356 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Brightly coloured foliage needs to be used with discretion ; and while 

 a few plants with purple, golden, or silvery foliage, used occasionally, 

 give a pleasing effect, their too frequent use, or their use too close to one 

 another, will produce a garish and vulgar result. This one often sees 

 with the golden privet, Prunus Pissardi, or some other shrub which 

 has taken a sudden leap into popularity. 



Groups of one variety of coloured foliage, of course, produce excellent 

 and striking effects if used judiciously and one has the space at command 

 to do them justice, and their value becomes more apparent when seen in 

 quantity. The most beautiful of all shrubs with variously coloured 

 leafage are undoubtedly the Japanese maples, forms of Acer palmatum 

 and A. japonicum, and it is often a matter of surprise to me that they 

 are not more generally cultivated. They are quite hardy, of easy cultiva- 

 tion, and the foliage possesses a great variety of form and colour. Many 

 have exquisitely coloured leaves in the young state, and in autumn the 

 varieties of A. japonicum are particularly gorgeous. 



Some of the most desirable forms of A. palmatum are atropurpureum, 

 sanguineum, corallinum, septemlobum and its two forms elegans and 

 elegans purpureum, linearilobum and its forms linearilobmn atropur- 

 pureum and palmatifidum. 



Acer japonicum has large ornamental foliage, and the varieties aureum 

 and laciniatum should also be included. 



Interspersed among the other occupants of the shrubbery, or given 

 a bed to themselves, where the various forms and colours produce such a 

 pleasing contrast, these maples are wonderfully attractive, and add a 

 peculiar interest and beauty to the garden, unsurpassed by any other 

 shrubs. If given a well-drained, not too heavy, soil (from which lime is 

 absent) and sheltered from east winds, but fully exposed to the sunlight, 

 they soon become established and able to take care of themselves. 



Many other members of this large family, which has been augmented 

 during the last few years by new introductions from China, are quite as 

 deserving of a place in the ornamental shrubbery as the forms of A. 

 palmatum, and will undoubtedly become popular with all who can 

 appreciate delicacy of form and brilliancy of colouring. 



The most admired of very early flowering shrubs, whose flowers 

 appear before the leaves, are unquestionably the wych hazels, of which 

 Hamamelis mollis is the most striking. The peculiar flowers of a bright 

 yellow colour are produced very freely and the foliage is quite striking, 

 being of large size and clothed on the under surface with dense 

 tomentum. H. japonica, its variety Zuccariniana, and H. arborea 

 should also be grown, but the American wych hazel, E. virginica, does 

 not appear to be either so showy or so satisfactory in this country as the 

 Japanese species. These shrubs succeed best in a good heavy loam, and 

 resent disturbance at the roots after becoming established. 



Somewhat similar in character and botanically allied, but smaller 

 and more sensitive to a very low temperature, are Corylopsis spicata 

 and C. pauciflora, of which the former is both better known and more 

 ornamental. These flower freely when well established. 



Another relative of the foregoing, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, makes a 

 la rue shrub in this country, and its richly coloured young foliage, of a 



