Trees and Shrubs for English Gardens Part 32

_Syringa vulgaris_ (Lilac), 8 to 12 feet.

_Ulex europaeus fl. pl._ (Double-flowered Furze or Gorse), 4 to 6 feet.

Beautiful in hot and dry soil.

_Viburnum Opulus sterile_ (Guelder Rose or s...o...b..ll tree), _V.

plicatum_, 5 to 6 feet.

_Vinca major_ (Periwinkle), 6 inches to 1 foot. A little creeping shrub, delightful for a rough bank, and will thrive under trees better than most shrubby plants. The pretty blue flowers appear for a long time.

There is a variety with prettily variegated leaves. _V. minor_, another species, is smaller altogether. There are deep-blue and white varieties.

_Weigelas_, 6 to 8 feet. Excellent shrubs for small gardens.

SHRUBS FOR TOWN GARDENS

From the preceding list of shrubs for small gardens a selection suitable for towns is appended. Many things refuse to live in the smoky and confined air of towns. This is particularly noticeable in the case of evergreens; the pores become choked with sooty deposit, and the plant consequently soon fails, whereas many of those whose leaves are removed annually are not so seriously affected. Conifers are generally a failure. This is a small list, but only small gardens are under consideration.

Aucubas.

Berberis Aquifolium.

Berberis stenophylla.

Cotoneasters, especially C. frigida, which is, however, a small tree.

Crataegus Oxyacantha (Hawthorn) and varieties.

Crataegus Pyracantha (Fire Thorn); C. Laelandi.

Daphne Mezereum.

Euonymus j.a.ponicus.

Forsythia.

Genista hispanica.

Hedera (Ivy).

Hibiscus syriacus.

Jasminum officinale.

Kerria j.a.ponica.

Laburnum.

Ligustrum ovalifolium elegantissimum (Golden-leaved Privet).

Magnolia stellata, M. conspicua.

Osmanthus ilicifolius.

Philadelphus (Mock Orange).

Privet.

Prunus Amygdalus (Almond).

Prunus Avium flore-pleno (Double-flowered Gean).

Prunus Laurocerasus (Laurel).

Prunus Persica (Peach).

Prunus pseudo-cerasus.

Pyrus Aucuparia (Mountain Ash).

Pyrus floribunda.

Pyrus j.a.ponica and varieties.

Rhus typhina (Sumach).

Ribes aureum.

Ribes sanguineum and varieties.

Robinia Pseudacacia and varieties.

Spartium junceum.

Spiraea arguta.

Spiraea j.a.ponica and varieties.

Symphoricarpus racemosus (s...o...b..rry).

Symphoricarpus vulgaris.

Syringa vulgaris (Lilac) and varieties.

Viburnum plicatum (Chinese Guelder Rose).

Weigela rosea and varieties.

CHAPTER x.x.xI

SHRUB AND FLOWER BORDERS

Where there are wide lawn s.p.a.ces and fine trees in garden ground much of the effect is often lost or spoiled by the presence of unworthy trivialities where there should be distinct and bold features. The most frequent offender is a narrow strip of flower border, edging shrubbery and coming between the shrubs and the gra.s.s. Nothing is more useless than such a border. The shrubs would look much better coming right down to the gra.s.s, while if bright or distinct colour is absolutely required, it is easy to make a place here and there where some patch of Lily or other flower of bold form may be well seen.

These narrow borders are undesirable, not only for their poor effect--we think not of one, but of many a fine place where there are furlongs of such futility--but because the plan is destructive to both shrubs and flowers. If the ground is not dug for a year the roots of the shrubs invade it; if it is dug and enriched for the flowers, the feeding roots of the shrubs are mutilated.

In the case of a place where lawn comes up to shrub plantation, which, again, is backed by woodland, the better way is to have, in just the right places, a bold planting of something fairly large, whose flower shall endure for a good while, to let the large group of it come right through to the lawn, and also stretch away back into the woodland. In our southern counties, in sheltered places, where the ground is cool and moist, and at the same time well drained, nothing can be better than Hydrangeas. Other softer plants for the same treatment would be the fine _Nicotiana sylvestris_, and for earlier in the year White Foxglove, and even before that _Verbasc.u.m olympic.u.m_. _Lilium auratum_ is also superb in such places, and _Polygonum Sieboldi_ and others of this fine race of autumn-blooming plants. If some of the shrubs at the edge of the gra.s.s, such as Azaleas, have beautiful colour at more than one time of the year, both at the flowering time and in autumn blaze of foliage, two seasons of beauty are secured.

Hardy Ferns are undeservedly neglected as plants to group about the feet of shrubs; some of the bolder kinds, as the Male Fern and the Lady Fern, are charming as a setting to the Lilies that love cool, shady wood edges.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _TALL EVERGREEN SHRUBS IN A FLOWER BORDER._]

If shrubbery edges were planned with a view to good effect both far and near, what capital companies of plants could be put together. As one such example, let us suppose a cool spot, with peaty or light vegetable soil, planted in the front with _Skimmia_ and hardy Ferns, _Funkia grandiflora_, and _Lilium rubellum_. A little farther back would come _Lilium Brownii_, then a group of _Kalmias_ and _Lilium auratum_. One carefully-planted scheme such as this would lead to others of the same cla.s.s, so that the quant.i.ties of grand shrubs and plants that are only waiting to be well used would be made into lovely pictures, instead of being planted in the usual unthinking fashion, which is without definite aim, and therefore cannot possibly make any good effect.

We do not, as a rule, plant upright-growing Conifers of the Juniper and Cypress cla.s.s in our flower borders, and yet the ill.u.s.tration shows how this may be done with the very happiest effect. Probably in this case the trees were there already, and the flower border was wanted, and therefore was made in circ.u.mstances that would not have been specially arranged at the outset. But it has been done with rare intelligence and sympathy, and the result is excellent. Here also is seen the best kind of edge treatment, for the gra.s.s is either cut with the scythe or the plants at the edge are lifted with a stick as the machine runs along, so that the usual pitiless machine edge is not seen, and the plants at the side bush out over the gra.s.s just as they should do. This is a thing that is rarely seen well done in gardens.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

SHRUBS UNDER TREES

It is often a vexed question what to plant under trees when the s.p.a.ce is bare, and sometimes there is an ugly view seen beneath the branches to shut out. Evergreens are the sheet anchor, relieved with a few deciduous shrubs grouped amongst them.

Much depends upon the tree, whether a Beech or an Oak, a Maple or a Chestnut, and so on, as trees vary considerably in their method of rooting, as well as in the shade they give during the summer months.

This affects the welfare of the plants underneath. Such trees as Oak, Ash, Plane, Birch, and Horse Chestnut are inclined to root deeply when they have grown to a fair size, and do not interfere directly with anything underneath them, although the roots extract much moisture from the soil.

On the other hand, Beech, Elm, Lime, and Sycamore are more surface-rooting, and their roots often get entangled with and gradually kill plants growing near them. Beech and Elm are the greatest offenders, and gra.s.s frequently perishes under these trees. A few liberal soakings of water in dry weather are beneficial to shrubs or anything else under trees, but the soakings must be thorough, as mere sprinkles are more harmful than otherwise. The spread of large tree branches should also be noticed in summer, as sometimes one or two of the lower ones may be removed with benefit to the shrubs, judicious cutting away letting in light and air.

The best of the larger growing evergreens to use under trees are Laurels, both common and Portugal, Yews, Box, Osmanthus, Aucubas, Phillyraeas, common and oval-leaved Privet, _Ligustrum sinense_, and _Rhododendron pontic.u.m_. Of these Yews, Box, and Osmanthus are perhaps as successful as any. The Osmanthus is not usually considered suitable for this purpose, but it succeeds well in the shade, and keeps a good dark-green colour. Hollies are sometimes recommended, but, though they may occasionally thrive under trees, it is not advisable to use many of them, as they are more often a failure, becoming thin and straggling in the course of a year or two. Of dwarf-growing evergreens _Berberis Aquifolium_, Butcher's Broom (_Ruscus aculeatus_ and _R. Hypoglossum_), _Cotoneaster microphylla_, _Euonymus j.a.ponicus_, and _E. radicans_, with their respective varieties, Skimmias, _Gaultheria Shallon_, Ivies, especially the common English, Irish Ivy, and Emerald green, _Pernettya mucronata_, St. John's Wort (_Hyperic.u.m calycinum_), and Vincas can all be recommended, as they all do well in the shade, and most of them will flower freely.

For a very dry spot where nothing else will grow the Butcher's Broom and St. John's Wort should be planted, as both will grow and thrive where other plants die. With deciduous shrubs under trees the difficulty is not so much in getting them to live as in coaxing them to flower, but a few of them will do well in the shade, and, as a rule, bloom freely. Of these the best are the common and White Brooms, _Azalea pontica_, _Genista virgata_, _Philadelphus_, Forsythias, and _Daphne Mezereum_.