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HORTICULTURE: 



May 19, 190G 



Flowering Trees and Shrubs. 



(Read before the Morris Co. Gardeners' and Florists' Society by A. Herrington.) 



"The floral story of the year as we 

 read it in successive chapters contribut- 

 ed by the flowering trees and shrubs is 

 une of rich and fascinating beauty. 

 Age cannot wither nor custom stale 

 this infinite variety of beautiful life 

 which contributes so much to the joy 

 of living especially just at this time 

 when vegetation awakes from its long 

 winter sleep and bursts into glowing 

 masses of brilliant bloom. 



"Almost every country has its char- 

 acteristic features of vegetation but 

 the floral feature that most impresses 

 me in American gardens is the lavish 

 profuseness with which our flowering 

 trees and shrubs enwreath themselves 

 in blossom every year. You must have 

 remarked and noticed it and appreciat- 

 ed the enhanced beauty of many things 

 that we have known all our lives, but 

 only in later years under American 

 associations. 



"Let me cite but one instance, that of 

 the glowing yellow Forsythia sus- 

 pensa. It has been a familiar shrub 

 to me since boyhood days and there 

 comes back to me recollections of be- 

 numbed fingers training and tying the 

 shoots to garden walls on cold winter 

 days and then the subsequent flower- 

 ing but what was the result and what 

 the display in comparison with that of 

 the same shrub grown here without 

 special care. As I write these notes I 

 look out of the window and two miles 

 away I can easily distinguish a mass 

 of forsythia flower upon a hillside, and 

 what is there to compare with it, and 

 at so early a date when even green 

 leaves exist only in tender budding 

 embryos. For equal effect in color 1 

 can only recall one thing, a mass of 

 yellow broom, or of furze, as they 

 grow on dry slopes in England, but 

 these are not hardy there. What the 

 forsythia so fittingly exemplifies is 

 further and frequently expressed by 

 other shrubs that succeed it in times 

 of blooming. 



"The importance of these things 

 should not be lost to us because they are 

 common, cheap, easily-grown, hardy 

 shrubs. This precious heritage of 

 bloom with which we are so richly en- 

 dowed should be an incentive to effort 

 to give its fullest expression in every 

 possible way for I am assured given 

 area and scope we may with hardy 

 flowering trees and shrubs alone make 

 gardens and parks of surprising beauty 

 equalled by few and excelled by none 

 in any country. 



"Why should we spend time and 

 money in endeavoring to reproduce at 

 the best, weak imitations of so-called 

 Italian gardens, under conditions and 

 environments to which they are not 

 fitted? These ancient and over-praised 

 formal gardens belong to a past age 

 and generation, where art supplanted 

 nature, because the rich store-house of 

 nature was unknown to the men of 

 those times. Travel and research have 

 brought to us from all parts of the 

 globe, and latter day hybridization has 

 further amplified a wealth of material 

 that does not harmonize with garden 

 formalism, but does permit the creation 

 of a succession of pictures changing 

 with the days and weeks for a long 

 continued period. Let the garden un- 



fold the story of the year and be a 

 living floral calendar so that if per- 

 chance we could be unmindful of or 

 forget the actual period we may read 

 it in the floral pictures as they appear. 

 "We will now pass in brief review 

 the hosts of flowering trees and shrubs 

 that our gardens should possess, at 

 least in such part as they are adapted 

 therefor. 



"One of the earliest harbingers of 

 spring among the shrubs is the little 

 Lonicera fragrantissima. its flowers 

 individually small and insignificant, so 

 much so that generally the first inti- 

 mation we have of its flowering is 

 when we catch a whiff of its fragrant 

 breath upon the air. It makes a large 

 bush and early flowering and delicate 

 fragrance are its particular attributes. 

 The forsythias come next, and no 

 words of praise can ever exaggerate 

 the beauty of those. Individually or 

 in a mass in any soil, aspect and situa- 

 tion they give us beauty of the highest 

 type. The oldest and best known 

 species is Fortunei and although the 

 catalogues make mention of F. inter- 

 media and F. suspensa, the difference 

 in these is but slight. Forsythia viri- 

 dissima however, has more marked 

 distinction in habit of growth, size of 

 leaf, color of bark and also is about a 

 week later in time of flowering. 

 Simultaneously with the foregoing, 

 magnolias burst suddenly into bloom, 

 and what an array of beauty they can 

 give us. The entire family in scope and 

 importance justifies an essay on it 

 alone. First comes the graceful 

 M. stellata, also known as Hal- 

 leaua. and how free it always 

 blooms from an infant bush, 

 three feet or less in height upwards, 

 bearing myriads of fragile snow 

 white flowers often sadly buffeted by 

 cold spring storms yet we could ill 

 dispense with its short lived display. 

 Another magnolia that resembles it 

 in some degree, but is rather shy 

 blooming, yet withal one to have in 

 any collection is M. Kobus or Thur- 

 beri. Next comes M. conspicua throw- 

 ing its great white cups open to the 

 spring sun, and a few days after it the 

 gem of the whole family M. Soulan- 

 geana. This is of hybrid origin, the 

 conspicua one of its parents and 

 obovata the other; it shows char- 

 acteristics of both plants, flowers 

 abundantly when young and in a 

 shrubby state, and still more abund- 

 antly when it ultimately reaches the 

 dimensions of a good sized tree. To 

 him who is so unfortunate that he can 

 only have one magnolia this is the 

 one he should plant. M. speciosa is 

 another hybrid with some strong 

 resemblance to the preceding kind, 

 differing chiefly in its free branched 

 symmetry of growth, having flower.-; 

 not quite so large, and it flowers a few 

 days later whilst stray flowers pro- 

 long its blooming till foliage is well 

 developed. M. Lennei is a striking 

 beauty and unlike all the others its 

 great cup shaped flowers a rich claret- 

 color externally the flowers heavy and 

 lasting and their period of duration 

 and production considerably prolonged. 

 "Then in the later weeks come other 

 great magnolias that attain to tree 



form, but time does not permit of 

 enlarging upon these. The "Snowy 

 Mespilus," Amelanchier Botryapium, 

 is another gem of early spring days 

 that enwreaths itself in garlands of 

 fleecy white bloom. The season ad- 

 vances and the Judas Tree next com- 

 mands attention by the strong tone of 

 color it adds to the ever changing 

 scene. Cercis canadensis we call it by 

 name but how shall we fittingly ex- 

 press in words its exceeding beauty 

 and lavish profusion, twigs thick 

 branches, aye, and often the main 

 trunk itself covered with clusters of 

 purple bloom. Cercis japonica, a 

 Japanese relative is also distinct and 

 showy, having larger flowers, but in 

 our latitude in winter kills at times, 

 therefore is rarely seen to advan- 

 tage. 



"Next in the procession come the 

 spiraeas, and first of this great family, 

 of which there are at least two dozen 

 species, is the double flowered plum- 

 leaved Spiraea prunifolia. It ranks as 

 one of our very best flowering shrubs 

 so profuse and lasting is its bloom. S. 

 Thunbergi blooms at the same time, 

 has tiny flowers but in such myriads 

 that a mass of it viewed from a dis- 

 tance suggests a snowbank that has not 

 yet disappeared in spite of the spring 

 sun. S. Reevesi in single and double 

 is a good species, whilst a little later 

 in its own time of blooming. S. Van 

 Houttei is easily the most graceful and 

 most attractive flowering shrub of its 

 time. Others follow in succession on 

 through the months of June and July. 



"Another great family that by close 

 relationship, suggests itself for bold 

 in associated planting contains the al- 

 mond, peach, plum, cherry, apple and 

 the Japanese quince. Think of the 

 possibilities of these alone for making 

 a garden picture of incomparable 

 beauty. Space prohibits enlarging 

 upon at least a hundred varieties in- 

 cluded in this great group. Unfortu- 

 nately in latter days we are to be 

 denied much of their beauty unless 

 by persistent spraying we shall 

 eventually get the upper hand to the 

 extent of entirely exterminating the 

 devastating San Jose scale. Bear 

 this fact in mind in your planting, all 

 these ornamental types of that great 

 natural order that gives us our orch- 

 ard fruits are just as susceptible to 

 attack and quick extermination by 

 the aforementioned pest. 



"Fortunately most of the other 

 families of blooming shrubs are im- 

 mune, otherwise the outlook for tree 

 and shrub life in parks and gardens 

 would be a dreary one. As May de- 

 clines and June arrives, new hosts 

 come trooping on the scene. Think 

 of the dogwood and try to express the 

 joy and admiration it excites in you. 

 Then there is lilac time, always a 

 well remembered period of the year, 

 even in the old days when we had 

 only the few natural species. Now, 

 thanks to the hybridizers' skill, we 

 have varieties galore of a quality un- 

 dreamed of not so many years ago, 

 in single and double flowers larger 

 individually, gigantic in the cluster 

 and the range of color a phenomenal 

 one from white through tender pinks 



