520 LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 



were either gigantic specimens of brugmansias, loaded wifh their 

 great white trumpet flowers enormous scarlet geraniums, trained as 

 pyramids, ten feet high, and brilliant with bloom rich passifloras, 

 and other vines, climbing up the rafters, or very finely grown exotics, 

 in tubs or large pots. 



Among the latter, I noticed with astonishment, fuchsias, grown 

 like standard roses to a wonderful size, "running up with a perfectly 

 straight stem sixteen feet high, and branching into a fine spreading 

 or depending head of foliage, studded at every point with their 

 graceful ear-drops. Fuchsia corrallina, among several species, was 

 much the finest, treated in this way, its luxuriant dark foliage, and 

 deep crimson-purple flowers being quite beautiful. 



I saw here two rare plants, which will, I think, be very fine de- 

 corations to our gardens in summer. The first is Habrothamnus 

 elegans ; a plant from Mexico, which, it is thought, may stand the 

 winter here.* It was planted in the ground here, and trained to a 

 pillar some ten or twelve feet high. The end of every branch was 

 loaded with clusters of fine dark pink flowers (of the tint of a ripe 

 Antwerp raspberry) ; and I was told it blooms without interruption 

 from spring to winter. The size, color, and profusion of the blossoms 

 are striking, and the whole plant is extremely showy. The second 

 favorite is the Oestrum aurantiacum ; a greenhouse shrub, lately in 

 troduced from Guatemala. It grows six or eight feet high, with fine 

 luxuriant shoots, and is loaded all summer with rich clusters of 

 golden buff blossoms very ornamental. Both these plants made 

 a grand display here in the conservatory, planted in the ground and 

 trained to the columns ; but if I am not greatly mistaken, both will 

 thrive equally well in the United States, if turned out in the open 

 border, and trained up to stakes like the dahlia, the roots being 

 taken up and housed in winter. 



The society of subscribers to whom this garden belongs, have 

 two or three horticultural shows in the grounds, every year, which 

 are among the most brilliant things of the kind on this side of the 

 Atlantic. On these occasions, the grounds are open to any one who 

 chooses to purchase tickets, and are thronged by thousands of visit- 



* I think Mr. Buist has introduced this fine plant, and has it in his nur- 

 sery. 



