Chapter IX
Reading edition
Shrubs We Love to See
"Every yard should be a picture. The observer should catch the entire effect and purpose, without analyzing its parts."
Bailey.
Of course you want to know something about shrubs. For what? Possibly just to make a tiny hedge around your garden, or a taller one to shut out the view of some neighbor's untidy backyard. More likely for a lovely specimen plant for your own grounds. In that case, don't, oh, don't! set it out in the middle of the lawn! And two or three thus dotted around (in "spotty planting," so called) are the acme of bad taste, and violate the fundamental principles of landscape gardening.
CLEANING UP AROUND THE SHRUBS
Our grandmothers all loved the tall syringa, honeysuckle, snowball, strawberry shrub, weigela, rose of Sharon and lilac, while they hedged both their yards and gardens with box, privet and evergreens. Today we use a good deal of the Japanese barberry, while Uncle Sam's recent free distribution has widely introduced that pretty little annual bush-like plant—the kochia, or summer cypress, good for low hedges.
But there is that publisher cutting off my space again! So I can just add a word about the lovely new summer lilac or buddleia. A tiny plant of this, costing only 25 cents, grows into a nice four-foot bush the first summer, and blooms until late in the season.
Most of these shrubs can be easily grown from cuttings, however, so just ask your friends to remember you when they do their pruning.
SHRUBS
NameColorHeightGrown fromBlooming Season
Althea, see Rose of Sharon
AzaleaNo blues1 to 6 ft. Spring, early summer
Barberry, Japan (Berberis Thunbergii)Red berries4 ft.SeedRed berries all winter
Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)Green4 to 20 ft.
Bridal Wreath, see Spirea (Thunbergii)
BuddleiaLavender3 to 6 ft.CuttingsJuly to frost
Currant, Flowering (Ribes aureum)Yellow4 ft. May
DeutziaWhite, Pink3 to 12 ft.CuttingsMay, June
ForsythiaYellow6 to 10 ft.Cuttings or seedEarliest spring
Golden Bell, see Forsythia
Honeysuckle (numerous varieties) (Lonicera)White, Yellow Pink, Red6 to 12 ft.Cuttings or seedMarch to June
Hydrangea (Paniculata grandiflora)White8 to 12 ft. generallyCuttingsJuly to November
Japanese Quince (Cydonia japonica)Scarlet8 ft. May
Kochia (small annual bush) 3 ft.SeedBush reddens in fall
Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)Lavender, White5 to 20 ft. May, June
Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius)White10 ft. May, June
Privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium)Green15 ft. unless shearedCuttings
Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus)White, Pink to PurpleUp to 18 ft. August to October
Snowball, Japanese (Viburnum tomentosum)White8 to 10 ft.CuttingsMay, June
Spirea (Thunbergii)White2 to 4 ft. May
Spirea (numerous other varieties)White, Pink, Rose4 to 6 ft. Different months from May to September
Strawberry ShrubChocolate-colored6 to 10 ft.By divisionMay
Syringa, see Mock Orange
Viburnum, see Snowball
Weigela (Diervilla florida)White, Pink, Red6 ft. June