Trees and shrubs with coloured foliage are of several kinds. Most common of all are those which have leaves blotched or edged with golden or creamy yellow and white, such as the variegated Hollies and Elæagnuses. Then there are those which are only coloured at a certain season, like Neillia opulifolia aurea. This has leaves of a beautiful self yellow colour when they unfold in spring, but become green as the summer advances; or the variegated Plane (Platanus acerifolia Süttneri), which is only variegated in late summer and autumn.
Finally, there are those, like the Purple Hazel or Purple Beech, which have leaves of one colour and remain almost of the same shade whilst they are on the tree.
On the whole the plants that retain their colour till late summer and autumn, or acquire it then, are most valuable, because very few trees and shrubs are then in flower.
Variegated trees and shrubs must not be planted too plentifully, and studiously avoid all spotty effects. Many a garden would be improved by bringing the variegated shrubs it contains together so as to produce a few broad masses of colour. Some of these shrubs, like Spath's Cornel, or the Golden Elder, may, in large gardens especially, be planted alone in large beds or groups. The large trees, like the Purple Beech, can stand by themselves.
The following list contains about one hundred of the finest of variegated trees and shrubs:—
Trees
Acer Negundo variegatum, creamy white.
,, Negundo aureum, golden entirely.
,, platanoides Schwedleri, soft red in spring.
,, Pseudo-platanus flavo-marginatum, the "Corstorphine" Sycamore, one of the largest of variegated trees.