Globe Thistle, Echinops.—Large and distinct perennials of fine port, from 3 feet to 6 feet high, with spiny leaves and numerous flowers in spherical heads. These will thrive well in almost any position, and hold their ground amid the coarsest vegetation. Being of a “type” quite distinct from that of our indigenous vegetation, they are more than usually suited for naturalisation. Echinops exaltatus and E. ruthenicus, are among the best kinds, the last the best in colour.
May–flower, Epigæa repens.—A small creeping shrub, with pretty and deliciously fragrant flowers, which appear soon after the melting of the snow in N. America, and are there as welcome as the hawthorn with us. In its native country it inhabits woods, mostly in the shade of pines; and usually, wherever I saw it, it seemed to form a carpet under three or four layers of vegetation, so to speak—that is to say, it was beneath pines, medium–sized trees, tall bushes, and dwarf scrub about 18 in. high, while the plant itself was not more than one or two inches high. In our gardens this plant is very rarely seen, and even in the great American plant nurseries, where it used to grow it has disappeared. This is no wonder, when it is considered how very different are the conditions which it enjoys in gardens compared with those which I have above described. Without doubt it can be naturalised easily in pine woods on a sandy soil.
Dog’s–tooth Violet, Erythronium.—A few days ago I saw a number of irregular clumps of these here and there on a gently sloping bank of turf, and, in front of clumps of evergreens, they looked quite charming, and their dark spotted leaves showed up to much better effect on the fresh green Grass than they do in borders. They were all of the red variety, and required a few of the white form among them to make the picture perfect.
So writes a correspondent in Ireland. This beautiful plant, some years ago rarely seen in our gardens, adorns many a dreary slope in the Southern Alps, and there should be no great difficulty in the way of adding its charms to the wild garden in peaty or sandy spots, rather bare or under deciduous vegetation.
The Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis.—Classed among British plants but really naturalised. Its golden buttons peeping through the moss and grass in snowdrop time form one of the prettiest aspects of our garden vegetation in spring. It will grow anywhere, and is one of the plants that thrive under the spreading branches of summer–leafing trees, as it blooms and perfects its leaves before the buds open on the beech. On many lawns, spring gardens might be formed by planting some spring flowering plants that finish their growth before the trees are in leaf. Another advantage of such positions is, that the foliage of the tree prevents any coarser plants taking possession of the ground, and therefore these little spring plants have the ground to themselves, and wander into natural little groups in the moss and grass, sometimes covering the surface with a sheet of blossoms.
Funkia.—I have spoken of the conditions in the wild garden being more suitable to many plants than those which obtain in what might seem choice positions in borders, many of the plants attaining greater beauty and remaining longer in bloom in the shade and shelter of shrubby places than when fully exposed. As an instance of this, I saw Funkia cœrulea the other day, showing a size and beauty in a shady drive at Beauport, near Battle, which I never saw it attain under other circumstances. The plant was over a yard high, and bore many stately stems hung with blue flowers. The Funkias are exceedingly valuable plants for the wild garden, not being liable to accidents which are fatal to Lilies and other plants exposed to the attacks of slugs and rabbits.
Groups of Funkia Sieboldi.
Snakes–head, Fritillaria.—The beautiful British snakes–head (F. Meleagris) grows wild, as most people know, in meadows in various parts of England, and we should like to see it as well established in the grassy hollows of many a country seat. Various other Fritillarias not so pretty as this, and of a peculiar livid dark hue, which is not like to make them popular in gardens, such as F. tristis, would be worthy of a position also; while the Crown Imperial would do on the fringes of shrubberies.