RARE SHRUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 



361 



rounder leaflets and bears its fruit at the end of the branches. Both 

 shrubs are distinct in appearance and are worth growing. 



Nandina domes tica. — This is one of the many attractive shrubs 

 which we owe to Japan. The young growth is red and amber in colour, 

 and the white flowers, with yellow centre, appear in September ; it is, 

 unfortunately, rather tender, and, though it has lived with us a good 

 many years, I cannot pretend that it shows any great vigour. 



Microglossa albescens (Amphiraphis albescens) bears its aster-like 

 flowers freely about the middle of July, and seems quite hardy. 



Nesaea salicifolia is a small-leaved, deciduous shrub, covered with 

 bright little yellow flowers in October, a time of year when any 

 flowering shrub is precious. It really looks superficially much more 

 like a Hypericum than a pomegranate, to which last it is closely allied. 



Caragana jubata bears a pretty, clear white pea-flower in May, and 

 again in August, whilst in winter the rich chocolate-coloured pendent 

 twigs, covered with grey hairs, give it a very curious and striking 

 appearance. G. Chamlagu has showy yellow flowers in May. I find the 

 pendulous form of the old C. arborescens, C. aurantiaca, C. pijgmaea 

 (C. gracilis), and C. microphylla all worth a place ; they should be 

 grown as half-standards, and are common enough in Continental gardens, 

 though but seldom seen in England. 



Chamaebatia foliolosa has deeply cut leaves and white flowers, 

 resembling some of the Spiraeas ; it is a decorative plant, and comes 

 from California, but is, alas ! none too hardy. 



Of the Buddleias, which belong to the same family as the beautiful 

 Desfontainea spinosa (a plant unfortunately too tender for anywhere 

 north of London), we have, besides the old-fashioned B. globosa, 

 B. variabilis Veitchii, a decided improvement in colour on the type, and 

 B. Helmsleyana, a novelty in which I can detect no advantage over 

 B. variabilis. The lovely B. Colvillei, whose red flowers adorn Italian 

 gardens, requires a more favoured climate than ours. 



Exochorda Alberti has proved too shy a flowerer for me to be able 

 to recommend it ; the variety E. Alberti macrantha is said to be superior 

 in this respect, though I cannot vouch for it, but we have made a large 

 and successful use of the better known E. grandiflora, which, if planted 

 in quantity, makes a very fine effect in May. 



I must now bring this long list to an end for very shame, and not 

 because I have exhausted the number of shrubs which we grow. I do 

 not suppose that such a lecture, given by a man without botanical 

 knowledge, can be of much value, though it may be of some interest to 

 amateur cultivators and collectors, like myself, and be something of a 

 guide to them when giving their orders to nurserymen. I can fairly 

 claim that almost every opinion expressed is the result of personal 

 observation of growing plants, and that there has been no "cribbing" 

 from books or reports at secondhand of what I myself have never seen. 



It will be observed that I have not confined myself, in mentioning 

 rarities, only to those which, in my judgment, are worth growing, for 

 it may be just as useful to a collector who is examining a catalogue 

 and contemplating giving orders to learn that I don't think, say, 

 Neviusia alabamensis or Forestiera acuminata are particularly orna- 



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