THE SHRUB GARDEN 
77 
the water, and opening widely to show the 
crown of bright red stamens. A good plant 
for deep water. 
A^. vomerensis. — A supposed cross between 
A^. tetragona and a small Italian form of A^. alba. 
Its floating flowers are intermediate in size, 
snow-white, fragrant, and borne freely through 
a long season. It grows well in pots and in i 
small fountain-basins, coming fairly true from 
seed. 
N. WilliamDoogue. — An American seedling 
with large flowers of soft pink, very broad 
in petal, much cupped, and evenly coloured j 
throughout. Acharmingplantandquitehardy. j 
A^. IVi/liam Falconer. — An American gain, 
and a flower of striking colour, considered by j 
some as the best dark Water-Lily. The blooms | 
are large (6 or 7 inches) and deep crimson, 
shaded with purple, and bright yellow in the j 
centre. The young leaves are bright red, 
changing to deep green, with veins of red- 
dish purple. B. 
DAVIDSONIA PRURIENS. 
A RECENT issue of the Belgian Revue dc r Horti- 
culture gives a coloured plate of this rare hot- 
house plant. Though not quite new, it has 
shared the fate of many good stove plants and 
is now almost unknown even in books of refer- 
ence, and, upon its reappearance,was welcomed 
by many as a new plant of great beauty. It is 
of erect growth, putting forth finely-arched 
leaves of about 2 feet composed of five or six 
pairs of leaflets, threaded with red veins, and j 
drooping slightly on either side, and a large 
terminal leaflet of 6 to 9 inches, accentuating 
the drooping habit. The charm of the plant 
lies in the deep crimson colour of its young 
leaves, several of which are in beauty at the 
same time so long as the plant continues in ' 
growth, wh ich, with good management, covers 
a long season. The stems and leaf-stalks are 
covered with short stiff hairs which, while 
adding to the effect of the plant, create an un- j 
pleasant itching if handled unwarily by per- 
sons of sensitive skin. The Davidsonia needs j 
only warmth and moisture, and is readily grown 
from cuttings of the stem, rooted in sand, under j 
a handlight in bottom heat. So graceful and | 
elegant a plant, which is also easily grown 
and always in beauty, is worthy of note where | 
constant colour is in demand. : 
THE SHRUB GARDEN. 
The advent of M. Maurice de Vilmorin's 
catalogue of shrubs [Fruticetum Vil- 
morinia7mfri) sets us thinking of one of 
the most important subjects that con- 
cern lovers of the outdoor garden, and 
that is the shrub-garden. If judging sole- 
ly by catalogues, one would hardly say 
that these were neglected, but as a fact 
they are. How often, even in places 
where the garden is made much of, do 
we not see a great expenditure on things 
of quite a temporary interest, plants 
blooming for one season only and not 
always good for that time, while no real 
care or thought is given to shrubs, other 
than the commonest } Witness the ex- 
penditure upon half-hardy plants in the 
London parks,where little or no thought 
is given to shrubs ; and it is so with many 
other places . Beauty is entirely with the 
shrubs, and endurance also ; a group of 
hardy shrubs may be lovely for a genera- 
tion and without care, and this can be 
said of few other plants in cultivation. 
Not a few beautiful hardy shrubs will 
thrive too without the rich and laborious 
cultivation usual in gardens for many 
things of less value. There is often much 
talk of pruning in our gard ens, and many 
learned essays are written about it ; but 
it is a very simple matter, in proof of 
which I have a colony of shrubs on a hot 
bank facing south, and in soil that bakes 
in hot weather ; for the sake of keeping 
thebankfreefromsun-bake,these shrubs 
have not been pruned for many years 
and now form a dense mass, with their 
dead leaves of past summers covering 
the ground underneath. Although not 
pruned, they flower beautifully every 
