SPRING -FLOWERING TREES AND SlIKUJIS. 



115 



be in the most select list ; and likewise the weeping variety of 

 the common Bird Cherry (G. Padus), which should always find 

 a place in a park or ornamental meadow ; while the list of select 

 Cherries might be extended to the North American Bird Cherries, 

 C. serotina and virginiana, both fine trees. The Judas tree 

 (Cercis Siliquastrum), of which some fine branches are before 

 me, is quite a neglected tree in modern gardens, yet everyone 

 admires the quaint old trees one sees in old gardens. It 

 has, moreover, a peculiar interest in having been one of the 

 earliest introduced trees from Southern Europe, having been a 

 favourite in English gardens since the time of Gerard in the 

 latter part of the sixteenth century. There is a very pale — - 

 almost white— variety of the Judas tree, but the Chinese and 

 Canadian species are inferior. 



The Thorns (Crat&gus) are most important flowering trees, 

 ail of small size, so that even a small garden may contain the best 

 kinds. Of the common Thorn there are numerous kinds, a few 

 of the best being the double scarlet (Paul's Scarlet Thorn), the 

 double white (multiplex), the single scarlet (punicca), the pink 

 (carminea), and the weeping white (pendula). What in a garden 

 can be more beautiful than a group of these Thorns on a lawn 

 by themselves, or rising out singly from a mass of evergreen 

 undergrowth ? 



Among other species of Crataegus desirable to have in a 

 choice selection would be G. coccinca (scarlet berries) tanaceti- 

 folia, Crus-Galli var. pyracanthifolia, orientalis, and cordata; 

 but the list might be extended to a dozen good kinds. 



The Brooms (Cytisus) include the favourite white Spanish 

 Broom, the common Broom w T ith its varieties, the white, and 

 Andreanus, which is shown here to-day for the first time, and is 

 the admiration of everyone (fig. 39, p. lix.). These early Brooms 

 are capital plants for clothing dry banks, and the group might be 

 made to include the beautiful kinds that flower tow r ards autumn. 

 The Daphne Mezereum, flowering as it does in winter and spring, 

 must not be excluded on any account, and a pretty group might 

 be made by the white and dark red (atro-rubrum) varieties. 

 The Deutzias, though they will not be in flower for a month, 

 must yet be in the list, particularly the double white D. crenata 

 florc-pleno and candidissima. Exoclwrda grajidijiora, now in 

 full beauty of bloom, has deservedly become a popular favourite 



