IRISH GARDENING. 



.^9 



The Herbaceous Border. 



By FRANK HUDSON. 



MARCH is by far the best month to plant 

 or divide herbaceous plants, as the 

 roots are then beginning to get active ; 

 therefore, after being placed in their fresh 

 quarters, they will get quickly established. In 

 dividing herbaceous plants always retain the 

 outside portions, as they are the youngest 

 parts, and make the finest plants. 



By dividing phlox, delphiniums, Michaelmas 

 daisies, and most herbaceous varieties, you 

 greatly improve their vigour, while the stems and 

 individual blooms are increased in strength and 

 size. The best time to select tor this work is 



planting select the tallest plants, and place them 

 in the back row ; never put plants of the same 

 height close together. Start with a plant of say 

 five feet in height, then place a plant six inches 

 shorter next to it, and plant the full row or line 

 in this method at intervals ; plant good, bold 

 specimens such as delphiniums ; the next line 

 should be planted with shorter stemmed plants. 

 Continue in this way until you come to the 

 front row, which should be intermixed with 

 alpine plants and otliers having a dwarf habit. 



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A Garden at Lissadell. 



The accompanying- photograph represents a view in 

 the flower garden at Lissadell, the Sligo seat of Sir J. 



A Corner in a Garden at Lissadell. 



when the young shoots have pushed through 

 the soil to a height of about two inches. Any 

 misplaced plants in the border should now be 

 lifted and placed in more suitable positions. 

 March is the best month to order plants for the 

 border. We have now several nurserymen 

 devoting particular attention to these most 

 popular of all plants. The intending purchaser 

 should write for catalogues, which, as a rule, 

 give a lot of information as to height, colour, 

 month in flower, &c. Such a catalogue will 

 be a good guide to go by when planting. In 

 many cases plants may grow taller or shorter 

 than the catalogues state, as the nature of the 

 soil has, of course, considerable influence upon 

 growth. Plants that differ in either way from 

 the average can be marked, and lifted the 

 following season. No matter how careful the 

 planter is there will have to be some alterations 

 made the following season as a rule. When 



Gore-Booth, Bart. This garden, which covers some- 

 thing more than two acres, is situated quite close to the 

 sea, and is therefore very free from frost. The part 

 shown in the picture was laid out in the winter of 1905-6. 

 It is planted with many rare hardy plants, and contains 

 groups of Meconopsis canibrica, fl. pi., Astilbe dnvidii, 

 Roinneva coulteri, Buddleia variabilis Veilchii, Magnolia 

 Lennii, Reluiiannia angidata, &c., with single plants of 

 Winchurian roses between the beds. The retaining 

 wall is planted with such fine aipines as Campanula 

 elatines, C. garganica, C. garganica hirsuta and Alba, 

 aubretias in great variety, Erinus alpinics, Alyssion 

 saxafile in variety, &c. 



A rockery was made at the far end last year for the 

 cultivation of choicer Alpines, and in it are found growing: 

 luxuriously Androsace lanuginosa, A. carnea, A. sarmin- 

 fosa, A. cofonopifolia, a good collection of campanulas, 

 saxifragas, Meconopsis ivallichii, M. integrifolia, &c. 



In the Estate Magazine for January last, Mr. F. H. 

 Purchas has an interesting article entitled " Some 

 Interesting Irish Experiments on Sir Josslyn Gore- 

 Booth's Lissadell Estate," in which (among other 

 matters) the story is told of the origin and development 

 of the bulb-growing industry established at this pic- 

 turesque western corner of Ireland, 



