AMERICAN SHRUBS 



THE hardy shrubs commonly known in gardens as 

 American plants comprise the azaleas, kalmias, rhodo- 

 dendrons and some other genera of less importance, and 

 form a group that is unsurpassed in freedom of flowering 

 and in the richness and effectiveness of their colours. 

 They are, it must be stated, somewhat peculiar in their 

 requirements and cannot therefore be grown, as in the 

 case of so many other hardy shrubs, almost anywhere 

 without having the beds and borders specially prepared 

 for them. But as they are so extremely beautiful and 

 produce such marvellous colour effects when growing 

 under conditions favourable to the full development of 

 foliage and flowers, they fully justify the expenditure 

 on labour and material necessary to provide them with 

 a suitable soil. 



They all grow vigorously in a good bed of peat as 

 exemplified by the splendid growth they make in 

 gardens and nurseries on the peat formations, and 

 where peat is so readily accessible that beds and 

 borders can be made wholly with it. Therefore where 

 peat can be obtained at a comparatively small cost it 

 should be used either alone or in association with leaf- 

 mould or other decayed vegetable matter. In making 

 beds or preparing stations for single specimens remove 

 the soil to a depth of eighteen inches or two feet and 

 replace with peat broken up into large lumps, or with 

 peat and vegetable matter in the proportion of four parts 

 ot the former to one of the latter. If the soil of the 

 garden is a stiff clay lay three inch drain pipes across 



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