September 29, 1892, ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
285 
SUCCULENTS AT THE ABBEY PARK, 
LEICESTER. 
Some two years ago there appeared in the Journal of Horticul¬ 
ture & very good description of the Abbey Park. In main this holds 
good now, but there are many and great improvements on every 
side. The bedding is considerably altered, and that for the better. 
I he annuals are in strong force and very fine. The carpet beds 
are fully up to date, while the subtropical garden has never before 
been anything like it is this year. The only regret is that some¬ 
thing is not done in the way of providing a permanent house (as 
was spoken of by Mr. Owen Thomas at the last Show), so that 
these beautiful and interesting plants might be a “joy for ever’' 
instead of, as is now the case, being packed away in the small 
houses with the bedding plants, and no one allowed to see them for 
arrangement being avoided. This year the largest of the Agave 
species are planted in mounds on the lawn, and a more fitting place 
could not be found. As they stand some 7 feet high they would 
be far too large for bedding purposes. 
, A* quite impossible to number the occupants of the central 
W lfc wlU be weI1 under the mark to say that there are over 
dOO different varieties. The Agave tribe is well represented by 
some good specimens of A. americana, A. variegata, and A. Celsiana. 
Dotted about are many of the Aloes, of which A. Noacki, 
A. Kellocki, A. linguifolia, A. ferox, several really good plants of 
A. laylon, A. densa, A. densiflora, and some beautiful little plants 
or A. verrucosa form a conspicuous part. 
Opuntias are very numerous and in all shapes and sizes. 
O. cyhndricum stands like a soldier on guard over a poor “old 
man,” who is drooping his head rather near a Prickly Pear 
Fig. 39.—BED OF SUCCULENTS AT THE ABBEY PARK, LEICESTER. 
the greater portion of the year. There is one thing certain, that i 
will be totally impossible to winter some of the magnificen 
specimens of Dracaena australis, which play such a conspicuous par 
in the subtropical garden. Last year their pots were sunk in th. 
floor, and even then their heads were pushing at the glass. Then 
certainly should be no difficulty in procuring a house in which tin 
summer Show could be held and these plants housed in winter, a 
the Committee have over £1000 in hand, which has been made a 
the gate on show days. 
The accompanying engraving is a view of the succulent bed 
which forms the centre of the subtropical garden. It is abou; 
“9 fe et in diameter, and is composed of one of the finest collections 
of sudculents in the kingdom. There are plants varying in hembi 
from half an inch to 5 feet or 6 feet, and from the tiny Echeverias 
to the stately Agaves. Stiff as the individual plants are, Mr. 
Burn has succeeded this year in putting them together in such a 
way that the stiffness is entirely done away with, all formality in 
(O. Rafinesqui), which has many fruits : one bunch has grown on- 
and on until some eight are hanging from one another. EcheverP 
is another genus which is in quantity; several E. undulata are 
flowering, as also E. secunda glauca, E. Peacocki, and agavoides 
These deserve special mention, as do some very fine E. metallica 
As we near the border the smaller kinds are used such ’as 
Mesembryanthemum, including the pretty and curious M ’tigrinum 
Melonocacti seem quite at home, and several have flowered during 
the summer. Some good tufts of Crassula, including C lyco- 
podioides and that strange “ buttons-on-a-string ” species C per 
foliata. A number of Rochea falcata are distributed at intervals 
all round the margin. On the north side (i.e., the back of the bed) 
there are several umbels of its gorgeous scarlet blooms and 
occasionally we come across a fine specimen of creeping Cereu« 
The centre is beautifully carpeted with various small growing 
Saxifrages. & 6 
There are many kinds not named in the above list, but 
