THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
G5 
BEAUTIFUL TREES FOR KIND CLIMATES. 
( With Coloured Plate of Pittosporum crassifolium.) 
fEADERS of horticultural papers need to bo constantly 
guarded against the misuse of the term “ liardy,” as 
applied to various garden plants. AV^e hear of “ hardy ’ 
trees and shrubs that arc really tender in L'e climate of 
London, while the large group of subject.s vaguely de- 
scribed as “hardy greenhouse plants,” comprise a number of beau- 
tiful trees and shrubs that need no aid of glass for their preservation, 
in certain favoured spots in the west of England and the south of 
Ireland. It is not often we think of these genial nooks, and 
perhaps they do not so much need our attention as districts that 
are more exposed to the frosts of winter and the treacherous east 
winds of the early spring. Those who have left bleak spots in the 
north to sojourn for a while at "Worthing, the Isle of Wight, or 
some one of the many “ seaside gardens ” that adorn the coasts of 
Somerset and Devon, can better appreciate the advantages of a kind 
climate than those who were born and bred in one of those pleasant 
places. Probably the first deep impression made on the mind of a 
lover of plants, on a visit to Ventnor in the autumn, will be in some 
way connected with the possibilities of horticulture in the British 
Islands, for the climate, with all its faults, favours a wonderful variety 
of vegetation. The kind climates may soon be discovered without 
the aid of maps or thermometers, for those who are accustomed to 
observe the aspects of vegetation will soon be strucl^,.with the 
exuberant growth of many plants, that in districts but ajfew miles 
removed are necessarily regarded as tender, and accorcRngly are 
assisted with the protection of glass. We may look in vaii; for trees 
and shrubs at Brighton, for excepting the grounds of the Pavilion, it 
is a treeless place. But Worthing abounds with beautiful examples 
of trees, that London cultivators regard as “ nearly hardy,” or as 
proper greenhouse plants. Particularly noticeable are the myrtles, 
euonymus, arbutus, and garryas, which attain to a luxuriance of 
growth which surprises a London gardener. In Ventnor we see in 
the autumn huge veronicas bearing thousands of flower-spikes, and 
haunted all day long by the magnificent Red Admiral butterfly, with 
examples of Escallonias not less beautiful. Here, moreover, the 
pampas grass grows as it grows nowhere else in the British Islands, 
and one specimen, that stands beside a farmhouse on the Undercliflf, 
near to the new Cottage Hospital, is worth a journey of a hundred 
miles to see it when it bears its silvery plumes in the splendour of its 
autumnal flowering. 
Now, we must confess that we cannot offer any special advice on 
horticultural matters to the inhabitants of these various favoured 
spots, but we can ask them to help us with a little useful infor- 
mation. We want something in the nature of a list of plants com- 
monly regarded as tender, but which endure the winters and attain 
to a fair degree of development in certain of the western and southern 
March. 5 
