|
The soft maples—silver, Norway, boxelder, and sycamore —present problems. All the maples cast grateful shade with their broad leaves, but these four kinds are brittle, hence hazardous. They tend to overgrow, and their resistance to ants, borers, and decay is low. Nothing is more lovely than a feature elm, standing off by itself so that its palmate or lyre shape and spread can be fully appreciated. Nothing could be more trouble, either. If there is any Dutch elm disease in the vicinity—and there probably is nowadays—you will never know from one year to the next when your tree may be attacked by it. Spraying, feeding, and pruning out the deadwood are imperative safeguards, and not cheap for any elm large enough to deserve them. If your grounds contain no rapturous old elms, perhaps you are not exactly to be envied, but over your head will hang no season of heartbreak. If your grounds contain young elms competing with sounder species, blaze them first of all when you mark your grove for thinning. Wherever evergreens stand behind birches or white-flowering species like dogwood, consider yourself blessed by Nature. The contrasting effect is one for which tree-scrapers strive. Among the evergreens that you may find in your wildwood, commonest will be the cedars, spruces, white pines, and hemlocks with maybe some firs in northern latitudes. All these are hardy varieties but should not, just by that token, be taken too much for granted. Evergreens are more easily replaced than most deciduous trees, but not in the large sizes that show the best and give grounds grandeur even in winter. So check the health of your needy old-timers as carefully as you do the rest. Their greenness when other trees are bare can be deceptive. But if large evergreens stand close to where the house is to go, have this in mind: their shade can be as gloomy in winter as it is cooling in summer. |
|||
|
