THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN, 



SPIR^A. 



823 



the type of a small group, all elegant in 

 growth and pretty in flower. The tall 

 slender stems arch over gracefully, and in 



food soils and sheltered spots reach a 

 eight of 8 ft. In the flowering season 

 the branches are wreathed with small 

 clusters of small white flowers. S. 



Spiraea japonica, A. Waterer. 



flagelliformis and S. acuta are forms ' 

 superior to the type. 



S. Thunbergi (Thunberg's Meadow j 

 Sweet] is a favourite shrub for forcing into | 

 early flower. It is a dense bush, with small 

 bright green leaves, and in early spring a 

 profusion of tiny white blossoms. It is 

 hardy, and especially suitable for planting 

 in a bold rock-garden or on a raised bank 

 among tree-stems. Few shrubs are so 

 fine in autumn, its small leaves changing 

 to brilliant crimson. 



S. Lindleyana (Plume Meadow Sweet] 

 is a noble shrub, sometimes 10 ft. high, its 

 graceful foliage divided, and delicate 

 green, the flower clusters large, white, 

 and plume-like, being at their best 

 about the middle of August. It thrives 

 best in warm deep soil, not too light 

 or too heavy, and should be sheltered 

 from cold winds, which injure its young 

 growth in spring. It has in some soils 

 peculiar ways, and in others, especially 

 of a chalky and warm nature, it blooms well 

 enough to deserve the epithet superb. 

 In cool soils it does not always attain such 

 a grand flowering state. In too cool soils 

 it seems to spread more at the root, but in 

 all cases is beautiful for its foliage and habit. 

 Himalaya. Division. The other pinnate- 

 leaved Spiraeas, such as S. sorbifolia and 

 S. Pallasi, are less desirable. 



There are so many confusing names 

 applied to these plants, and so many 

 useless varieties, that the following remarks 

 by Mr. Goldring are worth attention : 

 In a large genus like Spiraea numbering 



half a hundred reputed species and en- 

 cumbered with almost twice the number 

 of names and synonyms, how perplexing 

 it must be to single out the choice few 

 required for the garden, and when there 

 is absolutely no information given in 

 nursery catalogues as to the respective 

 merits of the kinds 

 enumerated. 



The bush Spiraeas 

 are all beautiful ; 

 none are worthless in 

 the sense that many 

 other shrubs are, so 

 that there is naturally 

 a tendency among 

 those who know them 

 best to eulogise every 

 kind ; but how few 

 are the gardens 

 where there is need 

 for more than a dozen 

 kinds in proportion 

 to the host of other 

 beautiful shrubs, un- 

 less it be in those 

 where the object is to collect as many 

 sorts as possible ! 



The fact is, we have now too great a 

 number of Spiraeas and too great a simi- 

 larity among many of them, and flowering 

 much about the same time. As an in- 

 stance of this I count in a Continental 

 catalogue no fewer than twenty varieties 

 of the common North American S. salici- 

 folia, and the synonyms of these number 



Spiraea sorbifolia. 



half as many. No collection of Spiraeas 

 need number more than a dozen kinds to 

 represent the finest types of beauty of 

 flower and growth. Good grouping of 

 this select dozen kinds in a garden would 

 produce better effect than the too common 

 way of dotting about single plants of many 

 kinds which, when crowded by other 

 shrubs of diverse habit, never display that 

 free growth which constitutes one of the 

 charms of the shrubby Meadow Sweets. 



