36 



IRISH GARDENING 



foliage also may be easily recognised wlu'ii the 

 plant is out of bloom. No Saxifrage is more 

 lovely than this one. A new white calltMl 

 " Purity " is also very beautiful. 



The Oppositifolia Sa.xifrages are coming into 

 bloom. These neat-growing plants should be 

 more widely grown. In a few weeks time ;dl 

 the Saxifrages can be propagated by division, 

 very easily and with a certainty of coming 

 true. Plant in the soil which suits them s(j 

 well : good loam mixed slig'htly with fine sand. 

 A very sound plan is to place a couple of suit- 

 able stones on top of or round the plant or 

 cutting; heavy rains loosen the soil and a 

 strong wind may sweep the plant away — 

 certainly retard its rooting well — then when 

 the dry weather comes the cutting or off-shoot 

 will benefit greatly. 



Saxifrages come easily from seed, but there 

 is always the uncertainty of their not coming 

 true, as is the case with many other pl.uits, 

 such as Violas and Dianthi. D. graniticus 

 only may be relied upon to come absolutely 

 true. Seeds should be gathered in dry weather 

 and, of course, if ripe, md sown as soon after 

 )'ipening as possible. Incarvilea Delavayi is 

 one of the good things easily increased by seed 

 sown in the open ; it will not flower for several 

 seasons after, unfortunately. The Jj^thionemas 

 and Cheiranthi may be relied upon to produce 

 fine crops in the open from well saved seed. 

 Seeds of some of the choicer plants are better 

 wintered in a cold frame. 



To return to the present early bloom. There 

 are stray blossoms now on the Aubretias, 

 ])atches of colour from tlie masses of Hepatica 

 buds; there are buds almost open on the Violas 

 that have produced a few blooms all winter, 

 and a regular " drift " of yellow aconite, and 

 •i<weral white, pink and deeper shades ot Erica 

 carnea in full bloom. Heaths are a great 

 stand-by in the rock garden and may. be in- 

 creased by taking off a small piece with some 

 of the fibrous root with it. Plant in peat 

 mould for preference, or leaf mould ; pack 

 tightly into the ground with stones, and keep 

 moist just at first. There are so many varie- 

 ties of Heaths and Heathers that some of these 

 lovely plants may be had in bloom almost 

 throughout the year. 



A very choice plant now in bloom that has 

 got into the rock garden in some way or other 

 is Priniula elatior coervJca, the lovely old sky- 

 blue Polyanthus with silver lacing ; as it looks 

 quite happy there is no reason why it shoidd 

 be disturbed, and it proves that the soil must 

 be good in that particular part, otherwise it 

 would not blossom as it is doing. 



There are many blooms on Frlunila .Julia', 



rather miseral)le looking blooms, Ijut in the 

 shelter of a large stone almost hidden from 

 view there are several splendid blooms. This 

 Primula makes a good early spring show, is 

 easily propagated, lil<es good soil and sunshine 

 and protection from the north-wind. 



Primula cdxlnneriaua and denticiilata are 

 not so advanced, but many heads of bloom are 

 showing in all their various shades of lilac, 

 French grey and white. These seed them- 

 selves and do well an\'where that is not un- 

 usually dry. In heavy, rich soil they increase 

 at a great rate. Amaranthe. 



Tree Pceonies. 



The cultivated varieties of Pceonia Moutan, the 

 so-called Tree Pi3eonia, are among the most 

 gorgeous of spring-flowering shrubs. During 

 summer their handsome leaves are of consider- 

 able beauty, being large and much divided ; in 

 spring, too, as the leaves are developing they 

 are most attractive, s'howing various beautifid 

 tints before finally becoming green. The cul- 

 tivation of Tree Pseonias is by no means diffi- 

 cult, their only fault being a tendency to 

 begin growth too early, thus becoming liable 

 to injury from spring frosts ; but for this they 

 are perfectly hardy, and the farther north, or 

 the colder the locality in which they are grow- 

 ing, the less liable are they to such injury. The 

 obvious remedy is to choose a position not ex- 

 posed to the morning sun, and so retard growth 

 as long as possible. 



Piegarding soil, they are not fastidious, but 

 being gross feeders, as may be gathered from 

 their ample leaves and large flowers, they un- 

 doubtedly prefer a strong retentive medium, 

 and when established will respond readily to 

 an annual mulch of thoroughly decayed 

 manure, supplemented during summer by an 

 occasional soaking of weak liquid manure. 

 Probably the best time 'to plant specimens 

 from open ground is September or early 

 October, but a common and quite successfid 

 ])ractice is to put out young plants from pots 

 in spring, when danger of severe frost is past — 

 say in April or later, according to locality. 

 Bearing in mind the question of aspect, Tree 

 Pteonias may be planted as isolated specimens 

 on lawns, where, when they have developed 

 into large bushes, bearing a wealth of immense 

 double flowers, they are very effective ; they 

 may also be growxi in borders, where a good 

 selection of varieties will make a glorious 

 spring display, and to supplement this later 

 in the season, clumps of Gladioli or Galtonia 

 Candicans may be planted between the 



