LANDSCAPE GARDENING STUDIES 



The only safe test for the hardiness of a plant 

 is its behavior in any locality for a long period of 

 years. Even then one will be surprised to see 

 a kind, always deemed hardy, fail in an apparently 

 well-protected place, while in another specially 

 bleak spot a comparatively tender variety vdll 

 astonish us by thriving. What is the deduction 

 from this somewhat baffling experience.-' Simply 

 that the behavior of the different kinds should 

 be studied throughout ten, fifteen, or twenty 

 years in several adjacent localities with different 

 exposures. 



From the notes obtained ia this way a general 

 average of excellence is established. This kind 

 of scientific observation has been going on for 

 at least twenty years in at least one or two places 

 in America, with the result that the whole body 

 of rhododendron-growers has been thereby greatly 

 enlightened. 



Some of the hardiest and best kinds have been 

 produced in America from the selection of good 

 seedlings. 



The so-called process of hybridizing as applied 

 to rhododendrons in most cases is really not 

 hybridizing at all, but a development from repeated 

 selection from a multitude of seedlings of individ- 

 ual plants showing excellent qualities or marked 

 characteristics and repeating the process for 

 several generations. 



A list of hardy rhododendrons suited to the 

 climate of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia 

 will be found in this chapter. The list may seem 



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