IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VIII. 

 No. 89 



Edited by C F. Ball. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



JULY 



'9'3 



Chinese Plants at Aldenhairu 



LIBI 

 NEW 

 ttOIA 



UAK 



By the Hon. Vicary Gibbs. 



I propose to give a short account of some of 

 the more attractive of the many trees and 

 shrubs that have been discovered in China 

 during recent years by Mr. E. H. Wilson and 

 introduced into Great Britain. 



I owe the possession of many of these to the 

 kindness of Professor Sargent of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, who sent me the seeds, and others I 

 have obtained by exchange with Messrs. Veitch 

 and other collectors. There is probably to be 

 seen here as complete a collection of these 

 novelties as anywhere in the world, but it would 

 weary your readers and overload your magazine 

 if I were to mention half of them. Mr. Wilson 

 told me that he had taken pains to collect his 

 plants from the highest altitudes possible, and 

 consequently nearly all of them have proved 

 hardy here. One can be quite sure that if they 

 contend successfully against the cold clay sub- 

 soil and late spring and early autumn frosts of 

 this part of Hertfordshire, they will flourish in 

 the milder climate of Ireland. 



Actinidia chinensis is a fast-growing creeper, 

 with short hairs closely set on the stem, giving 

 it the look of a caterpillar ; the young shoots are 

 of a soft pleasing red. The Chinese are said to 

 prize the gooseberry-like fruits very highly, but 

 it is yet to be proved whether it will ever bear 

 them in this country. 



Alnus cremastogyne and A. lanata are two new 

 strong-growing Alders which would make a 

 pleasant addition to the garden of anyone who 

 is fortunate enough to have water running 

 through it. 



There are several new Birches, but the two 

 which, in my judgment, are most to be desired 



are Betula No. 900, with a brilliant yellow 

 brown stem, and B. 4299, which is a neat little 

 scrub plant with small ribbed hornbeam-like leaf. 



( 'oris chinensis, as Wilson informs me, is a 

 particularly tine form of Judas tree, but, un- 

 fortunately, it is not hardy with us, and has 

 been killed to the ground both the last winters. 



Coriaria No. 12. — This grows more freely than 

 any of the three Coriarias hitherto in cultivation ; 

 it makes branches 6 to 8 feet long, and has red 

 flowers on the last season's growth. 



Cornus paucinervis is an attractive Dogwood, 

 with small leaves and bright white flowers, for 

 which I was fortunate enough to secure an award 

 of merit when I exhibited a plant at the R. H. S. 

 in Vincent Square a year or two ago. The other 

 new Cornus, of which I have three or four, have 

 not yet shown any extraordinary merit. 



Cor yJ ops is Veifchii is a good subject, flowers 

 very freely, and in longer racemes than the old 



C. spicata. 



Deutzia longijolia bears pink flowers in June, 

 but D. Veitchii is superior, with deep pink 

 blooms. D. Schneideriana laxiflora bears white 

 flowers about a month earlier in the year. 



D. Wilsonii is one of the best, with large pure 

 white flowers. 



Dipelta fioribunda is a fast growing deciduous 

 shrub, closely allied, I believe, to the Loniceras, 

 hut with more external resemblance to a Weigela 

 the flowers are of fair size, bell-shaped, and pink 

 and white in colour ; they appear about mid- 

 summer, but so far have not been very freely 

 produced. 



Elscholtziu Stauntoni grows, as I understand, 

 on the great wall of China, It is a weedy- 



