BEAUMONTIA GRANDIFL OR A . 



of Japanese and American Azaleas ; I Persian rugs, and see such a wonderful 

 even as I saw it in rainy October between variety of form and colour spread out 



the showers it was rich and full of colour. 

 The Azaleas were dying off, and their 

 leaves were amber and russet or purple 

 crimson and gold. Here and there fea- 

 thery grasses and sedges contrasted with 



before one s eyes. 

 BEAUMONTIA GRANDIFLORA. 



Amid all the floral splendour of the tropics 

 few plants are more remarkable than this fine 

 climber, brought many years ago from north- 

 ern India. As a new plant it was for awhile 



the dark peatand the water, and Sumach i much grown, but has become rare, and is now 



not often seen in gardens, spite of its great 

 beauty and comparative ease of culture. One 

 cause of its neglect is that itjneeds a large space, 

 and to bloom well must have a sunny place un- 

 der a glass roof, where its massive leaves-throw 



and Pyrus lit up the place with colour. 

 Osmunda and other Ferns nestled at the 

 water's edge, and in other places were 

 carpets of the most exquisite Sphag- 

 num Moss, with 

 rainbow colouring 

 from vellow to 



green, and from 

 green to ruby red 

 or crimson. In one 

 place the North 

 American Pitcher 

 plants (Sarracenid) 

 and Shortia, with 

 its crumpled and 

 painted foliage, 

 seemed quite at 

 home. The one 

 thing that struck 

 me as peculiar was 

 that such a wide 

 range of plant life 



should have prospered so well in pure such shade over the rest of the house as to spoil 

 peat-earth, however well drained. On 

 one little hillock was a gnarled old speci- 

 men of the Chinese Juniper, with its 

 young foliage nearly as blue as a For- 

 get-me-not, and the bush could not have 

 looked more vigorous on the chalk hills 

 of Surrey or Kent, where our native 

 Juniper grows so freely. It was quite a 

 novel experience to walk up and down 

 dry and spongy walks of peat as soft as 



FLOWERING SPRAY OF BEAUMONTIA. (Much reduced.) 



it for many other things. Yet the splendour of 

 its pure white flowers, borne in lavish profusion 

 in spring, goes far to atone for this exaction. 

 Being a strong grower it does not succeed in 

 pots, but should be planted out in a Temperate 

 house in a mixture of good fibrous loam and 

 peat made porous with coarse sand, and in a 

 light and airy position. Unless so placed it does 

 not bloom freely. Its evergreen leaves are about 

 8 inches long and 3 wide, with a smooth, 

 shining, upper surface, downy beneath, with 

 ruddy hairs upon the veins, midribs, and young 

 growths. The bell- shaped flowers of pure 



