THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[January, 



out the country, arborvitaes for instance. And 

 apropos of arborvitses, let me say that the 

 retinosporas bear a much more close relation to 

 that species than they do to cypresses, notwith- 

 standing the latter has been adopted as the 

 English name. The retinosporas graft readily 

 on the thujas or arborvitJE, and bear a certain 

 resemblance to them, but the resemblance only 

 that can exist between a beautiful plant and one 

 much less attractive. Let us look at a group of 

 the new and rare retinosporas, although unfor- 

 tunately all retinosporas are comparativelj' rare 

 on our lawns. In asking you to look first at 

 fllicoides, I am selecting one of the very choicest 

 and most curious green species or varieties. If 

 it were not for a peculiarly thick, curled border 

 along the leaf of this retinospora, it might be 

 readily taken while young for an evergreen fern. 

 It is a spreading plant, of slow growth and great 

 hardiness. Indeed, I might say once for all, that 

 the retinosporas are of unexcelled hardiness, 

 both winter and summer, and that their variega- 

 tions are all permanent. Can a higher character 

 be given to any other evergreen ? 



There are two distinct kinds of weeping reti- 

 nosporas, namely, a beautiful fern-like pendu- 

 lous form of R. obtusa, originating in Flushing, 

 and an extravagant attenuated form imported 

 recently from Japan through Mr. Thos. Hogg. 

 The long thread-like leaves of this variety fall 

 directly down and curve about the stem in 

 swaying meagre masses, which suggest that in 

 this plant the extreme of the weeping form 

 among evergreens has been reached. Almost as 

 curious as this is another introduction of Mr. 

 Thos. Hogg — R. filifera aurea. We have known 

 R. filifera for some time as a rare tree, with 

 tesselated, shaggy masses of green thread-like 

 foliage, but Mr. Hogg's new variety offers the 

 same strange mass of foliage, only in this case 

 it is turned into gold — broad, solid, permanent 

 gold. While I am pointing out the golden reti- 

 nosporas, which are veritable sunbeams amid 

 other evergreens, let me call your attention to 

 R. obtusa aurea, one of the best and most dis- 

 tinct of all variegated forms. It is free-growing, 

 with a beautiful combination of gold color inter 

 mixed with glossj'-, rich green all over the plant. 

 Although not exactly a new plant, I am con- 

 strained to call your passing attention to R. 

 obtusa nana, one of the very best of dwarf ever- 

 greens, a dense, flat tuft of glossy deep green 

 spray, a cushion or ball of evergreen foliage that 

 will hardly gi-ow two feet in ten years. The 



golden form of R. obtusa nana is charming. It& 

 yellow is a rich bronze, and I do not know any- 

 thing of the kind more attractive. R. pisifera 

 nana variegata is also very beautiful, a dense 

 miniature bush of a general bluish-gray aspect, 

 except a portion of the lesser branchlets and 

 leaves, which are pale yellow. But do not think 

 I have begun to exhaust the curious forms of 

 these retinosporas. I have only given the most 

 noteworthy to be'found on a superior lawn. Any 

 large group of R. obtusa will give you a dozen 

 beautiful diverse forms of weeping, pyramidal 

 and dwarf or spreading evergreens. All, or 

 practically all, kinds of retinosporas now used, 

 came from Japan, where they are common but 

 highly valued in the beautiful gardens of that 

 country. Mr. Hogg has not only introduced 

 several of these new retinosporas, but has given 

 us possibly more new Japanese plants than any 

 collector since the time of Robt. Fortune's fa- 

 mous horticultural explorations. I must not 

 leave these retinosporas without calling attention 

 again to their excellent adaptation to small 

 places. If we restrict the planting on a small 

 lawn to Japanese maples, retinosporas and two 

 or three shrubs like Spirea crispifolia, we may 

 almost defy, with a little skill, the power of time 

 to compass, by means of trees, the destruction 

 of our grass plots. I must add, however, one 

 other conifer to this seemingly short but really 

 varied list of new, hardy plants suited to minia- 

 ture lawn planting. 



I refer to Sciadopitys verticillata, the parasol 

 pine, one of the most extraordinary evergreens 

 known. The plant we see on this lawn is 

 scarcely two feet high, and yet it is more than 

 ten years old. Travelers in Japan tell us of 

 specimens in Japanese gardens fifty and one 

 hundred feet high, but certainly in youth the 

 plant is wonderfully dwarf. Its strange habit 

 is produced by the curious long, broad, dark- 

 green needles, or narrow strap-sha2:)ed leaves 

 that cluster in parasol-like tufts at the end of 

 each succeeding year's growth. The color is as 

 dark as that of the yew, and the growth as com- 

 pact. It is, moreover, very hardy, and thus 

 presents a combination of choice qualities of 

 the most strange, attractive and valuable char- 

 acter. The plant is so entirely original in its 

 forms, that it seems some lone type, the correla- 

 tions of which are lost or yet to be found. As 

 we look upon it we commence to realize how 

 thoroughly most plants of the same genus, all 

 over the globe, are related to each other, just 



