366 

 TEEES AND SHEUBS THAT FLO WEE IN SPEINQ. 



BY GEORGE GORDON. 



fO those who grow and love flowers for tlieir own sakes, 

 rather than for the sake of being in the fashion, or of 

 outstripping their neighbours, I venture to say that at 

 no other season is the garden so thoroughly enjoyable 

 and beautiful as it is in the spring, just as the young 

 buds are bursting into leaf, and many early-flowering plants are 

 bec^inning to display their charms. It's not my intention to enter 

 into the subject of spring gardening, in the ordinary acceptance of 

 the term, for that has been already dealt with in a far abler manner 

 than I could ever hope to with my feeble pen, but I wish to say a 

 few words about a few of the best early-flowering trees and shrubs 

 that would, with a little management in tlieir planting and dispo- 

 sition, add much to the beauty of the gardens and shrubberies in 

 the earlier parts of the year, t should think that there are but few- 

 readers of the Floral World who do not take some interest in 

 spring-flowering plants, after the" many excellent and entertaining 

 papers which our worthy Editor has favoured us with upon this 

 interesting subject. I have, therefore, no necessity to enter into the 

 advantages of having a good display of spring flowers, but I cannot 

 ■well refrain from saying that those who have not a good selection of 

 spring-flowering plants, trees, and shrubs in their gardens, miss one 

 of tlie greatest charms of that delightful season. 



This is a capital time for makiug selections, and planting all 

 kinds of deciduous trees and shrubs, and many evergreens may now 

 be planted with every chance of doing well, if got in at once. I 

 will first give a few general remarks upon planting and preparing 

 the soil, and then I will enumerate a few kinds that 1 know to be 

 good. I shall simply confine my observations to planting young 

 specimens, for the subject of transplanting in its entirety is too 

 vast to be mixed up with advantage with the subject I have in hand 

 at this moment. 1 have had much practice in planting trees and 

 shrubs in my time, and I have found that the newly-planted trees 

 have succeeded just in proportion to the care bestowed upon taking 

 them up and replanting. I firmly believe that thousands of trees 

 are killed annually, through a want of knowledge on the part of the 

 planters, and I am bound to say that I know of nothing naore ridi- 

 culous than writing to nurserymen, blaming them for trees that have 

 been killed through improper planting. I admit that in a few 

 instances these things are sent with the roots chopped about too 

 much, through a want of care in taking them up, but not frequently. 

 "When I meet with any, I have but one way to deal with them, and 

 that is, to send them back at once. I have very few failures 

 and little to complain about. Unless the subjects to be planted 

 are very large, I care little about their having balls of soil, so long 

 as the roots are preserved intact. This can be easily done by opening 

 out the trench at a reasonable distance from the stem, and then 

 working the soil from amongst the roots with a garden fork. 



