CASSELL'S 



Popular Gardening. 



TEEES AND SHKTTBS. 



By George Nicholson. 



- JWf N these articles it is 

 intended to give a 

 series of notes on 

 the more note- 

 worthy trees and 

 shruhs suitable for 

 open - air cultiva- 

 tion in the British 

 Islands. No plant 

 will be included 

 simply because it 

 is new or rare, and 

 only those which 

 can be safely recom- 

 mended for general cul- 

 tivation will be mentioned. 

 Those who have given the sub- 

 ject their study cannot fail to 

 be impressed with the wealth of mate- 

 rial which is neglected by so many 

 tree - planters ; in comparatively few 

 places do we find anything like a collection of trees 

 and shrubs. Everywhere we meet with the Common 

 and Portugal Laurels, Box, Laurustinus, &c, and yet 

 there are numbers of plants equally deserving of culti- 

 vation, which by their foliage or flower would add an 

 additional charm to many an English garden, if only 

 their proprietors could be induced to cease from 

 continuously ringing the changes on the old well- 

 known favourites, and to try others, less familiar it 

 may be, but equally meritorious. Amongst deci- 

 duous trees much may be done to beautify the park 

 and pleasure-ground by judiciously planting a selec- 

 tion of the less-known hardy species ; some of these 

 73 



are superior in general effect to most of those which 

 are met with every day. Variations in habit, in the 

 form and colour of the leaves — both in a young 

 state and during decay in autumn — are endless, and 

 with but little trouble charming combinations, and 

 fine permanent, as well as novel effects, could be 

 created. No scientific classification or sequence 

 will be followed ; the plan here adopted is to com- 

 press into the space at command a series of the best 

 conifers, deciduous and evergreen flowering trees 

 and shrubs. Where many species are mentioned 

 they will, for convenience of reference, be ar- 

 ranged alphabetically, and a short paragraph given 

 to each. 



The Acers [Maples). — Amongst the numerous 

 genera which are laid under contribution for the de- 

 coration of English parks and gardens, not one affords 

 a greater proportion of thoroughly desirable hardy 

 ornamental trees and shrubs than Acer. Not a few 

 are well known, and deservedly occupy a high rank 

 in the estimation of the landscape gardener ; among 

 those mentioned below, however, are many which 

 are equally as ornamental as the commoner kinds, 

 and in some respects superior to them. The genus 

 Acer contains about fifty species, and is distributed 

 throughout Europe, North Asia, North America, 

 Java, and the Himalayas. Those from the two last- 

 mentioned regions are not hardy in this country ; 

 although some of the species from the Himalayas 

 have to bear in their native habitats much more cold 

 than they would ever experience in Britain, they, 

 as a rule, commence to grow too soon in this coun- 

 try, and the late spring frosts prove too much for 

 the young tender shoots. For the purpose of the 

 general planter, then, it is intended to omit all men- 

 tion of the species hailing from the regions in ques- 

 tion, and to confine ourselves to those on which 



