TENDER PLANTS FOR THE SUMMER GARDEN 



47 



A SCOITISH GARDEN. 



indoors in October. In the same place Stag's Horn Ferns (Platycerium) and large Nephrolepis 

 are grown specially on teak-wood rafts and on tough, fibrous sods of loam, so that they 

 can be wired tightly to the gnarled and mossy trunks of the trees overhanging the stream, 

 and the effect is quite unique and surprising, the plants seeming quite natural amid their 

 leafy and rocky surroundings. 



One of the most subtle of all the conditions concerned in plant arrangement is that 

 known as "keeping," a word which here means "the right thing in the right place." 

 There is a perfect sense of fitness, or keeping, if we associate Bamboos, or the Greater 

 Reed (Arundo Donax), with the Giant Gunneras by a pondside or stream, because they 

 are all naturally marsh-loving or bog plants ; but if you plant Yuccas or Agaves in similar 

 situations the sense of fitness is destroyed, seeing that they naturally love and grow best in 

 dry, rocky, or stony places. 



Those who really wish to excel in this effective phase of flower and foliage gardening 

 should read Letter 111. in Ruskin's "Elements of Drawing" on "Colour and Composition," 

 in which the principles of form and of colour are clearly laid down. " The Sub-tropical 

 Garden, or Beauty of Form in the Flower Garden " (Second Edition), by Mr. W. Robinson, 

 is also a work on this subject that will repay the perusal of those interested. 



AbUtilonS. — These beautiful plants may be used in many 

 ways, i.e., for clothing greenhouse or conservatory pillars 

 and roofs, to grow in pots — though less attractive when 

 thus used — and for planting out in the open, where they 

 flower as freely as under glass. In the extreme South of 

 England and Ireland they may in sheltered spots be even 

 left out the whole year. A delightful kind for the summer 

 garden is Boule de Neige, which is the most beautiful of 

 the white kinds, very free both in bloom and growth. 

 This may be grouped upon the outskirts of the lawn, or 

 associated with other plants in large beds, and an easy 

 way to manage it is to sink the pots above the rim, 

 lifting again on the approach of frost. The plants will 



then continue to bloom under glass. They should be kept 

 moderately at rest, however, to prepare them well again fi >r 

 the summer garden. Of yellow, choose Golden Fleece or 

 Chrysostephanum ; and of reds, Sanglant and Scarlet 

 Gem. Anna Crozy, King of the Roses, and Premier are 

 of a rose or rosy purple shade, whilst of striped kinds, 

 which are always less effective than the selfs, striatum 

 splendidum is as good as any. A. Thompsoni fiore-pleno 

 has double orange and crimson veined flowers and variegated 

 leaves. The Almtilon is much valued lor its foliage, as 

 some kinds are conspicuously coloured, and of these the 

 most important areSouvenirde Bonn, Thompsoni, which is, 

 perhaps, the most popular of all, naevium marmoratum, 



