252 



GARDENERS- CHRONICLE 



Notes From an Old Country Garden 



ARTHUR T. JOHNSON, F. R. H. S. 



DL'KIXti the last few years we, in this country, 

 have been paying closer attention than we used 

 to do to those berry-bearing shrubs whicii give 

 such a fine Autumnal and Winter display of brilliant 

 colors, and among them few have become so popular 

 as the barberries. The genus Berberis is, however, 

 such an enormous one and cultivated kinds are so 

 numerous — to say nothing of the confusion that still 

 exists over their nomenclature — that one can not do 

 more here than mention a few of the most note- 

 •worthy. 



A first favorite with us is B. Wilsona;, which was 

 brought from \V. China in 1904 by E. H. Wilson. It 

 is an exceedingly elegant little shrub of some three 

 feet in height, and its pretty yellow flowers are fol- 

 lowed in the Fall by an abundant crop of large fruits 

 of a clear, almost translucent, coral-red, tinted with 

 salmon. The foliage at the same time assumes gay 

 tints so that the little bush becomes a most striking 

 feature of the Autumnal garden or woodland. With 

 berries of much the same color is B. Pratti, a con- 

 siderably taller shrub, and another excellent one of 

 the same class is B. corvii. 



Our native barberry, B. vulgaris, which, I believe, is 

 naturalized in parts of North America, is a species of 

 no little merit as an early berrying shrub, and the 

 clusters of brilliant scarlet fruits, which are seldom 

 eaten by birds owing to their acidity, will often remain 

 on the branches from September to March. The 

 variety purpurea, with plum-colored leaves, is a de- 

 cided acquisition to the species. Another early bar- 

 berry, and one that is as much appreciated in some 

 of the Eastern States as it is here for its hardiness and 

 brilliant tints and berries at this season, is B. thun- 

 l)ergi. This is one of the old and well-tried members 

 of the genus, and another excellent species is B. aris- 

 tata which grows a good deal taller and whose grape- 

 like bunches of berries are a dull red covered with a 

 bluish-white bloom. 



Like the barberries, most of the cotoneasters hail 

 from China or the Himalayas and the majority of 

 them are perfectly hardy here. From the lowliest 

 creeping species to those which attain the stature of 

 a tree, this genus affords several species which are 

 surprisingly beautifid when adorned with their crop of 

 Autumnal fruit. One of the handsomest is still, I 

 think, the old C. horizontalis, especially when it is 

 allowed to grow naturally in bush form rather than 

 attached to a wall ; and its variety perpusilla, whose 

 fishbone branches are held on an horizontal plane in- 

 stead of tilted, is equally good. One of these splendid 

 shrubs, laden with its burden of large round berries, 

 which glow with rich shades of orange to dee])est 

 crimson, is a most arresting sight and one that is ren- 

 dered still more gorgeous by the bronze and wine- 

 colored hues of the foliage which precede the leaf-fall. 



Another first-rate cotoneaster is C. buUata (mou- 

 pinensis) which produces ample bunches of crimson 

 fruits as large as small cherries. Nor can one over- 

 look the merits of C. houpehensis which, unlike the 

 rest of its tribe, can make some claim for beauty as a 

 flowering as well as a berrying shrub. C. pannosa is a 

 species of marked distinction, the only member of the 

 genus, which is something like it being C. Francheti. 

 TJut the former, a bush of some eight to ten feet in 

 height, is much the more graceful, its long, whijipy 



liranclu's clothed with their silky, evergreen leaves 

 being surpassingly elegant. The crimson berries of 

 C. pannosa do not ripen here until November, but they 

 remain long on the branches and, though individually 

 small, they are borne in such bountiful clusters that a 

 well-laden specimen is a most gorgeous spectacle. 

 Other good and well-tried species are the familiar C. 

 simondsii, C. applanata (dielsiana) and the tall, tree- 

 like C. frigida with large bunches of fruits like those 

 of our mountain ash (Pyrus aucuparia). Of the creep- 

 ing cotoneasters which are most reliable in fruiting 

 freely with us, and which are of such inestimable value 

 in the rock-garden, are C. adpressa, a deciduous spe- 

 cies, and the evergreens C. congesta, microphylla and 

 the entirely prostrate C. humifusa (Dammeri var. 

 radicans). 



There are not many gardens of any size over here 

 where some representatives of the Sumachs (Rhus) 

 are not grown for the beauty of their foliage in the 

 Fall. The commonest is perhaps the Venetian Su- 

 mach ( Rhus cotinus) of which there is an attractive 

 variety which is purple in leaf, young wood and flower. 

 But a choicer plant, to my mind, than R. cotinus is R. 

 copallina, well-known to all tree-lovers of its native 

 home, the Eastern United States. Here this pretty 

 shrub does not grow more than about four feet high, 

 but its leaves color well before they fall and the 

 bright-red fruits of the female tree are highly decor- 

 ative. Another most desirable dwarf American Sumach 

 which we value very highly, both for the elegance of 

 its Summer foliage and the fine tints which it assinues 

 at this season, is the variety laciniata of R. glabra. 

 The long, broad, "feathered" leaves of this sumach 

 produced on well-grown specimens cut hard back in 

 Spring are remarkably handsome. 



Very charming beneath the tall oaks of our wood- 

 land garden and about the lawns and rock-garden are 

 the colchicums, or Autumn crocuses, of which C. 

 speciosum is still one of the best. But grown in bulk 

 with a carpeting of natural herbage the old C. au- 

 tiuunale in various shades of rosy-lilac is very effec- 

 tive. Of lioth of these there is a pure white form 

 which is very lovely. Contemporary with these are 

 those hardy cyclamens, such as C. neapolitanum, the 

 Ivy-leaved Cyclamen, and C. Furopteum which will 

 usuallv be in flower from September, or earlier, to the 

 end of October. The former blooms before the leaves 

 and its dainty, rose-pink blossoms, rising in little col- 

 onies among the ferns and grass of our woodland 

 floor, are perhaps the most fascinating of all autumnal 

 flowers. Then when they have died down and are 

 bus\- converting their seed stems into those curious 

 s])iral springs which so cimningly ensure the dissem- 

 ination of the seed, the foliage appears. And this 

 leafage, so attractive in design and so beautifully 

 mottled ;in<] margined with a silvery sheen, will be 

 one of the most delightful objects of the garden 

 throughout the wintry months. 



One of llie gayest masses of color in the borders 

 just now. if we except the asters, is that of some 

 large groups of Sedum spectabile. This noble old 

 stunecroi) is not ])erhaps what one would call a good 

 ccilor — not even in the forms with flowers of a richer 

 tint than the type. I'.ut its foaming heads of blossom, 

 \vhicli are just the color of a raspberry-ice, are wcl- 

 {CoiitiiiKrd nil />(!.i,v 254) 



