OENAMENTAL SHRUBS AND TREES. 
3 
tion that some writer better acquainted with these south-west country plants 
should follow with a paper upon them for some future R.H.S. meeting. 
As to nomenclature I have folio wed the usual names which obtain in 
"business, and by which they are most commonly known. English names 
•are given to the popular varieties, and a short, if somewhat curt and incom- 
plete, description is given of the most striking. My paper being compiled 
rather for the amateur than the professional, many difficult plants to 
•manage are left out purposely. A few suggestions for grouping will be 
found at the end. It must be borne in mind that although the various 
subjects are only once mentioned, many remain in flower for several 
months. For example, the Gorse is seldom without blossom, but to 
•curtail space they are not repeated. 
December, January, February.— In the uncertain weather which 
prevails in the above months it will be best for our purpose to take them 
together, as in a mild season shrubs Vv'hich naturally blossom in the latter 
are often found in flower in the former month. We have Garrya elliptica, 
with its rich green foliage and long pendent catkins ; fine as a shrub, and 
in colder climates worthy of a wall. Hammamelis arborea, or Witch 
Hazel, with its curiously twisted orange flowers, is weird and conspicuous. 
The Mezereums, both red and white, are most effective when massed 
■and, like most of the Daphnes, eminent for perfume. The beautiful 
flowers of the new Amygdalus (or Prunus) Davidiana often open in 
mild weather. The white one is particularly fine, and its pale green 
foliage is striking in summer. On walls we get the spicy-scented flowers 
of the Calycanthus or Chimonanthus fragrans, from which the scent 
^* Ylang Ylang " is formed. Though a dull orange-brown colour, their 
perfume is delicious ; and when the flowers are plucked and placed in a 
bowl the warmth of a room brings out the scent. Unfortunately the 
growth does not allow of sprays being used. Its large Peach-like leaves 
are a fine contrast to other wall plants in summer. The ever-welcome 
Laurustinus, both the species and the varieties ' hirsutus ' and 'lucidus,' 
a^re grand in the shrubbery, while as a carpet plant few can equal the 
profuse -flowering Erica carnea (or herbacea), which brightens our gardens 
in the dullest of months. The yellow Jasminum nudiflorum will often 
succeed as a shrub. It is also during the wintry weather that one 
appreciates the rich colour of the stems of the Red Dogwood (Cornus 
alba), which in masses is very conspicuous. The little-known Larix 
leptolepis is also to be commended for its warm colouring when the 
tender green foliage is shed. Cornus mascula variegata exhibits its yellow 
flowers in February, which, though small in themselves, are very abundant, 
and light up the shrubbery, while the silvery variegation comes in later 
in the year. 
In March vegetation is very feeble as a rule, and we live, as it were, 
more on promise than in realisation and fulfilment. Possibly the only 
flowering trees are the Myrobalan Plums (Prunus cerasifera), of which 
we have the white-flowered, producing both red and yellow fruits, and 
we welcome its snowy blossoms as a foretaste of spring. The Japanese 
kinds, as P. Mume, double and single red, have not yet shown to advantage. 
Trees are yet small, and the frosts being most severe next the soil, the 
precocious blossoms sufler, but in themselves they are very charming. 
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