Miniature Rose Trees. The tree rose seen in outdoor gardens is actually made up of two different varieties-a hardy species for the rootstock, with a hybrid type grafted to it. Miniature roses can be trained into decorative standards without grafting. These make prized pieces for sunny window gardens, greenhouses, or summering out-of-doors. If you have grown the miniature from seed or from a cutting, keep it growing upward as one stem. Pinch out all side growths. At a height of eighteen to twenty inches, remove the growing point and allow the top to develop. It takes about two years to develop miniature rose standards. If you purchase a miniature rose to train, remove all extra canes except the one chosen to be the trunk. Then train the tree as outlined above.

   Rest the miniature rose standard in a light, 50-degree room from November until February. Water it often enough to make the trunk and branches stay plump. Bring to sunlight and warmth in February. After that, water and fertilize it at least twice a month. Prune carefully to maintain a desirable shape. Red spider mites (pp. 58-59) and aphids (p. 56) may attack.

   Ornamental Pepper Trees. Plants of Capsicum annuum make delightful standards about eighteen inches tall. Grow them from seeds or cuttings. With judicious pruning they can easily be shaped into balls, squares, or cones. They grow so rapidly that a crop of shining fruit within six months after planting is not unusual. Ornamental peppers summered outdoors in a sunny to semi-shady place set more fruit than those kept inside.

   Topiary work is the training or pruning of plant material into unnatural shapes. Practiced in gardens since the Middle Ages, it has made a comeback today. Such trained plants are at their best in a formal garden, but a fantastically shaped ivy or creeping fig lends an amusing note to an indoor garden.

   Small-leaved shrubs such as boxwood can be clipped to produce topiary. I once had dinner at a home where the centerpiece was a rectangle of eight 3-inch pots of box (Buxus micro-phylla japonica), each plant trimmed to a tidy square.

   When given good culture, trimmed trees become bushier than those left untrimmed. Clipping out the growing points of branches forces heavy new growth. Use the same procedure in clipping a potted plant as practiced on a hedge. Choose a contour for a tree, use sharp shears and nip away a little at a time until the desired shape is produced. Start on boxwood or Euony-mus japonicus microphyllus, for they are reasonably priced and obtainable from nurserymen everywhere. Once the art of establishing the basic shape has been mastered, the gardener with a flair for the unusual may want to clip some of his small-leaved shrubs into spirals, cubes, balls, or pillars.