and most hedges do not thrive so
well here as there; labor is high-priced, and the trimming is therefore
likely to be neglected; our farms are so large that much fencing is
required; timber and wire are cheaper than live hedges.
However, hedges are used with good effect about the home grounds. In
order to secure a good ornamental hedge, it is necessary to have a
thoroughly well-prepared deep soil, to set the plants close, and to
shear them at least twice every year. For evergreen hedges the most
serviceable plant in general is the arbor vitae. The plants may be set
at distances of 1 to 2-1/2 feet apart. For coarser hedges, the Norway
spruce is used; and for still coarser ones, the Scotch and Austrian
pines. In California the staple conifer hedge is made of Monterey
cypress. For choice evergreen hedges about the grounds, particularly
outside the northern states, some of the retinosporas are very useful.
One of the most satisfactory of all coniferous plants for hedges is the
common hemlock, which stands shearing well and makes a very soft and
pleasing mass. The plants may be set from 2 to 4 feet apart.
Other plants that hold their leaves and are good for hedges are the
common box and the privets. Box hedges are the best for very low borders
about walks and flower-beds. The dwarf variety can be kept down to a
height of 6 inches to a foot for any number of years. The
larger-growing varieties make excellent hedges 3, 4, and 5 feet high.
The ordinary privet or prim holds its leaves well into winter in the
North. The so-called Californian privet holds its leaves rather longer
and stands better along the seashore. The mahonia makes a low, loose
hedge or edging in locations where it will thrive. Pyracantha is also to
be recommended where hardy. In the southern states, nothing is better
than Citrus trifoliata. This is hardy even farther north than
Washington in very favored localities. In the South, Prunus
Caroliniana is also used for hedges. Saltbush hedges are frequent in
California.
For hedges of deciduous plants, the most common species are the
buckthorn, Japan quince, the European hawthorn and other thorns,
tamarix, osage orange, honey locust, and various kinds of roses. Osage
orange has been the most used for farm hedges. For home grounds,
Berberis Thunbergii makes an excellent free hedge; also Spiræa
Thunbergii and other spireas. The common Rosa rugosa makes an
attractive free hedge.
Hedges should be trimmed the year after they are set, although they
should not be sheared very closely until they reach the desired or
permanent height. Thereafter they should be cut into the desired form in
spring or fall, or both. If the plants are allowed to grow for a year or
two without trimming, they lose their lower leaves and become open and
straggly. Osage orange and some other plants are plashed; that is, the
plants are set at an angle rather than perpendicularly, and they are
wired together obliquely in such a way that they make an impenetrable
barrier just above the surface of the ground.
For closely clipped or sheared hedges, the best plants are arbor vitae,
retinospora, hemlock, Norway spruce, privet, buckthorn, box, osage
orange, pyracantha, Citrus trifoliata. The pyracantha (Pyracantha
coccinea) is an evergreen shrub allied to cratægus, of which it is
sometimes considered to be a species. It is also sometimes referred to
cotoneaster. Although hardy in protected places in the North, it is
essentially a bush of the middle and southern latitudes, and of
California. It has persistent foliage and red berries. Var. Lalandi
has orange-red berries.
The borders.
The word "border" is used to designate the heavy or continuous planting
about the boundaries of a place, or along the walks and drives, or
against the buildings, in distinction from planting on the lawn or in
the interior spaces. A border receives different designations, depending
on the kinds of plants that are grown therein: it may be a shrub-border,
a flower-border, a hardy border for native and other plants, a
vine-border, and the like.
There are three rules for the choosing of plants for a hardy border:
choose (1) those that you like best, (2) those that are adapted to the
climate and soil, (3) those that are in place or in keeping with that
part of the grounds.
The earth for the border should be fertile. The whole ground should be
plowed or spaded and the plants set irregularly in the space; or the
back row may be set in a line. If the border is composed of shrubs, and
is large, a horse cultivator may be run in and out between the plants
for the first two or three years, since the shrubs will be set 2 to 4
feet apart. Ordinarily, however, the tilling is done with hand tools.
After the plants are once established and the border is filled, it is
best to dig up as little as possible, for the digging disturbs the roots
and breaks the crowns. It is usually best to pull out the weeds and give
the border a top-dressing each fall of well-rotted manure. If the ground
is not very rich, an application of ashes or some commercial fertilizer
may be given from time to time.
The border should be planted so thick as to allow the plants to run
together, thereby giving one continuous effect. Most shrubs should be
set 3 feet apart. Things as large as lilacs may go 4 feet and sometimes
even more. Common herbaceous perennials, as bleeding heart, delphiniums,
hollyhocks, and the like, should go from 12 to 18 inches. On the front
edge of the border is a very excellent place for annual and tender
flowering plants. Here, for example, one may make a fringe of asters,
geraniums, coleus, or anything else he may choose. (Chap. II.)
Into the heavy borders about the boundaries of the place the autumn
leaves will drift and afford an excellent mulch. If these borders are
planted with shrubs, the leaves may be left there to decay, and not be
raked off in the spring.
The general outline of the border facing the lawn should be more or less
wavy or irregular, particularly if it is on the boundary of the place.
Alongside a walk or drive the margins may follow the general directions
of the walk or drive.
In making borders of perennial flowers the most satisfactory results are
secured if a large clump of each kind or variety is grown. The
herbaceous border is one of the most flexible parts of grounds, since it
has no regular or formal design. Allow ample space for each perennial
root,--often as much as three or four square feet,--and then if the
space is not filled the first year or two, scatter over the area seeds
of poppies, sweet peas, asters, gilias, alyssum, or other annuals.
Figures 237-239, from Long ("Popular Gardening," i., 17, 18), suggest
methods of making such borders. They are on a scale of ten feet to the
inch. The entire surface is tilled, and the irregular diagrams designate
the sizes of the clumps. The diagrams containing no names are to be
filled with bulbs, annuals, and tender plants, if desired.
[Illustration: Fig. 237. Suggestions for a border of spring flowers.]
[Illustration: Fig. 238. A border of summer-flowering herbs.]
It must not be supposed, however, that one cannot have a border unless
he has wide marginal spaces about his grounds. It is surprising how many
things one can grow in an old fence. Perennials that grow in fence-rows
in fields ought also to grow in similar boundaries on the home
grounds. Some of garden annuals will thrive alongside a fence,
particularly if the fence does not shut off too much light; and many
vines (both perennial and annual) will cover it effectively. Among
annuals, the large-seeded, quick-germinating, rapid-growing kinds will
do best. Sunflower, sweet pea, morning glory, Japanese hop, zinnia,
marigold, amaranths, four o'clock, are some of the kinds that will hold
their own. If the effort is made to grow plants in such places, it is
important to give them all the advantage possible early in the season,
so that they will get well ahead of the grass and weeds. Spade up the
ground all you can. Add a little quick-acting fertilizer. It is best to
start the plants in pots or small boxes, so that they will be in advance
of the weeds when they are set out.
[Illustration: Fig. 239. An autumn-flowering border.]
The flower-beds.
We must remember to distinguish two uses of flowers,--their part in a
landscape design or picture, and their part in a bed or separate garden
for bloom. We now consider the flower-bed proper; and we include in the
flower-bed such "foliage" plants as coleus, celosia, croton, and canna,
although the main object of the flower-bed is to produce an abundance
of flowers.
In making a flower-bed, see that the ground is well drained; that the
subsoil is deep; that the land is in a mellow and friable condition, and
that it is fertile. Each fall it may have a mulch of rotted manure or of
leafmold, which may be spaded under deeply in the spring; or the land
may be spaded and left rough in the fall, which is a good practice when
the soil has much clay. Make the flower-beds as broad as possible, so
that the roots of the grass running in from either side will not meet
beneath the flowers and rob the beds of food and moisture. It is well to
add a little commercial fertilizer each fall or spring.
Although it is well to emphasize making the ground fertile, it must be
remembered (as indicated at the close of Chap. IV) that it can easily be
made too rich for such plants as we desire to keep within certain
stature and for those from which we wish an abundance of bloom in a
short season. In over-rich ground, nasturtiums and some other plants not
only "run to vine," but the bloom lacks brilliancy. When it is the leaf
and vegetation that is wanted, there is little danger of making the
ground too rich, although it is possible to make the plant so succulent
and sappy that it becomes sprawly or breaks down; and other plants may
be crippled and crowded out.
There are various styles of flower-planting. The mixed border, planted
with various hardy plants, and extending along either side of the
garden-walk, was popular years ago; and, with modifications in position,
form, and extent, has been a popular attachment to home grounds during
the past few years. To produce the best effects the plants should be set
close enough to cover the ground; and the selection should be such as to
afford a continuity of bloom.
The mixed flower-bed may contain only tender summer-blooming plants, in
which case the bed, made up mostly of annuals, does not purport to
express the entire season.
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