IRISH GARDENING 



29 



Notes from a Small Garden. 



By K. J.I.OVli i'uAEGER. 



Potentilla fruticosa and Co., Unlimited- 



The Sliruliby Cinquefoil i^ an interesting plant ou 

 iicfount of its wide range and, at the same time, 

 restricted distribution. Tims, in Ireland it forms 

 just one big patch on the limestone rocks of 

 Clare and Galway. In England there is another 

 l>ig patch, embracing seveial northern counties. 

 There are big patches in Europe, in .-Vsia, in 

 America. Over the greater part of its range it 

 is a plant of uniform character, as it is in County 

 Clare — a smallish shrub with rather grey-green 

 leaves and yellow flowers. But when it gets into 

 Asia, and especially China, it appears to go quite 

 mad, and bursts into a kaleidoscopic series of 

 variants which might be taken (as some of them 

 have been taken) for distinct species. 



They range in size fidin dainty fine-leaved 

 dwarfs, half a foot high, to coarse giants a couple 

 of yards in .stature. The leaves vary from bright 

 green to silver. The flowers may be white, or 

 cream, or yellow, or deep orange, and their size 

 up to half a crown, or down to a quarter of that — 

 a most bewildering series, and all lovely. 



Some very distinct forms liave been long in cul- 

 tivation. To my mind, the best of all is that 

 grown as var. ai-huxcula — a rather dwarf form, 

 with remarkably shaggy Ijianches and inuuense 

 deep golden flowers. Two which have recently 

 come into much favour are P. Vilmorinicina. with 

 silver,^ foliage and cream flowers, and F. Veitiliii, 

 with green leaves and huge white flowers. P. 

 Fiie(h-ichse)\i, long in cultivation, is a hybrid 

 lietween 7'. fruticosa and P. davurica; but the 

 plant usually seen under this name — a robust, 

 grey-leaved form with pale .yellow flowers — does 

 not look like such a cross, P. davurica lieing a 

 green dwarf shrub, closely allied to fruticosa, 

 but by some modern authorities (e.g., Schneider) 

 kejjt distinct. The whole fruticosa group is in a 

 state of great confusion, and needs badly to be 

 straightened out liy a comjictent botanist. 



Nierembergia frutescens. 



Nierembergia is a genus of 25 or .51) species allied 

 to the Potato, with trumpet-shaped flowers with 

 a long tube. They inhabit Central and Southern 

 America, and most of them are not hardy with 

 us. An exception is the creeping X. rirulari.-i, 

 which in my garden is always devoured by slugs. 

 -V. frutescens, whofee praises I wish to sing, does 

 not appear in the Kew list of hardy herbaceous 

 plant!! — it will not stand the English frosts. But 

 in rnir favoured Irish gardens, we have no excuse 

 for not growing a plant so lovely and " dank- 

 bar." It has the size and habit of one of the 

 subshrubby Fla.xes — Linum perenne or uarhoii- 

 neuse — and all through the summer produces a 

 wealth of bluish-white flowers the size of a florin, 

 with a lihie eye and a yellow throat. Raising is 

 easy from cuttings or seed, and a warm, dry place 

 is desirable. 



The plant hails from Chili; in the milder parts 

 of Ireland it is quite hardy, and probably there 

 are few places in the country where it cannot be 

 grown, if a sheltered corner is selected. 



Var. aUiiftorii, which I received recently from 

 Miss Fanny Geoghegan, is wholly white. A var. 

 • ifro-riitliicrd is given in the " Standard Cyclo- 



jjmdia of Horticulture." and de.scribed as having 

 dark violet flowers; it shoidd be a good thing, bnt 

 I have not heajxl of it in cultivation on this side 

 of the Atlantic. 



The Long-suffering Plant. 



The difference in adaptalulity of plants to their 

 surroundings is vei-y interesting, and quite 

 beyond the power of botanists to explain. We 

 nuiy carve a i)lanl to pieces and examine every 

 portion under the microscope without getting a 

 hint as to whether it can withstand frost or great 

 heat. A scarcity or excess of water in a plant's 

 natural habitat more often leaves its impress upon 

 the plant's body; l)ut by no means always. The 

 Marsh Fern has grown for years with me mixed 

 with .iiitht/llis montana. Looking at them, how- 

 can one tell that the former naturally grows in 

 swamps, where it is often under water half the 

 year, while the other haunts dry rocks exposed 

 to the hot sun of Southern Europe? 



Seduiii mulficeps ;ind Ephedra altissima, iiinn 

 the semi-deserts of Northern Africa, jo.stle with the 

 Iceland Poppy and Bear-Berry, whose headquarters 

 are within the Arctic. To the first two our country 

 must be a horribly cold, wet place; to the latter 

 pair a veritable hothouse. Yet they all jog along 

 quite comfortably. 



The truth seem.'; to be that when free competi- 

 tion is eliminated the strict geographical limits 

 which often define a plant's natural growth 

 vanish, and it is able to show that it can live 

 under much more varied conditions than would 

 appear from its natural range. Fortunate for 

 gardeners that it is so, and that most plants will 

 so cheerfully accept anything in reason in the 

 way of accommodation. But there are notorious ex- 

 ceptions. What about that disastrous beauty, Eri- 

 tricJiiutn )iauurii? Who can grow Diapensia lappo- 

 nica ? And think of all the love wasted in vain ou 

 Panunculus (ilaci(dis and Pyjiduntliera harbu- 

 lata, and ,Sa.rifra(ja fioruloita, and the species of 

 Hudsonia. These aie not adaptable; some want 

 of theirs we do not understand and fail to supply 

 (if it is possible to supply it in a garden) in spite 

 of all experiments. 



But since the requirements of plants are so 

 mysterious, it is well to experiment to some ex- 

 tent with many of them. A plant may be doing 

 well enough with us, but be capable of doing 

 much better under slightly different conditions. I 

 find it well worth while, when I get a new plant, 

 to take off any jiiece that will come easily, or at 

 least a few cuttings, and put these in where con- 

 ditions of soil and light and moisture are different. 

 Then one sees which does best, and gets a useful 

 hint. Often a cutting has grown where the jilant 

 has died. 



Rose Notes. 



Rose Caroline Testout, 



I STTPPOSE that however large one's collection of 

 Roses may be, however beautiful some of the 

 varieties are, there are, at least, some few which, 

 owing to their long career and general usefulness, 

 have come to be regarded as quite indispensable. 

 Such a variety is, we submit, Caroline Testout, 

 which has been before the public over thirty 

 years, and is a " good seller " even in these days 

 when novelties are run after. 

 You seldom, if ever now, see Caroline on the 



