FOLIAGE PLANTS FOR TOWNS
“Oh, give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall.”
“Sweet leaves to the air.”
We have said a good deal about Flowering Plants for town decoration;
there are also non-flowering sets of plants to choose from, which are
just as lovely and far more uncommon; I mean the grand array of foliage
plants.
Some years ago it was my good fortune to be present at one of the
prettiest weddings of the season. Not one of the bridesmaids wore a
flower. Every bouquet was made of leaves, shaded, striped and coloured;
they were as bright as they were graceful, the effect was indescribably
fresh and charming, and was a lesson for ever on what can be done with
leaves.
Furnishing the box or balcony with foliage-plants may be more costly
than flowers in the first place, and they require more consideration
in arrangement; but they have useful qualities which render them
invaluable. They are much more durable than flowering plants, and less
affected by accidents of weather.
About their beauty there is no question, and their variety, even if we
exclude Palms and Ferns, is endless. Luckily for their admirers, it
is found that many of those we have been taught to consider hot-house
nurslings do just as well in the open air. Nor is there any difficulty
in marketing for them. Growers are quite alive to the situation, and
those who can afford the luxury have nothing to do but make their
choice.
Covent Garden market, that fairyland of flowers, is, I suppose, at the
head and front of the forward movement in the sale of plants. Twenty
years ago only about thirty growers attended and sold plants there. Now
there are over three hundred; and it is no exaggeration to count the
plants and flowers yearly sold by them in millions.
With cordial sympathy we note the small green painted window-box on
the garret window-sill of the artisan. It generally consists of a
neat row of palings with a realistic stile or gateway in the middle,
and bubbles over with Creeping-Jenny and Nasturtiums; the man in the
street who passes the costly window-gardens of the rich, how he must
sympathize with them, and revel in the sights we give him! This is
the best of window-gardening, it is such an unselfish pleasure. Every
passer-by is made happier by it. In the love of Nature and of flowers
we all join hands, meeting on common ground. “Oh, the joy of the vast
elemental sympathy which only the human soul is capable of generating!”
Few things call it forth more pleasantly than the mutual enjoyment of
earth’s fair treasures, plants and trees and flowers.
Nowadays we have learned to expect great things from the wealthy people
who live in the many-windowed mansions of our Capital. When spring
comes back again with sunshine, like an old smile, we look for the
flowers outside the houses as well as those that grow in the Parks,
and we are not disappointed. But there are one or two districts that
still want waking up. Some people are content to spend their money and
display their taste only now and then at great entertainments or on
special occasions, when enough is lavished in one night to furnish the
whole roadway for a season!
If we could read the annals of some of our great floral firms, we
should be startled to see what immense sums are paid for one month’s
decorations only by one family. Several thousand pounds are soon
dispensed, when the flowers for a single entertainment have cost
five hundred. Orchids and Roses cannot be had in huge quantities for
nothing, and it is all good for trade, so nobody need pretend to be
shocked or call out about extravagance. We all love the best when we
see it, and why not secure the same--those who can? but I do not think
that people who have made their ball-rooms into bowers of beauty, and
transformed their houses into paradises for one night, have done their
duty till they have contributed their quota to the street.
Yet it never looks well when outside decoration is overdone. All should
be in keeping, and never an obtrusive glare. Here our foliage-plants
come in well. They look so good and so refined. A list of plants to
choose from may be useful. I will cull one from a paper on “Plants for
House Decoration,” read by Mr. John Wills, F.R.H.S., at a meeting of
the Horticultural Society on March 8th, 1892, and published January,
1903. Even if one cannot remember the Latin names very well, it is easy
to make a copied catalogue to show our florist when giving orders. He
always does his best for those who show an intelligent interest and
appear to know what they are talking about.
Among Palms, _Corypha australis_, _Latania borbonica_, and _Cocos
Weddelliana_ are recommended, especially this last; it is so graceful
and enduring, and has been known to last for more than two years in a
draughty room. _Kentia Belmoreana_ is another good plant of the same
habit.
Any of the following are also available for room or flower-box
decoration: _Areca Baueri_, and _A. lutescens_, _Cocos flexuosa_,
_Geonoma gracilis_, _Ph[oe]nix reclinata_, _P. tenuis_ and _Thrinax
elegans_.
So much for the Palms. Now for the coloured and ornamental foliage
plants. The following may be relied upon as being very useful and
satisfactory, as well as possessing the quality of endurance: _Ananassa
satina_, _Asparagus plumosa_, and _A. procumbens_. These last are the
most graceful, feathery, branching things in the world, delighting
everybody. Many handsome Crotons mix in well, and may be used with
impunity, out-of-doors. The following Dracaenas are also pretty, and
hardy enough to brave an English summer. _Dracaena australis_, _D.
fragrans_, _D. linita_, _D. Goldiana_, and many other varieties.
Bromeliads may be freely planted, and will retain their beauty for a
long time. Tillandsias, _Aspidistra lurida_ and its variegated form,
are most useful and never-failing plants. Several of the Fittonias
are also pretty. The never-dying Ophiopogon, any number of Ferns, and
various other decorative foliage-plants too numerous to mention, are
available for either house, balcony, or window-box purposes. We might
add Kentias of different kinds, _Nidularium fulgens_, and Bamboos.
Every plant mentioned will keep in good looks from June to the end of
October.
Anybody who wants more sorts than these, had better consult his
florist. I do not think I could resist adding some old-fashioned
scented-leaf Geraniums for the sake of their delicious fragrance; both
the Oak-leafed, the Peppermint, and the Musk, all of which are more
valuable for their foliage than their flowers. So “out of fashion”
these are now, that it is quite difficult to get them from the
Nurseryman; we must invade the floral sanctums of our friends, where
a pot or two may often be found hidden away in a Melon bed, or in a
corner of the Peach house, or keeping company with the sweet leaves of
the Grape-vine.