FLOWERS FOR SUBURBAN GARDENS 383 



full instructions on the preparation and planting of herbaceous 

 borders. 



Shrubs in Suburban Gardens. The suburbanist with a fair 

 amount of room can also add to the interest of his garden by 

 planting more shrubs. He is no longer compelled to restrict him- 

 self to a few Aucubas and Laurels, introduced as much for their 

 services as blocks and screens as for their intrinsic beauty. He 

 can add flowering shrubs. The majority of these lose their leaves 

 in autumn, the same as herbaceous plants, so that they are not 

 of very much value for forming screens. Nor should they be 

 looked upon as stop-gaps. They should be introduced with the 

 deliberate object of adding direct beauty to the garden with their 

 foliage and flowers. Many of the best flowering shrubs thrive in 

 suburban gardens where the air is fairly pure, if the ground is 

 well prepared for them and the general culture is good. A great 

 deal depends upon the preparation of the soil. This should be 

 as thorough as for Roses that is, it should be bastard trenched 

 and manured so as to get a depth of about two feet. While the 

 majority of flowering shrubs will do better in cool, holding soil 

 than in light land, they will thrive in the latter if it is well 

 prepared. 



The majority of the flowering shrubs bloom in spring, but 

 some excellent kinds can be got which will blossom at other 

 seasons ; indeed, it is possible to have beauty almost throughout 

 the year, as a few actually flower in winter. We will draw atten- 

 tion to some handsome shrubs which will flower at different 

 periods. 



We must not expect much bloom in the winter, but there 

 are a few kinds which will flower in that quarter. One of 

 these is the Glastonbury Thorn. The Thorns belong to the 

 botanical genus Crataegus, and the Glastonbury Thorn bears the 

 botanical name of Crataegus Oxyacantha praecox. Crataegus Oxy- 

 acantha sounds formidable, but it is really neither more nor less 



