CHAPTER  XVII
 

               Handsome-barked  Trees  and  Shrubs.



The  value  of  certain trees and shrubs for making  a bright or pleasing

effect in winter by reason  of  their coloured barks has  never  been fully

appreciated.  Planted in groups, such  plants give masses of soft  colour

which, in the wilder parts of the grounds at  any rate, are more appropriate

to our climate and landscape than  are variegated evergreens.   Near the

waterside several willows, such as the  red- and yellow-barked forms of Salix

vitellina, and the blue-white bark of S. daphnoides and S. acutifolia, are

very attractive.  But to get  the colour finely developed, it is necessary to cut

them back every spring, so as  to  induce the growth of a crowd of wands

of goodly length.   These are trees, and the colour is, of course, confined

to the young shoots  and disappears the  second year; therefore, a mode

of cultivation like this is to be preferred,  which causes the plant to renew

itself every year from near the  base, keeps it continuously of about  the

same size, and provides the greatest proportion of highly coloured young

wood.   The  best  willows  are  Salix vitellina  (yellow) and its  var.

britzensis (red).

    Next to the willows are various species of Cornus or cornels, amongst

which, with red stems, we have  C.  alba,  C.  alba  var. sibirica  and other

varieties,  C.   Baileyi  and   C.  stolonifera.    Cornus  stolonifera  var.

flaviramea  has yellow shoots.   Being  naturally  shrubs, these  cornels do

not need to be kept artificially dwarf like  the willows; but they are all the

better if the older branches are occasionally cut out so as to encourage

new basal growths.   Two good variegated forms of C. alba, viz., Spasthii

and  sibirica variegata,  will  recommend themselves to  many by their

winter as well as summer beauty.  The young shoots of Berberis virescens

are red the first winter.

    A group of shrubs which has  received several  additions  in recent

years  from China   are the  white-stemmed species  of Rubus.   The

whiteness (usually bluish) is caused by an external layer of waxy particles

on the bark.  For many years the Himalayan R. biflorus has been known

in gardens, and it is still one  of the most striking of  the group.  R.

 Giraldianus and R.  biflorus var.  quinqueflorus, both new and from China,

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