The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Small Home Landscaping

Pests

All fruits are subject to attacks of insects and diseases but no more so than roses and other ornamentals. Those susceptible are varieties and plants growing in unsuitable soil and surroundings. Varieties subject to pests in one locality may be free in another. Planting top-quality, vigorous plants, in a well-drained and well-prepared soil with frequent feeding and care, will do much to carry plants through severe infestations.

Early and frequent sprayings or dustings, cleaning up and burning old leaves and fruits in fall, keeps many diseases in check. Fruit trees are often attacked by rabbits and mice in winter. These gnaw the bark at the base causing serious injury, even death to the tree. They can be kept away with a collar made of close-meshed wire, some two feet high, placed around the base of the young tree.

Young trees are also benefited by placing a covering of leaves or hay on the ground over the roots.

THESE sheared specimens of various evergreens crowding against the house shut off light in winter, when most needed, and air in summer. But they also spoil the appearance of a house which has good lines and balance. Add to this the terrific maintenance; these plants are sheared at least twice a season. Even this cannot fully restrain them. Despite shearing, a little is added each year. Nor can these, like deciduous plants, be cut back.

The lines of the house could be emphasized by two broad, conical but loose plants each side of the low steps; Brown's yew or a similar variety, pieris, dwarf yew, mountain laurel or spreading juniper would be appropriate along the house base under the windows. The house proper, exclusive of each porch, could then be framed with two medium or low flowering trees, two-stemmed dogwoods or gray birch. In addition to framing the house, the trees would add a graceful transition to the extensions from the house proper and would afford some shade without obstructing the views or interfering with air currents.