FLORA AND SYLVA. 



NATIVE PLANTS IN THE 

 AUTUMN GARDEN. 



In cold wet years our best flowers are often 

 those of our own land. If our September wea- 

 ther was always fair, garden flowers would be 

 very happy ; but with the rains and storms 

 now coming, bedding and other tender plants, 

 and even hardy exotics, are soon spoiled. Then 

 it is pleasant to see how some native plants are 

 refreshed rather than disheartened by the rains, 

 and come into welcome bloom. In many coun- 

 try places where there is room enough these 

 take care of themselves ; for instance, theHare- 

 bell and the purple Vetch [V. craccd) add 

 much to the beauty of the autumn. Though 

 the Heather may be very common in many dis- 

 tricts, and its fine varieties may be planted, the 

 less known Heaths, such as the Cornish Heath 

 (E. vagans) and Dorset Heath (E. ciliaris), 

 may be planted in rough places, and no plants 

 are more deserving of it. The little Furze, too, 

 which is so abundant in many upland wastes, 

 is a pretty shrub, helping to form foregrounds 

 to drives, and in low coverts just at this time 

 blooming cheerfully and freely while other 

 shrubs are past. As we write it is quite full of 

 beautiful fresh blooms. It is easily raised from 

 seed like the common Furze. Forget-rne-not 

 is still very pretty by water, and where the soil 

 is rich the effect in broad fringes is very pretty. 

 The berries of the Wild Roses begin to colour, 

 and the various Blackberries also add to the 

 beauty of the coverts and hedgerows. By the 

 waterside, one of the handsomest bushes we 

 have, the Water Elder, begins at this time to 

 show the fine colour of its berries, and the 

 Orpine on banks and the Golden Rods in the 

 coverts also make a show. But we are not 

 now thinking of wild flowers in their wilds but 

 of such of them as are of effective garden use. 

 The handsomest plant now in flower, and the 

 most enduring in all this downpour, is the pur- 

 ple Loosestrife and the rosy form of it, 5 feet 

 high round our ponds, growing in the moist 

 banks and in the water, too. The French Wil- 

 low (Epilobium lancifoliuni) is also good, also 

 Codlings and Cream (E. hirsutum) ; this near 

 water is very showy at present, and the blue 

 Cornflower is pretty on banks above. Three 

 kinds of bold grasses near water are in bloom, 

 namely, the common Reed, the tall Manna- 



Grass {Glyceria aquaticd), and Air a caspitosa. 

 Nor must we forget : the Catheads (Typha) of 

 which two or three forms are stately on the 

 margins of ponds. Another pretty plant is the 

 common Flax {hinaria vulgaris), which is so 

 happy on banks, and such a constant bloomer 

 in late summer and autumn. Like the Welsh 

 Poppy, it sometimes sows itself in borders, 

 and is welcome. 



P^ONIA LUTEA : WITH COL- 

 OURED PLATE FROM A 

 DRAWING BY H. G. MOON. 



The Paeonies almost without exception 

 have splendid colour, but yellow is an 

 unusual hue, being found only in P. 

 TVittmannia7ta, so that the present plant 

 is a valuable gain. .It is also exceptional 

 in having woody stems, which are else- 

 where found only in its near ally, P. 

 Montan, the well-known Tree Paeony. 

 With this species it ought to cross, and, 

 if some of the best forms of P. Mou- 

 tan are selected, there can be no doubt 

 of a good result. P. lutea is a native 

 of Yunnan and was introduced by the 

 Abbe Delavay, who sent seeds of it 

 to the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, in 

 1887, where it first flowered in 1891. 

 They were described on the packet as 

 seeds of an Alpine plant, collected on 

 the Che-Te-Hotze, above Tapintze. 

 Whether the plant is hardy or not does 

 not appear yet to be known — so rare 

 is it that experiments, no doubt, have 

 been impossible. At Kew, in 1900, the 

 first flowers produced in this country 

 were obtained in the Temperate house. 

 The plant was figured in The Botani- 

 cal Magazine in the following year, 

 fol. 7788. Like P. Moutan, it may be 

 grafted, and apparently with very good 

 result ; for Monsieur L. Henry, writ- 

 ing in Le Jardin of the 20th of July, 



