MY SHRUBS 43 



is red, bell-shaped and drooping. It is hardy, and will prosper in a 

 shady peat bed. Other varieties of the species in cultivation can be 

 secured, and E. japonica has white bells and fine autumn colour. 



Entelea arborescens, from New Zealand, blossoms in a small 

 state, and my plant hung out a fine show of flowers and set its 

 prickly seeds afterwards, though not above two feet high. It is 

 a pretty thing with white-stalked cymes of bloom, but doubtfully 

 hardy. Mine flourished in half shade last summer, but it is at 

 this moment wintering comfortably in a cold house to reappear 

 in May. 



Epacris, another very fine New Zealander, will not succeed out 

 of doors though, with protection and thought, it might be pre- 

 vailed upon to do so. In a pot it is a difficult customer, and few 

 succeed for long with this beautiful dwarf. I scorn hybrids as a 

 rule, but some of the hybrids of epacris are most distinguished. 



Ephedra distachya looks like a hippuris or " horse-tail," and, 

 indeed, that is the meaning of its name. I had a good piece of 

 this South European, but death, for reasons I could not discover, 

 overtook it in a sunny spot, and, though it reached two feet, and 

 was comely and happy to the eye, it set no fruit. When the scarlet 

 berries are ripe, Ephedra must be a showy object, and I am trying 

 it again. 



Epigcea repens is a gem that I have loved and lost. This fair, 

 pink-flowered, fragrant treasure throve and bloomed in a very 

 dark corner, but I think it was too dry, for the worst of these gloomy 

 corners often is that they lack moisture. But of dwarfs there are 

 few more exquisite than this little ground laurel from the Northern 

 States and few more difficult. 



Of Erica I can show nothing novel save E. urceolata, a rare 



