24 2 Ornamental Sbrubs. 



colors late in the spring. There are many beautiful hybrids 

 and varieties, with more or less blotched or spotted flowers, 

 ranging from white to crimson and purple. These are gen- 

 erally planted in prepared beds to form close masses of 

 foliage. A compost of peat and leaf-mold, liberally mixed 

 with the garden soil, that is dug in on the spot, is the sim- 

 plest and best. All require considerable moisture, and the 

 beds should be soaked occasionally in dry weather. 



Azalea, Swamp Honeysuckle. — Our native azaleas are 

 the most gorgeous of all indigenous plants, and deserve 

 universal culture. They should be used liberally in landscape 

 gardening to form large masses of color among deciduous 

 trees in spring. All are deciduous. A. nudiflora is the most 

 common in swamps and moist woods. The beautiful rosy- 

 pink flowers develop before the leaves. It is a shrub of a 

 slender, graceful habit, four or five feet high. A. viscosa 

 flowers later in summer after the leaves have fully devel- 

 oped. The flowers are almost white, clammy. A. cdk ndu- 

 lacea is a native of rocky woods, growing in rich leaf soil 

 among deciduous trees and mountain laurel. Flowers very 

 showy, flame-colored or yellow. Under cultivation all 

 three thrive in ordinary rich woodland soil. 



There is a very attractive evergreen species, A. amema 

 which is quite hardy in New York. It forms compact 

 masses a couple of feet high, and is usually completely 

 covered with red flowers early in spring. Azalea mollis 

 is a Japanese species of compact habit, elliptic, softly 

 pubescent leaves, and with large masses of flame-colored 

 flowers in spring. A. Pontica is another desirable kind 

 with orange-yellow flowers. A number of varieties and 



