RARE SHRUBS FOR DECORATIVE 

 PLANTING 



By Willard X. Clute. 



T^LAXTIXG time is again approaching. We do not now re- 

 fer to spring, with its strenuous hours devoted to getting 

 the seeds of both food and floAvering plants into the soil, but to • 

 that more leisurely season. Autumn, when man is less busily 

 employed and nature is doing the planting. In the case of all 

 but our cultivated plants, autumn, instead of spring, is the true 

 planting season, and even among the cultivated species there 

 are some that must be planted in the fah to produce satisfactory 

 results. The autumn seed-bed is a recognized fixture with 

 amateur gardners. 



Important as autumn planting is, it is overshadowed by 

 autumn transplanting, which, after all. is only another kind of 

 planting. At this season nearly all kinds of plants can be 

 moved with the least possible risk. The leaves, if they have 

 not already been shed, are being slowly cut off by the plant and 

 in the soil the roothairs are ceasing to function. The plants 

 are preparing for a dormant period, and a change in location 

 affects them but little. The principal danger is that if they are 

 carelessly transplanted, they may not become settled in their 

 new situation before freezing Aveather sets in and so may be 

 harmed by the alternate freezing and thaAving. It should be 

 more generally known that it is not cold itself, that harms most 

 plants; it is the heaving of the plants by the frost and the 

 consequent breaking of the roots that causes the mischief. If 



