1 6 THE BOOK OF THE WINTER GARDEN 



IS rather less. These shrubs are very useful for cutting, 

 a few sprays scenting any room. 



Honeysuckles 



at once suggest fragrance, and also climbers, which the 

 winter flowering Lofjicera Standishi and L, fragrantissima 

 are not. Their shrubby habit is nearer that of a Diervilla 

 (JVeigelia), Like those shrubs they require little pruning, 

 only the removal of weak shoots after flowering, at 

 which time cuttings of half ripened shoots will root 

 freely if inserted in greenhouse cases. The pale cream 

 flowers of these erect, growing, branched honeysuckles 

 are of little use for cutting, as they soon fall, and being 

 fragile the plants demand a sheltered wall in most places. 

 Like so many of our winter flowering shrubs, they occur 

 wild, or in a savage state, as a Frenchman would say, 

 in China. 



FORSYTHIA SUSPENSA 



also F. viridissima, are very fine shrubs, flowering from 

 February well into spring. The shoots are pendulous, 

 the flowers large and jasmine like. Very vigorous, but 

 usually not the earliest of winter shrubs. The flowered 

 shoots should be cut back in April to within an inch of 

 the older shoots. There is a hybrid between the two, 

 also a European species, both little known. 



Catkins 



render such trees as the hazel and alders of much 

 interest during the early months. The fertile flowers 

 of the former are small and crimson, easily escaping 

 observation. Of willows, Sa/ix daphnites has graceful 

 silvery catkins, and others are also noticeable, not the 

 least being S. caprea, the male flowers forming the showier 



