IRISH GARDENING 



seriously felt, uiul all the d.iniage it has done has 

 been to cut Kiilmui ii iiiiii.shjfilid a bit. fnclei- the 

 bushes some uiee things liKi' Liniucu burciilis and 

 Tanakxa radirans have run about for years, but 

 the ground is too dry for Primulas, except 1'. 

 iiuiriiiiKtfd, now ten years planted. 



Antirrhinum majus x glutinosum. 



Some years ago I poiiilid out to Mi'. A. H. 

 Hignett a Snapdragon g]-o\ving on the wall of his 

 garden at Ballsbridge wliieii was clearly a cross 

 between the common species and the smaller 

 hairy, white-flowered .4. (jlutinosum. He sent it 

 to Glasnevin, where it was pronounced a novelty 

 and named .4. liutui HiijiteU in honour of the lady 

 of the house. It was a rather large plant with red 

 flowers with a yellow lip. Subsequently I saw a 

 somewhat similar form on a wall at Miss Fanny 

 Geoghegan's, who told me it had been there for 

 years. Since then the two species have taken to 

 hybridising on my own walls, and I have had a 

 whole series of forms extending from one species 

 to the other — leaves long or sliort, smooth or downy, 

 dry or viscid; flowers large or small, red, yellow. 

 or white. One that is flowering at present has the 

 dwarf stature, small, broad downy leaves, and 

 small flowers of .4. (jlutinosum, but the flowers are 

 soft red instead of white, and the haliit has some 

 of the upright character of ,4. mtijus. I fancy 

 these hybrids are frequent wheu'e both species are 

 grown, and should be glad to hear more about 

 them. 



Wall Plants. 



My .back garden has an ugly six-foot wall down 

 each side of it. The top is formed not of large 

 blocks, but of smaller stones set in mortar in semi- 

 circular style. Luckily, frost came on just as the 

 coping was finished, so that much of the mortar 

 perished. After sixteen years a trace of humus 

 has got mixed with the mortar and stones, and it 

 is surprising how many things will flouri.sh in 

 this vmcompromising material, with its poverty of 

 plant-food and very small water-holding capacity. 

 Of course, there are some plants quite at home in 

 such surroundings — Sempervivums and certain 

 Sedums, though the latter genus as a whole do'es 

 not welcome very poor conditions. Pinks. 

 Aubrietias, Erinus, and Othonnopsis are obvious 

 suggestions for such a place. Silver-leaved dwarf 

 Achilleas and Artemisias, Pyrethrum densum, and 

 other grey things are quite at home, as are Sea 

 Pinks, Anfhilnnum gtutinosum, Linnria Anti- 

 rnria, L. jiurpured, and, of course, Vittadeniu tri- 

 loba. Many of these seed themselves, and so move 

 up and down the wall. Cn mpanuJn Poiienschhi- 

 f/inna is a curious case, With its thin green 

 leaves and slender stems it has none of the char- 

 acters of a plant of dry places, yet it is most 

 successful on the wall. On the mo.st intractable 

 part of it it spreads steadily, burrowing under the 

 stones and filling the interstices with tiny green 

 leaves set with blue flowers only a couple of 

 inches in height, like a choice tiny alpine. 

 Another surprise is PajHU'er p'llosum. which one 

 mostly sees in a border growing two or three feet 

 high. It sowed itself on the wall, and grows dense 

 and dwarf, flowering abundantly, and defying 

 the worst drought to drive it out. Cotoneiixter 

 hoiizi'iitolix is there, too, no doubt bird-sown, and 

 continued to survive this year, when all the Erinus 

 hard l)y was killed out by the drought. The long, 

 fleshy taproot imdoubfedly cives it an unexpected 

 power of resistance. 



Notes from Rostrevor. 



Mklianthus M.\joi: is a very handsome plant f;om 

 South Africa with large smooth, glaucous, ])iniiate 

 foliage, the leaves more than a foot long with 

 vfinged midribs, the leaflets some 5 by 2 incites in 

 size, and deeply cut at the edges. It grows here 

 about (i feet high by 15 to 20 feet through, and 

 forms a pleasing oljject at all times, and especially 

 now when so nuu-h else has died down for the 

 winter. As, however, it produces its flowers very 

 late, it is rare to see them; it is at this moment 

 well covered with buds, and many of them are 

 just on the point of opening, but it will depend 

 on the weather whether or not they wall do so at 

 tills late period of the year. Another South African 

 shrub, liiiirl-crhi iiiphylla, is somewhat in the same 

 state; but this is not its usual form, i'or, as a ruie, 

 it expands its interesting white Calceolaria-like 

 flowers long befoi'e the middle of December; and 

 the present delay is an exception to the ordinary 

 behaviour of the plant. It is a very desirable 

 species for a sheltered place in a mild di.strict. 

 Paxsifloitt iirruird also w'as somewhat later aiul 

 hardly as good as usual. But Ldidir.oholn 

 liiti iiditd, a dense evergreen from the Himalayan 

 region, witli thick leaves, allied to Berberis, and 

 the half-hardy LH^.'a japonicd, allied to the Bay- 

 tree (Ldurus nobilis), bloomed quite well at the 

 regular time. Owing, perhaps, to the mildness of 

 the present season. Cytisus racrmoaus, ('. liui- 

 folius, Erira htsitdiiica, the hybrid E. Vcitcliii, 

 Euptiofhid Chdrdrid!:, and, to some extent. E. 

 W ujfciii, Sf'dum Piiiirga'i Vinra diffonuis, Yurin 

 ijldiii/sd, and the well-known Janminum 7tudi- 

 florum, and Vibin nam Tinus (Laurustinus) are 

 flowering abundantly; also P'. jDoi-if/ii. and T. 

 iln/tidiipliyllmn were in bloom early in December; 

 while even Volycdfome spinosa is showing some 

 pea-.shaped gold. Two Rhododendrons, moreover, 

 li. nobli'onum and 7?. dduriiii m nfi-oriicus, are 

 always most welcome, for they mark the com- 

 mencement of the season of that magnificent genus, 

 and, weather permitting, we can count on getting 

 their flowers on every Christmas Day. This year, 

 however, we can add another to the list, for li. 

 lidlylcpis. one of Mr. Wilson's earlier introductions 

 from China, has begun lo open its purple trusses 

 before tlie proper time. 



On the other hand, Kniphofia niuUiflora was 

 disappointing; it throws vip light-yellow, almost 

 white, flower-spikes in November, very different 

 lo the more generally known Torch-lilies; but 

 this year they did not mature contrary to their 

 usual habit. There is, however, a certain weed, 

 which never fails, very troublesome, and which 

 one would gladly exiiel, if one could, called I'pid- 

 ■titc.'i frdgiruis; it lias just one point in its favour, 

 it flowers in winter, more curious than beautiful, 

 but with a good scent of new-mown hay, mixed 

 with cherry-pie, like Heliotrope. Although the 

 autumn tints are now over, a good deal remained 

 bright for a long lime well into December. This 

 was to be noticed on several plants, among them 

 ('rat:r(i\is EnrjeVmanni, and on some of the Ber- 

 beris, for instance, B. Coryi, B. Giraldii, B. 

 vmbfUafo. B. Xo. 15340 (Forrest), and indeed 

 others, all of which appear to turn their leaf late. 

 Ti. virescens also is of value now, for the branch- 

 lets are bright red; and the same may be seen on 

 some of the Dog-woeds, for instance. Coriivs Xr>. 

 4017 (Wilson), and on many of the Willows. .SV??,;- 

 hotifdvdidna . S. hrit~rnsis, S. daphiididrs, S. ritrl- 

 Ihw pruduln, while -the white bark on the 

 trunks of lliftild Kiiudiii. li. pdptpifrvd and /!, 



