A GARDEN NOTE-BOOK 



when the color of trees large and small changes 

 with the uprunning of the sap; when the swamps 

 are encarnadined with dogwood stems.' 



Now with this renaissance, with this renewal, 

 how can we who garden fail to put forth a welcom- 

 ing hand to what is new in our own province ? New 

 plants, new flowers, new shrubs, new trees. We 

 are as sheep-like in horticulture as we are in dress. 

 No sooner does one town cover itself with Spircea 

 VanhouUei as with a garment, than another fol- 

 lows suit. In consequence, and even in these 

 enlightened days, the American May and June in 

 many localities have taken on a shroudlike pallor 

 of dead-white bloom. I know the value of this 

 shrub. I can fancy the furore which must have 

 followed its arrival and distribution in this coun- 

 try, but we have too much of it. So, too, with 

 the two barberries, vulgaris and Thunhergii. Our 

 suburbs and larger and smaller towns deserve such 

 names as Spireatown, Barberryville. And the 

 monotony is inexcusable now, for every list con- 

 tains beautiful variants on these shrubs and on 

 others, such as syringa, philadelphus, hydrangea, 

 lonicera, so lovely, so unusual in beauty, and so 

 new that the variety we need to save us is not 

 only here but of the highest possible interest and 



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