182 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SHRUB GARDENING ON THE WEST COAST OF 

 ROSS-SHIRE. 



By Osgood H. Mackenzie, F.R.H.S. 



The winter and spring of 1903-4 were as favourable as any such seasons 

 could possibly be for the welfare of exotics ; there was neither the intense 

 cold of the early spring of 1902, nor the never-ceasing hurricanes and 

 floods at the same period of 1908, and thus there are no casualties to 

 report. A heavy snowfall without wind early in December broke a few of 

 my pet shrubs, particularly a fine Oxydendrum arboreum syn. Andromeda 

 arbor ea, which still retained its beautifully tinted leaves, and my big 

 Japanese Loquat lost several boughs, some of my Phormiums also had a 

 portion of their leaves bent over ; but otherwise everything has pulled 

 through extremely well. 



After some forty years' experience I have come to the conclusion that 

 we do not take half enough trouble to make our places look beautiful in 

 winter, and, moreover, that there is no reason why they should not be 

 nearly, if not quite, as charming in winter as in summer. Why the 

 general public restricts itself so much to planting masses of Laurels, 

 Privets, and Ponticum Rhododendrons close up to their doors, I cannot 

 imagine ; and when I look at my own grounds, I feel thankful that there 

 is not one of these plants to be seen in any of my choice shrubberies, 

 though I do not object to a big specimen Portugal Laurel in an open 

 glade, or to an undergrowth of Ponticum Rhododendrons in the planta- 

 tions. 



I will now describe what I venture to think is a better way of planting 

 shrubberies, and will tell of three of mine, of which I took a note one fine 

 morning last January. The first, which goes by the name of the "Fan- 

 tasie," has a background of Silver Fir, Monterey Cypress, and Turkey 

 Oak, the latter retaining its russet leaves well into the spring. Some 

 of these are outside the enclosure, and, showing up well against them are 

 some slender feathery specimens of Eucalyptus cocci/era with their white 

 stems and pale bluish foliage ; then come a number of tall Cotoneaster 

 Simonsii, nine or ten feet high, covered with their vermilion berries : the 

 only plant that with me keeps its fruit on till well into spring. 



Among the Cotoneasters are also some tall Portugal Brooms, waving 

 their glaucous sprays in the breeze, and of much the same tint before they 

 bloom as the Red Gums, by which name I believe the Eucalyptus coccifera 

 is known in Australia. Then, mixed in among these, are large bushes of 

 Diplopajypus chrysophyllus 1 sparkling like gold in the winter sun ; Ameri- 

 can Dogwoods, with their crimson stems and twigs ; Camellias, Pampas 

 Grass, New Zealand Veronicas, and Pittosporums ; and, for spring and 

 summer show, bushes of Rosa rugosa, two species of Forsytkia, Primus 

 Pissardi, many varieties of Crabs, Pyrus, and Philadelphus, and the 

 ground is carpeted with Gaultheria Shallon, St. John's Wort, and Erica 

 vagans, the Cornish Heath, which flowers on till late in the autumn. 



