PARK AND CEMETERY. 
35 
the early shrubs have faded, and fills up the interval 
before the coming of the rose. It continues to 
flower for several weeks, and some varieties, such 
as We'gelia nivalis give us a few blossoms through- 
out the summer. 
New varieties are being introduced all the time. 
We have not tried them all, and must warn ama- 
teurs that so-called improved varieties are seldom 
as hardy and not always so manageable as the types 
from which they are derived. For general plant- 
ing we know no Weigelas superior to W. floribunda, 
W. rosea, W. nivalis, W. grandiflora and W. Hor- 
tensis. 
Exochorda grandiflora is another very con- 
spicuous flowering shrub. It attains a large size, 
but is not in this country a very long-lived plant 
and seldom sets any seed, so that it is still rather 
scarce. We have planted two groups of Exo- 
chordas in prominent places where we needed a 
“high light” in the landscape. Each group con- 
sists of three plants forming an irregular triangle, 
the bushes about six feet apart. They grow tall 
and rather straggling, with slender, irregular 
branches, covered early in May with an abundance 
of quite large paper-white blossoms. The flowers 
are more delicate than the trumpet-shaped bloom 
of Weigelas, and do not last so long. 
The Snowball is a very familiar example of the 
conspicuous shrub, but should be used with care as 
it does not harmonize with smaller flowers. 
Neither does it look at home in the wilder and 
SPIR.A.nA VAN HOUTTKI. 
more woody parts of the park or home grounds. 
Its place is near the house or in the old-fashioned 
garden, or on the well-kept lawn, where groups of 
snowballs, pruned into symmetrical shape, are very 
effective. 
All the Viburnums are fine shrubs and should 
be planteJ more than they are. V. prunifolium, 
the Black Haw, is very beautiful in bloom. It has 
re-curving, spreading branches, plum-like leaves 
and numerous clusters of white flowers in spring. 
All Viburnums, except the two “Snowballs,” are 
adapted to the wilder parts of the grounds, though 
some of them, such as Viburnum molle and Vibur- 
num pubescens make fine specimen plants for the 
lawn. V. molle. flowers at midsummer. 
Perhaps the most beautiful of the hundreds of 
shrubs planted at Rose Brake, is a tall, stately 
specimen of Xanthoceras sorbifolia, which may 
almost be called a small tree. It is now about ten 
feet in height, and is clothed down to the ground 
with branches that put on, in May, a fairy-like 
Garment of softest white bloom. The blossoms 
come before the leaves have fully expanded, and 
are large, bell-shaped and upright in habit of 
growth. They are white, with luminous greenish- 
yellow centres, and these centres have the singular 
faculty of deepening day by day during the bloom- 
ing period, first to lemon yellow, and then gradually 
changing to an unusual shade of deep salmon red. 
The flowers last in perfection a week or ten days, 
and the little tree is the glory of the garden until 
it fades. I hope to see this very beautiful shrub 
more generally planted. It withstands our severest 
winters uninjured. It has fine foliage, of a clear, 
light green, and is an exceedingly ornamental 
plant even when out of bloom. 
All the Hydrangeas have large showy flowers. 
The best among the hardy kinds are the oak-leaved 
Hydrangea, a noble shrub, flowering through June, 
July and August, and the very familiar .H. pani- 
culata grandiflora. 
Flowering Quinces or Cydonias are beautiful 
objects in the spring, especially the bright scarlet 
and the pure white kinds. Cydonia Moerlosii has 
exquisite flowers of shaded carmine, and there are 
varieties that have bloom of a conspicuous orange- 
red, such as Cydonia aurantiaca, which ought not 
to be planted near Lilacs or shrubs with rose-pink 
flowers. 
I believe I have mentioned the most ornamental 
of this class of plants, but there remains much to 
be said on the subject of conspicuous small trees 
and vines. This will have to be deferred to some 
future day. Datiske Dandridge. 
The school teachers of Chicago are agitating the 
question of setting apart small areas in the public 
parks, for the purpose of practically demonstrating 
to the school children the^ habits and manner of 
giowth of some of the vegetables and other plants 
in which they are more or less interested. It is be- 
lieved that such opportunities of instruction will 
serve to inculcate into the young mind not only 
habits of observation and study, but will tend to 
improve the conditions about the homes. 
