WORTHY OF GENERAL CULTURE. 
39 
and tall spikes of flowers. It is entirely hardy and retains its fine leaves quite late in autumn. This is an excellent plant 
in any position, and may be planted in the flower border or on the lawn. A fine herbaceous plant is Bocconia cordata. 
It forms handsome erect tufts six to eight feet or more in height. The leaves are large, deeply veined, and somewhat 
lobed or sinuated. The very numerous rosy-white flowers are borne in large terminal panicles. This plant is seen to best 
effect when isolated or when associated with other fine hardy 
plants in bold groups. Gunnera scabra is a grand plant for 
moist and shady places. Mr. Darwin, who saw this plant in 
its native habitat, says: “The leaf is nearly circutar, but 
deeply indented on its margin. I measured one which was 
nearly eight feet in diameter, and therefore no less than 
twenty-four feet in circumference." This should be planted 
in a sheltered nook, in a moist, deep and very rich soil. It 
should be protected in winter with a covering of newly-fallen 
leaves. 
The Rheum officinale (Chinese Rhubarb) is a majestic 
plant, growing six to eight feet or more high, having leaves a 
yard or more in diameter ; the tall flower stems are covered 
with immense num¬ 
bers of small white 
flowers — an exceed¬ 
ingly effective plant 
for the margins of 
shrubberies or for 
planting singly on the 
grass. The Iferac- 
leum giganteum, or 
Giant Parsnip, is a 
wonderfully effective 
perennial in spring 
and early summer. 
Few herbaceous 
plants rival this in 
size and distinctness 
of appearance. The 
flower stems grow to 
a height of ten feet 
or more, and old es¬ 
tablished plants will 
produce a tuft of 
leaves three or four 
yards in diameter. 
An excellent plant for naturalizing on banks or in rough places. Care should be taken to plant this in a position where it 
will not leave a blank, as after seeding — in August usually — the plant becomes very ragged and the leaves soon fade 
away. Entirely different in character to any yet mentioned is Baptisia australis, a native plant, growing about five feet 
high and from three to six feet across ; the leaves are small, trifoliate and a beautiful sea green, reflecting a metallic lustre ; 
the flowers are a delicate blue, with wings of a whitish color, and are borne in long, erect spikes. A good plant to group 
with some of the finer foliage plants. 
There are many fine hardy plants, not enumerated here, of bold and distinct types in flower and foliage that are finely 
adapted for grouping together or for isolating on the grass as single specimens. The one thing essential to success is that 
they be well planted at first. If the soil is deeply dug and thoroughly enriched with manure they will need little or no 
attention afterward and will increase in size and beauty each succeeding year. 
There are some tender tropical plants that may be easily wintered in a cellar or in any place where they will be secure 
from frost, or they may be procured annually for a very small outlay. Some of these are indispensable, and when 
judiciously associated with the finer hardy plants they are wonderfully effective. 
The most important for our purpose is, without doubt, the great Abyssinian Banana (Musa ensete). When well grown 
this is the most magnificent of all the large-leaved plants. Some plants will grow eight to twelve feet high in a season if 
abundantly supplied with manure and water. The splendid leaves are long and broad, of a beautiful green, with a broad 
crimson midrib. There can be no finer or more effective tropical plant than this Great Banana, whether planted in groups 
or as single specimens, and there is no plant that will better repay all the care and attention that may be bestowed upon it. 
The Cannas are popular and deservedly so ; no other tribe of foliage plants supplies a greater diversity of form and 
color in both flower and foliage. Some of the newer kinds are remarkable for the size and color of their flowers. Canna 
Ehemanii has large, pendulous, rosy carmine flowers, nearly as large as a Gladiolus. This variety is specially valuable for 
GROUP OF YUCCA FILAMENTOSA. 
