IRISH GARDENING. 



71 



white, with a splash of purple at the base of the 

 cup ; it is not only unlike anything else in the 

 rock garden, it is almost mthout a rival in its 

 loveliness. 



Yet it is hardly an alpine, as it comes from 

 the Falkland Islands — a bleak inclement country 

 with a rainfall greater than the average for this 

 country, and a winter temperature from 20° to 

 r)0° and a summer one of 40° to 65°. 



This tells us at once that Oxalis enneai^hvlla 

 will not be at home in 

 a sun-baked position. 

 Yet it is most sensitive 

 to the sun"s influence ; 

 it shuts up at sundown, 

 and is shy aboiit open- 

 ing on grey sunlers days. 



A cool position, shad- 

 ed from the sun durnig 

 the middle of the day 

 in well-drained ston\- 

 soil, should suit it. 



It flourishes and in- 

 creases well here on an 

 open ledge where it get s 

 the morning sun, but 

 is partially shaded b}^ 

 rocks for the greater 

 part of the day, in soil 

 containing plenty of 

 crushed granite and 

 small stones. It can be 

 propagated without 

 much difiticulty, just as 

 it comes into growth in 

 the spring. 



Saxifragi Aizoon Rex 

 is one of Mr. Reginald 

 Farrar's discoveries, 

 and he tells the story of 

 how he found it in his 

 book ''In a Yorkshire 

 Garden." 



It is still a somewhat 

 rare plant, and one off- 

 set seems to take two or 

 three years to reach the 



flowering stage. Distinguished in many ways 

 from any other Aizoon, it is the best of that 

 numerous and varied family. A flowering 

 rosette is from one to one and a half inches 

 across, and its dark green leaves are finely 

 toothed and heavily encrusted. When about 

 to throw up a flower spike the centre puts on a 

 deep crimson colour, a peculiarity which marks 

 it off from the rest of its family. 



The flowers, borne upon a dark crimson stem, 

 are relatively large in size, finely shaped with 

 overlapping petals, and the colour is a good 

 solid white, with a few tiny pink dots. 



It is a vigorous doer, gives no trouble 

 increases rax^idly. 



Saxifraga Aizoon 



and 



Lysichitum camtschatcense. 



When better known this showy hardy bog 

 plant will be met with much more frequently 

 than it is to-day, as it richly deserves to be, for 

 an established colony must be a pleasing sight 

 when in bloom, during the month of April, with 

 its bold rich yellow arum-like flowers. 



A small colony planted beside the pond at 

 Fo+a , the residence of Lord and Lady Barrymore, 

 seems to be establishing 

 itself in a satisfactory 

 manner, and this year 

 three strong plants 

 flowered this season, 

 and it is hoped that 

 seedlings raised from 

 the solitary bloom last 

 year will further supple- 

 ment it in time to come. 

 Reference was made 

 to this plant in the 

 Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Journal, Vol. 

 XLL, Part I., on page 

 25, and the writer on 

 Trees and Shrubs of the 

 Pacific Coast says : — 



" I cannot leave the 

 north - west without 

 mentioning that locally 

 much - despised Arum 

 Lysichitum Cam- 

 tschatcense which fills 

 the marshes in the 

 valleys in April with its 

 immense yellow flower, 

 and later with its leaves 

 often 3 feet long by 

 a foot across. Skunk 

 Cabbage is the term of 

 opprobium given to it 

 in the west. Its large 

 succtilent roots go deep 

 into the bogs, and one 

 would require trenching 

 tools to get them out. 

 The fine clump growing against the norlh side 

 of the large Temperate House at Kew shows 

 how well it likes our climate." 



Mr. Irving also told me that there the plant 

 naturally reproduces itself from seed. 



E. B., QUEENSTOWN. 



Broccoli —Mackay's Early White. 



During April we have been cutting very fine 

 " heads " of this variety. The majority of the 

 " heads " were of good size, but not coarse, and 

 of a pure snow white. The quality is excellent, 

 and probably the crop would have been earlier 

 had mild weather set in sooner, — Gardener- 



[J. Hiirper Scaife. 



Rex. 



