DECIDUOUS FLOWERING SHRUBS 



THE deciduous shrubs remarkable for the beauty of 

 their flowers are so numerous, so varied in character and 

 so wondrously beautiful when yielding of their floral 

 wealth as to form the most important of all the groups 

 of ligneous vegetation. From the opening of the 

 singularly formed and attractively coloured flowers of 

 the Hamamelis in January until the later Philadelphus 

 attain the zenith of their beauty about midsummer there 

 is a continuous procession of flowers of the most delight- 

 ful description. Some few kinds produce their flowers 

 at a later period, but the fact that these shrubs contribute 

 with remarkable prodigality to the charms of the garden 

 for fully six months of the year should be sufficient to 

 ensure their being largely planted in both large and 

 small gardens, and in country and town districts. More 

 especially should this be the case when it is remembered 

 that those most effective when in bloom are at least as 

 attractive at other seasons of the year as kinds with 

 inconspicuous flowers. Those enumerated in this chapter 

 do not include all that are worth the attention of 

 planters, but they comprise the very best in their respec- 

 tive classes and are more than sufficient to. produce the 

 most delightful effects in gardens large enough to afford 

 full scope for the display of taste by the garden artist. 



ABELIAS. These form a small group of deciduous and 

 evergreen shrubs that are less generally useful than the 

 majority of shrubs remarkable for the beauty of their 

 flowers ; but they are sufficiently attractive to justify 

 their being planted where the conditions are favourable 



