WATER PLANTS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1874, 25 February 1880, Page 2

WATER PLANTS.

Pew things are uglier than a muddy horsepool by the roadside (says a correspondent o£ the “Gardeners’ Journal”) especially when it is fringed with slime, in which the loose feathers of the ducks which make the pond their playground are sprinkled about so as to make eyen the dirt look dirtier. There are many such ponds in my pariah, but one has a glory all its own in a stately plant of the great Water Plantain (Alisma Plantago). This plant happens to grow just in the centre of the pond, and the strong upward growth of its beautiful leaves contrasted with the light feathery sprays of the flower, and the broad shadow of the whole reflected in the water, are so extremely beautiful that they redeem even the muddy horsepond from ugliness. Most of the endogenous plants have something stately in their appearance, and they seem to have a peculiar liking for water. The Alisma is not the only wild flower which adds grace and even dignity to our roadside pools. In many places the Bullrush is abundant, and other tall sedges and grasses, combined with the broader leaves of the wild Iris, make a beautiful border to some shadowy piece of water lying low under the shade of a dark wood. Another beautiful wild eudogen is tho Flowering Bush (Butomus umbellatus), which is comparatively rare, but may be found occasionally growing in stagnant water. It grows in this country, but is not easily found. All these wild plants are suitable for the garden if there happens to be a pond large enough for their stately growth. They are fortunate who possess such a pond or natural water in any form in their gardens, for in out-of-door work nothing is more interesting than the cultivation of aquatics and damp-loving plants. The cultivation of Bichardia acthinpica (nee Arum) seems to increase year by year as the beauty of its leaves and flowers becomes more and more' appreciated ; but we usually see it in large pots, where no doubt it attains a greater size than under any other treatment. But in Cornwall it is frequently planted in large ponds, and in such cases it flourishes fairly well, dying down every winter and reappearing with the spring. It looks particularly well growing actually in water, and I have been pleased with the effect of it in my own garden, simply plunged pot and all in an artificial pool. Under these circumstances a network of roots quickly forms on the surface of the pot, and the plant will thrive well during the summer months. I must confess to a failure with Aponogeton distachyon. It grows abundantly in the pond of a garden belonging to a friend in South Devon, and the flowers there are most useful for gathering in winter, as they are curious and sweet scented. I have had plants from that pond given to me, but without success. The pond in which it thrives so well has a gentle stream passing through it, and £ attribute the great luxuriance of the Aponogeton to the fact of the water being at ones still and yet changed. I have seen this aquatic grown at Kew in a bellglass turned wpside down. It was very different from the same plant in South Devon, but yet it was an interesting plant, and I think I shall make another attempt to grow it in that fashion. It seems to me to have a great objection to artificial heat, as I have tried it in my vinery, where it soon disappeared, and I have known it share the same fate under similar circumstances in another garden. It is one of those provoking plants which when once they take to a place grow like weeds, bat the difficulty is to get them to take. The water lilies are perhaps the most beautiful of all aquatics, and yet they are so troublesome in their cuckoo-like determination to oust other things from their nest and to get possession of the whole for themselves, that it is necessary to be careful in introducing them, unless the ornamental water is sufficiently extensive to give them plenty of room. On the banks of such a piece of water, be it large or small, the first thing to plant would be Arundo conspicua and the Pampas. I have seen lately the assertion that the former is as hardy as the latter. I hope it may be so, but my own experience is, that in the bitter cold of last winter the Pampas survived, though somewhat injured ; the Arundo died. However, my plant of the latter waa small, the Pampas was well estabb'sbed ; this last has now quite recovered from the severe winter, and is throwing up as many heads as usual, though more than a month behind the usual time.

I believe nothing could be more beautiful on the banks of artificial water than great cushions of moss and such wild flowers as like a moist dripping atmosphere, if they could only be made to grow as they do in the far west. Anyone who has seen that perfect gem, the Ivy-leaved Campanula (Campanula hederacea) growing in its native haunts with the lovely Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella) cushioned also by its side, would agree with mo that scarcely anything more beautiful can be seen in our gardsns. The light green of • the Cornish Moneywort (Sibthorpia europsea) is often found in great abundance close at hand, and adds another beauty to the soft loveliness of those rich dewy banks of moss, ferns, and flowers which are to be found in the deep wooded valleys of Cornwall and Devon. lam afraid it is scarcely possible to reproduce them artificially, and perhaps some would say it would not be right to attempt it. But comparatively few penetrate the recesses of a Cornish wood except on the day of a grand battue, and, therefore, the exquisite beauties of Nature to be found there are almost unseen. It would at least extend the area of such delights if we could reproduce them ift our garden, although we who know them at home might not perhaps care much to meet with them when they would inevitably ear some signs of not being quite happy.