766 



TYl>HA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEti. UMBELLuLARlA. 



little rosy flowers. It forms tufts a 

 few inches high, does best on poor 

 soils, and thrives without particular 

 care. It is a native of arid stony 

 places on the Pyrenees and the Alps, 

 but often descends into the lowlands, 

 and is found on the tops of walls. A 

 neat plant for the rock garden and 

 fringes of borders, and thrives like a 

 weed between the stones in a rough 

 stone wall. Seed. 



TYPHA (Reed Mace). Graceful 

 water-plants, hardy, easily grown, and 

 very ornamental whether at the water- 

 side or cut for decoration. T. latifolia 

 is a native plant, growing in tufts of 

 two-rowed flat leaves, 18 to 24 inches 

 long and i or i inches wide. From 

 the centre of each tuft springs a stem 

 6 or 7 feet high, terminated in the 

 flowering season by a close cylindrical 

 spike 9 inches long, which is of dark 

 olive, but changes to brownish-black 

 as it ripens. T. angustifolia is like it 

 except in the size of the narrower 

 leaves and spike, and of the two is 

 perhaps the more graceful. T. minor 

 is a smaller form of it. T. minima is 

 the smallest of the hardy kinds, 12 

 inches to 18 inches in height, with 

 slender rush-like leaves and dense or 

 globose heads, those of the other kinds 

 being much longer than they are 

 broad. Other kinds found in water 

 gardens are T. stenophylla, with narrow 

 leaves turned in a spiral and short 

 thick spikes ; and T. Shuttleworthii, 

 like lattfolia as to general appearance, 

 but with leaves of a showy golden- 

 green. 



ULEX (Furze). The native Furze 

 is so beautiful and is so well suited for 

 clothing dry banks and the like that it 

 should be included among flowering 

 shrubs. Where the common Furze 

 grows wild the double variety is well 

 worth planting, as it is more effective 

 and lasts longer than the single kind. 

 A dwarf sort, nanus, deserves a place, 

 as it flowers at midsummer, when its 

 commoner relative has done. It also 

 is a native, and where it flourishes it 

 makes a dense prickly bush 2 feet high. 



U. STRICTUS (Irish Furze) is an uncom- 

 mon variety of europ&us. As all the kinds 

 of Furze are difficult to transplant when 

 large, the best plan is to get small plants 

 of the double and of the dwarf kinds and 

 to sow seed of the common single kind. 

 In most nurseries the double Furze is kept 

 in pots, and can be planted at any time. 

 There are few finer sights than a bank of 

 double Furze in full bloom, and this can 



be enjoyed in every garden. Vigorous 

 pruning when the plants become straggling 

 is all the attention needed. In severe 

 winters all these plants are liable to be 

 cut to the ground, but they start again 

 little the worse. 



ULMUS (Elm). Summer-leafing 

 forest trees of northern and temperate 

 regions, and of importance in plant- 

 ing, though the dangerous habit of 

 the common Elm, of suddenly drop- 

 ping heavy branches, should make us 

 cautious about planting it near houses. 

 Kinds that may be of interest in 

 botanical collections are not worth a 

 place in private grounds, where only 

 the most distinct and stately kinds 

 should be planted. The practice com- 

 mon in many districts of forming 

 avenues of Elms only might well be 

 modified in favour of other trees of 

 proved value, as the loss caused to 

 Elm-planted villages and roadsides by 

 storms is deplorable. 



U. AMERICANA (Water E.). A large and 

 handsome tree inhabiting moist soil and 

 banks of streams in N. America ; quite 

 hardy, and useful in Britain. There is a 

 weeping variety. 



U. CAMPESTRIS (Common E.). This 

 tree is naturalised in our river valleys, and 

 often blown down by storms in numbers. 

 If we wish to shade our road or walks 

 with trees we certainly should take the 

 trouble to find those which anchor them- 

 selves securely, and this does not. There 

 are many varieties, the Cornish, a pendu- 

 lous one, and the usual variegated ones, 

 always more attractive in the nursery state 

 than they are when they get older. 



U. MONTANA (Mountain or Wych E.). 

 A fine tree, distinct and handsome as a 

 shade and lawn tree, and not so dangerous 

 as the common Elm. There are numerous 

 varieties, pyramidal upright growers, and, 

 best of all, a weeping variety, a beautiful 

 hardy and distinct tree thriving almost 

 anywhere. 



The best trees in this important 

 group are the English Elm and the 

 American Elm. What we should 

 avoid are some hybrids and varieties 

 of these. They have many names, 

 and some of them I have never noticed 

 as making good trees. Here, again, it 

 is best to avoid hybrids and varieties, 

 and choose rather the noble types. 



UMBELLULARIA CALIFORNICA 



( Calif ornian Laurel) . A handsome 

 evergreen tree, seldom planted, though 

 hardy in our southern gardens and 

 suited to walls where too tender for 

 the open. It might pass as a narrow- 

 leaved form of the Common Bay, the 

 resemblance in the shape of leaves and 



