IRISH GARDENING 



11.5 



and very fi'eely, in May; it is now about six 

 feet high ; the leaves here and there are some- 

 what browned by the harshness of our Irish 

 spring weather. 



Isopogon latifoHus, also from Australia, and 

 belonging to the same natural order, is a small 

 evergreen shrub, wdth dark green rather 

 leatheiy leaves some two inches long by one 

 inch broad. The flower, springing from the 

 end of a shoot, is very wonderful, and some- 

 what difficult to describe. It is about two 

 inches wide, and the very many florets it con- 

 tains are purple in colour. It is then not un- 

 like a small cultivated Chrysanthemum, such 



me to try out of doors — -with the result I have 

 just mentioned. 



Beshcorneria yuccoides is from Mexico, be- 

 longs to the Amaryllis order, and is allied to 

 the genera Fourcraea and Agave. The grey- 

 green leaves, three feet long by three to four 

 inches broad, and streaked irregularly with 

 a whitish graining or kind of tomentum, are 

 somewhat similar to those of an Agave, though 

 they differ in being neither thick nor fleshy, 

 and they nowhere are anxied with spines or 

 thorns. The flower spike grow twelve feet or 

 more in length, and bends over in a curve by 

 its own weight, about seven inches in girth at 



Eeshcokxeri.\ yuccoides 

 lu the Gardens at Rostrevor House. 



as one sees under glass in the autumn ; but 

 the illusion is soon dispelled when the end of 

 each of the petal-like florets curls slightly 

 back and throws out a conspicuous and bright 

 yellow anther ; the bloom when developed has 

 thus a most remarkable appearance, unlike 

 anj- other I have seen. I put one of these rare 

 plants outside in a very sheltered place in the 

 spring of 1915, and it survived absolutely un- 

 injured the following winter. But, unfortu- 

 nately, the cold season of 1916-17 proved too 

 much for it, and it was killed. I had another, 

 however, which, kept in a pot, has been housed 

 in a cold frame dui-ing the winter months, and 

 it flowered for the first time this year towards 

 the end of May. 



I owe both these species to the kindness of 

 Professor Bavlev Balfour, who sent them to 



the base, and tapering to quite small dimensions 

 at the end ; it throws out many branchlets more 

 than two feet long, and is everywhere provided 

 at all the joints with conspicuous bi'acts of 

 varying sizes. The spike itself, the branchlets, 

 and the bracts are all of a vivid pink tint, more 

 accentuated and deeper in shade in the branch- 

 lets ; and the flowers that hang down from 

 them, as well as from the end of the spike, 

 sometimes in clusters, are dull red at the base 

 and green at the tip, each from one to two 

 inches long. It is, perhaps, a moi-e curious 

 than an actually beautiful inflorescence. The 

 plant flowered here in June for the first time ; 

 it does not seem to object to a little frost, but 

 it is sensitive to the dampness of our climate, 

 and something to screen it fx'om excessive rain 

 seems to be desirable. I have seen it in good 



