192 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



introduced in 1857. The flowers of this form are 

 large, pink, and very freely produced on the naked 

 twigs. More beautiful, however, is the type with its 

 wealth of purest pink, single flowers. This wild 

 form was sent from Peking to the Arnold Arboretum 

 by Dr. E. Bretschneider in 1882, but is much too 

 rarely seen in gardens. 



Among spring-flowering shrubs yellow is a com- 

 mon color but in none is it purer or more vivid than 

 in the Chinese Forsythias or Golden Bells. These 

 lovely shrubs are universal favorites in northern 

 lands and well do they deserve the honor. Of the two 

 species (Forsythia suspensa and F. viridissima) , the older 

 and better known in gardens is F. suspensa, with its 

 abundant clear yellow bells ; but better than either is the 

 hybrid between them (F. intermedia), which has larger 

 and richer colored flowers. There are several other hy- 

 brids and forms, all of them valuable garden plants, but 

 the finest is the form spectabilis. These Forsythias are 

 strong-growing shrubs, with arching pendent branches 

 which overlap one another and form an impenetrable 

 tangled mass. They are sun- and loam-loving plants 

 and are seen to best advantage when planted where 

 they have lots of room, and preferably on a slope, 

 where they may develop unmolested. On such a 

 slope in the Arnold Arboretum there is a tangle of 



