472 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
June  6,  1901'. 
Hardy  Flower  Notes. 
Here  then  O  June,  thy  kindness  will  we  take. —  William  Morris. 
We  have  parted  sadly  from  the  flowers  of  the  early  months  with 
all  their  sweetness  and  flesh  beauty.  We  remember  them  only  as  we 
remember  the  bright  visions  of  the  night,  which  are  swept  away  by 
the  dawniDg  day  with  its  stern  realities,  softened,  however,  by  the 
sunshine  and  the  brightness,  which  give  their  gladdening  light  to 
dispel  the  sadness  which  comes  into  the  happiest  life.  They  have 
gone,  but  they  may  return,  and  we  have  now  their  successors  whose 
beauties  appeal  to  us,  if  not  to  forget,  at  least  not  to  mourn  for  those 
who  have  gone  away.  The  Lettiean  Poppy,  as  Virgil  calls  it  in  the 
“  Georgies,”  has  con  e  in  many  forms  to  charm  or  soothe  us  into 
forgetfulness  of  the  departure  of  spring.  There  are  Welsh  Poppies 
(Meconopsis  cambrica),  brth  single  and  double;  there  are  Iceland 
Poppies  (Papaver  nudicaule),  in  white,  and  yellow,  and  orange  ;  there 
are  great  Eastern  Poppies  (Papaver  orientale),  with  gorgeous  flowers 
of  enormous  size  ard  brilliant  colours  ;  there  are  Hairy  Poppies 
(Papaver  pilesum),  of  evanescent  beauty  ;  and  there  are  the  salmon- 
coloured  flowers  of  Papaver  rupifragum,  all  bringing  their  bright 
flowers  ;  while  a  day  or  two  will  give  us  also  the  Shirley  and 
other  annual  Poppies  from  self-sown  plants.  Then  there  are  the 
interesting  and  pretty  hybrids  between  P.  orientale  and  P.  rupifragum, 
the  one  named  P.  ruporient,  while  the  other,  raised  by  Mr.  E.  C. 
Buxton  of  Coed  Derw,  Bettws-y-Coed,  is  only  known  as  Mr.  Buxton’s 
hybrid  Popipy.  The  first  is  the  lighter  in  colour  of  the  two,  and  the 
second  has  traces  of  the  black  blotch  which  exists  on  the  Oriental 
Poppy,  one  of  its  parents.  Both  show  a  white  or  whitish  base. 
They  are  good  flowers,  as  well  as  interesting  from  their  hybrid  origin. 
Mr.  Buxton’s  Poppy  is  said  to  produce  no  seeds,  and  although  it  has 
flowered  here  several  times  it  has  always  been  barren.  P.  ruporient  is 
said  to  produce  seeds,  and  to  come  true,  when  raised  from  these,  as  well. 
Heucheras  seem  coming  into  favour,  and  several  are  in  flower. 
Among  them  are  the  pr<  tty  H.  brizoides,  which  is  prized  alike  for  its 
graceful  panicles  of  flowers,  and  for  the  beauty  of  its  leaves;  not  far 
from  it  is  the  new  H.  Zabebana,  which  is  a  good  plant  with  large 
flowers  of  a  pretty  pinkish  colour.  I  cannot,  however,  detect  any 
difference  between  it  and  a  hybrid  Heuchera  sent  me  by  Rev. 
C.  Wolley-Dod  as  H.  cylindrica  X.  Probably  the  continental  raiser  who 
produced  II.  Zabeliana  has  secured  it  from  the  same  cross.  It  is  a 
good  and  apparently  fre<  -flowering  plant.  It  is  fortunate  that  few 
of  the  Heucheras  which  are  coming  into  favour  are  so  shy  in  blooming 
in  most  gardens  as  the  charming  H.  sanguinea. 
Bulbous  plants  are  not  so  plentiful  at  this  season  as  they  were 
a  little  time  ago,  as  the  time  of  the  Lilies  is  not  yet  come,  nor  have 
the  Spanish  or  English  Irises  come  into  flower.  Not  that  they  are 
unrepresented,  but  we  miss  the  showry  Tulip,  which  has  done  us 
yeoman  service  this  year,  though  cut  down  too  soon  by  bright  sun 
and  drying  winds.  There  are  other  bulbs,  and  among  them  some  of  the 
Brodiaeas,  with  flowers  of  blue,  of  purple,  of  lilac,  of  white,  or  of 
yellow.  I  have  a  liking  for  the  yellow  Brodimas,  and,  so  lar  as  I  can 
recollect,  have  never  remarked  upon  the  beauty  of  one  of  these, 
B.  Hendersoni,  at  present  in  bloom  on  one  of  the  rockeries.  It  is  a 
pleasing  plant,  with  its  flowers  arranged  like  these  of  B.  laxa,  but  of 
a  pretty  yellow  striped  with  purple.  It  is  easily  grown  on  a  light 
soil,  though  one  fii dsthat  it  wants  a  little  covering  for  the  first  winter 
or  two — a  wise  precaution  wbh  many  rewly  planted  bulbs. 
Ot  e  who  has  a  liking  for  the  pretty,  if  not  showy,  Armerias,  or 
Thrifts,  is  naturally  desirous  of  trying  the  new  species  which  come 
b>  fore  the  flower-loviDg  public,  and  one  was  thus  pleased  to  make  the 
acquaintance  ol  A.  majel.ensis,  which  I  have  just  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  in  flower  on  one  of  my  rockeries.  It  is  a  pretty  little  plant, 
with  a  low-growing  habit,  so  far  as  regards  its  foliage,  but  more 
ambitious  for  its  small  pnkish  flowers,  which  it  displays  on  long 
slender  stalks.  A.  majellensis  is  not  a  plant  for  the  many,  and  for 
effect  cannot  compare  with  our  own  Armerias,  but  it  is  one  which 
will  be  appreciated  by  the  grower  of  alpines.  It  is  an  Italian  species, 
and  Boissier  seems  to  be  the  authority  for  the  name.  For  dry, 
sunny  places  we  have  no  p retti-r  things  in  their  time  than  the 
Helianthemums,  or  Sun  Roses.  There  are  a  good  many  in  flower  of 
various  colours  and  shades,  and  of  varying  degrees  of  merit.  One 
remarkably  fine  yellow  form,  which  I  picked  up  in  an  Edinburgh 
nursery  a  year  or  two  ago,  because  of  its  name  being  one  I  had  never 
heard  applied  to  a  plant  before,  and  became  it  looked  as  if  it  would 
be  good,  although  u  t  then  in  flower,  has  proved  a  good  investment. 
Its  name  is  Balgreen,  which  is  that  of  an  Edinburgh  garden,  and  it 
has  very  large,  bright  yellow  flowers  of  excellent  form.  It  is,  if 
anything,  a  little  mere  fugacious  than  a  few  of  the  forms  of 
H.  variabilis,  but  it  makes  up  for  this  fault  by  its  beauty.  Mr.  Hill- 
Normand’s  couble  yellow  sport  inm  the  double  red,  with  upright 
hibited  flowers,  is  also  in  bloom,  and  is  a  first  class  plant,  far 
superior  to  the  double  yellow,  which  hide  their  flowers  and  seem 
ashamed  of  their  departure  from  the  ways  of  the  single  Sun  Roses. 
The  rains  we  have  happily  had  are  bringing  on  the  other  flowers 
of  the  time,  though  some  in  bloom  have  been  disfigured  by  the  heavy 
downpours  which  came  with  the  thunder,  with  which  the  drought 
departed  ;  yet  there  are  many  unscathed,  or  but  little  the  worse.  The 
larger  Candytufts  yet  hang  white  from  the  rockeries ;  Cytisus 
scoparius  Andreanus  yet  gives  its  towering  branches  of  crimson-brown 
and  gold,  though  the  big  Spanish  Whin  beneath  has  lost  its  glory. 
The  white  Portugal  Broom  is  a  snowy  mass.  Roses  are  in  the  field, 
the  old  Blush  Monthly  giving  us  many  of  its  shapely  flowers,  fragrant 
as  is  their  wont.  The  Ramanas  Roses  yield  some  of  their  pretty 
flowers,  and  two  forms  of  R.  spinosissima,  pimpinellifolia,  and  altaica 
give  their  flowers  with  the  utmost  freedom.  Buds  everywhere  tell  of 
the  coming  glories  of  the  queen  of  flowers  in  other  shapes.  On  the 
wall  Clematis  montana  grandiflora  is  a  sheet  of  snow-white  flowers. 
Cromwells  give  blue  or  yellow  flowers;  Lupins  raise  their  spikes  of 
bloom,  and  the  hardy  “old-fashioned”  Columbines  have  not  bid 
farewell  for  the  year.  That  constant  succession,  which  is  the  charm  of 
a  garden  of  hardy  flowers,  is  given  by  many  other  flowers  in  bloom, 
or  showing  by  swelling  buds. — S.  Arnott. 
- <•#.. - 
Tlie  Fortingall  Yew,  Perthshire. 
Probably  the  oldest  specimen  of  the  common  or  English  Yew 
(Taxes  baccata)  in  these  islands  is  to  be  found  growing  in  the 
churchyard  of  Fortingall,  a  small  and  picturesque  village  in  the 
Perthshire  Highlands,  situated  about  nine  miles  from  Abtrfeldy,  the 
nearest  railway  station.  Here  hundreds  of  visitors  sojourn  every 
summer  to  view  the  magnificent  mountain  scenery  and  visit  the 
various  places  of  historical  at  d  natural  interest.  The  chief  attraction, 
however,  even  to  the  person  uninterested  in  arboricultural  or  botanical 
curiosities,  is  the  aged  Yew  tree,  which  stands  to  all  outward  appear¬ 
ance  still  fresh  and  luxuriant,  a  monument  of  the  centuries.  The 
quaint  little  parish  church,  w7hich  stands  not  far  from  tie  Yew,  is 
also  of  considerable  antiquity,  being  founded  by  St.  Adamnan,  or 
the  Abbot  of  Iona,  who  was  born  624,  and  died  in  704.  On  the  left 
of  the  church,  enclosed  by  the  vail  surrounding  the  Garth  burial 
place,  is  the  tree  of  which  1  wish  to  state  a  few  particulars. 
It  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  age  of  any  tree  such  as  this,  is, 
for  the  most  part,  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  from  tacts  historical 
and  traditional,  combined  with  the  opinion  of  experts,  a  very 
approximate  estimate  can  be  arrived  at.  Supposing  it  to  be 
contemporaneous  with  the  founding  of  the  church,  we  have  thus 
at  least  twelve  centuries  of  life  for  it.  Baron  Humboldt  ascribed  to  it 
the  astounding  age  of  2000  years,  whilst  the  late  Professor  Sir  Robert 
Christisson,  after  a  close  examination  of  it,  believed  it  to  be  over 
2500  years.  De  Candolle,  a  well  known  writer  on  botanical  subjects, 
born  at  Geneva,  1787,  appointed  Professor  of  botany  at,  tLe  university 
of  Montpellier  in  1810,  was  perhaps  the  first  who  drew  the  attention 
of  the  scientific  woild  to  this  most  interesting  tree.  Before  his  time, 
however,  it  had  become  an  object  of  interest  to  British  authors. 
Pennant,  when  on  a  visit  to  Col.  Campbell  of  Glenlyon,  in  1769, 
saw  it,  and  it  then  measured  56  feet  in  circumference  near  the  ground. 
About  that  time,  and  afterwards,  it  became  the  prey  of  curio  collectors, 
who  surreptitiously  used  to  chip  pieces  out  of  its  then  decaying  trunk 
to  manufacture  into  snuff  boxes  and  other  articles.  During  the 
eighteenth  century  it  was,  as  has  already  been  noted,  in  a  state  of 
decay,  and  it  seemed  then  as  if  its  term  of  existence  was  fast  coming  to 
an  end ;  but  strange  to  say,  this  very  process  of  decay  has  been  the 
means  of  starting  this  wonderful  tree  on  a  new  lease  of  life.  Early 
in  the  nineteenth  century  the  trunk,  owing  to  the  decay  in  the  centre, 
parted  into  three  limbs,  which  fell  to  the  ground  until  arrested  by  the 
wall  enclosing  the  burial  place  of  the  Stewarts  of  Garth.  Each  limb 
on  coming  in  contact  with  the  soil  took  fresh  root,  and  each  of  them 
are  at  the  present  time  green  and  .flourishing.  The  tree  as  now  seen 
has  the  largest  of  these  limbs  lying  back  towards  the  north  wall  of  the 
enclosure,  the  smallest  of  the  three  lying  quite  against  the  same  wall. 
Another  limb  is  half  on  the  ground,  in  a  direction  south-west  from 
the  main  limb,  and  is  supported  by  a  stone  buttress  erected  at  the 
time  to  prevent  its  falling  flat  altogether,  and  at  the  present  time  it 
shows  signs  of  vigorous  growth.  The  main  limb  has  still  a  large 
part  of  the  old  trunk  attached  to  it,  at  any  rate  a  segment  of  the 
circle  of  its  ancient  circumference,  with  its  minute  rings,  to  tell 
their  story  of  growth,  and  the  flight  of  time  since  the  old  Yew  tree  of 
Fortingall  was  a  sapling. 
In  the  spot  that  once  marked  the  centre  of  the  tree,  a  fresh  tree, 
now  of  considerable  proportions  itself,  has  grown,  so  that  this  famous 
old  tree,  like  the  eagle,  has  renewed  its  youth,  with  the  result  that  the 
entire  enclosure  devoted  to  the  tree  and  sepulture  is  now  a  mass  of 
sombre  dark  green.  Mention  of  the  tree  is  made  in  many  old  lcoal 
writings.  Gazeteers  and  encyclopedias  refer  to  it,  and  it  is  also 
described  in  old  and  new  statistical  accounts. — W.  L.,  Edinburgh . 
