LAPAGERIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LARIX. 



529 



also in the summer garden. The 

 Verbena-like heads of bloom are rich 

 and varied in colour, and range from 

 crimson, through scarlet, orange, and 

 yellow, to white, the colours varying 

 in the same head. They flower freely 

 for about nine months, and are easy 

 to grow, requiring the protection of 

 the greenhouse during winter after 

 being lifted in autumn. Propagated 

 in spring by cuttings or seeds, the 

 plants being grown in rich light soil 

 till planted out in a warm position. 

 There are many sorts grown, and a 

 selection should include Phosphore, 

 Don Calmet, Distinction, Eclat, Vic- 

 toire, La Neige, Feu Follet, Pluie 

 d'Or, Ver Luisant, Ne Plus Ultra, 

 Eldorado, and Heroine. Like many 

 dwarf half-hardy plants, they have 

 various uses -in the flower garden, 

 and may be trained as standards. 

 The pretty L. Sellowi is a good dwarf 

 plant ; but the odour of these plants 

 is unpleasant, and they are not 

 worthy of much care. West Indies. 

 Verbenaceae. 



LAPAGERIA (Napoleon's Bell). A 

 beautiful climber usually grown in the 

 greenhouse, but hardy and flowering 

 well in the open air in Cornwall and 

 the south of Ireland ; with care it 

 would be found to do over a larger 

 area round the coast. It forms a 

 lovely picture at Caerhays, trained 

 on a north-west wall, and flowers 

 quite freely. Often at Christmas and 

 onwards through the winter and spring 

 it comes out beautifully ; the rose and 

 white and other forms have been 

 tried, as well as the original form. 

 Soil should be peaty with plenty of 

 sand and leaf - mould. The great 

 enemy of the plant is the slug, which 

 destroys the young growths. The 

 plant may be nailed direct to a wall, 

 or planted among choice shrubs to 

 take its own way as a climber, and it 

 might be well to try it in various 

 aspects, as the conditions that suit it 

 in the extreme south of England may 

 not do so in all parts. 



LARDIZABALA. L. biternata is a 

 handsome evergreen climber from 

 Chili, hardy enough for walls in the 

 south and coast districts ; the foliage 

 a deep green, the leaflets thick. Along 

 the south coast it makes a beautiful 

 wall-covering, reaching a height of 

 20 feet or more, but its inconspicuous 

 purple flowers are seldom borne in the 

 open air. It should be planted in 

 light or well-drained soil. 



LARIX (Larch). One of the most 

 beautiful trees of the north, and though 

 much cultivated in our woodlands for 

 its value as a timber tree, it is none the 

 less precious for the lawn and home 

 grounds. Belonging to the great Pine 

 family, it has the summer-leafing habit 

 of our ordinary trees, which enhances 

 its charms, not only showing the form 

 better in winter, but the fine colour 

 of the budding leaves in spring, and 

 the ripening leaves in autumn. A true 

 child of the northern mountains, the 

 Larch is hardy everywhere in our 

 country, perhaps thriving better in 

 the north, as in the case of the lovely 

 old trees at Dunkeld, its only enemy 

 beinej a dreadful parasitic fungus, 

 which eats into the tree and mars its 

 beauty and vigour. Other kinds of 

 Larch are known, and some coming 

 into cultivation, but it is not always 

 easy to obtain them in a good state, 

 and we have yet but little evidence 

 as to their value. All are worth 

 trial, though it is probable that none 

 will ever rival the charms of the 

 European Larch. 



L. AMERICANA (Tamarack). A slender 

 tree, in its own country reaching a height 

 of nearly 100 feet, but not thriving so well 

 in England, and not so remarkable for 

 beauty as our European Larch. It grows 

 naturally in low-lying ground or swamps, 

 and has not been fairly tried in our gar- 

 dens, in which such ground does not often 

 occur. Syn. Microcarpa and Pendula. 



L. EUROP^EA (European Larch). A tall 

 and lovely tree with pendent branches 

 emitting a delicate fragrance in the spring 

 when budding. It is a native of the 

 northern and central European Alps, and 

 also the mountains of N. Asia. The weep- 

 ing variety is picturesque, but L. dahurica 

 is considered to be a form of this, and is 

 likely to be of distinct value for gardens. 



L. GRIFFITHII (Sikkim Larch) . A 

 Himalayan Larch, attaining in its own 

 country to the height of a stately tree, 

 but often dwarfed into an alpine bush. 

 It bears large cones, and in our country 

 has not yet been proved to be of great 

 value. 



L. K^EMPFERI (Chinese Golden Larch). 

 A beautiful tree of W. China, attaining in 

 its own country a height of over 100 feet, 

 and of good growth and habit in our 

 country, though not so rapid as other 

 species. A choice lawn tree, and also, 

 when it can be got in any quantity in the 

 form of healthy seedling plants, as a group 

 in park or woodland. 



L. LEPTOLEPSIS (Japan Larch). In its 

 own country this is described as a medium- 

 sized tree resembling our European Larch, 

 to which it is said to be inferior, but from 



2 L 



