October, 1916 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
99 
As it starts out in the spring, the leaves are 
a curious bluish green and the stems a soft, dull 
crimson. The leaf color is so near to green and 
so near to blue that I do not know exactly 
where to place it. I do know, however, that it 
produces an object far more attractive than 
any Blue Spruce, which I nearly detest because 
it is so primp, stiff and unchanging, and be- 
cause it is so uniformly set in the geometrical 
centre of the poor little fifteen by twenty 
front yards of imitating planters. I also 
know that in a rainstorm, or early in the 
morning of a heavy dew, this Blue Bush 
Honeysuckle (as we’ll call it at present) 
gives an effect of growing enameled jewelry 
all its own. 
The note of difference and oddity can be 
given by this Bush Honeysuckle without any of 
the stiff, formal and provoking regularity of 
the Blue Spruce. I wonder whether any one 
who plants this ev'ergreen realizes how it 
grows in its native home in Colorado.^ I have 
4 seen it there along the slopes of the rushing 
streams west of the continental divide. It is 
always and invariably mingled with other 
evergreens, and I have not seen more than two 
or three individuals at a time in a great mass 
of deep, rich green Douglas Firs or Western 
Pines. 
This Lonicera with the hard name changes as 
the season goes on. It has attractive flowers 
of a pinkish hue, and these are followed by 
rather dainty berries that turn toward yellow. 
All the time, however, even during the dullest 
month, in August, when its red bark has be- 
I come brown, it has this same air of lightness. 
grace and elegance, and of interesting but not 
garish color difference. 
A strong grower is this Lonicera but not so 
robustious as its previously described sister. 
To be kind to it, a space of six to eight feet in 
diameter will be right, and it will prove, if kept 
in front, a good neighbor for the other Bush 
Honeysuckle I have mentioned. 
A GIANT SPIRAEA-FLOWERED SHRUB 
The third of this trinity is Sorbaria arborea, 
and that ought not to be hard to carry along as 
both a common and a scientific name. The 
Sorbarias are presumed to be so named be- 
cause their foliage resembles that of the 
Mountain Ash. There are some botanists who 
put them with the Spiraeas. This particular 
Chinese Sorbaria with which Mr. Wilson has 
favored America is a tremendous and spread- 
ing grower. It ought to have more room than 
the big Bush Honeysuckle I have just de- 
scribed. In fact, it will get the room whether 
it is provided by the planter or not, because it 
will just move right out and cover any other 
thing in the road. 
With a dozen or fifteen feet at its command 
in which to spread, and with the blue sky as 
the limit, it will show a plumy beauty, both in 
foliage and flower, entirely unique and most 
delightful. 
The bloom of Sorbaria arborea comes along 
fairly early, and succeeds itself from mid-June 
almost to the first of October. There is, of 
course, the first big burst of bloom, and my 
picture shows part of this. All the flowers are 
never open at one time, as in our familiar 
Spiraeas and Hydrangeas, and this is a great 
merit of the shrub. Its plumes keep on de- 
veloping, especially if the dead ones are re- 
moved, as any one owning this shrub will want 
to do. 
Close examination of the picture will dis- 
close the unopened flowers, which seem to have 
the peculiar quality of assuming the same 
graceful curves as the big compound leaves. 
Without being at all like the Blue Bush 
Honeysuckle above noted, this big Sorbaria 
has a grace and elegance which is hardly to 
be expected of so vigorous and upstanding a 
shrub. 
So far as I know, these shrubs are wholly 
hardy anywhere in the eastern United States. 
I think they are all easily propagated, but I do 
not have the least idea that they have yet 
reached the attention of many nurserymen. I 
am fond of nurserymen, and I dislike to say 
things to their discredit, but it is a fact that 
they are about a hundred and fifty miles be- 
hind the plant procession at the present mo- 
ment. Few of them find and propagate good 
things until we amateurs scold and fume and 
demand sufficiently! They ought to lead us, 
but instead they slowly follow. 
Perhaps those who are attracted by these 
shrubs may find them soon at some nursery. 
I hope so. At least, I have set forth their 
increasing merit after noting them for two full 
bloom years, and with the thought that 
further experience will only lead, toward 
further admiration and the need for further 
space in which these three pets may de- 
velop. 
A strong growing Bush Honeysuckle (Lonicera Maackii var. podocarpa) which is attrac- 
tive at all seasons 
As a blue foliaged shrub Lonicera Korolkovii var. floribunda is unique. It has none of 
the stiffness of the blue evergreens 
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