The common hardy shrubs or bushes may be planted in fall or spring. In the northernmost parts of the country and in Canada spring planting is usually safer, although on well-drained ground and when thoroughly mulched the plants may even there do well if planted as soon as the leaves drop in fall. If the shrubs are purchased in spring, they are likely to have come from "cellared stock"; that is, the nurserymen dig much of their stock in fall and store it in cellars built for the purpose. While stock that is properly cellared is perfectly reliable, that which has been allowed to get too dry or which has been otherwise improperly handled comes on very slowly in the spring, makes a poor growth the first year, and much of it may die.

In the planting of any kind of trees or shrubs, it is well to remember that nursery-grown specimens generally transplant more readily and thrive better than trees taken from the wild; and this is particularly true if the stock was transplanted in the nursery. Trees that transplant with difficulty, as the papaw or asimina, and some nut trees, may be prepared for removal by cutting some of their roots - and especially the tap-root, if they have such - a year or two in advance.

It is ordinarily best to plow or spade the entire area in which the shrubs are to be set. For a year or two the ground should be tilled between the shrubs, either by horse tools or by hoes and rakes. If the place looks bare, seeds of quick-growing flowers may be scattered about the edges of the mass, or herbaceous perennials may be used.

The larger shrubs, as lilacs and syringas, may be set about 4 feet apart; but the smaller ones should be set about 2 feet apart if it is desired to secure an immediate effect. If after a few years the mass becomes too crowded, some of the specimens may be removed (p. 76).

Throw the shrubs into an irregular plantation, not in rows, and make the inner edge of the mass more or less undulating and broken.

It is a good practice to mulch the plantation each fall with light manure, leafmold, or other material. Even though the shrubs are perfectly hardy, this mulch greatly improves the land and promotes growth. After the shrub borders have become two or three years old, the drifting leaves of fall will be caught therein and will be held as a mulch (p. 82).

When the shrubs are first planted, they are headed back one half or more (Fig. 45); but after they are established they are not to be sheared, but allowed to take their own way, and after a few years the outermost ones will droop and meet the greensward (pp. 25, 26).

Many rapid-growing trees may be utilized as shrubs by cutting them off near the ground every year, or every other year, and allowing young shoots to grow. Basswood, black ash, some of the maples, tulip tree, mulberry, ailanthus, Paulownia, magnolias, Acer campestre, and others may be treated in this way (Fig. 50).

Nearly all shrubs bloom in spring or early summer. If kinds blooming late in summer or in fall are desired, they may be looked for in baccharis, Caryopteris, Cephalanthus, clethra, hamamelis, hibiscus, hydrangea, hypericum, lespedeza, rhus (R. Cotinus), Sambucus Canadensis in midsummer, tamarisk.

Plants that bloom in very early spring (not mentioning such as birches, alders, and hazels) may be found in amelanchier, Cydonia, daphne, dirca, forsythia, cercis (in tree list), benzoin, lonicera (L. fragrantissima), salix (S. discolor and other pussy willows), Shepherdia.

Shrubs bearing conspicuous berries, pods, and the like, that persist in fall or winter may be found in the genera berberis (particularly B. Thuribergii), Colutea, corylus, Crataegus, euony-mus, ilex, physocarpus, Ostrya, ptelea, Pyracantha (Plate XIX) pyrus, rhodotypos, rosa (R. rugosa), staphylea, symphoricarpus, viburnum, xanthoceras.