August 16 1888. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
137 
A WET season suits the light shallow soil of the Royal Gardens, 
A Kew, much better than a dry one, and when it is followed by a 
period of bright summer weather such as we have experienced 
within the past week, trees and outdoor plmts of all kinds look as 
fresh in August as they do in May or early June. It would seem 
that the public have fully learned to appreciate these beautiful 
gardens, for on last Bank Holiday it is said that nearly 60,000 
persons visited Kew, far outnumbering several of the metropolitan 
popular places of amusement, and this, be it remembered, without 
even a band to furnish an attraction. The visitors who crowd these 
gardens at holiday time are certainly not all botanists or even horti¬ 
culturists, but the numbers afford a satisfactory indication of how 
■w idely spread is the taste which finds gratification in the contem¬ 
plation of well-kept gardens and their numerous occupants. The 
public sense of the benefit they derive is best indicated by their 
behaviour, and it seems almost impossible that such an army could 
invade a garden "and leave so few traces of their presence ; indeed a 
couple of days afterwards no idea could be formed that Bank 
Holiday crowds had occupied the grounds, all was as neat and 
gsrdenesque as the most exacting could require. 
No unprejudiced person can visit Kew occasionally vdthout 
being struck by the fact that repeated efforts are being made to 
not only increase the usefulness of these garden", but also to add to 
their popular attractions, and the steady continuance of this policy 
will always entitle the directorate to a liberal allowance from the 
public purse. But I commenced this letter with the object of 
giving a few notes upon what especially attracted my attention in 
a hurri d run through the gardens recently from the Richmond 
eatran 'e to the Kew Green gate. The houses, with one exception 
were carefully avoided, because the heat outside was quite sufficient, 
and there was plenty to see without subjecting oneself to a vapour 
bath. In the arboretum alone an afternoon might be profitably 
s >ent, but I could only give a brief glance at a few shrubs or trees 
on tin way. Near the recently opened refreshment house and the 
winter garden are several beds occupied with Leguminous shrubs, 
and amongst them Colutea arborescens var. haleppica, is now the 
lliost noticeable. The flowers are small, but numerous, of a pecu¬ 
liar bright orange-red colour, quite a fashionable tint at the present 
time. The old form of C. arborescens, the European Bladder 
Senna, which has been cultivated in this country for over 300 years, 
has yellow flowers, and the variety haleppica from Aleppo has been 
grown here for about 130 years, but has been ranked by many as a 
distinct species. They have both been in flower for some weeks, 
and list extremely well, the flowers being followed by bladder-like 
pods. 
We have not too many large leaved trees in gardens, and it is 
strange that the American Hickory, Carya alba, is not more fre¬ 
quently planted. Judging by its success at Kew this Garya is not 
very particular either as to soil or situation, and it would un¬ 
doubtedly thrive as well in scores of suburban gardens as it does 
there. Even in towns it might be worth a trial, and too few 
■experiments are made with a view to increasing the number of 
trees available for town gardens. The leaves are somewhat sug¬ 
gestive of the Walnut on a large scale, pinnate, with broad oval 
substantial pinnae, and though not very closely branched the tree 
would be good in a small state for shade. In dry hot seasons we 
often see the golden leaved varieties of trees and shrubs in their 
No. 425.— Yol. XVII., Thjbd Series. 
best condition, but this season they have been mostly rather 
deficient in colour. Catalpa aurea seems to be one of the excep¬ 
tions, as, despite the long continued rain, it has coloured well, the 
broadly developed leaves having assumed a fine golden tint, and 
specimens 3 or 4 feet high look remarkably well. The Guelder 
Rose, Viburnum Opulus, is loaded with berries rapidly becoming of 
a bright red colour, and there will be plentiful stores this autumn 
in most gardens for those who use these berries in various decora¬ 
tions of flowers, fruit, or foliage. Olearia Haasti is a New Zealand 
shrub, the merits of which are perhaps scarcely known, although it 
has been before the public for about sixteen years. It would, no 
doubt, be found unreliable as regards hardiness in some districts of 
England, but against a wall or in nearly all the southern counties it 
would be safe except in severe winters. At Kew it is grown in 
both ways, several fine bushes in a border near the rosery, and % 
another against a wall, very little difference being noticeable in the 
health or floriferousness of the plants. Compact bushes 3 feet high 
have a good appearance in the borders. The leaves are small, shining 
bright green ; the flowers white, in corymbose heads produced in 
great numbers, and very fragrant. As a white-flowered Honey¬ 
suckle, Lonicera japonica is worthy of notice, the flowei’s large 
with broad lobes, pure white when first opened, turning yellow with 
age. The fragrance is especially powerful and pleasing, the growth 
strong and the leaves oval. 
The general bedding in front of the Palm house and down the Long 
Walk has not had time to recover from the rains, but several simple 
designs are displayed that will be better developed in a week’s time. In 
the herbaceous ground and on the rockery the continued wet weather 
has suited the stronger growing plants admirably, and a varied effect 
is produced in colours and habit. The rockery is particularly attrac¬ 
tive, and certainly improves every season, as it becomes better fur¬ 
nished, the sites adapted for certain plants are ascertained, and as 
much naturalness as possible is introduced. One little nook where a 
miniature waterfall descends from a rocky ledge and escapes through 
a bed of marsh or moisture-loving plants is charming, because there 
is no irksome artificiality. In the background are large clumps 
of Spiraea palmata with feathery trusses of rosy flow r ers ; in front 
of these, and similarly luxuriant, are masses of Spiraea lobata 
after the style of the preceding, but having graceful plumes of 
white flowers. Then comes a grand clump of the old garden 
favourite, the Bergamot, Monarda didyma, which has an abundance 
of its bright crimson flowers in close whorls tier above tier. The 
foreground is occupied by a vigorous plant of Rodgersia podophylla, 
the spaiious leaves of which serve the useful purpose of concealing 
the outlet of the water from the “ fall.” This plant affords a fine 
artistic study in bold foliage characters, and though only 2 or 3 
feet high it is by no means framed on a puny scale. The leaves are 
2 j feet in diameter, five somewhat triangular divisions radiating 
equally from the apex of the petiole, 9 inches acress in the broadest 
part, deep green, becoming reddish as they mature. It is very 
telling in the waterfall nook, and evidently likes a moist situation. 
Upon one of the higher “ rocky ridges ” bordering this recess is 
a stately Yucca with a flower stem 10 feet high, towering above 
the surrounding plants and completing a pretty little picture that 
is so free and natural that one is tempted to think it is not a 
designed arrangement. 
An excellent system is adopted on this rockery, and has been 
frequently commended, the same idea being carried out in the 
arrangement of the plants in the greenhouse and other structures. 
This consists in grouping a number of plants of one kind together^ 
thus showing their character very much better, and producing 
more beautiful floral displays than when small plants are dotted 
about singly. Of course there are some plants which are seen to 
more advantage singly than in groups, but this refers chiefly to 
those of strong growth or some peculiarity of habit which does 
not admit of associating a number together. Some plants are also 
of a grega’di us 1 abit, naturally growing in clumps, clusters, 
No. 2081 .—Yol. LXXIX., Old Series. 
