of Rural Art and Taste. 



57 



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A "White Weigela. — The use of orna- 

 mental flowering shrubs in our home door- 

 yards is one of the easiest and cheapest 

 means of decoration. Among the largest 

 and best of these shrubs is the Weigela, 

 usually growing six feet high and bearing 

 blossoms of a light yellow color. Many 

 florists have wished for a variety with white 

 flowers ; yet it has never been prominently 

 brought before the public notice, except in 

 nurserymen's catalogues. We observe the 

 Germantown lelegraph, in a recent notice 

 of new shrubs, commends the above specially 

 to the notice of American lovers of flower- 

 gardening. 



" It is only once in a while that new 

 ornamontal shrubs are introduced that take 

 a strong hold of the popular heart and come 

 into cultivation everywhere. In our time 

 there have been but half a dozen which 

 seem to be so very desirable that we sec 

 them everywhere. Most of the best things 

 have been long in culture — long before our 

 day. The double-flowered plum-leaved spi- 

 rgea is one of these standard plants of the 

 last half century. It has double white but- 

 ton-like flowers, which open before the leaves 

 in spring. Another good thing of this 

 rather modern period is the bridal wreath, 

 or Reeves's spiraea, which, with its gray- 

 green leaves and full clusters of white flow- 

 ers, is one of those things no one feels like 

 seeing his garden do without. Then we 

 believe came the golden bell, or Forsythia, 

 which makes quite a gay appearance with 

 its yellow blossoms before the leaves come 

 in spring, and is again gay in fall, when its 

 leaves put on a brilliant plum-purple tint. 

 The Weigela rosea was another favorite, its 

 rosy thimble-like flowers in May and June 

 making no garden seem complete without 

 it. Soon after this we had another weigela, 

 which also has become rather common, 

 known as the Weigela amahilis which, 

 though not so pretty in habit as the W. 

 rosea, has the advantage over that of flow- 



ering twice a year. This fall, at the exhi- 

 bition of the Germantown Horticultural 

 Society, one of our florists had in his col- 

 lection of cut flowers a pure white one of 

 this latter variety, very unlike so many 

 " white " things, which are often a dirty 

 yellow or pale green — a real snow white — 

 which he told us was in the habit of flower- 

 ing twice a year, as the Weigela amahilis 

 does. It is represented to be just as hardy 

 and in every respect just as good as either 

 weigelas; and, if this really proves so, we 

 may look for another addition to the very 

 few plants which of all annualy introduced 

 may become permanently popular." 



The "Weeping Larch.— We are glad to 

 see the use of this encouraged for orna- 

 mental grounds by so good an authority as 

 The Garden. It is considered by that jour- 

 nal one of the most elegant of all our hardy 

 deciduous trees. A mammoth specimen tree 

 is described by a contributor as now living 

 in the Kew gardens, which densely covers a 

 walk ten feet wide for a circuit of 130 

 feet, its side branches spreading full fifteen 

 feet on each side, down to the ground. It 

 is of so recumbent a form of growth that a 

 very powerful support to the branches is 

 necessary, to allow of sufficient height for 

 walking underneath. 



Some few years since a double row of 

 polished oak posts, eight feet high, was 

 erected under it, on each side of the walk, 

 with iron posts just under the stem and main 

 branches, and cross at intervals to support 

 the lateral branches, which have covered 

 the whole structure so efi"ectually that the 

 sun's rays cannot penetrate it. The branches 

 grow perfectly flat on the trellis, requiring 

 no training, and there is not one on the whole 

 tree rising to a greater height than fifteen 

 feet. 



Label your Trees and Plants.— Label 

 all your ornamental trees, plants and vari- 

 eties of fruit. Do it noic^ and do it durably. 

 It will save endless confusion and trouble 

 of reference to a chart. The best as well 



