94 LAWN AND SHADE TKEES. 



grounds. Tn rock-work planting, the hispida may be used 

 advantageously. 



The ALTHEA Hibiscus Syriacus. The rose of Sharon, as it is 

 most commonly called, is a shrub of almost universal use in 

 planting. It grows from six to eight feet high, and does best 

 in light dry soils. It is of a stiff, formal shape, even when left to 

 take its own natural way ; but as it bears the shears well, and 

 in fact seems thereby to increase its blooms, plants may be so 

 clipped as to present broad masses of foliage and flowers from 

 the ground upward. As an ornamental hedge plant it takes on 

 its foliage too late in spring, and is also partially tender, occa- 

 sionally killing during a very cold winter. There are varieties 

 with white pink or purple and variegated flowers, both single 

 and double. It blooms during the last of August or early in 

 September, and where single plants are wanted of a regular 

 systematic form, or for the back-plants of masses on straight 

 lines, it is valuable. 



The ALDER Alnus. Until within a few years the alder has 

 not been much planted, but recently there have been introduced 

 some varieties with foliage so strikingly marked, that wherever 

 there is a moist soil, or a low group is wanted near a spring, 

 their planting will be found advisable. 



Of the varieties most prized are the oak-leaved, the serrate- 

 leaved, and the lasciniated or cut-leaved. In growth, the alder 

 usually rises to a height of about ten to twenty feet, with foliage 

 all of a dark green color. 



The ALMOND Amygdalus. The dwarf double flowering 

 almond amygdalus pumila is one of the oldest flowering 

 shrubs of our knowledge. Its period of early flowering (April), 

 together with their profusion and beauty ; its slender twigs and 

 general graceful delicacy in form of growth ; the perfect hardi- 

 hood of the plant, all combine to make it a shrub of great value 

 in decorative gardening. On account of its low growth and 



