28 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



the broad-foliaged plants which are the chief 

 ornament in the gardens of Paris, and in the 

 delicate tufts of flowers which nestle in the 

 crevices of our rockeries. But there is much 

 still to be done. It is, after all, only occasion- 

 ally that either Semi-tropical or Alpine gardening 

 is to be seen in any perfection. For the former, 

 Battersea and Victoria Parks are extremely good, 

 and for the latter the Messrs. Backhouse's nursery, 

 near "York, has a deserved reputation. Many 

 very handsome semi-tropical plants are all but 

 hardy, and require at most only a protection 

 during the winter months. The canna was 

 known to Gerard and to Cowley, and needs no 

 more care than a dahlia. The Pampas grass 

 and Arundo conspicua are perfectly hardy, The 

 Arundinaria falcata is rather more tender, but 

 unless it flowers, when, like the American aloe, 

 it will die, it will generally spring up from the 

 root, even when its long canes themselves are 

 cut by the frost. The aralia, ricinus, and others, 

 are no doubt safer ^for being housed during the 

 winter, and then plunged, either as centres for 



