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IX. — On the Scenic '■'■ JEffecV^ of certain ^'■common" Plants 

 jiossessing remarkable Foliage. By Thomas Moore, Curator 

 of the Apothecaries' Garden, Chelsea. 



(Communicated March 3, 1851.) 



In a former volume of the Society's Journal, I ventured to re- 

 commend, as objects suitable for ornamental pleasure-ground 

 scenery, some of the noble Umbellifers at present confined to 

 botanical collections ; and I then took occasion to remark, that 

 the effect to be realised by the proper use of plants remarkable 

 for the grandeur of their habits and foliation was too much 

 sacrificed in garden decoration to that kind of effect obtained by 

 the use of gaily-coloured flowers. It is the rule, that showy 

 plants, in larger or smaller masses, are adopted in garden scenery, 

 to the general exclusion of the rich variety of vegetation which 

 may be realised by grouping plants of stately growth possessing 

 remarkable and characteristic foliage. Of couise it is not meant 

 to be implied that masses or individuals of showy plants ought 

 to be banished from pleasure-ground scenery to make room for 

 those whose beauty resides in their foliage ; by no means ; but 

 only that a mixed arrangement of striking and characteristic 

 foliage is highly desirable in certain parts of an ornamental 

 garden ; and that a judicious admixture of this kind will be 

 found to yield as much beauty, though under a different phase, 

 as the most gaudy j^arterre can boast of. Foliage, too, it must 

 be remembered, does not alone yield form towards the production 

 of Variety ; it may, at least, yield also much difference of colour. 



The taste for planting arboretums, which has of late years 

 become widely diffused, is to some extent an acknowledgment 

 of the truthfulness of this general view of the subject. The 

 sober grandeur of a well-selected assortment of trees, planted 

 with reference to their scenic effect, is found to be a relief from 

 the kaleidoscopic blaze of modern flower-gardens ; and tliere 

 can be no doubt that, among the arboreous vegetation now 

 available to planters, there exist materials adapted to realise, in 

 this respect, the most perfect results. It is not, however, 

 arboreous plants that I at present wish to recommend. The 

 object of this paper is to commend to notice certain herbs of 

 large growth, commonly known, and easily procurable, but 

 which are rarely met with, unless by accident, in artificial 

 scenery, and are seldom or never planted with a view to effect. 



It should here be premised, that the realization of the full 

 effect which plants such as these are calculated to produce in 

 pleasure-ground scenery is dependent very much on their vigour 

 and the perfectness of their growth. This must be especially 

 obvious in the case of such plants as are selected on account of 



