118 
HARDY EVERGREENS. 
R. Barbatum, hardly known ; shrub; Ne- 
paul, 1829. 
R. Camtschaticum, purple; shrub; Kamt- 
schatka, 1802. 
R. Catccasicum, purple, August ; shrub ; 
Caucasus, 1803. 
R. Chamcecistus, pale purple, May; shrub; 
Austria, 1786. 
R. Chrysanthum, or R. Officinale, yellow, 
June; shrub; Siberia, 1796. 
R. Dauricum, purple, March; shrub; Si- 
beria, 1780. 
R. D. atrovirens, purple, March; shrub. 
R. Farrerce, lilac, March; shrub; China, 
1829. 
jR. Ferrugineum, scarlet, June; shrub; 
Switzerland, 1752. 
R. F. album, white, June; shrub; Pyrenees, 
1830. . 
R. Hirsutum, scarlet, June; shrub; Swit- 
zerland, 1656. 
R. Ponticum, purple, May; shrub; Gibral- 
tar, 1763. 
R. P. myrtifolium, purple, May; shrub; 
Gibraltar, 1763. 
R.P. obtusum, purple,May ; shrub; Armenia. 
R. Purshii, white, July; shrub; New Jer- 
sey, 1811. • 
It will be seen from these, that the variety 
is great, and that, although we call Rhododen- 
drons Americans, there is no plea for so 
doing, for the variety from other countries is 
greater. But the English hybrid varieties 
exceed in number and variety all the foreign 
ones put together, and excel in beauty as 
much as in number and variety; of these it 
would be impossible to give any correct list, 
and impolitic to try. The crosses have been 
varied by many who have made the subject 
of hybridizing their study, and each operation 
has been rewarded by many new varieties. 
Smith of Norbiton; Cunningham of Edin- 
burgh ; Burns of Tottenham Park ; Rol- 
lisson of Tooting; Waterer of Knapp Hill; 
and others, have splendid selections of va- 
rieties reared by themselves. Many very 
beautiful varieties have been raised at High- 
clere, where we first saw Atro Purpurea, the 
darkest we ever saw anywhere; and Alta- 
clarense, one of the best and most hardy of 
the deep scarlet crimson varieties. The Rho- 
dodendron is a most important shrub in 
dressed ground and choice shrubberies, but 
is frequently planted in what is called an 
American ground or an American garden. 
The difference of its blooms is the chief diver- 
sity it possesses; the narrow and rather mean- 
looking leaves of some of the ordinary varieties 
look poor by the side of the Catawbiense, 
which is oval and shining, and some of the 
hybrids, which are of considerable size. How- 
ever, the foliage, though rich among the good 
sorts, and very noble on well-grown, close, 
bushy, or finely-headed plants, is not of much 
importance among the common varieties. In 
an ordinary shrubbery many people would 
seek to plant some of the earliest, and many 
of the hybrid varieties are as early as March 
and April; but the disadvantage of these 
early ones is, the flowers being spoiled by the 
spring frosts, which is almost always the case; 
so that, for choice in planting, we should take 
those which do not bloom before June or the 
end of May. Nothing is more vexing than 
to see a perfectly hardy and handsome plant 
throwing out its still more handsome blooms, 
and a frost hardly hard enough to whiten the 
grass of a field, in one night destroying all 
the flowers that are out. The only diversity 
worth mentioning among the leaves of the 
Rhododendron is, in the two variegated kinds; 
one the gold-edged, the other the silver-edged; 
these look very well in a border or clump, 
but the flowers are mean. The best and 
handsomest of the ordinary kinds are the R. 
Catawbiense, for the foliage is good, the habit 
fine and close, the flowers varied from white, 
or nearly so, to dark rose and dark purple, 
and all the grades between them. It would 
hardly be wise to recommend a person to wait 
till blooming time to choose Rhododendrons, 
although the choice is great, because the grand 
thing now is to lose no time. Not that we 
should fear the removal of them in actual 
bloom, but the great mass of planting should 
be done at once. For the planting now, we 
should choose Maximum Album, white ; Ca- 
tawbiense, all colours ; Alta-clarense, crimson 
scarlet ; some of the white hardy hybrids of 
Smith's, of Norbiton ; and some of Waterer's 
hybrids. These would make diversity enough, 
but for ordinary shrubberies the first three 
sorts would do sufficiently well. These will 
be flowering May, June, or July, when frost 
has gone by, and there is no danger of their 
being damaged. These being all choice shrubs, 
should be in conspicuous places, either quite 
in front of a border, or singly, as specimens 
on a lawn ; or if in clumps, so grouped as to 
be seen from the front. Some of these may 
be planted as standards, as single specimens, 
in permanent places near walks, so that they 
be well shown, as their bloom is spjendid 
during the short time it lasts, and their foliage 
rich evergreen at all times. From these shrubs 
and trees we proceed to 
THE LAUEUSTINUS. 
This, as an evergreen simply, has not so 
much as some subjects to recommend it ; but 
when it is considered that the flower actually 
comes at the beginning of winter, and lasts 
until the winter has left us, it can hardly be 
too much valued. The foliage is always the 
