258 Ornamental Shrubs. 



varieties will doubtless be known as almonds to the gen- 

 eral public, and with good reason. The group is closely 

 connected with the peaches, apricots, and nectarines, and 

 in cultivation is subject to much the same conditions. 



The common or wild almond grows from twenty to 

 thirty feet high, and has light rose -colored blossoms, 

 followed by fruit that is highly esteemed throughout the 

 civilized world, and that calls for no description here. It 

 has been in cultivation from time immemorial, and is yet 

 found growing wild in northern Africa where almond 

 groves, and even forests, still exist, especially in some 

 of the Barbary States. From such as these the ornamental 

 almonds and those of improved fruitage have doubtless 

 sprung. While the type is not especially showy, the advance 

 through cultivation is such that in 1892 the London Gar- 

 den was led to say : " Of all the hardy, early flowering 

 trees in the British Islands, perhaps the almonds are the 

 most valuable from the point of view of ornamentation. 

 In March and April no other tree produces such fine effects 

 in the garden or park at any rate in the southern counties 

 of England." Since this was written several new varieties 

 have appeared, superior to any then in cultivation. 



P. japonica alba plena is one of the showiest sorts. It 

 is of dwarf habit, and has an abundance of beautiful 

 double white flowers, and is occasionally found in our 

 northern gardens under the old name of flowering al- 

 mond. It is capable of larger use in that section, and is 

 very desirable farther south. Its companion plant, P. 

 japonica rubra plena, is much the same except that its 

 blossoms are red or rose-colored. They are very abun- 



