CHAP. V VILLA GAEDENING 39 



and everybody is acquainted with the cheerful aspect of a group of 

 Hollies when laden with berries. In the wild garden bold masses 

 of the Dog Rose and the Sweet Brier have a brilliant eftect when 

 in fruit. To come to smaller fruiting plants, we have the Aucuba, 

 Cotoueaster, Pernettya, Skimmia, and Ivies in great variety. The 

 Pyracantha and Coloneaster Simonsi grafted standard high are 

 very effective foreground plants. 



And neither need the winter be destitute of flowering sub- 

 jects, the naked-flowered Jasmine, the Laurustine, Chimonanthes 

 fragrans, the Box, and the Yew tree, flower in February, scatter- 

 ing clouds of pollen on a windy day. A ' group of the early- 

 flowering Sallows or Willows might be appropriately used to give 

 character to any retired spot where there is at present a dearth of 

 interest, for the sake of the early catkins. Among the lowly- 

 flowering plants can anything surpass the Christmas Rose 1 and 

 few plants have so long a season. In sheltered places the early 

 plants begin to blossom in November, and I have gathered a dozen 

 flowers on 28th March, so that the Christmas Rose really forms a 

 link between the autumn and the spring. Wallflowers and Prim- 

 roses, Violets and Pansies are seldom flowerless in winter, and the 

 Garden Anemone (coronaria) in many shades of colour will flower 

 freely in winter on a dry border. I have elsewhere referred to the 

 early and late flowering bulbs ; the Sternbergia lutea, late in 

 autumn, and winter Aconites and the Snowdrop and Crocus are 

 really more of the winter than the spring. Much may be done to 

 give warmth and cheerfulness to a place by the free use of plants 

 having variegated foliage. Among these subjects the variegated 

 Holly stands pre-eminent ; then comes the Aucubas and the varie- 

 gated conifers, of which there are many forms among the Cypress 

 family, including the Japanese group. Golden Yews are effective ; 

 so are all the Biotas and Arborvitses, especially Vervseneana 

 among the latter. The bronze-leaved Cryptomeria elegans, which 

 is also a Japanese species, is a very usefid winter tree, and suc- 

 ceeds well as a small specimen for the villa garden in the suburbs. 

 Much more might be said upon this subject, but I do not want to 

 make these chapters unnecessarily long. 



Transplanting' Trees and Shrubs. — Before I leave this 

 part of my subject I should like to say a few words upon the best 

 time to plant. I have already referred elsewhere to the import- 

 ance of a thorough preparation of the site. Whether the subject 

 to be planted be a Primrose, or a Gooseberry bush, a common 

 Lam-el, a Cedar of Lebanon, or a forest tree, the same nde holds 

 good. The working and deepening of the root-nm will have an 

 influence upon the life -history of the plant or tree ; but in the 



