30 THE LITTLE GARDEN 



and for certain purposes, it had attained a height of eight to ten 

 feet. I then tried the experiment along both sides of a short walk 

 on our own place, and found it eminently satisfactory. There is a 

 time in late May when this shrub, of enormous vitality, will 

 bloom. It flowers whitely within its clipped sides, and the effect 

 for a week is really funny; for these imprisoned flower-panicles 

 seem to say, "What you do with shears matters not to us — we 

 flower in our recesses in spite of what goes on outside! " What a 

 delight to find a new, practical and beautiful use for Spirea Van- 

 houtteii, of whose common presence below porches and along 

 foimdation lines of houses many suburbs and towns are im- 

 doubtedly weary. In the case of my two short hedges of this 

 shrub, it happens that only the sides toward the walk are trimmed, 

 and the top, which is trimmed square. On the sides of the hedge 

 away from the walk, the spirea boughs are allowed their own 

 way, and spray out over and between quantities of peonies, in a 

 thoroughly graceful and satisfying manner. These spireas we 

 planted a foot apart, in a line — the best method for all decidu- 

 ous plants for hedges. They were set when two feet high. For 

 the evergreen or non-deciduous hedge, I prefer always American 

 arbor-vitse, when it can be had. But it is very costly, and its 

 life is a bit precarious in certain soils and dimates. Box is, of 

 course, the material for southern climates; but box too is costly, 

 and sometimes fitful in behavior. 



A combination of two, large shrubs exceptionally good is bush 

 honeysuckle {Lonicera bella albida) for the back of a planting, 

 and Spirea prunifolia before it; for another equally fine, — and 

 I have seen these growing superbly among, yes, actually among 

 the roots of a great ash tree, — use philadelphus, one of the tall 

 varieties like grandiflora, and Forsythia suspensa, or an upright 

 variety of the latter. A beautiful willow sometimes grown in 

 shrub form is Salix pentandra, with its shining dark leaf; the 



