HOME GARDENS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 60, 25 June 1948, Page 6

HOME GARDENS

(By J. W. Goodwin, N.D.H. (N.Z.), F.R.H.S., Massey Agricultural College.) COLOURFUL WINTER-BARK The value of these subjects has never been fully appreciated. Once seen, to full effect, their handsome bark and distinctive form will commend their use to one and all. ' These plants are used extensively in the colder parts of the northern hemisphere. They are planted in groups to give masses of soft colour against a green background or by the water-side. Here, in New Zealand, we have a much wider range of flowering and fruiting plants for winter colour and consequently “Winter-Bark” is seldom considered. . Nevertheless there are many gardens which could well be brightened by the inclusion of one or two species. * * One of the best is that delightful Maple, Acer Sanguineum Seigen. It is a Japanese Maple and has the same fresh, light-green foliage in the spring which later turns to golden autumn tints. The ultimate height is 10 feet and the pink stems and branches change to a rich, warm scarlet for the winter. With a background of light, green it is magnificent. I* have previously mentioned several species of Corhus noted for flower, fruit or autumn foliage. In addition many of them have brightly coloured or glaucus young branchlets. There is another group the American Dogwoods which, though less attractive in flower, have attractive bark. Cronus Alba, C. Baileyii and C. Stolonifera are the best and the latter has a yellow stemmed variety. They are not at all “fussy” and may be grown as single specimens or grouped in front of evergreens or. by the waterside. .Six to eight feet is the height and some of the older wood should be pruned out each year to keep the vigorous, • more colourful# growths coming up from the base. Among the Chinese “brambles” there are several noted for the whiteness of their stems in wintertime. This is caused by an external layer of waxy particles on the bark. They are most effective when grown vigorously in good soil. New shoots are produced as in raspberries and the old growth should be pruned, out in January. Rubus biflorus variety quinqueflorus and R. Giraldianus are recommended for colder districts where there is little real winter colour. A rather more silvery white is shown on the trunks of the wellknown Silver Birch, Betula Verrucosa. In larger gardens groups may be planted rather closely to give woodland effects of rugged white trunks. The best subjects I wish to mention are the Willows. The golden wilow is well known and extensively planted in some districts and the orange yellow bark shows up well from a distance. This subject is far too much of a root-robber for small gardens and is recommended for waterside planting in larger areas. Salix vitellina is the name and there are two varieties of merit, S.V. pendula, a golden stemmed weeping willow, and S.V. britzensis with orange red stems. There are other willows with blue grey or dark red stems which'are only cultivated in large collections. Pollarding The common golden willbws are more colourful if they are cut hard back either annually or bi-annually the young vigorous growths being most effective. This operation should be carried out just before growth commences in the spring ' and the operation is referred to as “pollarding.” Other subjects “pollarded” are those grown for massive foliage effects where the growth is cut hard back to the ground or a “stool” as the case may be. The operation is more • generally known on street trees, in towns where of necessity large trees must be kept prunedback from overhead lines. It may also, apply to large trees in small gardens. In the last two cases the work may be carried out any time after mid-winter as there is no need to retain the branches for winter colour. The most important point in the management of such subjects is to develop a good trunk about 7 feet to give clearance below.