180 GARDENS OF ENGLAND 



hedgerows, and winter without the green of the 

 mosses and the grey trunks of forest and woodland 

 trees — this would be a sorry land. One season 

 may appeal more to one than another, but autumn 

 is the season of colour. There is the scarlet of the 

 d,mpelopsis, the startling crimson of the Japanese 

 vines, and the intense vermilion, one may almost 

 call it, of Berberis Thunbergi, which possesses so 

 rich an autumn beauty that on some estates it has 

 been largely planted, partly for covert, but also for 

 the wondrous colouring of the foliage. Berberis 

 Aquifolium, the taller American vacciniums, Spircea 

 Thunbergi, the witch-hazels — their beautiful autumn 

 colouring soon to be followed by flowers which 

 seem to bring winter to the lap of spring — the 

 hazel, and native Guelder rose {Viburnum Opulus). 

 The native* Guelder rose appears to be to many 

 a shrub of small importance, perhaps from the fact 

 that it is a " native," but no shrub imparts greater 

 splendour in autumn to lake or river side than this 

 species of viburnum. Its leaves turn a glorious 

 crimson, but the fruits are red too, a mingling of 

 colours in perfect harmony and creating effects 

 undreamed of by those who only know it as a 

 wilding, and the berries are not eaten by birds — at 

 least that is my experience, but birds are flckle. 



