The Twelve Best Hardy Shrubs 



IF I were confined to the choice of but 

 one shrub to plant, I should select 

 Hydrangea paniculata, as it blooms at 

 the season of the year when all the othe- 

 shrubs are out of bloom and then it is 

 so hardy, so easily grown, and gives 

 such a wealth of lustrous cherry white 

 plumes of flowers from August to No- 

 vember. Were my choice extended to 

 two, the other would be Spircea Van 

 Houttei, so lovely and abundant is its 

 snow white mantle that hardly a leaf can 

 be seen through the flowers, and its habit 

 is so graceful. My third shrub would 

 be the Japanese golden bell (Forsythia 

 suspensa), which is one of the earliest 



J. McPherson Ross, Toronto 



garden. The eighth choice is Cydonia 

 Japonica, whose vivid blossoms have 

 given it the name of the burning bush. 

 This shrub stands clipping well and is 

 useful to make a hedge. Its foliage is 

 glossy green and its scarlet blossoms in 

 May always make it a garden favorite. 

 The ninth choice is the beautiful 

 deutzia, either D. scabra or D. arenata. 

 These are lovely shrubs and no collec- 

 tion is complete without some of them. 

 For small places or cemetery plots, 

 Deutzia gracilis is a charming free flow- 

 ering small shrub. My tenth shrub is 

 the purple berberry which is most ef- 

 fective in the bloom of its foliage with 





A Variety of Shrubt that Grace the Gronndt of an Estate near Nia(ara Falls 



shrubs to flower, the blossoms appearing 

 before the foliage. The proper situation 

 for it is by the gate or entrance path, 

 although it is a beautiful object wher- 

 ever planted. My fourth shrub would be 

 Wiegelia rosea, an old favorite, neat 

 and graceful in habit and a profuse 

 bloomer of rosy pink bell-like blossoms. 

 My fifth choice is the althea or rose of 

 Sharon and, although it is sometimes 

 killed in winter, yet by planting it in 

 rather poor soil so that it ripens its wood 

 well before frost, it usually blooms suf- 

 ficiently to give satisfaction. It blooms 

 in August. My next shrub is the Persian 

 lilac. My seventh is the garland syrin- 

 ga, a well-known hardy favorite whose 

 fragrant showy white blossoms with 

 their strong orange perfume scents the 



charming panicles of yellow small blos- 

 soms in spring followed by dark crim- 

 son clusters of berries. My eleventh 

 choice is the purple fringe or smoke tree. 

 This is quite an unique shrub in many 

 ways. The foliage is glossy and rather 

 singular in shape while the bloom is in 

 panicles of cream bronze tint of feathery 

 or misty character, sometimes called 

 Jacob's beard. When in full bloom it ;s 

 very attractive. To complete the dozen, 

 and for the sake of its fragrance and 

 yellow bloom, I select the flowering cur- 

 rant [Rihes aurea), an old-time hardy 

 favorite that will flourish in any situation 

 or out-of-the-way corner. 



The foregoing twelve hardy shrubs 

 might not be the choice of every 

 one but taking the flowering season into 



56 



consideration, this selection will cover it 

 pretty well with a sufficient divergence of 

 growth, foliage and flower to make them 

 of value in any collection. A further 

 selection will be mentioned in a later is- 

 sue of The Canadian Horticulturist. 



The Mock Cypress 



T. McYittie, Toronto. 



The illustration on the front cover of 

 this issue of The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist, is a view of the centre walk in 

 Sir H. M. Pellatt's vegetable garden, 

 Toronto, with the stables, coach-house, 

 automobile shed, and so forth, in the 

 background, built after the old Norman 

 style of architecture, and when com- 

 pleted will be one of the finest on the" 

 American continent. 



On each side of the walk is planted a 

 row of mock cypress (Kochia scoparia./ 

 This pretty, half-hardy annual was trans- 

 planted from self-sown seed. Many of 

 the plants were over three feet in 

 height and five feet in circumference, 

 forming compact bushes which make a 

 very eff'ective and ornamental hedge. The 

 small feathery light green foliage 

 changes as the summer advances to a 

 deep green and to a crimson hue in the 

 fall. The beauty of the kochia is very 

 often destroyed by overcrowding when 

 planting. 



To grow for pot culture, the seed may 

 be sown in March, giving the sanir 

 treatment as for balsam or other similar 

 annuals. They should be given good 

 drainage, if intended for pots, as they 

 are sometimes very slow in germinating. 



For outdoor culture, the seed may be 

 sown in April, and the seedlings planted 

 out about three feet apart by the end of 

 May, taking care to keep well watered 

 until established in the ground wher" 

 they are to remain for the summer. 



To have a good lawn, the ground 

 must be rich and well-prepared. 



Division of the root is the only way tol 

 perpetuate any particular variety of col- 

 umbine with certainty. 



Do not attempt to manage a garden i 

 that is beyond your time and means. 

 Better a small garden and a good one J 

 than a larger one, half-kept. 



A corm differs from a bulb in that 

 it is solid throughout while the latter 

 may be composed of narrow and mostly 

 loose scales, as in the lily, or of more or 

 less continuous or close-fitting layers or 

 plates, as in the onion. The gladiolus 

 and crocus are familiar examples of 

 corms. 



