lb 
Diervilla Middendorfiana var. Maximowiczii is flowering this year 
on Hickory Path near Centre Street. This is the Japanese variety of 
the yellow-flowered Diervilla of eastern Siberia and northern Japan, 
and a common shrub on the mountain slopes of central Hondo where 
it grows from five to fifteen feet tall. The large pale yellow or yellow- 
ish green flowers are attractive but not as showy as those of the spe- 
cies with more highly colored flowers. The Siberian form just lives 
here, and has resisted the efforts of more than twenty years to induce 
it to bloom in the Arboretum. 
American Azaleas. These begin to bloom about two weeks later than 
the earliest Asiatic species, and of the sixteen species only seven with 
several varieties are hardy in New England, These in the order of 
their flov/ering are Rhododendron cana dense, the Rhodora, R. Vaseyi, 
R. roseum, R. nudiflorum, R. arborescens, R. cal endv lace um, and R. vis- 
cosum. The other species are confined to the extreme southern states; 
with one species endemic in Florida, another in Alabama, one in the 
Arkansas-Texas region, and one in California. It is interesting that 
eight species, one-half of all the species w’hich have been found in 
America, grow in the state of Georgia which contains a larger number 
of species of these plants than any other region of equal extent. Plants 
of all the American species are in the Arboretum nurseries or have 
been raised here with the exception of Rhododendron alabamense of 
which seeds have not yet been collected; and some of the southern spe- 
cies, although not for northern gardens, like R. prunifolium with crim- 
son flowers, the scarlet flowered R. speciosum and the yellow flowered 
R. austrinum , may be expected to become popular garden plants wher- 
ever they find a suitable climate. The handsomest of the species hardy 
at the north, and when in flower one of the most beautiful shrubs of 
the North American flora, is the Appalachian R. ca lendulaceum with its 
yellow or flame-colored flowers which do not open until the leaves are 
nearly fully grown. Another species of the southern Appalachian Moun- 
tains, R. Vaseyi, with pure pink flow'ers which have already opened has 
proved a good garden plant at the oorth. Of the species, however, 
with rose-colored or pink flowers R. roseum is even a handsomer plant 
than R. Vaseyi. Although first distinguished and named in France as 
early as 1812, it has always been confused in this country with other 
species until quite recent years, and has never received the attention 
which it deserves. It is a shrub from three to fifteen feet tall with 
rose-colored flowers which open after the leaves begin to unfold, and are 
more fragrant even than those of R. viscosum. This Azalea is common 
in southern New England and southward to Virginia; it grows in west- 
ern New York, northeastern Ohio, southeastern Illinois and the adjacent 
part of Missouri, that is in regions of limestone soil, and the fact that 
it can grow in lime makes it possible to cultivate it in parts of the 
country where other Rhododendrons cannot grow. There is a group of 
these plants on the right hand side of the Meadow Road in front of 
the Lindens. 
Lilacs are fast opening their flower-buds. There will not be as many 
flowers as usual this year on many varieties of the common Lilac, but 
the plants of the New Chinese species are well covered with buds. 
