IRISH GARDENING 



23 



is tlie best doer and, S. CJierry Trees the most 

 dinUult, iu fact the latter has aimost disappeared 

 friim cultivation. I have hut one tiny })lant, 

 which has barely increased in three years, but 

 there is a very fine plant in Glasnevin which is 

 worth going any distance to see when in flower, 

 in March or early April, if only to warn one for 

 ever against the so-called S. Cherry Trees of 

 i-oininerce. The true plant is unfortunately at 

 pi< sent unobtainable, and the many imposters 

 w iiirh masquerade in catalogues are plants to be 

 avoided. I have received no less than five 

 fairly distinct in^posters, all cousins of S. 

 Elizabeths, and children therefore of S. burseriana 

 and S. sancta, not of S. aretioides, all making 

 strong dull green cushions — as unlike the tnie 

 I)lant as ])ossil)le — and rarely floweriuf^. The 

 three true 

 plants do best 

 with me in very 

 well di'ained 

 stony soil, not 

 parched in 

 summer nor 

 waterlogged in 

 winter. There 

 is also a ]jlaMt 

 called >*^- Boyd! 

 alba, a stroii'^ 

 growing, strag- 

 gly thin? that 

 does well any 

 where. S . 

 caesia is one (it 

 the smallest of 

 the sect ion — a 

 tight silv.T 

 lichen that 

 does best in 

 half shade iu 

 limestone nn)- 

 raine, bearing 

 perfect whit.- 

 flowers. Evtn 

 smaller is S. 

 s q u a r r o s a , 

 which dislikes 



being parched Saxifi;aga tyuo 



or water - 

 soaked ; then 



we have the natural hyt)rid between the two, S. 

 tyrolensis, an easier iilant than either of its 

 parents, with similar white flowers on fairy-like 

 stems. With n\e it does well sheltered by a rock 

 from the mid -day sun. 



I am not sure about S. dalmatica, I think it is 

 a species, it is anyhow a very desirable plant, 

 bearing its white flowers very freely. S. 

 Desoulavyi, however, is a species of recent 

 introduction, with distinct bright green cushions 

 of tiny moss-like s))ines and bright xcliuw flowers 

 in early spring. I am told tliat this ])lant is 

 rightly S. Iffivis (there are two other Saxifrages 

 of this nan^e), but of this I anx not certain, any- 

 how it appears to be identical with the ])lant sent 

 out by Kew as S. caucasica. K. diapensioides 

 makes cushions so hard and tight as to feel 

 ahnost like a stone, and bears flowers of the 

 purest white; it likes lime here and half shade. 

 S. Klizbethae is a seedling from S. burseriana 

 and S. sancta, makes large green cushions, and 

 its best forms bear quantities of pale yellow 



flowers on red . steuxs. Paradoxically its best 

 forms are sent out as >S. Elizahethw and priced 

 about 6d. a plant, and. its bad forms — from which 

 one coaxes a few flowers with difficulty— are sent 

 out as S. Cherry Trees and priced from Is. 6d. to 

 2s. 6d. ! Close to S. Elizabethae, but later to 

 flower, is S. L. G. Godseft' or sancta speciosa, and 

 close again is vS. Mrs. Leng. T have also a curious 

 self-sown seedling of S. Elizabethae with very strong 

 foliage emphasising the Inirseriana j)ai*entage. Ail 

 these S. Elizabethae cousins should be given as full 

 ;in exposure to the sun as they will stand if they are 

 to flower freely. 8. Evidoxiana is anctther hybrid 

 w ith coni])act foliage and small orange flowers. 

 S. Ferdinandi-Coburgi is a sjjecies with dense; 

 silvery rosettes and bright yellow flowers freely 

 pioduce.l in early si)ring. This plant will stand 



any amount of 

 sun, and re- 

 joices in lime. 

 S. Forsteri 

 a,ud S. paten.s 

 are very rare 

 1', atural hv- 

 i.rids of S. 

 easia, the 

 loiiii.i- with S. 

 iiiutata and 

 the latter with 

 S. aizoides — 

 p.'-ither are of 

 much in,terest, 

 and ]) refer mo- 

 raine in some- 

 \v hat shady 

 situations. S. 

 1 1 aagii is a 

 iiybrid of S. 

 I' erdinandi- 

 Coburgi, with 

 - 1 ro ng cush- 

 ions and a pro- 

 tiisionof yellow 

 (lowers ; it is 

 o 11. e o f the 

 easiest and 

 best of the 

 section. S. 

 .lacqeana I am 

 not .sure about. 

 I have it on good authorit\-. but it has not 

 flowered; its foliage seems similar to that of 

 S. marginata, but niuch stronger. S. juniper- 

 folia or juniperina I cordially dislike, it makes 

 untidy uaasses of bright green, spiny foliage, 

 and flops about and rarely flowers : it seems to 

 b(» very n'?ar indeed to the new S. niacedonica 

 (which dislikes lime here), and is not far from 

 S. ])seudo-sancta and S. sancta. None of these 

 sancta folk — except the ty]ie — flower freely, and 

 ail bear dowdy yellow stars when they flower at 

 all. S. sancta flowere freely here in full sun, 

 but only on''e did I coax a flower from S. 

 juniperina — a friend who flow«'rs it tells me that 

 in its native habitat it gets the .soil washed away 

 from the top ])ortion of its roots, and that if one 

 ])lants it first with a few large stones as a collar, 

 and when the Saxiirage has taken h(dd later 

 remove these stones, it will flower, but to do this 

 woxild but make S. juniperina flo)) still nxore, and 

 personallv T have no patience with a jilant so 

 si.ariu-- o"f its dull Mowers. 



AT K.V.MTOX. 



