1 1 4 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



bright for weeks in spring. It is one of the plants that never fails 

 us, and only requires to be grown in bold ways to be effective in 



groups and masses fully exposed to the sun. Other 



Alpine forest Heaths, like the Mediterranean Heath, are also 



Heath. beautiful in some favoured parts of the country, 



. but not so hardy generally as the little alpine 



forest Heath which has the greatest endurance and most perfect 



hardiness, as becomes a native of the Alps of Central Europe. 



Pyrus japonica, a handsome old shrub often planted on cottage 

 garden walls, may in many soils be used with good effect in groups and 

 hedges. The evergreen Barberries in various forms are beautiful early 

 shrubs, with soft yellow flowers, and excellent when grouped in some 

 quantity. Two very important families are the Deutzias and Syringas, 

 which are varied and beautiful, mostly in white masses. They should 

 never be buried in the common shrubbery, but grouped in good masses 

 of each family. The flowering Currant (Ribes) of the mountains of 

 N.W. America is in all its forms a very cheery and early bush, which 

 tells well in the home landscape if rightly placed ; but perhaps the 

 most welcome and important of all early trees and shrubs is the Lilac, 

 which in Britain is often grown in a few kinds only, when there are 

 many in France. Beautiful in almost any position, Lilacs are most 

 effective when planted together, so as to enjoy the full sun to ripen 

 their wood ; the danger of thick planting can be avoided by putting 

 Irises or other hardy flowers over the ground between the shrubs, 

 which should never be crowded. 



Apart from the many orchard trees grown for their fruit, we 

 have in our own day to welcome some of their allies lovely in 



flower, if often poor in fruit. Our country has 

 Crab bloom. never been without some of this kind of beauty, as 



the Crab itself is as handsome a flowering tree as 

 .are many of the Apples which are descended from it in all the 

 countries in Europe, from Russia to Spain, and in our gardens there 

 were for many years the old Chinese double Pyrus, a handsome tree 

 which became popular, and the American Crab, which never became 

 so. But of late years we have been enriched by the Japan Crab, 

 a lovely tree for some weeks in spring and other handsome kinds, 

 including Parkman's Crab, which comes to us under more than one 

 name, and a "red form of the Japanese flowering Crab before 

 mentioned. All these trees are as hardy as our native Crab, and 

 differ much in colour and sometimes also in form. It is difficult 

 to describe how much beauty they give where well grown and well 

 placed ; they are not the kind of things we lose owing to change of 

 fashion, and in planting them it is well to put them in groups where 

 they will tell. Apart from these more or less wild species there are 



