IRISH GARDENING. 



Bad Flower Gardening at Kew. 



This, we Blioiild explain, is tlic title of a pamphlet 

 which has reached us lately and purports to 

 criticise and denounce a system while making 

 no reflection on the responsible authorities 

 charged with the management of the " first 

 botanic garden in Europe." 



The Avriter, W. R., if we make no mistake, is a 

 horticulturist of world-wide repute and one to 

 whom gardeners owe an immense debt for the 

 magnificent fight he has made for the proper 

 use and cultivation of hardy plants as 02)posed 

 to the system of '' bedding out " dwarf tender 

 plants in geometrical designs. No reasonable 

 person will deny that " bedding out " in the old 

 style was carried to excess often in positions 

 quite unsuitable. It is a moot point, however, 

 whether W. R.'s views are not as stereotyped 

 as the system he denounces. He " went to Kew 

 early in September to see what the summer had 

 left of the beauty of the flower garden and gaw 

 a dismal sight." Well, considering the season 

 and the fact that all skilled labour at Kew had 

 long since gone to the war, we think W. R.'s 

 attack savours rather of hitting below the belt, 

 for, though denouncing the system only, he 

 could hardly expect it to be fairly represented 

 lender present conditions, and doubtless the 

 authorities who cater for the mill'on did their 

 best with the material in hand. 



The flower garden particularly referred to, as 

 many of our readers will know, lies between the 

 pond and the palm house, and is bounded on 

 both sides by straight lines. The beds ars laid 

 out in a formal way much less complicated than 

 is often the case, but from several years' experi- 

 ence of digging and planting these same beds, 

 we are disposed to agree that their number might 

 be reduced and their size increased with advan- 

 tage, for we have spent many trying days under 

 a scorching summer sun '" bedding oi;t," and 

 have been glad to escape into the palm house 

 for a few moments' respite. 



W. R. would banish all the tender plants, and 

 in their place proposes to plant hardy herbaceous 

 plants, Roses, Clematis, Honeysuckle and 

 Jasmine, with which Kew abounds in glorious 

 masses elsewhere. Incidentally he would do 

 away with the grass between the beds and 

 substitute dusty gravel or hot flags for paths and 

 hard stone edgings to the beds. Why do away 

 with the fresh green grass, the glory of our 

 British and Irish gardens and the envy of every 

 visitor to our shores ? 



From the palm house to the pond, but a few 

 yards at most, W R. would have a pergola to 

 " give shade on hot days." There are noble 

 trees enough to give all the natural shade 



required during the few really hot days experi- 

 enced in our climate, but we agree as to the value 

 of the pergola to display the beauties of many 

 of our hardy climbers, of whicli he mentions only 

 two. But why introduce an architect to design 

 it ? Simplicity and stability should be the first 

 essentials, and if a gardener marks out the site 

 and extent, a bricklayer can do the rest if W. R. 

 hankers after bricks and mortar. We had pre- 

 viously supposed him rather averse to architects 

 iia the garden. 



Further paragraphs refer to water and waterside 

 plants, and the suggestion is made that Mar- 

 liacs Water Lilies might adorn the pond, which, 

 if we recollect aright, is far too dee^D for anything 

 of the kind : and, as for the water fowl, " this is 

 a Royal Botanic Garden" certainly, but public, 

 and the great B. P. will have what it wants no 

 matter what individuals may think. 



If the authorities at Kew ever feel impelled 

 to make any changes in the flower garden we 

 hope H will only be in the direction of reducing 

 and simplifying the beds ; at Kew, with its 

 300 acres, there is room for all styles of gardening, 

 and we trust the bedding-out will be retained, 

 but amplified by the greater use of specimen 

 Fuchsias, Streptosolens, Heli.otroj)es and many 

 other plants which cannot be grown in sufficient 

 quantities and to a large enough size indoors to 

 display their true beauty, and which when taste- 

 fidly bedded out give joy and pleat5ure to 

 thousands. B. 



A Beautiful Greenhouse Plant. 



A PLANT that has recently come to the front, 

 although by no means new, is Lindenbergia 

 grandiflora. It is one of the most valuable of 

 greenhou; e i:)lants, with its large, bright yellow, 

 musk-shaped flowers, nearly an inch in diameter, 

 which are borne in great j)rofusion, and last for 

 quite three months. For a number of years this 

 beautiful but little known plant has been a con- 

 spicuous feature in the conservatory m the 

 Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, during the lale 

 autitmn and winter months. It is of easy cultiva- 

 tion under greenhoure treatment, but requires 

 a little shade during the summer, and although 

 of perennial nature, it is bei-t given annual treat- 

 ment, similar to Chrysanthemums, cutting the 

 plants back as soon as they pass out of floAver, 

 when cuttings are freely produced, growing on 

 two or three in each pot to obtain good bushy 

 specimens, which grow 2 or 3 feet high and even 

 more. For cutting they are very valuable, as 

 the spraj^s remain fresh for a long time in water. 

 It is a native of tlie Himalayas, and is common 

 on the hills from Simla to Bliotan, at an elevation 

 from 2,000 to 6,000 feet.— F. G. Preston. 



