JULY 127 



the loftier S. canescens follows suit in July with 

 blossoms similarly arranged. But it was reserved for 

 Mr. E. H. Wilson to bring from China the noblest of 

 all the clan in the form of Spiraea (or, as some will 

 have it, Sorbaria) arborea, which attains the stature of 

 a small tree, sending up rods to a height of twenty 

 feet. These arch out gracefully, bending under the 

 weight of huge plumes of blossom which they bear in 

 August and September. If you have command of a 

 spacious, sheltered glade, with reasonably moist soil, 

 set therein a plant of this species, secure for it plenty 

 of head and side room for development, and I will 

 guarantee you against disappointment. 



And now, having sounded the praise of certain 

 members of this family, let me think of any epithets 

 short of blasphemous to describe the evil propensities 

 of certain others which are a source of sore affliction to 

 the unwary. If, seduced by the pretty rose-coloured 

 panicles of Spircca Douglasi and a few allied species, 

 you are misled into planting them in the back rows of 

 a herbaceous border, you are asking for interminable 

 trouble, for they spread like any knotwood, sending 

 subterranean runners to immense distances, and 

 shooting up vigorous suckers in the heart of your 

 choicest delphinium, lily clump, or whatever else you 

 cherish most dearly. These they will eventually 

 throttle, and, unless prompt and severe measures are 

 taken, your border will become in two or three seasons 

 a dense thicket whereof nothing short of drastic revolu- 

 tion can rid you. Nevertheless, S. Douglasi forms an 

 excellent undergrowth in woodland, good cover for 



