432 



ARAI.IA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ARBUTUS. 



or Bee Flower (A. alpimi} so widely distri- 

 buted on the Alps, but is distinct, and by 

 far the best kind. A variegated form is 

 the dwarfest and whitest of the Rock 

 Cresses. A. blepharophylla (Rosy Rock 

 Cress) is not unlike the white Arabis, 

 but the flowers are rosy purple. It 

 varies a good deal, but there is no 

 difficulty in selecting a strain of the deepest 

 rose, its healthy tufts being effective in 

 April. There are variegated forms of the 

 commoner species, the prettiest of them 

 being A. lucida variegata, but none have 

 much value. A. arenosa, from the south of 

 Europe, is a pretty annual in the spring 

 garden or naturalised on old ruins or dry 

 bare banks. A.petrcea is a neat sturdy little 

 plant, with pure white flowers ; it is a native 

 of some of the higher Scottish mountains, 

 rare, but very pretty when well grown on a 

 moist well-exposed spot on the rock-gar- 

 den. A. Stelleri, a Chinese species, is a 

 much freer flowering plant than A. 

 blepharophylla, ripening seed freely, and 

 easily grown in the rock-garden. 

 Cruciferce. 



AR ALIA. Shrubs, or stout her- 

 baceous plants of the Ivy order, of diverse 



Aralia chinensis. 



aspects, few fitted for open air, except A. 

 canescens and A. spinosa, which thrive in 

 our gardens, and which in size and beauty 

 of leaf are far before many " fine-foliaged 

 plants " carefully grown in hothouses. 

 The Aralias described are now placed 

 under Fatsia, but we retain the older name 



as better known in gardens. A. papyri f era 

 (Chinese Rice-paper plant), though a 

 native of the hot island of Formosa, is 

 useful for the greenhouse in winter and 

 the flower garden in summer. It is hand- 

 some in leaf, but is only suited for 

 southern or very warm gardens. 



A. chinensis. A handsome hardy 

 shrub, with very large much-divided spiny 

 leaves, resembling those of the Angelica 

 tree of North America. In this country 

 it attains the height of from 6 to 12 ft. 

 In a well-drained deep loam it thrives 

 vigorously. May be useful in a flower- 

 garden where tender fine-leaved plants 

 will not thrive. Syn. Dimorphanthus 

 viandschitricus. 



A. Sieboldi. A shrubby species, with 

 fine green leaves, nearly hardy, and a 

 handsome bush on dry soils and near 

 the sea. It may be used in the flower 

 garden or the pleasure-ground, for isolated 

 specimens on the turf, or for association 

 with fine-leaved plants ; but it soon turns 

 yellow and unhappy-looking if exposed 

 to much sunshine. It is also hardier in 

 the shade, its foliage browning badly if 

 caught too suddenly by the sun after hard 

 frosts. Syn. Fatsia Japonica. 



A. spinosa (Angelica Tree) is the oldest 

 species in our gardens. Its small white 

 flowers appear in autumn in great panicles. 

 This fine shrub has often been put in 

 exposed places, but is better where its 

 great leaves will not be torn, and in every 

 size may be used in the flower garden 

 or pleasure ground. Cuttings of the 

 roots. N. America. 



ARAUCARIA (Monkey-Puzsle).^ 

 noble group of Cone-bearing trees, most 

 of which, unfortunately, are too tender for 

 our winters. A. imbricata (the Monkey- 

 Puzzle Tree) is a native of Chili, and the 

 only species which does at all well in 

 favourable situations. As a rule it soon 

 presents an unhappy appearance, and is 

 therefore not to be recommended for 

 planting. It was killed by thousands in 

 the nurseries and gardens in the severe 

 winter of 1860, and it is no way worthy 

 of its popularity in the garden, being 

 really a forest tree of a climate very 

 different to ours. 



ARBUTUS (Strawberry Tree}. Ever- 

 green shrubs of much beauty, both of 

 flower and form of leaf or bush, but 

 coming from warmer countries thrive 

 only on our sea shore or warmer 

 districts and on warm soils. The beau- 

 tiful A. Unedo grows 20 ft. high or more 

 in the coast districts, but inland it is 

 cut down in severe winters. There are 

 varieties of it, one of the best being A. 



