iSyi.] NOTES ON HARDY "AMERICAN" SHRUBS. 251 



NOTES ON HARDY "AMERICAN" OB 

 PEAT -SOIL SHRUBS. 



NO. I. 



Though the term "American plants" has long ceased to be a cor- 

 rect one in its indiscriminate application to the great family of hardy 

 ericaceous shrubs cultivated in this country, seeing that America con- 

 tributes a comparatively small proportion of its numerous members, it 

 is nevertheless still used conventionally to designate that group which 

 includes the Rhododendron, Azalea, Andromeda, Erica, with many 

 others which require to be grown in peat soil, and perhaps not alto- 

 gether inappropriately, as commemorative of the fact that from that 

 continent were first introduced into British gardens some of those 

 grand representatives which, notwithstanding the rivalry of more re- 

 cent introductions from other quarters of the globe, still maintain their 

 position, and are as extensively cultivated as ever. 



The order Ericaceae, to which these plants either belong or are 

 closely allied, is remarkable for the great extent of its geographical 

 distribution — stretching to the utmost limits of vegetation in both 

 hemispheres — and is interesting to cultivators from the great diversity 

 of the forms it assumes in the various sections into which it is divided ; 

 while the uniform beauty of flower, and, in most cases, elegance of 

 foliage, give it an importance in horticulture unsurpassed by any 

 known family of plants. 



Before proceeding to notice more particularly some of the more pro- 

 minent of the genera, we may premise that, as far as culture is con- 

 cerned, there is little to add to what we have already said in former 

 papers in reference to Rhododendrons, their requirements both as to 

 soil and general management, with some special modifications which 

 we shall advert to in the course of our notes, being very much the 

 same. 



AZALEA. 



Possessing many features in common with the Rhododendron, to 

 which they are so closely allied, that, with the single exception of our 

 native species Procumbens, the older botanists classed them in that 

 genus, — the Azaleas are, beyond all question, in the front rank among 

 hardy flowering shrubs. Though less vigorous in their habits of 

 growth, and lacking that imposing grandeur so much admired in the 

 Rhododendrons, they recommend themselves by their remarkably pro- 

 fuse blooming qualities, and by the exquisite richness and variety of 

 the colours of their flowers, embracing, as they do, all the shades of 

 crimson, rose, pink, orange, yellow, and white ; and these, in the se- 

 veral sorts blotched and striped in so many different combinations, 

 give an interest and beauty to the American garden in May and early 



