SHRUBS AND SHRUBBERIES 147 



Madonna lily, if it will be kindly disposed. To- 

 wards the edge, low-growing things like the win- 

 ter heath, always good, but never so precious as 

 in the early year; the dainty Daphne cneorum, or 

 spreading carpets of sun rose. So one might go 

 on planning indefinitely, choosing trees for back- 

 ground, here flowering, there for leafage or autumn 

 tints, but which would not cast too heavy a shade 

 not restricting the choice to shrubs alone if a 

 clump of peonies, or grand-leaved acanthus, or 

 cluster of yuccas would lend additional charm ; 

 grouping, contrasting, planting everywhere, not so 

 much for the effect of the moment as for time 

 to come. How little we realise the seriousness of 

 planting ; the good, ay, and the mischief, involved 

 in the right or wrong placing of a tree 1 



There is scarcely a month in the year in which 

 some trees or shrubs may not be found at their 

 best; so that by careful choice and thoughtful 

 planting a shrubbery of any extent may always 

 present features of attraction, with very little repe- 

 tition along its whole length. January will gene- 

 rally find the witch hazels (Hamamelis) opening 

 their twisted petals shrubs which might pass un- 

 noticed in summer, but delightful to come upon 

 on a winter's day. Few of the winter-blooming 

 shrubs are showy, but some are deliciously scented, 

 like the modest Chinese honeysuckle (Lonicera 

 fragrantissima), evergreen in mild seasons, but 

 flowering before the new leaves have developed. 

 It is a pleasant quest, too, in the southern counties, 

 on a January day, to look for the buff and brownish 

 flowers of winter sweet (Chimonanthus fragrans), 



