Milford chronicle., 1921-03-25
SHRUBS THAT DO
DOUBLE DUTY
By Edward Irving Harrington, Editor
Author, Lecturer

VVUOLL VU1
By Edward Irving Harrington, Editor
Author, Lecturer
Make the Garden Delightful in Sum
mer with Dainty Flowers anC
Again i'm Winter with brilliant Der
rieS
Why plant shrubs only for summers
Perhaps the thought never came to
you, but it is quite possible to have
the home grounds cheerful and gay
even though a blanket of snow may
cover tho lawn and the flower beds.
That is one of the advantages which
shrubs have over all other plants. If
you make the proper selection, it is
easy to have color in the garden all
the year through. One way to do this
is To include some evergreen shrub;
like retinosporas, yews and rbOdoden-
drOns; but another and cheaper way
is to choose shrubs which have at
tractive fruits following the flowers.
1t isn't always that shrubs proGuc-
ing brilliant berries can also boast
snowy flowers, but'a few kinds can be
included for their fruits alone, prom
inent among them being the choke
berry (ArOnia or PyTus arbutifolia),
the coral-berry or, as you may call it,
the Indian Currant, and the black al
der IleX Verticillata) the common
name of which sometimes misleads
people, because the berries are not
black but very red. These shrubs
while not at all new are not planted
as freely as they deserve, for they
are extremely ornamental in the ear
ly winter.
A delightful cousin of the coral
berry is the snowberry, which makes
a handsome appearance in late Fall
when scattered through the shrub
border. Probably you know it well, for
it has been a favorite in farmhouse
gardens for many years. The flowers
are small but dainty, and the fruits,
almost as large as grapes, are as white
as the snow from which they take
their name. These white berries make |
charming decorations when cut in
sprays and taken into the house.
For a real dOuble-purpose shrub |
there is nothing to beat the highbush |
cranberry, which is really a species |
Of viburnum. 1t is a close relative of
he common SNOWFALL, but the flower
head are not round but fiat and often
our inches across. The flowers come
n June or earlier, and by the end of
July the fruits which follow begin to
urn red, continuing to color up until
hey are startling brilliant and re-
naming in good condition until
Spring.
There are several other good vibur-
lums which might well have a place :
n our list, but the witherod or vi
urnum cassinOides, is particularly I
7Orth growing because Of it's unique
ruiting habits. The berries are green.
fcourse, in the beginning, but pre-
entity turn pink and finally change .
} light blue. Sometimes green, pink l
nd blue berries may be found on the
anne plant, producing an effect that l
as delightful as it is unusual. The
liant also has fiat flower heads about
lree inches across, and is a good ma
We American, another recommends I
on.
Blue fruited shrubs are not COM
-on, for which reason 1 may be JUS .
fed in mentioning Symplocos cratae-
Oides, although it does not hold it's
uit very late, partly from habit and
rally because the birds devour it
ith great gusto. Probably this shrub
ould be more popular if it had an
Lsier name, but it's amethyst-blue
,rries are very lovely and it grows
ell among other shrubs. Callicarpa
lrpurea is another and better-known
ant with attractive purple berries.
Curiously enough many people think
honeysuckles only as climbing
nes, but there also are many bush
including two or three
nlch are splendid double purpose
rubs. The Tartarian honeysuckle.
lich is the most common, carries an
undance of fragrant flowers in the
ring, and big crop of bright red
lit in the Fall. Even better per-
ps is the species listed in your cata-
que as LOnicera Morrow, which
Wers and fruits in much the same
y, but makes rather more sym
'trlcal and handsome bush. Most of
honeysuckles need plenty of room
d pretty rich ground to succeed we'll
d yet Morrow can be handled very
lsfactor1ly as hedge, although not
be planted as thickly as privet or
Derry. There are number of hon
uckles not in commerce which will
lght the public in a few years from
v.
here is one other good point about
the honeysuckles which I must
overlook. Their leaves are very
sistent, remaining on the branches
er than those of almost any other
ub which is not truly evergreen in
North. Last Christmas I saw hon !
uckles in the Arnold Arboretum
r Boston, the foliage of which was
as green as it had been in the
IDLE of summer, or at least it look
so in contrast with the snow-cov-
i ground. The only other plants
ch come to my mind that hold
r leaves nearly so long are some
he privets. And surely it is a fine
g to have green and red, as we'll
black and white in the garden in
winter.
)me of the roses adorn the garden
inter as well as in summer, if the
er is not in too much of a hurry
ut them down. The fruit of Rosa
osa, the Japanese brier rose, is
ornamental, and so is that of
4 multifOra, and Rosa blanda.
e of the climbing roses, too, Hia-