54 



IRISH GARDENING 



reasons for decline in interest of sorts like Lady 

 Galium, Mrs. Pollock, Beauty of Lauderdale, 

 Crystal Palace Gem, the i-reine-i1e-Ia-nenie of 

 growers of a former generation, may be attrilnited 

 to several causes. These, and similar sorts, were 

 not profitable to cultivate, inasmuch as they were 

 slow of growth, so slow, indeed, that it was not 

 necessary to pot them very often, and few would 

 take the risk of turning them out of pots for 

 bedding purposes, lest they should be retarded in 

 the autumn when it was time to re-pot, and take 

 them liack to the greenhouse. Then, again, 

 fashions change in the matter of plants. Annuals 

 are grown very much more than was formerly 

 the case, and early-flowering Chrysanthemums 

 gave us new ideas in regard to the planting of 

 beds and borders. Contemporary witli the day 

 of tricoloured Pelargoniums, it was the general 

 practice to perpetuate Verbenas by means of 



liaps among all her lovely sisters, is a poor half- 

 dead thing. She ha.s prospered here for a while 

 and then gone-off, not in the liardest weather, but 

 more often in a spring frost. However, there are 

 reserve plants in the frame, and T. Hulkedna 

 shall be forgiven and re-planted unto seventy- 

 tinies-seven if need be. 



Though not comparable to the foregoing, there 

 is a distinct charm about V. chathamica, in the 

 tender glaucous green of its oval-pointed leaves 

 and the way in which it creeps over the rock-face, 

 closely hugging the lines of the surface. Though 

 reputedly not quite hardy, we have never lost a 

 plant of T'. iltatliamica. It seems to like a cool, 

 but well-drained site, and produces its blue- 

 lavender flowers in the later summer. Like most 

 of its kin, it strikes very I'eadily from cuttings, 

 and it may be layered. 



T'. pinieleiiides is a shrublet of aliout one foot. 



cuttings, and they were recognised mostly by 

 named varieties. To-day there is no occasion for 

 this, as Verbenas are raised from seed sown in the 

 greenhouse just like other half-hardy annuals, and 

 for bedding out serve the purpose. I well remem- 

 ber houses in nurseries devoted exclusively to 

 these beautiful-leaved Pelargoniums, but the 

 small grower never really took to them, as, imlike 

 Zonals, they were too slow of growth to l)e really 

 profitable. 



Mercaston. 



Some of the Lesser Shrubby Veronicas. 



Before attempting to round up and present in 

 some sort of order even a few of the confusing 

 members of the mighty tribe of Veronica, T liad 

 a look round the garden, and decided that the 

 safest way out of an obviously tedious task would 

 be to take some of the species and varieties just 

 as they appeared to me in the said peregrinations 

 and report upon them. 



In the first place a tale must be told of failure, 

 for r. Hiilkeunu, most exquisitely beautiful per- 



bluish-grey in the foliage, with the small oval 

 leaves often tipped or edged with red. The 

 blossoms are of a lilac-purple, and when massed 

 on a rocky ledge or large pocket at about the 

 height of the eye, this species is very effective. 

 There appears to be many forms differing slightly 

 in colour, and a trailing variety. Rather lesser 

 in stature and more inclined to the prostrate 

 habit is T'. /(irdiufidHd, with leathery, dark-green 

 leaves, also reddened at the edges. The flowers 

 are white or purple, and produced in closely- 

 packed spikes at the tips of the branches. Rather 

 siisceptible to wintry \isage is this one. 



A couple of Veronicas of somewhat distinguished 

 appearance and undoubted merit are T'. Lijalli 

 and Catarractx; but who is there who shall tell 

 " tother from whicli " when even the experts 

 don't all agree ? To be accurate, I believe the 

 latter to be the larger of the two, though many, 

 perhaps most, nurseries send out as Lyalli a 

 plant which is bigger in all its parts than their 

 CatarractEe, bigger also than either of the " true " 

 specimens one sees in the domains of the wise. 

 Albeit, this Lyalli — probably an intermediate 



