HAEDT HA>'DSOME POLIAGE PLANTS. 39 



and green. Ivy requires a deep and rather light soil. 

 Before it begins to climb, it is best to nail it up, as a tree 

 is trained, and it will soon throw out rootlets and attach 

 itself, if the substance to which it is trained offers any 

 facilities whatever. The above-named variegated kinds 

 are sufficiently hardy to stand our English winters, 

 unless they happen to be most unusually severe. They 

 may be propagated by cuttings on a north border, in a 

 sandy soil, and they must be kept moist through the 

 autumn. 



The common ivy will grow to a height of 40 feet, and 

 it is often wonderfully stout in the stem. The following 

 dimensions may be named: — One at Brockley Hall, 

 Somersetshire, stem 12 inches in diameter ; one at Mor- 

 peth, 19 inches ; and one at Gigean, near Montpellier, 

 described by De Candolle, is six feet in circumference at 

 the base : this covers 72 square yards, and is said to 

 be 430 years old. There is also one near Pountains 

 Abbey, the stem of which is 3 feet 2 inches in girth. A 

 curious peculiarity in the ivy is the variety in the shape 

 of the leaves on the same plant. It flowers in October, 

 and the flowers are much frequented by bees and flies of 

 diflerent kinds. The berries are ripe by Christmas, 

 when they form food for blackbirds, thrushes, and wood 

 pigeons. 



The variegated-leaved Colt's-foot is a low growing, 

 very beautiful, hardy perennial, producing its yellow 

 flowers in IMarch. It is a native of Grreat Britain, and does 

 best in a moist clayey locality . The leaves are put out 

 after the flowers are gone off ; they are large and round- 

 ish, with an angularly varied, toothed edge, and are 

 boldly variegated with shades of green and white. They 

 are covered with a cottony down above, and are white 

 and woolly beneath. They can be increased readily 

 from pieces of the running root. 



The variegated Lily of the Valley, Convalaria majalis 

 variegata, has its bright oval pointed leaves beautifully 

 and distinctly striped with bright yellow. It requires a 

 shady position, and soil of poor sandy loam. To keep 

 the stripes distinct it is best to cultivate the roots in pots. 



