HARDY EXOTIC FLOWERING PLANTS. 



123 



similar eftect, and produces myriads of star-like white flowers. 

 Numerous singular eft'ects may be pi-oduced from species less sliowy 

 and more curious and vigorous, as for exampli- lln- old yellow A. Moly. 



The white Narcissus-like Allium, in the orchards of Provence ; tj^pe 

 of family receiving little place in gardens which may be beautiful 

 for a season in wild places. 



Alstrcemeria. — All who care for hardy iiuwers must admire the 

 Leauty of Alstroemeria aurantiaca, especially when it spreads into Ixdd 

 healthy tufts, and w1k-u there is a great variety in the height of the 

 flowering stems. A valualde (piality of the plant is, that in any light 

 soil it spreads freely, and it is quite hardy. For dry places between 

 shrubs, for dry or sandy banks (either wooded or bare), co^jses, or 

 heathy places, this plant is admirable. I have noticed it thriving in 

 the shade of fir trees. It is interesting as beinu a Soiith American 

 plant, thriving in any open soil. 



Marsh Mallow, Althmi. — These are plants rarely seen out of 

 botanic gardens now-a-days, and yet, from their vigour and showy 

 flowers, they may aftbrd unique effects in the wild garden. The 

 common Hollyhock is an Altluea, and in its single form is typical 

 of the vigorous habit and the numeroiis showy flowers of other ram- 

 pant species, such as A. ficifolia. A grou}> of these plants would be 

 very eflective seen from a wood walk, no kind of garden arrangement 

 being large enough for their extraordinary vigour. It is not a numer- 

 ous genus, but there are at least a dozen species, ])rincipally found on 

 the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, and also in Western Asia. 



Alyssum. — In s^jring every little shoot of the wide tufts and flakes 



