IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XI 

 No. 127 



Editor— J- W. Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



SEPTEMBER 

 1916 



Notes on Shrubs at Rostrevor House, 



There are a few shrubs in Hower a.t present in 

 the grounds of Rostrevor House, and it may be 

 of interest to some readers of Irish Gardening 

 to know that they are growing out of doors and 

 seem to be hardy ; many of them have not even 

 got the protection which a Mall affords, but all. 

 of course, are 

 placed in shelt- 

 ered i^ositions. 

 During the past 

 few years man\' 

 plants supposed 

 to be tender ha^■e 

 been tried in 

 the open in fa- 

 voured districts, 

 and generally 

 speaking the 

 results have not 

 been unsatisfac- 

 tory, thou g h 

 many sad d i s- 

 appointments 

 too often occur. 

 It is to be hoped 

 that these ex- 

 ])eriuients will be 

 continued ; and 

 it will ])robab!v 

 be found that 

 many handsome 

 and desirable 



shrubs are har- 

 dier than has 

 hitherto been 

 thought to be 



the case. The list now given is by nc* means 

 complete of the half-hardy plants growing here, 

 but it may serve to shovv that the attempt to 

 acclimatise them is an interesting and useful 

 occu])ati(.n. 



Prostanthcra lasianthos. a native of 

 Australia, is now some 13 feet high, and is a 

 .sheet of l)lo<)ni. It is a hantlsome evergreen 



plant rt< 



with sweet-smelling leaves, flowers, in closely 

 packed clusters, white, each the third of an inch 

 across, with purple-marked throat. A branchlet 

 is sent herewith ; it was got in 1907 from Messrs. 

 Gauntlett, and was at first planted against a south 

 wall, but it grew so vigorously that it was soon 



transplanted to a 

 ))lace under the 

 shelter of some 

 I ar ge laurels, 

 most of which 

 have now been 

 cut away, and 

 those that re- 

 main serve to 

 screen it from 

 c o 1 .1 w i n d s. 

 Xear by there 

 are some Acacias 

 o f which A. 

 calamifolia seems 

 to be always in 

 bloom ; a bran- 

 chlet herewith. 

 Senecio Hectori 

 is some 7 feet 

 high, with a 

 spread of nearly 

 !) feet, and has 

 Howered here for 

 the first time this 

 year : the large 

 I) u n c h c s of 

 daisies which it 

 produces, each 

 bloom about an 

 inch wide, contrast well with the broad light green 

 foliage, and give the plant a very pleasing 

 a])pcarance ; the leaves are also somewhat un- 

 common, being provitled at the base of each 

 with many leaflets that add to the peculiarity 

 of the species : branc-hlets herewith. Belonging 

 to the same natural order, there are many 

 Olearias in bloom, and none are more beautiful 



Hi;OTOi:i 

 a at Rostrevor Hou.sc. 



