American Plants for American Gardens

III. THE JUNIPER HILLSIDE

CHAPTER III THE JUNIPER HILLSIDE THE dry sunny hillside is so rocky and exposed that only a few plants are able to adapt themselves to its rigorous conditions. Among them the red cedar, Juniperus virginiana, is the most prominent. They scatter over the hillside; they crown the knolls; they mount the slopes in groups of varying numbers; they assemble on the ridges in long, closely gathered masses. They are always striking in form. As young trees they are slender and columnar and branched to the very ground. As old specimens they are looselimbed and broadly conical with a strong brown trunk showing below wideup-curving branches. They stand out as picturesque silhouettes against the rocky hillside or show their jagged outlines against the sky. And because these junipers are so telling in form and so impressive in numbers, all the plants that grow about them are known as members of the Juniper Association. The ground juniper, Juniperus communis, is one of them. It is in marked contrast to the cedar. It is a flat and matted shrub with upturned bristly branches. It grows singly or in masses that are spaced far apart. [24] The Juniper Hillside The black haw, Viburnum prunifolium, grows in small groups close against the cedars. It has a strong angular habit and horizontal branching. The scrub oak and the choke cherry are found here and there. And roses, sweet fern, bayberry and blueberry cover the fields and drift downward into the hollows. The sumachs, too, gather in wide-flung masses in the lower and less sterile spots. Besides, bittersweet and Virginia creeper climb into trees and shrubs, tumbleover rocks and clamber over stone walls. And thecommon barberry^ Berberis vulgaris, grows there singly or in small clumps. It is really a European variety, introduced years ago, that found this situation so congenial that it becamenaturalized. It is the junipers, gray-toned in spring and deeper green later on, that make the foil for the seasonal effects of these shrubs and vines. Their evergreen sets off the black haw when the numeroussprays of white flowers make the one telling flower display of this association. And they make a background for the striking colors that the autumnbrings. The black haw foliage turns wine-red then. The Virginia creeper is flame-colored. The bittersweet berries are bright orange-yellow. The leaves of the sumachs make crimson splashes and their velvety fruits are mahogany-red spires. And the junipers themselves have turquoise-blue berries. The irregular spaces of seemingly barren ground between the juniper groups and the shrub masses are covered with lowherbaceous plants. The outcropping ledges are veritable little rock gardens. Mosses and [*5] American Plants for American Gardens lichens spread them with soft grays and greens. Tiny rare maidenhair spleenworts and other small evergreen ferns spring up in many a little nook. The gray rosettes of saxifrages fill every crevice, while the slender stems of the airy columbines rise delicately above their groundwork. These make choice little pictures. The sunny stretches, on the other hand, have different plants. First come the bulbous buttercups and Viola fimbriatula, all gold and blue in the springtime. Next come the yellow and white Linaria vulgaris, butter and eggs, surprisingly rare-looking in this setting, and the delicate maroon-touched moth mullein, as dainty as can be. These are really naturalized , but they have long ago become as necessary a detail to the scene as any of the flowers that are truly indigenous. Then, there are pennyroyal and evening primroses, mountain mints and speedwell, St. John'swort and bush clover, commonyarrow and black-eyed Susans. Later, the goldenrods are in flower; Solidago graminifolia, Solidago nemoralis and Solidago rugosa var. mllosa. They have graceful sprays and dainty flower chains. And with the goldenrods come the asters. Aster cordifolius and Aster prenanthoides have blue flowers. Aster vimineus has small white flowers,and the white slender-sprayed Aster ericoides is the daintiest of them all. This intermingled white and gold and blue is scattered lightly over the uneven fields and lasts for several weeks. And, as it fades, the silvery-white everlastings show against the browned autumn-dried flowers and the fawn-colored grasses. [26] The Juniper Hillside All of these trees and shrubs, vines, flowers and ferns are sturdy plants. They withstand drastic changes of temperature. They brave poor soil and excessive dryness. They endure windswept exposure. They win out over every adverse condition...