IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XIV 



No. 163 



Editor-J. W. Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



SEPTEMBER 

 1919 



Foliage Plants* 



Bv ►^iR John E<^ss of Bladexsburg. 



]\IONCt the many and varied charms 

 which well-grown and healthy 

 plants display, a handsome 

 leafage is by no means the least 

 attractive feature they possess. 

 If we want to adom our grounds 

 with the best specimens we can find, we natur- 

 ally search first for those that produce the most 

 desirable flower ; for when they assume their 

 full holiday attire, our woods and shrubberies 

 are then clothed in all the magnificence with 

 which nature so lavishly endows them. Next, 

 we may also select other specimens, perhaps on 

 account of their conspicuous fruit or berry, 

 exhibiting, as it were, another and a later holi- 

 day array, during which some of them even sur- 

 pass the glories of their blooming period. Again, 

 we often include others in our collections, 

 because they turn to a brilliant autumnal tint 

 and add colour to the landscape, forming a sort 

 of farewell gift of the dying year, and something 

 to remember when the sleep of winter lays our 

 gardens to rest. All these fine and striking 

 characteristics of the vegetable kingdom, and 

 many more too numerous to be mentioned here. 

 arrest our attention and claim our unbounded 

 admiration. But the most constant and the 

 most durable of them all is that which is created 

 by the foliage ; for from its earliest push in 

 spi-ing, in its adult stage, and until it falls in 

 autumn, there is a rich luxuriance and a solid 

 wealth of beauty to be seen that delight the eye 

 and enhance the loveliness of the scenery. In 

 this respect nature is in its best and happiest 

 mood, displaying ever- varying changes of 

 growth, infinite diversity of leaf, and never- 

 ending shades of the prevailing green colour. 

 The subject has a peculiar interest of its own, 

 and it can never be overlooked. A few notes on 

 it may not, therefore, be unacceptable. But we 

 must first distinguish; for foliage plants, well- 



known in greenhouses, are sometimes taken to 

 be only those growing there, whose title to our 

 regard depends rather on the colour and shape 

 of their leaves than on the splendour of their 

 flower — such, for instance, as some of the 

 species of Caladium. The definition, however, 

 seems to be hardly comprehensive enough. Not 

 only are there many to be found with this 

 quality fit for outdoor culture, but there are also 

 not a few who combine with it a noteworthy 

 bloom, and then their presence is all the more 

 welcome for both these reasons. 



The genus Rhododendron contains a series of 

 numerous species, all resplendent in a gorgeous 

 inflorescence, while the foliage of some is also 

 to be commended. A few examples may be 

 given. Eh. Eoylei is a glaucous plant, con- 

 trasting well with the general tone of colour of 

 its neighbours. Eh. cinnabarinum, of which it 

 is held to be a variety, and Eh. Thomsonii have 

 a somewhat like appearance. In the latter, the 

 leaves are smooth, nearly round, some three 

 inches in diameter, very neat, bluish above, 

 with a glistening, almost white, underside, 

 showing up the blood-red trusses. In Eh. Fal- 

 coneri they are oval in shape, leathery in tex- 

 ture, and often a good deal more than a foot in 

 length, bright green above, with a yellow buff 

 tomentum beneath. In Eh. eximium they are 

 nearly the same, rather rounder and slightly 

 shorter, but with the curious peculiarity that, 

 after flowering in April, the plant does not move 

 till late in July, when it makes its new shoots. 

 These are then covered with a brownish yellow 

 tomentum that remains on both sides of the 

 young leaves and groM^th until December, pro- 

 ducing the illusion of a strange flower during 

 the autumn. Something similar happens in the 

 case of the true Eh. ovatum, where the spring 

 pushes ai'e bright purple. Both Eh. Edge- 

 worthii and Eh. lanatum are provided with a 



