TREES AND SHRUBS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 31 May 1930, Page 12

TREES AND SHRUBS

A garden without trees and shrubs could hardly be called a garden, yet many a garden, especially when the area is small, is spoilt, by either the wrong kind or by too many. Sufficient trees and shrubs to break up the bareness of tlie ground, to screen unsightly corners, to produce a vista so as to give a distant appearance, are all purposes for which trees can be used. It is essential that varieties fitting the position should be chosen. Tall timber or forest trees are out of place in the small garden. In a small state they are ail right', but once they get large they are a nuisance, and have to be cut; which as a rule spoils their appearance. There arc plenty of dwarf and smallgrowing trees that can be used in place of the usual Pimis insignis and Cupressus miicroearpa so. often planted. Evergreens can be used, but not to the entire exclusion of deciduous trees, for, although with the latter there is the fault of shedding their leaves in autumn, there is a' decided advantage of letting in more air and light during the dull days of winter. The autumn colouring of many of the deciduous trees should give them a place in the garden. Never let a tree or shrub get so large, as to become a nuisance or a danger. Once,it becomes aggressive or is outgrowing its position, it should be cut back or cut right out, otherwise every year it Mill get worse and worse. Trees should be preserved as much as possible, but to allow two or three large pines or gums to practically possess the garden is folly. Never plant more trees or shrubs than there are room to grow properly. Like most other plants, trees and shrubs suffer from disease occasionally, and a little timely, spraying and an annual-pruning will keep them in neat order and good health.