10 
THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE. 
January 4, 1913. 
sanguinea, Alyssum saxatile, and low-grow¬ 
ing phloxes have been pressed into service 
for the adornment of this rockery wall, 
but time would fail to tell of the less com¬ 
mon plants that thrive here. Succulent 
plants, grouped where the wall curves and 
provides a southern exposure, are a success, 
and the only added slielter they receive is 
afforded by a few branches of yew or box 
placed over them in severe wintry weather. 
Opuntia fragilis, 0. arkajisana, 0. Rafines- 
qui, and Echinocereus (Cereiis) viridiflorus 
are a few that are particularly happy among 
many species grown. Convolvulus althse- 
oides is a fine feature, drooping from the 
top of the wall, and studded witli pink 
flowers; Lithospermum prostratnm does 
well, and there are fine groups of alpine 
auriculas, Campanula muralis, Stellaria Bie- 
bersteini, and Acaena Buchanani, a pretty 
New Zealand plant, in. this interesting 
piece of wall gardening. The pieces of 
features of the place. A little tea-house 
here looks out upon a bank of Pink Pearl 
rhododendrons, some fine old magnolias, 
and, in summer time, upon oranges in 
tubs. 
The formal rose garden, close by, is too 
much shut in hy tall trees and big ever¬ 
green shrubs, and constant renovation is 
necessary to keep the roses in goo<l order, 
either in the beds or borders. Unquestion¬ 
ably, the most beautiful feature of the rose 
garden is more or less accidental. A mass 
of green box faces northward, and it is 
literally smothered ten or tw^elve feet high 
with the lovely but coy Tropseolum specio- 
sum. About four years ago tubers were 
obtained from Scotland and planted nine 
inches deep ; for a while there was little 
sign of success, but now the plant thrives 
splendidly, and forms each year a beauti¬ 
ful screen of dainty greenery, studded with 
thousands of rich scarlet flowers. 
some are modern. Peaches, vines, and 
figs are grown well, .and greenhouse plants 
useful for house decoration or the provision 
of flow^ers for cutting have to be grown 
largely. Needless to say, carnations are 
not omitted. Malmaison carnations are 
well managed, and the ever-popular per¬ 
petual varieties fill one large house. 
C. H. Curtis. 
BROMELIACEOUS PLANTS. 
Probably owing to the exceedingly symme- 
trical character of the foliage, which gives 
to a plant a somewhat stiff and artificial 
look, the different bromeliads cannot be said 
to be at all popular in gardens. In many of 
them the strap-shaped leaves are arranged 
in a regular vasiform manner, and are, for 
the most part, of a somewhat harsh texture. 
Some of the species, however, are very showy 
when in flower, among those that bloom at 
A HEAUTIFUL BORDER OF ROSES IN NUNEHAM PARK GARDENS. 
stono used arc from two to four inches 
thick, rarely more, and many thousands of 
them have gone to the buildiiig of the wall. 
Mason’s Garden and Brown’s 
Walk. 
The original outlay of the gardens and 
grounds at Nuneham is ascribed to Capa¬ 
bility Brown, and one long walk to the 
south of the mansion, cut through wood¬ 
land, winding, and rising and falling, is 
known as Brown’s Walk after this old 
master of landscape gardening. Where this 
path borders on the park, the Carfax can 
be seen; this is the fine conduit built by 
Qtho Nicholson in 1610. It stood opposite 
the Oarfax church at Oxford until 1787, 
w'hen it was removed to Nuneham Park. 
Mason’s Garden is a sheltered spot, sur¬ 
rounded by hollies and yews, and it serves 
as a leminder of Alason the poet, who is 
also credited with some of the beautiful 
Kitchen and Fruit Gardens. 
The large wire-enclosed fruit cage that 
protects cherries and small fruits from the 
ravages of birds has ibeen illustrated in 
these pages, and referred to on several occa¬ 
sions. It is interesting to notice that it 
also shelters a gull or two and a number of 
quails; these evidently do no harm to the 
fruits. This fruit cage and the brick- 
pillared pergola, with its very fine collec¬ 
tion of ornamental vines, are two outstand¬ 
ing features of the kitchen and fruit gar¬ 
dens, but the long walk with choice rambler 
roses, supported on gas-ibarrel arches, is an¬ 
other feature that will improve, as the 
roses are newly planted. The iron niping, 
added, is well painted. 
The many walls provide abundant space 
i n^arines, pears, and plums, 
while bush fruit trees are planted around 
the larger vegetable plots. Some of the 
glass houses are quite old-fashioned, but 
this season being Tillandsia Lindeni, whose 
blossoms are of a rich tyrian-purple colour, 
when represented by its best form. 
Another winter-blooming kind is that 
which may be known as Vriesia brachy- 
stachys, but whose name is now, I believe, 
regarded as Tillandsia carinata. This is 
only about a foot in height, and has pale 
gr^n leaves, overtopped by the flower spik^, 
which, on the upper half, is furnished with 
two opposite rows of bright-coloured bracte, 
and from these the yellow flowers protrude. 
It remains fresh and bright for a consider¬ 
able time. A bromeliad now in bloom ot 
much merit is .^Echmea fulgens, whose flowers 
are borne in an upright panicle. They 
round, and in colour red with a blue tip* 
One of the most graceful of its class, and 
also a winter flowerer is Billbergia nutans, 
the flowers of which in shape resemble those 
of a fuchsia. The sepals are reddish and 
the petals yellowish-green, each with a blu€ 
margin, while they are attended by larg^j 
rose-coloured bracts.—K. 
