438 



ASPERULA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ASPERULA (Sweet Woodruff}. A. 

 odorata, which belongs to the same family 

 as the Coffee Plant, is abundant in many 

 parts of Britain, and worthy of the garden 

 or shrubbery, especially in districts where 

 it does not occur wild. Its stems and 

 leaves give off a fragrant hay-like odour 

 when dried ; and in May the small white 

 flowers, dotted over the tufts of whorled 

 leaves, are pretty. It is sometimes used 

 as an edging to beds in cottage gardens, 

 and it goes prettily with some of the 

 smaller ivies, in forming edgings about 

 rocky banks and borders. A. azurea 

 setosa (A. orientalis) is a pretty hardy 

 blue annual, flowering in April and 

 May. Sow seed in the previous autumn. 

 A. cynanchica is a rosy-red perennial, and 

 a good bank or rough rock-plant. A. 

 hexaphylla is a tall slender white-flowered 

 species. 



ASPHODELINE. Plants nearly allied 

 to the following, but the stems of Aspho- 

 delus are leafless, while in Asphodeline 

 the leaves are produced on erect stems. 

 About six kinds are in cultivation, the 

 best-known being A. lutea, which grows 

 about 3 ft. high, with yellow flowers in 

 dense clustered spikes. A. taurica has 

 white flowers, on stems i to 2 ft. high. 

 A. liburnica (A. cretica) and A. tenuior 

 have yellow flowers in loose racemes. 

 A. damascena has white blossoms in 

 dense racemes, and A. brevicaulis has 

 yellow flowers in loose racemes. These 

 all thrive in any common garden soil, 

 and may be used in bold masses with 

 good effect among other tall plants. 



ASPHODELUS^//^^/). Tuberous 

 plants of the Lily Order, with spiked 

 flowers and not of a high order of beauty, 

 thriving in any free garden soil. The 

 best-known is the bold A. ramosus, a 

 South European species, familiar in 

 most old herbaceous plant borders, but 

 better fitted for the shrubbery. Other 

 kinds are A. fistulosus and tenuifolius, 

 with white flowers, the plant growing 

 from i to 3 ft. high. The last-named 

 kind has delicate feathery foliage. A. 

 creticuS) the Cretan Asphodel, has yellow 

 flowers, and is an easily cultivated border 

 plant. 



ASPIDIUM (Shield or Wood Fern}. 

 This family now embraces the Poly- 

 stichum and some species of , Lastrea. 

 There are numerous hardy kinds, among 

 them the Male Fern (A. Filix-mas} and 

 the Prickly Shield Fern. These thrive 

 even in small town gardens and places 

 similarly confined if given plenty of water 

 in hot dry weather. Either alone or in 

 groups they have a fine effect, as an under- 



growth to trees in the pleasure-ground or 

 in the shadier parts of the garden, and 

 are evergreen. Their varieties are endless, 

 no fewer than a hundred named sorts of 

 A. aculeatum and fifty of A. Filix-mas 

 being enumerated in trade lists. The 

 smaller and more delicate kinds require 

 some care. A. aculeatum succeeds best 

 in rich loam, with sand and leaf-mould, 

 well drained, and so does the Male Fern. 

 The bolder Ferns of this group give fine 

 cool effects in rightly chosen spots in and 

 near the flower garden. 



ASPLENIUM (S0/*aw/). The fine 

 dark green colour and free-growing cha- 

 racter of most of the Spleenwort Ferns give 

 them distinct value. The best soil for them 

 is a well-drained mixture of peat, sand, 

 and loam, in which the finer kinds of flower- 

 ing shrubs, such as Kalmias and Andro- 

 medas, thrive. A. Adiantum nigrum 

 (the black Spleenwort) would be at home 

 amongst hardy Azaleas, as they lose their 

 foliage in winter, and the Spleenwort would 

 then carpet the surface. The shade 

 of Azaleas in the summer, if not planted 

 too thickly, would suit this Spleenwort, 

 which, when wild, fringes copses or is found 

 on hedge-banks, where it gets a little pro- 

 tection from the summer sun. The various 

 smaller species of this genus belong 

 more to the choice fernery than to the 

 flower garden, unless when we are happy 

 in having old walls near or around it, 

 often so congenial a home for the smaller 

 rock-ferns. 



ASTER (Starwort, Michaelmas Daisy]. 

 Hardy perennial plants of much beauty 



Aster Stracheyi. 



and variety. There is a quiet beauty 

 about the more select Starworts, which 

 is charming in the autumn days, and 

 their variety of colour, of form, and 

 of bud and blossom is delightful. 



