896 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



Other hardy ornamental-fohaged and showy-flowering plants 

 might be mentioned that are adapted for moist situations, but 

 the above will suffice to show what a variety of plants we have 

 to select from for adding to the picturesque appearance of the 

 waterside. 



Tropical and Tender Plants. 



Everyone who has viewed a representative collection of tropical 

 and tender Aquatics, such as is represented in Fig. 602, must 

 have admired the great diversity of their appearance and, in 

 many instances, the contrasts they present to the more familiar 

 hardy ones. Forming, as they do, a class of plants requiring 

 conditions resembling, as nearly as possible, those in which they 

 are found thriving in their native habitats, their cultivation in this 

 country has necessarily been limited to some of the principal 

 establishments where these conditions have been afforded, and 

 they then have gained for their enterprising owners a genuine 

 appreciation of horticulturists. Foremost amongst these plants are 

 the Water Lilies that have been introduced from far distant lands, 

 as well as the Egyptian Lotus Lily {^Nymphcea Lotus, Fig. 601), 

 which may be mentioned as one of the most noteworthy plants 

 that flourished in the land of the Pharaohs, its name being 

 intimately associated with a remote civilisation. Enduring as has 

 been the fame of this plant, it is with its varieties and hybrids 

 but one section of a class of Water Lilies that embraces several 

 others possessing the best qualities of these beautiful flowers ; 

 the exquisite colouring of some of them is most remarkable, and, 

 in addition, some of them are delightfully fragrant. Rare as 

 some of these kinds are, and consequently difficult to procure, 

 their great beauty more than compensates for the expenditure 

 involved in obtaining them as well as for the attention that is 

 necessary in cultivating them successfully with those which are 

 more generally grown and therefore more readily procurable. 

 Included amongst the choicest of them are the beautiful 

 clear light blue JV. gigantea from Australia, and the deeper, 

 richly - coloured blue N. zanzibarensis from Zanzibar, both 

 of them unique as regards their colours and the elegance of 

 their flowers. Every available space in a well-constructed 

 Aquatic house serves to provide a congenial situation for some 

 appropriate plant that will then display itself to the best 

 advantage, and there are many suitable for this purpose. Sub- 

 ordinate effects should always be studied if flowering plants be 

 introduced when the Nymphaeas and other showy Aquatics are 

 in blossom ; and this may be best effected with the aid of a 

 sufficient number of ornamental foliaged plants of suitable sizes; 

 otherwise the practice might detract from what should be the 

 leading and most pleasing feature of a structure designed for 

 the cultivation of tropical Aquatics. 



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