Flowering Shrubs from April to November— By Leonard Barron 



SEVEN BUSHES THAT WILL GROW ANYWHERE AND WILL FILL OUT 

 THE BIG GAPS THAT ORDINARILY OCCUR IN MIDSUMMER AND FALL 



New 

 York 



IT I S a perfectly easy matter to have flowers 

 in the shrub garden for seven months of 

 the year. Here for example is a list of seven 

 shrubs or small trees that will maintain a con- 

 tinuous performance of bloom from frost to 

 frost: Forsyth ia, lilac, deutzia, spirea, smoke 

 bush, hydrangea, and witch-hazel. All are 

 well-known shrubs that can be had from any 

 nurseryman. They will grow in any ordi- 

 nary garden soil, and are hardy in the New 

 York district. All are pictured here. 



APRIL — THE GOLDEN BELLS 



Although the fragrant yellow jasmin 

 (Jasminum nud.if.orum) may open its flowers 

 a few days earlier than the golden bells 

 (Forsythia) still it does not make so showy a 

 plant and the huge masses of bright yellow 

 blossoms that the golden hell bushes give in 

 the early spring are familiar to all. Almost 

 simultaneously with the returning warmth 

 of spring the shrubbery becomes aglow. I 

 do not know of a better shrub to plant in the 

 foreground of others than the drooping 

 golden bell (F. suspense,). Yet strangely 

 the one most commonly seen is the erect 

 (F. viridissima) which has the further disad- 

 vantage of being also less hardy in the ex- 

 treme North. The drooping golden bell 

 makes a very graceful shrub in a very short 

 time and its willowy branches, sometimes 

 eight feet long, are studded with the large 

 flowers from end to end. It can be used as a 

 vine to cover up to a height of eight feet 

 which it will attain in the course of three 

 years from the cutting in any good soil. If 

 you want an upright golden bell plant that 



known as Fortune's (F. suspense., var. 

 Fortunei); a smaller growing one is F. sus- 

 pense, var. Sicboldi, which also has more 

 slender branches and is suitable for small 

 gardens and places where there is not room 

 for free growth. 



MAY — THE LILACS 



The common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is 

 the most characteristic flowering shrub of the 

 month of May: Of recent years there have 

 been so many improved varieties introduced 

 that the old fashioned flower is in danger of 

 being eclipsed. Yet it is not surpassed in 

 profusion of bloom nor in the delightful fra- 

 grance. This is the, best lilac for ordinary 

 planting and is exempt from the attacks of 

 borers — but it is a welcome home for the 

 scale! One thing that must be done to keep 

 lilacs with a decent appearance is to cutout 

 all weak growths that spring up from the base. 

 This is one of the troubles with this delightful 

 flowering shrub and results in the develop- 

 ment of a tall plant all open at the base and 

 bearing its flowers up on top away out of 

 reach. Remove the old flower-clusters as 

 soon as the season's bloom is past and never 

 prune in the winter — that is don't cut back 

 the shoots then because the next season's 

 crop of flowers appears on the shoots that 

 will be made this summer. Lilac bushes 

 grow rapidly for the first six years, and after- 

 ward add about one foot each year until the 

 height of about twelve feet is attained. If 

 planted at the back of the shrubbery they 

 may be allowed to develop in their own way 

 as the lower part will be hidden by the fore- 



ground plantings of smaller growing things. 

 Here are some good varieties worth growing, 

 all newer hybrids of the old common lilac: 

 Marie Legraye (white) ; Jacques Callot (rosy 

 pink), remarkable for the very large flowers; 

 Ludwig Spath (dark purple-red). The best 

 doubles are probably Madame Lemoine 

 (white); Charles Joly (dark red). All the 

 varieties of the common lilac are best planted 

 in the fall, because they begin to grow so very 

 early in the year. There are several other 

 species which may be planted in the spring, 

 such as the Chinese (S. Chinensis), blooming 

 about the same time as the common one, 

 and is valuable because of the large size of its 

 flower- clusters; the Persian lilac (S. Persica) 

 growing only six feet high; and the Pekin 

 lilac (S. Pekinensis) growing fifteen feet high, 

 but it does not flower until June, so has not 

 a proper place in this discussion. The 

 lilacs are by all odds the best tall-growing 

 flowering shrubs. 



JUNE — THE SPIREAS 



A shrubbery-garden without some of the 

 host of spireas is hard to imagine. We simply 

 must have them. There are many to choose 

 from, but the one that is transcendently the 

 best is the bridal wreath (S. Van Houttei). 

 There is the more recent S. arguta which 

 some consider to be even more beautiful than 

 the former favorite. You will make no mis- 

 take in planting either or both these lovely 

 shrubs; or even 5. Thunbergii or 5. triloba. 

 All those named produce their immense 

 wreaths of snow-white flowers in May, 

 June or July. The one illustrated is the 





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April. The'first'showy spring flowers in the shrubbery are those of the golden bells (Forsythia suspense 

 and its varieties, Fortunei and Steboldi are the best). Will grow eight feet high in three years 



130 



In May, the common lilac (Syringa Vulgaris) andjts 

 varieties. Will reach a height of twelve feel j 



