HARDY EXOTIC FLOWERING PLANTS. 139 
of the snow in N. America, and are there as welcome as the hawthorn 
with us. In its native country it inhabits woods, mostly in the shade 
of pines; and usually, wherever I saw it, it seemed to form a carpet 
under three or four layers of vegetation, so to speak—that is to say, 
it was beneath pines, medium-sized trees, tall bushes, and dwarf scrub 
about 18 in. high, while the plant itself was not more than one or 
two inches high. In our gardens this plant is very rarely seen, and 
even in the great American plant nurseries, where it used to grow it 
has disappeared. This is no wonder, when it is considered how very 
different are the conditions which it enjoys in gardens compared with 
those which I have above described. Without doubt it can be natu- 
ralised easily in pine woods on a sandy soil. 
Dog’s-tooth Violet, Erythronium.—A few days ago I saw a 
number of irregular clumps of these here and there on a gently slop- 
ing bank of turf, and, in front of clumps of evergreens, they looked 
quite charming, and their dark spotted leaves showed up to much 
better effect on the fresh green Grass than they do in borders. They 
were all of the red variety, and required a few of the white form 
among them to make the picture perfect. 
So writes a correspondent in Ireland. This beautiful plant, some 
years ago rarely seen in our gardens, adorns many a dreary slope in the 
Southern Alps, and there should be no great difficulty in the way 
of adding its- charms to the wild garden in peaty or sandy spots, 
rather bare or under deciduous vegetation. 
The Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis—Classed among British 
plants but really naturalised. Its golden buttons peeping through the 
moss and grass in snowdrop time form one of the prettiest aspects of 
our garden vegetation in spring. It will grow anywhere, and is one 
of the plants that thrive under the spreading branches of summer- 
leafing trees, as it blooms and perfects its leaves before the buds open 
on the beech. On many lawns, spring gardens might be formed by 
planting some spring flowering plants that finish their growth 
before the trees are in leaf. Another advantage of such positions 
is, that the foliage of the tree prevents any coarser plants taking 
possession of the ground, and therefore these little spring plants 
have the ground to themselves, and wander into natural little groups 
in the moss and grass, sometimes covering the surface with a sheet of 
blossoms. ; 
Funkia.—I have spoken of the conditions in the wild garden 
being more suitable to many plants than those which obtain in what 
