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HARDY SHRUB SPECIALTI 
GENERAL GOLLEGT/ON 
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PLANTING of shrubs massed around the boundaries of a garden forms a perfect setting 
for the garden picture, a harmonious background against which the bright-colored 
peonies, poppies, phloxes, etc., appear to their greatest advantage. 
Everywhere in the fields we may find beautiful landscapes formed by nature, the 
open glade and meadow, where the broad carpet of velvety greensward is framed in by 
a background of woodland. First, a fringe of low bushes, with a mass of foliage rea 
the ground, against which are colonies of white daisies, black-eyed susans, or blue and 
purple asters. Here and there are tall sunflowers, goldenrods and meadow rue, or a Joe- 
Pye weed standing out in bold relief. The gleam of the vivid blood-scarlet comes from a lobelia or a giant 
bee balm (Monarda didyma). Another billow of green rises back of these formed by the viburnums, the 
white dogwood, the pink Judas and hawthorns, and the still taller scarlet maples and the small trees 
which rise higher and higher to meet the giant oaks, sycamores and elms, which tower above all and 
* complete the picture. 
This idea of nature’s landscape can be carried out in every garden, drawn to a full scale in the country 
where there is room to spare; and to a smaller scale in the large garden, where the giant trees give way to 
the small, dwarf trees and tall shrubs; and in miniature in the small town garden, where the lawn is simply 
framed in by the more refined and smaller shrubs, with their border of perennials in front, in every case 
forming a screen that gives a privacy to the home ground, shielding the world within from the world without. 
Plant shrubs in masses of several of each variety where possible; remember they are to form the frame¬ 
work of your garden landscape, and do not spoil the picture by dotting them all over the lawn and garden. 
Allow them to develop so that each will show its distinct character. Above all things, beware of the man 
with the shears who has a mania for barbering them all to one model. 
In pruning, remember that all early-flowering shrubs bloom on last year’s wood, and should not be 
pruned until after they have bloomed (otherwise the bloom will be destroyed for that season), at which 
time the old, worn-out wood should be cut away entirely, allowing the vigorous, younger shoots to remain, 
shortening or cutting away entirely all weak growths. All late-flowering shrubs, altheas, hydrangea, etc., 
bloom on wood of this season’s growth, and should be pruned in early spring, cutting back severely to induce 
a vigorous, new growth. Vacant spaces among the shrubs may be filled with delphiniums, hollyhocks, 
phloxes, etc., or with cannas, dahlias or gladioli. 
New Hybrid Lilacs (Syringa) 
Among the shrubs in every old garden, the Lilacs, or Syringa, have always been the chief feature, 
admired by all and universally loved for the many old associations and tender sentiment woven about them. 
Highland Park, Rochester, N. Y., has the largest collection of Lilacs in America. They form one of the 
chief attractions there, and it is stated that last spring fully 175,000 people came to see the Lilacs in High¬ 
land Park, many excursions being run from distant points for that purpose. There is a similar collection of 
Lilacs at the Arnold Arboretum, in Boston, also visited each year by many thousands, showing the intense 
popular interest taken in them. 
In my new specimen grounds, I have started a similar collection, and look forward with keen anticipa¬ 
tion to a “Lilac Time” in Wyomissing, that will be well worth a visit. 
Our gardens have been wonderfully enriched during late years as the result of the work of the late 
Victor Lemoine, of Nancy, France, who was probably the world’s most skillful hybridizer; and among the 
many species and varieties of plants for whicn we are indebted to him are the many wonderful new hybrid 
Lilacs, the beauty of which can be appreciated only by the comparatively few who have seen them. The 
large, single flowers of some of the varieties are almost 1 inch in diameter; there are many double and semi¬ 
double varieties; some with elegantly twisted and curled petals, others perfectly formed, reflexed and in¬ 
curved. Some are borne on tapered panicles a foot in length, while others are much branched, forming huge 
bouquets. See colored illustration of the variety, Leon Gambetta. 
74 
