ON TREES AND SHRUBS. 



357 



flowers in spring and summer, or their foliage in autumn, when 

 Nature paints them with crimson, brown, yellow, and other rich 

 tints. We may select from among the ornamental Plums, 

 Deutzias, Mock Oranges, the sea-loving Escallonias, Cytisus, 

 Berberis, Diervillas, Olearias, Spiraeas, Kalmias, Azaleas, and 

 many others, the individual requirements of which we have con- 

 sidered under their proper headings. But variety is useless if 

 good taste is wanting. A common shrubbery is usually a place 

 in which beautiful things are crowded together without reason, 

 throttling each other in their endeavours to reveal their true 

 characters. The cultivator's aim should be to let everything in 

 the garden tell its own tale, and he should never forget that 

 in bold grouping the most artistic picture is secured. It is 

 colour-effect that the planter should most think of, avoiding 

 unpleasant contrasts. We have often wondered that the majority 

 of gardeners and others have never dipped more deeply into the 

 rich store-house of trees and shrubs, but have confined them- 

 selves to a few kinds, which one wearies of because so frequently 

 repeated. One misses the variety that a good selection gives, 

 not only in form, but also in colouring, from the silvery-grey of 

 the Willow, through shades of green, to even the deepest 

 purple ; while, in the form of the leaf, we see the same wonder- 

 ful range. 



Amongst deciduous kinds for winter effect we would specially 

 mention the yellow-stemmed Willows and Ash, the red- 

 barked Cornus, Willow, and Berberis, the silver-barked Birch, 

 Rubus (Bramble), and in a less degree the silvery Poplar and 

 the native Sea Buckthorn. The Alders, Willows, and Nuts are 

 also effective, because of the freedom with which their elegant 

 catkins are borne on the leafless branches. 



Of trees and shrubs that blossom during the winter the 

 following are specially meritorious : A good-sized plant of 

 Chimo?ia7itJms fragrans (Winter Sweet), with its deliciously- 

 scented blossoms, is always welcome in December ; while the 

 elegant and pendulous catkins of Garry a elHptica, borne at the 

 tips of the evergreen shoots, the fragrant Lonicera Sta?idishii, 

 Arbutus (Strawberry Tree) of sorts, and the naked - flowered 

 Jasmine {Jasminu?}i nudifioruni) are of great value at this season. 

 The deciduous Daphne {D. Mezereum), with its white- and pink- 

 flowered varieties, Haniamelis arborea (Japanese Witch Hazel), 

 Viburnum Tinus (Laurustinus), the white- and pink-blossomed 

 Heaths {Erica carnea and E. c. a/ba), as well as Berberis 



