166 



IRISH GARDENING 



A Visit to Narrow Water Castle, 



Captain- Hall's REsinicNCF, in Co. Down. 



MAX'*' times have 1 had the pleasure ot 

 visitint;' these beautiful grounds, hut 

 never was the pleasure greater than 

 on a glorious afternoon in mid-May, when the 

 number of interesting and beautiful plants in 

 flower woidd fill a book. The weather of last 

 year is credited with being the cause of so many 

 of our trees and shrubs flowering with the 

 remarkable profusion they are doing this spring, 

 and one of the most important results obtained 

 is the llowering for the first time in this country 

 of Magnolia hypoleuca — a large, handscme- 

 leaved tree, which has been " watched and 

 waited on " for nigh a score of years, and has 

 this season developed four flower buds which 

 will be open early in June. 



Perhaps the finest mass of Solaniini crispum 

 ever seen is to be found here which was a mass 

 twenty feet wide and growing up a twelve feet 

 wall, from whence it had claimed the support of 

 the stem of a Eucalyptus globulus. 



Wistaria multijuga, covering" the front of the 

 gardener's house, and across a pergola w;ls a 

 picture with its yard long' racemes of wliite and 

 lilac blossoms, whilst close to it was one of the 

 commcinest of all popular plants, " London 

 Pride," a dense mass thirty yards long by one 

 wide, and a dense cloud of flowers two feel higii. 



Veronica Hulkeana, with its beaulifid mauve- 

 coloiu'ctl flowers was good, both against a green- 

 house wall and also in the rock garden ; and 

 not far away, but growing tmder much wetter 

 conditions, a colony of Primula pidveridenta 

 proclaimed itself one of the best of its faniiU 

 ;is a hardy hog subject. 



Pittosporuni imdulatum, fourteen feet high, 

 was a mass ol' d.u'k chocolale-coKnu'ed, fragrant 

 flowers. 



Crinodendron llookeri or, as it is now called, 

 Tricuspidaria hexapetala, is represented by 

 several fine specimens some eight feet high, and 

 well covered with ils bright red. lrnil\- looking 

 blossoms. 



.\ nice bush ol RlH'dodenilron Pink Pearl was 

 proving its wonderful llciriferous character by 

 not having a single point which did not termi- 

 nate in a truss of tlie loveliest pink. 



Carpets of creeping Phloxes, I.ilacina, starch 

 blue ; Sprite, bright pink with carmine eve, 

 larger, freer, and belter than N'ivld ; Conipacla, 



a pale pink which linns to deep rose as ihe 

 flowers age ; and Seraph, white w ith a blue eve, 

 were the pick, 



A crowd of the Madeira Orchitl (Orchis 

 loliosa), occupying several square yards, pro- 

 mised a powerful display in due course. 



Cotoneaster nummularia, or congesta, forms 

 a nice cushion covering a large stone some 

 three feet across, whilst near by was a mass of 

 Arenaria montana, a sheet of its pure white 

 flowers crowned by a sward of the Cheddar 

 Pink (Dianthus cassius ). These latter were grow- 

 ing on the simimit of a high, flat-topped stone. 



On the long wall which carries manv nice 

 thing's Lonicera syringantha was in fidl flower, 

 shedding its delightful fragrance for vards 

 around, and not far away Kabiana imbricata, 

 which looks more like a Heath than a relation 

 ot the potato. Ribes speciosimi, Euonvmus 

 radicans Silver Gem, occupying manv square 

 3'ards ; Salisburia adiantifolia (what a charm- 

 ing wall shrub this interesting Conifer makes 

 when neatly trained out I), and nian> other 

 uselid climbing and wall shrubs are found. 



These are only a \'ery small proportion of the 

 many good and interesting subjects to be found 

 in these charmingly situated and delightful 

 gardens. \"isn'OK. 



Silene Hookeri. 



THIS beautilid Silene receixed an awari.1 ol 

 merit when shown by Messrs. T. Ware 

 at the Royal Horticidlural Society on Jiuie 

 4th. It was first discovered o\er forty years 

 ago in the woods of the Wahlamet in Oregon, 

 and collectors have gathered it in various parts 

 oi' California. After a lapse oi' years this Silene 

 is again coming into prominence, for it is well 

 adapted to the rockery. 



.Silene llookeri is quite unlike any other cul- 

 tivated member cif the getuis, and is remarkable 

 for the great size o( the flower compared lo the 

 rest of the plant. 



The whole plant is only a lew inches high ; 

 the wood\ rool-slock bears Ir.ailing branches 

 and si'lt (.lownx leaxes, narrow" and rather 

 spoon-shapei.1. I'he flowers are a pleasing rosy- 

 pink, and measure two inches across ; each 

 petal is deeply cleft, giving the flower quite a 

 fringed appearance. 



This Californian Alpine was also to be seen 

 at the International Show, and was quite one 

 of the most delightlul Alpines exhibited. 



