IRISH GARDENING. 



MARIH 



1 tear it will Iv a Ioiil: tiiiK- botoro wo L;ct 

 acciislonioci to oall our \alin.'*.l olii trioiuls tlu' 

 weij^elas bv tlu-ir more Lorroel tilk' ot Jiorx ilia, 

 but here ai^aiii our L'oiilinental iVieutis lia\e 

 plaeetl us uiuler a clebl ot' i^rat it ude. We pro- 

 bai^ly all were lainiliar with Wei-ela ainabilis 

 troiii Japan, now ealleil IX i^randiilora ; W . 

 rosea iVoni China, now known as D. Iloriila, 

 o\ whieh there is a while tlowered foiin ; also 

 n. llorilMuula I'roni japan. .Some seet-iliui^s 

 Irom these are o\' British orij^iu, but the 

 majority, sueh as V.\a Kathke Heseartes, C'on- 

 quele. .\\ anli^arJe. ['"leur (.le Mai, .MontesLpiieu, 

 are ot Continental orij^in. 



.Ml who have possessed j^ardens near the sea 

 know the \alue ot" Escallonia macrantha and the 

 i^n-een luionymus japonicus as shelter plants to 

 break the wind. This, however, is not the 

 only i;ood quality of escallonias. li. macrantha 

 is a very useful and ornamental shrub for general 

 ifarden purposes. It is a nice evergreen with 

 bright glossy foliage and abundance of flowers. 

 It comes into flower towards end of June, and 

 flowers continuously right into the autumn. It 

 also stands cutting back well. It is one oi the 

 parents of two very useful hybrids, E. exoniensis 

 and E. Langleyensis. E. exoniensis is a plant 

 with nice upright habit, small shining foliage, 

 and bearing numerous racemes of pinkish white 

 flowers. It is, I believe, generally hardy. 1"^. 

 Langleyensis is a much more recent addition, 

 and a very lovely and welcome addition. It is 

 a hybrid between E. macrantha and E. Philip- 

 piana, but it differs greatly in habit froni both 

 of its parents. It has long slender pendulous 

 branches covered with bright starry red flowers. 

 I rather doubt whether it is hardy everywhere. 



Some of the dwarf veronicas, those which are 

 more suitable for rockworks, make their appear- 

 ance in June. V. Haasti, \'. Hulkeana, \'. 

 canterburyensis, and \'. decumbens, the last 

 named the hardiest of this set, and a striking 

 and remarkable plant ; it is well named, as its 

 habit indicates. It would be difficult to say 

 which is the most beautiful of all flowering 

 shrubs, and if a vote were taken a great many 

 W'Ould be named. I think that when well 

 grown and well flowered Viburnum tomen- 

 tosum would have my vote. If grown in a 

 fairly moist position, this Japanese representa- 

 tive of the Guelder rose, which, perhaps, we 

 know better as \'. plicatum, is most beautiful. 

 It dislikes lime in the soil, which is a drawback. 



I ha\e seen it in County Wieklow and in the 

 south ol Ireland with lir.uuhes three to lour 

 leet long, weii^hed down with heads ol jture 

 wliite Mowers. \'. maeroeephalum is a Chinese 

 speeies, l^ut it is mueh nn^e lender, antl cannot 

 be reeomnieniletl lor general eultixation. 



Mention must he maile ol a lew individual 

 shrulis whieh llowei' in June, but which cannot 

 Ix' considered quite hardy l"'abiana imbricata, 

 Peru ; Ceauolhus llorihundus and C". X'eilchi- 

 aiuis, C". thxrsillorus, C'hoisxa ternata, C")learia 

 stellulata. Australia; Kaim'ia latilolia. North 

 America ; Zenobia speeiosa, l-'iorida and Caro- 

 lina ; Rubus (.lelieiosus, l\oek\ Mountains. 

 Se\eral otliei' important gi\ni|->s, such as cislus, 

 ledum, and others, must be passed o\er. 



The object o\ llowering m all plants is to 

 enable an increase to lake place h\ the ]iroduc- 

 tion ol seetl. .Seed requires lime, sunshine, anel 

 warmth to mature ; hence the \ast majority o\' 

 plants, shiubs, and trees flower earl\ in the 

 \ear. Were it otherwise, but little fertile seed 

 would be produced ; hence already with Jul_\- 

 there is a great waning in the number oi flower- 

 ing shrubs. Xearh' all the .Ma\' shrubs are 

 over; a good many oi' the June series still sur- 

 vive, but many also are over — deutzias, diervillas, 

 philadelphus, escallonias are still good, also 

 Carpentaria californica, a lovely shrub where 

 hardy ; Sophora tetraptera. New Zealand 

 laburnum ; Cornus capitata, India, China ; 

 Olearia macrodonla, New Zealand ; Olearia 

 insignis. 



Of the newcomers in Jul)- sexeral fuchsias 

 are quite hard\- in lieland, e\en inland, but 

 near the sea in all jiarls they make beautilul 

 hedges, and the bushes are not killed each 

 ) ear to the ground. The spiraeas become an 

 important group, and take the place oi' shrubs 

 w hich have passed. The most graceful of all is 

 Spir.ea discolor from North .\merica, perhaps 

 better known as S. ariiefolia. Then comes 

 Spira-a japonica with its many varieties, with 

 flat heads o\' pink to deep red flowers. Well 

 known forms are S. j. bumalda, S. j. Antony 

 Waterer, .S. j. ruberrima, and S. j. glabrata. 

 Rhodotypos kerrioides, from China, is a nice 

 shrub with large white flowers, and Phlomis 

 I'rulicosa, the Jerusalem sage, from Southern 

 luirope, is remarkable with dense clusters oi 

 bright yellow flowers and grey-green foliage. 

 It is questionably hardy. The hardiest and 

 one of the nicest as well as one of the freest 



