TALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED PLANTS 17 



Aster. — Michaelmas Daisy. Many of the more 

 vigorous species and varieties are quite at home in the 

 wild garden, and when once established need no care. 

 They look well, planted in open spaces in woods or 

 massed on the outside of coverts, but should not be 

 placed immediately beneath trees. Those of the Novi 

 Belgii and Nova Anglia sections are perhaps best fitted 

 for naturalising. 



Astragalus. — Some of the taller-growing of this 

 family, such as the Siberian A. galegiformis , which 

 grows to a height of four feet, are fairly effective 

 plants. 



Astrantia. — Plants of no great beauty but possessing 

 distinct characteristics which render them quaintly 

 interesting. A. maxima grows to a height of two feet. 



Bamboo. — These are invaluable for their graceful 

 growth and add much to the charm and interest of the 

 scene when in vigorous health. They require a 

 sheltered situation, suffering far more from cold gales 

 than from frost, of which many of the species will 

 endure twenty degrees. The bamboos are now 

 divided into two sections Arundinaria and Phy Host achy s. 

 The best known is A.japonica formerly called Bambusa 

 Metake. Bamboos should be planted preferably in deep 

 valleys. Where they are grouped the clumps of the 

 taller-growing species should be at least twenty-five 

 feet apart or the arching wands will interlace. Though 

 where space permits twenty species or more may well 

 be planted, limited room makes a selection imperative. 

 The following six are elegant species : — Arundinaria 

 nobi/is, which in Cornwall attains a height of twenty- 

 five feet ; A. Falconeri, 2l particularly graceful species ; 

 Phyllostachys mitis, 2l tall grower, with A. nitida, P. 

 viridiglaucescens and P. Henonis, three very ornamental 

 kinds ; while the broad-leaved Bambusa pa/mata, a dwarf 

 grower, may be grouped in the vicinity to accentuate 



