Plants for Special Effect 99 



Section IV. 



CHAPTER XIV, 

 PLANTS FOR SPECIAL EFFECT. 



TEOPICAL effects are sometimes desired in warm districts, or in 

 warm positions in the colder districts. Such effects are possible 

 in the high veld by a judicious use of Bamboos, Cordylines 

 (Dracenas), Agaves, Yuccas, Strelitzia augusta, S. regina, Ence- 

 phalartos, and one or two of the hardy Palms, such as Livistona 

 or Phoenix. For the warm Midlands and high Coast lands one 

 might add Plantains, Pawpaws, Cocos plumosa, Ficus elastica, 

 Seaforthia elegans, and Chamerops excelsa. 



Here must be no lines or formality, but rather a judiciously 

 wild tangle, such as one finds in a natural East Coast semi- 

 jungle. There should be tall and thick shelter trees to shelter 

 this nook, keeping away possible cold winds and increasing the 

 humidity of the surroundings. 



Roses. 



In a sense Roses have no business in this book. But there are 

 just a few which never seem to belong to the rosary, but rather 

 to the tangle and roughness outside. To cover a high bank, a 

 mass of rocks, old walls, or even an old tree stump, we know of 

 nothing better than a wild growing, vigorous Rose, never pruned, 

 but with huge masses of glorious flowers in the right season. 



For this purpose the best varieties are the Noisettes, "La- 

 marque," Reve D'Or, Bouquet D'Or, and Buff Marechal Nlel; 

 Climbing Polyanthas Aglaia, Crimson Rambler, Tausendschon ; 

 and the Wichurianas Dorothy Perkins, White Dorothy, Evan- 

 geline, and Debutante. And, of course, all the Banksia Roses. 



GRASSES AND VERY HABDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS also find their 

 places in scenic gardening. There will be nooks and corners here 

 and there, on the shrubbery border or among the rocks, where 

 Pampas grass, Arundo donax, Bocconia, Colocasias, Dahlia im- 

 perialis, Echinacea, Gaura, Cannas, Helenium, Hollyhocks, 

 Papyrus, &c., will create variety and add greatly to the effects in 

 foliage variation. For some of these special pockets of good soil 

 will be necessary. 



