354 ASPARAGUS. fHE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ASPLENIUM. 



ASPARAGUS. Herbaceous plants 

 or climbers of the Lily order, of fine 

 habit with elegant leaves. The vigor- 

 ous and tall A. Broussoneti is quite 



A Climbing Asparagus. 



hardy in warm sandy soil, and so are 

 A. tenuifolius and others. The com- 

 mon Asparagus is as good as any, and 

 a tuft or group of it is graceful in a 

 border of flowers or a bed of fine-leaved 

 plants. 



ASPERULA (Sweet Woodruff). A. 

 odorata, which belongs to the same 

 family as the Coffee Plant, is abundant 

 in many parts of Britain, and worthy 

 of the garden or shrubbery, especially 

 in districts where it does not occur 

 wild. Its stems and leaves give off a 

 fragrant hay-like odour when dried ; 

 and in May the small white flowers, 

 dotted over the tufts of whorled leaves, 

 are pretty. A . azurea setosa (A . orien- 

 talis] is a pretty hardy blue annual, 

 flowering in April and May. Sow seed 

 in the previous autumn. A. cynan- 

 chica is a rosy-red perennial, and a 

 good bank or rough rock- plant. A. 

 hexaphylla is a tall slender white- 

 flowered species. 



ASPHODELINE. Plants nearly 

 allied to the following, but the stems 



of Asphodelus are leafless, while in 

 Asphodeline the leaves are produced on 

 erect stems. About six kinds are in 

 cultivation, the best known being A. 

 lutea, which grows about 3 feet high, 

 with yellow flowers in dense clustered 

 spikes. A. taurica has white flowers, 

 on stems i to 2 feet high. A. liburnica 

 (A . cretica) and A . tenuior have yellow 

 flowers in loose racemes. A. damas- 

 cena has white blossoms in dense 

 racemes, and A. brevicaulis has yellow 

 flowers in loose racemes. These all 

 thrive in ordinary soil. 



ASPHODELUS (A sphodel) .Tuber- 

 ous plants of the Lily order, with 

 spiked flowers, and not of a high order 

 of beauty, thriving in any free garden 

 soil. The best known is the bold A. 

 ramosus, a S. European species, familiar 

 in most old herbaceous plant borders. 

 Other kinds are A . fistulosus and tenui- 

 folius, with white flowers, the plant 

 growing from i-J- to 3 feet high. The 

 last-named kind" has delicate feathery 

 foliage. A . creticus, the Cretan Aspho- 

 del, has yellow flowers, and is an easily 

 cultivated border plant. 



ASPIDIUM (Shield or Wood Fern]. 

 This family now embraces the Poly- 

 stichum and some species of Lastrea. 

 There are numerous hardy kinds, 

 among them the Male Fern (A. Filix- 

 mas) and the Prickly Shield Fern. 

 Either alone or in groups they have a 

 fine effect, as an undergrowth to trees 

 in the pleasure garden or in the shadier 

 parts of the garden, and are evergreen. 

 There are no fewer than a hundred 

 named sorts of A . aculeatum and fifty of 

 A . Filixmas being enumerated in trade 

 lists. The smaller and more delicate 

 kinds require some care. A . aculeatum 

 is best in rich loam, with sand and leaf- 

 mould, well-drained, and so does the 

 Male Fern. The border Ferns of this 

 group give fine cool effects in rightly 

 chosen spots in and near the flower 

 garden. 



ASPLENIUM (Spleenwort).The fine 

 dark green colour and free-growing 

 character of most of the Spleenwort 

 Ferns give them distinct value. The 

 best soil for them is a well-drained 

 mixture of peat, sand, and loam, in 

 which the finer kinds of flowering 

 shrubs, such as Kalmias and Andro- 

 medas, thrive. A. Adiantum nigrum 

 (the Black Spleenwort) when wild, 

 fringes copses or is found on hedge- 

 banks, where it gets a little protection 

 from the summer sun. The various 

 smaller species of this genus belong 



