SHRUBS THAT ARE PERFECTLY HARDY. 73" 



Many of them are natives of our own woods and fields, and cai> 

 compare well with their allies which we import from other lauds 

 with so much cost. On many large, as well as small places, they 

 could be used to great advantage, giving a finer general effect 

 throughout the year than many exotics. Before I give you the 

 general list, let us for a moment look over the field and see what 

 we have in our own country. What can be more beautiful than 

 our Kalmia or Mountain Laurel? What compares with those 

 plants that deck our hills and fields from Maine to Georgia, our 

 swamps of RJiododendron maximum, and our mountains covered 

 with H. Cataivbiense? our native Azaleas, such as calendidacea, 

 with its various colored blooms from yellow to flame color ; 

 arborescens, with its snowy white and pink flowers and scarlet 

 stems; viscosa, which fills our swamps with its white, fragrant 

 flowers ; or imdiflora, which grows so luxuriantl}' on some of our 

 dry hill-sides? Equally beautiful are our fields of Rhodora, with 

 its purple bloom ; our Viburnums, with their corymbs of pure 

 white flowers in summer, followed in the autumn b}- their manj^- 

 colored fruits, from purple to scarlet, which on some species last 

 well into the winter, enlivening the season when nearly everything 

 else is past. 



Then there are our Cornuses, with good flowers and white and 

 blue berries and many colored woods, that are cheering even in 

 winter ; the wild Roses, that bloom from June to August ; thfr 

 Sumachs, with their fine tropical foliage and brilliant colored seed- 

 heads ; the wild Plums, especially maritima and jnimila; the 

 many American Thorns, which are beautiful both in flower and 

 fruit ; our Spiraeas, white and purple ; the White Fringe ; the 

 Clethra, with its fragrant white flowers from July to September \ 

 the Hollies, such as the Black Alder in two species, which are 

 beautiful if fruiting specimens are selected, the fruit holding on 

 well into the winter. Even now a specimen in the Arboretum is. 

 as brilliant with its scarlet fruit as it was in October. The Ink- 

 berry is a fine evergreen, and especially ornamental as an under 

 shrub, as also is the Halesia (Snow-drop tree or Silver-bell), the 

 Andromedas, the Huckleberries, and the Blueberries ; all are useful, 

 and nothing can excel their rich autumn coloring. The Shad-bush, 

 giving almost the first flowers that appear in our woods ; the Bar- 

 berry, with yellow, fragrant flowers and scarlet fruit ; and the wild 

 Honeysuckles, with scarlet and orange colored flowers, are very 



