SHRUBS 125 



place for plants that you would like to grow but 

 have not the room for in the garden; or perhaps 

 they do not suit the scheme there. Straight edg- 

 ings are allowable when circumstances warrant 

 them, but naturalistic colonies are best. 



The space under shrubs of a spreading habit 

 need never go to waste. Under deciduous shrubs 

 it is just the spot for permanent colonies of small 

 bulbs which it is often risky to grow in the gar- 

 den, where their location in little groups is easily 

 lost sight of. Similarly the foam flower (Tiarella 

 cordifolia) and other shade-loving carpeting plants 

 will gladly cover the ground beneath shrubs. A 

 bulb and a carpeting plant may be used together, 

 or two different bulbs colonized. 



Shrubs have an April to October range of bloom, 

 with the greatest burst of it in May and June. 

 The sweet gale (Myrica) and Mahonia japonica 

 are due in February and March and Daphne me- 

 zereum in the latter month, while the witch hazel 

 holds off until November; but between October 

 and April color must largely be a matter of fo- 

 liage and fruit. Fortunately shrubs are so gen- 

 erous in these two respects that planning for the 

 entire year is possible. 



As with perennials, shrubs should be planted 

 for long succession. Thus the forsythia, Spiraea 

 van Houttei, althea and Hydrangea paniculata are 

 a good sequence, that may be lengthened by adding 

 'Berberis Thunbergii and Ilex opaca for the com- 

 pletion of a year's circle. As a rule, especially in 



