SCOTTISH GARDENS 



be named, live in Scotland, and make abundant 

 promise in the way of foliage ; but the promise is 

 never, or hardly ever, fulfilled. Either the flowers lag 

 too late for want of sun-forcing, which is the way 

 with ffibiscw, or the plants are never ripened enough 

 to form flower-buds at all, which is the matter 

 with Sternbergia. On the other hand, there are 

 many plants which relish the cool, moist north, and 

 refuse to respond to the sun of southerly shires. 



The vaporous western and northern atmosphere, 

 acting in conjunction with a soil for the most 

 part cool, has one effect upon plant growth note- 

 worthy for Scottish gardeners, greatly modifying the 

 cultural requirements of certain plants. General 

 instructions contained in horticultural works and 

 nursery catalogues are mostly calculated for the 

 meridian of London, and directions for providing 

 shade apply chiefly to the sunnier regions of our realm 

 and hot soils. But a plant that appreciates a 

 northern exposure or overhanging foliage in Sussex 

 may require all the direct sunshine it can receive 

 *& Argyllshire or Perthshire to ripen its growth 

 sufficiently for the supreme effort of flowering. For 

 instance, when I first obtained the beautiful Chilian 

 shrub then called Crinodendron Hookeri, but now known 

 as Tricuspidaria lanceolate, I was advised by that 

 veteran horticulturist, Canon Ellacombe, to give it 

 a north exposure. Accordingly I planted one against 

 a wall facing north-east, and it has grown at the 

 rate of two feet a year a picture of vigour but 



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