Shrubs
from Amateur Gardencraft
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
assigned 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 shingles 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 space 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 space 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 fashion--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 mass of branches and foliage. I do not mean, by
this, that they should be crowded. Give each one ample space 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 space 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 anticipate 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 space 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 fashion, 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 grass when young and small.
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 Snowball. When well
grown, few shrubs can surpass it in beauty. Its great balls 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.
The Spirea is one of the loveliest of all shrubs. Its flowers are
exquisite in their daintiness, and so freely produced that the bush is
literally covered with them. And the habit of the bush is grace itself,
and this without any attention whatever from you in the way of training.
In fact, attempt to train a Spirea and the chances are that you will
spoil it. Let it do its own training, and the result will be all that
you or any one else could ask for. There are several varieties, as you
will see when you consult the dealers' catalogues. Some are double, some
single, some white, some pink. Among the most desirable for general
culture I would name _Van Houteii_, a veritable fountain of pure white
blossoms in May and June, _Prunifolia_, better known as "Bridal Wreath,"
with double white flowers, _Billardi_, pink, and _Fortunei_, delicate,
bright rose-color.
The Spireas are excellent shrubs for grouping, especially when the white
and pink varieties are used together. This shrub is very hardy, and of
the easiest culture, and I can recommend it to the amateur, feeling
confident that it will never fail to please.
Quite as popular as the Spirea is the Deutzia, throughout the middle
section of the northern states. Farther north it is likely to
winter-kill badly. That is, many of its branches will be injured to such
an extent that they will have to be cut away to within a foot or two of
the ground, thus interfering with a free production of flowers. The
blossoms of this shrub are of a tasselly bell-shape, produced thickly
all along the slender branches, in June. _Candidissima_ is a double
white, very striking and desirable. _Gracilis_ is the most daintily
beautiful member of the family, all things considered. _Discolor
grandiflora_ is a variety with large double blossoms, tinted with pink
on the reverse of the petals.
The Weigelia is a lovely shrub. There are white, pink, and carmine
varieties. The flowers, which are trumpet-shaped, are borne in spikes in
which bloom and foliage are so delightfully mixed that the result is a
spray of great beauty. A strong plant will be a solid mass of color for
weeks.
An excellent, low-growing, early flowering shrub is _Pyrus Japonica_,
better known as Japan Quince. It is one of our earliest bloomers. Its
flowers are of the most intense, fiery scarlet. This is one of our best
plants for front rows in the shrubbery, and is often used as a low
hedge.
One of our loveliest little shrubs is Daphne _Cneorum_, oftener known as
the "Garland Flower." Its blossoms are borne in small clusters at the
extremity of the stalks. They are a soft pink, and very sweet. The habit
of the plant is low and spreading. While this is not as showy as many of
our shrubs, it is one that will win your friendship, because of its
modest beauty, and will keep a place in your garden indefinitely after
it has once been given a place there.
Berberis--the "Barberry" of "Grandmother's garden"--is a most
satisfactory shrub, for several reasons: It is hardy everywhere. The
white, yellow, and orange flowers of the different varieties are showy
in spring; in fall the foliage colors finely; and through the greater
part of winter the scarlet, blue and black berries are extremely
pleasing. _Thunbergii_ is a dwarf variety, with yellow flowers, followed
by vivid scarlet fruit. In autumn, the foliage changes to scarlet and
gold, and makes the bush as attractive as if covered with flowers. This
is an excellent variety for a low hedge.
Exochorda _grandiflora_, better known as "Pearl Bush," is one of the
most distinctively ornamental shrubs in cultivation. It grows to a
height of seven to ten feet, and can be pruned to almost any desirable
shape. The buds, which come early in the season, look like pearls
strung on fine green threads--hence the popular name of the plant--and
these open into flowers of the purest white. A fine shrub for the
background of a border.
Forsythia is a splendid old shrub growing to a height of eight to ten
feet. Its flowers appear before its leaves are out, and are of such a
rich, shining yellow that they light up the garden like a bonfire. The
flowers are bell-shaped, hence the popular name of the plant, "Golden
Bell."
Hydrangea _paniculata grandiflora_ is a very general favorite because of
its great hardiness, profusion of flowers, ease of cultivation, and
habit of late blooming. It is too well known to need description.
Robinia _hispida_, sometimes called Rose Acacia, is a native species of
the Locust. It has long, drooping, very lovely clusters of pea-shaped
flowers of a soft pink color. It will grow in the poorest soil and stand
more neglect than any other shrub I have knowledge of. But because it
_can_ do this is no reason why it should be asked to do it. Give it good
treatment and it will do so much better for you than it possibly can
under neglect, that it will seem like a new variety of an old plant.
The Flowering Currant is a delightful shrub, and one that anyone can
grow, and one that will flourish anywhere. It is very pleasing in habit,
without any attention in the way of training. Its branches spread
gracefully in all directions from the centre of the bush, and grow to a
length of six or seven feet. Early in the season they are covered with
bright yellow flowers of a spicy and delicious fragrance. In fall the
bush takes on a rich coloring of crimson and gold, and is really much
showier then than when in bloom, in spring.
Sambucus _aurea_--the Golden Elder--is one of the showiest shrubs in
cultivation, and its showy feature is its foliage. Let alone, it grows
to be a very large bush, but judicious pruning keeps it within bounds,
for small grounds. It makes an excellent background for such brilliantly
colored flowers as the Dahlia, Salvia _splendens_, or scarlet Geraniums.
It deserves a place in all collections. Our native Cut-Leaved Elder is
one of the most beautiful ornaments any place can have. It bears
enormous cymes of delicate, lace-like, fragrant flowers in June and
July. These are followed by purple berries, which make the bush as
attractive as when in bloom.
The Syringa, or Mock Orange, is one of our favorites. It grows to a
height of eight and ten feet and is therefore well adapted to places in
the back row, or in the rear of the garden. Its flowers, which are borne
in great profusion, are a creamy white, and very sweet-scented.
The double-flowered Plum is a most lovely shrub. It blooms early in
spring, before its leaves are out. Its flowers are very double, and of a
delicate pink, and are produced in such profusion that the entire plant
seems under a pink cloud.
Another early bloomer, somewhat similar to the Plum, is the Flowering
Almond, an old favorite. This, however, is of slender habit, and should
be given a place in the front row. Its lovely pink-and-white flowers are
borne all along the gracefully arching stalks, making them look like
wreaths of bloom that Nature had not finished by fastening them together
in chaplet form.
It is not to be understood that the list given above includes all the
desirable varieties of shrubs suited to amateur culture. It does,
however, include the cream of the list for general-purpose gardening.
There are many other kinds that are well worth a place in any garden,
but some of them are inclined to be rather too tender for use at the
north, without protection, and others require a treatment which they
will not be likely to get from the amateur gardener, therefore I would
not advise the beginner in shrub-growing to undertake their culture.
Many an amateur gardener labors under the impression that all shrubs
must be given an annual pruning. He doesn't know just how he got this
impression, but--he has it. He looks his shrubs over, and sees no actual
necessity for the use of the knife, but--pruning must be done, and he
cuts here, and there, and everywhere, without any definite aim in view,
simply because he feels that something of the kind is demanded of him.
This is where a great mistake is made. So long as a shrub is healthy and
pleasing in shape let it alone. It is not necessary that it should
present the same appearance from all points of view. That would be to
make it formal, prim--anything but graceful. Go into the fields and
forests and take lessons from Nature, the one gardener who makes no
mistakes. Her shrubs are seldom regular in outline, but they are
beautiful, all the same, and graceful, every one of them, with a grace
that is the result of informality and naturalness. Therefore never prune
a shrub unless it really needs it, and let the need be determined by
something more than mere lack of uniformity in its development. Much of
the charm of Nature's workmanship is the result of irregularity which
never does violence to the laws of symmetry and grace. Study the
wayside shrub until you discover the secret of it, and apply the
knowledge thus gained to the management of your home garden.
Shrubs can be set in fall or spring. Some persons will tell you that
spring planting is preferable, and give you good reasons for their
preference. Others will advance what seem to be equally good reasons for
preferring to plant in fall. So far as my experience goes, I see but
little difference in results.
By planting in spring, you get your shrub into the ground before it
begins to grow.
By planting in fall, you get it into the ground after it has completed
its annual growth.
You will have to be governed by circumstances, and do the best you can
under them, and you will find, I feel quite sure, that good results will
come from planting at either season.
If you plant in spring, do not defer the work until after your plants
have begun growing. Do it as soon as the frost is out of the ground.
If in fall, do it as soon as possible after the plant has fully
completed the growth of the season, and "ripened off," as we say. In
other words, is in that dormant condition which follows the completion
of its yearly work. This will be shown by the falling of its leaves.
Never starve a shrub while it is small and young, under the impression
that, because it is small, it doesn't make much difference how you use
it. It makes all the difference in the world. Much of its future
usefulness depends on the treatment it receives at this period. What you
want to do is to give it a good start. And after it gets well started,
keep it going steadily ahead. Allow no grass or weeds to grow close to
it and force it to dispute with them for its share of nutriment in the
soil about its roots.
It is a good plan to spread a bushel or more of coarse litter about each
shrub in fall. Not because it needs protection in the sense that a
tender plant needs it, but because a mulch keeps the frost from working
harm at its roots, and saves to the plant that amount of vital force
which it would be obliged to expend upon itself if it were left to take
care of itself. For it is true that even our hardiest plants suffer a
good deal in the fight with cold, though they may not seem to be much
injured by it. Mulch some of them, and leave some of them without a
mulch, and notice the difference between the two when spring comes. If
you do this, I feel sure you will give _all_ of them the mulch-treatment
every season thereafter.
Next: Vines
Previous: Planting The Lawn
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