Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



Dr. Archibald Menzies, to whom reference has already 

 been made in the account of the flowering currant. 

 This shrub is hardy in all parts of England, and is 

 one that should be introduced into every possible 

 garden. An oasis of beauty in midsummer days can 

 be made by planting a round bed in the centre of a 

 lawn with S. lindleyana and S. Douglasi. There on 

 the vivid green background, the feathery delicacy of the 

 creamy-white plumes and the rose-pink spires, associated 

 as they are with graceful and light foliage, give an 

 indescribable touch of airiness and daintiness that is 

 particularly grateful under the hot sun of July and 

 August. 



There are other pink Spiraeas : S. salicifolia, now 

 naturalised in Britain ; S. nobliana, very like S. Douglasi, 

 only flowering a little earlier ; and S. tomentosa, the 

 Hardhack or Steeple Bush, both the last-named being 

 North American, but the two already described hold 

 premier place for beauty and hardiness. It will have 

 been already obvious that the Spiraea genus bristles 

 with synonyms, and has endless confusing varieties 

 which make them difficult to select from a nursery- 

 man's catalogue. But while there are doubtless very 

 desirable members that are not here mentioned, yet at 

 the selection here given no one can cavil. 



Soil and Cultivation. The Spiraeas are all lovers 

 of moist quarters witness our native meadow sweet 



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