CHAPTER XIII 
SHRUBS IN THE FLOWER GARDEN 
Most of the old-time flower gardens of the 
northeastern part of the United States had at least a 
shrub or two—with others so near as to give them 
an air of relationship. Flowers were flowers in 
those days; little time was spent in botanical dif- 
ferentiation of the source. 
One such garden scarcely would be discoverable 
today were it not for the surviving shrubs. Turf- 
grown paths, with but a ragged remnant of the 
box that once lined them, are arched with great 
bush honeysuckles; a double yellow “wallflower” 
struggles for bare existence in the shade of a rank 
old “syringa,” cinnamon roses run wild and a 
flowering almond is a mere ghost of its former 
glory. What few perennials remain are straggling 
remnants of hardy races that even neglect finds 
it difficult to kill. 
The old idea is every whit as good today. Why 
look upon shrubs, or trees, as something quite 
separable from the garden? If only as a 
background, some of them almost always come 
into the picture anyway; when shut out of a 
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