CHAPTER THIRTEEN 



SHRUBS 



"Shrubs there are, 

 . . . that at the call of spring 

 Burst forth in blossomed fragrance." 



Thomson's Seasons. 



THE uses of shrubs are manifold and diverse. In- 

 valuable as screens to hide unsightly objects, 

 lovely to shroud and soften the hard line be- 

 tween house and ground, useful as an underplanting to 

 tall trees, as a background to herbaceous borders, as 

 hedges, windbreaks, or as an edging to walks and drives. 

 These are but a few of the ways in which they will help 

 us in our gardening, and when we remember that our 

 climate is particularly adapted to the fine development 

 of shrubs the wonder is that we do not see them more 

 and better grown. 



For myself, I do not care for what is called the 

 " mixed shrubbery." Too often it is made up of a large 

 variety of kinds so tightly packed that the efforts of the 

 plants are expended mainly in a struggle for mere exist- 

 ence and the gracious, sweeping outlines, of which this 

 class of plants is capable, are quite lacking. A shrub- 

 bery border is indeed desirable in many situations, but I 



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