IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XI 



No. 12^ 



Editor— J. W. Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 





Notes on Trees and Shrubs at Aldenham^ 



By the Hok. V. Gibbs. 



It may interest the readers of Irish Gardening 

 to hear about a few of the fiowering trees which 

 are making the bravest show, in early June, in 

 the Aldenbam Gar- 

 den ii\ this sad year 

 of grace 1916, when 



■■ Nations against 



nations rise, 

 And ardent warriors 



meet with hateful 



eyes." 



First, I would tell 

 of Crataego-mespilus 

 Jules d'Asnieres, 

 which for the last ten 

 days has been, and 

 still is, so covered 

 with vivid white 

 blossom that no foli- 

 age can be seen. It is, 

 I think, more showy 

 than any pure Cra- 

 taegus, and certainly 

 li o 1 d s its fl o w e r 

 longer. 



It is a more beauti- 

 ful tree than that 

 other graft hybrid 

 between thorn and 

 medlar, Cratsego- 

 mespilis Dardari, 

 which, as many 

 readers will know, 

 sprang originally 



from the same tree 

 hi a French nursery 



garden. Graft hybrids are so rare a thing in 

 tliecaseof trees that. l)esides these two, I know of 

 no other except Laburnum Adami,and when this 

 last reverts to both its parents and shows, as can 

 be seen in this garden, not only the pink hybrid 



Crat^go-mespilus Asxieriesii at Ai 

 House, Elstree. 



blooms, but also the yellow flowers of one 

 parent and the purple of the other, the interest 

 is increased. Though this phenomenon is not 

 unusual in the case 

 of the Laburnum, 

 yet I believe I am 

 right in saying that 

 my plant of C.-m. 

 Dardari is the only 

 one which has 

 hitherto been knoMi^i 

 to revert to both 

 parents. The plant 

 at Kew has some 

 branches of pure 

 medlar, but mine 

 has also a branch 

 of pure thorn, and 

 when all three^ — ■ 

 namely, the hybrid, 

 the thorn, and the 

 m e d 1 a r — a re in 

 flower together the 

 effect is curious, 

 and the botanical 

 interest considerable. 

 A fine specimen 

 of tlic Laburnum, 

 wliicli nurserymen 

 call L. ANchingeri, 

 is now loaded with 

 its long yellow 

 pa-nicles. The plant 

 which riglitly bears 

 that name is a quite 

 distinct species, 

 Avhich has little or no 

 ornamental vahic ; but there has always 

 been a doubt wliether this showy tree 

 was merely an exceptionally fine form 

 of L. ali)inum or a hybrid between that 

 and L. vulgare. At the request of Dr. 



