December 11, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



765 



VALUABLE SHRUBS FOR THE AUTUMN GARDEN 



FROM THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM BULLETIN. 



Evonymus Bungeanus. which has 

 been an inhabitant of the Arboretum 

 for thirty years, deserves more gen- 

 eral cultivation than it has yet re- 

 ceived in this country, it is a small 

 tree or treelike shrub with slender 

 rather pendulous branches and nar- 

 row, pointed, pale green leaves, which 

 turn yellow or yellow and red, but 

 the great beauty of this plant is in 

 the rose-colored fruit which every 

 year is produced in great quantities 

 and remains on the branches for 

 several weeks after the leaves have 

 fallen, making this native of northern 

 China a desirable plant for the 

 autumn garden 



Evonymus lanceifolius. This shrub, 

 which is one of Wilson's introduc- 

 tions from western China, promises 

 to become a valuable garden plant in 

 this climate. On the mountains of 

 western China it grows as a large 

 bush or occasionally as a tree, and 

 is sometimes fifty feet high with a 

 tall trunk nearly a foot in diameter. 

 In the Arboretum it is perfectly hardy 

 and is now a bush from three to four 

 feet tall and broad, covered with 

 bright scarlet fruit and leaves which 

 partly turn to shades of orange and 

 red. In the size and brilliancy of the 

 fruit few of the plants of this group 

 <?qual this Chinese species. 



Evonymus yedoensis. After the 

 leaves have fallen from this Japanese 

 plant in the Evonymus Group, the 

 large rose-colored fruits which cover 

 the naked branches make it one of 

 the conspicuous plants in the Arbore- 

 tum. - 



Evonymus semipersistens. There Is 

 a large specimen of this little known 

 Chinese plant in the collection. Fruit 

 of this Evonymus has no ornamental 

 value for it is small and hidden by 

 the foliage, and its value is found in 

 the persistence of the leaves which 

 remain perfectly green and do not fall 

 until December. This is one of the 

 handsomest of the shrubs in the Ar- 

 boretum which retain their foliage, 

 without change in color until the be- 

 ginning of winter. Such plants are 

 valuable in the autumn garden to 

 contrast with plants of brilliant 

 autumn coloring. Another valuable 

 plant for this pvirpose is 



Magnolia glauca, the Sweet Bay of 

 the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions 

 from Massachusetts to Texas, with 

 bright shining leaves which are sil- 

 very white on the lower surface and 

 will not become discolored or fall un- 

 til December. Attention has often 

 been called in these Bulletins to the 

 value of this tree in New England 

 gardens. Few deciduous-leaved trees 

 have more beautiful and more per- 



sistent foliage; the cup-shaped creamv 

 white flowers continue to open during 

 at least two months of early summer 

 and fill the air with their abundant 

 fragrance, and the fruit, like that of 

 all the Magnolias, is interesting and 

 handsome when the bright red seeds 

 iKnisr from it on slender threads. 



Ligustrum vulgare. This is the 

 European Privet and another plant 

 which retains its dark green leaves 

 well into the winter. During the last 

 twenty or thirty years much attention 

 has been paid by botanists and garden- 

 ers to the Privets of Eastern Asia 

 where many species have been dis- 

 covered. None of these, however, are 

 as valuable in this climate as the 

 European species, which is perhaps 

 the handsomest here of all black- 

 fruited shrubs. The bright shining 

 fruit is borne in compact clusters 

 which are on the ends of the branches 

 and stand up well above the dar:< 

 .green lustrous leaves: they remain on 

 the plants during the early winter 

 months and after the leaves have 

 fallen. During the first half of the 

 nineteenth century this Privet was a 

 common garden plant in the northern 

 X'nited States where it was much used 

 in hedges; and it is now sparingly 

 naturalized in the northern and mid- 

 dle states. There are several forms 

 of this Privet in cultivation, includin.g 

 one yellow fruit (var. chlorocarpum) 

 which can now be seen covered with 

 fruit in the Shrub Collection. The 

 variety foliolosinn is also growing 

 here; this has rather narrower leaves 

 and larger fruits than the common 

 form and at this season of the year 

 is one of the handsomest plants in 

 the Arboretum. 



Myrica carolinensis. This is the 

 common Wax Myrtle of the northern 

 I'nited States and one of the plants 

 which holds its dark green shining 



leaves very late in the autumn with- 

 out change of color. The plants are 

 covered with their small gray fruits, 

 unlike in color those of any other 

 plant hardy in this climate. Natur- 

 ally the Wax Myrtle grows on sterile 

 sandy soil and, spreadin.g into wide 

 masses, makes attractive thousands of 

 acres of barren fields during several 

 months of the year. The Wax Myrtle 

 takes kindly to cultivation; in good 

 soil it grows rapidly and forms a tall 

 round-headed shrub, and it can be 

 used with advantage to cover soil so 

 poor that few plants can be kept alive 

 in it. From the waxy substance wh'ch 

 covers the seeds of this shrub and that 

 of the arboresient Myriva cerifera of 

 the southern coast early settlers in 

 America made wax candles which are 

 still occasionally produced n some 

 parts of Cape Cod where Mi/rira caro- 

 linrns:!i grows in immense quantities. 

 Lonjcera Maackli, var. podocarpa. 

 Of the plants in the Arboretum con- 

 spicuous for the beauty of their fruit 

 in autumn none perhaps is more 

 beautiful than this Honeysuckle which 

 was introduced by Wilson from cen- 

 tral China. It is a lar.ge. vigorous and 

 hardy shrub with wide-spreading 

 branches and open habit. The flowers 

 are larger than this of most Honey- 

 suckles and are white and in one form 

 white slightly tinged with rose color. 

 The period of the greatest beauty of 

 this plant, however, is late October, 

 when it is still covered with bright 

 green leaves and the large scarlet 

 lustrous fruits are only just ripe. The 

 type of this species, Lonicera ilaarkii, 

 is a native of eastern Siberia and Is 

 an old inhabitant of the Arboretum. 

 It is a narrow- shrub with stems more 

 erect than those of the form from 

 central China. The flowers are pure 

 white, and more beautiful than those 

 of the Chinese plant, but the fruit 



Nkw HEUBACEor.s Spik/VEAs in Mr. Desi;iit Niii.serie.s. B.mi U.vuihik, Mk. 



