IRISH GARDENING. 



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upriglit rather fastigiate shrub, with soft green 

 foliage, white. It is held to be a variety of E. 

 arborea, but in appearance it seems to differ a 

 good deal from the type, M'hile it blooms in 

 May, whereas E. arborea, like E. australis, &c., 

 oi)ens earlier in the year. 



There are many plants of much merit in- 

 cluded in the ^lagnolia Order, among which 

 Drimys Winteri and Illicium fioridanum may be 

 noticed. The former has long leaves somewhat 

 like a Ehododendron, with a pungent taste, and 

 large clusters of creamy white flowers; the 

 effect on a shrub 30 feet high is very fine. The 

 latter is smaller, foliage pale green and solitary 

 blossoms nodding, two inches in diameter, 

 maroon-purple, of an unusual shape and shade. 

 M'lgnolia Watsoni and M. parviflora are both to 

 be commended ; they are rather similar in ap- 

 pearance and at one time were thought to be 

 the same, but they differ in various ways, and 

 are now recognized as distinct species. The 

 flower is strikingly beautiful, pure white with 

 a conspicuous wreath formed of bright crimson 

 stamens round the centre. Some of the petals 

 of 'SI. Watsoni are tinged with rose, and the 

 cup-like bloom is somewhat larger than that of 

 M. parviflora. M. hypoleuca from Japan grows 

 into a large tree up to 100 feet in height. It 



wj'.s introduced in 1884: ; and has been here for 

 some Wenty years, now between 20 and 25 feet 

 high. But it has not yet produced any bloom. 

 There is, however, a fine specimen at Narrow 

 Water, which I saw the other day, and which, 

 not much older than my plant, was in good 

 flower, creamy white, very large and strongly 

 scented. It seems to be quite hardy, and it is 

 to be hoped that in course of years it may be a 

 feature in our woods. Nor should M. macro- 

 pliylla be forgotten — even though it has not 

 flowered here, and I do not know whether it has 

 done so In any part of the British Isles — if only 

 because its foliage is most remarkable and 

 unlike any other tree that lives out of doors. 

 ITie leaves are from 2 to 3 feet in length and up 

 to one foot broad; it seems hardy here. 



Berberis stenophylla is a well known hybrid 

 between B. Darwinii and B. empetrifolia. \ 

 self-sown seedling grew here unexpectedly, and 

 as it selected a suitable place for itself, it was 

 allowed to remain. It is now 12 feet high and 

 more through, and in May it produces arching 

 wreaths of small double blossoms that smother 

 the whole plant in a bright orange colour. The 

 fairly common Abutilon vitifolium, a delicate 

 mauve, and its v.-hite variety, cannot also be 

 too highly commended, when they become 



Rosa moschata flopjbunda. 



