i88i.] EFFECTS OF LAST WINTER'S FROST. 327 



them, yet they are all well worthy of being added to the most choice 

 collection of greenhouse plants. They are grand objects when in flower 

 for the decoration of entrance-halls, staircases, and conservatories ; the 

 intense brightness of their flowers, being bright scarlet margined with 

 yellow, enliven and light up any arrangement of plants with which 

 they may be associated. J. G., W. 



EFFECTS OF LAST WINTER'S FROST ON EVER- 

 GREEN SHRUBS. 



One of the first questions asked of one another by gardeners wlien 

 they meet this season is — Are your shrubs much injured by the severe 

 frost of last winter ] And as a rule the answer is in the affirmative. 



The winter of 1880-81 will be long remembered as one in which 

 great numbers of evergreen shrubs were destroyed by the severity of 

 the frost, leaving sad blanks, that will take years to make good, in the 

 shrubbery-borders and pleasure-grounds of many of the gardens of 

 Great Britain. 



Had the summer and autumn of 1880 not been exceedingly favourable 

 to the maturing of the wood or growth of all kinds of trees and shrubs, 

 there would have been a still greater number of deaths amongst the 

 latter to enumerate this season. As it is, however, the number of dead 

 and injured is large enough, especially amongst a few genera that 

 are usually placed in the list of choice shrubs. At this place we are 

 within the influence of the moist breeze that blows from the Irish Sea, 

 and therefore the average winter temperature is a little higher than 

 further inland; consequently, some kinds of evergreen aid other shrubs 

 that barely live out of doors thirty miles east of here, succeeded admir- 

 ably with us up to last winter. On several occasions, however, during 

 the past winter, the temperature here was down to zero, and on one 

 occasion 4° below zero, or 36° of frost, the result being that a few kinds 

 of shrubs are killed outright, several injured to such a degree that they 

 are unsightly, and will have to be cut down or removed altogether, 

 while nearly all kinds have suftered to some extent. 



The kinds injured past recovery are Laurustinus, Sweet Bay, and 

 Arbutus. Of these we had a number that were planted about ten 

 years ago, and were in a very healthy state when overtaken and van- 

 quished by the severe cold of last winter. Common Laurels, Aucuba 

 japonica, and several kinds of hybrid Rhododendrons are much injured. 

 Many plants of the former that had withstood the rigours of at least 

 forty previous winters are killed down to within a short distance of the 

 ground, and at the present time their appearance is not of an orna- 

 mental kind, and they will have to be removed. Portugal Laurels 

 have also suffered, but, on the whole, the injury to them is not so great 

 as in the case of the other plants mentioned. 



