DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 



HAVE often considered the want of a 

 reliable list of the best, most florifer- 

 ious, useful and hardy deciduous shrubs 

 ^ a great drawback to the general plant- 

 er of such stock ; hence my reason for com- 

 piling this' list, trusting it may serve a good 

 purpose. It will certainly save busy people 

 from. turning up hundreds of varieties in the 

 different catalogues and journals, when if 

 not familiar with the varieties, they are very 

 apt to be led astray by the glowing descrip- 

 tions given, and those unfamiliar with shrubs 

 are apt to be confused since with their great 

 number, so many of them being so alike in ap- 

 pearance. Another mistake too often made in 

 catalogues is their silence as to the hardi- 

 ness of plants, and the silence of our journals 

 in not condemning such, so saving the un- 

 wary from spending their money in useless 

 steck. Farmers are generally ridiculed for 

 not planting trees, shrubs and hardy plants 

 about their houses ; they are not all bred 

 gardeners, why then not tell them the varie- 

 ties to plant ? Why not give good prizes 

 at our large exhibitions for collections of 

 snch stock, and have them named ? I think 

 that a prize offered by the government for 

 the best named collection of trees, shrubs 

 and herbaceous flowering plants would be of 

 untold value to the country by educating the 

 farmer and the mechanic as to what to plant. 

 I hope the following list will be found to fill 

 the bill, and as to the names there is nothing 

 here mentioned that will not do well in 

 Welland or Lincoln counties. 



1. Berberis Thunbergii — From Japan 

 about 3 feet high, one of the best dwarf shrubs 

 in cultivation ; flowers yellow, in drooping 

 racemes followed by red berries in the fall 

 and continuing well through the winter ; no 

 collection should be without the Japanese 

 berberry. 



2. Berberis var. purpurea — A purple leav- 



ed variety of our native Bei-beris vulgaris; will 

 grow to 8 feet high and is a beautiful object 

 as a specimen plant on the lawn or as a 

 hedge plant : a hedge of this plant looks 

 well throughout the summer, and well into 

 the winter after the leaves fall, with its quan- 

 tities of berries, particularlyif planted on poor 

 sandy soil. The fruit is much prized by the 

 partridges, and is equal if not better than 

 cranberries to eat with turkey at Christnjas, 

 if canned before getting frozen. My. exper- 

 ience is that the purple variety does not 

 fruit as freely as the native variety B. vul- 

 garis. 



3. Caryopteris mastacanthus, or Verbena 

 Shrub — About 3 feet high, blooms from. 

 September until cut down by frost ; this 

 shrub is a grand acquisition ; it js one of 

 the prettiest flowering shrubs that 1 know 

 of, the flowers resemble heliotrope, it blooms 

 in the axils of the leaves and all along the 

 stem ; the leaves are very pretty light green. 



Fig. 205S. Deutzia, Pride of Rochester. 



