13+ 



IRISH GARDENING 



only iit>ver makes a central stem, lait lias no 

 bianelies which are more than an inch through; it 

 is compact in growth, and a desirable shnih especi- 

 ally in spring and early siunmer for those who do 

 not object to any yellow tone in plant life. 



T. h. ? lidiroiii. — Besides the last-named T luive 

 another golden Yew which has been much longer 

 in c-ultivation, for I know of plants in a tSomerset- 

 shire garden which nuist be about a hundred years 

 old. It is, however, nowadays rarely met with, and 

 is not. 1 think, in trade, having been displaced by 

 the better known type just described, to which it is 

 inferior in brilliancy when the young growth is 

 displayed, though, to my mind, certainly superior 

 in winter. In habit it resembles the type, having 

 either a central stem, oi'. when this has been in- 

 jured or undeveloped, making stout, free-growing 

 lateral branches. As it develops it wants a good 

 deal of room, and is, therefore, far less suited to a 

 shrubbery or a small garden. I feel no certainty 

 as to its correct varietal name, and only suggest 

 " Barroni." because in Bean's account of that 

 plant he describes as having " a rich coppery 

 shade." which perfectly conveys the tone of the 

 subject inider review. 



T. I), eiectd (luiea. — This is a golden form of what 

 is known as the Fulham Yew. It bears, as its name 

 suggests, vertical branches. My plant is bright 

 and striking-looking, but only about o feet high, so 

 it is early days to say nuich about its habit; but 

 compared with the Irish Yew it is very nuicli 

 broader in proportion to its height, and will never, 

 1 think, be so severely fastigiate in growth; the 

 foliage is smaller than the type. 



T. Ii. SfdiKli.sliii. — This seems to be nothing more 

 than a rather specially handsome golden form of 

 Irish Yew. 



T. 1). (itaiulis is another which approaches the 

 Irish in its manner of growth, but my specimen is 

 not big enough to enable me to speak decisively as 

 to its merits. Of course, the number of names given 

 i)y different nurserymen to plants of this genus 

 which vary somewhat from the type in growth, 

 colour, or shape or size of foliage, is almost infinite, 

 and it is neither possible nor even desirable to 

 possess them all. I can illustrate the triith of the 

 last remark by mentioning that the Director of 

 Glasnevin lias kindly furnished me with a list of 

 all the varieties of T. Jxircuta which are grown at 

 Glasnevin — 4o in all. Now, though my own collec- 

 tion is equally extensive, yet there are no less than 

 124 of those watched over ))y Sir Frederick Moore 

 which I do not possess, and 22 which do not appear 

 in the Kew List 1. 



T. h. semper a urea is a decidedly handsome, 

 brilliantly golden form of upright habit, but not so 

 niarrowly fastigiate as the Irish. I got it recently 

 from Mr. Slocock, who has a large and well-grown 

 assortment in his nurseries. 



T. I), nidpatlieii^is is an old variety, more 

 columnar than pyramidal in shape, and stated by 

 Kit'holson (though my plant has not yet shown this 

 feature) to tend, when full-grown, to spread at the 

 top. 



On the other hand, I have three good-sized plants, 

 aljout thirty or more years old. which are markedly 

 pyramidal, with broad base and narrow apex about 

 12 feet high. They have a whitish, or straw- 

 coloured, variegation, and form good lawn speci- 

 mens. They were bought many years ago from 

 Lane of Berkhampstead, and, so far as I know, 

 never had a varietal name, though more deserving 

 of one than many which ar<' so honoured 



T. h.Wd.sJiiiKjt'inii has a gotlden hue and in the case 



of my young plant, is inclined, so far, to a rather 

 upright growth, but described by Bean, who is a 

 much better authority than 1, as low and spreading, 

 with leaves up to U inches long. Most of us are too 

 prone to draw general conclusions from particular 

 instances, and to assume that because a single 

 plant thrives or dies, or grows high or low. that all 

 others of tlie name can be counted on to behave in 

 the same way. 



T. b. epacroides. — This is well named, as its 

 lightish green very small foliage, does recall an 

 epacris. It is an attractive dwarf with a disposition 

 to spread. A somewhat similar dwarf form, T. b. 

 eiicoitli's. is noticed l)y Nicholson and Bean, but 

 this I do not possess. 



T. 1). ndiui. — I cannot better Nicholson's descrip- 

 tion of my plant as a " dwarf, dense, conical 

 bush," with darker and glossier foliage than the 

 type. It shows, so far, no trace of the " spreading 

 habit " recorded by Bean in " Trees and Shrubs 

 Hardy in the British Isles." 



T. 6. grncilis peiidula. — This is a very graceful, 

 weeping Yew with slender stem and horizontal 

 pendulous branches. Bean calls it " of the Dovas- 

 toni type." I have several fine specimens of weep- 

 ing Yew grafted high up on a fasfujidtd stock, some 

 green and some golden. Whether they slioidd be 

 called J>urd.sfoni or (jiacHis peudiila, or simply peii- 

 didd, 1 do not know, nor does it greatly matter. 

 Several of them originally had the branches of the 

 Irish type on the stem, with the weeping boughs 

 above, but in this condition they did not please 

 me, looking, as they did, very unnatural and mere 

 " freak " plants. In every case I have now had all 

 the fastigiate branches removed from the stem, 

 greatly, as I think, to the advantage of their ap- 

 pearance : one of them particularly, on a tall, clean 

 stem, with very long and only slightly pendulous 

 horizontal boughs, which grows above a jutting 

 rock overhanging a little stream, is most happily 

 placed. 1 remember seeing a plant of T. b. iJoni- 

 sfoni at poles in this county (Herts), which was 

 quite low. nowhere more than 5 feet, but, planted 

 on a lawn with a circumference of 40 feet, it had 

 a most luxurious and attractive exj^erience. 



My own plants, both of Dura stun i. and of its 

 variety T. J). J), duiea, are good-looking standard 

 trees. The latter is presumably the same, or nearly 

 the same, as the one labelled in the Glasnevin 

 Gardens '/'. b. ]>. vdiiegdfd. 



T. b. huiizuiitdlis has the branches horizontal 

 and standing out flat from the triuiks. but the 

 branchlets do not weep as in the case of Dovastoni 

 and gracilis pendula. I do not possess this form, 

 but I have a variety of it in which the young growth 

 is golden, which is known as T. b. h. eleydiifissimd, 

 in the gospel according to Bean, but came to me 

 from some nurseryman, labelled T. b. h. diiied. 1 

 have another small compact fastigiate golden Yew, 

 labelled T. b. eleudntissirnd, but as that varietal 

 name has already ):)een applied to a horizontal 

 form it seems a great pity to use it also for a fas- 

 tigiate one. As I have often remarked elsewhere, 

 it is devoutly to be wished that nurserymen, 

 before giving names of their own to sports and 

 variations from type, which occur in their gardens, 

 would sul)mit the suggested nomenclature to Kew 

 or some other good authority, that they might 

 know if there is any objection to it on literary or 

 botanic grounds. If that happy consummation 

 could be reached we nught avoid any increase both 

 in the duplication of names and in the ghastly 

 grammatical blunders which disfigure works on 

 botany. 

 T. b. udpressa. — For a long while I imagined that 



