For Aprik 1923 



97 



From An Old World Garden 



ARTHUR T. JOHNSON, F. R. H. S.. 



IF I were asked to state what are the luost noticeable 

 features of today in the trend of English gardening 

 I should frame my reply very briefly somewhat thus : 

 In the first place there is in most of our best gar- 

 dens a decided leaning towards a modification of the old 

 herbaceous 'border which has been so firmly established 

 for nearly a century. The high rate of labor and material 

 since the war has been a factor in bringing about this 

 change, foi" no part of the garden is so costly to maintain 

 as an herbaceous border. l'>ut there are other influences 

 at work. With the introduction of sO' many new plants 

 from all quarters of the globe iby Wilson, Forrest, Farrer 

 and others, there has arisen a notable partiality for the 

 species, rather than the hy.ljrid O'f garfden origin. The 

 enormous popularity of rock-gardening has, O't course, 

 helped to stimulate this preference, for your true alpine is 

 always, or nearly always, a species. 



Now this transformation in garden design suggests that 

 there is a certain weakening in that appreciation of great 

 displays of massed color to which we have so long been 

 loyal, and it is so. Just as the old and gaudy carpet- 

 lidding style went out with the Victorian Era, to be sup- 

 planted l3y something less formal and more pleasing, be- 

 cause less artificial, so we are gradually witnessing a 

 process of evolution in the herbaceous 'border which 

 promises to culminate in something very different. That 

 we shall continue to have our Delphiniums, Phloxes, An- 

 tirrhinums and the rest there is no douibt. The demand 

 for these is protebly as keen today as it has ever been. 

 New sorts are constantly being sent out. But our hand- 

 ling and treatment of them w-ill be different. They will 

 have to make elbow-room for those distinguished stran- 

 gers, the species, which have so peculiar a fascination of 

 their own, quite apart from what intrinsic beauty they 

 may possess, and which we cannot resist. 



In addition to the influence it has exercised in promot- 

 ing an interest in species, the rock-garden has also been 

 a magnet which has si'de-<tracked many adherents of the 

 old-style bed and bordei. Scarcely less might be .said of 

 the wild or woodland garden which is now so often a 

 happy substitute for those dismal "shrubberies" which 

 had neither use or meaning. Why, one would now as 

 soon think of growing mustard and cress in the rock- 

 garden as of bunidling together in a chaotic mass, say, 

 Wilson's Cotoneasters or Berberises, an'd calling it a 

 "shrubbery." Indeed, it mig'ht toe said that the semi- 

 wild or woodland garden owes its inception to a great 

 extent to these and other introductions in shrubs and 

 trees. 



The Ericas are a prominent feature of many such gar- 

 dens as the aibove and I kno'vv of no more useful and 

 ornamental race of shrubs. My own district being toler- 

 ably mild, there are varieties of Heather w'hich will give 

 us bloom throughout the year, beginning with E. Darley- 

 ensis in November and winding up with the handsome 

 Corsican, E. stricta, in October. At the moment of writ- 

 ing (mid-March) E. carnea is covering a hank with a 

 mass of its brilliant carmine-pink. This is extraordinar- 

 ily hardy and the roughest wintrj' weather has no eft'ect 

 upon the beauty of the blossoms. E. hibernica, which is 

 rather a lax-habited form of E. mediterranea, but with 

 distinctly glaucous foliage, is also in full flower and the 

 fresh, lettuce-green of the plumose E. lusitaniciis (codo- 

 nodes) is strung with its pretty white bells. E. australis, 

 perhaps the most distinct and beautiful of all, is also 

 opening its large urn-shaped flowers in vivid rosy-purple. 



This is not hardy nur is the true species often seen. 



But among all these and other Spring-flowering Heaths, 

 E. metliterranea is douWess the most satisfactory for 

 general use and wide plantings, a great drift of its deli- 

 cate rosy-purple having a most charming effect. It grows 

 to about 3 feet with us, but there is a form known as 

 E. m. superba which is larger and even more floriferous 

 than the type, a most glorious shrub when in full bloom 

 and one that will remain "on show" from early .\pril to 

 the end of May. (See illustration.) 



Among flowers that last long Vinca acutiflora deserves 

 special imention. This is a Winter-flowering Periwinkle, 

 albeit a mo&f accommodating plant, falling in with almost 

 any circumstances with the best of good will. With us 

 it started flowering last November and, the Winter being 

 imiM, it is still as good as ever. This is not a trespassing" 

 species, like V. major, but a well-behaved, easy-tempered 

 species for any half-shady spot. It grows about 1 ft. 

 and bears large flowers, snowy white with just a shade 

 of cool lavender, or glacier-white, as some describe it. 



Omphalodes capi>adocica is another almost perennial 

 bloomer and one whose azure is so pure and intense that 

 not even Gentian verna can excel it. This species also 

 has the special merit of being of easy culture. At the 

 moment of writing there is a bed of this lovely Cappado- 

 cian Forget-me-not in full flower on our woodland slope. 

 There it has seeded and spread so freely that it covers 

 several square yards, and when I say that the wonderful 

 blue floavers are each larger than a ten cent piece and 

 home in profusion on airy sprays some 6 inches high, the 

 eft'ect can perhaps be more easily imagined than described. 



\^'hen on a recent \'isit to Kew Gardens I refreshed my 

 memory of certain Ericaceous trees and shrubs with 

 wliich I had become familiar on the Pacific Coast of 

 America. One of these, Arctostaphylos nmnzanita, has 

 now been awarded a first-class certificate by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, and few of its kind more fully 

 rJeserve it. This may not be a showy shrub, but, like 

 .\rbutus menziesii and others of its allies, it has a unique 

 charm. Here it attains a height of 8-10 feet, and maybe 

 as much through ; the buds form during the \Vinter and 

 the panicles of pitcher-shaped blossoms — white, flushed 

 with ]>ink — appear in their full beauty in the early Spring. 

 Now that A., manzanita has been brought before the pub- 

 lic notice there is no doubt that it will soon become as 

 widely grown here as some of its kindred, especially since 

 it is hardy enough in lig'ht soil for any of our south and 

 westerly counties. 



Though travelers still search the ends of the earth for 

 novelties I often wonder how many plants and shrubs 

 there still are in California anid other parts of America 

 which have not yet been afforded the notice they deserve 

 by European, and possibly American, gurdaiers. From 

 my own travel experience on the American Continent I 

 could enumerate a goodly list. 



The pretty cup of the Anemone is so glossy it seems to 

 burn with a white light. The secret of its incandescent 

 beauty is that decided purple washing the outside of the 

 cup. This dark background makes a reflector of the white 

 cup so that it sparkles in the sunshine like a tiny mirror. 

 Often the purple tinge seeps through tO' the inside of the 

 cup, streaking it most daintily. As for the buds, they are 

 rose and purple beads tipping their hairy fine stems. A 

 group of wind flowers makes a dainty set for butterfly 

 parties. — C. S. Monitor. 



