890 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



trees, and it should be worth trying in like 

 circumstances in our country. It comes very 

 freely from layers, in fact, the lower branches 

 of the trees root themselves freely, and these 

 over facile ways of increase make it all the 

 more necessary that we should get healthy 

 seedling trees, as suckers take bushy rather 

 than tree form. Syn., Thuyopsis. 



T. GIGANTEA {Giant Arbor-vit(i).—K tall 

 and noble tree, fine in stature and form, hardy 

 and healthy in our country, thriving in ordinary 

 soils, and a free and rapid grower, even with- 

 out the special attention such conifers often 

 receive. It attains in its own country a maxi- 

 mum height of 150 ft., and its wood is fine- 

 grained and very useful. N. W. America, 

 finest on the Columbia river. Syn., T. Lobbi, 

 T. Craigiana, T. menziesii. 



T. JAPOMCA {StandisJi's Arbor-vita:).^K 

 graceful evergreen tree of medium size, attain- 

 ing a height of over 50 ft., with branches of a 

 slender pendulous character, of a fresh green 

 colour, and a native of the mountains of central 

 Japan. It was introduced by Fortune, and 

 sent out by the late John Standish of Ascot, 

 but has not yet been much grown. The form 

 usually seen is said not to be the true wild 

 tree — a reason for getting seed from Japanese 

 sources. Happily this has not yet, like so 

 many others, sported into a mass of varieties. 

 Syn., Thuyopsis Standishi. 



T. OCCIDENTALE ( Western Arbor-vita). — A 

 rather poor hardy evergreen tree which has 

 varied much in colour and foliage and form, 

 ponderous Latin names having been applied to 

 worthless varieties, of which over twenty are 

 given in some catalogues. It is sometimes used 

 to get shelter fences and hedges rapidly, though 

 by no means so good for that purpose as our own 

 native shrubs like the Yew and the Holly, and 

 it would be no great loss to omit it from the 

 garden altogether ; all the more so, perhaps, 

 as it is one of the cheap evergreens used in 

 the muddle mixture of the common shrub- 

 ber}'. 



T. ORIENTALIS {Chinese Arbor-vitce). — A 

 low tree with little of the beauty of the Pine 

 or Cypress, and which has, unfortunately, 

 given rise to a crowd of varieties, variegated, 

 silvery, golden, and other dense, monstrous 

 and pendulous shapes, "mystified" by Latin 

 names. Not only are they poor in themselves, 

 l;ut they keep the mind away from the central 

 fact of, the beauty, dignity and great value of 

 the pine race. These varieties have again 

 synonyms and some of them get into cultiva- 

 tion under the wrong name of Retinospora. 

 Thuyopsis. See Thuy.\. 

 THYMUS (r/Jj'w^).— Creeping plants 

 suited for arid parts of the rock-garden, 

 where many other plants will not thrive. 

 They spread quickly into wide dense 

 cushions, and ought not to be placed near 

 delicate or minute alpine plants. Nothing 

 can be more charming than a sunny bank 

 covered wMth the common wild Thyme 

 {T. serpyUum) and its white variety. T. 



latiugi?iosus is a very woolly variety of our 

 common wild Thyme, pleasing at all sea- 

 sons, forming wide cushions in any soil, 

 provided it be thoroughly exposed to the 

 sun. Another desirable plant is the varie- 

 gated form of the Lemon-scented Thyme 

 ( T. citriodorus aureus, itself a form of the 

 common Thyme), which is more robust 

 than the green-leaved kind, and retains 

 its leaves through the winter. The Golden 

 Thyme is 9 in. high, dense and compact, 

 and used for edging. It may be increased 

 by cuttings, which strike readily in Sep- 

 tember, either in hand-glasses or in cold 

 frames, and should be planted out in 

 spring. There is also a kind, citriodorus 

 argenteus, with silver variegation. Those 

 cuttings which are best variegated should 

 be chosen, as others may revert to the 

 normal green type. Other varieties of 

 the Common Thyme are grandiflorus, 

 with larger flowers of the same colour, 

 splendcjis and coccineus in ^\■hich they are 

 bright crimson and excellent for bright 

 patches of colour ; micans with rosy pur- 

 ple flowers, and rotundifolius., very dwarf 

 and profuse in flower. Various other 

 Thymes are worthy of the dry arid slopes 

 of a large rock-garden, and of old ruins. 

 The minute, creeping, and Peppermint- 

 scented T. corsicus, with flowers so small 

 as to be almost invisible, should be planted 

 in every rock-garden, where it will soon 

 become one of the welcome weeds. Other 

 kinds in cultivation are T. azoricus, T. 

 azureus, T. bractcosus, T. Zygis, T. thuri- 

 ferus, T. C/ia/iUTdrys, and T. Mastichijia. 

 TIARELLA {Foam Floiuer).—K sm.all 

 group of slender perennial herbs, flourish- 

 ing in almost any soil or position, but 

 preferably in partial shade and a rich 

 moist soil. T. cordifolia is a hardy plant 

 of great beauty, bearing little starry 

 creamy-w^iite flowers, the buds delicately 

 tinged with pink, a well-flowered mass 

 seen a few yards off having a close like- 

 ness to a wreath of foam. The young 

 leaves are tender green, spotted and 

 veined with deep red, while the older ones 

 at the base of the plant are of a rich red- 

 bronze. All the care it needs is division 

 every two years, for the plants spread fast 

 and are at their best the second year 

 after division. 



TIGRIDIA ( Tiger Flower).— ^\x\how% 

 plants with very showy flow^ers, not hardy 

 generally, requiring similar treatment to 

 Gladiolus and plants of a like nature, 

 though in some of our most southerly 

 counties they would be tolerably safe in 

 light soil and a warm position. The annual 

 lifting, storing, and spring planting are 

 not great undertakings however, and the 



