ORNAMENTAL DECIDUOUS SHKUBS. 105 



capsules, containing seeds, and in autumn the foliage before 

 falling changes to a deep yellow. It succeeds in any good 

 garden soil and makes a tree of about fifteen to twenty feet high. 



The Laburnum Gytisus. As a low growing ornamental 

 tree or large shrub, the laburnum or golden chain has few 

 rivals. The shape of the head is often irregular and pictur- 

 esque ; its foliage is of a smooth shining and beautiful green ; 

 it will grow in almost any soil, not wet, and when it flowers in 

 June, its long pendant racemes of yellow or purple blooms make 

 it extremely attractive and beautiful. The variety with yellow 

 flowers, most commonly grown in the nurseries, makes a tree 

 sometimes of fifteen to twenty feet in height ; but it often 

 loses its main stem, and sending up a cluster of stems, forms 

 rather a shrub than a tree. The purple-flowering variety 

 resembles in growth the common English, and occasionally its 

 flowers revert back to the original yellow. There are several 

 other varieties, but mainly differing only in form of foliage or 

 period of bloom. They may be easily engrafted one upon 

 the other, and thus one tree made to exhibit varied foliage and 

 blooms, giving to it a unique appearance. As a single tree on 

 small lawns, or for jDlanting in cemeteries, or foregrounds of 

 groups of trees, the laburnum is one of the most desirable. 



The Lilac Syringa. The common lilac syringa vulgaris 



is well known all over the country ; and although it has a great 



tendency to sucker, a little attention from year to year will 



enable the grower to keep it to a single stem, and it is then a 



beautiful tree in leaf, and pre-eminently so when in flower. 



Grouped with the snow-ball, red-bud, and other small-sized 



trees or large shrubs, it makes always an attractive appearance, 



and should not be thrown one side because it is common. There 



are several varieties with different shades of Lilac and some pure 



white, and some wdth double flowers ; all, however, of general 



habit in growth. 



5* 



