Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



town gardens. A sort of sombre magnificence, too, at- 

 taches itself to a Laurel hedge or Laurel-covered bank 

 bordering, say, some sweeping drive to a mansion. It 

 is a shrub which seems to play the part of "heavy 

 father" on the stage of shrub life. As an individual it 

 is assertive and dominating ; its greedy, searching roots 

 in their vigorous onslaught absorb all the nourish- 

 ment in their neighbourhood, to the detriment of 

 any unhappy neighbour, while the thick texture of the 

 leaves and the impenetrable solidity of their united 

 front to the sun's rays, successfully prevent any plants 

 in the background receiving their necessary and due 

 meed of light. Hence the Laurel planted in a shrubbery 

 or among other plants is a distinctly unfriendly neigh- 

 bour. But planted in its rightful place alone, where it 

 can have room and be given full scope for its fast- 

 growing limbs, and not be cropped like a poodle, and 

 allowed to produce freely its spikes of white flowers, 

 so attractive against the dark, shining background of 

 the leaves, then it is a shrub of which to be proud. 

 Really, it is a tree rather than shrub when allowed 

 free play, reaching a height of thirty-five to forty feet, 

 with a great trunk and spreading boughs, and it is a 

 pity that there seems to be a conspiracy among gar- 

 deners to cramp and cut it to the dimensions of an 

 ordinary shrub. 



An interesting feature of the leaves are some small 



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