IRISH GARDENING. 



117 



Royal Horticultural Society of 

 Ireland. 



AT the council meetinjjf) July 9th, held at the society's 

 offices, 5 Molesworth Street. Dublin, twenty-four 

 species and varieties of hardy flowers were, by 

 the courtesy of Mr. T. Smith, of Newry, arrang-ed for 

 inspection. That which, perhaps, attracted most atten- 

 tion, were sprays of the singfularly beautiful Andromeda 

 speciosa (see illustration), with large, clear, waxy-white 

 bells. This is a delightful evergreen shrub, indig'enous 

 to Carolina ; and although scarcely a possible plant for 

 every g'arden in Ireland, it will doubtless do as well 

 in many of the more favoured localities as it appears 

 to do at Newry. 

 Like all the family, 

 it is a peat - loving- 

 subject, and partial 

 to moisture. Where 

 rhododendrons 

 thrive this andro- 

 meda should flourish. 

 Another North 

 American shrub sent 

 from Newry, whoU}' 

 distinct but equally 

 beautiful, was Azalea 

 •zi/5fos« (" the Sticky 

 Azalea"), with typi- 

 cal clusters of small, 

 white blooms. Al- 

 though this is a spe- 

 cies capable of 

 makingf a good-sized 

 shrub, its generally 

 refined habit sugfg-est s 

 a sheltered, moist 

 nook of the rocker) 

 for planting- in peat. 

 Two Escallonias, E. 

 Langleyetisis and E. 

 Ph ill if i a na, b e i n gf 

 amongst the hardiest 

 of hardy flowering 

 shrubs, should be 

 seen in every shrub- 

 bery, provided justice 

 is done to them in 

 the way of root-room 

 and elbow-room ; for 

 too many so-called 

 shrubberies are mere 



scrubberies in which good things have to struggle 

 for existence amongst tree-roots and space-absorbing 

 laurels. Both of these escallonias are wonderfully 

 floriferous — the hybrid Langleyensis being clustered 

 with rosy-carmine blossoms, E. Phillipiana, introduced 

 from Valdivia in 1873, being decked with more thinly- 

 disposed, small, white, sweet-scented flowers. Amongst 

 decorative roses were such species as Moschata grandi- 

 fiora and M. Jionbunda, a singular bi-coloured moss 

 rose, (Eillet panache, and the very distinct Rosa rubri- 

 folia in its best form (there are several varieties of this 

 South European native), which is very telling in its 

 peculiar rich purple-red stems and foliage, reminding 

 one of the purple plum in tone. 



Hardy and herbaceous plants were represented by 

 the North American Gillenia stipulacea, a distinct plant 

 for the border, with small pink and white blooms set on 

 slender stems two feet high ; Achillea cegyptiaca, with 

 typical heads of soft sulphur-coloured flowers ; Achillea 

 alpina, with corymbs of pure white single flowers, a 

 charming plant from Siberia ; Brodicea coccinea, a 

 bulbous plant with scarlet and green, globose-tubular 



blossoms, very showy ; Iris Icevigata gracilis, a strong 

 grower with large flowers of rich purple-blue, and a 

 good spray of the old Swiss sea-holly, Eryngium alpi- 

 num. Mention must also be made of Adowphora lili- 

 Jlora, a campanula-like plant with blue flowers, and 

 Spirea aruncus Kneiffi, the latter with flowers of the 

 Goatsbeard type, but with foliage so much vivisected, 

 if one may use the term, as to appear but little more 

 than threads. Our list of the Newry contribution must 

 conclude with Lonicera ledehonri, a good-looking deci- 

 duous shrub, indigenous to California, with reddish 

 flowers produced from the axils of the leaves ; Ptelea 

 fri/oliata, the so-called hop tree of North America, 

 smothered in its greenish-white inflorescence, whilst it 

 is worth noting that Dielytra spectabilis:, killed to the 



P/lO/o. /'J'] 



Andromeda Speciosa. C^- fn'ce. 



From a Specimen sent to the R. H. S. of Ireland by Mr. T. Smith, of Daisy Hill Nurseries. 



ground at Newry by frost at the end of April, had again 

 produced good spikes, of which samples were sent. 



A vote of thanks by the council was accorded to 

 Mr. Smith for his interesting exhibit. 



Edward Knowldin, F.R.H.S. 



5^* fi^'^ 9^^ 



Horticultural Education Association Con- 

 ference. — The second annual conference of this asso- 

 ciation was held at Ridgmont and Bedford on the 17th 

 and 18th of July. Visits were made to the Duke of 

 Bedford's experimental farm and to the nurseries of 

 Messrs. Laxton. A paper on the illustrations of horti- 

 cultural lectures was read by Mr. J. C. iVewsham. 

 The Irish Horticultural Instructors' Association might 

 well hold an annual conference on educational subjects 

 on the same lines as the English association. 



" It's a poor business looking at the sun with a cloudy 

 ace," — " Lovey Mary." 



