548 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



the green V. minor is desirable even for its flowers, although they, from 

 their colour, cannot be called showy against the dark-green foliage. 



Few plants surpass the Ivies for permanent edgings, especially the 

 small - leaved varieties and the gold - and - silver margined, although 

 these last take a longer time to grow and fill up space than the green 

 varieties. As compared with Box for kitchen-garden edgings, we are 

 not sure whether Ivy would not be for the best on some soils where 

 Box does not thrive. For edging flower-beds, the best plan by far is to 

 stretch a strong wire tightly along the edge of the bed or border to be 

 edged, if a straight line ; but if curved, a light iron rod bent to the pro- 

 per curvature on which to train the Ivy. Three or four inches, or six 

 inches above the ground, according to taste or position, will do — the 

 latter height for Roses, the shorter height for flower-beds. Plant thickly 

 and train cordon fashion, and very soon a neat permanent edging is 

 formed, the young side - growths of the Ivy drooping gracefully to 

 the ground ; and soon the wire is completely hid, but maintains the 

 edging stiff and straight. 



The next plant we will mention may occasion a smile ; but we cannot 

 help calling attention to its merits, since its very commonness may 

 cause it to be passed by. Lysimachia nummularia is a plant often 

 used for edging vases, notably at one of the Park Lane gates of Hyde 

 Park many years ago. Its large showy yellow flowers have been very 

 abundant the whole of the last wet summer. It is particularly deserv- 

 ing of a place as a variety in edging any dwarf arrangement, especially 

 in moist shady places, such being the localities where it is found wild. 

 Sagina procumbens is a very common plant or weed, carpeting the 

 ground when not wanted; but common though it be, there is no plant 

 which will form a neater, or greener, or more dense carpet than this. 

 We have this season seen it worked into several very neat designs in 

 carpet-bedding in a first-class garden, and again in a villa garden near 

 Edinburgh. It really seems to deserve a place in preference to such a 

 plant as Herniaria glabra, or even the tender Mentha gibraltarica. 

 Readers will probably here be inclined to say that we are simply 

 introducing weeds into the flower-garden ; but we may fairly ask the 

 question, What is a weed 1 Is a common indigenous plant a weed, or 

 is it, as the late Earl Russell once defined it, any plant out of place % 



The Squire's Gardener. 



NOTES ON DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 

 STATICE PROFUSA. 



Among flowering greenhouse-plants this Statice must take rank among 

 the foremost, both as an ornamental plant and for the profusion and 

 enduring quality of its flowers, as they may be said to be almost ever- 

 lasting. And yet, somehow, the plant is not nearly so much cultivated 



