CO LRUS IN WINTER. 



73 



figures made by the interlacing branchlets 

 against the sky. There is no need to speak 

 of the endless varieties in the shade and tex- 

 ture of the bark, both of trunk and limb and 

 spray, and it is well known that the richest 

 colors in a winter landscape are those of the 

 warm browns of a distant wood. The colors 

 of the small twigs are especially varied, too, 

 and the tinted mist which hovers over a 

 shrubbery a few hundred feet away is col- 

 lected from the mingled colors of the bark 

 on the smaller branches. 



This brings us to a point in planting 

 shrubbery for winter effect which we wish 

 here to insist upon. In former articles we 

 have given lists of various shrubs which are 

 ornamented with brightly colored fruit until 

 midwinter, but we have not so often named 

 those whose bark lends a pleasing color to 

 the short days of the year. The glossy 

 green branchlets of the kerrias, the golden 

 bark of the willows which warms into still 

 brighter yellow with the approach of spring, 

 the ashen gray of some of the viburnums 

 and the scarlet twigs of the dogwoods make 

 pictures of unfailing beauty, either against 

 the glittering snow or the brown earth. 

 Taking the Cornels alone one is surprised 

 to find the variety of form and color they 



display at this season. Our common Red 

 Osier, Cornus stolonifera, with its broad 

 leaves, pale flowers and bluiSh white fruit, 

 is ornamental all summer. Its leaves turn 

 purple and yellow in autumn, and now its 

 purple-red branches sustain its beauty in 

 midwinter. There is a variety of the plant, 

 too, with golden-yellow bark, specimens of 

 which have been exhibited by Mr, Warren 

 Manning at the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, and it is distinct and striking. 



Cornus alba, the common European Red 

 Osier, which is often sold by nurserymen as 

 Cornus sanguinea, is another bright-barked 

 plant. It is a variable shrub, and one strain, 

 which is called alba Siberica, has stems of 

 almost vermilion. Cornus circinata, too, 

 one of our native species which is found on 

 wooded hillsides, in addition to its beautiful 

 flowers and light blue, has red and yellow 

 stems which are sometimes finely mottled, 

 while Cornus candidissima has an ashen 

 gray bark of a singularly soft texture. Cer- 

 tainly a group of these Cornels properly 

 arranged gives a pleasing stretch of varied 

 color, and with judicious selections from 

 other families, by harmonious contrasts, a 

 most interesting feature can be added to our 

 winter landscapes. — Garden and Forest. 



COLEUS IN WINTER. 



«i2j^r3^ OLEUS plants, as a rule, are not a 

 ^M-fe- success in an ordinary window in 

 A\ly1i the winter season. For several 

 ^^^ years I experimented with them, 

 using both old and young plants, keeping 

 them cool or hot, moist or dry, and finally 

 hit on a plan by following which they are a 

 complete success every year. My exper- 

 ience has been that old plants generally do 

 not do well the whole winter through. When 

 the main stock becomes thick and woody 

 it is time to discard it and begin afresh. 



My plan is this : Just before the first kill- 

 ing frost in the fall, I go the rounds of my 

 coleus plants taking about three slips of 

 each variety. These are placed in glasses 

 of water to root ; when nicely rooted they 

 are potted off into three or four inch pots in 

 a soil composed of two-thirds garden soil 

 (not too rich) mixed with one-third sand. I 

 find a very rich soil is not conducive to 

 extra bright color in the leaves and I have 

 known the plants to be grown beautifully 

 bright in pure sand. I keep two plants of 



