SHRUBS FOR PLANTING 



excellencies of the group. As the summer moves on, 

 its great panicles of bloom turn to pastel pink, a pleas- 

 ing color. Later they take on tones of olive and a 

 dulled red which proclaims the first nip of Jack Frost. 



H. Hortensea otaksa is one of the varieties which is 

 familiarly seen in tubs and which sends forth either 

 pink or blue heads of flowers. For formal work and 

 the decoration of large estates, these particular hydran- 

 geas of Japanese origin are used most effectively. 

 They are under the ban of plants dominated by 

 fashion. One year at Newport they were seen, about 

 the lawns of many places, colored blue, another year 

 the mandate went forth that they should all occur in 

 pink. To color, indeed, they are not constant. This 

 kind of hydrangea, moreover, is not absolutely hardy, 

 requiring protection over the winter. 



It might almost be said that the season of flowering 

 shrubs ends when autumn touches the flowers of the 

 hardy hydrangeas, and that the eye must then turn 

 for satisfaction to shrubs of radiant autumn foliage. 

 The sumacs, of which none is finer than the stag's 

 horn, Rhus typhina, become, at this season, striking 

 individuals on account of their velvety, rich-toned 

 panicles of fruit and brilliant leaves. 



Rhus glabra laciniata, with its finely divided sprays 

 of foliage, is one of the best for forming large clumps, 

 and is more vividly red perhaps than the better known 

 species. 



Once, in the late autumn, I passed a meadow where 

 the sumacs reigned in unrivaled splendor. Through 

 the reds, the browns, the olive greens, and the vellows 



[71] 



