August 22, 1094.] 



Garden and Forest. 



333 



Foreign Correspondence. 



The Herbaceous Border. 



AMERICAN horticulturists will probably be interested 

 _f\_ to hear something of this comparatively recent de- 

 velopment in English gardening, and which has grown to 

 be one of the most popular of the many summer attrac- 

 tions at Kew. Kew has some exceptional advantages for 

 this kind of gardening — namely, sufficient space to devote 

 to each kind of plant used for its most effective display — 

 and what is, perhaps, most important of all, an enormous 

 collection of hardy perennial and annual herbaceous plants 

 to select from. The border is at its best from about the 

 latter half of July till the frost comes in October or No- 

 vember. 



A few words descriptive of the border may perhaps be 

 useful. It is a wide strip of richly manured soil about 

 sixty yards long and twenty feet wide, backed on the east 

 side with a long range of greenhouses, and in front a fine 

 carpet-like stretch of lawn. The border is unshaded by 

 trees and well beyond the reach of any tree-roots. The 

 greater portion of it is given up entirely to showy herba- 

 ceous plants, but, to give variety and furnish the border in 

 winter, groups of shrubs, such as Roses, Genistas, Olearia 

 Haastii, Golden Privet, Laurestinus, shrubby Spiraeas, 

 Aucubas, etc., are planted at irregular intervals. These 

 not only furnish the border in winter, but they also add 

 considerably to its floral attractions in summer. 



Two years ago the border was trenched and heavily 

 manured During dry weather it is watered with the hose. 

 Many of the herbaceous perennials, such as the Sun- 

 flowers, Althaeas, Liliums, Pinks, Phloxes, etc., are left 

 permanently in the borders, but even these are best lifted 

 in early spring and replanted in freshly turned soil. 



As an object-lesson for the amateur, and, I think I may 

 add, for many professional horticulturists also, this big col- 

 lection of showy herbaceous plants has a special value at 

 Kew. Everything is, of course, labeled, so that the visitor 

 can make a selection to meet his own requirements and 

 take down the names of his choice, with a view to procur- 

 ing them from the nurserymen next year. And it is sur- 

 prising how many avail themselves of the opportunity thus 

 afforded. Most people desire to grow some flowers, but 

 they are often at a loss to know what will grow, when it 

 will flotver and the size it attains under ordinary treatment. 

 As I have said, Kew has exceptional facilities for show- 

 ing what is good among the newer introductions, and, 

 at the same time, keeping the old favorites from going 

 to the wall. I have made a list of the most attractive 

 of the plants in this border in the latter part of July, 

 grading them according to their heights in three sets, 

 namely, front row plants, middle row and back row. All 

 these plants are in full flower now, and many of them will 

 continue in flower for some weeks longer. At Kew each 

 plant is represented by a large effective group or mass, the 

 smallest plants covering a square yard or more, and 

 the largest five or six times that space. I give the list 

 in the hope that it will prove of some guidance to any 

 one wishing to make a border of the kind described. At 

 the same time I can strongly recommend such a border to 

 all who desire to have a feature of ever-changing interest 

 and beauty, in which respect it is superior to the mixed 

 shrubbery, the ordinary flower-garden, or even the rosery 

 itself. At the same time, it is easily managed by any one 

 who has a little knowledge of outdoor gardening, 



Back row — plants five feet or more in height when in 

 flower : 



Delphiniums, Hollyhocks — single and double, Bocconia 

 cordata, Lathyrus latifolius, L. rotundifolius, Sweet Peas, 

 Tropaeolum majus, Dahlias, Foxgloves, Polygonum poly- 

 morphum, Althaea ficifolia, Senecio macrophylla, Mischan- 

 thus Sinensis and M. Japonrcus (generally called Eulalias), 

 Sunflowers — perennial and annual, Lilium testaceum, L. 

 auratum, L. pardalinum, L. superbum. 



Middle row — plants from two to four feet in height when 

 in flower : 



Phloxes, Monarda didyma, Lychnis splendens, L. Chal- 

 cedonica, Pyrethrums, Campanula persicifolia, C. rapun- 

 culoides, Polemonium Richardsoni, Papaver orientale, 

 Potentilla argyrophylla, Lavatera trimestris, Lilium umbel- 

 latum, L. longiflorum, L. candidum, Centaurea Cyanus, He- 

 merocallis, Gladiolus, including C. Colvillei and its variety 

 alba, Anemone Japonica, Amaranthus caudatus, Calliopsis 

 elegans, C. atrosanguinea, Aconitums, Chrysanthemum 

 maximum, Coreopsis grandiflora, Achillea Millefolium, 

 Helenium pumilum, Engeron speciosus and the variety 

 superbus, Lythrum Salicaria, Centranthus ruber, Scabiosa 

 Caucasica, Eryngium giganteum, E. alpinum, E. Oliver- 

 lanum, Gypsophila paniculata. 



Front row — plants less than two feet in height when in 

 flower : 



Stocks, Marigolds, Pentstemons, Carnations, Pinks, Violas, 

 Calceolarias, Geum miniatum, Linaria delphinioides. 

 Clarkias, Sweet Alyssum, Iberis umbellata, Ageratum, Heli- 

 otrope, Antirrhinums, Godetias, Phacelia campanuloides, 

 Calliopsis Drummondii, Eschscholtzia Californica, Convol- 

 vulus minor, Viscaria oculata, V. cardinalis, Centranthus 

 macrosiphon, Linium grandiflorum, Acroclinium roseum, 

 Tropaeolum Vesuvius, Campanula Carpathica, Dimorpho- 

 theca annua. 



London. W. MatSOfl. 



Plant Notes. 



Statice latifolia. — Just now this plant is invaluable for 

 furnishing that misty halo which gives the touch of com- 

 pleteness to a bouquet of bright flowers. Gypsophila pan- 

 iculata has served this purpose for a month with its minute 

 white flowers, borne in open panicles and on almost invisi- 

 ble stems, but this is now past blooming. One of our 

 native plants, Euphorbia corollata, with its large, open 

 double-forked umbels of white petal-like involucres, is 

 almost as good. Some of the Galiums, especially G. aris- 

 tatum and G. hexaphyllum, serve the same purpose, and, in- 

 deed, no hardy border should be without all of these plants, 

 for they are invaluable to associate with cut flowers. None 

 of them, however, is better than the Statice, which, unlike 

 the others, bears flowers of a clear blue, but they are 

 so minute that they hardly do more than give a hazy sug- 

 gestion of their color. This plant is perfectly hardy, and 

 it flowers every year and remains in bloom a long time. 



Nelumbo lutea. — The Water Chinquapin, which is the 

 common name in the south-west for this native plant, has 

 always been rare in the middle states A colony of the 

 plants has existed in Swartswood Lake, Sussex County, 

 New Jersey, ever since the settlement of that state, and 

 they are still found there in great abundance, in spite of 

 their wholesale destruction by summer visitors. This year, 

 it is said, they bloomed earlier than usual and a corre- 

 spondent writes that they are deteriorating in size. Ten 

 years ago leaves from two and a half to three feet across 

 were not rare, and now the average size of the leaf is less 

 than two feet. A reason suggested for this by our corre- 

 spondent is that the largest flowers are always carried away 

 before they perfect seeds, and that the new seedlings must 

 therefore come from inferior flowers, so that the result is 

 the survival of the smallest. Perhaps it is more probable 

 that the plants are gradually exhausting the soil. This 

 Nelumbo is quite as handsome in its way as the so-called 

 Sacred Lotus, N. speciosa, which is now much more com- 

 mon in gardens than the native plant. It is said to be a 

 little more difficult to cultivate than the East Indian plant, 

 although skillful growers find no difficulty in establishing 

 it. The round leaves are usually held above the water by 

 the stout stem attached to them in the centre, and the pale 

 lemon-yellow flowers are six to ten inches across, and in 

 exceptional cases still larger. 



Monarda didyjia. — This is one of our native herbaceous 

 perennial plants which has never been used in the hardy 



