Trees and Shrubs for English Gardens Part 5

If we were to take many books about trees and shrubs or general gardening as a guide, one might be led to think that only one way of increasing a tree or shrub existed, and that by grafting; but, as we have pointed out elsewhere, it is a mischievous practice when indiscriminately applied. It is _not_ contended by this that grafting and budding are utterly needless, as in many instances these methods may be rightly adopted, but the four natural ways of increase are by layers, seeds, suckers, and cuttings. Many trees and shrubs are much better when grafted upon other stocks.

Of these, practise seed-raising whenever possible; but if seeds cannot be procured, then adopt other ways, and the man is wise who tries to keep a plant on its own roots. Neither budding nor grafting should be resorted to, unless other means fail absolutely. When standard trees cannot be got true from seed, budding or grafting must be practised, and the evils of these methods of propagation are not so p.r.o.nounced in such cases as with dwarf plants. With the former, suckers, or growths from the stock, are easily seen as soon as they appear, but with dwarf plants a perfect forest of suckers may seriously weaken the plant before they are noticed.

SEEDS.--These can be sown at almost any time, but the spring is the best, as those which germinate quickly have time to form strong young plants before the following winter. Some take two years to come up, and should be left in the ground. This refers more to seeds sown outdoors, and few hardy trees and shrubs require heat to a.s.sist germination. When sown in the open the beds should be made on a fairly rich, moist piece of ground, protected from cold winds, but fully exposed to the sun.

After the seeds are sown, cover them with light tiffany shading, fir branches, or heather, but the first is best, as it is easily removed to attend to the bed. Conifers especially should be sown in beds, whether indoors or outdoors, as pot-culture results in the roots taking the shape of the pot, and never afterwards recovering from their cramped condition. It must be remembered, however, that varieties cannot be depended upon to come true from seed, though by careful selection for a few years many varieties will almost reproduce the characteristics of the parents. Hybrids, such as _Berberis stenophylla_, _Hyperic.u.m moserianum_, and many others, also do not come true from seed, so that cuttings, layers, or division of the old plants must be the practice chosen.

SUCKERS.--Plants which throw up suckers from the base, or below the ground-line, are easily propagated by detaching these suckers in winter with a portion of root. They will grow away readily, and soon form good trees or shrubs as the case may be.

CUTTINGS.--Nearly all the hardy shrubs, and a small proportion of hardy trees also, can be propagated by cuttings taken at certain times of the year. Summer cuttings are taken during the last two weeks of May and throughout June, the actual time depending on the season, and consist of the young shoots that have grown to a length of 3 to 6 inches. These should be pulled off with a "heel," and inserted in sandy soil in a close frame, with brisk bottom heat. The cuttings should be taken on a dull day, or early in the morning, and kept cool and moist until they are in the frame. A cutting that has flagged is useless, as it never revives. Deciduous flowering shrubs are usually propagated by summer cuttings, which generally root well in a fortnight or less. Autumn cuttings are taken during August and September, and are made from the partially ripened growths of the current year, inserted in sandy soil, in a close frame, without bottom heat. Winter cuttings are made from thoroughly ripened wood at any time between October and March, and are laid in rather thickly in rows outdoors, and only about an inch or less is left above the soil. The majority of our best flowering shrubs are easily increased in this way.

LAYERS.--Excellent trees and shrubs can be got by layers, and they may be laid down at any time of the year; they will be ready for removal in about eighteen months or two years.

BUDDING.--This is done about August, and the same rules apply to trees and shrubs as to Roses, &c.

GRAFTING.--This takes place outdoors from March to May, at the earlier time for deciduous trees and shrubs, and later on for evergreens. The actual time depends upon the season.

Where seed is not expressly mentioned below, it must be understood that this is the natural, and in many cases the best, way to propagate.

The following trees can only be raised from seed to do any good afterwards, though a few of them will throw up suckers, which can be taken off and replanted: _aesculus_ (Chestnut), _Ailantus_, _Alnus_ (Alder), _Arbutus_, _Betula_ (Birch), _Carpinus_ (Hornbeam), _Carya_ (Hickory), _Castanea_ (Sweet Chestnut), _Celtis_ (Nettle tree), _f.a.gus_ (Beech), _Fraxinus_ (Ash), _Gleditschia_ (Honey Locust), _Juglans_ (Walnut), _Laburnum_, _Liquidambar_, _Morus_ (Mulberry), _Prunus_, _Pyrus_, _Quercus_ (Oak), _Sophora_, _Ulmus_ (Elm), and _Zelkova_. The varieties of any species of the above, and, in fact, of nearly all hardy trees, must be budded or grafted on the species they are forms of, but an exotic species should never be worked on the native representative of the genus--_e.g._ _aesculus flava_ should not be budded on the Common Horse Chestnut, as the latter is far too strong a stock for the smaller-growing aesculus.

_Acer_ (Maple) and _Tilia_ (Lime or Linden) can be raised from seeds or by layering, the Lime especially being largely propagated from layers, which soon form strong young trees. The varieties of Maple are best worked on stocks of the species they belong to.

_Crataegus_ (Thorn), _Catalpa_, and _Robinia_ (Locust tree), can be raised from suckers or root-cuttings, if seeds cannot be got. Any of their varieties are usually budded or grafted on stocks of the parent species.

_Ilex_ (Holly), _Magnolia_, _Populus_ (Poplar), _Plata.n.u.s_ (Plane), and _Salix_ (Willow). The Holly is easily raised from cuttings and layers, the second roots readily when layered, and the latter three are propagated in large quant.i.ties by winter cuttings. The White Poplar (_Populus alba_) is an exception, as this can only be increased by root-cuttings.

INCREASING HARDY SHRUBS

The best of our hardy flowering shrubs are grouped under seven natural orders, and a knowledge of the order to which a plant belongs is in most cases a guide to its propagation, as the majority of the species contained in an order are, as a rule, increased by the same methods.

BERBERIDEae.--This contains _Akebia_ and _Berberis_, which are propagated by seeds, cuttings, or layers. _Berberis stenophylla_ and _B. Neuberti_ do not come true from seed, so that one or both of the other methods mentioned above must be adopted.

LEGUMINOSae.--In this order such genera as _Cytisus_ (Broom), _Genista_ (Rock Broom), _Spartium_ (Spanish Broom), _Ononis_, _Indigofera_, _Colutea_ (Bladder Senna), _Caragana_ (Siberian Pea tree), and _Cercis_ (Judas tree) should be raised from seed, which is the quickest and best method of propagation. Cuttings of certain forms of _Cytisus_ and _Genista_ will root readily, but the plants will sometimes die off just as they have attained flowering size. _Ulex_ (Furze, Whin, or Gorse) is propagated by seeds or cuttings, and _Wistarias_ by seeds or by layering.

ROSACEae.--This includes _Prunus_, the shrubby forms of which can, in the majority of cases, be increased by cuttings or layers; _Spiraea_ and _Kerria_ (Jews' Mallow), cuttings of which root readily at almost any time of the year; _Exochorda_ (Pearl Bush), must be raised from seed to do any good; _Rubus_ (Brambles), some of which can be propagated by suckers, and the remainder by pegging the points of the shoots down to form young plants; _Rosa_ (Rose), the species of which should be increased by seeds, cuttings, or layers, though seeds will not always come true, as Roses become hybridised very readily; and _Cotoneaster_, which are increased by seeds, cuttings, or layers.

SAXIFRAGEae.--In this order _Hydrangea_, _Deutzia_, _Philadelphus_ (Mock Orange), _Escallonia_, and _Ribes_ (Flowering Currant) are included. All are easily propagated by cuttings taken in almost any season of the year. With the exception of Hydrangea, which should be struck under gla.s.s, all the members of this order root readily outdoors in the winter.

CAPRIFOLIACEae.--This order contains such genera as _Sambucus_ (Elder), _Viburnum_, _Lonicera_ (Honeysuckle), _Symphoricarpus_ (s...o...b..rry tree), _Abelia_, _Leycesteria_, and _Diervilla_ (Weigela). All are easily propagated by cuttings or by layering. The cuttings can be taken at almost any time of the year, and root quickly, the young plants attaining a good size by the end of the second year.

ERICACEae.--This order includes all the so-called American plants, such as _Pernettya_, _Gaultheria_, _Leucothoe_, _Andromeda_, _Pieris_, _Zen.o.bia_, _Erica_ (Heath), _Calluna_ (Common Heather, Ling), _Kalmia_, _Ledum_, _Clethra_, and _Rhododendron_ (including _Azalea_). These can all be increased by seeds, layering, and, in addition, the first two by division of the old plants. _Erica_ and _Calluna_ can also be increased by cuttings. Seedlings, of course, make the best plants, but layering is a quicker method, and, in the case of some of the smaller Ericaceae, one of the easiest. All the Rhododendrons will not root from cuttings, though some of the small-flowered ones strike easily, but practically all may be increased from layers. A few of the showy garden forms cannot be raised from layers, and have to be grafted on stocks of the common _R. pontic.u.m_ or _R. catawbiense_.

OLEACEae.--This includes both deciduous flowering shrubs and ornamental evergreens, such as _Syringa_ (Lilac), _Chionanthus_ (Fringe tree), _Jasminum_ (Jasmine), _Forsythia_, _Ligustrum_ (Privet), _Phillyraea (P.

decora (vilmoriniana)_ is so easily raised from seeds or cuttings that it is foolish to graft it on the common privet), and _Osmanthus_ being represented. The first two are best propagated by seeds or layers, though the named garden Lilac is usually grafted on stocks of the common _S. vulgaris_, a silly practice. It is a pitiful business keeping down suckers from grafted plants. Ask for Lilacs on their own roots, and much vexation will be saved. A garden should be a place of rest and pleasure, not a hunting-ground for suckers. The other genera are readily raised by cuttings taken at almost any time of the year, or by layering.

Although the above orders include a considerable number of our best shrubs, several plants must be specially mentioned. The Clematis is increased by seeds, cuttings, or layers in the case of the species, but unfortunately the garden forms are usually grafted on _C. Viticella_ or _C. Flammula_, whereas many can be propagated by cuttings, and practically all will root when layered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _TULIP TREE AT RANELAGH (Winter)._]

In the absence of seeds the following genera must be propagated by layers, viz., _Aucuba_, _Chimonanthus_ (Winter Sweet), _Halesia_ (Snowdrop tree), _Hamamelis_ (Witch Hazel), _Hippophae_ (Sea Buckthorn), and _Myrica_ (Candleberry Myrtle). Cuttings of the first will root readily enough, but never seem to succeed afterwards. The female form of _Hippophae_ is best raised from layers, as seedlings usually give a large percentage of male plants. _Aralia_ and _Rhus_ (Sumach) are increased by seeds or root-cuttings; _Buddleia j.a.ponica_ is best raised from seeds, and the other Buddleias from cuttings; and practically all other hardy shrubs that have not been specially mentioned are easily propagated by seeds, cuttings, or layers, and the majority of them by all three methods.

If it is impossible to increase a tree or shrub by any other means than by the three methods mentioned, then resort to budding or grafting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _WINTER BEAUTY OF LIME._]

CHAPTER VIII

A WINTER GARDEN OF TREES AND SHRUBS

The budding spring, the ripening summer, the outpoured riches of harvest, appeal to all, physically if not spiritually. But to hundreds of people a winter landscape is dreary beyond expression. They never dream of going into a garden during the dark months; to them its silent lessons are but a dead-letter, nor would they ever wake to the beauty of bare boughs nor pause to note the strange glow of withered Fern fronds in the grey gloom of a foggy day. We are not wholly free from blame in this matter in so far as our gardens are concerned, for spring and summer and autumn all have their share in the garden plan, while winter, too often, stands apart uncared for and unclothed. Yet how much may be done by the right grouping of beautiful trees and shrubs to make the winter garden harmonious and inviting.

"You see, it takes a deal of insight to know what's a-going to be," was a remark, half-apologetic, half-regretful, often made by an old gardener of a school now gone by, when matters horticultural went somewhat athwart of his calculations. The words recur to mind as containing a germ of truth beyond the meaning of the speaker. It has been well said with regard to deeper matters that foresight must spring from insight, and it may be taken also as a foundation principle of good gardening.

For just in proportion as we use our faculties of insight and foresight will our gardens grow, more or less, into a perfect expression of our sense of the ever-changeful, never-ending beauty of Nature.

It must be no cursory glance given to get rid of an unwelcome duty. We must look deep into the meaning of things as they are--a meaning which never lies wholly on the surface--before we can forecast them as they are going to be, and such insight rarely comes by intuition. The seeing eye is given only to a few, though with some it is but sleep-holden and needs no more than to be awakened.

The things that are and the things that are to be. Let us take the thought as company and try to glean some of Nature's own lessons of fitness. How instinctively we seek, for a winter ramble, the shelter of the woodland copse, which is not far distant from any English country habitation. The broad gra.s.s drive is h.o.a.r with frosty rime in the shadow of the bushes and crisp under foot. Under the trees the ground on either side is carpeted with Ivy. The lithe, trailing stems, wreathed with their shining, taper-fingered leaves, so exquisitely pencilled, are cushioned on the soft, feathery moss, or twine in and out amongst the Hazel stocks, or creep at will up the nearest tree trunk. One can scarcely look at Ivy on a winter's day without a thrill of admiration, especially this woodland sort, for, mark it well, Nature never encourages the coa.r.s.e-leaved Ivy of common cultivation within her domains. How perfect in its grace is this fine-leaved Ivy, how utterly content with its surroundings, how resolutely cheerful, be the circ.u.mstances of weather or situation what they may! Clinging lowly to the ground or mounting to the topmost branch of some tall Pine, it is equally at home, and why should we not agree with that good naturalist, Charles Waterton, in his a.s.sertion that forest tree was never injured by its clasping stems? An English plant for our English climate, it may be used to make beautiful an unsightly building, to clothe a decaying tree stump, as bush or border or mantle, in a hundred different ways, yet it is never out of character, and never touches a jarring note.

Then those tall Hollies, see how dauntlessly they stand up above the undergrowth of Hazel. How living and warm, in their ruddy glow, are the cl.u.s.tering berries in the glint of the fearless leaves. For expedience sake, their lower branches have been trimmed away, and greatly we gain by it, for otherwise that lovely contrast of their ashen-grey stems would be hidden from our eyes; but over yonder a fine old Holly tree stands alone, which axe and knife have left untouched, and how graceful is the curven sweep of its feathering boughs. No foreign evergreen can excel it for symmetry of form or winter garniture of leaf and fruit.

Life is astir, too, in the brown twigs of the Hazel bushes. The infant year is not more than a week or two old, yet already the ta.s.selled catkins are swinging in the lightest rustle of the sighing wind, and begin to lift up their tiers of small woolly cowls to set free the yellow pollen-dust. And so we may go on our way, and, at every turn, some rugged Yew, or clump of red-stemmed Scotch Fir, or tapering Spruce with hanging russet cones, will stay our steps, and if we look and listen, they will tell us in their own way the story of their perfect fitness for our homely English landscape. Or, if we chance to be in one of the chalky districts of the South Downs, we may come upon Box, the ever young, as it was called of yore, or Juniper, in its bloom of silver grey, as precious as any, to add to the tale of our best native evergreens.

Now it is to a wise choice of evergreens and to their rightful placing that we must look for the basis of our content in the winter garden. The insight of our forefathers foresaw the solid comfort of the rampart of Yew which was fostered of old in many a manor-house garden. It caused them to fence about their dwellings on north and east with a belt of st.u.r.dy timber trees, to meet and ward off in their pliant strength the roughest winter gales. It planned the sheltered nut-walk and the pleached alley and the cosy settle, carved out of the thick Box bushes, on the gra.s.sy verge of the bowling-green. They took of the materials at hand, and many have since their day blessed the foresight which planted, not only for themselves, but for their children's children. That they were not blind to the rare beauty of foreign trees many a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon and ma.s.sive Holm Oak or deciduous tree--like the fine Tulip trees at Mackery End, beloved of Charles Lamb--bear n.o.ble testimony to this hour.

Nothing, perhaps, in the wide range of garden beauty is more pictorial than an ancient Cedar, dusky and glaucous, with cavernous shadows, holding upright the smooth, pale-brown, rounded cones on its flattened branches, or some grand Silver Fir standing alone in its solemn symmetrical beauty, or even, as may now and then be seen, though rarely, some stately Araucaria, wind-sheltered, whose radiating branches sweep down upon the greensward. Others there are, no less pictorial perhaps, nor even less exacting, for none can do without the shelter of a good position, such as the Stone Pines, with corrugated trunk and green spreading head; or again, the graceful fragrant Cypress (_C.

lawsoniana_) of more recent date, with its slender pyramidal growth and drooping feathery branches, taking on at the close of winter the ruby-red of the catkins which tell of the coming of the small, bloom-powdered cones.

The desperate hurry, the incessant crowding out of the times in which we live, give little encouragement to the sentiment of planting for posterity, yet some such planting is continually being done. This much must be said, that the last fifty years have seen the introduction of numberless fine trees and shrubs, the fitness of which for our climate time alone could test. During that period in England, the Mammoth tree of the Yosemite Valley (_Sequoia gigantea_) has been planted in its thousands, and by irony of fate, the giant not seldom finds itself cramped within the limits of a half-acre plot. But leaving out the question of s.p.a.ce, it is a tree utterly unsuited to our northern climate, unless under exceptional circ.u.mstances, as its scorched and fretted branches on the windward side sufficiently prove; while in itself it is not nearly so grand or suggestive as its near-of-kin, the beautiful Californian Redwood (_S. sempervirens_).

Ah! that burning question of s.p.a.ce, how it comes between us and our highest garden aspirations! Have we not all seen the Deodar or the Araucaria trying to exist in a narrow, twelve-foot forecourt, and smiled, if we have not rather been ready to weep, over the cra.s.s absurdity of its position? But such mistakes are made every day. Let us think, then, before we plant, of the things that are going to be, and take prudent counsel with ourselves.

Our garden resources, nowadays, are beyond all calculation greater than those of our forefathers, and we rejoice and are glad because of it; but we should let nothing oust from our affections the hardy trees and shrubs, native and naturalised, that are at home in our climate, beautiful in themselves and invaluable in their fitness to give shelter to the more fastidious immigrants from other lat.i.tudes.

Shelter, in fact, is as the keynote to the winter garden. Beauty is killed when leaves that should be green and smiling are bruised and brown, when boughs that should be perfect in grace and curve are twisted and tortured. We may be very sure, too, that such symptoms of discomfort in our gardens will re-act in disquiet on ourselves, whereas the mere sight of tree or bush standing firm in its green bravery through storm and stress tends, it may be unawares, to brace and uplift. Even the familiar Laurel, good as it is when suitably placed, and used not too freely, is constantly scathed and disfigured in damp or low-lying localities. For the same reason, it is doubtful whether Rhododendrons should be planted within range of our windows. Most of them, in severe weather, frightened before they are hurt, put on a melancholy air and droop of leaf which is apt to send a shiver through any shrinking mortal whose vitality is already low enough.

The bare boughs of winter, on the contrary, are never depressing. They sleep, but it is not the sleep of death; they rest, but while they are resting, we feel that the mystery of life silently works out the fulfilment of the promise of re-awakening. Meanwhile, before the veil of leaf.a.ge hides so much else that is beautiful from our eyes, we see the things that are, tree trunks in all their majesty of girth and column and fencing bark, the net-work of budding spray, each after its kind distinct, yet each in its own form perfect. Even in mid-winter, the brown gummy buds of the Horse Chestnuts begin to swell at the ends of the swaying boughs, and the Ash-buds, as they make ready to burst their bonds, put on a deeper hue.

The Beeches keep their silken green tight shut within their scale-bound points, and will not let it unfold an hour too soon; but look at the lovely colouring, now silvern, now golden green, of the Lichen-stains on the smooth grey bark. Contrast it with the deeply-chiselled ribs of the Sweet Chestnut, the rugged armour-plates of the Oak, the thin white tissue of the dainty Silver Birch. It is this diversity, these contrasts, which make up the charm of winter, while the sombre green of Fir and Yew intermingling with the leafless trees gives just the touch of warmth and comfort which winter lacks. If any of these bless our gardens with their gracious presence, let us hesitate long before any trivial inconvenience tempts us into doing away with them. A single group of Silver Birches, one spreading Beech, a clump of Scotch Fir, with a stretch of gra.s.s beneath them, is more precious to look out upon in the winter garden than all the borders and rockeries that can be devised. Urge as we may, however, for their own sake, the fitness and constant delight of our native trees and evergreen shrubs, we plead for them, no less, because by their well-advised use our sheltered gardens may become congenial abiding-places for the strangers we may invite within our gates.

Do we profit as much as we might by the wealth of garden beauty, in the way of trees and shrubs, which for every intent and purpose lies within our reach?

Take Magnolias, for example. They are not sub-tropical trees, as we are apt to think, but fairly hardy, and the Laurel Magnolia, so well known as a beautiful covering for a south wall, is seldom enough seen in standard form. Yet it is one of the most stately of evergreen trees, and it would be hard to find one more worthy of a good position, sheltered from north and easterly winds. The whole outline of the tree is n.o.ble, with its broad, shining, russet-backed leaves, a delight to look upon in winter--nor is it shy, when full-grown, of bearing in late summer its scented ivory-white lily-cups. It is too much, however, to expect the lovely-sculptured, crimson-flushed cones, which in warmer climates than ours open about November to disclose their hanging scarlet seeds. Some of the deciduous Magnolias, too, such as the fine Chinese Yulan (_M.

conspicua_) and the bushy white-flowered j.a.panese species (_M.

stellata_), are full of interest, even while lifeless. All through the winter we may watch the gradual filling out of the hairy, conical flower-bracts, until at length, in very early spring, the impatient buds can contain themselves no longer, and all too soon, sometimes, push them off altogether that they may creep out of their prison bands.