vases or pots for room-decoration. Its delicate panicles give an additional charm to the finest bouquets. May be sown either in September or in April. S. Europe.
*Alisma Plantago.—A native perennial water-plant, growing nearly 3 ft. high, and bearing a very handsome pyramidal panicle of rosy-white flowers from June to September. The leaves are oval-lance-shaped with a cordate base, and are borne nearly erect on long stalks for some distance above the surface of the water. A graceful object on the margins of ponds, lakes, etc., where a plant of it transferred from any place where it grows will soon increase.
Alsophila excelsa.—A noble tree-fern, native of Norfolk Island, where it attains a height of 40 ft., crowned with a magnificent circular crest of bipinnate fronds. These fronds or branches fall off every year, leaving an indentation in the trunk. It stands well in the open air in this country in shady, moist, and thoroughly well sheltered places. It should be put out at the end of May, and taken indoors at the end of September or early in October, and receive warm-greenhouse or temperate-house treatment in winter. The same remarks apply to A. australis, and probably others of the family will be found to thrive well in the open air when sufficiently plentiful to be tried in that position.
*THE AMARANTUSES.
Among the common annuals of our gardens I know of none more in want of judicious use and appreciation than these. The few we grow are usually treated as rough common annuals, and sown so thickly that they never attain half their true development, or never fulfil any of the graceful uses for which they are adapted. But the family possesses greater claims on our attention by reason of the more recent additions to it. The old “Love lies bleeding” (A. caudatus), with its dark-red pendent racemes, is a very striking object when well grown, but A. speciosus and some of the more recent varieties are still more so.
*Amarantus caudatus.—A hardy and vigorous-growing species, from 2 ft. to 3¼ ft. high. Flowers from July to September, dark purplish, very small, collected in numerous whorls, which are disposed in drooping spikes so as to form a handsome pendent panicle. There is a variety which has yellow flowers and is equally hardy. It is advisable to give this plant plenty of room to spread; otherwise much of its picturesque effect will be lost; and to use it in positions where its fine and peculiar habit may be seen to advantage—as, for example, in large vases, edges of large beds of subtropical plants, or dotted among low-growing flowering plants. Although as easily raised as any common annual, it deserves to be properly thinned out, and each plant isolated in rich ground, so that it may attain its full size. E. Indies.
*Amarantus sanguineus.—Is distinguished by the blood-red colour of its leaves, and grows about 3 ft. high. Its purple flowers appear from July to October, disposed partly in small heads in the axils of the upper leaves, and partly in slender, flexible spikes which form a panicle more or less branching. This plant, though a native of the East Indies, is quite hardy, and seems to do best in light soil with plenty of leaf-mould and having a warm aspect. It may be sown in hotbeds in April and pricked out in May, or in the open air at the end of April or beginning of May, and, like the others, should never be allowed to get crowded.
*Amarantus speciosus.—A very large kind, well adapted for associating with subtropical plants, as it grows from 3 ft. to nearly 5 ft. high. The flowers are very numerous, of a dark crimson purple, and arranged in large erect spikes, forming a fine plumy panicle. The leaves are suffused with a reddish tinge. Plants of this species are occasionally met with having leaves with a light green centre surrounded by wavy zones of a reddish hue. This colouring disappears at the time of flowering. It is an effective subject in the autumn months. Culture, the same as for the preceding kind. Nepaul.
*Amarantus tricolor.—Distinguished by the very handsome and remarkable colouring of its leaves, which are of a fine transparent purplish-red, or dark carmine, from the base to the middle. A large spot of lively transparent yellow occupies the greater part of the upper end of the leaf, and sometimes covers it altogether, with the exception of the point, which is mostly green. The leaf-stalk is either of a light green or yellow colour. Sometimes leaves occur which have the lower half green and the upper part red. Another variety (bicolor) has leaves of a tender green variously streaked with light yellow. It is rather delicate, and requires very good soil, and a warm, open aspect. Another variety (bicolor ruber) is hardier than the last-named, and has leaves which are of a brilliant glistening scarlet when young, gradually changing to a dark violet-red mixed with green. Another variety (ruber) has a more squat and ramified habit, and leaves of a deep rose-colour thickly clothing the stems. Other varieties recommended are elegantissimus (with scarlet leaves), Gordoni, melancholicus ruber, and versicolor, all having some claims as bedding plants. The foliage of these varieties is exceedingly ornamental, and rivals the finest flowers in the richness of its hues. Planted along with large-leaved subjects, such as the Cannas, Wigandias, Ricinus, Solanums, etc., the effect is very fine. They may also be advantageously employed in borders and flower-beds of all sizes, and for fringing the edges of shrubberies. The varieties of A. tricolor are a little more tender than the other kinds, and a light soil and a warmer position are necessary for them. They do well in gardens by the seaside. They should be sown in April in a hotbed, pricked out in a hotbed, and finally planted permanently about the end of May. A. t. giganteus is described as very fine in recent catalogues of the nurserymen. To these may be added a beautiful new kind, A. salicifolius, in the possession of the Messrs. Veitch, but not yet sent out. It has highly coloured and very long, narrow, and arching leaves, and is a singularly graceful and brilliant object. E. Indies.
*Andropogon squarrosus is a hardy East Indian grass, which survives the winter with but slight protection, making luxuriant tufts seven feet high, or more, when in flower. It would probably make a beautiful object in the warmer and milder parts of England and Ireland in good soil, but it is not a subject which can with confidence be recommended for every garden. However, all who value fine grasses should try it. Well-drained and deep-sandy loam.
*ARALIAS.
This genus embraces many plants of very diverse aspects, and few that are fitted for the open air in our climate; but in the case of A. canescens, and its relative (A. spinosa), the Angelica-tree of North America, we have subjects which thrive perfectly well in our gardens, and which in the size and beauty of their leaves are far before many “foliage-plants” carefully cultivated in hothouses at a perpetual expense.
*Aralia canescens.—The specimen of this species figured was one of a batch of young plants growing in a London nursery, and sketched in the summer of 1868. The engraving falls far short of rendering the beauty of the plant. It is easy to imagine what a graceful effect may be realised by such an object, either isolated on the turf near the edge of a shrubbery, or grouped with subjects of similar character. Success with these plants may be secured by first selecting a sheltered and warm position, so that their noble leaves may be well developed and not lacerated by storms when they are fully grown; secondly, by giving them a deep, free, and thoroughly-drained soil; and thirdly, by confining them as a rule to a simple and rather dwarf stem, so that the vigour of the individual may not be wasted in several branches. The effect of a plant kept to a single stem, as shown in the plate, is always much superior to that of a branched one. Young plants present this aspect naturally; but old ones may be cut down,
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