308 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IX ENGLAND. 



crevices of stones. It is only reasonable to try and give these 

 plants, as nearly as possible, the same conditions of life here in 

 England as on their native hills. The result of this has been 

 the formation of several rock gardens, very different from the 

 old-fashioned pile of stones which went by the name of a rockery. 

 These new rock gardens are in every way successful, as rare 

 Alpines, which it was thought almost impossible to grow in this 

 country, are now made to thrive. The illustration of a typical 

 rock garden is a part of the very large one at Batsford 

 (Gloucestershire), made by Mr. Mitford within the last few 

 years. The one at Kew is a well-known example. Every year 

 there are new things of interest there. It is wonderful to see 

 plants from nearly all the mountain ranges of the world perfectly 

 at home within a few miles of the City of London. 



Another development of gardening during the last few years 

 has been sub-tropical gardening. Mr. Robinson has kindly 

 pointed out to me that this kind of gardening, which came 

 to us from Paris some twenty years ago, did something to 

 relieve the formality of " bedding-out/' although not nearly 

 as important an improvement as the newer movement 

 towards hardy flowers. Groups of Cannas, Caladiums, and 

 such like, in beds, help to render them less stiff. There 

 can also be obtained fine results from planting out the 

 hardier kinds of tree ferns and palms during the summer 

 months. But the best kind of sub-tropical garden is the 

 permanent one. Even in the coldest districts of England, 

 numerous plants will grow which give a tropical appearance.* 

 In Norfolk and Suffolk, where the late frosts are most trying 

 to gardeners, various bamboos will flourish ; Bambusa Metake, 

 Simonii, viridiglaucescens, and edulis are perfectly hardy, and 

 besides these many things such as Berberis, Aralias, Gunnera 

 scabra, Aristolochias, giant Heracleums, Arundo Donax, several 

 species of Rhus and Spirea, Polygonum cuspidatum, Tamarix, 

 Yuccas, Polygonatum multiflorum, Solomons seal, Bocconia 

 cordata, and several sorts of Acanthus, besides taller trees, such 

 as the Ailanthus glandulosa, and Japanese maples ; these when 



* The Sub-tropical Garden. By W. Robinson. 2nd Edition, 1879. The 

 Bamloo Garden. By Bertram Freeman Mitford, 1896. 



