NO. 8 
NEW SERIES VOL. V 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. JUNE 12, 1919 
Philadelphus. Gardens old and new owe much to this genus. In 
New England gardens of more than a century ago it was one of the 
chief ornaments and with the Lilac and a few old-fashioned Roses, the 
Syringa or Mock Orange (.Philadelphus coronarius), was loved and 
carefully tended; and in our modern gardens there are few plants 
which produce more delightful flowers than some of the Syringas make 
in recent years by the art of the plant breeder. There are now 
established in the Arboretum some thirty species of Philadelphus and 
a large number of varieties and hybrids. All these plants, popularly 
called Syringas, are easy to manage, demand no special care, and 
suffer less from the attacks of insects than most trees and shrubs. 
They flower freely year after year, their flowers are often very frag¬ 
rant, and in rich, well-drained soil the plants live for a long time. 
Some of the species can grow under the shade of overhanging trees, 
and flower in such situations more freely than almost any other shrub. 
The beauty of these plants is found in their white flowers; the fruit, 
which is a dry capsule, has as little beauty as that of a Lilac; there 
is nothing distinct or particularly interesting in the habit of the plants 
of any of the species, and the leaves fall in autumn without brilliant 
coloring. As flowering plants not many shrubs, however, surpass them 
in beauty, and their value is increased by the length of the flowering 
season which extends in the Arboretum during fully six weeks. The 
first Philadelphus to flower in the Arboretum opened its flowers several 
days ago; it is from Korea (P. Schenkii var. Jackii ), and is a tall 
narrow shrub with erect stems and flowers of medium size, and is of no 
29 
