*Spiræa Aruncus.—This is a remarkably handsome and effective plant, from 3½ ft. to 5 ft. high, with elegantly-divided leaves, which bear some resemblance to the fronds of certain ferns. The flowers are white, and are disposed above the foliage in graceful, airy plumes. A cool, peaty soil, and a slightly-shaded position, are best suited for this plant, and it may be placed with advantage on slopes with a north aspect, the banks of streams or pieces of water, in glades, and thinly-planted shrubberies, etc. Division. Siberia.
*Spiræa Filipendula.—A hardy, native perennial, with elegant foliage and handsome flowers. The leaves are mostly radical, very finely cut, and form a loosely-spreading rosette. The flower-stems rise to a height of 1½ ft. to 2 ft., and are terminated by dense panicles of rosy-white flowers. There is a fine variety with double flowers. This plant is included here only in consequence of the resemblance of its leaves to a pinnate-leaved fern. By pinching off the flowers it may be used with good effect as a green, fern-like edging plant, and it is pretty in borders. Division in winter or spring.
*Spiræa (Hoteia) japonica.—A handsome, herbaceous perennial, forming rich tufts of dark shining green much-divided leaves, which have a somewhat fern-like appearance. These tufts are usually from a foot to 16 ins. high. The flowers are very freely produced in graceful panicles, of which the bracts, little flower-stems, and all the ramifications are, like the flowers, white. It is particularly fond of a sandy peat, or very sandy loam, a sheltered position, and moist soil. Multiplied by division of the tufts in spring or the end of summer. Japan.
*Spiræa Lindleyana.—A graceful shrub, with erect stems, from 6½ ft. to nearly 10 ft. high, and large compound leaves, with finely-toothed leaflets. Flowers late in summer, white, in very large and handsome terminal panicles. This well-known plant is second to none for its grace and distinctness, both of foliage and flower. It is a native of the Himalayas, and easily procured in our nurseries; it should receive far more attention than the majority of our shrubs do, and should be employed both in a young and fully-grown state in and near the flower-garden. Few things, tender or hardy, known in our gardens, afford a better effect than may be obtained from this.
It is probably one of those plants which would look exceedingly effective if trained to a single stem and cut down every year, as recommended for the Ailantus and the Paulownia; but I have had no experience of it in this way, and its natural habit is sufficiently graceful.
Stadmannia Jonghei.—A tall and stately foliage-plant from Australia, where it attains the dimensions of a small tree, with dark shining green pinnate leaves; the divisions oblong-pointed, with serrated margins, and of a paler colour underneath. Bears the open air of the southern counties in summer well, if placed in sunny and sheltered spots.
*Statice latifolia.—A hardy and very ornamental herbaceous perennial from Russia, with broad leaves, which form a rosette or tuft more or less spreading. The flower-stem is more than 2 ft. high, and very much branched; the branches commencing at from 4 ins. to 8 ins. above the ground, and forming a large and exceedingly handsome panicle of flowers of a light-blue colour, tinged with the greyish hue of the numerous membranous bracts and thin dry calyces. A well-drained, sandy soil, in an open sunny position, is the best for this plant, which, however, grows in any ordinary garden-soil, and is admirably adapted for naturalisation or grouping with the acanthuses, tritomas, etc., the effect of the inflorescence being very remarkable.
*Stipa pennata (Feather-grass).—This plant, which at other times is hardly to be distinguished from a strong, stiff tuft of common grass, presents, in May and June, a very different appearance, the tuft being then surmounted by numerous flower-stems, nearly 2 ft. high, gracefully arching, and densely covered, for a considerable part of their upper extremity, with long, twisted, feathery awns. It loves a deep, sandy loam, and may be used with fair effect in groups of small plants, or isolated; but its flowers continue too short a time in bloom to make it very valuable away from borders.
*Struthiopteris germanica.—One of the most elegant hardy ferns, with fronds resembling ostrich-plumes in shape, nearly 3 ft. long, and arranged in a somewhat erect, vase-like rosette. It is particularly suited for the embellishment of the slopes of pleasure-grounds, cascades, grottoes, and rough rockwork, the margins of streams and pieces of water, and will thrive in moist and deep sandy soil, either in the full sunshine or in the shade. S. pennsylvanica very closely resembles S. germanica, the chief point of difference being the narrowness of the fertile fronds of the former species. Both kinds will prove very effective in adding beauty of form to a garden, and should by no means be confined to the fernery proper. Central Europe.
*Tamarix.—These very elegant hardy shrubs may be used with excellent effect in the flower-garden and pleasure-ground, though they are at present seldom employed in these places. T. gallica or anglica is found apparently wild in several parts of the south of England, and other kinds, such as germanica, parviflora, tetrandra, spectabilis, and indica, are also in cultivation. In the neighbourhood of Paris T. indica thrives very freely, and forms beautiful hedges, but is cut down by frost during some winters. It would probably do better in the south of England. The plants have minute leaves and very elegantly-panicled branches, which gives them a feathery effect, somewhat like that of the most graceful conifers, and, if possible, more elegant: the roseate panicles of small flowers are also very pretty. A finer effect would be obtained from these shrubs by isolating them on the grass than in any other way.