Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 108, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1917 — Mask Unsightly Sheds and Mied.s and Fences With Vines and Shrugs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mask Unsightly Sheds and Mied.s and Fences With Vines and Shrugs

by L.C. Corbett

»LIMBING plants meet a demand in the adornment of a place which can be filled neither by ( trees nor shrubs. Trees and shrubs can be used To hide unsightly objects from a distance, but vines serve the same purpose as the draperies of a garment; they

mask by covering unsightly objects. Vines have a peculiar value In decorative planting in that as a class they are shade enduring; yet many of the best decorative plants of the group thrive to perfection in full sunlight. Since many vines will thrive in partial shade as well as in full sunlight, they lend themselves well to porch and arbor decoration. A few have the power to attach themselves to bare walls, - thus making them extremely useful in covering rough brick, stone, or wooden wails, giving them an effect of age, beauty, and appropriateness which cannot be produced by artists and architectural materials. Two of the best vines for covering walls are the Boston ivy and the English ivy. Vines which attach themselves ta wire or wood supports and are chiefly valuable because of their covering and shading effects are the clematis, with all its varied forms, the wisteria, the trumpet flower, and the Actinidla and Akebia, both valuable cover plants. For sandy regions either as a soil binder or as an arbor or trellis cover none of the vines is more useful than the Japanese honeysuckle. There are many other good honeysuckles grown for decorative purposes, but none is more rapid-growing or freer from inMect pests and fungous diseases than the Japanese honeysuckle. In this catalogue of tvaluable vines two more of our native vines justly merit high places—the five-fingered ivy and the bittersweet. Annual vines may also serve a useful purpose about a new place. The perennial rvoody vines are stow growing, and usually make but little shade <or protection during- the first two or three years after planting. With annual plants, however, the case is quite different. Many annual climbing vines have a profusion of leaves, grown rapidly and luxuriantly, and afford a simple, inexpensive, yet satisfactory means of securing an immediate screen. For best- results with these plants special attention to early planting, often indoors. Is essential. When planting-out time arrives, place them in a rich, well-drained soil, and at all times maintain an, abundant supply of moisture. Under such conditions use the moonflower, the morning-glory, rhe cypress vine, the hyacinth, bean, nasturtiums for low screens and lattices, and the wild cucumber for taller structures. Rustic summer houses and arbors may be very beautifully and satisfactorily adorned with

coboea. or with wild cucumber, during the time which must elapse before the jiermanent vines can be grown sufficiently to cover the structure. The comparative value of shrubs and perennial grasses and herbaceous annual bedding plants is at once apparent. Residents of the country or of suburban places have difficulty in securing suitable herbaceous plants in sufficient quantities to produce rich effects, and even if such plants can he obtained in profusion they cannot take the place of shrubs and grasses either ia cover plants or as screens or wind’ breaks. A complete arrangement requires a harmonious use of both shrubs and annual herbaceous plants. For quick results, however, where shrubs of large size cannot be secured or are too expensive, a temporary effect can be produced by the use of tall-growing, broad-leaved plants, such as the castor bean, the canna, and the

caladium. The castor bean grows rapidly, is easily propagated from seed, and comes true to variety, affording in one plant a wide range In color of foliage and in stature. This plant frequently grows six to eight feet in height from seed, even as far north as New York, in a single season. Its broad-spreading habit, together with its attractive foliage, which in wellnourished plants is retained well down to the* ground, renders the castor bean a very satisfactory makeshift or substitute for shrubbery where screens and masking masses are needed. The trouble with all such makeshifts is that they produce an effect which lasts for a few months only, while with shrubs the benefit is lasting and they serve quite as useful a purpbse in the way of shelter belts and screens inwinter as during the summer. For the sake of variety, the caladium and canna can be used to good advantage in connectbm- with the castor ”bean. The tall habit of the canna and the broad leaves of the caladium render them well fitted for massing. Such plants as the castor bean, the canna, and the caladium can be used to good purpose in shrub borders and masking groups before the shrubs are sufficiently grown to produce the effect desired. Even after the shrubs have grown sufficiently to accomplish the end sought an occasional, mass of castor beans, asters, eulalias, or arundo interspersed at intervals will lend variety and life to the groups. There are several varieties of shrubs that can be planted on the farmyard lawn which will greatly enhance the beauty of the place. One of the most graceful of these is the weeping mulberry. which will produce a perfect mountain of foliage. Its long branches fall -to—the ground on all sides, completely hiding-the trunk shrub. The golden syringa and golden elder are so attractive, and both grow very rapidly. Feathery hemlocks are also desirable shrubs to have in the yard. Every farmer should have some shrubbery. After it has once been installed in the yard it will prove its worth and command as much attention as any other branch of outdoor gardening. In addition to a well-executed general planting plan the successful development of a place depends on the preparation and fertilization of the soil, the pruning and planting of trees and shrubs, and the making and maintenance of a greensward. The nature of the plantations upon a city lot or suburban place is such that the main part of the cultivation must necessarily be done before the plantations are made. The soil should be thoroughly pulverized, brought to a

general grade, .and the surface smoothed and raked with a steel-tooth rake. If a lawn is to be made, the grass seed should be sown immediately after the raking, and then the surface thoroughly compacted by the use of a heavy lawn roller. Fertilizers for the lawn should be free .from weed seed and be of a lasting nature. If the soli is heavy it can be improved by plowing in a crop of cowpeas or Canada field peas. If this cannot be done, the next best plan is to use thoroughly composted or sterilized stable manure. If the soil is naturally light its store of plant food can be augmented with hone meal. This should not be plowed under, but harrowed in at the time of preparing the soil. The critical period in the life of a plant is when it Is transplanted from the nursery to its permanent location. In moving trees from the nursery a portion qf the root area is lost, and

the top should be reduced in proportion to the loss of root area, in order that the newly transplanted and unestaifilshed plant may be able to secure sufficient moisture and food to supply the demands of the top. The roots should be pruned, no, as to protect them against decay, by cutting away all broken and mutilated parts, leaving the cut surfaces smooth and In sueii position that they will come in contact with the fresh earth. After the plant becomes established certain branches will grow more rapidly than others, and the appearance of the plant will be spoiled by this unequal growth. Pruning should, therefore, be resorted to in order to preserve a symmetrical development of the plant without rendering it artificial or formal in appearance. Care should also be exercised during the early development of a plant to maintain a uniform distribution of branches around—the central axis, if It be a tree, so as to insure a symmetrical and pleasing form at maturity. At planting time the excavation prepared for the reception of the tree should be of sufficient depth to allow it to be set as deep as it stood in the nursery and large enough to accommodate the* roots without bending them, while the earth in the bottom of the hole should be loosened at least one spade length below the general floor of the hole. In replacing the soil over the roots of the plant, a thin layer of earth should be placed immediately in contact with the roots and thoroughly pressed down by trampling in order to bring the particles of soil in close contact with the feeding roots of the plant. The hole should then be filled and the surface left slightly above the general surface of the surrounding ground. —,—— —The bays of curved walks and drives should be filled with groups of shrubs, so that if there be no natural object tor the road to make a curve around, the plantation will serve as a substitute for one, and in so doing produce one of the highest effects which can be secured in landscape gardening. By a judicious use of plants in the bays of walks and drives new and unexpected features in the form of vistas, lawn pieces, or specimen plants can be brought before the observer, thus producing pleasant surprises and holding his interest. The plantations show varieties as well as serve the purpose of marking the walk.

Vine-Screened Outbuildings.