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Green Bell-like: Asparagus officinalis var. pseudoscaber is a graceful variety of the common garden asparagus that hails originally from Rumania. It has rhizomatous roots, tiny, green bell-like flowers, and wonderful drifts of green branchlets (not true leaves) on stems that can reach 4 feet in length. The burgeoning spears are miniature, too small to be used i food. These are cool and inviting plants in the garden. They ] easily from seed and are quite happy in a 6-inch clay pot to be I indoors in winter, or planted directly in the ground (where they i a mulch north of Zone 6).
On Feb. 14, 1876, Gray filed with the U. S. Patent Office a caveat (an announcement of an invention he expected soon to patent) describing apparatus "for transmitting vocal sounds tele¬graphically." Unknown to Gray, Bell had only two hours earlier applied for an actual patent on an apparatus to accomplish the same end. It was later discovered, however, that the apparatus described in Gray's caveat would have worked, while that in Bell's patent would not have. After years of litigation, Bell was legally named the inventor of the telephone, although to many the question of who should be credited with the in¬vention remained debatable.See Also Fully-ever Green Leaves:Box (Buxus sempervirens] (z6-9) also has small, round, fully-ever green leavesgreen leaves. It is much favored for topiary specimens. "Handsworthiensis" is best for hedges up to 8ft high and for topiary; "Suffruticosa" is most suitable for low box edgings to beds.
Privet Ligustrum ovalifolium (z6-10) is only fully evergreen in mild winters. The best varieties are "Oval-leaf," which is all green, and "Aureum" which has bright yellow leaves and is slow-growing. Both will grow practically anywhere and are excellent for hedges 4—8ft high.
Common laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) has large, shining, dark green leaves, will grow well in most soils in full sun or dense shade and is excellent for large, broad hedges. Portugal laurel (Prunus lusitanica)has smaller, darker green leaves and is also excellent for a big, thick hedge. Neither is recommended for small backyards.
Aucuba has large, light-green leaves, heavily spotted with yellow in the most popular species, Aucuba japonica (z7-10), sometimes called spotted laurel. It will grow anywhere, succeeding especially well in the shade even in grimy industrial surroundings, and is excellent for large hedges.
A second variety of tea is oolong or semi-fermented tea which is prepared from a spe¬cial kind of China tea plant. The leaves are heated before fermentation progresses very far, then they are rolled and, finally, dried.
Lastly there are the green or non-fermented teas made by first steaming the leaves or else heating them to sterilize them and kill the enzymes responsible for fermentation. The leaves are then rolled and roasted until they acquire a blue-green tint.
On The Other Hand See Tracing Of Green Branches:Silene alba is the white campion, growing to 3 feet high with small, white flowers of five forked petals. The flowers arise from oval, inflated pods. They have a light perfume and are favored by moths. Plants have few leaves at the bottom of the stem so plant them a scant 6 inches apart.
S. noctiflora is called the night-flowering catchfly and is often confused with alba. This flower, however, arises from a pod or tiny balloon that is prettily marked with a tracing of green branches joined with fine green lines.
The weeping birch (Betula pendula Tristis') has been in our backyard garden for about six years. The white-barked trunk is 6 feet high then splays out with branches that now cover a circle with a 12-foot diameter. In the summer it is a cool, green haven on a hot day; in fall a Shower of golden leaves; but in winter when the branches sparkle after an ice storm or are lightly frosted with snow, it is a sight beautiful to see. |
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