52 Hardy Plants for 



the strongest being about a foot long when the plants are established 

 a year or two. When seen on a nicely established plant, these leaves 

 combine the beauty of those of the finest Grevillea, with a fern 

 frondj while the youngest and unfolding leaves remind one of the 

 dainty ones of a finely-cut umbelliferous plant in spring. The variety 

 observable in the shape, size, and aspect of the foliage makes the 

 plant charming to look upon, while the midribs of the fully grown 

 leaves are red, and in autumn the whole glow off into bright colour 

 after the fashion of American shrubs and trees. During the entire 

 season it is presentable, and there is no fear of any vicissitude of 

 weather injuring it. Its great merit is that in addition to being so 

 elegant in foliation it has a very dwarf habit, and is thoroughly 

 hardy. Plants at three years old and undisturbed for the past two 

 years are not more than eighteen inches high. The heads are 

 slightly branched, but are not a whit less elegant than when in a 

 simple-stemmed and young state, so that here we have clearly a 

 subject that will afford a charming fern-like effect in the full sun, 

 and add graceful verdure and distinction to the flower garden. 

 When the flowers show after the plant is a few years old they may. 

 be pinched off, and this need only be mentioned in the case of 

 permanent groups or plantings of it. To produce the effect of a 

 Grevillea or fern on a small scale, we should of course keep this 

 graceful Rhus small, and propagate it like a bedding plant. The 

 graceful mixtures and bouquet-like beds that might be made with 

 the aid of such plants need not be suggested here, while of course 

 an established plant, or groups of three, might well form the centre 

 of a bed. Planting a very small bed or group separately in the 

 flower garden and many other uses, which cannot be enumerated 

 here, will occur to those who have once tried it. Some hardy 

 plants of fine foliage are either so rampant or so top-heavy that 

 they cannot be wisely associated with bedding plants — this is, on 

 the contrary, as tidy and tractable a grower as the most fastidious 

 could desire. It would be a pity to put such a pretty plant 

 under or near rough trees and shrubs — give it the full sun, and 

 good free soil. 



