CHAPTER  XXV
 

            Shrubs for  Dry Positions and Poor Soils.



A frequent problem in gardens is the furnishing of arid slopes and poor

soils with an ornamental shrubby growth.  Such places are, of course, ill-

adapted to the cultivation  of the majority of those trees and shrubs on

which  the  ornamentation  of  our gardens  chiefly  depends.  There is,

nevertheless, a considerable number of shrubs which not only thrive in

these dry places, but even succeed better there than in ordinary soils  and

positions.   Many of them are  of great beauty in flower, and  it is always

more economical  and often much  more satisfactory to rely on them than

it is to attempt the cultivation  of more exacting plants, by supplying good

soil and giving extra attention in watering, mulching, etc.

   In  preparing  pieces  of ground of  this  character, it is  essential to

remember that although the plants mentioned below withstand and even

enjoy heat and drought  when  fully established, they  need some help and

consideration  until  the roots have taken hold of the ground.   The  soil,

therefore, should be deeply dug over, and freed from weeds both before and

after planting.  It is also a help to mulch the ground the first summer.

The greatest success is obtained by planting small  specimens.  Most of

those mentioned  below transplant badly and should, if possible, be grown

in pots until they are 6 to 12 ins. high.   Some, like the brooms and gorse,

might be sown on the spot.

   No better shrub for a dry slope can be found than the double-flowered

form of gorse.   It gives a dense, evergreen effect in winter, and its habit in

such a spot is  dwarf and close.   It  is much to be preferred to the common

gorse, which in a  few years becomes gaunt in habit,  and whose flowers do

not  last in  beauty  anything like  so  long.   Ulex  nanus  may  also be

planted and, in the south and west, U.  Gallii,  both  useful in flowering

late  in  the season.  Dotted  about among  the gorse  may  be planted

Spartium junceum,  valuable in  flowering from midsummer onwards  for

many weeks.   Its base, which is  always naked, will be hidden  by the

gorse.

   Several  species of Cistus are excellent for these places, the hardiest

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