*Ferula tingitana.—A very noble plant, from 6 ft. to 8 ft. high, with a stout stem and very glistening leaves, which are broader than those of any other species, and repeatedly subdivided into oblong or lance-shaped deeply-toothed segments.
Ficus Chauvieri.—A noble species, with a faultless habit, which does well in the open air, and is the best kind after F. elastica. The leaves are oval-obtuse in outline, of a very dark glistening green, with pale-yellow veins, and usually have one or more large undulations on the margin. Useful for the same purposes as the following species.
Ficus elastica (India-rubber Plant).—This is one of those valuable leathery-leaved things that are useful in hothouse, drawing-room, or flower-garden. It not only exists in the open air in summer in good health, but makes a good growth under the influence of our weak northern sun. Never assuming the imposing proportions of other plants mentioned herein, it is best adapted for select mixed groups, and, in small gardens, as isolated specimens amongst low bedding plants. It will best enjoy stove treatment in winter, and is propagated from cuttings. It should be put out at the end of May. In all cases it is better to use plants with single stems.
*Fuchsia.—The Fuchsia, one of the most beautiful ornaments of the garden when well grown, is comparatively rarely seen in our flower-gardens. It is to be regretted that this is the case, for assuredly there is nothing in cultivation more calculated to improve the aspect of things therein. Not showy in mass of flower, like many things common enough now, it is of the highest order of beauty; while the drooping habit of the shoots of most kinds gives the plant a grace which is valuable indeed, and which no flower-garden should be without. Even in dwarf lines, where this drooping tendency is not seen to such advantage, or, it may be, presents a disadvantage, the Fuchsia is very valuable; but it is when we use plants with rather tall stems or pyramids that the full beauty of the Fuschia as a flower-garden plant is seen. And the right way to manage them is to make them as far as possible produce all their growth in the open air. That is the secret: start them, nurture them, and make them full of leaves and strong young growth in the spring, so as to go out strong, and most likely you will find them very disappointing indeed; but keep them back and do not let them burst forth into leaf until put in the open air in May, and they will then go on and retain all the strength they gather, suspending quantities of graceful blossoms until the leaves have deserted the trees, when they should be taken up and put in a dry cave, cellar, or shed for the winter. In a cool position of that kind it would not be difficult to “keep them back” in spring. And supposing they seemed inclined to push forth too much before the time had quite arrived when it would be convenient or desirable to put them in the flower-garden, there should be no difficulty in placing them in some quiet, sheltered nook, where they might receive more protection than in the flower-garden proper, and yet have full opportunity to make growth in the open air—the great point to be attained. The freest and hardiest kinds should be chosen for this purpose. In many places refuse plants may be turned to good account in this way. Given a lot of specimen Fuchsias—arrived, perhaps, at that stage when they must be parted with to make way for younger plants and newer kinds—nothing is simpler than to make of these standards for the flower-garden, by cutting away the lower and middle side shoots, and leaving the head to form a standard. Their exceptional grace when placed among fine foliage-plants induces me to allude to them here.
*Funkia Sieboldiana.—A Japanese plant, remarkable for the elegance of its leaves, which are large, broadly heart-shaped, of a greyish-green colour, slightly undulating, and finely marked with regular lines of prominent ribs. The flowers are of a light lilac or bluish colour, and are borne in a drooping unilateral cluster at the extremity of a leafless stem 1 ft. or 16 ins. high. Thrives best in a light, cool, sandy soil in a sheltered half-shady position. It will also thrive well in peat. Multiplied by division of the tufts in autumn, once in three or four years. Useful among the dwarfer herbaceous plants, etc., and occasionally as a groundwork in beds of shrubs with fine foliage.
*Galega officinalis.—A handsome, hardy, and vigorous-growing plant, 3 ft. to 5 ft. high, forming graceful tufts of pinnate leaves, and flowering abundantly and for a long time; the flowers are of a pale blue, in long, dense clusters or spikes. Although it will grow in almost any soil, it does best in a deep, free, moist, sandy clay. This not uncommon herbaceous plant is alluded to here in consequence of its graceful leaves, which fit it for taking a part in the groups of handsome hardy subjects so often suggested in this book.