THE SHRUBBERY 97 



the possible plants of the perfect shrubbery 

 they are far too precious for that. But how 

 rarely we see M. Conspicua, and how superb is 

 the effect of the grand specimen in the Champs 

 Elysees in April, a pyramid of big white stars 

 against the budding green of shrubs and trees. 

 And what can be more exquisite than a bush of 

 M. Halleana (stellata) standing on fresh green 

 grass ? M. grandiflora is of course as common 

 as it is beautiful : but it is seldom grown in 

 England as a tree its natural form. And 

 although it is too much to hope that in our 

 climate it should ever attain the enormous pro- 

 portions it reaches in the Southern States, where 

 in the Buenavista Cemetery at Savannah one has 

 seen it growing as huge forest trees sixty feet 

 high, covered at Midsummer with thousands 

 of blooms, yet there is no reason why in 

 sheltered places here it should not flourish as 

 a specimen tree. 



Of Spiraeas, many, various, and all delight- 

 ful, what praise can be adequate ? I have 

 found certain of them of the utmost value 

 in a new garden ; but there are many more 



G 



