330 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
or a conifer in any part of London. The fresh growth 
of clean leaves every year, by which the plant absorbs 
much of its nourishment, must necessarily be better 
for it than dried-up, blackened leaves. Among flower¬ 
ing shrubs, a great number grow sturdily in London. 
Laburnums of all kinds, thorns in many varieties, flower 
well; lilacs grow and look fresh and green everywhere, 
but cannot be depended on always to flower; almonds, 
snowy medlars, double cherries, weigelas or diervillas 
succeed ; broom, Forsythias, acacia, syringa, many kinds 
of prunus, ribes, rose acacia, Guelder rose, Japanese red 
peach, Kerria japonica , Hibiscus Syriacus , or Altfuea frutex , 
are all satisfactory, and many more could be mentioned. 
Yucca gloriosa will stand any amount of smoke, and 
Aralia spinosa does well in many parts; and among 
evergreens, Arbutus Andrachne can be recommended. 
Fruit-trees, pears, and apples are charming when in 
bloom, and in a large space, or to cover a wall, figs 
are valuable. 
Alpines grow astonishingly well, and though a con¬ 
siderable percentage will die from the alternating damp 
fogs and frost in the winter, many will really establish 
themselves, and be quite at home, much nearer the 
heart of London than Dulwich, where many have 
been cultivated. “ I know a bank whereon the wild 
thyme grows ” in London—not a green, mossy bank, 
but rather a blackened rockery; still the slope is 
really covered with large patches of wild thyme, purple 
with bloom in the summer, carefully marked by the 
London County Council “ Thymus serpyllum ,” for the 
benefit of the inquiring. Several of the other thymes, 
which form good carpets, will also grow. Antennaria 
dioica , a British plant, forms a pretty silvery ground- 
