ORNAMENTAL AND PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



95 



in F. suspensa, has been frequently put down in favor 

 of the latter by most growers. The color is a light 

 bright sulphury yellow, and shows to excellent advan- 

 tage in the shrubbery border in early spring. On our 

 grounds it comes into bloom from a half-week to a week 

 before F. viridissiina. 



Fortune's forsythia is an erect-growing, spreading 

 bush, with bright green foliage and handsome drooping 

 flowers, much like the others in appearanee. It makes 

 a picturesque display as an early-flowering shrub. 



To engage in regular subtropical gardening is expensive 

 business, for the class of plants employed, being tender, 

 are costly to keep over winter and costly to buy of a size 

 sufiiciently large to make a fair showing, as this implies 

 that they have been grown under glass for many years. 

 A price of from $20 to $100 or more is not uncommon for 

 large specimens of palms and agaves, such as are wanted 

 in real subtropical gardening. 



Our "subtropical" gardening depends for effect main- 

 ly on hardy trees and plants. In connection with these 



Paulownia. 



Subtropical Gardening in the North- 



-A Handsome Foliage Effect. 



Subtropical Gardening. — We have no examples o{ 

 real subtropical gardening on our grounds. We do 

 have examples of that which approximates the finest 

 effects that can be produced by subtropical garden- 

 ing, and it satisfies us as well as the latter possibly 

 could, at but a mere fraction of the cost. 



What is understood by subtropical gardening is the 

 use of tropical or subtropical plants, like palms, cycas, 

 dracaenas, agaves and many other kinds having striking 

 foliage ; the aim being to produce, strong effects with 

 their bold forms of foliage rather than with flowers. 



some cannas and caladiums — plants readily wintered in 

 the cellar anywhere — are used, but the chief reliance is 

 the former. Two engravings from photographs of ef- 

 fects produced on our grounds are given herewith. One 

 of these represents an instance where our camera was 

 turned on a bed containing, at this point of view, Ailatt- 

 tiis glandiilosa , Araha spiiiosa, 3.n6. Paiiiowiiia iiiiperialis 

 in the background, with a few leaves of Polygonatiun 

 cuspidatum in the foreground (left lower corner in the 

 engraving). The other view (page 96) is of a clump of 

 ailanthus alone, in its solitary grandeur. 



