Trees That Are Loved for Their Flowers, I.—By P. J. Berckmans, «= 
THE FIFTH ARTICLE IN A SERIES OF MEMOIRS BY THE DEAN OF AMERICAN POMOLOGY AND OF SOUTHERN FLORI- 
CULTURE IN WHICH HE TELLS OF HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN THE INTRODUCTION OF MANY NEW PLANTS 
[Eprror’s Norr:—This article has aroused enthusiastic admiration in all parts of the country. The first article, “ The Best Hedge Plants South and North ” appeared in 
November, 1907. In subsequent months, Mr. Berckmans gave wonderfully lurid accounts of the pine, spruce, fir, yew, cedar, cypress, arborvite and araucaria types. 
portion of this article, dealing with the larger and more striking flowers, appeared in THe Garpen Macazine for July-| 
Wie the flowers in this group are usually 
less than an inch in diameter, but they 
are either borne in large clusters or abundantly 
enough to make the whole tree conspicuous. 
The snowdrop tree is the most exquisite of the 
small flowered kinds (/Hulesia t:traptera) 
The first three are legumes with pea-shaped 
flowers. 
In March (in the South) our native red- 
bud, or Judas tree (Cercis Canadensis), opens 
its deep-pink colored flowers, which appear 
before the leaves, lining the branches, often 
seeming to come out of the bark of the 
main limbs. The European redbud (Cercis 
siliquastrum) has somewhat larger and darker 
flowers. The form with white flowers is 
slower growing and dwarfer. Redbuds have 
handsome heart-shaped leaves. 
In May, comes the rose acacia (Robinia 
hispida) with its lovely rose blossoms. 
The only fault of this plant is that it tends 
to spread too fast by the root when allowed 
to grow in its natural condition when it 
makes a bush two to 
~ eight feet high. It is, 
therefore, commonly 
- grafted upon the yel- 
low locust with an 
eight or ten foot stem. 
It grows wild from 
Virginia to Georgia 
in the mountains and has 
attractive leaves composed 
of nine to thirteen leaflets. 
The loveliest yellow- 
flowered tree of the pea 
family is the golden chain or 
bean tree of Europe (Laburnum 
vulgare or Cytisus Laburnum), 
which bears in May or June 
its penduluous racemes, often 
eight inches long. It does quite 
well in New England, but does 
not succeed below Virginia. It 
attains a height of twenty feet and has 
a wayward growth that some people do 
not like. When out of flower it can 
usually be recognized by its three leaflets. 
In the lower South the Acacia Farnesiana 
has found a suitable climate. It is valuable 
for the profusion of its small golden-yellow 
globular flowers, which emit a delightful vio- 
let fragrance. These flowers are often used 
for making a substitute for violet water by 
perfumers. The plant seldom grows more 
than ten feet in height, is deciduous and 
flowers during early spring. It is known 
locally as popine, opopanax, cassie and 
Florida bean. It is not hardy north of lower 
Georgia. 
Our southern climate is unsuited to that 
beautiful red-berry bearing tree, which is so 
valuable North, the mountain ash (Sorbus 
The first 
Aucuparia), which will not succeed outside 
of the mountain regions. 
The horse chestnut (4sculus hippocas- 
tanum) ought to be considered a flowering 
tree rather than a shade tree. Its shade is 
too dense for streets. Few people realize the 
beauty of its flowers, their complicate form 
and marking. ‘They are borne in stately 
pyramidal clusters a foot high. ‘This Asian 
- tree does well only in the middle and northern 
sections of the United States. ‘There are 
many forms in cultivation, single and 
double, red, white, and pale yellow. The 
forms usually grow to a smaller size than 
the single white type, which often attains a 
height of fifty feet. ‘They mostly bloom in 
June or a month later than the common 
kind. The native horse chestnut often 
attains a height of forty to fifty feet in the 
mountains of western North Carolina, but 
is worthless outside of these regions. 
The tallest member of the lilac family is 
the Japanese tree lilac (Syringa Japonica) 
which blooms in June and attains thirty 
feet in its native country. If planted 
singly and given ample space and rich soil, 
it often grows to be a medium-sized tree. 
Its yellowish white flowers open later than 
most of the Persian lilacs, and are produced 
in profusion, but their odor is not pleasant, 
being in this respect similar to the flowers of 
the privets. The tree resembles more a 
privet than a lilac. 
The most exquisite tree of the small- 
flowered group is the snowdrop or silver 
bell tree (Halesia tetraptera). ‘This tree is 
frequently found in mountain soils of 
western North Carolina where it grows to 
a height of forty feet. Outside of that region 
it is usually classed as a tall growing shrub, 
In May the rose acacia is conspicuous all through Virginia and Georgia. 
If on its own roots it spreads 
very fast 
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