ARISTOLOCHIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ARUM. 435 



ARISTOLOCHIA (Dutchman's Pipe}. 

 Climbing Birthworts of curious form of 

 flower, and effective in foliage. A. Sipho 

 is generally used as a wall-plant, but is 

 finer for covering bowers, or for clam- 

 bering up trees or over stumps. A. 

 tomentosa is smaller, distinct in its tone 

 of green, and useful in like ways ; both 

 plants are N. American, growing with 

 freedom in ordinary garden soil. The 

 family is a large one, mainly tropical, but 

 some of the forms go into northern coun- 

 tries. Propagated by cuttings. 



ARMERIA (Thrift, Sea Pinfy.Rock 

 and shore plants of the Statice Order, 

 of which the best known is the common 

 A. vulgaris (Thrift). This native of our 

 shores, and of the tops of the Scottish 

 mountains, is very pretty, with its flowers 

 of soft lilac or white springing from 



The Tufted Thrift (Armeria csespitosa.) 



cushions of grass-like leaves ; but the 

 deep rosy form, rarely seen wild, best 

 deserves cultivation. It is useful for the 

 spring garden, for banks or borders in 

 shrubberies, for edgings, and for the rock- 

 garden, and is easily increased by division. 

 As old plants do not bloom so long 

 as young ones, occasional replanting is 

 desirable. In addition to the white 

 variety and the old dark red one, there 

 are Crimson Gem and Laucheana^ the 

 flowers intense pink. A. ccespitosa is a 

 rose-coloured kind from the south of 

 Europe, 5000 to 8000 ft. above the sea-level. 

 Its flower-heads, each from f in. to I in. in 

 diameter, are borne on slender stems I to 

 2 in. high, from June to September. The 

 leaves are in dense tufts, with a branching 

 woody root-stock. A rock-garden plant, 

 thriving in any well-drained, rather poor, 



sandy loam, in wet weather it is apt to damp 

 off at the neck in rich soil. Seed. A. 

 cephalotes (Great Thrift) is one of the 

 best hardy flowers from South Europe and 

 South Africa, and should be in every good 

 border and rock-garden among the taller 

 plants. Hardy on free and well-drained 

 soils, it now . and then perishes in hard 

 winters, especially on cold soils. It varies 

 a little from seed which is easily raised, 

 but all the forms are worth growing. It 

 is not, however, so readily got from 

 division. This species and its forms have 

 flowers much larger than the common 

 Thrift. A. setacea is an alpine species, 

 with little globose heads of pink flowers so 

 numerous as almost to conceal the plant 

 on flower-stems from I to 3 in. high. 

 This and A.juncea are found in the S. 

 of France on barren stony mounds and 

 on elevated tablelands. 



ARNEBIA (Prophet-flower). A hand- 

 some and distinct perennial herb, I ft. to 

 1 8 in. high. A. echioides has flowers of a 

 bright primrose-yellow, with five black 

 spots on the corolla, which gradually fade 

 and finally disappear. It is hardy either 

 on the rock-garden or in a well-drained 

 border, and prefers partial shade. It is a 

 native of the Caucasus and Northern 

 Persia, and though long introduced is 

 still among the rarest of hardy flowers. 

 Young plants bloom long, which adds to 

 their charms. Cuttings. A. Griffithi is 

 a tender annual, and though pretty not so 

 valuable as A. echioides. 



ARTEMISIA ( Wormwood}. Herbs 

 and low bushes covering a large part of 

 the surface of northern and arid regions. 

 Though often poor weeds, some have a 

 use in gardens, though rarely for their 

 flowers. A. anethifolia is one of the most 

 elegant herbaceous perennials, 5 ft. in 

 height. A. annua is a graceful plant 

 with tall stems 5 or 6 ft. high, the foliage 

 fine, and the flowers not showy in elegant 

 panicles. The hue is a fresh and pleas- 

 ing green, and the plant is a graceful 

 centre of a flower-bed or group. Other 

 kinds, like A. alpina and A. frigida, be- 

 long to an alpine group which is at home 

 in the rock-garden, while there are many 

 taller herbaceous and half-woody plants 

 of a silvery hue, such as A. Stelleriana, 

 A. cana, A. maritima, and some with 

 handsome Fern-like foliage like A. tan- 

 acetifolia. 



ARUM (Cuckoo Pint}. Tuberous 

 rooted herbaceous plants of distinct form, 

 of which some from South Europe are 

 hardy, and of interest in our gardens. 

 They thrive best in warm borders and! 

 about the sunny side of garden walls. 

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