4O HEDGES, WINDBREAKS, SHELTERS, ETC. 



low-growing, I should like it best for a border for 

 beds of flowers, or for a winding drive. It rarely 

 exceeds four feet in hight, and can be cut to some 

 extent. You will especially like it fronted with a 

 line of Deutzia gracilis. This latter plant will lift 

 itself about one foot in hight, and adjust its method 

 of growth very closely to that of Weigela. 



Almost any of our best known shrubs make 

 ornamental lines when needed to divide gardens or 

 to outline fields; not so many of them are suitable 

 for bordering drives. It is not a bad plan to grow 

 morning glories at the foot of such hedges, and so 

 secure a fine autumn blossoming, since most of the 

 shrubs blossom in April, May or June. But we 

 have two exceedingly fine shrubs blossoming in 

 August and September, that can be used with admir- 

 able effect, the Hydrangea paniculata grandiftora, 

 and the althea, sometimes called Rose of Sharon. 

 The former will stand about six to ten feet in hight, 

 and show a complete mass of magnificent heads of 

 flowers. This bush will endure considerable cut- 

 ting, and on the whole should rank, I think, close 

 after Tartarian honeysuckle for a strictly ornamental 

 hedge. The altheas are of as different styles of 

 growth as they are of different colors of bloom. It 

 is necessary to select those which grow alike, if one 

 desires any uniformity in hedge growth; and it is 

 better in most cases to select the erect growing than 

 the spreading. Many of the altheas, perhaps all of 

 them, will need protection for the first two years 

 from seed, and after that they will be found to be 

 entirely hardy as far north as New York. Most of 

 the varieties are hardy as far north as Albany. One 



