Scotland too has much to offer the conifer enthusiast, both in the milder west and further inland where the mountain ranges produce a high rainfall, conditions which many conifers enjoy. The Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Wisley also has a great deal to offer in this respect-a pinetum of note, dwarf conifers in several areas of the garden and a display of conifer hedges. The Savill and Valley Gardens in Windsor Great Park are not far from Wisley and are also very much on the conifer map. If travelling from a distance by car, both could be visited on the same day. Like Wisley, these gardens are on dry soil with a comparatively low rainfall. The Valley Gardens contain the greatest number of conifers in a large, well-stocked pinetum and throughout the gardens generally. A recent development is the establishment in the Valley Garden of a dwarf and slow-growing conifer collection. This collection adjoins the large heather garden which also contains a number of good conifers, and will eventually absorb an area of 10 acres(4.05 hectares). There are obviously many more fine plantings in Britain which should be visited. Many nurseries have good plantings of conifers. CONIFER GUIDE ABIES (silver fir) The silver firs, Abies species and their forms, are among the finest and grandest of conifers. Unfortunately they are, in the main, far too large for the smaller garden. All of the species are broadly pyramidal with a near-perfect outline when young, often becoming irregular in outline with age. Their foliage, almost without exception, is handsome, with intense silver on the reverse. The cones, when produced, are quite outstanding and are held upright on the flattened branches. There are a number of cultivars of the European silver fir, Abies alba, but very few are of real garden value and they are rarely offered by nurserymen. Two forms of A. balsamea, the North American balsam fir, are among the most popular dwarf conifers. A. balsamea 'Hudsonia' and A.b. 'Nana' both grow into mounds of dark green and are totally reliable. Abies cevhalonica 'Meyer's Dwarf a variety of the Grecian fir, is eventually flat-topped and spreading to an ultimate height of 3 to 5ft(i to 1.5m). It is well worth placing in an important focal position in any garden, large or small. A. concolor 'Glauca Compacta' is probably the only dwarf form of the Colorado fir likely to be found in the nursery trade, and then only in specialist catalogues. One species, A. koreana, hails from the mountainous areas of Korea and is, therefore, a good example of a natural, slower-growing conifer. It is extremely variable and in some forms can attain 3oft(9m) or so; others will remain really dwarf. This species is well furnished with very pretty foliage and as a bonus produces cones when quite small, often when 2 to 3ft(6ocm to 1m) high. There are several dwarf cultivars, all of which are well worth hunting for in the nursery trade. Two more conifers from high mountains are A.