EVERGREENS FOR HEDGES. 7! 



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

 thing of the kind more attractive. R. pisifera 

 nana varicgata is also very beautiful, a dense minia- 

 ture 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 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 

 Robert Fortune's famous 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 Spiraea 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 miniature 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. Trav- 

 elers in Japan tell us of specimens in Japanese gar- 



