The art of beautifying suburban home grounds of small extent; the advantages of suburban homes over city or country homes the comfort and economy of ... of building sites and the best modes of - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 edition. Excerpt: ... foliage until the latter are from twelve to twenty years old, when the weeping firs will be large enough to fill it beautifully without support. The border on the left should be made up of evergreen shrubs or trees, as varied in foliage as possible, and of those sorts which do not exceed six or seven feet in height and breadth. The isolated small trees or shrubs which stand out from this border are designed to be of deciduous sorts, the most charming for their forms, foliage, or flowers; the largest of which should not, within ten years, exceed ten feet in breadth. These, and the dwarf shrubs which flank them, can be selected from the lists to be found in the Appendix. As some of those which are in time the most interesting are of exceedingly slow growth, bedding plants and annuals which will preserve the same form for the groups by their proportioned sizes may be substituted. But there is no question of the superior beauty, in the end, of the place which is largely composed of trees and shrubs that make it charming in winter and early spring as well as in summer. The quick and brilliant effects that may be produced with bedding-plants can, however, be combined somewhat with more permanent plantings, if the planter will be watchful not to let his vigorous but ephemeral summer-plants smother the slower growing dwarfs. The latter will not long survive being thus deprived of sun and air in summer, and then left bare in the bleak winter, while their summer companions which lorded over them have been carefully removed to the cellar or the green-house. A pine tree is shown on the left near the house. This is exceptionally large. It is intended for a white pine, which grows rapidly in breadth as well as height, and might soon cover half the width of...