So much for the Palms. Now for the coloured and ornamental foliage plants. The following may be relied upon as being very useful and satisfactory, as well as possessing the quality of endurance: Ananassa satina, Asparagus plumosa, and A. procumbens. These last are the most graceful, feathery, branching things in the world, delighting everybody. Many handsome Crotons mix in well, and may be used with impunity, out-of-doors. The following Dracaenas are also pretty, and hardy enough to brave an English summer. Dracaena australis, D. fragrans, D. linita, D. Goldiana, and many other varieties. Bromeliads may be freely planted, and will retain their beauty for a long time. Tillandsias, Aspidistra lurida and its variegated form, are most useful and never-failing plants. Several of the Fittonias are also pretty. The never-dying Ophiopogon, any number of Ferns, and various other decorative foliage-plants too numerous to mention, are available for either house, balcony, or window-box purposes. We might add Kentias of different kinds, Nidularium fulgens, and Bamboos. Every plant mentioned will keep in good looks from June to the end of October.
Anybody who wants more sorts than these, had better consult his florist. I do not think I could resist adding some old-fashioned scented-leaf Geraniums for the sake of their delicious fragrance; both the Oak-leafed, the Peppermint, and the Musk, all of which are more valuable for their foliage than their flowers. So “out of fashion” these are now, that it is quite difficult to get them from the Nurseryman; we must invade the floral sanctums of our friends, where a pot or two may often be found hidden away in a Melon bed, or in a corner of the Peach house, or keeping company with the sweet leaves of the Grape-vine.
CHAPTER IX
FOG, FLOWERS, AND FOLIAGE
“Air, air, fresh life-blood, thin and searching air,
The clear, dear breath of God that loveth us.”
Air is invisible, and earth a very tangible thing indeed, which makes us forget sometimes how much air does for us, to feed and nourish. We do not only live in it, we live of it; and by we I mean all breathing creatures, whether men or lower animals or plants. What brings the truth most home to us is having to do without air—in a London fog, for instance.
We have been talking a great deal about the flowers and plants of London. Alas! very few of them are grown there; most of them have to be imported. During the winter months fog is too terrible an enemy, so insidious is it, playing havoc even with our indoor and conservatory plants.
It is interesting to learn from the researches of the savants, that the evil effect of urban fog on flowers and foliage is twofold. The injuries are produced in two quite separate ways: one is the presence of poison in the atmosphere; the other, the reduction of light, which is the invariable result of the fog of cities and manufacturing towns.