GOOD TREES AND SHRUBS 233 



adapted than the evergreen Oleasters for clothing ugly walls. E. angus- 

 tifolia, from Southern Europe, forms quite a tree, and needs plenty of 

 head room to display its true beauty. It has narrow leaves, light green 

 with a white reverse, and its clusters of delightfully fragrant full yellow 

 flowers borne in the leaf axils are succeeded by showy fruits. E. longipes 

 grows about eight feet high and as much or more through, and flourishes 

 in hungry soils. It is a very handsome shrub when in fruit, and is worth 

 planting largely for this reason. The North- American Silver Berry 

 (E. argentea) is another beautiful deciduous species, with sweet-scented 

 flowers. It has silvered leaves, and the clusters of yellowish flowers 

 are followed by roundish berries. E. umbellata is an ornamental Japan- 

 ese species. It is of good growth, and during summer bears cream- 

 coloured flowers. E. macrophylla, a Japanese species of robust growth, 

 has a lavish display in winter of greenish-yellow flowers. Its bright green 

 leaves are powdered on the under sides with white, and when ruffled 

 by the wind a pleasing effect is created. E. pungens is a bold green- 

 leaved winter-flowering species ; but its golden-leaved form (aurea) is 

 the showiest of the group. It is strong in growth, and the greater part 

 of its leaves are rich yellow slightly margined with pale green. A grand 

 shrub for the lawn. 



Empetrum nigrum (The Native Crowberry) flourishes in soil suit- 

 able for Heaths. It is a neat evergreen shrub, well adapted for edging 

 beds, and is also worthy of a place in a shady nook in the rock-garden. 

 It has small pink flowers and dark berries. 



The hardy Ericas (Heaths) are quite unfamiliar in many gardens. 

 The general belief that they only make satisfactory growth in peaty 

 soil is wrong, as they grow freely and flower abundantly in loamy soil 

 provided it is sweet, suitably drained, and free from lime. If an annual 

 surface dressing of leaf-mould can be given much good will result. They 

 may be used in a variety of ways with excellent effect. For instance, 

 the dwarf, cushion-like Heaths are serviceable for edgings to beds of 

 low-growing American shrubs, while the taller growing kinds are not 

 out of place in the shrubbery provided sunlight and air are not shut out. 

 The flowers appear over a long period, and some of the kinds viz. 

 lusitanica, mediterranea, and its varieties are produced when flowers 

 are by no means plentiful out of doors. The following is a list of pretty 

 Heaths suitable for the open garden, and it may be taken as representing 

 the various groups. E. lusitanica, from Spain and Portugal, is rather 

 tender, and at flowering time between February and May few Heaths 

 are more pleasing. The drooping flowers are pale pink, almost white, 

 and appear on almost every small twig. The Tree Heath (E. arborea) 

 grows eight or nine feet high and flowers about the same time as the last 

 named. Its flowers are white, a noble kind. E. Tetralix, a native cross- 

 leaved species, carries a profusion of delicate pink flowers towards mid- 

 summer. The red and white varieties are very beautiful, too, and de- 

 light in moist soil. E. mediterranea is a free-growing species, often 

 reaching three feet in height, and is beautiful in mid- January with its 

 pink flowers. The variety hybrida is an improvement on the type. It 



