February, 1917 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
25 
Van Houtte’s Spiraea which makes a hedge of snowy white bloom in May. Hardy and clean 
of Lilac. Our own hedge 
is fifteen feet high and a 
joy to sight and smell in 
late May and June. 
For May’s adorning the 
tall hedge should hold the 
Japanese Snowball (Vibur- 
num tomentosum). Even 
those who despise the buggy 
old Snowball will like this 
for its handsome, dark, 
clean foliage, its medium 
sized, showy round blos- 
soms and its general air of 
brisk cleanliness. Snow- 
balls show neglect as 
quickly as any shrub, al- 
though they will live in- 
definitely without care. 
They tend to grow long 
legged with twiggy tops 
that will not bloom. Prune, 
after flowering, for straight 
young wood and cut the 
central growth severely that 
the shrub may have air and light inside. 
Deutzias bloom in late May and the first 
half of June. Candidissima plena and Pride 
of Rochester are tall Deutzias with lovely 
pure white flowers; crenata rosea plena is a 
tall double white? flushed with delicate pink. 
June brings the Roses, here as elsewhere. 
One’s thoughts turn naturally to the new 
Hybrid Sweetbriars, but in the mixed hedge 
they are a mistake. They cannot have room 
for their graceful arching sprays and still 
keep the hedge form, as when they are planted 
together. The two Roses that will grow tall 
enough and stout enough to hold a place in 
the shelter hedge are Harison’s Yellow, the 
early half-double yellow Rose of our childhood 
and Persian Yellow the hardy double yellow 
Rose with beautiful buds. They are both 
thorny things but good at self defence and will 
keep up with their neighbors if you give them 
enough to eat. When pruning, spare these; 
for this season’s flowers are borne on the ends 
of last year’s wood. 
Our native Elders iurnish July’s bloom in 
the tall hedge. Few shrubs are more showy 
than these with their big snowy corymbs 
held well up to view. 
August claims Hydrangea paniculata, seen 
very often but none too often as a hedge. 
Prune this in the late fall or early spring 
as it blooms after midsummer. Cut all 
flower sprays, all weak growth and dead wood. 
In September and October the Groundsel 
tree hangs out its fluffy white seed pods as 
decorations and finishes the season among 
the tall shrubs. 
Hedges that bloom, of medium height, 
should be oftener used in the garden to suggest 
division without actual seclusion. Bordering 
a drive, separating borders of warring colors, 
hiding fences and foundations or skillfully 
placed to lead one by its lane of bloom to 
discover a special garden picture, the low 
flowering hedge adds a charm obtainable in 
no other way. 
For a hedge of one shrub to bloom in May 
the well loved Spiraea Van Houttei is incom- 
parable. Hardy and hearty and clean, 
graceful all summer and a very snowdrift in 
spring, it stands alone. Cutting the old 
wood and shortening the branches after it has 
bloomed, to keep the outline, are sufficient 
attention. 
Japan Quince with its flaming flowers in 
May is useful in hedges. It 
can be trimmed very low 
and still bloom freely, or 
let to grow to medium size. 
Where a stiff three-foot 
suggestion of division is 
wanted this shrub is good; 
but even well established 
plantings will not stand 
what Van Houttei will, nor 
are they as handsome. 
Kerria japonica is a 
treasure in a mixed hedge. 
Its leaves are hard, shining 
green, its growth most 
graceful and its many bright 
yellow blossoms about the 
size of mock orange blooms, 
give a distinct and cheerful 
note to early May. So 
handsome and striking is 
this shrub that I am sur- 
prised to see it so little used. 
Kerria usually gives a 
second crop of flowers in 
the fall and its leaves stay green until very 
late. Give it plenty of room well away 
from pink flowering shrubs. [I think it needs 
a deep, rich, or at least moist soil, for the 
plant refuses to grow on our gravelly Gar- 
den City soil. — L. B.] 
The old double flowering Almond, though 
short of season, is worth a place in the mixed 
hedge for its delicate pink beauty. Its cousin, 
the purple leaved plum (Prunus Fissardi), is a 
fountain of white bloom in spring and its 
leaves accent the turns of a winding hedge 
nicely all summer. 
Beside the Almond, plant the old favorite 
Bridal Wreath (Spiraea prunifolia) with its 
garlands of tiny snowy rosettes in May; and 
beside that another variety, Margarita, that 
begins in June with its corymbs of dainty pink 
and continues well through the summer. 
A comparatively new hedge shrub Balls of 
Snow (Hydrangea arborescens var. grandi- 
flora), is a treasure. Growing only to medium 
height, it begins to cover itself with its large, 
round white heads of bloom in June, shortly 
after the May pageant of hedge bloom is past, 
and holds them for eight to ten weeks, but 
cuttings of this Hydrangea, taken in fall, root 
Old-fashioned Syringa or Mock Orange. 15 ft. high and graciously fragrant 
Diervilla or Weigela, a good tempered shrub, flowering equally well in sunshine or shade 
