146 



IRISH GARDENING 



PitoPAtiATioN OF Hyacinths by hollowing out thk 



BASE of the bulb. 



Notes from my Rock Gorden, 



By Amaranthe. 



Ajioxg the most interesting O'bjects in the 

 rock garden during the autumn weeks are the 

 h llowing : — 



Silcne Schuffa makes a bright, rosy patch; 

 its prettily shaped blossoms come in wilii tiie 

 early Cyclamens and after most of the Cai^h- 

 flys^ire over. This particular one does luxuri- 

 antly if divided every two or three years, and a 

 coloiiy of these little plants is quite indis- 

 pensable. 



Next comes a grou}) of Campanula Miss 

 Willmott, accompanied by a large plant of 

 (Enothera Missouriensis. The little fairy-like, 

 silvery blue of the Campanula popping up all 

 over the place looks particularly well with the 

 yellow (Enothera, which is of a very beautiful 

 shade of clear j)ale yelloM', something of the 

 old-fashioned maize tint; as the stems wander 

 al)out a, good deal the lovely large blossoms 

 have to be sought out very often from behind 

 stones. 



Then the Campanulas have behaved very 

 satisfactorily. 



C. HayJochjciisia is, of course, only due now. 

 It is one of those choice plants always 

 welcome and very easily gro^n, any small 

 piece rooting quickly. Shigs have no " pen- 

 chant " for it, and sfi its beautifully-formed, 

 pale lilac waxen blooms come to please the eye 

 autumn after autvmin. 



I see C. a. F. Wihuii an.l (\ IT. H. Value 

 are blooming afresh as vigorously as they did a 

 month ago — C. garganlca hirsnta •aI'ao after a 

 very short' respite — while a plant tliat bloemed 

 here for the first time last June is now covered 

 with buds. I refer to OxaJin EnncaplniUa, its 

 exquisite white blossoms reminding one of a 



small Convolvulus, without that ])lant's draw- 

 backs, so making it one of the best of rock 

 plants. It seems t(j be quite as easily grown 

 from the rapidly increasing tubers as is any of 

 the less rare varieties of Oxalis. 



Another pretty white flower again in l)loom 

 is EroiVnnn Arnaninn and it makes a nice 

 contrast to the pink ol' /'-'. Cursicitiii , still 

 covered with bloom. 



Cyclamens and Autumn Croci are just now 

 beginning, and these, with neatly kept ])atches 

 of silvery Artemisia.s, Thymus, and variegated 

 plants, help to' keep up a very respectable 

 appearance in the rock garden. They are 

 lovely, some of these latter, especially Thyhiun 

 languiitosus, in early morning when spangled 

 with dew. 



There is a good deal of work to be done 

 now, such as attending to the choicer Alpines, 

 so that they may bloom well in spring. 

 Raniondia Nathalice requii'es covering with 

 glass; also Soldanellas and such like. The 

 beautiful Draba PefrucaUis requires old lime 

 and sand\' stuff round the roots, as do also the 

 encrusted Saxifrages. 



Experience tells one just the odds and ends 

 of work to be done. 



Taxacae at Aldenham. 



By The Hon. Vicary Gibbs. 

 {('oiifiiiued fiurn pane 1.j5.) 



T. hirrifiiHii . — Californian Yew, whose lial)itat is 

 the whole range of Western North America, is 

 said to be very rare in British cultivation, and I 

 can only hope that my plant is true to name. Some 

 suspicion has been tin-own on it l)y the Kcw ex- 

 perts, who thought it might be a form of T. 

 haccata, but it is entirely unlike any form of it that 

 I have ever seen, and I see from Mr. Bean's l)ook 

 that the name is often given to forms of our Yew, 

 whereas my plant more nearly resembles the 

 Chinese species; but the truth is that all Yews are 

 very close together, and I should never l)e sur- 

 prised to liear that the botanists had decided to 

 treat them all as geograi)hical variants of a single 

 species. On looking up my books 1 find that my 

 specimen was given me by my generous friend. 

 Professor Sargent, of the Arnold Arboretum, so, 

 with all respect to the wise men of Kew, I feel that 

 there can be no doubt about its ))eing true to name, 

 and all the less when one realises that our Yew will 

 not survive the winter's cold in Massachusetts, 

 whence this i)lant came. 



T. camnlensix is said never to make a tree and to 

 be otherwise distinguishable from our Yew V)y the 

 shape of its leaf ])uds and its more abru))tly pointed 

 leaves, but to my thinking it is iinich more like 

 T. hdcciifd than T. h. (idpre^mt or tiuui several other 

 recognised variants of the English plant. I have 

 not got the Canadian type, which, indeed, has 

 nothing to reconuneiid it from an ornamental 

 standpoint, but I have a variety, T. r. varic(jut<i, 

 of which the name should serve as sufficient 

 description. 



T. cuspiiJafit. — The Japanese Yew was originally 

 introduced by Fortune about the middle of last 

 century, but plants of that age are very rare in this 



