424 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



front of mixed borders or for the margin 

 of shrubberies, and also for naturalising. 

 There is a white variety of A. reptans, also 

 a form with variegated leaves, and another 

 with purplish ones, this being finer than 

 the type. 



AKEBIA. Of these climbing or twin- 

 ing shrubs of the Barberry order, A. 

 qtiinata is best known. It comes from 

 China, hardy, is a good plant for a trellis, 

 pergola, or wall, growing 12 ft. or more 

 high. It is best to let it run over an 

 Evergreen, being then better protected 

 against cold winds, which may injure its 

 flowers. It has long slender shoots, and 

 fragrant claret purple flowers of two kinds 

 large and small, which are produced in 

 drooping spikes. The Japanese^, lobata 

 is a climber of elegant habit, the flowers 

 small, dull, and fragrant. 



ALISMA (Water Plantain}. Water 

 plants, of which two are fitted for growing 

 with hardy aquatic plants. A. Plantago is 

 rather stately in habit, having tall panicles 

 of pretty pink flowers. When once planted 

 it sows itself freely. The other kind is 

 A. ranunculotdes, a few inches high, in 

 summer bearing many rosy blossoms. 

 Both are adapted for wet ditches, margins 

 of pools, and lakes. A. natans is a small 

 floating pretty British plant. There are one 

 or two Chinese kinds, single and double. 



ALLIUM (Garlic, Onion). Liliaceous 

 bulbs not often of value for the garden, and 

 frequently with an unpleasant odour when 

 crushed ; to growers of collections there 

 are some interesting kinds, of which a few 

 are worth growing. They thrive in ordi- 

 nary soil, the bulbs increasing rapidly, 

 some giving off little bulblets, which 

 in some soils make them too numer- 

 ous. The following are among the 

 kinds worthy of culture : A. neapoli- 

 tanum,paradoxum, ciliatum, subhirsutum, 

 Clusianum pulchellum, triquetrum (all 

 with white flowers), azureum and cceru- 

 leum (blue), pedemontanum (mauve), 

 Moly and flavum (yellow), fragrans 

 (sweet scented), oreophyllum (crimson), 

 descendens (deep crimson), narcissiftorum 

 (purplish), Murrayanum, acuminatum, 

 and Macnabianum (deep rose). These 

 mostly grow from I ft. to 18 in. high, some 

 2 ft. or 3 ft. 



ALLOSORUS (Parsley Fern). A. 

 crispus is a beautiful little British Fern 

 found in mountainous districts. It re- 

 quires abundance of air and light, but 

 should be shaded from the hot sun. In 

 the rock-garden it does well between large 

 stones, with broken stones about its roots, 

 and its fronds just peeping out of the 

 crevice. 



ALNUS (Alder). A neglected group 

 of trees which have some value in moist 

 places and to help to bind the banks of 

 streams. Of the native kind A. gluti- 

 nosa there are several varieties, anduof the 

 cut-leaved one there are fine specimens 

 at Wynnstay and many other places. A. 

 incana has also several varieties seldom 

 of more value than the wild tree. Among 

 other cultivated kinds are japonica, cordi- 

 folia, barbata, occidentalis, oregona, and 



Alnus glutinosa. 



serrulata : all of easy culture. None are 

 of greater value as to effect than our own 

 native kind. 



An advantage the tree possesses is its 

 tendency to retain its foliage. There is, 

 however, a great deal of difference in this 

 respect among the species and varieties. 

 Although in a state of nature most of the 

 Alders are found near water, they will 

 grow well in Britain in all but the lightest 

 soils. 



ALONSOA (Mask-flower). Mostly 

 Peruvian annual plants, of the Snapdragon 

 order, of which the best species are A. 

 Warsceiviczi, having small bright orange- 

 red flowers ; A. linifolia, and A. acutifolia, 

 a slender-growing herb ; A. incisifolia, 

 also a pretty kind ; similar to this is A. 

 myrtifolia of vigorous habit with flowers 

 larger than any other kind, and of a more 

 intense scarlet than those of A. linifolia ; 

 A. a/&/?0ra has pure white flowers, yellow 

 in the centre, and A. linearis has a pro- 

 fusion of light scarlet flowers. All the 

 species are easily grown, both in pots and 

 the open ground : from seed in spring 

 and also by cuttings in the spring. 



ALOYSIA (Sweet Verbena). A. citrio- 

 dora is a fragrant-leaved bush with 

 small and not showy flowers. Its pale 

 green foliage goes well with any flower, 

 and it may be grown against a sunny wall, 

 where, if protected by a heap of ashes 

 over its roots and a warm straw mat over 



