There is no uniformity in the terminology applied by nurseries. For instance, a fruit tree advertised as "dwarf" by the well-known mail-order nursery Stark Bros. (Louisiana, Mo. 63353) is one that will grow up to 10 feet tall; "miniature" means between 6 and 8 feet tall; and "semi-dwarf," 15 feet. On the other hand, another large mail-order house, Wayside Gardens (1 Garden Lane, Hodges, S.C. 29695), offers as a dwarf the Korean lilac Miss Kim, which attains a maximum height of five feet (and is just as wide).

What makes dwarf conifers especially appealing is that they are so wildly diverse in shape, as opposed to regular conifers that tend to fall neatly into a few well-known categories. The reason, [Oliver E. Allen] states, is that "the forces that bring about dwarfing work their wiles in strange ways." Some dwarf conifers are so contorted that they do not fit into the usual categories such as fastigiate, pendulous, globular or plumose (limbs spraying out like plumes on a cap) and so on.

It is just as easy to find beautiful dwarf plants among rhododendrons and azaleas. Many of them originate 10,000 feet high in the Himalayas - and in the high mountains of Japan, China and Taiwan - while their sisters grow to full size under less rigorous conditions further down the slopes. Hybridizers have been busy with the hundreds of natural dwarf mutations, and they have produced such outstanding plants as the rhododendron Dora Amateis, with pure white flowers emerging from pink buds, and the rhododendrons Purple Gem and Ramapo, both with rich pink-purple blooms that render the dense green foliage invisible. Among azaleas, Gumpo Pink and Gumpo White, both from Japan, reach a mature height not over one foot.