5m) or so. Most j of the cultivars take on a striking additional bronze colouring in winter j which is an added attraction for the golden forms and the following slim, green selections: 'Fastigiata', 'Holmstrup', 'Pyramidalis Compacta' and 'Spiralis'. All are in the 20 to 3oft(6 to 9m) range, and all are superb sentinels which can be chosen with confidence. Thuja orientalis is smaller growing 1 than the previous species. Four golden forms, 'Aurea Nana' (the smallest ol the four) 'Conspicua', 'Elegantissima' and 'Semperaurea' are all very special forms and all turn a bronze colour in winter. Thuja plicata is a much larger species which hails from the great forests of the north-western United States. The timber which is produced in great quantities is the western red cedar, which is used widely for small buildings. Dwarf and slow-growing golden forms of merit are 'Collyer's Gold', 'Cuprea', 'Rogersii' and 'Stoneham Gold' and an excellent rounded green form, 'Hillieri', provides a pleasant contrast. Tall cultivars which are suitable for specimen planting or screening are 'Aurea', 'Semperaurescens' and 'Zebrina', all golden forms of 4oft(i2m) or so; 'Atrovirens' and 'Fastigiata' are two useful tall green cultivars. TSUGA (hemlock) Finally, keep a look out for some of the excellent dwarf forms of Tsuga canadensis, the eastern or Canada hemlock. American enthusiasts have named many, possibly far too many, and some appear in nurseries and garden centres from time to time. The best make exciting additions to our dwarf and slow-growing conifer collections. They vary in height from 1 to ioft(30cm to 3m) and range from tight buns and prostrate forms to weeping forms and tall pyramids. This chapter only scratches the surface of the wealth of conifers available, but hopefully it will whet the appetite of garden makers.Two of the ugliest garden words to have been given us by the Victorians are rockery and shrubbery. As far as the last is concerned it suggests and invariably is a border of any length in which shrubs are set willy-nilly without consideration for ultimate effect. It further suggests a garden backwater to which shrubs of dubious origin or value are relegated, a sort of free for all. Today, the shrubbery is a rarity mainly to be found in pre-war designed parks and London squares. New schemes deserving the name are, however, occasionally found in certain housing estates and the like where a shrub's ability to keep people in or out of a given area is considered more important than any aesthetic value. True, in a wild situation shrubs are gregarious and actually enjoy the company of others, often forming tangled thickets or low scrub. Occasionally, when wandering through such wild areas one encounters an individual shrub which, by chance or accident, having found itself isolated and free from restriction, has developed its true habit. This is the situation one should strive for in the garden.