CHAPTER XXXIII 



HARDY SHRUBS IN THE GREENHOUSE 



HARDY shrubs have for many years brought colour 

 and fragrance to the greenhouse in the depth of 

 winter, but we think it is only within recent years 

 that they have been used in such beautiful variety 

 as at the present time. The great show of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society in the Temple Gardens, 

 and many of the delightful fortnightly displays, 

 have been responsible for much of their present 

 popularity, and the picture of a group of Plums, 

 Peaches, Almonds, Wistarias, and many other things 

 in flower long before their natural season, is refresh- 

 ingly pleasant when perhaps winter still lingers. 



So many shrub families may be used for gently 

 forcing into bloom before their time that it is im- 

 possible to lay down hard and fast rules with regard 

 to culture. In some cases the plants may be lifted 

 in the autumn, then potted, and placed out of doors 

 until they are removed under glass, when the flowers 

 will open in profusion ; but the shrubs that can be 

 treated in this way make dense, fibrous masses of 

 roots, therefore scarcely feel the check of removal. 

 Some shrubs, however, transplant so badly that it 

 is needful to grow them entirely in pots. 



Shrubs for flowering under glass are grown in 



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