Gardening in California 



Thuya gigantea. 



THUYA. 



A genus of conifera compris- 

 ing about a dozen species of 

 hardy evergreen trees or shrubs, 

 natives of America and Asia, two 

 of them being indigenous to the 

 Pacific Coast. Thuya gigantea, 

 one of the Coast species, is a tall 

 handsome evergreen graceful tree 

 of pyramidal habit with some- 

 what drooping branches, and 

 grows, under favorable circum- 

 stances, from one hundred to two 

 hundred feet high with a diam- 

 eter of stem from three to six 

 feet, thriving well in any well-drained garden soil. 



Propagate by seeds sown one-eighth of an inch deep in 

 boxes filled with light sandy soil in a cold frame in early Spring. 

 Transplant them into open nursery rows when they are three 

 inches high, and plant them in their permanent quarters when 

 they are about two feet high. 



The Chinese species (Thuya Orientalis), of a dwarf habit, 

 is much used in cemeteries and formal gardens, its formal sym- 

 metrical habit making it a favorite in that style of gar- 

 dening. Thuya Occidentalis, the eastern species, grows to a 

 height of about sixty feet, and forms a narrow pyramidal rather 

 compact head. 



The different species have many garden varieties, and a num- 

 ber of them, including variegated forms, are very beautiful. 

 These are propagated by cuttings placed in sand in a cold frame 

 in the Fall or by grafting on the original species in early Spring. 



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