Evening star., 1953-11-08

enlarging suburbs around Wash
ington do you stop to analyze the
reasons why one house or one
block is so much more appealing
than another?
I will venture to guess that it
Is the planting of trees and
shrubs which in some measure,
at least, has made the difference.
The incest thing about it all is
that it does not necessarily re-
quire the choicest or the most
costly plants, because a good
selection of adapted shrubs and
trees, preferably of the dwarf or
slow-growing types, will lead the
way to years of pleasure.
A recent poll of real estate
men, asking how much trees and
shrubbery added to the resale
value of property, revealed that
trees and shrubs added from rs
to so per cent, or an average of
about 1873 per cent to the resale
value. The real estate man
knows from experience that pro-
spectiye home owners will pay
more for a well-planted home
than for the same house and lot
without these trimmings.
However, the new home owner
may prefer to make his own Sc
lection of trees and shrubs, per-
hapS to avoid the block-long
monotony of development plant
ings, but more often to give his
home a well-landscaped appear
ance. This does not mean a COL
lection of unusual plants, be-
cause too often they are both
hard to get and hard to keep.
There is ample opportunity to
do good landscape planting lot
with the trees and shrubs read
lily available. The point to keep
in mind is to select those that
will do the job. If, however,
fairly large sum has been budg-
eted for paintings, there are
many choice plants available.
Use a Planting Sketch.
It is possible for the new
home owner to go to a nursery
and make his selection from the
pictures or from the little plants
growing in the nursery rows, al
though neither will indicate the
ultimate height and width which
the plants attain.
A planting sketch showing the
location and exposure should be
the basis of selection. Pointing
to the location on the sketch. ask
what kinds they have that will
fit that spot. Will they with
stand the exposure? How much
pruning will it take to keep them
within bounds? How much
moisture do they require? What
is the season of bloom (for the
shrubs). and what kind of flow
ers, foliage and berries do they
produce? Many nurserymen will
suggest several kinds of the
right habit of growth and adapt
ability for each location. 1t is
from these suggestions that the
final selection should be made.
Dwarf, or very SloW-growing
shrubs usually cost more because
1t takes longer for them to grow
to merchantable size. The easiest |
way to overcome the higher cost |
for big plants is to buy the
smaller sizes. They will grow up
on your property just as salts
factorily as they will in a
nursery. Often the smaller ones
suffer less shock in transplant
ing and may catch up with the
larger sizes in two or three years.
Too often the new home owner
wishes to achieve a fully-planted
effect at once and grossly over
plants the foundation as we'll as
the yard. This is a wasteful and
costly mistake. Good paintings
need not be crowded. In the
days of high and unsightly
foundation walls thick plant
ings had some justification.
Modern construction, especially
of the rambler type, with little
or no foundation showing, needs
only few accent shrubs and an
occasionally low spreading shrub
to carry the line.
Avoid WideSpreading Plants.
In these days of narrow lots
the use of widespreading plants
is best avoided. There are
many plants that need little
pruning to keep them within
bounds. The widespreading
Van Houtte spirea might we'll be
replaced with the upright-groW-
ing bridal wreath, or even the
more vertical grower. Bullardi.
There are a number of low
growing varieties of the Japa-
neSe ounce, although it is a
spreader sending up new
branches from the roots. The
colorful European burning bush
(EuonymuS alatuS) grows to 10
feet, but there is a dwarf form
that is fully as attractive and