40 Hardy Plants for 



be found a graceful help. We have some knowledge of the capa- 

 bilities of one kind in this country. In a well sheltered moist spot 

 at Bicton many have seen Bambusa falcata send up young shoots, 

 long and graceful, like the slenderest of fishing-rods, while the older 

 ones were branched into a beautiful mass of light foliage of a dis- 

 tinct type. The same plant has been grown in the county of Cork 

 to a height of nearly twenty feet. This is the best known kind 

 we have. At Paris I was fortunate enough to observe several other 

 kinds doing very well indeed, although the climate is not so suitable 

 as Cork or Devon. These are Bambusa aurea, nigra, Simmonsii, 

 mitis, Metake, and viridis-glaucescens, the last of this group being 

 very free and good. All the others will prove hardy in the south 

 of England and Ireland, though, as some of them have not yet 

 been tried there, it requires the test of actual experiment. Those 

 who wish to begin cautiously had better take B. Simmonsii, viridis- 

 glaucescens, and nigra to commence with, as they are the most 

 certainly hardy, so far as I have observed. The best way to treat 

 any of these plants, obtained in summer or autumn, would be 

 to grow them in a cool frame or pit till the end of April, then 

 harden them off for a fortnight or so, and plant out in a nice warm 

 spot, sheltered also, with good free soil taking care that the roots 

 ire carefully spread out, and giving a good free watering to " settle" 

 all. There are no plants more worthy of attention than these 

 where the climate is at all favourable, and there are numerous 

 moist nooks around the British Isles where they will be found 

 to grow most satisfactorily. The pretty little Bambusa Fortune! 

 is also hardy. 



CHAM/EROPS EXCELSA. It may not be generally known that 

 this palm is perfectly hardy in this country. A plant of it in 

 her Majesty's gardens at Osborne has attained a considerable height. 

 It is also out at Kew, though protected in winter. On the water 

 side of the high mound in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's- 

 park, it is in even better health than at Kew, though it has not had 

 any protection for years, and has stood the fearfully hard frost of 



