102 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
thipgs in our gardens we should be prepared to take care 
of them. 
Deciduous Azaleas .—Very choice shrubs with gay flow¬ 
ers, white, yellow, flame or pink colored. They come into 
bloom, according to variety, in May or June, are quite hardy 
if protected against veering winds, and adapt themselves 
to common garden soil and cultivation. A mulching in 
summer helps them greatly. The smallest plant will 
bloom. 
Daphne Mezeret/m.-~ Quite a small shrub, usually from 
two to three feet high, and not uncommon in cultivation. 
It is hardy, and enjoys an open sunny exposure; in a 
shady place it will pine away or die. In early spring, and 
before its leaves appear, its branches are covered with 
purple-rose-colored flowers ; these are succeeded in sum¬ 
mer by bright red berries. 
Exochorda grandiflora .—A vigorous-growing hand¬ 
some shrub, of the spircea kind, with showy white flowers 
borne on last year’s wood. It likes good ground and a 
sunny place. In order to maintain a broad, bushy form, 
we should keep it l«w by pruning and thinning, but do 
not prune in fall or spring; instead, do so after the exo¬ 
chorda has ceased blooming, which will be early in June. 
And after the plant gets to be a fair-sized bush, do not 
prune any more than you can help. 
Forsythia or Golden Bell .—Very common, but exceed¬ 
ingly floriferous shrubs, that bloom in early spring before 
they put forth their leaves, and in their season the most 
showy and copious of yellow-flowered shrubs. I like 
F. suspensa best, because I can use it as a compact bush 
on the lawn, or as a vine over the porch of my door, or 
train it as a standard when its long, slender shoots droop 
more gracefully than do those of any weeping cherry or 
willow. Moreover, for seaside planting, as an ornamental 
windbreak, I know of nothing better. 
Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora .—A very showy 
late summer and fall-blooming shrub. Some people ob¬ 
ject to it as a coarse-looking flower, others again place it 
in the first rank among shrubs. Anyhow, in its season, 
we have very few other shrubs in bloom, and that alone 
is a high recommendation for it. It is hardy and vigor¬ 
ous, and likes an open sunny position and rich moist soil. 
A summer mulching is of much benefit to it. Prune in 
winter or spring, and cut back the stout shoots to one or 
two eyes, and the small shoots out altogether. Better 
have a few strong ’shoots with heads nearly as big as a 
peck measure, than a lot of slender sprouts with heads no 
larger than quart measures. 
Japanese Weeping Cherry .—An elegant weeper at 
any time of the year. Its long, slender shoots depend al¬ 
most straight down. We have two large specimens and 
they are very attractive all through the summer; their 
leaves are clean, plentiful and not apt to be injured by 
insects. But when they are in bloom in May, they are 
like immense rose-colored umbrellas. In pruning I short¬ 
en back to the flower-buds. 
Magnolia, Soulange's Hybrid .—In early summer I 
know of no more conspicuous lawn shrub or small tree 
than this ; its large white flowers among the mass of rich 
green leaves of a broad, dense bush are very effective. It 
is somewhat difficult to transplant with certainty of suc¬ 
cess ; but small plants that have been two or three times 
transplanted while in the nursery, and that have a good 
bunch of short roots, if set out carefully in spring and 
mulched in summer, are apt to grow all right. 
Tree Pceonies —When in bloom, are very showy ; their 
large double white, pink or red flowers brighten up a 
garden considerably. They are small bushes, but copious 
beyond expectation from their appearance. They look 
best when alone, and, once planted, should afterward be 
let alone. They are expensive to begin with, but once 
secured, we have something that will last “ forever,” never 
grow too big, and bloom gaily every year. 
Japanese Silver Bell (Slyrax Japonica ).—In summer, 
when the mass of early shrubs have done blooming, this 
stranger displays its myriads of silver bells. It is a little 
tree and near relative of our native snowdrop tree, but it 
blossoms full when only a few feet high. Its branches 
are twiggy, flat and horizontally disposed, and when in 
bloom the white bells—very like those of large snow¬ 
drops, hang from each leaf-axil on every twig. When in 
bloom it is one of the prettiest plants of which I know. 
Give it a warm, sheltered, sunny place. If it is inclined 
to grow tall, shorten the leading shoot, but prune as little 
as possible. Injudicious pruning has a woeful effect on 
this shrub. 
Chinese Tamarisk —Has glaucous green foliage and 
long slender spray-like wands, pretty enough in themselves 
alone, but when in July and August they are a feathery 
mass of pink flowers, this shrub is one of the most charm¬ 
ing in the garden. It is very hardy. Left alone, it is apt 
to assume tall fishing-rod proportions ; every year, in late 
fall or winter, we should head it down toward the ground, 
but this treatment would ruin the spring-blooming tama¬ 
risks ; these should be cut back in May or June, when they 
have done blooming, and then only. 
Viburnum plicatum —Is the handsomest and best of 
our snowballs. True V. rotundifolium, V. macrocepha- 
lum, and some others, have extraordinary claims upon our 
favor; still, as an everybody’s shrub, V. plicatum is hard 
to beat. Its foliage is of the freshest and greenest, the 
snowballs the most numerous and whitest; the habit of 
the bush is broad and stocky; the plant is a ready grower 
and makes itself at home in any garden, and no part of it 
is subject to the ravages of insects. 
Xanthoceras sorbifolia —Is a new and rare shrub from 
Central Asia, and which has proved to be perfectly hardy 
in our gardens as far north as Boston. Its leaves are not 
unlike those of a mountain ash, and its flowers are borne 
in upright spikes, large and white, blotched inside with 
red; at first glance they remind us of horse-chestnut 
flowers. It blossoms when only two to three feet high. 
Give it a warm, sunny, sheltered place. 
William Falconer. 
Our homes are like instruments £>f music. The strings is rightly attuned, they will all vibrate in harmony; but 
that give melody or discord, are the members. If each a single discordant string destroys the sweetness. 
