IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XIII 



No. 154 



Editor-J. W. Besant 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



DECEMBER 

 1918 



The Garden in November, 



sew ve^ 



eOTANfCAl 



To the ordinary individual not particularlj- in- 

 terested in plants or gardens, and ^vho is only 

 attracted by some very vivid piece of colour or 

 some enormous fruit or vegetable, November 

 nuist seem a dull month in the garden. The 

 days are short, the sky frequently overcast, 

 many trees and shrubs leafless and bare-look- 

 ing, and flower beds apparently empty, and 

 sometimes actually so as fai as plants are con- 

 cerned. 



Nevertheless, if the garden be an " all- 

 round " one, there may be quite a lot of 

 pleasure and instruction to be derived from it. 

 Trees need not cease to be beautiful and inter- 

 esting because they are leafless; the buds and 

 branches are often more ?-eadily studied in 

 winter than in summer, and a well-trained tree, 

 when viewed against the sky-line, is an object 

 of much beauty; so also with shrubs — they are 

 inexhaustible in their variation, even if we only 

 think of those that lose their leaves in winter. 

 In habit there is a great ^ariation from those 

 which continue to increase the size and spread 

 of the original shoots by continual branching 

 to those which produce new shoots from the 

 root every year. Then some are always bushes, 

 while others are climbers and others ramblers — 

 that is to say, they will spread over supports of 

 various kinds without actually attaching them- 

 selves, thereto. The colour of the shoots or 

 branches also varies enormously, light grey in 

 Philadelphuses and some Deutzias, white and 

 dark reddish maroon in Rubuses, dark red to 

 brilliant red and yellow in Cornus, brown in 

 others, while the white stems of the " paper " 

 Birches are beautiful all winter. 



Sometimes gardens have been planted to ex- 

 cess with evergreens, yet in winter they are 

 beautiful, and a fair proportion judiciously 

 placed gives a warm and furnished appearance 

 in addition to the intrinsic interest of the 

 various kinds. In large places Conifers are fre- 



quent except, perhaps, close to smoky towns, 

 and in winter they are in their greatest beauty. 

 Tines, Spruces, Silver Firs, Cypresses, Juni- 

 pers, Arbor Vitaes, Yews, and others are a con- 

 tinual source of interest all winter. Many ever- 

 green shrubs, too, are quite as pleasing in their 

 winter dress. Healthy Rhododendrons bristling 

 with flower buds are full of interest, many of 

 them with large, handsome leaves, as, for in- 

 stance, Rh. Falconei, a gem for the warmer 

 counties; but others are hardly less attractive, 

 as Rh. decorum, R. Fortunei, and many others 

 often noted in this Journal. The hardier 

 Rhododendrons stand smoke well, and some 

 flne collections of hybrids are grown in the 

 vicinity of large cities. The mere mention of 

 Aucuba will make some people shudder simply 

 because the variegated form has been planted 

 to excess ; yet there are green varieties of great 

 beauty, some with small, narrow leaves, and 

 others with large, handsome foliage, almost 

 rivalling the " Cherry Laurel." In addition to 

 the leaves there is often a crop of red berries 

 to add to the beauty of the shrubs. Other ever- 

 greens often bright with berries are the Skim- 

 mias, neat growing shrubs, which might be 

 seen oftener, especially in gardens of moderate 

 size. A handsome evergreen is Daphniphyllum 

 macropodum, with large, handsome leaves re- 

 sembling those of some Rhododendron. Some 

 of the Daphnes, too, are cheerful plants in 

 winter — viz., the evergreen D. pontica, and 

 also D. laureola, while the leafless D. Mezer- 

 cum is already showing prominent flower buds. 

 The objection to variegated shrubs cannot 

 surely be extended to Rhamnus alaternus varie- 

 gatus, than which there is no more beautiful 

 object in the garden at present. The shoots are 

 well furnished with medium-sized leaves, each 

 margined with creamy white, the whole effect 

 being a fine silvery tone. For long we failed to 

 grow it satisfactorily until we hit on a shrub- 



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