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Bizarre Small Trees: Unless you have enough ground to form a small arboretum, trees must of necessity be regarded as background or framework plants. Because trees are so important, they should be chosen carefully and positioned strategically. For a small garden, choose smaller trees, with the emphasis on those that are relatively slow growing. If there are established trees in the garden, try to make use of them, as nothing gives a greater sense of maturity.
Not only do these provide interesting contrasts of foliage texture and color throughout the year, they also act as a foil for many deciduous shrubs.
Rainfall is high from 40 to 80 inches or more annually, evenly distributed or nearly so. The climate becomes gradually cooler upward to the timberline, from about 75° down to 45° F in mean annual temperature, nearly uniform throughout the year.
Near the equator the tropical zone extends from sea level to about 4,000 or 5,000 feet altitude, the upper half being subtropical. The montane forest, divided into lower and upper, occupies the temperate zone on up to the timber-line at about 9,000 to 11,000 feet. Forming the timberline is a dwarf forest, also called elfin forest or mossy forest, of bizarre small trees with compact crowns of small leathery leaves.
Bizarre Issues. Many of the issues we have been discussing may seem bizarre, uncomfortably divorced from what we can accept as potential reality. Yet the possibilities for unaccustomed developments have by no means been exhausted. There has been considerable speculation that the traditional nation-state, unable to cope with rapid change, will find it necessary to limit innovation, even at the risk of becoming authoritarian.
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