IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VI. 



No. 6 1 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



MARCH 



Flowering Shrubs 



By F. W. Moore, M.A., 

 Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. 



{Continued from page 19.) 



FLOWERING June deserves its 

 title as far as flowering- shrubs 

 are concerned ; it is pre-emi- 

 lently their month, and the wealth 



/jBp^ IS really embarrassing-. Counting- at 

 tiM^^ the utmost six species or varieties to 

 even the larg-est g-enera, such as 

 berberis, cytisus, pyrus, veronica, 

 deutzia, cistus, philadelphus, well 

 over 200 distinct and well marked 

 species and varieties of hardy flower- 

 ing- shrubs can be had in flower in 

 June. If even the ordinary distinct 

 species and types of rose and rhodo- 

 dendron are counted the number 

 could, of course, be larg-ely increased. 

 hVom May we have survivals in 

 berberis, cytisus, genista, pyrus, rho- 

 dodendron, spiraea, mag-nolia, and 

 many others. Of characteristic June 

 types we have, among-st others, the 

 following^ g-enera strong-ly repre- 

 sented : — Azalea, ceanothus, cistus, 

 laburnum, deutzia, spiraea, veronica, diervilla 

 (better known as w^eig-ela), escallonia. kalmia,vac- 

 ciniiun, philadelphus, rubus, and rhododendron, 

 it must at once be apparent that all these 

 cannot be dealt with in detail, and a few 

 of the most distinct only will be specially men- 

 tioned. Deciduous azaleas cannot be omitted. 

 In localities where they succeed they are about 

 the most valuable oi' all flowering- shrubs. 

 During- early June the plants are wreathed in 

 masses of flower, distinct and brilliant, yellow, 

 white, red, orang-e, bronze, pink, and almost 

 to mauve ; in September and early October the 

 foliage is almost as effective in its colouring-, 



and is valuable for autumn effect. The bushes 

 are neat, compact, and slow-g-rowing-, and live 

 to a great age. As species we have A. calen- 

 dulacea from North America, A. ledifoliurn from 

 China, A. pontica from the Caucasus, A. nudi- 

 florum from North America, A. sinensis or A. 

 mollis from Japan and China. These, inter- 

 crossed, have given rise to the beautiful garden 

 series of plants we have to-day. Like rnost of 

 their family, they dislike lime. 



Deutzias were not so well known in gardens 

 as they deserved to be until Lemoine of Nancy 

 commenced cross-fertilizing them, and gave us 

 the beautiful dwarf free-flowering race we now 

 have— a race which is quite hardy, and which 

 certainly has come to stay. We are all familiar 

 with D. gracilis, a favourite pot plant, but also 

 good out of doors ; we also know the stronger- 

 growing D. crenata, perhaps more generally 

 known as D. scabra, a fairly strong-growing 

 Japanese species, of which there is a nice double 

 variety. About 1888 D. parviflora and D. 

 discolor were introduced from China. Lemoine 

 crossed these with gracilis, and gave us such 

 sterling novelties as D. kalmiceflora, D.Lemoinei, 

 &c. With the genus philadelphus he has done the 

 same thing. The older species, P. grandiflorus, 

 still one of our finest shrubs, P. Gordonianus, 

 and P. hirsutus from North .America, P. Sat- 

 zumi from Japan, and P. coronarius from South 

 Europe and Asia, were w ell known and esteemed. 

 Then came, about 1885, P. microphyllus from 

 Colorado, dwarf free flowering, sweet, which, 

 in the hands oi' Lemoine, crossed with our older 

 species, gave us P. Lemoinei, Boule d'argent. 

 (lerbe de Neige, a\a!anche, <!<:c., the value of 

 which cannot be over-estimated. 



