THE GREATER BOG-PLANTS 187 



have it thriving in the wild- wood garden now, and making 

 a mock of brambles and long grasses. As for propagation, 

 you have only to cut off a few inches of black tentacle in 

 early spring, with a green bulge at the end, and plant it 

 firmly in good soil. Soon the lopped member will shoot 

 and start creeping. Once started, it will ramp on and on, 

 over naked rock or concrete, seeming to need no more 

 nourishment than it gets from its original starting-point 

 and the moisture all around. 



Who is there that will not grow Cypripedium Reginae ? 

 I need say no more. I have already chanted the psalm 

 of the Queen-Slipper. Give it light rich peaty loam, 

 perfect drainage, much enrichment of old leaf-mould, a 

 fair degree of moisture, and the shelter of neighbours. 

 Then you will do well and permanently with the Cypri- 

 pedium. Especially may one suggest the Osmundas regalis, 

 and cinnamomea, — or Struthiopteris, — as companions for 

 the Queen-Slipper, which never looks lovelier than when 

 peering from amid the rich filminess of ferns. The 

 Bamboos might serve, you would think, but not one of 

 them may ever be trusted within two hundred yards of so 

 choice and forward a spot as you would naturally choose 

 for the Cypripedium. Eulalia, again, tall and elegant, 

 is only fitted for such high places as you might otherwise 

 grace with the Pampas. A specially dainty occupant of 

 the large bog is the seldom-seen Poterium canadense. 

 Our own Poor Man's Pepper-box, Poterium sanguisorba, 

 is too dull in flower, despite its exquisite foliage, to find a 

 corner, but canadense, having the same choice design of 

 leafage, multiplies the whole scheme by three, and is a 

 fairy giant of a plant, sending up in very late summer 

 and all through the autumn, six-foot stems, terminated 

 by long fluffy spikes of white, similar to the Cimicifugas, 

 in a way, but far more attractive. This will grow in any 

 rough place, and needs no trouble at all. 



