COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



part, settles into an inert greenness too uniform in tone for 

 beauty. This period of monotony may be greatly relieved 

 by a thoughtful grouping of some of the best of the coloured 

 leaved shrubs. These should never be dotted about pro- 

 miscuously, however, but massed, one kind at a time, and the 

 harmonious setting of each group carefully considered. The 

 so-called "purple-leaved" trees and shrubs are very hand- 

 some. Two of the best are the purple-leaved Plum (Prunus 

 Pissardi) and the "blood-leaved" Peach (Prunus persica 

 foliis rubris). The Peach is a bit lighter in colour than the 

 other and all through the summer continues to send forth 

 young shoots clothed in almost transparent leafage that has 

 the colour of a ruby, giving the little tree a most attractive 

 variety of tone and texture. Both these trees experience an 

 ecstatic blossoming in April — just a moment when they 

 stand arrayed, as for some mystic festival, before the warm 

 leafage claims the twigs and branches. We plant Crocuses 

 beneath them to make a picture with the blossoms, and later 

 when the rich foliage has developed we love to see gay pink 

 and cherry coloured Tulips streaming away from beneath the 

 shadowing branches. 



In my own garden a Dorothy Perkins Rose climbs the 

 wall beside my group of Purple Plum-trees and throws its 

 great trusses of pink blossoms across the purple branches 

 with fine effect. 



The purple Barberry (Berberis vulgaris foliis purpureis) 

 is a handsome shrub. I like to see it well massed as a fore- 

 ground for a group of Paul's Scarlet Thorn, with clumps of 

 Tulip, Pride of Haarlem or Clara Butt, set against its 

 richly sombre foliage. In the garden borders it is very 



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