70 MY SHRUBS 



Ligustrum also leaves me cold ; but L. aureuniy the golden privet, 

 resides in a corner, and is often picked for indoor decoration. 



Limoniastrum monopetela, from Sicily, attained to a good size, 

 and its grey-green foliage and original habit made an interesting 

 shrub of it. But it perished without showing a flower, and I 

 have started it again under very favourable conditions. It is 

 inclined to be tender, but probably succeeds well enough in the 

 South of England. 



Liquidambar styracifiua, a hamamelis, whose species occur in 

 the Levant, Japan and elsewhere, is famed for its fine autumn 

 colouring. These trees grow slowly, and are shrubs for practical 

 purposes. My variety — the sweet gum — is of North America, 

 and has not shaken out its yellow catkins as yet. Neither has the 

 autumn colour of the foliage been at all remarkable. L. for- 

 mosana, from China, is now in cultivation. You can use the 

 timber of this species for tea-chests, I find, should it fail to please 

 you. 



Liriodendron is another tree, and will not give you its sweet- 

 scented, tulip -like blossoms until it attains to something like 

 adult size. The finest specimen of this famous American that 

 I have ever seen was in a friend's garden at Petersham, nigh 

 Richmond-on-Thames. 



Lomatia ferruginea is a Chilian, and quite hardy in the West. 

 Its fernlike, evergreen leaves and rusty stems make a good shrub 

 of it, and reconcile me to some patience in the matter of its 

 crimson flowers. It grows slowly in any soil, and appears to like 

 fiill sun. Other varieties grow in Australia, but I do not know 

 whether they are cultivated. The plant is allied to Embothrium, 

 but a great deal easier to please. 



