CHAPTER VII 

 CULTIVATION OF FLOWERING SHRUBS 



WE have already dealt with the propagation of flowering shrubs 

 from cuttings and have now to write more particularly of their 

 culture, for there are so many kinds and they vary so much in charac- 

 ter that it would be impossible to treat of them under the heading 

 of " general cultivation." 



We are particularly rich in flowering shrubs. Many are indi- 

 genous, the greater part are importations. The whole world has 

 been ransacked and its treasures poured into this country, and most 

 of them have become so acclimatized as to feel as much at home as 

 those native to it. When the rhododendrons and azaleas are at their 

 best in the woodland glades or in conspicuous places in large gardens, 

 lighting everything up by their blaze of colour, who would think for 

 a moment that they were aliens ? Yet most of these have reached 

 us from distant great mountain ranges or equally distant bog lands, 

 in every continent and from every zone, and have made themselves 

 thoroughly at home so long as they are supplied with their elemen- 

 tary needs. And with them have been brought many other shrubs, 

 several of which call for treatment approximating somewhat to their 

 native conditions, so that it is impossible to prescribe a general 

 treatment. 



For the sake of method it will be advisable to name a fairly 

 representative selection of the better-known varieties, though, as we 

 are not compiling a catalogue, we permit ourselves to leave out a 

 good number which are more or less unknown. We will, at the same 

 time, as a matter of convenience, add the ordinary methods by which 

 they are propagated, and where a peaty soil is required we will add 

 that. 



Amygdalus (varieties of almond). Seed and budding. 



Azaleas in variety. Seed, cuttings, grafts. Peat. 



Berberis Cuttings. 



Cotoneasters Cuttings, seed. 



Cytisus (broom) Cuttings, seed, grafts. 



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