NOVEMBER 



IRISH GARDENING. 



17] 



the reverse condition prevails, then an ordinary 

 shoot bud only is likely to be produced. 



It will thus be seen that the weather con- 

 ditions have a great deal to do with the 

 character of bud development- whether there 

 will be a relatively large or a relatively small 

 number of fruit buds produced during the 

 summer. If the conditions are such that shoot 

 growth is fairly vigorous throughout the season 

 and continued late into the autumn, then com- 

 paratively little food can be spared for storage 

 purposes, and not only will fewer flower buds 

 be produced but the wood will not get so 

 thoroughly ripened, and hence the bursting 

 fruit buds of next spring will have a much- 

 diminished food supply to draw upon during the 

 exhausting period of reproductive development. 



It must ever be remembered by fruit growers 

 that the vast multitude of blossoms that cover 

 a fruit tree in spring were produced the previous 

 summer, and lay dormant within their tightly- 

 closed buds throughout the winter. That after 

 the summer is over no art of the gardener can 

 possibly induce a single extra blossom to appear 

 next year on his tree over and above those 

 already formed upon it. 



In a normal year then the leaf falls when it 

 has finished its work — when it has nourished 

 and sustained its bud and laid up in the stem 

 close by a store of provision for the awakening 

 in spring. The work under such conditions is 

 completed early, and the leaf gradually passes 

 into inactivity, loses its greenness and falls. 

 But if, on the other hand, the general growth of 

 the tree has in its insistent and continuous 

 demands robbed the bud of its rightful inheri- 

 tance of stored food, the tendency is for the 

 leaf, if the weather conditions at all permit, to 

 carry on the growth later in an effort to com- 

 plete its task before the frost comes to call a 

 stoppage of work for the year. Hence it will 

 be seen that a late leaf-fall is a bad sign for the 

 next year's crop of fruit. 



e^ «^ e^ 



Growing Pot Roses. 



For pot culture, roses on their own roots should only 

 be used. Select a clean, healthy plant, with two or 

 three gfood shoots and abundance of fibrous roots, cover 

 the drainage hole in pot with an oyster shell (in prefer- 

 ence) and place on top of this a layer of bits of charcoal 

 and broken-up boxes. This will make for good drain- 

 age. Over this should be put a few lumps of half-rotten 

 turf from a good pasture field. The rest of soil may he 

 composed of heathery loam and well decomposed 

 manure. The potting should be done firmly, but not 

 so as to destroy texture of soil. 



The Shrubbery in Autumn 

 and Winter. 



By G. O. Sherrard. 



THE very beautiful autumn tints of the trees this 

 season suggest to one the use of coloured 

 foliage to beautify the garden after the summer 

 and early autumn flowers are over. Many shrubs, 

 both dwarf and of large size, assume brilliant colours 

 before losing their leaves and greatly brighten the 

 garden at a time when flowers are becoming few. 

 First among shrubs with brightly-tinted foliage come 

 the maples, which are well known ; the Japanese 

 varieties are especially useful. Many species of 

 berberis, and some species of spiraea, vitis, pyrus and 

 Crataegus give us good autumn colours, and a list of 

 some of the best of these will be found at the end of 

 the article. 



Several shrubs are of value to us in the autumn on 

 account of their showy berries, and some combine 

 beauty of berry and leaf, as in Euonymus europa^us 

 and its varieties. Amongst the best-berried shrubs are 

 thecotoneasters (C. horizontalis, depressa, microphylla, 

 Simonsii are some of the best), the thorns, especially 

 the Fire Thorn (Crataegus pyracantha) and the Ameri- 

 can thorns, Rosa rugosa, Skimmia japonica, the well- 

 known snowberry and Aucuba japonica. 



When the leaves and berries are gone we are left 

 with the stems, but let us not despair. Some stems are 

 brightly coloured and produce a fine eff'ect when 

 growing in a mass. In the county of Cavan one sees 

 growing alongside the road or on the tops of banks a 

 willow with vivid orange scarlet stems which glow in 

 winter like a fire. This, if planted in clumps and cut 

 hard back each year, gives a bright effect, and dogwood 

 (cornus), with its ruby red stems, should be treated 

 in the same way; there is now a yellow stemmed dog- 

 wood which is well worth growing. The green stems 

 of Leycesteria and of the brooms are not to be despised 

 in winter and contrast well with stems of other colours. 



Evergreen shrubs should be mixed with deciduous 

 varieties or used as a background when the latter have 

 ornamental stems. Pittosporum Mayii and P. Tobira 

 are too often overlooked when evergreens are planted, 

 and Garrya elliptica is valuable on account of its 

 graceful catkins as well as its evergreen foliage. 

 .\mongst shrubs which flower in winter we have Jas- 

 minum nudiflorum, Chimonanthus fragrans, Hamamelis 

 japonica, and Rhododendrons parviflorum and prjecox 

 early in February. 



Shrubs with brightly-coloured autumn foliage :— 

 .4cer palmatum varieties, Acer tataricum Ginnala. 

 Berberis aristata, B. Thunbergii, B. virescens, B. 

 WilsonEe, Crataegus carienii, C. rivularis, Kcielreuteria 

 paniculaia, Euonymus alatus, Pyrus arbutifolia and 

 its variety Brilliant, P. melanocarpa, Rhus copallina, 

 R. Cotinus, R. sinica, R. typhina. Spiraea Margaritae. 

 S. tomentosa, S ulmifolia, S. Fortunei, Vitis Cognetia.*. 

 V. Thunbergii, V. armata, Rosa rubrifolia. 



Willows with ornamental stems:— Salix grandiflora 

 moschata (black), Salix daphnoides (grey), Salix alba 

 britzensis (scarlet), Salix fragilis Bashfordiana (red), 

 Salix alba vitellina (yellow). 



