Part 2 (1/2)
Trees back of the dwelling are always pleasing. Under no circ.u.mstances plant them in prim rows, or just so many feet apart. This applies to all grounds, large or small, immediately about the house. But if the place is large enough to admit of a driveway, a row of evergreens on each side of it can be made an attractive feature.
The reader will understand from what I have said that no hard-and-fast rules as to where to plant one's trees can be laid down, because of the wide difference of conditions under which the planting must be made.
Each home-owner must decide this matter for himself, but I would urge that no decision be made without first familiarizing yourself with the effect of whatever trees you select as you can see them growing on the grounds of your neighbors.
Do not make the mistake of planting so thickly that a jungle will result after a few years. In order to do itself justice, each tree must have s.p.a.ce enough about it, on all sides, to enable it to display its charms fully. This no tree can do when crowded in among others. One or two fine large trees with plenty of elbow-room about them will afford vastly more satisfaction than a dozen trees that dispute the s.p.a.ce with each other. Here again is proof of what I have said many times in this book, that quality is what pleases rather than quant.i.ty.
If any trees are planted in front of the house, choose kinds having a high head, so that there will be no obstruction of the outlook from the dwelling.
SHRUBS
Every yard ought to have its quota of shrubs. They give to it a charm which nothing else in the plant-line can supply, because they have a greater dignity than the perennial and the annual plant, on account of size, and the fact that they are good for many years, with very little care, recommends them to the home-maker who cannot give a great deal of attention to the garden and the home-grounds. It hardly seems necessary to say anything about their beauty. That is one of the things that ”goes without saying,” among those who see, each spring, the glory of the Lilacs and the Spireas, and other shrubs which find a place in ”everybody's garden.” On very small ground the larger-growing shrubs take the place of trees quite satisfactorily. Indeed, they are preferable there, because they are not likely to outgrow the limits a.s.signed them, as trees will in time, and they do not make shade enough to bring about the unsanitary conditions which are almost always found to exist in small places where trees, planted too thickly at first, have made a strong development. Shade is a pleasing feature of a place in summer, but there is such a thing as having too much of it. We frequently see places in which the dwelling is almost entirely hidden by a thicket of trees, and examination will be pretty sure to show that the house is damp, and the occupants of it unhealthy. Look at the roof and you will be quite sure to find the s.h.i.+ngles covered with green moss. The only remedy for such a condition of things is the thinning out or removal of some of the trees, and the admission of sunlight. Shrubs can never be charged with producing such a state of things, hence my preference for them on lots where there is not much room. Vines can be used upon the walls of the dwelling and about the verandas and porches in such a way as to give all the shade that is needed, and, with a few really fine specimens of shrubs scattered about the grounds, trees will not be likely to be missed much.
I would not be understood as discouraging the planting of trees on grounds where there is ample s.p.a.ce for their development. A fine tree is one of the most beautiful things in the world, but it must be given a good deal of room, and that is just what cannot be done on the small city or village lot. Another argument in favor of shrubs is--they will be in their prime a few years after planting, while a tree must have years to grow in. And a shrub generally affords considerable pleasure from the start, as it will bloom when very small. Many of them bloom the first season.
In locating shrubs do not make the mistake of putting them between the house and the street, unless for the express purpose of shutting out something unsightly either of buildings or thoroughfare. A small lawn loses its dignity when broken up by trees, shrubs, or flower-beds. Left to itself it imparts a sense of breadth and distance which will make it seem larger than it really is. Plant things all over it and this effect is destroyed. I have said this same thing in other chapters of this book, and I repeat it with a desire to so impress the fact upon the mind of the home-maker that he cannot forget it, and make the common mistake of locating his shrubbery or his flower-gardens in the front yard.
The best location for shrubs on small lots is that which I have advised for hardy plants--along the sides of the lot, or at the rear of it, far enough away from the dwelling, if s.p.a.ce will permit, to serve as a background for it. Of course no hard-and-fast rule can be laid down, because lots differ so widely in size and shape, and the houses we build on them are seldom found twice in the same place. I am simply advising in a general way, and the advice will have to be modified to suit the conditions which exist about each home.
Do not set your shrubs out after any formal fas.h.i.+on--just so far apart, and in straight rows--as so many do. Formality should be avoided whenever possible.
I think you will find the majority of them most satisfactory when grouped. That is, several of a kind--or at least of kinds that harmonize in general effect--planted so close together that, when well developed, they form one large ma.s.s of branches and foliage. I do not mean, by this, that they should be crowded. Give each one ample s.p.a.ce to develop in, but let them be near enough to touch, after a little.
If it is proposed to use different kinds in groups, one must make sure that he understand the habit of each, or results will be likely to be most unsatisfactory. The larger-growing kinds must be given the centre or the rear of the group, with smaller kinds at the sides, or in front.
The season of flowering and the peculiarities of branch and foliage should also be given due consideration. If we were to plant a Lilac with its stiff and rather formal habit among a lot of Spireas, all slender grace and delicate foliage, the effect would be far from pleasing. The two shrubs have nothing in common, except beauty, and that is so dissimilar that it cannot be made to harmonize. There must be a general harmony. This does not mean that there may not be plenty of contrast.
Contrast and harmony are not contradictory terms, as some may think.
Therefore read up in the catalogues about the shrubs you propose to make use of before you give them a permanent place in the yard.
Also, take a look ahead.
The plant you procure from the nursery will be small. So small, indeed, that if you leave eight or ten feet between it and the next one you set out, it will look so lonesome that it excites your pity, and you may be induced to plant another in the unfilled s.p.a.ce to keep it company. But in doing this you will be making a great mistake. Three or four years from now the bushes will have run together to such an extent that each plant has lost its individuality. There will be a thicket of branches which will constantly interfere with each other's well being, and prevent healthy development. If you take the look ahead which I have advised, you will antic.i.p.ate the development of the shrub, and plant for the future rather than the immediate present. Be content to let the grounds look rather naked for a time. Three or four years will remedy that defect. You can plant perennials and annuals between them, temporarily, if you want the s.p.a.ce filled. It will be understood that what has been said in this paragraph applies to _different kinds_ of shrubs set as single specimens, and not to those planted on the ”grouping” system.
In planting shrubs, the rule given for trees applies quite fully. Have the hole for them large enough to admit of spreading out their roots naturally. You can tell about this by setting the shrub down upon the ground after unwrapping it, and watching the way in which it disposes of its roots. They will spread out on all sides as they did before the plant was taken from the ground. This is what they should be allowed to do in their new quarters. Many persons dig what resembles a post-hole more than anything else, and crowd the roots of the shrub into it, without making any effort to loosen or straighten them out, dump in some lumpy soil, trample it down roughly, and call the work done. Done it is, after a fas.h.i.+on, but those who love the plants they set out--those who want fine shrubs and expect them to grow well from the beginning--never plant in that way. Spread the roots out on all sides, cover them with fine, mellow soil, settle this into compactness with a liberal application of water, then fill up the hole, and cover the surface with a mulch of some kind. Treated in this way not one shrub in a hundred will fail to grow, if it has good roots. What was said about cutting off the ends on injured roots, in the chapter on planting trees, applies with equal pertinence here. Also, about keeping the roots covered until you are ready to put the plant into the ground. A shrub is a tree on a small scale, and should receive the same kind of treatment so far as planting goes. These instructions may seem trifling, but they are really matters of great importance, as every amateur will find after a little experience. A large measure of one's success depends on how closely we follow out the little hints and suggestions along these lines in the cultivation of all kinds of plants.
Among our best large shrubs, suitable for planting at the rear of the lot, or in the back row of a group, is the Lilac. The leading varieties will grow to a height of ten or twelve feet, and can be made to take on bush form if desired, or can be trained as a small tree. If the bush form is preferred, cut off the top of the plant, when small, and allow several branches to start from its base. If you prefer a tree, keep the plant to one straight stem until it reaches the height where you want the head to form. Then cut off its top. Branches will start below. Leave only those near the top of the stem. These will develop and form the head you want. I consider the Lilac one of our very best shrubs, because of its entire hardiness, its rapid development, its early flowering habit, its beauty, its fragrance, and the little attention needed by it.
Keep the soil about it rich, and mow off the suckers that will spring up about the parent plant in great numbers each season, and it will ask no more of you. The chief objection urged against it is its tendency to sucker so freely. If let alone, it will soon become a nuisance, but with a little attention this disagreeable habit can be overcome. I keep the ground about my plants free from suckers by the use of the lawn-mower.
They can be cut as easily as gra.s.s when young and small.
[Ill.u.s.tration: s...o...b..LL]
If there is a more beautiful shrub than the white Lilac I do not know what it is. For cut-flower work it is as desirable as the Lily of the Valley, which is the only flower I can compare it with in delicate beauty, purity, and sweetness.
The Persian is very pleasing for front positions, because of its compact, spreading habit, and its slender, graceful manner of branching close to the ground. It is a very free bloomer, and a bush five or six feet high, and as many feet across, will often have hundreds of plume-like tufts of bloom, of a dark purple showing a decided violet tint.
The double varieties are lovely beyond description. At a little distance the difference between the doubles and singles will not be very noticeable, but at close range the beauty of the former will be apparent. Their extra petals give them an airy grace, a feathery lightness, which the shorter-spiked kinds do not have. By all means have a rosy-purple double variety, and a double white. No garden that lives up to its privileges will be without them. If I could have but one shrub, I think my choice would be a white Lilac.
Another shrub of tall and stately habit is the old s...o...b..ll. When well grown, few shrubs can surpa.s.s it in beauty. Its great b.a.l.l.s of bloom are composed of scores of individually small flowers, and they are borne in such profusion that the branches often bend beneath their weight. Of late years there has been widespread complaint of failure with this plant, because of the attack of aphides. These little green plant-lice locate themselves on the underside of the tender foliage, before it is fully developed, and cause it to curl in an unsightly way. The harm is done by these pests sucking the juices from the leaf. I have had no difficulty in preventing them from injuring my bushes since I began the use of the insecticide sold by the florists under the name of Nicoticide. If this is applied as directed on the can in which it is put up, two or three applications will entirely rid the plant of the insects, and they will not return after being driven away by anything as disagreeable to them as a nicotine extract. Great care must be taken to see that the application gets to the underside of the foliage where the pests will establish themselves. This is a matter of the greatest importance, for, in order to rout them, it is absolutely necessary that you get the nicotine _where they are_. Simply sprinkling it over the bush will do very little good.