IRISH GARDENING 



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lai- dwarf of Oleaiia muiii>,!onta, whose origin, 1 

 Ijelieve, was, curiouslv enonith, in tlie same garden. 

 The Escallonia flowers freely, but 1 have never 

 seen bloom on the dwarf Olearki, in which respect 

 it resembles my Veronica. These dwarf forms and 

 similar abnormalities have a considerable bio- 

 logical interest. When they originate as a branch 

 on a normal shrub they can usually be propagated 

 only from cuttings, as if grown from seed they 

 return to the normal, but when they originate as 

 seedlings they generally retain their peculiar 

 characters in successive generations when grown 

 from seed. If my Veronica flowers I shall hope 

 to try the experiment, as .so queer a break-away 

 might have curious children. 



Plants that Enjoyed the Drought. 



It would be very easy Ui compile lists of plants 

 which strongly objected to the remarkable drought 

 of last summer, though in Ireland few things 

 where well-rooted disliked the season's ills so much 

 as to fly to others that they knew not of. But it 

 is not so easy to name plants which actually liked 

 the drought.' Succulent plants generally belong 

 to more southern climes and drier climates than 

 ours, and most of them bore the unusual dessica- 

 tion with equanimity, but I did not observe that 

 any of them seemed actually to benefit by it; on 

 the contrary, many of them, such as Sedums, 

 showed distinct signs of lieing uncomfortable. But 

 I noted a few species which certainly did much 

 more than usual last season, and as they are all 

 plants of warmer and drier countries, it may be 

 assumed that the unusual weather was the cause. 

 Ephedra (jerardiana — quite a desert type — grew 

 twice as much as in any season of the last ten, 

 and fruited for the first time; its ally, E. altissima, 

 from Morocco, also did unusually well. Genista 

 spdthulata made much greater growth than in 

 the several previous years I have had it. Iris 

 ■ui}guicularis {— stylosa), from Portugal, is, I 

 believe, flowering everywhere this winter as it 

 seldom has done before. My Chlmonanthus fra- 

 ijrans (Japan) is this year covered with flowers — 

 about fifty for every one I have had in any 

 previous season. These few examples I think are 

 directly attributable to the season; I hope other 

 gardeners will supply further examples. No doubt 

 it will only be when next flowering season is well 

 advanced that we shall be able to judge fully the 

 effect of the unusual ripening that the woody 

 things in particular received during 1921. 



Plants of the Lawn. 



My lawn measures eleven yards by four. The 

 raison d'etre of these dimensions is that the 

 dining-room carpet is less than this, and my 

 peace treaty requires that the area of the former 

 should be greater than the area of the latter; this 

 sounds like a Euclidian postulate, but has, in fact, 

 a hygienic, not a mathematical, basis. With my 

 craze (as it is designated by the lady of the 

 carpet) for introducing things everywhere, even 

 this blob of greenery does not escape, and I have 

 often tried to naturalize carpeting plants among 

 the lawn grass. Why should not the lawn, especi- 

 ally in the vicinity of the alpine garden, suggest, 

 if possible, something like an alpine sward, full 

 of tiny plants of varied form and starry blossom ? 

 But, unfortunately, the climate is not an alpine 

 climate, and the lowland grasses easily and 

 rapidly dominate most of the plants which one 

 endeavours to introduce among them. The best 

 chance of success, one would say, lies among such 



aggressive and pei.sistent carpeters as the smaller 

 Cijtukia and Aariuts, which are lowland settlers 

 of a war-like disposition; yet the grass has beaten 

 them out every time. But an unexpected plant 

 is now proving its capacity for meeting the grass 

 on equal terms. It is that pretty little ramping 

 Veronica fiJiformis, with roundish-cordate fresh 

 green hairy leaves and a wealth of very pale blue 

 flowers in spring, which most people grow, but for 

 which few seem to have a name. It is spreading 

 rapidly through the grass, does not mind the 

 lawn mower a liit, and next spring will make a 

 rather jsretty feature, I fancy. 



The Autumn of 1921. 



It is the 6th of November, the wind has at last 

 shifted to the north, and we had a local shower 

 of hail. It would seem, therefore, that winter is 

 at hand, and the long protracted gardening season 

 of 1921 is over. And what an amazing season it 

 has been ! Yesterday I walked round my garden 

 and found it quite impossible to realise that it 

 was the 5th of November. On the garden walls 

 were Roses — Devoniensis, Cramoisie, Laurette 

 Messimy, W. A. Richardson, Bouquet d'Or, Old 

 Chinas and others — mostly in full flower. At their 

 feet Dwarf Polyantha Roses, such as Cecile 

 Brunner, w-ere flowering bravely surrounded with 

 Mignonette and honey-scented Alyssum. Further 

 on another wall is covered with yellow winter 

 .lasmine and Rose " Queen Mab," both in full 

 flower. At their feet the last of the Michaelmas 

 Daisies are flopping down and partly covering the 

 flowers of Iris sti/hixa. Sweet Peas, now over eight 

 feet high, are still liearing a few flowers, and almost 

 every bed and border has odd splotches of colour — 

 a few Delphiniums, Oriental Poppies, and even 

 Carnations, and so on all the way down to the 

 rock garden. Here further surprises awaited me. 

 The Saxifrages and Daffodils, which usually 

 brighten my garden in March and April, were this 

 season in full flower in February, and I antici- 

 pated that the garden would be bare after June, 

 but not a bit of it, the rock work has been gay 

 all the summer and early autumn, and now, in 

 November, so many plants are in flower that I 

 feel bound to record them. Aubrietia, Antirrhinum 

 (jhitinosum, AJyssiim alpina, Aster Townshendi, A. 

 Thomsoni, A. diffusus, Arabis procnrrens, A. Sturii, 

 Boiaoo laxifloia, Calamintha alpina, Cydonia 

 Maidei, C. Simoni, C. pyijma:a. Campanula 

 Tiurghalti, C. Istriaca, C. tianjanica, C. IT'. H. 

 Paine, C. Orosseki, C. Alaskana. ('. Poitenschla- 

 giana, Corydalis lutea, Dianthus dcltoidcs, D. 

 Marie Pia, Erica alpina, E. inediterranea, E. 

 vagans, E. cilaris, E. tetralix, E. Veitchii, E. 

 stricta, all in full flower. E. carnea just ready to 

 open, and the big Connemara Vahrecias with odd 

 blossoms; Erinus alpinus, Erodiiim Sihthorpii, 

 Erigeron caiicasicus, E. mucronatus, Erigoiium 

 umbellatum. Erysimum oJpiiiHS, E. Siliiricmn, 

 Geranium sangnineum, G. Wallichianum, Gen- 

 tiana sino-ornata, Hypericum reptaiis, H. fragile, 

 H. olympicum. Ibevis gibraltarica, I. " Little 

 Gem," Linum Austriacum, Lithospermum pro- 

 stratum. Linnria pallida, L. Hendcrsoni, Malra- 

 sfrum lateritium. Meconopsis cambric<i plena, 

 Papaver rupifragum, Potentilla minima, P. 

 mandshiirica, P. sp. B.C., P. Willmottcea, 

 Polygala chamo:bnxus. Plumbago Larpentce, 

 Polygonum cantpanulatum, P. affine, Primula 

 altaica. P. hclodora, P. marginata, P. ftmithiana, 

 P. denticulata, Pyrola arenaria, Oxalis flori- 

 bunda. 0. lobota, 0. adenophylla, 0. Valdiviana, 



