Читать книгу Trees and Shrubs for English Gardens - E. T. Cook - Страница 28

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From all the catkin-bearers hitherto mentioned, this differs in being evergreen. It is also far removed from them in relationship, and is closely allied to the Cornels. At the same time the catkins in external characteristics are very similar. Not only the catkins but the plants themselves are unisexual, and, as is usual with the catkin-bearers, it is the male that is most ornamental. These catkins are from four inches to eight inches long, and I have heard of (but not seen) them as much as one foot in length. The time at which the flowers expand depends, as with all the early catkin-bearers, on the mildness of the season. This year on a wall the catkins have been in beauty ever since the first week of January. They are very attractive in their grace and quiet beauty. Chiefly of soft grey and green colours, the bracts are, however, suffused with a warmer reddish tint. In the neighbourhood of London Garrya elliptica is quite hardy in ordinarily sheltered positions, but does not flower so freely as against a south wall. As it is of Californian origin this is not surprising. This shrub resents disturbance at the root, and in transplanting great care is necessary.

There are other species of Garrya in cultivation, but they are more suitable to the south-western counties than to the average climate of Britain.

To the catkin-bearing family belong several other well-known trees, such as the Birches, Hornbeams, and Sweet Chestnut; but flowering later in the year their beauty is apt to pass without notice in the great flush of bloom that comes in with April. The beautifully fragrant Sweet Gale must not be passed without mention. Its reddish brown catkins are formed before autumn, and expand on the still leafless twigs in spring.