196 SHRUBS 



join the mighty chorus that celebrates the death of our atrocious 

 winter. (See Japanese crab, plate 70.) 



Another dramatic moment comes in October, when the 

 American landscape has more vivid foliage than the English. 

 True, the biggest masses of colour are supplied by the trees, but 

 the shrubs give the finishing touch to a perfect picture. England 

 can never enjoy such an autumn show because her cool and moist 

 summers prolong growth, while our hot and dry ones promote 

 maturity. England can never produce so thrilling a spring flower 

 show, because her autumn is cool and moist and therefore the 

 shrubs cannot properly ripen their wood and make good buds. 



The neglect of shrubs in English gardens will be apparent if 

 you examine any of the sumptuously illustrated books on English 

 gardening. The greatest collection of large photographs on this 

 subject is called "The Gardens of England," yet I have just turned 

 over the two hundred and seventy-two plates thus far published 

 without finding a single picture in which flowering shrubs play an 

 important part! In American gardens shrubs have always been a 

 common feature, and the most precious old gardens we possess 

 generally contain a few grand old bushes of such height and 

 magnificence as one never sees in the ordinary mixed shrubbery. 



But we need not "throw out our chest like a Russian sleigh" 

 because of this one advantage. For it will be at least three 

 hundred years, in my opinion, before America becomes one great 

 garden, as England is. And our advantage in deciduous shrubs 

 is more than counterbalanced by her advantage in evergreen shrubs, 

 especially hybrid rhododendrons. For these gorgeous plants not 

 only have their showy bloom, but their magnificent foliage is 

 full of inspiration all winter, while deciduous shrubs, broadly 

 speaking, look naked and shivery in our climate. The English 



