GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



flowers. To overhang a bank or to place among 

 rockwork, there are few better shrubs. After their 

 bloom is passed, the golden bells with their deli- 

 cate, unobtrusive leaves still present a chaste, re- 

 fined appearance. For this reason the erect forms, 

 viridissima and Forittnii, of which the latter while 

 growing tall is inclined to bend, are much used in the 

 massing of shrubbery. Throughout the early spring, 

 they give cheer to the whole mass, while later they 

 lose themselves in a green background for other 

 shrubs. 



It is customary to prune the Forsythias rather 

 severely as soon as their bloom is past, that they may 

 be relieved of all spent wood and have their vigor 

 turned in the direction of producing strong flowering 

 shoots for the next season. 



Before these early, brilliant shrubs have shown 

 signs of waning, the wood of Cydonia Japonica, or 

 the Japanese quince, is fiery red, with rounded blossoms 

 which have won for it, among the people, the name 

 of fire bush. Throughout its season of bloom, this 

 shrub remains a most marked figure among deciduous 

 plants. As it grows old and sizable, it becomes very 

 beautiful, being then fairly covered with well-shaped, 

 exquisite blossoms. The fire bush is extremely hardy 

 and possessed of daintily formed, vividly green foliage 

 often ruddy tinged. 



It seems strange that these shrubs are not more 

 often planted in clumps and used in high contrast to 

 the Forsythias. They would then produce, in early 

 spring, much the same color effect as is wrought by 



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