American Plants for American Gardens

XII. THE SEASIDE

CHAPTER XII THE SEASIDE ALONG the North Atlantic coast with its far look to sea and with its great sweep of the sky, with its shelving rocks, undulating dunes and sandy flats, a small group of trees, shrubs and flowers grows with rugged vigor. Here pitch pines are the stalwart trees. Their stout trunks, rough bark, angular branches and short needles make it possible for them to hold their own valiantly. The early settlers found them in great forests on the high cliffs of Maine, on the shores of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island, New Jersey , in fact all along the coast as far south as Georgia. In some places pitch pines still make an evergreen background for the shore, in other places only a few scraggly trees remain. They are so noticeable, however , that this whole region is known as the pine barrens. Oaks are almost as prominent. They grow up in the pitch-pine woods and form its principal undergrowth . Where the pines have been destroyed the oaks have become the important trees. They are never the great trees of the oak woodlands on inland ridges. Most of them are of medium size with a rough-branched picturesqueness and some are only [103] American Plants for American Gardens low wind-blown scrubby bushes. There are several varieties. The black scrub oak, Quercus ilicifolia, thrives even among the bleak rocks of Maine. The post oak, Quercus stellata, braves the Massachusetts shore but grows better farther south where it mingles with the black jack oak, Quercus marilandica, and with the willow oak, Quercus phellos. Besides, there is Quercus prinoides, that grows with all these other species in Long Island, New Jersey and farther south. Other trees and shrubs grow here. There are hollies and cedars, sassaf rases and amelanchiers, hawthorns , and wild cherries. There are willows and hazelnuts, chokeberries and beach plums. There are Rhus copallina, one of the sumachs, and occasional virburnums such as Viburnum venosum. Then, too, there are bayberries and inkberries, and a great variety of blueberries, dangleberries and huckleberries. There are roses, Rosa humilis, Rosa blanda, Rosa virginiana . There are New Jersey teas and sweet ferns, Juniperus horizontalis, one of the low-lying prostrate junipers, and the little-known Pyrus arbutifolia var., atropurpurea which is a delightful small shrub with rose pink flowers. Besides there are woody ground covers like coremas and hudsonias, bearberries and sand myrtles, and a vigorous group of herbaceous plants. These are the plants that have adapted themselves to the rock-bound coast and sandy shore. They have the power to cope with barren soil and excessive dryness . They can brave the winds that sweepover them from the ocean. They are storm-tossed, gale-bent, [104] The Seaside weather-gnarled. Exposure is the source of their significant beauty. Even their foliage is proof against the drying winds. Some leaves like those of the inkberries have thick leathery surfaces, some like the bayberries have a waxy bloom, and some like the willows have a hairy covering. These protective coatings, also, give the foliage its astonishing variation of tone. There is the deep green of the pines, the glossy green of the oaks, all the gray-greens of amelanchiers and bayberries, roses and beach plums, and even the more noticeable grayness of coremas and sand myrtles. This coloring is beautifully harmonious with the rocks and the sands. It is even more effective in the autumn, when the foliage turns to bronze and purple, rose and maroon. There is something fundamental in this vegetation. It is surprising that it has ever been uprooted and that other plants have been used in its place. Its preservation retains natural settings for seaside houses. The houses themselves ought to be an integral part of the landscape. In order that this may be so, the close relationship that exists between buildings and their settings needs to be understood as the early settlers understood it when they built their houses solidly upon the windswept coast. These houses all fit the contours of the land, conform to the shelving ledges and even hide themselves in the undulations of the dunes. Their exteriors, whether they be of native stone, broad clapboards, or shingles, are harmonious in coloring, in feeling, in origin even, with their environment. [105] American Plants for American Gardens The first place to reestablish the native vegetation is in defining the boundaries of the property. Roses, together with meadow...