54 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 26, 1891. 
THE HERBACEOUS BORDER. 
Choice Plants in Flower*. 
Anemone Japonica : Alba. —Only those who grow 
this plant in quantity can understand or realise the 
effect it is capable of producing. Its stature depends 
to some extent upon the latitude in which it is 
grown, but when planted in good soil and accorded 
liberal treatment it varies from 2 ft. to 3 ft. high, 
producing a proportionate amount of bloom. In 
dry summers the ground should be mulched with 
cocoa-nut fibre, or better still old hot-bed manure, and 
liberally watered with the hose occasionally. None of 
this treatment, or at least no water, was necessary 
during the past summer. Propagation may be 
effected by means of the numerous suckers thrown 
up from the roots. 
Aster Novi-Belgi l.evigatus. — The stools of 
this beautiful variety increase with moderate 
rapidity, and while it is not strongly inclined to be¬ 
come weedy, there is no difficulty in getting a stock 
of it for private garden decoration. The flower 
heads are large, rosy-pink, and freely produced ; but 
not the least of its valuable properties as a garden 
plant is its dwarf stature. Healthy, well-grown 
plants vary from 12 in. to 18 in. high, while the 
type grows 5 ft. to 6 ft. 
Aster acris. —Notwithstanding the fact that this 
species is a European plant, and introduced as early 
as 1731, it is yet one of the most conspicuous and 
ornamental of the dw ; arf kinds. There are several 
forms of it, and amongst others a dw*arf kind about 
12 in. high, and a tall one about double that height. 
Both are useful for border decoration, but the tall 
one blooms in the greatest profusion, and is there¬ 
fore the most conspicuous and ornamental. A bed 
of it upon the grass is by no means to be despised 
during the autumn months. 
Lythrum alatum.— Of the smaller species of 
Loosestrife, none of the erect growing kinds are 
more choice or ornamental. The slender, twiggy, 
upright stems are four-angled and red bearing ovate 
leaves, which are very small and neat compared 
with the more common kinds in cultivation. The 
large purple flowers are borne in the axils of the 
leaves all along the upper part of the stems. 
Cuttings may be struck during the summer months, 
or the old stools divided in spring. 
Androsace lanuginosa. —The continuous flower¬ 
ing nature of this plant make it one of the most 
desirable of all the species of Androsace. The low 
trailing stems, together with the leaves, are covered 
with silvery white woolly hairs as the specific name 
implies. The flowers are pink with greenish-yellow 
eyes changing to red, while old flowers fade almost 
white. There is also a white flowered variety showing 
the same changes in the colour of the eye as in the 
type. Cuttings root freely under a hand glass 
during the summer months, in sandy soil. 
Plumbago Larpent.e.— The pleasing dark blue 
flowers of this species are very acceptable during the 
autumn months ; and so long as the weather is fair 
a succession is kept up for a considerable time. During 
stormy weather not a flow T er may be seen, yet after a 
few hours' sunshine on a still day a fresh set of 
flowers expand, making the plant look as fresh as 
ever. Cuttings are easily obtained during summer, 
and the plant is hardy and long-lived. The rockery 
is a suitable place for it. 
Hypericum reptans. —The habit of this Hima¬ 
layan plant is that of our native H. humifusum, but 
enlarged several times, with a solitary, and clear 
yellow flower of relatively large size for the plant 
terminating the stronger of the shoots. The latter 
are perfectly procumbent, forming a carpet covering 
the ground, red, and furnished with spathulate 
leaves. It is well adapted for tolerably moist ledges 
on the rockery, or for pot culture. It is propagated 
by cuttings or division, the latter method in spring. 
Geranium Wallichianum.— The length of time 
over which this continues to flower should make it a 
favourite with everybody who has a moist bank in a 
tolerably sunny position on which to plant it. The 
stems are procumbent, and continue to lengthen and 
produce flowers all through the summer and 
autumn months. The flowers are of good average 
size and rosy-purple with darker veins, and show a 
blue shading, sometimes a considerable amount of it 
either when at their best or when fading, 
Colchicum gppctpsuM. — Those who like the 
autumn flowering gpefjes of Colchicum should, not 
omit the present one from their collection. The 
flowers are of very large size, and rich rosy-purple 
with a white centre, and in several respects bear a 
considerable resemblance to a large flowered species 
of Zephyranthes unaccompanied by foliage. 
_ __ 
CAMPSEA ASHE. 
Campsea Ashe, the seat of the Hon. W. Lowther, 
Wickham Market, is one of those grand old English 
homes which all Englishmen are so proud of, for they 
give almost as much, if not more real pleasure to those 
who have the privilege of looking round them than 
they do to their owners. You may talk about 
magnificent scenery and the thousands of wonderful 
things to be seen in foreign countries, but it is 
questionable if there is any scenery in the world so 
pleasing and grateful to the eye as a park like that 
at Campsea Ashe, studded as it is with stately 
trees, grass such as can only be seen in the British 
Isles, deer roaming about at their own sweet will, 
rabbits frisking about and enjoying themselves like 
a half-starved man at a wedding breakfast, and to 
sum up all these sylvan delights, accompanied by 
the glorious music of our feathered songsters. You 
may call it high faluting or low faluting, but the 
fact still remains, that a real old English Park is bad 
to beat. I do not think that there is anyone w’ho 
likes herbaceous plants better than I do, that is when 
they are grown in their proper places ; but to see 
these plants grown in small beds, and in other 
places totally unsuited to them, almost makes me 
wish that swearing was added to my vocabulary. 
There are places in the Eastern Counties where 
herbaceous plants quite ruin the looks of the place 
through growing them in places unsuited to their 
requirements. Now, if people would only take a 
common-sense view of these plants and treat them 
in the same manner as they do at Campsea Ashe, 
these lovely plants would soon become far more popu¬ 
lar than they are. Do not run away with the idea 
that Campsea Ashe is only noted for herbaceous 
plants, for a glance at the prize lists of horticultural 
shows will quickly prove that the gardener (Mr. 
Andrews) is equally successful in other branches of 
his profession. I shall only be able to give a short 
list of plants grown. It may be as well, though, in 
the first place, to give you Mr. Andrews’ advice in a 
nut-shell—if you have any plants that do not thrive, 
try and find out if the position for them is wrong, if 
the soil is not suitable, etc.—and remember that the 
more trouble you have with a plant, so much more 
will be your enjoyment when you are successful, for 
the more difficulty a thing is to attain the more we 
enjoy it. 
The first plant that struck our attention was 
Lobelia cardinalis, hundreds of it growing in the 
greatest luxuriance, with stems as large as asparagus 
heads. They were growing in a rich moist loam. 
Alstrcemeria aurea, with bright orange-coloured 
flowers, quite hardy, splendid for cutting, was very 
fine. Asphodelus ramosus, with stems from 3 to 
4 ft. high covered with white flowers, a grand 
plant for shrubberies and mixed borders. Bocconia 
cordata, one of the most beautiful hardy ornamental 
plants that can be grown; it grows from 5 to 6 ft, 
high, with very peculiar brownish-white flowers. 
Campanulas were a perfect host, especially the chim¬ 
ney Campanula (C. pyramidalis). Carnations we 
need not mention, for Campsea Ashe has always 
been noted for these beautiful flowers. Centaurea 
macrocephala, a bold growing perennial with deep 
yellow flowers, was very fine. Chelone Lyoni, with 
spikes of purple flowers, is another grand plant for 
a border. Dracocephalum Ruyschianum japonicum, 
with whorls of light blue flowers, was very beautiful. 
Echinacea purpurea, an autumn flowering perennial 
with flowers from 3 to 4 in, across, of a deep reddish 
purple colour with a black centre, should be in every 
collection. 
" The Doronicums were over, but they must have 
been quite a feature in the spring. What to do I 
don’t know, for I have not mentioned two per cent, of 
the good things that I saw*, for my space is almost 
taken up, so I must give a list without any comment. 
Erigeron aurantiacus, Eryngium giganteum (ivory 
thistle), Erythraea diffusa, Eupatorium purpureum, 
Funkias, Galegas, Gaillardias, Gentians, Geums, 
Gypsophilas, Helanthus, Heleniums, Heuchera 
sanguinea (a perfect gem ; get it at once), Inula 
glandulosa, and Lychnis chalcedonia, fl. pi.— 
R. McIntosh, gardener, The Lodge, F{i(.tfowe, in Fast 
Anglian Tinies. 
F^uit Hotes. 
The Pear Crop. 
Can it be doubted now that after all the fruit crop of 
the year is that of Pears, for a finer, heavier, or 
more general one has hardly been known in the 
memory of man. We shall have Pears so plentiful 
that presently the markets and streets will reek of 
them, and they will be too cheap to be worth the 
gathering. It is an odd contradiction no doubt, but 
it is so, that many who grow Pears largely have so 
much reason to deplore these very abundant crops, 
but it is so for the simple reason that with a glut of 
any fruit the ruling prices are so low that labour in 
gathering and marketing seems to eat up all the 
returns. Those who have good crops of keeping 
Pears this year, and that again means almost every¬ 
body but the ordinary market grower, may by 
careful gathering and storing find in November some 
more satisfactory prices for the fruit than will be 
found for the next two months. Beyond the fact 
that prices must be low, there is also the unpleasant 
fact before us that such heavy crops must produce 
considerable exhaustion in the trees, and it will be 
some two or three years hence before an ordinary 
crop will again be had. That is a fact that cannot 
be too strongly deplored, and can only be mended 
by very severe thinning of the fruits in an early stage 
of growth, a very costly process, because necessarily 
a slow one. I have seen some wonderful crops of 
Pears this year, on trees which very seldom bear 
good ones. The Pear trees at Chiswick, all fairly 
close pruned pyramids, handsome and now getting 
rather old, are neary all carrying unwonted crops, 
and are for once full of interest for Pear growers. 
One of the finest Pear crops I have ever seen is just 
now hanging on the huge trees in Mr. R. D. Black- 
more’s garden at Teddington in the Thames Valley, 
where trees of all sorts and sizes are grown literally 
by thousands, and present a Pear gathering which 
is almost unique.— Doyenne. 
Pear Beurre Giffard. 
The lateness of the season has had the. effect of 
retarding the ripening of this variety, which is now 
in season, whereas in ordinary summers it ripens in 
August. The fruit is about medium size, regularly 
pear-shaped, with a smooth greenish-yellow skin, 
finely dotted with russet. The flesh is white and 
possessed of a sweet aromatic flavour, without any 
grit, and having a very small core. The flavour im¬ 
proves near the stalk. The tree is a moderate grower 
and therefore is well suited for working on the 
Quince stock. It is said to be a shy bearer, but a 
pyramidal tree at Devonhurst, Chiswick, fruits well 
in most years. 
HOMAGE TO A WEED. 
Before despising the meanest and least conspicuous 
of our native weeds, it would be well to take into 
account their uses, if they have any (and who can 
deny that they have ?), their visitors to which or to 
whom they afford food, amusement, or serve to draw 
out or educate the finer perceptions of human nature. 
All of these uses can be ascribed to the Wild Cha¬ 
momile (Matricaria Chamomilla), and indeed to the 
weediest and least conspicuous form of it, namely, 
that in which the rays are wanting, and the flower- 
heads at their best are only greenish yellow. Some 
young ladies,, with a bunch of scarlet Tropaeolums 
and similarly coloured Pelargoniums in their hands, 
evidently considered that something was wanting to 
tone down the glaring colour of the flowers. Coming 
to a broad patch of the rayless Wild Chamomile, they 
collected a quantity of the weed with its finely cut 
leaves, and having mixed it with the flowers, appar¬ 
ently felt satisfied. A little later on a flock of young 
ducks busied themselves in squatting amongst the 
Wild Chamomile plants, nibbling at them with evi¬ 
dent enjoyment, as the same class of fowl may be 
seen to do with the true Chamomile (Athemis nobilis) 
on Reigate Common. The Wild Chamomile has a 
similar but fainter odour than the latter, and this 
smell may probably be the agency that influences 
the class of visitors just mentioned. The same 
patch of plants was the object of attention from great 
flocks of sparrows, when ripening its seeds a few 
days ago the sparrows were in quest of the seeds, 
for which they showed a great relish. In all this, 
we have an abundant evidence of sincere homage to 
an inconspicuous British weed — YiQt?? 
