IRISH GARDENING 



51 



go to iuiiiieuse trouble, and not ;i little exijense 

 annually, to have a display of summer bedders 

 have long since abandoned that idea, and find 

 amongst perennials and annuals a beauty and 

 variety the like of which they never appreciated 

 as they do to-day. One was almost led to believe 

 by the bedding plants put out in May in suburban 

 gardens that other subjects would not thrive, but 

 we luive liv<'d to see that not only ui ihose gardens 

 but in the very heart of towns 'that many hardy 

 subjects have proved a success. 



Popular Pl.4Nts.— One good feature about some 

 of our hardy plants is thai one may have flowers 

 Ivefore bedding subjects have become established 

 in their summer quarters, and others that linger 

 with us when the autuuni frosts have disfig\n-ed 

 those that are tender. To us that seems tn be a 

 decided advantage, and we submit it has cnutii- 

 buted not a little to their popularity, but the 

 annual expense of plants which have to be reared 

 under glass some months in the year has led many 

 to tin-n to other subjects of a more enduring 

 character. It would be foolish to condemn in a 

 wholesale fashion tri-coloured Pelagoniums. or to 

 shut out o'f our purview Alternantheras or Lobelias, 

 once so much in vogue for edging purposes and 

 for carpet-bedding arrangements, but present day 

 conditions all point to less formality in gardening, 

 arid to a decided encouragement in subjects that 

 follow each other in succession, and yield a love- 

 liness that is not for the garden only, but for en- 

 hancing the beauty of the home. 



We have long been conseious of the fact, that 

 to have a panorama of flowers, from spring days 

 to the chilly autumn hours, nothing can pos.3ib'ly 

 conipete with Hardy Perennials, and sown about 

 borders containing them, it has now become quite 

 common to see many faun'liar annuals like Nigellas 

 Calliopsis, Lavateras, Godetias, Calendulas, to^iame 

 a few. Hardy plants provide a perfect treasury of 

 blossoms, provided anyone will study them, 'and 

 plant with a view to coiitinuitv of flowering. 

 Doronicums bring their golden rjioouis in April 

 and May. Pseonies and Pyret!ii-uius follow on 

 closely. Many borders are in these days brighter 

 much earlier than they used to be in the tinie of 

 bedding plant regime. Polyanthuse.s and Foreet-mc- 

 ix'ots and Wallflowers contribute a splendid stait 

 to summer .beauty and are now often quartered 011 

 borders wdiere, in their prime. Delphiniums 

 Phloxes, Campanulas, M]iums, Helianthu.ses! 

 Trolliuses, Rudbeckias, Poppies, Lychnises and' 

 Starworts, often hold one spell-bound by their 

 simple beauty. There is an old saying which runs 

 thus : " Distance lends enchantment to the view " 

 in these days it is not distance but variety of 

 plants in a garden that firings joy and pleasuie 

 and tho.se we have noted are not the least charni- 

 iiig. 



W I.IXDERS Le.\. 



Diplacus glutinosus. 



This is a greenhouse plant deserving of wider 

 culture, but unfortunately it is little known. Of 

 perennial growth, possessing a straggling, twinin" 

 habit, it needs but treatment accorded to the 

 ordinary occupants of a greenhouse, where 

 miscellaneous flowering plants are grown to suc- 

 ceed with Viplacus filvtinn.'ius. The narrow dark 

 green leaves, especially during the summer months 

 exude a sticky or " gunimv " substance hence its 

 second appellation. 

 The flowers, not unlike those of a Mimulus, are 



almost a pure orange, very freely .borne over a long 

 period. J,oam and leaf-mould, with a little sharp 

 sand, meets all its requirements, and if the plants 

 can be trained over wire supports, or given a lead 

 towards the rafters, they form pleasing additions 

 to any greenhouse. Propagation is effected by 

 cuttings of half-ripened wood in sandy soil in a 

 propagator, or under a .bell-glass. The colour of 

 the flowers is not by any means coninion among.st 

 greenhouse plants. 



Plants may also be employed outside in the 

 summer in beds or window boxes, with good effect. 



Vt. LiNDERS Lea. 



plrus magdeburgensis in the koyal botanic 

 Gardens, Dublin. 



