ii6 



IRISH GARDENING 



Kucryphia pinnatilolia takes a promineiit 

 place ainont^st decorative shrubs, and always 

 looks the picture of health. A fine specimen, 

 thirteen feet hiyh and twelve feet through, 

 carries an itiunense crop of flowers every 

 Ausfust. The seed, thout^h slow to jjerminate, 

 frequently proves fertile, and the plant may also 

 be easily propag-ated by layering. 



Eucryphia cordifolia, an evergreen species, 

 though so far somewhat sparse ot flower, 

 grows ste.;dily and well, and each season 

 carries a few snow-wliite blooms. This plant 

 is now eight and a half feet high. 



Plagianthus Lyallii is as free -flowering as 

 anv Spiraja, and bears its white, cup-shaped 

 blooms in the greatest profusion early in July. 

 It grows rapidlv in a well furnished, symme- 

 trical h.^bit, and comes freely from seed — young 

 plants frequently showing flower at an early 

 stage of growth. Specimens here have already 

 reached sixteen feet high and as much through, 

 and seem destined to attain to much larger 

 proportions. 



P. betulinus, twenty-five feet high, if incon- 

 spicuous in flower, forms a graceful birch-like 

 tree, and grows rapidly and proves hardy. 



Stvrax japonicum undoubtedly forms one of 

 the most doliglitful of July flowering deciduous 

 shrubs. From the undersides of rigid lateral 

 growths the fragrant snowdrop-like blossoms 

 hang in endless profusion, and a good specimen 

 in full bloom presents a truly charming picture. 

 It would be hard to over-rate the merits of this 

 plant. Styrax obassia, though less free in 

 flower, bears drooping white racemes, and forms 

 a handsome subject when well grown. 



Cornus Kousa, whose inconspicuous flowers 

 are subtended by creamy white bracts changing 

 to pink, and C. florlda, bright pink, make ver)' 

 effective specimens on the lawn. 



Stuartia pseudo - camellia, bearing white 

 camellia-like flowers, needs a cool, peat\ soil 

 and a sheltered situation. Eight feet high 

 specimens flower freely here, and never fail to 

 attract admiration when seen at their best. 



Carpenteria californica makes a beautiful 

 plant for a low, sunny wall. The narrow- 

 leaved form is found to be more floriferous than 

 the typical ]ilanl, and is generally to be pre- 

 I erred to it. 



Feijoa sellowiana, tlunigli growing in the 

 open here, and curving a lc'.\' flowers ever\ 

 year, seems more adapted to a w.irm wall whore 



its silver petals and its crimson stamens may be 

 more freelv produced.' 



Desfontainia spinosa makes a handsome 

 holh'-like evergreen, and when clothed in mid- 

 summer with its scarlet and yellow tubular 

 flowers gives a brilliant eft'ect. The habit of 

 growth is close and compact, and some remark- 

 able specimens here measure ten feet high and 

 fifty feet in circumference at the ground. 



Olearia macrodonta is too well known to 

 need description, but a good plant here ten 

 feet high and sixty feet in circumference makes 

 a prominent picture on a grassy slope. 



O. nitida, a good evergreen and a plant oi' 

 much beautv when in full flower, has provided 

 manv self-sown seedlings from which an excep- 

 tionally large-flowered form has been raised. 



Cercidiphyllum japonicum, remarkable for its 

 delicate pink and amber-tinted foliage both in 

 spring and autumn, has developed into a 

 shapelv specimen thirteen teet hlgli by forty feet 

 in circumference. 



Hamamelis mollis, liearing golden-lliiwers on 

 leafless stems in winter, is particularly welcome 

 in the garden. 



Hoheria populnea, though slow to form its 

 pure white flowers till well established, inav vet 

 prove a \'aluable addition to our deciduous 

 shrubs. 



Exochorda graiidiflora and 1-^ Alhertii 

 macrantha are two good early-flowering shrubs. 



N'iburnum rhytidophyllum. if disappointing in 

 flower, gi\ es ample compensation in boldness of 

 foliage and freedom of fruit ; the latter being of 

 a claret colour and lasting well into winter. 



.Sophora tetraptera, fourteen feet high and 

 as much through, freely bears its pendulous 

 yellow racemes, and the variety microphylla, 

 though smaller in .all its parts, is scarcelv less 

 attractive. 



Xothofagus fusca, already twenty feet high, 

 promises to develop into a graceful semi- 

 deciduous tree of beech-like habit, and has 

 proved perfectly hardy. 



Stephanandra llexuosa forms a very attractive 

 spreading shrub of gracet'ul habit, with clusters 

 o\' small, white flowers prettily pLaced amidst 

 the t'oliage. 



Rhaphithamnus cyanocarpus, an upright 

 growing evergreen, is more conspicuous for its 

 rich blue fruit than for its flowers of paler hue. 



t'otoneaster pannosa makes a graceful ever- 

 green with grey-giecn foliage and brightlv- 



