ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS.
A description of a few of the desirable flowering and ornamental shrubs for yards and lawns may enable our readers to select with judgment.
Privet.—This is quite beautiful as a single plant; but is universally employed for hedges, verdant screens, etc. There is an evergreen variety, originally from Italy, by far the best. The roots of this plant are fibrous, don’t spread much; the limbs endure the shears very patiently; it grows very rapidly, two full seasons being sufficient to form a hedge; and it will flourish under the shade and drip of trees.
Rose Acacia (Robinia hispida).—This is a species of the locust, of a dwarf habit, seldom growing six feet in height, and covered with fine spines which give its branches a mossy appearance. Its blossoms resemble the locust, but are of a pink color. It is often grafted upon the locust to give it a higher head and better growth. It should be in every shrubbery.
Venetian Sumach, or smoke tree (Rhus cotinus).—The peculiarity of this shrub is in the large bunches of russet-colored seed-vessels, looking, at a little distance, like a puff of smoke. The French and Germans call it periwig-tree, from the resemblance of these russet masses to a powdered wig. It grows freely, and is highly ornamental.
There are two other species of sumach worthy of cultivation; the Rhus typhina, or Stag’s Horn sumach, of a fine flower, and whose leaves turn in autumn to a beautiful purplish red; and the R. glabra, or Scarlet sumach, having red flowers and fruit of a velvety scarlet appearance, changing as it ripens to crimson.
Syringa, or Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius), is a beautiful shrub, having, in the spring, flowers of a pure white, and of an odor only less exquisite than that of the orange; whence one of its popular names. The leaves have
the smell of the cucumber, and are sometimes used in spring to flavor salads. It grows freely, even under the shade of trees, which, in all low shrubs, is a valuable quality. There is also a large flowered inodorous variety. The popular name, Syringa, is the botanical name of the lilac; but these plants are not in the remotest degree related to each other.
Lilac.—This well-known and favorite little tree requires only to be mentioned. There is a white variety, and delicately-leaved variety called the Persian.
Snowball (Viburnum opulus), everywhere known, and everywhere a favorite; and scarcely less so is the