246 TREES AND SHRUBS 



as sometimes one or two of the lower ones may be 

 removed with benefit to the shrubs, judicious cutting 

 away letting in light and air. 



The best of the larger growing evergreens to use 

 under trees are Laurels, both common and Portugal, 

 Yews, Box, Osmanthus, Aucubas, Phillyraeas, com- 

 mon and oval-leaved Privet, Ligustrum sinense, and 

 Rhododendron ponticum. Of these Yews, Box, and 

 Osmanthus are perhaps as successful as any. The 

 Osmanthus is not usually considered suitable for this 

 purpose, but it succeeds well in the shade, and keeps 

 a good dark-green colour. Hollies are sometimes 

 recommended, but, though they may occasionally 

 thrive under trees, it is not advisable to use many 

 of them, as they are more often a failure, becoming 

 thin and straggling in the course of a year or two. 

 Of dwarf-growing evergreens Berberis Aquifolium, 

 Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus), Cotoneaster micro- 

 phylla, Euonymus japonicus, and E. radicans, with their 

 respective varieties, Skimmias, Gaultheria Shallon, 

 Ivies, Pernettya mucronata, St. John's Wort (^Hypericum 

 calycinum), and Vincas can all be recommended, 

 as they all do well in the shade, and most of them 

 will flower freely. 



For a very dry spot where nothing else will grow 

 the Butcher's Broom and St. John's Wort should be 

 planted, as both will grow and thrive where other 

 plants die. With deciduous shrubs under trees the 

 difficulty is not so much in getting them to live as 

 in coaxing them to flower, but a few of them will 

 do well in the shade, and, as a rule, bloom freely. 



