IN THE GARDEN GREAT BEAUTY POSSIBLE IN SMALL SPACES.

Byline: JOSHUA SISKIN

There are plenty of people -- those dwelling in townhomes, condos, or apartments -- who do not have the luxury of a yard and must make do with a truly diminutive horticultural canvas. They are restricted to growing plants in containers on patios or balconies.

Container gardeners can take heart from the increased availability of `Icee Blue' podocarpus (Podocarpus elongatus `Monmal'), an arboreal cultivar introduced two years ago by Monrovia Nursery. This is an attractive, slow-growing columnar tree with silvery blue foliage that reaches a height of 25 feet planted in the ground but, judiciously pruned, makes a stunning container specimen.

It serves nicely as a central vertical subject encircled by low-growing perennials such as the succulent Senecio serpens, whose 2-inch-long, pencil-diameter, cylindrical foliar fingers match up well with the color of `Icee Blue' leaves.

Burgundy foliage contrasts nicely with blue, and you can provide it by bringing in Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii `Atropurpurea'), Heuchera macrantha `Palace Purple' and Loropetalum chinense `Razzleberri' as complements to `Icee Blue.'

Any slow-growing plant can be kept in a 15-gallon container for at least a decade, and probably longer by means of root pruning.

In a 15-gallon container, after your prized specimen has reached the maximum size that you want it to grow, keep it there by removing it from its container every year or two and cutting away one-third of the root ball, from the sides and bottom, just before spring growth resumes. In the Valley, this should be done in late February or early March.

After root pruning, put fresh soil into the container, repot your shrub or tree and, as an additional measure to control growth, selectively prune out one-third of the plant's shoots and foliar growth.

There are two other Podocarpus types, in addition to `Icee Blue,' that especially lend themselves to container growing. One is the shrub yew pine (Podocarpus macrophyllus maki), a semi-dwarf selection; the other, Podocarpus nagi, whose pendulous leaves conjure up the tranquility of a Japanese garden.

The Podocarpus family has a botanical kinship with that group of classic container plants known as cycads. The Podocarpus and cycad families are ancient relatives of conifers -- pines, junipers, cypresses, firs, and redwoods.

Cycads have been called the Rolls-Royces of container plants, as certain types, no more than a few feet tall, may be worth $1.000 or more.

Although sego palms (actually, they have no botanical relationship to palms) are the most recognizable cycads, many others are available, including blue-leafed and spiny-leafed species.