6/2 MYRICARIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



is a thin bush, 2 or 3 ft. high, having 

 fragrant leaves. In a moist spot, such as 

 a bog, it spreads by underground shoots 

 and makes a large mass. The North 

 Amer can species, M. cerifera (Wax 

 Myrtle), M. pennsylvanica, and M. cali- 

 fornica, are less common. The last is a 

 good evergreen of dense growth, with 

 fragrant leaves, green through the winter. 

 It is a vigorous plant, especially in light 

 soils, and is hardy, but is little known 

 outside botanical collections. The Wax 

 Myrtle is met with in old gardens, where 

 it was planted for its spicy foliage. I find 

 our native Sweet Gale free and vigorous 

 in stiff soils where few things grow well. 

 M. (Comptonid) asplenifolia (Sweet Fern). 

 A quaint little shrub 2 to 3 ft. high, 

 Fern-like in leaf, the leaves long and cut 

 into rounded lobes, and aromatic. It 

 spreads freely in sandy soils, and may be 

 increased by layers, suckers, or seeds. A 

 pretty plant in the sandy woods of many 

 other parts of N. America. In gardens 

 its place is among small shrubs and on 

 the margins of peat beds. 



MYRICARIA (German Tamarisk}. 

 M. germanica is an elegant shrub, hardly 

 differing from the common Tamarisk of 

 our sea- coasts, with feathery foliage and 



Myrrhis odorata (Sweet Cicely) 



many long plume-like clusters of small pink 

 flowers. It grows 6 or 8 ft. high in warm 

 sandy soils, and, like the true Tamarisk, 

 is a good shrub for dry banks where few 

 shrubs would flourish. 



MYRRHIS (Sweet Cicely}.- M. odorata 

 is a graceful native plant, with a peculiar 

 but grateful odour and sweet-tasting stems, 

 2 to 3 ft. high, with white flowers in early 

 summer, in compound umbels. Suitable 

 for naturalising near wood walks and in 

 open shrubberies in any soil, and may 

 be used among fine-leaved perennials. 

 Division. 



MYRTUS (Myrtle}. In southern and 

 coast counties the Myrtle is hardy enough 

 to be planted as a bush, for if its shoots 

 are killed by frosts it often recovers the 

 following season. But the common 

 Myrtle is most generally grown as a wall- 

 shrub, and house walls could not have a 

 more beautiful covering, especially if some 

 pretty Clematis or other graceful climber 

 be allowed to ramble amongst the Myrtle. 

 There .are many varieties of the common 

 Myrtle, every one with sweet-smelling 

 leaves, and all with white flowers. The 

 chief sorts are the Dutch, Italian, Roman, 

 Rosemary or Thyme-leaved, Nutmeg, 

 Box-leaved, and Andalusian. Besides 

 these there are some with variegated 

 leaves, the leaves being striped with gold 

 or silver, or spotted and blotched. In 

 planting a myrtle against a wall, choice 

 should, if possible, be given to a space 

 protected from northerly and easterly 

 winds, which in early spring are injurious 

 to the leaves. In old gardens the Myrtle 

 is often grown in tubs or pots for placing 

 on lawns or terraces in summer, and is 

 put under protection during winter : it is 

 much more worthy of such protection than 

 many of the plants to which our glass- 

 houses are now devoted in winter. 



NANDINA (Heavenly Bamboo). N. 

 domestica is a distinct and quaint-looking 

 and rather graceful shrub with dark 

 leathery leaves, becoming flushed with 

 red towards autumn. The flowers are 

 small and whitish, in panicles, succeeded 

 by berries about the size of peas, of 

 a fine red. In our climate, it does not 

 produce these freely, and for its perfecting, 

 no doubt, the plant wants a slightly better 

 climate than ours, but it lives in southern 

 and western gardens, and is best grouped 

 with American plants on peaty or free 

 soil. 



NARCISSUS (Daffodil}. Beautiful 

 bulbous flowers of mountain and alpine 

 pastures, plains, or woods, thriving ad- 

 mirably in most parts of our islands ; if 

 anywhere, better in the cooler northern 

 parts and in Ireland, though excellent in 

 cool soils in the south. They are to the 

 spring what Roses, Irises, and Lilies are 

 to summer, what Sunflowers and Chry- 



