136 
ON PLANTING SHOWY SHRUBS IN MASSES. 
plant appear sooner than they would otherwise do, in consequence of the greater 
warmth to which they are subjected. Hence, they are exposed, at times, to a 
degree of injurious cold, which they would escape altogether were they standing 
where they did not receive such protection and stimulus. And this, besides being 
an argument in favour of the culture of this species as a pole-plant, or shrub, or 
trailer over rockwork, is a proof that it is hardy enough in itself when not arti- 
ficially excited. In fact, it seems to be fully as hardy as the common Laburnum. 
Were we to fill the whole of one of our Numbers with a dissertation on the 
merits of this plant, and the varied modes of growing it, and the ease with which 
the smallest cultivators may both obtain and manage it, we should not be able to 
do it justice. But we hope we have said enough to spread its cultivation to a far 
wider extent than it has hitherto reached, and to give it that diversity which is so 
essential to the production and maintenance of interest. 
ON PLANTING SHOWY SHRUBS IN MASSES. 
In the practice of landscape gardening, opinions are almost necessarily of a 
widely diversified character relative to points of detail ; most individuals having 
their own peculiar views as to the arrangement of those minor objects which 
constitute the several parts of a garden scene. And it is perhaps well that such 
is the case ; for, otherwise, we might be constantly burdened with that ceaseless 
uniformity which would disgust rather than please ; since, however excellent any 
particular style may be in itself, it always produces weariness if invariably carried 
out in precisely the same manner. 
The arrangement and grouping of trees and shrubs may be taken as an illus- 
tration of the circumstance to which we refer. Some professors have been strong 
advocates for the planting of these in beds or clumps, according to their natural 
relations; and others have so vividly perceived the objectionable nature of this 
plan, that they have perpetually adopted indiscriminate mixtures, for the sake of 
obtaining that variety of aspect which so much pleases the eye. A few, again, 
pressing the latter purpose still further, have practised the planting of single speci- 
mens to an extent which seems incompatible with any great and striking efi*ects. 
Now, while we by no means consider the collecting of shrubs and trees into 
families applicable as a general rule to ornamental gardening, inasmuch as 
irregularity without its beauty, and sameness without unity, would be unavoidably 
occasioned ; there are tribes which may be appropriately grouped, according to 
their natural affinities, especially when the species have been hybridized into 
numerous varieties. Rhododendrons, and some other American plants, will 
exemplify this. 
As to those general assemblages of trees and shrubs, in which species of the 
