IRISH GARDENING 



101 



Australia. — -Two evergreen beeches from 

 this country are probably the finest trees of their 

 kind in the British Isles. 



Fagus Cunninghaini is 40 feet high, with a 

 trunk 18 inches in diameter; the leaves are tiny, 

 and give the tree a light and graceful appearance. 

 Fagus Moorei is 25 feet high, a very rare species, 

 having leaves larger than most of its relatives. 



Svannnerdamia Antennaria is an evergreen 

 bush belonging to the Compositse, and is 10 feet 

 l\v 15 feet, and seedlings from it are appearing 

 on a w'aW near bv. The Australian Olearia 



Aster batangensis. 



A Michaelmas Daisy flowering iu May and June 

 looks rather out of season, but such is the case 

 with the above-named ]ilant. This Aster forms a 

 compact shrub about 1 foot high, and Uterally 

 smothers itself with bloom. Tlie flowers are of 

 quite the same apjjearance as a Michaehnas Daisy, 

 of a bright i)urple, quite H inches across, the 

 l)etals being much longer and narrower than usual 

 in the genus. To Messrs. Bees, Ltd., we owe the 

 introduction of this useful rock jilant, and, like 

 the majority of the newer Chinese iJlants, it has 

 ])r()ved itself quite hardy at Glasnevin. 



MA(iNOLIA C.\MPBELLII AT KiLMACURRAGH. 



Flowers a beautiful soft pink 10 inches across. 



stellulata covers itself with white daisy-like 

 flowers as in many other Irish gardens. 



From Mexico come two rare Conifers — 

 Cupressus lusitanica. a beautiful s])reading tree, 

 40 feet high, and one of the rarest of the silver 

 firs ; ^Vbies religiosa, with a trunk 2 feet in 

 diameter, but some years ago a storm sna])]ied 

 the trunk and lessened its height. 



Notela:'a excelsa belongs to the Olive family, 

 and is sometimes seen as an evergreen shrub and 

 called an Olea, but here it is a tree 35 feet or 

 more in height. 



Many more fine trees and shrubs might be 

 mentioned, but enough has l>een written to show 

 that Kilmacurragh has a floral and sylval wealth 

 far beyond most gardens, and is particularly 

 rich in Rhododendrons, rare and tender 

 Conifers. B. 



Roscoea cautlioides. 



Tnis interesting novelty, just now tlowei'iiig. 

 hails from Cliina, and was introduced to cultiva- 

 tion by 31essrs. Bees, Ltd.. througli their enei-getic 

 collector, Mr. George Fm-rest. Tliough at lirst 

 some misgiving as to its vigour was felt, it is 

 ])r(>ving quite hardy at Glasnevin, having passed 

 through the last two winters out of doors witliout 

 protection quite uninjured. It is altogether 

 different from anything else in tlie rock garden, 

 the flowers being of the same appearance of a 

 Tanna, to which indeed the plant is related. The 

 flowers, which are of a pleasing shade of light 

 yellow, are ])roduced at the apex of stout stems, 

 about a foot high: each stem carries about six 

 flowers which open in .succession. This plant is 

 growing in a rather peaty soil in a ])artly shaded 

 ])osition. Stephen Rose. 



