26 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



years ago, of the twelve conifers that have 

 shown themselves able to grow to a large size 

 and preserve in cultivation here their mature 

 beauty for a long period. 



The weak point about the red spruce is 

 that it demands a cool and moist situation, 

 and is not as drought resistant as the Norway, 

 white and Colorado blue, which will stand a 



46. Engelmann's spruce (Picea Engelmantu). some- 

 times sold for the Colorado blue, but if you grasp a 

 bunch of leaves the needles will not pricK you as 

 those of the Colorado blue will do 



greater range of soil conditions than the other 

 spruces. All spruces prefer a cool climate 

 and moist but well-drained soil. 



All the spruces described above have four- 

 sided leaves. The following have more or 

 less flattened leaves, with white lines on 

 what is technically the upper surface, but 

 which by a twist of the leaf stalk appears to 

 be the lower. 



THE ALASKAN, SIBERIAN AND ALCOCK 



. One would think that a spruce from Sitka 

 would be hardy, but Picea Sitchensis does 

 not thrive well in the East. Whether or not 

 the cultivated stock came originally from 

 California, and is therefore tender, I cannot 

 say. The tree does not like our hot summers, 

 which is a pity, because of the beauty of the 

 contrasting colors in its foliage. 



However, a tree that is very much like the 

 Sitka spruce and quite hardy is the Siberian 

 {Picea Ajanensis). This is sometimes sold 

 under the name of Picea Alcockiana, but it 

 has flatter leaves than the true Alcock's 

 spruce. 



Probably the best spruce Japan has to 

 offer is the true Alcock's spruce, which is 

 sometimes sold under the names of Picea 

 Alcockiana nova and P. acicularis. It is of 

 more rapid growth than the Siberian spruce 

 and has more slender branches. 



THE ROC'S EGG — BREWER'S SPRUCE 



Unhappily the most remarkable of all 

 spruces has never yet been successfully 

 cultivated. Brewer's spruce (Picea Brewer- 



iana) has branchlets that hang straight 

 down from the branches to a distance of six 

 or eight feet! Imagine their beauty when 

 waving in a slight breeze or streaming before 

 a gale! But alas! out of 300,000 seedlings 

 raised by Mr. Thomas H. Douglas, only one 

 plant was alive when he wrote his interesting 

 story for the " Cyclopedia of American Horti- 

 culture," and that tree was scarcely six 

 inches high, having cost the owner at the 

 rate of $100 an inch! 



THE BEST AVAILABLE WEEPING SPRUCE 



But if we cannot have Brewer's spruce, 

 some of us can have the Himalayan (P. 

 Smithiana; P. Morinda of the nurseries). I 

 believe this is the most beautiful of all spruces 

 that are naturally pendulous — i. e., those 

 whose branchlets — not branches — depend. 

 Every conifer of importance is likely to 

 have a variety pendula, but these are mostly 

 horticultural forms, not natural ones, and it is 

 the main branches that depend, giving so 

 unusual an effect that they sometimes look 

 like freaks. But the Himalayan spruce is 

 naturally pendulous, and it is a pity that it 

 is not hardy in New England. The young 

 growth starts too early, especially in warm, 

 moist situations, and is caught by spring 

 frosts. We have a splendid specimen in a 

 sheltered position at Dosoris. 



There is a spruce from southeastern 

 Europe, called Picea Omorika, the peculiar 

 beauty of which is more easily felt than 

 analyzed. It forms a dense and narrow 

 pyramid and is a very hardy tree of slow 

 growth. The leaves lie close to the branches. 



47. The most popular blue conifer, the Colorado 

 blue spruce. Although hardy, specimens in New 

 England forty years old are beginning to lose their 

 beauty. (Picea pungens, var. glauca.) 



If you have a cone-bearing branch of any 

 important cultivated spruce, you should be 

 able to determine its correct name by con- 

 sulting the key which follows. Choose first 

 between A and AA; then between B and 

 BB and so on until the last description that 



tallies exactly with what you hold in your 

 hand points directly to its proper name. 



HOW TO DISTINGUISH THE SPRUCES 



This "key" shows at a glance how each of the 

 important species differs from every other. 



A. Those with 4-sided leaves. 



B. Scales of cones closely packed before ripen- 

 ing. 

 C. Cones 2\ to 6 inches long. 



D. Leaves spreading polita 



DD. Leaves pointing forward . 

 E. Length of Ivs. \ to l\ 



in Smithiana 



EE. Length of l-vs. -i to 1 in. excelsa 

 EEE. Length of Ivs. less than 



•V in orientalis 



CC. Cones J to 2 inches long. 

 D. Young branches reddish 



brown rubra 



DD. Young branches brown- 

 ish yellow alba 



BB. Scales of cones loose before 

 ripening. 

 C. Branches slender, in dense 



whorls Engelmanni 



CC. Branches stout, in rather re- 

 mote whorls pungens 



A A. Those with more or less flattened 

 leaves. 

 B. Scales of cones closely packed 

 before ripening: Ivs. slightly 

 flattened. 

 C. Young branches pubescent Omorika 

 CC. Young branches rarely pu- 

 bescent Alcockiana 



BB. Scales of cones loose before 

 ripening: Ivs. much flat- 

 tened. 

 C. "Bark bright or dark red- 

 brown Sitchensis 



CC. "Bark dark gray Ajanensis 



The Japan Cypresses, or 

 Retinosporas 



By Henry Maxwell 



Photographs by Henry Troth 



EVERYTHING about the Japanese dwarf 

 cypresses, except the plants themselves, 

 is just as mean and technical and perplexing 

 as it can possibly be. To begin with, the 

 name Japan cypress is a manufactured Eng- 

 lish name which the nurserymen do not know; 

 there is no good common name for the whole 

 group; the nursery name, Retinos'pora, is 

 too hard (most people accent it on the syllable 

 next the last instead of the third, and it was 

 originally spelled with two i's instead of two 

 o's) ; and to cap the climax, the botanists have 

 abandoned the whole genus, declaring that 

 these forms belong to the genus Chamaecy- 

 paris (which means dwarf cypress), or to the 

 arborvitse genus, viz., Thuya. 



But annoyance soon turns to delight when 

 one sees the plants themselves (which have 

 the softest and most feathery outlines of any 

 small conifers), and to wonder, when one 

 reads Mr. Render's brilliant account in the 

 "Cyclopedia of American Horticulture" of 

 the discovery that each of these familiar types 

 has been identified with an adult form that 

 has an utterly different aspect from the juve- 

 nile forms we know. The patient botanical 

 soul may trace, through Mr. Rehder's article 

 on Retinispora, these marvelous transforma- 

 tions in the shape and color of the leaves, the 

 interrelations of these forms and their correct 

 names, but for ordinary purposes the only 

 way is to cut the Gordian knot by considering 



