22 PH Hw GA ROD) BN aie As Cran Zale Ne 
FEBRUARY, 1916 
typical form is a 
large bush or low 
tree, but the nor- 
thern form (var. 
borealis) is a 
shapely tree sixty 
to seventy-five feet 
tall with a smooth 
trunk six feet in 
girth. This va- 
riety, borealis, was 
introduced in 1876, 
by Professor W.S. 
Clark and trees 
yaised from the 
original seeds are 
now thirty feet tall 
and have broad 
pyramidate crowns. 
ie flowered for the 
first time in culti- 
vation in April, 
1899, in the garden 
of Professor C. S. 
Sargent, Brookline, 
Mass., but the blos- 
soms were sparse. 
Insubsequent years 
it has flowered in 
many gardens and 
much more profusely, and it is the most free- 
growing of all members of its group. The pure 
white cup-shaped blooms are smaller than those 
of the Yulan. There are other species of Mag- 
nolia which flower on the naked twigs, but of 
these two only are in cultivation and only one, 
the Himalayan M. Oampbellii, has blossomed. 
This has rose-colored flowers and is one of the 
most gorgeous of all flowering trees but, unfor- 
tunately, it is less hardy than any other mem- 
ber of its group. : d 
Magnolias grow naturally in moist, rich 
woods and, although they will withstand con- 
siderable hardship and abuse, the best results 
are obtained when they are protected from 
strong winds and are planted in deep soil rich 
in humus. In northern gardens the best time 
to transplant Magnolias is late in the spring. 
They may also be moved successfully about the 
end of August or beginning of September, but 
at either season they must not be allowed to 
suffer from lack of water and it is advisable to 
mulch them with well-decayed manure. 
japonica) opens its 
flowers in January 
FOR SOUTHERN GARDENS 
A favorite shrub in the gardens of China and 
Japan is the La-mei-hwa, widely known as 
Chimonanthus fragrans but correctly as Me- 
ratia praecoz. This plant has fragrant, pale 
yellow, saucer-shaped flowers stained with 
wine-color at the base, and these are freely 
borne on the naked shoots. It is not hardy in 
New England, but south of Washington, D. C., 
it thrives. Like many other plants cultivated 
in Chinese and Japanese gardens, this shrub is 
native of central China where it grows nat- 
urally on cliffs and in rocky places. 
For gardens south of Philadelphia the ram- 
bling Jasminum nudifloruwm, with clear yellow 
flowers on naked shoots, is a lovely old plant. 
It is a native of northern China where it is also 
frequently cultivated, and is one of the plants 
we owe to the labors of Robert Fortune, who 
sent it to the Royal Horticultural Society in 
1844, 
CHERRIES, PEACHES, ETC. 
In China and Japan, except the colder parts, 
the first flowers to open on deciduous trees are 
those of the Ume (Prunus mume), generally 
known as the Japanese Apricot, and those fa- 
miliar with the porcelains of the Far East will 
appreciate it as the Plumblossom so often 
employed in design. This plant is wild in cen- 
tral and western China, but it has been culti- 
vated in all but the colder parts of that land 
from time immemorial and was from China in- 
troduced to Japan by Buddhist priests more 
than one thousand years ago. 
In Tokyo and many other places in Japan 
there are famous “Plum Gardens” which are a 
source of great attraction when the trees are 
in blossom. At the village of Tsuki-gase, some 
twenty-five miles from the old eighth century 
capital of Nara, there is a line of Ume trees 
for upward of two miles alongside a small 
stream. The delicately fragrant flowers are 
white, pink or even deep rose, and are either 
Japanese Witch Hazel (Hamamelis 
eanary yellow 
Common Witch Hazel (H. virgin- 
iana) opens its yellow flowers as the 
leaves drop in December 
single or double; the shoots are smooth and 
green and the leaves roundish and light green 
in color. Normally it is a low bushy tree some 
twelve to fifteen feet tall, with a thin trunk 
and spreading branches; but under cultivation, 
forms have originated in which the branches 
are pendent or quite erect (fastigiate). 
In both China and Japan it is much grown in 
ots as a dwarfed bush and in this condition 
owers profusely. Cut branches with flowers 
are abundantly used for house decoration—so 
much s0, in fact, that it is safe to say that in 
season where it is grown in China and Japan 
no temple, shrine or dwelling, be it castle, 
alace or peasant’s hut, is without its sprig of 
me. Unfortunately, this plant is not hardy 
in the colder parts of North America, but south 
of Philadelphia it is not uncommon in gardens. 
Yet it deserves to be more widely known, and 
as a forcing shrub merits the attention of our 
florists. 
The common Peach (Prunus Persica) is 
native of central China and as bearing the 
finest of all the stone fruits needs no mention 
here. But cultivated in the gardens of China 
and Japan are a number of varieties with 
large and double flowers, in white, pink, rose- 
red, and bizarre and strikingly handsome. 
From time to time these have been introduced 
to our gardens, yet one rarely meets with them, 
beautiful though they are. The explanation is 
that, like the parent stock, they are short- 
lived trees; but they are readily renewed by 
budding or grafting and our nurserymen ought 
to be able to keep our gardens supplied. 
In addition to the common erat two other 
species grow wild in China. One of these 
(P. Davidiana) is confined to the northern 
parts of that country and in the Arnold Arbo- 
retum it is the first of its class to blossom. 
Often the flowers get damaged by frosts in the 
changeable: climate of New England. The tree 
is of slender growth with thin ascending- 
spreading branches, and there are two forms, 
one with white and another with pink blos- 
soms. The other species (P. mira) is a new 
discovery which I made in 1910, in the Chino- 
Thibetan borderland. The flowers are unknown 
to me but probably resemble those of the com- 
mon Peach: This new species is remarkable 
in having a very small, flattened-oval and 
perfectly smooth stone; its value, if any, as 
a new fruit tree has yet to be made known, 
but for the hybridist it certainly has attrac- 
tions. 
_ The common Apricot (Prunus Armeniaca), 
its specific name notwithstanding, is also 
native of northern China and, like its allies, 
is not only a valuable fruit tree but is likewise 
a handsome and ornamental flowering plant. 
This, too, has been long cultivated in the Far 
Hast, and in Japan varieties differing in habit 
and color of flowers, have originated. The type 
and its varieties are all very hardy and in New 
England gardens they are often cultivated 
under the erroneous name of P. muwme. 
In Japan this Apricot is known as Ansu and 
the fruit is pickled and is served as an appe- 
New native Witch Hazel (H. ver- 
nalis) opens its flowers in spring. 
It has hairy leaves 
tiser; but under 
the same name the 
Japanese cultivate 
another species (P. 
ansu), which is 
distinguished by 
the blade of the 
leaf tapering to a 
narrow wedge at 
the base. This spe- 
cies is native of 
Korea and has as- 
cending - spreading 
branches and rigi 
shoots. In Japan 
forms with single 
and double white 
and pink flowers 
are grown. 
In Mandshuria a 
third species of 
Apricot (P. mand- 
schurica) grows 
wild. This tree is 
distinct, with its 
light gray rather 
scaly bark, wide- 
spreading crown 
and spiny inner 
branches. The 
flowers are large, white or nearly so. 
Of Cherries proper I hope to write next 
month, but of several cognate plants it is con- 
venient to speak here. All are twiggy bushes 
of rather low stature, are natives of China, and 
are among the earliest of all shrubs to blossom. 
Two of these (Prunus japonica and P. glandu- 
losa) are very doubtfully distinct as species, 
but the leaves are much broader in P. japonica, 
and rounded and somewhat heart-shaped at the 
base, whereas in P. glandulosa they are nar- 
rowed at the base. Both are twiggy shrubs 
three to five feet high, and there are forms 
with white, pink and single or double flowers. 
They are old inhabitants of our gardens and 
have long been cultivated in Japan but are not 
native of that country. In northern and .cen- 
tral China they are common wild plants, and so, 
too, is P. tomentosa, also commonly cultivated 
in Japan but not indigenous there. This, like- 
wise, is a fairly old denizen of western gardens. 
It is a spreading, extremely hardy shrub of 
moderate height and has red flower-stalks and 
calyx and pure white petals which are pink in 
bud. The short-stalked, Cherry-like fruit is 
scarlet, ripens in June, and is very palatable. 
The last of the Prunus I shall mention and 
the most beautiful of the four is P. triloba, 
also a native of northern China. The double 
form (plena) is commonly cultivated in 
Peking gardens and is a general favorite in 
western gardens to which it was introduced in 
1857. The flowers of this form are large, pink 
and very freely produced on the naked twigs. 
More beautiful, Homers is the type with its 
wealth of purest pink, single flowers. This 
wild form was sent from Peking to the Arnold 
Arboretum by Dr. Bretschneider in 1882, but 
is much too rarely seen in gardens. 
THE SHOWY GOLDEN BELLS 
Among spring-flowering shrubs yellow is a 
common color but in none is it purer or more 
vivid than in the Chinese Forsythias or Golden 
Bells. These lovely shrubs are universal favor- 
ites in northern lands and well do they deserve 
the honor. Of the two species (F. suspensa 
and F. viridissima), the silent and best known 
in gardens is F. suspensa, with its abun- 
dant clear yellow bells; but better than either 
is the hybrid between them (F. intermedia), 
which has larger and richer colored flowers. 
There are several other hybrids and forms, all 
of them valuable garden plants. These For- 
sythias are all strong growing shrubs, with 
arching pendent branches which overlap one 
another and form an impenetrable tangled 
mass. They are sun and loam loving plants 
and are seen to best advantage when planted 
where they have lots of room, and preferably 
on a slope, where they may develop unmolested. 
On such a slope in the Arnold Arboretum there 
is a tangle of Forsythias some seventy-five feet 
long and as much through and, as a feast of 
color and beauty in Spring, is worth coming a 
long, long way to view. Any pruning con- 
sidered necessary should be done immediately 
the flowers have fallen and, incidentally, this 
