November, 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



181 



way of getting this effect is to set out banana 

 plants, which are generally torn to shreds by 

 a storm. 



The most wonderful hardy plant of this 

 type in England is the Gunnera, a waterside 

 plant with leaves often six feet across and 

 sometimes ten. A New Jersey nursery- 

 man claims that is it hardy with protection 

 as far north as New York, but I doubt if it 

 will ever thrive north of Virginia. The 

 nearest we can get to it is Rheum Collini- 

 anum, which is the least like a rhubarb of 

 all the many species I saw at Kew and else- 

 where. 



The grandest hardy trees with big leaves 

 is Magnolia macrophylla, which has leaves 

 a yard long and flowers a foot across. Long 

 Island is about the limit of its hardiness. 



The catalpa, paw paw and empress tree, 

 or Paulownia, have a tropical appearance, 

 and their leaves are about a foot across. 

 The gardeners have an old trick of growing 

 Paulo wni as in a formal bed and cutting 

 them down every year, by which plan they 

 get the biggest leaves. This seems to me a 

 poor kind of beauty compared with the grand 

 trees you see at Flushing, Long Island, 

 especially when they are covered with their 

 royal flowers. The bedding system sacrifices 

 all the bloom. 



Among perennial herbs with huge leaves 

 are the two species of Petasites here pictured, 

 one of which has leaves about four feet long. 

 In May I showed the heart-shaped leaves 

 and yellow flowers of Senecio Clivorum, 

 and in September a gigantic Crambe covered 

 with misty white bloom. There are several 

 species of plume poppy, or Bocconia, that 

 have leaves like those of a fig. 



MASCULINE EFFECTS 



All large leaves tend to have a masculine 

 effect in the landscape and there is one leaj 

 form that is peculiarly virile. Here again 

 the botanist helps us with his word "pal- 

 mate," which refers to the outstretched fingers 

 of the hand. The chief plant used by the 

 "bedding crowd" to produce this effect is 

 the castor oil bean, but fan palms, abutilons, 

 fatsias and tender aralias are also turned out 

 of greenhouses for the purpose. 



A good hardy plant of this type is the elm- 

 leaved spirea, which the nurserymen call 

 Spiraa JJhnaria. The one they call Spircea 

 palmata has a spirited, almost eager, appear- 

 ance. But it is possible for palmate leaves 

 to look too eager. The aroids, an immense 

 tropical family, are noted for their dragon- 

 like leaves, and the names given them by 

 the botanists refer to salamanders, demons 

 and other creatures with "claws to snatch." 

 It is proper that these curiosities should be 

 cultivated in greenhouses by collectors, but 

 we ought not to have such diabolical sugges- 

 tions in northern gardens. 



Indeed, the more this resemblance to the 

 human hand is softened, the better it is for 

 a country where people admire the strong 

 man that has gentle manners. The grasping 

 suggestion is likely to vanish when there are 

 three or seven or nine lobes, instead of 

 exactly five fingers, and when these lobes are 

 cut or fringed, we get native strength clothed 



Saxijraga peltata (on the bank) has leaves a foot across and many pinkish or white flowers half an inch across 

 in early spring before the leaves. A Californian plant, but hardy in Massachusetts with slight protection 



in delicacy. To this type belong larkspurs, 

 globe flowers, anemones, aconites and other 

 perennials. 



Among trees the horse chestnut is a noble 

 example; also the sweet gum, which has a 

 starry suggestion. But the maples have 

 more palmate beauty than any other hardy 

 trees. The Japanese kinds are doubtless the 

 favorites for sub-tropical effect, but our own 

 red and sugar maple look more at home than 

 any other trees with palmate leaves, and 

 therefore ought to be planted on a larger 

 scale than any other. 



In other words, I should never use palms 

 in a northern landscape. Instead I should 



use hardy plants with palmate leaves, for 

 these have the spirit of tropical beauty in 

 bodies that are toughened to our climate. 



BAMBOO EFFECTS 



But we make a great mistake if we sup- 

 pose that palms are all fan-shaped. Many, 

 if not most, belong to the feathery, or pinnate, 

 type of beauty. The northern florist sells 

 more plants of the feathery Kentias and 

 Areca than of the fan-shaped Latania. And 

 we find this feathery grace highly developed 

 in another great tropical family — the bam- 

 boos. So full are bamboos of tropical sug- 

 gestion that people are always surprised to 



The shining bamboo (Arundinana nitiaa), the most feathery of hardy bamboos, 

 feet high. Must be protected from the midday sun 



sis to eight 



