HERE TODAY, HERE TOMORROW 
Slow Poke... 
We are pleased to commend to your 
attention this month one of those plants 
sought by every home gardener: a plant 
that will not overgrow its place! Moreover, 
we offer it in six different varieties. This 
paragon is Raphiolepis, a slow growing, 
hardy, resilient (heavy soils, salt winds taken 
in stride) plant from the Orient. 
There are R. umbellata ovata (white 
flowers, rounded leaves); R. indica (flushed, 
white flowers, longer, toothed leaves); R. 
indica rosea (pink flowers); R. indica rubra 
(red flowers, very low); R. indica Pink Cloud 
(beautiful double pink flowers over as much 
as nine months a year); and R. delacouri 
(hybrid between umbellata and_ indica, 
light pink flowers, smaller finer leaves, low). 
All have characteristic dark green leath- 
ery leaves coloring as they fall to be re- 
placed, with the flower heads of winter 
becoming clusters of dark blue berries 
which ornament the bush during the rest 
of the year, and are of relatively open 
habit when young, gradually filling in to 
become compact naturally-rounded shrubs. 
The slow growing habit indicates buying 
this shrub in a larger size (five gallons, 
$4.50 and $5) as a boost over retarded 
youth! 
Schrebera ... 
(Continued from front page) 
textured patios, terraces, etc. Schrebera 
sweetenioides presents a welcome break 
from the stereotyped pot plants too fre- 
quently employed. Cultured in this fashion 
of course we do not seek the single stem 
and umbrella head, but rather many branch- 
ing stalks from the base producing a full 
yet somewhat asymetrical structure with a 
strong vertical line. Companion planting 
also adaptable to the open ground or pot 
culture might include such plants as Raph- 
iolepis in variety, Ternstroemia sarcococca 
or Star Jasmine. 
Schrebera and all its companions above 
grow happily in any normal exposure from 
shade to full sun providing the latter is not 
unusually punishing. Add to this reasonable 
tolerance to frost, soil, water, etc., and 
Schrebera emerges as an answer to an 
often troublesome garden or landscape 
problem. Five gallon cans, $4.50. M.E. 
Hugh Evans 
There are few if any plants which are 
perpetually gay. Even our reigning human 
beauties do not wear party dresses all the 
time. Surely we should be content to greet 
with joy and applause the various entrants 
as they make their appearance on the stage 
at their appointed time arrayed in their 
especial apparel all with some endearing 
charm of their own, which after they have 
bowed out still leave the fragrance of their 
memories. We regretfully bid them fare- 
well as they take their bow and make way 
for the next lovely and graceful performer. 
We have been speaking of plants which 
are fugitive so far as their flowers are con- 
cerned, but the longevity of certain plants 
also endears them to us. They have been 
with us tor years and still will stay with us 
if we treat them justly. 
It bears repeating that eminent and 
trustworthy authorities in England state 
how, in old English gardens, vigorous 
clumps of scarlet Lychnis and fragrant 
Dittany (coeval with mighty Oaks in the 
park outside) are still in full health and 
vigor, and that a girl may still gattrer fiow- 
ers from the self-same tuft on which an- 
other of her kin had dropped tears as she 
thought of husband or lover killed with 
Falkland at Newbury or Rupert at Marston 
now over three hundred years ago. 
If only more gardeners would so em- 
ploy their talents and use their plants as 
to bring out the best in them. In a garden 
in Santa Barbara a few years ago | saw 
trained to four tall pillars at the entrance 
to the house fine specimens of Cocculus 
laurifolius, and these plants with their vivid 
deep green foliage and their arching 
branches were particularly effective em- 
ployed in this fashion; for while grown 
as a shrub it is a useful but rather dull 
member of society, it does not so best 
express its character; but trained up high 
to a support it has a character and dis- 
tinction all its own. 
We who live in the coastal regions 
should be grateful for our blessings, and 
while occasionally we think we have had 
enough fog, our plants emerge refreshed 
from being shrouded in its grey oblivion. 
