172 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 



CHAPTER IX 



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Of the shrub-Spiraeas I will not speak here — at least not 

 of the big species such as ariaefolia. And Aruncus has 

 been treated of ' in another place/ But if you want 

 gigantic, tropical vegetation for the rich rough uplands 

 and outskirts of your bog, you cannot do better than turn 

 to the gorgeous, herbaceous Spiraeas. Of all these I would 

 say that if your space will possibly allow, they will look 

 better in wide tracts and colonies than as isolated 

 specimens. In point of growth, luxuriant and rich as 

 they are, they do not run at the root or make themselves 

 a nuisance, and can therefore be admitted without scruple 

 even to the smallest territories. But nothing can beat 

 the effect of a broad sweep of palmata or gigantea, and, 

 where possible, they should certainly be planted with a 

 lavish hand. I conceive of a broad, shallow dip between 

 two wooded hills, through which, in lake and marsh, 

 shall meander a little stream, while above, far up on 

 either side, rise sheltering forests. Here, im the open 

 space of this glen shall be towering masses of the finer 

 bamboos, clumps of Thalictrum aquilegifolium, waving 

 copses of the big Lilies — auratum, pardalinum, tigrinum, 

 giganteum. And here, too, amid belts of the Siberian 

 Iris — there will not be blazing sun-heat enough for Iris 

 Kaempferi in this wood-garden of mine — there shall be 

 jungles of the rosy herbaceous Spiraeas. For these, one 



