A CONTINUOUS SUCCESSION OF BLOOM IN THE SHRUBBERY
HOW TO SECURE IT
The planting of shrubbery about the home is so important that it may
well take precedence of the flower garden proper or even the grading
of the lawn itself. Indeed, if one owns the site of a home and the
building is yet in the future, no better expenditure of one's spare
time and dollars can be inaugurated than such initial planting as shall
insure the presence of blooming shrubs about the home at the time of
its completion so that all may be beautiful and perfect together,
rather than that two or three years must elapse before one can begin to
enjoy the results.
Hardy shrubs vary very greatly in the precociousness of their bloom,
certain forms giving quite noticeable results the second season, while
others need two or three years' growth even to indicate what their
ultimate beauty will be.
The location, too, will have much to do with results. For a low
planting about the foundation of the house, in front of porches
or to top low terraces many plants may be employed which would be
unsatisfactory in places at a distance where a general effect is
desired more than an intimate relation. For masking a building, hiding
an undesirable view and the like, tall-growing shrubs and flowering
trees are usually preferred and these being of more or less slow growth
require time to develop.
In all shrubbery planting it will be found that a number of plants of
one sort is far more effective than one or two plants each of many
distinct kinds. The mistake is often made of planting only shrubs
which bloom together, producing a medley of more or less inharmonious
colors and form for a few weeks in spring leaving the shrubbery bare
and uninteresting for the remainder of the year. This is a mistake I
have often made in my own garden, but one which I usually rectify by
planting in other shrubs which will come forward when the first have
ceased to bloom.
For a number of years a very beautiful hedge of Hydrangea paniculata
grandiflora has separated the lawn from the flower garden; only
one objection could be urged against it—its flowerless condition
throughout most of the summer. To overcome this objection, scarlet
salvias were alternated between the plants and an edging of scarlet and
white phlox made a mass of color from mid-June until well into October.
This, of course, was not legitimate shrubbery planting, so recourse was
made to alternating Hydrangea arborescens with the paniculata. These
coming into bloom late in June gave a very satisfactory arrangement,
but this year Deutzia-Pride of Rochester, which also blooms in June,
was introduced and I am anticipating much pleasure from the addition.
A hedge of Spiræa Van Hutti extending from the house to the road is
very beautiful in early May, but inconspicuous and uninteresting the
remainder of the summer. If it had been in a situation demanding a
heavier planting I should have alternated the plants, setting them
behind the spiræas, with forsythias—whose golden yellow blooms make
bright the garden in earliest spring—and between the forsythias
introduced the deutzias.
There are few more satisfactory and graceful plants for use in front
of a porch than this Spiræa Van Hutti; its gracefully curved branches,
though growing to a good length, curve away gracefully from the
building, bending with their weight of snowy bloom almost to the ground
and the growth is very strong and rapid, but never coarse. It is the
very best early blooming shrub to date.
Very lovely effects may be secured by alternating the spiræa with the
Weigela Eve Rathke, and keeping this down to a somewhat prostrate
habit; this will give a perfect sheet of bloom from early May until
the last of June and a less-pronounced show of flowers throughout the
remainder of summer from the weigela.
There is a strong tendency when purchasing shrubbery to select a little
of everything—one plant of each, perhaps. I do this myself—not
without excuse perhaps on my part, for we people who write for
the benefit of others have to get our knowledge by, often costly,
experience, and not by the mere reading of nursery catalogues. It is
sometimes a most excellent thing to gratify this inclination providing
one has a piece of land which can be devoted to experimental purposes
and where one can shift things about until one has gained just the
right combination and exposure for each plant. A strip of ground twelve
or fifteen feet wide and as long as available will give room for a very
successful planting of small trees and shrubs and hardy perennials may
be introduced to fill in until the shrubs have reached an effective
size. Ulmarias, hardy phlox, oriental poppies, rudbeckias and the like
will be found very useful and tall clumps of lilies should always be
interspersed in all permanent plantings.
It will often be found that some shrub which one has admired at close
range is entirely ineffective in the shrubbery border; take, for
instance, the Tartarian honeysuckle—a pretty enough thing close at
hand but ineffectual and insignificant at any distance.
For a long shrubbery border of twelve or fifteen feet wide no better
selection of shrubs can be made than these seven perfectly reliable
and hardy shrubs—Forsythia, April; Spiræa Van Hutti, May; Deutzia
Pride of Rochester, June; Hydrangea arborescens, July, August;
Hydrangea paniculata, September; Althea, October and November. These
are—with perhaps the exception of the althea, which is sometimes
uncertain—absolutely hardy and reliable plants which increase in size
and beauty from year to year and insure a constant succession of bloom
throughout the summer and fall so that by their use the shrubbery
border need never be without flowers.
In planting a border of these mixed shrubs attention to arrangement
will have much to do with success. Of course it will occur to the
most inexperienced that the taller shrubs should be in the rear, but
it is not necessary or desirable that they should be planted in a
rigid, unbroken line. Better that the line be somewhat waved, dipping
forward occasionally a step or two. Then it will, of course, occur that
the lowest forms will be in front, but this line, too, maybe broken
occasionally with advantage, allowing the second row to step forward
enough to prevent too much formality of outline.
Where immediate effect is desired, and this is invariably the case,
either large specimen shrubs should be used or, if the smaller sorts
seem more available, then these should be set as close again as would
be done in the planting of large specimens and after they have made two
or three years' growth and have begun to crowd, every other plant may
be lifted and used to start a new shrubbery elsewhere.
This was what was done with my hydrangea hedge, started as a border
between the front lawn and a pear orchard. The plants were first
set three feet apart in a single row. When they had filled up the
intervening space they were lifted and used for a hedge in the rear
of the lawn, this time being set six feet apart, a distance which they
soon closed, and for weeks in the fall were a wonderful mass of bloom.
A hedge of Spiræa Van Hutti replaced the hydrangeas in the front and
these will probably remain undisturbed for a number of years as, owing
to the proximity of a magnificent maple tree, they do not make the
strong growth they do in more favorable situations.
Although I have suggested the forsythia, spiræa, deutzia, hydrangeas
and althea, etc., as the seven very best shrubs for general planting
there are very many more worthy of adoption. Among these the various
weigelas, especially the red varieties, the syringas and the lilacs
should not be overlooked. Of the latter, far too little is known, most
people being content with a bush or two of the old-fashioned purple and
white of their grandmothers' garden, and perhaps, as a truth, these old
sorts appeal to our hearts more strongly than the newer, more showy
varieties and it is in no spirit of disparagement that I urge the
adoption of some of the newer sorts—not to displace, but to supplement
and extend the lilac season over a period unknown to the old-time
garden.
Syringa vulgaris, alba and purpurea are usually through blooming by
the twentieth of May, or thereabouts, but Emodi, with its rosy-white
flowers, is ushered in with the early days of June and Josikaea shows
its first purple blooms late in the same month about the time that the
creamy-white panticles of Japonica appear. The new double-flowered,
named sorts come into bloom about the time of the common sorts and are
well worth the extra cost they involve. Mme. Cassimire Perier and Pres.
Grevy are two of the finest sorts and should be in every collection.
In buying lilacs it will pay well to purchase those on their own roots.
Most of the named lilacs are grafted on common stock and the suckers
are annoying and worthless and if allowed to grow will seriously
interfere with the blooming of the graft. Such shoots as come from true
roots can be detached and used to increase the supply of plants and
are, therefore, most valuable additions.
One of the most beautiful small trees for planting where a light and
feathery effect is sought or against a background of evergreens is
found in the tamarix. I know of nothing so airy and graceful as these
at all times and especially when in bloom. The flowers, which are very
tiny, quite cover the branches at the time of blooming in May, in
mid-summer and in fall according to their season and there is a marked
difference in the foliage which in certain species shows a decided
blue tinge which is very beautiful. Unfortunately they are not always
entirely hardy at the north and require a somewhat protected position.
They are very useful at the seashore, being one of the few things which
can stand the salt air. As they make a rapid growth one can afford to
experiment with them until just the right environment is found for they
are well worth trying for and planted in groups of the different sorts
will give a succession of bloom all summer. They are very useful for
cut-flower work, making exquisite bouquets when placed in dull green
majolica or similar holders.
Very careful preparation of the ground for shrubbery is essential as
once planted they usually remain undisturbed for years; for this reason
the earth should be dug very deep, underdrained, if necessary, and
thoroughly fertilized.
After planting the ground should be kept cultivated by hoeing or by
the use of the scuffle-hoe—anything which will maintain a dust-mulch,
prevent the earth drying out and caking and retain the moisture. The
success of the planting depends upon this one feature more than upon
any other one thing. A plant insufficiently supplied with moisture
during the growing season is quite certain to succumb to the rigors of
the succeeding winter—not, indeed, on account of the cold itself, but
the condition in which it entered the winter.
The best season for the planting of all hardy shrubs is early spring,
before growth starts, the next best, late fall after the foliage has
dropped. Altheas and white birch trees, however, do better with spring
planting.