CHAPTER XXI 

 EARLY- AND LATE-FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS. 



THE great flowering season of hardy trees and shrubs extends over April, 

 May and June, reaching its zenith in the middle month of the three. At 

 least nine out of every ten flower during that quarter of the year, and 

 consequently a peculiar value attaches to any that bloom outside it. 

 Shrubs and trees blossoming between November and March especially 

 have a great attraction. Besides enlivening the dullest months of the 

 year, they have another recommendation in being the heralds of Nature's 

 most glorious time. So that even if their beauties are of only a modest 

 kind, they are welcome for the promise they bring. 



After midsummer, shrubs in flower become scarce as compared with 

 those' of the three preceding months ; but when a list is made of those 

 that flower, say, from mid-July to October, it is found to be richer in 

 numbers than one would expect. Gardens are not lacking in blossom at 

 that time, because a wealth of herbaceous plants reach their full beauty 

 then. The following selection of trees and shrubs that flower during late 

 summer and autumn may be useful. Many country houses are only 

 visited at that season, and it is a decided waste for spring-flowering trees 

 and shrubs to monopolise the ground as they usually do in such places. 

 The same applies to the parks and gardens of pleasure resorts, which 

 during the holiday season often wear a dull, uninteresting aspect so far as 

 their woody vegetation is concerned. In this connection the chapters 

 on autumn colour, on variegated trees and shrubs, and on those with 

 ornamental fruits should also be consulted. 



It must be remembered that the date of flowering, especially from 

 December to March, is almost entirely dependent on the weather. 



SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER. 



Abelia grandiflora. 

 Alnus maritima. 



nitida. 

 Amorpha canescens. 

 fruticosa. 



Aplopappus ericoides. 

 Artemisia tridentata. 

 Ascyrum hypericoides. 

 Berberis Fortunei. 

 Buddleia japonica. 



,, paniculata. 



variabilis (varieties). 



81 F 



