PLANTS FOR TEERACE GARDEN J NO. 



369 



PLANTS FOR TERRACE GARDENING. 

 By Jas. Hudson, V.M.H. 



[Lecture delivered August 20, 1907.] 



By this title it should be understood that I have in view such plants as 

 are adapted for decorative purposes contiguous to a mansion and its 

 surroundings of terraces, in harmony with the architecture of the house 

 itself. The use of such plants for some years past has fallen off very 

 considerably. Where are now the grand examples, for instance, of 

 standard and other forms of the Orange, the Lemon, and the Citron, 

 which at one time were the ornaments of many a terraced garden ; or, 

 again, of the Agaves, the Yuccas, and other similar plants of fine foliage 

 and distinct characteristics ? These may, in the inordinate demand for 

 what are termed "decorative" plants, have had to be thrust aside, so 

 to speak, to make room for subjects, many of which are but of a 

 transitory character. Possibly, too, the varied styles of buildings that * 

 prevailed some years ago, and are still found, as conservatories and 

 winter gardens, in immediate connection with the mansion, compared 

 with what was the ideal of half a century or so back, may have been the 

 cause of their disuse or relegation to less important places in the 

 garden. Conservatories at one time were not so frequently connected to 

 the house ; hence there was room in them for those fine specimens 

 which are now but rarely seen in gardens. These specimen plants 

 have been, like the exhibition specimen Stove and Greenhouse plants, 

 far from prominent objects, for a decade or more now past. Upon the 

 Continent there is still a demand for them, and they are to be found 

 in the best gardens around Paris and other Continental cities, as well as 

 in southern Europe, where many of those that we grow in England are 

 comparatively hardy. 



1 am glad to see, however, that there is now a growing tendency to 

 revert to their cultivation for this particular purpose in our British 

 gardens, and I trust it will still go on. Any close observer of the effect 

 that is produced by a judicious selection of the best plants for terrace 

 gardening cannot fail to be impressed by their suitability. I was so 

 impressed myself last autumn when viewing a well-known garden in the 

 suburbs of Paris — in the Bois de Boulogne. In this instance the arrange- 

 ment was simple, yet most effective, the plants in question being luxurious 

 and immense specimens of Oranges grown as standards in huge tubs. 

 Plants that have taken many years to grow to such a size as these were, 

 may not be readily obtainable, but when once a taste is created. the supply 

 will in due course follow. It would also be the very best experience 

 for our rising generation of gardeners to become thus conversant with 

 the careful cultivation of specimen plants ; experience would be gained 

 that cannot be got by growing dozens of one or hundreds of another soft 

 and easily grown plant, which at the same time may be of a decorative 



