126 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



should be sufficient to account for the lack of popularity 

 of this shrub, unless it be its slow growth and shy trans- 

 planting. 



But, fortunately, we are able to turn to our other 

 holly, ilex crenata, and say that here is a shrub that is 

 as easily transplanted, as hardy and rapid-growing (at 

 least a foot a year, when once established), as some of 

 the best deciduous shrubs berberis thunbergii, for in- 

 stance; and then the shining light-green leaves, like 

 those of box trees, how beautifully .they are disposed in 

 picturesque, close-set masses, relieved from any sugges- 

 tion of stiffness by the young growth that spreads like a 

 halo around the foliage. Such plants as these hollies, 

 as distinguished from deciduous shrubs, are unsuited for 

 grouping with other plants, being really too precious to 

 exhibit otherwise than in masses by themselves. 



As we turn to the less hardy evergreen shrubs, and 

 assume the attitude of accepting their small weaknesses, 

 and of prizing success the more because they are some- 

 times weak, we find ourselves valuing azalea amoena as 

 one of our choicest possessions, with its thick masses of 

 small, bright-red flowers in spring, and its thick, 

 rounded leaf contours, dark green in summer and bright 

 red in autumn. Cratsegus pyracantha, the evergreen 

 thorn, has similar advantages in picturesqueness of foliage 

 of a more irregular sort, which often browns in winter. 

 The mahonia, or berberis aquif olia, is another picturesque 

 evergreen shrub, exhibiting the most varied shapes and 

 coloring of foliage, and though it browns often, it seldom 

 actually dies, and, consequently, deserves consideration 

 as a lawn plant. 



It may be said, however, though the author is not pre- 

 pared to allow that it is justly said, that in America *he 



