IRISH GARDENING 



4^ 



The Laurel. 



In a recent number of Irish Gardening a corres- 

 pondent, inquiring into the great planting of Laurels 

 in other days, and the present tendenriy to their 

 destruction, asks — " But what is the Laurel? " 



In gardening circles two species of Prunus are 

 known°as Laurels, viz. : P. lusitanica, the Portugal 

 Laurel, and P. Lauro-cerasus, the Cherry Laurel, 

 and in former times these two were undoubtedly 

 over-planted and much abused. Both are ever- 

 greens and boast of several varieties each. The 

 Portugal Laurel is, in the writer's opinion, much 

 inferior to the Cherry Laurel as a stately and orna- 

 mental evergreen. The leaves are from two to five 



racetnosiis ^ a plant much like the Butcher's Broom. 

 The American Laurel is Kalmia angusii folia; 

 Copse Laurel, Daphne Loureola; the Great Laurel, 

 Rhododendron inaxinnnn; the -Tapaneso Laurel, 

 Ancuha iaponica, and so on. Nevertheless, when 

 gardeners speak of Laurels they usually mean either 

 the Portugal Laurel, Prunus lusitanica, or the Cheri-y 

 Laurel, Prunus Lauro-cerasus. 



HORTUS. 



Rhododendron Hanceanum. 



This, one of Mr. ^Yilson's introductions from China^ 

 is an interesting if not brilliant species suitable for 



Rhodouendron Hanceanum 

 )n tlie Eock Garden at Ghisnt 



inches long and about half as widQ in the ordinary 

 form but reach their greatest development in the 

 variety Azorica, where the leaves are from five 

 inches upwards. Grown as an isolated specimen 

 and allowed freedom of growth the Portugal Laurel 

 is certainly a handsome shrub and flowers freely in 

 early summer. 



The Cherry Laurel, on the other hand, bears large 

 handsome leaves, six inches long in common forms, 

 and in the best variety, viz., Magnolixfolia, often 

 ton inches long and three to four inches wide. "VNTien 

 allowed to develop naturally the Cheny Laurel is 

 one of the handsomest evergreens in cultivation, 

 but is too often hacked out of all beauty by being 

 planted in unsuitable jiositions. 



Many other plants have borne the name of Laurel. 

 Indeed , the ' ' Treasury of Botany ' ' holds that 

 Laurus nobilis, the Sweet Bay or Noble Laurel, is 

 the only one properly entitled to be so called. The 

 Alexandrian Laiu-el is Dan sea Laurus ox iRuscu,s 



positions where a larger growing Rhododendron 

 would be out of place. It was first noticed by the- 

 Rev. E. Faber on Mt. Omei about 1886 and was 

 introduced in 1909. In nature it is said to foi-m 

 thickets, and in cultivation grows freely, varying 

 somewhat in habit; some plants tend to grow up- 

 right, forming sparsely branched bushes, while 

 others are of a deeiunbent habit, the branches at 

 first rather prostrate but gradually ascending as 

 they grow. The leaves, from one to three or fom- 

 inches long, are less than half as much in width, 

 dark green above, paler on the under surface. The 

 flowers are borne in clusters at the ends of the 

 shoots and are creamy white in colour, opening in 

 April and May. 



So far, the cultivated plants have proved quite 

 hardy and suitable for ledges on the larger rock 

 "ardens, but it may be in time that certain plants 

 will outgrow this position. 



