190 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



unimportant to any, and of the greatest value as outdoor decorative 

 subjects, are the following : — Bambusa gracilis, B. metalce, JB. nigra, 

 all of which may be kept in greenhouse during winter, and be plunged 

 or planted during summer. Cliamcepuce diaccmtha, a thistle-like plant, 

 the leaves of which are most elegantly formed, and beset all over with 

 long spines, the colours of the leafage being pale green and creamy white. 

 A clump of this presents a picture which it is well worth travelling a 

 few miles to see. Ferdinandia emimens is a fast-growing, large-leaved 

 plant, well adapted for planting out in June to produce a " tropical " 

 effect. Fhormium tenax, the New Zealand flax, is a nobla flag-like 

 plant, which is quite hardy in the south of England, and elsewhere 

 only needs the shelter of a pit or greenhouse. Sonclms laciniatus has 

 most elegant foliage, and produces myriads of its yellow composite 

 blossoms. 



Then have we not an almost exhaustless list of plants with varie- 

 gated leaves that have not been worked into bedding displays to any- 

 thing like the extent they might be. The writer of this is almost 

 daily amongst bedding plants all the summer long, and one of his 

 greatest pleasures is to sit at home in a little garden-house, in front 

 of which is an irregular bank clothed with plants that would be invalu- 

 able to amateurs who love their gardens, and all of which literally take 

 care of themselves. There are fine clumps of Elymus glaucescens, 

 just referred to ; there the variegated Epilobium angustifolium, one of 

 Mr. Salter's choicest gems, shines out against the background of the 

 privet fence with a delicacy and beauty which there is scarcely any 

 plant to equal, though this is, after all, but a British weed ; there again 

 is the great-leaved Salvia pahrfa argentea, the lurid Sedum telephium 

 purpureum, the delicately-painted, variegated coltsfoot, the very sil- 

 very Antennaria margaritacea, the almost gorgeous Achillea Egyptiaca 

 and Clavennce, the very graceful Veronica pinnata, the still more graceful 

 fern-leaved Tlialictntm minus, which is a very close imitation of Adian- 

 tum cuneatum, and may be grown in the open border in the commonest 

 soil, and actually needs no attention at all ! If one more be added to 

 the category, it must be Tanaeetum crispvm, which rivals Todea 

 superba in the richness of its colour and the exquisitely crisped cha- 

 racter of its leaves. 



In case any of this should seem far-fetched, we have in our minds 

 a recipe for monotony, by proposing that the most important of the 

 large, isolated beds on the lawn shall be planted this present autumn 

 with a collection of lilies, and that places be left in the arrangement 

 for plunging some plants of L. auratum in May next. The sorts to 

 plant now are crocemn, caudidum, clialcedonicum, excelsum, tenuifo- 

 lium, bulbiferum, lancifolium, tigriuum, and eximium. Others less 

 hardy in constitution could be planted in spring, being kept in pots 

 under glass all winter for that purpose. If the whole bed were 

 covered with Dactijlis glomerata variegata for a surfacing, it would look 

 charmiug, and it might be edged with Campanula carpatica, Tanaeetum 

 crispum — nay, there are a thousand subjects suitable, to say nothing of 

 snowdrops, crocuses, squills, hyacinths, tulips, and Saponaria cala- 

 brica. S. H. 



