FRAGARIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. FRITILLARIA. 473 



of Dr John Fothergill, famous in the 

 later years of the eighteenth century 

 for his botanical collections at Upton, 

 in Essex. F. Gardeni enjoys a light 

 loam, and grows all the better if peat 

 and leaf-soil are mixed with the loam 

 at planting- time. W. J. B., in Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle. 



F. MAJOR. A deciduous shrub 6 to 

 8 feet high, forming a rounded bush, with 

 mostly erect stems. The flowers, pro- 

 duced in May on erect cylindrical spikes, 

 i to 2 inches long, terminating short 

 lateral twigs. Native of Alleghany Moun- 

 tains from Virginia to S. Carolina. It 

 was grown in English gardens in 1780, but 

 apparently lost to cultivation until reintro- 

 duced to Kew from Arnold Arboretum in 

 1902. Mr Bean (Trees and Shrubs) 

 describes it as a charming shrub, especially 

 to those who love out-of-the-way plants, 

 and says it is decidedly superior to the 

 commoner F. Gardeni. Cuttings of fairly 

 firm wood in gentle heat. It is quite 

 hardy. 



FRAGARIA (Strawberry). The 

 wild Strawberry is pretty on banks 

 and on old mossy garden walls. 

 F. monophylla is a beautiful rock 

 garden plant, with large white flowers. 

 The Indian Strawberry, F. indici, is 

 a pretty trailer, bearing many red 

 berries and flowering late. All are of 

 the easiest culture. 



FRANCOA (Maiden's Wreath}. 

 Chilian plants of the Saxifrage family, 

 somewhat tender, and best for dry 

 sheltered positions on warm borders 

 in light loam. F. ramosa, bearing 

 white or pink flowers, and having a 

 short stem, differs from F. appendi- 

 culata, which is stemless, and has 

 flowers deeper in colour than the others. 

 F. sonchifolia has also a short stem, 

 but its leaves are sessile and not 

 stalked, and its flowers are rose- 

 coloured. Often grown as window 

 plants. 



FRANKENIA LJEVIS (Sea Heath). 

 A very small evergreen plant with 

 crowded leaves like a Heath, common 

 in marshes by the sea in many parts 

 of Europe and on the east coast of 

 England. Best for the rock garden in 

 ordinary soil, among very dwarf herbs. 



FRAXINUS (Ash). The British Ash 

 is a variable tree, and its varieties are 

 more valuable than those of many 

 other trees, the best of them not 

 depending on mere variegation, but 

 sometimes on habit, as in the pen- 

 dulous variety, so well known, and 

 used for bowers and on lawns. There 

 is a form of this with yellow shoots, 

 and certain kinds with singular leaves 



mere monstrosities without value, for 

 this fine tree has not escaped the 

 variegation hunter. There is a variety 

 of F. Lentiscifolia, a native of Asia 

 Minor, which is pendulous in habit. 



The Ash is never more beautiful 

 than when fully exposed in the cool and 

 northern parts of the country, and in 

 Ireland and Scotland. America is rich 

 in species, and in past times, before 

 the conifers mania arose, they were 



Slanted, but of late very little attention 

 as been given to them, and few of 

 these reach the size and fine form of 

 our native Ash. 



Occasionally very picturesque effects 

 arise from grafting the Weeping Ash 

 on a very tall stem of the ordinary 

 kind, of which there is a good example 

 at Elvaston. 



F. ORNUS. The celebrated Manna Ash, 

 a native of the East and Mediterranean 

 regions, which has several varieties. It is 

 an effective and hardy tree in England, 

 and even in London gardens is vigorous 

 and handsome. It is grafted on the 

 Common Ash, so what it would be if on 

 its own roots we have no knowledge. Its 

 place is generally among the larger flower- 

 ing trees. Syn. Ornus. 



FREMONTIA (D. californica). A 

 handsome Californian shrub. A fine 

 old plant in Sir Harry Veitch's garden, 

 East Burnham Park, having outgrown 

 the wall against which it was planted, 

 has risen many feet above, and flowers 

 there with remarkable freedom, with- 

 out the least protection, year by year. 

 In flower it is a fine sight. It has 

 large yellow bowl-shaped flowers, 

 2 inches or more across, the deep, 

 green leaves being lobed. In favour- 

 able places it reaches 10 or 12 feet in 

 height, and flowers in early summer. 

 It succeeds best against a north, west, 

 or east wall, a southern exposure being 

 usually too hot and dry. It is, some 

 think, a naturally short-lived tree. 



FRITILLARIA ( Fritillary) .Bulbs 

 of the Lily family, several of which are 

 valuable, some, such as the Crown 

 Imperial, being stately ; others, such 

 as F. recurva, being delicate and 

 pretty, but most have dull-tinted, 

 curiously interesting flowers. They 

 may be put to many uses the Crown 

 Imperial is a fine plant for the mixed 

 border or the shrubbery. The Snake' s- 

 head ( F. Meleagris) and others, such as 

 F. latifolia, pyrenaica, together with 

 the choicer kinds, are fitted to the bulb 

 border and for grassy places. They 

 may all be readily increased by offsets 

 from the old bulbs, which should be 



