THE BEST HARDY CONIFERS 131 



most of those of C. pisifera grow tall. Among the 

 best of these are: aurea, in which the whole of the 

 current season's growth is rich golden yellow and 

 changes to green the following year; sulphurea, simi- 

 lar but of a paler hue; plumosa, very dense in habit 

 and strictly conical in outline and with dark green 

 leaves; plumosa albo-picta has the tips of the branch- 

 lets creamy white; in plumosa argentea nearly the 

 whole of the young growths are creamy white and be- 

 come green the following year; in plumosa aurea they 

 are light golden yellow changing as the season ad- 

 vances to deep green ; squarrosa is irregular in outline, 

 densely and intricately branched, and has short, 

 pointed, pale bluish green leaves. 



Thus far I have dealt only with tall-growing Coni- 

 fers but in gardens large and small there is a demand 

 for low-growing sorts and particularly since there are 

 so very few broad-leaved evergreens hardy in this 

 climate. Fortunately, among Conifers there are 

 dwarfs in great variety, some of them sports from free 

 forms and others good species. Of the White Pine 

 (Pinus Strobus) there is a variety (nana) which is a 

 small, compact, roundish, bushy shrub with short 

 slender branches and leaves shorter than in the type. 

 The common and variable Mountain Pine of the Alps 

 and other parts of Europe (P. montana, often known 



