192 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 



loam above the bog. This is like a great Thistle — say 

 Carduus er'wphorus, on a rather smaller scale — with big 

 flowers of a maroon almost verging upon black. Sten- 

 anthium rohistum is another novelty, to be planted by 

 colonies in a similar place — whereas the Saussurea is 

 most effective as an individual. Stenanthium is so new 

 that I can say little about it. The leaves are long and 

 grass-like, and the flower stem, of four to six feet, is said 

 to carry huge hearse-plumes of foam, that develop, from 

 a greenish shade, through pure white to pink. As for 

 the Gayfeathers, I have never seen a Liatris I would will- 

 ingly admit to my territories. They are brilliant, with 

 their long close spikes of blossom, opening untidily from 

 the top, and they all thrive robustly in or near the well- 

 drained drier parts of the bog, in deep nutritious loam. 

 But in all the varieties, the colour is of too pungent a 

 magenta to be anything but a pain. Xerophylhmi aspho- 

 deloeides is another North American, just what its name 

 implies — an Asphodel with greyish grassy leaves and 

 spikes of white flowers, far more brilliant of colour. 

 Near the bog this does well in deep sandy peat, but I 

 have never had much joy or triumph of it ; and I positively 

 dislike its type, the true Asphodel, a gawky thing with 

 spikes of dingy dismal and white, sodden and ghostly 

 enough in tone to be, indeed, the phantasmal flower of 

 the underworld — though, for that matter, no Heaven 

 would be Elysium for me if it grew no prettier flowers 

 than Asphodel. 



The Phloxes, siiffruticosa and dectissata, with all their 

 innumerable gorgeous varieties, do not belong to me to 

 treat of, although no more glorious denizens of the bog 

 could possibly be imagined, and though, in hot dry 

 climates, there could be no better chance of enjoying the 

 florist's Phloxes than by using them as bog-plants, in 

 damp rich soil. However, I quail from trespassing on 



