July, 1891. 
119 
ORGHRRD 
Notes on Flowering Shrubs. 
The early blooming shrubs were some- 
what injured by the early start and subse- 
quent freeze; but the late bloomers have 
been very beautiful, particularly the native 
Viburnums. These have been great masses 
of white bloom, that have added greatly to 
the enjoyment of a ride on our country 
roads. Nearly all these Viburnums are 
i worthy of a place in the lawn shrubbery, 
and some of them, at least, should be pre- 
served in cleaning up along the roads and 
fences. 
* * * 
The Fringe Tree ( Chionanthus Virginica) 
we have never seen more beautiful. Though 
a native of the South, it is quite hardy at 
the North. The bloom of this very hand- 
some small tree has a strong individuality. 
The flowers are axillary and terminal, pure 
white, and are produced in pendulous pan- 
icles. The segments of the flower, or the 
floral leaves, are narrow and long, and pre- 
sent a fringe-like appearance, as shown in 
Fig. 204, which gives the tree its pretty 
common name of Fringe Tree. 
* * » 
The Forsythia is not generally planted 
where it may be seen to the best advantage. 
Some years ago we saw one planted on a 
rather steep hillside or slope, and was 
strongly impressed with the suitableness 
of the position. Whether looked at from 
V the little valley below or from the bridge 
above, the effect was charming. Here was 
a position for a full development of the nat- 
ural habit of the plant, and the graceful 
curves of the long, slender branches that 
swept the green turf as they were gently 
swayed by the wind, produced a delightful 
impression that has yet lost none of its 
freshness. It is not often that a position of 
this kind presents itself, but when it does 
it should be utilized. 
* * * 
Thunbergia alala, with its varieties, is a 
favorite climbing plant with many. Some 
complaints are made, however, about the 
trouble of furnishing a proper support for 
it to climb on. The late Charles Downing 
got over this difficulty by not giving the 
plant any support; and the plan is a good 
one, not only for Thunbergias, but for a 
number of other plants. When a plant 
cannot find anything to climb on it will 
f run, and you can make it run just where 
and how you want to, with just a little 
trouble. Select the spot you wish to cover, 
five or six feet square, or of any size you 
wish. Into this transplant your seedlings 
from the seed bed, or sow seed in little 
patches here and there over the spot select- 
ed, and thin out the plants when they are 
just out of the seed leaf. The plants may 
be left two or threo feet apart, or even 
more. You can have the bed of one color 
or more, as you wish. When the plants 
begin to run, guide them by the use of little 
pegs, or, better, common hair pins. A little 
pinching may be done occasionally, if ne- 
cessary. In this simple way you may have 
a beautiful bed of Thunbergias thickly dot- 
ted with dark-eyed blooms. Fig. 955 shows 
the flower of the Thunbergia about two- 
thirds of the natural size. 
* * * 
The Alders cannot claim much attention 
for the beauty of their flowers, but some of 
them have very ornamental foliage, and 
their catkins are interesting, particularly 
to children, and we always gain a point in 
interesting them. Alnus glutinosa var. im- 
periaiis laciniata is the best of the family, 
and is a vigorous grower, attaining consid- 
erable size. It is of pyramidal form, with 
large leaves deeply cut or laciniated, and 
is a very ornamental tree for the lawn. — P. 
B. Mead. 
Ornamental Japanese Cherries. 
Mr. J. G. Jack gives the readers of Oar- 
den and Forest some very interesting notes 
on the flowering Japanese or Chinese Cher- 
ries at the Arnold Arboretum in Massachu- 
setts, which we are glad to reproduce here: 
One of the very earliest of Cherries to 
The White Fringe. Fig. 204. 
blossom was the Chinese Prunus tomentosa, 
the seed of which was received at the Arbo- 
retum from the mountains about Pekin, 
China. It is a bushy little plant, which 
appears to be at its full size when from six 
to eight feet in height and -with fully as 
great diameter. Its earliest blossoms this 
season began to open about the 20tli of April, 
and at the same time the leaves were well 
advanced. As the flowers are sessile, or 
nearly so, and are partly concealed by the 
growing foliage, they are not so graceful 
or showy as those of some other species. 
Its fruit, however, gives promise of useful- 
ness, as the medium-sized, light red-colored 
cherries which it bears are of quite a pleas- 
ant flavor even in this wild state. The 
stone is rather large, but by cultivation 
and selection the size of the cherries could 
be increased, and small-seeded forms adopt- 
ed and propagated by division. The ex- 
tremely early flowering habit has usually 
prevented a large crop of fruit here on ac- 
count of cold weather and frosts which oc- 
cur at the time; but, otherwise, the plant 
seems perfectly hardy in a winter like our 
past one. Last year the plants appeared 
somewhat injured, although the winter was 
not considered nearly so severe and the cold 
was not so great. Apparently, the injury 
then was due to other causes besides cold 
alone. 
There is so much confusion regarding the 
nomenclature of the ornamental Japanese 
Cherries which have been introduced into 
cultivation that it is almost impossible 
to know exactly what kind or form will be 
received when ordering from different nur- 
serymen. There are two distinct types of 
these plants, and they appear to pasj inter- 
changeably under a dozen different names. 
Both are often considered by botanists as 
forms of the Chinese and Japanese Prunus 
Pseud o-Cerasus. Whatever their origin 
may have been, they are certainly quite 
distinct from a horticultural point of view. 
The earliest-flowering of the two opened its 
first flowers this season in the last days of 
April and first week in May, before any of 
the leaves appeared. These flowers are 
large and semi-double; the buds, or outer 
petals, are deep pink or red, and the opened 
flower pinkish white within, which soon 
turns to a distinct rose-color, that deepens 
with the age and fading of the flowers. The 
leaves come out when the blossoms are 
fading. They are of a very dark green col- 
or, tomentose above and beneath, the pu- 
bescence being very dense on the under 
side. This is the plant which, besides many 
other names isoftensold as Prunus Watereri. 
It is the most showy and ornamental of 
those introduced here. 
The other form of these Japanese Cher- 
ries does not begin to open its blossoms until 
at least ten days after the first form, and 
when the latter one is in full bloom the 
blossoms of the early one have faded. The 
flowers of the late one are pure, pearly 
white, with rarely the faintest suggestion 
of pink, but there is a variation with the 
outer petals distinctly rosy-colored. As the 
flowers fade they do not change to the dark 
rosy color of the other. The leaves are 
light green, and they are already large and 
well developed before the blossoms appear. 
They differ markedly from the other form 
in being perfectly smooth or glabrous on 
both surfaces. This form is not nearly so 
floriferous as the early-blooming kind, and, 
although very beautiful, its flowers are 
much hidden by the foliage. Among other 
names this is often sold as Prunus Sieboldi 
flore albo pleno, or P. Sieboldi flore reseo 
pleno, according as the blossoms are pure 
white or have the outer petals of a pink or 
red color. It is apparently the Prunus ser- 
rulata of Lindley. 
These double-flowering Chinese or Japan- 
ese Cherries should not be planted with the 
expectation that they will become large 
trees, for, although they have the single- 
stemmed tree form, they do not attain the 
height of many of our native plants which 
are classed as shrubs. 
