WOODLAND GARDEN .sx WOODLAND POPPYWORTS .sx POPPYWORT is , perhaps , as vague a term as most other English plant names , but I propose to deal here with a few of those allies of the Poppies which make a special appeal to woodland gardeners .sx There is a peculiar charm about most of these , a delicate refinement which seems to belong to those that haunt quiet , sylvan retreats .sx Meconopsis quintuplinervia provides us with an example of the ideal open woodland plant .sx I am never quite sure whether I like M. betonicifolia var .sx Baileyi in such a natural setting as this .sx Its amazing blue and gold , and majestic port , are too emphatic for the gentler harmony of the glade .sx But the Harebell Poppy , with its lavender-blue , pearl-lined bells swinging singly on their slender stems , is entirely in sympathy with its surroundings .sx It strikes no exotic note and , as if it understood the supreme value of restraint , is as much a part of the scene as that Campanula which gave to Farrer its English name , is part of the August moor .sx I have little patience with those who compare these two Meconopses , almost invariably to the detriment of the lavender one .sx The two are so wholly different in appearance , in nature and , I think , in their respective uses , that " comparisons are odious .sx " Other considerations apart , the Harebell Poppy is a sound perennial a most desirable attribute in a woodland subject and the soft tone of its infinitely graceful blossoms is never quite so appealing as it is when amid the green of woodland shade .sx I find this lovely plant a willing " doer " in any free , moderately cool loam .sx All the plants ever get in the way of attention is an annual breaking-up and replanting in spring , but that is by no means always essential .sx Sanguinaria canadensis is another excellent Poppywort for the woodland .sx Hardy and peren- nial , this beautiful plant is happy in such conditions as the above , but it will enjoy considerable sunshine provided the soil is sufficiently moist .sx In early spring its dove-coloured leaf unfurls like some delicate shell , and from its heart emerges the milk-white bud which expands into a golden-eyed , Anemone-like blossom of rarest loveliness .sx S. c. var .sx grandiflora , a large form of the type , should always be grown in preference to the latter .sx It is much finer in flower and leaf , equally willing and in many gardens it naturalises with delightful freedom by means of its abundant yield of seed .sx Eomecon chionantha , a Chinese Poppywort , is much like the last-mentioned in its scalloped , heart-shaped , glaucous leaves .sx Its four-petalled , white flowers , however , are not quite so striking as those of the Blood-root , and the plant has a bad habit in some gardens of indulging in redundant growth rather than blooming .sx But this curious herb is always worth a place in any woodland where the shade is not too deep and the soil rather on the meagre side .sx Some root restriction , such as may be provided by sunken stones , has often induced a barren Eomecon to flower satisfactorily .sx Perhaps the best of the yellow-flowered Poppyworts , other than the Meconopses , is Oathcartia villosa , and this excels over most of the latter in that it is a good perennial .sx To that commendable quality one may add a beautiful foliage , the big , heart-shaped , pale green leaves being lobed and inter-lobed and covered with pale straw-coloured hair .sx The lusty bunch of leafage stands at well over a foot during the growing season , and just clear of this Cathcartia villosa produces branching flower-stems which carry throughout the later summer a succession of charming Poppy-flowers in a warm shade of yellow and up to two inches across .sx . Given good drainage , a cool vegetable soil , and not too much drip for its winter fur 'coat , this distinguished plant will generally do well .sx lt .sx ripens seeds in plenty and these ger- minate like Mustard and Cress .sx C. villosa .sx a very closely allied to Meconopsis .sx In this latter genus the only yellow-flowered perennial species which seems to be in general woodland cultivation is M. cambrica .sx The .sx Welsh Poppy is , of course , a dangerous thing to play with .sx Even in the wildest of wild gardens it may become a pest .sx But the single-flowered orange variety , which has finer foliage and much larger blooms than the type , I do not find nearly so rampant .sx The colour of this Poppy is singularly rich , the plant will bloom from May to November and , what is more , it will come true from seeds .sx In my own wood-land few plants of the kind are more admired than this .sx Those who like violent colour effects may grow the orange Welsh Poppy with M. b. var .sx Baileyi , but as a companion for the latter I know of nothing better among perennial Meconopses than M. chelidonifolia .sx This extremely elegant plant makes a flattish tuft of tri-lobed , hairy leaves , and during summer shoots up several four-feet , very slender stems , from which dainty flowers dangle in long succession .sx These four-petalled blossoms are pale yellow , silky and crimped in texture , and with the dark , thread-fine stems which bear them they are the last word in delicate grace .sx This lovely plant is hardy and not at all difficult under any such conditions as are described above .sx The only trouble with M. chelidonifolia is that it needs some support .sx I , at any rate , find it necessary to provide it with a few light twiggy sticks each summer .sx Stylophorum diphyllum must also be included in these woodland Poppyworts , for it is perennial , hardy , and not many degrees less attractive than Cathcartia villosa , to which it bears a family likeness .sx Having raised an eighteen-inch-high mass of smooth , green leaves , which are lobed like those of an Oak , America's Celandine Poppy produces just above this several flowering stems .sx These branch widely and bare at their tips nodding , yellow Poppies which are followed by large and distinctly ornamental seed-pods .sx This is quite an easy plant , enjoying a cool root run and some shade , but I find old specimens are apt to die off in winter , probably from excessive wet .sx The very similar Dicranostigma Franchetianum , is equally trustworthy and perhaps longer lived .sx It is the best of the Chelidoniums which I have grown , and produces a handsome clump of foliage , the lobed leaves being broad and glaucous .sx The saucer-shaped flowers are orange-yellow and borne almost continually throughout the later summer .sx A. T. Johnson .sx PLANTS FOR THE NORTH WALL .sx THERE are many very attractive plants , largely from the United States , that are most valuable for growing in the sheltered positions afforded by a north-facing wall , with pockets built into it , or with available planting space at the top .sx My first subject is a dainty little Japanese treasure , that delights in a cool soil , full of humus and pieces of broken sandstone , namely , Tanakaea radicans .sx The leathery , rich green leaves are sharply pointed , and much serrated at the margins , and it produces during summer when well suited many frail stems bearing plumes of dainty , white flowers , like some small Astilbe .sx It throws out runners freely from the central tuft , and will quite rapidly make a handsome ornament for any suitable nook .sx Dalibarda reopens , often named Rubus Dalibarda , is a delicious little crawler for a cool ledge ; it has round , scalloped leaves , and pure-white , Strawberry-like flowers , borne two or three on each slender scape .sx Its habitat is the cool woodlands of North America , and it is not too common in cultivation .sx Leptarrhina pyrolifolia ( L. amplexifolia and Saxifraga pyrolifolia ) , an uncommon member of the Saxifrage family , is not worth growing for the flowers , which are small , white and quite inconspicuous , but it does not deserve the utter damnation to which Farrer consigns the genus ; to me , the bold , leathery foliage is most attractive .sx It demands a cool spot , in almost pure peat , and given these it will make a sturdyplant with richly dark green leaves , toothed at the margins , the radical leaves being quite twice the size of the upper , stem-clasping ones .sx It hails from high mountain marshes in Kamt- schatka and Alaska .sx A most adaptable little gem , which will do well on the north wall , and equally well in the sunnier rock garden , is Houstonia coerulea , Bluets or Quaker Ladies , as it has been affectionately named in its native States from Nova Scotia to Michigan .sx An especially fine form we grow is that raised by Mr. Millard , and now in commerce as Millard's var .sx The flowers are slightly larger than those of the type , and an even richer blue .sx It is a plant of happy dis-position , and will unfailingly produce clouds of blue and white , fairy flowers , all awave on the innumerable slender stems .sx Viola blanda is a pure white , delicately fragrant Violet from North America , where it haunts moist , mossy places ; I find that here it grows rather out of character if given too rich a diet .sx It has to be starved in poor , peaty soil to retain its dwarf stature , and if grown too coarse it makes large leaves and produces few flowers ; under the right conditions it is one of the daintiest little Violets I know , and a plant I would not be without .sx Here on the north wall , one may sometimes grow and flower the rare Fringed Gentian of the North American woodland bogs ; it is a tricky subject , and I have flowered it but once , and what joy was mine during its all too short flowering time !sx Raised from seeds pricked out with exquisite care into some spongy , pea , mixture , kept open with gritty silver sand , then , when large enough , planted into semi well-prepared pocket it will probably die , but it may live and throw up its six- to nine .sx inch stems , topped with huge , wide-open flowers of the most intense violet-blue , each sepal adorned with a fringe a quarter-of-an-inch deep around its edge .sx Then it seeds and dies-it is but a biennial and all the toil and trouble is repeated , yet every year , in the hope of a few , or even only one , of those heavenly flowers .sx This same wall , too , is a good place to grow the various Pyrolas .sx For some of these we do not have to go far , one or two of them are even natives of our own islands , although so rare that it were shame to collect them , when they are so plentiful in the near Alps , and even at Le Touquet .sx P. rotundifolia grows in profusion almost round the Hotel doorsteps ( the back ones ) and carpets parts of the woods for many yards , under a scrub of wild , Privet and Sea Buckthorn .sx Here , also , I should grow if I had it Pyxidanthera ( Diapensia ) barbulata , that elusive little shrub from the Pine barrens of New Jersey , For years the little wretch has danced ever before me in the columns of plants offered but not always procurable in good catalogues , and in the text-books , whenever I turn up some plant or other , seem to come across Pyxidanthera , and still I sigh that I have it not yet .sx Mimulus primuloides is one of the frailest .sx and prettiest of the Monkey Flowers , and is never happier than when trailing round is a rather moist , stony , peaty corner , where its brilliant yellow flowers , on thread-like , two-inch stems show up to great advantage in the cool semi-darkness .sx It is mighty good at disappear .sx ing , and one or two odd pieces should always be kept in a cold frame during the winter , in case spring finds it missing .sx Our treasured native Twin Flower will be happy on this wall , even although it will grow here out in the full sun , but this is , I must admit , the rather more robust Canadian form .sx I have not tried our slender trailer away from the shelter of the cool wall , where it is so happy and freely erupts in many frail stems , each adangle with two intensely fragrant hanging bells , reminiscent of minute , pink Soldanella flowers ; it is a far wanderer , both in habit and habitat , occurring plentifully in the mountain .sx ous parts of Europe , and in North America .sx It sends its wiry , questing stems far afield , rooting as they go , and dwells happily together with other dwarf , shrubby inhabitants of the wall .sx