Hardy Ornamental Flowering Trees and Shrubs Part 2

B. STENOPHYLLA, a hybrid between B. Darwinii and B. empetrifolia, is one of the handsomest forms in cultivation, the wealth of golden-yellow flowers being remarkable, as is also the dark purple berries. It is very hardy, and of the freest growth.

B. TRIFOLIOLATA (_syn Mahonia trifoliolata_).--Mexico, 1839. This is a very distinct and beautiful Mexican species that will only succeed around London as a wall plant. It grows about a yard high, with leaves fully 3 inches long, having three terminal sessile leaflets, and slender leaf stalks often 2 inches long. The ternate leaflets are of a glaucous blue colour, marbled with dull green, and very delicately veined. Flowers small, bright yellow, and produced in few-flowered axillary racemes on short peduncles. The berries are small, globular, and light red.

B. TRIFURCA (_syn Mahonia trifurca_).--China, 1852. This is a shrub of neat low growth, but it does not appear to be at all plentiful.

B. VULGARIS.--Common Barberry. This is a native species, with oblong leaves, and terminal, drooping racemes of yellow flowers. It is chiefly valued for the great wealth of orange-scarlet fruit. There are two very distinct forms, one bearing silvery and the other black fruit, and named respectively B. vulgaris fructo-albo and B. vulgaris fructo-nigro.

B. WALLICHIANA (_syn B. Hookeri_).--Nepaul, 1820. This is exceedingly ornamental, whether as regards the foliage, flowers, or fruit. It is of dense, bushy growth, with large, dark green spiny leaves, and an abundance of cl.u.s.ters of clear yellow flowers. The berries are deep violet-purple, and fully half-an-inch long. Being perfectly hardy and of free growth it is well suited for extensive planting.

BERCHEMIA.

BERCHEMIA VOLUBILIS.--Climbing Berchemia. Carolina, 1714. A rarely seen, deciduous climber, bearing rather inconspicuous greenish-yellow flowers, succeeded by attractive, violet-tinted berries. The foliage is neat and pretty, the individual leaves being ovate in shape and slightly undulated or wavy. It is a twining shrub that in this country, even under favourable circ.u.mstances, one rarely sees ascending to a greater height than about 12 feet. Sandy peat and a shady site suits it best, and so placed it will soon cover a low-growing tree or bush much in the way that our common Honeysuckle does. It is propagated from layers or cuttings.

BIGNONIA.

BIGNONIA CAPREOLATA--Virginia and other parts of America, 1710. This is not so hardy as to be depended upon throughout the country generally, though in the milder parts of England and Ireland it succeeds well as a wall plant. It is a handsome climbing shrub, with long, heart-shaped leaves, usually terminating in branched tendrils, and large orange flowers produced singly.

BILLARDIERA.

BILLARDIERA LONGIFLORA.--Blue Apple Berry. Van Diemen's Land, 1810. If only for its rich, blue berries, as large as those of a cherry, this otherwise elegant climbing shrub is well worthy of a far greater share of attention than it has yet received, for it must be admitted that it is far from common. The greenish bell-shaped blossoms produced in May are, perhaps, not very attractive, but this is more than compensated for by the highly ornamental fruit, which renders the plant an object of great beauty about mid-September. Leaves small and narrow, on slender, twining stems, that clothe well the lower half of a garden wall in some sunny favoured spot. Cuttings root freely if inserted in sharp sand and placed in slight heat, while seeds germinate quickly.

BRYANTHUS.

BRYANTHUS ERECTUS.--Siberia. This is a pretty little Ericaceous plant, nearly allied to Menziesia, and with a plentiful supply of dark-green leaves. The flowers, which are borne in crowded cl.u.s.ters at the points of the shoots, are bell-shaped, and of a pleasing reddish-lilac colour.

It wants a cool, moist peaty soil, and is perfectly hardy. When in a flowering stage the Bryanthus is one of the brightest occupants of the peat bed, and is a very suitable companion for such dwarf plants as the Heaths, Menziesias, and smaller growing Kalmias.

B. EMPETRIFORMIS (_syn Menziesia empetrifolia_).--North America, 1829.

This is a compact, neat species, and well suited for alpine gardening.

The flowers are rosy-purple, and produced abundantly.

BUDDLEIA.

BUDDLEIA GLOBOSA.--Orange Ball Tree. Chili, 1774. A shrubby species, ranging in height from 12 feet to 20 feet, and the only one at all common in gardens. Favoured spots in Southern England would seem to suit the plant fairly well, but to see it at its best one must visit some of the maritime gardens of North Wales, where it grows stout and strong, and flowers with amazing luxuriance. Where it thrives it must be ranked amongst the most beautiful of wall plants, for few, indeed, are the standard specimens that are to be met with, the protection afforded by a wall being almost a necessity in its cultivation. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, and covered with a dense silvery tomentum on the under side, somewhat rugose above, and partially deciduous. Flowers in small globular heads, bright orange or yellow, and being plentifully produced are very showy in early summer. It succeeds well in rich moist loam on gravel.

B. LINDLEYANA.--China, 1844. This has purplish-red flowers and angular twigs, but it cannot be relied upon unless in very sheltered and mild parts of the country.

B. PANICULATA (_syn B. crispa_).--Nepaul, 1823. This may at once be distinguished by its curly, woolly leaves, and fragrant lilac flowers.

It is a desirable species, but suffers from our climate.

BUPLEURUM.

BUPLEURUM FRUTICOSUM.--Hare's Ear. South Europe, 1596. A small-growing, branching shrub, with obovate-lanceolate leaves, and compound umbels of yellowish flowers. It is more curious than beautiful.

CAESALPINIA.

CAESALPINIA SEPIARIA (_syn C. j.a.ponica_).--India, 1857. This is as yet a comparatively little known shrub, but one that from its beauty and hardihood is sure to become a general favourite. Planted out in a light, sandy, peaty soil, and where fully exposed, this shrub has done well, and proved itself a suitable subject for the climate of England at least. The hard p.r.i.c.kles with which both stem and branches are provided renders the shrub of rather formidable appearance, while the leaves are of a peculiarly pleasing soft-green tint. For the flowers, too, it is well worthy of attention, the pinky anthers contrasting so markedly with the deep yellow of the other portions of the flower.

They are arranged in long racemes, and show well above the foliage.

CALLUNA.

CALLUNA VULGARIS (_syn Erica vulgaris_).--Common Ling on Heather. This is the commonest native species, with purplish-pink flowers on small pedicels. There are many very distinct and beautiful-flowering forms, the following being some of the best: C. vulgaris alba, white-flowered; C. vulgaris Hammondi, C. vulgaris minor, and C. vulgaris pilosa, all white-flowered forms; C. vulgaris Alportii, and C. vulgaris Alportii variegata, the former bearing rich crimson flowers, and the latter with distinctly variegated foliage; C. vulgaris argentea, and C. vulgaris aurea, with silvery-variegated and golden foliage; C. vulgaris flore-pleno, a most beautiful and free-growing variety, with double flowers; C. vulgaris Foxii, a dwarf plant that does not flower freely; and C. vulgaris pumila, and C. vulgaris dumosa, which are of small cushion-like growth.

CALOPHACA.

CALOPHACA WOLGARICA.--Siberia, 1786. This member of the Pea family is of dwarf, branching growth, thickly clothed with glandular hairs, and bears yellow flowers, succeeded by reddish-purple pods. It is of no special importance as an ornamental shrub, and is most frequently seen grafted on the Laburnum, though its natural easy habit of growth is far preferable. Hailing from Siberia, it may be considered as fairly hardy at least.

CALYCANTHUS.

CALYCANTHUS FLORIDUS.--Carolina Allspice. Carolina, 1726. If only for the purplish-red, pleasantly-scented flowers, this North American shrub is worthy of extensive culture. The hardiness, accommodating nature, and delicious perfume of its brightly-coloured flowers render this shrub one of the choicest subjects for the shrubbery or edges of the woodland path. It is of easy though compact growth, reaching in favourable situations a height of 12 feet, and with ovate leaves that are slightly p.u.b.escent. Growing best in good fairly moist loam, where partial shade is afforded, the sides of woodland drives and paths will suit this Allspice well; but it wants plenty of room for branch-development. There are several nursery forms of this shrub, such as C. floridus glaucus, C. floridus asplenifolia, and C. floridus na.n.u.s, all probably distinct enough, but of no superior ornamental value to the parent plant.

C. OCCIDENTALIS.--Californian or Western Allspice. California, 1831.

This is larger in all its parts than the former, and for decorative purposes is even preferable to that species. The flowers are dark crimson, and nearly twice as large as those of C. floridus, but rather more spa.r.s.ely produced. This is a very distinct and desirable species, and one that can be recommended for lawn and park planting, but, like the former, it delights to grow in a rather moist and shady situation.

CARAGANA.

CARAGANA ARBORESCENS.--Siberian Pea Tree. Siberia, 1752. On account of its great hardihood, this is a very desirable garden shrub or small-growing tree. The bright-yellow, pea-shaped flowers are very attractive, while the deep-green, pinnate foliage imparts to the tree a somewhat unusual but taking appearance. Soil would not seem to be of much moment in the cultivation of this, as, indeed, the other species of Caragana, for it thrives well either on dry, sunny banks, where the soil is light and thin, or in good stiff, yellow loam.

C. FRUTESCENS.--Siberia, 1852. Flowers in May, and is of partially upright habit; while C. Chamlagii, from China, has greenish-yellow flowers, faintly tinted with pinky-purple.

C. MICROPHYLLA (_syn C. Altagana_), also from Siberia, is smaller of growth than the foregoing, but the flowers are individually larger. It is readily distinguished by the more numerous and hairy leaflets and th.o.r.n.y nature.

C. SPINOSA.--Siberia, 1775. This, as the name indicates, is of spiny growth, and is a beautiful and distinct member of the family. They are all hardy, and readily propagated from seed.

CARDIANDRA.

CARDIANDRA ALTERNIFOLIA.--j.a.pan, 1866. With its neat habit, and pretty purple-and-white, plentifully-produced flowers, this is worthy of the small amount of care and coddling required to insure its growth in this country. Hailing from j.a.pan, it cannot be reckoned as very hardy, but treated as a wall plant this pretty evergreen does well and flowers freely. It can, however, be said that it is equally hardy with some of the finer kinds of Hydrangea, to which genus it is nearly allied.

CARPENTERIA.

CARPENTERIA CALIFORNICA.--Sierra Nevada, California, 1880. This is undoubtedly one of the most distinct and beautiful of hardy shrubs.

That it is perfectly hardy in England and Ireland recently-conducted experiments conclusively prove, as plants have stood unprotected through the past unusually severe winters with which this country has been visited. When in full bloom the pure-white flowers, resembling those of the j.a.panese Anemone, render it of great beauty, while the light gray leaves are of themselves sufficient to make the shrub one of particular attraction. The Carpenteria is nearly related to the Mock Orange (Philadelphus), grows about 10 feet in height, with lithe and slender branches, and light gray leaves. The flowers, which are pure white with a bunch of yellow stamens, and sweet-scented, are produced usually in fives at the branch-tips, and contrast markedly with the long and light green foliage. It grows and flowers with freedom almost anywhere, but is all the better for wall protection. From cuttings or suckers it is readily increased.

CARYOPTERIS.