Asperula odorata.—The woodruff, a charming white-flowered plant with leaves in circles. Well adapted for carpeting the border or rockery.
Asphodelus.—Handsome liliaceous plants, with fleshy roots, erect stems, and showy flowers, thriving in any good garden soil. A. albus, 4 ft., A. aestivus, 4 ft., and A. ramosus, 4 ft., have all long tapering keeled leaves, and simple or branched spikes of white flowers; A. luteus, 2 ft., has awl-shaped leaves and dense spikes of fragrant yellow flowers; A. capillaris is similar to A. luteus, but more slender and elegant.
Aster.—A very large family of autumn-blooming composites, including some ornamental species, all of the easiest culture. Of these, A. alpinus, 1 ft., and A. Amellus, 1½ ft., with its var. bessarabicus, have broadish blunt leaves, and large starry bluish flowers; A. longifolius formosus, 2 ft., bright rosy lilac; A. elegans, 3 to 5 ft., small pale purple or whitish; A. laxus, 2 ft., purplish-blue; A. pendulus, 2½ ft., white, changing to rose; A. pyrenaeus, 2 to 3 ft., lilac-blue; A. turbinellus, 2 to 3 ft., mauve-coloured, are showy border plants; and A. Novae Angliae, 5 to 6 ft., rosy-violet; A. cyaneus, 5 ft., blue-lilac; and A. grandiflorus, 3 ft., violet, are especially useful from their late-flowering habit.
Astilbe.—A. japonica, 1 to 1½ ft., better known as Hoteia japonica or Spiraea japonica, thrives in peaty or sandy soil; its glossy tripinnate leaves, and feathery panicles of white flowers early in summer, are very attractive. It proves to be a fine decorative pot-plant, and invaluable for forcing during the spring.
Astragalus.—Showy pea-flowered plants, the smaller species adapted for rockwork; sandy soil. A. dasyglottis, 6 in., has bluish-purple flowers in August and September; and A. monspessulanus, 8 in., crimson-purple in July; while A. hypoglottis, 6 in., produces in summer compact heads of pretty flowers, which are either purple or white. There are many very ornamental kinds.
Aubrietia.—Beautiful dwarf spring-blooming rock plants, forming carpety tufts of flowers of simple cruciferous form. A. delioidea is of a deep lilac-blue; A. Campbelliae is more compact and rather darker, approaching to purple; A. grandiflora and graeca are rather larger, but of a lighter hue. Light sandy soil.
Bambusa.—The bamboo family are elegant arborescent grasses (see [Bamboo]).
Baptisia.—Stoutish erect-growing, 2 to 3 ft., with smooth foliage and spikes of pea-like flowers. B. australis is purplish-blue, B. alba, white, B. exaltata, deep blue; all flowering in the summer months.
Bellis.—B. perennis flore-pleno, the Double Daisy, consists of dwarf showy plants 3 to 4 in. high, flowering freely in spring if grown in rich light soil, and frequently divided and transplanted. The white and pink forms, with the white and red quilled, and the variegated-leaved aucubaefolia, are some of the best.
Bocconia.—Stately poppyworts, 6 to 8 ft. B. cordata has heart-shaped lobed leaves, and large panicles of small flesh-coloured flowers. Sometimes called Macleaya. Deep sandy loam.