90 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



likely to become ragged. There are many dwarf or semi-dwarf 

 varieties which are quite attractive. Among the best of these 

 are compada, Remontii, Clanbrasiliana, and pygmoea. 



Next to the Norway, the Colorado spruce, Picea pungens, 

 is the most planted in Canada of the species not native. It 

 is hardy in all the provinces, succeeding very well on the 

 prairies. The variety with steely-blue leaves, known as glauca, 

 is the most popular, and this is, as a rule, the only tree thought 

 of when this species is mentioned, unless it be the form known 

 as Kosteriana, which is of a particularly fine bluish color. This 

 variety, which is usually grafted, needs to be watched when 

 young and a leader trained, as it often takes a sprawling habit 

 for a time unless this is done. While the Colorado spruce makes 

 a handsome though rather rigid-looking specimen when young, 

 in eastern Canada when it is twenty -five to thirty years old 

 the foliage and branches die from the bottom up, and in a few 

 years they become so unsightly that they have to be removed. 

 However, they are well worth growing for the first twenty 

 years or more, and some specimens at Ottawa over thirty 

 years old are still in fine condition. 



While Picea Omorika is not well known in Canada as yet, 

 it promises to be a very useful ornamental species, at least in 

 the eastern provinces. It is hardy at Ottawa and makes a 

 handsome though rather slow-growing tree. There is a pleasing 

 contrast in the leaves, which are glossy and dark green on one 

 side and with lines of white on the other. 



Picea jezoensis, often sold under the name of Abies Alcocki- 

 ana, while hardy so far as the terminal growth is concerned, 

 usually has many dead branches in eastern Canada, which 

 prevents it from being as attractive as it otherwise would be. 

 There is a marked contrast between the deep green of the 

 lower side of the leaf and the silvery-white of the upper. It 



