The fall of the year, with its cooler weather and more frequent rains, provides perfect conditions for planting trees and shrubs.
With the quick pace of spring and the heat of summer now past, we can look forward with renewed zest to our gardening activities, with emphasis on planting.
The choice of trees and shrubs offered to homeowners grows larger each year. As a result, what to plant is a problem that often comes up.
Plants To Grow
Needle and broad-leaved evergreens always play an important part, particularly near the house, where they form a year-round picture. Still, deciduous kinds are also needed for their charming effects.
Among both kinds that can be chosen for their outstanding qualities are these that can be planted in gardens this fall.
Canadian Hemlock
The Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a tree of many uses. As it withstands hard clipping, it is excellent for large-scale evergreen hedges.
Like the Carolina hemlock (T. caroliniana), which it resembles, it is easy to transplant. Both withstand shade, though full sunlight is best and require well-drained soil on the acid side.
Two Attractive Pines
Two attractive pines for either specimen or screen and background planting are the Austrian pine (Pinus nigra), whose needles are stiff, dark green, 4” to 6” inches long, and the red pine (P. resinosa), with lighter, more flexible needles.
Give both a spot in full sunshine where the soil is well-drained.
Umbrella Pine
Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) gives a rich, velvety green accent to a planting. Adapted to specimen use, this evergreen is extremely slow-growing, reaching only 25’ feet in 50 years.
Wintergreen Pyramidal Arborvitae
Stiff, formal accents or excellent hedges may be had with arborvitae. As wide varieties turn brownish in the winter, select the Wintergreen Pyramidal Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis nigra), which remains a rich, deep green all year.
Sweetgum
Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is a good specimen tree with a striking scarlet fall color. If given plenty of room, it will grow with unusual symmetry.
Remarkably free of diseases and pests, it can be moved more successfully when small.
Katsura Tree
Deserving of wider planting is the Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), a large, round-headed tree if grown with several main trunks but very narrow and upright when grown as one.
Valuable as a disease-free tree, it is noted for its attractive foliage, which turns yellow to scarlet in the fall.
Sourwood Tree
Sour-wood (Oxydendrum arboreum) has year-round appeal with its pyramidal grace and lustrous, laurel-shaped leaves, which turn brilliant scarlet in the fall.
Its creamy white pendulous clusters of flowers appear in July when few other trees are in bloom.
Plant in acid soil in full sunshine or partial shade. For the best effect, plant as a backdrop in the flower border.
Moraine Locust
Of recent development is the Moraine locust (Gleditsia triacanthos inermis Moraine). Especially characteristic is its wide-spreading head, resembling that of the American elm. Comparatively free of pests, it may also be used as a street tree.
Crabapples
Among the small trees, the crabapples (Mains species) are adaptable to many uses—specimen, garden, shrub border accents, or shade.
Effective in fruit and flower, crab apples are a worthwhile addition to any property. They are easy to grow and require little care.
Watereri Laburnum
Watereri laburnum (Laburnum watereri), often called the golden-chain tree, is a small, graceful tree that becomes covered in April or May with pendulous clusters of yellow flowers.
Use it as a garden, shrub accent, or tall note in the foundation planting.
Laburnum thrives in any good soil and is an excellent small tree for city gardens. Spring planting is better in the northern limits of its range.
Japanese Tree Lilac
The Japanese tree lilac (Syringa amurensis japonica) fills a gap in the flowering period of trees by blooming after all other lilacs have finished blooming.
It has large, showy, creamy white flower heads, almost six inches high. Very hardy and easy to grow, this lilac may be grown either with a single trunk or as a many-stemmed shrub-like tree.
Sargent Cherry
Sargent cherry (Prunus sargenti) is one of the largest yet one of the best ornamental cherries.
It has single, deep pink flowers in the spring, followed by bronze leaves, which become deep green and later vivid red in the fall. Use it as a specimen or as a small shade tree.
Japanese Holly
Japanese holly (Hex crenata) and its hybrids are broad-leaved evergreens for foundation plantings, shrub borders, or small hedge use.
Plant in late summer or early fall before frost, in acid soil, keep well watered and protect from windburn.
Outstanding is its variety, I. c. convexa, broad and spreading in habit.
Drooping Leucothoe
Drooping leucothoe (Leucothoe catesbaei) is adaptable evergreen for foundation plantings or groups of acid-loving plants. However, seldom does it make an attractive specimen.
Plants grow about three feet high and have arching branches covered with creamy white flowers in June.
Foliage turns a rich bronze in fall. Plants can be kept compact by cutting out some of the older canes yearly.
Two Pieris
Two pieris are very useful broad-leaved evergreens. One is the Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica), upright growing, with lustrous green leaves.
Clusters of pendulous, creamy white flowers appear in the early spring.
The mountain pieris (Pieris floribunda), a spreading type, produces attractive upright clusters of white flowers.
Carolina Rhododendron
The Carolina rhododendron (Rhododendron carolinianum ) is an excellent rhododendron to use where the catawba or maximum is too large.
Flowers range from white to rose, and plants are compact and rounded, ideal as specimens or in groups with other evergreens and shrubs. Provide acid soil.
Mountain Laurel Is Tops
Mountain laurel (Kanzia latifolia) is an evergreen shrub with many uses. Not only can it be naturalized in wooded areas, but under cultivation, it can make a handsome shrub for the foundation planting, shrub border, or garden.
It also likes acid soil and a year-round mulch of oak leaves or pine needles.
Pinkshell Azalea
Pink shell azalea (Rhododendron vaseyi) is a native species that is attractive in the spring, with its delicate pink flowers, and in the fall, when its foliage becomes red.
Bed-vein Enkianthus
Bed-vein enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus) is a trim, upright-growing, deciduous shrub with bell-shaped, creamy flowers in the spring.
It combines well with evergreens because of its foliage texture. Noteworthy is its brilliant autumn coloring, from yellow to scarlet.
Lalandei Scarlet Firethorn
Laland scarlet firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea lalandei) can be used as a wall or fence shrub, in foundation plantings, or as an espalier on walls.
Its profuse red berries provide vivid winter color. Pot-grown plants are the easiest to move successfully, especially when transplanted in the fall.
44659 by Mary Bunting