FLOWERING SHRUBS 



HARDBACK ROSE-COLORED SPIRAEA Spircea tomentosa (L.). 



Of the several pretty shrubs belonging to the Genus 

 Spircea which have been introduced into cultivation, none 

 deserves a place in our gardens more decidedly than the 

 above. It is a beautiful shrub, growing in wild profusion 

 in swamps and on the rocky shores of our small inland 

 lakes. It is about four feet high, with slender wand-like 

 stems that rise from a woody rootstock, clothed with dark 

 green serrated leathery leaves, which are smooth above but 

 very downy underneath. The flowers are of a fine rose-pink, 

 in closely-flowered panicles, a little branching in the larger 

 heads. The bark of the stem is red and covered with down. 



While this elegant shrub is chiefly found near w^ater, it 

 seems to prefer gravelly or rocky soil for its habitation. 



PURPLE SCENTED RASPBERRY Rubus odoratus (L.). 



(PLATE XVII.) 



In English gardens our beautiful Sweet-scented Raspberry 

 is deemed worthy of a place in the shrubberies, but in its 

 native country it is passed by and regarded as of little 

 worth. Yet what can be more lovely than its rose-shaped 

 blossoms, . from the deep purplish-crimson bud, wrapped in 

 its odorous mossy calyx, to the unfolded flower of various 

 shades of deep rose and paler reddish lilac. The flowers 

 derive their pleasant aromatic odor from the closely-set 

 coating of short bristly glandular hairs, each one of which 

 is tipped with a gland of reddish hue containing a sweet- 

 scented gum, as in the mossy envelope of the Moss-rose 

 of the garden. These appendages, seen by the aid of a 

 powerful microscope, are objects of exquisite beauty, more 

 admirable than rubies and diamonds, living gems that fill 

 us with wonder while we gaze into their marvellous parts 

 and glorious colors. 



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