FORSYTHIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



FRAXINUS. 



559 



ing of a rather loose rambling habit, 

 it is well suited for training on a wall ; 

 indeed, few subjects are superior to it 

 for a sunny spot, where the wood will 

 thoroughly ripen, and a good display of 

 spring bloom will be ensured. F. suspensa 

 should not be employed as a wall plant 

 in a shady position, as the yield of flowers 

 will be meagre ; nor where a close-fitting 

 subject is required, as it is seen to the 

 greatest advantage when the principal 

 branches are secured to the wall till the 

 allotted space is covered, and the shoots 

 are afterwards allowed to grow at will, 

 since by this mode of treatment the long 

 slender branchlets dispose themselves in 

 a very graceful manner, and the upper 

 ones hang down for a long distance. A 

 wall treated in this way is quite a mass of 

 gold. If any pruning is required, it should 

 be done as soon as the flowers are over, 

 so that the young shoots may have as long 

 a growing and ripening season as possible. 

 As a rule, however, they need little pruning 

 bsyondthe removal of weak or exhausted 

 shoots. When rambling about in a semi- 

 wild state, or when hanging over a bank 

 or a cutting, this Forsythia is seen to 

 very great advantage. It also forms a 

 most ornamental specimen in the open 

 if it is secured to a good stout stick when 

 planted, and is afterwards allowed to grow 

 at will ; for the long slender shoots, which 

 are produced in considerable numbers, 

 will dispose themselves in a graceful 

 manner, and in favourable situations 

 many of them will root at the points, and 

 will soon form quite a colony around the 

 central plant. A large mass of Forsythia 

 grown in this way is most striking. F. 

 viridissima, another species, is quite a 

 shrub. It needs a spot fully exposed to 

 the sun, so that a good display of bloom 

 may be ensured. A certain Forsythia 

 was sent here from the Continent two or 

 three years since under the name of F. 

 intermedia, and was announced as a 

 hybrid between F. suspensa and F. viri- 

 dissima. Though at first very little 

 disposed in its favour, I have recently 

 seen it in a better light. Its general 

 appearance is about midway between its 

 alleged parents. Forsythias may be 

 flowered under glass in the greenhouse 

 or the conservatory during the early 

 months of the year, and, if so treated, 

 they will bloom in a very satisfactory 

 manner. Owing to the time the blossoms 

 expand when in the open ground, very 

 little forcing is necessary to have them 

 in bloom quite early. Fortunei and 

 Sieboldi are names often used ; but these 

 represent only vigorous forms of F. 



suspensa. As the shoots of the rambling 

 kinds root from the points almost as 

 readily as a bramble, and cuttings strike 

 freely, there are no obstacles in the way 

 of their rapid propagation. The shrubby 

 F. viridissima also strikes without difficulty 

 from cuttings, though scarcely to the 

 same extent as the others. 



FOTHERGILLA. F. alnifolia is a 

 North American dwarf shrub, desirable on 

 account of its flowering early in spring, its 

 feathery tufts of fragrant white flowers ap- 

 pearing before the leaves, which resemble 

 those of the common Alder. Suitable for 

 a moist peat border or the low part of the 

 rock-garden. 



FRAGARIA (Strawberry}. -- The 

 Strawberry is much more useful in the 

 fruit garden than in the flower garden, yet 

 some kinds are pretty in the rock-garden. 

 The common English Strawberry is very 

 pretty on banks, and occasionally most 

 useful on old mossy garden walls where 

 it establishes itself. One kind, F. mono- 

 phylla, is a beautiful rock-garden plant, 

 with large white flowers. The Indian 

 strawberry, F. in-dica, is a pretty little 

 trailer, bearing many red berries and 

 flowering late. All are of the easiest 

 culture in any not too wet soil, and of 

 facile increase by division. 



FRANCOA (Maiden's Wreath}. - 

 Chilian plants of the Saxifrage family, 

 somewhat tender, and suitable for dry shel- 

 tered positions on warm borders or banks, 

 preferring a light loam. They are good for 

 cutting, as the long branching stems 18 

 in. to 2 ft. high, bear numerous white or 

 pink blossoms on stalks. The plants are 

 raised from seed, and in spring furnish 

 flowers for a long time. F. ramosa, bear- 

 ing white or pink flowers, and having a 

 short stem, differs from F. appendiculata, 

 which is stemless, and has flowers deeper 

 in colour than the others. F. sonchifolia 

 has also a short stem, but its leaves are 

 sessile and not stalked, and its flowers are 

 rose-coloured. They are often grown as 

 window plants, and are best as such where 

 they do not thrive in the open air. 



FRAXINUS (Ash). Trees of some 

 distinction and value for their timber ; 

 natives of cold and northern regions, and 

 one of them our precious native Ash, of 

 great beauty of form, often in places quite 

 away from gardens. Important as the 

 foreign trees of this race are our native 

 kind is so much better known to us, and 

 so remarkable, that we cannot be sur- 

 prised at the neglect of the other kinds. 

 The British Ash is a variable tree, and its 

 varieties are more valuable than those of 

 many other trees, the best of them not 



