376 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



LIBOCEDRUS DECURRENS AT FROGMORE (65 Jeel high). 



America and Japan, many of which 

 have proved but ill-adapted to general 

 cultivation, and can only be grown 

 to advantage in certain soils or 

 localities. 



When judiciously used, pro- 

 perly selected and planted, the 

 Conifers constitute a most important 

 group. Nothing, for instance, in the 

 whole range of native or foreign trees 

 is more stately and picturesque than 

 the Cedar of Lebanon. How much 

 we of the present day owe to those 

 who, a century and more ago, planted 

 this tree so abundantly in this 

 country, the illustrations in this 

 work' will show. In some localities, 

 especially in North Britain, certain 

 Conifers, like the Douglas Fir, pro- 

 mise to be of value as timber trees. 



In Selecting Conifers for 

 purely garden use a study should 

 be made of the species planted in 

 other gardens with similar conditions 

 as to soil, moisture, and altitude. The 

 Spruces (Picea) are nearly all failures 

 in light dry soil, but the Lawson 

 Cypress and Larches succeed well. 

 Nearly all the Pines are happy in 

 poor gravelly ground. In localities 

 Monterey Cypress, Pinus insignis, P. muricata, as well as 

 Austrian Pines, have proved valuable. For chalk, the Cedars, 

 A. Pinsapo, the Maidenhair Tree, Lawson Cypress, Thuja 

 is well as the Yews and Junipers, are among the 



exposed to sea-winds, tin 

 the Scotch, Corsican, and 

 Larches, Abies nobilis and 

 gigantea (Lobbi), and T. occidental 

 best. The Conifer family is especially noteworthy for the polymorphous character of many 

 of its species. The well-known Retinosporas are generally nothing more than forms, 

 "states" the botanists term them, assumed by various species of Thuja and Cupressus. 

 Strictly speaking, " Retinospora " has no separate existence as a genus. This, however, 

 is a botanical phase of the matter. What concerns the majority more is the same 

 tendency to variation that has shown itself in the numerous coloured varieties now in 

 gardens, as well as in those that differ in growth. The Common Spruce (Picea excelsa) 

 is a tall stately tree, which has "sported" into numerous dwarf forms only a few feet 

 high and admirably adapted for the rock garden. The Lawson Cypress again has assumed 

 almost every shade of colour and every form of growth except a prostrate one. A blue- 

 white or glaucous hue, although more or less present in most Conifers, shows itself most 

 conspicuously in the Blue Spruce (Picea pungens glauca) and Cedrus atlantica glauca. For 

 supplying various shades of yellow, the golden variety of the Common Yew and several 

 varieties of the Lawson Cypress are very useful ; and Cupressus macrocarpa lutea is a 

 singularly charming yellow form of the Monterey Cypress. 



TREES AND SHRUBS IN WINTER.— Although evergreens have added so greatly to the 

 warmth and attractiveness of gardens in winter, deciduous vegetation, too, is full of beauty 



