May H), 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



1 P.i 



SHRUBS THAT FLOWER EARLY. 



In its current bulletin the Arnold 

 Arboretum says: 



Prinsepia sinensis is again covered 

 with clusters of bright yellow flowers 

 which spring from the axils of the half- 

 grown leaves. This Prinsepia is a tall 

 broad shrub with long spreading and 

 arching branches, and stems armed 

 with many spines. It is perfectly 

 hardy and the handsomest shrub Man- 

 churia has contributed to western gar- 

 dens. There are only two specimens 

 in the Arboretum and these came here 

 from Petrograd in 1903 and 1906, and 

 it has been found difficult to propagate 

 them by cuttings. Fortunately last 

 year one of the plants produced for the 

 first time a few seeds and these have 

 germinated, so there is reason to hope 

 if the Arboretum plants become more 

 fruitful that this species will be a com- 

 mon ornament in northern gardens. It 

 has much to recommend it as a hedge 

 plant. The species from northern 

 China, P. uniflora, is a spiny shrub 

 with small white flowers, and although 

 it has little beauty its value for form- 

 ing impenetrable hedges may prove 

 considerable. 



Prunus dasycarpa, which is some- 

 times called the Black Apricot from 

 -the dark color of its slightly downy 

 fruit, is the first of May one of the 

 handsome flowering trees in the Arbo- 

 tum. It grows here both as a great 

 round-headed shrub with several stems 

 or as a tree with a single trunk, and 

 every year is completely covered with 

 its flowers composed of pure white 

 petals and a bright red calyx. This 

 tree, although it has been known in 

 European gardens for at least a cen- 

 tury, is apparently extremely rare in 

 the United States. Its origin is doubt- 

 ful; it has been considered a native 

 of Siberia, but it is now generally 

 acknowledged that it is a hybrid be- 

 tween a plum and an apricot. Although 

 this tree has been growing in the Ar- 

 boretum for twenty years, there is no 

 record that it has produced fruit here 

 on more than two occasions. 



Two plants useful for covering the 

 margins of drives and the borders of 

 shrubberies, Rhus canadensis (aroma- 

 tica) and the Yellow Root (Xanthorr- 

 hiza apii folia) are covered with flow- 

 ers. Those of the former are small, 

 pale yellow, arranged in compact 

 heads, and appear before or with the 

 unfolding of the leaves composed of 

 three leaflets; those of the Yellow Root 

 are purple in long drooping, terminal 

 racemes. The flowers of these two 

 eastern American plants are attractive, 

 but their great horticultural value is 

 in their habit of growth. The height 

 of the Rhus is from two to four feet, 



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with spreading branches, the lowest 

 flat on the ground, and with an irregu- 

 lar top. In the autumn the leaves turn 

 bright scarlet. For road borders and 

 to plant when it is desirable to make 

 a connection between larger shrubs 

 and the ground no other plant which 

 has been tried here has proved so suc- 

 cessful. The Yellow Root is a dwarf 

 shrub which soon spreads over a wide 

 border and forms with its erect stems 

 and divided leaves an excellent ground 

 cover. Unfortunately it has failed to 

 grow well in those parts of the coun- 

 try where the soil is strongly impreg- 

 nated with lime. 



Shad Bushes, as Amelanchiers are 

 often called because they are supposed 

 to flower when shad begin to ascend 

 the rivers from the sea, add much to 

 the beauty in early May of the Arnold 

 Arboretum where they have been 

 planted in considerable numbers. Ame- 

 lanchier is almost entirely confined to 

 North America where many species 

 are found from Saskatchewan to Louis- 

 iana and from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, one extra American species oc- 

 curring in central Europe and another 

 in central China. All Amelanchiers 

 produce abundant pure white flowers 

 in short drooping racemes, and blue- 

 black sweet and edible berry-like 

 fruits. The American species vary 

 from shrubs hardly more than a foot 

 or two high up to trees exceptionally 

 sixty or seventy feet tall. The first 

 species to flower, A. canadensis, is the 

 larger of the two trees, and although 

 it grows in western New York to a 

 large size it is more common in the 



south where it is often the only 

 species. The more common northern 

 tree, A. laevis, is a native of the Ar- 

 boretum and is readily distinguished 

 in early spring by the purple color of 

 its young leaves. A. oblongifolia, which 

 is a large arborescent shrub, is also a 

 native of the Arboretum. It is this 

 species which is gray in early spring 

 from the thick felt of pale hairs on the 

 young leaves and flower-clusters, and 

 which has been largely planted by the 

 Arboretum drives and is in bloom this 

 week. 



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