348 



ARABIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ARALIA. 



may not be noticed, but if a spray or two 

 are put in a glass its beauty is seen. Seed. 



A. VULGARIS (Common C.). There are 

 many forms of this, and double kinds, 

 flowering from May till towards the end 

 of summer. Its varieties, and some hybrid 

 forms, may well be used in the more pic- 

 turesque parts of large pleasure grounds, 

 by streams and in copses. Where bare 

 places occur, and seedlings have a chance 

 of coming up without being strangled by 

 other plants, seed may be scattered as 

 soon as ripe. 



ARABIS (Rock Cress). A large 

 family of hill-plants, few of which are 

 grown. A. albida (White Rock Cress) 

 will grow in any soil, where its sheets 

 of snowy bloom may open in early 

 spring. The double white form is a 

 favourite. Both are easily increased 

 by seed or cuttings, and are useful for 



Aralia. spinosa. 



the mixed border, the spring garden, 

 and for naturalising in bare or rocky 



spots. There is now a pale rose form. 

 It is closely allied to the alpine Rock 

 Cress (A. alpina), so widely distributed 

 on the Alps, but is distinct, and the 

 best kind. A variegated form is the 

 dwarfest and whitest of the Rock 

 Cresses. A. blepharophylla (Rosy 

 Rock Cress) is not unlike the white 

 Arabis, but the flowers are rosy-purple. 

 It varies a good deal, but there is no 

 difficulty in selecting a strain of the 

 deepest rose, its healthy tufts being 

 effective in April. There are varie- 

 gated forms of the commoner species, 

 but none have much value. A. are- 

 nosa, from the south of Europe, is a 

 pretty annual in the spring garden or 

 naturalised on old ruins or dry bare 

 banks. A. petrcea, a neat, sturdy little 

 plant, with pure white flowers, is a 

 native of some of the higher Scottish 

 mountains, rare, but very pretty when 

 well grown on a moist well-exposed 

 spot on the rock garden. A. S teller i, 

 a Chinese species, is a much freer 

 flowering plant than A . blepharophylla, 

 ripening seed freely, and easily grown 

 in the rock garden. 



ARALIA. Shrubs or stout her- 

 baceous plants of the Ivy order, of 

 diverse aspects, few fitted for open 

 air, except A. canescens and A. spinosa, 

 which thrive in our gardens, and which 

 in size and beauty of leaf are far before 

 many " fme-foliaged plants " grown in 

 hothouses. The Aralias described are 

 now placed under Fatsia, but we retain 

 the older name as better known in 

 gardens. A . papyrifera (Chinese Rice- 

 paper Plant), though a native of the 

 hot island of Formosa, is useful for the 

 greenhouse in winter and the flower 

 garden in summer. It is handsome in 

 leaf, but is only suited for southern or 

 very warm gardens. 



A. CHINENSIS. A hardy shrub, with 

 very large, much-divided, spiny leaves, 

 resembling those of the Angelica Tree of 

 N. America. In this country it attains 

 the height of from 6 to 12 feet. In deep 

 loam it thrives vigorously. May be useful 

 in a garden where tender fine-leaved 

 plants will not thrive. Syn. Dimorphan- 

 thus mandschuricus. 



A. SIEBOLDI. A shrubby species, with 

 fine green leaves, nearly hardy, and a 

 handsome bush on dry soils and near the 

 sea. It may be used in the flower garden 

 or the pleasure ground, but it soon turns 

 yellow and unhappy looking if exposed to 

 much sunshine. It is hardier in the shade, 

 its foliage browning badly if caught too 

 suddenly by the sun after hard frosts. 

 Syn. Fatsia Japonica. 



A. SPINOSA (Angelica Tree). This fine 



