ASIATIC CONIFERS. 



varieties of Laurustinus will be a sheet of bloom ; many of the early varieties of Rho- 

 dodendrons viWi be in flower, such as R. pulcherrima, daurica, &c. — the former I 

 have seen fully in bloom, in the open border, the first week in January. Some of the 

 species and varieties of Arbutus will be now in bloom — A. procera and hyhrida about 

 their height, the varieties of A. unedo passing off. Hollies in their various varieties 

 are loaded with berries of the most brilliant crimson scarlet ; their rich and varied 

 foliage give a marked and distinct feature to a collection of evergreens. Many have 

 large foliage of the deepest green color, others large foliage margined with the richest 

 gold, and every imaginable intermediate shade. At this time such evergreens as 

 English laurel, Portugal laurel, yews of sorts, arbutus, evergreen oaks, with the whole 

 collection of conifers, are perfection as regards their foliage. At this season, also, 

 many deciduous shrubs are in bloom, such as Chimonanthus fragrans, C. grandifio- 

 rus, C. luteus, Jasrninum nudiflorum^ Daphne mezereon, Erica carnea and others, 

 Cydonia Japonica and varieties, with many other interesting and beautiful shrubs. 

 Among herbaceous and bulbous-rooted plants, many lovely genera are now in flower. 

 With abundance of such materials at command, we need not be surprized if the man 

 of taste should so arrange and dispose of them as to make the flower garden present 

 in the midst of winter an interest and beauty peculiar to itself at this dull season. So 

 well is this understood, that the appearance of the winter garden is as great a consid- 

 eration, and in many places greater, than its summer appearance. 



The climate of Great Britain is particularly favorable to this system of gardening. 

 Laying with its isles off the west coast of Europe, it has the heat of summer as well 

 as the winter's cold very much modified by the vast waters of the Atlantic. If we 

 glance at all the broad-leaved evergreens as they are to be seen in that country, we 

 should say they are luxuriating in a climate that is to them perfection — very intense 

 cold they are incapable of withstanding, and intense heat with a brilliant burning sun 

 is not over agreeable to many of them, the latter probably caused by the immense 

 draw on their broad foliage in heated, arid weather. Among the other offices which 

 leaves perform is that of respiration, and if the plants are constituted for an atmos- 

 phere more cool and humid than our own, it follows that the immense draw on the 

 foliage must injure if not destroy the plants. The size of the foliage is no criterion 

 by which to judge the degrees of heat or cold which a plant will bear. Our native 

 Magnolia grandijlora^ coming from a southern clime, will stand any amount of heat 

 and brilliant sun which would be destructive to plants of more temperate, humid 

 climes, or whose natural habitat is the shade of forests. 



The continent of Europe is not so favorable to the growth of such evergreens as 

 Great Britain. Like our own country, the cold of winter in the northern parts, and 

 the heat of summer in the more southern, appear to operate alike injuriously. This 

 latter remark will hold good of only some of the genera, as many grow with as great 

 vigor and luxuriance, and even greater in the southern countries of Europe, than in 

 England. Among these may be numbered Arbutus unedo, Lauris noblis, Viburmim 

 tinus, &c., &c, 



In this country it will perhaps be said this description of gardening cannot be 



