September 17, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
41 
If the rules and regulations laid down by your 
society for the guidance of exhibitors permit it we 
should advise you to adopt the following device: — 
Procure a quantity of thin sheet lead, cut it up into 
strips about a couple of inches wide, and bend these 
strips up together so as to form a series of loops or a 
kind of irregular honeycomb. These leaden 
Asparagus Fern they are not really Ferns, and you 
would not be justified in staging them in a class as 
ordinary Ferns The judges’objection was there¬ 
fore a valid one, and if the schedule declared that 
the class was for Ferns there was nothing for it but to 
disqualify you. This is another instance of the mis¬ 
leading character of popular names. 
ating its beauty and usefulness as a hardy plant for 
covering walls, such as falls to the lot of our friends 
in the Channel Islands. For an illustration of this, 
as exemplified by the beautiful specimen shown 
above, we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Alfred 
J. Baker, of The Thames Bank Iron Co., Upper 
Ground Street, S E., who, on a recent visit to 
" combs ” may then be placed in the centre of shal¬ 
low china bowls filled with water, and the stalks of 
the flowers placed in them. By dint of a little knack 
in arrangement you can then build up fine bunches 
of flower in which there will be no stiffness or 
crushing. The weight of the lead will keep it in its 
place, as the flowers will balance each other. 
Is Asparagus a Fern? —y.L.: Although Asparagus 
plumosus and A. tenuissimus are often spoken of as 
A SPECIMEN IVY-LEAVED PELAR¬ 
GONIUM. 
The great beauty and extreme value of the Ivy¬ 
leaved Pelargonium as a decorative plant, especially 
for “ boxing ” and window ornamentation, are 
qualities now top well known and appreciated to need 
any commendation. Except, perhaps, in the mildest 
parts of Devon and Cornwall, it is, however, a sum¬ 
mer plant only, and we have no means of appreci- 
Guernsey, had the photograph taken. The plant 
illustrated is the common semi-double pink variety, 
and some five years old , it is growing against a wall 
in a builder’s yard, near the Albert Pier at St. 
Peter’s Port, and covers a wall space of some 16 ft. 
by 16 ft. It has never received any protection, and 
flowers with a freedom that can be better illustrated 
than described. 
Possibly the first feeling that the sight of this 
plant will engender in the minds of gardeners will be 
