THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

AND HOME GROUNDS

First Edition, November 1883.
Second ,, February 1889.
Third ,, May 1893.
Fourth „ June 1895.
Fifth ,, June 1896.

Reprinted, February 1897.
Sixth Edition, May 1898.

Reprinted, November 1898.
Seventh Edition, May 1899.
Eighth ,, June 1900.

Reprinted, December 1900.
,, May 1901.

,, June 1902.
,, /««£ 1903.
Ninth Edition, 1905.
Tenth ,, 1906.

Reprinted, March 1907.
Eleventh Edition, 1909.

Reprinted, January 1911.
Twelfth Edition, 1913.

Reprinted, May 1914.
Thirteenth Edition, 1921.

THE-ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

AND HOME GROUNDS. Design and
Arrangement followed by a Description
of the Plants, Shrubs and Trees for the
Open-air Garden and their Culture, by
W. ROBINSON, Author of "The Wild

*i

Garden/' Illustrated with many Engrav-
ings on Wood. Thirteenth Edition.

"Laying out grounds, as it is called, may be considered as a liberal art, in some
sort like poetry and painting ; and its object, like that of all the liberal arts, is, or ought
to be, to move the affections under the control of good sense. If this be so when we
are merely putting together words or colours, how much more ought the feeling to
prevail when we are in the midst of the realities of things ; of the beauty and harmony,
of the joy and happiness of living creatures ; of men and children, of birds and beasts,
of hill and streams, and trees and flowers, with the changes of night and day, evening
and morning, summer and winter, and all their unwearied actions and energies." —
WORDSWORTH.

New York
Charles Scribner's Sons, 597-599 Fifth Avenue

mcmxxi

YfV

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION.

THIS book is the muster of various once forlorn hopes and
skirmishing parties now united with better arms and larger aims,
and its beginnings may have an interest for others. I came to
London just when the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at
Kensington was being laid out, a series of elaborate patterns
set at different levels, and the Crystal Palace, in its glory, was
described by the Press of the day to be the most wonderful
instance of modern gardening — water-temples, water-paths, vast
stone basins and all the theatrical gardening of Versailles re-
produced in Surrey.

There was little or no reason admitted into garden design :
the same poor imitation of the Italian garden being set down in
all sorts of positions. If the place did not suit the style, the
ground had to be bolstered up in some way so that the plan
might be carried out — a costly way to get an often ridiculous
result. The great writers of the past had laughed the carpenter's
rule out of the parks of England, and pictures arose where they
were once impossible ; but the ugliness of the garden about the
house was assumed to be an essential part of the thing itself,
removing that for ever from the sympathies of artistic people.

The flower garden planting was made up of a few kinds of
flowers which people were proud to put out in thousands and tens
of thousands, and with these, patterns, more or less elaborate, were
carried out in every garden save the very poorest cottage garden.
It was not easy to get away from all this false and hideous " art/'
but I was then in the Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, where there
was at that time a small garden of British plants, which had to be
kept up, and this led me into the varied country round London,
from the orchid-flecked meadows of Bucks to the tumbled down
undercliffs on the Essex coast, untroubled by the plough ; and so
I began to get an idea (which should be taught to every boy at
school) that there was (for gardens even) much beauty in our
native flowers and trees, and then came the thought that if there
was so much in our own island flora, what might we not look for

V

440570

vi PREFACE TO NEW EDITION.

from the hills and valleys of the countries of the northern and
temperate world ?

From thoughts of this kind, if I turned to actual things, I
saw the liower gardener meanly trying to rival the tile or wall-
paper men, and throwing aside with contempt all the lovely things
that through their height or form did not conform to this idea (so
stupid as to life), and this, too, the rule, not only in the villa
garden, but in our great public and private gardens. There was,
happily, always the beauty of the woods and lanes and the lovely
cottage gardens in the country round London, and here and there,
though rare, a quiet garden with things as the great mother made
them and grouped them. And so I began to see clearly that the
common way was a great error and the greatest obstacle to true
gardening or artistic effects of any kind in the flower garden or
home landscape, and then made up my mind to fight the thing
out in any way open to me.

The English Flower Garden consists of two parts : the first
dealing with the question of design — the aim being to make the
garden a reflex of the beauty of the great garden of the world
itself, and to prove that the true way to happiest design is not to
have any stereotyped style for all flower gardens, but that the best
kind of garden should arise out of its site and conditions as happily
as a primrose out of a cool bank.

The second part includes most of the trees and plants, hardy
and half-hardy, for our flower gardens and pleasure grounds, and
it is illustrated with a view to show the beauty of the things
spoken of, as few know the many shrubs and trees worth a place
in our open-air gardens, and it is of little use to discuss arrange-
ment if the beauty of the flowers is hidden from us. No stereotyped
garden of half a dozen kinds of plants will satisfy any one who
knows that many beautiful aspects of vegetation are possible in a
garden in spring, summer, and autumn.

English names are given where possible — as it is best to speak

of things growing about our doors in our own tongue, and the

practice of using in conversation long Latin names,

English names, a growth of our own century, has done infinite

harm to gardening in shutting out people who

have a heart for a garden, but none for the Latin of the gardener.

There is no more need to speak of the plants in our gardens by

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION. vi

their Latin names than to speak of the dove or -the rabbit by Latin
names, and where we introduce plants that have no good English
names we must make them as well as we may. Old English books
like Gerard were rich in English names, and we should follow their
ways and be ashamed to use for things in the garden a strange
tongue. Every plant grown in gardens should have an English name,
among the many reasons for this being the frequent changes that
Latin names undergo in the breaking down of the characters which
are supposed to separate genera. For instance, Azalea and Rhodo-
dendron are now one genus. Such changes are even more trouble-
some when they occur in less well-known plants ; and one of the
most beautiful plants of our gardens, the Irish Heath (Dabcecia,
now Boretta), will not be found now by its hitherto recorded name
in the London Catalogue of British Plants. But if we have a good
English name, these ceaseless botanical changes are of less conse-
quence. It is impossible for gardeners and nurserymen to keep up
with such changes, not always indeed accepted even by botanists
themselves.

One of the first things the lover of flower gardening should do
is to get a clear idea of the distinction between gardening and

botany. Gardening is an inexhaustible art ;

Gardening and botany is a world science, and the great mistake

Botany. js to consider gardening from the point of view

of the botanist. To the botanist every plant,
weed or poisonous herb is of equal value, which is right from his
point of view, but the gardener must be very careful not to take
that view. Numbers of plants which have lately come to us from
China are useless for the garden, though, along with them, there
are beautiful garden plants. The old botanic gardens of Europe
were often planned as though the garden were a sort of book, and
we see the results of this in many gardens abroad. It is neither
artistic nor natural. Where garden space is often limited and labour
scarce, the garden should only be given to plants of garden value.
It is impossible to get the world's flora represented in it, and a
garden made by a collector is rarely beautiful. Colour, stature
and form should come before any botanical consideration. Even
beautiful plants like the Clematis, Honeysuckle, etc., may be found
after trial to be, many of them, not worthy of a place in the garden
compared with others. The gardener is very much indebted to

viii PREFACE TO NEW EDITION.

the botanist for his own work, that is the naming of plants, and
also for discovering new species of plants. Botany teaches us the
native habitats of some of our most beautiful garden plants, also
about the flora of many countries, and can teach us many lessons
which can be learnt with great pleasure, but there cannot be
any proper system of teaching young men gardening unless they
are taught the plants of their own country. When it comes to
design and landscape gardening one may learn more in some of
the back valleys of the Tyrol and parts of Switzerland than from any
book, though books on the flora of countries like our own as to
climate may tell us what we want to know about the habitats of the
plants and trees we wish to know.

" Lumping " is a term sometimes used for botanists throwing
things together that are distinct in life or cultivation. Botanists
often work in herbaria so that things come to-
Changing names, gether that in cultivation in the living state are
really different. An example of this is placing
the Austrian and Corsican pines under one species, whereas in
Nature and in cultivation they are clearly distinct in form and
stature. In botanical books we frequently find changes of genera
made often without much reason. This shows the need for an
English name. Not only is it difficult to follow the changes in Latin
names in many cases, but these names are also very ugly and
awkward, as, for exam pie, pseudo-stuga applied to one of the greatest
of trees.

Botanical books are often empty as regards the garden value of
plants. Great works, like those of Don and Miller, afford us no
guidance for the garden value. The objection does not apply to
the floras of countries which may be rich in plants and trees of value.

So many things are coming from strange countries to our gardens

that one is often led to plant shrubs that have but little chance of

doing well. I thought myself very careful not to

Ware failures, plant what I did not know to be quite hardy, and

so came my mistakes with even hardy plants that

did not flower well. The Rose of Sharon, which is beautiful in

France and also in our country, I planted a large group of. It

grew well for many years, but never flowered, and seeing it was

hopeless, I gave it to a friend in the Thames Valley, where it grew

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION.

and flowered well. In the southern part of Sussex it flowers admir-
ably. Edwardsias, too, I felt sure of. They grew well but gave me
no flower. The Winter's Bark, of the Straits of Magellan, grew and
flowered well for a few years and then was suddenly cut to the
ground by a hard frost. Clianthus, which does very well near the
coast-line of Ireland and the West Country, died after trials, and
several Mutisias, too, which Mr Beamish, in Cork, grows so well,
and no doubt many others in Devonshire, died without much loss
of time. The graceful Garrya, an evergreen of California, lived well
for a few years, but there came a hard winter, and no funereal sight
was more sad than my Garrya.

What is the good of risking such things when there are many
plants of N. America and other lands which are really hardy ? It
is not only the difference between Aberdeen and Worthing one
has to think of; it is the much wider one of things in the same
county. Some plants that failed with me do perfectly well below
the hills. The soil is a thing to be reckoned with, and no doubt
my soil on a cool hill was against the Rose of Sharon, which, perhaps,
a hundred miles further north, on a free soil, would be quite happy.

It is well to note that such considerations do not apply to the
Midland counties or to any one county only, because in Devon or
Cornwall a thing which for many years has done well may be cut
down by a hard frost. The safe way is to look around carefully one's
district and study results. Precious years and much good soil may
be lost by planting things much too delicate for our air and soil.

The present Edition has the advantage of the herbaceous plants
having been carefully revised by Mr E. M. Jenkins, who is more
conversant with these plants than any other man of our time.

" Another thing, also much too commonly seen, is an aberration of
the human mind, which otherwise I should have been ashamed to
warn you of. It is technically called carpet gardening. Need I
explain it further ? I had rather not, for when I think of it, even
when I am quite alone, I blush zvith shame at the thought"-
W. Morris, Hopes and Fears for A rt.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

CHAP. PAGE

I.— ART IN RELATION TO FLOWER GARDENING AND GARDEN

DESIGN ........ 3

II. — GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT WRITINGS UPON IT . .10

III.— DESIGN AND POSITION ; AGAINST STYLES, USELESS STONEWORK,
AND STEREOTYPED PLANS; TIME'S EFFECT ON GARDEN
DESIGN; ARCHITECTURE AND FLOWER GARDENS; DESIGN
NOT FORMAL ONLY; USE IN THE GARDEN OF BUILDERS'
AND OTHER DEGRADED FORMS OF THE PLASTIC ART . 2O

IV. — BORDERS OF HARDY FLOWERS ..... 25

V. — THE RESERVE AND CUT FLOWER GARDENS ... .36

VI.— HARDY BULBOUS FLOWERS . . . . . .41

VII. — ANNUAL AND BIENNIAL PLANTS . . • . . . 52

VIII.— FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE . 59

IX.— CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE .... 69

X.— ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS ... 84
XI.— THE WILD GARDEN ....... 95

XII.— SPRING GARDENS . . . . . . 105

THE SUMMER GARDEN BEAUTIFUL.

XIII.— THE NEW ROSE GARDEN . . . . . .117

XIV. — CARNATION, LILY, IRIS, AND THE NOBLER SUMMER FLOWERS . 128

XV.— PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR . . . 132

XVI.— BEAUTY OF FORM IN THE FLOWER GARDEN . . .140

XVII. — THE FLOWER GARDEN IN AUTUMN . . . . .152

XVIII. —THE FLOWER GARDEN IN WINTER . . . .158

XIX.— WATER GARDENS . . . . . . . 166

XX.— THE BOG GARDEN ..... . 177

XXL— THE HARDY FERN GARDEN . . • .' . .184

XXII. — COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN ..... 190

xi

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

XXIII.— FRAGRANCE ......

XXIV.— SIMPLER FLOWER GARDEN PLANS AND THE RELATION OF THE
FLOWER GARDEN TO THE HOUSE ....

XXV.— WALKS AND EDGINGS .......

XXVI.— THE FLOWER GARDEN IN THE HOUSE ....

XXVII.— EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS .....

XXVIII.— CLIPPING EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES ....

XXIX. --LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS ......

XXX.— GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, GATES, SEATS, AND FENCES
XXXI.— THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL ......

XXXII. — LABOURS FOR GOOD OR EVIL; DRAINING; ROTATION;
MONOTONY ; GLASS ; MOVING EARTH ....

XXXIII.— MY FLOWER GARDEN

XXXIV.— DESIGN IN PLANTING ......

XXXV.— TREES AND SHRUBS FOR WET GROUND ....

XXXVI. — THE ARCHITECT IN THE GARDEN .
XXXVII.— TOPIARIAN FOLLIES .....

XXXVIII. — EXTRAVAGANT FLOWER GARDENING IN THE LONDON PARKS .

PART II.

CONTAINING THE FLOWERS, TREES, FLOWERING SHRUBS, EVERGREENS,
AND HARDY FERNS FOR THE OPEN - AIR FLOWER GARDEN IN THE
BRITISH ISLES, WITH THEIR CULTIVATION AND THE POSITIONS MOST
SUITABLE FOR THEM IN GARDENS . . . . . .321

INDEX TO PARTS I. AND II. . . ... 788

THE

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

PART I

ART IN THE GARDEN. GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT
WRITINGS UPON IT. DESIGN AND PLANS IN RELATION
TO THE HOUSE AND HOME LANDSCAPE. ARTISTIC USE
OF THE GREAT GROUPS OF PLANTS FOR THE OPEN AIR
GARDENS IN THE BRITISH ISLES. ALPINE, ROCK AND
BORDER PLANTS, CLIMBERS, ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS,
FLOWERING TREES, SHRUBS, AND EVERGREENS; WATER
AND BOG PLANTS, HARDY FERNS, FINE- LEAVED, HARDY
PLANTS, ROSES, SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN AND WINTER
GARDENS, HARDY BULBS; ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. THE
WILD GARDEN, COLOUR AND FRAGRANCE. LABOURS FOR
GOOD OR EVIL. LAWNS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS.

THE

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN ,

CHAPTER I.

ART IN RELATION TO FLOWER-GARDENING AND GARDEN DESIGN.

THERE is no reason why we should not have true art in the garden,
but much why we should have it, and no reason why a garden
should be ugly, bare, or conventional. The word " art " being used
in its highest sense here, it may perhaps be well to justify its use,
and as good a definition of the word as any perhaps is " power to
see and give form to beautiful things," which we see shown in
some of its finest forms in Greek sculpture and in the works of the
great masters of painting.

But art is of many kinds, and owing to the loose, " critical "
talk of the day, it is not easy to see that true art is based on clear-
eyed study of and love for Nature, rather than
True and false invention and the bringing of the " personality "
" art." of the artist into the work, of which we hear so

much. The work of the artist is always marked by
its fidelity to Nature, and proof of this may be seen in the greatest
art galleries now open to all, so that there is little to hide evidence as
to what is said here about art in its highest expression. But as a
number of people write much about art in the magazines and papers,
while blind as bats to its simple law, there is infinite confusion in
many minds about it, and we may read essay after essay about art
without being brought a bit nearer to the simple truth, but on the
other hand get the false idea that it is not by observing, but by
inventing and supplementing, that good work is done. The strong
man must be there, but his work is to see the whole beauty of
the subject, and to help us to see it, not to distort it in any way
for the sake of making it " original." This is often a way to popu-
larity, but in the end it means bad work. It may be the fashion for
a season, owing to some one quality : but it is soon found out, and

3

S|« "Cc *" c«\ ccc THE. ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

we have to return to the great masters of all ages, who are always
distinguished for truth to Nature, and who show their strength by
getting nearer to her.

The actual beauty of a thing in all its fulness and subtlety is

almost the whole of the question, but the critics of the day will not

take the trouble to see this, and write essays on

" Realism " and art in which many long words occur, but in

" Idealism." which we do not once meet with the word truth.
" Realism " and " idealism " are words freely used
and bad pictures are shown us as examples of " realism," which
leave out all the refinement, subtlety, truth of tone, and perhaps
even the very light and shade in which all the real things we see
are set.

There are men so blind to the beauty of the things set before
their eyes in sky, sea, or earth, that they would seek to idealise
the eyes of a beautiful child or the clouds of heaven ; while all who
see natural beauty in landscape know that no imagining can come
near to the beauty of things seen, art being often powerless to
seize their full beauty, and the artist has often to let the brush fall in
despair. There are more pictures round the year in many a parish
in England than all the landscape painters of Europe could paint in
a century. Only a little, indeed, of the beauty that concerns us most
—that of the landscape — can be seized for us except by the very
greatest masters. Of things visible — flower, tree, landscape, skyr
or sea — to see the full and every varied beauty is to be saved for
ever from any will-o'-the-wisp of the imaginary.

But many people do not judge pictures by Nature, but by
pictures, and therefore they miss her subtleties and delicate realities
on which all true work depends. Some sneer at those who " copy
Nature," but the answer to such critics is for ever there in the work
of the great men, be they Greeks, Dutchmen, Italians, French, or
English.

It is part of the work of the artist to select beautiful or memorable
things, not the first that come in his way. The Venus of Milo is
from a noble type of woman — not a mean Greek. The horses
of the Parthenon show the best of Eastern breed, full of life and
beauty. Great landscape painters like Crome, Corot, and Turner
seek not things only because they are natural, but also beautiful ;
selecting views and waiting for the light that suits the chosen subject
best, they give us pictures, working always from faithful study of
Nature and from stores of knowledge gathered from her, and that,
too, is the only true path for the gardener.

Why say so much here about art? Because when we see the
meaning of true " art " we cannot endure what is ugly and false in art,

Town Garden, The Broadway, Worcestershire. A. Parsons, R.A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and we cannot have the foregrounds of beautiful English scenery-
daubed with flower gardens like coloured advertisements. Many
see the right way from their own sense being true, but others may
wish for proof of what is urged here as to the true source of lasting
work in art in the work of the great artists of all time. And we may
be as true artists in the garden and home landscape as anywhere else,

There is no good picture which does not image for us the beauty
of natural things, and why not begin with these and be artists in
their growth and grouping ? — for one reason among others that we
are privileged to have the living things about us, and not merely
representations of them.

So far we have spoken of the work of the true artist, which is

always marked by respect for Nature and by keen study of her^

But apart from this we have a great many men

The true artist, who do what is called " decorative " work, useful,

but still not art in the sense of delight in, and

study of, things as they are — the whole class of decorators, who-

make our carpets, tiles, curtains, and who adapt conventional or

geometric forms mostly to flat surfaces. Skill in this way may be

considerable without any attention whatever being paid to the

greater art that is concerned with life in all its fulness.

This it is well to see clearly; as for the flower gardener it matters
much on which side he stands. Unhappily, our gardeners for ages
have suffered at the hands of the decorative artist, when applying his
''designs" to the garden, and designs which may be quite right on a
surface like a carpet or panel have been applied a thousand times to
the surface of the reluctant earth. It is this adapting of absurd
" knots " and patterns from old books to any surface where a flower
garden has to be made that leads to bad and frivolous design-
wrong in plan and hopeless for the life of plants. It is so easy for
any one asked for a plan to furnish one of this sort without the
slightest knowledge of the life of a garden.

For ages the flower garden has been marred by absurd-
ities of this kind of work as regards plan, though the flowers
were in simple and natural ways. But in our
Carpet bedding, own time the same " decorative " idea has come
to be carried out in the planting of the flowers
under the name of " bedding out," " carpet bedding," or " mosaic
culture." In this the beautiful forms of flowers are degraded
to crude colour without reference to the natural forms or beauty
of the plants, clipping being freely done to get the carpets level.
When these tracery gardens were made, often by people without
any knowledge of the plants of a garden, they were found to
be difficult to plant ; hence attempts to do without the gardener

.8 ' THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

altogether, and get colour by the use of broken brick, white sand, and
painted stone. All such work is wrong and degrading to art, and
in its extreme expressions is ridiculous.

As I use the word "artistic" in a book on the flower garden,

it may be well to say that as it is used it means right and true

in relation to all the conditions of the case, and

The word the necessary limitations of our art and all other

"artistic." human arts. A lovely Greek coin, a bit of canvas

painted by Corot with the morning light on it, a

block of stone hewn into the shape of the dying gladiator, the white

mountain rocks built into a Parthenon — these are all examples of

human art, every one of which can be only fairly judged in due

regard to what is possible in the material of each. Often a garden

may be wrong in various ways, as shown by the starveling pines in

front of many a house — ugly in form and not in harmony with our

native or best garden vegetation ; mountain trees set out on dry

plains ; so that the word inartistic may help us to describe many

errors. And again, if we are happy enough to find a garden so true

and right in its results as to form a picture that an artist would be

charmed to study, we may call it an artistic garden, as a short way

of saying that it is about as good as it may be, taking everything into

account.

There are few pictures of gardens, because the garden beautiful is

rare. Gardens around country houses, instead of forming, as they

might, graceful foregrounds to the good land-

L ndsc scape views, disfigure all, and drive the artist away

painting and *n despair. Yet there may be real pictures in

gardens. gardens ; it is not a mere question of patterns of

a very poor sort, but one of light and shade,

beauty of form, and colour. In times when gardens were made

by men who did not know one tree from another, the matter

was settled by the shears — it was a question of green walls only.

Now we are beginning to see that there is a wholly different and

higher order of beauty to be found in gardens, and we are at the

beginning of a period when we may hope to get much more pleasure

and instruction out of this art than ever before.

We have seen in Bond Street a variety of picture exhibitions
devoted to gardens, generally of the trifling stippled water-colour
order. The painters of these pictures, for the most part ten-minute
sketches, have one main idea — that the only garden worth picturing is
the shorn one, and pictures of such places are repeated time after
time ; a clipped line of Arbor-vitae, with a stuffed peacock by
the side of it, is considered good enough for a garden picture. Work
of this kind, which is almost mechanical, is so much easier than the

ART IN RELATION TO FLOWER-GARDENING AND GARDEN DESIGN, g

drawing of a garden with the elements of varied beauty in it. In
the work of Alfred Parsons and a few others we see the beginning of
things of beauty in the painting of gardens, but it is for us gardeners
to commence by first being artists ourselves, and opening our eyes to
see the ugly things about us.

Artists of real power would paint gardens and home landscapes if
there were real pictures to draw ; but generally they are so rare that
the work does not come into the artist's view at all. Through all
the rage of the " bedding-out " fever, it was impossible for an artist
to paint in a garden like those which disfigured the land from Blair
Athol to Kew. It is difficult to imagine Corot sitting down to paint
the Grande Trianon, or the terrace patterns at Versailles, though a
poor hamlet in the North of France, with a few willows near,
gave him a lovely picture. Once, when trying to persuade Mr Mark
Fisher, the landscape painter, to come into a district remarkable
for its natural beauty, he replied : " There are too many gentlemen's
places there to suit my work," a reference to the hardness and
ugliness of the effects around most country seats, owing to the
iron-bound pudding-clumps of trees, railings, capricious clippings and
shearings, bad colours, and absence of fine and true form.

CHAPTER II.

GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT WRITINGS UPON IT.

OF all the things made by man for his pleasure a flower garden has
the least business to be ugly, barren, or stereotyped, because in it we
may have the fairest of the earth's children in a living, ever-changeful
state, and not, as in other arts, mere representations of them. And
yet we find in nearly every country place, pattern plans, conventional
design, and the garden robbed of all life and grace by setting out
flowers in geometric ways. A recent writer on garden design tells us
that the gardener's knowledge is of no account, and that gardens —

should never have been allowed to fall into the hands of the gardener or out of
those of the architect ; that it is an architectural matter, and should have been
schemed at the same time and by the same hand as the house itself.

The chief error he makes is in saying that people, whom he
calls " landscapists," destroyed all the formal gardens in England,
and that they had their ruthless way until his
Formal gardens coming. An extravagant statement, as must be
made in our clear to any one who takes the trouble to look
own day. into the thing itself, which many of these writers

will not do or regard the elementary facts of
what they write about. Many of the most formal gardens in
England have been made within the past century, when this writer
says all his ideal gardens were cleared away, e.g., the Crystal Palace,
the Royal Horticultural Society's at Kensington, and Witley Court,
Castle Howard, Mentmore, Drayton, Crewe Hall. During the
whole of that period there was hardly a country seat laid out that
was not marred by the idea of a garden as a conventional and
patterned thing. With Castle Howards, Trenthams, and Chatsworths
staring at him, it is ludicrous to see a young architect weeping over
their loss. Even if there is no money to waste in gigantic water-
squirts, the idea of the terrace is still carried out often in level plains.
There are hundreds of such gardens about the country, and the
ugliest gardens ever made in England have been made in Victorian
days.

10

GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT WRITINGS UPON IT. ir

It cannot be too clearly remembered that geometrical gardens of
a deplorable type are things of our own time, and it is only
in our own time the common idea that there is only one way of
making a garden was spread. Hence, in all the newer houses we
see the stereotyped garden often made in spite of all the needs of the
ground, whereas in really old times it was not so. Berkeley is not
the same as Sutton, and Sutton is quite different from Haddon.

Moreover, on top of all this formality of design of our own day
were grafted the most formal and inartistic ways of arranging flowers
that ever came into the head of man, ways that
Patterns of were happily unknown to the Italians or the
flowers and makers of the earliest terraced gardens. The
carpet-beds^ true Italian garcJens were often beautiful with
own time. trees in their natural forms, as in the Giusti

gardens at Verona ; but "bedding out," or marshall-
ing the flowers in geometrical patterns, is a thing of our own
precious time, and " carpet " gardening is simply a further remove
in ugliness. The painted gravel gardens of Nesfield and Barry
and other broken-brick gardeners were also an attempt to get rid
of the flowers and get rigid patterns instead. Part of the garden
architect's scheme was to forbid the growth of plants on walls, as at
Shrtibland, where, for many years, there were strict orders that the
walls were not to have a flower or a creeper of any kind upon them.
As these pattern gardens were made by persons often ignorant of
gardening, and if planted in any human way with flowers would all
" go to pieces," hence the idea of setting them out as they appeared
on the drawing-board, some of the beds not more than a foot in
diameter, blue and yellow paints being used where the broken brick
and stone did not give the desired colour !

Side by side with the adoption in most large and show places of

the patterned garden, both in design and planting, disappeared

almost everywhere the old English garden, that

Loss of old is, one with a variety of form of shrub and flower

garden ways. and even low trees ; so that now we only find

this kind of garden here and there in Cornwall,

Ireland, and Scotland, and on the outskirts of country towns. All

true plant form was banished because it did not fit into the bad

carpet pattern ! I am only speaking of what every one must know

who cares the least about the subject, and of what can be seen

to-day in all the public gardens round London and Paris. Even

Kew, with the vast improvement of late years, has not emancipated

itself from this way of flower-planting, as we see there, in front

of the palm-house, purple beet marshalled in patterns. But we

shall never see beautiful flower gardens again until natural ways

12 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

of grouping flowers and variety of true form come back to us in the
flower garden.

After the central error above shown there comes a common one

of these writers, of supposing that those who seek natural form and

beauty in the garden and home landscape are

The Wild Garden opposed to the necessary level and even formal

does not take spaces about a house. I wrote the " Wild

the place of the Garden " to save, not to destroy, the flower garden ;

Flower Garden. to show that we could have alj the joy Of spring

in orchard, meadow, or wood, lawn or grove, and
so save the true flower garden near the house from being torn up twice
a year to effect what is called spring and summer " bedding." The
idea could be made clear to a child, and it is carried out in many
places easy to see. Yet there is hardly a cobbler who rushes from
his last to write a book on garden design who does not think that I
want to bring the wilderness in at the windows, I who have given all
my days to save the flower garden from the ridiculous. A young lady
who has been reading one of these bad books, seeing the square beds
in my little south garden, says : " Oh ! why, you have a formal garden ! "
It is a small square embraced by walls, and I could not have used
any other form to get the best use of the space. They are just the
kind of beds made in like spaces by the gardeners of Nebuchadnezzar,
judging by what evidence remains to us. And he no more than I
mistook stones for bushes or bad carpets for flowers, but enjoyed vine
and fig and flower as Heaven sent them.

The real flower garden near the house is for the ceaseless care and
culture of many and diverse things often tender and in need of pro-
tection in varied soils, staking, cleaning, trials of novelties, study of
colour effects, sowings and plantings at all seasons. The wild
garden, on the other hand, is for things that take care of themselves
in the soil of the place, things which will endure for generations if
we suit the plants to the soil, like Narcissus on a rich orchard
bottom, or blue Anemone in a grove on the limestone soil as
in much of Ireland. This garden is a precious aid to the other,
inasmuch as it allows of our letting the flower garden do its best
work because relieved of the intolerable need of the bedding system
in digging up the garden twice a year.

Very often now terms of gardening are misapplied, confusing the

mind of the student, and the air is full of a new term, the "formal"

garden. For ages gardens of simple form have been

Misuse of terms, common without any one calling them " formal "

until our own time of too many words confusing

thoughts. Seeing an announcement that there was a paper in the

Studio on the " Formal Garden in Scotland," I looked in it, seeking

GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT WRITINGS UPON IT. 15

light, and found only plans of the usual approaches necessary for
a country house, for kitchen, hall door, or carriage-way. And we
gardeners of another sort do not get in like the bats through the
roof, but have also ways, usually level, to our doors, but we do not
call them " formal gardens." There are gardens to which the term
" formal " might with some reason be applied. Here are a few words
about such by one Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose clear eyes saw beauty
if there was any to be seen in earth or sky :

We saw the palace and gardens of Versailles full of statues, vases, fountains,
and colonnades. In all that belongs essentially to a garden they are extraordinarily
deficient.

A few more by Victor Hugo :

There fountains gush from the petrified gods, only to stagnate ; trees are forced
to submit to the grotesque caprices of the shears and line. Natural beauty is
everywhere contradicted, inverted, upset, destroyed.

And Robert Southey tells us of one

where the walks were sometimes of lighter or darker gravel, red or yellow sand,,
and, when such materials were at hand, pulverised coal and shells. The garden
itself was a scroll-work cut very narrow, and the interstices filled with sand of
different colours to imitate embroidery.

It is only where the plants of a garden are rigidly set out in
geometrical design, as in carpet-gardening and bedding-out, that the
term " formal " is rightly applied.

We live in a time when men write about garden design unmeaning
words or absolute nonsense ; these, as any one may see, are men
who have had no actual contact with the work. They think garden
design is a question that can be settled on a drawing-board, and have
not the least idea that in any true sense the art is not possible
without knowledge of many beautiful living things, and that the right
planting of a country place is of far greater importance than the
ground-plan about the house.

In many books on garden design the authors misuse words and
confuse ideas. Many, not satisfied with the good word, " landscape
gardener," used by Loudon, Repton, and many other men, call
themselves " landscape architects " — a stupid term of French origin
implying the union of two distinct studies, one dealing with varied life
in a thousand different kinds and the natural beauty of the earth, and
the other with stones and bricks and their putting together. The
training for either of these arts is wide apart from the training
demanded for the other, and the earnest practice of one leaves no
time, even if there were the genius, for the other.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The term landscape planting is often scoffed at by these writers,

yet it is a good one with a clear meaning, which is the grouping and

growth of trees in natural forms as opposed to

Landscape the universal aligning, clipping, and shearing of

gardening. the Dutch ; the natural incidence of light and

shade and breadth as the true guide in all artistic

planting. The term landscape gardening is a true and, in the fullest

sense, a good English one, with a clear and even beautiful meaning,

namely, the study of the forms of the earth, and frank acceptance

of them as the best of all for purposes of beauty or use of planter

or gardener, save where the surface is so steep that one must alter

it to work upon it.

We accept the varied slopes of the river bank and the path of the
river as not only better than those of a Dutch canal, but a hundred
times better ; and not only for their beauty, but for the story they tell
of the earth herself in ages past. We gratefully take the lessons of
Nature in her most beautiful aspects of vegetation as to breadth,
airy spaces, massing and grouping of the woods that fringe the
valleys or garland the mountain rocks as better beyond all that
words can express than anything men can invent or ever have
invented.

We love and prefer the divinely-settled form of the tree or shrub
or flower beyond any possible expression of man's misguided efforts
with shears, such as we see illustrated in old Dutch books where
every living thing is clipped to conform to an idea of " design " that
arose in the minds of men to whom all trees were green things to be
cut into ugly walls. We repudiate as false and ridiculous the common
idea of the pattern-monger's book, that these aspirations of ours are
in any way " styles," the inventions of certain men, because we know
that they are based on eternal truths of Nature, free as the clouds to
any one who climbs the hills and has eyes to see.

The fact that ignorant men who have never had the chance of

learning these lessons, make pudding-like clumps in a vain attempt

to diversify the surface of the ground, and other

The true test foolish things, does not in the least turn us aside

of a flower from following the true and only ways to get the

garden. best expression possible of beauty from any given

morsel of the earth's surface we have to plant.

We sympathise with the landscape-painter's work as reflecting for

us, though often in a faint degree, the wondrously varied beauty of

the earth, and in the case of the great master-painters full of truth

and beauty. We hold that the only true test of our efforts in

planting or gardening is the picture. Do we frighten the artist

away, or do we bring him to see a garden so free from ugly patterns

GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT WRITINGS UPON IT. 15

and ugly colours that, seen in a beautiful light, it would be worth
painting ? There is not, and there never can be, any other true test.

Even if our aim be right, the direction, as it is in other matters,
may be vitiated by stupidity, as in gardens where false lines and curves
abound, as in the Champs Elysee in Paris. It is quite right to see the
faults of this and to laugh at them ; but how about those who plant
in true and artistic ways? In the case we mention there is ceaseless
and inartistic and vain throwing up of the ground, and sharp and ugly
slopes, which are often against the cultivation of the things planted.

The rejection of clipped forms and book patterns of trees set out
like lamp-posts, costly walls where none are wanted, and of all the
too facile labours of the drawing-board "artist" in gardens, first
affected in England in what we call pleasure-ground and park, is set
down by these writers on garden design as the wicked invention of
certain men. No account has been taken of the eternally beautiful
lessons of Nature or even the simple facts which should be known to
all who write about such things. Thus in " The Art and Craft of
Garden Making " we read :

So far as the roads were concerned Brown built up a theory that, as Nature
abhorred a straight line, it was necessary to make roads curl about. Serpentine
lines are said to be the lines of Nature, and therefore beyond question the only
proper lines.

But nothing is said of the fact that in making paths or roads in

diversified country it is absolutely necessary to follow the line of

easiest gradation, and this cannot always be a

Facts of natural straight line and is indeed, often a beautiful bent

beauty the source , . T

of good design. line> In many cages we are not twenty paces from
the level space around a house before we have to
think of the lie of the ground in making walks, roads, or paths. We
are soon face to face with the fact that the worst thing we can attempt
is a straight line. If any one for any reason persists in the attempt
the result is ugliness, and, in the case of drives, danger. Ages before
Brown was born the roads of England often followed beautiful lines,
and it would be just as true to attribute to " Brownites " the invention
of the forms of trees, hills, or clouds themselves as to say that they in-
vented the waved line for path or drive. The statement is of a piece
with the other, that the natural and picturesque view of garden design
and planting is the mischievous invention of certain men, and not the
outcome of the most precious of all gifts, of Nature herself, and of the
actual facts of tree and landscape beauty. All who have seen the
pictures by the roadsides of many parts of Britain and the paths over
the hills, and, still more so, those who have to form roads or walks in
diversified country, will best know how absurd such statements are.

16 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The very statement that there is but one way of making a garden,

is its own refutation ; as with this formula before us what becomes

of the wondrous variety of the earth and its forms,

Variety the true and of the advantages and needs of change that

source of beauty soil, site, climate, air, and view give us — plains,

in gardens. river vaneyS) 0\^ beach levels, mountains and

gentle hills, chalk downs and rich loamy fields,

forest and open country?

What is the use of Essex going into Dorset merely to see the
same thing done in the home landscape or the garden ? But if
Essex were to study his own ground and do the best he could from
his own knowledge of the spot, his neighbour might be glad to see
his garden. We have too much of the stereotyped style already ;
in nine cases out of ten we can tell beforehand what we are going to
see in a country place in the way of conventional garden design and
planting ; and clearly that is not art in any right sense of the word
and never can be.

As we go about our country the most depressing sign for all
garden lovers (and this often in districts of great natural beauty) is
the stereotyped gardens, probably made by the " young man in the
drawing-office." There is a harmful belief in the virtue of paper
plans which is misleading and only suits the wants of professionalism
in its worst form, and prevents the study of the ground itself, which
is the only right way to get the best result.

To the good gardener all kinds of design are good if not against

the site, soil, climate, or labours of his garden — a very important

point the last. We frequently see beds a foot in

Any way good diameter and many other frivolities of paper plans

that best suits which prevent the labours of a garden being done

the site. wjth economy or simplicity. In many places-

where these tracery gardens are carried out, they

are soon seen to be so absurd that the owners quietly turf the

spot over, and hence we see only grass where there ought to

be a real flower garden. The good gardener is happy adorning

old walls or necessary terraces, as at Haddon, as he knows walls

are good friends in every way both as backgrounds and shelters;

but he is as happy in a lawn garden, in a rich valley soil, or on the

banks of a river, or on those gentle hill-slopes that ask for no terraces,

or in the hundreds of gardens in and near towns and cities of Europe

that are enclosed by walls and where there is no room for landscape

effect (many of them distinctly beautiful too, as in Mr Fox's garden

at Falmouth) ; as much at home in a border-castle garden as in the

lovely Penjerrick, like a glimpse of a valley in some Pacific isle, or

Mount Usher, cooled by mountain streams.

iS ' THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The architect writer turns on the waterworks as his chief solace :

But of all the fascinating sources of effect in garden-making the most
fascinating are waterworks. An expensive luxury as a rule, but they well repay
the expense.

Well, there is some evidence of the sort of design these afford ;

some instances terrible in their ugliness (one hideous at Bayreuth).

And with all the care that a rich State may take

Waterworks of them, can we say that the effect at Versailles is

garden design, artistic or delightful? Water tumbling into the

blazing streets of Roman cities and nobly designed

fountains supplying the people with water was right ; but in our cool

land artificial fountains are very different in effect, and often hideous

extravagance. Of their ugliness there is evidence in nearly every city

in Europe, including our own Trafalgar Square, and that fine work at

the head of the Serpentine. We have also our Crystal Palace and

Chatsworth, designed as they might be by a theatrical super who

had suddenly inherited a millionaire's fortune. So far as our

island countries go, nothing asks for more care and modest art

than the introduction into the garden or home landscape of

artificial water. Happily our countries are rich in the charms of

natural water— too often neglected in its planting.

Among the great peoples of old, so far as known to our human
story, was one supreme in art, from buildings chiselled as delicately
as the petals of the wild rose, to the smallest
Hollow talk of coins in their pockets, and bits of baked clay in
the day about their graves, and this is clear to all men from
art. what remains of their work gathered from the

mud and dust of ages. And from that time of
deathless beauty in art comes the voice of one who saw this lovely
art in its fulness : The greatest and fairest things are done by
Nature and the lesser by Art (Plato). There is not a garden in
Britain, free from convention and carpet gardening, from the
cottage gardens nestling beneath the Surrey hills to those fair and
varied gardens in Cornwall, which does not tell the same story to
all who have eyes to see and hearts to care for the thing itself,
and not merely for incoherent talk about it. The only sad thing
is that such words must be said again and again ; but we live in
a time of much printed fog about artistic things— the " New Art "
and the " New Esthetic " ; " Evolution," which explains how every-
thing comes from nothing and goes back again to worse than
nothing ; the sliding bog of " realism and idealism " in which the
phrase-monger may dance around and say the same false thing ten
times over ; and, last and least of all among these imbecilities, the

GARDEN DESIGN AND RECENT WRITINGS UPON IT. 19

teaching that to form a garden one had better know nothing of
the things that should grow in it, from the Cedar of Lebanon to
the violets of the mountain rocks.

This teaching is as false as any spoken or written thing can
be ; there is an absolute difference between the living gardens and
conventional designs dealing with dead matter, be it brick or stone,
glass, iron, or carpets. There is a difference in kind, and while
any pupil in an architect's office will get out a drawing for the
kind of garden we may see everywhere, the garden beautiful does
not arise in that way. I would much rather trust the first simple
person, who knew his ground and loved his work, to get a beautiful
result than any of those artificers. We have proof in the gardens
of English people abroad that were freed from the too facile plans
of the "office"; far more beautiful gardens arise, as in the Isle of
Madeira, where every garden differs from its neighbour, and all are
beautiful. So it is in a less degree in our own island, where the
more we get out of the range of any one conventional idea for
the garden the more beauty and happy incident we see.

CHAPTER III.

DESIGN AND POSITION— AGAINST STYLES, USELESS STONEWORK,
AND STEREOTYPED PLANS — TIME'S EFFECT ON GARDEN DE-
SIGN— ARCHITECTURE AND FLOWER GARDENS — DESIGN NOT
FORMAL ONLY — USE IN THE GARDEN OF BUILDERS' AND
OTHER DEGRADED FORMS OF THE PLASTIC ART.

THE first thing is to get a clear idea of the hollowness of much
of the talk about " styles." In books about laying out gardens there
are many dissertations on styles, the authors going even to China
and to Mexico for illustrations. What is the result to anybody who
looks from words to things ? That there are two styles : the one
strait-laced, mechanical, with much wall and stone, with fountains
and sculpture ; the other the natural, which, once free of the house,
accepts the ground lines of the earth herself as the best, and gets
plant beauty from the flowers and trees arranged in picturesque
ways.

There are positions where stonework is necessary ; but the beauti-
ful terrace gardens are those that are built where the nature of the
ground required them. There is nothing more melancholy than the
walls, fountain basins, clipped trees, and long canals of places like the
Crystal Palace, not only because they fail to satisfy trie desire for
beauty, but because they tell of wasted effort, and riches worse than
lost. There are, from Versailles to Caserta, a great many ugly
gardens in Europe, but at Sydenham we have the greatest modern
example of the waste of enormous means in making hideous a
fine piece of ground. As Versailles has numerous tall fountains, the
best way of glorifying ourselves was to make some taller ones at
Sydenham ! Instead of confining the terrace gardening to the upper
terrace, by far the greater portion of the ground was devoted to a
stony extravagance of design, and nearly in the centre were placed
the vast and ugly fountain basins. The contrivances to enable the
water to go downstairs, the temples, statues and dead walls, were
praised by the papers as the marvellous work of a genius.

Many whose lawns were, or might readily have been made, the
most beautiful of gardens, have spoiled them for sham terraced

20

22 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

gardens, and there is a modern castle in Scotland where the embank-
ments are piled one above another, till the whole looks as if Uncle
Toby with an army of Corporal Trims had been carrying out his
grandest scheme in fortification. The rude stone wall of the hill
husbandman, supporting a narrow slip of soil for olive-trees or vines,
became in the garden of the wealthy Roman a well-built one ; but
it must be remembered that, even where the wall is necessary, the
beauty of the true Italian garden depends on the life of trees and
flowers more than on the plan of the garden.

Terraced gardens allowing of much building (apart from the

house) have been in favour with architects who have designed

gardens. The designer, too often led by custom,

Terraced gardens, falls in with the notion that every house, no

matter what its position, should be fortified by

terraces, and he busies himself in forming them even on level ground,

and large sums are spent on fountains, vases, statues, balustrades,

useless walls, and stucco work out of place.

Elaborate terraced gardens in the wrong place often prevent the
formation of beautiful lawns, though a good lawn is the happiest thing
in a garden. For many years past there has been so much cutting
up, geometry and stonework, that it is rare to find a good lawn, and
many a site so cut up would be vastly improved if changed into a
large, nobly fringed lawn.

A style of garden " design " that for a long time has had an
injurious effect on many places is the "railway embankment" phase ;
there we see a series of sharply graded grass slopes like well-
smoothed railway embankments — often several sharp banks, one
below the other, without a protecting wall at the top, and obtruding
their sharp green angles on various points of view, and this perhaps
in the face of a beautiful landscape.

A beautiful house in a fair landscape is the most delightful
scene of the cultivated earth, all the more so if there be an artistic
garden. The union between the house beautiful and the ground
near it is worthy of more thought, and the best way of effecting that
union artistically should interest men more and more as our cities
grow larger and the landscape shrinks back from them.

After we have settled the essential approaches and levels around
a house, the natural form or lines of the earth itself are in nearly all
cases the best to follow, and it is often well to face any labour to get
the ground back into its natural grade where it is disfigured by ugly
or needless banks, lines, or angles. In the true Italian garden on the
hills we have to alter the natural line of the earth, or " terrace it,"
because we cannot otherwise cultivate the ground or stand at ease
upon it, and ii) such ground the formal is right, as the lawn is in a

24 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

garden in the Thames valley. But the lawn is the heart of the true
English garden, and as essential to it as the terrace to the gardens on the
steep hills.

We may get every charm of a garden and every use of a country
place without sacrificing the picturesque or the beautiful. There is no
reason, either in the working or design of gardens, why there should
be a false line in them ; every charm of the flower garden may be
secured by avoiding the knots and scrolls which subordinate all the
plants and flowers of a garden, all its joy and life, to a conventional
design. The true way is the opposite. With only the simplest plans
to ensure good working, we should see the flowers and feel the
beauty of plant forms, and secure every scrap of turf wanted for
play or lawn, and for every enjoyment of a garden.

Time's effect on gardens is one of the main considerations.

Fortress-town and castle moat are now without further use, \vhere

in old days gardens were set within the walls.

Time and gardens. To keep all that remains of such gardens should

be our first care — never to imitate them now.

Many are far more beautiful than the modern gardens, which have

been kept bare of plants or flower life. At one time it was rash to

make a garden away from protecting walls ; but when the danger

from civil war was past, then arose the often beautiful Elizabethan

house, free from all moat or trace of war.

In those days the extension of the decorative work of the house
into the garden had some novelty to carry it off, while the kinds of
evergreens were very much fewer than now. Hence if the old
gardeners wanted an evergreen hedge or bush of a certain height,
they clipped a Yew tree to the form and size they wanted. Notwith-
standing this, we have no evidence that anything like the flat
monotony often seen in our own time existed then. To-day the
ever-growing city, pushing its hard face over our once beautiful land,
should make us wish more and more to keep such beauty of the earth
as may be still possible to us.

CHAPTER IV.

BORDERS OF HARDY FLOWERS.

WE now come to the flowers that are worthy of a place in gardens,
and to consider ways of arranging them. Their number and variety
being almost without limit, the question is, how the garden lover is
to enjoy as many of these treasures as his conditions allow of. As
during all time a simple border has been the first expression of
flower gardening, and as there is no arrangement of flowers more
graceful, varied, or capable of giving more delight, and none so easily
adapted to almost every kind of garden, some ideas of the various
kinds of borders of hardy flowers mainly deserve our first
consideration.

The difference in cost of growing hardy flowers or tender should

be thought of. The sacrifice of flower gardens to plants that perish

every year has often left them poor of all the

Cost and nobler plants. We must take into account the

endurance. hothouses, the propagation of plants by thousands

at certain seasons, the planting out at the busiest

and fairest time of the year — in June, the digging up and storing in

autumn, the care in the winter.

There are a number of plants which, given thorough preparation
at first, it would be wise to leave alone for some years at a time — as,
for example, groups or beds of the various Tritomas, Irises, Lilies,,
either grouped with others or in families. When all these exhaust
the ground or become too crowded, by all means move them and
replant, but this is a very different thing from moving all the plants
in the flower garden twice a year.

It would be better every way if, so far as the flower garden is
concerned, gardeners were to see what could be done unaided by
the hothouse; but meanwhile the wise man will reduce the expense
of glass, labour, fire, repairs, paint, pipes, and boilers.

The true way to make gardens yield a return of beauty for the
labour and skill given them is the permanent one. Choose some
beautiful class of plants and select a place that will
The true way. suit them, even as to their effect in the garden land-
scape. Let the beds be planted as permanently and
25

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

as well as possible, so that there will remain little to do for
years.

One of the best reforms will be to avoid the conventional pattern
plans, and adopt simple beds and borders, in positions suited to
the plants they are to grow. These can best be
Pattern plans. filled permanently because the planter is free to
deal with them in a bolder way than if he has
to consider their relation to a number of small beds. In this way,
also, the delight of flowers is much more keenly felt as one sees
them relieved, sees them at different times, and to more advantage
than the flowers stereotyped under the window. Roses grouped
well together, and not trained as standards, would lend themselves
admirably to culture with other things, for example, Tea Roses with
Carnations. Then there are many groups made by the aid of the
finer perennials themselves, by choosing things that would go well
together, such as the Delphiniums and Phloxes. Other plants, such
as Yuccas, of which there are now various beautiful kinds, are often
best by themselves ; and noble groups they form, whether in flower
or not. The kinds of Yucca that flower very freely, such as Y.
recurva and Y. flaccida, lend themselves to grouping with Flame
Flowers (Tritoma) and the bolder autumn plants.

There is no beauty among tender plants to be compared with
that of Irises, Lilies, Delphiniums, Evening Primroses, Pseonies,
Carnations, Narcissi, and are we to put aside or into the background
all this glorious beauty for the sake of a few things that merely
give us flat colour? No one who knows even to a slight extent what
the plants of the northern and temperate world are, can admit that
this sort of gardening should have the first place. There is nothing
among tender plants to equal Windflowers in many kinds, flowering
in spring, summer, and autumn ; Torch Lilies, superb in autumn ;
Columbines ; Hairbells ; Delphiniums ; Day Lilies ; Everlasting
Peas ; Evening Primroses ; Paeonies ; Phloxes ; Ranunculus, double
and single, and the many fine species; all the noble autumn-
blooming, Daisy-like flowers; "plumy Spiraeas; Globe Flowers; Lilies,
in noble variety ; Polyanthus ; Primroses ; Auriculas ; Wallflowers ;
Meadow Saffrons ; Crocuses, of the spring and autumn ; Scillas ;
Snowflakes ; Grape Hyacinths; Narcissi, in lovely variety; Tulips,
the old florists' kinds, and many wild species ; Carnations and
Pinks; Cornflowers; Foxgloves; Stocks; Starworts ; great Scarlet
and other Poppies ; Christmas Roses, Forget-me-nots ; Pansies
and many of the rock plants of the mountains of Europe — from
the Alps to the hills of Greece, cushioned with Aubrietia, and
sky-blue Windflowers — all hardy as the Docks by the frozen
brooks.

28 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

A frequent way in which people attempt to cultivate hardy

flowers is in what is called the " mixed border," often made on the

edge of a shrubbery, the roots of which leave little

Flower borders f°°d or even light for the flowers. The face of

fringing shrub- a shrubbery should be broken and varied ; the

beries. shrubs should not form a hard line, but here and

there they should come full to the edge and finish

it. The variety of positions and places afforded by the front of a

shrubbery so arranged is tempting, but it is generally best to use

plants which do not depend for their beauty on high culture—

which, in fact, fight their way near shrubs — and there are a great

many of them, such as the evergreen Candytufts, the large-leaved

Rockfoils, Acanthus, Day Lilies, Solomon's Seal, Starworts, Leopard's

Banes, Moon Daisies, and hardy native Ferns.

A scattered, dotty mixed border along the face of a shrubbery
gives a poor effect, but a good one may be secured by grouping
the plants in the open spaces between the shrubs, making a careful
selection of plants, each occupying a bold space. The presence of
tree and shrub life is a great advantage to those who know how to
use it. Here is a group of shrubs over which we can throw a
delicate veil of some pretty creeper that would look stiff and
wretched against a wall ; there a shady recess beneath a flowering
tree : instead of planting it up with shrubs in the common way,
cover the ground with Woodruff, which will form a pretty carpet
and flower very early in the year, and through the Woodruff a few
British Ferns ; in front of this use only low plants, and we shall
thus get a pretty little vista, with shade and a pleasant relief. Next
we come to a bare patch on the margin. Cover it with a strong
evergreen Candytuft, and let this form the edge. Then allow a group
of Japan Quince to come right into the grass edge and break the
margin ; then a large group of broad-leaved Rockfoil, receding under
the near bushes and trees ; and so proceed making groups and
colonies, considering every aid from shrub or tree, and never using
a plant of which we do not know and enjoy the effect.

This plan is capable of much variety, whether we are dealing
with an established and grown shrubbery, or a choice plantation of
flowering Evergreens. In the last case, owing to the soil and the
neat habit of the bushes, we have excellent conditions in which
good culture is possible. One can have the finest things among
them if the bushes are not jammed together. The ordinary way
of planting shrubs is such that they grow together, and then it is
not possible to have flowers between them, nor to see the true form
of the bushes, which are lost in one solid leafy mass. In growing
fine things — Lilies or Cardinal Flowers, or tall Evening Primroses

BORDERS OF HARDY FLOWERS. 29

— among open bushes we may form a delightful garden, we secure
sufficient space for the bushes to show their forms, and we get light
and shade among them. In such plantations one might have in the
back parts " secret " colonies of lovely things which it might not be
well to show in the front of the border, or which required shade and
shelter that the front did not afford.

It is not only in the flower garden where we may have much

beauty of flower, but away from it there are many places better fitted

for growing the more beautiful things which do

Borders by grass not require continual attention. Unhappily, the

walks in shade common way of planting shrubberies has robbed

or sun. many grass walks of all charm. The great trees,

which take care of themselves, are often fine, but

the common mixed plantation of Evergreens means death to the

variety and beauty of flower we may have by grass walks in sun or

shade. The shrubs are frequently planted in mixtures, in which

the most free-growing are so thickly set as soon to cover the

whole ground, Cherry Laurel, Portugal Laurel, Privet, and such

common things frequently killing all the choicer shrubs and forming

dark heavy walls of leaves. Some of these Evergreens, being very

hungry things, overrun the ground, rob the trees, and frequently, as

in the case of the Portugal Laurels, give a dark monotonous effect

while keeping the walks wet, airless, and lifeleTss.

Light and shade and the charm of colour are impossible in such

cases with these heavy, dank Evergreens, often cut back, but once one

is free of their slavery what delightful places there

Light and shade, are for growing all hardy flowers in broad masses,

from the handsome Oriental Hellebores of the

early spring to the delicate lavenders of the Starworts in October.

Not only hardy flowers, but graceful climbers like the wild Clematis,

and lovely corners of light and shade may be made instead of

the walls of sombre Evergreens. If we want the ground green

with dwarf plants, we have no end of delightful plants at hand in

the Ivies and Evergreens like Cotoneaster.

In many situations near houses, and especially old houses, there

are delightful openings for a beautiful kind of flower border. The

stone forms fine background, and there are no

Flower borders thieving tree roots. Here we have conditions

against walls and exactly opposite to those in the shrubbery ; here

houses. We can have the best soil, and keep it for our

favourites ; we can have Delphiniums, Lilies,

Paeonies, Irises, and all choice plants well grown. Walls may be

adorned with climbers of graceful growth, climbing Rose, Wistaria,

Vine, or Clematis, which will help out our beautiful mixed border.

30 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Those must to some extent be trained, although they may be allowed a
certain degree of abandoned grace even on a wall. In this kind of
border we have, as a rule, no background of shrubs, and therefore we
must get the choicest variety of plant life into the border itself and we
must try to have a constant succession of interest. In winter this kind
of border may have a bare look when seen from the windows, but the
variety of good hardy plants is so great, that we can make it almost
evergreen by using evergreen rock-plants. Where walls are broken
with pillars, a still better effect may be obtained by training Vines
and Wistaria along the top and over the pillars or the buttresses.

Border against wall at Sidbury Manor.

We have here a frequent kind of mixed border often badly made,

but which may be excellent. A good plan is to secure from about

eight to ten feet of rich soil on each side of the

Flower borders in walk, and cut the borders off from the main garden

the fruit garden, by a trellis of some kind from seven feet to nine

feet high. This trellis may be of strong iron wire,

or, better still, of simple rough oak branches, on which we may

grow Climbing Roses and Clematis and all the choicer climbers.

Moreover, we can grow them in their natural grace along the wires

or rough branches, or up and across a rough wooden trellis, Rose and

Jasmine showing their grace uncontrolled. We fix the main branches

to the supports, and leave the rest to the winds, and form a fine

type of flower border in this way, as we have the graceful climbing

plants in contrast with the flowers in the border.

Mixed borders may be made in various ways ; but it may be well

to bear in mind the following points : Select only good plants ;

throw away weedy kinds, there is no scarcity of

Mixed borders, the best. See good collections. Put, at first, rare

kinds in lines across four-feet nursery beds, so that

BORDERS OF HARDY FLOWERS.

a stock of plants may be at hand. Make the choicest borders where
they cannot be robbed by the roots of trees ; see that the ground
is good and rich, and that it is at least two and a half feet deep,

Flower border against house.

so deep that, in a dry season, the roots can seek their supplies
far below the surface. Plant in naturally disposed groups, never
repeating the same plant along the border at intervals, as is so
often done with favourites. Do not graduate the plants in height
from the front to the back, as is generally done, but sometimes

32 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

let a bold plant come to the edge ; and, on the other hand, let a
little carpet of a dwarf plant pass in here and there to the back,
so as to give a varied instead of a monotonous surface. Have
no patience with bare ground, and cover the border with dwarf
plants ; do not put them along the front of the border only. Let
Hepaticas and double and other Primroses, and Rockfoils, and
Golden Moneywort and Stonecrops, and Forget-me-nots, and
dwarf Phloxes, and many similar plants cover the ground among
the tall plants betimes, at the back as well as the front. Let
the little ground plants form broad patches and colonies by

Border of hardy flowers on open margin of lawn. (Newton Don, Kelso.)

themselves occasionally, and let them pass into and under other
plants.

Thoroughly prepared at first, the border might remain for years
without any digging in the usual sense. When a plant is old and
rather 'too thick, never hesitate to replant it on a wet day in the
middle of August any more than in the middle of winter. Take
it up and put a fresh bold group in fresh ground ; the young
plants will have plenty of roots by the winter, and in the following
spring will flower much stronger than if they had been trans:
planted in spring or in winter. Do not pay much attention to
labelling ; if a plant is not worth knowing, it is not worth growing ;
let each good thing be so bold and so well grown as to make its
presence felt.

The plants of the older kind of mixed border were, like the

BORDERS OF HARDY FLOWERS. 33

grasses of the meadows of the northern world, stricken to the earth

by winter, and the border was not nearly so pretty then as the

withered grass of the plain or copse. But since

Evergreen borders the revival of interest in hardy and Alpine flowers

of hardy flowers, and the many introductions of recent years, we

have a great number of beautiful plants that are

evergreen in winter and that enable us to make evergreen borders.

The great white blanket that covers the north and many mountain

ranges in winter protects also for months many Alpine plants which

do not lose their leaves in winter, such as Rockfoils, Stonecrops,

Primroses, Gentians, and Christmas Roses. The most delicate of

Alpine plants suffer, when exposed to our winter, from excitement of

growth, to which they are not subject in their own home, but many

others do not mind our winters much, and it is easy by good

choice of plants to make excellent borders wholly or in greater

part evergreen.

These are not only good as evergreens, but they are delightful in
colour, many being beautiful in flower in spring, and having also the
charm of assuming their most refreshing green just when other plants
are dying in autumn. Along with these rock and herbaceous plants
we may group a great many dwarf shrubs that come almost between
the true shrub and the Alpine flower — little woody evergreen
creeping things like the dwarf Partridge Berry, Canadian Cornel,
hardy Heaths, and Sand Myrtles, often good in colour when grouped.
Among these various plants we have plenty for evergreen borders,
and this is important, as, while many might object to the bare earth
of the ordinary border of herbaceous plants near the house or in other
favourite spots, it is different with borders of evergreen plants, which
may be charming and natural in effect throughout the year.

Of garden pictures, there are few prettier than Crocus, Snowdrops,
or Scilla coming through the green, moss-like carpets in these ever-
green borders, far prettier to those who love quiet and natural colour
than more showy effects. Often narrow evergreen borders are the
best things that can be placed at the foot of important walls, as
the way of allowing grass to go right up to the walls is a foolish
one, and often leads to injury to the wall trees. A narrow border
cut off by a natural stone edging from the grass or walk, is best:
even a border of this size may have many lovely things, from early
Cyclamen to the best Meadow Saffrons in the autumn. Besides the
flowers already named, we have Violets, Periwinkles, Carnations,
Pinks, Barrenworts, charming in foliage, purple Rock Cresses,
Omphalodes, Iris, Acanthus, Indian and otjier Strawberries, House-
leeks, Thymes, Forget-me-nots, Sandworts, Gentianella, Lavender,
Rosemary, hardy Rock Roses, and many native and other hardy

C

BORDERS OF HARDY FLOWERS.

35

evergreen Ferns in all their fine variety ; Bamboos, Ruscus and Dwarf
Savin, these are an essential aid in the making of evergreen borders.

Many years of trial with the best wooden trellising disclosed to

me its defects as to endurance, even the best wooden trellising oak

perishing on the ground or being blown over in

Trellising to storms. The same objection applies to Chestnut

endure. or any native zuood. The result of various trials for

many years was to compel the use of an iron base

for our trellis at the back of mixed borders, and so cut off the oak

used from the wet ground. We used the ordinary iron fence in the

first instance, adding a foot or so to the height by means of an iron

attachment. This was painted oak colour and fitted with upright

heart of oak. The battens do not touch the ground and project a

little above the top iron rail. The effect is very good. The best

plants for it we found to be Clematis, Roses of the nobler climbing

type, like Bouquet d'Or, the Japanese and other Vines. The height

of the finished trellis is 5 foot oak battens in seasoned oak ij by f

inches. For backgrounds, so essential to the good mixed border, this

manner of trellising is the best.

HARDY BORDER FLOWERS FOR BRITISH GARDENS.

From this list all families not quite hardy in Britain are ex-
cluded, for whatever we may do with flower-beds, mixed borders should
be mainly of hardy plants, and we ought to be able to plant or refresh
them at any time through the autumn or winter months. Well-
planned mixed borders, covered as they mostly should be with rock
plants forming green carpets, should have few gaps in early summer,
but where these occur they may be filled up with half-hardy plants
as the stock of plants may permit, or with good annuals.

Acanthus
Achillea

Campanula
Carnations

Fuchsia
Funkia

Lythrum
Malope

Ranunculus
Rhodanthe

Acis

Catananche

Gaillardia

Malva

Rockets

Aconitum

Centaurea

Galtonia

Meconopsis

Rudbeckia

Adonis

Cheiranthus

Geranium

Megasea

Salvia

Agapanlhus

Chelone

Geum

Mimulus

Saponaria

Agrostemma
Alstroemeria in var.

Chrysanthemum
Convallaria

Gypsophila
Helenium

Mirabilis
Monarda

Saxifraga
Scabiosa

Alysum

Convolvulus

Helianthemum

Montbretia

Sedum

Amaryllis

Coreopsis

Helianthus

Myosotis

Spiraea

Amberboa

Corydalis

Helichrysum

N arcissus

Statice

Anemone

Cyclamen

Helleborus

(Enothera

Stocks

Anthericum

Cypripedium

Hepatica

Omphalodes

Sweet Pea

Antirrhinum

Delphinium

Hesperis

Onosma

Sweet William

Arabis
Arenaria

Dianthus
Dielytra

Hollyhock
Iberis

Ornithogalum
Orobus

Symphytum
Thymus

Argemone

Digitalis

Iris

Paeonia

Tigridia

Armeria

Dodecatheon

Kniphofia

Pancratium

Tradescantia

Arnebia

Doronicum

Lathyrus

Pansy

Trillium

Aster

Echinops

Lavatera

Papaver

Trollius

Aubrietia

Epimedium

Lavendula

Pentstemon

Tropaeolum

Rartonia

Eremurus

Leucojum

Phlomis

Tulipa

Bocconia

Erigeron

Lilium

Phlox

Veratrum

Brodiaea in var.

Erodium

Linaria

Plumbago

Verbascum

Calendula

Eryngium

Linum

Polemonium

Veronica

Calliopsis

Erythronium

Lobelia

Potentilla

Viola

Calochortus

Eschscholtzia

Lupinus

Primula

Wallflower

Caltha in var.

Fritillaria

Lychnis

Pyrethrum

Zephyranthes
Zinnia

English Iris.

CHAPTER V.

THE RESERVE AND CUT-FLOWER GARDENS.

NOTHING is worse in gardening than the way in which plants of
all kinds are huddled together without regard to fitness for associa-
tion in stature, in time of blooming, or in needs of culture. The
common scene of confusion is the shrubbery border, into which
Carnations, annuals, Alpine flowers, and rampant herbs are often
thrown, to dwindle and perish. There is no shrubbery border that
could not be made beautiful by carpeting it with wood and copse
plants of the northern world in broad groups, but many of our favourite
flowers are not wood plants, and many — for example, Carnations —
cannot maintain the struggle against the bushes and trees. Hardy
plants should be divided into two broad series at least — those which
thrive in and near woody growth, and those which must perish there.
Solomon's Seal and the blue Apennine Anemone are types of plants
that one may grow in any shady place : Carnation, Pink, Auricula
are among the flowers which must have good soil and be kept away
from tree roots,

One good plan that all can follow is the growing of certain
plants without heed to their place in any design, but not in any kind
of " mixed border " or in other mixed arrangements. Many hardy
flowers are worthy of special culture, and good results cannot often be
got without it, whether we grow Carnations, Pinks, Pansies, Phloxes,
Lilies, Stocks, double Wallflowers, Cloves, or scarlet Lobelias. Even a
choice annual, such as Rhodanthe, or a beautiful grass, it is not easy to
succeed with unless it has a fair chance, away from the crowding of
the mixed border. This special culture of favourite flowers may be
best carried out in a plot of ground set aside for beds of the choicer
flowers, in a piece of ground in or near the kitchen garden or any
other open position, sheltered, but not shaded. With the aid of

36

THE RESERVE AND CUT-FLOWER GARDENS. 37

such a division of the garden, the cultivation of many fine hardy
plants becomes a pleasure. When any plant gets tired of its bed, it
is easy to make the Carnation bed of past years the bulb one for
the next year, and so on. It would be easy to change one's
favourites from bed to bed, so that deep-rooting plants should follow
surface-rooting kinds, and thus the freshness of the garden would be
kept up. If any edging is used, it should be of natural stone sunk in
the earth, but the abolition of all edgings, beyond one or two main
lines, would tend to simplify the work. Such a plot is excellent for
giving cut flowers in quantity, and is also a great aid as a nursery,
while it would also be a help to exchanges with friends or neigh-
bours, in the generous way of all true gardeners. The space occupied
by it will depend upon the size and wants of the place ; but, wher-
ever the room can be spared, an eighth of an acre might be devoted
to the culture in simple beds of favourite flowers.

Among the fair flowers which in this way may be cultivated,
each separately and well, are the old Clove Carnations — white,
crimson, and scarlet, as well as many other kinds ;
What to grow tall Phloxes, so fair in country gardens in the
in the reserve autumn ; scarlet Lobelias, splendid in colour ;
garden. Pinks of many kinds; Persian and Turban Ran-

unculus ; bright old garden Anemones, and the
finer species of Anemone ; Lilies, and as many as possible of the
splendid kinds introduced into our gardens within the past dozen
years from California and Japan; Delphiniums; double Rockets;
Irises, English, Spanish, Japanese, and German ; Pansies in great
variety ; Tiger Flowers ; the Columbine, including the lovely blue
Columbine of the Rocky Mountains ; Pyrethrums, Chinese Pinks,
Scabious, Sweet Williams; Stocks of many kinds; Wallflowers,
double and single ; the annual Phloxes ; China Asters, the Sweet
Sultan, in two or three forms ; showy Chrysanthemums ; Grasses
for cutting in winter ; Grape Hyacinths ; rare Narcissus ; Meadow
Saffrons ; Lilies of the Valley ; Crocuses, the autumnal as well as
the vernal kinds ; Dahlias, cactus and single ; Pseonies ; Primroses,
double and single ; Pentstemons ; Polyanthus ; Oxlips ; Tulips,
many early and late kinds ; sweet Violets ; American Cowslips ;
Gladioli ; Christmas Roses ; and, lastly, Everlasting Flowers, which
may be grown with the pretty Grasses, and, like them, be gathered
for the house in winter.

In these special plots for hardy flowers are included the various
hardy florists' flowers. The term " florists' flowers " was once applied
to flowers supposed to be popular with amateurs and florists, but it had
never. any clear meaning. A Rose is a florist's flower ; but it is more —
it is everybody's flower, and we call it a Rose, having no use for

38 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

any other term. The reserve garden is a good place to grow flowers
for cutting for the house. A supply equal to that of a dozen plant
houses can be got from an open square in the kitchen garden or any
piece of good ground. For eight months there is a procession of
open-air flowers, which can easily be grown in sufficient quantity to
allow the cutting of plenty for every want. A bed or a few lines of
each favourite in a plot of good soil would give a great number of
flowers, and these, aided by the Roses and other bush and tree
flowers about the garden, would yield all the flowers that a large
house would require, and many besides for hospitals and for those
who have no gardens. Flowers grown for cutting should be care-
fully selected as regards odour, form, and colour.

We have had evidence of the good way in which inter-cropping

suits plants in nursery beds, and there is reason to believe that the

presence in rich ground of two plants wholly

Double cropping different in their nature is a good plan. A collec-

of beds. tion of Narcissi, with lines between of Delphiniums

and hardy Fuchsias, that is to say, two lines of

each in a 4-foot bed, will thrive. The same is true of other hardy

spring bulbs, which may be alternated with the choicer perennials

that bloom in autumn ; and this way is a good one for people who

live in their gardens chiefly in spring and autumn, as it secures two

distinct seasons of bloom in the same ground. This applies to store

beds as distinct from the regular flower garden, though some kind

of inter-cropping would give an excellent result in the flower garden

also ; as, for instance, if we have beds of Roses, we might have them

carpeted with early bulbs, and be none the worse for it, and so also

with Paeonies and many other flowers. It wants some care to find

out which go best together ; but, given that, all is easy enough.

Apart from the reserve garden, with its flowers in close masses, we

may have gardens of a favourite flower and its forms, for the purpose

of studying a family or adding to it by collecting

Gardens of One or cross-breeding. Such gardens now and then

Flower. owe their existence to the difficulty of cultivating

a flower, as was the case of a charming garden

of the lovely forms of our native Primrose formed by a friend of mine,

who thus describes it : —

No flower better deserves a garden to itself than the Primrose.

It is so old a favourite, and has been cultivated into so many forms,

that any one determined to have a Primrose

A Primrose garden may choose the kind he likes best, and set

garden. to work accordingly. There are the single-stalked

Primroses, the earliest of all, flowering from the

middle of March onwards, while some may be had in bloom as soon

•

«8fe'4H- '• /

40 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

as the end of February. They range in colour from pure white to
deep primrose, and from palest pinky-lilac through strong red-purples
to a colour nearly approaching blue, and there are also rich reds of
many shades. There is not as yet any Primrose of a true pink colour,
nor, though the type colour is yellow, are there as yet any strong
yellows of the orange class. There are also double Primroses in
nearly all the same colourings. The Polyanthus with its neat trusses
of small flowers, though beautiful in the hand and indispensable in
the good garden of hardy flowers, is not a plant for the Primrose
garden, as it makes no show in the mass. The grand Primroses
for garden effect are the large bunch-flowered kinds, white, yellow,
and orange-coloured, red, crimson, and rich brown ; of infinite variety
in form, texture, habit, and colouring, easy to raise to any amount
by seed, as also by division of the older plants. A Primrose garden
(part of which is here illustrated), that for some years has been
an ever-increasing source of pleasure and interest to its owners,
was formed a few years ago by making an opening about 70
yards long, and varying from 10 to 15 yards wide, through a
wild copse of young Birch trees. The natural soil was very poor
and sandy, so it was prepared by a thorough trenching and a
liberal addition of loam and manure, which has to be renewed every
year. No formal walks are made, but one main track is trodden
down about 2 feet wide near the middle of the space, dividing into
two here and there, where a broader clearing makes it desirable
to have two paths in the width. The older divided plants are put
into groups of a colour together from twenty to fifty of a sort.
The groups of seedlings are of necessity more various, though
they are more or less true to the parent colour, so that a patch of a
hundred seedlings — from yellow, for instance — will give a general
effect of yellow throughout the group. The whites and yellows are
kept at one end of the garden, and the reds at the other ; the deepest
yellows next to the reds. Seen from a little distance, the yellow and
white part of the Primrose garden looks like a river of silver and gold
flowing through the copse. The white stems of the Birches and the
tender green of their young leaves help to form a pretty picture,
which is at its best when the whole is illuminated by the evening
sunlight.

Some of the Plants for Reserve Garden and for cutting Flowers.

Carnations
Phloxes
Scarlet Lobelias

Pyrethrum
Schizostylis
Chinese Pinks

Grasses, the more
graceful kinds
Zinnias

Campanula
Chrysanthemums
Meadow Saffrons

Polyanthus
Oxlips
Tulips

Pinks

Scabious

Sweet Sultan

Roses

Violets

Double Rockets

Blue Cornflower

Ranunculus

Crinum

American Cowslips

Iris

Sweet Williams

Anemone

Crocus

Gaillardia

Pans»es

Stocks

Lilies

Dahlia

Gladiolus

Alstroemeria
Tigridia

Wallflowers
Grape Hyacinths

Delphiniums
Narcissus

Pzeonies
Pentstemon

Everlastings
Christmas Roses

Columbines

China Asters

Primroses

Lenten Roses

CHAPTER VI. .

HARDY BULBOUS FLOWERS.

AT no distant time lists of these things were mostly looked at for
the sake of getting a few bulbs to force, but that day is past, at least
for all who now see the great part which hardy bulbous and tuberous
plants must take in the outdoor gardens of the future. Since those
days the hills of California and of Japan alone have given us a noble
Lily garden, and the plants of this order in cultivation now form a
lovely host. We are not nearly so likely to want novelties as know-
ledge of how to make effective use of the nobler plants, such as the
Narcissus, the glory of the spring, as the Lily is of the summer
garden.

We may indeed be often tempted with Zephyr flowers, and Ixias
and other plants, beautiful in warmer countries than ours, but delicate
here, and only living with us as the result of care ; but there are
so many lovely things from the mountains and plains of the northern
world, as hardy as the wild Hyacinths of British woods, that our
search will be more for the nobler materials and how to make artistic
use of them than in quest of novelty.

Who of those who remember the Orange and White Lilies of all
English and Irish gardens would have looked for the splendid Lilies
that have come to us within less than a genera-
Lilies, tion ? For size, and form, and lovely colour they
surpass all we had ever dreamt of even among
tropical flowers. The variety is great, but the main thing for all
who care for them is how to possess their beauty with the least
amount of care ; and, happily, the question has been solved for many
handsome kinds by planting them in the peat beds that were made
at first wholly in the interest of the American shrubs, as some of
the finest Lilies thrive admirably in these. Nor need we neglect
the mixed borders because we have new ways for our Lilies, as several

41

42 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

of the European Lilies thrive in ordinary borders. They may be
naturalised too, or some of them, in deep moist peat bottoms ; for
example, the American swamp Lily (L. superbum). Lilies are so
varied in their nature and stature that they may adorn almost any
aspect in sun or shade. The new and rare among them will have
special beds or borders, and we have men who will have Lily Gardens.
And as these lovely flowers tumble into our lap from the woods and
hills of Western China, Japan, and California, untouched by man
until he found them made to his hand a few years ago, it was reason-
able to suppose that some of them would take care of themselves,
if trusted in likely spots, with us. I put some of the Panther Lily
deep in a leafy hollow in a Sussex wood, just to see if it would
survive in such conditions. Whether owing to a series of cold wet
seasons and the want of the glorious sun of the hills in Nevada
County, California, where I found it, I know not, but after the first
season it did not come up. I thought no more of it, but a friend
going into the same wood some years afterwards found a colony of it
in bloom.

Next to the Lily in value as an outdoor flower is the Narcissus,
though when we know the Iris better it may find a high place. But
the wondrous development of the garden forms of
Narcissus. Narcissus during recent years, and their fitness for
our climate, give it great value. Mountain plants
in origin, for the most part they are as hardy as rushes, and those
few southern forms that will only live in dry banks and at the foot of
warm walls need not concern us who look for pictures of Narcissus in
the open air. We have not to ask where the Narcissus will grow,
as there are few places they will not grow in with the usual garden
culture, and in some cool, loamy soils they take kindly to the turf.
Hence it is easy on many soils to have a garden of these flowers,
grouped and massed, set in turf, and giving us many flowers for the
house as well as pictures in lawn and meadow. These precious early
flowers will also have their place in the garden for cut flowers or the
nursery bed, where the many new forms of Narcissus may take their
place until plentiful. The true hardiness of the flower allows of its
being enjoyed in all parts of these scattered islands. In planting
Narcissus in the wild garden the mistake is in planting all over the
surface without relief. I have made the mistake myself and have
regretted it. When they cover the ground like tiles on a roof, they
are not nearly as effective as in simple groups. The practice of
the Trade of offering mixed kinds is attractive but quite wrong.
Much the best way is to use mixtures rarely and always to have
distinct plants.

The Iris is one of the oldest of our garden flowers, in many forms

Group of Giant Indian Lilies in half-shady place (Surrey).

44 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

too, but, like the Lily, it has come to us in greater novelty and beauty
of recent years, and as districts in Central Asia and Asia Minor

are opened to collectors, we must have our Iris
Iris. gardens too. And what so fair as an Iris garden ?

They are the Orchids of the north, many of them
as hardy as reeds, and with more richness of colour than Orchids.
The old Irises of our gardens are usually of the Germanica class ;
there is much variety among these groups, and they are very hardy
and precious, and excellent for the adornment of gardens and even
walls and thatched roofs, as we see in France, the Iris of this great
group having a valuable power of thriving on such surfaces as well
as on good soil.

There is a group of waterside and water-loving Iris, much less seen
in our gardens than the above, and some of them not yet come to us,
but of great value. They are allied to the common yellow Iris of our
watercourses, but are taller and richer in colour, the golden Iris
(aurea), Monnieri, and ochroleuca being the best known so far, and
very free, hardy, and beautiful plants they are, thriving, too, almost
anywhere, but best in rich, moist soil.- And we have the distinct gain
of the splendid Japanese Iris, in its many strange forms, the Japanese
surpassing all waterside Irises in its wide range of colour, though
most beautiful perhaps in its simple forms, white and purple. This
plant, though its beauty suggests that of the tropics, will grow side
by side with our great water dock by any lake-side or even in a
clay ditch, where only the coarsest weeds live. The Siberian Iris
and the forms near it are very graceful beside streams or ponds,
either in open or copsy places, and far more graceful and charm-
ing in such positions than in set borders. All these water-loving
Irises will do in the wild garden in bold groups when we can spare
them.

Then there are the brilliant purple and gold Iris reticulata and its
allies, little bulbous Irises, for the spring garden, early and charming
things, many beautiful ; Irises that flower in winter and early spring,
like the Algerian Iris ; others happy in Britain on warm soils and
warm corners, and some for the rock garden, like the crested Iris ; and
the many pretty forms of Iris pumila, of some of which edgings were
made in old gardens. The foliage of the evergreen Iris is so graceful
and usually so nice in colour that artistic use may be made of it in
that way. The most novel of all the groups of Iris, however, are the
Cushion Irises, which promise much beauty, but are as yet too little
known for us to see how far that beauty may be preserved in our
gardens. The old Iris Susiana has been known for many years, and
some of its allies, like I. Lorteti and the Wolf Iris, seem more hardy
and not less beautiful.

HARDY BULBOUS FLOWERS. 45

The old garden Tulip, a favourite for generations, grown in the
so-called florist varieties, and the source once of severe mania, is but

one of a large number of wild Tulipa, many of
Tulips. which have come to us of late years from Central

Asia. The old Tulips are the forms of an Italian
species (T. Gesneriana), and these varieties are worthy of all the
attention they ever had ; but the wild form is as good as any of its
varieties for splendid effect, and a selection should be made of its
simpler colours, including a good white and yellow. The bedding
Tulips, which are earlier in blooming, are forms of T. scabriscapa, and
though useful, are not nearly so valuable for their effect as the late
tulips. The new species coming from Central Asia and other lands
promise to be very valuable, too, for their effect, though our climate
may not suit all of them, as it does the fine hardy Gesneriana. The
colour of these Tulips is too fine to be missed, and, as the bloom is too
short-lived to give beds to them, the best way is to plant them in
borders : when scarce, in the nursery, when plentiful, in the wild
garden. I put some in new hedgerow banks a few years ago, and
also the Wood Tulip in a meadow regularly mown, and now have a
splendid bloom every spring. As wild Tulips abound in the south
of Europe travellers might often get many roots which could be
tried in this and other ways. Some of the bedding Tulips have
very ugly slaty colours, and there is much waste in planting them.
The Dutch bulb raisers care more for variety than beauty of colour,
but the aim in our gardens should be to get more of the fine simple
colours, and the wild kinds planted so far as we may in effective ways;
a few trials in that way will show that it is a much more effective
one than setting out the plants in tile or other patterns. The later
these wild Tulips come into bloom the better, as it brings their
nobler colour in when the harsh changes of the spring are nearly
over, and in the north they will come in with the early summer days.
These ideas of the more picturesque planting of the hardier Tulips
need not take from the lover of the old florist kinds his Tulip garden,
which was very charming with its long beds of good soil, and at its
best in some sheltered — hedged in or walled — garden.

If the Crocus has any fault it is courage in coming so early that
it has to face every trouble of the spring, and green winters induce it

to open too early. Yet what promise it brings us
Crocus. of the many-blossomed spring in border and in

lawn ; for, in addition to the old and good way in
garden borders, the Crocus, at least all the forms and series and the
hardy and vigorous European kinds, is easily naturalised in lawns
or meadow turf, and others even under Beech trees, as in Crowsley
Park. As regards this question, it should be remembered that the

46 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Crocus is wild in rich meadow grass in various parts of England, at
Nottingham and in Essex. The autumnal kinds may be naturalised
too, but they ask perhaps for a warmer soil than the vernal kinds.
Recent years have brought us many new Crocuses. The effect of the
old kinds is not surpassed, but their beauty may be more fully shown
than in lines and dots by scattering them in natural-looking groups
in grassy places among trees or in the open turf.

The old Snowdrop gives as good an effect as any other, but the

many new varieties give the Snowdrop more value. Whether these

new forms are species or varieties matters little ;

Snowdrop and their value as garden plants is the only question

Snowflake. that concerns flower gardeners. Who would have

thought a few years ago that our Snowdrop was

Narcissus princeps.

only one of a large number taking care of themselves in the mountains
o . . .a Minor and other regions ? Others are coming, and when
these increase in our gardens we shall have fresh aids to make our
spring gardens more beautiful. As these new kinds are mostly plants
from cool regions, they will probably be easily naturalised in many
soils. The Snowflake must not be forgotten — few spring flowers
are more free than the vernal and late Snowflakes.

The lovely early group of plants allied to our Wood Hyacinth —

Scilla, Chionodoxa and Hyacinthus (the more tiny and dwarf wild

species are referred to here under this last name)

Scillas and — as^ f°r some thought as to their artistic use.

their allies. The Scillas are well known, but the newer forms of

Chionodoxa give an unlooked-for loveliness of

blue very early in the spring, and show a pretty variety in their

HARDY BULBOUS FLOWERS.

47

delicate colours ; and yet there is no more lovely thing among them
than the Taurian Scilla. It is so early and so deep a blue that
one may get rich effects with it very early. The more tiny and
select of all these plants are Alpine, delightful for rock-gardens, and
all the more so if we can use them in visible groups.

Apart from the true Lilies there are certain plants to which
the name is also given betimes, such as the Torch Lily (Kniphofia),

the Day Lily (Hemerocallis), the Peruvian Lily
Day, African and (Alstroemeria), the African Lily (Agapanthus),
Cape Lilies. the Belladonna Lily (Amaryllis), the Cape Lily

(Crinum), the Plantain Lily (Funkia), the Wood
Lily (Trillium), the Mariposa Lily (Calochortus), besides other
Lilies that do not come under our present heading, or which do
not ask for thought as regards their effective use.

The Torch Lilies are brilliant in colour, and have been added
to of recent years, but severe winters have thinned them, and they
will always be best in dry soils and in sunny positions, protected
in winter. They are best kept apart from flowers more refined in
colour, such as the Tea Rose. The Day Lilies are a really hardy
race, and most of them will grow anywhere. With their fine leaves
and showy, well-formed flowers, they may be used with good effect
in various ways. The Belladonna Lily can be grown in no more
effective way than the old one of planting it under south walls.
The Cape Lilies have increased of late years from hybrids and
otherwise, and are worth attention in deep soil in warm corners
near walls that protect them from the north. The African Lily is
most important for its unrivalled blue, and there is a hardy kind,
Moreanus. It is one of the plants for which the expense of tubs or
large pots is worth indulging in, and there are new and handsome
kinds, which make the culture more interesting. The Wood Lilies are
valuable because they give us effects both distinct and beautiful in
peat borders or bog gardens. Shade is not essential, though we think
the best effects are attained in half-shady spots. The Mariposa Lilies
are beautiful, but they come from one of the best climates in the world,
and one can hardly hope that they will thrive in our climate without
special care. Yet such charming flowers will always have a place
in curious gardens, where they will thrive in frames and warm corners.
The Poppy Anemone has been a welcome flower in our gardens
for hundreds of years, and it should never be forgotten, save in cold

soils where it perishes. Many now grow it well
Anemone and from seed, but the old way of planting the tubers
Ranunculus. of favourite kinds and colours should be carried

out in the flower garden in Rose beds or in any
beds to spare. The Scarlet Anemone and its varieties is also

48 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

precious; the Star Anemone, so charming in Italy and Greece in
spring, is rarely seen happy in our gardens, which are too cold for
it, no doubt, so it may well be left out in favour of the hardier sorts.
Valuable as the brightest Anemones are, the old Turban and
Persian Ranunculus and other forms were once a great charm of the
flower garden, and should not be forgotten in warm soils, where they
thrive, but they perish in severe winters, and require some care.

The old Dog's-tooth Violet of the mountains of Europe has

been joined in our gardens of recent years by a number of its

American relations, graceful plants for peat

Various bulbs, borders, but as yet not so valuable as the European
kind in its various forms, which are among the
prettiest early spring flowers. They are, moreover, true wild
garden plants, which thrive in turf, coming up every year even
more faithfully than Crocus or Snowdrop. The Snake's-head, too
(Fritillaria), is a charming wild garden plant, thriving in grass in rich
or wet meadows ; where not native it may well be introduced. The
new yellow Fritillaries give a greater interest to this group of plants,
some of which are fitted for the wild garden, but we never could see
the charms of the Crown Imperials, with their offensive odour. The
Stars of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum) thrive in grass, and are pretty
in it. Unfortunately, the handsome Arabian kind is not hardy. The
Montbretias are plants of somewhat recent appearance in our gardens,
and they have a vigour and hardiness we do not look for in Cape
plants, and a tenacious way of growing and increasing even in cold,
poor soil, and are, therefore, valuable where we wish to have close
tufts of graceful leaves and gay blossoms below flowering shrubs
not set too closely on the ground. Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) are
often very pretty, and nearly always hardy. I use them freely in
grass, where their blue is very pretty in spring. The choicer newer
kinds will find a place in the nursery beds or rock-garden till more
plentiful.

Among the new plants we have one of fine distinction in the
Giant Asphodel (Eremurus), plants of noble port and vigour,

which, best grouped among shrubs, hold their full
Giant Asphodel. r,

effect.

The old tiger flowers (Tigridia) should not be forgotten, especially
on limestone or other warm soils, where they are most at home.
There are several new kinds, which make the family of more value.
Plants that give much pleasure from their good colours are the
Triteleia and Brodiaea. Some new and pretty effects will be given
by the best of these as soon as plentiful.

So noble a plant as the Gladiolus should not, perhaps, have been
left to the end, but the fact that the finest class are only half hardy,

HARDY BULBOUS FLOWERS. 49

and require care, makes them less important in our country than
Lilies and Narcissi, that give so much beauty with little or no care.
The years pass so swiftly, and are so full of cares, that things
demanding two important attentions yearly — i.e., taking up and
planting — must take a minor place, except in the case of growers
who make a special care of them. Generally our climate is against
the older Gladioli, and disease very often comes with any large
attempt to grow them.

The special or reserve garden includes beds for hardy bulbs —
a very good way of growing them, and for supplying flowers for the

house. A curious habit of the flowers of bulbs is

Hardy bulbs for that, cut from the plants when just opening and

cut flowers. put into water, they get larger than they would

if left on the plants out of doors, and this should
lead us to encourage many lovely flowers among hardy bulbs

Bed of Italian Narcissus.

that are among the best for our rooms. Hitherto the bane
of the gardener has been cutting flowers for the house ; but
if cutting prolongs his bloom, strengthens His plants, and gives
all who care for his flowers a fuller enjoyment of them, we
may secure his powerful aid. Consider what one may escape
in storms, frosts, and other dangers if a flower, cut just on
arriving at maturity, lasts longer indoors than out, and actually, as
in the case of the Narcissus, gets larger ! Narcissi, through their
hardiness and drooping heads, endure our climate better than any
other flowers, and yet severe storms will beat them about and destroy

D

50 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

flowers that might have lived for days in the house. Large showy
flowers like Tulips, suffer with every heavy shower. Anything which
makes it easier to have flowers in the house is a real gain ; their
exquisite forms are best seen, and tell their story best when
brought near to the eye. A flower of our yellow wood Tulip
opening and closing, and showing its changing form in a room,,
gives ideas of beauty which cannot be gleaned by glancing at a bed
of bulbs.

One of the most marked improvements is the planting of hand-
some bulbs in masses of Rhododendrons and like bushes. These

beds, as usually planted, are interesting only when

Hardy bulbs in flower, and not always then, owing to the flat

among shrubs, surface into which the shrubs are pressed ; Lilies,.

therefore, and the finer bulbs may with great
advantage be placed among the shrubs. In many cases where this
plan has been carried out, it has almost changed the entire aspects
of gardens, and given various beautiful types of life instead of only
one, and many fine rare bulbs find a home in such beds, which
should be sacred from the spade. In placing choice, peat-loving
shrubs, give the bushes room to fully attain their natural forms, and
plant the interspaces with finer bulbs. Light and shade, relief and
grace, are among the merits of this mode of planting. Beds of the
smaller shrubs will do admirably for the smaller and more delicate
bulbs, the shelter of low shrubs being an advantage to many little
bulbs whose leaves are apt to suffer from cold winds. In this way
we get relief, variety, and longer bloom, and the shrubs show
their forms better when they have free play of light and air about
them.

Bold beds of Lilies and the taller bulbs are admirable for the
lawn, and for quiet corners of the pleasure-ground. The showy beds

of bulbs which are to be seen in public and other

Bulbs in beds gardens, and which come so largely into spring

on turf. gardens, are familiar to all. The beds suggested

here are of a higher and more permanent nature,,
and are intended to be placed where they will be let alone. At
Moulton Grange some years ago I saw on the turf in a quiet corner
a bed of Tiger. Lilies which had no other flowers near to mar its
beauty. It was a large oval bed, and the colour of the finely grown
Lilies was brilliant and effective seen through the trees and glades.
In point of colour alone, nothing could be better ; the mass of bloom
was profuse, and the plants, about 6 feet high, told well in the garden
landscape. Among the most lovely beds are those of the nobler
Lilies, while Iris, and* many beautiful Day Lily, Paeony, Gladiolus,
and Cape Hyacinth may be grouped with them or near them. It

HARDY BULBOUS FLOWERS.

may be as well to note that what is meant here is not wild garden-
ing with bulbs, but very good cultivation of them, and surfacing and
edging the beds with spring flowers.

Some Hardy Bulbous and Tuberous Plants for British Flower Gardens.

Acis

Agapanthus

Allium

Alstrcemeria

Amaryllis

Anemone

Anthericum

Arum

Calla

Calochortus

Chionodoxa

Colchicum

Convallaria

Crocus

Cyclamen

Erythronium

Fritillaria

Galanthus

Gladiolus

Galtonia

Hyacinthus

Iris

Ixiolirion

Leucojum

Lilium

Montbretia

Muscari

Narcissus

Orchis

Ornithogalum

Oxalis

Paeon ia

Pancratium

Puschkinia

Ranunculus

Schizostylis

Scilla _

Sparaxis

Sternbergia

Tigridia

Trillium

Triteleia

Tritonia

Tropseolum

Tulipa

CHAPTER VII.

ANNUAL AND BIENNIAL PLANTS.

WHATEVER we may do with perennials, shrubs, or hardy bulbs, the
plants in this class must ever be of great value to the flower gardener;
and among the most pleasant memories of flower garden things are often
those of annual or biennial plants such as tall and splendid Stocks in a
farmhouse garden on a chalky soil, seen on a bright day in early spring ;
Wallflowers in London market gardens and in cottage gardens, when
not cut down by cruel winters ; Snapdragons on old garden walls, and
bright Marigolds everywhere; Hollyhock lines, Sweet Pea hedges, and
Mignonette carpets ; Evening Primrose, Poppies, Sweet Scabious, and
Sweet Williams. However rich a garden may be in hardy flowers or
bedding plants, it is wise in our climate to depend much on annual
flowers.

Like most other plants, they enjoy fresh ground, and where they
are grown in borders by themselves it is easy to enrich the ground,
and make it fitted for them, easier than when grown among
perennials, Roses, and the like. With this precaution the culture
is very simple.

52

ANNUAL AND BIENNIAL PLANTS. 53

In wet seasons and in wet northern districts annuals surprise
us by their vigour and beauty. In warmer counties the defect of the
heat may in the case of the hardy kinds be met by autumn sowing in
good rich ground. The autumn sowings are the best. The plants
not only flower much sooner, but, where the soil and climate suit
them, they are stronger and more beautiful.

Concerning crowding, " Salmoniceps " writes: — "1 have just
measured a plant to-day (October 4) of Nemophila insignis, sown
more than a year ago. It has been in flower since May, and measures
now 4 feet by 3 feet 10 inches. It would take a long time to count
the blossoms, although they are not so large as the earlier ones. The
plant grows in a new and rich border. According to the ordinary
way of sowing annuals, this single plant occupies the space which is
usually allotted to a whole packet of seed."

In nature, annuals are usually autumn-sown and gather strength
in the winter. In growing a number of annuals from various countries
we must remember that our winters can be faced by the hardy
ones only, such as the Sweet Pea, Cornflower, Silene, Nemophila,
Viscaria, Limnanthes, Larkspur, Poppy, and Scabious. Annuals are
best in masses or groups.

Among annual flowers we have the lovely Everlastings of

Australia, which have an order of beauty distinct from those we

see in gardens into which annuals do not enter.

Everlastings. Carefully gathered, they may adorn our houses
during the winter. The Pimpernels, which with
their pretty blue flowers were once made charming use of in gardens,
are much neglected. The Mexican Poppy is a pretty flower and
quite distinct. Among annuals we find plants of fine foliage or
habit, such as the Hemp, Castor Oil Tree and Mallows, Maize
and other grasses, Cotton and Blessed Thistles. The annual
Chrysanthemums of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, and
indeed of our own fields, are strong in effect. The annual Bindweeds
are pretty, and in southern gardens may be used. The annual
Larkspurs are so little used in gardens that it is only in seed
farms that we have the pleasure of seeing them now and then in all
their beauty. The annual Chinese Pinks are brilliant grown in sunny
beds and good soil. Our native Foxglove, seen in many of our wood-
lands, breaks in the hands of the gardener into varieties well worth
growing, if not in the garden, in shrubberies and in copses and woods.
It is a good plan, when any ground is broken up for fence-making or
rough planting, to scatter a few seeds of the white and other pretty
kinds and leave them to take care of themselves. There are many
graceful grasses which may be treated as annuals, and their flowers,
like the Everlasting flowers, be in bloom through the winter. The

54 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

night-smelling Stocks will appeal to some, but are rather too strong
in odour for others. The annual Hibiscus when well grown are
.-effective plants, and the same may be said of the Hollyhock, for
which probably the best way is to raise it from seed, as in that
way we can fight better against the fungus. The Single
Hollyhock is worthy of much care and is often very effective.
The Flaxes are very pretty annuals, red and blue, and even the
common cultivated Flax is a beautiful plant. The beauty of the
Ice plants, of which we see so little in our country, is fairly shown
by the little annual one. In our day quite a series of beautiful forms
of Mignonette have come to add to the charms of that always
welcome plant. The annual and biennial Evening Primroses are
often extremely valuable and showy.

The Sweet Scabious are pretty and varied in colour and so
fragrant. Of Sweet Peas there is a delightful series in our own
day, when so many kinds have been raised that one could easily
make a garden of them. No words can exaggerate their value,
either in mixed or separate colours, and they should be both
autumn and spring sown, so as to get a chance of those fine tall
hedges of Sweet Peas which come where we sow in autumn and
get the plants safely through the winter, and they are doubly
valuable owing to the many beautiful new kinds. Zinnia is extremely
.fine in colour, but in our country it wants warm soils and the best
positions in order to do well. In Italy, Austria, and South Germany
it is much more beautiful and vigorous than with us.

Some annual plants, like the Cornflower, Sweet Sultan, Sweet
Pea, Scabious, are precious for cutting for the house, and may be
grown with the hardy flowers for this purpose where there is room
for it ; others are good for trellis-work, and others for surfaces we
wish to adorn with pretty climbers, such as Canary Creeper,
Maurandya, Adlumia, Gourds, Convolvulus.

The various French and African Marigolds, and the prettier forms
of the pot Marigold, are very showy plants, and, for those who
love much colour, are almost essential, and the same may be said
of the various annual Calliopsis. The China Aster used to be
grown much better than it is generally now, and there is no doubt,
where people do not get much colour from other plants, such as
Roses and the finer perennials, the China Aster in its many forms
is useful. But more important by far are the various kinds of
Stock, which have the added charm of fragrance, and which do
so well in many gardens with light and warm soils in the north
and in Scotland. Cosmos are pretty plants worthy of a place, and
the best of the annual kinds of Datura are picturesque and distinct.
Chinese Pinks are very beautiful and charming in variety. The

White Foxglove. Engraved from a photograph by H. Hyde of a self-sown plant in shrubbery

at Gravetye Manor.

56 t THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Gaillardias, which are such poor perennials in many soils, are in
some cases better raised as annuals, and there are annual kinds
of value. The Gilias are very pretty, varied, and hardy, and some
very dwarf, forming a carpet for taller plants.

The Godetias, allied to the Evening Primroses, are handsome
when well grown, especially the white and simple coloured kinds,
and where they live over the winter, from autumn sowing, they
are very strong and handsome the following year. The many
varieties of the annual Ipomaea are graceful, there being much
charming variety among the blooms, and with these may be named
the various kinds of Convolvulus minor, which does not climb. Lavatera
and Malope are handsome plants in the autumn garden, as are the
Lupins, well grown, and the new Nemesia from the Cape is charming,
The white Tobacco and the true Tobacco are handsome in warm
soils. We think the various Nigellas very interesting, while every
one should have the annual Phloxes, now to be had in such good
colours, and the Portulacas, which are so showy on warm borders.
The Salpiglossis is a beautiful plant, especially where we take the
trouble to select the simpler colours, the amber coloured one being
very fine. The Sweet Scabious has charming varieties, and is often
very fine in colour, though not so good on heavy and cool soils.

The Sweet Sultans are pretty, and useful for cutting for the
house, and Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus) and its allies are
quaintly effective. The Snapdragons, which are often treated as
annuals, are frequently excellent when grown in their simple colours,
the striped kinds not being nearly so good in effect. The annual
Poppies are essential where a good display is hoped for from
annuals, also the Mexican and Californian Poppies. Such hand-
some plants as the varieties of Tropaeolum are also many of them
beautiful annuals. Among plants of, perhaps, less importance than
some of the preceding, the following may be mentioned : Bartonia,
Brachycome, Calandrinia, Cosmidium, Nolana, Didiscus, Kaulfussia,
Linum, Lobelia, Martynia, Mesembryanthemum, Nycterinia, Platy-
stemon, Saponaria, Senecio, Stenactis, and Xeranthemum, as afford-
ing some good plants for those interested in flower gardening with
annual and biennial plants.

It is not every one who has the means to winter a large number

of tender bedding plants, and the keeping of a large stock involves

much work, and takes up space that might be

Half-hardy plants better occupied. But a garden may be made very

as annuals. gay in summer with half-hardy plants raised from

seed, and without keeping a single plant over the

winter in the greenhouse. In seedlings there may be differences in

habit and colour, but this should be no objection. There are a few

ANNUAL AND BIENNIAL PLANTS. 57

plants which come from seed true to the type through many genera-
tions, like Verbena venosa. Seedling Verbenas make a handsome bed,
and usually do much better so grown than from cuttings. Balsams,
again, are not half so much used for open-air decoration as they
deserve to be, and those who have only seen them starving in small
pots cannot form an idea of their beauty when planted out in goodr
open soil, away from trees and in warm soils. Take the border
Pansies in various shades of purple, yellow, and white. Varieties may
be raised in the early spring for planting out the same summer, and so-
of the Verbena, Pelargonium, Pyrethrum, Salvia patens, S. argentea,
Heliotrope, and Snapdragons, which should be sown in heat in January;
to the Petunia, Phlox Drummondi, Dianthus, Indian Pink, Ageratum,
and Lobelia, which in February should be sown in pans in heat, andr
if kept growing, will be ready for planting out in May. Begonias for
bedding maybe grown from seed in the same year, but are more effective
if raised during the preceding year, selected according to colour, and
stored in winter ready for bedding out early in summer. Fuchsias
sown in January flower well in August. Of fine-leaved plants which
can be raised from seed for use in the open-air the same year, there
are Amaranthus, Celosia, Centaurea, Cineraria, Humea, Canna,
Chamaepeuce, Nicotiana, Ricinus, Solanum, and Wigandia.

Old plants of Verbenas and like plants kept through the winter
harbour the eggs of vermin always ready to eat up the collection
if it is neglected for a week, but, starting with clean houses and
frames, and with seeds in early spring, the gardener makes a better
fight against his many insect enemies. As regards the plants one
would like to raise in this way, seedsmen should select and fix distinct
colours of different races of plants. It would not be difficult to select
a bluish or purple Verbena which one might count on as coming
pretty true from seed. We have so much relied upon cuttings and
old plants that the raising of fine seedlings has seldom had fair
attention. Many raise seeds, but few give the early thinning, the
light, the sturdy growth, and the unchecked culture that seedlings
require ; but now, when we may raise not only the annual pure and
simple, but the half-hardy flower-garden plants, and the nobler hardy
plants like Carnations and Hollyhocks, seed-raising for the flower
garden deserves much attention.

Biennial plants are usually such as make their growth in one year

and flower the next, but the line between biennial and annual is

not a strict one, because in their native countries

Biennial plants, annual plants often spring up in one year, and

flower the next. In countries with open winters

and hot summers, annuals do so naturally, and begin to grow in

the first rains through the winter, and flower strongly the next

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Annuals autumn-
sown.

year — these often being kinds sown in spring in gardens. Holly-
hocks, Foxgloves, Chimney Campanula, and Sweet Williams come
under this head, but in some cases early raising in spring gives us
a chance of blooming some of them the same year as they are
sown. In any case it is better for simplicity's sake to group all
annual and biennial plants together, and with them the half-hardy
plants raised from seed for use in the flower garden, as the work of
raising all is, to a great extent, the same.

Annuals are a much greater aid in the flower garden than is
generally acted upon. Often sown in a hurried way in the spring,
they give a good effect, it is true, for those who
depend much on annuals ; but some of the very
finest are best if sown in the early autumn, so that
they can get a hold when there is still some warmth
in the earth. I usually sow them the first week in September, and
among the beautiful things that pass the winter with safety here
and flower long in the spring are the Collinsias, grandiflora and
bicolor, Nemophylla insignis and maculata, the beautiful Phacelia
Campanularia, which first seeded itself in my garden and taught me
that it might face the winter, best of course in a warm position and
free soil. There may be also some we have never tried, because all
the European annuals might certainly be depended on to go through
the winter. Of the Phlox I am not so sure about, but it is a hand-
some plant in summer. The blue Cornflower is much better and
handsomer autumn-sown. And one may say generally of all annuals
that naturally shed their seeds in summer and autumn, and in their
own country gather strength during the winter, that they are able to
throw up a fine bloom in the spring.

Some Annual and Biennial Plants, and Half-hardy Plants raised from Seed

for the Floiver Garden.

Acroclinium

Adlumia

Agathaea

Ageratum

Agrostemma

Alonsoa

Alyssum

Amaranthus

Amberboa

Ammobium

Anagallis

Antirrhinum

Arctotis

Argemone

Bartonia

Boerkhau sia

Brachycome

Caland rinia

Calceol aria

Calendula

Calliopsis

Campanula

Cannabis

Catananche

Celosia

Celsia

Centaurea

Centranthus

Cheiranthus

Hollyhock

Mirabilis

Sal via

China Aster

Iberis

Myosotis

Saponaria

Chrysanthemum

Impatiens

Nemesia

Scabious

Clarkia

lonopsidium

Nemophila

Schizanthus

Clintonia

Ipomaea

Nicotiana

Schizope talon

Convolvulus

Ipomopsis

Nierembergia

Senecio

Coreopsis

Isotoma

Nigella

Silene

Cosmidium

Kaulfussia

Nolana

Solanum

Cosmos

Lasthenia

Nycterinia

Sorghum

Datura

Lavatera

CEnothera

Specularia

Delphinium
Dianthus

Leptosiphon
Leptosyne

Onopordon
Oxalis

Sphenogyne
Stenactis

Didiscus

Limnanthes

Oxyura

Stocks

Digitalis

Linaria

Papaver

Sweet Peas

Erysimum

Linum

Pelargonium

Sweet William

Erythraea

Loasa

Pentstemon

Tagetes

Eschscholtzia

Lobelia

Petunia

Tropaeolum

Eucharidium

Lophospermum

Phacelia

Verbascum

Eutoca

Lupin

Pharbitis

Verbena

Gaillardia

Maize

Phlox

Viola

Gilia

Malope

Platystemon

Virginia Stock

Glauctum

Malva

Podolepis

Viscaria

Godetia

Martynia

Polygonum

Waitzia

Gypsophila

Maurandya

Portulaca

Whitlavia

Hedysarum

Mesembryan-

Pyrethrum

Zea

Helichrysum

themum

R hod an the

Zeranthemum

Heliophila

Mignonette

Ricinus

Zinnia

Hesperis

Mimulus

Salpiglossis

CHAPTER VIII.

FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES, AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE.

SPRING comes to us wreathed in Honeysuckle, and summer brings
the Wild Rose and the May bloom, and these are but messengers
of a host of lovely shrubs and low trees of the hills and plains of
northern and temperate regions, and also of the high mountains
of countries like India, where there are vast alpine regions with
shrubs as hardy as our own, as we see in the case of the white
Clematis that covers many an English cottage wall with its fair
white bloom. If we think of the pictures formed in thousands of
places in England, Scotland, and Ireland by the May alone, we
may get an idea of the precious beauty there is in the American,
Asiatic, and European kinds, some of which flower later than our
own and make the May bloom season longer. Nothing is lovelier
among flowering trees than a group of the various Thorns, beautiful
also in fruit, and the foliage of some kinds is finely coloured in
autumn. The Thorns are but one branch of, perhaps, the most

59

60 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

important order of flowering trees, embracing the Apples (a garden in
their varied flowers alone) ; Pears, wild and cultivated ; Crabs, pretty
in bloom and bright in fruit ; Quinces, Medlars, Snowy Mespilus,
Almonds, Double Cherries, Japan Quinces, Plums (including Sloe
and Bullace), not to speak of a number of less important families.
Among these, the larger and more important branches of this great
order of plants, there is some likeness in habit and size, which allows
of similar use.

The Double Peaches are among the most precious of trees of this
order, but for some reason we rarely see them in any but a miserable
state in England. In France they are sometimes lovely, not only in
the flower, but in the mass of colour from healthy growth. It may
be that the failure of the shoots to ripen in our cool climate is owing
to some weakness through grafting on a bad stock. There is such
a great and noble variety among these trees that there is room for
distinct effects. An excellent point in favour of trees like Crabs,
Almonds, and Bird Cherries is that, in their maturity, they, in groups
or single specimens, stand free on the turf — free, too, from all
care ; and it is easy to see how important this is for all who care for
English tree-fringed lawns — a long way more beautiful than any
other kind of tree garden.

It is not only the flowers on the trees we have to think of, but

of their use also in the house — as cut flowers gathered when the

buds are ready to open — gathering the branchlets

Cut flowers for and long twigs before the flowers are quite out

house. and placing them in vases in rooms. In very

bad weather this way will prolong the bloom for

us, or even save it in the case of very hard frost, and in a cold

spring it will advance the bloom a little, the warmth of the house

giving a few days' gain in time of opening. As to the kinds of

shrubs that may be cut for the house in this way there are many

of the same race, from the Sloe to the beautiful kinds of Apple.

There is a good deal in putting them into the right sort of glass.

The Japanese are very clever in fitting the flowers into vases so

that each may show its form and beauty best.

While such trees as the Almond or Crab will usually be in the
more distant parts of the garden picture, the variety of flowering
shrubs is so great that we may choose from among them for the
most precious of flower garden beds. Take an ordinary flower
garden under the windows of the house, where the beds in winter
are often as bare as oilcloth. What beautiful groups of flowering
evergreens we might plant in them ! Mountain Laurels (Kalmia),
Japan and American Andromeda, Azaleas, choice Evergreen Barberries,
alpine Cotoneaster, Evergreen Daphne, Desfontainea, in the south ;

FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES, AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 61

the taller hardy Heaths, Escallonia, Ledum, alpine and wild forms
of Rhododendron, Sweet Gale, Star bush, and various Laurustinus,
leaving out not a few which thrive only in the warmer districts.
Charming gardens might be made of such bushes, not lumped
together, but in open groups, with the more beautiful American
hardy flowers between them, such as the Wood Lily and Mocassin
flower, many rare Lilies, and beautiful bulbous flowers of all seasons.
The light and shade and variety in such beds of choice evergreens
and flowers mingled are charming, and the plan would be a per-
manent one as it would tend to abolish the never-ending digging
in the flower garden. Beds of flowering shrubs in the flower garden
are not always so well suited for small gardens ; but in bold ones,
now naked in winter, it would make them sightly even at that
season, and much easier to deal with in early summer.

Those of the hybrid sorts are too much used, and, as they are

nearly always grafted, the common stock that bears them in the

end kills the plant it should support, and so we

Rhododendrons, too often see the common pontic kind. Yet there

are many beautiful things among these hybrids.

The good colours are well worth picking out from them, and the

aim of the planter should be to show the habit and form of the

plant. This does not mean that they may not be grouped or massed

just as before, but openings of all sizes should be left among them

for light and shade, and for handsome herbaceous plants that die

down in the winter, thus allowing the full light for half the year

to evergreens.

In the south and west the various Arbutus are charming for
lawns and ravines, and for sheltering the flower garden, as is also
the sweet Bay Laurel, but the Common Cherry Laurel and the
Portugal should not be planted near anything precious.

These are, considering their great number and variety, perhaps

the most precious flowering shrubs we have ; they are fine in form

of bush, even when they get little freedom, and

Hardy Azaleas, superb in colour, the foliage in autumn, too, being

rich in colour in sunny places. The Hydrangeas

are noble plants in warm valleys, and on soils where they are not

too often cut down by the winter ; not only the common one of the

markets, which, in soils where it turns blue, is so effective in the

garden, but a variety of good kinds, among which should always

be the oak-leaved Hydrangea, as old plants of it are so handsome.

As these are plants that cannot be grown everywhere, this is a

good reason why they should be made much of where the climate

suits them. There are few garden sights more interesting than groups

of Hydrangeas well grown and placed, and it is one we rarely see.

62 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The Brooms have many effective plants, and none more so than,
the common and the Spanish Brooms, which should be massed on
banks, or where they will come into the picture, and some of the
smaller Brooms are excellent for rock gardens. The Furze in all its
obtainable forms is just as precious, as it blooms so early, it will
grow almost anywhere, and it brightens up a landscape as no other
plant does. We have only to place it in any rough spots to enjoy it
without care. Native shrubs should not be neglected ; the wild single
Guelder Rose is as pretty a shrub as any from across the sea, while
all the hardy kinds may give us good and bold effects grouped with
or near such bushes as Deutzias, Weigelas, Mock Oranges — all plants
of high value and much variety.

From an artistic point of view nothing is better than groups of
our hardy Heaths in any open place where room can be found for
them, including White Heather and all other
Hardy Heaths, strong varieties of heather, as well as all other
kinds of hardy Heaths. After planting they
give little trouble, and they are good in colour even in winter,.
being generally happiest out of the garden prpper, where any other
wild plants may be allowed to grow among them. No doubt, the
choicest and smallest of these Heaths deserve careful garden culture,,
but for effect the forms of our common Heather, the Cornish and
Irish Heaths, are the best, and in bold masses not primly kept, but,
once well rooted, allowed to mingle with any pretty wild plants,
We might even assist this idea by sowing or planting other things,
such as Foxgloves, Hairbells, or the small Furze, among the Heaths.
When Heaths are grown in this way their bloom is charming from
the first peep of spring, when the little rosy Heath of the mountains
of central Europe begins to open, till the autumn days, and even
the mild winter ones, when the delicately tinted Portuguese Heath
(E. codonodes) blooms in the south and west of England.

We take little notice of such minor things as the Fire-bush, so;
lovely in Cornwall, and pretty also in other seashore districts, as it
may not be enjoyed in the country generally, and we also leave out
some others, like the Witch and Japan Hazels, the Winter Sweet, and
the Allspice bushes, which, though pretty seen near at hand, do not
give us those definite effects in the garden landscape which it is
well to seek if we wish to get out of the fatal jumble of the common
shrubbery. The Escallonias, though very precious in seashore gardens
and in the south on warm soils, are apt to go into mourning after
hard winters elsewhere. So many of our island gardens are near
the sea that we must not undervalue these shrubs, but a constant
source of waste is the planting of things not really hardy in districts
where they perish in hard winters, such as the Arbutus about London

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and in the midlands. And, even where things seem hardy, some of
them, like Fuchsias, never give the charming effects we get Trom
them in the west of Ireland, in Wales, and in warm coast gardens,
whatever care we take. Such facts should not discourage, because
they only emphasise the lesson that the true way in a garden is
for each to do what soil and climate allow of, and in that way we
arrive at the most important artistic gain of all, i.e., that each garden
has its own distinct charms.

A very lovely group is the Lilacs, much enriched of recent years
by the introduction of new species and many charming varieties of

the common old Lilac — lovely plants, worthy of
Lilacs. the finest days of our English spring. Few of

the forms found in France seem to thrive in our
gardens, owing to grafting on the Privet, which often, after a year
or two's poor bloom, kills the plant and begins to take care of
itself. How much evil has been done to English ideas of flower-
ing shrubs by thrusting this Privet everywhere ! Lilacs, being
hardy in all parts of Britain, deserve our best care, and should
always be grouped together in the open sun. They should always
be bought from nurserymen who raise them from layers or suckers
in the good old way, and should be, once grown up, always kept
a little open and free by simple pruning, so that we may get hand-
some trusses. With these, too, must be grouped such lovely things
as the Snowdrop tree, the Stuartias, and Magnolias.

The Magnolias have recently become more numerous, and it
will be easy soon to have a Magnolia garden, at least in favoured

places. The tree Magnolias should come among
Magnolias. the taller flowering trees in the distant parts of

our flower grove — Horse Chestnuts, Buckeyes,
Tulip Trees, Laburnums, Catalpa, and Yellow Wood. The Alpine
Laburnum, so very beautiful in bloom, becomes a tall, slender tree
where not overcrowded, and the flowering Ash (Ornus) must not be
forgotten among the taller flowering trees. For the Paulownia, so
beautiful in France and Italy in spring, our climate is not warm
enough to secure full size or health, save in the most favoured places
in the south.

Some shrubs of modest charm as to their flowers give very pretty
effects in well-placed groups, such as the flowering Currant, Tamarix,

and Ceanothus on walls. But none are more
Wild Roses. charming than the wild Roses in summer, the

Sweet Brier being taken as representing our
native wild Roses ; the Glossy Rose (R. lucida), the American
wild Roses ; the many flowered Rose (Polyantha), and the Japanese
(R. rugosa). These and others I have planted in hedgerows and

FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES, AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 65

rough fences, and have never planted anything that has given a
more beautiful return.

The Judas Tree is neglected in England, and rarely planted in
an effective way. In the Pare Monceau in Paris there is a beautiful
grove of it in which trees of various ages form one family party,
so to say, showing some differences in colour and earliness. Such
slight but often valuable differences arise when we raise trees from
seed and do not slavishly follow the habit of grafting one thing on
another. This is one of the gains of following a more natural mode
of increasing trees than is usual in nurseries, as those raised from
seed have a chance of interesting variations, whereas grafting from
the same identical form shuts out all chance of it. It is curious
that a tree so effective in bloom, and so distinct in habit as the
Judas Tree is, should be so little planted with us, and, when planted,
so often left to the scant mercy of the shrubbery border. All such
trees have their own ways and wants, and should not be j.umbled
up in the common, crowded, and ignorant way of planting.

Of Indian Azaleas in the open air Mr C. .R. Scrase-Dickens
writes : " The hardy Azaleas of the American races are very popular,
but few know the value of the white Indian
Azaleas and Azalea, for the open garden in the south of England.
flowering shrubs. Few plants give so little trouble when once estab-
lished, even though the late frosts may now and
again spoil the beauty of the flowers. When planted out and left
alone it is not much more than three or four feet in height, dense
and spreading. The engraving shows a bush over ten feet across
with a shadow thrown over the upper part by a tree of Magnolia
which grows at the side. It gets shelter from cold winds and
from too fierce a sun on the flowers. Any one who intends to
plant this Azalea should remember that it flowers naturally at a
time when there may still be late frosts and cold winds hovering
about, and that it would be a mistaken kindness to choose any
place, such as under a south wall, which would tend to make the
blossoms open earlier in the season. We have some plants under
a north wall which do admirably, but they seem to like association
with other things. The variety which does best here is the old
typical white. Overgrown plants of other colours from the green-
house have been turned out sometimes, but they do not seem so
happy or produce so good an effect."

There are no plants so much neglected as flowering shrubs, and even
when planted they are rarely well grown, owing to the " traditions " of
what is called the shrubbery. The common way is to dig the shrubbery
every winter, and this is often carried out as a matter of form
without giving the soil any manure, while much harm is done by

E

66

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

mutilating the roots of the shrubs. The labour and time wasted
in this way, if devoted to the proper culture of a portion of the
ground each year, would make our gardens delightful indeed. Many
shrubs, as fair as any flower requiring the shelter of glass, have
been introduced into this country ; but for the most part they have
been destroyed by the muddle " shrubbery."

The idea of the murderous common shrubbery is so rooted in
the popular mind that it is almost hopeless to expect much change
tor the better. The true way is to depart wholly from it as a

Spiraea (Belmont, Carlow).

mass of mixed shrubs, for beautiful families should be grouped
apart. Each family or plant should have a separate place, free
from the all - devouring Privet and Laurel, and each part of the
shrubbery should have its own character, which may easily be
given to it by grouping instead of mixing, which ends in the
starvation of the choice kinds. The shrubbery itself need no longer
be a dark, dreary mass, but light and shade may play in it, its
varied life be well shown, and the habits and forms of each thing
may be seen. Shrubs of high quality or rare deserve to be well
grown. Any one who thinks how much less trouble is given by

FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES, AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 67

hardy plants than by pot plants will not begrudge attention to
outdoor things, and some may even consider a garden of beautiful
shrubs as a conservatory in the open air, no kind of flower gardening
being more delightful or enduring.

Whether they are all distinct species or merely varieties it matters

little, the great beauty of the trees being undoubted, not only in their

flowers, but in their fruits, some of which are edible.

Thorns and their Being natives of countries colder than ours, includ-

future. ing much of Canada and North-Eastern America,

they are as hardy as any of our native trees, and

well fitted for planting in any soil or position.

Here, there was a slope above the moat cottage too steep for
plough or spade, and many years ago I planted most of the kinds that
were obtainable at the time, and while some did very well, half of
them failed owing to their being grafted on the wild Thorn. The
latter being common in every nursery, opportunity is taken to graft
exotic kinds upon it, with the result that the native kind will kill the
foreigner. The kinds which never looked back were the forms of our
native kinds, such as Paul's, which, " worked " on the mother tree, pre-
sented no difficulty.

The important thing is that they should be raised from seed, the
natural method of increase, and as the shrubs are as free to fruit as to
flower, there should be no difficulty in obtaining plenty of seed.

A number of Thorns have been tried here that came from the
Arnold Arboretum, in Massachusetts ; they were seedling plants, and
all did well, "the enemy being the rabbit. Now we have fewer rabbits,
the Thorns thrive.

Apart from the beauty of these trees, they interested me for their

value in making very good fences. We all know the use of our native

Thorn for this purpose, and some of these foreign

Good fences. kinds might give a better fence than any con-
trivance of barbed wire.

A fault of the native Thorn is the constant labour it requires to
keep it in shape, and some of the wild species might give a better
fence. This is important, as the beauty of England is in the way of
being lost through the use of iron fences. Some estates are quite dis-
figured for landscape beauty by the iron fence, costly and not so
enduring. The only fence for those who wish to preserve the beauty
of our country is a " live " one of Thorn.

The Thorn I use most for this purpose is the Cockspur. It makes
a very good fence for woods where frequent trimming is not needed,
being well armed with spines, and the leaves turn a fine brown in
autumn.

In view of the great importance of dwarf effective fences for our

68

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

landscape, it might be worth the while of the Royal Horticultural
Society to make a trial of these Thorns, with the object of studying
their habits. Some are fiercely armed with spines, far more so than
the common Thorn.

A wood of Cedars of Lebanon which I planted for a friend some
years ago was fenced with iron : during a recent visit I saw the fence
smashed to pieces by the stock. Such fences are not without danger
to animals, whereas a good live fence is wholly free. No doubt such
a fence takes time to grow, but by planting seedlings in the full sun
rapid growth is made, and stout Quick might even be planted within
the iron fence, that being eventually removed. The fairest landscapes
are destroyed if one has to look at them through an iron grille. When
I came to Gravetye I found much iron fencing, and I removed it to
the woods where its ugliness could not be seen, and it had a real use
for preserving the young plantations from the hare, rabbit, and gipsies'
horses.

To enjoy their beauty in a mature state, the best places for these
hardy Thorns are the fringes of copses and woods, sandy banks or
knolls and rocky places, and they should be grouped, not dotted
about. They are vigorous enough to battle with weeds, and can be
trusted to take care of themselves.

There is evidence of their picturesque form, endurance and beauty
of flower and fruit in some of our parks like Shrubland, and in
botanic gardens trees raised from seeds before the art of grafting was
used in too many ways. The fruit is so abundant that its value for
game may be worth a thought, and the fruit of some kinds is known
to be edible in South Europe and in China.

Some Flowering Trees and Shrubs Hardy in British Gardens.

Abelia

Chionanthus

Exochorda

^Esculus

Cladrastis

Fabiana

Akebia

Clematis

Forsytbia

Amelanchier

Clethra

Fothergilla

Amygdalus

Colletia

Garrya

Andromeda

Colutea

Gaultheria

Aralia

Comptonia

Genista

Arbutus

Cornus

Gleditschia

Arctostaphylos
Asimina

Corylopsis
Cotoneaster

Halesia
Hamamelis

Azalea

Crataegus

Hibiscus

Azara

Cydonia

Hydrangea

Berberidopsis

Cytisus

Hypericum

Berberis

Daphne

Illicium

Bignonia

Desfontainea

Indigofera

Buddleia

Desmodium

Jasminum

Calycanthus

Deutzia

Kalmia

Camellia

Edwardsia

Kerria

Caragana

Embothrium

Koelreuteria

Catalpa

Erica

Laburnum

Ceanothus

Escallonia

Ledum

Cerasus

Eucryphia

Leiophyllum

Cercis

Euonymus

Lespedeza

Chimonanthus

Leycesteria
Liriodendron

Rhodcra
Rhodotypos

Lonicera

Ribes

Lupinus

Robinia

Magnolia

Rosa

Mahonia

Rubus

Malus

Sambucus

Mespilus
Olearia

Sophora
Spartium

Ononis

>piraea

Ornus

Staphylea

Ozotbamnus

Stauntonia

Paulownia

Stuartia

Pavia

Styrax

Pernettya

Syringa

Philadelphus

Tamarix

Phlomis

Ulex

Piptanthus

Veronica

Prunus

Viburnum

Pterostyrax

Virgilia

Pyrus

Weigela

Raphiolepis

Wistaria

Rhododendron

Xanthoceras

*** Some of the evergreens, though thriving long in the southern and shore
lands, may perish in severe winters in cold inland districts.

CHAPTER IX.

CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE.

THE splendid 'squadrons^' of the Pine, with
crests proud in alpine storm and massed in
serried armies along the northern moun-
tains— the Oak kings of a thousand winters
in the forest plain are lovely gifts of the earth
mother, but more precious still to the gar-
dener are the most fragile of all woody things
that garland bush and tree with beautiful
forms and blossoms, like Clematis, Jasmine,
and Honeysuckle, and the many lace-workers
of the woods and brakes. It is delightful to
be able to turn our often ugly inheritance
from the builder almost into gardens by the
aid of these, from great yellow Roses to Ivy
in many lovely forms; but it is well to take
a wider view of these climbing and rambling
bushes and their places in the garden and in
the pleasure ground. It is for our own con-
venience we go through the labour of nailing
them to walls, and though it is a charming and
necessary way of growing them it is well to
remember that many climbers may be grown
in beautiful ways without such laborious
training. The tendency to over-pruning of
the climbers on walls ends often in a kind
of crucifixion, and the more freely things are trained the better.
Proof of this is in the handsome masses of climbers on the high
walls of the Trinity College Gardens at Dublin and in many private
places where climbers have been liberally and well planted on walls.
But it should never be forgotten that many of these plants will
grow by themselves, like the Honeysuckles, which, while pleasant to
see on walls, are not less so on banks, or even on the level ground.

69

7o THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Pretty fences and dividing screens may also be easily formed by
hardy climbers. The wild kinds of Clematis are charming, and,
apart from their use in the garden, they should be encouraged for
trees and banks.

The Ivy of our northern woods has broken into a number of
beautiful varieties often distinct in form and even in colour; they

deserve far more attention for evergreen bowers,
Ivies. evergreen fences, and dividing lines, apart from

their growth on walls and trees. The bush forms
of these may make broken hedge-like garlands 2 feet to 3 feet
high round little isolated flower gardens, Almost equally beautiful
plants in form of leaf are the Green Briers (Smilax). some of which
are hardy in England, but seen in few gardens, and rarely treated
in an artistic way, though excellent for walls and rocks. In the
eastern counties they may be seen doing well in the open ground,
as in Cambridge.

Of the beauty of the Jasmine of all climbers there is least need
to speak, yet how rarely one sees the old white Jasmine made good
use of in large gardens. It should be in bold wreaths or masses
where it thrives, and so also the winter Jasmine, which is a precious
thing for our country, should not be put in as a plant or two in
bad conditions, but treated as a fine distinct thing in masses round
cottages and outhouses. The finest of hardy climbers, the Wistaria,
is much more frequently and rightly planted in France than in our
gardens, though it thrives in the Thames valley as well as in the
Seine valley. It should be, in addition to its use on walls and
houses, made into bold, covered ways and bowers and trained up
trees, and even along Oak fences.

It is not only that stout climbers are more beautiful and
natural, and show their form better growing amongst trees, but it

is the best way that many of them can be grown
Climbers on trees, with safety owing to their vigour. The way the

common Ivy wreaths the trees in rich woods,
and the wild Clematis throws ropes up trees on the chalk hills, shows
what the larger hardy climbers do over trees or rough or open
copses, or even now and then in hedgerows. Some vigorous climbers
would in time ascend the tallest trees, and there is nothing more
beautiful than a veil of Clematis montana running over a tall tree.
Besides the well-known climbers, there are species of Clematis which
have never come into general cultivation, but which are beautiful for
such uses, though not all showy. The same may be said of the
Honeysuckles, wild Vines, and various other families with which much
of the northern tree and shrub world is garlanded. Occasionally one
sees a climbing Rose rambling over a tree, and perhaps among our

CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE.

garden pictures nothing is more lovely than such a Rose when in
flower. By a selection of the hardiest of climbing Roses very
beautiful pictures might be formed in our pleasure grounds and

Pergola with White Japanese Wistaria.

plantations, and we might often see as the result of design what
is now mainly an accident, as a number of wild Roses grow
" freely" among trees and large shrubs.

72 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

A home for these is often found on walls, and in our country
some variety of wall surface is a great gain to botanic gardens and

private gardens like Offington, in which a great

Climbers of classic variety of shrubs from all countries is grown.

beauty. In the milder districts of the country and in

favoured spots round the coast some of the
finest exotics, such as Lapageria, and some greenhouse plants of
great beauty, like Clianthus, which about London can only be
enjoyed in a greenhouse, may be grown on walls in the open air.
Some of the fine plants of Chili also may be grown on walls of
various aspects. Abelia, Lardizabala, Berberidopsis and Rhyn-
•chospermum are among the plants sometimes so grown, but
there is no limit as to selection. Many who have visited our
best gardens will probably have stored away in their memories
some of the pictures they have seen given by noble wall plants
well grown in this way — as, for example, the New Zealand Edwardsia
at Linton, so fine in form and colour, and the handsome Fremontia.
Hard winters settle the fate of many beautiful things among these,
but, happily, some of the loveliest things are hardy, like the
Winter Sweet, Bignonia, Magnolia, and sometimes the splendid
colour of the Pomegranate buds is seen among them.

It may be noted here that among the unfortunate attempts of
certain architects who designed gardens to get rid of the gardener
and his troublesome plants were instructions that no climbers were
to be allowed on walls. There was not a single spray of any
climber allowed to grow on the house or extensive terrace walls
at Shrubland, some years ago, as if in a garden death were better
than life.

Apart from the vigorous climbers that we may trust in shrub-
beries, woods, and on rough banks, and which, when fairly started,

take care of themselves, there are fragile things

Fragile climbers which deserve to be us.ed in rather a new way

on shrubs. as far as most gardens are concerned, namely,

for throwing a delicate lacework of flowers over
the evergreen and other choice shrubs grown in our gardens —
Rhododendron, Kalmia, Andromeda, Azalea, and even taller shrubs.
A group of Hollies will not look any the worse for wreaths of
fragrant Clematis in autumn. Often stiff, unbroken masses of
Rhododendrons and evergreen flowering shrubs will be more varied
if delicate flakes of Clematis (white, lavender, or claret-red) or
the bright arrows of the Flame Nasturtium come among them
here and there in autumn. The great showy hybrid Clematises
of our gardens are not so good for this use as the more
elegant wild Clematises of North America, Europe, and North

A Pergola in the Riviera. (From a water-colour drawing by Mrs Mary Stevens.)

74 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Africa, such as the Hairbell and others of the less
Clematis. These are so fragile in growth that many of them may
be trusted among groups of shrubs and throwing veils over the
bushes here and there.

The old Climbers and Garland Roses were almost too vigorous for

the garden, and their bloom did not last long enough to justify their

getting a place there ; but now, with the great

Climbing Roses, climbing Tea Roses we have for the southern

parts of these islands, we may count on a bloom

for months. We have in these Roses, where they thrive the best,

the most precious of all ornaments for walls of houses, trellis

work, pergolas. In southern parts of the country we even get fine

results from these Roses on the north side of walls, where some

Roses flower better than on the south side. Also, we can grow them

in the open on trellises or away from walls, but in the northern parts

of the country, where these great climbing Tea Roses may not thrive

so well, walls come in to help us more and more by their shelter and

warmth, and the encouragement they give to early bloom.

Apart from these great Roses of garden origin, which will long be
among the most precious, some Wild Roses are of the highest
importance in warm districts and good soils, particularly the Indian
R. Brunonis and the many-flowered Roses (R. polyantha) of Japan
but in the presence of the need of so much wall space for the garden
Roses these Wild Roses will usually be best in the shrubbery or some
place apart, where they may be let alone, and no good can arise
from choice, garden ground being given to Roses like R. polyantha
which are even more vigorous than our own wild Dog Rose.

In Europe perhaps the country that pleases one most by its
fitness for Rose culture is that along the shores of the Mediterranean,
where the Banksian and other more delicate Roses may be seen
up trees, forming hedges, and arranging themselves in other delight-
ful ways. I remember being very much struck with the beauty of the
single Banksian Rose in such positions, and often wondered why it
was not secured for our own gardens, even though it might not grow
so freely as there.

Going back some thousands of years to the earliest sculptured

remains of some of the oldest peoples, we see evidence that the

Grape Vine was in common use, and it is, no doubt,

Vines for their much older than the monuments of Assyria.

beauty of form. Among the Kabyle villages of North Africa I

passed many Vines of great age trailing over

very old Olive trees in the little orchard fields. In such countries

there was the value of the fruit, but even in ours, where the

Grape ripens rarely out of doors, the charm of the plant is

CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 75

so great that we see many cottages in Surrey and Norfolk set
deep in Vine leaves. The Grape Vine, however, is but one of
a large family, and, though we may not see in our country its
garlands from tree to tree purple with fruit, we may see much of its
fine forms of leaf. The wild Vines are too vigorous for use on walls,
though excellent for banks and trees and for any place outside the
flower garden. I have seen them clambering up forest trees, spread-
ing into masses of fine foliage on the ground, and sending out long
arms in search of the nearest trees — strong and handsome climbers,
hardy, vigorous, and soon covering dry banks, rocks, and trees.

To the Vines (Vitis) have now been joined by the botanists
Virginian Creepers (Ampelopsis), and between the two groups it need
not be said what noble things they offer for garlanding trees, walls,
bowers, rocks, and banks. It cannot be said that we neglect these
Virginian and Japanese creepers, but 'the Vines are so far seldom well
used with us, although easy of cultivation.

There are seasons when shaded walks may be enjoyed, and
numbers of free-growing, climbing plants give an abundant and
lovely choice of living drapery for them, Aristo-
Pergolas. lochia, Wistaria, Virginian Creeper, rambling
Roses, Honeysuckles, Jasmines, and the free
Clematises doing well over such. In Italy and warm countries one
often sees in gardens the pergola — as the creeper-shaded walk is
called — serving the twofold purpose of supporting Grape Vines and
giving pleasant coolness during the summer heat. As a rule, these
pergolas are rude trellis-work structures of wood, sometimes
supported by stone posts where these are at hand. In the gardens
in the neighbourhood of Rorne, Naples, and Florence there are
beautiful examples of the pergola — stately structures, the supports
of which are massive columns of stone covered and festooned
with Banksian Roses, Wistaria, Periploca, Clematises, Honeysuckles,
Passion Flowers, scarlet Trumpet Flowers, and other climbers
which form cool retreats in the hot days. But such pergolas
seldom occurred outside the gardens of the great villas, and near
humbler dwellings the pergola was usually a simple structure
made for the purpose of supporting the Grape Vine, and nearly
always pretty.

These creeper-clad covered ways should usually lead to somewhere
and be over a frequented walk, and should not cut off any line of view
nor be placed near big trees, especially such trees as the Elm, whose
hungry roots would travel a long way to feed upon the good soil that
the climbers should be planted in. A simple structure is the best.
The supports, failing the Italian way of making posts of stone — also
seen, by the way, in gate-posts in Northern England— should be Oak

76 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

tree stems, about 9 inches in diameter, let into the ground about 2
feet — the better if on a bed of concrete. The posts must be connected
and firmly secured to each other by long pieces along the sides,
while the top may be formed of smaller pieces to make a firm
structure. On no account let the " rustic " carpenter begin to adorn
it with the fantastic branchings he is so fond of.

Instead of trusting to wire and ugly posts or the many artificial
ways for supporting climbers, why should we not do as the Italians

and people of South Europe do, use living trees to
Trees for climbers, carry the Vine or climber. Weeping trees of

graceful leaf and form might be used in this
way with fine effect. Abroad they take for this purpose any kind
of tree which happens to be near and keep it within bounds, and
those who know our garden flora may select trees which, while
beautiful themselves, will not be much trouble to keep in bounds,
like the weeping Cherry, weeping Aspen, some Willows even, and
any light leaved weeping tree would be charming for its own sake
as well as for what it might carry. Some of them might even be
beautiful in flower, and there would be no trouble in getting creepers
to run over them.

When a quiet walk leads from one part of the garden to another,
and that walk is spanned at intervals with slender iron or other

light arches clothed with Honeysuckle, Clematis,

Light arches or Jasmine, it gives an added grace to the walk.

over walks. This also is a delightful way of framing, so to

say, a flower border, the light arches springing
up from the line of the trellis, which should be used to cut off
the borders from the kitchen garden.

However rich we may be in perennial and shrubby climbers, we
must not forget the climbing things among annual and like plants

to help us, especially for the smaller class of
Annual climbers, gardens and those in which we depend more

on annual flowers. Hedges of Sweet Peas there
are few things to equal ; the fragile annual Convolvulus in many
colours are pretty for low trellises, the vigorous, herbaceous Bind-
weeds for rough places outside the flower garden. Most showy of
all annual climbers are the many Gourds, which, treated in a bold
way, give fine effects when trained over outhouses, sheds, or on
strong stakes as columns. The showy, annual, climbing Tropaeolums,
as well as the brilliant herbaceous kinds, are most precious, and
Apios, Adlumia, Eccremocarpus, Maurandia, and Cobaea in mild
districts are among the plants that help us to make walls into
gardens. Nor must we forget the Hop, a vigorous, graceful
climber, of much value where well placed.

78 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ThiS'way of growing fruit trees and shading walks is not often

seen, though few things would be prettier or more useful in gardens if

fruit trees of high quality were chosen. Although

Covered ways of in our gardens the shaded walk is not so necessary

fruit trees. as it is in Italy and Southern France, in hot

seasons shade is welcome in Britain ; and, as in

many gardens we have four times as many walks as are needed,

there is plenty of room for covering some of them with fruit trees

which would give us flowers in spring, fruit in autumn, and light

shade. The very substance of which walks are made is often good

for fruit, and those who know the Apricot district of Oxfordshire

and the neighbouring counties may see how well fruit trees do in

hard walks. It is not only in kitchen and fruit gardens that their

shade might be welcome, but in flower gardens too, if we ever get

out of the common notion of a flower garden which insists on

everything being seen at one glance and the whole as flat and hard

as oilcloth.

In some old gardens there was a way of " plashing " trees over
walks — trees like the Lime, which grew so vigorously that they
had to be cut back with an equal vigour, this
Plashed alleys, leading in the end to ugliness in the excessive
mutilation of the trees. One result of the fre-
quent cutting was a vigorous summer growth of shoots, which
cast a dense shade and dripped in wet weather. The purpose of
such walks would be well fulfilled by training fruit trees over them,
as they are trees which much more readily submit to training and
give the light and airy shade which is best in our country. The
fruit trellis, whatever it is formed of, need not be confined to fruit
trees only, but here and there wreaths of Clematis or other elegant
climbers might vary the lines.

Those who live in sheltered valleys on warm soils, or among
pleasant hills above the line of hard frosts, may be so rich in ever-
greens that they will keep their walls for the
Evergreens as fairest of true climbers. But in cold, exposed,
climbers. and inland parts people are often glad to have
good evergreens on walls, even bushes not natur-
ally climbers in habit, such as the choicer evergreen Barberries,
Camellias on the north sides of walls, Azara, Escallonia, Cotoneaster,
and evergreen Euonymus. The Laurustinus, too, is charming on
many cottage walls in winter, and may escape there when it
would suffer in the open ; the Myrtle is happy on walls in
southern districts, and even the Poet's Laurel may be glad of
the shelter of a wall in the north. The evergreen Magnolia,
which in warmer Europe is a standard tree, in our country must

CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 79

usually be grown on walls, even in the south, and there is no finer
picture than a good tree of Magnolia on a house. The beautiful
Ceanothus of the Californian hills often keep company with these
evergreens on walls ; but even in the warmer soils of the home
countries they are tender, and their delicate sprays of flowers are
much less frequently seen with us than in France, although we
cannot resist trying them on sunny walls, and on chalky and sandy
soils they have better chances.

Apart from true shrubs used as evergreens, so frequently seen in
Britain, we have some natural evergreen climbing plants for walls,
first of all being our native Ivy, in all its beautiful forms, and of
varied use for walls, houses, borders, screens, and even summer-houses
and shelters. How much better to make bowers in the garden of
Ivy, as a living roof, than of rotten timber, straw, or heath! If we
make a strong and enduring framework, and then plant the Ivy well,
we soon get a living roof, which, with little care, will last for many
years and always look well.

Before the Royal Horticultural Society, and under its auspices,

Mr Jackman gave a lecture on " Fallacies as to the Clematis," in

which he supported the practice of grafting the

Loss of the Clematis, which has already cleared the gardens

Clematis in of Europe of the most beautiful of the climbers

gardens. Of the northern world. In that lecture there was

no word said as to the Clematises of Japan and

China on their natural roots, either in nature or cultivation.

In clearing up this question, the first thing to do is to state a few
facts about which there can be no dispute among any who are in-
terested. The first is the extraordinary beauty of the plants. No
conservatory or greenhouse in Europe shelters any plant so graceful
in habit or so fine in colour of flowers. Added to this is the precious
quality of hardiness and power to resist the rainstorms of our isles.
I have grown every obtainable kind in various positions, and never
lost a plant from cold. When day after day in July my Roses became
bags of ugly mould, and even native plants were sickened by the rain
day and night, the large Clematises, on their natural roots, suffered
not the slightest injury from the storms.

The next fact, of which there can be no doubt, is that the gardens

of Britain and of France have been robbed of the most beautiful race

of climbers of the northern world. Large gardens,

The loss. with every advantage of site, soil, and air, are quite

bare of them. It is not only in our country this

loss has arisen through mistaken ways of increasing the plants. It is

so everywhere in France, where we may see in the great nurseries at

Orleans and Angers masses of the finest Clematises huddled together

80 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

in pots, but never a plant on its natural roots. If one asks any
question as to the diseases of the plants, only guesses are given. The
loss to the trade is great. To suppose that clever propagators could
not increase these hardy climbers in the natural way is absurd. The
final test of the practice is not in the nursery, but in the grounds of
the buyers of the plants. Any practice of increase which drives plants
out of general cultivation is a loss to the trade as well as to the
planter. From experiments carried on for many years here I have
proved that the cause of the loss is the unnatural practice of grafting
these plants.

After the grafting, a mistake is made in setting the plants out

fully exposed to the sun. The nature of the Clematis in the wild

state is to run over bushes and copses, as one may

Grafting not the see on the shores of Northern Africa. So if we

only cause. plant beneath a bush a little shade is afforded, and

though the growth is not so free as when the plants

are set apart, the life of the plant is longer and the effect is more

beautiful. Lastly, more dangerous than eelworms and fungi are slugs,

which bark the fragile stems as far up as they can get, and that means

the death of the shoot in summer, but not the death of the plant if on

its own roots. Lawn-mower, hoe, or rake may smash the delicate

stems if the plants are set out singly, especially if grafted, as the

union of the choice variety and the wild stock used is often fragile,

whereas the plant on its natural roots never is. On hot, sunny days

partial loss occurs by shoots dying off, but when on its own roots we

do not lose the plant.

The rest is the story of my planting and success here by following
a completely different way from the common one. It at first struck
me that the grafting of plants of different species
The test. was not always justified in results. In the nursery
practice the rule is to work the Clematis of Japan
on the toughest and most vigorous climber of our chalk hills — a
wholly different plant and from a different country — and, therefore,
there might be a cause of death through the sap arising at different
times in the two plants in the spring of the year. The next thing was
to test the matter by planting — not an easy matter, as in every
nursery there were only the grafted plants, and, like so many others,
I lost many. At the same time, there was evidence in many places
that the Indian Mountain Clematis and other wild kinds, which are
grown on their natural roots, are vigorous climbers. The stool ground
in which the old nurserymen layered their plants was done away with
in favour of the new way of buying stocks by the thousand with no
thought as to the result to the planter.

In only one nursery in France — that of the late Ferdinand Jamin,

CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 81

of Bourg-la-Reine, Seine, a much-trusted French nurseryman— did I
find the stools of Clematis, the little plants simply layered into pots
set around the old plants in the open air. I had many of these, and
never failed with them.

At home I often bought batches of plants of the best kinds from
nurseries of good repute. On examination they were all found to be
grafted on C. Vitalba of the Wiltshire and Surrey hills. The roots of
every plant were washed out, and the dark roots of the native kind,
an ugly mass, with above it a few roots of the true plants striving to
make way, were found. The latter were carefully saved for planting,
and the former, with the stock, cut off and thrown away.

I have planted the very finest kinds in every sort of position, some

in the hedgerow, round an orchard, in open ground, and in close shade

of trees and shrubs, and in spite of the surgical

Ungrafted plants operation of cutting off the stock described above,

in every sort of have had success in all. With the plants from

position. cuttings, layers, or seedlings there is no risk. Is

there any sound reason for grafting a plant so easy

to raise from layers as the Clematis ? There is none, either as to

tenderness or difficulty of increase.

M. F. Morel, who condemns the use of our common wild kind, uses

as a stock C. Viticella, which I think is not the best way ; the union

arising is too fragile. I have had many plants

Grafting on from M. Morel, and hope to have many more, but I

Viticella. have lost some grafted plants, whereas I never lost

one of the layered plants.

In dense planting among shrubs any malady is seen but rarely.
Many of my plants have borne hundreds of flowers for years, and are,
even now, in perfect health. As to Mr Jackman's repeated statement
that the scion absorbs the stock or gets rid of it, any one who buys a
batch from a nursery and takes the trouble to examine the roots will
find the two sets of roots in action.

Every season I buy batches of plants, and the first thing I do is
to take them to a tank and wash out the roots ; the " wig " of the
native stock is always there.

It was thought that calcareous soil was a need, no doubt arising
from the fact that our native species abounds on the chalk hills, but
for the Japanese Clematis chalk is not needed.
Soil. The plants may grow in calcareous soil, but so they

do in sandy loam. If anything is helpful in plant-
ing a Clematis it is plenty of sharp sand. We never give either
mulch or special fertiliser— none is needed.

Having proved beyond a doubt the vigour and beauty of naturally-
grown plants, my next step was to bring them into the flower

F

82 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

garden — their right place, though from gardens they are generally
excluded. So they were planted on tripods, pergola, wall, and

Oak fence as a background to the mixed

The Clematis in border, and on almost every surface at hand.

the flower garden. And all these places they adorn from early

summer to mid-autumn.

In only one nursery in Surrey have I recently found some Clem-
atis not grafted, and was glad to find the plants without a vestige of

the ugly black wig of the roots of the wild kind.
Increase. The best way in the nursery of the future is to

layer the plant in the stock ground, pegging down
the shoots "in little pots set around the mother plant. I am writing
to my friend Morel, who has raised a number of distinct and lovely
forms, to beg him to increase his plants in this way, which gets rid of
the fog of guessings about the supposed disease of plants that only
ask to be allowed to grow on their own roots.

Miss Willmott tells me she raises Clematis easily from cuttings.
From seed of the nobler kinds it is well to raise varieties of merit,
though the seed is slow to germinate. The wild species come freely
from seed. I sowed the Virgin's Bower (C. Viticella) out of hand
when forming a new live fence around an orchard, and there it
has been ever since, throwing a lace-work of delicate form and
flowers over the fence. (The author, in Gardeners' Chronicle,
26th October 1918.)

There is no more need to graft a Clematis than to graft a Rasp-
berry. It is a short-sighted practice which has driven the loveliest
of all hardy climbers from the gardens of Europe. On the contrary,
both as to root and branch, they are among the most vigorous of
hardy climbers. In the loss of Rhododendrons by thousands on the
ponticum type on which they were grafted, the planter has the
satisfaction of seeing the bloom of his favourite for a few years before
it gives up the ghost. In the Clematis even this poor satisfaction is
denied him, and in large gardens, with every advantage of soil and
climate, they are often unseen.

There is scarcely any limit to the different uses that plants
of a climbing or rambling habit may be put to, for many of them

are extremely beautiful when employed for the
Some climbing draping of arbours, pergolas, or even living trees,
and wall plants, while for hiding unsightly fences or clothing

sloping banks, the more vigorous kinds are well
adapted. For draping buildings or furnishing walls there is a great
variety of plants, either quite hardy or sufficiently tender to need
the protection of a wall in order to pass through an ordinary winter
without much injury. The majority of those enumerated below are

CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE.

hardy enough to succeed as wall plants in any part of England,
while a few are adapted only for particularly mild districts.

Those plants marked with an asterisk are either half-hardy or require some
.slight protection in cold districts or special care in some cases.

Abelia

Abutilon

Actinidia

Adlumia

Akebia

* Aloysia
Apios

Aristolochia
Azara

* Berberidopsis
Berberis
Bignonia
Buddleia
•Calystegia
Camellia

* Carpentaria
Ceanothus

Celastrus

Chimonanthus

Choisya

Clematis

Clianthus

Cocculus

Convolvulus

Cotoneaster

Crataegus

Cydonia

Desfontainea

Eccremocarpus

Edwardsia

* Embothrium

Escallonia

Eucryphia

Euonymus

Exochorda

Lycium

Exogonum

Magnolia

Forsythia

* Mandevilla

Fremontia

Maurandya

Fuchsia
Garrya

Menispermum
* Mitraria

Grevillea

Muhlenbeckia

Hedera

Myrtus

Illicium

Paliurus

Indigofera

* Passiflora

Jasminum

Periploca

Kerria

Physianthus

* Lapageria
* Lardizabala

Piptanthus
* Pittosporum

Leptospermum

Pueraria

Lonicera

* Punica

Lophospermum

Rhus

Ribes

Roses

Rubus

Schizandra

Schizophragma

Smilax

Solanum

* Sollya
Stauntonia
Stuartia

* Thunbergia
Tropaeolum

Vitis (now including

Ampelopsis)
Wistaria
Xanthoceras

Akebia quinata.

•

CHAPTER X.

ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS.

ALPINE plants grow naturally on high mountains, whether they
spring from sub-tropical plains or green northern pastures. Above
the cultivated land these flowers begin to occur on moorland and in
the fringes of the hill woods ; they are seen in multitudes in the
broad pastures with which many mountains are robed, enamelling
their green, and where neither grass nor tall herbs exist ; where
mountains are crumbled into slopes of shattered rock by the con-
tending forces of heat and cold ; even there, amidst the glaciers,
they spring from the ruined ground, as if the earth-mother had sent
up her loveliest children to plead with the spirits of destruction.

Alpine plants fringe the fields of snow and ice of the mountains,
and at such elevations often have scarcely time to flower before
they are again buried deep in snow. Enormous areas of the earth,
inhabited by alpine plants, are every year covered by a deep bed of
snow, and where tree or shrub cannot live from the intense cold a
deep mass of down-like snow falls upon alpine plants, like a great
cloud-borne quilt, under which they rest safe from alternations of frost
and biting winds with moist and spring-like days as in our green
winters.

But these conditions are not always essential for their growth, in
a cool, northern country like ours. The reason that alpine plants
abound in high regions is because no taller vegetation can exist

84

ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS. 85

there ; were these places inhabited by trees and shrubs, we should
find fewer alpine plants among them; on the other hand, were no
stronger vegetation found at a lower elevation, these plants would
often appear there. Also, as there are few hard and fast lines in
Nature, many plants found on the high Alps are also met with in
rocky or barish ground at much lower elevations. Gentiana verna,
for example, often flowers very late in summer when the snow
thaws on a very high mountain ; yet it is also found ort much
lower mountains, and occurs in England and Ireland. In the close
struggle upon the plains and low, tree-clad hills, the smaller species
are often overrun by trees, trailers, bushes, and vigorous herbs, but,
where in far northern and high mountain regions these fail from the
earth, the lovely alpine flowers prevail.

Alpine plants possess this charm, and include things widely

different: — tiny orchids, tree-like moss, and ferns that peep from

crevices of alpine cliffs, often so small that they

Charm of end- seem to cling to the rocks for shelter, not daring

less variety. to throw forth their fronds with airy grace;
bulbous plants, from Lilies to Bluebells ; evergreen
shrubs, perfect in leaf and blossom and fruit, yet so small that a
finger glass would make a house for them ; dwarfest creeping plants,
spreading over the brows of rocks, draping them with lovely colour ;
Rockfoils and Stonecrops no bigger than mosses, and, like them,
mantling the earth with green carpets in winter, and embracing
nearly every type of the plant-life of northern lands.

In the culture of these plants, the first thing to be remembered is
that much difference exists among them as regards size and vigour.
We have, on the one hand, a number of plants that merely require
to be sown or planted in the roughest way to flourish — Arabis and
Aubrietia, for example; and, on the other, there are some kinds,
like Gentians and the Primulas of the high Alps, which are
rarely seen in good health in gardens, and it is as to these that
advice is chiefly required. Nearly all the misfortunes which
these little plants have met with in our gardens are due to a false
conception of what a rock garden ought to be, and of what the
alpine plant requires. It is too often thought that they will do
best if merely raised on tiny heaps of stones and brick rubbish,
such as we frequently see dignified with the name of " rockwork."
Mountains are often " bare," and cliffs devoid of soil ; but we must
not suppose that the choice jewellery of plant-life scattered over the
ribs of the mountain lives upon little more than the air and the
melting snow. Where else can we find such a depth of stony soil
as on the ridges of shattered stone and grit flanking some great
glacier, stained with tufts of crimson Rockfoil? Can we gauge the

86 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

depth of that chink from which peep tufts of the beautiful little
Androsace helvetica, which forages has gathered the crumbling grit,
into which the roots enter so far that we cannot dig them out? And
if we find plants growing from mere cracks without soil, even then the
roots simply search farther into the heart of the flaky rock, so that
they are safer from drought than on the level ground.

We meet on the Alps plants not more than an inch high firmly
rooted in crevices of slaty rock, and by knocking away the sides from

bits of projecting rock, and laying the roots quite
Natural conditions, bare, we may find them radiating in all directions

against a flat rock, some of the largest perhaps
more than a yard long. Even smaller plants descend quite as deep,
though it is rare to find the texture and position of the rock such
as will admit of tracing them. It is true we occasionally find in
fields of flat, hard rock hollows in which moss and leaves have
gathered, and where, in a depression of the surface, without an outlet
of any kind, alpine plants grow freely ; but in droughts they are
just as liable to suffer from want of water as they would be in
our- plains. On level or sloping spots of ground in the Alps the
earth is of great depth, and, if it is not all earth in the common
sense of the word, it is more suitable to the plants than what we
commonly understand by that term. Stones of all sizes broken
up with the soil, sand, and grit prevent evaporation ; the roots lap
round them, follow them down, and in such positions they never
suffer from wanf of moisture. It must be remembered that the
continual degradation of the rocks effected by frost, snow, and
heavy rains in summer serves to " earth up," so to speak, many
alpine plants.

In numbers of gardens an attempt at " rockwork " has been made ;
but the result is often ridiculous, not because it is puny when com-
pared with Nature's work, but because it is generally so arranged
that rock-plants cannot exist upon it. The idea of rockwork first
arose from a desire to imitate those natural croppings-out of rocks
which are often half covered with dwarf mountain plants. The con-
ditions which surround these are rarely taken into account by those
who make rock gardens. In moist districts, where rains keep porous
stone in a humid state, this straight-sided rockwork may support a
few plants, but in the larger portion of the British Isles it is useless
and ugly. It is not alone because they love the mountain air
that the Gentians and such plants prefer it, but also because the
great elevation is unsuitable to coarser vegetation, and the alpine
plants have it all to themselves. Take a patch of Silene acaulis,
by which the summits of some of our highest mountains are sheeted
over, and plant it 2,000 feet lower down in the suitable soil, keeping

ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS. 87

it moist and free from weeds, and it will grow well ; but leave it to
Nature, and the strong herbs will soon cover it, excluding the light
and killing it.

The part of the gardens around the rock garden should be pictur-
esque, and, in any case, be a quiet, airy spot with as few jarring
points as may be. No tree should be in the rock
Position of rock garden; hence a site should not be selected where
garden. it would be necessary to remove favourite trees.

The roots of trees would find their way into the
masses of good soil for the alpine flowers, and soon exhaust them.
Besides, as these flowers are usually found on treeless wastes, it is
best not to place them in shaded places.

As regards the stone .to be used, sandstone or millstone grit
would perhaps be the best ; but it is seldom that a choice can be
made, and almost any kind of stone will do, from Kentish rag to

Wrong way of forming rock garden. Right.

limestone. Soft and slaty kinds and others liable to crumble away
should be avoided, as also should magnesian limestone. The stone of
the neighbourhood should be adopted, for economy's sake, if for no
other reason. Wherever the natural rock crops out, it is sheer
waste to create artificial rockwork instead of embellishing that which
naturally occurs. In many cases nothing would be necessary but to
clear the ground, and add here and there a few loads of good soil
with broken stones to prevent evaporation, the natural crevices and
crests being planted where possible. Cliffs or banks of chalk, as well
as all kinds of rock, should be taken advantage of in this way ;
many plants, like the dwarf Hairbells and Rock Roses, thrive in such
places. No burrs, clinkers, vitrified matter, portions of old arches
and pillars, broken-nosed statues, etc., should ever be seen in a garden
of alpine flowers. Never let any part of the rock garden appear as
if it had been shot out of a cart. The rocks should all have their
bases buried in the ground, and the seams should not be visible;

88 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

wherever a vertical or oblique seam occurs, it should be crammed
with earth, and the plants put in with the earth will quickly
hide the seam. Horizontal fissures should be avoided as much as
possible. No vacuum should exist beneath the surface of the soil
or surface-stones, and the broken stone and grit should be so
disposed that there are no hollows. Myriads of alpine plants have
been destroyed from the want of observing this precaution, the
open crevices and loose soil allowing the dry air to destroy the alpine
plants in a very short time, and so one often sees what was meant
for a " rock garden " covered with weeds and brambles.

No walk with regularly trimmed edges should come near the
rock garden. This need not prevent the presence of good walks
through or near it, as by allowing the edges of the
Walks. walk to be broken and stony, and by encourag-

ing Stonecrops, Rockfoils, and other little plants
to crawl into the walk at will, a pretty margin will result. There
is no surface of this kind that may not be thus adorned. Violets,
Ferns, Forget-me-nots, will do in the shadier parts, and the Stone-
crops and many others will thrive in the full sun. The whole of
the surface of the alpine garden should be covered with plants as
far as possible, except a few projecting points. In moist districts,
Erinus and the Balearic Sandwort will grow on the face of the rocks ;
and even upright faces of rock will grow a variety of plants. Regular
steps should never be in or near the rock garden. Steps may be made
quite picturesque, and even beautiful, with Violets and other small
plants jutting from every crevice ; and no cement should be used.

In cases where the simplest type of rock garden only is attempted,
and where there are no steps or rude walks in the rock garden, the
very fringes of the gravel walks may be graced by such plants as the
dwarfer Stonecrops. The alpine Toadflax is never more beautiful
than when self-sown in a gravel walk. A rock garden so made that
its miniature cliffs overhang is useless for alpine vegetation, and all
but such wall-loving plants as Corydalis lutea soon die on it. The
tendency to make it with overhanging " peaks " is often seen in the
cement rock gardens now common.

The great majority of alpine plants thrive best in deep soil.

In it they can root deeply, and when once rooted they will not

suffer from drought, from which they would

Soil. quickly perish if planted in the usual way.

Three feet deep is not too much for most kinds,

and in nearly all cases it is a good plan to have plenty of broken

sandstone or grit mixed with the soil. Any free loam, with plenty

of sand or broken grit, will suit most alpine plants. But peat is

required by some, as, for example, various small and brilliant rock-

ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS. 89

plants like the Menziesia, Trillium, Cypripedium, Spigelia, and a
number of other mountain and bog-plants. Though the body of
the soil may be of loam, it is well to have a few masses of peat
here and there. This is better than forming all the ground of good
loam, and then digging holes for the reception of small masses of
peat. The soil of some portions might also be chalky or calcareous,
for the sake of plants that are known to thrive best on such forma-
tions, like the Milkworts, the Bee Orchis, and Rhododendron
Chamaecistus. Any other varieties of soil required by particular
kinds can be given as they are planted.

It is not well to associate a small lakelet or pond with the rock
garden, as is frequently done. If a picturesque piece of water can
be seen from the rock garden, well and good ; but water should not,
as a rule, be closely associated with it. In places of limited extent,
water should not be thought of.

In the planting of every kind of rock garden, it should be
remembered that all the surface should be planted. Not alone on
slopes, or favourable ledges, or chinks, should we see this exquisite
plant-life, as many rare mountain species will thrive on the less
trodden parts of footways ; others, like the two-flowered Violet, seem
to thrive best in the fissures between steps ; many dwarf succulents
delight in gravel and the hardest soil.

In cultivating the very rarest and smallest alpine plants, the
stony, or partially stony, surface is to be preferred. Full exposure is
necessary for very minute plants, and stones are useful in preventing
evaporation and protecting them in other ways.

Few have much idea of the number of alpine plants that may
be grown on fully exposed ordinary ground. But some kinds
require care, and there are usually new kinds coming in, which, even
if vigorous, should be kept apart for a time. Therefore, where the
culture of alpine plants is entered into with zest, there ought to be
a sort of nursery spot on which to grow the most delicate and rare
kinds. It should be fully exposed, and sufficiently elevated to secure
perfect drainage.

The increased interest in rock gardening of recent years has

led to much work of this kind being done throughout the country,

and without good results from an artistic point

Ill-formed rock of view. The rock gardens are not right in

gardens. structure. If they were good for the life of plants

one might pass over their other defects, but when

made, as they often are, of cement, and even of natural stone

so that the plants grow with great difficulty, owing chiefly to the

stones overhanging so as to leave dry and dusty recesses, the

result is bad.

90 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

In the present state of the art of garden design, rock gardens are
formed mainly by nurserymen ; these are not men who, as a rule, by
the very nature of their business, can give much attention to the study
of rocks in natural situations, or learn how the different strata crop
out in the ways most happy for vegetation, without which study we
think no good work in this way is possible. Simplicity is rarely
thought of, or of the rock coming out of the ground in any pretty
way, of which we may see numerous examples in upland moors
in England, even without going to the Alps. On the contrary,
we see pretentious rickety piles of stone on stone, with pebbles
between to keep the big ones up, and forty stones where seven would
be enough.

One of the commonest mistakes is piling stone upon stone in
such a way that there is no room for grouping anything. If one
were to take five or six of the stones one sees in a rock garden,
and simply lay them with the prettiest and most mossy sides
showing out of the bank in the right kind of earth, one would get
a better place for plants than a rock garden made, it may be, of
many tons of stone could give, because then we should have room
to group and mass them without which no good effect is possible.

The common " rockery," like the common mixed border, is an
incoherent muddle, and can scarcely be anything else so long as the
present plan is followed. The plants hate it, and in effect it is very
like the rows of false teeth in the dentists' shops. We should seek
gardens of alpine flowers, with here and there a mossy stone
showing modestly among them — not limiting one's efforts to any
one idea, but beginning at least with simplicity of effect. Then
groups and carpets of rock plants would be easy to form, and their
culture would be easier in every way.

Whoever started the idea of the use of the refuse of the brickyard

to form the rock garden was no friend of the garden, as alpine flowers

do not thrive on masses of vitrified brick rubbish.

Refuse brick And these brick rubbish horrors are put up with

" rockeries." overhanging brows so that a drop of moisture
cannot get to the plants, and a dry wind can
sweep through them as easily as through a grill. If the practice
were confined to cottages near brickfields it would not much
astonish us ; but in Dulwich Park several thousand tons of it have
been put about under the pretence of making rock gardens, and
also at Waterlow Park, Highgate, which was once a pretty and
varied piece of ground. If the County Council waste money in
this way, we cannot perhaps wonder so much at the owners of villas
doing it, but in any case it is ugly and disgraceful in a garden.

Artificial rock is formed now and then in districts where the

ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS. 91

natural rock is beautiful, as in the country round Tunbridge Wells,
Why anybody should bring the artificial rockmaker into a gar-
den or park where there is already fine natural
Misplaced beautiful rock it is not easy to see. Also, in certain
artificial rock, districts, it is a mistake to place this artificial rock
under conditions where rock of any kind does
not occur in nature. It would be much better, as far as alpine and
rock plants are concerned, to dispense with much of this ugly artificial
rockwork, and take advantage of the fact that many of these plants
grow perfectly well on raised borders and on fully exposed low banks.
Many vigorous alpine flowers will do perfectly well on level ground
in our cool climate, if they are not overrun by coarser plants.
Where there are natural rocks or good artificial
Alpine plants ones it is best to plant them properly ; but
grouped. people who are particular would often be better

without artificial " rockwork " if they wished to
grow these plants in simpler ways. There is not the slightest
occasion to have what is called "rockwork" for these flowers. I
do not speak only of things like the beautiful Gentianella, which
for many years has been grown in our gardens, but of the Rock-
foils, the Stonecrops, and the true alpine plants in great numbers.
Then, for the sake of securing the benefits of the refreshing rains,.
it would often be best, in the south of England at least, to avoid
the dusty pockets hitherto built for rock flowers.

The next point is the great superiority of natural grouping over
the botanical or labelled style of little single specimens of a great
number of plants. In a few yards of border, in the ordinary wayr
there would be fifty or more kinds, but nothing pretty for those who
have ever seen the beautiful mountain gardens. Many rightly con-
tend that, in a sense, Nature includes all, and that therefore the
term "natural" may be misapplied, but it is a perfectly just one
when used in the sense of Nature's way of arranging flowers as
opposed to the lines, circles, and other set patterns so commonly
followed by man. Through bold and natural grouping we may get
fine colour without a trace of formality. But most gardeners find it
difficult to group in this natural way, because- so used to setting
things out in straight lines. A little attention to natural objects
will help us to get away from set patterns, and let things intermingle
here and there and run into each other to form groups such as we
may see among the rocks by alpine paths. After a little time the
plants themselves begin to help us, and an excellent way is, if a
number of plants are set out too formally — as in most cases they
are— to pull up a number here and there, replanting them on the
outer fringes of the groups or elsewhere.

92 • THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Those who have observed alpine plants must have noticed in
what arid places many flourish, and what fine plants may spring
from a chink in a boulder. They are often stunted
Wall gardens, and small in such crevices, but longer-lived than
when growing upon the ground. Now, numbers
of alpine plants perish if planted in the ordinary soil of our gar-
dens from over - moisture and want of rest in winter. But if
placed where their roots are dry in winter, they may be kept in
health. Many plants from countries a little farther south than our
own, and from alpine regions, will find on walls, rocks, and ruins
that dwarf, sturdy growth which makes them at home in our
climate. There are many alpine plants now cultivated with
difficulty in frames that may be grown on walls with ease.

In garden formation, especially in sloping or diversified ground,
what is called a dry wall is often useful, and
may answer the purpose of supporting a bank
or dividing off a garden quite as well as
masonry. Where the stones can be got easily,
men used to the work will often make gently
"battered" walls which, while fulfilling their
object in supporting banks, will make homes for
many plants which would not live one winter
on a level surface in the same place. In my
Pansy on brick wail. own garden I built one such wall with large
blocks of sandstone laid on their natural " bed,"

the front of the stones almost as rough as they come out, and
chopped nearly level between, so that they lie firm and well. No
mortar was used, and as each stone was laid slender rooted alpine
and rock plants were placed along in lines between with a sprinkling
of sand or fine earth enough to slightly cover the roots and aid
them in getting through the stones to the back, where, as the wall was
raised, the space behind it was packed with gritty earth. This the
plants soon found out and rooted firmly in. Even on old walls made
with mortar rock plants and small native ferns very often establish
themselves, but the "dry" walls are more congenial to rock plants,
and one may have any number of beautiful alpine plants in perfect
health on them.

One charm of this kind of wall garden is that little attention is
required afterwards. Even on the best rock gardens things get over-
run by others, and weeds come in ; but in a well-planted wall we may
leave plants for years untouched beyond pulling out any interloping
plant or weed that may happen to get in. So little soil, however, is
put with the plants that there is little chance of weeds. If the stones
were stuffed with much earth weeds would get in, and it is best to

ALPINE FLOWER, ROCK, AND WALL GARDENS.

93

have the merest dusting of soil with the roots, so as not to separate
the stones, but let each one rest firmly on the one beneath it.

Almost the whole of the beautiful rock and alpine flowers may
be trusted to do well in this way, such things as Arabis, Aubrietia,
and Iberis being among the easiest to grow ; but as these can be
grown without walls it is hardly worth while to put them there,
pretty as some of the newer forms of the Aubrietia are. Between
these stones is the very place for mountain Pinks, which thrive

Androsace. Chaddlewood, Plympton.

better there than on level ground ; the dwarf alpine Hairbells, while
the alpine Wallflowers and creeping rock plants, like the Toad Flax
(Linaria), and the Spanish Erinus, are quite at home there. The
Gentianella does very well on the cool sides of such walls, and
we get a different result according to the aspect. All our little pretty
wall ferns, now becoming so rare where hawkers abound, do perfectly
on such rough walls, and the alpine Phloxes may be used, though
they are not so much in need of the comfort of a wall as the European
alpine plants, the Rocky Mountain dwarf Phloxes being very hardy
and enduring in our gardens on level ground. The advantage of the

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

wall is that we can grow things that would perish on level ground
owing to excitement of growth in winter, or other causes. The Rock-
foils are charming on a wall, particularly the silvery kinds, and the
little stone covering sandwort (A. balearica) will run everywhere over
such a wall. Stonecrops and Houseleeks would do too, but are easily
grown in any open spot of ground. In many cases the rare and
somewhat delicate Alpines, if care be taken in planting, would do far
better on such a wall than as they are usually cultivated. Plants like
Thymes are quite free in such conditions, though it may be too free
for the rare kinds ; also the Alpine Violas, and any such pretty
rock creepers as the blue Bindweed of North Africa.

There is in fact no limit to the beauty of rock and alpine flowers
Ave may enjoy on the rough wall so often and most easily made
about gardens in rocky and hilly districts, dressed or expensive
stone not being needed. In my own garden there are three wholly
-different kinds of walls thick set with plants ; and the easiest way to
the enjoyment of the most interesting and charming of the mountain
flowers of the north is by the aid of walls.

ALPINE AND ROCK PLANTS FOR BRITISH GARDENS.

Where the name of a large and varied family is given as i?i Phlox, Iris,
Rhododendron, Pentstemon, Salix Antirrhinum, it is the alpine, or dwarf mountain
kinds, that are meant.

Aca;na

Chimaphila

Globularia

Myosotis

Sanguinaria

Acantholimon

Colchicum

Helianthemum

Narcissus

Saponaria

Achillea

Cornus

Helleborus

Nertera

Saxifra^a

Acis

Coronilla

Houstonia

(Enothera

Scilla

^Ethionema

Crocus

Hutchinsia

Omphalodes

Sedum

Alyssum

Cyclamen

Hyacinthus

Ononis

Sempervivum

Andromeda

Cypripedium

Jberis

Onosma

Senecio

And rosace

Daphne

Iris

Ophrys

Silene

Anemone

Dianthus

Isopyrum

Orchis

Smilacina

Antennaria

Diapensia

Jasione

Orobus

Soldanella

An thy His

Dodecatheon

Leiophyllum

Oxalis

Spigelia

Aquilegia

Draba

Leontopodium

Papaver

Statice

Arabis

Dracocephalum

Leucojum

Parnassia

Thalictrum

Arenaria

Dryas

Linaria

Petrocallis

Thlaspi

Armeria

Epigaea

Linnsea

Phlox

Thymus

Asperula

Erigeron

Linum

Polemonium

Trientalis

Astralagus
Aubrietia

Erinus
Erodium

Lithospermum
Loiseleuria

Polygala
Potentilla

Trillium
Triteleia

Bellis

Erpetion

Lychnis

Primula

Tulipa

Bryanthus

- Erysimum

Lycopodium

Puschkinia

Tunica

Bulbocodium

Erythronium

Mazus

Pyrola

Vaccinium

•Calandrinia

Galanthus

Meconopsis

Pyxidanthera

Veronica

Campanula

Gaultheria

Menziesia

Ranunculus

Vesicaria

Cardamine

Genista

Mertensia

Rhexia

Viola

•Cerastium

Gentiana

Muscari

Rhododendron

Waldsteinia

•Cheiranthus

Geraniu'n

Poet's Narcissus in the grass at Belmont, Ireland.

CHAPTER XI.

THE WILD GARDEN.

O universal Mother, who dost keep
From everlasting thy foundations deep,
Eldest of things, Great Earth, I sing of thee.

IN a rational system of flower gardening one of the first things to
do is to get a clear idea of the aim of the " Wild Garden." When
I began to plead the cause of the innumerable hardy flowers against
the few tender ones put out in a formal way, the answer sometimes
was, "We cannot go back to the mixed border" — that is to say,
to the old way of arranging flowers in borders. Thinking, then,
much of the vast world of plant beauty shut out of our gardens
by the " system " then in vogue, I was led to consider the ways in
which it might be brought into them, and of the " Wild Garden " as a
home for numbers of beautiful hardy plants from other countries which
might be naturalised, with very little trouble, in our gardens, fields, and
woods — a world of delightful plant beauty that we might make happy
around us, in places bare or useless. I saw that we could grow thus
not -only flowers more lovely than those commonly seen in what is
called the flower garden, but also many which, by any other plan, we
should have little chance of seeing.

The term "Wild Garden" is applied to the placing of perfectly

95

96 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

hardy exotic plants in places where they will take care of themselves.
It has nothing to do with the " wilderness," though it may be carried
out in it. It does not necessarily mean the picturesque garden, for
a garden may be picturesque and yet in every part the result of
ceaseless care. What it does mean is best explained by the winter
Aconite flowering under a grove of naked trees in February ; by
the Snowflake abundant in meadows by the Thames ; and by the
Apennine Anemone staining an English grove blue. Multiply these
instances by adding many different plants and hardy climbers from
countries as cold as our own, or colder, and one may get some idea
of the wild garden. Some have thought of it as a garden allowed to
run wild, or with annuals sown promiscuously, whereas it does not
meddle with the flower garden proper at all.

I wish the idea to be kept distinct from the various important
phases of hardy plant growth in groups, beds, and borders, in which
good culture may produce many happy effects ; from the rock garden
or borders reserved for choice hardy flowers ; from growing hardy
plants of fine form ; from the ordinary type of spring garden. In the
smaller class of gardens there may be little room for the wild garden,
but in the larger gardens, where there is often ample room on the
outer fringes of the lawn, in grove, park, copse, or by woodland walks
or drives, new and beautiful effects may be created by its means.

Among reasons for advocating this system are the following : —

1. Because many hardy flowers will thrive better in rough places than

ever they did in the old border. Even small ones

Reasons for it. like the Ivy-leaved Cyclamen, are naturalised and

spread all over the mossy surface of woods.

2. Because, in consequence of plant, fern and flower and climber,
grass, and trailing shrub, relieving each other, they will look infinitely
better than in stiff gardens. 3. Because no ugly effects will result
from decay and the swift passage of the seasons. In a semi- wild
state the beauty of a species will show in flowering time ; and
when out of bloom they will be succeeded by other kinds, or lost
among the numerous objects around. 4. Because it will enable us
to grow many plants that have never yet obtained a place in our " trim
gardens " — multitudes that are not showy enough to be considered
worthy of a place in a garden. Among the plants often thought
unfit for garden cultivation are a number like the coarser American
Asters and Golden Rods, which overrun the choicer border-flowers
when planted among them. Such plants would be quite at home in
neglected places, where their blossoms might be seen in due season.
To these might be added plants like the winter Heliotrope, and
many others, which, while interesting in the garden, are apt to spread
so rapidly as to become a nuisance. 5. Because in this way we may

THE WILD GARDEN.

97

settle the question of spring flowers, and the spring garden, as well
as that of hardy flowers generally ; and many parts of the grounds
may be made alive with spring flowers, without in the least interfering
with the flower garden itself. The blue stars of the Apennine
Anemone will be seen to greater advantage when in half-shady places,
under trees, or in the meadow grass, than in any flower garden, and
this is but one of many of sweet spring flowers that will succeed in
like ways.

Perhaps an example or two of what has already been done

with Daffodils and Snowdrops may serve to show the way, and

explain the gains of the wild garden, and there is

Narcissi in the no more charming flower to begin with than the

wild garden. Narcissus, which, while fair in form as any Orchid
or Lily of the tropics, is as much at home in
our climate as the Kingcups in the marsh and the Primroses in the
wood. And when the wild Narcissus comes with these, in the
woods and orchards of Northern France and Southern England it
has also for companions the Violet and the Cowslip, hardiest children
of the north, blooming in and near the still leafless woods. And this
fact should lead us to see that it is not only a garden flower we have
here, but one which may give glorious beauty to our woods and fields
and meadows as well as to the pleasure grounds.

In our country in a great many places there is plenty of room to
grow them in other ways than in the garden proper, and this not
merely in country seats, but in orchards and cool meadows. To
chance growth in such places we owe it already that many Narcissi
or Daffodils which were lost to gardens, in the period when hardy
plants were wholly set aside for bedding plants, have been preserved
to us, at first probably in many cases thrown out with the garden
refuse. In many places in Ireland and the west of England Narcissi
lost to gardens have been found in old orchards and meadows.

Three months after our native kind has flowered in the weald
of Sussex and in the woods or orchards of Normandy, many
of its allies are beneath the snow in the mountain valleys of Europe,
waiting till the summer sun melts the deep snow. On a high plateau
in Auvergne I saw many acres in full bloom on July 16, 1894, and
these high plateaux are much colder than our own country generally.
Soils that are cool and stiff and not favourable to a great variety
of plants suit Narcissi perfectly. On the cool mountain marshes and
pastures, where the snow lies deep, the plant has abundance of
moisture — one reason why it succeeds better in our cool soils. In
any case it does so, and it is mostly on dry light soils that Narcissi
fail to succeed. Light, sandy or chalky soils in the south of England
are useless, and Narcissus culture on a large scale should not be

G

98 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

attempted on such soils. We must not court failure, and however
freely in some soils Narcissi grow in turf, there is no law clearer than
that all plants will not grow in any one soil, and it is a mercy, too,
for if all soils were alike, we should find gardens far more monotonous
than they are now. Gardening is an art dealing with living things,
and we cannot place these with as little thought as those who arrange
shells, or coins, or plates. At the same time we may be mistaken as
to failures which now and then arise from other causes than the soil.
I planted years ago some Bayonne Daffodils on the northern slope of
a poor field, and thought the plants had perished, as so little was seen
of them after the first year. Despairing of the slope, it was planted
with Alder, a tree that grows in any cool soil. Years afterwards,
walking one day through the Alder, I found the Bayonne Daffodil in
perfect bloom. The roots had doubtless been weak and taken time
to recover.

Ten years ago I planted many thousands of Narcissi in the grass,
never doubting that I should succeed with them, but not expect-
ing I should succeed nearly so well. They have
Narcissi in turf, thriven admirably, bloomed well and regularly ;
the flowers are large and handsome, and in most
cases have not diminished in size. In open rich, heavy bottoms,
along hedgerows, banks, in quiet open loamy fields, in every
position they have been tried. They are delightful seen near at hand,
and also effective in the picture. The leaves ripen, disappear before
mowing time, and do not in any way interfere with the farming. The
harrowing and rolling of the fields in the spring hurt the leaves a
little, but the plants are free from this near wood walks, by grass
walks and open copses and lawns which abound in so many English
country places.

The fine distant effect of Narcissi in groups in the grass should
not be forgotten. It is distinct from their effect in gardens, and it is
most charming to see them reflect, as it were, the glory of the spring
sun. It is not only their effect near at hand that charms us, but as
we walk about we may see them in the distance in varying lights,
sometimes through and beyond the leafless woods or copses. And
there is nothing we have to fear in this charming work save the
common sin — overdoing. To scatter Narcissi equally over the grass
everywhere is to destroy all chance of repose, of relief, and of seeing
them in the ways in which they often arrange themselves. It is
almost as easy to plant in pretty ways as in ugly ways if we take the
trouble to think of it. There are hints to be gathered from the way
wild plants arrange themselves, and even from the sky. Often a small
cloud passing in the sky will give a very good form for a group, and
be instructive even in being closer and more solid towards its centre,

Narcissus in turf at Warley Place.

loo THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

as groups of Narcissi in the grass should often be. The regular
garden way of setting things out is very necessary in the garden, but
it will not do at all if we are to get the pictures we can get from
Narcissi in the turf, and it is always well to keep open turf here and
there among the groups, and in a lawn or a meadow we should leave
a large breadth quite free of flowers.

The illustration is from a photograph taken by Mr John McLeitch

at Straffan, Co. Kildare, and from it one may gain a glimpse of the

pretty and natural way in which these flowers

Snowdrops have grouped themselves on the greensward be-

naturalised. neath the red-twigged Limes and on the soft and
mossy lawns. Originally no doubt the Snowdrops
were planted, but they have seeded themselves so long that they
are now thoroughly naturalised, and one of the sights to see at
StrafTan Gardens is the Snowdrops at their best under the leafless
trees. The common single and double forms are still the best for
grouping in quantity and for naturalisation everywhere. There
are finer varieties, but none grow and increase so well in our
gardens as do these northern kinds. The best of the eastern Snow-
drops are very bold and beautiful ; they are unsurpassed for vigour
of leafage and size of bloom if carefully cultivated, but they do
not grow and increase on the grass as do G. nivalis and all its
forms.

For solid green leafage and size and substance of flower, G. Ikariae
when well grown is, as I believe, the finest of all Snowdrops, but it is
from Asia Minor, and does not really love our soil and climate, nor is
it likely to naturalise itself with us as G. nivalis has done. The best
of all the really hardy and truly northern Snowdrops is a fine form of
G. nivalis, leaning to the broad-leaved or G. caucasicus group, which
was found in the Crimea in 1856 and introduced from the Tchernaya
valley to Straffan. It is called G. nivalis grandis, or the Straffan
Snowdrop, or G. caucasicus var. grandis, and to see it at its best is a
great pleasure. It is really a tall, vigorous-habited, and free-flowering
form of the wild Snowdrop (G. nivalis) ae found in the Crimea. The
flowers are very large and pure in colour, and being borne on stalks a
foot or more in length they bunch better than do those of the common
type. G. plicatus is also from the Crimea, but is, as I have said,
quite different, having much broader plicate leaves and smaller
flowers.

Snowdrops generally like deep, moist soils and half shade, as their
flowers wither and brown quickly on dry, light soils in full sunshine.
In damp wood, copses, and hedgerows they seem most at home, and,
like Narcissi and many other early flowering bulbs, they rather enjoy
flooding or occasional irrigation after root and top growth have begun.

102 ^ THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

'At Straftan the lawn lies low down near the river Liffey, and it is
sometimes submerged for a day or two after the snow melts in early
spring or after heavy rains. From May until September, however,
the bulbs are dry among the tree roots with the dense canopy of Lime
leafage overhead, as are also the roots of the sky-blue Apennine
Anemone that bear them company. We are beginning to perceive
that, as a broad rule, some bulbous plants enjoy growing amongst the
roots of other plants, or of trees and shrubs, or in the grass of lawn or
meadow. The wild Daffodil and Bluebells do this as well as the
Snowdrop, and those who have tried to dig up bulbs of any kind
abroad with a knife or even with a botanical trowel, will remember
how tightly wedged they frequently are in roots of various kinds, or
jammed tightly in both roots and stones.

I usually plant Narcissi in grass by turning back the sod, making
two cuts with the spade at right angles, and then pressing up

and back the sod, laying it back on a hinge,
How to plant, as it were, putting in a few bulbs, mostly round

the sides of the hole, turning the sod back and
treading firmly upon it. The question is largely one of conveni-
ence and the ground one has to plant. If one could improve the
subsoil it would be better for some soils, no doubt, but if the work
is .done in a bold way and there is much other planting going
on, it is not easy to get time to plant things in the grass with
care. Sometimes in breaking new ground or carrying out changes
one gets a chance of throwing in some bulbs before the surface is
levelled up. Once in planting Grape Hyacinths in an uneven grassy
slope they were placed on the turf in the hollows and then levelled
up with earth, and both grass and bulbs soon came through. Some
bullocks passed an evening where they had no business to be in a
grassy enclosure near the house, and their footmarks suggested a group
of the Apennine Windflower, and a few of its roots were put in and
the holes filled up. A wily man will see odd ways now and then of
getting bulbs or seeds in. When the men are making sod banks for
the only true field fence — a live one — is a very good time to put
in Sweet Briers in the bank. In certain soils seeds may be sown
betimes — seeds of Foxglove, Evening Primrose, and stout biennials.
Fragile bulbs will want more care and less depth than the bolder
Narcissi. Many ways are good, though far more important than any
way of planting is thought as to the wants of the thing we plant, not
only as to soil, but association with the things that will grow about
it in grass, in hedgerows and rough places, for plants are not all
garotters like the great Japanese Knotworts and the big Moon
Daisies.

All planting in the grass should be in natural groups or prettily

THE WILD GARDEN.

fringed colonies, growing to and fro as they like after planting.
Lessons in • this grouping are to be had in the woods, copses,

heaths, and meadows, by those who look about
Natural groups, them as they go. At first many will find it

difficult to get out of formal masses, but they
may be got over by studying natural groupings- of wild flowers.
Once established, the plants soon begin to group themselves in
pretty ways.

In the cultivation of hardy plants and especially in wild
gardening the important thing is to find out what things really do

in the soil, without which much good way cannot

The secret of be made. Many people make errors in planting

the soil. things that are tender in our country and very

often fail in consequence ; but apart from such
risky planting perfectly hardy plants may disappear owing to some
dislike of the soil. They flower feebly at first and afterwards
gradually wane in spite of all our efforts. So it is with the Crocus.
I find it difficult to naturalise, it takes but slowly and gradually
diminishes, and in many places covers the ground. The Narcissus,
which is so free and enduring in cool damp soil, does little good on
warm, light or chalky soil. Some things are so omnivorous in their
appetites that they will grow anywhere, but some, the more beautiful
races of bulbous and other early flowers, will only thrive and stay
with us where they like the soil. It should be clearly seen therefore
that what may be done with any good result in the wild garden
cannot be determined beforehand, but must depend on the nature
of the soil and other circumstances which can be known only to
those who study the ground.

Where the branches of trees, both evergreen and summer-leafing,
sweep the turf in pleasure grounds many pretty spring-flowering

bulbs may be naturalised beneath the branches, and

Flowers beneath will thrive without attention. It is chiefly in the

trees. case of deciduous trees that this can be done ;

but even in the case of Conifers and Evergreens
some graceful objects may be dotted beneath the outermost points
of their lower branches. We know that a great number of our
spring flowers and hardy bulbs mature their foliage and go to
rest early in the year. In spring they require light and sun,
which they obtain abundantly under the summer-leafing tree ; they
have time to flower and grow under it before the foliage of the
tree appears ; then, as the summer heats approach, they are
overshadowed, and go to rest ; but the leaves of the tree once
fallen, they soon begin to reappear and cover the ground with
beauty.

io4

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SOME PLANTS FOR THE WILD GARDEN.

The following are the chief families of plants that may be used in
the wild garden. Where families are named which are British as well
as natives of the Continent of Europe, as in the case of, say, Scilla,
the foreign kinds are meant. In considering what may be done in
naturalising plants in a given position, it may be well to cast the eye
over the families available. Success will depend on how the plants
are chosen to go in any one position, but about country seats
soils are so much varied that it is not easy to generalise.

Acanthus

Crane's-bill

Honesty

Narcissus

Snapdragon

Aconite, Winter

Crocus

Honeysuckle

Omphalodes

Snowdrop

Asphodel

Cyclamen

Houseleeks

Ox-eye Daisy

Snowflake

Aubrietia

Daffodil

Iris

Paeony

Solomon's Seal

Barrenwort

Day Lily

Knotwort

Pea, everlasting

Star of Bethlehem

Bee Balm

Dog's-tooth Violet

Lavender

Periwinkle

Starwort

Bellflower

Ferns, Hardy

Leopard's-bane

Phlox

Stonecrop

Bindweed

Forget-me-not

Lily

Plantain Lily

Sun Rose

Blood Root

Foxglove

Lily-of-the-valley

Pond-flower

Sunflower (Per-

Borage

French Willow

Loosestrife

Poppy

ennial

Broom

Giant Fennel

Lungwort

Primrose, Evening

Thyme

Christmas Rose

Giant Scabious

Lupine

Rest Harrow

Tulip

Clematis

Globe Flower

Mallow

Rocket

Viola ^

Columbine

Globe Thistle

Meadow Rue

Rose, wild kinds

Virginian Creeper

Comfrey

Golden Rod

Meadow Saffron

St Bruno's Lily

Virginian Poke

Compass Plant

Grape Hyacinth

Meadow Sweet

St John's Wort

Wallflower

Cornflower

Heath

Mimulus

Sand wort

Water-Lily

Coronilla

Heliotrope, Winter

Monk's Hood

Scabious

Windflower

Cotton Thistle

Hepatica

Mouniain Avers

Scilla

Wistaria

Cow Parsnip

Holly, Sea

Mullein

Snake's Head

Wood Lily

Wreath of old Wistaria, Efford Manor.

CHAPTER XII.
SPRING GARDENS.

" I have seen foreign flowers in hothouses of the most beautiful nature, but I
do not care a straw for them. The simple flowers of our spring are what
I want to see again." — JOHN KEATS (Letter to James Rice).

IN our islands, swept by the winds of iceless seas, spring wakes early
in the year, when the plains of the north and the mountains of the
south and centre are cold in snow. In our green springs the flowers
of northern and alpine countries open long before they do in their
native homes ; hence the artistic error of any system of flower
gardening which leaves out the myriad flowers of spring. It is no
longer a question of gardens being bare of the right plants ; nurseries
and gardens where there are many good plants are not rare, but
to make effective use of these much thought is seldom given.
Gardens are often rich in plants but poor in beauty, many being
stuffed with things, but ugly in effect.

If we are to make good use of our spring garden flora we should
avoid much annual culture, though it is not well to get rid of it
altogether, as many plants depend for their beauty on rich ground
and frequent cultivation. But many grow well without these, and
the most delightful spring gardens can only be where we grow
many spring blooming things that demand no annual card, from
Globe-flowers to Hawthorns.

A common kind of "spring gardening" consists of "bedding
out" Forget-me-nots, Pansies, Daisies, Catchflies, and Hyacinths;
but this way is only one of many, and the meanest, most costly, and
inartistic. It began when we had few good spring flowers, now we

105

106 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

have many ; and hence this chapter must deal with other and better
ways.

The fashion of having beds of Roses of but one kind should
be given up. The half-bare Rose and choice shrub beds should be
a home for the prettiest spring flowers — Pansies, Violets, early Irises,
Daffodils, Scillas, and many other dwarf plants in colonies between
the Roses or shrubs. Double Primroses are happy and flower well
in such beds. The slight shade such plants receive in summer from
the other tenants of the bed assists them. Where Rhododendrons
are planted in an " open " way (and these precious bushes never
ought to be jammed together), a spring garden of another kind may
be made, as the peat-loving plants (and there are many fair ones
among them) will be quite at home there. The White Wood Lily
of the American woods (Trillium), the Virginian Lungwort, the
Canadian Bloodroot (Sanguinaria), the various Dog's-tooth Violets,
double Primroses, and many early-flowering bulbous plants enjoy
the partial shade and shelter and the soil of the beds for " American "
shrubs.

There are so many hardy plants among these that flower in spring

(many alpine plants blooming as soon as the snow goes), that there

is not room to name them all. We must omit any

Rock and alpine detailed notice of plants like Adonis, Cyclamen,

plants. Draba, Erodium, and the smaller Rockfoils and

Stonecrops, Dicentra, Fumaria, Orobus, Ramondia,

Silene, and many other flowers of the rocks 'and hills, which though

beautiful individually do not tell so well in the picture as many

here named.

Among rock plants the first place belongs to certain mountain

plants of the northern world, which, in our country, come into bloom

before the early shrubs and trees, and among the

Purple Rock first bold plants to cheer us in spring are those of

Cresses. the Wallflower order — the yellow Alyssum, effective

and easy to grow, the white Arabis, even more

grown in Northern France than in England (it well deserves to be

spread about in sheets and effective groups), and the beautiful purple

Rock Cresses (Aubrietia), lovely plants of the mountains of Greece

and the countries near, which have developed a number of varieties

even more beautiful in colour than the wild kinds. Nothing for

gardens can be more precious than these plants, the long spring

bloom being effective in almost every kind of flower gardening —

banks, walls, edgings, borders of evergreen rock plants, or carpets

beneath sparsely set shrubs. The white evergreen Candytufts are

also effective plants in clear sheets for borders, edgings to beds, tops

of walls, and the rougher flanks of the rock garden. These are

SPRING GARDENS. 107

among the plants that have been set out in hard lines in flower
gardens, but it is easy to have better effects from them in groups,
and even in broken lines and masses, or as carpets beneath bushes,
thus giving softer and more beautiful, if less definite, effects. Happy
always on castle wall and rocks, the Wallflower is most. welcome
in the garden, where, on warm soils and in genial climates, it does
well, but hard winters injure it often in cold and inland districts, and
'it is almost like a tender plant in such conditions. Yet it must
ever be one of the flowers best worth growing in sheltered and warm
gardens ; and even in cold places one may have a few under the eaves
of cottages and on dry south borders.

The Windflowers are a noble group among the most beautiful of
the northern and eastern flowers, some being easily naturalised
(like the blue Italian and Greek Anemones), while
The Windflowers the showy Poppy Anemones are easily grown
where the soils are light and warm, and in genial
warm districts ; but they require some care on certain soils,
and are among the plants we must cultivate and even protect
on cold soils in hard winters. The same is true of the brilliant
Asiatic Ranunculus and all its varied forms Persian, Turkish, and
French, as they may be called, all forms of one wild North African
buttercup, unhappily too tender to endure our winters in the
open air, but they should be abundantly grown on the warm
limestone and other soils which suit them, as about our coasts
and in Ireland. There is no more effective way of growing these
than in simple 4-foot beds in the kitchen or reserve garden. The
Wood Anemone is so often seen in the woods that there is rarely
need to grow it ; but some of its varieties are essential, most beautiful
being A. Robinsoniana, a flower of lovely blue colour, and a distinct
gain in the spring garden grown in almost any way. The Hepatica
is a lovely little Anemone where the soil is free, though slow in some
soils, and where it grows well all its varieties should be encouraged,
in borders and margins of beds of American bushes as well as in the
rock garden. The Snowdrop Windflower (A. sylvestris) is most
graceful in bud and bloom, but a little capricious, and not blooming
well on all soils, unlike in this way our Wood W'indflowers, which are
as constant as the Kingcups. The Pasque-flower is lovely on the
chalk downs and fields of Normandy and parts of England in spring,
but never quite so pretty in a garden. It would be worth naturalising
in chalky fields and woods or banks.

Columbines are very beautiful in the early part of the year, and
if we had nothing but the common kind (Aquilegia vulgaris)
and its forms, they would be precious; but there are many others
which thrive in free soils, some of which are very graceful in forrn

io8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and charming in colour. The Kingcup or Marsh Marigold, so fine
in wet meadows and by the riverside, should be brought into gardens
wherever there is water, as it is a most effective
Columbine plant when well grown, and there are several
Marsh Marigold, forms, double and single. The Clematis, the
Clematis, and larger kinds, are mostly for the summer, but some
Globe-flower. (c. montana, C. alpina, C. cirrhosa) are at their
best in the spring ; they should be made abund-
ant use of on house walls and over banks, trees and shrubs. The
Winter Aconite (earliest of spring flowers) naturalises itself in some
soils, but on others dwindles and dies out, and it should not be grown
in the garden, but in shrubberies, copses, or woods where the soil
suits it. Some kinds of hardy Ranunculus, the herbaceous double
kinds, are good in colour, and in bold groups pretty; but taller
and bolder and finer in effect are the Globe-flowers, easily
naturalised in moist, grassy places or by water, and also free
and telling among stout herbaceous plants. The most distinct
addition to the spring garden of recent years is the Oriental
Hellebore in its many beautiful varieties. They are most effective,
sturdy, impressive plants for opening the flower year with, often
blooming abundantly at the dawn of spring, and have the essential
merit of not requiring annual culture, tufts remaining in vigour in
the same spot for many years.

The European Dog's-tooth Violet is pretty in the budding grass,

where it is free in growth and bloom. The Fritillary is one of the

most welcome flowers for grass, and is best in

Snowdrop, Snow- mol'st meadows ; the rarer kinds do well in good

flake, Crocuses, garden soil, those with pale yellow bells being

Scilla, and beautiful. Every plant such as these, which we

Fntillary. can so easiiy grow at home in grassy places,

makes our cares about the spring garden so much

the less, and allows of keeping all the precious beds of the flower

garden itself for the plants that require some care and rich soil

always.

The Hyacinth, which is often set in such stiff masses in our public
gardens, gives prettier effects more naturally grouped, but it is not
nearly so important for the open air as many flowers more easy to
grow and better in effect, though some of the more slender wild
species, like H. amethystinus, are beautiful and deserve a good place.
The Snowdrop is of even greater value of late years owing to new
forms of it, some of which have been brought from Asia Minor
and others raised in gardens. In some soils it is quite free and
becomes easily naturalised, in others it dwindles away, and the same
is true of the vernal Snowflake (Leucojum vernum), a beautiful

SPRING GARDENS. I0g

plant. The larger Snowflakes are more free in ordinary soils,
and easily naturalised in river bank soil. The Crocus, the most
brilliant of spring flowers, does not always lend itself to growing
naturally in every soil, but on some it is quite at home, especially
those of a chalky nature, and will naturalise itself under trees,
while in many garden soils it is delightful for edgings and in
many ways.

To the Scilla we owe much, from the wild plants of our woods to
the vivid Siberian kind ; some kinds are essential in the garden, and
some, like the Spanish Scilla (S. Campanulata), may be naturalised in
free soils. Allies of these lovely early flowers have come of recent
years to our gardens — the beautiful Chionodoxa from Asia Minor, of
about the same stature and effect as the prettiest of the Scillas, and
some of them even more precious for colour. These are among the
plants which may be planted with best results in bold groups on the
surface of beds planted with permanent flowers, such as Roses where
Rose beds are not surfaced with manure, as all Rose-growers unwisely
advise.

In warm soils some of the more beautiful of the flowers of spring
are the early Irises, but in gardens generally the most beautiful of
Irises come in late spring with the German Iris,
Iris, Narcissus, which is so free and hardy throughout our
and Tulip. country. Orchid-houses themselves cannot give
any such array as these when in bloom, and they
are often deserving of a little garden to themselves, where there is
room for it, while they are useful in many ways in borders and
as groups. About the same time come the precious Spanish Iris
in many colours, lovely as Orchids, and very easily grown, and
the English Iris. The Grape Hyacinths are pretty and early
plants of Southern Europe, beautiful in colour. They increase
rapidly, and some kinds do very well in the grass in free and
peaty soils, but the rarer ones are best on warm borders and
groups in the rock garden. The Narcissus is worth growing in
every way, the rarer kinds in prepared borders or beds and the
many that are plentiful in almost any cool soil in the grass. In our
country, where there are so many cool and rich soils allowing of the
Narcissus being naturalised and grown admirably in many ways,
it is, perhaps, on the whole, the most precious of all our spring
flowers. But the Tulip is the most gorgeous in colour of all the
flowers of spring, and for its effectiveness is better worthy of special
culture than most ; indeed, the florists' kinds and the various rare
garden Tulips must be well grown to show their full size and
beauty.

Paeonies are nobly effective in many ways. Where single or

no THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

other kinds are plentiful they may be well used as broad groups

in new plantations, among shrubs and low trees, and as to the

choice double kinds, no plants better deserve a

Paeony, Poppy, little garden or border to themselves, while the

and Lupin. tree kinds make superb groups on the lawn and

are safer from frost on high ground. The great

scarlet Poppies are showy in spring, and best grown among trees

and in the wild garden, and with them may be named the Welsh

Poppy, a very effective plant in spring as well as summer, and often

sowing itself in all sorts of places. The various garden forms of the

opium Poppy and of the field Poppy, both double and single, are

very showy where any space is given to annual flowers.

The common perennial Lupin is a very showy, pretty plant
grown in a free way in groups and masses, and may sometimes be
naturalised, and, associated with Poppies and free-growing Columbines
in the wild garden, it is very effective.

Primroses are a lovely host for the garden, especially the garden
varieties of the common Primrose, Cowslip, and Oxlip. Few things
deserve a better place, or are more worthy of
Primrose Tulip g°°d culture in visible groups and colonies or rich
Cowslip.'poly- ' garden borders. Apart from the lovely races of
anthus, and garden forms raised from the Primrose, the Cow-
Auricula. Siip5 anci the Oxlip, and also the Alpine Auriculas,,
double Primroses should not be forgotten, as in
all moist districts and in peaty and free soil they give such tender
and beautiful colour in groups, borders, or slightly shaded among
dwarf shrubs. Primroses and Polyanthus of native origin are well
backed up by the beautiful Indian Primrose (Primula rosea), which
thrives apace in cool soils in the north of England and in Scotland,,
and which, when grown in bold groups, is very good in effect, as
are the purplish Indian Primroses under like conditions.

The large-leaved Indian Rockfoils (Saxifraga) are in many soils

very easily grown, and they are showy spring flowers in bold

groups, especially some of the improved varieties.

Rockfoil, Although it is only in places where there is rocky

Gentian, and ground or large rock gardens that one can get

Alpine Phlox. the beauty of the smaller Mountain Rockfoils-

(Saxifraga) we cannot omit to notice their beauty —

both the white, yellow, and crimson-flowered kind — when seen im

masses. The same may be said of Gentians ; beautiful as they

are in the mountains, few gardens have positions where we can get

their fine effect, always excepting the old Gentianella (G. acaulis),.

which in old Scotch and English gardens used to make such handsome.

broad edgings, and -which is easily grown in a cool soil, and gives,.

SPRING GARDENS.

perhaps, the noblest effect of blue flowers that one can enjoy in our
latitudes in spring. The tall Phloxes are plants of the summer, but,
there is a group of American dwarf alpine Phloxes of the moun-
tains which are among the hardiest and most cheery flowers of
spring, thriving on any dry banks and in the drier parts of rock
gardens, forming mossy edgings in the flower garden, and breaking
into a foam of flowers early in spring.

The Viola family is most precious, not only in the many forms
of the sweet Violet, which will always deserve garden cultivation,

but in the numerous varieties of the Pansy, which
Pansies. flower so effectively in the spring. The best of

all, perhaps, for artistic use are the Tufted Pansies,
which are delightfully simple in colour — white, pale blue, or lavender,
and various other delicate shades. Almost perennial in character,
they can be increased and kept true, and they give us distinct and
delicate colour in masses as wide as we wish, instead of the old
"variegated" effect of Pansies. Though the separate flowers of
these were often handsome, the effect of the Tufted Pansies with
their pure and delicate colours is more valuable, and these also,
while pretty in groups and patches, will, where there is space, often
be worth growing in little nursery beds.

These are among the most welcome flowers of spring. Before the
common and most beautiful of all — the marsh Forget-me-not — comes,

there are the wood Forget-me-not (M. Sylvatica)
Forget-me-nots, and M. dissitiflora and M. alpestris, all precious

early flowers. Allied to the ever-welcome Forget-
me-not is the common Omphalodes, or creeping Forget-me-not,
valuable for its freedom in growth in half shady or rough places
in almost any soil — one of the most precious of the early flowers
which take care of themselves if we take a little trouble to put
them in likely places.

Among annuals that bloom in spring where the soil is favourable,
excellent results are often obtained by sowing Sweet Peas in autumn.

When this is done, and they escape the winter,
Annual flowers, they give welcome hedges of flowers in the early

year. So, too, the Cornflower, a lovely spring
flower, and perhaps the finest blue we have among annual plants ;
but to have it good and early it should be always sown in
autumn, and for effect it should be in broad masses, sometimes
among shrubs or in recently broken ground which we desire
to cover. Some of the Californian annuals are handsome and
vigorous when sown in autumn, always provided they escape the
winter. The White Godetia is very fine in this way. In all chalky,
sandy, and, warm soils the Stocks for spring bloom are handsome-

H2 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and fragrant, but it is a waste of time to attempt to grow them on
cold soils.

Some of the finest effects come from the early trees and shrubs.
Among the most stately are the Buckeyes (^Esculis), particularly the
red kinds, fine in all stages, but especially when
Trees that bloom old. The snowy Mespilus is a hardy, low-sized
in spring. tree, blooming regularly, and well deserves a place
in the pleasure garden or the fringes of shrubberies.
The Almonds, more than any shrubs, perhaps, in our country and
in France, light up the earliest days of spring, and, like most
southern trees, are best in warm valley soils. They should be in
groups to tell in the home landscape. The double Peaches are
lovely in France, but as yet rarely so with usy owing, perhaps,
to some defect of the stock used. Perhaps of all the hardy shrubs
ever brought to our country the Azaleas are the most precious for
effect. They are mostly wild on the mountains of America, and
many forms have been raised in gardens which are of the highest
value. Many places do not as yet show the great beauty of the
different groups of hardy Azalea, particularly the late kinds raised of
recent years. A neglected tree with us is the Judas-tree, which is
very handsome in groups, as it ought always to be grown, and not as
a starved single tree. The various double Cherries are noble flower-
ing trees, being showy as well as delicate in bloom, and the Japanese
kinds do quite as well as the old French and English double Cherries,
though the trees are apt to perish from grafting. The American
Fringe-tree (Chionanthus) is pretty, but some American flowering
trees do not ripen their wood well enough in England generally to
give us the handsome effects seen in their own country. Hawthorns,
those of our own country, make natural spring gardens of hills
and rocky places, and should teach us to give a place to the many
other species to be found in the mountains of Europe and
America, which vary the bloom and prolong the season of early-
flowering trees. There are many varieties of our native Hawthorn —
red, pink, double, and weeping. The old Laburnum has for many
years been a joy with its golden rain, and of late we are doubly
well off with improved forms, with long chains of golden flowers.
These will become noble flowering trees as they get old ; hence the
importance of grouping Laburnum trees to get the varieties together.
Among the early charms in the spring garden are the slender
wands of the Forsythia, hardy Chinese bushes, pale yellow, delightful
in effect when grown in picturesque ways ; effective also on walls or
grouped in the open air on banks. Another plant of refined beauty,
but too little planted, is the Snowdrop-tree (Halesia). Unlike other
American trees, it ripens its wood in our country, and often flowers

SPRING GARDENS, 113

well. The Mountain Laurel of America (Kalmia) is one of the most
beautiful things ever brought to our country, and as a late spring
flower is precious, thriving both in the open and in half shady
places.

There is no more showy plant or one more beautiful in effect
in masses than the common Broom and all its allies that are hardy
enough, even the little Spanish Furze giving fine
Broom and Furze, colour. The common Broom should be en-
couraged on bluffs and sandy or gravelly places,
so as to save us the trouble of growing it in gardens, for in
effect there is nothing better. The same may be said of the Furze,
which is such a beautiful plant in England and the coast regions
of France, and the double Furze deserves to be massed in the
garden in picturesque groups. In country seats, especially those
commanding views, its value in the foreground is very great, and it
is so easily raised from seed that fine effects are very easily secured,
though it may be cut down now and then in hard winters.

The glory of spring in our pleasure grounds are the Rhododendrons ;
but they are so overmastering in their effect on people's minds
that very often they lead to neglect of other
Rhododendron things. It would be difficult to overrate their
and Magnolia. charms ; but even amongst them we require to
discriminate and avoid the too early and tender
kinds. Many of the kinds raised from R. ponticum and the Indian
Rhododendron, while they thrive in mild districts in the south of
England and west of France, near the sea, are not hardy in the
country generally. Some of these tender hybrids certainly flower
early, but we get little good from that. The essential thing, when
we give space to a hardy shrub, is that we should get its bloom •
in perfection, and therefore we should choose the broad-leaved
hardy kinds, which are mostly raised from the very hardy North
American R. catawbiense, and be a little particular in grouping the
prettiest colours, never using a grafted plant. For many years the
Yulan Magnolia, when well grown, has been one of the finest trees
in English southern gardens, and nothing is more effective than the
Lily-tree in gardens like Syon and others in the Thames valley ; while
of late years we have seen precious additions to this, the noblest
family of flowering trees. Some of these, like M. stellata, have proved
to be valuable ; all are worth a trial, and, as to the kinds we are sure
of, the great thing is to group them. Even in the case of the common
Lily-tree (M. Yulan) it makes a great difference whether there are
four or five trees or one.

Amongst the most beautiful of the smaller alpine bushes ever
brought to our country is the alpine forest Heath, which is cheery and

H

1 14 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

bright for weeks in spring. It is one of the plants that never fails
us, and only requires to be grown in bold ways to be effective — in

groups and masses fully exposed to the sun. Other

Alpine forest Heaths, like the Mediterranean Heath, are also

Heath. beautiful in some favoured parts of the country,

. but not so hardy generally as the little alpine

forest Heath which has the greatest endurance and most perfect

hardiness, as becomes a native of the Alps of Central Europe.

Pyrus japonica, a handsome old shrub often planted on cottage
garden walls, may in many soils be used with good effect in groups and
hedges. The evergreen Barberries in various forms are beautiful early
shrubs, with soft yellow flowers, and excellent when grouped in some
quantity. Two very important families are the Deutzias and Syringas,
which are varied and beautiful, mostly in white masses. They should
never be buried in the common shrubbery, but grouped in good masses
of each family. The flowering Currant (Ribes) of the mountains of
N.W. America is in all its forms a very cheery and early bush, which
tells well in the home landscape if rightly placed ; but perhaps the
most welcome and important of all early trees and shrubs is the Lilac,
which in Britain is often grown in a few kinds only, when there are
many in France. Beautiful in almost any position, Lilacs are most
effective when planted together, so as to enjoy the full sun to ripen
their wood ; the danger of thick planting can be avoided by putting
Irises or other hardy flowers over the ground between the shrubs,
which should never be crowded.

Apart from the many orchard trees grown for their fruit, we
have in our own day to welcome some of their allies — lovely in

flower, if often poor in fruit. Our country has
Crab bloom. never been without some of this kind of beauty, as

the Crab itself is as handsome a flowering tree as
.are many of the Apples which are descended from it in all the
countries in Europe, from Russia to Spain, and in our gardens there
were for many years the old Chinese double Pyrus, a handsome tree
which became popular, and the American Crab, which never became
so. But of late years we have been enriched by the Japan Crab,
a lovely tree for some weeks in spring and other handsome kinds,
including Parkman's Crab, which comes to us under more than one
name, and a "red form of the Japanese flowering Crab before
mentioned. All these trees are as hardy as our native Crab, and
differ much in colour and sometimes also in form. It is difficult
to describe how much beauty they give where well grown and well
placed ; they are not the kind of things we lose owing to change of
fashion, and in planting them it is well to put them in groups where
they will tell. Apart from these more or less wild species there are

SPRING GARDENS. 115

numbers of hybrid Crabs raised between the Siberian and some
common Apples in America and in our country that are beautiful
also in flower, and remarkable too for beauty of fruit, so that a beautiful
grove of flowering trees might be formed of Crabs alone. With these
many fine things, and the various Honeysuckles, we are carried bravely
down to the time of Rose and Lily, summer flowers, though Roses
often come on warm walls in spring.

It is worth while thinking of the difference in the blooming of

spring flowers in various aspects, as differences in that way will

often give us a longer season of bloom of some

Spring flowers in of our most precious things. Daffodils do better

sun and shade, in half shade than in full sunshine, and Scillas

and other bulbs are like the Daffodils in liking

half shady spots; so also Crown Imperials, which, like the Scillas,

bleach badly if fully exposed to the sun. We may see the Wood

Hyacinth pass out of bloom on the southern slopes of a hill, and in

fresh and fair bloom on its northern slopes. Flowering shrubs,

creepers on walls, and all early plants are influenced in the same way.

Such facts may be taken advantage of in many ways, especially with

the nobler flowers that we make much use of. If different aspects are

worth securing for hardy flowers generally, they are doubly so for

those of the spring, when we often have storms of snow and sleet

that may destroy an early bloom. If fortunate enough to have the

same plant on the north side of the hill or wall, we have still a

chance of a second bloom, and a difference of two or three weeks in

the blooming of a plant.

My flower garden was planted solely with summer and autumn

flowers. Having myriads of spring flowers in meadow, orchard, and

woodland, I thought I could well do without them

Spring flowers i° tne flower garden and, therefore, I left them out

near the flower in planting ; but after a long trial found that I

garden. must change my plans. The gypsies cleared off the

Narcissus in the woodland rides, and, not being

a bird, I could not go everywhere and see the Primrose woods and

the wood Hyacinth drifts, so I had to bring the spring flowers into

the garden. The common practice around London and Paris of

tearing up the flower beds every autumn to plant spring flowers, to

be abolished in their turn in spring, being out of the question, I had

to change, and as many of the things in the flower garden could not

be moved, I towards the end of summer in the past year went

round the garden and saw some of the plants that it would be

destruction to move, beginning with Rose Marie Van Houtte, of

which I have had for many years a noble bed. This is an example

of a plant one cannot tear up ; also Tea Roses on own roots ; these

n6

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

will not bear transplanting, and a very charming single Rose of Irish
raising, like " Elegans," which grew from cuttings and flowered into
the autumn ; a bed of Rose Zepherine on its own roots set in a
carpet of Hungarian Hepaticas — this is not to be disturbed for many
years ; and a bold group of that fine Rose Hugh Dickson. La Tosca,
a favourite Rose, is not to be disturbed, and the same also of Leon
Pain and Mme. Ravary. Then there is the Clematis Perle d'Azur
in perfect health, planted on yew stakes, which 'has borne thousands
of flowers for over twenty years, and the like also of Clematis Roi
de Velours. Finally the Azure Sage, many years in place.

Then the thought occurred to me that I might enjoy the spring
flowers too, and the idea came of putting flowers beneath the edgings :
a beautiful edging of blue Bindweed grew over a deep- set Crocus
Sir Walter Scott. Snow Glories, beautiful spring bulbs of short
duration, lay under summer edgings of annual or other flowers ;
Snowdrops grew over carpets of mossy and silvery Rock foil ; Grape
Hyacinths, which are among the fairest spring flowers, were set among
the Carpathian Hairbells ; wood Forget-me-nots over beds of Roses
in early autumn ; and in such ways the spring came into the flower
garden without in the least spoiling the general idea of the flower
garden as the home for all the fairest flowers of summer and autumn.

Let all who love the early flowers look at this list, not of the
kinds of spring flowers (which are innumerable), but of the families ;
some of these, such as Narcissus and Rockfoil, comprise many
species of lovely flowers, and the story of these, too, is the story of
the spring : —

Some Spring and Early Summer Flowers Hardy in English Gardens.

Adonis

Alyssum

Androsace

Anemone

Aquilegia

Arabis

Arenaria

Armeria

Asperula

Asphodelus

Aubrietia

Bellis

Caltha

Centaurea

Clematis

Convallaria

Crocus

Cyclamen

Dent aria

Dianthus

Dicentra

Dodecatheon

Doronicum

Draba

Epimedium

E ran this

Erinus

Erodium

Erythronium

Ficaria

Fritillaria

Fumaria

Galanthus

Geum

Gypsophila

Helleborus

Hepatica

Hesperis

Hyacinth us

Iberis

Iris

I.eucojum

Linum

Lychnis

Meconopsis

Muscari

Sanguinaria

Myosotis

Saponaria

Narcissus

Saxifraga

Omphalodes
Ornithogalum

Scilla
Sedum

Orobus

Silene

Paeonia

Trillium

Papaver

Triteleia

Phlox

Troll ius

Polemonium

Tulipa

Potentilla

Uvularia

Primula

Veronica

Pulmonaria

Vinca

Ramondia

Viola

Ranunculus

Spring-flowering Trees and Shrubs.

^Esculus

Amelanchier

Amygdalus

Andromeda

Azalea

Berberis

Cerasus

Cercis

Crataegus

Cydonia

Cytisus

Daphne

Deutzia

Erica

Exochorda

Forsythia

Genista

Halesia

Kerria

Laburnum

Lonicera

Magnolia

Mahonia

Malus

Mespilus

Philadelphus

Prunus

Pyrus

Rhododendron

Ribes

Spartium

Spiraea

Styrax

Syringa

Tamarix

Ulex

Viburnum

Weigela

Wistaria

THE SUMMER GARDEN BEAUTIFUL.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE NEW ROSE GARDEN.

THERE is great loss to the flower garden from the usual way of
growing the Rose as a thing apart, and its absence at present from
many flower gardens. It is surprising to see how poor and hard
many places are to which the beauty of the Rose might add delight,
and the only compensation for all this blank is what is called the
rosery, which in large places is often an ugly thing with plants
that usually only blossom for a few weeks in summer. This idea
of the Rose garden arose when we had a much smaller number of
Roses, and a greater number of these were kinds that flowered in
summer mainly.

The nomenclature, too, in use among Rose-growers by which
Roses that flower the shortest time were given the name of Hybrid
Perpetuals has had something to do with the absence of the Rose
from the flower garden. Shows, too, have had a bad effect on the
Rose in the garden, where it is many times more important than as
a show flower. The whole aim of the man who showed Roses was
to get a certain number of large blooms grown on the Dog Rose,
Manetti, or any stock which enabled him to get this at the least
cost. If we go to any Rose-showing friend, we shall probably find
his plants for show grown in the kitchen garden with a mass of
manure on the surface of the beds.

117

n8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

It is instructive to study the influence of Rose books upon the Rose

as well as that of the Rose exhibitions, as they brought about

an idea that the Rose was not a " decorative "

The Rose not a Plant in the language of recent days. In these

" decorative " books it was laid down that the Rose did not

plant. associate properly with other flowers, and it was

therefore better to put it in a place by itself,

and, though this false idea had less influence in the cottage garden,

it did harm in all large gardens. In a recent book on the Rose

by Mr Foster-Melliar we read :

I look upon the plant in most cases only as a means whereby I may obtain
glorious Roses. I do not consider the Rose pre-eminent as a decorative plant ;
several simpler flowers, much less beautiful in themselves, have, to my mind,
greater value for general effect in the garden, and even the blooms are, I imagine,
more difficult to arrange in water for artistic decoration than lighter, simpler, and
less noble flowers. It must be remembered that the Rose is not like a bedding
plant which will keep up continual masses of colour throughout the summer, but
that the flush of flowers is not for more than a month at most, after which many
sorts, even of the Teas, will be off bloom for a while, and the general effect will
be spoiled.

He, the author, is only describing the practice and views of the
Rose exhibitors which most unfortunately ruled the practice of
gardeners, and it is very natural many should take the prize-taker
as a guide.

There was some reason in the older practice, because until
recent years the Roses most grown were summer flowering, that is
to say, like our wild Roses, they, had a fixed and short time of
bloom, usually not more than a few weeks ; but in our days, and
within the last fifty years, there have been raised a number of
Roses, which flower for much longer periods. There are, for example,
the Monthly Roses and the lovely Tea Roses, which also come in
some way from the Indian Rose, and which, when well grown, will
flower throughout the summer. So that, while our forefathers might
have been excused for taking the view that Roses are only fit to
plant in a place apart, there is no need for the modern grower to do
so, who is not tied to the show bench as his one ideal and aim.

The Rose is not only "decorative" but is the queen of all

decorative plants, not in one sort of garden, but in many — not

in one race or sort, but in many, from Anna

Back to the Olivier, Edith Giffbrd, and Tea Roses of that

flower garden noble type in the heart of the choicest flower

garden, to the wild Rose that tosses its long arms

from the hedgerows in the rich soils of midland England, and the

climbing Roses in their many forms. And fine as the old climbing

THE NEW ROSE GARDEN. 119

Roses were, we have now a far nobler race of climbing Teas which,
in addition to the highest beauty, have the great quality of flowering,
like Bouquet d'Or, throughout the fine summer and late into the
autumn. Of these there are various climbing Roses that open well
on walls, and give meadows of beauty, the like of which no other
plant whatever gives in our country.

The outcome of it all is that the Rose must go back to the flower
garden — its true place, not only for its own sake, but to save the
garden from ugliness, and give it fragrance and beauty of leaf and
flower. The idea that we cannot have prolonged bloom from Roses
is not true, because the finer Monthly and Tea Roses flower longer
than any half-hardy plants, even without the advantage of fresh soil
every year which such plants enjoy. I have Roses growing in
the same places for many years, which bloom in autumn, and even
into winter. And they must come back not only in beds, but in the
old ways — over bower and trellis, and as bushes where they are hardy
enough to stand our winters, so as to break up flat surfaces and
give us light and shade where all is usually so level and hard.
But the Rose must not come back in ugly ways, in Roses stuck
and mostly starving on the tops of sticks or standards, or set in
raw beds of manure and pruned hard and set thin so as to develop
large blooms ; but, as the bloom is beautiful in all stages and sizes,
Roses should be seen closely massed, feathering to the ground, the
queen of the flower garden in all ways.

A taking novelty at first, few things have had a worse influence
on the flower garden than the Standard Rose. Grown throughout
Europe and Britain by millions, it is seen usually
The Standard Rose, in a wretched state, and yet there is something
about it which prevents us seeing its bad effect
in the garden, and its evil influence on the cultivation of the Rose,
for we now and then see a fine and even a picturesque Standard,
when the Rose suits the stock it is grafted on, and the soil suits
each ; but this does not happen often. The term grafting is used
here to describe any modes of growing a Rose on any stock or kind,
as the English use of the term budding as distinct from grafting
is needless, budding being only one of the many forms of grafting.

Of the evil effect of the Standard Rose any one may judge in
the suburbs of every town, but its other defects are not so clear to
all, such as the exposure high in the air to winter's cold of varieties
more or less delicate. On the tops of their ugly stick supports
they perish by thousands even in nurseries in the south of England.
If these same varieties were on their own roots, even if the severest
winter killed the shoots, the root would be quite safe, and the shoots
come up again as fresh as ever; so that the frost would only

120 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

prune our Rose bushes instead of killing them. Even if " worked "
low on the "collar" of the stock, grafted Roses have a chance of
rooting and keeping out of the way of frost, which they never have
when grafted high in the air. Then there is the fact of certain Roses
disliking stocks, or some stocks, as all buyers of Roses may see
certain varieties always " growing backwards," and soon dying. This
happens even where the first year's growth and flower are all we
could desire. Planter should see whether his Roses improve or not
after the first year, and it is certain that many varieties do go back
when " worked."

Another element of uncertainty is the kind of stock used, Even
if the propagator knows the right stock for the sort he may not for
some reason use it, as many have found to their cost who have bought
Tea Roses grafted on the Manetti, a stock that in any case has no
merit beyond giving a few large blooms for a show the first year ;
and in many cases it paralyses all growth in the kind grafted
on it.

The first care should be to get plants on own roots about as
strong as those worked, and it is not difficult to do this with a
little patience, as some gardeners and even cottagers strike Roses
from cuttings very successfully. But no trial would be of any use
which did not go over the first year or two, because of the dread
phase of the practice alluded to, that the things are grown to
sell, and although they look well when they come to us, after a year
or two perish.

If we go into the Rose garden of the Luxembourg at Paris or any
of the regular roseries in England, we may find half the Roses in a
sickly, flowerless state. So sickly are the bushes, or what remains of
them, that it is common to see a rosery without any Roses worth
picking after the first flush of bloom is past Think of the number
of beautiful things which this has to do with to their harm : — the
flowers fairest of all in form, colour, and odour, from the more
beautiful tea-scented Roses raised in our own days to the oldest
Roses.

Often I have reason to wish that Signer Manetti of Naples
had never been born to give his name to the wretched Rose stock
that bears it, as among my blighted hopes is a plant of Marechal Niel
Rose, the plants on which have remained as they were at first for
the last five years ; but this year beside one of them is in bloom
the poor Manetti Rose, on which the Marechal was grafted, and
as the Tea Rose will not grow, the Manetti begins to take its
place. In some soils and conditions, the Manetti may give some
apparent advantages for the first year in making the plant grow
rapidly, and perhaps giving one or two flowers to be cut off for a

THE NEW ROSE GARDEN.

show, but afterwards it is all the other way ; the Rose fails on it
and Tea Roses do not. grow on it at all. It is quite distinct in
nature from them, and nurserymen who use the Manetti for Tea
Roses do no good to their own craft. People ordering Tea Roses
should be careful to order them never to be sent on Manetti stock.
Even if they do so they may be disappointed, as the large growers
have often to buy from others and so send out Tea Roses on the
Manetti stock, an absolutely sure way to prevent the Roses growing
or ever showing their beauty.

In most gardens where people pay any attention to Roses the
ground in which they grow is in winter densely coated with manure,
often raw and ugly to see in a flower garden —
Eoses and perhaps under the windows of the best rooms of
Manure. the house. This is the regulation way of cata-
logues and books, but it is needless and im-
possible in a beautiful Rose garden. Most of our garden Roses
are grafted on the Dog Rose of our hedgerows, which does best in the
heavy, cool .loams of the midlands, so that if we want the ordinary
grafted garden Rose to do well we must give it not less than 30
inches in depth of like soil. This is often of a rich nature, and it is
very easy to add in putting the soil in all the manure which the
Rose may want for some years, so that the surface of the bed might
be planted with light-rooting rock and like plants, one of the
prettiest ways being to surface it with Pansies and Violets. I have
beds of Tea Roses over which rock plants have been growing for
years without the Roses suffering. Beautiful groups of mossy plants
of all sorts, or little evergreen alpine plants associated with the
earliest flowers, showing that the surface of the Rose garden itself
might be a charming garden of another kind, and not a manure heap.
In the old way of having what is called a "rosery " it did not matter
so much about covering the surface with manure, but where we put
our Rose beds in the centre of the very choicest flower garden or
under the windows of the house it is a repulsive practice. The Rose
can be nourished for long years without adding any manure to
the surface.

If we free our minds from the incubus of these wrong teachings
and practices, many beautiful things may be done with Roses for
garden adornment. What is wanted mainly is that the very finest
Roses, and above all long-blooming ones like Monthly Roses
and such Tea Roses as G. Nabonnand, Marie Van Houtte, and
Anna Olivier, should be brought into the flower garden in bold masses
and groups to give variety and prolonged bloom, using the choicest
Tea Roses in the flower beds, with wreaths of yellow climbing Roses
swinging in the air, and on walls, especially the climbing Tea Roses.

122 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Perhaps it may be worth while to tell the story of a trial that
succeeded as it may be of more use to the beginner. My idea was

to get the best of the Roses into the flower garden
My Rose garden, instead of bedding plants or coarse perennials,

and show at the same time the error of the common
ways of growing Roses. Another point was to help to get the flower
garden more permanently planted instead of the eternal ups and
downs of the beds in spring and autumn and the ugly bareness of the
earth at those seasons, and to see if one could not make a step
towards the beautiful permanent planting of beds near the house and
always in view. Tea Roses only were used for the sake of their
great freedom of bloom, and these were all planted in large groups,
so that one might judge of their effect and character much better than
by the usual ineffective mixed planting. The success of the plan
was remarkable both for length of bloom and beauty of flower and
foliage, variety of kind and charming range of colour, and also
curious and unlocked for variety in each kind. Each Tea Rose
varied as the weather varied, and the days passed on : the buds of
Anna Olivier in June were not the same as the buds of the same
Rose in September, and all kinds showed ceaseless changes in the
beauty of bud or bloom from week to week.

It was easy to abolish the standard as hopelessly diseased and
ugly in effect, but not so easy to get out of the way of grafting on

something else, which is the routine in nurseries,
No standards. and here I had to follow the usual way of getting

all the Tea Roses grafted on the common Dog
Rose, but always getting the plants " worked " low either on the base
of the stock or on the root, so that it is easy in planting to cover the
union of the stock with the more precious thing which is grafted
on to it, and so protect the Rose from intense cold. There is also a
chance in this way of letting the plant so grafted free itself by
rooting above the union. Certainly it is so in my garden in a cool
and upland district. For ten years or so, of the many kinds we
have planted we have had no losses from cold. Some kinds flower,
do well for a year or two, and then rapidly diminish in size
and beauty ; some are very vigorous the first year but die off
wholly in the second. The Wild Rose stock has the power to
push the Rose into great growth the first year, and then, owing to
the stock and graft being of a wholly different origin and nature,
there is a conflict in the flows of the sap, and death often ensues.
Some Roses that grew freely did not open their buds in our
country, and others broke away into small heads and buds which
made them useless. However, out of the thousands planted some
kinds did admirably, and quite enough of them to make a true

124 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

garden of Roses, lasting in beauty throughout the summer and
autumn.

Knowing that we had to face the fact of all the Roses being

grafted on the Dog Rose it was important to give them a deep,

cool loam, and the beds in most cases were dug

Forming Rose out to a depth of 30 inches below the surface.

beds. Although a rocky bottom no drainage was used,

no liquid manure was ever given, and no water

even in the hot summers. The beds were filled with the cool

heavy loam of our best fields, mixed with the old dark soil of the

beds and raised gently above the surface, say, to an average

height of not less than 6 inches, so that there were about 3 feet of

good, rich soil. And this preparation was sufficient for years, the

beds being in some cases quite vigorous after many years'

growth.

Instead of mulching the beds in the usual way, and always vexing
the surface with attentions I thought dirty and needless, we covered
them with Pansies, Violets, Stonecrops, Rockfoils, Thymes, and any
little rock plants to spare. Carpeting these Rose beds with life and
beauty was half the battle. We do not mulch except with these
living plants, many of which are so fragile in their roots that they
cannot have much effect in a bed of 3 feet of moist, good soil. So
that instead of the .bare earth in hot days, the flower shadows are
thrown on to soft carpets of fragile rock or mountain plants that we
think worth growing for their own sake also.

There are a great number of Roses that lend themselves to this,

the old climbing Roses being now aided by a splendid series

of long-blooming climbing Tea Roses which are

Climbing Roses, more valuable still. They should be trained

abundantly over well-formed pergolas, covered

ways, trellises, and fences. In countries a little warmer than ours we

see what can be done with Roses as noble climbers ; in Algeria, and in

Madeira, the climbing Tea Roses running up trees in the loveliest

bloom.

These do not appear to advantage in shows ; but on cool grass

in the hot summer days there is nothing more delightful, whether

they be those of our own country, like the Sweet

Wild and single Brier, Dog and Field Roses, or those of other

Roses. countries, such as the beautiful Altai Rose, the

Rosa gallica and many others. In growing wild

Roses, the best way is not to put them in the flower garden, but

rather by grass walks or rough banks, or in newly made hedgerows.

If their beautiful bloom does not last long, the fruit is pretty, and

though they are not of the things that repay us well for garden

126 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

cultivation, as the best garden Roses do, the wild Roses may often
be used with good effect.

On this day, 1st October 1919, many of the finest Roses are in
good bloom. I have grown Roses here for over a quarter of a
century with success and without the usual excess
Rose culture. of manure below and on the surface, this last
called mulching. It seems to me that to cover
beds near the house with excreta from the farm and other yards is
anything but a sanitary or even a necessary thing to do. So our
Rosebeds are done without it either above or below. We never mulch
the beds, but cover them with beautiful plants instead. We set the
Roses rather thin and add many plants beneath them, mostly low
in stature. The beds were dug deep, a base of poor shale thrown
out for 3 feet. The turf on the surface was buried, and that we
found to be a mistake, as it was full of grubs of daddy-long-legs and
other pests, which destroyed the Carnations for two years afterwards.
We ought to have burned the turf. The soil was cool loam rather
heavier than I should make it now, being then misled by the
catalogues, which told us that Roses must have heavy soil and heaps
of manure. Now we only cover the surface with beautiful life, and
practise rotation on that. For example, one year's Mignonette is
followed by the Missouri Primrose.

In past years an enormous amount of manure was used in
gardens in excess of what the plants really needed. Deep soil and
a good free texture soil is quite as important. Let us not forget that
some so-called artificial manures are really natural, such as bone and
other fertilisers, which may be used when helpful ; but in my garden,
where we have certainly the finest Roses, for many years we use no
stable manure.

I have some reason to think that the usual way of grafting
Roses on the Dog Rose is not the best way for the varieties
of soils and conditions in Britain in which all wish to grow
them.

Tea and China Roses were grown for many years, and as they
were invariably bought grafted on the Dog Brier of the hedgerow,
much trouble arose from suckers. But in this case the plants were
kept in view in bold groups for ten or more years. In that way the
effect of soil, climate, and growth could be seen better than in
growing single plants. The main result was that more than half
the kinds of Tea Roses perished on the Dog Brier, some after
flowering badly for years and some dying altogether ; others did
well and remained in health. Some like Comtesse du Cayla flowered
bravely for some years, and then came the briers in strong force and,
being anchored on the great roots of the Dog Brier, were very hard

THE NEW ROSE GARDEN. 127

to get up. The right way with all the Chinese Roses is to raise
plants from cuttings.

Some Roses of very great value go back in the most provoking
way, like a beautiful Rose, Mrs D. M'Kee. With them we had
great success from cuttings put not in the heavy loam of the Rose
beds but in the lighter soil of the fruit garden.

The main difficulty is transplanting, the roots being more fragile
than those of the Brier. The best way of all is to put the cuttings
where the plants are wanted to grow, and so ensuring to them a
long life. The best time to make cuttings of the half-ripened wood
is in September, or, in warm valleys, a little later. Our cuttings
are usually about 10 inches long and often with a heel, and are
inserted for the greater part of their length in the freest sandy loam
in the place. We began with heavy soil, which in catalogues is said
to be the best — that is because the Brier being universally used the
soil must suit it ; but for the Teas and Chinas the best soil is a free
sandy loam in which the roots can find all they need.

Among the confusing and useless classifications are the
following : — Bourbon, Boursalt, Damask, Hybrid Bourbon, Hybrid
China, Hybrid Perpetual, Hybrid Sweet Brier, Hybrid Tea-
Scented, Hybrid Decorative Moschata, Noisette, Provence, Semper-
virens. These are all hybrids, and their classification is impossible
and useless. It is much better only to consider them in an
alphabetical list.

THE SUMMER GARDEN BEAUTIFUL.

CHAPTER XIV.

CARNATION, LILY, IRIS, AND THE NOBLER SUMMER FLOWERS.

THE flowers of our own latitudes, when they are beautiful, are
entitled to the first place in our gardens, and among these flowers,
after the Rose, should come the Carnation, in all its brilliancy of
colour, where the soil and climate are fitted for it, as is the case over
a large area of our sea-girt land.

Our flower gardens have to a great extent been void of beautiful
flowers and plants ; but instead, acres of mean little sub-tropical weeds
that happen to possess a coloured leaf — Coleus, Alternanthera, Perilla,
etc. — occupy much of the ground which ought to be true flower
gardens, but which is too often set out with plants without fragrance,
beauty of form, or good colour.

It is not enough that the laced, flaked, and other varieties of
Carnation should be grown in frames or otherwise ; we should show
the flower in all its force of colour in our flower gardens. Many
who have not the skill, or the time, for the growth of the " florists' "
flower, would yet find the brilliant " self" Carnations delightful in
their gardens in summer and autumn, and even in winter, for the
Carnation, where it does well, has a fine colour-value of foliage in
winter, which makes it most useful to all who care for colour in
their gardens, adorning the garden throughout the winter and spring,
and full of promise for the summer and autumn.

What Carnations are the best for the open air? The kinds of
Carnations popular up to the present day are well known by what
is seen at the Carnation shows, and in the florists' periodicals, like
the Floral Magazine, and, indeed, all similar periodicals up to our
own day, when I began to insist that all flowers should be drawn as
they are. The artist should never be influenced by any " rules " or

128

CARNATION, LILY, IRIS, AND THE NOBLER SUMMER FLOWERS. 129

" ideals " whatever, but be allowed to draw what he sees. This all
conscientious artists expect, and it is the barest justice. If we
raise new forms, or what we consider "perfect" flowers, let the
artist see them as they are, and draw them as he sees them, without
the confusion of drawing impossible hybrids between what he sees
and what he is told is perfection in a flower. It was the want of
this artistic honesty which left us so worthless a record in illus-
trated journals of the past century, where the artist was always told

Carnations and Roses at Gravetye.

to keep to the florists' " ideal " as to what the flower should be,
hence the number of plates of flowers of many kinds all "drawn"
with the compass. Behind the florists' plates of this century we
have the pictures of the Dutch flower painters containing fine
Carnations, well grown and admirably drawn after nature. These
artists were not confused by any false ideal, and so we have a
true record of what the Carnation was three hundred years ago.
In these pictures we generally see the finer striped and flaked kinds
given the first place, which is natural, as such varieties are apt to
strike people the most; and in those days little consideration had

I

1 30 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

yet been given to the question of effect in open gardens. In our
own day this question has been forced upon us in very unpleasant
ways by masses of crudely arranged, and not always pretty flowers.

Over a very large area of the United Kingdom Carnation culture
may be carried out well, and perhaps most successfully near the sea.
The gentler warmth of the shore in some way influences this, and in
any case the best results I have seen from out-door culture have been
in places like Scarborough, Edinburgh, Anglesey, the shores of
Dublin Bay, and in sea-shore gardens generally where the soil is warm
and good. It is wonderful what one may do in such places as
compared with what is possible, say, in the Weald of Kent. At
Scarborough we may see Carnations almost forming a bush ; near
Edinburgh tufts of the Clove Carnation 5 feet in diameter, whereas
in the Weald we have to plant annually. In our island the area
for shore gardens being very large, we may see how important the
flower in gardens in sea-shore districts may be.

The Lily had to go too from the flower garden of our own day ;

it was too tall, and no doubt had other faults, but like the Rose

it must come back, and one of the gains of a free

Lily and Iris. way of flower gardening is that we are able to put
Lilies or any other flowers in it at any season that
suits their planting, and that their bloom is welcome whenever it
comes, and leaves us content with brown stems when it goes. If in
the large flower garden we get some diversity of surface through
groups of the rarer flowering evergreen shrubs, we have for these the
very soil that our Lilies thrive in, and we break up in pretty ways
these groups by planting Lilies among them, gaining thereby two
seasons of bloom, light and shade in the masses, and diversity of
form.

The Iris, too, with its Orchid-like beauty and flower, and with a
higher value of leaf than either Lily or Orchid, is in summer-flowering
kinds fit to grace the flower garden with some permanent beds. Some
will tell us that we may not do these things in the set flower garden
under the windows, but from an artistic point of view this is not true
and very harmful. There is no flower garden, however arid or
formal in its plan, which may not be planted in picturesque ways
and without robbing it of fine colour either. But to do that in the
face of ugly plans we must be free to choose among all beautiful
things of the open air, not forgetting the best of the half-hardy
plants that enjoy our summer — Heliotrope, great Blue Salvia,^ not
forgetting Scarlet Geranium — no more than Cardinal Flower ; annual
summer flowers, too, from Sweet Pea to Stocks, Mignonette, and
Pansy. A true flower garden is one which has a place for every
flower its owner cares for.

CARNATION, LILY, IRIS, AND THE NOBLER SUMMER FLOWERS. 131

There is no reason for excluding the best of the summer flowers,
from Hollyhocks to Sea Hollies, choosing always the best and those

that give the most pleasure, and never coarse or

The tender weedy plants. For these the true place is the

summer flowers, shrubbery and wild garden. It was the use of

these coarse and weedy plants that did much
harm in old mixed borders, when they were allowed to eat up every-
thing. In those days they had not the choice of fine plants we now
have, many of the finest we have coming in our day, like the Lilies
of Japan and of Western America, and also the new Water- Lilies.
These last are above all flowers of the summer, and whenever there
is any garden water, they add a distinct and enduring charm to the
summer garden. We should not only represent them, but also the
other water plants of the summer ; and as shown in the chapter on
the water garden, many handsome plants can be grown in rich soil
that often occurs near water, massed in picturesque groups, like
Loosestrife, Meadow Sweets, and Japanese Iris.

' /> .

^SjaWlSt ?/ MM

Garden near Loch Kishorn, Ross. From a water colour drawing by F. Stainton

Orange trees in tubs, Tuileries.

THE SUMMER GARDEN BEAUTIFUL.

CHAPTER XV.

PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR.

IN old days and for ages it was not easy nor always possible
to many to have a garden in the open air. The need of mutual
aid against the enemy threw people into closely packed cities, and
even small towns in what might seem to us now the open country.
In our own country, free for many years from external enemies, we
have spread our gardens over the land more than others ; but in France
farmers still go home to a town at night from the open and often
homeless and barnless plain where they work. And so it came
to pass that the land of Europe was strewn with towns and cities,
often fortified, and many of those most able to enjoy gardens had
to do the best they could with little terraces, walls, tubs by the door,
and even windows. Often in Italy and other countries of the south
of Europe and north Africa we see beautiful plants in tubs, on
balconies, on flat roofs, and every imaginable spot where plants can
be grown in a house in a street. In our country there is less
need nowadays for the garden in tubs ; but the custom is bound
up with ways of growing plants which are still essential to us
in some cases.

In many gardens plants in tubs are often used without good reason,
as when hardy evergreen trees are grown in tubs ; in front of the
Royal Exchange in London there are hardy Poplars in tubs ! Some
may pursue this sort of gardening with advantage — first, those who

132

PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 133

have no gardens, and secondly, those who have and who may desire
to put half-hardy bushes in the open air, for example, Myrtle or
Oleander or Orange, which cannot be grown out of doors through-
out the year, and which yet may have fragrance or other charms
for us. Many plants can be grown in the open air in summer which
will not endure our winters, but which, placed in a cellar, dry
room, or cool greenhouse, would be quite safe, and might then be put
out of doors in summer. This way is commonly the case abroad
with large Datura, Pomegranate, and Myrtles, and a great variety
of plants such as we see put out in tubs in certain old palace
gardens, like those of Versailles. What was called the orangery,
and has almost disappeared from English gardens, was for keeping
such plants alive and well through the winter, and in old times, if
not now, had a very good reason to be.

There are many charming plants too tender for the open altogether
that are happy in tubs, and may be sheltered in an outhouse or
greenhouse through the winter — such as the Pomegranate and the
Myrtle. The blue African Lily is often happy in tubs, its blue
flowers when seen on a terrace walk having a distinct charm, but
in England, generally, it must be kept indoors in winter.

Excellent use may be made of the great handsome oil-jars, which
are used to bring olive oil from Italy to London, and the best things
to put in them are half-hardy plants, which can be taken intact into
the cool greenhouse or conservatory at the approach of frost. Even
Seakale pots can be filled with half-hardy plants, like scarlet Pelar-
goniums, which have good effect in them. In some rich and moist
soils the Pelargonium grows to leaves and does not flower, and in
such cases we can humour it into good bloom by growing it in pots
or vases in the light soil that suits the plants.

One of the most curious examples of routine and waste I saw

in the Tuileries gardens on the last day of September 1896, when

the Paris people were preparing for the Czar,

Orange trees in and among their labours was the refurbishing

tubs. of the old Orange trees in these gardens. There

was a regiment of them set all along the gardens

at regular intervals in immense and costly tubs, involving herculean

labour to move in and out of the orangery. One might suppose

this labour to be given for some beautiful end in perfecting the

flower or fruit of the plant, but nothing of the kind ; the trees

are trained into mop heads, and when the plants make any

attempt to take a natural growth they are cut sharply back, and often

have an uglier shape than any mop. The ground was strewn with

shoots of the orange trees which had been cut back hard. When

the tree was in poor health, as it was often, the dark stems were the

134 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

most visible things seen against the blue sky. This costly and ugly
work is a survival of the time when the "golden apples" were a
novelty, and it was not so easy to go and see them growing in the
open air as it now is, and so what was worth doing as a curiosity
hundreds of years ago is carried out still. Since the idea of growing
these trees in such an ugly fashion arose we have had a noble
garden flora brought to us from all parts of the earth, and it would
be easy to take our choice of different ways of adorning this garden
in more artistic ways with things in the open ground, and of far
greater beauty. If this thing at its best and done with great cost
has such a result, what are we to think of the English imitations of
it, such as those at Panshanger, in which hardy shrubs, like Portugal
Laurels, are used, and sham tubs placed around them ?

I saw the vast orangery terrace at Sans Souci in July 1897, an<^
was deeply struck by its " ornaments " in tubs ; the branches of the
poor distorted trees like black skeletons against the summer sky
showing that even with all the aids of artifice, no good result with
tubbed oranges is got in northern Germany any more than in
northern France. In the warmer south a little better result may be
had from trees in tubs, but a few days' journey brings us to orange
trees growing as freely and gracefully as willows in Tunis and Algeria
and the countries round the Mediterranean.

The Laurel is a winter garden plant over a large area of northern
and central Europe, where the true Laurel (our gardeners and
nurserymen erroneously give the name to the
The Poet's Laurel vigorous evergreen Cherry, of which we have too
in tubs. much in England) is a tender evergreen, requiring

the protection of a house in winter. It is grown
to a vast extent in tubs to place jn the open garden, on terrace,
or in courtyard during the summer. The cultivation of the Laurel
for this purpose is carried on to such an extent that miles of
handsome trees in various forms may be seen in one nursery.
There is no plant more worthy of it than the true Laurel, which
we usually call the Sweet Bay, and those who cannot enjoy
the plant out of doors, as we may in many of the warmer districts of
the British Isles, would do well to grow it in tubs, in which state
they may enjoy it both in winter and summer. It would be worth
while growing it in the same way in cold and northern districts,
where it is killed or much hurt in winter, and this sometimes occurs
in parts of southern England. Near the sea it may flourish, and
20 miles inland be cut down to the ground, or so badly hurt that
it gives no pleasure to see. In gardens where one may have fine
groups of the tree on sunny slopes, we should never think of it in any
other way, and no evergreen tree gives us more beauty when old and

PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 135

untrained and undipped. Once the plants are stored for the winter,
sometimes in sheds with little light, it is best to give no water. In
the same way we may also enjoy the Laurustinus in districts where
it is killed by frost out of doors, which in hard winters happens even
in the southern countries. This is all the more unfortunate as this
shrub and its varieties flower so prettily. If grown well in tubs
we may flower them in the cool house and place them out of doors
in summer.

The old way of growing plants in the orangery is still much
more practised in France than with us, and a few words as to
the mode of culture in use may be useful. Though
Cultivation of t^ie Orange fr°m which the structure gets its name
plants in is not often happy in it, other plants like the
orangeries. Myrtle, Pomegranate, African Lily, and Hyd-
rangea may often be kept with safety through
the winter in such a house.

Among shrubs we have the Pomegranate, Oleander, Orange,
Fuchsia, Myrtle, Camellia, in fact, all those that are commonly
placed for shelter in greenhouses during winter. For shrubs like
these the year has two seasons: (i) that during which they are
placed for shelter in the orangery or the cool house, or in the absence
of these, some place where the conditions of temperature, air, light,
and construction are similar ; and (2) the summer season when they
are taken out into the open air and set in variously exposed situations
in order that they may mature, grow, and bloom.

In October the shrubs are removed to warm corners. The
shedding of the leaf in some plants gets rid of one difficulty, that
of their preservation during the winter, as the
Winter summer-leafing kinds are so easy to store away

cultivation. if the frost be kept out. Half-hardy evergreen
shrubs require to be kept in a well-lighted house,
but shrubs, like Fuchsias and Pomegranates, which shed their
leaves in autumn, can during winter be conveniently kept in any
dark place, such as a cellar or warm shed, and in their case watering
will scarcely be required. As a general rule, for orangery shrubs,
the temperature may be such as will exclude frost ; some kinds, how-
ever, will be found to withstand a hard frost, like the Oleander.
Although the summer-leafing, shrubs scarcely need water at all
during the winter, it is needed for evergreen shrubs. Even here we
shall have to make a distinction. For instance, the Orange tree
requires more water than the Myrtle, arid the Myrtle more than
the Proteads. In the majority of orangeries the plants are watered
every two or three weeks during winter, and daily after the month
of April, and those who cultivate Orange trees are able to tell

136 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

us that want of water, which is always prejudicial to this tree, may
even result in a complete loss of leaf. There are two plans for
avoiding the ill effects of too abundant watering, and the first is
to plant in soils which allow the water to run away freely, the
second is to use boxes with sides that can be opened from time to
time to enable the roots to be seen.

In May, and if possible during cloudy weather, all plants in the

orangery are transferred to sunny and sheltered places outside. The

pots, if small, will have to be plunged, as this

Summer keeps the roots in good condition. In this, as
cultivation. i ^

in other cases where the plants are in pots or

boxes, we shall have occasionally to give some manure, and weak

Orangery, Holm Lacey, Hereford.

liquid manure gives good results. This is the Belgian method,
and one of its effects is that it enables us to postpone re-
potting of the plants and permits of the employment of smaller
boxes and vases as compared with the size of the trees. In the
nurseries of Ghent and in France, too, we often see Sweet Bays
with heads more than a yard in width, whilst the tubs they are in
scarcely measure 20 inches in diameter, and under such conditions
the plants thrive for years without enlargement of the tubs or change
of soil, thanks to feeding with liquid manure.

The same things may be said of the plants in the cool house,
or any house in which we store almost half-hardy Palms, Cycads,
Tree Ferns, or other plants which may with advantage pass a few

PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 137

months in the open air in summer. All of these, in fact, may be
treated much as the Blue African Lily is treated, allowing always for
the differences between evergreen shrubs, like the Orange, Eugenia,
and Myrtle ; herbaceous plants, like the sweet-scented Plantain Lily
grown in pots and in courtyards in France, and summer-leafing
shrubs like Fuchsia, Justicia and Pomegranate.

The need of the orangery strictly so-called is now lessened by

two causes: (i) our rich, hardy garden-flora with many things as

lovely as any that grow in the tropics ; (2) the

Mrs Earle on nearly universal adoption of the greenhouse, in

plants in tubs, which many plants find shelter in winter that in
old times would have been housed in the orangery.
But notwithstanding these changes there are still some plants worth
while to keep over the winter in any convenient way, and the follow-
ing extract from The Garden shows how a good amateur gardener
manages them as an aid to her flower gardening.

" A great deal of real gardening pleasure is to be had from grow-
ing plants in pots and tubs or in vases and vessels of various kinds
both in small and big gardens. I use large Seakale pots, when they
are no longer wanted for the Seakale, by turning them over, putting
two bits of slate in the bottom of the pot, some drainage, and
a few lumps of turf, and then filling up with good garden mould.
Another useful pot is one called a Rhubarb pot. If you live
near a pottery they will turn you out almost any shaped pot
you fancy. Flat ones, like those used by house painters, make
a pleasant change, especially for small bulbs. Petroleum casks
cut in two, burnt inside, then tarred and painted, are invaluable
tubs. I use butter-casks treated in the same way, and have
some little Oak tubs in which bullion came from America. These
are very strong, and some water-loving plants do much better
in wood, since the evaporation in summer is not nearly so rapid
as from the earthenware. That is an important thing to remember
both as regards sun and wind. If the plants are at all delicate
and brought out of a greenhouse, the pots, when standing out,
ought to be either quite sunk into the earth or shaded. This
cannot be done in the case of pots placed on a wall or terrace
or on a stand, and so they must not be put out in the open till the
end of May. Constant care about watering is also essential. Even
in wet weather they often want more water if the sun comes out, as
the rain wets the leaves, but hardly affects the soil at all. On the
Continent, where all kinds of pot cultivation have been longer
practised than in England, flower-pots are often glazed outside,
which keeps the plants much moister because of less evaporation,
and makes less necessity for frequent watering. The large red jars

138 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

in which oil is still conveyed from Italy, covered with their delightful
coarse wicker-work, are useful ornaments in some gardens. They
are glazed inside, and boring a hole in the bottom of them is not very
easy work. They have to be more than half-filled with drainage, and
plants do not do well in them for more than one season, as the
surface of the earth exposed at the top is so small. In old days
the oil merchants in the suburbs of London used to cut them in two
vertically and stick them against their houses, above their shops,
as an advertisement or ornament. The enthusiastic amateurs will
find that they get two very nice pots by sawing them in half
horizontally just below the sham handles. The top part when
reversed requires the same treatment as was recommended for the
Seakale pots."

The first rule, I think, is to grow in them those plants which do
not grow well in your own local soil. To put into a pot what is

flourishing much better in a bed a few yards off is,
What to grow, to my mind, a mistake. I grow large old plants

of Geraniums in the open ground, and they are
kept on in the greenhouse from year to year, their roots tied up in
Moss, and crowded into a pot or box with no earth and very little
water through the winter ; they can be kept in a cellar or spare
room. Early in April they are potted up and protected by mats
in a pit, as I have no room for them in the greenhouse. This
causes them to be somewhat pot-bound, and they flower splendidly
during the latter part of the summer. Marguerites, the yellow and
the white with large leaves, are good pot plants early in the year,
far prettier than the narrow-leaved kinds. A double Pomegranate I
have had for many years in a pot, and if thinned out in the summer
it flowers well ; also two small Orange trees. The large old-fashioned
Oak-leaved, sticky, Cape sweet Geranium, which has a handsomer
flower than the other kinds, makes a very good outdoor pot plant.
Fuchsias, especially the old-fashioned fulgens, are satisfactory.
Carnations, Raby Castle, Countess of Paris, and Mrs Reynolds Hole
I grow in pots, and they do well ; they must be layered early in
July, and answer best if potted up in September and just protected
from severe frosts.

In fine summers, Myrtles and Oleanders flower well with me in
tubs, not in the open ground. I treat Oleanders as they do in

Germany — cut them back moderately in October
Myrtles and and dry them off, keep them in a coach-house,
Oleanders. warm shed, or wherever severe frosts will not reach

them. When quite dry they stand a moderate
amount of frost. Then in March they are brought out, the surface is
stirred and mulched, they are taken into a greenhouse and brought

PLANTS IN VASES AND TUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 139

on a bit. In May they are thickly covered with good, strong horse
manure and copiously watered. At the end of the month they are
stood out in the open on a low wall. During May, June, and July
they cannot have too much water ; after that they want much less, or
the leaves turn yellow and drop off. Some years I grow Solanum
jasminoides over bent wires in pots ; grown thus it is pretty. The
variety of plants which can be tried for growing in pots out of doors in
summer is almost endless. Nothing I grow in pots is more satis-
factory than the old-fashioned Calceolaria amplexicaulis ; it does not
grow to any perfection with me in the beds, the soil being too dryr
but potted, it makes a splendid show through the late summer and
autumn months. The shrubby Veronica speciosa rubra, and V,
Imperialis, I grow in pots because they flower beautifully in the
autumn and the drowsy bumble-bees love to lie on them in the
sunshine when Sedum spectabile is passing away. They are not
quite hardy with me, as they cannot withstand the long, dry, cold
springs. This in itself justifies the growing them in pots ; in mild,
damp districts they are large shrubs.

The blue Agapanthus everybody grows in tubs. The plants

have to be rather pot-bound and kept dry in the winter to flower

well, and as the flower-buds form they want well

Agapanthus and watering and a weekly dose of liquid manure,

Hydrangeas. Hydrangeas I find difficult to grow when planted
out ; the common kinds do exceedingly well in
tubs in half shady places if they get a good deal of water. Large
standard Myrtles I have had covered with bloom in August in tubs.
My large old plant, which I had had many years, was killed by
being turned out of the room it had wintered in too early, because
I came from London sooner than usual. The great difficulty in
small places is housing these large plants in winter. They do not
want much protection, but they must have some, and the death
of large old plants is grievous.

Woodlands, Surrey. M. T. E.

CHAPTER XVI.

BEAUTY OF FORM IN THE FLOWER GARDEN.

THE use in gardens of plants of fine form has taught us the value
of grace and verdure amid masses of flowers, and how far we have
diverged from artistic ways. In a wild state brilliant blossoms are often
usually relieved by a setting of abundant green, and where mountain
or meadow plants of one kind produce a sea of colour at one season,
there is intermingled a spray of pointed grass and leaves which tone
down the colour masses.

We may be pleased by the wide spread of colour on a heath or
mountain, but when we go near we find that it is best where the
long moss cushions itself beside the ling, and the fronds of the Poly-
pody come up around masses of heather. If this be so on the hills,
a like state of things is more evident still in the marsh or wood. We
cannot attempt to reproduce such conditions, but the more we keep
them before our eyes the nearer shall we be to success, and we
may have in our gardens (without making wildernesses of them
either) all the light and shade, the relief, the grace, and the beauty of
natural colour and form too.

A recent demand for .£2,000, for the building of a glass house
for Palms for the sub-tropical garden of Battersea Park, throws
light on the costly system of flower gardening in this and other
public gardens. This was only a small part of the cost of keeping
the tender and half-hardy plants in a glass nursery and was not
a demand of money for a Palm-house which the public might

140

Hardy Palm in the open, Cornwall.

142 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

enjoy ; but was to be part of the expenditure on some glass-
sheds which they would never see, and were merely to grow the
plants to be put out for a few months in summer.

In our flower gardens Palms can only be seen in a small state ;
nor can they in pots and tubs give one any idea of the true beauty
of the Palm on the banks of the Nile or the Ganges. But, worse
than this, the system leads to the neglect of the many shrubs and
trees of the northern world, which are quite as beautiful as any Palm.
The number of public gardens that are being opened in all directions
makes it all the more important that the false ideal they so often set
out should be made clear. I do not say we should have none but
hardy plants in public gardens, but the concentration of so much
attention and of the greater part of the cost on such feeble examples
of tropical plants as can be grown in this country out of doors for
a few months in the summer has a very bad effect. The things
which may be grown to perfection in the open air in any country
are always the most beautiful, and should always have the first place
in our thoughts.

Looking round the London parks we see much waste in trying to
get effects of form from Palms and various tender plants, strewn in all
directions, often dotted about and marring the foreground of scenes
that might be pretty. Where this is done there is rarely any attempt
to get effects of fine form from hardy trees, shrubs, and plants,
a much simpler process than building costly glasshouses.

For our gardens, the first thing is to look for plants that are
happy in our climate, and to accustom ourselves to the idea that
form may be as beautiful from hardy as from tender things. Many
tropical plants in houses cut down close and kept small, would,
if freely grown in the open air in their own country, be no more
striking in leaf than the Eastern Plane. Many plants that are quite
hardy give fine effects, such as the Aralias, herbaceous and shrubby ;
Aristolochia among climbers ; Arundo, hardy and very pretty beside
water ; the hardy Bamboos of Japan and India ; these last increasing
in number, and are very distinct and charming, and often rapid
growers in genial parts of the country, especially near the sea. A
considerable number will probably be found hardy everywhere. The
large leaved evergreen Barberries are beautiful in peat soils, and
grouped in picturesque ways, effective for their noble leaves as well
as flowers.

The Plume Poppy (Bocconia) is handsome for its foliage and
flowers, even in ordinary soil. A great number of the larger hardy
Compositae (Helianthus, Silphium, Senecio, Telekia, Rudbeckia) are
fine in leaf, as are some of the Cotton Thistles and plants of that family.
The common Artichoke of our gardens and its allies are fine in form

I

Pampas Grass in a Sussex garden.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ahii flatyer, but apt to be cut off in hard winters in some soils.
The Giant Fennels are most graceful early leafing things, thriving
admirably in sandy and free soils. Plantain Lilies (Funkia) are
important, and in groups their foliage is excellent. The Pampas
Grass is precious where it grows well, but in many districts is
gradually killed by hard winters. Where it has the least chance, it
should be planted in bold masses. The great leaved Gunneras are
superb near water and in rich soil. The giant Cow Parsnips are
effective, but apt to take possession of the country side, and are
not easily exterminated, and, therefore, should be put in with a
sparing hand in islands and rough places only. The large Indian
evergreen Rockfoils are fine in form, and in their glossy foliage are
easily grown and grouped in picturesque ways, and they are very
hardy.

In sandy and free soils a handsome group of beautiful leaved

things may be formed of Acanthus. The new Water-Lilies will

help us much to fine foliage, especially in associa-

Acanthus. tion with the many graceful plants, including

certain hardy Ferns which may be grown near

water, like the Royal Fern, which in rich soil and shade makes

leaves as fine as any tropical Fern. In southern districts the New

Zealand Flax is effective in gardens, and the great Japan Knotworts

(Polygonum) are handsome in rough places in the wild garden, and

better kept out of the flower garden. Some of the Rhubarbs, too,

are distinct and handsome and very vigorous by the water side,

where the great water dock often comes of itself. It is a stately

genus, and though we may not find room for many in the garden, it

may be easy to do so by the water .side or in rich ground anywhere.

With our many fine-leaved plants from temperate and cool climes
it is possible to have beautiful groups of hardy fine-leaved plants, for
trees like the Ailanthus and Paulownia make almost tropical growth if
cut down close to the ground every year. We have also the hardy
Palm (Chamaerops), the Yuccas, and graceful Bamboos, and Siebold's
Plantain Lily (Funkia), and plants of a similar character. Amongst
those annually raised from seeds, and requiring only the protection
of glass to start them, we have much variety from the stately Castor-
oil plant to the silver Centaurea. Although tender plants in pots are
effective in summer in special positions, plants that cannot stand
out of doors from the beginning of June until the end of September
can hardly be called fit for summer gardening. Among the most
suitable are several kinds of Palm, such as Seaforthia elegans,
Chamaerops excelsa, and C. humilis ; Aralias, various ; Dracaenas,
do. ; Phormium tenax and its variegated form ; Yucca aloifolia,
Ficus elastica, and some Eucalyptus. Erythrinas make fine autumn

BEAUTY OF FORM IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 145

groups and are brilliant in colour, and useful for lighting up masses
of foliage.

The hardiest Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica, looks well when
plunged in shady dells with overhanging foliage for shelter ; and

several varieties of dwarf Ferns, such as the Bird's-
Ferns. nest Fern, are admirable for undergrowth to this

Fern. Plants raised from seed will, however,
usually form the majority, owing to the lack of room under
glass for many large plants. Of plants raised from seed the
most useful are Cannas, which may be taken up and wintered
under glass, or securely protected in the soil. Most of the tall
light green-foliaged varieties flower freely and make excellent
centres for groups, while the dwarf bronze-foliaged sorts are good for
vases. Solanums have also been effective in the south. The spiny-
leaved S. robustum, the elegant cut-leaved S. laciniatum, and S.
Warscewiczi make good single specimens, or edgings to groups of
taller plants. Wigandias, Ferdinanda eminens, and Melianthus
major are all useful ; and Acacia lophantha, Amaranthus, Cineraria
maritima. Bocconias, with their tall spikes of graceful flowers and
noble foliage, are very effective and permanent plants and several
varieties of Rhus or Sumach have good foliage, Rhus glabra laciniata
among them.

As to arrangement, the best beds or sets of beds are those of the
simplest design. Shelter is a great aid, and recesses in shrubberies

or in banks clothed with foliage, form the most
Shelter. fitting background for beds or groups to nestle

in. Avoid Musas or Caladiums, the leaves of
which tear to shreds if winds cannot be shut out, and also
plants that look unhappy after a cold night or two. Make the
most of plants that grow under nearly all conditions, and use any
dell overhung by trees for half hardy fine-leaved plants. A garden
where each plant spreads forth its delicate foliage will form a pleasant
change from brilliant bedding plants, or severely geometric carpet
beds.

Better effects may be obtained from hardy plants only than from
tender ones. There are the Yuccas, hardy, and unsurpassed by
anything of like habit grown in a hothouse ; the Arundos, con-
spicua and donax ; fine hardy plants like Crambe cordifolia, Rheum
in variety, Ferula and umbelliferous plants, as graceful as tenderest
exotics. Then we have a hardy Palm that through all our recent
hard winters has preserved its health and greenness wherever its
leaves could not be torn to shreds by storms.

As an example of fine form from hardy plants, I cannot do
better than give the New Zealand Reed (Arundo conspicua). This

K

146 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

handsome Grass produces its blossom-spikes earlier than the Pampas
and is more elegant in habit, the silky white tufts bending like
ostrich plumes at the end of slender stalks. .

Wherever space can be afforded, hardy Yuccas should be grown,

for few hardy plants are so distinct in foliage and manner of growth ;

but they appear to best advantage arranged in

Yuccas in groups, bold groups, near trees and shrubs, and forming

a harmonious contrast to them. Perhaps the

best situation is a sloping ground fully exposed to the mid-day

sun, and backed by evergreens. If allowed space for development,

they will every year add beauty to the place. The handsome

spikes of their large cream-coloured flowers are extremely effective,

especially when relieved by a background of verdure. Yuccas

like a well-drained soil, and thrive on a subsoil of pure chalk, and

they delight in full exposure to the sun, and enjoy shelter from

rough winds. Hence the advisability of planting them near trees

or shrubs.

In grouping Yuccas, a better effect is obtained if some of the
specimens have the head of their foliage from 3 feet to 6 feet
above the soil. These tall plants should not, however, be placed in
a back line, but some should be allowed here and there to advance
into the foreground, some of the smaller specimens nestling at
their feet. The effect of a group thus arranged charms by its
irregularity and quaint beauty.

Among the more tender plants, we must choose such as grow
healthily in sheltered places in the warmer parts of England. The
kinds with stout evergreen foliage, such as the New Zealand Flax
arid the hardier Dracaenas, will be as effective here as they are
around London and Paris, and to them the northern gardener should
direct his attention. Even if it were possible in all parts to cultivate
the softer-growing kinds to the same perfection as in the south of
England, it would not be always desirable, as they cannot be used in-
doors in winter. The best are the many evergreen plants that stand
out in summer without injury, and may be transferred to the con-
servatory in autumn, to produce through the cold months as fine an
effect as in the flower garden in summer. One kind of arrangement
in particular must be guarded against. I mean the geometro-pictur-
esque one, which is seen in some parts of the London parks devoted
to sub-tropical gardening. The plants are often of the finest kinds
and in the most robust health, and all the materials for the best
results are abundant; yet the result is not artistic, owing to the
needless formality of the beds and the heaping together of many
specimens of one kind in long masses straight or twisting, with
high raised edges of hard-beaten soil.

The Tall Arundo : Golden Field. Liphook.

148 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The first and the last word to say about form is, that we should
try and see beauty of form everywhere among plants that suit our

climate. The willows of Britain are as beautiful
Beauty of form, as the olives of Italy, or the gum trees of

Algeria and the South of France ; so that,
although the sub-tropical as a system of flower gardening has
failed throughout our country generally, and can only be carried
out well in the south of England and the warmer countries of Europe,
we need not deprive ourselves of the enjoyment of the finest
forms near and in our gardens. The new Water-Lilies take us to the
waterside, and there are many good forms even among our native
flowers and weeds. The new hardy Bamboos are also very graceful
and most distinct, of which several of the highest value promise to be
hardy in our country. What can be done with them, and a few
other things, we can now see in the Bamboo garden at Kew, at
Batsford Park, and other places. The common hardy Japan Bamboo
has thriven even in London, and it is not only waterside or herbaceous
plants of all kinds we have to think of, but the foliage of trees,
which in many cases is quite as beautiful as that of the dwarfer
plants. The hardy trees of North America are many of them beauti-
ful in foliage, from the Silver Maple to the Scarlet Oak, and Acacias
from the same country have broken into a number of beautiful
forms ; some are as graceful as Ferns. These trees, if obtained on
their own roots, will afford us fine aid as backgrounds. The Aralias
of Japan and China are quite hardy and almost tropical in foliage,
while the beauty that may be got from Ferns is very remarkable
indeed, our native Royal Fern being of noble proportions when well-
grown in half-shady and sheltered places in deep soils, as at Newick
Park, and the same is true of all the bold American Ferns, plants
too often hidden away in obscure corners, whereas the boldest of
them should be brought out in our cool British climate to form
groups on the lawn and turf. This applies also to our larger native
Ferns, which, massed and grouped away from the old-fashioned
fernery, often tell better. In this way they are used in some
German gardens. We do not illustrate them in this chapter,
because the reader has simply to turn to the chapter on the Fern
garden to see some of their fine forms.

If any one objects that some of the plants mentioned in this
chapter are coarse, such as the great leaved composite, the answer is
that, on the other hand, many of them are refined and delicate, such
as the Acacias, Acanthus, Asparagus, Bamboos, and Ferns. Great
Reed, Pampas and Bulrush evergreen, Barberry, and graceful Cypress,
Cedar and Fir. Plantain Lily and Adam's needle — not forgetting
the fine foliage of the Tea Rose.

150

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

During recent years the most graceful things and of permanent
value in our gardens are Bamboos.

The Bamboo garden formed a few years ago at Kew has proved

so well adapted for the plants, that a few notes as to its position

and soil may be of value to the numerous readers

Bamboos at Kew. who intend to grow the Bamboos. A position

was selected in the middle of a wood near the

Rhododendron dell, and taking advantage of a hollow already

existing there, the ground was lowered some 5 feet or 6 feet below

the surrounding level. A belt of shrubs on the north and east sides,

Gunnera and Bamboo.

between the trees and the Bamboos, together with the low level, affords
them a shelter almost as perfect as can be furnished out of doors.
Even the bitterest north-easter loses a good deal of its sting before
it reaches these Bamboos. What the cultivator of Bamboos has
most to fear is not a low temperature merely — most of the Bamboos
will stand 20° or 25° of frost in a still atmosphere — but the dry winds
of spring.

Bamboos like best a free, open, sandy loam, and the greater part
of the soil at Kew is poor and sandy ; but there is, in one part, a belt
of good stiff loam extending for a few hundred yards, and it is on
the border of this that the Bamboo garden is situated. At the com-
mencement the ground was trenched to a depth of 3 feet, and

BEAUTY OF FORM IN THE FLOWER GARDEN.

enriched with leaf-soil, and where necessary lightened with sandier
soil. These plants can scarcely be over-fed, and in well-drained soil
can scarcely be over-watered, and an annual mulching with rich
manure is of the greatest advantage.

In regard to transplanting, the best time to plant is in spring,
when growth begins. The renewal of growth is indicated by the

unrolling of the young leaves, which may be in

Transplanting April or May, according to the winter. Bamboos

Bamboos. are very difficult to kill outright, but treated

improperly they are apt to get into a stunted con-
dition, which it takes them a long time to recover from. I would advise
those who wish to try these plants to obtain them from the nursery-
men in autumn or winter, if they have been grown in pots, and to
give them greenhouse treatment till the end of May, when they can
be planted out in a growing state ; but, on the other hand, if they
have been planted out in the nursery ground, not to have them sent
off till the end of April or later, when they can be set out at once.

Plants hardy or half-hardy, with fine Foliage or Form, for use in
British Gardens.

Acacia

Cannabis

Dracaena

Ligularia

Ricinus

Acanthus

Carduus

Equisetum

Mega sea

Rumex

Agave
Ail an thus
Alsophila
Amaranthus

Car ex
Carlina
Carludovica
Caryota

Eryngium
Eucalyptus
Farfugium
Ferdinanda

Melia
Melianthus
Molopospermum
Montagnaea

Sagittaria
ocirpus
Seaforthia
Senecio

Andropogon

Centaurea

Ferula

Morina

Silphium

Aralia

Chamaedorea

Ficus

Mulgedium

Silybum

Aristolochia

Chamaepeuce

Funkia

Musa

Solanum

Artemisia

Chamaerops

Gourds

Nicotiana

Sorghum

Arum

Cordyline

Gunnera

Nuphar

Struthiopteris

Arundo

Corypha

Gynerium

Onopordon

Thalictrum

Asparagus

Crambe

Gymnocladus

Osmunda

Tupidanthus

Asplenium

Cucurbita

Hedychium

Paulownia

Typha

Astilbe

Cyathea

Helianthus

Petasites

Uhdea

Bambusa

Cycas

Heracleum

Phcenix

Veratrum

Berberis

Cynara

Inula

Phormium

Verbascum

Bocconia

Cyperus

Jubaea

Polygonum

Wigandia

Buphthalmum

Datisca

Kochia

Polymnia

Woodwardia

Caladium

Dicksonia

Kcelreuteria

Rheum

Yucca

Calla

Dimorphanthus

Latana

Rhus

Zea

Canna

Dipsacus

Torch lilies.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN AUTUMN.

Now who hath entered my loved woods,

And touched their green with sudden change ?
Who blanched my Thistle's rosy face,

And gave the winds her silver hair ?
Set Golden-rod within her place,

And scattered Asters everywhere ?
Lo ! the change reaches high and wide,

Hath toned the sky to softer blue ;
Hath crept along the river side,

And trod the valleys through and through !

RECENT additions to our garden flora have made such a difference
to the flower garden in the autumn that it may be even more
beautiful than the spring, rich as that is in flowering trees and shrubs.
The use of half-hardy, or bedding plants, which are often showy
in autumn, gives a certain amount of colour which is very precious ;
and the introduction of many beautiful hardy flowers gives us the
means of making the autumnal garden very fine in colour effects.
It would be easy to give the names of many things that are to be
found in flower in gardens in autumn, but that is not nearly so im-
portant as getting an idea of many of the nobler class of plants which
may be effectively used at that time, no matter almost what the
season may be. Half-hardy plants for the garden depend very much
on the summer, and certain seasons are so much against them
that they make no show ; but this cannot be said of the hardy
flowers of nobler stature and beauty, which are so well fitted
for our climate, like the many Sunflowers. Certain plants may
depend for success on soil and situation, or even climate, even when

152

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN AUTUMN.

153

they are hardy, as the Fuchsia, which is so much better in the coast
and west country gardens ; but, when everything is left out that wants
any extra culture or advantages of climate and soil, there remain
for every garden many beautiful things for the garden in the fall.

Of those that can generally be trusted for our country, I should
say that, of all the gains of the past generation, the brilliant groups
of plants of the Sunflower order were the finest, handsomest, and
most generally useful for their disregard of any weather likely to
occur. The masses of fine form and colour one may have with these
when grouped in picturesque ways are remarkable. With the Sun-
flowers are included not only the Helianthus strictly, of which there
are so many good kinds now, but also other showy Prairie flowers of
the same natural order, which approach them in character, such as
Rudbeckia, Silphium, Helenium, and other vigorous families of this
numerous tribe of plants. Many of these thrive in any soil, and
make their way in rough places and among shrubs, or in parts of
gardens less precious than those we keep for our best flowers.

For delicate and fine colour the first place belongs to the Tea
and Monthly Roses, of which the best kinds should always be
grown in the open air. Of the kinds which open
Tea and best in England, a delightful garden may be made
Monthly Roses, in autumn, in fine seasons enduring right to the
end. Until quite recently no one trusted the Tea
Rose out in bold masses in the flower garden, and hence the ordinary
red Rose, not generally flowering late, was kept by itself. A greater
mistake could not be, because these most precious of all Roses
go on blooming throughout the summer and autumn, and very
often they vary in bloom ; the flowers of September will not
be the same as the flowers of June, the buds also will vary. So
we have not only lovely Roses throughout the fine season, but also
variety every week, every shower seeming to influence the bloom.
There is such great variety among them that every week seems to
give us a new aspect of beauty. In my garden I planted several
thousands of Tea Roses in this way, not only for their beauty,
but also with a view of testing the kinds best for our country.
Some kinds which are fine abroad do not open well with us, but a*
number of beautiful kinds do, and we have never seen any picture of
garden beauty equal to theirs in such a fine autumn as that of 1895.
We had thousands of blooms open until the end of September, almost
as showy as bedding plants, but far more refined in colour, frag-
rance, and everything that makes a plant precious. Almost the
same thing may be said of the neglected Monthly Roses, which have
this charm of late flowering, in many cases even in cold northern
districts.

154 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

But the most precious, perhaps, of all flowers of autumn for all

parts of the country, grouped in an artistic way, are the hardy Asters

of the American woods, which lived for ages in

Starworts. our gardens in mean bundles tied up in mixed

borders like besoms. The best of these massed

and grouped among shrubs or young plantations of trees,

covering the ground, give an effect new and delightful, the colour

refined and charming, and the mass of bloom impressive in autumn.

Some kinds come in flower in summer, but nearly all the loveliest

Asters in colour flower in September and October, and no such good

colours of the same shades have ever been seen in the flower garden.

It is not only the Asters of America we have to consider, but the
still more precious Asters of Europe, which by their extraordinary
beauty make up for their rarity. Professor Green, of California, who
knows the American Aster well, on seeing here a plant of Aster
acris, said, " We have none so beautiful as that." This is the Aster
with the beautiful blue purple flower which is so effective when
massed. Under different names this plant is grown in nearly allied
forms, some having specific names, enabling us to enjoy plants of
different stature but the same high beauty, flowering at slightly
different times, but always at their best in autumn. With these
should be grouped the handsome large Italian Aster, which also has
its half-a-dozen forms, not differing much, but precious for their
variety, and among the prettiest plants ever seen in our gardens. It
is none the less valuable because as easily cultivated as the common
Balm of the kitchen garden. For the last two years I have had
several thousand plants of these European Asters beneath a group of
half-grown Fir, just as they might be in their wild state, but rather
thicker, as the spot is a cultivated one, and have never had the
same return of beauty from anything else. Be the weather what it
may, the lovely blue and purple was a picture, and landscape
painters came to paint the scene.

We give the first place to these because they are almost inde-
pendent of soil or cool climates. Hardy as the Chrysanthemum is,
the same cannot be said for it, because, as an
Sunflowers outdoor flower, it must have a sandy soil and
and Starworts. warm positions, and cool soils, even in southern
England, are against it. In warm and free
soils, like that at Hazlemere, one may see delightful results from
the cottage Chrysanthemums, which are very pretty where they
can be grown against low walls or pailings. Other plants which are of
the highest value in endurance and freedom of bloom are the Heaths
of our own islands. Their effect is good, summer and winter ; but in
autumn some of them flower in a pretty way, particularly the Cornish

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN AUTUMN. 155

and the little Dorset Heath, and the Irish Heath in its purple and
white forms.

Among the half-hardy plants of the garden perhaps the first place
belongs to the Dahlia, which was always a showy autumn flower, but
of late has become more precious through the beauty of what are called
Cactus Dahlias, which are so much better in form and colour than the
roundheaded Dahlias.

The hardy Fuchsia is in the warmer and milder districts often
very pretty in autumn, especially where it is free enough to make
hedges and form large bushes ; but in cold and midland places the
growth is often hindered by hard winters. Gladiolus is a splendid
flower of the south, but coming more into a class of flowers requiring
care, and if they do not get it soon disappearing, liable also to disease,
and, on the whole, not so precious as showy. The last few years
have brought us magnificent varieties of the Cannas through the
crossing of some wild species with the old Hybrid kinds. Unfortun-
ately, although in warm valleys and under special care here and
there they do well, our country is not generally warm enough to
show their fine form and colour as in France and Italy.

The addition of Lilies to our garden flora within the past generation
has had a good effect on the autumn garden. Where the finer kinds
are well grown, the varieties of the Japanese Lilies,
Japanese Lilies, with their delicate and varied colours, are splendid
autumn flowers for the open air. The Anemones,
usually flowers of the spring, come in some forms for the autumn
garden, particularly the white and pink kinds. The handsome
Bignonia, or trumpet creeper, is precious on all warm soils, but
generally it has not done so well with us as in France. Several kinds
of Clematis come in well in autumn, particularly the yellow and the
fragrant kinds. The Pentstemons are handsome and very valuable in
warm soils and districts where they may live out of doors in winter,
but in London districts they are not so good. A splendid autumn
flower is the Cardinal Flower, and happy should be those who can
grow it well. It fails in many gardens in loamy soil, and where there
is insufficiency of water, being a native of the bogs, and thriving best in
moist and peaty soil. A number of fine varieties have been raised, and
are brilliant in suitable soils ; but without these they are best left alone.
These are extremely effective in autumn, and in warm soils they
are often among the handsomest things, but, not being northern
plants, are unable to face a northern winter.
Torch Lilies. Happily this is not so with the beautiful new
Water - Lilies raised by M. Latour Marliac,
which are hardy in the open air, even with such weather as
that of the early part of 1895. Though perhaps the best bloom

156 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

comes in summer, they flower through the autumn, varying, like
the Tea Rose, according to the weather, but interesting always
up to the end of September. We should also name the
Hollyhock, which is, however, so liable to accident from disease,
and those who care for it will do well to use seedling plants.
Seedsmen are now saving seed of different colours which come
fairly true.

A handsome group of vigorous perennials for the autumn are the
Polygonums. Some of the large kinds, such as the Japanese and
Indian, are not showy, but massed picturesquely on margins of a
wide lawn, and on pieces of stiff soil which are useless in any garden
sense, are effective for many weeks in autumn, as the flower is pretty,
and the foliage of one kind is often fine in colour. I have three kinds
of them massed together, growing like great weeds, namely, P.
cuspidatum, sachalinense, and complexum, and a very soft and good
effect they gave together in a rough hollow where no garden plants
less vigorous than these would have grown.

Thus we have a noble array before coming to some old flowers
of autumn, the Meadow Saffrons or " autumn Crocuses," many of
the common kind of which fleck the meadows in
Autumn Crocus, autumn. There are other kinds, too, which of
recent years have been added in greater numbers
to our gardens, some of them pretty, and the double kinds prettier
than most double flowers. As they grow naturally in meadows, in
turf is a delightful way to have them in gardens, though new
and rare kinds should be grown in nursery beds until they are plenti-
ful. They are not difficult to grow, and should often be placed
in moist grassy places.

The true autumn Crocuses are very little seen in gardens,
but are most delicate and lovely in colour. Coming for the most
part from sunny lands, they do best in light soils; but some, like
C. speciosus, grow in any soil, and all are worth growing. Among
the best is C. nudiflorus, naturalised in Britain, in colour one of
the most lovely flowers. To get little pictures from such plants
we must have them happy in grass or among dwarf plants, and
on sunny banks and grassy corners of the lawn or pleasure ground.

In mid-October they have often taken away large areas of bedding
plants in the London parks ; while, at the same time, there are many
lovely hardy flowers in perfect bloom. No doubt severe frosts may
destroy any kind of flower soon, but for those who live in the country in
the autumn it is something to have bright colours and beautiful plants
about them late, and these are afforded as well by the Starworts and
other hardy plants in October, as the fairest flowers that come in
June. When we have a severe September about London, many

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN AUTUMN.

157

gardens of tender plants are shorn of their beauty, whereas, the hardy
flowers go on quite untouched for a month or six weeks later, and
not merely bloom, as do Heliotrope and Geranium, in a fine autumn,
but as the meadow flowers in summer, with vigour and perfect
health. Therefore, it is clear that, whatever the charms of tender
plants may be for the summer, those who live in the country
in autumn are unwise to trust to anything but the finer hardy
plants.

Thus, without touching on rarities or things difficult to grow, we
have a handsome array of beauty for the autumn garden, even leaving
out of the question the many shrubs and trees which are beautiful in
foliage or fruit in autumn, and there are many of these in any well-
stored garden.

Some hardy and half-hardy Plants blooming in British Gardens.
September — October.

Abutilon

Crocus

Hyacinthus

Aconitum

Cuphea

Hypericum

Aga pan thus

Cyclamen

Iberis

Ageratum

Dahlia

Impatiens

Amaryllis

Delphinium

Lantana

Anagallis

Desmodium

Laurustinus

Anemone

Dianthus

Lavender

Arnebia

Diplacus

Liatris

Aster

Diplopappus

Lilium

Berberidopsis

Eccremocarpus

Linaria

Bignonia

Erica

Linum

Brugmansia

Escallonia

Lobelia

Calceolaria

Fuchsia

Lonicera

Campanula

Gaillardia

Lupin

Canna

Geum

Lychnis

Cassia

Gladioli

Lythrum

Ceanothus •

Godetia

Magnolia

Celsia
Centaurea

Gypsophila
Helenium

Marigold
Matthiola

Chrysanthemum

Helianthus

Mignonette

Clematis

Heliotrope

Mimulus

Colchicum

Hieracium

Montbretia

Convolvulus

Hollyhock

Nicotiana

Coreopsis

Honeysuckle

Nigella

CEnothera

Pampas Grass

Pansy

Papaver

Pentstemon

Petunia

Phlox

Phygelius

Physalis

Physostegia

Plumbago

Polygonum

Prince's-feather

Pyrethrum

Rose

Rudbeckia

Salpiglossis

Salvia

Scabious

Sedum

Senecio

Silene

Silphium

Snapdragon

Solanum

Solidago

Statice

Strawberry

Sweet Peas

Sweet William

Telekia

Trachelium

Tradescantia

Tritoma

Tritonia

Tropa;olum

Tuberose

Valerian

Venidium

Verbascum

Verbena

Veronica

Viola

Yucca

Zephyranthes

Zinnia

Lily and Zephyranthes, Kew.

Winter Jasmine.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN WINTER.

THE idea that winter is a doleful time for gardens must not be
taken seriously even by those who only grow hardy things out of
doors ; because between the colour of the stems and leaves of trees,
or shrubs, there is much beauty left, even in winter, and in mild
winters good things venture to flower. Mr Moore, of Dublin, wrote
to me in midwinter :

After a very open winter we have had a sharp snap of cold, and to-day (Jan. 20)
it is blowing a bitterly cold storm from the east. To-day has opened Winter
Sweet and Winter Honeysuckle ; Iris Stylosa, blue and white, Christmas Roses
and Winter Heliotrope are beautiful ; in fact, I never saw them so good.

But even where, owing to hard winters, we cannot enjoy our
flowers in this way, there is much beauty to be had from trees and
shrubs, evergreen and summer-leafing. Hitherto we have been all so
busy in planting evergreens in heavy masses, that the beauty one
may realise by using a far greater number of summer-leafing shrubs
and fine herbaceous plants among the evergreens is not often seen.

Gardens are too often bare of interest in winter, and some of
the evil arises from the common error that plants are not worth
seeing in winter. The old poet's wail about the dismal winter is
a false one to those who have eyes for beauty. Woods are no less
beautiful in winter than in summer — to some they are more beautiful

158

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN WINTER. 159

for the refined colour, tree form and the fine contrast of evergreen
and summer-leafing trees. In any real garden in winter there is
much beauty of form and colour, and there are many shrubs and
trees which are beautiful in the depth of winter, like the Red and
Yellow Willow and Dogwoods, and even the stems of hardy flowers
(Polygonum). The foliage of many alpine plants (Epimedium) are not
only good in colour, but some of these plants have their freshest hues
in winter, as the mossy Rockfoils of many kinds. In the country
garden, where there are healthy evergreens as well as flowering
shrubs and hardy plants, how much beauty we see in winter, from
the foliage of the Christmas Roses (Helleborus) to the evergreen
Barberries! The flower gardener should be the first to take notice
of this beauty and show that his domain as well as the wild wood
might be interesting at this season.

For the dismal state of flower gardens in winter the extravagant

practice of our public gardens is partly to blame. A walk by the

flower-beds in Hyde Park on Christmas Day, 1895,

Flower gardens was not a very enlivening thing. One by the

in winter. bent-bound dunes of the foam-dashed northern

shore, on the same stormy day, might be more

instructive — for here is a large garden carried out with the very

extravagance of opulence, and not one leaf, or shoot, or plant, or

bush in it from end to end ; giants' graves and earth puddings —

these and iron rails and the line of Planes behind. The bare beds

follow each other with irritating monotony with only five feet of

grass between. The southern division of this garden is nearly

500 paces long, and so even that those not in the habit of seeing

this costly garden can imagine its ill effect in winter. Nearly

500 yards of a garden sacrificed for its kaleidoscopic effects in

summer, and barer and uglier in winter than words can tell of. A

more inartistic arrangement would be impossible, and there is no

chance of variety, breadth, or repose even in summer.

How are we to break up such an arid space as this in winter ? One
of the best ways would be to group families of the choicest flowering
shrubs, which would be worth having for their own sakes, and at
the same time would give relief to the wintry waste of desolation.
At present any relief is only to be obtained by carrying out in early
summer Palms and Bamboos from the hot-house, which is a very
expensive and poor way in a country like ours. In forming groups
of the more beautiful flowering shrubs, I do not mean anything like
the present brutal treatment of shrubs in the London squares, where
the surface is dug, and the shrubs are trimmed like besoms, ending
in frightful ugliness; but each group of plants grown well by itself
and let almost alone when once established. They would give

160 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

relief in the summer ; they often flower beautifully ; and here and
there they might form dividing masses, so as to throw the un-
wieldy space into parts, which would help to secure variety- and
contrast.

The result of planting and placing rightly well-chosen hardy
shrubs would be a good background here and there ; a smaller area
to plant with summer things ; less dependence on such feeble
examples of tropical plants as one can grow in Britain ; light and
shade, and a variety of surface as well as more variety of plants and
bushes ; in short all the life of the garden instead of a dead waste.
Not only would the winter effect be improved, but the summer
also. The objection that some shrubs do not flower long enough is
not serious, as we have their beauty of form and leaf, and delicate
green and other fine colour of foliage. The tropical plants put out
to relieve the flowering plants do not, many of them, flower at all,
and do not give such good relief as hardy shrubs and choice trees.

This is not a question of town or public gardens only, as it arises
in many private places, and especially in large gardens, where much
of the surface is given to half-hardy summer flowers. As to the
common plan for getting rid of the winter bareness of such beds by
evergreens and conifers in pots, it is impossible on a large scale, and
sticking potted conifers in a flower garden to drag them away in
spring is at best a very costly business.

The stems of all herbaceous plants, reeds, and tall grasses in
winter, are very good in colour, and should always be allowed to
stand through the winter and not be cut down in
Keep the stems, the fidgety-tidy way that is so common, sweeping
away the stems in autumn and leaving the surface
as bare and ugly as that round a besieged city. The same applies to
the stems of all waterside and herbaceous plants, stems of plants in
groups often giving beautiful brown colours in many fine shades.
Those who know the plants can in this way identify them in winter
as well as in summer — a great gain in changing one's plantings and
in increasing or giving away plants. Moreover, the change to all
these lovely browns and greys is a distinct gain as a lesson in colour
to all whe> care for refined colour, and also in enabling us to get
light and shade, contrasts and harmonies in colour. If these plants
are grouped in a bold and at the same time picturesque way, the
good of letting the stems remain will be far more evident than in
the weak " dotty " way generally practised, the seed pods and dead
flowers of many plants helping the picture. There is no need to
remove any stem of an herbaceous plant until the spring comes and
the growing shoots are ready to take the place of the brown and
dead ones, which then may be cleared away.

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN WINTER. 161

Apart from our evergreen shrubs, so happy as these are in many
parts of the British Isles, there are the oft-neglected evergreen rock
and herbaceous plants, such as Christmas Roses,
Evergreen Barrenworts, Heuchera, Alexandrian Laurel, the
plants. bolder evergreen Ferns, and the large Indian

Rockfoils, Saxifraga, or Megasea. In early
winter these fine evergreen plants become a deeper green,
some forms getting red. They have been in our gardens
for years, but are seldom made a right use of. Thrown into
borders without thought as to their habits, and soon forgotten
or overshadowed by other things, we never get any expression
of their beauty or effect in masses or groups. If grouped in
effective ways, they would go on for years, giving us fine evergreen
foliage in winter. In addition to the wild kinds, a number of fine
forms have been raised in gardens of late years. Some thought
should be given to the placing of the large Rockfoils, their mountain
character telling us that they ought to be on open banks, borders, or
banky places exposed to the sun, and not buried among heaps of tall
herbaceous and miscellaneous vegetation. They are so easily grown
and increased that a little thought in placing them in visible masses
is the only thing they call for ; and the fact that they will endure
and thrive under almost any conditions should not prevent us from
showing how fine they are in effect when held together in any bold
way, either as carpets, bold edgings, or large picturesque groups on
banks or rocks.

The Alexandrian Laurel (Ruscus racemosus) is a most graceful
plant, somewhat shrubby in character, with glossy dark green leaves
and Willow-like shoots. It is most free and happy on peaty and
friable soils, growing 3 feet or 4 feet high ; in winter the effect
is very good, and it is valuable for the house, to give a graceful and
distinct foliage to accompany various flowers at this season. It
grows very well in Ireland on the limestone. In clay soils it may
want a little encouragement, and it thrives well in partial shade.

A noble winter flower where well grown, and lovely in its wild

state in the foot-hills of the Alps, in Italy, and countries near ;

happily, it flowers in our gardens very Well also,

Christmas Rose, varying a little in its ways. The stout kind

(H. maximus) flowers in the early winter in

front of walls and in sheltered spots, and is hardy and free in

ordinary soil. The true Christmas Rose (H. niger) is a little

more particular ; it thrives much better on chalky and warm soils,

and grows best on a northern aspect or shaded place ; and even

in its own country the finest plants are found in places where it

escapes the sun. These are true winter flowers ; but hardly less so

L

1 62 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

are the Lenten Roses, or forms of the Oriental Hellebores. In the
southern counties, five seasons out of six, no weather stops them
from being fine in flower before the winter is past ; they often
bloom in January and make a handsome show in February, and
they are the finest of all flowers to end the winter. The Winter
Heliotrope (Tussilago fragrans) is not to be despised, although it is
a bad weed, and hard to get rid of. The way to deal with it is to
put it on some rubbish heap, or gravel bank, right away from the
garden, where a handful of it may be gathered when wanted.

The Algerian Iris flowers in warm sandy borders in the country

around London, and in mild winters is a great treasure, not merely

for its beauty in warm sheltered corners, but also

Algerian Iris. its precious qualities for the house, in which the
flowers, if cut in the bud state, open gracefully
if placed in basins in moss. In warm and sheltered gardens,
on warm soils, others of the winter blooming Iris of the East
may be grown, while in such gardens, in the south at least, the
good culture of the sweet Violet will often be rewarded with many
flowers in winter.

A beautiful Italian Crocus (Impemti) often flowers in winter in
the southern counties at least, as, where people take the trouble to
get them, do C. Sieberi, Dalmaticus, Etruscus, Suaveolens and others.
This habit of some of the winter flowers of the south of Italy and
Mediterranean region to open in our green and open winters should
be taken advantage of. The fate of these Crocuses is interfered
with by the common field vole, and the common rat is also a great
destroyer of the Crocus. Where these enemies do not prevail, and
the soil favours these charming winter and early flowers, we can grow
them, not only in the garden, but on the turf of sunny meadows and
lawns in which these beautiful Crocuses will come up year after
year in winter and early dawn of spring.

The Winter Sweet (Chimonanthus fragrans) is in bloom .often

before Christmas in the country around London, and every shoot

full of fragrant buds opening on the trees against

Shrubs and trees south and west walls. The many bright berries

in the which adorn our country, both in the wild land

winter garden. and in well-stored gardens, are rather things of
the autumn. By mid-winter the birds are apt
to clear them off Wild Roses, Briers, Barberry, and Thorns,
American as well as British. The' Fyracantha, however, stays with us
late; and Hollies, Aucuba, Cotoneaster, Snowberry, and the pretty little
hardy Pernettya, from the Straits of Magellan, which has broken into
such variety of colour in our country, are among those that stay
late. The bright berries may fail us in hard winters, but the colour

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN WINTER.

of the trees and bushes that bear
them never does ; and the red and
yellow Willow, Dogwood, Thorns,
Alders, Birch, and many Aspens
and Maples, give fine colour when
massed or grouped in any visible
way. Still more constant are the
flowering shrubs of winter, where in
sheltered gardens and warm valleys
any attention is given to them —
Winter Jasmine, Winter Sweet,
Winter Honeysuckles, Wych -
Hazel, Japan Quince in many forms,
Laurustinus, several Heaths, Ar-
butus, at least one variety of
Daphne Mezereon, the pale South-
ern Clematis (Calycina) happy in
our warmer gardens, Eleagnus, the
Nepal Barberry, a Chinese Plum
(P. Davidiana), and the catkin
bearing Garrya and Hazel. The
Winter Honeysuckles are a bit
slow in some districts, and a better
result is got from them on free
soils, and from walls in sheltered
corners, an immense difference re-
sulting if we can have them near
the sea, with its always genial in-
fluence in favour of things from
climates a little warmer than our
own. In heavy soils in the inland
country and around London the
Laurustinus often comes to grief
or fails to flower well, but has
great beauty in seashore districts,
and often on sandy and gravel soils
is charming, even in inland places.
The hardy and beautiful Winter
Jasmine, which is so free on cottage
walls and wherever it gets a chance,
is most precious, owing to the way
it opens in the house, especially
if gathered in the bud state. If
we have it in various aspects, such

Winter Sweet, drawn by H. G. Moon from shoots
gathered at Gravetye, New Year's Day, 1895.

!64 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

a contingency as the sun scorching the shoots after a frost and killing
the flowers may be avoided, and the flowers will come later. The
plant is so free that, if the shoots are allowed to hang down, they
root in the ground like twitch, and therefore it can be increased very
easily, and should be seen in visible groups and lines, and not only
on the house or on walls, as in the milder districts it forms pretty
garlands and bushes in the open. I have a little oak fence covered
with it, which is usually very pretty about Christmas. In mild
winters its beauty is extraordinary out of doors, and in the hardest
winters the buds will open in the house.

When the Dogwood has lost all its leaves and is a deep red by
the lake, and the Cardinal Willow has nearly taken its winter colour,

the dwarf autumn blooming Furze flowers far into
Furze. winter, and is in perfect bloom on the drier

ground, telling us of its high value where dwarf
vegetation not over a yard high is desired. It is seen in
abundance on many hills and moors, but is hardly ever planted by
design. A good plant for all who care for low foreground vegetation,
it may be planted like Common Furze, but by far the best way is to
sow it in spring in any bare or recently broken ground. The Common
Furze, too, of which the season of bloom is spring and mild winters,
often flowers at Christmas ; odd plants here and there in the colonies
of the plant bearing quite fresh flowers ; and if from the nature of
these native shrubs they do not find a place in the flower garden,
there are few country places where they may not be worth growing
not far from the house, in covert, or by drives or rough walks, as
no plants do more to adorn the late autumn and winter.

These are excellent for the winter garden in their brown and
grey tuftiness. The forms of the common Heather and the Cornish

Heath are best for rough places outside the flower
Hardy Heaths, garden, but some kinds of Heath are among the

best plants for the choicest winter garden of the
open air, particularly the Portuguese Heath (E. Codonodes),
which in mild winters is of great beauty ; also a hybrid between
the Alpine forest Heath (E. carhea) and the Mediterranean Heath,
with the port and dense flowering habit of the Alpine Heath
and the earlier bloom of the Mediterranean Heath. The Alpine
forest Heath, the most precious of all hardy Heaths, often flowers
in mild winters, and in all winters is full of its buds ready to open.

So far we are speaking of districts where there are few advantages
of climate ; if we include others there might be more flowers in the
winter garden, and many varied flowers are seen in gardens in the
Isle of Wight, and many other favoured gardens not always confined
to the Southern part of England and Ireland : the Cornish, Devon,
South Wales or Cork Coasts being far more favourable. From

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN WINTER.

165

these places Roses, Indian Daphne, and many other flowers, have
often been sent to me in perfect bloom in January.

If the snow shrouds the land, all's well, as the leaves of ever-
green plants, like Carnations, are at rest in it, and some plants are all
the better for the peace of the snow for a time. Even if our
eyes are not open to the beauty of the winter let us make the
flower garden a real one for spring, summer, and fall, as if it were

true that in winter

The year

On the earth her deathbed, in a shroud of leaves dead,
Is lying.

But it is not true : there is in winter no death, every root works
and every bud is active with life ; the wooded land is tender with
the colour of Alders by the busy wintry stream and Birch on the
airy hill, Reeds fine in colour round the lake or marsh. If even
our wild marsh or rough woodland be beautiful in winter, our gardens
with the flora of three continents to gather from, should not then
be poor in beauty. No! Winter is not a time of death, but of
happy strife for plants and men.

Until her

Azure sister of the spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet birds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill.

Hazel catkins. From a drawing by H. G. Moon.

CHAPTER XIX.

WATER GARDENS.

IT is not only from the mountain's breast dyed with Violet and
Gentian, the Sunflower-strewn prairie of the north, or the sunny fields
where Proserpine gathered flowers, that our garden flora comes.
River and stream are often fringed with handsome plants, and little
fleets of Water-Lily — silvery fleets they look as one sees them from
the bank — sail on the lakelets far away in North America and Asia.
One need not go so far to see beautiful plants, as our own country
rivers and back-waters of rivers possess many. Our gardens are often
wade about towns where there are few chances of seeing our native
mater plants, but by the back-waters of rivers and by streams in many
situations, and by lakes like the Norfolk Broads one may often see as
handsome plants in these places, and also in the open marsh land,
as in any garden, and some that we do not often see happy in gardens,
such as the Frogbit, the Bladderwort, and Water Soldier.

Where, as often is the case in artificially made ponds, the margin

of the water is not the rich deep soil that we have by the Broads and

by the sides of rivers, which themselves carry

In artificial down deep beds of rich soil, a good way is to

waters. put the mud which we take out of the pond

around its sides a little above and below the

water-line. This will encourage a rich growth of such Reeds as

are found beside natural waters. Water with a hard, naked, beaten

edge and little or no vegetation is not good to look at, and a margin

of rich living plants is better for fish and game as well as for effect.

The waterside plants one may establish in that way are worth having

and give good cover for duck.

Perhaps the most beautiful of all water gardens are the river and
stream gardens, as their form is so much better than anything we
can make and the vegetation is often good even without care. With
a little thought we can make it much more so, and in our river-
seamed land there are so many charming opportunities for water-
garden pictures.

166

mi

1 68 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The water margin offers to lovers of hardy flowers a site easily
made into a fair garden. Hitherto we have used in such places
aquatic plants only, and of these usually a very
Waterside plants, meagre selection ; while the improvement of the
waterside may be most readily effected by planting
the banks near with vigorous hardy flowers, as many of the finest
plants, from Irises to Globe Flowers, thrive in moist soil. Water-
side plants have this advantage over water plants that we can fix
their position, whereas water plants spread so much that some kinds
over-run others. The repeating of a favourite plant at intervals
would mar all ; groups of free hardy things would be best : Day
Lilies, Meadow Sweets, tall Irises, which love wet places ; Gunnera,
American swamp Lilies in peaty soil, the rosy Loosestrife, Golden
Rods, Starworts, the Compass plants, Monkshoods, giant Knotworts,
Moon Daisies, the Cardinal Flower, the common Lupine — these are
some of many types of hardy flowers which would grow freely near
the waterside. With these hardy plants, too, a variety of the nobler
hardy Ferns, such "as the Royal Ferns and Feather Ferns, would
associate well.

Water plants of northern and temperate regions associated
with our native water plants, add much beauty to a garden. If the
soil be rich, we usually see the same monotonous
Water plants, vegetation all round the margin of the water, and
where the bottom is of gravel there is often little
vegetation, only an unbroken, ugly line of washed earth. A group
of Water-Lily is beautiful, but Water-Lilies lose their charm when
they spread over the whole of a piece of water, and even waterfowl
cannot make their way through them. The Yellow Water-Lily
(Nuphar lutea), though less beautiful, is well worthy of a place,
and so is the large N. advena (a native of America), which pushes
its leaves above the water. The American white Water-Lilies
(Nymphaea odorata and N. tuberosa) are hardy and beautiful,
and of recent years much beauty has been given our water plants in
the hybrid hardy Water-Lilies raised by M. Latour Marliac, who
has added the large and noble forms and the lovely colour of the
Eastern Water-Lilies to the garden waters of northern countries.
The splendid beauty of these plants should lead people to think of
artistic ways of planting garden waters.

Even where natural ponds exist it frequently happens that the

banks of the pond, as well as the water itself, are either perfectly

bare, or are covered only by the rankest weeds.

Forming the The ponds chiefly considered here are those mostly

water garden, formed without cement, by natural flooding from a

brook, streamlet or river. If the water supply

WATER GARDENS. 169

is abundant and continuous, it matters little whether a portion
of the water is wasted by percolating through the sides of the
pond, but when only a small supply can be had the bottom and
sides of the pond must be either concreted or puddled with clay. It
often happens that when the excavations for a pond are completed
the bottom is found to consist of impervious clay, but the sides
consist of ordinary soil, which would allow a large portion of the
water to waste. In such cases the best way out of the difficulty is
the cutting of a narrow trench, say 18 inches wide, to a depth a little
beyond the surface of the natural clay subsoil. This trench, which
should skirt the whole pond at some little distance from the actual
edge of the water, is then filled with clay "puddle" till just above

Riverside plants in front of an old manor — Levens.

the water-line and forms an effective remedy against waste, while
the water-soaked soil between the trench and the actual outline of
the pond forms an excellent home for all kinds of marsh plants of
the bolder type. The outline of a pond is of the utmost importance.
Regular curves of circles or ovals are utterly out of place and look
ridiculous in a landscape with naturally undulating ground.

The water-soaked margins of our ponds and brooks would furnish
a home for many graceful fine-foliaged and flowering plants. One of
the noblest of our plants with large leaves delight-
Margins of ing in such a position is Gunnera manicata.
water. Gunnera scabra also likes a similar position, but

its leaves seldom attain a diameter of more than
5 feet, while Gunnera magellanica is quite a pigmy. Rheum Emodi
from the Himalayas, Rheum palmatum from Northern Asia, and

i yo

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

the Siberian Rheum undulatum are also effective plants for the
waterside. Of an entirely different type is the noble Arundo donax.
The Pampas Grass (Gynerium argenteum) and its early flowering
companion, Arundo conspicua, from New Zealand, may also be
mentioned as graceful plants for the waterside. Much dvvarfer, but
also effective, is the Elymus, with broad glaucous foliage contrasting
well with the fine deep green foliage of Carex pendula or the still
finer Carex riparia and Cyperus longus.

Natural grouping of waterside plants.

The plants just mentioned as suitable for the waterside are valued
mostly on account of their foliage. But among flowering plants also

handsome varieties may be found that might with
Flowering plants, great advantage be used for decoration at the

waterside much oftener than is at present the
case. Few things are brighter than the brilliant purple flowers
of Lythrum Salicaria var. roseum superbum, or the large yellow
flowers of Inula, Helenium and Telekia speciosa. Groups of Iris
Kaempferi and the well-known Iris germanica, also look exceed-
ingly well on the margin of a pond, and the "flowering" Fern
(Osmunda regalis) delights in that position. Senecio japonica grows
really well only when its roots can find abundance of moisture ; its
large deeply-cut leaves are as handsome as its deep yellow flowers,
4 inches across, and borne on a stem 3 feet to 4 feet high. A similar
position is required by Spiraea gigantea, which bears its flowers on
stems 5 feet to 6 feet above the ground. Spiraea Aruncus, though

WATER GARDENS. 171

not so tall, is, nevertheless, most suitable, as are also its smaller, but
still more handsome companions, Spiraea palmata, S. alba, S. astil-
boides, and Astilbe rivularis.

It is now some fifteen or sixteen years since I planted the common

white Water-Lily in the pond here. Noting how well it grew, I was

induced to try the pink or rose-coloured form of

Water-Lilies at it which had been introduced from Norway — i.e.,

Gunnersbury. Nymphaea alba var. rosea. Finding, too, that this
was thriving, I further extended the Lily culture
by the addition of a dozen more varieties and species. Of these I
have only lost N. flava, and that occurred during the severe frost
of 1894-95. All that I gave in the way of protection then was
laying a few mats upon the ice when it was sufficiently strong to
bear one's weight, and that small amount of protection was more in
the form of a preventive against any skaters running over them
where the ice was none too strong, and possibly cause injury should
it have given way. During that winter the ice was unusually thick ;
so much so here must it have been as to almost, if not quite, reach
the Lily roots, the depth of water over them then being only about
12 inches. No better test of their hardiness is, I think, needed
than this, save in the case of N. flava. Last spring I added
N. Robinsoni, the present winter being of course its first test, but of
its hardiness I have not the slightest doubt. In addition to the
foregoing I have three of the pigmy varieties, which, with a
distinct form of the common white from Norway, make in all
eighteen kinds or varieties.

In the spring, when I added the twelve varieties (chiefly those
of M. Latour Marliac's raising), these being small tubers, I com-
menced by putting them carefully into soil in large-sized punnets,
the entire dozen coming to hand in one parcel by post. I mention
this so that some idea may be formed of the then size of the tubers
compared with the present time. During the summer of 1894 they
grew well, making steady progress, and towards the autumn a few
flowers appeared on the strongest plants. The following summer
(i.e., 1895) a most marked progress was made, the stronger-growing
kinds beginning to give some indications of their true character,
whilst the flowering period was well prolonged and a considerable
number of flowers produced. Seeing that more room was essential
for their perfect development, I decided to provide for this by care-
fully lifting the plants last spring when the first indications of growth
were visible. This operation was performed about two years from
the time of first planting them, but so well had they rooted in the case
of the strong growing kinds, that it took three men to lift them with
digging forks, several of the roots being as large as one's fingers and

172 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

of considerable length. These came up with good balls, and were
immediately transferred to large circular baskets which had been half-
filled with good loam and leaf-soil, a few handfuls of bone-meal being
allotted to each basket according to its size. When the roots were
carefully spread out more soil was added to fill each basket, which
was at once sunk again into the water, but at a greater distance apart
than in the first instance. This time the strongest were placed at
some 10 feet or so from each other, but I can see already, after only
one more year's growth, that they will require more room even than
this. These plants were sunk in about 18 inches of water this time in
order to be more in accord with their growth. The more moderate
growers were arranged in front of these and in about 12 inches of
water. No apparent check ensued even at the first, for they grew
away most vigorously, and in most cases have flowered as profusely.
By the autumn the strongest clumps were fully 6 feet across, and
this season I shall not be surprised if they touch each other. The
lake has a fair quantity of mud in it, about 6 inches perhaps where
the plants are at present, the bottom being puddled with clay. The
supply of water is from a spring.

These fine water plants as grown and bloomed here are singularly
beautiful and effective ; either one or another is always producing
the distinct and pleasing flowers. The flowers remain open, too, for
a prolonged period each day, either one or another being in good
condition from 9 a.m. to nearly dusk when the weather is bright.
On more than one occasion I have also noted how beautiful they
have been during showery weather ; the water then being clear added
to their beauty, the flowers glistening and sparkling like diamonds
when under a brilliant light. When seen in this state, scarcely any-
thing in the way of flowers could be more beautiful. — JAS. HUDSON.
For many years I have planted these Lilies with pleasure and
happy results, and, in view of their importance, their story is worth
telling. Their discovery by a modest amateur
Water-Lilies in a small town near Bordeaux was the best
at Gravetye. ever done for hardy flowers. It seemed doubtful
at first if these Water-Lilies, showing as they do
such lovely colours, could be hardy ; as it happens, they are as hardy
as the great Water Dock by the lake side. In all I put in I cannot
say there was a failure, if the start be made with healthy young
plants. In all these years many groups have been in position
without change or attention. No preparation whatever was made
for planting beyond sinking in the ordinary mud which is washed
into the lake by the woodland streamlets. They were planted tied
to pieces of stone dropped into the water, or sometimes in a small
wicker basket weighted with stones. From some of the groups

WATER GARDENS. !73

many scores of flowers might be gathered at one time : perfect
blooms fine in colour. The earlier kind sent out, some of them, were
not decided as to colour, but of late years they are fine in that way.
The lake is rather deep, 12 feet or more in places, so there was little
chance of attending to the "toilet" of the plants, as may be done in
shallow lakelets or fountain basins in thinning out the plants, which
is certainly a gain. Here we had no means of doing this, except by
emptying the lake, which was not done except on rare occasions.
The plants are such vigorous growers that an occasional thinning out
is to be desired. The depth of the water seems to have little effect
in preventing growth. As to their care, there has been none. Before
the war we were able to keep the weeds down, but since then no
opportunity has been afforded for doing this. None of these draw-
backs, however, has marred the beauty of the Lilies.

The only thing that has really mattered has been that great

enemy of Water-Lilies, "the* water rat. He never goes far from the

waterside, but is as destructive there, enjoying him-

Enemies of self very much carrying the flowers to the bank

Water-Lilies. and cutting the centres out at his leisure. For
many years we set traps for him, with some success,
but since the war we have had to discontinue this, with the result
that many of the blooms disappear. Shooting and trapping is
essential in this case. Another enemy is the water hen, which comes
in shoals out of the woods. Though not nearly so bad as the water
rat, she also must be kept down.

A mistake is any kind of artificial rearing of ducks in ponds where
Water-Lilies are grown. The heron occasionally visits us, and also
the swan, the kingfisher, and a few small birds ; but none of them do
harm to the Water-Lilies. The case is different when ducks are
artificially reared and bred, for then farewell to all the beauty of the
flowers. In one or two instances I have given way to this in the
interests of shooting friends, but never again!

Many water plants will grow almost anywhere and bid defiance
to game or rats, but the newer and rarer Water-Lilies will not
show half their beauty if they are subjected to
Enemies. the attacks of certain animals. They may, indeed,
when young be easily exterminated by them, and
even when old and established the common water rat destroys the
flowers, and, taking them to the bank, eats them at its leisure. When
the plants are small, the attacks of the common moorhen and other
water-fowl may mean all the difference between life and death to a
Water-Lily. Perhaps, therefore, the first thing to be done in estab-
lishing these plants is to put them in some small pond apart from the
rougher waterside plants, and especially where they will be safe from

1 74 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

the attacks of the water rat and other creatures which cannot be kept
out of ponds fed by streamlets. By these and river banks or back-
waters water rats are hard to destroy, and guns, traps, ferrets, or any
other means must be used. The common brown rat is not so fond of
these flowers as the true water rat, but it is so destructive to every-
thing else, that it is essential to destroy it at the same time, as it
often abounds near water. The water or moorhen is continuously
destructive to all the Water-Lilies, pecking at the flowers until mere
shreds are left, and no one can fairly judge of the rare beauty of
these plants where these birds are not kept down.

Our island homes, with a vast storm-vexed shore-line, abounding
rivers and beautiful inland waters, offer interesting work to the

planter. And not without difficulties ; but these
Waterside trees, difficulties are pleasant to remember when we

get over them, as we may. Wild shores, often
bare and free to the wild, sharp kisses of the sea ; innumerable lovely
sites now desolate will in time invite men to plant : hence the
importance of good work on such ground. And we may bear in
mind its great advantages in some ways, as we get these good
things talked of in books, but seldom seen in home landscape work,
breath, air, repose, graceful contours of earth, fair backgrounds of
Willow and many trees. Few need be told of the beauty of our
inland waters, loved for many reasons. Yet it is when we think of
lands without the gift of water, such as some parts of our own
Eastern and Southern country, and the land around Lyons in France
and about Berlin, that we feel more than ever the precious gain of
abounding rivers, lakes like those of England and Western Ireland
and noble estuaries and bays of many parts of our islands. Even
those who care for good planting in ordinary ground are apt to
neglect the waterside, and we see much land near it without any of
the lovely effects which well chosen river or lake side trees give.
The best waterside trees are often those of our own country and
Europe, easily procured, fine in colour and good in form. There are
certainly gains in waterside position which we do not find elsewhere ;
we get air and light, shade and breadth, from the water itself, which
prevents the dotting of plants over the whole area. Again, there
are often good lands beside rivers liable to flood, which we cannot
well plant with ordinary trees, and cannot wisely build upon, and
these give us those rich levels that are such a gain to lowland land-
scape when fringed by noble planting. Flooding is not against the
right trees upon islands, lake margins and riversides. Some of the
best trees, like the Eastern Plane that we often associate with hot
dry soils, seem happy in ground sometimes flooded, as we may see
in the good soils in Southern valleys.

WATER GARDENS. I?5

Of all the sites for planting there are none in which we may have
clearer guidance as to what is best than we have in islands and the
margins of water, be it lake or river. The vegetation should be
mostly of a spiry-leaved sort — Willows in many forms, often beautiful
in colour, both in summer and winter, with Poplars. Even the
Willows of Britain and Europe are ample to give fine effects, and
some, like the White Willow, form tall timber trees. There is also
a lovely group of weeping trees among these Willows, some of
them more precious than the Babylonian Willow. This is worth
bearing in mind when seeking good and artistic effects. Take, for
example, a piece of water, good in form of margin and right in every
way in relation to the landscape ; it is quite easy to spoil the effect
of it all by the use of trees which have not the form for the water-
side. By the right use of trees suited to the soil we may, on the
other hand, make the scene beautiful in delicate colour and fine
form — in a word, right at all seasons, whether as a picture, as
covert and even for timber. The best trees for waterside-planting
are those of our own country or of Europe and the Northern world
generally. There are many Willows, but for good effect the best are
the Tree Willows, those which may be had on their natural roots and
of some timber value. The best of these for our country is the
White Willow, lovely at all times, but especially on days of storm,
when other things are often at their worst. The hybrids of the
White Willow (Bedford Willow) are good also, and next best for
colour is the Yellow Wrillow (Salix vitellina), classed by the botanists
as a variety of the White Willow, but distinct in stature, form and
colour. It is often seen beside Northern rivers, and when massed
in a marsh or bog or beside a wide river it is fine in effect, and best
of all on wintry days. The Red Willow (Cardinal Willow) is a
form of it, of even brighter colour. The Crack Willow (S. fragilis)
is not so showy in colour, but is very picturesque in form upon the
river banks, and quite worthy of a place among the Tree Willows.

After Willows the Poplars come in best in all Northern countries.
The White Poplar is beautiful in colour as a riverside tree, and
superb in form when well grown. The Poplars by the French rivers
are also beautiful though none is prettier than the Aspen. The
Lombardy Poplar is sometimes very fine in valleys near water. The
Grey Poplar comes next to the White in beauty, and the Black Poplar
is often good beside water.

Some of the American marsh trees are very pretty near water,
in particular one called the Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), lovely in colour
in autumn ; but the summer-leafing trees of the American woods
have been much neglected since the vogue for planting Conifers came
in, so that we can point to but few examples of good results in our

I76

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

country. The Hemlock Spruce thrives in wet ground, also the
Norway Spruce and the Sitka Spruce. We resort to trees of the
Pine tribe to clothe sandy or stony hills, but it is as well to know
that for low and wet land we are not obliged to confine ourselves to
Willows, Alders and Poplars if for any reason we prefer evergreen
trees. In southern parts of Britain, where (after its first youth is
past) the Norway Spruce is often a failure, it will yet grow well
beside streams and in wet bottoms. The Sitka Spruce — a valuable
tree — is good also, and the Douglas Fir thrives in the shelter of
the woods.

The worst evil of all is the mixed muddle planting which is so
common in England and does more to destroy all good effect in
our gardens than anything else. Very often the trees are planted
to a level face, without any thought of the natural habits or ways
of the things planted. The evil arises from trusting to people to
plant who have never given a thought to the work from the artistic
point of view.

A not infrequent feature is the ugly, formless pool that no skill

can make tolerable. Made without any pretence of grace of outline,

they are disfigurements, sometimes dangers. The

Ugly pools. best way is often to drain and turn them into
ferneries or Azalea gardens. Water is no good
if hideous in outline and not large enough to reflect light and to
allow of graceful planting of Willow, Dogwood and Reed. Some
of the garden architects make little holes and channels in the
garden near the house. Absurd features they are, which, like much
of their garden ornament, will have to be removed in the fulness
of time.

Arrowheads.

CHAPTER XX.

THE BOG GARDEN.

THE bog garden is a home for the numerous children of the wild
that will not thrive on our harsh, bare, and dry garden borders, but
thrive cushioned on moss or in moist peat soil. Many beautiful
plants, like the Wind Gentian and Creeping Hairbell, grow on our
bogs and marshes. In North America, even by the margins of the
railways, one sees, day after day, the vivid blooms of the Cardinal-
flower springing erect from the wet peaty hollows ; and far under the
shady woods stretch the black bog pools, the ground between being
so shaky that you move a few steps with difficulty. And where
the woody vegetation disappears the Pitcher-plant (Sarracenia),
Golden Club (Orontium), Water Arum (Calla palustris), and a host
of other handsome bog plants cover the ground for hundreds of
acres, with perhaps an occasional slender bush of Laurel Magnolia
(Magnolia glauca) among them.

Southwards and seawards, the bog flowers, like the splendid
kinds of herbaceous Hibiscus, become tropical in size and brilliancy,
while far north and west and south along the mountains grows the
queen of the peat bog — the beautiful and showy Mocassin-flower
(Cypripedium spectabile). Then in California, all along the Sierras,
a number of delicate little annual plants continue to grow in small
mountain bogs long after the plains are quite parched, and annual
vegetation has quite disappeared from them. ^But who shall record
the beauty and interest of the flowers of the wide-spreading marsh-
lands of this globe of ours, from those in the vast wet woods of
America, dark and brown, hidden from the sunbeams, to the little
bogs of the high Alps, far above the woods, where the ground
often teems with Nature's most brilliant flowers? One thing,
however, we may gather from our small experience — that many
plants commonly termed " alpine," and found on high mountains,
are true bog plants. This must be clear to any one who has seen
our pretty Bird's-eye Primrose in the wet mountain-side bogs of
Westmorland, or the Bavarian Gentian in the spongy soil by
alpine rivulets.

177 M

i78

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Perhaps the most charming plants to commence with are our

own native bog plants — Pinguicula, Drosera, Parnassia, Menyanthes,

Viola palustris, Anagallis tenella, Nartheciu, Os-

Native bog plants, munda, Lastrea Oreopteris, Thelypteris spinulosa,

and other Ferns ; Sibthorpia europsea, Linnsea

borealis, Primula farinosa, Campanula hederacea, Chrysosplenium

alternifolium and oppositifolium ; Saxifraga Hirculus, aizoides, stel-

laris, Caltha, and Marsh Orchises. These, and a host of plants from

our marshes and the summits of our higher mountains, will flourish

as freely as in their native habitats, and may all be grown in a few

square feet of bog ; while Rhododendrons, Kalmias, dwarf Ferns, and

Sedges will serve for the bolder features.

One of the great charms of the bog garden is that everything

Mocassin-flower.

thrives and multiplies in it, and nothing droops or dies, but the real
difficulty is to prevent the stronger plants from overgrowing, and
eventually destroying, the weaker. A small pool of water filled
with water plants is a charming addition to the bog garden.

In the bog garden many of our most beautiful plants, which in a
summer like that of 1895 have been languishing for moisture in the
borders, may be grown to perfection surpassing in beauty all our
former impressions of them. Of primary importance, of course, is
the position, and where this is naturally of a moist, boggy or
swampy character, matters will be much simplified. We will assume
there is such a spot at disposal, a swampy, treacherous, and, as we
are wont to regard it, useless piece of land, under water the greater
part of the year. Such a spot will be sure of its crop of naturally
water-loving plants, such as Rushes, Sedges, or the like, and the first

THE BOG GARDEN.

179

care must be to root them out one and all. In doing so, be careful
that 12 inches or so of the margin be overhauled, as in all probability
there will be here roots and seeds of all these wildlings. According
to the nature of the boggy piece and also the depth of the water, it
may be necessary for cleansing the ground to cut a deep trench and
allow the water to pass away, as, without the moisture, the whole is
much more convenient for preparation, and roots are more readily
eradicated. The ground thoroughly cleansed at the outset, attention
should next be directed to the soil. This may be variable, according
to the variety of plants it is intended to introduce. For instance,
strong growing plants like the Meadow Sweets are all at home in a
fairly stiff and moist soil. On the other hand, Iris Kaempferi
Trillium, Cypripedium, Lilium pardalinum, L. superbum, and other
such things have a decided preference for soil of a vegetable
character, such as peat, leaves, and the like. These latter, again,
have a preference for the drier parts of the bed, while such as the
Calthas and Menyanthes trifoliata revel in wet mud. To meet the
varied degrees of moisture which the plants prefer will be quite an
easy matter in an artificially constructed bog by the adoption of an
undulating surface throughout. Slightly raised mounds are by far
the most convenient, and certainly the most economical, way of
providing for the greatest number of plants.

The shape, of course, should be picturesque, and, unless a
depression of the whole exists, let this receive the next attention,

and in such a way that the highest part will be

Formation of bog 9 inches below the average surrounding soil. The

garden. paths should next be dealt with, excavating these

nearly a foot deep in the central parts and
gradually rising at the entrances. The soil taken from the paths
may, if good, be used to form the raised beds for the planting of
moisture-loving plants, such as are content if their roots only reach
water. The sides of these beds may need rough support, such as
rude sandstone blocks, to keep the soil in its place. These, or
similar things, may also form stepping-stones in the wetter parts, as
by this means the plants may be viewed without inconvenience.
Beds of various sizes will be needed in proportion to the kind of
plants that shall hereafter occupy them. For instance, the sloping
banks at the edge, which may also take the form of a slightly
projecting mound, would constitute excellent positions for some of
the hardy Bamboos. Similar opportunities may occur at intervals

throughout the margin for planting with such
Lilies. things as Acanthus, Yucca, Eulalia, Astilbe

rivularis, Spiraea Aruncus, Bocconia cordata,
and others of similar proportions, while the lower slopes and

i8o THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

depressions between these would make excellent places for Osmunda
regalis, Lilium giganteum, L. pardalinum, L. canadense, and L.
superbum in peaty beds. The latter three of these are really
swamp-loving by nature, and it is scarcely possible to see them in
anything approaching perfection elsewhere. In the moisture so close
at hand such things simply revel, and the owner of them may for
years see them towering far above his head in their day of flowering
— a picture of health and beauty. With such things it should always
be borne in mind that constant saturation is not absolutely essential,
though, indeed, they receive it more or less in their native habitats.

Cypripedium. Trillium. Sarracenia. Helonias. Pinguicula.

A bog garden.

Where space for bog gardens is limited, a very charming carpet to
the Lilies just named would be the Wood Lily of North America
(Trillium grandiflorum). The two things may be planted or
replanted at the same season when necessity arises. The Trillium,
moreover, would come in spring-time and would protect the growth
of the Lilium against our late spring frosts. For the Liliums a foot
deep of peat, leaf-soil, and turf, with sharp river grit, would form a
good bed, and with a mulch each year of leaf-soil and a little very
rotten manure would serve them for many years. It may surprise
many to know that under such conditions these Trilliums would in
a few years, if left alone, attain to nearly 2 feet and be lovely in the
size and purity of their flowers. In another of these depressions

THE BOG GARDEN. 181

Cypripedium spectabile could easily be established, or a bed may be
devoted to the more showy hardy species, giving 6 inches of peat or
more, with leaf-soil added. The species named is rather late in
sending up its growth, and affords plenty of time for a carpet of
Trillium to flower before much headway is made. Other beautiful
carpeting plants for these would be found in the American Mayflower
(Epigaea repens or Pratia angulata), and if the position be shaded, as
it should be for the Cypripediums, a charming, yet delicate, fringe
may be found in Adiantum pedatum. Besides C. spectabile, C.
pubescens and C. parviflorum are well deserving attention, together
with Orchis foliosa, the beautiful " Madeira Orchis," and the
Habenarias, especially H. cilaris and fimbriata ; all delight in moisture
and require but little root room. Then if a glow of rich colour was
needed in such places it could be supplied in Spiraea venusta or S.
palmata, both delighting in moist soil. Another fine effect may be
had by grouping Lobelia fulgens, or indeed any of the scarlet
Lobelias and Sikkim Primrose. In wet parts may be planted
Osmunda regalis, Onoclea sensibilis, Struthiopteris germanica, and
Astilbe rivularis, allowing room for each. Groups
Scarlet Lobelias °f tne herbaceous Phloxes in their best and most
and Sikkim distinct shades, particularly of salmon scarlet and
Primrose. the purest white, would find their natural wants
completely satisfied in the bog garden and give
fine colour. In English gardens it is only in a moist season that we
see the Phlox in even fair condition, for the reason that the original
species is a native of wet meadows. This condition we can best
imitate by deep digging and heavy manuring, and so much the
better if the beds of these be saturated with water. Only in the
constant cooling moisture of the bog can Primula japonica be seen
in perfection, for here will it produce rosettes of leaves 2\ feet across,
and giant whorls of its crimson flowers, attaining to nearly the same
height. Another charming Primrose is that from the swampy
mountain meadows of the Himalayas, P. sikkimensis, essentially
moisture-loving ; but to get the best results this must be treated as
a biennial, grown on quickly, and planted in the bog as soon as large
enough to handle. Other species of Primula suited to the higher
and drier parts of the bog would be found in P. cashmeriana, capitata,
denticulata, rosea, farinosa, involucrata, viscosa, and others, all alike
beautiful in their way, and attaining greater vigour with the
abundant moisture. Some of the smaller kinds of the viscosa type
are better for slight shade, such as may be provided by Dielytra
spectabilis (a really delightful plant in boggy ground) and various
Spiraeas. It should be noted that many shade-loving plants delight
in full sun when given abundant moisture at the root. Particularly

i82 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

noticeable is this with the Liliums I have noted previously. In the
early part of the year the bog garden should be aglow with such
things as Marsh Marigolds, in single and double forms. In the wet
mud in the lower parts and about the stepping-stones these would
appear quite natural, and in like places Ficaria grandiflora, a plant
too rarely seen, with its blossoms of shining gold ; then Senecio
Doronicum, with golden orange flowers, Dielytra eximia, Trollius :
any of the Dentarias and Dodecatheons likewise are all well suited
for the raised parts where the roots will touch the moisture. The
Dodecatheons in peat, loam, and leaf-soil in equal parts, particularly
D. Jeffreyanum, grow to a large size : Hepaticas, too, are greatly
improved in company with these last, while the charming effects that
may be produced are almost without end. Corydalis nobilis in peat
and loam, C. lutea, together with the Water Mimulus (M. luteus), all
provide rich masses of yellow. Gentiana asclepiadea, G. Andrewsi,
as well as G. verna, grow charmingly in the bog.

Nor is the list of plants exhausted ; indeed, they are far too

numerous to give in detail, but yet to be mentioned as among the

grandest are many Irises, I. Kaempferi in

Japanese Iris. particular. Meconopsis Wallichiana (the blue

Poppy of the Himalayas) produces quite a unique

effect in the moisture parts. Saxifraga peltata, S. Fortunei, S.

Hirculus, S. granulata plena, Soldanellas, Senecio pulcher,

Sisyrinchium grandiflorum and many more are all benefited by the

varying degrees of moisture to be found in the bog garden.

In gardens where no moist piece of ground exists, such as those
with gravel or sandy subsoils, it will be necessary to select a low part
and mark out an irregular outline. Next dig out the soil 18 inches
or 2 feet in depth, so as to allow of at least 6 inches of clay being
puddled in the bottom to retain the moisture. For bog plants clay
is far better than concrete, because it supplies food for many moisture-
loving plants. To keep the clay in position, sloping sides will be
best, and for the soils named it will scarcely be necessary to have
more than a small outlet for excessive moisture, and this at
about 12 inches high from the deepest part. For this a narrow
clinker or rough brick drain will suffice, so placed that the outlet may
be blocked, if necessary, for affording greater moisture. By digging
a shallow trench around the upper margin of the bog-bed, and
using Bamboos or Bocconia cordata — these valuable for their
rapid annual growth — such things would give the needful shade in
summer.

In large gardens and cool, hilly districts the bog garden should
always be found. Some years ago I had charge of just such a
garden : in the flower garden was a fountain basin wherein water

THE BOG GARDEN. 183

plants were grown ; the overflow from this went tumbling in many
ways over a series of rocks into the rock garden pond containing
Orontium aquaticum, Nymphaeas, and Sagittarias. In turn the
overflow from the rock garden was conducted to the bog garden
proper, where many masses of Cypripedium spectabile, with fully a
score of spikes of its beautiful flowers to each tuft, grew in luxuriance
in peat and leaves under a welcome shade. Here, too, Osmundas
were rampant together with Primula japonica and a variety of plants
already mentioned, and Ourisia coccinea, tightly pressing the surface
of a stone, flowered splendidly. — E. J.

In some of the southern counties there is not much marsh land
that we can deal with, but in many parts of our islands, especially

Ireland north and south, and also in mountain

A natural bog country everywhere, there are many natural bog

garden. gardens which only need a little development,

climate, soil and everything else being all we can
desire for our bog garden. The peat soil which we seek for in vain
in some southern counties is there, and even many of the welcome
sorts of plants, such as Heaths and the Sweet Gale, are to be found
there if we are shy of attempting the more delicate plants of other
countries. Dwarf Rhododendrons and Azaleas and all such plants
find in these places the conditions they delight in. Many of the
Rhododendrons now coming from China or India will, if we have
them on their natural roots or as layers, find there the conditions to suit
them, the main thing afterwards being simply to make dry paths
to the marsh garden. They need not be always gravelled paths, as
merely the trodden-down heath or grass of the place will often do best.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE HARDY FERN GARDEN.

THE marriage of the fern and flower garden is worth effecting, our
many hardy evergreen Ferns being so good for association with hardy
flowers. There are many varieties of our native Ferns which would
be excellent companions to plants suited for sheltered, half-shady
nooks, and there are hardy and vigorous exotic kinds. Graceful
effects may be had in foregrounds, in drives through glades, through
the bold use of the larger hardy Ferns, whether evergreen or not.
The Bracken is everywhere; but there are Ferns of graceful form
which delight in the partial shade of open woods and drives, and
succeed even in the sun. Ferns have, as a rule, been stowed away
in obscure corners, and have rarely come into the garden land-
scape, though they may give us beautiful aspects of vegetation
not only in the garden, but by grassy glades, paths, and drives.
In countries where hardy Ferns abound, they are often seen near
water. and in hollow and wet places, and it will often be best to
group them in such localities, but without any of the ugly aspects
of " rockwork " too often supposed to be the right thing in a hardy
fernery.

In the home counties there is probably not a better fernery
than that at Danesbury. It is on a sloping bank in a rather
deep dell, overhung with trees and Ivy, in the
A hardy fernery, shade of which the Ferns delight. As regards
the planting, the various families are arranged
in distinct groups, and each group has a position and a soil
favourable to its requirements. The best way to grow Ferns,
however, is with flowers, as in Nature, and a hardy fernery may
be very beautiful. As a rule, Ferns have in their natural state
both soil and locality exactly suited to their requirements ; and the
soil is yearly enriched by the decaying foliage of surrounding trees,
which protects them in winter. In arranging a fernery, study the
habits and requirements of each species, and allot to it the position
most likely to give the best results. At Danesbury the most
sheltered, moist spot is given to the evergreen Blechnums, which
delight in a damp atmosphere, and to the delicate forms of Asplenium.

184

THE HARDY FERN GARDEN. 185

Osmunda, which thrives amazingly, is in a low swamp. The soil used
for these Royal Ferns is a mixture of good loam and fibrous peat. The
better deciduous kinds of Polypodium, such as P. Phegopteris and
P. Dryopteris, have sheltered positions ; and in quiet nooks may be
found charming groups of the Parsley Fern, and Cystopteris fragilis,
a most delicate and graceful Fern. Lastrea Filix-mas and its varieties
occupy the more exposed positions in company with fine colonies
of the evergreen kinds, comprising some unique varieties of the
Polystichums, Scolopendriums, Polypodiums, etc. A plentiful supply
of water is available.

The Fern -lover will remember that not only have we our
own beautiful native Ferns for adorning our gardens, but also the

hardy Ferns of America, Asia, and the con-
Exotic hardy tinent of Europe. As to the hardiness of
Ferns. exotic Ferns, Mr Milne-Redhead writes from

Clitheroe : —

Is it not strange that we so seldom see, even in good gardens, any well-grown
plants of exotic Osmundas, Struthiopteris, &c. ? Here, after a long spell of hot,
dry weather, we had on May 20, 1896, a sharp snap of frost which completely cut
off the more than usually beautiful flowers of Azalea mollis, and seriously injured
the young growths of some Japanese Pines, such as Abies firma, A. sachalinensis,
and others. This frost turned the young fronds of our English Filix-mas and
Filix-foemina quite black. Close by these plants, and under similar conditions of
soil and exposure, the American Adiantum pedatum, i foot high, and the tender-
looking Onoclea sensibilis were quite unhurt, and Osmunda interrupta and O.
cinnamomea entirely escaped and are now very fine. Our English O. regalis was
slightly touched, but the Brazilian O. spectabilis brought by myself from dry
banks in the Organ Mountains was not even browned in its early and delicate
fronds. All the Ferns I have named are great ornaments to any moist and rather
shady place in the shrubbery. In a sheltered nook in the rock garden I find, to
my surprise, that Gymnogramma triangularis has survived the perils not only of
a frosty spring, but the still greater ones of a wet autumn and winter, and is now
throwing up healthily its pretty triangular fronds, whose under surface is quite
white with the powder peculiar to the genus — in fact a hardy silver Fern.

A visit to Mr Sclater's Fern garden at Newick shows us the good
effects that may be had by using the nobler hardy Ferns — both native
and foreign — in a bolder way, and often in the open sun. The idea
that a fernery is best in a dark corner has had unfortunate results in
keeping the grace of such plants out of the garden picture. Hardy
Ferns are being used in bold and simple ways at Kew, where at one
time they were in an obscure fernery, and even if some Ferns require
shade, many do not in our cool climate. Shade is, moreover, an
elastic term ; the bold hardy Ferns one sees in the American wood-
lands would not have too much sun in the open in Britain, provided
they were in the right soil.

1 86 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Many hardy Ferns are excellent for association with hardy
flowers, and many may be grouped with evergreen rock and hill
plants in forming borders and groups of evergreen plants. Though
we have enough native Ferns in these islands to give us very
fine effects, as we see at Penrhyn, or wherever Ferns are boldly
grouped, some of the finest Ferns we see at Newick, and also
at Rhianva and other gardens are natives of North America.
Foremost among the strong - growing hardy exotic kinds, there
are the handsome North American Osmunda cinnamomea, and
O. Claytoniana, O. gracilis, a very pretty species of particularly
slender habit ; the Sensitive Fern (Onoclea), Dicksonia punctiloba,
the beautiful Canadian Maiden-hair, the American Ostrich Feather
Fern, Lastrea Goldiana, Woodwardia virginica, all of North
American origin and attaining between 2 feet and 3 feet in height.
Among the smaller Ferns are Aspidium nevadense, novaboracense
and thelypteroides, Asplenium angustifolium, Athyrium Michauxi
and Woodwardia angustifolia, all of which grow from 18 inches to 24
inches. Allosorus acrostichoides, the handsome Polypodium hexa-
gonopterum, Woodsia obtusa, oregana and scopulina, and also two
pretty Selaginellas, viz., oregana and Douglasi. All these are of
small dimensions, varying as they do from 6 inches to 12 inches in
height. The pretty Hypolepis anthriscifolia of South Africa ; the
robust Lastrea atrata, from India ; the Japanese Lastrea decurrens,
the massive Struthiopteris orientalis, also a native of Japan, and the
pretty Davallia Mariesi are all equal in hardiness to any of our British
deciduous Ferns.

Some of the evergreen Ferns, whether British or exotic, which
stand the severity of our climate, are as hardy as those which lose
their leaves in winter, and no Fern could be hardier
Evergreen hardy than the various small-growing Aspleniums, which
Ferns. grow in old walls exposed to severe frosts, such as

the black stemmed Spleenwort (several), and its
pretty crested and notched forms, the little Wall Rue or Rue
Fern, the forked and other native Spleenworts. All these are
small, seldom exceeding 8 inches in height, while the black Maiden-
hair Spleenwort Blechnum and its several beautiful forms usually
average from 9 inches to 12 inches in height. Polypodium also
contains some handsome evergreen plants ; even the common
Polypody is a fine plant in its way, and is seen at its best when
growing on a wall, on the branches of a tree, or on the roof of
a low house. But by far the handsomest of its numerous forms
are the Welsh Polypody, the Irish and the Cornish, and its
handsome, finely-cut varieties in which the fronds are of a light
and feathery nature. Then there are the more or less heavily

THE HARDY FERN GARDEN. 187

crested forms, all of larger dimensions than the species from
which they are issue. The common Hart's-tongue supplies us
with many forms giving fine effect and free growth.

As regards strong-growing evergreen hardy Ferns, however, none
can compare with the Prickly Shield Fern and the soft Prickly
Shield Fern, and its beautiful varieties which produce massive
fronds 18 inches to 24 inches long. Then there is an extensive
section of varieties in which the fronds in many instances are
as finely cut as those of the Lace Fern, and infinitely finer in effect.
The soft Prickly Shield Fern has also produced some remark-
ably crested forms, all of which are equal in vigour and in
dimensions to the typical species. The Holly Fern is also hardy,
and is one of those plants which are usually killed with kindness,
through being grown in a temperature higher than is required.

North America supplies the greatest part of those hardy in Eng-
land. The larger-growing kinds from that country are Aspidium
cristatum Clintonianum, A. floridanum, Asplenium
Exotic evergreen angustifolium, Lastrea marginalis, Polystichum
kinds. munitum and P. acrostichoides, all of which sorts

attain from 18 inches to 24 inches in height.

Not less effective and quite as interesting as the above though
of smaller dimensions are the North American Asplenium ebenum,
Phegopteris alpestris, Pellaea atropurpurea, Woodsia alpina and W.
glabella, varying in height from 6 inches to 12 inches. There are also
some remarkably handsome strong-growing sorts, native of Japan, the
most decorative as also the most distinct among these being Lastrea
Standishi, with fronds 24 inches to 30 inches long, and of a lovely
and cheerful green colour ; Lastrea erythrosora, with fronds 18 inches
to 24 inches long, of a beautiful bronzy red colour when young, and
of a deep dark green hue when mature. Lastrea opaca is another
handsome Japanese form, broad and massive, of a fine metallic colour
when young, and of a deep velvety green when mature. In Lastrea
Sieboldi we have a totally distinct plant, having the general aspect of
a somewhat dwarf Polypodium aureum and of the same bluish colour.
This and Dictyogramma japonica, which have somewhat bold and
broad fronds, are also quite hardy, and so are the Japanese Lastrea
prolifica, a species with finely-cut fronds, bearing numerous small
plants ; the handsome Polystichum setosum, with beautiful dark
green, shining foliage ; Polystichum tsus-simense, Lastrea corusca
and L. aristata. Lomaria chilensis is a large-growing Fern with
fronds 24 inches to 30 inches long and of a particularly deep green
colour. Niphobolus Lingua is a very distinct Fern with entire fronds
of a very leathery nature, dark green above and silvery beneath,
having somewhat the general appearance of our common Hart's-

i88 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

tongue, but in this case the fronds, instead of starting from a single
crown, are produced along a slender rhizome of a wiry nature.
Perhaps one of the prettiest of the hardy evergreen Ferns is the
violet-scented Lastrea fragrans.

It is a mistake to consider all Ferns as plants requiring shade

and moisture. There are, on the contrary, Ferns which like full

sunshine and bright light. Without counting

Rock and Cystopteris alpina and fragilis, which grow in our

sun-loving Ferns, walls as well in sun as in shade, there is one
class of Ferns which actually requires sunshine.
Cheilanthes from the Old World, as well as those from the New,
only do well in a sunny aspect. I could not succeed at Geneva in
cultivating Cheilanthes odora, lanuginosa and vestita. In spite of
every care given to them, they suffered from general weakness,
ending in decay. At last I one day saw Woodsia hyperborea, that
delicate and fragile plant, in full sun along an alpine road in
Italy, and on returning I planted all my Cheilanthes in sunshine
on a south wall. The result was good, and I recommend the plan
to Fern growers. But it was necessary also to change the soil
in which these plants were cultivated, and I set them in soft porous
mould composed of Sphagnum Moss, peat and sand ; good drainage
and frequent watering ensured an immediate and excellent result.
That which proved satisfactory for Cheilanthes I then tried for
Woodsia hyperborea and ilvensis (the treatment did not do for W.
obtusa) ; then for Scolopendrium Hemionitis, that pretty and curious
Fern from the south so rarely met with in gardens, where it is con-
sidered difficult to grow. Then I gave the same treatment to
Nothochlena Marantae; and this lovely Fern, which formerly did
not do with me, turned out marvellously well. It is, then, cer-
tain that many species of Ferns require sun and plenty of air.—
H. CORREVON, in Gardeners' Chronicle.

The flower garden should be in the sun, but there may be a

chance now and then of growing Ferns in shady corners. In my

garden I took advantage of the cool side of a

Ferns in ths summer-house to plant the Feather Ferns, which

flower garden, have done very well there, and with other things
are a graceful foil to the bright flowers. In the
same place the Maiden-hair Fern of the American woods thrives
and is most welcome. On the cool side of a wall I put some
graceful native Ferns of recent years, and they are as pretty as any
Fern in the tropics, thriving not perhaps as well as in a deep gully ;
but we are glad to have them. Some of the little Ferns of the district
came of themselves on the cool side of a wall. Polypody grows
there very well and the Maiden-hair Spleenwort also.

THE HARDY FERN GARDEN.

189

The following exotic Ferns may be grown in the open air if the
more tender are covered with old fronds or soft hay over the crowns
in winter. These would be better in sheltered nooks in the rock
garden in good peaty earth. Those kinds marked with an asterisk
should receive protection in this form.

Exotic hardy Ferns.

Adiantum pedatum
Allosorous acrosti-
choides
Aspidium cristatum

*Cyrtomium caryoti-
deum (E. Indies)
*falcatum (Japan)
*Fortunei (Japan)

Lastrea — continued.
prolifica (Jamaica)
Sieboldi (Japan)
*varia (China)

Phegopteris alpestris
Dryopteris
hexagonoptera
polypodioides

Struthiopteris ger-
manica (Europe)
*orientalis (Japan)
pennsylvanica

Clintonianum

Dennstaedtia puncti-

Lomaria alpina ( N .

Polystichum acros-

p. recurva

fragrans

lobula

Zealand)

tichoides

Woodsia

nevadense

Hypolepsis mille-

chilensis (Chili)

a. grandiceps

glabella

novaboracense

folium (N.Zea-

crenulata (Chili)

a. incisum

obtusa

rigidum argutum

land) g

Onoclea sensibilis

Brauni

oregana

spinulosum
thelypteroides

anthriscifolia (S.
Africa)

Osmunda cinna-
momea

concavum (Japan)
munitum (Califor-

scopulina
Woodwardia angusti-

Asplenium angusti-

Lastrea

Osmunda Claytoni-

nia)

folia

folium

*atrata (India)

ana

m. imbricans

*japonica (Japan)

ebenum
*fontanum (Europe)
thelypteroides

*decurrens (Japan)
fragrans
Goldiana

gracilis
japonica
*Pellaea atro-

polyblepharum(Ja-
pan)
*proliferum (Austra-

orientalis (Japan)
rad icans(S. Europe)
r. americana

Michauxi

intermedia

purpurea

Ha)

virginica

Botrychium virgini-

marginalis

*gracilis

*setosum( Japan)

cum

*opaca (China)

CHAPTER XXII.

COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN.

ONE of the first things which all who care for gardens should
learn, is the difference between true and delicate and ugly colour —
between the showy dyes and much glaring colour seen in gardens
and the beauties and harmonies of natural colour. There are, apart
from beautiful flowers, many lessons and no fees : — Oak woods in
winter, even the roads and paths and rocks and hedgerows ; leaves in
many hues of life and death, the stems of trees : many birds are
lovely studies in harmony and delicate gradation of colour ; the
clouds (eternal mine of divinest colour) in many aspects of light, and
the varied and infinite beauty of colour of the air itself as it comes
between us and the distant view.

. Nature is a good colourist, and if we trust to her guidance we
never find wrong colour in wood, meadow, or on mountain. " Laws "
have been laid down by chemists and decorators about colours which
artists laugh at, and to consider them is a waste of time. If we
have to make coloured cottons, or to " garden " in coloured gravels,
then it is well to think what ugly things will shock us least; but
dealing with living plants in their infinitely varied hues, and with
their beautiful flowers, is a different thing ! If we grow well plants
of good colour, all will be right in the end, but often raisers
of flowers work against us by the raising of flowers of bad
colour. The complicated pattern beds so often seen in flower gardens
should be given up in favour of simpler beds, of the shapes best
suiting the ground, and among various reasons for this is to get true
colour. When we have little pincushion-beds where the whole
11 pattern " is seen at once through the use of dwarf plants, the desire
comes to bring in colour in patterns and in ugly ways. For this
purpose the wretched Alternanthera and other pinched plant rubbish
are grown — plants not worth growing at all.

When dwarf flowers are associated with bushes like Roses, and
with plants like Carnations and tall Irises, having pointed and grace-
ful foliage, the colours are relieved against the delicate foliage of
the plants and by having the beds large enough we relieve the
dwarfer flowers with taller plants behind. In a shrubbery, too,
groups of flowers are nearly always right, and we can follow our desire

190

COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 191

in flowers without much thought of arranging for colour. But as the
roots of the shrubs rob the flowers, the best way is to put near
and around shrubberies free-running plants that do not want much
cultivation, like Solomon's Seal and Woodruff, and other plants that
grow naturally in woods and copses, while with flowers like Pansies,
Carnations, Roses, that depend for their beauty on good soil, the best
way is to keep them in the open garden, away from hungry tree-roots.

We relieve the flowers and enjoy their beauty of colour and the

forms of the plants when we do without " pattern " of any kind.

Instead of "dotting" the plants, it is better to

Large simple beds, group them naturally, letting the groups run into

each other, and varying them here and there with

taller plants. A flower garden of any size could be planted in this

way, without the geometry of the ordinary flower garden, and the

poor effect of the " botanical " " dotty " mixed border. The following

notes on colour, by a flower gardener who has given much thought

to the subject, will be useful : —

One of the most important points in the arrangement of a
garden is placing of the flowers with regard to their colour-effect.
Too often a garden is an assemblage of plants placed together hap-
hazard, or if any intention be perceptible, as is commonly the case in
the bedding system, it is to obtain as great a number as possible of
the most violent contrasts ; and the result is a hard, garish vulgarity.
Then, in mixed borders, one usually sees lines or evenly distributed
spots of colour, wearying and annoying to the eye, and proving how
poor an effect can be got by the misuse of the best materials. Should
it not be remembered that in setting a garden we are painting a
picture, — a picture of hundreds of feet or yards instead of so many
inches, painted with living flowers and seen by open daylight — so that
to paint it rightly is a debt we owe to the beauty of the flowers and
to the light of the sun ; that the colours should be placed with
careful forethought and deliberation, as a painter employs them on
his picture, and not dropped down in lifeless dabs.

Splendid harmonies of rich and brilliant colour, and proper

sequences of such harmonies, should be the rule ; there should be

large effects, each well studied and well placed,

Harmony rather varying in different portions of the garden

than contrast, scheme. One very common fault is a want of
simplicity of intention ; another, an absence of
any definite plan of colouring. Many people have not given any
attention to colour-harmony, or have not by nature the gift of
perceiving it. Let them learn it by observing some natural examples
of happily related colouring, taking separate families of plants whose
members are variously coloured. Some of the best to study would

192 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

be American Azaleas, Wallflowers, German and Spanish Iris, Alpine
Auriculas, Polyanthus, and Alstrcemerias.

It is important to notice that the mass of each colour should be

large enough to have a certain dignity, but never so large as to be

wearisome ; a certain breadth in the masses is also

Breadth of mass wanted to counteract the effect of foreshortening

and when the border is seen from end to end. When a

intergrouping. definite plan of colouring is decided on, it will
save trouble if the plants whose flowers are ap-
proximately the same in colour are grouped together to follow
each other in season of blooming. Thus, in a part of the border
assigned to red, Oriental Poppies might be planted among or next
to Tritomas, with scarlet Gladioli between both, so that there
should be a succession of scarlet flowers, the places occupied by the
Gladioli being filled previously with red Wallflowers.

Warm colours are not difficult to place : scarlet, crimson,
pink, orange, yellow, and warm white are easily arranged so as to
pass agreeably from one to the other. Purple and lilac group well
together, but are best kept well away from red and pink ; they do
well with the colder whites, and are seen at their best when sur-
rounded and carpeted with grey-white foliage, like Cerastium tomen-
tosum and Cineraria maritima ; but if it be desired to pass from
a group of warm colour to purple and lilac, a good breadth of pale
yellow or warm white may be interposed.

Care must be taken in placing very cold white flowers, such as
Iberis correaefolia, which are best used as quite a high light, led up
to by whites of a softer character. Frequent repetitions of white
patches catch the eye unpleasantly ; it will generally be found that
one mass or group of white will be enough in any piece of border
or garden arrangement that can be seen from any one point of view.

Blue requires rather special treatment, and is best approached
by delicate contrasts of warm whites and pale yellows, such as the
colours of double Meadow Sweet, and QEnothera Lamarckiana, but
rather avoiding the direct opposition of strong blue and full yellow.
Blue flowers are also very beautiful when completely isolated and seen
alone among rich dark foliage.

In a mixed border they might begin with strong blues, light and

dark, grouped with white and pale yellow, passing on to pink ; then

to rose colour, crimson, and the strongest scarlet,

A progression leading to orange and bright yellow. A paler

of colour. yellow followed by white would distantly connect

the warm colours with the lilacs and purples, and a

colder white would combine them pleasantly with low-growing

plants with cool-coloured leaves.

COLOUR IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 193

Silvery-leaved plants are valuable as edgings and carpets to

purple flowers, and bear the same kind of relation to them as the

warm-coloured foliage of some plants does to their

Silvery-leaved strong red flowers, as in the case of the Cardinal

plants. Flower and double crimson Sweet-William. The

bright clear blue of Forget-me-not goes best with

fresh pale green, and pink flowers are beautiful with pale foliage striped

with creamy white, such as the variegated forms of Jacob's-ladder or

Iris pseudacorus. A useful carpeting plant, Acaena pulchella, assumes

in spring a rich bronze between brown and green which is valuable

with Wallflowers of the brown and orange colours. These few

examples, out of many that will come under the notice of any careful

observer, are enough to indicate what should be looked for in the way

of accompanying foliage — such foliage, if well chosen and well placed,

may have the same value to the flowering plant that a worthy and

appropriate setting has to a jewel.

In sunny places warm colours should preponderate ; the yellow
colour of sunlight brings them together and adds to their glowing effect.
A shady border, on the other hand, seems best suited for
the cooler and more delicate colours. A beautiful scheme of cool
colouring might be arranged for a retired spot, out
A shady border, of sight of other brightly coloured flowers, such
as a border near the shady side of any shrubbery
or wood that would afford a good background of dark foliage. Here
would be the best opportunity for using blue, cool white, palest
yellow, and fresh green. A few typical plants are the great
Larkspurs, Monkshoods, and Columbines, Anemones (such as
japonica, sylvestris, apennina, Hepatica, and the single and double
forms of nemorosa), white Lilies, Trilliums, Pyrolas, Habenarias,
Primroses, white and yellow, double and single, Daffodils, white
Cyclamen, Ferns, and mossy Saxifrages, Lily-of-the-Valley, and
Woodruff. The most appropriate background to such flowers would
be shrubs and trees, giving an effect of rich sombre masses of dusky
shadow rather than a positive green colour, such as Bay Phillyrea,
Box, Yew, and Evergreen Oak. Such a harmony of cool colouring,
in a quiet shady place, would present a delightful piece of gardening.
The greater effects being secured, some carefully arranged
contrasts may be used to strike the eye when passing ; for opposite
colours in close companionship are not telling at a
Contrasts in distance, and are still less so if interspersed, their
colour. tendency then being to neutralise each other.

Here and there a charming effect may be produced
by a bold contrast, such as a mass of orange Lilies against Delphi-
niums or Gentians against alpine Wallflowers ; but these violent

N

194 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

contrasts should be used sparingly and as brilliant accessories
rather than trustworthy principals.

There is often a question about the suitability of variously
coloured creepers on house or garden walls. The same principle
of harmonious colouring is the best guide. A warm-coloured wall,
one of Bath stone or buff bricks, for instance, is easily dealt with.
On this all the red-flowered, leaved, or berried plants look well —
Japan Quince, red and pink Roses, Virginian Creeper, Crataegus
Pyracantha, and the more delicate harmonies of Honeysuckle,
Banksian Roses, and Clematis montana, and Flammula, while C.
Jackmanni and other purple and lilac kinds are suitable as
occasional contrasts. The large purple and white Clematises
harmonise perfectly with the cool grey of Portland stone ; and so do
dark-leaved climbers, such as White Jasmine, Passion Flower, and
green Ivy. Red brickwork, especially when new, is not a happy
ground colour ; perhaps it is best treated with large-leaved climbers-
Magnolias, Vines, Aristolochia — to counteract the fidgety look of the
bricks and white joints. When brickwork is old and overgrown with
grey Lichens, there can be no more beautiful ground for all colours
of flowers from the brightest to the tenderest — none seems to come
amiss. — G. J.

The Poet's Laurel.

CHAPTER XXIII.

FRAGRANCE.

A MAN who makes a garden should have a heart for plants that have
the gift of sweetness as well as beauty of form or colour. And what a
mystery as well as charm — wild Roses sweet as the breath of heaven,
and wild Roses of repulsive odour all born of the earth-mother, and it
may be springing from the same spot. Flowers sweet at night and
scentless in the day ; flowers of evil odour at one hour and fragrant
at another ; plants sweet in breath of blossom, but deadly in leaf and
sap ; Lilies sweet as they are fair, and Lilies that must not be let
into the house; bushes in which ail that is delightful in odour
permeates to every March-daring bud. The Grant Aliens of the
day, who tell us how the Dandelion sprang from the Primrose some
millions of years ago, would no doubt explain all these things to us,
by what Sir Richard Owen used to call " conjectural biology," but
we need not care, for to us is given this precious fragrance, happily
almost without effort, and as free as the clouds from man's power to
spoil.

Every fertile country has its fragrant flowers and trees ; alpine
meadows with Orchids and mountain Violets ; the Primrose-scented
woods, Honeysuckle-wreathed and May -frosted hedgerows of Britain ;
the Cedars of India and of the mountains of Asia Minor, with Lebanon ;
trees of the same stately order, perhaps still more fragrant in the
warmer Pacific breezes of the Rocky Mountains and Oregon, where
the many great Pines often spring from a carpet of fragrant Ever-
greens, and a thousand flowers which fade away after their early

195

1 96 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

bloom, and stand withered in the heat, while the tall Fines over-
head distil for ever their grateful odour in the sunny air. Myrtle,
Rosemary, and Lavender, and all the aromatic bushes and herbs
clothing the little capes that jut into the great sea which washes
the shores of Greece, Italy, Sicily, and Corsica ; garden islands
scattered through vast Pacific seas, as stars are scattered in the
heavens ; enormous tropical forests, little entered by man, but from
which he gathers on the outskirts treasures for stove and greenhouse ;
great island gardens like Java and Ceylon and Borneo, rich in spices
and lovely plant life ; Australian bush, with plants strange as if from
another world, but often most delicate in odour even in the distorted
fragments of them we see in our gardens.

It is not only from the fragile flower- vases these sweet odours
flow ; they breathe through leaf and stem, and the whole being of
many trees and bushes, from the stately Gum trees of Australia to
the Sweet Verbena of Chili. Many must have felt the charm of the
strange scent of the Box bush before Oliver Wendell Holmes told us
of its " breathing the fragrance of eternity." The scent of flowers is
often cloying, as of the Tuberose, while that of leaves is often delicate
and refreshing, as in the budding Larch, and in the leaves of Balm
and Rosemary, while fragrance is often stored in the wood, as in the
Cedar of Lebanon and many other trees, and even down through the
roots.

It is given to few to see many of these sweet plants in their
native lands, but we who love our gardens may enjoy many of them
about us, not merely in drawings or descriptions, but the living,
breathing things themselves. The Geraniums in the cottage window
bring us the spicy fragrance of the South African hills : the Lavender
bush of the sunny hills of Provence, where it is at home ; the Roses
in the garden bring near us the breath of the wild Roses on a
thousand hills ; the sweet or pot herbs of our gardens are a gift of
the shore-lands of France and Italy and Greece. The Sweet Bay
bush in the farmer's or cottage garden comes with its story from the
streams of Greece, where it seeks moisture in a thirsty land along
with the wild Olive and the Arbutus. And this Sweet Bay is the
Laurel of the poets, of the first and greatest of all poet and artist
nations of the earth — the Laurel sacred to Apollo, and used in many
ways in his worship, as we may see on coins, and in many other
things that remain to us of the great peoples of the past. The
Myrtle, of less fame, but also a sacred plant beloved for its leaves
and blossoms, was, like the Laurel, seen near the temples of the race
who built their temples as the Lily is built, whose song is deathless,
and the fragments of whose art are despair to the artist of our time.
And thus the fragrant bushes of our gardens may entwine for us,

FRAGRANCE. Ig?

apart from their gift of beauty, living associations and beautiful
thoughts for ever famous in human story.

It is not only odours of trees and flowers known to all we have
to think of, but also many delicate ones, less known, perhaps, by
reason of the blossoms that give them being without showy colour,
as the wild Vine, the Sweet Vernal, Lemon, and other grasses. And
among these modest flowers there are none more delicate in odour
than the blossoms of the common white Willow, the yellow-twigged
and the other Willows of Britain and Northern Europe, which are all
the more grateful in air coming to us

O'er the northern moorland, o'er the northern foam.

What is the lesson these sweet flowers have for us ? They tell us
— if there were no other flowers to tell us — that a garden should be a

living thing; its life not only fair in form and

What fragrance lovely in colour, but in its breath and essence

teaches. coming from the Divine. They tell us that the

very common attempt to conform their fair lives
into tile or other patterns, to clip or set them out as so much mere
colour of the paper-stainer or carpet-maker, is to degrade them and
make our gardens ugly and ridiculous, from the point of view of
Nature and of true art. Yet many of these treasures for the open
garden have been shut out of our thoughts owing to the exclusion
of almost everything that did not make showy colour and lend itself
to crude ways of setting out flowers.

Of the many things that should be thought of in the making of a
garden to live in, this of fragrance is one of the first. And, happily,
among every class of flowers which may adorn our open-air gardens
there are fragrant things to be found. Apart from the groups of
plants in which all, or nearly all, are fragrant, as in Roses, the annual
and biennial flowers of our gardens are rich in fragrance — Stocks,
Mignonette, Sweet Peas, Sweet Sultan, Wallflowers, double Rockets,
Sweet Scabious, and many others. These, among the most easily
raised of plants, may be enjoyed by the poorest cottage gardeners.
The garden borders of hardy flowers bear for us odours as precious
as any breath of tropical Orchid, from the Lily-of the- Valley to the
Carnation, this last yielding, perhaps, the mobt grateful fragrance of
all the flowering host in our garden land. In these borders are
things sweeter than words may tell of — Woodruff, Balm, Pinks,
Violets, garden Primroses, Polyanthuses, Day and other Lilies,
early Iris, Narcissus, Evening Primroses, Mezereon, and Pansies
delicate in their sweetness.

No one may be richer in fragrance than the wise man who plants
hardy shrubs and flowering trees — Magnolia, May, Daphne, Lilac,

198

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Wild Rose, Azalea, Honeysuckle — names each telling of whole
families of fragrant things. From the same regions whence come the
Laurel and the Myrtle we have the Laurustinus, beautiful in our sea-
coast and warmer districts, and many other lovely bushes happy in
our climate ; one, the Winter Sweet, pouring out delicious fragrance
in mid-winter ; Sweet Gale, Allspice, and the delightful little May-
flower that creeps about in the woodland shade in North America.
So, though we cannot boast of Lemon or Orange groves, our climate
is kind to many lovely and fragrant shrubs.

Even our ugly walls may be sweet gardens with Magnolia,
Honeysuckle Clematis, Sweet Verbena, and the delightful old
Jasmine, still c-lothing many a house in London. Most precious of
all, however, are the noble climbing Tea Roses raised in our own time.
Among the abortions of this century these are a real gain — the
loveliest flowers ever raised by man. Noble in form and colour, and
scented as delicately as a June morn in alpine pastures, with these
most precious of garden Roses we could cover all the ugly walls in
England and Ireland, and Heaven knows many of them are in want
of a veil.

Some Fragrant Plants for British Gardens.

Abelia

Crinum

Lupins

Pondflower

Sweet Scabious

Abronia

Cyclamen

Magnolias

Plaintain Lily

Sweet Sultan

Allspice

Datura

Marvel of Peru

Primroses

Sweet Verbena

Almond

Day Lily

May-flower

Rhododendrons

Sweet-William

Alyssum

Deutzia

Meadow Sweet

Rock Rose

Thyme

Apples

Evening Primrose

Mexican Orange

Rockets

Tuberose

Auricula

Forsythia

Flower

Rose

Tulip Tree

Azalea

Grape Hyacinth

Mezereon

Rosemary

Tulips

Balm

Hawthorns

Mignonette

Scilla

Twinflower

BalmofGilead

Heartsease

Mock Orange

Stocks

Vine

Bee Balm

Heliotrope

Musk

St. Bruno's Lily

Violets

Belladonna Lily
Blue Bells

-^Honeysuckles
Horse Chestnut

Myrtle
Narcissus

Snowflake
Southernwood

Wallflowers
Water-Lilies

Brugmansia
Burning Bush

Hyacinths
Iris

Night-scented Stocks
Pasony (some)

Styrax
Sweet Bay

Willows
Winter Green

Carnation

Jasmine

Pancratium

Sweet Cicely

Winter Heliotrope

Clematis

Lavender

Pansy

Sweet Fern Bush

Winter- Sweet

Clethra

Lilac

Pelargonium

Sweet Flag

Wistaria

Columbine

Lily

Phlox

Sweet Gale

Woodruff

Cowslips

I.ily-of-the-Valley

Polyanthus

Sweet Pea

Yarrow

CHAPTER XXIV.

SIMPLER FLOWER GARDEN PLANS AND THE RELATION OF
THE FLOWER GARDEN TO THE HOUSE.

A GREAT waste is owing to frivolous and thoughtless " design "
as to plan and shapes of the beds in the flower garden. What a
vision opens out to any one who considers the design of the flower
garden when he thinks of the curiosities and vexations in the forms
of beds in almost every land where a flower garden exists ! The
gardener is the heir — to his great misfortune — of much useless
complexity and frivolous design, born of applying conventional de-
signs to the ground. These designs come to us from a remote epoch,
and the designing of gardens being from very early times in the hands
of the decorative "artist," the garden was subjected to their will, and
in our own days we even see gardens laid without the slightest
relation to garden use, difficult to plant, and costly to form and to
keep in order. At South Kensington the elaborate tracery of sand
and gravel was attractive to some when first set out, but it soon
turned to dust and ashes. It was, indeed, to a great extent formed
of broken brickdust, in a vain attempt to get rid of the gardener
and his flowers. The colours were supplied from the building
sheds, where boys were seen pounding up bricks and slates, and
beds were made of silver sand, so that no gardener could dis-
figure them. The Box edgings of beds a foot wide or smaller soon
got out of order, and after a few years the whole thing was painful to
see, while good gardeners were wasting precious time trying to plant
paltry beds in almost every frivolous device known to the art of
conventional design.

Even where such extravagances were never attempted we see

the evil of the same order of ideas, and in many gardens the idea of

adapting the beds to the ground never occurs to

Book plans. the designer, but a design has been taken out of
some old book. If the ground does not suit
the plan, so much the worse for the ground and all who have to
work on it. From the results of this style of forming beds the
cottage gardens escaped, the space being small and the cottage
gardener content with the paths about his door. To some people

199

200 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

this objection on my part to intricate design is mistaken for an
objection to formality altogether. Now there are bold spirits who
do not mind setting their houses among rocks and heather, but we
must cultivate a flower garden, and simplicity as to the form of the beds
should be the rule in it. There are many ways of growing flowers
and all sorts of situations fit for them, but the flower garden itself
near the house must be laid out with formal beds, or else we cannot
cultivate the flowers or get about the ground with ease. It is a
question of right and wrong formality. The beds in my own garden
are, as will be seen by the plans here given, as formal as any, but
simpler, and are made on the ground and to suit the ground. Our
object should be to see the flowers and not the beds, so that while
we have all the advantage of mass and depth of soil, and all the
good a bed can give for convenience of working or excellence of
growth, we should take little pride in its form, and plant it so that
we may see the picturesque effects of the plants and flowers, and
forget the form of the bed in the picture.

The relation of the beds to each other is often much too complex
and there is little freedom. Designs that were well enough for
furniture or walls or panels when applied to the garden gave us a
new set of difficulties. Carried out in panel or in the carpet they
answer their purpose, if we like them ; but a flower-bed is a thing
for much work in cultivating, arranging and keeping it, and it is
best to see that we are not hindered by needless complexities in
dealing with the beds. In good plans there is no difficulty of access,
no small points to be cut in grass or other material, no vexatious
obstruction to work, but beds as airy and simple as possible and
giving us much more room for flowers than beds of the ordinary
type. The plans given are those of wholly different kinds of
gardens.

The plan of the gardener's house of Uffington, near Stamford,

is an example of the older-fashioned garden not uncommon before

nearly all old gardens were altered for the sake

Garden of the Perilla and its few companions. At one end

at Uffington. of the little garden is the gardener's house, and
high walls surround the rest of the garden, so that
there is shelter and every comfort for the plants. The garden is
simply laid out to suit the ground, the plants — Roses and hardy
flowers in great variety, a plan which admits of delightful effect
in such walled gardens. Picturesque masses of Wistaria covered
one side of the wall and part of the house — the whole was a picture
in the best sense ; and it would be difficult to find in garden
enclosures anything more delightful during more than half the year.

The main drawback in gardens of this sort in the old days was

SIMPLER FLOWER GARDEN PLANS.

201

the absence of grouping or any attempt to hold " things together,,"
—a fault which is easily got over. It is easy to avoid scattering
things one likes all over the beds at equal distances, and, without
" squaring " them in any stupid way, to keep them rather more

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Sheltered little garden in front of gardener's house at Uffington, Stamford, with simple beds of Roses
and hardy flowers. The space enclosed in walls.

together in natural groups, in which they are more effective, and
in winter it is much easier to remember where they are. In this
way, too, it is easy to give a somewhat distinct look to each part
of the garden. Box edgings may be used in such a garden, and
where they thrive and are well kept they are very pretty in effect,

202 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

but always distinctly inferior to a stone edging because more
troublesome, and also because dwarf plants cannot grow over them
here and there as they can over a rough edging of natural stone, the
best of all edgings.

This garden shows two essential things in the art of garden
design : First, that it is by studying the ground itself, rather than
bringing in any conventional plans, that we arrive
Hawley. at the best results. Gardening is so pleasant in

many ways that almost any plan may pass for
pretty and yet be far from being the most artistic result that could
be got among a given set of conditions or difficulties it may be of
ground. If in such a case we adopt such plans as are sent out from
offices both in France and England, it is possible that (with con-
siderable cost) we may adapt them to the situation, but assuredly
that way cannot give us the most artistic result.

The second point is, that where the vegetation of a place has
distinct characters of its own, these should be made the most of. If
this were the case generally we should see much
Pines in groups less of the stereotyped in garden design. This
and masses. garden is in the charming Pine district of Hamp-
shire ; this was taken advantage of, and the Pine
look of the place preserved in all ways, and even heightened where
it could be done with good effect. These Pine groups and masses
were naturally more of the framework of the garden — the woods and
trees surrounding it. The next thing was to take advantage of the
natural vegetation of the ground apart from the trees, e.g., the heathy
vegetation of the country, and instead of destroying it for turf or
any of the usual features of a garden, preserving all its prettiest
effects, its groups of Heath, wild Fern, and some Birch and Broom.
Enough mown grass being left to walk upon outside the garden, it
was thought the prettiest thing, instead of a shaven lawn, would be
to leave the wild Heaths and bushes and grass of the country, here
and there scattering a few bulbs on the grass, but generally leaving
things as nature had left them. The walks, instead of following
the French sections of eggs pattern or the conventional serpentine
walks of some landscape work, were made in the line of easiest
grade and where they were most wanted, and are not more in
number or area than were necessary. There was no attempt made
to make the walks conform to any preconceived idea. The grass
walk under the Oaks was suggested by the Oaks themselves, and
it is very pretty in effect. Originally several terraces had been
run up at all sorts of awkward angles, and the ground was con-
sequently more difficult to deal with than can well be imagined ;
these were thrown into one simple terrace round the house,

204 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

planned in due relation to its needs and the taste of the owner.
The flower garden was laid out in simple beds as shown on
the plan, and below these the necessary grass walks lead out
towards the open country. Once free of the flower garden and
the walks leading to it the ground took its natural disposition
again. The kitchen garden had been in its present place originally ;
its position could not be changed, and was therefore accepted and
walled round with Oak. The whole garden is quite distinct from
any other, which in itself is a great point. This garden was, as I
think all gardens ought to be, marked out on the ground itself
without the intervention of any plan. A plan is always a feeble
substitute for the ground, and even if made with the greatest care
and cost, has still to be adapted to the ground. The plan shown in
the engraving was made after my work was done.

The new flower garden at Shrubland Park is situated exactly in
front of the house and tells its own story. The plan shows the
simple form of beds adopted, planned to suit their
Shrubland Park, places, in lieu of the complex pattern beds for
carpet bedding, sand, coloured brick, and also the
change from such gardening to true flower gardening. The names
of the plants used are printed in position, but the actual way of
grouping cannot well be shown in such a plan — the plants are not in
little dots, but in easy, bold groups here and there running together.
The flower gardening adopted is permanent, i.e., there is no moving
of things in the usual wholesale way in spring and autumn. The beds
are planted to stay, and that excludes spring gardening of the
ordinary kind. But many early spring flowers are used .in the garden,
the mainstay of which is summer and autumn flowers, the period
chosen for beauty being that when the house is occupied and all
beautiful hardy flowers from Roses to Pansies that flower from May
to November are those preferred. There is no formality or repetition
in the flower planting but picturesque groups, here and there running
together, and sometimes softened by dwarf plants running below
the taller ones. The beds are set in a pleasant lawn, and there is
easy access to them in all directions from the grass. The area of
gravel was much greater in the old plan than in the present one, in
which what is essential only for free access to the garden is given.

Bearing in mind the conventional bareness and hardness of the

common garden of our own day, there is no improvement greater

than results from breaking into this by permanent

An evergreen planting of things of a bushy kind. The plan of

flower garden, this garden shows a choice evergreen garden

instead of the usual summer planting and autumnal

death. The beds are simple and planted with choice shrubs, not

SIMPLER FLOWER GARDEN PLANS.

205

crowded, but leaving room for different kinds of hardy flowers so
as to get the relief of flower and shrub, and the charm of beds alive
and filled at all times. Most of the evergreens (like Kalmia, Japanese
Andromeda, and Rhododendrons of beautiful colour) are choice
flowering ones, so that we have bloom in spring and summer.
Such a garden in pure air well begun might be almost permanent,
because in such soils as these light peaty Surrey soils, the shrubs

Edgings of Saxifrages, Aubrietias and dwarf Veronicas

Hawley flower garden.

would thrive for many years ; and the same may be said of the
Lilies and choice bulbs between, only slight changes and additions
being required from time to time. Many large gardens, which in
similar soils are bare even in early summer, might thus be made
charming and graceful gardens throughout the year, and, if this
way is not so loud in colour as other ways of flower gardening, it
suits certain positions well. This way of planting need not exclude
some summer planting of the usual character, in fact would give
zest and relief to it : it is the one evanescent system carried out
everywhere that steals the varied beauty from the garden.

206 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

For an example of what is meant by a reserve garden we take
an oblong piece of ground having the walls of the kitchen garden

for two of its boundaries, and a Yew hedge shelter-
Reserve garden, ing it from the east winds, while the other is

screened by evergreen trees, with which are inter-
mingled hardy plants of tall growth. The plants are set in beds
without reference to the general effect, and the borders, being
edged with stone dug on the place, give no trouble after the
stones are properly set ; when old and moss-grown the stones look-
better than anything else that could be used — the dwarfer plants
being allowed to run over them and break the lines. Every year
the plan of such a garden may be varied as our tastes vary and as
the flowers want change. A similar garden ought to be in every
place where there are borders to be stocked and maintained in
good condition, and particularly where there is a demand for cut
flowers.

Such a garden may be made in any shape which is convenient for
cultivation, for access, and for cutting ; but some general throwing of
the ground into easily worked beds is desirable. The more free and
less hampered with gravel, permanent edgings, and the like, the
better it will be for future work. The gardener is often hindered by
needless impedimenta in the flower garden, but in the reserve garden,
where only the cultivation of flowers has to be thought of, he
should be able to get to work at any time with the least possible
difficulty, and in dry and good soils it would not be necessary to
have much more than a beaten walk for the foot. It would be
possible to do without edgings ; but where edgings are used they
should be of a kind that might be removed at any time, the best for
this being of natural stone. The drainage should be good, and,
if possible, the place should be not too far to the manure heap, while
the soil should in all cases be good, as very often it has to give two
crops a year ; in the case of bulbs that perish early it is easy to get
after crops of annuals or ornamental grasses.

CHAPTER XXV.

WALKS AND EDGINGS.

OUR gardens are often laid out with so many needless walks,
edgings, and impediments of many kinds that work cannot be
done in a simple way, and half the time is lost in taking care of
or avoiding useless or frivolous things. In many large places
there is no true flower gardening; wretched plants are stuck out
in the parterre every year, a few stunted things are scratched in
round the choke-muddle shrubbery, and but little labour or love is
bestowed on the growth of flowers, or there are miles of walks bordered
by bare stretches of earth, as cheerful as Woking cemetery in its
early years. The gardener is helpless to turn such a waste into a
paradise ; his time and his thoughts are often taken up by the
keeping in order of needless and often ugly walks, leaving him little
time for true flower gardening, that is forming a real garden of
Roses, or groups of choice shrubs, or beds of Lilies, or of other
noble hardy plants, so that the beds may fairly nourish their tenants
for a dozen years. Instead of the never-ending and wearisome hen-
scratchings of autumn and spring, we ought to prepare one portion
of the flower garden or pleasure ground each year, so that it will
yield beauty for many years. But this cannot be done while half
the gardener's time is taken up with barber's work.

Our own landscape gardeners are a little more sparing of these
hideous walks than the French ; but we very often have twice too
many walks, which torment the poor gardener by needless and stupid
labour. The planning of these walks in various elaborate ways has
been supposed to have some relation to landscape gardening ; but
one needless walk often bars all good effect in its vicinity. Flower-
beds are often best set in grass, and those who care to see them will
approach them quite as readily on grass as on hard walks. For the
three or four months of our winter season there is little need of
frequent resort to flower-beds, and for much of the rest of the year
the turf is better than any walk. I do not mean that there should
be no walk to the flower garden, but that every walk not necessary
for use should be turfed over. Few have any idea how much they
would gain, not merely in labour, but in the beauty and repose of
their gardens, by doing away with needless walks.

207

2o8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

For hard work and general use the gravel walk is the best of
all for garden and pleasure grounds. The colour of walks is im-
portant ; that of the yellow gravels being by far

Gravel walks, the best. Of this we have examples in the
country around London, in the gravels of Croydon,
Farnham, and also those of Middlesex. These walks are not only
good in colour but also excellent in texture. It is a relief to see
these brownish-yellow walks after the purple pebble walks of the
neighbourhoods of Dublin and Edinburgh. After the sound
formation of these walks the main point is to keep them to the
essential needs of the place, and when this is done their effect is
usually right. Even this excellent gravel is sometimes improved
about London by the addition of sea shells, cockle shells mostly
gathered from the coasts of Kent ; and, after the walk is formed and
hardened, this is lightly scattered over the surface and rapidly breaks
down and gives to the walk a clean smooth surface.

In public gardens and parks large areas of gravel are sometimes
necessary, and in some ways of " laying out," such as those round
French chateaux, wide arid areas of gravel are supposed to have a
raison c?etre\ but in English gardens they are better avoided.
English roads, lanes, and pathways are often pictures, because
consecrated by use and often beautiful in line, following as they often
do lines of easiest grade or gentle curves round hills ; but in
gardens roads and paths are often ugly because overdone, and
nothing can be worse than hot areas of gravel, not only without
any relation to the needs of the place, but wasting precious ground
that might be made grateful to the eye with turf, or of some human
interest with plants.

A walk which is much liked is the stone walk, suggested by the

little stone paths to cottages. In large open gardens such walks

would not be so good, but in small enclosed

Stone walks in spaces and flower gardens where we have to

small gardens, plant very closely in beds, stone walks are a

gain. In some districts a pretty rough flat stone

is found, of which there is a good example at Sedgwick Park.

In cities, when renewing the side-walks, it is sometimes easy

to get old flagstones, which are excellent for the purpose. I

use such old stones and mostly set them at random, or in any

way they come best. The advantages are that we get rid of the

sticky surface of gravel in wet weather or after frost, avoid rolling

and weeding, for the most part the stones are pleasant to walk on at

all times, and we can work at the beds or borders freely in all weathers

without fear of soiling gravel. The colour of the stones is good and

in sunny gardens in hot summers they help to keep the ground

WALKS AND EDGINGS. 209

moist, while the broken and varied incidents of the surface get rid of
the hard unyielding lines of the gravel walk and help the picture.
They should never be set in mortar or cement of any kind, but
in sand or fine sandy soil, and the work can be done by a careful
man with a little practice. If in newly-formed ground there is a
little sinking of the stone, it can be corrected afterwards. Small
rock plants, like Thyme, the Fairy Mint, and little Hairbells, may be
grown between the divisions of the stone, and, indeed, they often
come of themselves, and their effect is very pretty in a small garden.
Another point in favour of the stone walk is that it forms its own
edging, and we do not need any living edging ; and if for any
purpose, in a wet country or otherwise, we wish to somewhat raise the
flower-beds, we can use the same kind of stone for edging the beds.

Once free of all necessary walks about the house of gravel or

stone, which constant work and use make essential, it is often easy

in country gardens to soon break into grass walks

Grass, heath, and which are pleasantest of all ways of getting about

moss walks. the country garden or pleasure ground. Not only
can we take them into the wild garden and rough
places, but they lead us to flowering shrubs and beds of hardy
plants and to the rock garden, or through the pleasure ground
anywhere, as easily and more pleasantly than any regularly set
out walks. There is much saving of labour in their formation
because, given sound drained ground, which is to be found around
most country houses, we have little to do except mark out and
keep the walks regularly mown. When this work is compared with
the labour of carting, the knowledge and the annual care which
are necessary to form and keep hard walks in order, the gain in
favour of the grass walk is enormous. It is perhaps only in our
country that the climate enables us to have the privilege of these
verdant walks, which are impossible in warmer lands, owing to the
great heat destroying the herbage, and, therefore, in Britain we should
make good use of what our climate aids us so much in doing.

We have, of course, to think of the fall of the grass walk for the
sake of ease in mowing and in walking too, as very much of their
comfort will depend, at least in hilly ground, on the careful way
these walks are studied as regards their gradation. There is really
not much difference in the degree of moisture in such walks and
gravel walks, and, besides, so little use is made of walks of any kind
in wet weather, that, taking them all the year round, they serve as
well as any other.

Apart from the grass walks which can be formed in so large an
area of Britain we may have walks through Heath and the short
vegetation that grows in heathy districts, and these walks will be no

O

210 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

less pleasant than the grass walks. The short turf of the Heath, and
often the mown Heather itself, forms an excellent springy walk, as
in parts of Surrey. Such walks want little making, only some care
in laying down their lines so as to take them into the prettiest spots
and letting them edge themselves with Heather, Ferns, and Whortle-
berry. But no more than any other should such walks be multiplied
beyond what is necessary, and they ought to be broad enough and
airy enough to take us in the pleasantest way to the most interesting
parts of the garden or pleasure ground or woods. In woody or half
shady places we may enjoy the mossy walks as in very sandy or
light soils we may have a turf almost of Thyme.

Among the curious mixture of good and bad, ugliness and beauty
we see often in country seats are tarred walks, and they are a

main factor in making many a garden ugly. They
Tarred walks. have almost every fault that a walk could have,

being hideous in colour, hot in summer, and sticky,
hard, and unpleasant to the feet, wearing into ugly holes and
uneven and unpleasant surfaces. The only excuse that could ever
be made for them was that they offered an escape from continual
hoeing, a great labour, but now needless, owing to the weed-killers.
If walks are simply made, and not one yard more is made than is
required for use, the labour of cleaning is immensely reduced, and
one dressing a year of an effective weed-killer often keeps them
right. If there were no other objection than the colour of the tarred
walk, it should be sufficient to condemn it. Gravel in the home
counties and about London is so good in colour, that one is surprised
that anybody can tolerate a tarred walk. In small, close courtyard
gardens, where gravel is objected to, we may have a well-made stone
walk of good colour.

There are also well-made walks to be had from concrete and
true asphalt. These walks have distinct advantages for courtyards

and small spaces, or even small gardens in certain

Concrete and places ; they are better in colour than the tarred

asphalt walks, walk, and more enduring if well made. They are

clean, but they have certain disadvantages as com-
pared with stone walks. They require a much more expensive and
careful setting, and they are certainly not more enduring. Also, they
do not allow us the privilege of putting plants between the joints, one
of the great charms of the stone walk, which can be easily set to
allow Thyme and dwarf-rock plants to come up between them ; and
therefore in all districts in which a warm-coloured stone is procurable
or rough flagstone from quarries, it is very much better to use it as
we can always have gravel for any roads that have to be traversed
by carriages or carts ; the space for concrete, asphalt, or stone walks

WALKS AND EDGINGS. 211

is not considerable, and the natural material should be used wherever
it be possible.

Even small things may mar the effect of a flower garden, however

rich in its plants, and among the things that do so are cast edgings

of tiles or iron, often very ugly, and as costly as

Edgings, live and uglv> some of tne earthenware edgings perishing

dead- rapidly in frost. But if they never perished, and

were as cheap as pebbles by the shore, they would

be none the less offensive from the point of view of effect, with

their hard patterned shapes, often bad colour, and the necessity

Stone edging. From a photograph by Mr A. Emblin, Worksop, Notts.

of setting them with precision in cement or mortar ; whereas the
enduring and beautiful edging wants none of these costly attentions.
The seeming advantage of these patterned and beaded tile edgings
is that they appear permanent, and get rid of the labour of clipping
and keeping box edgings in good order; but these ends are met
quite as well by perfectly inoffensive edgings. Edgings may, for
convenience sake, be divided into dead and permanent ones and
living ones formed of plants or dwarf bushes, which involve a
certain amount of care to keep in order, and which will some day
wear out and require a change of replanting.

The true way in all gardens of any good and simple design is to
get edgings which, while quite unobtrusive in form or colour, may
remain for many years without attention. In all good gardens there

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

is so much to be done and thought of every day in the year, that it
is important to get rid of all mere routine work with edgings of Box
and other things that want frequent trimming or re-making, in which
work much of the labour of gardeners has been wasted in the past.

Natural stone is the best of all materials for permanent edgings for

the flower garden, or any garden where an edging is required, and

no effort should be spared to get it. In many

Natural stone, districts it is quite easy to do so, as in some of the

home counties the refuse of quarries (in Surrey

Bargate stone, and in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire the flaky stone

used for the roofs of old time) is excellent for edgings. Much difference

will occur in stone in various
districts, and some will not be so
good in colour and shape as the
stone just mentioned, but the
advantage of natural stone in
various ways is so great that even
inferior forms of it should be
chosen before any other material.
In undressed, or very roughly
dressed natural stone, it does
not matter in the least if the

Edging of Foam Flower. . i

stones vary in size, as we have

not to set them rigidly like the cast tiles. Sunk half-way firmly
in the earth, after a little time they soon assume a good colour ;
green mosses stain them in the winter, and if we wish to grace
them with rock flowers they are very friendly to them, and
Rockfoil, or Stonecrop, or Thyme may creep over them, and
make them prettier than any edging made wholly of plants,
like Box or Thrift, or Ivy. Unlike the tile, stones are none the
worse if they fall a little out of line, as they are easily reset,
and also easily removed by handy garden men without expensive
workmen, or any aid from mortar or trowel. In large and stately
gardens dressed stone may be used to frame a grass plot or
handsome straight border, but in most cases this expense would be
thrown away, as we get so good a result with the undressed stone.
But in a flower garden like that at Shrubland Park, the dressed stone
of good and simple form, and properly set as it should be in such a
position near the house, is quite rightly used. Near cities and
towns the removal of old or half-worn stone pavements, like the York
stone used in London, often gives us opportunities of securing it for
forming edging ; and being often got in large pieces it requires rough
dressing to allow of its being firmly and evenly set in the ground. I
have used this largely for edgings, which will last as long as they are

WALKS AND EDGINGS. 213

allowed to remain. The beautiful green stone of Cumberland would
make as good an edging as one could desire, and many kinds of stone
may be used.

In districts where there is no stone to be had, and we have to use
any kind of artificial stone or terra cotta, these should never have any
pattern or beading, but be cast in quite simple forms, never following
the patterns usually adopted by the makers of garden tiles. Certain
inferior forms of dead edgings should be avoided, such as boards, that
soon rot, and are wholly unfit in all ways as edgings. Iron, too, as
used in continental gardens or in any shape, should never be used
as an edging, ordinary bricks half set in the ground being far better
than any of these.

Grass edgings sometimes are used to flower borders, but are
always full of labour and trouble. And they have various drawbacks,

apart from the mowing and edge-cutting, chief
Grass edgings, among these being that the border flowers within

cannot ramble over them as they do over
the stone edgings in such pretty ways. These narrow grass
margins are often used as edgings to flower borders in the kitchen
garden in places where very little labour is to spare for the garden,
but, little as it is, it has to be
given throughout the season to
these grass edgings, which are
worse than useless as a finish to
a flower border. By these I do
not mean the grass margins to
the garden lawns, or a carpet of
turf, as these are easily attended
to when the lawn is being mown,
but the foot wide grass edgings

Which require attention When Bold evergreen edging to rough border.

time can be badly spared for them, and are often so narrow that it
is not easy to use a machine for mowing them.

Of all the living things useful as edgings in gardens, the first
place belongs to Box, for ages used and deservedly liked from its

neat habit and good colour. When there were
Box. many fewer plants to look after than we have

now, to tend some miles of Box edging was often
the pride of the gardener, and even now we see it sometimes done,
though the hand often fails through the labour required to keep the
Box in good order, and the edging gets spotty arid in some soils
worn out and diseased. A Box edging must be clipped with
much care and regularity every May after the danger of hard frosts
is past, as these sometimes touch the young growth. If cut in

214 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

May the young growth soon hides the hard mark of the shears.
Pretty as it is in certain gardens, the drawbacks to Box as a flower-
garden edging are serious; it requires much labour to keep it in
order, and not every garden workman can clip it well. It is a
harbour for slugs and weeds, drying and starving the soil near,
whereas the stone edging keeps the soil moist and comforts the
rock flowers that crawl over it. We cannot allow dwarf and creep-
ing plants to crawl over the Box, or they will scald and injure
it, but with the stone, we are free in all ways, and get a pretty
effect when Pinks and other dwarf plants, crossing the stone edging
here and there, push out into the walk itself. I like Box best as a

[P

Ivy edging.

tall, stout edging or low hedge, used in a bold way as high Rose-
mary edgings are used in southern gardens about 18 inches high,
or even a little higher, to enclose playgrounds or separate gardens
or to mark an interesting site as that of the old house at Castlewellan.
Sometimes old and neglected Box edgings grown into low hedges
are pretty in a garden, as in George Washington's old home at
Mount Vernon in Virginia. And low hedges of Box are now and
then a good aid near the flower garden, as at Panshanger.

Among other edgings made of woody or shrubby things, we
have the Yew, which bears clipping into edgings a foot high, and

which might be worth using in some positions,

Ivy, Rosemary, though much clipping of this sort causes much

and other edgings, labour and to me sorrow. Ivy is more precious

for its shoots, which garland the earth as well as
wall or tree. It is more used abroad than in Britain, the freshness
of its green being more valued where good turf is less common, and
Ivy is of the highest value as an edging in various ways, but better as
a garland round a plot or belt of shrubs than near flower-beds, and as

WALKS AND EDGINGS.

215

graceful edgings near and under trees. Like the Box, it may also
be used as a bold hedge-like garland to frame a little garden or
other spot which we wish to separate from the surrounding ground.
The Tree Ivy is best for this, but the common Ivy, if planted as
an edging in any open place, will in time assume the shrubby or
tree form, and make a handsome and bold garland. Where, for
any reason, we desire Ivy edgings, it is better not to slavishly
follow the French way of always using the Irish Ivy for edgings.
The dark masses of this in the public gardens of London, Paris,
and German cities are very wearisome, and help to obscure rather
than demonstrate the value of the Ivy as the best of all climbers
of the northern world. The common Ivy, of which the Irish form
is a variety, is a plant of wide distribution throughout Europe,
North Africa, and Asia, and varies very much in form, there being
in Britain over fifty cultivated forms of it. The Irish variety seems
to have taken the fancy of continental European gardeners, and is
much more cultivated by them than any other, but many of the
other varieties though less known are more graceful and varied in
form, and even colour, some of them having in winter a bronzy
hue, instead of the dark look of the Irish Ivy. Some, too, are fine
in form, from the great Amoor and Algerian Ivies to the little
cut-leaved Ivy. Even the common Ivy of our woods is prettier
than the one so much used.

Among the bold edging one sees enclosing the " careless " and
broad borders of Spanish or Algerian or other southern gardens,
over-shaded by orange or other fruit trees, is the Rosemary, clipped
into square topped bushy edges, about 1 5 inches high. Though tender
in many parts with us, it may be used in the same way on warm
soils and in mild districts, and the Lavender may be used in the
same way, though in its case it is best not to clip it, and there is a
dwarf form, which is best for edgings to bold borders.

Among various evergreen shrubs which may be used as edgings
are the dwarf Cotoneasters, Periwinkles, smaller Vacciniums, Partridge
Berry, the alpine forest Heath, and some of the
Dwarf evergreen smaller kinds of our native Heaths, varying them
edgings. after the nature of the soil and the kind of plants

or shrubs we are arranging ; Heaths and shrubs
of a like nature being best for association with peat-loving ever-
green shrubs, though they need not all be confined to these or to
such soils. Such evergreen edgings of low shrubs are often very
useful where we plant masses of select evergreen flowering shrubs,
and they may be used in free belts or groups as well as in hard
set lines, the last being in many cases a sure way to mar the effect
of otherwise good planting in pleasure grounds.

216 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Where we are dealing with nursery or cut flower beds, borders
in the kitchen garden or elsewhere, no such objection to the con-
tinuous edging holds. And in such cases those who use plants have
a great variety to choose from : Strawberries, wild, Quatre-saison,and
any favourite larger sort ; Rockfoils — of this rich and varied family
the Mossy Rockfoils make soft and excellent green margins to beds
of hardy flowers ; Houseleeks, Stonecrops, Gentianella, which forms
such a fine evergreen edging in cool soils ; Tufted Pansies, Thrift,
purple Rock-Cresses which are among the most precious of rock
flowers for evergreen edgin.es, and bloom often throughout the spring ;

White Pink edging.

dwarf Speedwells, Edelweiss in open country gardens where it thrives ;
alpine Phloxes, Sun Roses, Arabis, evergreen Candytuft, excellent as
a permanent margin to bold mixed groups of spring flowers and
shrubs ; Pinks, both white and coloured, pretty on warm and free
soils, but useless where they are hurt in winter ; Daisies and Poly-
anthuses and garden Primroses : in Scotland and cool places, the
rosy and some of the Indian Primroses make beautiful edgings.
Dwarf Hairbells, and some of the silvery or striped Grasses and
Moneyworts may also be used. There is, in fact, scarcely a limit to
the choice one may make from the more free and vigorous rock and
alpine flowers, the choice being governed by the nature of the soil,
rainfall, and elevation, or closeness to the sea, which is so often kind
to plants slow or tender in inland situations, like some of the grey
Rock Scabious which form such pretty marginal plants where they
thrive.

WALKS AND EDGINGS. 217

Here is an illustration showing a wretched mud edging. These
miniature ramparts, though less common than formerly, are a blot

in London gardens and
Plastered margins parks. They are made of
to flower-beds, muddy compounds, and in
addition to the offensive
aspect of the little walls when first plastered
up, there are the cracks which come after—
well shown in the cut. In a hot year, or any
year, it is madness to cock the beds upon a little wall like this. The
proper way to make a flower-bed is to let the earth slope gently
down to the margin, as was the practice for ages before this ugly
notion came about.

TRIALS OF EDGING PLANTS IN MY GARDEN.

These are only well done where there is stone edging of some kind.
In my youth I saw many miles of Box edgings being clipped,
and endless labour bestowed upon such wasteful work done at a
season when essential work was pressing. With a garden of my
own I made up my mind to stop all such waste, and got some old
York stone paving, which, broken up, made edgings to last for
hundreds of years ; also, rough sandstone rock gave bolder edgings
for shrubs. Given these stone edgings, I enjoyed much beautiful
life of alpine and rock plants, which liked the edging stone as much
as any rock garden. In this way may be grown numbers of beautiful
plants to give an added grace of colour and flower. To give an idea
of the result of this plan and of the plants that have given me the
most pleasure is the aim of this chapter.

The Wall Hairbell (Campanula muralis). — Of all the plants used,
this is the most long-lived and useful. Other Hairbells of the
mountains are difficult to grow, and even in careful hands are lost,
but this lovely Hairbell creeps up rocks, and even penetrates walls,
flowering for years, and so densely that the number of bells in one
foot of the line could not be counted. Flowering in early summer, if
we cut off the flowers with the shears the plants bloom again right
into November.

The Lancaster Geranium (Geranium lancastriense}. — This plant,
native of an island on the coast of Lancashire, has given as much
pleasure as any plant of the alpine rocks. It is dwarf, flowers all the
summer, is beautiful in colour and habit.

Alpine Forest Heath (Erica carnea]. — This is not in the flower
garden, but bordering beds and walks in the Heath garden, where it

2i8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

is the best early Heath. Beginning to flower early in the spring, it
gives way when the sun gets strong. It is from a calcareous country,
so it may be used in districts where other Heaths will not grow.

Australian Everlasting (Helichrysum bellidioides}. — A newly come
plant, this surprises me by its fitness for the work, being dwarf,
abundant in bloom, and free-growing too anywhere on dry walls and
as an edging.

Gentianella (Gentiana acaulis}. — This is the most precious of all
edging plants in the calcareous soils of Ireland and Scotland. In
the south of England in ordinary soils it gives way in dry weather
and. is difficult to establish. One gets over that by placing it behind
a stone edging, when flowers may be expected, but never quite so
fine as in the soils it loves.

Rocky Mountain Phloxes (P. subulata and other dwarf kinds). —
I have had these for many years now on the top of a dry stone wall
dividing the flower garden from the rising ground, and their fine
colours and other qualities have pleased me well in groups, which last
for years in good health. Quick to grow, they are among the good
edging plants that help to keep down the weeds.

Gauze plant (Gypsophila repens). — This has been the best as to
endurance, good in colour and long in bloom. It has been more than
ten years in one edging without it ever showing a sign of weakness,
flowering all the summer and right into the autumn. The pink
variety is as useful as the white. Sometimes other rock plants stray
into it, and that is an added charm.

The Dwarf Lavender. — No edging meets with more approval than
the Dwarf Lavender. It is more compact than the usual forms, and
the flowers are of a deeper colour. Lavender, growing over a vast
area on the warmer slopes of the Alps and in many lands around
the great sea, varies much, and to that habit we owe this and other
forms. The Dwarf Lavender makes a neat edging in the fruit or
kitchen garden where the large forms might be in the way.

Turban Hairbell (Campanula turbinata\ — This, the true plant, is
a handsome Hairbell, better for the rock garden than as an edging.
I tried it in ordinary cool soil just within the stone edging, where it
did well, and in flower the effect was fine. It does not, however,
meet my wants as a good edging to a flower-bed ; it should bloom
throughout the summer.

Mountain Sandwort (Arenana montand}. — This fine rock plant
makes the loveliest edging of the bolder sort that one could desire.
Behind a line of sandstone blocks it flowered beautifully, and is,
so planted, very well fitted as a frame for shrubs, hardy and long-
enduring.

The Blue Bindweed (Convolvulus mauritanicus}. — This is the one

WALKS AND EDGINGS. 219

plant I cannot do without as an edging — most graceful of all in the
way it arranges itself, and also on dry walls, which it drapes as no
other Bindweed could. It lives through some winters, though in
others it perishes ; and so I have to keep some over in a cool-house.
A native of the mountains of N. Africa, where I had the pleasure of
seeing it in flower in a rocky waste. I generally in autumn take up
the plants that have formed an edging in summer, housing some and
planting others on a sunny ledge of a retaining wall, in the hope they
may live and flower thereon. It seeds freely. Used with good result
over a massive line of Crocus, it did not harm them in the least.

The Pasque Flower (Anemone Pulsatilla). — This beautiful plant
was, in the carpet-gardening craze, lost to gardens, as all the good
things that did not fall in with the false taste of the day were thrown
on the rubbish-heap. Some seedlings were planted in the cool loam
of the district, and gave a charming variety of colour. This, the
finest edging 1 ever had, was by a fruit garden walk, as in the flower
garden I seek things that grace the summer with their flower and
even last well into autumn.

Tufted Pansies (hybrids of Viola). — A host of these, of often
exquisite colours, makes lovely margins to flower-beds of Roses.
Easy of increase and culture in cool soils, and best in the cool
northern hill land, many fine kinds, like John Quarton and Lady
Knox, are well known. This should not prevent us raising seedlings,
as in that way we get vigorous plants to form edgings or carpets. In
that case choose seed of the smaller race rather than the showy
garish Pansy.

Indian Cinquefoil (Potentilla dubia). — In its large family there
must be plants of value for our purpose, but the one named above
is the only one that keeps with me as if it liked its task of forming
a neat edging studded with clear yellow flowers.. Of easy culture in
any soil, it never looks as if it wanted to go back to the Himalayas.
Some charming silvery-leaved Cinquefoils should make beautiful
margins, but so far they are not easy to increase.

An alpine Toadflax (Linaria pallida). — A modest, patient, and
delightful little creeper running in and out of the stone edging, always
increasing and always in flower bordering the Carnation bed or other
bed ; not a robust plant, but easy of increase, and grows as if it enjoyed
the garden.

Pinks (Dianthus plumarius}. — The welcome fragrance and grey
colour of these make them welcome as edgings, and they often give
us good effects. In my soil they are not so enduring as on calcareous
or free, sandy soil. The Maiden Pink (Dianthus deltoides) is a hardy
and bright-flowering plant used with some effect, but the season of
bloom is not long. In its vast family in northern and alpine lands

220 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

there may be some free and hardy enough to make an edging in the
choicest flower-bed.

The Siberian Stonecrop (Sedum Ewersi). — A stout, grey plant,
forming a bold edging, quite hardy and easy of culture and increase
in any soil. The Japanese Stonecrop (S. Sieboldi) is even more
graceful, but in my soil not so free, and a victim to slugs. So it gets
some comfort in a frame, and in spring is promoted to a vase, in
which it is happy and quite pleasant to see, even well into autumn,
when in most places it will be better for some protection.

Purple Rock-Cress (Aubrittia). — Of the multitude of rock and
alpine plants that come to these islands, this is the most useful,
growing on walls, rocks, and wherever a few grains of it are sown.
Edgings formed with it are beautiful in every way, those best made
of rich purple kinds. At one time different Latin names were given
to the forms of the plant, but they are all varieties of one mother
plant, though varying much in lovely colour, and all as hardy as the
Dock. Their flowering season is early, and usually three months long.
The growth is so dense that the plants are able to keep free of weeds,
and edgings made with them may endure for years.

Rockfoils (Saxifraga). — The mossy kinds grow freely in cool soil,
but are apt to perish in a dry one, and are only useful in shade. The
Silvery Rockfoils I used with good result, but these are apt to get
patchy in time, and the flowers are rather in the way. Yet I am
grateful to them, for silvery bells of the Aizoon group often carried
me through before getting so keen on the plants that grace the beds
with their flowers all the summer.

Great Indian Rockfoils (Megasea). — These I make extensive use
of in margining large groups of flowering trees. Bold, free, and
taking on often a good colour, they are excellent rightly used, and
have the good quality of keeping off weeds. They are among my
friends for that reason, and are valued not for narrow edgings, but
may well spread into effective belts here and there about the
shrubbery. In very hard winters the leaves may be injured, but they
soon recover, and have kept many a corner at peace for years in the
poorest soils.

Barrenworts (Epimedium). — Having plenty of these, they were
tried as a stout edging, framing, so to say, large masses of shrubs
and fruit trees in the orchard, and the way they have done it deserves
a word. Hardy, strong growers, and with a fine classic form of leaf,
good as winter colour, they formed a noble frame to the groups, and
did not allow a weed to come near. True weed-killers, and for
long years.

The Japanese Stonecrop (Sedum spectabile). — Long an admirer of
this tall Stonecrop, I tried it around a mass of Rhododendrons and

WALKS AND EDGINGS. 221

other bold shrubs, and there it throve and made a lovely belt of
colour every autumn for over twenty years. But in war-time the
shrubs began to encroach, and the unmbwn Grass to come 'in, and so
we had to change it.

Thymes (Thymus). — These fragrant turfy plants tempt one to
make edgings of them, and they charm so used on warm or calcareous
soils, not so good on cold soils except on raised banks or rock garden.
T. micans I use as a modest green edge. Some of my Thymes
puzzle me, stubby little cushions in flower, and there must be good
hardy edgings among the many species known on the northern hills.

The Carpathian Hairbell (C. carpaticd). — There are several good
forms of this fine plant, a white and delicate intermediate colour,
between white and blue. All mixed formed an attractive edging to
a bed of Rose Zephirin on its own roots. A good perennial, may it
remain long at its post.

Hepatica (Anemone Hepaticd). — Often too scarce for edgings, and
barely seen as poor forgotten dots, I have at last taken courage and
made some edgings of it in the past fine October days. But as it has
a poor chance in the open sun, it is used to border the paths under
the pergola, where the shade will be right for its health. The plants
are all of the wild blue kind, never having seen any of the other
variations so good.

The Silvery Speedwell ( Veronica Candida}. — This, an old friend
of the rock garden, has proved a good edging plant in leaf, effective
at all seasons and with rich purple flowers in early summer, growing
in any soil and of easy increase. Among the many New Zealand
Speedwells there may be one or more good edging plants, but I never
found one, save V. Lyalli, which is hardy, but not very effective in
leaf or flower. Our dwarf native Speedwells I tried, but they seemed
to sicken for the hills.

The Forget-me-nots. — Of these, the best is the true Forget-me-not
and its forms, which make a pretty, broad edging to a mass of shrubs
in cool soils and have been sometimes charming and free in bloom,
but a little wayward and apt to get longing for the streamside, and
then to get " see'dy." Also as soon as the aphides find them in the
garden out they swarm so as to make them no longer look like a
Forget-me-not. On the waterside this does not happen, as the
aphides have no love for the water. The Swiss Forget-me-not makes
a pretty blue edging, but to keep it in health it wants frequent
replanting, which is against its use.

The Dwarf Partridge Berry (Gaultheria procumbens). — This dwarf
evergreen makes an admirable edging for beds of choice evergreens.
It is not fit for the flower garden, which should be in the full sun. It
is easy to grow and increase in any free soil. The larger Partridge

222

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Berry (G. Shallon) is too strong for edgings, but is a fine evergreen
in the wood.

The hardy Leadwort (Plumbago Larpentce}. — An old inhabitant
of our gardens, often neglected, this forms a beautiful edging on the
brow of a low wall, and now, as I write, in mid -November, is fine in
colour. It will live almost anywhere, but I never saw it so rich in its
soft hues as after the past fine October of 1919. Of easy culture and
facile increase by division, it has also the added advantage of keeping
the weeds off. A close grower, even the Goutweed does not infringe
on its ground. An excellent frame for a large bed in an open sunny
spot in any poor soil.

Sand Pink (Tunica Saxifragd). — This little plant is always in
flower during summer and autumn, and is a favourite of mine. It
is common on the sand-heaps in N. Italy ; is freely raised from seed
and hardy.

Blue Gromwell (Lithospermum). — This makes a beautiful edging
where it has room to spread out over the stone or where it will. In
free soils it is quite hardy and lasting, and exquisite in colour, but not
so good on cold soil.

A rock Knot wort (Polygonuin vaccinifolium). — This free and hardy
plant is useful for edging groups of the larger shrubs, for which it
answers well. Is easy to increase and hardy.

Dwarf Scabious (Scabiosa Webbiana], — This dwarf grey plant is
charming for light and dry soils. It flowers abundantly in close
cushions, and makes a very pretty edging best in free sandy soil and
well-drained spots.

Kocky border with edging of dwarf plants in groups.

Tufted Pansies.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN THE HOUSE.

ONE of the real gains in any flower garden worthy of the name is
that we have in it lovely forms and delicate colours for the house, from
the dawn of spring with its noble Lenten Roses on sheltered borders,
until autumn goes into winter in a mantle of Starworts. Many
English and all German and French flower gardens in parterres offer
us only Lobelias, and various plant rubbish of purplish or variegated
hues, very few of them worth cutting, whereas our real flower garden
is a store of Narcissus, Azalea, Rose, Lily, Tulip, and Carnation, and
all the fairest things of earth. All we have to care about is placing
them in simple ways to show their form as well as colour. Apart
from the good plan of having a plot for the culture of any flowers
we wish to cut for the house, a true flower garden will yield many
flowers worthy of a place on an artist's or any other table for their
forms, colour, or fragrance. Many of these, from the Narcissus
to the Tea Rose, give flowers so freely that we need not be afraid to
cut ; indeed, in many cases, careful cutting prolongs the bloom (as
of Roses). Many shrubs we may improve as we cut their branches
for the house, for example Winter Sweet, Forsythia, and Lilac.

It is not merely the first impression of flowers, good as it may be,
that we have to think of, but the charms which intimacy gives to
many of the nobler flowers — some opening and closing before our

223

224 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

eyes, and showing beauties of form in doing so that we never
suspected when passing them in the open air. In the changing and
varied lights of a house we have many opportunities of showing
flowers in a more interesting way, particularly to those who do not
see them much out of doors. We have in gardens many new flowers
of great beauty of form — Californian, Central Asiatic, Japanese,
even the mountains of China and India giving precious things, as
well as the rich flora of North America as yet not as much seen
in our gardens as it deserves to be. So that it will be seen how
good is the reason why care should be given to show the flowers
in the house when we have them to spare out of doors.

Rose in a Japanese bronze basin.

At first sight there may not seem much against our doing justice
to flowers in the house, but our flower vases have shared the fate of
most manufactured things within the past generation, and suffer from
the mania for overdoing with designs called "decorative," which is
supposed to have some connection with " art." Every article in many
houses being overcharged with these wearisome patterns, it was not
to be expected that the opportunity of " adorning" our flower-pots
would be lost, and so we may have ugly forms and glaring patterns,
where all should be simple in form, and modest and good in colour.
The coal-scuttle, with its " decoration," does not stand in our way so
much as the flower vase, as in this we have to put living things in
their delicate natural colours and shapes, and to look at these, stuck

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN THE HOUSE. 225

in vases with hard colours and designs, is impossible to the artistic
mind.

And when we have seen the ugliness of much of this work, what

is to be done in the way of remedy, as the shops are so much against

us ? The first need is a great variety of pots,

Flower vases basins, and jars or vases ; so that no flower that

simple in form, garden, wood, or hedgerow can give us, need be

without a fitting vessel the moment it is brought

into the house. What are known as the Munstead glasses are a great

help, because their shapes are carefully made to suit various flowers,

and they are very useful and good in form — made, too, of plain glass ;

but, however good this series is, it is well to use a variety of other

things in any simple ware that comes in our way, very often things

on the way to the rubbish heap, such as Devonshire cream jars in

brown ware. Nassau seltzer bottles, in the brown ware too, may

well take a single flower or branch, while old ginger pots, quite simple

shallow basins in yellow ware, and other articles made for use in

trade, come in very well.

There is no need to exclude finer or more costly things than these
if good in shape and not outrageous in colour, but various reasons
lead us to prefer the simpler wares, in which the flowers look often
quite as well as in any others. A mass of Edith Giffbrd Rose looks
very well in a good old silver bowl, and good china, silver, or bronze
vases or basins may be used for choice positions or occasions, though it
will generally be best not to submit fine or fragile vessels of this kind to
the' risks of constant use. Among the finest things ever made in the
shape of vases for cut flowers is the old Japanese work, which is often
.as lovely in form and as beautiful with true ornaments as anything
made by the old Greeks ; but the Japanese, like others, have taken
to " potboiling " in bronze, and many of the things now seen at
sales in London are coarse in workmanship. It might be worth
while to have good and avowed reproductions of some of the
more useful old forms — the slender, uprising ones are so good for
many tall flowers ; Italian bronze bowls are often useful too ;
and the darkness within the bronze vessels tends to keep the
flowers longer than when they are in glass vessels exposed to the
light.

Japanese ways of arranging flowers are extremely interesting,
and may sometimes be practised with advantage ; but, with a great
variety and good shape of vessels, the Japanese way is not so
necessary as a system, for the reason that, given a variety of good
shapes and different materials, we can place any single flower, branch,
•or bunch in a way that it will look well with very slight effort and
dn very little time. Any way involving much labour over the

P

226

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

arrangement of flowers is not the best for us or for the result — far
from it.

Having got a good and constant supply of flowers, and variety
of vessels, the question of arrangement is the only serious one

that remains to be thought of, and it is'not nearly

Arranging flowers so difficult if we seek unity, harmony, and simpli-

in vases, etc. city of effect, rather than the complexities which

we have all seen at flower shows and in "table
decorations," many of them involving much wearisome labour,
while a shoot of a wild rose growing out of a hedge, or a wreath of

Lenten Roses, February.

Honeysuckle, would put the whole thing to shame from the point
of view of beauty. In all such matters laying down rules leads to
monotony, and yet there is much to be said for ways distinctly
apart from the old nosegay masses and the modern jumble, and
generally it is best to show one flower at a time, especially if a
noble one like the Carnation, which varies finely in colour. The
baskets and basins of Carnations arranged by the late Lady Henry
Grosvenor, at Bulwick, were lovely to see, and the best of them
were of one Carnation of good colour. These were the flowers from
her fine collection of outdoor Carnations, so useful for cutting in
summer and autumn, when people are enjoying their gardens. But
the improved culture of the Carnation as a plant for winter and

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN THE HOUSE.

227

spring bloom under glass gives us quantities of this precious flower
for six months more when the outdoor supply is over. These are
among the best flowers for the dinner table as well as the house
generally, and on the dinner table the effect by artificial or by natural
light of one or two flowers of the season is often better than that
given by a variety of flowers. What is just said of the Carnation
applies to various noble groups of hardy flowers, such as the Tulip,
Narcissus, and Lily.

Mexican Orange-flower.

It is not only in vases we see the good of showing one flower or
group at a time ; a good result will often come through a single
spray or branch of a shrub. The Japanese have taught us to see
the beauty of form and line in a single twig or branch, with its
natural habit shown, apart from any beauty and form or colour
its flowers may have. This is important, in view of the many
shrubs that flower in our climate in spring, and of which if flower-
ing shoots are cut when in bud the flowers open slowly and
well in the house. They are best placed in Japanese bronze or
other opaque jars. The taller Japanese bronze jars with narrow
necks are very useful for these, and it is an excellent practice to

228

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

cut the bud-laden shoots of Sloe, Plum, Apple, Crab, and like plants,
and put them in jars to bloom in the house. By this means we
advance their blooming time ; and, in the case of severe weather,
the beauty of early shrubs may be lost to us unless we adopt this
plan. We see how well the French practice of growing Lilac in
the dwelling-house prolongs the beauty of this shrub, and it is not

Foliage of Evergreen hardy plant (Epimedium)

difficult to do something of the kind for the hardy shrubs and early
trees that come with the Daffodils, but are not so well able to brave
the climate. These shoots of early shrubs are also usually best
arranged each by itself, though some go well together, and graceful
leaves of evergreens may be used with them. One advantage of
dealing with one flower at a time is that we show and do not
conceal the variety of beauty we have. For, if all are thrown together,
that variety will be much less evident than if we make clear the

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN THE HOUSE. 229

colour and form of each kind. Some proof of this may be seen
in the work of the best flower-painters. In the work of M. Fantin-
Latour, for example, his nosegays of many flowers, evidently bought
at some country market stand, are painted as well as his simple
subjects, but these last are far the best pictures. There is such
a wide range of plants, shrubs, and woodland and hedgerow
flowers, that we must not hesitate to depart from any general idea
if it tends to keep us from making the best of things in simple and
ready ways.

Often the water and the water-side will give us fine things for the
house, and the new Water-Lilies of rare distinction if cut in the

freshly expanded state will keep very well for

Water-Lilies for some days and give us quite a new order of

the house. beauty. For them we want bold and simple

basins, as, if we can put some of their handsome
leaves in with them, the effect is all the better. Although very
fine in the open water, where they do admirably, the effect of
the flower near at hand in the house is quite different and very
beautiful, and as these plants increase their value as cut flowers for
the house will be found to be great. There are also plants of the
water-side which may help with foliage or flower ; one of the best
being the Forget-me-not, which flowers so well in the house, and the
great Buttercup.

Many as are the flowers of the open air excellent for house,
the leaves of the open air tree or shrub or plant are hardly of

less use for the same end': notably the foliage
Leaves. of evergreen shrubs in warm and sea coast

districts, from evergreen Magnolia, Poet's Laurel,
Cypress, Juniper and Thuja, Cherry Laurel, and Bamboo; even
in the coldest districts we have the evergreen Barberry, and more
than fifty forms of the best of all evergreen climbers, the Ivy,
and the Holly with its scarlet, yellow, or orange berries. The trees
in autumn give us leaves rich in colour — Maple, Medlar, Mespilus,
Parrotia, Tulip-tree, and many others. The shrubs and climbers,
too, help — Bramble,. Wild Roses, Water Elder (Viburnum), Common
Barberry, with its graceful rain of red berries ; Vines in many forms ;
hardy flowers, too, help with Acanthus, Alexandrian Laurel,
Solomon's Seal, Iris, Plantain Lily. Rock plants are rich in good
leaves : Cyclamen, Heuchera, Christmas and Lenten Roses, the large
Indian Rockfoils and the Barrenworts ; and then there are the
hardy Ferns of our own country and Europe, and also those of North
America as hardy as our own.

A great help in a house is a handy water supply in a little room,
near the flower garden or usual entrance for flowers, where vessels

230

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

may be stored and flowers quickly arranged, used water and
flowers got rid of, and so planned that the mistress of the
house, or whoever arranges the flowers, may use it at all times
without other aid. This greatly helps in every way, and makes
the arrangement of flowers for the house more than ever a pleasure.

The Chimney Campanula, Staunton Court.

CHAPTER XXVII.

EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS.

" Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree,
They flourish at home in my own country." — Old Ballad.

THE above lines might be worth thinking of by those bent on
planting evergreens, as if it were borne in mind that the ever-
greens we plant have to face winters in an Oak and Ash land,
we should have less of rampant but not hardy evergreens which
perish in numbers after hard winters.

There are no background hues prettier than those afforded by some
evergreens like the Yew, Box, and Ilex ; but their use requires
care ; we may have too many of them, and they should not take
the place of flowering shrubs and flowers of many kinds. It is
outside the flower garden that evergreens are most useful, and in a
cold country like ours, especially on the eastern coasts and in wind-
swept districts, Holly banks and hedges of other hardy evergreens
are often a necessity. In our country we have the privilege of
growing more evergreen shrubs and trees than continental countries,
species resisting winter here which have not the slightest chance
of doing so in Central Europe.

Into our brown and frozen northern woods come a few adventurers

from southern lands that do not lose their green in winter but take

a deeper verdure — Ivy, Holly, and Yew enduring

Native evergreens, all but the very hardest frosts that visit our isles,

some bright with berries as well as verdure — giving

welcome shelter to northern and wind-swept gardens, and in our own

time each varying into many noble varieties. These native evergreens

and their varieties are, and for ever must be, the most precious of all

for the British Isles.

When after a very hard winter we see the evergreen trees of
the garden in mourning, and many of them dead, as happens to
Laurels, Laurustinuses, and often even the Bay, it is a good time to
consider the hardiness and other good qualities of our British ever-
greens and the many forms raised from them. If we are fortunate
enough to have old Yew trees near us, we do not find that a hard

231

232 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

winter makes much difference to them, even winters that brown the
evergreen Oak. We have collected within the past two hundred years
evergreen trees from all parts of the northern world, but it is doubtful
if any of them are better than the common Yew, which when old is
often picturesque, and which lives for over a thousand years. Of this
great tree we have many varieties, but none of them quite so good as
the wild kind when old. In the garden little thought is given to it,,
and it is crowded among shrubs, or in graveyards, where the roots are
cut by digging, so that one seldom sees it in its true character when old,
which is very beautiful. The Golden Yew is a variety of it, and there
are other forms, one of which, the Irish form, is well known, and too
much used.

After the Yew, the best of our evergreen shrubs is the Holly,
which in no other country attains the beauty it does in our own;
certainly no evergreen brought over the sea is so
The Holly. valuable not only in its native form, often attaining
40- ft. even on the hills, but in the varieties raised
from it, many of them being the best of all variegated shrubs in their
silver and gold variegation ; in fruit, too, it is the most beautiful of
evergreens. Not merely as a garden tree is it precious, but as a most
delightful shelter around fields for stock in paddocks and places
which want shelter. A big wreath of old undipped Holly on the
cold sides of fields is the best protection, and a grove of Holly
north of any garden ground is the best evergreen we can plant for
shelter ; the only thing we have to fear being rabbits, which when
numerous make Holly difficult to establish by barking the newly-
planted trees, and in hard winters even barking and killing many
old trees. As to the garden, we may make beautiful evergreen
gardens of the forms of Holly alone.

Notwithstanding the many conifers brought from other countries
within the past few generations, as regards beauty it is very doubtful
if more than one or two equal our native Fir. In any case few things
in our country are more picturesque than old groups and groves of the
Scotch Fir; few indeed of the conifers we treasure from other
countries will ever give us anything so good as its ruddy stems and
frost-proof crests.

The best of evergreen climbers is our native Ivy, and the many

beautiful forms that have arisen from it. This in our woods arranges

its own beautiful effects, but in gardens it might

Native Ivy. be made more use of, and no other evergreen

climber comes near it in value. The form most

commonly planted in gardens — the Irish Ivy — is not so graceful as

some others, and there are many forms varying even in colour.

These for edgings, banks, screens covering old trees, and summer-

EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS.

233

houses, might be made far more use of. In many northern
countries our Ivy will not live in the open air, and we rarely take

Evergreen trees in natural forms (Cedars : Gunnersbury).

enough advantage of such a possession in making both shelters,
wreaths, and screens. Care is required to keep it off our houses
and off cottage roofs or it will damage them ; but there are many

234 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

pretty things to make of it away from buildings, and among them
Ivy-clad and Ivy-covered wigwams, summer-houses, and covered
ways, the Ivy supported on a strong open frame-work.

Box, which is a true native in certain dry hills in the south of
England, is so crowded in gardens that one seldom sees its beauty
as one may on the hills full in the sun, where the branches take a
plumy toss. To wander among natural groves of Box is pleasant,
and we should plant it in colonies by itself full in the sun, so
that it might show the same grace of form that it shows wild
on the chalk hills. It is, I think, the best of our native evergreens
for garden use, making pretty low hedges as at Panshanger,
and for dividing lines near the flower garden it is better than
Yew or Holly.

Also among our native evergreens is the common Juniper, a
scrubby thing in some places, but on heaths in Surrey, and favoured
heaths elsewhere, often growing over twenty feet high and very
picturesque, especially where mingled with Holly. The upright
form, called the Irish Juniper, in gardens is not nearly so good as
the wild Juniper.

The Arbutus, which borders nearly all the streams in Greece,

ventures into Ireland, and is abundant there in certain parts in the

south. This beautiful shrub, though tender in

Arbutus. midland counties, is very precious for the seashore

and mild districts not only as an evergreen, but

for the beauty of its flowers and fruit. Still, it is the one British

evergreen which must not be planted where the winters are severe

in inland districts, and usually perishes on the London clay. It is

the best of our native evergreens that deserve the preference, instead

of the heavy Cherry Laurels and various evergreens not even hardy,

so that after a hard frost we often see the suburbs of country towns

black with their dead.

One of the most baneful things in our gardens has been the
introduction of distorted and ugly conifers which often disfigure the
foregrounds of beautiful houses. These are often
Ugly evergreen sports and variations raised in modern days, as is
trees. the case with the too common Irish Yew. It is

not only that we have to deplore the tender trees
of California, which in their own country are beautiful, though,
unhappily, not so in ours, but it is the mass of distorted, unnatural,
and ugly forms, the names of which disfigure even the best cata-
logues, that is most confusing and dangerous. In one foreign
catalogue there are no less than twenty-eight varieties of the Norway
Spruce, in all sorts of dwarf and monstrous shapes — some of them,
indeed, dignified with the name monstrosa — not one of which should

EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 235

ever be seen in a garden. The true beauty of the Pine comes
from its form and dignity, as we see it in old Firs that clothe the
hills of Scotland, California, or Switzerland. It is not in distortion
or in little green pincushions we must look for the charm of the
Pine, but rather in storm-tossed head and often naked stems; and
hence all these ridiculous forms should be excluded from gardens
of any pretence to beauty.

Another most unfortunate tree in this way, as helping to fill out
gardens with graceless things, is the western Arbor vitae (Thuja
occidentalis). This, which is a very hardy tree but never a dignified
one, even where it grows in the north about Lake Superior and
through the Canadas, is, unhappily, also hardy in our gardens, and
we may see in one catalogue no less than twenty-three forms of this
tree all dignified with Latin names. There are plenty of beautiful
things, new and old, worthy of the name, without filling our gardens
with such monstrosities, many of which are variegated. Of all ugly
things, nothing is worse than the variegated Conifer, which usually
perishes as soon as its variegated parts die, the half dead tree often
seeming a bush full of wisps of hay.

In many once well-planted pleasure grounds the Pontic Rhodo-
dendron almost runs over and destroys every other shrub, and
hides out the most beautiful tree effects, growing
Evergreen weeds, often a little above the line of sight. Even where
people have taken the greatest trouble to plant a
good collection of trees, the monotony of it, always the same in
colour, winter or summer, except when dashed by its ill-coloured
flowers, is depressing. The walk from the ruins at Cowdray to the
new house is .an example that might be mentioned amongst a
thousand others of a noble bank of trees, varied and full of beauty,
but, in consequence of this shrub spreading beneath them all along
the walk, showing nothing but a dank wall of evergreen. This
ugliness and monotony come about through the use of the Pontic
as a covert plant, and also owing to its facility of growth the beauti-
ful sorts of Rhododendron being usually grafted on it. In a garden
where there are men to look after plants so grafted and pull away
the suckers, this plan may do, but when planting is done in a bold
way about woods, or even pleasure grounds, this is not nor can it
always be attended to, so that the suckers come up and in time
destroy the valuable sorts. The final result is never half so pretty
as in the most ill-kept natural wood, with Bracken and Brier in fine
colour and some little variety of form below the trees ; therefore
everybody who cares for the beauty of undergrowth should cease
this covering of the ground with this poor shrub, not so hardy as the
splendid kinds of American origin often grafted on it to die. With

236 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

the Cherry Laurel and the Portugal Laurel it is the main cause of the
monotony and cheerless air of so many pleasure grounds.

The nurseryman who grows rare trees or shrubs very often finds
them left on his hands, so that many nurseries only grow a few
stereotyped things, mainly those that grow freely, and, owing
to the over-use of weed-evergreens like Privet, are without beauty,
and offensive in odour when in flower. The presence of such
things is one of the causes of the miserable aspect of the shrub-
beries in many gardens, which might be very beautiful and
interesting with a varied life. Many shrubs of little or no beauty
in themselves very often destroy by their vigour the rare and
beautiful garden vegetation, so that we have not only the ugliness
of a brake of Laurel, or half-evergreen Privet, or Pontic Rhododen-
dron to survey, but often the fact that these shrubs have overrun and
killed far more precious things. And this nursery rubbish having
killed every good thing begins to eat up itself, and hence we see so
many shrubberies worn out.

It is not only the ill-effect of these all-devouring evergreens we
have to consider, but that they shut out the evergreen flowering
shrubs and trees of the highest beauty of colour
The nobler ever- as we^ as °f foliage, and the many hardy
green flowering Rhododendrons of finest colour. If we would
shrubs. only cease to graft them, and instead get them

from layers on their own roots, we should not be
overcrowded with the R. ponticum of the present system. They
are not only hardy, in the sense that many of our popular evergreens
are hardy in favoured districts or by the sea, so kind as it is to
evergreens, but they are hardy everywhere in England. I mean
the many broad-leaved Rhododendrons which have mostly come
to us from the wild American species, and are hardy in North
and Eastern America. Apart from the use of such things, by care-
fully selecting their colours we may have not merely an evergreen
background of fine and varied green, but also the most precious
flowering shrubs ever raised by man and in their natural forms,
often varying in fine colour and form too, if we will only cease
to compel them to live on one mean and too vigorous shrub.

As to the kinds of Rhododendron that are raised from the Pontic
kind, or even from the Indian Rhododendrons, so far as tried they
are not in any way so good as the varieties raised from the North
American kinds, which have the fine constitution of R. Catawbiense
in them, and of which many are hardy not merely in Old England
but in the much more severe winters of New England. Apart from
plants of these kinds from layers we may also have them as seed-
lings, though the named kinds from layers give us the means of group-

EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 237

ing a finely coloured kind which may often be desirable. It is also
very probable that we shall, as various regions of the northern world
are opened up, introduce to cultivation other fine wild species, and get
precious races from them, so for many reasons the sooner we get out
of the common routine of the nurseries in grafting every fine kind we
already have on R. ponticum, the better. And if this plan be wrong
with the varieties, what are we to say to grafting any of the fine wild
species that come to us on the same Pontic kind kept in every nursery
for the purpose ? For however vigorous the growth at first, the stock
is sure to get its head in the end, and then good-bye to the precious
natural species it has borne — for no sound reason.

Apart from trees of poor forms, there are others which are
stately in their own country but a doubtful gain to ours, like the

Wellingtonia and other Californian trees and

Greater evergreen the Chili Pine. Sometimes the foregrounds of

trees. even fine old houses are marred by such trees,

and unfortunately people use them in the idea
that they are by their use doing something old-fashioned and
" Elizabethan," whereas they are marring the beauty of the land-
scape and of our native trees, often so fine, beyond the bounds of
the garden. We ought not to spoil the beauty of our home
landscapes by using such things, which are so abundant in many
places that the nobler exotic evergreen trees like the evergreen
Oak are forgotten. This European tree from Holkham in Norfolk
to the west of England and in many gardens round the coasts
of our islands, is a great evergreen tree and a fine background
and shelter.

This is perhaps the finest evergreen tree ever brought to our
country and as hardy as our own trees. If we use evergreen trees

they ought to be the noblest and hardiest. The
Cedar of Lebanon, loss of this tree by storms could not happen to

anything like the same extent if people went on
planting young trees. The many catalogues issued, help towards
the neglect of the really precious trees by bringing out novelties
from all parts of the world — absolutely unproved trees ; whilst the
planting of such grand trees as the Cedar of Lebanon and the Ilex
of Europe are often forgotten. A mistake made in Cedar planting is
that of only planting isolated trees with great branches on all
sides, an enormous surface exposed to strong wind. In their own
country, where Cedars are naturally massed together, although the
gales are severe, the trees are not destroyed by wind in anything
like the same degree. The Cedar of Lebanon is beautiful in the
" specimen " way, but it is at least equally beautiful massed in groups.
In their own countries, in addition to being massed and grouped

238 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

together, the soil is often stony and rocky, the growth is slower,
and the trees take a firmer hold, whereas in our river valleys, where
the Lebanon Cedar is often planted in an isolated way, the growth
is softer and the resistance to wind less, and a more artistic and
natural way of planting would lessen the accidents to which this
noblest of evergreen trees is exposed.

Few countries are so rich in the means of shelter as our own,
owing to the evergreens that grow freely with us and thrive in

seashore and wind-swept districts. Shelter may

Shelter and wind be near flower-beds and distant or wind-breaks,.

screens. across the line of prevailing winds, and the north

and east winds, and may be of Yew, Holly,
Cedar of Lebanon (never Deodar), native Fir, a few other hardy
Firs, and the Ilex.

In old times shelter was often obtained from clipped hedges of
Yews and Limes, but the fine evergreen shrubs we now possess make
it more easy and effective to use naturally grown shrubs ; these soften
the wind better than clipped lines, while often themselves beautiful
in leaf and bloom. There is, indeed, in gardens the danger of planting
too densely at first, so that after some years the place becomes dank
and the very house itself is made cheerless. The pretty young conifers
planted are not thought of as forest trees, and parts which should be
in the sun are gradually overshadowed — a great mistake in a climate
like ours.

Among the kinds of shelter, walls, thickly clad with climbers,
evergreens and others, are often the best for close garden work,
because they do not rob the ground, as almost any evergreen tree
will ; and in doing their work, they themselves may bear many of
our most beautiful flowers. Half-hardy evergreens, like the common
Cherry Laurel and Portugal Laurel, should never be planted to
shelter the garden, because they may get cut down in hard winters.
Happily, even in the most exposed places, a good many hardy
flowers may be grown with success, such as Carnations, Pinks, and
many rock plants which lie close to the ground, and are therefore
little exposed to wind, and thrive in exposed places where soil and
cultivation are not against them. English gardens are often well
sheltered by the house itself and by old walls and enclosures, so
that in old gardens it is easy to secure shelter for plants.

Some are doubtful of planting near the sea, considering the bleak
look of things and the cutting winds. Yet even in places where the

few trees that are planted are cut sharp off by the

Planting near the sea wind above the walls, as in Anglesea, we may

sea. see how soon good planting will get over difficulties

that seem insurmountable. By the use near the

EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 239

sea of small-leaved trees like the Tamarisks, Sea Buckthorn, and
small Willows, we very soon get a bit of shelter, and by backing
these with the close-growing conifers like our common Juniper
and some of the sea-loving Pines, like Pinaster, and in mild southern
and western districts the Californian Cypress and the Monterey Pine,
we soon get shelter and companionship for our trees, and fifty yards
away we may soon walk in woods as stately as in any part of the
country. Having got our shelter in this way the growth of the
hardy Pines of the northern world seems as easy by the sea as
anywhere ; indeed, more so, because if there is any one place where
the rather tender Pines are grown well it is near the sea in places
around our coast, where if the soil is good, one has not to be so
careful about the hardiness of trees we select as we have to be
in inland places.

The Evergreen Oak takes a lead among the trees near the sea,
and it ought to be largely used ; but as it is not very easily trans-
planted from nursery-bought plants, it is just as
The Ilex. well to raise it on the place and plant it young.
Seed may be scattered with some advantage in
places we wish it to grow in, as it grows freely from seed.

The Evergreen Oak withstood the great gales of 1897 *n the
south and west of England better than any other tree. At Killerton
and Knightshayes, and many other places where the destruction
was greatest, the Evergreen Oak was not among the many victims.
It is a precious tree for the south and west and all seashore districts,
and should never be forgotten among the crowd of novelties. As
with so many trees, it suffers from indiscriminate planting with other
and sometimes coarser things, and is rarely grouped in any effective
way, although here and there, as at Ham House, at Killerton, and
at St Ann's, we may see the effect of holding this tree together.

In addition to the common evergreen trees of Europe, Scotch Fir,

Spruce and Silver Firs, we have the noble Corsican Pine, which, from

its habitat in Calabria and in Corsica, can have

The Pines. no objection to the sea. The Pines of the Pacific

coast, too, are well used to its influences, and we see

in our country good results from planting them near the sea, as, for

example, Menzies' Spruce at Hunstanton, the Monterey Pine at

Bicton, the Redwood in many places near the sea. One good result

of planting in such places is that we may use so many evergreen

trees, from the Holly to the Cedar, and so get a certain amount of

warmth as well as shelter.

Though our country generally is not perhaps fitted for the growth
of the Cork Oak, a fine evergreen tree, it is here and there seen in
southern and sheltered parts on warm soils, as in certain parts of

240

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Devonshire and on the warm side of the Sussex Downs, even in good
condition. Of this fact we have an example in the Cork Oaks at
Goodwood, all that could be desired in health and beauty. This Oak
naturally inhabits the southern parts of Europe and the northern
parts of Africa, and it is interesting to see that it can attain the size
of a stately tree in our own country in some favoured places, but
the Evergreen Oak for our islands is the Ilex and its various
forms.

Some Genera of Evergreen Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles.1

Abies

Aralia

Araucaria

*Arbutus

Arundinaria

Aucuba

Azara

Bambusa

*Benthamia

Berberis

Buxus

Camellia

Cedrus

Chamcerops

Choisya

*Cistus
Cotoneaster

Euonymus
*Fabiana

Cratcegus

Garrya

Cryptomeria

Gaultheria

Cupressus

Hedera

Daphne

Ilex

Daphniphyllum
*Desfontainea

Juniperus
Kalmia

Diplopappus

Laurus

Eloeagnus

Ledum

*Embothrium

Leiophyllum

Ephedra

Leucothoe

Erica

Libocedrus

*Escallonia

Ligustrum

Magnolia

Myrica

Olearia

Osmanthus

Pernettya

Phillyrea

Phlomis

Phyllostachys

Pieris

Pinus

Quercus

Kaphiolepis

Retinospora

Rhamnus

Rhododendron

Rosmarinus

Ruscus

Sequoia

Skimmia

Smilax

Taxus

Thuja

Thujopsis

Ulex

Veronica

Viburnum

Vinca

Yucca

1 Some of those marked * are hardy only in seashore districts or warm soils, and in some genera named
few species are evergreen.

Juniper showing natural growth.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

" Vous travaillez pour ainsi dire a cote de Dieu, vous netes que les
collaborateurs de la lot divine de la vegetation. Dieu, dans ses ceuvres
inimitable, ne se prete pas a nos chimeres ; la nature n'a pas de com-
plaisance pour nos faux systemes. Elle est souveraine, absolue comme
son Auteur. Elle resiste a nos tentatives folles ; elle dejoue, et
quelquefois rudement, nos illusions. Elle nous seconde, elle nous aide,
elle nous recompense, si nous touchons juste et si nous travaillons
dans son sens vrai ; mais si nous nous trompons, si nous voulons
la violenter^ la contraindre, la fausser, elle nous donne a f instant
meme des dementis eclatants en faits par la sterilite, par le
deperissement, par la mort de tout ce que nous avons voulu creer
en depit delle et a ^inverse de ses lots." — LAMARTINE, DlSCOURS
AUX JARDINIERS.

CLIPPING EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES.

THE Yew in its natural form is the most beautiful evergreen of
our western world — finer than the Cedar in its feathery branching,
and more beautiful than any Cedar in the colour of its stem. In
our own day we see trees of the same great order as the Yew
gathered from a thousand hills — from British Columbia, through
North America and Europe to the Atlas Mountains, and not one of
them has yet proved to be so beautiful as our native Yew when
undipped root or branch. But in gardens the quest for the
exotic is so active that few give a fair chance to the Yew as a
tree, while in graveyards, where it is so often seen in a very-
old state, the cutting of the roots hurts the growth, though there
are Yews in our churchyards that have seen a thousand winters.
It is not my own idea only that I urge here, but that of all who
have ever thought of the beauty of trees, foremost among whom
we must place artists who have the happiness of always drawing
natural forms. Let any one stand near the Cedar-like Yews by
the Pilgrim's Way on the North Downs, and, comparing them
with trees cut into fantastic shapes, consider what the difference
means to the artist who seeks beauty of tree form !

What right have we to deform things so lovely in form? No
cramming of Chinese feet into impossible shoes is half so foolish

24I Q

242 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

as the wilful and brutal distortion of the beautiful forms of trees.
The cost of this mutilation alone is one reason against it, as we
see where miles of trees cut into walls have to be clipped, as at
Versailles and Schonbrunn. This shearing is a mere " survival "
of the day when we had very few trees, and they were clipped to
fit the crude notion of " garden design " of the day. The fact
that men when they had few trees made them into walls to make
them serve their ways of " design " is no reason why we, rich in
the trees of all the hills of the north, should go on mutilating
them.

While it may be right to clip a tree to form a dividing-line or

hedge, it is never so to clip trees grown for their own sakes, as by

shaving such we only get ugly, unnatural forms.

Unnatural forms. Men who trim with shears or knife so fine a tree

as the Holly are dead to beauty of form and

cannot surely have seen how fine in form old Holly trees are. To

give us such ugly forms in gardens is to show one's self callous to

beauty of tree form, and to prove that one cannot even see ugliness.

The Cherry Laurel in its natural shape in the woods is often fine

in form ; but it is planted everywhere in gardens without thought of

its fitness for each place, and as it grows apace, the shears are called

in, and its shoots are cut into ugly banks and formless masses.

There is no place in which it is clipped for which we could not get

shrubs of the desired size that would not need the shears.

In the old gardens, when people had very few evergreens, or
where they wanted an object of a certain height, they had to clip.
It is well to preserve such gardens, but never to imitate them. If we
want shelter, we can get it in various pleasant ways without clipping,
and, while getting it, we can enjoy the natural forms of the ever-
greens. Hedges and wall-like lines of green living things are useful,
and even may be artistically used. Occasionally we find clipped
arches and bowers pretty, and these, when very old, are worth keep-
ing. Besides, there is much difference between evergreen archways
or bowers, hedges, and shelters, and the fantastic clipping of living
trees into the shapes of bird or beast or coffee-pot.

Now and then we see attempts on the part of those with more
knowledge of some half-mechanical grade of decorative " design "
than of beautiful form to galvanise the corpse of the topiary art.
Such an idea would not occur to any one knowing the many beautiful
things now within our reach, nor to any landscape-painter who studies
beautiful forms of earth or trees or flowers, nor to any lover of Nature in
tree or flower. Sometimes these puerilities are set into book form.
For one author there is no art in gardening, but cutting a tree into
the shape of a cocked hat is " art," and he says : —

CLIPPING EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES. 243

I have no more scruple in using the scissors upon tree or shrub, where trim-
ness is desirable, than I have in mowing the turf of the lawn that once represented
a virgin world . . . and in the formal part of the garden my Yews should take the
shape of pyramids, or peacocks, or cocked hats, or ramping lions in Lincoln green,
or any other conceit I had a mind to, which vegetable sculpture can take.

After reading this I thought of some of the true " vegetable

sculpture " that I had seen ; Reed and Lily, models in stem and

leaf; the Grey Willows of Britain as lovely

" Vegetable against our British skies as Olives are in the
sculpture." south ; many-columned Oak groves set in seas of
Primroses, Cuckoo flowers, and Violets ; Silver
Birch woods of Northern Europe beyond all grace possible in stone ;
the eternal garland of beauty that one kind of Palm waves for
hundreds of miles throughout the land of Egypt — a vein of summer
in a lifeless world ; the noble Pine woods- of California and Oregon,
like fleets of colossal masts on mountain waves — these and many
other lovely forms in. garden and wood, and then wondered that
any one could be so blind to the beauty of the natural forms of
plants and trees as to write as this author does.

From the days of the Greeks to our own time, the delight of all
great artists has been to get as near this divine beauty as what
they work in permits. But this deplorable vegetable sculptors delight
is in distorting beautiful forms ; and this in the one art in which
we have the happiness of possessing the living things themselves,
and not merely representations of them. The old people from whom
he takes his ideas were not so foolish, as when the Yew was used as a
hedge or was put at a garden gate it was necessary to clip it to keep
it in bounds. Apart from the ugliness of the cocked-hat tree, or other
pantomimic trees the want of life and change in a garden made up
of such trees should open the eyes of any one to its drawbacks,
as in it there is none of the joy of spring, or summer's crown of
flowers, or winter's rest.

In old days, whether in a manor house or castle garden, the

use of Yew hedges had some clear motive of shelter or division,

or clothing against massive walls as at Berkeley,

Abuse of Yew or at a cottage door as a living shelter. But

hedges. when we use Yew hedges from the mere desire

for them, and without much thought of the ground

or other reasons, we may find ourselves in trouble. At a place

where Roses were earnestly sought, the Rose borders were backed

up close by Yew hedges ; the Yews were not very troublesome

the first year or two, but, as they grew, they became merciless

robbers. There are many ways of growing Roses, but it would be

difficult to invent any worse way than this, which leaves the gardener

244 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

always " between the devil and the deep sea," trying to keep back
the hungry Yew roots all the while, it being quite easy to secure a
background which, instead of eating up the Roses, would support
and shelter them beautifully, walls, Oak palings, other trellises, or
espaliers of bushy climbers, like Honeysuckle and Clematis.

Another bad way is to place lines of Yew hedges so close together
that the sun can hardly sweeten the ground between them, this being
generally the result of carrying out some book plan, without thought
of the ground or its use. More stupid still is cutting up level lawns
with Yew hedges across them, or sometimes projected into them a
little way, with flower-beds in between, within a couple of feet of the
all-devouring Yew, all this very costly Yew planting working for
ugliness, and against the health, and even life, of all the flowers
near.

It is not only the needs of our own greatly increased garden flora
— new races of plants never known to the old people, such as our Tea
Roses and the rich collections of shrubs from Japan and other
countries, that will not bear mutilation or robbing at the root — that
should make us pause, as, even in what remains to us of old flower
gardens on ancient tapestries and pictures, we may see some
evidence that the lady had room in her flower garden to look
around and work among her flowers, unencumbered by a maze of
robbing hedges. Some, perhaps, of these close lines of Yews, set
with such little thought, owe their origin to the maze idea ; but the
maze was for a wholly different end, and in it we have only to grow
its trees and the paths are free for the roots. In the Rose and flower
garden the cost and care to get an artistic and beautiful result are too
heavy to have them eaten up before our eyes by the hungriest of
tree roots.

A gardener with shears in his hand is generally doing fool's work,

but there is much difference between his clipping old or sheltering

lines of Yews, or even the peacocks in Box, and

Clipped evergreen tne clipping which goes on in some gardens where

shrubs. beds are filled with small evergreen bushes instead

of flowers. Some effect may be obtained in a way,

but the bushes usually get far too thick, and then the shears are used

to keep them in bounds, and what ought to be graceful groups of

flowers or shrubs of good form becomes flat, hard, and ugly. The

clipping may have been designed at first, but oftener it is done to

repress overgrowth. A more stupid way of filling the beds of a

flower gardqn could hardly be imagined, because we lose all the

grace and form of the shrubs, and also the chance of seeing flowers

growing among them. It is one of the prettiest phases of flower

gardening when Lilies, Gladioli, and other graceful plants spring

CLIPPING EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES. 2^5

from groups of choice evergreens. The end of all this laborious
mutilation is to cause disease and overcrowding, and the best thing
is to clear the deformed things away and plant in more natural ways.
If we want flower-beds, let us have them ; by doing so we can have
varied life for more than half the year. If we want beds of choice ever-
greens we can have them without destroying their forms by the shears.

Recently magazines and illustrated journals, in the great chase

after subjects, have dealt with the clipped gardens of England, and

some of the most ridiculous work ever perpetrated

Disfigurement of in this way has been chosen for illustration. Of

forest trees. English counties, Derbyshire is the most notorious
for examples of disfigured trees. The Dutch, who
painted like nature, and built like sane men, left their plantations
to the shears, but they always cut to lines or had some kind of plan,
judging from their old engraved books. British clipping has one
phase which has no relation to any plan, and in so far exceeds in
extravagance the methods of the Dutch, Austrian, and French, and
that is the clipping single, and often forest, trees into the shape of
green bolsters. A false idea runs through all growers of trees of the
Pine tribe, the most frequent victims of the practice, that these trees
should be kept in a conical shape, the truth being that all the Pine
trees in the world in their state of highest beauty lose their lower
branches, and show the beauty of their stem and form when growing
in their natural way. With a few exceptions, it is the way of these
trees to shed their lower branches as other trees shed their leaves.
In countries where Pines often stand alone, as on the foothills of
California, I have seen them with 100 feet or more of clean stem.

We are told that Elvaston is not remarkable for natural beauty,
and that the grounds there are so flat that landscape-gardeners, in
despair of any other planting, are compelled to have recourse to
topiary work ; that " even that man of fame, ' Capability ' Brown,
seems to have shrunk from the work of laying out the grounds.
Whereupon the earl demanded his reason, and Brown replied,
* Because the place is so flat,' &c."

Now level ground has a great deal in it that is favourable to artistic
ways of planting. With such ground we may more easily secure
breadth, simplicity, and dignity, get dividing lines in the easiest way,
richer soil and finer and more stately growth and nobler shelter.
Many of the most beautiful gardens of Europe are on level ground,
as Laxenberg in Vienna, the English garden in Munich, not to speak
of many in our own river valleys and in counties like Lincolnshire.
What would be said of planting in all the flat countries of Northern
Europe if the assertion were true that we cannot make level ground
beautiful by planting in natural ways, to say nothing of the absurdity

246 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

of assuming that the only way out of the difficulty is in the stupid
disfigurement of trees ?

First of all is the loss of tree form — a wonderful and beautiful
gift, so beautiful, indeed, that the marvel is that we should have

to allude to it at all, as in nearly every parish in
Loss of form. England one has only to walk one hundred yards

or so to come face to face with fine examples of
good tree form. There is more strength and beauty of line in many
an Ash tree by a farmhouse yard than in all the clipped trees in
Britain. Some protest against the cropping and docking of animals'
ears and tails, but, when the worst is done in that way, the dog or
the horse remains in full beauty of form in all essential parts, but if
we clip a noble tree, which in natural conditions is a lesson in lovely
form in all its parts, we reduce it at once to a shapeless absurdity.

The second great loss is that of light and shade, which are very
important elements of beauty. These are entirely neutralised by

shaving trees to a level surface, whether the trees
Light and shade, take the form of a line, or we clip them singly,

as in the British phase of tree clipping. If we see
old examples of the natural Yew, a forest tree, and the commonest
victim of the shears among evergreen forest trees, and if we look at
them in almost any light, we may soon see how much we lose by
destroying light and shade, as the play of these enhances the force and
beauty of all the rest.

The third objection is the loss of refined colour. In gardens
we are so much concerned with garish colour that we often fail to

consider the more delicate colours of nature, and
Colour. such fine tone as we see in a grove of old Yews,

bronzed by the winter, or in Ilex with the beautiful
silver of the leaf, or a grove of coral-bearing Hollies. All the
favourite trees used for clipping are far more beautiful in colour in a
natural state ; the loss of the stem colour alone is a great one, as
we may see wherever old Yews show their stems.

In the movement of these trees stirred by the wind, and the gentle
sighing of their branches, we have some most welcome aspects of

tree life. In groves of Ilex, as at Ham House,
Motion. and masses of the same tree, as at St Ann's, the

effect of the motion of the branches is to many
a beautiful one. This movement is also of great beauty in groves of
old Yew trees, and is seen in every Cedar and Pine that pillars the
hills. The voice of the wind in these trees is one of the most
grateful sounds in nature, and has often inspired the poet.

" I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument."

CLIPPING EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES. 247

And even when the storm is past we hear delicate music in the
free Pine tips.

" What noise is this? what low and solemn tone,

Which, though all wings of all the winds seem furled,

Nor even the zephyr's fairy flute is blown,

Makes thus for ever its mysterious moan

From out the whispering Pine-tops' shadowy world ?

Ah, can it be the antique tales are true ?

Doth some lone Dryad haunt the breezeless air,
Fronting yon bright immitigable blue,
And wildly breathing all her wild soul through

That strange unearthly music of despair?

Or, can it be that ages since, storm-tossed,

And driven far inland from the roaring lea,
Some baffled ocean spirit, worn and lost,
Here, through dry summer's dearth and winter's frost,

Yearns for the sharp sweet kisses of the sea?"

The fifth objection is that the constant mutilation of trees leads
to disease not unfrequently, as may be seen at Versailles. In the

Derbyshire examples the stems of dead Pines are
Death and disease, shown in the pictures ! It is simply an end one

might expect from the annual mutilation of a
forest tree, which the Yew certainly is, as we see it among the Cedars
on the mountains of North Africa, as well as in our own country and
in Western Europe. Other trees of the same great Pine order are
yet more impatient of the shears, and some of them, like the Cedar,
escape solely because of their dignity. However, we distort the Yew,
which is in nature sometimes as fine as a Cedar.

The maze is an inheritance from a past time, but not a precious
one, being one of the notions about gardening which arose when

people had very little idea of the infinite beauty
The maze. of the garden flora as we now know it. Some

people may be wealthy enough to show us all the
beauty of a garden and at the same time such ugly frivolities as this,
but they must be few. The maze is not pretty as part of a home
landscape or garden, and should be left for the most part to places
of the public tea-garden kind. One of its drawbacks is the death
and distortion of the evergreens that go to form its close lines, owing
to the frequent clipping ; if clipping be neglected the end is still
worse, and the whole thing is soon ready for the fire.

CHAPTER XXIX.

LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS.

THE lawn is the heart of the true British garden, and of all forms
of garden the freest and, may be, the most varied and charming,
adapted as it is to all sorts of areas from that around the smallest
house. It is above all things the English form of garden made best
in the rich level valley land, and, with the least amount of trouble
and labour to make or keep it, certainly gives the best result in
effect. The terrace garden we have seen, in its origin and best
meaning, arises from wholly different sort of ground from that on
which we make a lawn. If the Italians and others who built on hills
to avoid malaria had had healthy and level ground they would have
been very glad of it, and thought it beautiful. With the lawn there
is little or no trouble in securing fine background effects, variety,
pretty dividing lines, recesses for any favourites we may have in the
way of flowers, freedom, relief, air, and breadth. There is room on
the lawn for every flower and tree, from the Cedar, and the group of
fruit trees planted for the beauty of their flowers and fruit, down to
rich beds of Lilies.

One of the most foolish dogmas ever laid down about a garden is
that made in a recent book by an architect, in which we are told
emphatically that there is no such thing as a garden to be made
except within four walls. Many of the most beautiful gardens in the
British Isles are without any other aid than a background of trees
and evergreens, with no trace of walls, which are absolutely needless
in many situations to get the most artistic results in a garden. And
lovely gardens may be made around lawns without marring the
breadth and airiness which is the charm of a lawn, or in the least
interfering with the use of its open parts as a playground.

Where there is space enough there are reasons in country places

for cutting off by a hedge a playground from the garden or pleasure

ground, as is done at Madresfield and Campsey

Climber- covered Ash and many of the older gardens ; and what is

alleys. used generally is the Yew or Holly, but clipped

hedges give little shade and no flowers. Now, in

the like position, if we adopt the pergola, we get shade, and many

graceful flowers. Clematis, tall Roses, Wistaria, and almost every

248

LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS. 249

beautiful climber could be grown thereon, some better than on walls,
because we can allow for more abandon than on walls, and it is not
at all so easy to crucify Vine or climber on a pergola. We can have
evergreens, too, if we wish, with garlands of handsome Ivies among
them, and players might rest in the shade and lookers on sit there
to see the play. Various bold openings should be made on the
play lawn side, and the whole so arranged as to be a sort 'of living
cloister. Well done, the structure might be, apart from its shade
and coolness and use as a dividing line, a garden of a very graceful
kind, while the recent hot seasons lead one to think that the Italian
way of putting a roof of Vine leaves between one's self and the sun
is worth carrying out in our own country.

Pergolas have various uses in covering paths which are too much
exposed to the sun, and are a great aid in the garden, and there is no
better way of growing beautiful climbing plants
Pergolas. than a green covered way, whether supported by
Oak posts, or brick or stone pillars as in Italy.
The covered ways made in England are often too narrow. In forming
all such things a certain amount of freedom is essential ; and we
cannot enjoy the air in the usual narrow covered way, which, apart
from its own error as to size, is also soon narrowed by growth.
Where Oak is not distinctly preferred, 14 ins. brick pillars are best,
and the plants take to them very soon. Common brown or rough
stock bricks are far better for this use than showy red bricks. In
stone districts stone would do better, and it needs no fine dressing or
designing after any pattern. It is better in fact done in the free
way the Italians do it ; but then in Italy every man is a mason,
or knows what to do with stone, and also the stone there comes
out in long posts or flakes, which serve as posts. This is also the
case in the north of England, where beautiful posts of the green
stone may be seen in use on the farms.

The beautiful climbing shrubs and other plants that would find
a good congenial home on such a pergola are a good reason for
its use. Among them various graceful forms of our Grape Vine, as
well as the Japanese and American wild Vines, a group which now
includes the Virginian creepers of our gardens, which are also useful,
but not so good as the true Vines ; the lovely Wistaria, and not only
the old Chinese kind, the best of all, but the beautiful Japanese
long-racemed kind ( W. multijuga) ; and various others too, though
we think none come near to these in beauty ; the brilliant Flame
Nasturtium in cool districts ; the Green Briar (Smilax) of America
and also the South of Europe, for warm soils ; handsome double
and white-stemmed Brambles ; wild and single Roses ; Box Thorn,
with its brilliant showers of berries; European, American and

250 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Japanese Honeysuckles ; Jasmines ; over fifty kinds of Ivy, the
noblest of northern and evergreen climbers ; evergreen Thorn, with
its bright berries ; Cotoneasters of graceful habit ; Clematises,
especially the graceful wild kinds of America, Europe, and North
Africa. In mild districts particularly, the winter blooming Clematis
of North Africa and the Mediterranean Islands, which flowers in
winter or early spring, would be very pretty and give light shade.
The showy trumpet flowers (Bignonia], quite hardy in southern and
midland counties; and the Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia), with its
large leaves, would also be useful. The fine-leaved Lardizabala
of Chili, the brilliant coral Barberry of the same country (Berberi-
dopsis) ; the graceful, if not showy silk Vine (Periplocd) of Southern
Europe ; the Chinese Akebia, the use of the rarer climbers
depending much on the climate, elevation, soil, and nearness to the
sea.

An alternative to the Yew hedge and the covered way is the

plashed alley, but in some Elizabethan gardens it was often planted

with trees of too vigorous growth, such as the

The plashed Lime, which led to excessive mutilation and
alley. eventual distortion of the tree. Now, with our

present great variety of trees, some of them very
graceful and light in foliage, it is by no means necessary to resort
to such ugly mutilation ; and it would be easy, as an alternative to
the pergola, the clipped hedge or the plashed alley, to have a shaded
walk of medium-sized or low trees only. These might even be fruit
trees ; but the best would be such elegant-leaved trees as the
Acacias, which preserve their leaves for a long time in summer. One
drawback of the Lime, in addition to its excessive vigour, is the
fact that it sheds its leaves very early in the autumn, and, indeed,
we have often seen the leaves tumble off in St James's Park at the
end of July, and in Paris also. It is most unpleasant to have in
an alley a tree which is liable to such an early loss of its leaves.
The common Lime is a tree of the mountains and cool hills of
Europe, and it cannot endure great heats and hot autumns ; whereas
some of the trees of North America and other countries are quite
fresh in the hottest days. Among these none is better than the
Acacia, of which, in France especially, a number of elegant varieties
have been raised, as hardy as the parent species which charmed
William Cobbett, but more graceful in foliage. Among the best of
these is the Mimosa-leaved Acacia, an elegant tree, which gives us a
pleasantly shaded walk, and yet is not likely ever to become too
coarse in habit.

Fine turf is essential in and near the house and garden — turf wholly
apart from the open park or playground. Flower-beds are often set in

LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS. 251

turf, or there are small grassy spaces near the house or the garden,
on the good effect of which depends very much the beauty of the

home landscape, as coming so much into the fore-
Fine turf. ground of what should be pictures. One reason

why we should take care to get the best turf
which the conditions of soil or climate allow is that no other
country but ours can have such good turf. In many countries, even
in Europe, they cannot have it at all, but grass seed has to be sown
every year to get some semblance of turf. Where, however, our
natural advantages are so great, our care should be to get the full
benefit of them ; and though in many places the turf, through
the goodness of the soil, is all that could be desired even in
Britain, in others a very poor turf is often seen, and much effort
is often given in vain attempts to get a turf worthy of a flower
garden.

Many people think that any rough preparation will secure them a
good sward, and merely trench and turf the ground ; even experienced
ground workmen fail to get a fine turf for the flower garden, though
they may lay turf well enough for a cricket ground. Others think
that turf will come of itself, but are often rudely disappointed ; and
therefore some instructions as to the best way of laying down turf,
where the work has to be done from the beginning, and also for
repairing it when out of order, may be useful to some readers.
The following is written by Mr James Burnham, who has made
for me some of the most beautiful garden lawns I have seen,
some of them laid in hot spring weather.

" Should the spot chosen be on heavy soil, such as clay, take
the levels and fix them 16 feet apart around the outside of the

piece intended for a lawn. Take some levels

Formation of across the piece, then take 12 inches of earth out

good turf . below the levels. Should any of these 12 inches

contain good soil, wheel that on to the outside
of the piece, removing all the clay to a place near and burning
it into ballast, using slack coal. Find the natural fall of the
ground, and place pegs 16 feet apart in lines from top to bottom
the way it falls, then dig out the soil in line of pegs with
a draining tool, 12 inches deep at top end, bottom end 18 inches
deep. This will give a fall of 6 inches. Then lay in 2-inch drain
pipes, with a 3-inch pipe at the bottom end for a main to take
the water that drains from the sub-soil. See that this main is
taken to some outlet. Cover the pipes with 3 inches of burnt
ballast, and spread 3 inches of burnt ballast all over the piece of
ground. Dig the ground over 12 inches deep, at the same time
mixing the 3 inches of burnt ballast with the clay, taking care not

252 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

to disturb the pipes or dig below them. After treading all over
firmly, place on the surface 2 inches of burnt ballast, filling to the
level with loam mixed with the good soil you have laid on one
side from the surface. If you have no good soil, fill up with loam
mixed with coarse gravel, brick rubbish, and burnt ballast. Tread
all over again as before, making it level with a spade, pressing in
any. lump or stone that appears level with the ground. No rake
should be used. You have now 2 feet of trenched earth. Do not
dig down deeper in one place than another. A stick cut 2 feet long
by the worker's side is the best. He can, with the stick, test his
depth from time to time.

" In laying the turf keep the joints of each piece half-an-inch
apart. When it is all laid down pat it gently all over with a
turf-beater. It is better to take up the turf that
Laying the turf, is a little higher than the rest and take out a
little of the soil than to beat it down to the
level. Then spread some burnt ballast, ashes from the burnt
refuse of the garden, and the top 2 inches of soil from the wood
sifted through a half-inch mesh sieve, mixed well together, all over
the grass. Move it about until all the joints in the turf are level.
Wait for rain, then go over the lawn and take out all weeds. Give
another dressing of the soil as before, adding to this a little road
grit and old mortar. If no old mortar is available, slaked lime
will answer. Move this about until all is level again. In the
month of March or the first week in April, if the weather is
fine, sow all over the lawn some of the best lawn grass seed.
Get some fine Thorn bushes and lace them together in the shape
of a fan heavy enough for two men to drag about the lawn
in various ways. Roll with a light roller, and keep off the lawn
until the grass has grown 3 inches, then cut it with a scythe.
Roll with a light roller the first season, and when mowing with
the machine see that the knives are not set too close to the
ground.

" Should the ground selected for turf not contain clay, so much
the better. Dig holes here and there 2 feet deep in the winter
months. If no water lies at the bottom of the holes, this shows
it will not want artificial draining; if there is water drain as on
heavy soil. In trenching the ground, if the sub-soil be bad, take
3 inches of this away, filling up to the level with good soil, to
which have been added half-inch crushed bones in the proportion
of four tons to the acre, fire brick rubbish and burnt ballast
in the same proportions as for the heavy soil. Turf and treat
as on heavy soil. If you have a good grass field, take the turf
for your lawn, also top spit away, replace with rough soil, and

LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS. 253

place 3 inches of the loam that has been dug out upon the
rough soil you have put in, then sow, bush harrow, and lightly
roll."

" Weeds, moss, and bare places on lawns show that they are

worn out. To remedy this, take off the turf in rolls 3 feet long,

I foot wide, and I inch thick. If the turf cannot

Treatment of old be rolled, take 6 inches of the surface away, then

lawns. trench 2 feet deep, keeping the good soil on the

top as you proceed. Tread firmly all over and

fill up to the level with good soil ; mix with the loam, burnt

ballast, old brick rubbish, half-inch crushed bones, and road

sidings or sweepings. Then turf and treat as in the case

of new lawns. On old lawns there are very often handsome

deciduous trees too close to which it would be dangerous to trench.

To get grass to grow under these, take away 2 inches of the

exhausted soil, replace with good, and sow thereon grass seed

thickly. Rake the seed in gently, roll it lightly, and water when

necessary. This may be repeated in the same way as often as

the soil under the trees becomes bare.

" In some cases where turf is scarce, a roll of turf 3 feet long
and i foot wide may be taken and cut in half lengthways. With
this form the outlines of the beds, which have been staked out pre-
viously, beat down to the level required, and bring up the interven-
ing spaces to the level of the turf with good soil. Make this firm, rake
it level, and on this sow some good grass seed. Bush harrow it over,,
roll lightly, and protect from birds where these are troublesome. Cut
the grass when 6 inches high with a scythe, and keep it well watered
during the summer if the weather is dry. In this way a beautiful
lawn may be had at little expense as compared with turfing it
completely over."

" In some parts of Hampshire and Surrey, where peat and

sand abound, seeds are by far the best to use to form a good

turf. Remove all peat from the site you wish

Lawns on peaty for a lawn, pile it on the outside of the work

and sandy soil, and cast plenty of water upon it. Then take

out 2 or 3 inches of the dark sand that lies

under the peat, and cast this also over the pile of peat. Take

out 12 inches of the sand, dig all over 12 inches deep and tread

it firmly. Get all the road scrapings and road trimmings to be had

with a little clay and stiff loam, and cast upon the peat pile. Having

got together the quantity you think will fill up to your level, cut up

small the peat you have in the pile and mix all well together with

this, fill up to the level, tread firmly all over, then give everywhere

a good coating of cow manure, turned 3 inches under the surface,.

254

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and tread firmly all over. In the month of March sow thickly.
Do not let the surface get dry the first summer, and cut the grass
when 6 inches high with a scythe.

" Attention should be paid to keeping all lawns free from weeds.
Dress lawns once a year with one bushel of salt mixed with fourteen
bushels of wood ashes not too much burnt, using for this purpose
refuse, underwood, waste faggots, old Laurels or other condemned
shrubs. When you see the wood is consumed spread the ashes
abroad and cover them with good soil. Break the charred wood
small, mix all well together, do not sift, spread upon the lawn, and
roll it in."

Stone bench (Dropmore).

CHAPTER XXX.

GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, GATES, SEATS AND FENCES.

MUCH effort is lost in useless garden buildings, and no way of garden
overdoing is so full of waste and ugliness. Recently we have seen
attempts to revive the old garden houses, but the result has not often
been happy. In old houses like Hatfield and Montacute the little
houses near the gate often had a true use at the entrance side,
but now we see such things revived for the mere sake of carrying
out a drawing, and as soon as built the aimlessness of the work
is seen, and then comes the difficult question of "planting it out"
from different points of view. Isolated building in a garden is
difficult to do with any good result. At one period the building
of temples was very common in pleasure gardens, and many of
them are still to be seen. It is best, when these are of good
form and structure, to keep them with care and make some simple
use of them, by removing at once all suggestion of the grotto and
having simple Oak benches or other good seats. The interior also
should be made simple in colour and free from covert for woodlice
or earwigs. It is in connection with the house, or part of its lower

255

256 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

storeys, that garden shelters, loggias, and the like may be most
effectively made ; of this we see examples at North Mymms and
Bramshill, and where they give shade or a " garden room " as part
of the house they are a real gain.

Few things about country houses and gardens are worse in effect
and "construction than the so-called " rustic work." It is complex
and ugly, its merit being that it rots away in a
Bridges. few years. It is probably at its worst in garden
chairs, summer-houses, and rustic bridges. An
important rule for bridges is never to make them where they are
not really needed, though the opposite course is followed almost
in every place of any size where there is water. On rustic bridges
over streams, natural or otherwise, there is much wasted labour. A
really pretty bridge of a wholly different sort I saw once with the
late James Backhouse near Cader Idris on a farm which had a
swift stream running through it, to cross which some one had cut
down a tree that grew near, and had chopped the upper side flat and
put a handrail along it. Time had helped it with Fern, Lichen,
and Moss, and the result was far more beautiful than is ever seen
in more pretentiously "designed" rustic bridges. It is not, however,
the far prettier effects we have to note, but the advantage which
comes from strength and endurance. It looked very old and Moss-
grown, and no doubt it is there now, as the heart-wood of stout trees
does not perish like the sap-wood of the " rustic "-work maker. The
sound Oak tree bridge was the earliest footway across a stream,
and it will always be one of the best if the sap-wood is carefully
adzed off. Foot-bridges these should be called, as they are too
narrow for any other purpose, but with a good Oak rail at one
side the tree bridge is distinctly better than a bridge of planks.
Where stones are plentiful, stone put up in a strong, simple way
is the best to make a lasting bridge, and a simple structure in
brick or stone is better in effect than any rustic bridge. Where
stream beds are rocky and shallow, stepping stones are often better
than a bridge, though they cannot be used where the streams cut
through alluvial soils and the banks are high.

Some of the worst work ever done in gardens has been in the
construction of needless bridges, often over wretched duck -ponds
of small extent. Even people who have some knowledge of
country life, and who ought to possess taste, come to grief over
bridge building, and pretty sheets of water are disfigured by bridges
ugly in form and material. For the most frivolous reasons these
ugly things are constructed, though often by going ten yards further
one could have crept round the head of the pond by a pretty
path aided, perhaps, by a few stepping stones.

GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, ETC. 257

But there are many cases where some kind of bridge is necessary

in pleasure grounds or woodlands where there might be more

excuse for the rustic-worker's bridge. The difficulty

Earth-bank of the light woodwork bridge is that it begins to

bridges. rot as soon as it is put up, and we find that, even

when done in the best way, with Larch or Oak,

and by old-fashioned workmen, who get as much simplicity of form

and endurance out of it as they can, the years pass so rapidly and

British rain is so constant, that rot and decay are all we get out

of it, and very often such bridges fall into such a dangerous state

before we have time to repair them, that animals often get into

danger from them.

A much better way is the earth-bank, with a drain pipe through,
and this suffices where there is a slight, steady, or an occasional flow
of water, and also to cross gorges or depressions. We can find the
earth to make it on the spot, and by punning, and in the case of
larger work of this kind, carting over it, we can get it to settle down
in one winter to the level we want it, and soon have an excellent and
permanent way across. Such banks will support any weight, and are
as free from decay as the best stone bridge. One of their best points
is that the sides and approaches and slope of the earth-bank can be
made pretty at once by planting with Honeysuckle, Broom, Sweet
Brier, or any other hardy things. Another advantage of the bank is,
that the simplest workman can form it. The materials being on the
spot, it is foolish to cart things a long way. Even when we have
stone or brick at hand the labour has to be considered. By making
a culvert of bricks and cement, the earth-bank is equally good to
cross constantly running streamlets.

The summer-house is generally a failure and often a heap of

decay. To make such a structure of wood that soon decays is labour

wasted. It may be possible, by using the best

The summer- woods and good Oak slabs, to make a summer-
house, house which will be picturesque and enduring,
but it is better to build it of stone or some
lasting material and cover it with Vines and quick-growing climbers.

One can make an enduring and charming summer-house out of
living trees. An old Yew or a group of old Yews, or a low-spreading
Oak (there is a fine example of this kind of living summer-house
at Shrubland), an old Beech or a group of evergreen Oaks will make
a pleasant summer-house, and with a little care for effect, and by
pruning away old and worn-out branches, so as to get air and room
without injuring the beauty of the trees, it is easy to form cool tents
for hot days.

The iron fence destroys the beauty of half the country seats in

R

258 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

England, and the evil is growing every day. There are various
serious objections to iron fencing, but we will only deal here with its
effect on the landscape. Any picture is out of the question with an

iron fence in the foreground. Where an open

Fences and fence is wanted, nothing is so fine in form and

dividing lines, colour as a split Oak fence and rails made of

heart of Oak with stout posts. A sawn wood
fence is not so good. As Oak is so plentiful on many estates, good
examples of split Oak post and rail fences should be more often seen.
Oak palings are often used, and sometimes where a good live fence of
Holly, Quick and wild Rose on a good bank would be far better ; but
Oak paling is often a precious aid in a garden as a dividing line
where -the colour of brick or other walls would be against their use,
or where for various reasons walls would not be desirable or a live
fence suitable.

Sunk fences of stone or brick are often of the highest value in
the pleasure ground, and sometimes near the flower garden, as they

help us to avoid the hideous mechanical fences of
Sunk fences and our day, and are often the best way of keeping
retaining walls, open views, especially if planted with a garland

of creeping plants or wild roses above. They
should be strongly if roughly built, without mortar, and they may
be a home for beautiful plants. They should be made on a " batter"
or slightly sloping back, the stones packed close together, i.e. without
much earth, and layers of rock plants should be put between them.

Simple form of garden seat, Warley Place.

Retaining walls or sunk fences could be made admirably in this way,
and where they permit of it may be made into beautiful alpine
gardens. Apart from the sunk fence, there is often need for low
retaining walls, especially in places of diversified surface. These
walls also may be made the home of delightful plant beauty in the
simplest way. Particulars of these things will be found in fuller
detail in the chapter on Rock Gardens.

GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, ETC.

259

It is rare to see a garden seat that is not an eyesore. Few make

them well and simply in wood, and there is always decay to be

considered. Of our own woods Oak is the best.

Garden seats. Stout heart of Oak laths screwed into a simple
iron frame without ornament make a good seat.
They are best without paint and in the natural colour of the Oak
wood. No seat is so good as one of good stone simply designed
and strongly made, and in our country one objection to stone
is met by the use of a mat or a light trellis of Bamboo or split
laths of Oak held together by cross pieces and placed on top of the
stone. In Italy and France one often sees good stone seats, and
there they are not expensive. Stone seats should always be set on

Marble slab seat with lattice cover.

stone supports bedded in concrete. A good Oak seat is one with
strong stone supports, the top being a slab of Oak laid with two bars
across its lower side to keep it in place. The top in this form
being so easily removed, may be stowed away for the winter, as
wooden seats should always be. Tree stems of some size and
little value may also be cut into the form of seats, and make
very good ones for a time, but they soon decay. The common
iron seats with cast patterns on them are ugly, but iron seats need
not be so, and some old iron seats quite simply made of lath or rod
iron were fairly good, and it is not difficult to cover the seat with
bamboo trellis-work or matting for the summer season. Some of the
French wooden seats are simple and good in form, and, painted a
nice carnation-leaf green, they look very well. Bamboos, which come
in such quantities now in the sugar ships, might be more used for
making pretty garden seats. Sometimes old tree stumps help to
make useful seats, and the bole of the tree, if cut, makes a very good
rustic seat. Where stone is plentiful, as in many hill and other parts, it
is often easy to make useful seats out of blocks of stone in rocky places.

260

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The covered way may be a charming thing in a garden and

make a home for climbers, as well as a shady way, and also form

a valuable screen. Shade is more essential in

The covered way. other countries than in ours, and the Italian

covered way is often a very picturesque object.

The best material to make the supports of is rough stone or brick.

The Great Reed, Westwick House Gardens, Norfolk.

On an enduring support like this the woodwork is more easily con-
structed afterwards. Simple rough stone posts may be had in certain
quarries in the north of England, in the lake country, but in the
absence of these it will be better to build columns of brick or stone
than to trust to any wood. In all open-air work the enduring way is

GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, ETC. 261

true economy, and though we cannot all readily get the hard green
stone gate posts stained with yellow Lichen of the farms about
Keswick, or the everlasting granite fence posts that one sees in Italy,
we should make a stand against work which has to be done over
and over again. Of woods, Oak free of sap-wood makes the best
supports ; Larch is good, but best of all, perhaps, is the common
Locust tree, which, however, is seldom plentiful in a mature state.
For all the other parts of covered ways nothing is better than old
Oak branches or the stems of stunted Oaks, or of old stub Oaks
that are often found about a country place, and are of very little value
as timber. Larch lasts well in the absence of Oak, but is not nearly
so good in effect. By using Oak with stone or brick supports, a
covered way may be made which will last for years without falling
into decay, as is the case with this kind of work when done with more
perishable woods and without lasting supports. It would be far
better to employ strong iron wire than wood of this sort. An
advantage which woodwork has over iron lies in its good effect.
Carefully done, a covered way made as above described may be
picturesque even before there is a plant on it.

A pretty way of supporting plants and forming covered ways is
to use certain trees of a light and graceful character for supporting

climbers, just as the Italians often support their
Living supports. Vines on living trees kept within bounds. Such

trees as the Weeping Aspen, Weeping Birch, and
fruit trees of graceful, drooping forms, like some Apples, would do
well, and would be worth having for their own sakes, while through
the trees hardy climbers could freely run.

Among the things which are least beautiful in many gardens
and pleasure grounds is the boathouse. Our builders are not simple

in their ways, and are seldom satisfied with any one
Boathouses. good colour or material to make a house with, or

even a boathouse, but every kind of ugly variega-
tion is tried, so that harshness in effect is the usual result, where all
should be simple and quiet in colour, as it is in boathouses on the
Norfolk Broads made of reeds and rough posts. The simpler the
better in all such work, using local material like Oak, which comes
in so well for the posts, and reeds for the roof; but the simplest
brickwork and brown tiles would be far better than the contrast of
ugly colours which the modern builder both in France and
England delights in. The place, too, should be carefully chosen
and the building not conspicuous. To avoid the cost of railway
carriage in the making of simple structures like boathouses, and also
carting, which is such a costly matter in many districts, it is best to
use materials of the estate or country. Ivy and living creepers may

262

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

help to protect the sides of airy sheds. Larch comes in well where Oak
is not to be spared, and Larch shingling for the roof might be used,
as is commonly done in farm-houses in Northern Europe and America.
Little shelters for mowing machines, tools, and the like can be made
with wood covered with Larch bark, as at Coolhurst, and a very
pretty effect they have, besides being less troublesome to make
than the heather or thatched roofs, especially in districts where
the good thatcher is getting rare. The chip roof, also, of the wooded
country around London is an excellent one, lasting for half a century
or so if well made, but the men who made it so well are now less

Vine-shaded bower.

and less easy to meet with. And on the whole the best roof
for any structure that has to last is of tiles of good colour : tiles
made and tested in the locality being often the best.

In this moist climate of ours water needs to be used with great
discretion. Above all things it must flow and not stagnate. Bacon,
who said so many things about gardens, summed
Fountains in up the case for fountains with his usual felicity: —
gardens. " For fountains, they are a great beauty and refresh-
ment ; but pools mar all." No doubt we can all of
us recall some pool of great beauty, some moat with little broken
reflections that made almost all the charm of the garden wherein it
lay, but as a general rule Bacon is right.

GARDEN HOUSES, BRIDGES, ETC. 263

As nothing is drearier than a dry fountain except the exasperat-
ing trickle of one that refuses to be drowned out by the continuous
drip of the eaves, it is better to place your fountain in a part of the
garden which you are only likely to visit on a fine day, and if possible
it should be set where its tossing spray will catch the sunbeams while
you repose in the cool shade ; then the supply of water may be as it
should — unfailing. Fountains on such an extensive scale as those of
Versailles or Chatsworth are only to be excused, when, as at Caserta,
they run day and night from one .year's end to the other. It is only
in such great places, too, that large and monumental fountains, basin
above basin, adorned with sculpture and connected by cascades, have
any fitness, and even then they are apt to cease very soon to be fine.
Lead is the best material for such fountain sculpture in our damp-
laden atmosphere, as it discolours more becomingly than stone or
marble. This tendency to discolour in blotches and afford a foot-
hold for Mosses and Lichens, though a blemish on statues, is
an added charm to the necessary basins and copings which should
confine the waters of our fountain. A fountain, is a work of art, and
as such should always be placed in the more formal portions of
the grounds. The feathery spray of a jet is always a beautiful thing
but can be ill-placed — as, for instance, in the centre of a large stretch
of ornamental water.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL.

THE spirit of beauty was at the birth of the trees that give
us the hardy fruits of the northern world — Crab, wild Plum,
Pear, and Cherry — yielding back for us in their bloom the delicate
colours of the clouds, and lovelier far in their flowers than Fig or
Vine of the south. The old way of having an orchard near the house
was a good one. Planted for use, it was precious for its beauty, and
not only when the spring winds bore the breath of the blossoms of
Cherry, Plum, Apple, and Pear, as there were the fruit odours, too,
and the early Daffodils and Snowdrops, and overhead the lovely trees
that bear our orchard fruits — Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plums, Medlars,
Damsons, Bullaces, and Quinces. To make pictures to last round the
year, I should ask for many of these orchard trees on a few acres
of ground, none the worse if too hilly for the plough ; a belt of
Hollies, Yew, and Fir, on the cold sides to comfort trees and
men ; with careless garlands of Honeysuckle, Rose, and fragrant
Clematis among them here and there, and in the fence bank plenty
of Sweet Brier and Hawthorn. If we see fine effects where orchards
are poorly planted with one kind of tree, as the Apple (in many
country places in our islands there are no orchards worthy the name),
what might not be looked for of an orchard in which the beauty of all
our hardy fruit trees would be visible ? If we consider the number of
distinct kinds of fruit trees and the many varieties of each, we may
get some idea of the pictures one might have in an orchard, begin-
ning with the bloom of the Bullaces in the fence. The various
Plums and Damsons are beautiful in bloom, as in the Thames valley
and about Evesham. The Apple varies much in bloom, as may be
seen in Kentish and Normandy orchards, where the flowers of some
are of extraordinary beauty. The Pear, less showy in colour, the
Medlar, so beautiful in flower and in foliage, and the Quince, so pretty
in bloom in Tulip time, must not be forgotten. The Cherry is often
a beautiful tree in its cultivated as well as wild forms, and the Cherry

264

THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. 265

orchards in parts of Kent, as near Sittingbourne, are pictures when in
bloom. There is no better work in a country place than choosing a
piece of good ground to form an orchard ; and a dozen acres are
not too much in a country place where there is land to spare.

Some may be deterred by the fear that their soil is too poor,
and planting is more successful on the fruit tree soils of Devon,
Hereford, and Kent than in some other districts ;
Poor soil should but the difference in soils is no reason why some
not hinder. counties and districts should be bare of orchards.
In many the soil is as good as need be, and
indeed, in the country south of London, where much of the land
is taken up with orchards, we may see the trees suffering more from
drought in dry years than they do on the sandstone soils of Cheshire
or in Ireland and Scotland, where there is a heavier rainfall. Few
of our orchard trees require a special soil, and where chalky or warm
soil occurs, the best way is to keep to the kinds of fruit it favours
most. But though the orchard beautiful must be of trees in all
their natural vigour, and of forms lovely in winter as in spring and
summer, the trees must not be neglected, allowed to perish from
drought, or become decayed from bug, scale or other pests, and it
should be the care of those who enjoy their beauty to protect them
from all such dangers. The idea that certain counties only are suited
for fruit growing is erroneous, and need not deter us from planting
orchards of the hardier trees and of good local kinds. Much of
Ireland is as bare of orchards as the back of a stranded whale, but
who could say this was the fault of the country?

Owing to the use of dwarfing stocks, fruit gardens and orchards

are now beginning to show shapes of trees that are poor compared

with the tall orchard tree. However much these

The trees to take dwarf and pinched shapes may appeal to the

their natural gardener in his own domain, in the orchard
forms. beautiful they have no place. For the natural form

of all our fruit trees is good indeed, winter or
summer. We know what the effect in flower-time is in the orchard
pictures of such painters as Mark Fisher and Alfred Parsons, if
we have not taken the trouble to see the finer pictures of the
orchard themselves, seen best, perhaps, on dark and wet days in
flower-time. Lastly, the effect of finely-coloured fruit on high trees is
one of the best in our gardens. Therefore, in every case, whatever
thinning of the branches we do, let the tree take its natural form, not
only for its own sake or the greater beauty of natural form generally,
but also for the interesting variety of form we get even among
varieties sprung from the same species.

Clearly if we prune to any one ideal type of tree we can never see

266 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

the interesting variety of form shown by the varieties of one species,
as the Apple and Pear. Keeping to the natural form of each tree,
moreover, does not in the least prevent thinning of the branches
where overcrowded — the best way of pruning.

Never in the orchard, where the true way is to let the tree take its

natural and mature form, should the practice of root pruning be

allowed. Our orchard trees — especially the trees

Root pruning in native of Britain like the Apple and the Pear —

the orchard. are almost forest trees in nature, and take some
years first of all to make their growth and then
mature it. In gardens for various reasons men try to get in artificial
ways the fruit that Nature gives best at the time of maturity, so
root pruning was invented, and it may have some use in certain
soils and in limited gardens, but one would hardly think it would
enter into people's heads to practise root pruning in the orchard ;
though the word is a catching one and leads people astray. I have
several times had the question seriously put to me as to how to root
prune forest trees — a case where all pruning is absurd in any proper
sense save in the way effected by the forest itself. The trees in the
orchard should be allowed to come freely to maturity, and in the way
the years fly this is not a long wait. By planting well-chosen young
trees every year the whole gradually comes into noble bearing, and
the difference between the naturally grown and laden tree and one
of the pinched root-pruned ones is great.

Cider orchards are picturesque in the west of England and in
Normandy, and so long as men think any kind of fermented stuff
good enough for their blood, cider has on northern
Cider orchards, men the first claim from the beauty of the trees
in flower and fruit, and indeed throughout the
year. The cider orchard also will allow us to grow naturally-grown
trees and those raised from seed. Cider orchards are extremely
beautiful, and the trees in them take fine natural forms. They have
a charm, too, in the brightness of the fruit, and also one in the
lateness of the blooms of some, many of the cider Apples flowering
later than the orchard Apples. In some cider orchards near Rouen
(Lyons-la-Foret) I saw the finest, tallest, and cleanest trees were
raised from seed ; the owner, a far-famed cider grower, told me they
were his best trees, and raised from seed of good cider Apples. If
he found on their fruiting that they were what he wanted as cider
Apples he was glad to keep them ; if not, he cut their heads off
and regrafted them with good cider sorts. These were free and
handsome trees with good grass below them, just like the Cherry
orchards in the best parts of Kent, where the lambs pick the early
grass. But however beautiful such an orchard, clearly it will not

THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. 267

give us the variety of form and beauty found in the mixed orchard,
in which Cherry, Apple, Plum, Pear, Medlar, Quince, Walnut, and
Mulberry take a place ; there also the various interesting trees
allied to our fruit trees might come in, such as the true and
common Service tree, Almond, Cornelian Cherry, and Crab.

Where we made use of grafted trees — and generally there is no
choice in the matter — we should always in the orchard use the most

natural stock It is much better to graft Pear
Grafting. trees on the wild Pear than on the Quince, a

union harmful to the Pear on many soils, If we
could get the trees on their own roots without any grafting it would
often be much better, but we are slaves to the routine of the trade.
The history of grafting is as old as the oldest civilisations — its best
reason, the rapid increase of a given variety. In every country one
or two fruit trees predominate, and are usually natives of the country
like the Apple in Northern Europe and the Olive in the South.
When men found a good variety of a native fruit they sought to
increase it in the quickest way, and so having learned the art of
grafting, they put the best varieties on wild stems in hedgerows, or
dug up young trees and grafted them in their gardens. The practice
eventually became stereotyped into the production of the nursery
practice of grafting many varieties of fruit trees on the same stock,
often without the least regard to the lasting health and duration of
the trees so grafted. In some cases when we use the wild form of
the tree as a stock for the orchard tree we succeed ; but grafting is
the cause of a great deal of the disease and barrenness of our
orchards. Where we graft, it is well to graft low; that is to say,
in the case of cider Apples, for example, it is much safer and better
to take a tree grafted close to the ground than grafted standard
high, as the high graft is more liable to accident and does not make
so fine a tree. In the orchard the good old practice of sowing the
stone or pip of a fine fruit now and then may also be followed with
interest.

Even in the good fruit counties like Kent one may see in dry
years orchards starved from want of water, and the turf beneath

almost brown as the desert. Where manure is
Starved orchards, plentiful it is well to use it as a mulch for such

trees, but where it is not, we may employ various
other materials for keeping the roots safe from the effects of drought.
Not only the tree roots want the water, but the roots of the
competing grass suck the moisture out of the soil The competition
of the grass could be put an end to at once, and the trees very
much nourished, by the use of any easily found mulching from
materials which are often abundant in a country place. Among the

268 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

best of these, where plentiful, is the common Furze, if cut down in
spring and placed over the ground round the base of young or poor
orchard trees. It prevents the grass from robbing the trees and lets
the water fall through to the ground, helping to keep it there, too,
by preventing direct evaporation ; moreover, the small leaves falling
off nourish the ground. So again the sweepings of drives and of
farm or garden yards are useful, and also any small faggots — often
allowed to rot in the woods after the underwood is cleared. Then
also there are the weeds and refuse of gardens of all kinds which
form detestable rubbish heaps that would be much better abolished,
and all cleanings from the garden placed directly over the roots
of young orchard trees.

Even rank weeds, which swarm about yard and shrubberies,
would help, and one of the best ways to weaken them and help
towards their destruction is by mowing them down in the pride of
their growth in the middle of summer — nettles and docks, as the
case may be — and instead of burning them or taking them to the
rubbish heap use them over the tree roots. Even the weeds and
long grass growing round the base of the trees, if mown and left on
the ground, will make a difference in the growth and health of fruit
trees. Such care is all the more needed if our orchard is upon poor
or shaly soils in the dryer counties ; in naturally rich and deep
soil we need it less.

For fences living things are at once the most enduring, effective,
and in the end the best. We see the hideous result of the iron-
monger's fence in marring the foregrounds of

Fencing the many landscape pictures. Holly, Quick, or Cock-
orchard. * spur Thorn, with a sprinkling of Sloe or Bullace
here and there, give us the best orchard fence ;
once well made, far easier to keep up than the iron fence. Yew
is a danger, and a hedge of it should never be planted where animals
come near as they usually do the orchard, and if the Yew comes
by itself, as it often will, it should be cut clean out and burnt as soon
as cut down. Holly is the best evergreen orchard fence for our
country, and we should be careful about getting the plants direct
from a good nursery — clean seedling plants not much over a yard
high. The best time to plant Hollies is in May if growing in the
place, but on light soil plant in autumn ; all the more need to do
this if we bring the plants by rail, l^nless the soil is very light I
should make the fence on a bank, because a turf bank is itself such
a good fence to begin with, and a free Holly hedge on a good bank
with, perhaps, a Sloe here and there through it, is one of the prettiest
sights of the land, and forms the best of shelters for an orchard in our
country. Where shelter is much sought the hedge should not be

270 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

clipped, and is much handsomer if free-grown. The orchard fence
should not be cut in every year to a hard line, but Sloe, and May
and Sweet Brier, and wild Rose left to bloom and berry, the hedge
to be a shelter as well as a fence, and not trimmed oftener than every
ten years or so. Then it should be cut down and woven together
in the strong way seen in parts of Kent on the hills.

The English fruit garden is often a museum of varieties, many
of them worthless and not even known to the owner. This is wrong
in the garden, and doubly so in the orchard, where
Kinds to plant, the fruit trees should be trees in stature and none
of poor quality. Too many varieties is partly the
result of the seeking after new kinds in the nurseries. In orchard
culture we should be chary of planting any new kind, and with the
immense number of Apples grown in our own country already, we
may choose kinds of enduring fame. It is the more necessary to
do this now when good Apples are coming from various countries,
where men do not plant a collection when they want a crop of a few
first-rate kinds. So we should in our orchards never plant single
trees, but always, having chosen a good kind, plant enough
to make it worth gathering. Local kinds and local circumstances
often deserve the first attention, and some local kinds of fruit
are among the best. When in doubt always end it by choosing
kinds of proved quality rather than any novelties that may be
offered. Any fruit requiring the protection of walls or in the least
tender should never be put in the orchard. It is probable that some
of the fruit trees of Northern and Central Europe, and Russia, would
be well suited for our climate, but as yet little is known of these
except that they are interesting and many of them distinct. The
vigour of the tree should be considered and its fertility. Kinds
rarely fertile are not worth having, always bearing in mind, how-
ever, that a good kind is often spoiled by a bad stock or by conditions
unsuited to it.

The beauty of flower of certain varieties may well influence in

their choice. Once when talking with Mr Ruskin

The flowers of of the beauty of the fruit as compared with the

fruit trees. flower of our northern fruit trees, he said in

reply to some praise of the fruit beauty : " Give

me the flower and spare me the stomach-ache!"

In view of the confusion brought about by fat catalogues, new
varieties of doubtful value, the number of early kinds worthless for
winter and spring use, and the planting of untried kinds, a good rule
would be to put any kind we propose to plant under separate study
as to its merits in all ways, and only plant one kind a year. The
kind chosen for orchard culture should be of undoubted merit and

THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. 271

distinction, and of high quality when cooked, without which Apples to
keep are worthless. In fixing but one kind a year, the first considera-
tion should be its quality, and the second its constancy in bearing,,
as to which there is a great difference in Apples. Hardiness and
vigour are essential, and our judgment as regards orchard planting
should never be influenced by the produce of trees grafted on the
paradise or other stocks which limit the natural growth of the tree.
Apples known for many years, like the Blenheim, Kentish
Filbasket, Wellington, French Crab, Sussex Forge, Warner s KingY
Yorkshire Greening, Tom Putt, Reinette Grise, Bramley's and Alfriston
should never be left out of our consideration in this respect, as, how-
ever they may be affected by situation or soil, their value has been
proved, and that is a great point, as in the case of new varieties
chosen for some one minor quality, such as colour, it is only after they
have been grown for years we begin to find out their bad qualities.

Some of the most beautiful things in our garden or home land-
scapes are the orchards of the west of England, more often planted
with the Apple than with the Pear. The Pear
Pear orchards tree in this country should be much more grown
for beauty. as an orchard tree, for its beauty even if not for its
fruit, which yearly grows in value. Some Pears of
our own time, like Doyenne du Cornice and Beurre Dumont, are worth
a score of the old kinds. The Pear tree is finer in form and stature
than the Apple, and it is not rare to see trees in Worcestershire of the
size of forest trees. Such trees, with their varied and picturesque
form, are worth thinking of when planting for beauty.

The use of the Quince as a dwarfing stock for many years past in
England has been against the Pear as an orchard tree. No Pear
grafted on this stock ever succeeds as a standard tree. In our fertile
valleys and the rich soil of gardens the Quince is for some kinds often
a good stock, but over a large area of poor sandy and chalky land it
is worthless ; and its use has done much harm to Pear cultivation.
In using the Pear, or natural stock, we may hope that it will do well
on any land, be it heavy Wealden clay or on upland soils. It is true
we must wait for results ; the standard Pear is a forest tree in its
way, and must be allowed time to mature, but it is surely better to let
the years run by than to plant trees which may never succeed as
standards. For trees so planted to endure we should choose good
kinds that ripen in our country, and see, in every case, that they are
grafted on the wild Pear — their natural stock — since we cannot
easily get them on their own roots, though it would interest me
much to see them on their natural roots, and I have two Pears so
grown which look far healthier than any others. The most impor-
tant point is that of varieties. We should never plant any but good

272 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Pears, which, as standards, will ripen in our country under any fair
conditions, such Pears as Beurrt Giffard, Jargonelle, Betirre Goubault,
Beurre Dumont, Beurrt dAmanlis, Beurre Hardy, Fondante des Bois,
Louise Bonne, Rousselet de Reims, Doyenne du Cornice, Marie Louise,
Urbaniste, Soldat Laboureur, Triomphe de Jodoigne, Comtesse de Paris,
Nouvelle Fulvie, Bergamotte Saumier, Charles Cognee, Doyenne
dAlenqon, Josephine de M alines, Suzette de Bavay.

Much has been said of late about the advantages and disadvantages

of planting in grass ; but most growers of Kent and other orchard

counties have long known that in hop, arable, and

Pear foliage anv other land, the trees show quicker growth and
effects. greater vigour at first. It is not every one, how-

ever, that cares to break up grass to plant an
orchard, and we can do very well without grass by mulching the
ground round each tree for a few years, until they have gained a
good hold.

These words were fresh penned when I came across the follow-
ing notes by M. Charles Baltet of Troyes. " The habit, the foliage,
and the fruit of the Pear tree will leave nothing to be desired, no
matter in what soil or climate it may be grown. Prolific, large-
fruited varieties such as Beurre de I Assumption, William, Van
Marum, and others, will always be a delight to the fruit lover,
but the artist who looks for effect from the natural appearance of
the trees, if he wishes for luxuriant growth will find it in the Pear
known as the Cure, Conseillier de la Cour, and others. Beurre
Hardy, Vanquelin, and Duke de Nemours have long, upright
branches; those of the Beurre d'Amanlis, Bon Chretien, and
Triomphe de Jodotgne spread out more or less horizontally, or even
curve downwards ; Arbre courbe and Nouvelle Fulvie would not
be out of place as drooping trees ; while we may admit a group of
Pear trees which grow as natural pyramids, such as Fondante du
Panisel, Beurre de Nantes, Fondante de Noel, Beurre dAngleterre,
and a number of others, including Charles Ernest.

" The beautiful foliage of the Sucree de Montlu$on, Delpierre, and
Triomphe de Jodoigne is rivalled by that of the Mikado and Daimyo,
two varieties of Japanese origin, with large, thick, and somewhat
cottony leaves. The German Kopertscher, the Belgian Delices de
Jodoigne, the American Philadelphia, the French Gil-6-Gile, present
the same characteristic."

Mr Baltet omits to notice the fine colour of the leaves of many
Pear 'trees in autumn, and I find that this seems to be intensified
in the few trees I have on their natural roots.

" The observer who notices the features of each variety knows that
Marie Guisse, Monseigneur des Hons, and Royal d'Hiver are the first

THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. 273

to show their buds in the spring, while Martin sec, Madame Loriol de
Barny, and Herbin, are slow to shed their leafy clothing in the
autumn. Bonne d'Ezee and Doyenne dAlen^on are the earliest to
flower, and Alexandrine, Douillard, Sylvange, and Nouvelle Fulvie pro-
tect their clusters of flowers with sheltering rosettes of leaves as soon
as they open. If we wish for Pear trees with double flowers we have
Comte Lelieur and Betirre de Naghin, with their regular outline, or the
double-flowered Bergamotte and Calebasse Oberdieck, with their droop-
ing petals. Without being able to compete with the coloured barks
of the Birch, the scarlet Dogberry, or the veined Maple, we may be
content with the ash-coloured bark of the Best Dubost, the ochrey
Passe Colmar, the violet Beurre Giffard, the purple Doyenne Flon
aine, the dark brown Bon Chretien de Bruxelles, and the bright-
barked Fondante Thirriot. We have beauty of stem in Van Mons,
Deux-Sceurs, Angelique Leclerc, Beurre Lebrun, and others, the last
having a stem which looks as if spotted with carmine. The study of
local fruits has provided us with the Poirier de Fosse, which in the
department of the Aube is as large and tall as an Oak. A group of
some of these sorts in either park or garden would give us as much
pleasure as any isolated tree or clump of trees."

And here we may also say a word for some of the wild Pears
of Europe, particularly the little-known species of the region of the

Danube and Southern Russia. Many of these
Wild Pears. eastern kinds are distinct and beautiful in growth

and appearance, and their leaves take on the
richest autumn colouring, in shades of purple, crimson, orange, and
gold, which would give fine effect in the wild garden even if valueless
in other ways. The autumn colour of some of our orchard Pears is
also beautiful, particularly in some soils ; an orchard of Pears is finer
in this way than any of our other fruits.

And apart from these are the Pears grown for perry, an interest-
ing group of which we have no knowledge in the home counties,
though in some parts of the west they are grown. So that on the
whole there is no lack of fine things to go to the forming of what
would prove a charming addition to many a country seat — a Pear
orchard with the trees all in their natural forms.

Fruit trees grown in any way are fair to see in the time of flower
and fruit, but our orchard must be in turf if we are to have the best

expression of its beauty. In fruit gardens where

Staking orchard the whole surface is cultivated with small fruits

trees. below and taller trees overhead we may get as

good, or, it may be, better fruit, but we miss the
finer light and shade and verdure of the orchard in turf, the pretty
incidents of the ground, and the animal life among the trees in spring,

S

274 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

as sheep in Kent, and the interest of wild gardening in the grass.
Also the orchard turf, by its shade or shelter, or in some way,
becomes most welcome nibbling for lambs and calves in the spring.
A gain of the orchard in turf is that we can plant it on any ground,
however broken or steep, and in many parts of the country there is
much ground of this sort to be planted. Now, while we may in the
garden or the fruit garden plant trees without stakes, we cannot do
so in the grass orchard, because of the incursions of animals ; there-
fore staking is needed, not only to support the tall and strong young
trees which we ought to plant, but also to guard against various
injuries. The best is to use very strong stakes and make them
protect and support the trees, and also carry the wire netting which
is essential wherever rabbits, hares, goats, or other browsing animals
exist. The way to do this is to have a very stout stake — Larch
or Old Oak. Sometimes in the repairing of old sheds a number of
old Oak rafters are rejected — excellent for staking young trees in
orchards, first digging the hole and putting the stake firmly into a
depth of 3 feet below the surface. Cradles of Oak and iron are much
in use ; the first is very well in an Oak country where labour is
plentiful ; iron is costly and ugly, and not so good as the single
stout stake, which is easy to get of Larch or stub Oak in many
country places. The common way of tying a faggot of Quicks or
any thorny* shrub is often good when done by a good fencer. The
trees should be tied with care with soft ropes of straw or jute, and
when planted be loosely but carefully wired with netting well out
of the reach of browsing animals. This wiring is supported well
by the strong stake, and, well done, it keeps rabbits and hares, as
well as cattle, at bay, and worse than all for trees, young horses.
A usual way in Kent is to drive in three stout stakes, 6 feet or more
in height, round the tree, and fasten cross-bars to them. This can
be done at a total cost of about lod. a tree, and should last twelve to
fifteen years.

One of the reasons for a good orchard, from the point of view of

all who care for beauty, is its value for wild gardening. It is so well

fitted for this, that many times Narcissi and

The orchard wild other bulbs from the garden have even established

garden. themselves in its turf, so that long years after

the culture of the flowers has been given up

in the garden, owing to changes of fashion, people have been able

in old orchards to find naturalised some of the most beautiful

kinds of Narcissi. Where the soil is cool and deep, these flowers

are easily grown, and in warm soils many of our hardiest and most

beautiful spring flowers might easily be naturalised. On the cool

side of the orchard bank, Primrose and Oxlip would bloom long and

THE ORCHARD BEAUTIFUL. 275

well, and on all sides of it Daffodils, Snowflakes, Snowdrops, wild
Tulips, or any like bulbs to spare from the garden ; and from the
garden trimmings, too, tufts of Balm and Myrrh to live for ever
among the grass of the bank. The robin would build in the moss of
the bank, the goldfinch in the silvery lichen of the trees, and the
thrush, near the winter's end, herald the buds with noble song.

Bold planters need not hesitate to adorn some of their orchard

trees with graceful climbing plants. A few of these climbers would

be too vigorous eventually for the fruit tree, but

Climbers on a good many are never so on vigorous orchard

orchard trees. trees. The most picturesque planting I ever did
was to put a number of white Indian Clematises
(C. Montana) with some orchard trees. They grew in a most
picturesque way, and took a different habit on almost every tree.
The autumn-flowering Clematis (flammula) is such a light grower
that it would not make much difference to the tree, and there are a
number of wild Clematis with the same light character that would not
hurt an orchard tree. Some of the fine-leaved Vines, too, would give
a dash of rich colour in the autumn, and do little harm, and some of
the more fragile Honeysuckles might also be tried. In the south of
France the common blue Passion-flower and various kinds of climb-
ing Roses will often reach out from the garden hedge and take
possession of the nearest trees, and Olive and orchard trees may be
seen beautifully robed in this way. Even the hardy winter Jasmine,
when crowded by other things upon a bank, I have known to clamber
up into the branches of a little Cherry tree, with very pretty effect.
One of the prettiest effects I have every year is from a plant
of the white traveller's joy (Clematis viticella alba) growing on a
double Cherry tree. We first have the bloom of the Cherry, and then
weeks after comes the fair white Clematis, flowering for weeks all
over the Cherry and doing no harm.

CHAPTER XXXII.

LABOURS FOR GOOD OR EVIL: DRAINING: ROTATION: MONOTONY:
GLASS : MOVING EARTH.

THE cost of the making and keeping of the gardens and pleasure
grounds of the British Isles is too vast to realise. No other people in
the world spend so generously on their gardens and plantations —
not a selfish end either, as all noble planting and gardening add to the
beauty of the land. In every case it is therefore worth while asking,
does the labour so freely given work for good ends — for ugliness or
beauty, waste in stereotyped monotony, or days well spent in adding
to the treasures of our gardens and plantings, both in enduring variety
and in picturesque effects; pictures, in fact, all round the year?
There is immense and hideous waste in misapplied labour and bad art,
and therefore some of these enemies of good work deserve a little
thought.

Most garden lovers strive for an ideal soil, but this does not always
lead to happy results, and, even if we could have it, would only lead to

monotony in vegetation. No doubt many will seek

Soils good and at all costs for the soil called the best, but the

bad. wisest way is rather to rejoice in and improve the

soil fate has planted us on. A good deep and
free loam is best for many things, and for high cultivation
or market work, deep valley soils are almost essential, but we often
see poor peats giving excellent results from a flower gardening
point of view, in enabling us to grow with ease many more
kinds of plants than could be grown on heavy soil. How fertile
sand may become with good cultivation is shown by the fact that
some of the very best soils for hardy plants are those that have been
poor sea sand, but improved by cultivation, and sometimes such soils
are drought-resisting, as on reclaimed seashore lands. Yet now and
then we see certain sandy soils absolutely refuse to grow Roses and
Carnations, and in such cases it is often better to give up the struggle.
Chalky hills are wretched for trees and some shrubs, but there are few
soils more congenial to garden vegetation than some chalky soils, and
chalk tumbling into a valley soil is often excellent. In limestone

276

SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 277

soils people often take much trouble to get peat, in the vain hope
of growing a few Rhododendrons, labour which would be better
bestowed on improving the staple of the natural soil of the place.

The most hopeless soils are the true clays, but the word " clay " is
used in a loose way by many who have never seen a real clay. In
the east of England and in Ireland, for example, the term is often
used for dark, free soil. The true clay which occurs in the northern
suburbs of London and near Horsham is not a soil on which a man
could get a living, or if he does so he will get one anywhere! With
such a soil our only hope is to cart good earth on to the ground.
Whatever the nature of the soil in a given garden, it should to a large
extent govern what we grow. If happy enough to have a sandy peat,
how easy it is to grow all the lovely evergreens of the northern moun-
tains, which rejoice in such soil — things which, if they live on loamy
and heavy soils, are never really happy thereon. On such soil, too,
all the most beautiful kinds of hardy shrubs may be grown without
trouble, and planted among these shrubs the Lilies and hardy bulbous
flowers of Japan and America. If a deep and at the same time poor
sea sand comes in our way, we can make perfect bulb gardens on it,
and also grow trees and flowering shrubs very well after a time.

Soil must not always be blamed for failure, because rainfall,

elevation, and, very often, nearness to the sea will affect certain

plants very much. Thus shrubs that do well near

Local and natural the sea will, on the same kind of soil, perish far

soils. inland. It is essential to study the secret of the

soil and find out the plants that thrive best on it.

Once free from the limits and needs of the flower garden proper, the

best way will often be to use any local peculiarities of soil instead

of doing away with them: A bog? Instead of draining it keep it

and adorn it with some of the often beautiful things that grow in

bogs. A sandy knoll? Plant with Rosemary or Rock Roses. A

peaty, sheltered hollow ? Make it into a beautiful Rhododendron

glade, and so get variety of plant life in various conditions.

Then as regards the soil and the natural habitats of plants, there
is no doubt that it is useful to know where they come from, whether
plains, valleys, or rocks, and what soil they grow on ; but it is a know-
ledge that may sometimes mislead, because rainfall and elevation and
other causes may lead us to suppose results due to soil which are
really so to accident of position. Many of the beautiful plants of
the mountains of the East, such as Aubrietia, and a number of rock
plants which grow in any soil, would do no better if we tried to imitate
their actual conditions of life in their native habitats, which are often
absolutely different from the soils of our lowland gardens in which
many rock plants thrive and endure for years.

278 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Many think that heavy watering is necessary in seasons of drought,

and it may be worth while showing how such heavy labour may be

avoided. There are soils which are so thirsty, like

Cultivation and tne not sandy soils of Surrey, that watering is
water. essential, and some chalky soils, too, are almost

hopeless without heavy watering, while water is
often extremely difficult to get enough of on dry hills. But under
general conditions there is not much trouble in getting rid of this
labour and its attendant ugliness. The essential thing is to make
the beds deep enough. Even with the best intentions, many people
fail to do this, and workmen in forming gardens are sometimes
misled as to the depth of soil in beds made when gardens are
being laid out, the soil when it settles being really much less than
it seems in the making. The best way for those who care for their
flowers is to dig the beds right out to a depth of 30 inches below
the surface before any of the good soil is put in. Then, if for general
garden use such beds are filled in with good, rich, loamy soil and
are gently raised, as all beds should be in wet countries, 4 inches
or 6 inches above the surface, they will rarely be found to fail in
any drought. Much depends on the size of the bed; the little,
angular, frivolous beds which have too often been the rule in gardens
cannot resist drought so long as broad simple beds. With these
precautions, and also autumn and winter planting, we ought, in the
British Isles, to free ourselves from much of the heavy labour and cost
of watering, and it would be better to have half the space we give
to flowers well prepared, than always be at work with the water
barrel.

To be busy planting in autumn and early winter is a great gain
too, because the plants get rooted before the hot time comes, and the
kind of plants we grow is important as regards the water question.
Where we have deep beds of Roses, Lilies, Carnations, Irises,
Delphiniums, and all the noble flowers that can be planted in
autumn or winter, we may save ourselves the labour of watering often.
Well prepared beds of choice evergreen or other flowering shrubs, with
Lilies and the choicest hardy flowers among them, also resist drought
well. Thus it will be seen how much we gain in this way alone by
the use of right open-air gardening.

What is here said, although true of the south of England and dry
soils generally, is not so as to soil on cool hills, and in the west country
where the rainfall is heavier. In such cases it is not nearly so import-
ant to have the soil so deep, and a good fertile soil half the depth,
with copious rain, may do. But, taking the country generally, there
is no doubt that such deep culture well repays the doing. The
farmer is often unable to alter the staple of his ground owing

SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 279

to its extent, but the flower gardener, dealing with a much smaller
area, should never rest until he has got a deep as well as a good soil.
This is given to many by Nature in rich valley lands, and on such
happy soil the flower gardener's main work as regards the labours of
the soil is changing the crop now and then, with some modification
of the soil to suit certain plants.

Where, owing to the dryness of the soil or subsoil, or to short-
ness of the rainfall, we have to resort to much artificial watering, it
is a great point to save the rain water as the
Soft water best, best of -all water, not only for household uses
but for plants. Next to it comes river water,
but to the gardens that want most water, rivers, unfortunately,
do not come, so that for garden use it would often be very wise
to do what people do more in other countries than ours, and
that is, save all the rain water we can instead of letting it run to waste
as it does so often.

In our country, too, much thought and labour are given to
drainage in the flower garden, to the neglect of change of plants
and deep cultivation. During our hot summers
Drainage. some way to keep water in the beds is more
important than getting rid of it. Some soils are
in little need of artificial drainage, such as free sands, sandy loams,
chalky and limestone soils, and much ground lying high, and much
alluvial land. Houses are not usually built on bogs or marshy
land, and in the course of years the ground round most houses
has been made dry enough for use, and hence elaborate work in
drains, bottoming with brick-rubbish or concrete, is often wasted
labour. In some years even in the west country we may see plants
lying half-dead on the ground for want of water, and the same
plants in deep soil, and where no thought was given to drainage,
in perfect health at the same time. There are places where, owing
to excessive rainfall and the wet nature of the soil, we may have
to drain, but it is often overdone.

Apart from the over-draining for ordinary garden things, it may
be well to remember that flower garden plants in our country are
often half-starved through drainage, like Phlox and scarlet Lobelia,
which in their own country are marsh plants, or inhabit the edges of
pools. In the southern country they simply refuse to show their true
character where the ground is drained in the usual way.

Gardeners' land and farmers' land are usually wholly different.
Drainage is often the simplest and best way for the farmer to alter
the tilth and texture of saturated and cold or sour land, whereas the
flower gardener, dealing with a small space for his beds, has the power
of altering the tilth and texture of his land in a thorough way, and so

280 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

making it open to the influence of rain and air. The position of the
flower garden is usually wholly different from that of agricultural
land. The flower garden itself is frequently raised, and in a terraced
or at all events often dry position, where the main drainage is long
settled, and gently raising the surfaces of flower-beds, to a height
say of 4 inches to 6 inches, enables us to get rid of the surface water.
By raising our beds slightly — not in the ugly way practised in
the London parks — we free the surface of any water lying on
it, and this is a good plan to follow, except in hot and shallow
soils, where it would be better not to raise the surface above the
level.

A cause of the poor growth of hardy flowers is want of change
of soil, and in addition the soils in which they grow are often

robbed by a network of hungry tree roots. There
Rotation in the are botanic gardens in Europe where the same
flower garden, wretched plants have been starving in the same

soil for fifty years, and little ever done to help them.
So, again, there are favourite borders in gardens which are almost as
much in want of a change, but, owing to their position sometimes being
a favourite one, people hesitate to give it to them. In such cases we
should prepare a new border for the plants and remove them, and
trench, renew and improve the soil of the old beds or borders, after-
wards taking a crop as different as possible for a year or two. If we
take a crop of annual flowers, the annuals rejoice in the fresh ground,
and they might be followed by a year of Carnations, after which a
return might be made to a good mixed border. When, however, we
do change a border or bed, the staple of the soil ought to be made
deep enough and changed if need be. In dealing with a soil which is
too rich in humus, an addition of lime will improve it, but generally
the soils are too poor, and require renewing and deepening. Bedding
plants have the advantage of fresh soil and often a total change every
year, and hence the bright vigour they often show when the seasons
are fair. A little of the same generous change would help Roses,
Lilies, and all the finer things in an equal degree, though many of
these will be quite happy in the same soil for years if it be well pre-
pared at first.

Upon suggesting once in a beautiful garden in Essex that an
opening should be made from a pleasure ground into a picturesque

grove of old Oak trees, we were met with the

Weeds and objection that the rubbish heap was there ; and,

rubbish heaps, on making our way in, this was found to cover

half an acre almost picturesque in its wild up
and down heaps of rubbish, earth, leaves, branches, and broken
crockery, etc. A fire was kept alight for six months in the year

SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 281

to get rid of some of this rubbish, and, this being very near the
house, was a frequent nuisance. This is a common state of things,
but as wrong as it is unnecessary. We gain nothing by destroying
organic matter by fire, but lose a good deal and get only the ash.
The garden weeds, the good soil scraped up with them, and the
many other things that go to make up these rubbish heaps would
be of far more use put over young trees to protect and nourish
them. Refuse of hard materials, such as iron or delf, should
be buried separately ; and roots of bad weeds may be burned
at once where they are. Yet there is no practice more firmly
established than the ancient one of the garden rubbish heap, often
disfiguring spots which might be pretty with ferns or shrubs,
encouraging vermin, filth, and vile odours, all things that we do
not want in or near the flower garden or pleasure ground.
We may see these heaps made even where labour is scarce
and the gardener is over-weighted with work, adding to his
toil by barrowing or carting away weeds and earth. This means
moving the costly product two or more times: (i) to the rubbish
heap ; (2) turning over and burning ; and (3), finally, again removing
the result in ash ; when it might easily have been got rid of
at once by one move. It acts in a more useful way, even as
a fertiliser, than when we go through the ugly labours, pains,
and penalties of forming the regulation rubbish heap. This plan
does not in the least prevent us burning where burning is a
prompt aid in getting rid of the roots and bad weeds or any
worn-out branches or roots that incommode us ; but then we
burn on the spot and scatter the refuse there or thereabouts.
Here are a few instances of other ways of getting rid of what
usually is carried or carted to a rubbish heap, that were carried
out during one summer in my own garden :

A very fine group of Hollies was planted on a slope facing
south. Seedling trees of the largest size that could be planted

with safety were brought from a distance by
Protecting rail. These were planted in May, and after-
Hollies, wards any grass mowings, prunings, weeds,

clearings, reeds, dead roots of shrubs, etc., that
happened to be near, were placed at the base of each Holly
for about 3 feet all round; also, where any ground near was
cleared of summer weeds these were also put over the roots,
even branchlets of evergreens being used, as preventing the direct
action of the sun. Not one of these Hollies was lost in spite of
the drought, though the turf near, on the same slope, was like
dust, but the covering of waste material given kept the earth
about the trees moist during the drought.

282 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

A plantation of hardy Bamboos was made in quite a different

situation in mid June — a hollow slightly shaded with trees, and

therefore not nearly so much exposed to danger

A Bamboo as the southern slope above mentioned. It

plantation. is known, however, that Bamboos are the better

for mulching in any situation, and as there was

no manure at hand, and even if there had been it would have

needed a good deal of carting, the waste and weeds near were

placed over the surface of the ground. In this case, mowings,

dead flower-stems, scum of a pond (which was very bad this

year, coming off in masses of most indestructible stuff), were

laid over the surface of the Bamboo plantation, in which the plants

did remarkably well, and never turned a leaf.

An orchard of fine young standard trees was planted in

1897 on a rather steep slope to the south, where the soil was

not good. Faggots of little value, the sweepings

Protecting young of roads, and any vegetable refuse about the

orchards. yards were put over these 4 feet all round. It

would be impossible to see trees healthier or

less affected by the starving drought of the hot year. Such aid

would, not be so precious in good valley land, but in many soils

it is of the greatest help.

Very often weeds are removed from the surface of garden
ground which would be much more useful if buried on the spot
if there be room, or allowed to dry up if cut off very small as
they should be if possible. The upper surface of garden ground is the .
best of it, owing to mulching and manuring, and to take away the
best of the ground is bad gardening. What would become of the
farmer who systematically removed an inch of the surface of his best
fields? It would be folly; and it is no less so in the garden. The
winter being a very mild one, encouraged the growth of weeds very
much, and, where there was other work going on, they got too big.
A plantation of Barberries, evergreen and others, was in this state in
early summer, the weeds nearly as high as the bushes. They were
cut down with much labour, and I just came upon the scene when
the carter was beginning to take away the surface of rich weeds
and soil, and I left the weeds and soil where they were, spreading
them equally over the surface. As it happened, this was followed
by many dry weeks, and the dead weeds formed a protection for
the bed itself, which did not suffer in the least during the heats.
To remove this mass of stuff would have been a costly labour,
the surface would have been exposed to direct evaporation, and
the plants starved by the drought.

Many people fidget at the sight of beautiful leaves in autumn,

SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 283

instead of enjoying them, as Shelley did, and gardeners are often

sweeping them up when they would be much
Fallen leaves. better employed planting good plants or shrubs.

What are we to do with the garden leaves ? We
cannot, it is true, have them in drifts in the flower garden, but it is
better to let them all fall before we take much trouble in removing
them. In gathering them up we may best add them to a place set
apart for leaf mould. But in every case where they may be let alone
it is much better to let them stay on the surface of wood, grove,
shrubbery, or group of shrubs, for protection and nourishment for the
ground. If any one during the hot years that we have had — as in
1 893 — had stood on a height in a woody country, he would have seen
that, while the fields were brown and bare, and cattle and crops
distressed for want of water, the wood retained its verdure, and the
growth of the year was as good as usual. Why was this? It is
explained by the beautiful function of the leaf, which not only
does the vital work of the tree, but also shields the ground from
the direct action of the sun. When the leaf has fallen its work
is not half done, as it protects and nourishes the roots throughout the
year, so that in the hottest years the fibres of the trees find nourish-
ment in decaying leaves. This surely is a reason that leaves
should not be scraped out from beneath every shrub or tree, and there
is no reason whatever why they should form part of the rubbish heap.
It is not only the better use of the waste as a fertiliser that
is a gain, it is the saving of very troublesome labour, often occurring

in the warmest part of the year, when every hour
Wasted labour, is precious over the really important work of

the garden — getting in crops of all kinds at the
right time and in the best way. Also we save the disfigurement of
the rubbish yard itself, and get rid of the smoke of the fires kept
going to consume it — another nuisance about a country house or
garden. The ash, the one result of all the waste of labour and filth
of the rubbish heap, is certainly of some use, but not one-sixth of the
good of the stuff used in the direct way. It is not only the summer
aid we gain, but all we put on in this way settles down in winter
to a nice little coat of humus, which nourishes the roots and protects
them from frost as well as heat.

The destruction of the seeds of weeds is the only shadow of
reason for the rubbish heap, but it is bad gardening to let weeds

go to seed. And though certain areas of town

Weeds and their gardens have no neighbours from which seeds can

seeds. be blown, this is not so in the country, where weed

seeds from woods and fields and young plantations
abound in the air. There is no good remedy for weeds except early

284 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and regular hoeing and cleaning. There are many conditions in
which, even if we do allow weeds to go to seed, they can be used as
a mulch ; as, for example, in young orchard and turf and other
planting in or near turf where weed seeds can do no harm. Burning,
therefore, should be kept to a few essential uses. The source of
success in flower gardening is to be always busy sowing or
planting; there is scarcely a day or a week when some things
have not been planted or attended to if we want a succession
of beauty ; but when the men are from morn to night busy hoeing
and watering and with other routine work, it is difficult to get time
for securing the successions of plants of various kinds on which the
lasting beauty of a garden at all seasons depends.

The old labour of grubbing up walks, which was so constant and
dreadful in the very heat of summer, is got rid of by weed-killers, of
which one dressing a year will sometimes suffice to keep the walks
clean, and, better still, prevent us from having to rip up the surfaces
of the walks, which was common in every garden until quite recently,
and is carried on still in many places. By abolishing ignoble routine
work, in this and all ways we can, we have time for the real work
of the garden, in adding to its beauty with new or beautiful things
and improved ways of growing and arranging them.

A fire on the spot is a great aid in the garden when active
changes have to be made, and foul borders or shrubberies renovated
or replanted. Where, in stiff soils, Twitch and
Fire as a other bad weeds take possession, with perhaps a
cleanser. number of worn-out shrubs, the simplest way is
often to burn all, not trying to disentangle weeds
from the soil in the usual way, but simply skinning the surface
2 inches, or more if need be, and burning it and the vital parts of the
weeds, first removing any plants that are worth saving. In light
soils the labour of cleaning foul ground is less than in heavy, adhesive
soils, but fire is a great aid in all such cases. If we are removing
ugly and heavy masses of Laurels, or other evergreens which have
never given grace or flower to the scene, we should burn them root
and branch at the same time. The result will be that we get rid of our
worst weeds, and turn enemies like Goutweed into ashes. This weedy
surface of garden ground is often some of the best of the soil, and it
is much better to keep it where it is, but purified. Regular cleaning
will keep down all young weeds, but it is a struggle to get the old and
bad weeds out of the soil, owing to the broken roots of Bindweed,
Twitch and Goutweed, which escape the closest forking and sharpest
eyes. There is no barrowing or carting to take the weeds to some
rotting heap, while, on the other hand, the friendly fire eats up and
kills at once the whole of them and converts them and the burnt

507LS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 285

surface they infested into good earth. Whatever we may think of
cremation for ourselves, it is a good friend in fighting weeds and in
helping us to thoroughly cleanse foul garden ground. We have not
even the trouble they had with Don Quixote's books, which was to
carry them into the yard to burn them.

Mulching or covering the surface with various kinds of light

materials, such as leaf mould, cocoa fibre, manure, and sand, or

anything, in fact, which gives an inch or two of

Evaporation. loose surface to the earth and prevents evapora-
tion, is a great aid on many soils, but not so
important where the beds have been thoroughly prepared, at least
not for Roses, Carnations, and many of the best flowers, because, if
the roots can go down and find good soil as far as they go, they
really do not want mulching, save on very hot soils. Mulching of
various kinds or loosening the surface of the ground is much easier
to carry out in the kitchen and fruit gardens or orchard than in
the flower garden, all the surface of which should be covered with living
things during the fine season. This the prettiest way and not difficult
to carry out we often see in cottage gardens, and in nature itself
where the health of the forest and other fertile lands depends to
a certain extent on the ground being covered with vegetation, which of
itself prevents direct evaporation. Taking a hint from this, I am very
fond of covering the surface with dwarf living plants of fragile nature,
which do not much exhaust the soil, and which in very hot weather
may help to keep it moist. This is done in the case of Roses and other
plants which, being rather small and bare at first, want some help to
cover the ground, and a number of very pretty plants may be used for
this purpose, which will give us bloom in spring and good colour on the
ground. It of course prevents the use of manure hitherto common
on the surface of flower-beds, Roses especially. It is much better
that the aid of manure should be given at the root instead of the sur-
face, and if we have plenty of manure and rich soil, there is no need for
surface mulching it. Covering the surface with living plants is worth
doing for the sake of the effect alone, even if we have to pay for it in
other ways. One result of it is that we may have a beautiful spring
garden in addition to the summer garden — that is to say, if our
garden is planted for summer and autumn with Roses and the like,
by the use of Tufted Pansies and other dwarf plants in the beds
we get pretty effects early in the year, and through this living
carpet may come up many pretty bulbs. Thus we may have in
the same beds with a little care and thought, two or three different
types of flower life.

The plants that may be used in this way are numerous, and
mostly rock and mountain plants of Europe and cold countries,

286 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

evergreen, often bearing pretty flowers and good in colour at all
seasons, spreading into pretty carpets easily, and quite hardy, taking
often a deeper green in winter, so that used over permanent beds
they help to adorn the flower-beds in winter. Through them in the
dawn of spring the early Crocus, Scilla, and Windflower come up
to find themselves in green turf of Thyme; Rockfoil ; Stonecrop ;
varying these according to soil, altitude or position ; the cooler
north favouring many mountain plants, though some face the ardours
of the warmer sun.

A grievous source of wasted effort in gardens is monotony arising

from everybody growing what his neighbour grows. Thus it comes

that the poor nurseryman who attempts to grow

Monotony. new or rare trees or shrubs very often finds them

left on his hands, so that many country nurseries

only grow a few stereotyped things, and we see public gardens and

squares in London given over to the common Privet, the common

Lilac let to run as a weed, and the common Elder, as in Lincoln's

Inn Fields.

Every lover of the garden could do something to check this fatal
monotony by taking up some plant, or family of plants, for himself,
which perhaps he is unable to find in the nursery gardens near at
hand. There are not only many beautiful species of plant which
are excluded from the ordinary nurseries, but even special nurseries,
as those for Roses, often exclude good kinds from their collections.
It is not only the introduction of new plants or species we have to
think of, but the raising of new forms (hybrids or varieties), the fine
cultivation of neglected groups, as the beautiful forms of our native
Primrose, the making more artistic use of old and well-known plants,
the skilful adaptation of plants and trees to the soil so as to get the
highest beauty of which it is capable without excessive care, and
without the deaths visible in many places after hard winters. Those
who seek to break the monotony of gardens must be prepared to face
some trouble, and must not take the least notice of what is thought
right in the neighbourhood, or of what can be obtained from the
nearest nursery garden. The further afield they look, probably
the better in the end it will be for them if they would escape
from the trammels of monotony.

Perhaps the most miserable of all garden-work is that of nailing

the shoots of trees to walls, on cold days, and the value of climbing

plants now in our gardens is so great, that the

Attaching best mode of attaching them to walls is a question

climbers to walls, which, though it may seem a small one from some

points of view, is important, and by no means

settled for the best. In our self-styled scientific age — the age also of

50/LS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 287

the galvanised iron church and the ironmonger's fence, which is no
fence — our gardens have been invaded by galvanised wire, which is
put up at great expense on garden and house walls, and is thought
to be an essential improvement in all new work. The question
does not merely concern walls for climbers round the house, but
also walls in the fruit garden. In our cold country we cannot
ripen the Peach or the choicer fruits without the aid of walls ;
galvanised wire is used in many gardens, but many growers discover
that its effect on the trees is not good. There is a foundation of
fact in these complaints, and they are common to French and English
gardeners. In France, where the cultivation of wall fruit to supply
the market with Peaches and fine winter Pears is carried out well,,
the best growers are against the use of galvanised wire, and think
it much better to have the wooden lattice only against the wall ;
so they keep to the older and prettier way of trellising the wall.
For those who care about effect this is well, for whatever harm
the wire may do to the tree, of its ugliness there can be no doubt.
The old French and English way of fixing branches to walls
with trellis-work made of Oak in about i-inch strips was a
very good one. Chestnut was thought to be the best, and is often
used now in France. One advantage of such woodwork is that
it looks well on the walls even before we get our plants up, and
there is the great facility of being able to tie where we wish, thus
avoiding the use of nails and the other miseries of training
against walls.

There remains the question of fixing our lattice-work of Oak,
Chestnut, Pine, or Bamboo. In old walls holdfasts must be driven ;
in new ones pieces of iron with strong eyes should be laid along
here and there in the courses of brick or stone as the work
goes on.

It is a great thing to be relieved from the ugliness and injury of
the galvanised wire. We would like to go a little further and keep
to old ways of tying things on walls. Those who look through their
bills may perhaps come upon items, and not small ones, for tarred
twine and other means of tying. In old times the shoots of the
Yellow Willow did the work of tying fruit trees to walls better than
any tarred twine as far as the main branches were concerned. To-
say that it is impracticable now is nonsense, as in some great nurseries
where millions of plants are sent out every year, every lot is tied with
Willow. The French way of using a Rush for tying, instead of
twine or matting, is an excellent one. It is a Rush which is
harvested and dried carefully, and it is the simplest thing in
the world to tie with so as to allow for the free growth of the branch,
and yet keep the shoot quite secure.

288 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Whether staking trees and shrubs or wind-waving is the worst

evil is doubtful, but much harm is done by staking. It is costly and

troublesome, especially so for those large trees that

Staking trees, are seen in pleasure grounds, surrounded by a kind
of crinoline of galvanised wire. The evil of staking
arises largely from planting trees too big as "specimens." To plant
these is tempting to many, but generally we get a much better result
from small trees that want no staking. Planting ornamental trees of
considerable size is so common that staking is frequently done, and
very often the trees are injured by the stakes, not only at the root,
but also much in the stem, which sometimes leads to canker. It is
known that canker (as in the Larch) enters the trees more readily
where the wounds are ready to receive the spores, and we often see
fruit-trees badly cankered through staking.

The wire-roping business for trees is a nuisance, as the ropes
cut in if in the least neglected, and the tree often snaps there,
and when the ropes are finally removed the trees often go down in
gales. The best cure for the waste and dangers of staking is to plant
small trees, but often where this is not done for any reason (and some-
times there may be good ones, as in planting vigorous-growing Poplars
to shut out things we do not care to see) we may do good by cutting
in the side shoots close to the stem. This leaves the tree with little
for the wind to act upon, and the need of staking is avoided without
injury to the tree. Transplanting trees involves so much injury to
the roots that somewhat reducing the tops does good in all ways.

At Kew, when a large tree is transplanted, it is guyed up with
three lengths of soft cord (commonly called " gaskin ") if it appears
likely to become loose. This is better than a stake, cheaper, and less
likely to injure the stem by abrasion. A tree with branches low
enough can be stayed by driving into the ground three stout stakes
at equal distances round the tree, nearly at the circumference of the
branches, and tying a branch to each of the stakes.

The picturesque grouping of trees and shrubs is a gain in the
avoidance of the trouble and danger of staking. The pinetum, as
seen in many country seats, is a scheme in which trees are isolated and
dotted so as to encourage them as " specimens," which is the wrong
way and the ugly way. In Nature these trees are almost always
massed and grouped close, so that they shelter each other, and if in
planting them we plant as a wood, closely, thinning them very care-
fully, we find them make trees and give better effects than in the
common way they are generally placed, as the trees protect and
comfort each other, and shade the ground. I have planted true
pinetums in this way, the trees in which have stood violent gales
without giving way, and which were never staked, any more than they

SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 289

are on their wild mountain homes. But in this case, as with sailors,
we must begin young.

Among the evils of the " bedding" and "carpet system" is the

need of costly glass-houses in which to keep the plants all the

winter, not one in ten of these plants being as

Glass-houses. pretty as flowers that are as hardy as the grass in
the field — like Roses, Carnations, and Delphiniums.
It is absurd to grow Alternantheras in costly hothouses, and not to
give a place to flowers that endure cold as well as Lilies-of-the- Valley.
Glass-houses are useful helps for many purposes, but we may have noble
flower gardens without them. To bloom the Rose and Carnation in
midwinter, to ripen fruits that will not mature in our climate, to enable
us to see many fair flowers of the tropics — for these purposes glass-
houses are a precious gain ; but for a beautiful flower garden they
are almost needless, and the numerous glass-houses in our gardens
may be turned to better use. It would not be true to say that good
hardy flower gardening is cheaper than growing the half-hardy plants
that often disgrace our gardens, as the splendid variety of beautiful
hardy plants tempts one to buy, and it is therefore all the more
necessary not to waste money in stupid ways, apart from the heavy
initial cost and ceaseless costly labour of the glass-house system of
flower garden decoration.

For those who think of beauty in our gardens and home land-
scapes, the placing of a glass-house in the flower garden or pleasure
ground is a serious matter, and some of the most interesting places
in the country are defaced in that way. In the various dividing
lines about a country house there can be no difficulty in finding a site
for glass-houses where they cannot injure the views. There is no
reason for placing the glass-house in front of a beautiful old house,
where its colour mars the prospect Often, in looking across
the land towards an old house, we see first the glare of an ugly glass
shed. If this were the case only in the gardens of people lately
emerged from the towns to the suburbs of our great cities, it would
not be so notable ; but many large country places are disfigured in this
way. And, apart from fine old houses and the landscape being defaced
by the hard lines and colour of the glass-house, there is the result on
the flower garden itself; efforts to get plants into harmonious and
beautiful relations are much increased if we have a horror in the way of
glass sheds staring at us. Apart from the heavy cost of coal or coke,
the smoke-defilement of many a pretty garden by the ugly vomit of
these needless chimneys and the effect on young gardeners in leading
them to despise the far more healthy and profitable labours of the
open garden have to be considered in relation to the cost, care, and
ugliness of the glass nursery as an annual preparation for plants for the

T

2QO THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

flower garden, these plants being with few exceptions far less precious in
every way for flower garden or for room than those that are quite hardy.

A few years ago, before the true flower garden began to get a place
in men's minds, many of the young gardeners refused to work in
places where there was no glass. A feeble race this pot and kettle
idea of a garden would have led to : men to get chills if their gloves
were not aired. I met the difficulty myself by abolishing glass
altogether. Only, where we do this we must show better things in
the open-air garden, than ever flourished in a glass-house.

Next to moving heaven, the heaviest undertaking is that of moving

earth, and there are no labours of gardening men that lead to more

wasted effort, where care and experience are not

Moving earth, brought to bear on the work. Labour in many
parts of the country has become dearer, and the
question of moving earth without needless waste of energy is a
serious one for all who have much groundwork to do. As instances
of misuse of labour we see the soil from foundations carted far, and
then put deep over the roots of old trees, to their death or injury.
A man of resource would place this soil in some well-chosen spot
near, and having first removed the surface soil and, resurfaced with it,
plant it with a handsome group of beautiful shrubs or trees, so that the
surface would in no ugly way differ from the general lie of the ground
near. Carts and horses very often lead to waste of labour in removing
earth when barrows and a few planks would do the work better.

In necessary groundwork there is inevitably much moving of earth
in getting levels, carrying roads and paths across hollows, and for
various other reasons. We should make a rule of getting the soil in
all such cases as near at hand as possible. Mistakes in levelling ground
are frequent, and often lead to twice moving of soil. The best man
for groundwork is often a good navvy ; many such men know how
to make heavy groundwork changes without putting a barrowful of
soil in the wrong place. Very often spare soil has to be removed,
and in this necessary work ugly mounds are made, when, by a little
care in choosing the place well and never leaving any ugly angles,
and making the ground take the natural gradation of the adjacent
earth, it could be well planted. Hardy trees take well to such banks
if the good soil is kept on the top, as it should always be.

The same remarks may serve for the moving of turf, gravel, stones,

and soil, save that to get good soil for the formation of beds, we must

go where the good soil is ; whereas for the bottoms

Moving turf, etc. of roads and paths, the support of banks, base of

terraces or mounds, much saving may be effected

by getting what we want in the nearest possible place, never fearing

to make a hollow if need be, as that can be so easily planted with

507L5 AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 291

some free-growing tree or shrub ; the hardy Pines, like Scotch,
Corsican, and Silver Firs, being excellent for this, as they thrive in
almost any earth, and often on surfaces from which the whole bed of
fertile soil has been removed.

Apart from essential groundwork, there is the diversifying of ground
artificially, as may be seen in our parks, owing to the false idea that
you cannot make level ground picturesque with planting. Proof that
this is not impossible may be seen in many a level country planted by
Nature, as in the forest plain and in many a park and pleasure ground
in Germany, France, and Britain. Trees are given to us to get
this very variety of broken surface, and the idea that to make a place
picturesque we must imitate — and usually badly imitate — naturally
diversified ground is most inartistic. No doubt broken ground has
many charms, but so has the fertile plain, and the best way is to
accept and enhance the beauty of each variety of surface. To do so is
the planter's true work. In cities and suburbs there is often occasion
to conceal ugly objects, and earth if to spare may be used well and
wisely in raising at once the base of a plantation of young trees ; but
an enormous amount of labour given to making artificial mounds
might be saved without any loss, and with much gain to garden design.

There are yet certain landscape-gardeners who make mounds or

earth-pimples everywhere, regardless of the growth of the plants. If

people would only spend more on good planting

Artificial mounds, and less on trying to " diversify," as they call it,

the surface, it would be better for our gardens.

In many cases when planting time comes, so much effort has been

spent on needless groundwork, that there are no means to spare for

the best work of all in garden making, namely, good planting. Any

one can make earth dumplings of the sort we see too many of,

while planting to give enduring and beautiful effects requires a

knowledge of trees and shrubs.

The mania for foolish groundwork may be often seen, one of

its results being the burial of the tree base, surrounded, perhaps,

with a brick-lined pit-hole, as in St James's Park.

In our public Shooting earth and rubbish to fill up the hollows

parks. on such a precious space as Hampstead Heath is

common, and as the surrounding district is busy

in building, these attempts are, we fear, often the occasion of

finding a shoot for earth and rubbish. The bringing in of such

rubbish should be absolutely forbidden, as the only effect of this

filling up of hollow places is to destroy the incidents of the ground,

usually far prettier in form than the results of smug levelling up, or,

worse still, the formation of such artificial mounds as we see examples

of in the parks. Even the squares in our level Thames valley are not

292 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

exempt from outrage of this kind, of which, perhaps, the most hideous
example is that of Euston Square. A high and ugly earth-bank
has been put all around the Square, so steep that even the cheap
nursery rubbish of the London squares — Privet and Elder — refuses
to grow upon it, and so in the summer days, instead of the grass
and tree-stems and cool shadows, a bank of dusty rubbish meets
the eye !

Another serious source of waste of the inexperienced in ground-
work is burying the top surface, the most precious, and in many cases
the result of ages of decay of turf and plants. In alluvial land and
light friable hill soils this mistake does not so much matter, but in
heavy land where there is a clay subsoil it is fatal. The first thing
in all groundwork is to save the top soil with the greatest care, for
the sake of using it again in its proper place ; and how to save it, so
that it may be available at the end of the work, is one of the most
essential things the good ground-worker has to think of.

Trenches for the reception of pipes, drains, and foundations should
not be opened until the materials are at hand, as in wet weather
doing so often leads to the sides falling in and much needless
labour. The direction of walks, roads, or designs for beds, borders,
or gardens, should be carefully marked out and looked at from every
point of view before carrying them out, having regard to their use
and their relation to all things about them, and not merely to any
plan on paper. Attention to this will often save much labour in
groundwork.

A cause of much waste of labour in moving soil is the usual

way of treating mud after the cleansing of artificial ponds — often

a poor inheritance to leave to one's children. The

Other causes of silting up with mud goes on for ever, and while

waste. the mere expense of getting this out of the pond

bed in any way is usually great, the cost is often

increased through the idea that the stuff is of manurial value. This

leads people frequently to heap it up on the banks to dry, then to

liming it, and eventually to moving it on to the land, these various

labours adding to the disfigurement of the foreground of beautiful

ground often for a long time. Pond mud has very little manurial

value generally, though it will differ to some extent according to the

sort of soil the supply comes from. Usually, however, it has very

slight value, and any labour bestowed upon it from that point of view

is nearly always wasted. The best and simplest way is to put it

direct on to some poor pasture near, or on to any ground where it

may be got rid of with least labour to man or horse. Where the

pond is ugly in outline and not essential either for its beauty in the

home landscape or for its uses for fish or water store, it may often be

SOILS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN.

293

ScarletQak.

I Ouercus

-ggcoiqgus. I

yyVMrnrr J

Simplest label for trees.

worth considering whether the best way would not be to let the water
off and turn the mud bed into a handsome grove of Willows and
Dogwoods, and an excellent covert at the same time. I know nothing
among trees quite so good in effect in the landscape, winter and
summer, as the white, red, and yellow Willows, with an undergrowth
of the red Dogwoods.

Where possible it is best to do without labels, except where we

grow many kinds of things that differ by slight shades, as Carnations

and Roses. The contents of a garden are usually

Labels. in a state of change ; we are continually adding to

and taking from them ; new plants are introduced ;

a severe winter kills a number of shrubs, which we determine not

to replant. Fashion changes the garden vegetation too, and then the

permanent labels, cast and burnt into hardware

and cemented in cast iron, are thrown aside. I rdnr: 7t

prefer a label which can be used again, such as

a cast-iron label of "T shape" or, in other

words, a slip of cast iron with an oblong head

slightly thrown back. These are cast very

cheaply in the iron districts. We have to paint

them and write the names of the trees on them

when they come to hand ; but that can be

readily done by a handy painter in winter. In

a large garden, where much naming is required,

the best way is to train a youth who is likely to

remain in the place, by placing a copy of the

desired kind of letters before him. It is an

advantage to give the label a coat of copal

varnish when the letters are dry, and generally

to use white letters on a black or dark ground,

and give three coats of black over one of red

lead. These are the best labels for the shrubs

and choice young trees of a pleasure ground or flower garden.

The painting will last for twenty years, and if we cease to cultivate

the plants to which they belong, the labels may be repainted.

With big trees it is always a mistake to use a ground label. The
best labels for large trees are made of pieces of tin about 4^ inches
by 3 \ inches. About half an inch of the upper edge should be bent
at a right angle so as to form a little coping for the label, two holes
should be made just beneath the little angle, through which a strong
copper wire should be put and firmly nailed to the tree. Place it so
as to be easily read, at about 5^ feet from the ground. Paint it dark
brown or black with white letters, and it will last for many years. All
labels inserted in the grass in pleasure grounds are liable to be pulled

Position for tree label.

294

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

up by mowers or others, and in this way to get lost, while the labels
on the stems are safe from such mishaps.

For low trees and bushes to which copper wire may be fixed
with ease, the simplest and most enduring labels are those that are
made of cast metal galvanised, and as they are very enduring they
are best for hardy trees and shrubs. The words on them should be
as few as may be, and all needless ones omitted. Thus in fruit-tree
labels it is needless to use the word Pear or Apple, but simply the
variety, as " Ribstone." This plan makes these labels more legible
than when they are crowded with letters. For half-hardy plants,

annuals, and plants of a season only,
wooden labels are often the most
convenient. In most gardens it is
the practice to write the name at the
part that goes in the ground, and to
go on from thence to the top — a
bad way, for the label always begins
to decay at the base, and thus the
beginning of the name is lost, while
the end of it may be quite legible.
After a little practice it becomes as

easy to write from the top as from the other end, and, in writing
the names, always begin as near the top as possible.

The use of the wooden label should be given up in favour of
labels with raised or incised letters. The main reason is that the
endurance of the wooden label is too slight ; moreover, some kinds of
good stamped-metal label are less conspicuous in the garden than
the wooden label, and any kind of conspicuous label is bad. At
Kew they now use a lead label of their own stamping, so that should
many labels get out of use, as is the case in large collections, it is
easy to melt them down and use the metal again for trees and
enduring plants of all kinds.

Cast-iron labels ; the simplest, neatest, and
best form for shrubs, bold herbaceous plants,
and for all cases where the label has to be
fixed in the ground.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

MY FLOWER GARDEN.

THE Editor of Country Life took a fancy to have a plan of my garden,
and I willingly agreed, but now I desire to say a few words about plans
and the harm they have done. Plans should be made on the ground to
fit the place, and not the place made to suit some plan out of a book.
Infinite harm has been done to the good art of gardening by the copy-
ing of old plans by designers without sympathy or knowledge of the art
itself. Books are full of these plans, and any clerk can copy them
and suggest them for all sorts of unfitting situations. In this case I
thought of nothing but the ground itself, its relation to the house,
and what I wanted to grow in it.

I am a flower gardener, and not a spreader-about of bad carpets
done in reluctant flowers, and when I had a garden of my own to
make, I meant it to contain the greatest number of favourite plants
in the simplest way. I threw the ground into simple beds, suiting the
space for convenience of working and planting, not losing an inch
more than was necessary for walks. I did what, so far as we have
any evidence to tell us, the Assyrian king and the mediaeval chatelaine
did — that is to say, I cut my limited garden space into simple beds.
No plan of any kind was used nor any suggestion sought from any
garden, the question being decided in relation to the space. Any
talk about styles in relation to such a thing is absurd. Having
made my garden, one day a young lady who had been reading one
of those mystifying books about formalities and informalities came
in, and, instead of warming her eyes at my Roses and Carnations,
said, u Oh, you, too, have a formal garden ! " Just imagine what
Nebuchadnezzar or the mediaeval Lady in their small patches of
gardens would think of any silly person who made such a remark
instead of looking at the flowers !

Having cut the space up into the simple plan shown, the next
question was to make the walks. For these we used Groydon gravel,
but the best we could get here was unsatisfactory. In a real flower
garden there must be work to do at midsummer as well as in
January, and therefore the gravel walk is a serious hindrance if one

295

296 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

has gardening to do all the year round. I made up my mind, there-
fore, to pave the walks as shown in the plan, using old half-worn
London York stone pavings for this purpose, which at that time were
often used in making the bottoms of roads, and not of much value.
With these, work all the year round is pleasant, as sand, manure,
plants or anything else may be spread about on the walks without
adding to the labour or causing any unpleasantness. Where the
whole flower garden is set out in a week as in bedding-out this
would not matter so much ; but a real flower garden, which is a
thing of varied life, cannot be done in that way. The stones, when
in irregular pieces, are sometimes set at random, and they are set in
sand only, no cement or mortar being used.

Then came the question of edgings. These in most gardens are

a nuisance, and a serious and constant source of labour which can

be very often ill-spared. Imagine the labour of

Edgings. keeping up a large garden with Box or other live

edgings, harbouring insects and doing other harm.

So we had stone edgings made from the same old London

flagstones, broken up into handy pieces about 10 inches deep.

These look well at all seasons and make a lasting edging, so that

the gardeners have time to think of getting beautiful results instead

of being bothered with needless labours. Otherwise the plan speaks

for itself. In planting we not only seek to get variety, but also

some difference in the height of things, and thereby obtain a varied

surface and not a flat hard one such as is commonly sought.

Another point gained was that we could devote the beds

to permanent planting ; we have not to tear up the beds every

autumn to plant spring flowers, as is commonly

Permanent done in the gardens about London and Paris. The

planting. spring flowers abound so much in our lawns and

woods, and beyond a few pretty edgings of

Aubrietia, nothing else was done to disturb the beds meant for summer

flowers. We can leave our Tea Roses and Carnations alone all the

winter, and prepare for the summer garden only. Many fine things in

the flower garden will not bear an annual or biennial disturbance, and

therefore it is essential to have beds that we can plant with some

degree of permanence. When the beds get tired of their contents,

we have only to change the plants, but it is a great comfort to have

beds which one can leave alone for several years, instead of having

the useless labour of disturbing the ground twice a year. This was

the old way of the ladies' flower garden before the detestable bedding

and " mosaic " culture came in. To this the name " formal flower

garden " may well be given. Only, we may now carry out the true

way better, having a vastly greater flora to cull from ; and the spring

MY FLOWER GARDEN. 297

garden being carried out in turf and otherwise, it is an immense
relief towards the perfect enjoyment of the summer and early
autumn garden, the only seasons when we may live among the
flowers. Rich as we may be in spring flowers, in our climate
they are mainly to be seen in the cold days, some coming even
in midwinter. So I keep the flower garden itself for the beauties
of summer and autumn.

It will be seen that these two flower gardens on slightly different
levels are in intimate relation to the house. The old hall door opens
into the smaller garden, and the west garden door into the larger.
-The garden is, in fact, as it should always be — a larger living-room.
The varieties of situation are so many that it is not always possible to
secure this ; but it is by far the best way to have the real flower
garden, where all our precious flowers are, in close relation to the
house, so that we can enjoy and see and gather our flowers in the
most direct way. The stone paths enable us to do this in all
weathers ; going for half a mile to get to the flower garden, or
scattering garden flowers in all directions, is not the right way.
The wild garden is right in that way, but for the choice flowers
that need attention and that charm us most, the flower garden should
be within easy reach and in the best and sunniest spot.

The view of the Clematis here shows the ones that I have put
in the open sun or in partial shade, and not among bushes or trees —
a favourite way of mine ; but even thus we have had great success,
and up to the end of September this year they are very beautiful.
Those, however, that have done the best were obtained on their own
roots and were not grafted. The soil is that of the country, that is
loam with some sand, in which these plants delight. The supports
are tripods of Chestnut, grown on the place, and trellises of Oak and
Chestnut, the small fixings being of Rattan. The uprights are made
of iron posts, with Oak or Bamboo stakes over. The kinds shown
here are mostly forms derived from the Japanese lanuginosa, crossed
here and there with some noble kinds, such as Perle d'Azur, La
France, Nellie Moser and the larger forms generally, and the
charming coccinea.

THE POSITION OF THE FLOWER GARDEN IN RELATION
TO THE HOUSE.

In olden times, so far as any evidence remains to us from pictures,
prints, tapestry, etc., the place for the flower garden was quite near the
house ; and that is the place for it now. In the best conditions,
it should be like an extension of the house — a larger flower room.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

The Scottish way of going half a mile to the kitchen garden to find
the flower garden there, is not the best. There is no reason why
there should not be mixed borders in the kitchen garden, but the real
flower garden, varied and beautiful as it ought to be, should be within
easy access of the sitting-rooms. In all artistic things formulas are
dangerous, and the best way is to study the site, and, in a wide
sense, the more varied the better, even as regards position. Always
the south and warm sides of the house should be taken advantage of,
and the cold side reserved for the entrance, and usually it should be
cut off from the warmer, or garden, sides.

Sometimes the discovery of a vein of fine soil away from the
house may justify the making of a garden there, in the same way as
the late Sir Henry Yorke made a wood garden in Buckinghamshire.
Having found a fine deposit of good peat, he made a very beautiful
shrub and flower garden in it. We are in a time of doubt about
this question, many people, tired of bedding-out, have turfed up their
gardens, so that we often see what ought to be a flower garden turfed
over. It is the ugliness, cost, and wholly inartistic result of bedding-
out that tired people of it, and in many cases it would be well to go
back to the old idea of the flower garden near the house.

A great mistake has been made in the past in placing the Rose
garden away from the house. This was often done and told in every
book. There was reason for it, perhaps, when
The Rose garden, we had nothing but the red Roses — what were
wrongly called Hybrid Perpetuals. They flowered
for such a short time that it did not matter much their being away
from the flower garden proper, where we expect a long-continued
bloom. The coming of the Tea and China Roses of Indian
origin, of longer bloom, has altered the conditions as regards the
Rose garden, and the best Roses should be in the flower garden, not
by themselves only, but combined with all the other beautiful things
that one cares for in a very choice flower garden. When we have to
make our Rose and flower garden together, which is the right way,
that demands more thought for the position and the shape and the
formation of the ground. In old houses there are generally open and
more or less square places round the house and near it, which offer
good situations for the flower garden. The walls that surround such
places do not prevent us from following the picturesque way of
gardening. There is unfortunately an idea that, given such square
spaces, one must put the plants in geometrical or pattern ways.
There is not the slightest foundation for this plea, because nothing
can be more set in its surroundings than the cottage or the small town
garden, which often surprises us with its picturesque and true
effects.

300 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Take the lawn-side, where the ground slopes gently away from

the house, it may be, towards a river ; one of the best of gardens

is one on the lawn, with a background of trees and

The lawn garden, shrubs sometimes running in and out of the margins

of the lawn. I do not think I know anything so

beautiful as such a lawn garden.

Often people are found bold enough to put their houses in all sorts
of situations — on bluffs, near rocks, and on river banks, which may
limit their garden in a sense, but give other, and, perhaps, more
delightful, opportunities.

Sometimes about country houses there happens a square garden
made at first as a kitchen or front garden, which is occasionally
turned into a flower garden, often with excellent effect. The walls
and the shelter and the drapery of climbers help. I think I have had
more pleasure from the little square garden at Warley, full of hardy
flowers, both in beds and borders, than ever I had in any garden. In
such situations one can get as far away from convention as one likes.
Another very pretty site of a flower garden is an old orchard. The
trees, the light and shade, and the form make it enchanting, as
compared with the fully exposed garden. In some of these orchard
gardens, the soil being very good and rich, the hardy flowers grow
very finely indeed, and the effect in one such garden I know is,
I think, almost better than that of any other kind of garden — I
mean as regards the handsomer kinds of hardy flowers.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

DESIGN IN PLANTING.

IN a book on the English Flower Garden and Home Landscape it
is quite in place to deal with the elementary mistakes made in
landscape even in the best parts of the home counties. That little
thought is given to so important a matter is seen when unmeaning
clumps are planted in the middle of park-like spaces, in iron fences
where live fences should be, in the laying down of roads and walks
many times too many, in stretches of fine landscape shut out by trees.
It is nothing extravagant to say that the beauty of half the country
places in England is hidden from view by over-planting and
thoughtlessness.

Who is to help? I believe the best results can only be got by
the owner who knows and loves his ground. The greatest evil is the
stereotyped plan, the results of which are evident
Design in on all sides. But the man must love the work
planting. and know one tree from the other, and feel that
his pictures can only come from constant thought
as to the ground itself. Lessons? Yes, from Nature mainly. A
few days in one of the valleys in the Tyrol or any beautiful mountain
land will tell us more than many books, also pictures of the great
landscape painters like Corot, Daubigny, Constable, and R. Wilson
when free of the conventions of his day. The breadth, air, forms,
foreground, and values that interest painters, the atmosphere of
Corot, skies of Diaz, water of Daubigny, and Nature's trees, land-
scape, and atmosphere should teach us much. It is ours to make
such use of them as will give us better pictures than ever were
painted.

This must be studied in the way of the good leader of soldiers,
and there is also the quality of the soil to be thought of, as soil
useless for rich cultivation may give us fine trees.
The lie of the With hardy trees in the landscape, views, air,
ground. and distances also must be studied, not only in

the place but from it to the neighbourhood.
There is no organised profession to help. Any one may call him-
self a landscape gardener ; a navvy who has some experience

301

302 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

of walk and road making, a jobbing gardener, and others without
any training may offer to do the work.

But how are we to know a landscape gardener? By this sign
among others — that he will study the ground first and bring no
plan in his pocket. Office plans are poor substitutes for the thing
itself, but the custom of plans on paper is so fixed that it is not easy
to get this truth accepted. There can be no true work in landscape
save by one who knows trees by heart, and there is no royal road
to that knowledge save by life study.

The relationships of nurserymen to garden design is a delicate

one. A nurseryman's business is a wholly different one, and an

honourable one, and if he does his own work well

Nurserymen and he has not the time to act as a designer of gardens.

garden design. And in his case where is the control which should

be exercised in all expensive work ?

The garden designer should be free to go anywhere for his
trees and plants. No one nursery has half the plants or trees he
may require. He should not accept a fee from any tradesman and
should be paid only by his employer, whilst free to reject all goods
supplied which he does not think as specified, just as the trust-
worthy architect rejects all inferior building material. Professional
control is as essential in this as in any other work, and happy is the
owner who himself takes a living interest in trees and landscape
views, as he will save himself from stereotyped designs and bad
planting. All trees have historical associations, form and habits,
likes and dislikes, which should be known to one hoping to get from
their use any artistic result.

The most evident mistake made in design of landscape work

is the want of repose or breadth seen in so many parks and

pleasure grounds. In the Home Counties one can

Breadth and scarcely see a piece of modern park land with-
repose. out the trees being in rings and in dots here and

there spoiling all the breadth and simplicity of the
scene. Such planting spoils landscape effect, does no good to the
trees, and the dots are too small for shelter. The best way by far
is to keep such green spaces open and plant ground that is no
good for Grass or Arable. Sometimes a single Pine spoils the middle
of a lawn or an oak tree the middle of a ploughed field. The
lawn-like beauty of park or garden is the most precious thing we have
for giving us air, sky, and space, and grouping and massing is the
right way.

How to remove the defect in park-like ground is difficult, but one
may unite two or three groups into one whole, and so get rid of the
spotty effect, but often the best way is to remove the dotted trees and

DESIGN IN PLANTING. 303

replant. It is the nature of trees on mountain or steppe to grow to-
gether and protect each other, and in our wind-swept isles it is often
important to plant in the teeth of the worst wind, and close planting
should be the rule.

The planting without thought of evergreens is a common evil in

British gardens. Evergreens are often planted where people do not

see what they may become after years of growth.

Rampant Important views are shut out by coarse ever-

evergreens. greens, and even the house itself may be hidden

by their growth.

In France it has been a practice to mar any grace of public
squares and gardens by a display of the efforts of the sculptor ; but
the French begin to see this mistake, and to cry out against it. It is
now proposed to remove these statues into one great statue cemetery,
where those who admire them might worship.

Close to Hyde Park Corner there is a sort of fountain out of
place, which spoils a little lawn. Large memorial confectionery groups
ought not to be allowed to break up the spaces in
Things destructive the parks. Lately, I am told, the fantastic idea of
of repose. a playwright has been embodied in stone in Ken-
sington Gardens. If each succeeding decade is to
see outrages of that sort committed, what will eventually become of
the repose and quiet grace of parks ?

An effective way of destroying repose in a public garden is the
caging of animals there. This leads to ugly shanties and pathways
for cleaning, feeding, and various purposes that need not be named.

In the garden itself certain malformed trees are used by designers
of architectural turn to give points — the Irish Yew, close-growing
Juniper, and various hideous " sports " of the Western Arbor- Vitae.
These are often used from the fatuous idea that they are old and
right in the old English garden — the fact being that they are all
modern deformities.

It should be borne in mind that the garden is but a patch in many

a country place. It is only when we leave it we begin to see the real

opportunity for landscape pictures in field, park,

Landscape design or woodland. There never was so much teaching

an art. of art in academic schools in every big town or city

and professors and books in abundance, and yet

there never was so much bad art. This is the common opinion of

good judges in Paris and London. In Lord Redesdale's book there

is a passage which has a bearing on this : —

" I remember how once, when a lady consulted Lord
Leighton about her boy, who showed a great talent for painting,
his answer was : ' Let him have the education of a gentleman

304 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

in the first place ; then, if he should still have an inclination for
art, let him specialise.'"

There is evidence to show that the way advised by Lord
Leighton is not the right way. Excellence in art is not to be had
without early devotion to the work, and the education in colleges
until a man is well over twenty precludes any full early training in
art.

If we look at the history of our own great landscape painters we
find that David Cox was the son of a blacksmith, and he was an
artist with a true eye for the beautiful in nature. Constable was a
miller's son, and began his studies with a painter and glazier friend
in the fields — a much better place to study art than any academy.
Turner was the son of a barber, but even in Maiden-lane a genius
arose. Old Crome began life as a doctor's errand boy. Carolus
Duran, whose portrait of Pasteur — a masterpiece — was seen in
London some years ago, told me he was at work in the Academy 'at
Lille at eight years of age.

By far the best landscape art in England arose from conditions
different from those laid down by Lord Leighton, whose own work
does not justify his teaching. A picture by one of the old Dutch
painters who, as boys, were apprenticed to their craft, was worth all
he ever did. Watts and Constable, among English artists, show
how excellence in art is reached.

This may seem apart from garden design, but it really is not so,
because the problems that confront the landscape planter are the
same as those which the landscape painter has to deal with — viz.
beauty, repose, breadth, and air. The man who uses trees instead of
pigments has the nobler task. He has, too, ready to his hand some-
thing even better than the atmosphere of Corot and the sky of Diaz.

CHAPTER XXXV.

TREES AND SHRUBS FOR WET GROUND

IN our isles, so well endowed with copious rainfall and in many
districts possessed of much wet land in situations not easy to drain,
the trees that might be grown for beauty or profit in such ground are
worth thinking of. Even in the southern counties we may find
ground difficult to cultivate owing to wet, and so it is often better to
plant than incur the expense of draining in diversified land, often
difficult and costly.

I leave aside the larger question of draining lake or marsh and
turning it to fertile ground, often with success, in France and other
lands. We have to plant with trees and shrubs that do not fear the
water, but may enjoy it, and make us in planting ugly hollows and
ill-formed artificial waters to turn them into scenes of beauty, even of
profit.

Willows. — Of trees, among the best are native trees, as the White
Willow, precious for its beauty and valuable for its wood. There
are many Willows of other countries of Europe and the northern
world, but few equal the White Willow and its varieties, also the
hybrids between the white and the crack Willows, some grown for
their timber. Garden varieties with attractive names in nursery lists,
here have been a failure in endurance, of far less value than the
true White Willow, frequent in the eastern counties of England.
The Weeping Willows are graceful trees that charm, but we never
get a good result from them unless in river-borne soil. By artificial
waters, often formed in poor soil, they may fail, and never show the
abounding beauty we see in valley gardens or beside Thames or
Seine. Some of the dwarf Willows may well be used as underwood
in wet ground, in which they often come naturally. The effect of
some Willows is fine in colour throughout the year, in the Golden
Willow, the White Willow, and the varieties known as the Huntingdon
and Bedford Willows.

Poplars. — Much less use is made of Poplars in England than in
France, where often stately effects are got in a few years from the

305 U

306 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Canadian Poplar. In our own land, if one crosses the hills of Kent
or the bare downs of Wiltshire and then descends into a wet hollow
he may see the White Poplar growing some 80 feet high. The Black-
Poplar and its varieties give us stately trees, and some day they
may be found as useful here as they are in France. Among the
Poplars that have come of late years the Black Cottonwood, which
grows very freely here, is the finest. Our only really native Poplar,
the Aspen, comes freely of itself in many places. The Lombardy
Poplar is ofted badly placed on hilly and poor ground. To get its
highest beauty it should be grown in moist valleys or by the sides
of rivers.

Oaks. — Among the Oaks by far the best of the Americans is the
Red Oak (Q. rubra}. It is quite free here, handsome in leaf and
form, and does well under various conditions. Another fine tree is
the Pin Oak (Q. palustris). In marshy, wet hollows in woodland it is
free and stately. In the south, at least, our native Oak (Q. pedun-
culatd] is often happy on the waterside. The best Oaks in England
as to quality, not size, are those on the cool side of the hills between
Tunbridge Wells and Horsharn, and they grow in ground that is
often wet. The Evergreen Oak, a precious tree for the sea-shore
lands, no matter how wet or storm - tossed, may have a place
here.

Birches. — Seeing how well our native Birches grow in wet soils,
there should be Birches of other lands that do well too, as, for
example, Lyall's Birch, the Grey Birch (Betula populifolia), and the
River Birch (B. nigra). Seeds of these are in trade, and where
people fear the cost of plants it might be worth their while to scatter
seed about. I have done this with the Yellow Birch.

Alders. — The common Alder is everywhere by stream or pond,
but few enjoy the other kinds. The Grey Alder (Alnus incand}y
the Seaside Alder (A. maritimd], and the American Alder (A.
oregana} are worth planting. The varieties of our native Alder are
worth a place, growing as freely as the wild kind.

Liquidambar. — This, one of the loveliest of the North American
trees, is not usually classed as a marsh-lover, but it grows freely in
my cool soil. To do it full justice it should be in moist and also
rather deep soil in valleys and by rivers. It is hardy and splendid
in autumn colour, and there is no difficulty in getting a stock of it.
Usually planted in the specimen way, the best way is in groups, as
seeds and young plants are plentiful.

Tupelo tree (Nyssa). — This, the most brilliant of the North
American trees, happy in our country, is as fine in colour as in its own
land, but it is not easy to get a good supply of it in our nurseries. I
have never succeeded in getting other than very feeble and useless

TREES AND SHRUBS FOR WET GROUND. 307

plants. The American nurserymen are careless about growing stocks
of their own trees, but seed is offered, and so there need be no difficulty
in getting a stock of it for a bold group to grow in time into a lovely
picture.

The summer-leafing Cypress. — A noble tree for deep, wet soils
is Taxodium distichum. In valley soil it is superb, and always
the better near water. It will often grow in water as well as
by its side, and there are many examples of it doing well in the
valleys of the Seine and Loire, as well as in the Thames valley.
To me it is the queen of the water-loving trees of the northern
world.

The Sitka Spruce. — Among evergreen trees I have found nothing
so good as this, a native of the tree-clad Pacific coast. It is, in our
climate, quite at home, and all the better if in a silty place. I have
planted many with good results in soils not always very wet, at first,
5 feet apart, with the common Spruce between, which was cut out in
due time. But its great use is for wet spots in wood or copse ; a
noble tree.

Yew. — Our native Yew is not averse to a wet wood, one of the
places where it should be safe from horse and cow, so often killed
by it in the open. A group is often a favourite shelter for pheasants
in bad weather. The nursery forms of the Yew should never be
planted, none being so good as the wild Yew. The " Irish " Yew is
a poor formless over-planted tree, one of the shoot variation that may
occur in any group of wild Yews in or out of Ireland.

Hemlock Spruce {Abies canadensis], a fine valley tree of North
eastern America, is quite hardy in Britain, and thrives in wet land.
Some I planted near the lake thrive and are graceful trees, though it
is rarely the tree is so good as in its own country.

UNDERWOODS.

If underwoods are to be attractive there are many good things to
start with, apart from the native shrubs that come of themselves. In
the wooded counties the native covert is sufficient for most needs, but
there being total absence of good, hardy evergreen underwood it is
well to note how we can aid it from garden sources and so get under-
wood from hardy shrubs. Good evergreen covert can be easily made
there.

Palmate Bamboo. — A very interesting form of evergreen growth
has come in our day, the hardy Bamboos of Japan and China. The
above is a fine grower, not too high. For many years in a wet wood
here it has been most effective. Other hardy kinds, too, may thrive,

308 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

but this is the best in underwood where a clear air overhead is sought.
For colour

Siberian Dogwood (Cornus alba) is a splendid northerner for
the waterside or wet wood. Where planted in close groups it in
the end kills all the weeds it is planted among. Good in effect
all the year round, in wintry days it is the finest woodland
shrub for colour by stream or in copse ; a Dogwood one can
hardly misplace, hardy as a Siberian should be and easily
increased.

Greater Partridge Berry (Gaultheria Shallon) is a fine hardy ever-
green bearing much fruit. In moist woodland it forms tall bushes
as at Coolhurst. It is sometimes seen in rock gardens, but its best
place is in copse or wood. Many

Viburnums are coming to us from China now, but I have
not seen one so fine in bloom and fruit as the so-called Water
Elder ( Viburnum Opulus) of our Sussex woods. In such a
large northern family there should be others of value for wet
ground.

Cherry Laurel, cropped, a disgrace to gardens, is for woodland a
fine evergreen, tall, of good form in the south at least. In the mid-
lands or north it might be cut to the ground in a hard winter. The
smaller-leaved varieties of the Cherry Laurel, distinct in effect from
the common kinds, grow freely in wet soil and are well worth a place
where evergreen covert is sought, The Azores form of the Portugal
Cherry Laurel, a handsome evergreen, is quite free here. The true
use for all the Cherry Laurels is as underwood in copse or wood never
touched by the shears. Then we see their fine grace of habit. A
beautiful

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virgzniana) is here a hardy vigorous
shrub flowering in October. It has been growing for many years on
a bank of wet soil, struggling and winning against other shrubs and
Briars. Seed of this is now offered, so there should be no bar to
getting a stock of it.

Rose Bay, an English name for Rhododendron, is in its hardier
forms a fine evergreen for peaty woods, in dry districts thriving in
woods better than in the sun. Where layering — the best way of
increase — is practised plants of good sorts may be spared for the
woodland. Seedling plants with flowers of good colour often offer
a pleasant variation from the too common R. ponticum.

Sweet Alders (Clethra), — For underwood in wet or marshy places
these are delightful, flowering late in the summer, easy of cultivation,
and doing best in peaty or leaf soils, but not averse to any cool
soil.

Swamp Bay ( Magnolia glauca). — This, one of the finest flowering

TREES AND SHRUBS FOR WET GROUND. 309

shrubs of the northern world, I saw in vast wet bogs in New
Jersey dotted here and there, though not of the stature it attains in
the warmer states. For a peaty bog in our isles it is the very plant.
Stocks of it are not frequent in nurseries. The hybrid form that
takes its place in some gardens is not so good as the true wild
shrub, a free seeder which there should be no difficulty in
increasing.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE ARCHITECT IN THE GARDEN.

ARCHITECTS as such have no knowledge of our garden flora, and for
ages gardens were disfigured owing to their endeavours to conform
trees to the lines of buildings.

We see something of the work of the architect as a gardener in
front of Buckingham Palace; in first of all meaningless stone piers,
and then a flower garden out of place, planted with one flower — the
scarlet Pelargonium. The spot was wholly unfit for a flower garden.
There are many flower gardens in the near parks. It was planned
to cut up the little park near by and make a spectacular display of
architecture out of place, but, fortunately, some men in the " House"
heard of it and knocked the scheme on the head.

The worst outrage on Nature and on Art is the destruction of the
forms of our noblest trees. The old gardens,
Loss of tree form, many of which still exist, were in the hands of
architects who clearly did not know a tree from a
shrub, and who planted forest trees in positions where their beauty
and stature could not develop, and this led to their distortion
through ceaseless clipping. In Vienna may be seen men perched on
ladders 50 feet high endeavouring to clip Hornbeam and Beech into
hideous shapes. Many English and Scottish gardens are disfigured
by our finest evergreen native tree, the Yew, being carved into ugly
shapes. With our present wealth of trees and shrubs there is not
the slightest reason for putting a forest tree into the flower garden,
but every reason against the practice.

It would be easy to fill a comic journal with the ugly monstrosi-
ties of the " Topiarist." Northiam and Levens are among the many
gardens disfigured by these distortions of mis-
Topiary work. placed forest trees. Topiary work, from beginning
to end, is inherited from the architect and his
practice of clipping trees to conform to the lines of building. Many
places are spoilt for the artist by the hard black lines of Yew, and
not a naturally grown Yew to be seen. It is easy to get good
dividing lines without disfiguring trees ; lines that call for clipping
mean the destruction of all form and grace. The labour and time

310

THE ARCHITECT IN THE GARDEN. 311

spent in deforming trees are sad to think of and a waste to make the
earth hideous. We may see examples of it on all sides here, as well
as in the Royal gardens of the great cities of Europe.

Part of the architect's effort was to use the garden as a dumping

ground for statues, mostly of little merit. Statues of value as

works of art should in our country be under cover.

Statues in The figures °f animals, too, are out of place in the

gardens. garden. Redundant ornaments of any kind, such

as vases, often spoil it. In a recent book on

garden ornament I see a milestone figuring as an ornament in a

garden in Ireland. The use of marble is objectionable for another

reason. Sir A. Geikie, in a letter to The Times, nth June 1919,

wrote : —

" On no account should white statuary marble be employed in
any structure in the open air. Even the purest air of the country
contains carbonic acid, which, dissolved in falling rain, acts on the
stone as a solvent. In our rainy climate only a few years suffice to
remove the polish from the surface, which gradually becomes rough
and granular, so that one can wipe off the crumbling powder with
the hand. In the air of large towns other acids, produced from the
burning of coal, are added to the atmosphere and increase the
solvent action of the rain."

Excessive use of other stone is also a mistake, as we may see at
Drayton Manor, Witley Court, and many other British gardens, also
abroad, as at Potsdam, and in the Italian gardens, where statues of
inferior merit mar any good effect that one might look for in a true
garden.

The terrace is in place only when it is a matter of necessity. To

make holes in the earth is to spoil the ground and a wasteful error.

I remember once in Ireland, near a beautiful bay,

Terracing level seeing a huge formless mound of some thousands

ground. Of tons of earth, and learnt that it was the earth

that had been dug up to make .a terrace which

was quite needless in the situation. Many a fine foreground has

been spoiled by the terrace. If terracing is really needed, the

stonework should certainly be left to the good architect.

Water should reflect light and have some relation to natural

conditions, as the lie of ground, but very often in gardens designed

by architects it is seen in petty stone basins near

The misuse of the house. One in Surrey is cut up by a little

water. canal 18 inches wide. Trivial fountain basins are

a mistake, and bring the mosquito. ' The recent

addition to the garden flora of many noble hardy Water Lilies is

some excuse for the water basin ; but for various good reasons

3i2 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

artificial water is best as far away from the house as the ground will
allow. If a spot does not invite water it is far better to devote it to
one of the many shrubs we have to give a home to.

The pergola is the best way of showing the full beauty of many

climbing plants, but, unless with some definite motive, such as shade

to a walk or a ready way from one part of a place

Pergolas. to another, it may be a wasteful mistake, especially

if covered over with the mechanical trellising

which is common abroad. The best kind of trellising is that made

from the split Oak of our own country. The moment the pergola

is designed for theatrical effect or from the builder's point of view its

beauty is lost. Many well-covered pergolas in Italy and Southern

France are made of the simplest material at hand, and are better so.

The common British way of using " rustic " wood is a mistake. Give

a pergola sound legs to stand on and the rest is easy.

After the disfigurement of trees the next most fatal defect in modern

gardens is the stereotyped flower garden. There was a time when

the architect, impatient of the gardener's labours,

Parterre gardening, attempted by means of coloured gravel, clipped

trees, and various contrivances, to get a settled

and permanent effect. That meant death in the flower garden, as

may be seen in many old books where gardens were traceries made

like panels in the house. There was no pleasure in this sort of

garden, and people eventually tired of it and often put down Grass

instead as we may see about some of our finest old houses. In a

book lately published on garden ornament, we may see a number of

such pattern gardens with as much thought of life as in designs for

wall papers or carpets. One might as well attempt to stereotype the

clouds of heaven as get a stamped arrangement of the flower garden.

The flower garden should abound in life and beauty of form all

through the summer and be the scene of the labours of men every

fine day in the winter and spring. In my own flower garden of

moderate size not a day passes for nine months of the year that does

not reveal a new aspect of beauty of flower, leaf or effects. How

stupid then to attempt to stamp all life and change out of a garden !

Occasionally one sees hardy trees put in tubs at heavy expense

and labour. Our native trees stand in no need of tubs. In Wrest

Park I once saw wooden boxes built round hardy

Hardy trees in trees, the huge boxes covered with Moss. This

tubs. was intended to carry out the idea of an Italian

garden in a stupid way. In some old French

gardens the culture of trees in large tubs is still carried on. I have

seen six fine horses dragging a big tub to its winter quarters. It

seems this tub culture is to be carried on at Hampton Court,

THE ARCHITECT IN THE GARDEN. 313

presumably to give an antique air to the flower garden. With our
present stores of flowering plants and shrubs, it is a poor flower
garden that wants help of any sort from the tub.

Another reason for architects keeping to their own essential work
is the fact that the building art is in a state of decadence in our day.

A much-trusted architect deplored to me the state

The architect's °f building in all parts of the country, saying that

true work. as the years go on the work becomes steadily

worse. And this in spite of the number of
journals and professors, just as in the art of painting, there never
was so much teaching and so much bad painting. One may go
along miles of road and never see a well-built cottage ; but, instead,
every variety of bizarre colour and flimsy structure. London is
hideous with brick, and all the beautiful garden land of the home
counties is bespattered with villas (not Italian) ugly in wall and roof.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

TOPIARIAN FOLLIES.

IN recent years an attempt of nurserymen has been made to make
more popular and harmful this outrage on natural form. I read the
following in best type in the staid columns of the Observer under
the heading " Tree-Sculpture " : —

One may see trees— mostly Yew and Box — whose foliage ascends in spirals
round their stems, like garlands twisted round so many Maypoles ; trees cut into
the shape of pillars and surmounted with leafy halls one on top of the other ;
trees in the forms of birds standing, sitting, and flying ; trees shaped like
pyramids, and even trees representing jugs and basins.

False forms of tree here, but not a word of the Yew in its natural
form, so good that it deserves the name of our native Cedar. This
true form may not be seen in many gardens, owing to the misuse of
the tree usually clipped. To see the tree in its true beauty we must
seek it along the North Downs by the Pilgrims' Way or in a country
graveyard. Then in the Times : —

Birds, without base, take about ten or twelve years to grow, and dogs from
twelve to twenty years, while other subjects, requiring anything from ten to
ninety years, include peacocks, serpents, and serpentine columns, tables, armchairs,
sitting hens, geese and ducks, dogs (with and without kennels), ships, horses, and
pigs. One man in the North had his crest, a pelican feeding her young, grown
in Yew.

The fact is, a Dutch nurseryman possessing a stock of these
distortions gave a dinner to the reporters of the daily and other
journals ; these took the man at his own estimate, and so we get
many Press puffs of the most impudent outrage ever perpetrated on
natural beauty in our gardens. The infliction has come to our
gardens from Dutch William mainly. From his day date most of
the examples of tree spoliation in our land. Not only does it mean
the ruin of tree form, but injury to the gardens too. Ask the gardener
at Northiam, Elvaston, Levens, or in any place where this parody of
an art is carried out what they think of its effect on the growth of
flower and shrub and you may hear the truth that it is very difficult
to grow flower or shrub near the misplaced trees.

TOPI ART AN FOLLIES. 315

Ignoble labour, too, to the men who have to carry it out. The

work of disfiguring was bad at all times, now deplorable when the

flowering trees and shrubs from China and Japan

Waste of labour, are coming to us. This shaving of trees is a pitiful

and degrading thing. Good taste is a more likely

comrade of humility, and goes with a childlike reverence for the work

of the Creator, as shown to us in the clouds, the mountains, the

waves, the forests, the flowers, and in the flight of birds.

Much topiary work is inherited from the architect's practice of
clipping trees to conform to the lines of building. Many places are
spoilt for the artist by the hard lines of clipped Yew, and not a
naturally-grown Yew to be seen. It is easy to get good dividing
lines without disfiguring trees ; lines that call for clipping mean the
destruction of all form. The labour and time spent in deforming
trees are a waste to make the earth hideous.

Topiarian effects appeal only to those blind to the grace and

movement of the free, natural form. To artists of all lands we may,

if need be, appeal. France, in its home landscapes,

Effect on the has for ages been disgraced by the Topiarian

artist. practice, and here is what one of her gifted

writers, Theophile Gautier, says : —

Les arbres du pare de Versailles portent des boucles et des frisures comme les
courtisans ; les poemes sont traces au cordeau comme les allees. Partout la
regularite froide est substitute au charmant desordre de la vie ; et qui produit
une impression a peu pres pareille a celle que vous donnent les jardins de Le
Notre ou de la Quintinie ; partout du marbre, du bronze, des Neptunes, des
tritons, des nymphes, des rocailles, des bassins, des grottes, des colonnades, des
ifs en quenouille, des buis en pot-au-feu.

In much of Northern Europe the evergreen trees that grace our
land in winter are not to be seen save in a tub in a hall or glass-
house. Holly, Ivy, true Laurel are killed before
Origin of the the winter frost. The true Laurel of the Greeks
practice. is, in our southern counties and near our coast,
as happy in the open air as by a stream in Greece.
To supply the need in the frozen North a large business with ever-
greens in tubs has arisen in Holland and Belgium. The trees are
grown in tubs ; miles of them may be seen in nurseries.

A great danger in our isles arises from the constant practice

of planting the Yew in gardens and by ap-

The deadly Yew. proaches, and it is sad to read this note in a

daily paper : —

More than fifty sheep out of a large flock pastured in West Lothian died from
th,e effects of eating leaves of Yew trees.

The tree is deadly for stock in all states, and if a record could be
made of its destructiveness it would amaze. The deaths of many

3i6 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

animals are wrongly attributed to other causes. Worse still, the
ignorance of the pretended landscape gardeners, who scatter the
Yew liberally about, even near the approaches to the house, where
the horses can scarcely miss it

I must write to tell you of our sad experience of the fatal effects of Yew
clippings. About the beginning of the year some Yew trees had to be cut
and some (not a large quantity) of the clippings were thrown on a rubbish
heap in what we call the park. No one seems to have known the danger. A few
weeks after, our tenant turned seven bullocks into the park, and four of the seven
died. We have had to pay compensation for the act of our servant. The man did
not know, and even a nursery gardener whom I had to see in connection with the
matter was ignorant of the danger. You cannot emphasise too strongly the
necessity of keeping Yew, alive of dead, out of the reach of stock and of horses,
which I am told are even more easily killed. — A. F. KIRKPATRICK, Deanery, Ely.

Even the arrival court to a country house is often bordered by
a line of Yew near for any straying animal to poison itself. In many
cases where the hard line of the Yew hedge is used it is to get a less
artistic result than could be got in other ways by low walls, fences,
and evergreens like Holly and Box, guileless of poisoning.

Anything more inartistic or wrong as to planting, than the clip-
ping of trees, could not be conceived ; all the more so when practised
upon shrubs like the Holly, the beauty of which depends on the
growth being free. The graceful toss and growth, and the play of light
and shade, and, last of all, the finest effect of our winters, the berries
of the Holly. Unhappily, when people see this clipping practised
in public gardens they are very apt to imitate it in their own gardens,
and thus acres of beautiful evergreens in the suburbs of London and
every city in Britain are disfigured in the same way. The common
idea that the hard line of clipped Yew hedge -is the best background
for garden effects is wrong, and may well be got out of the heads of
designers of gardens.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

EXTRAVAGANT FLOWER GARDENING IN THE LONDON PARKS.

FAR too much attention is given to tender plants which, requiring
great and special care, can give us only a short season of bloom.
This very summer of ours, between east winds and cold nights, we
have had weather like December ; no plants can face such a clime
so well as those of the northern world. There are many of that
region far more beautiful than the poor plants we cultivate in many
hothouses.

My own Cherry Pie and the other tender summer things we have
worth planting are only beginning now to show their beauty towards
the end of the seventh month of the year, and may be nipped by
frost in September. Yet an English park may be full of beautiful
colour in February — four long months before we can get the tenderlings
out of the house. It must be clear to any one who brings reason
into the subject that it is a mistake to give the greatest care to the
least worthy things. Look at the matter of endurance alone. If we
plant Oaks or American Hawthorns we may have things of value for
generations. Tender flowers such as Lobelias and Petunias perish
with the first frost, and very few of them equal in beauty things
happy in our climate, from the Lily to the Silvery Willow.

The present system is a survival of bedding out of which people
have had more than enough, and is quite wrong for a climate like our
own. To carry it out a nursery of hothouses is established in each
park, involving much coddling, both of men and plants, for over half
the year.

In recent years one of the prettiest vales in Hyde Park was

spoiled to find room for a large nursery of hothouses, etc., with

surrounding shrubbery, only harmful to the

Hyde Park was beauty of the park. The French have a much

spoiled. better way. In Paris there is a fine nursery at

Auteuil to supply the parks of the city with plants,

thus relieving the superintendent of each park of the care of hothouse

plants and much work of that sort. A like one would be right for

London and would relieve the parks of these oftentimes unsightly

317

31 8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

nurseries. It might be highly instructive in other ways if open to
the public, as it could be used not only for the supply of tender
plants, but also of trees and shrubs for the parks. In Paris this
establishment is not only instructive to the public, but a capital school
for young gardeners, whereas our hole-and-corner nurseries in the
parks from which the public are rigidly excluded have no such
merit.

A nursery for London parks, well planned and well chosen, just
outside London should lead to economy and be able to supply all the
tender summer flowers which a better system of gardening would
require. Instead of the greater part of the cost being given to tender
plants by far the greater proportion of the cost and care would be
given to the open-air flora of tree, shrub, and flower hardy at all
seasons and wanting no care. Some of the best effects in the modern
garden are never seen in any parks — effects which the beautiful hardy
Water Lilies and noble coloured trees of the American woodlands in
autumn might give us.

The greatest charms of our parks are repose, verdure, and breadth,
and to secure these we must stop cutting up the surface for tea-
houses, nurseries, monuments, etc. The last time I was in Victoria
Park, I saw what once was the prettiest of lawns surrounded by an
ugly iron railing to keep in deer. As if the " Zoo " were not enough
for London.

The area of these noble parks — the soil and climate of London —

offers the best opportunity for such a noble tree garden as one could

desire. All the summer - leafing trees of the

A noble tree northern forest might be grown in them, and if we

garden. get rid of smoke — which it is quite within our

power to do — we might grow all the Evergreen

trees of the northern world too. For the natural climate of London,

in spite of its bad repute, is a good climate and the smoke our own

doing.

Clear the parks of these nurseries. Let each superintendent have
his mind fixed on growing only for the permanent adornment of the
park and let him get his tender stock from a central nursery. Vested
interests and stereotyped plans are hard to face, but it is well to tell
the truth about the matter, and perhaps the coming men will take
it up.

It would be well if the cost of what is done in the present day—
the expenses of the present hothouse nurseries as compared with the
cost of the work in the open air — were made clear and open to the public.
As to the artistic results of the present way, can anything be more
un-English or absurd than the scattering about in an English park of
Palms and other tropical plants in pots ? Such efforts may well seem

EXTRAVAGANT FLOWER GARDENING IN THE LONDON PARKS. 319

incongruous to any one who has seen the Palm with all its dignity
and grace in its own land. Ugly themselves as they are in the
London parks, they take the place of trees and shrubs of our northern
lands, which attain their full stature and beauty in our own clime.

W. R., Times, 24th July 1915.

THE

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

AND HOME GROUNDS

PART II

CONTAINING THE FLOWERS, TREES, FLOWERING SHRUBS,
EVERGREENS, AND HARDY FERNS FOR THE OPEN-AIR
FLOWER GARDEN IN THE BRITISH ISLES, WITH THEIR
CULTIVATION AND THE POSITIONS MOST SUITABLE FOR
THEM IN GARDENS

THE

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN
AND HOME GROUNDS

ABELIA.— Beautiful shrubs, of the
Honeysuckle order, little grown in our
country, thriving in warm districts.
They form a small group from the hills
of China and Japan, the uplands of
India, and Mexico. In mild districts,
with light soil, in sheltered corners or
on warm walls, they do best. Their
flowers, in drooping clusters, last long,
and the coloured sepals retain their
beauty far into the autumn. Layers or
cuttings.

A. CHINENSIS (Rock A.). — A pretty
shrub, usually of dense growth, 3 to 5 feet
high. The hardiest kind to do well needs
a warm, light soil and a sheltered spot.
The flowers, about an inch long, are in
clusters of a pale blush colour, fragrant.
Syn. A . rupestris.

A. FLORIBUNDA (Mexican A.). — A beau-
tiful shrub, but save in warm, southern
and western parts must be grown under
glass. The flowers come in spring as
drooping clusters from every joint, rose or
rosy-purple, about 2 inches long, and hang
for many weeks upon the plant. Mexico.

A. GRANDIFLORA (Hybrid A.). — Said to
be a hybrid, and is handsome but not
quite hardy, even in the south. Best on
a low, sunny wall, on which it flowers well,
and for a long period.

A. SERRATA (Dwarf A.). — A dwarf ever-
green bush upon dry and sunny hillsides
in China and Japan. It is smaller in all
its parts than the other Chinese species,
growing little more than 3 feet high, with
solitary pale red flowers, large and sweet.
Spring.

A. SPATHULATA (Twin-flowering A.). —
An elegant evergreen shrub. Flowers in
April ; white, marked with yellow in the
tube ; in pairs from every joint, and about
an inch long.

A. TRIFLORA (Indian A.).— A lovely
shrub, best on a wall. The flowers,
coming in threes at the end of summer,
are cream or pale yellow flushed with
pink. India.

ABIES (Silver Fir}.— Beautiful ever-
green trees of northern and moun-
tainous regions, many hardy in our
country. Some of the Indian and
Japanese Silver Firs in our country
suffer by starting too early in open
winters and harsh springs. In their
own frost-bound mountain lands the
young shoots start when all danger is
past. A remedy for this is the selection
of exposed positions which will not
encourage early growth, and also not
making the soil so rich as is the rule.
As with many of the conifers, the usual
way is to put them apart as " speci-
mens," but that, from an artistic point
of view, and that of their health, is not
the best. Where there is room, they
should be grouped.

There is confusion of names, owing
to the American kinds having been sent
over under various names. The follow-
ing selection includes the best for our
country so far as the trees are known.
There are variegated sorts which are
given names ; they are useless to those
who seek the natural dignity of the
tree.

A. BALSAMEA (Balsam Fir). — A slender
northern forest Fir rarely attaining a
height of more than 80 feet, and much
smaller in high Arctic regions. Hardy in
our country. N. America.

A. BRACHYPHYLLA (Jesso Silver Fir). — A
handsome and hardy tree, over 100 feet
high, with bright green foliage and short
leaves. The densely crowded leaves are
very silvery underneath, and the effect of
a healthy tree good. Japan.

A. BRACTEATA (Santa Lucia Fir). — A
stately tree, often 150 feet high in its
native country. The foliage is long and
rather scattered, sharply pointed. It is
injured in some districts by growing too
early in the spring. N.W. America.

322

Abie.s magnificat. (Castlewellan).

324

ABIES.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ABRONIA.

A. CEPHALONICA (Cephalonian Fir). — A
vigorous Fir of about 60 feet high, hardy
in this country in a variety of soils, best
planted in a high position to prevent it
starting into growth too early. Greece.

A. CILICICA (Mount Taurus Fir). — A
graceful tree, 40 feet to 60 feet high, with
slender branches. It grows freely, but is
apt to be injured by spring frosts ; the
leaves are soft, and of a peculiar shade of
green. Cilicia.

A. CONCOLOR (Hoary White Fir).— -A
whitish tree of medium height, with thick,
grey bark. The flat leaves are about
2 inches long, and it has small pale yellow
cones. It is hardy in Britain, and a rapid
grower. Colorado.

A. FIRMA (Japanese Silver Fir). — A tree
of sometimes 150 feet in height, with light
brown bark and foliage of a glossy green.
Hardy in Britain, and grows freely when
established. It is a handsome tree with
short branches and stiff habit. Japan.

A. FRASERI (Alleghany Fir). — Reaches
90 feet high in its' own country, with
smooth bark having resinous blisters. It
is allied to the Balsam Fir, but has shorter
and more oval cones, and leaves with
silvery undersides. Virginia, N. Carolina,
and Tennessee.

A. GRANDIS (Puget Sound Fir). — A
stately tree 200 feet high, with dark green
cones 2 to 3 inches long, and dark shining
leaves, white below. Hardy in various
parts of Britain ; best in moist soils.
N.W. America.

A. LASIOCARPA (Alpine Fir). — A beau-
tiful spire-like tree 150 feet high, with
white bark and very small cones, purple,
2 to 3 inches long, and red male flowers,
the foliage gracefully curved. Alaska,
B. Columbia.

A. LOWIANA (California White Fir). — A
lovely tree, often 150 feet high, long leaves,
and light green cones, turning yellow at
maturity. Oregon to S. California.

A. MAGNIFICA (California Red Fir). — A
stately mountain tree of 200 to 250 feet,
with brown bark (red within), and very
large light purple cones, 6 to 8 inches long.
The foliage is dense on the lower branches,
but thinner towards the top, of olive-green.
N. California.

A. MARIESI (Maries' Silver Fir). — A tall,
pyramidal tree with spreading branches
and dark purple cones, 4 to 5 inches long.
Japan.

A. NOBILIS (Columbia Fir). — A mountain
tree, 200 to 300 feet high, with deep
glaucous foliage and brown cones 5 to
7 inches long. Does not thrive in some
soils ; best in deep soil, and with abundant
moisture. Oregon.

A. NORDMANNIANA (Crimean Fir). — A
beautiful dark green tree, with rigid
branches and dense dark green foliage and
large cones. Caucasus and Crimea.

A. NUMIDICA (Mount Babor Fir). — A
tree of medium height with bright green

foliage. Hardy in this country. Moun-
tains of N. Africa, growing with Cedars
and Yew.

A. PECTIN ATA (Silver Fir).-^A noble tree
of the mountains of Central Europe. The
first of the Silver Firs planted in Britain.
When young it grows well in the shade of
other trees, and it is an excellent tree to
plant for shelter, as it will grow in the most
exposed situations.

A. PINSAPO (Spanish Silver Fir). — A
large Fir, with bright green prickly foliage,
thriving in almost any soil and in chalky
districts. Often suffers from too early a
start in spring, and the usual method of
planting as specimens in grass, the grass
robbing the tree. Spain.

A. SACHALINENSIS (Saghalien Silver
Fir). — A tall tree with greyish-brown
bark, narrow leaves, and small cones. It
is hardy, and of distinct and graceful
habit. Japan and Saghalien.

A. VEITCHI (Veitch's Silver Fir). — A tall
tree of over 100 feet. The bark is light
grey, and the leaves a bright glossy green
with silvery streaks, the cones being a
purplish-brown. Japan.

A. WEBBIANA (Webb's Fir). — An Indian
Fir, sometimes nearly 100 feet high, and
one of the most distinct. The leaves are
glossy green with silvery undersides, the
cones large. A variety Pindrow is without
the silver markings. Both suffer much
from spring frosts. Himalayas.

As to the growth and placing of the
Silver Firs, the usual way of dot planting
is not the best. I prefer half a dozen kinds
known to thrive in this country to many
kinds set out in the lamp-post way. The
trees should shelter and help each other,
planting close at first, with " nurses "
planted between, all to be thinned off
in due time. Close planting does not
imply that the trees are not to be allowed
space for their stately growth as time goes
on. Another gain from the natural
grouping is that the trees cast off their
branches as they grow up and show the
noble stems. From seeds is the true way
of increase.

ABRONIA (Sand Verbena).— Small
Californian annuals or perennials of a
trailing habit, with blossoms in dense
Verbena-like clusters. A. arenaria, a
honey-scented perennial, has trailing
stems and dense clusters of lemon-
coloured flowers ; A. umbellata, also
an annual with succulent trailing stems
and clusters of rosy-purple, slightly
fragrant flowers ; A . fragrans, forming
large branching tufts from i£ to 2 feet,
and white flowers which expand late in
the afternoon, and then exhale a deli-
cate vanilla-like perfume ; A . villosa
has violet flowers, and A . Crux Mastce,
with scented flowers. A. arenaria and

ABUTILON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ACANTHOLIMON. 325

A. umbellata should be planted in
rather poor, light and dry soil, on open
well-drained borders. The seeds often
remain dormant for some time before
vegetating ; those of A . umbellata ger-
minate readily. Abronias flower in
summer and autumn, but are not quite
happy in our climate.

ABUTILON.— Plants mostly requir-
ing greenhouse temperature in winter,
but growing freely out of doors in
summer, and a graceful aid in the
flower garden in the southern counties.
A . Darwini and its forms, as well as
the varieties related to A. striatum,
grow from 4 to 8 feet in height. They
can be made bushy by stopping, and
they flower better than if in pots.
They are useful among the taller and
more graceful plants for the flower
garden, and are easily raised from seed
and cuttings. A. vitifolium is a hand-
some plant in mild districts, and several
sorts may be grown in the open air in
gardens in warm sea-shore districts.
New hybrid varieties are often raised.

ACACIA (Tassel Tree}.— Beautiful
shrubs and trees, thriving in warmer
countries, but a few grown out of doors
do well in parts of our country. A .
Julibrissin. — By reducing this to a
single stem and using young plants, or
those cut down every year, one gets an
erect stem covered with leaves as
graceful as a Fern, and pretty amidst
low-growing flowers. A. lophantha,
though not hardy, grows freely in the
open air in summer, and gives graceful
verdure among flowers. It may easily
be raised from seed sown early in the
year to give plants fit for putting out
in early summer. In Cornish and
South Devon gardens various kinds
thrive in the open air. A . affinis is the
most common. Ln many cases A.
affinis is grown as A . dealbata. A . ver-
ticillata flowers later in the spring. It
reaches a height of 15 feet in a few
years, growing in the form of a broad
based cone, with its lower branches but
a foot or so from the ground.

ACZENA.— Alpine and rock plants
of the Rose family. Though not pretty
in flower, if we except the crimson
spines that give a charm to the little
New Zealand A. microphylla, these
plants are useful as very dwarf carpets
in the rock garden, and now and then,
to cover dry parts of borders, among the
most so being argentea, millefolia, pul-
chella, ovalifolia, and sarmentosa, all
of free growth.

ACANTHOLIMON (Prickly Thrift}.
— Dwarf mountain plants of the Sea
Lavender order, extending from the
east of Greece to Thibet, and having
their headquarters in Persia. The
flowers are like those of Statice, the
plants forming cushion-like tufts ; the
leaves rigid and spiny. They are
dwarf evergreen rock garden and choice
border plants. Cuttings taken off in
late summer and kept in a cold frame
during winter make good plants in two
years, but by layering one gets earlier
and larger plants. All are hardy, and
prefer warm, sunny situations in sandy
loam. There are only a few kinds in
cultivation, such as A. glumaceum,
venustum, and androsaceum. A. Kot-
schyi is handsome, with long spikes
rising well above the leaves, and white
flowers ; A . melananthum has short,
dense spikes, the limb of the calyx
being bordered with dark violet- or
black ; and there are other pretty
species, not all in cultivation perhaps,
which, so far as we know them, thrive
best on the sunny rock garden, in light

AcfintJiolhnon, gluinaceum.

soil. Where large plants of the rare
kinds exist, it is a good plan to work
some cocoa-nut fibre and sand, in equal
parts, into the tufts in early autumn,
but before doing this some of the shoots
should be gently torn so as to half sever
them at a heel ; water to settle the
soil. Many of the growths thus treated
will root by spring.

326 ACANTHOPANAX. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ACER.

ACANTHOPANAX. --A. ricini-
folium is the most striking of the
shrubby Araliads, hardy in our coun-
try. Curious and picturesque in form,
these are not of proved garden value.
Professor Rein, of the University of
Bonn, mentions trees 90 feet high, with
stem 9 to 12 feet in circumference in
the forests of Yezo, the great northern
island of Japan. A. sessiliflorum
is a native of China and Japan. It
has wrinkled, dark green leaves of three
to five leaflets, the mid-ribs having
a few scattered bristles. A. spino-
sum. — A shrub with leaves divided
into segments. They are both hardy
in sheltered positions. A. palmatum
atro-sanguineum, with very rich crim-
son foliage, and pinnatifidum, in which
the leaves are much divided, are the
finest of the Japanese kinds. A.
Henryi is a Chinese kind worth growing
for its fruit effect in autumn. The
plants should not be grafted.

ACANTHUS ( Bear' s-breech) . -
tately perennials with fine foliage,

Acanthus.

mostly coming from the countries
round the Mediterranean, and hardy.
On rocky banks, borders of the bolder
sort, and in almost any position among

the more vigorous hardy plants they
look well, and will thrive in partial
shade, yet to flower well should have
full sun. Acanthuses succeed best on
warm, deep soil, though they will live
in almost any. They are easily in-
creased by division of the roots in
winter, and may be raised from seed.

There are several hardy kinds : — A .
hispanicus, A . longifolius, A . moll is,
A. m. latifolius (A. lusitanicus) , A.
niger, and A. spinosissimus.

ACER (Maple}. — Trees, mostly of
northern regions, often of the highest
value, some of the species breaking
into a great number of varieties.
Among the best are the Silver Maple
(A. eriocarpum) , a beautiful tree,
though we get from it other forms
which are not of much value. The
Norway Maple (A. platanoides] has
many varieties. The common Syca-
more Maple (A. pseudo-platanus] has
also varieties, though none of them
better than the natural tree. It is
doubtful if there is any finer tree than
this when old. It is the best of forest
trees to face the sea, as in Anglesey
and many other windy places. Our
Native Maple ( A . campestre) is also a
pretty tree, seldom planted in gardens.
The Virginian ( A . rubrum) is a beauti-
ful tree, as is also the Sugar Maple ( A .
saccharinum) and the Colchic Maple
( A. Icetum). The Japanese Maples are
beautiful, but not quite robust, except
in favoured districts. A. Negundo
has given us the much over- valued, too
variegated Maple common in gardens.
A . Ginnala is a low tree whose leaves
die off a rich red in colour. The
N. American and European species
are hardy as forest trees, and thrive
in almost any soil, but the Southern
American and Japanese kinds want
warmer soils to thfive in our climate.
A number of kinds have of recent years
come to us from China and Japan and
other northern regions, but as yet we
have little evidence of their value in
the home landscape. The best effects
so far are from the northern forest
kinds, like the Norway Maple, the
Virginian Maple, and even the brown
forms of the Sycamore Maple, which
come freely from seed, and so may
escape the mistaken labour of the
grafter who does not look to the results
of the practice on the life of the tree.
The evil result of this is frequent in
the varieties of the Japanese Maple,
attractive in colour, the Japanese often
grafting on other and more vigorous

ACHILLEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ACHILLEA.

327

kinds, and plants so increased are not
worth planting. In such a noble
family of trees, often fine in form and
colour, the planting of variegated kinds
is a mistake.

Among the less planted kinds are
carpinifolium, circinatum, Davidii,
griseum, Heldreichii, insigne, Laetum,
Lobellii, macrophyllum, Myaboyii
nikcense, opalus, saccharum, and Vol-
zemi, worthy of a place where there is
space to spare.

ACHILLEA (Milfoil, Yarrow}.—
Hardy herbaceous and alpine plants
spread through Northern Asia, S.
Europe, and Asia Minor, varying in
height from 2 inches to 4 feet, their
flowers being pale lemon, yellow, and
white, but rarely pink or rose. They
thrive in most soils, and, with the
exception of the dwarfer mountain
species, increase rapidly. Some of the
large kinds are fine plants for groups,
as A. Eupatorium. The alpine kinds
are for the rock garden, or margins of
choice borders.

The best of the larger kinds are
excellent for large groups in mixed
borders, and also in shrubberies ;
among the best being A. Eupatorium,
A. Filipendula, A. millefolium
roseum (a rose-coloured variety of a
native plant), and A. Ptarmica (the
Sneezewort), the double variety being
one of the best perennials.

The dwarfer species come in for
groups for the rock garden or the mar-
gins of rock borders, and, occasionally,
as edging plants, most of them growing
freely and being easy of increase ; but
some of the higher alpine kinds are
not very enduring in our open winters.
The dwarf kinds are the most precious
for the flower garden, and these are
described by Mr E. H. Jenkins in
Gardening Illustrated : —

A. AGERATIFOLIA. — As Anthemis Aizoon
this was one of the many silvery-leaved
plants tried in the " carpet-bedding "
gardening forty odd years ago. It had no
possible chance, however, against the
sward-like Antennaria tomentosa. As a
rock-gardening subject, it is at once good
and choice, the narrow, silvery foliage and
glistening white flower-heads rendering
it at once distinct. A Grecian species,
4 inches to 6 inches high. Likes well-
drained, sandy loam.

A. ARGENTEA. — It is one of the gems of
the silvery set, the short, bluntly ter-
minated leaves, minutely pinnate, with
pretty rosettes, above which, to 4 inches
or so high, rise the pure white flower-heads.

Habit very neat and compact. Asia
Minor.

A. CLAVENN^E. — The pronouncedly
forked and jagged leaves of this silvery-
leaved kind separate it from all. Six
inches or 8 inches high, free and vigorous
in growth, and of striking whiteness, it is
a plant for all. Both stems and leaves are
endowed with a felt-like covering of silky
hairs. Flower-heads white in a corymbose
cyme. Common on calcareous rocks,
E. Alps, etc. .

A. GRIESBACHI. — This distinct and good
sort is of garden origin, the deeply-notched
leafage being of a hoary- grey or glaucous
tone, the flowers pure white and freely
produced in corymbs 6 inches to 9 inches
high.

A. HOLOSERICEA. — A good silvery-leaved
sort of a neat, erect habit of growth, whose
6-inch long leaves approximate to the
common Milfoil in outline. The leaflets
are usually five-parted. Flowers golden-
yellow. Greece.

A. HUTERI. — A silvery species of tufted
habit, and with distinctly notched leaves,
growing 6 inches or more high. A good
carpeter of the soil. Flower-heads white,
Switzerland.

A. JABORNEGGI. — A pretty and interest-
ing hybrid between A. Clavennce and A.
moschata, of compact habit, with hoary
foliage, and rather large, pure white
flower-heads. A free-growing sort worthy
of inclusion in any collection.

A. KELLERERI. — Of hybrid origin, and
certainly one of the indispensables of the
race, though by no means common. In
established examples the linear leaves are
6 inches to 9 inches long, tapering to a
point, and about J inch broad. Leaflets
minute, isolated, and usually obscurely
three-lobed at their extremities. Flower-
heads white. Quite a gem among silvery-
leaved sorts of the first rank, and an ideal
subject for the rock garden.

A. OBRISTI. — A species having small,
hoary, grey leafage in tufts, the white
flower-heads attaining about 6 inches high.
It is not one of the most distinct, attrac-
tive, or vigorous. Europe.

A. RUPESTRIS. — An Italian species with
evergreen, and usually entire leaves,
though in free growth they are frequently
toothed at their extremities. The pure
white flowers, which are freely produced
at 4 inches to 6 inches high, contrast
sharply with the foliage. An excellent
rock-garden subject, preferring a good bed
of sandy loam.

A. SERBICA. — A tufted species of free
growth, having short, narrow, finely-pin-
nate, more or less silvery, leaves, and a
wealth of pure white flowers. An excellent
rock or wall plant. So placed, the plant
is usually very free flowering. On level

328

ACIPHYLLA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ACTINIDIA.

ground it is less silvery and flowers less
freely. Four to 6 inches high. Servia.

A. TOMENTOSA. — Of carpeting habit, and
one of the best known, forms dense patches
of woolly-green foliage, from which spring
numerous corymbs of golden-yellow
flower-heads about 9 inches high. Suc-
ceeds well in loamy soils, while growing
most freely in those of a sandy nature.
It flowers in May and June, and frequently
later on in the season. Europe and N.
Asia.

A. UMBELLATA. — A Grecian species, and
quite one of the prettiest and most dis-
tinct. It dislikes strong loamy soils or
anything approaching wetness, and is
happiest in a hot, dry, or poor, stony soil.
In such it ranks with the best of the silver-
leaved sorts. Admirably suited to a
dryish wall with sunny aspect. Height
6 inches to 9 inches, or even more occasion-
ally. Flowers white.

ACIPHYLLA (Bayonet Plant).— Sin-
gular New Zealand plants. A . Colen-
soi, forming a spiny bush. A. Lyalli
is similar in habit, but is smoother in
all its parts, the leaves being divided
into sharp spines. A. squarrosa is the
best-known species, thriving in free
soil and sunny parts of the rock garden ;
they are more curious than attractive.

ACONITUM (Monkshood).— Tall and
handsome herbaceous plants, of the
Buttercup order, dangerous from their
poisonous roots. There are many
names, but not so many species of value
for our gardens. They should not be
planted where the roots could be by
any chance dug up by mistake for
edible roots, as they are deadly poison ;
almost all the kinds may be easily
naturalised in shrubberies away from
the garden, or in openings in rich
bottoms.

The best kinds are A . Napellus and
its forms, versicolor, and others ; chin-
ense, autumnale, japonicum, and tauri-
cum ; Fischeri, Wilsoni, Vilmorinia-
num, volubile. They are from 3 feet
to 5 feet high, and flower from July
to September. A. Fortunei, the old
chinense of gardens, is the best for late
blooming. It is best to keep them all
out of the flower or kitchen garden.

ACORUS (Sweet Flag) .—Waterside
plants of the arum order, easily culti-
vated. A . Calamus is now naturalised
in most parts of Europe. A . gramineus
has a slender creeping rhizome covered
with numerous grass-like leaves, from
4 to 6 inches in length. This plant is
often seen in the little bronze trays of

water-plants in Japanese gardens.
China.

ACROCLINIUM.— A. roseum is a
pretty half-hardy annual from Western
Australia, growing over i foot high
with rosy-pink flowers, used as " ever-
lasting " flowers. Seeds should be
sown in frames in March, and the seed-
lings planted at the end of April or
early in May in a warm border ; or the
seeds may be sown in the open ground
in fine rich soil at the end of April.
If the flowers are to be dried, it is best
to gather them when fresh and young —
some in the bud state.

A C T 2E A ( Baneberry). — Vigorous
perennials of the Buttercup order, 3 feet
to 6 feet high, thriving in free soil ;
flower spikes, white and long, with
showy berries. The white Baneberry
has white berries with red footstalks.
The var. r ubra of A . spicata has showy
fruit. The plants are best suited for
rich bottoms in the wild garden, as
though the foliage and habit are good,
the flowers are short-lived in the
ordinary border, and somewhat coarse
in habit. A. spicata (common Bane-
berry or Herb Christopher), A. race-
mosa (black Snakeroot), A. alba (white
Baneberry), having white berries with
red stalks, and one or two American
forms of the common Baneberry are
in cultivation. The flowers have often
a very unpleasant smell, which lessens
their value as garden plants.

ACTINELLA. — North American
composites of which there are three
kinds in gardens, dwarf-growing plants
with yellow flowers. The finest is A.
grandiflora (Pigmy Sunflower), a native
of Colorado, an alpine plant with
flower-heads 3 inches in diameter, grow-
ing from 6 inches to 9 inches high. The
other species, A . acaulis, A. Brandegei,
and A. scaposa, are somewhat similar.
They are all perennial, and thrive in a
light soil.

ACTINIDIA. — Climbing summer-
leafing shrubs of the Camellia order
from Japan and China, thriving in
warm soil. They all have climbing
or. twining stems, and bear waxy white
flowers. Some grow freely in cold,
poor soil, and are excellent on pergolas
or climbing up old tree stems and bold
fences. A. argenta is a very vigorous
climber in its own country, and grows
freely here. A native of Japan and
the Amur region and quite hardy. A .

ADENOCARPUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ^GLE SEPIARIA. 329

chinensis is also a fine climber of
vigorous growth, the fruit large — about
the size of a walnut — and of agreeable
flavour. A . Henry i is a tall climber ;
native of the high mountain forests of
China. A. Kolomikta is a very strik-
ing plant in its foliage, occasionally
half the leaf being whitish. It is not
the strongest grower, and is better on
walls in sunny places. Manchuria and
Japan.

ADENOCARPUS DECORTICANS.—

A pea-flowering shrub, not common,
with flowers like Gorse. According to Mr
Bean in Trees and Shrubs, p. 165, it is
a native of Spain, and only hardy in
the milder parts of Great Britain,
needing at Kew wall protection, but
in the gardens at Grayswood Hill, near
Haslemere, thriving splendidly. Mr
Bean has seen shrubs there in May and
early June 6 to 8 feet high, with golden
blossom from end to end of their
branches, and making most gorgeous
pictures. " Like so many of its race,
this shrub is not long-lived, and care
should be taken to sow a few seeds
occasionally, to renew the stock if
needed. It should have the sunniest
position available, and is suitable for
a hot bank in gardens where it can
thrive in the open. For colder locali-
ties a place on a south wall is neces-
sary."

ADENOPHORA (Grand Bellflower}.

—Hardy perennials of the Bellflower
family, 18 inches to over 3 feet high.
They are mostly from Siberia and
Dahuria, with flowers generally blue in
colour. Some of the most distinct
species are A. coronopifolia, A. denti-
culata, A. Lamarckii, A. liliiflora, A.
polymorpha, A. stylosa, and A. mega-
lantha. In these occur slight varia-
tions in colour and size of flower.
Their thick fleshy roots thrive in a
rich loam, and like a damp subsoil ;
impatient of removal, and should not
be increased by division. Seed freely,
and are easily increased. In The
Garden, 23rd August 1919, Sir Herbert
Maxwell praises this plant as doing
well in Scotland.

ADIANTUM (Maidenhair Fern}.—
Elegant ferns, few hardy, growing best
in a rough fibry peat, mixed with sand
and lumps of broken stone or brick.
A. pedatum, the N. American kind, is
charming among shade-loving plants
in the wild garden with the more beau-
tiful wood-flowers, such as Trillium,

Hepatica, and blue Anemone, in moist
soil. A. Capillus veneris, the British
Maidenhair Fern, is best in a sheltered
nook at the foot of a shady wall, and
in the southern warmer countries
might be found near fountain basins
and moist corners of the rock garden
and hardy fernery, though our climate
is not warm enough for its full growth.

ADLUMIA (Climbing Fumitory}.—
Climbing biennial plants. One species
only ( A . cirrhosa} is known, a rapid
grower. Its Maidenhair Fern-like
leaves are borne on slender twining
stems with abundant white blossoms,
about | inch long. There is a variety
with purple flowers. It thrives in a
warm or peaty soil, and is best seen
trailing over shrubs. In peaty or leaf
soil sometimes sows itself. North
America.

ADONIS (Pheasant's Eye}.— Beau-
tiful perennial or biennial plants,
belonging to the Buttercup order,
chiefly natives of cornfields in Europe
and Western Asia, dwarf, with finely-
divided leaves, and red or yellow
flowers. A. vernalis (Ox-eye] is a
handsome alpine herb, forming dense
tufts 8 inches to 15 inches high, of
finely-divided leaves in whorls along
the stems, blooming in spring, with
large, yellow, Anemone-like flowers, 3
inches in diameter. Of A. vernalis
there are several varieties, the chief
being A . v. sibirica, which differs in
having larger flowers. A. apennina is
a later-blooming form, and is a good
plant for moist spots on the rock
garden. A. pyrenaica is from the
Eastern Pyrenees, but with broader
petals. A. amurensis, from Man-
churia, has finely-cut leaves, blooming
with the Snowdrop. A. Davurica is
a very early kind. A. aiitumnalis is
a pretty bright-coloured annual. The
rock garden or borders of sandy loam
suits the perennial kinds well. Divi-
sion, or by seed sown as soon as
gathered.

3EGLE SEPIARIA (Hardy Orange}.—
An interesting shrub of the Orange
family, hardy in the country round
London. It thrives in ordinary loam,
and flowers very prettily in spring,
like a large Almond. With me, the
flowers bear small fruits like Oranges.
It is used by the Japanese as a fence
plant, and with its spines and stout
habit is quite a good one. This has
proved quite free and hardy in my

330 ^SCULUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. AGAPANTHUS.

garden, and it will some day prove a
good fencing plant.

( Buckeye) .—Mostly
medium-sized trees, hardy and excel-
lent for park or garden. The common
variety is an exception as to size, and
one of the most beautiful of flowering
trees. There is at least one handsome
variety of it with very long spikes.
The red Buckeye (JE. Pavia) is a small
tree, with dense and large foliage,
together with bright red flowers in
large loose clusters in early summer.
Sometimes it rises from 15 to 20 feet
high, but some of its varieties are only
low-spreading or trailing shrubs. JE.
humilis, pendula, arguta, and laciniata
are forms of M. Pavia, and the plants
are useful for grouping with taller
trees. JE. flava (the yellow Buckeye)
is sometimes 40 feet high, with some-
thing of the habit of the red Buckeye
(IE. rubicunda), but smoother leaves.
A variety called purpurascens (some-
times JE. discolor) has much showier
flowers, larger, and of a reddish tint.
The JEsculi, named in gardens and
nurseries as JE. neglecta, hybrida, pubes-
cens, Lyoni, rosea, and pallida, may be
included in one of the foregoing species.
They are all low trees or large shrubs,
coming into leaf early and losing their
foliage in early autumn, especially in
light or dry soils. One of the best of
the forms is the JE. Brioti. The Cali-
fornian Buckeye (JE. Californica) in this
country does not usually rise above
shrub height. It has slender-stalked
leaves, broad leaflets, and in early
summer dense erect clusters of pinkish
fragrant flowers ; a valuable hardy
tree. The N. American SE. parviflora
(dwarf Buckeye) is a handsome shrub,
6 to 10 feet high, flowering in late
summer. Its white, fragrant flowers
are in long, erect plumes. JE. macro-
stachya is an August-blooming N.
American shrub of great beauty. The
growth is spreading and bushy, with
creamy white flowers in dense plumy
spikes.

RL. INDICA, the Indian Horse Chestnut,
is as handsome as IE. Hippocastanum, and
flowers about the end of June. In the
Himalayas it sometimes grows 100 feet
high. The leaves are larger and smoother
than those of other tall-growing kinds,
whilst the panicles of flowers are sometimes
a foot long. The fruits are free from
spines.

JE. WILSONI, a Chinese species, is closely
allied to the Indian kind. It is remarkable
for its large, leaves, the centre leaflet some-

times exceeding a foot in length, and for
its long panicles of small white flowers.
There are other species not yet introduced
or tried in Britain.

2ETHIONEMA. — A beautiful group
of alpine and rock plants found on the
sunny mountains near the Mediterra-
nean. They grow freely in borders of
well-drained sandy loam, but their
home is the rock garden. The tall
M. grandiflorum forms a spreading bush
about a foot high, from which springs
racemes of pink and lilac flowers. It
also grows well in borders in ordinary
soil, and, when in flower in summer, is
among the loveliest of plants. As the
stems are prostrate, a good effect will
come from planting them where the
roots may descend into deep earth, and
the shoots fall over the face of rocks
at about the level of the eye. Easily
raised from seed, and thrive in sandy
loam. There are many species, but
few are in gardens. All the cultivated
kinds are dwarf, and may be grouped
with alpine plants. The other best
kinds are A. coridifolium, A. pulchel-
lum, A . persicum.

#!THIOPAPPUS PULCHERRIMUS.

— A charming pink, Centaurea-like
flower, the blooms borne singly on
stems each about 18 inches in height.
The foliage is greyish- white. I first
planted this in the mixed border, but
it was not happy in that position, so it
was moved to a warm, sunny bank,
where it is more at home. The centre
of the flower is creamy- white, outside
pink. A rather rare and most desirable
plant for the alpine garden.

AGAPANTHUS (African Lily).—
| Beautiful plants from S. Africa, with
blue or white flowers in umbels on
stems 1 8 inches to 4 feet high. A.
umbellatus, the old kind, is hardy in
some mild seashore districts, and a
fine plant in rich warm soil, but better
for the protection of leaves round the
root in winter. It is worth growing
for the flower garden and vases in
summer, but should be protected in
winter by storing under stages, in
sheds or cellars. It likes plenty of
water during out-of-door growth, and
is easily increased by division. Of the
best- known kind, A. umbellatus, there
are several varieties ; major and maxi-
mus are both larger than the type, and
of maximus there is a white-flowered
variety. There is a smaller one with
white flowers, one with double flowers,

AGATH^A.

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. AILANTHUS.

and variegated - leaved kinds. A.
Saundersonianus is a distinct variety,
with deeper-coloured flowers than the
type.

The largest is A. umbellatus gigan-
teus, with high flower-spikes 3 to
4 feet, with umbels bearing from 150
to 200 flowers. The colour is a gentian
blue ; the buds of a deeper hue.
Pallidus is a pale porcelain blue, a
short-leaved variety. A. u. minor is
a dwarf variety. Of A. umbellatus
there is a double-flowered variety, a
distinct plant. There is, moreover, A.
u. atrocceruleus, a dark violet variety.
A . u. maximus has flower-stalks 4 feet
long, and full heads of flowers, one set
opening while a second is rising to
fill up the truss as the first crop fades.
A. Mooreanus is hardy, from 12 inches
to 1 8 inches high, has narrow leaves,
and comes true from seed. Although
the African Lily exists in the south in
certain spots, in a large part of our
islands it is not hardy, and therefore
requires to winter in the greenhouse.
When out of doors it used to be much
grown in tubs, but this I found to be
laborious and unprofitable, in view of
the many hardy things we had, and so
gave it up.

AGATH.3EA (Blue Daisy}.— A.
ccelestis is a tender spreading Daisy-
like plant, with blue flowers useful for
the margins of beds. It is among the
prettiest of the half-hardy bedding
plants, but is not so good on cold
soils. Cuttings or seed.

AGAVE. — Tropical-looking succu-
lent plants of the Amaryllis order ;
of slight value for our country. The
common kind, A. americana, and its
variegated varieties, are useful for
placing out of doors in summer in vases
plunged in the ground. When the
plant flowers, which it does only once,
and after several years' growth, it
sends up a flowering stem from 26 to
nearly 40 feet high. The flowers are a
yellowish-green, and are numerous on
the ends of the branches. It may be
placed out of doors at the end of May,
and should be brought in in October.
Easily increased from suckers. A.
Deserti, utahensis, ccerulescens , and
Shawi have lately come into cultiva-
tion, and are supposed to be hardy
on the rock garden. N. America. A.
applanata var. Parry i is said also to
be hardy.

AGERATUM (Floss Flower}. —Ten-
der herbs, varying in height from 6

inches to 24 inches, with pale-blue,
lavender, or white blossoms. The
dwarf Ageratums are among the best,
but all are over-valued, though they
are among the most lasting of summer
bedding plants. There are numerous
varieties of varying merit, some in good
soil 2 feet high, and others not more
than 6 inches. The dwarf kinds are
disappointing ; they flower so freely,
and the growth of the plants is so sparse
that they always appear stunted. For
back lines in borders, or for grouping
in mixed flower borders, there is no
variety better than the oldest kind, A .
mexicanum. They strike best when
placed on a gentle bottom-heat, and
will winter in any position where there
is plenty of light, and the temperature
does not go below 40°. Cuttings.

AGROSTEMMA (Rose Campion}.—
A. coronaria is a beautiful old flower,
of the Pink family, hardy and free,
most at home in chalky and dry soils.
It is a woolly plant, 2 feet to 3 feet
high, bearing many rosy-crimson
flowers in summer and autumn ; easily
raised from seed, excellent for borders,
beds, and naturalisation on dry banks.
It is biennial and often perishes on
some soils. There is a white variety
and a double-red one. A. Githago is
a large annual, occasionally grown in
botanic gardens. A. Walker i is a
hybrid between A. coronaria and A.
Flos - Jovis, very compact, free flower-
ing, and rich in colour.

AGROSTIS (Cloud Grass}.— A family
of grasses, the annual kinds graceful
when dried. There are some half a
dozen kinds grown, the best A. nebu-
losa, forming delicate tufts about 15
inches high, and is useful for rooms.
If cut shortly before the seed ripens
and dried in the shade, it will keep for
a long time. The seed may be sown
either in September or in April or May,
and lightly covered. A . Steveni, multi-
flora, and plumosa require the same
treatment. A. Spicaventi is very
graceful, especially if grown from self-
sown seeds. A. pulchella is also useful
for the same purpose, dwarfer and
stiffer than A . nebulosa.

AILANTHUS (Tree of Heaven}.— A
Chinese hardy tree, thriving in the
southern parts of our country. Cut
down every year gives a good effect.

33*

AIRA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ALISMA.

Vigorous young plants and suckers in
good soil will produce handsome arch-

Young Ailanthus tree with Cannas.

ing leaves 5 feet long. Cuttings of the
roots.

A. VILMORINIANA. — Like the older
species, a native of China, and remark-
able for long, handsome, pinnate leaves.
It differs from A. glandulosa chiefly
in its spiny bark and in the red midribs
of its leaves. The leaves are fully
4 feet long on vigorous specimens, and
clothed with soft, silky hairs.

AIRA ( Hair Grass}. — Graceful
grasses, of which one of the prettiest is

A. pulchella, with hair-like stems,
growing in light tufts 6 inches high.
It is useful for edgings, amongst plants
in borders, or for pots for rooms. Its
panicles give a charm to the finest
bouquets. A. c. vivipara, with its
panicles of graceful viviparous awns,
resembles a miniature Pampas Grass.

A . flexuosa (the Waved Hair Grass) is
a graceful perennial. Of easy culture
in ordinary garden soil. Seed.

AJUGA (Bugle}.— A small family of
dwarf herbs of the Sage order, flowering
in spring and early summer, and having
purplish flowers. They grow on moun-
tain or lowland pastures, and are easily
increased by division. A. genevensis

is among the best, and is distinguished
from the common native Bugle ( A .
reptans} by the absence of creeping
shoots. The flower-stems are erect,
from 6 inches to 9 inches high ; the
flowers deep blue, and in a close spike.
Useful for the mixed borders. There
is a white variety of A. reptans, also
a form with variegated leaves, and
another with purplish ones, this being
finer than the type.

AKEBIA. — Of these climbing or
twining shrubs of the Barberry order,
A. qninata is best known. It comes
from China, hardy, is a good climber
for a trellis, pergola, or wall. It is best
to let it run over an Evergreen, being
then better protected against cold
winds. It has long, slender shoots,
and fragrant claret purple flowers of
two kinds — large and small, which are
produced in drooping spikes. The
Japanese A. lobata is a climber of
elegant, habit, the leaves pretty in
form, the flowers small, dull, and
fragrant.

Albizzia, Julibrissen. See ACACIA.

ALISMA (Water Plantain).—
plants, of which two are fitted for

growing with hardy aquatics. A.
Plantago is rather stately in habit,

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ALSTROMERIA. 333

having tall panicles of pretty pink
flowers. When once planted it sows
itself freely, often becoming a weed.
The other kind is A. ranunculoides, a
few inches high, in summer bearing
many rosy blossoms. Both are
adapted for wet ditches, margins of
pools, and lakes. A. natans is a small
floating pretty British plant. There
are one or two Chinese kinds, single
and double.

ALLIUM (Garlic, Onion}. — Lilia-
ceous bulbs not often of value for the
garden, and with a strong odour when
crushed. To growers of collections
there are a few worth growing. They
thrive in ordinary soil, the bulbs
increasing rapidly, some giving off
little bulblets, which in some soils
make them too numerous. Among
the kinds worthy of culture are : A .
neapolitanum, paradoxum, ciliatum,
subhirsutum, Clusianum pulchellum,
triquetrum (all with white flowers),
azureum and cceruleum (blue), pede-
montanum (mauve), Moly and flavum
(yellow), fragrans (sweet-scented), oreo-
phyllum (crimson), descendens (deep
crimson), narcissiflorum (purplish),
Murrayanum, acuminatum, and Mac-
nabianum (deep rose). These mostly
grow from i to 18 inches high, some
2 or 3 feet.

ALLOSORUS (Parsley Fern}.— A.
crispus is a beautiful little British Fern
found in mountainous districts. It
requires abundance of air and light,
but should be shaded from the hot
sun. In the rock garden in cool spots
it does well between large stones, with
broken stones about its roots.

ALNUS (Alder}. — A neglected group
of trees of some value in moist places,
and to help to bind the banks of
streams. Of the native kind, A. gluti-
nosa, there are several varieties, and
of the cut-leaved one there are fine
specimens at Wynnstay and many
other places. A. incana has also
several varieties seldom of more value
than the wild tree. Among other
cultivated kinds are japonica, viridis,
cordifolia, barbata, occidentalis , oregona,
and serrulata, all of easy culture.

ALONSOA (Mask- flower}.— Mostly
Peruvian annual plants, of the Snap-
dragon order. The best species are A .
Warscewiczi, having small bright
orange-red flowers ; A . linifolia and A .
aciitifolia — a slender-growing herb ; A .

incisifolia, also a pretty kind ; similar
to this is A. myrtifolia," of vigorous
habit, with flowers larger than any
other kind, and of a more intense
scarlet than those of A . linifolia ; A .
albiflora has pure white flowers, yellow
in the centre, and A . linearis has light
scarlet flowers. All are easily grown,
both in pots and the open ground.
Seed in spring ; also by cuttings.

ALOYSIA (Sweet Verbena}.— A. cit-
riodora is a fragrant-leaved bush with
small and not showy flowers. Its pale
green foliage goes well with any flower,
and it may be grown against a sunny
wall, where, if protected by a heap of
ashes over its roots and a warm straw
mat over its branches, it will pass
through the winter safely. If un-
covered too soon in spring, the young
growths get nipped by late frosts. It
is increased from cuttings, and is a
hardy wall plant in mild seashore
districts, but not so common, owing to
the cold in inland districts. Verbena
order. Chili. Syn. Lippia.

ALSTROMERIA (Peruvian Lily}.—
Handsome tuberous plants of the
Amaryllis order, which require a rich
manured and well-drained soil, the best
place being a south border, or along the
front of a wall having a warm aspect,
where, if the soil is not light, it should
be made so. They are best planted in
autumn when dormant, arranging the
dry roots (tubers) 6 inches deep at
least. When established they descend
deeply, and are not then affected by
frost. A. aurantiaca is the hardiest
kind, and freshly-planted groups of the
others should be mulched in winter in
all but the more favoured parts of these
islands. The plants are increased
readily by division when dormant, and
also by seeds, which are freely pro-
duced.

Grown in masses they are very
beautiful, varying much in their colour
markings. While blooming they
should have waterings, otherwise they
get too dry, and ripen off prematurely.
When going out of flower remove the
seed-heads, where these are not re-
quired, otherwise the plants may
become exhausted. No trouble is
involved in staking and tying, for the
stems are strong enough to support
themselves, unless in very exposed
situations.- They last long when cut.

The kinds in cultivation are : —

A. AURANTIACA (A. auved). — A vigorous
growing Chilian kind, 2 feet to 4 feet high,

334 ALTERNANTHERA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ALTHAEA.

flowering in summer and autumn. The
flowers are large, orange-yellow, streaked
with red, and umbels of from 10 to 15
blooms terminating the stems.

A. BRASILIENSIS. — A distinct kind with
red and green flowers, and dwarfer than
the preceding. Known also as A. psitta-
cina.

A. CHILENSIS. — A quite hardy kind from
Chili, with many varieties that give a wide
range of colours from almost white to deep
orange and red.

A. PELEGRINA. — Not so tall or robust
as the last ; but the flowers are larger,
whitish, and beautifully streaked, and

have been used in our gardens to an
extent far beyond their merits. The
varieties range in colour of foliage from
dull purple to bad yellow, and why
they are used in flower gardens is a
question. They have never had a
place in mine.

ALTH2EA (Hollyhock). — Biennial or
perennial plants of the Mallow family,
consisting chiefly of coarse-growing
plants. Some, such as A. rosea, from
which the Hollyhock has sprung, are
showy garden flowers. The other wild

Alstromeria (Peruvian Lily).

veined with purple. There are several
varieties, including a white one (A. p.
alba], which requires protection. When
well grown it is a fine pot plant, compact,
and crowned with almost pure white
flowers. It is called the Lily of the Incas.
A. peregrina is synonymous.

Other good kinds are the hardy variable-
coloured A. versicolor (A. pemviana) and
St Martin's flower (A. pulchra) ; this,
however, requiring protection.

ALTERNANTHERA (Joy-Weed).—
Little Brazilian weeds of the Amaran-
thus order, which, owing to their colour,

species are generally characterised by
great vigour, and hence are not very
suitable for the choice flower garden.
They thrive in almost any situation or

soil.

A. ROSEA (Hollyhock).— One of the best
hardy plants, valuable for bold and
stately effects among or near flower-beds.
Cottage bee-keepers would do well to grow
a few Hollyhocks, for bees are fond of their
flowers. They demand deep cultivation,
much manure, frequent waterings in dry
weather, with occasional soakings of liquid
manure, to secure fine spikes and
flowers. They require good garden soil,

ALTH^A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ALYSSUM.

335

trenched to the depth of 2 feet. A wet
soil is good in summer, but injurious in
winter, and to prevent surface wet from
injuring old plants left in the open ground,
remove the mould round their necks, filling
up with about 6 inches of white sand.
This will preserve the crowns of the plants.
It is best, however, if fine flowers are
desired, to plant young plants every year,
as one would Dahlias, putting them 3 feet
apart in rows at least 4 feet apart ; or, if
grouped in beds, not less than 3 feet apart.
In May or June, when the spikes have
grown i foot high, thin them out accord-
ing to the strength of the plant ; if well
established and strong, leaving four spikes,
and if weak two or three. By topping we
increase the size of the flower, but shorten
its duration. Stake them before they get
too high, tying them securely, so as to
induce them to grow erect. The most
robust will not require a stake higher than
4 feet. Hollyhocks may be propagated
by single eyes, put in in July and August,
and also by cuttings put in in spring, on
a slight hot-bed. Plants raised in summer
are best preserved by putting them in
October into 4-inch or 5-inch pots in light,
rich, sandy earth, and then placing them
in a cold frame, giving them plenty of air.
Thus treated they will grow a little in
winter. In March or April turn them out
into the open ground, and they will bloom
as finely as if planted in autumn. Plants
put out even in May will flower the same
year. In October lift all it is desired to
save, and lay them close together in a
slanting direction, at an angle of about
45°, in a warm, mellow soil at the foot
of a wall or hedge, where, in hard weather,
shelter can easily be given. Choice and
scarce varieties may be either potted up
or planted out in a frame. Some of the
stools will have numerous growths starting
from them, and unless the plants have a
little heat early in the year, many of the
cuttings cannot flower the same season.
Owing to the Hollyhock disease it is
often a better plan to abandon the named
kinds increased from cuttings and resort
to seedlings only. This way is all the
more sure, as seed growers of late years
have fixed and separated the colours so
that a fine variety of good ones may be
secured in this way, while the plants are
more vigorous, and in any case will often
start free from the disease. Red spider
and thrips are both very troublesome, but
the first does most injury. It appears on
the undersides of the leaves as soon as the
hot weather sets in, and is difficult to
dislodge. If -there is any trace of red
spider before planting out, the whole
plant, except the roots, should be dipped
in a pail of soft soapy water, to which a
pint or so of tobacco liquid has been added.
It will be well to syringe the undersides of
the leaves with the mixture if the plants
have been planted out before the pest is

perceived. Thrips may be destroyed in
the same way, and it is well to syringe the
plants every day in hot weather.

The Hollyhock Fungus is very destruc-
tive to it. When once it seizes a collec-
tion, the best way is to destroy all the
plants affected. Those that do not appear
to be attacked should be washed with
soapy water in which flowers of sulphur
has been dissolved. The sulphur will
settle at the bottom of the vessel, and
must be frequently stirred up when the
mixture is being used. Sulphur seems to
destroy almost any fungus, and may
destroy this in its very earliest stages, but
will not when established.

ALYSSUM (Madwort}.— Rock and
alpine plants. A. saxatile (the Rock
Madwort) is one of the best of yellow
spring flowers, hardy in all parts of
these islands. It is often grown in
half-shady places, but should be fully
exposed. It is well fitted for the
spring garden and the mixed border,
and for growing with evergreen Candy-
tufts and Aubrietias. In winter it

A lyssutn niontanutn.

perishes in heavy, rich clays when on
the level ground. A native of Southern
Russia, it flowers with us in April or
May. There is a dwarfer variety, which
differs little from the old plant. A.
Gemonense has the habit of A . saxatile,
but larger flowers. A. montanum is a
dwarf plant, spreading into compact
tufts, 3 inches high. A. podolicum is
a small hardy alpine from S. Russia.
It has in early summer a profusion of
small white blossoms, and is suited for
the rock garden or the margins of
borders. - A. pyrenaicum is a neat

336 AMARANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. AMARYLLIS.

rock plant with white flowers. A.
spinosum is a silvery little bush with
white flowers, and there is a pink form,
A. spinosum roseum. A. serpylli-
folium is a grey-green leaved form,
with yellow flowers. Small plants
quickly become Lilliputian bushes,
3 inches to 6 inches high, and when
fully exposed are almost as compact
as Moss.

Among other kinds, A. Wiersbecki
and A. olympicum are not quite so
good as the common kind. The alpine
and rock kinds are of easy culture in
light or dry soil, as indeed are all the
species. A. maritimum is the Sweet

Easily raised as any annual, they
deserve to be well thinned out and put
in rich ground. The foliage of some
varieties is rich in colour, and planted
with Canna, Wigandia, Ricinus, Sola-
num, the effect is good. The varieties
of A . tricolor require a light soil and a
warmer place. Sow the seed in April
in a hot-bed, pricking out the seedlings
in a hot-bed, and plant about the end
of May.

AMARYLLIS.— Showy bulbous trop-
ical plants, few of the species of which
are hardy, though the beautiful Bella-
donna Lily ( A . belladonna) may be

A group of the Belladonna Lily.

Alyssum, a small annual with white
flowers. It grows on the tops of walls
in the west country, and in sandy
places. In these situations it is peren-
nial ; in gardens is grown as an annual.
AMARANTHUS (Prince's Feather,
Love-lies-bleeding) . — Annual plants,
some of distinct habit and colour.
The old Love-lies-bleeding (A. cauda-
tus), with its dark- red pendent racemes,
is a fine plant when well grown, but
A. speciosus and some other varieties
are finer. The more vigorous species
grow from 2 to 5 feet high. It is best
to give them room to spread, otherwise
much of their picturesque effect is lost.

grown well in the open air, and is, in
fact, almost too free in some soils in
Cornwall. It is a noble bulbous plant
from the Cape of Good Hope, from
1 1 feet to 3 feet high, blooming late in
summer, the flowers, as large as the
white Lily, and of delicate silvery rose
in clusters on stout, leafless stems,
arising from the large pear-shaped
bulbs. To grow it in irfland and less
favoured districts, choose a place on
the south side of a house or wall, take
out the whole of the soil to the depth
of 3 feet, and place about 6 inches of
broken brick in the bottom. Over this
put some half-rotten manure to keep

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. AMPHtcOMfe. 337

the drainage open, and feed the plant.
If the natural soil is not good, add some
sandy mellow loam, or if stiff a few
barrow-loads of leaf mould, and one
or two of sharp sand mixed with it.
Tread this firm, plant the bulbs in small
groups, about i foot apart, and if the
border is of such a width as to take a
double row, the plants in the second
should be alternate with those in the
first. Place a handful or so of sharp
sand round the bulbs to keep them
from rotting. If planted in autumn,
or at any time during the winter, it
will be well to protect them from severe
weather by half-rotten leaves, cocoa-
nut fibre, or fern. The plants begin
to push forth their new leaves early in
spring, and upon the freedom with
which they send forth these during
summer the bloom in the autumn
depends. During dry weather give an
occasional soaking of water, and with
liquid manure once or twice. As soon
as the foliage ripens off, remove it,
and clean the border before the blooms
begin to come through the soil. A. B.
blanda is a variety with larger bulbs,
bearing noble umbels of white flowers,
turning to pale rose in summer, and
there are other varieties.

Amberboa. See CENTAUREA.

AMELANCHIER (Snowy Mespilus}.
— Pretty hardy shrubs and low or
medium-sized trees. A. canadensis is
one of the best of our flowering trees,
and long before it comes into flower it
is pretty with its soft brown-grey
masses. -It is more slender in habit
than many of our flowering trees, and
often weakened in the crowded masses
of the shrubbery. In its own country
it varies very much in size, some forms
being mere shrubs, whilst others make
trees 40 feet and even more in height.
In botanic gardens and nursery cata-
logues we find the names of several
other trees of this genius, but there
seems to be little distinction among
them, and none is quite so good as this,
though the one which grows in the
Maritime Alps (A. vulgaris} should be
worth a place. The Americans have
selected some forms of the shad bush,
which bear better fruit than the com-
mon form ; if they would bear it in
our own country it would make the
bush more valuable. It has also the
advantage of being raised very easily
from seed, and increases rapidly by
suckers. Other American kinds as
yet little grown in our gardens are

Botryapium, alnifolia, oligocarpa, spic-
ata, and utahensis.

AMELLUS. — A. annuus is a pretty
dwarf hardy annual, with Daisy-like
flowers of a deep purple, but with
white, rose, scarlet, and violet varieties,
which are named injcatalogues alba,
rosea, kermesina, and atro-violacea. It
forms a compact tuft, suitable for
groups or masses, if sown in the open
in April, flowering in June. It makes
a pretty ground or "carpet" plant
with taller plants here and there through
it. Cape of Good Hope. Compositae.
Syn. Kaulfussia amelloides.

AMI CIA. — A. zygomeris is a quaint
plant from Mexico. Mr E. H. Woodall
praises it for those who like a bold and
distinct plant in a warm situation in
summer, and have means to protect or
take it up and pot it in winter. The
flower, though bright, is not effective.

AMMOBIUM (Winged Everlasting}.—
A. alatum is a handsome everlasting
from New Holland, i| to 3 feet high,
bearing white chaffy flowers with
yellow discs from May till September.
In sandy soil it is perennial, but on
heavy and damp soils must be grown
as annual or biennial. Seed.

AMORPHA (Bastard Indigo}.—
Hardy shrubs of the Pea order, thriv-
ing in ordinary garden soil, but requir-
ing a sheltered situation in bleak
localities. increased by layers or
cuttings in autumn, or from suckers.
A. canescens (the Lead Plant) is a
native of Missouri. It has clusters of
blue flowers and hoary leaves. A.
fruticosa (the False Indigo) comes from
California, and there are many forms
of it, differing but slightly, all having
bluish or dark purple flowers. I have
not seen any good effects from these
plants.

Ampelopsis. See VITIS.

AMPHICOME. — Dwarf shrubby
plants allied to Incarvillea, with trum-
pet-shaped flowers and elegant foliage.
In A . arguta the flowers are red, coming
as drooping racemes during August,
and the finely-cut leaves are deeply
serrated. A. Emodi is dwarf er and
hardier, its pale-red flowers with an
orange throat being 2 inches long and
held erect. Freely produced from
August, they are very showy, and con-
tinue for weeks in a genial autumn.
They grow well in loam or leaf mould,
but are not hardy enough for per-
manent cultivation in the open air.

338 ANAGALLIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ANDROSACE.

Increase by seeds, or cuttings of the
shoots in spring. Bignonia order.
Himalayas.

ANAGALLIS (Pimpernel) .—Pretty
half-hardy annuals of the Primrose
family. The best known is the Italian
Pimpernel (A. Monelli), with large
blossoms, deep blue shaded with rose.
There are several varieties — rubra,
grandiflora, Wilmoreana, bright blue-
purple, yellow eye ; Phillipsi, deep
blue, rose-coloured centre ; Breweri,
intense blue ; linifolia, fine blue, very
dwarf ; and sanguined, bright ruby —
all flowering from July to September.
The Indian Pimpernel ( A . indica] has
small, bright blue flowers. Pimpernels
grow well in ordinary garden soil, and
are used with good effect in borders or
edgings to beds. The pretty little bog
Pimpernel (A. tenella) is a native
creeping plant, with slender stems and
myriads of tiny pink flowers. A.
grandiflora I find one of the best annual
flowers.

ANCHUSA (Alkanet}.— Stout her-
baceous and biennial plants of the
Forget-me-not family ; some worth
growing, amongst the best being A.
italica, which is vigorous, 3 to 4 feet
high, with beautiful blue blossoms.

Androsace sarmentosa.

The Dropmore variety is a valuable
plant, and there are several other

forms, 2 feet high, with flowers of
rich violet. A. capensis has large,
bright blue flowers, rather tender ; it
should be planted in a sheltered, well-
drained border. Opal, of sky-blue
tone, is equally valuable. In planting
these two should be kept well apart.
These italica forms of Anchusa do not
come true from seeds, and should be
increased periodically by means of
root cuttings. Root- pieces, 12 inches
long, are ample, and inserted in boxes
of sandy soil soon make growth. The
work may be done almost any time
from September to March. With
growth made, the young plants may
be potted for a time and put out in
permanent positions in early spring.
A. sempervirens is a British perennial,
1 1 to 2 feet high, with blue flowers,
worth a place in the wild garden.
Seeds or division.

ANDROMEDA.— Handsome dwarf
hardy shrubs of the Heath family,
thriving in peaty soils. Various shrubs
usually called Andromedas in gardens
belong to other genera, and there is
only one true species of Andromeda
known, viz., A. pplifolia (Moorwort) ,
a native of Britain and N. Europe,
growing from about 6 to 18 inches high,
and bearing purplish- red flowers from
May to September. It is best grouped
in peat beds or in the bog garden. For
allied plants usually known as Andro-
meda see Cassandra, Cassiope, Leuco-
thoe, Lyonia, Oxydendrum, Pieris, and
Zenobia.

ANDROSACE.— Alpine plants of
great beauty, belonging to the. Primrose
order. Other families, like Primroses
and Hairbells, come down to the hill-
pastures, the sea-rocks, or the sunny
heaths, but these are more alpine than
the Gentians, and as they are, among
flowering plants, those most confined
to the snowy peaks, so they are the
dwarfest of this class. Here they must
endure intense cold, which would
destroy all shrub or tree life exposed
to it. And here in spring they flower.
Androsaces in cultivation enjoy small
fissures between stones, firmly packed
with pure sandy peat, or very sandy
or gritty loam, not less than 15 inches
deep. They should be so placed that
no wet can gather or lie about them,
and so planted in between stones that,
once well rooted into the deep earth —
all the better if mingled with pieces of
broken sandstone — they never suffer
from drought. It is easy to arrange
rocks and soils so that, once the mass

ANDROSACE. THE EtiGLlSti FLOWER GAkDEti. ANDROSACE.

33$

below is thoroughly moistened, ordin-
ary drought has little effect.

A few kinds such as A. lanuginosa
and sarmentosa do well in ordinary
conditions of soil ; but many of the
dwarf kinds rarely thrive except in
northern or hilly districts. When out
of flower, it is easy to forget such tiny
plants, so that they may suffer neglect
while making the summer growth. A
constant watch is needed for aphis,
slugs, and red spider. Towards
autumn syringing them with clear
water does good, and a surface-dressing
of soil and stone-chips helps before
winter, and should be renewed in
spring, if need be, when all planting
should also be done. When this top-

ward to the Pyrenees, where four others
occur peculiar to that country. A
large group belongs to the Himalayas,
and reaches thence to China. They
may be divided into two groups ; one
including such easily grown kinds as A .
lanuginosa, and a second group forming
stemless tufts, and found only in rocky
clefts. The following list gives the
best kinds in cultivation and of value
for the rock garden : —

A. ALBANA. — One of the mossy kinds,
forming small rosettes of deeply-toothed
oval leaves and dense heads of pale pink
flowers from April to July.

A. ALPINA. — A gem for the rock garden,
not easily grown. Its tiny tongue-shaped
leaves are in crowded rosettes, forming

Androsacc sarmentosa (engraved from a group on rock garden at Friar Park).

dressing is well done, fresh roots are
often made from the underside of the
prostrate stems, and this is a great
gain. The woolly-haired kinds, which
often fail from damp in our winters,
should be planted in the crevices of
upright rocks, or under ledges. The
rocks among which they are planted
should be well sunk in the ground with
thin layers of good soil and broken
stone between them ; the roots delight
in the layer of moist earth just under
stones. Most kinds thrive in full sun,
the best aspects being south and west.
Over forty species are known, and
others may be found when the moun-
tains of India, Thibet, and China are
fully explored. About twenty kinds
are found in the Alps, some extending
eastward by way of Austria, or south-

cushions of 2 or 3 inches high, covered in
June with flowers — one from each rosette
— rosy-purple with a yellow centre. It
needs peat soil, moisture at the root, and
a rather shady spot. Syn. A . ciliata,

A. BRIGANTIACA. — Apretty plant thriving
only in sandy or granite soils and upon
slopes shaded from strong sun. It comes
very near A . carnea, but with leaves of
deeper green, and pure white flowers.

A. CARNEA. — One of the best kinds, early
in flower, free, and easily grown in light
soils without lime. It does not form
rosettes, but little spreading shoots covered
with narrow-pointed leaves of grey-green,
and heads of rosy or pink flowers with a
yellow eye. Water freely in dry weather,
and shelter from the sun in summer. Alps
and Pyrenees. Seeds sown as soon as
ripe.

A. CARNEA var. EXIMIA. — A form of the
last, hardier, more robust, and with larger

340 AriDROSACE.

bNGLtSti

GARDEti. ANDROSACE.

flowers. It grows quickly into tufts 3
inches high, and if given dressings of light,
gritty soil the prostrate shoots send roots
from the underside.

A. CHARPENTIERI. — One of the best,
free in flower, and of strong growth in
sandy soils. Rosettes of tiny, downy
leaves in crowded masses, and rich rosy
flowers hardly rising above the leaves in
June and July, after other kinds have
done flowering. Thrives best in crevices
of sandstone or granite rock, facing south-
west. Seed. Alps.

A. CILIATA. — A scarce plant from the
Pyrenees, growing in small, dense columns
of deep green leaves fringed along the
edges, and crowned in April and May by
large stemless flowers of bright rose.
Granite soils.

A. CYLINDRICA. — Though classed as a
species, this little plant is very like the
last, and comes from the same region. It
forms mossy tufts of rounded cone-like
columns less than an inch high, covered
thickly with hairs, with white flowers
nestling in the centre during April and
May. Pyrenees.

A. FOLIOSA.— One of the Himalayan
kinds, beautiful and of free growth when
well established. The leaves are not
crowded into rosettes, but are large upon
erect or trailing stems, grey with pale
hairs, and turning reddish-purple in the
autumn. The rosy-red flowers come upon
long stems from June to September, and
are large and in clusters sometimes of fifty
flowers, lasting for a long time in beauty.
It thrives in limestone soil, made light with
leaf mould and grit, and mixed with plenty
of broken fragments ; in full sun, with
moisture to the root in summer.

A. GLACIALIS. — In its wild state one of
the most beautiful, growing in loose, flat
tufts of branching stems clothed in downy
leaves, and covered during early spring
with flowers of pink paling to white.
Thrives in clefts of sandstone rock, in full
sun. Seeds. Alpine summits (always
granite) at 6000 to 9000 feet.

A. HELVETICA. — A charming plant of the
mossy section, growing in neat rounded
cushions of grey-green, hairy leaves set
in rosettes, and lovely white flowers with
a yellow eye. The flowers are so large
as often to overlap. Thrives in gritty
soil and partial shade, planted between
limestone rocks closely set and deeply
buried to secure moisture and drainage at
the same time. Seeds. Alps and Car-
pathians.

A. HOOKERIANA. — A little-known kind
from the Himalayas, at a height of 15,000
feet. Though hardy, it is apt to damp off
in our winters, and should be planted in
a mixture of peat and sand among rocks
sheltered from wet. It has rosettes of
oval, shining green leaves, and in spring
deep pink flowers in small clusters.

A. IMBRICATA. — Pretty in leaf and
flower, coming very near A . helvetica, but
of denser growth, leaves narrower and
silvery white with fine hairs, and white
flowers set off by a bright rosy eye.
Thrives in granite or sandstone grit in
full sun. Seeds.

A. LACTEA. — A free, strong-growing
plant, making rosettes of shining green
leaves, and in spring large white flowers
with a yellow centre, in broad loose clusters
of five or six. Easily grown in light lime-
stone soil, in sun or partial shade. Seeds.
Limestone rocks from 3000 to 4500 feet,
from the Cevennes through the Alps into
Austria.

A. LAGGERI. — With clusters of narrow-
pointed leaves, and flowers of bright pink
paling towards the centre, gathered into
showy little heads of six or eight. Very
hardy, it is one of the earliest alpine flowers
to open, starring the green tufts like a
miniature Thrift. Sandy soil in partial
shade, and no lime. Seeds or cuttings.
Pyrenees.

A. LANUGINOSA. — A lovely and distinct
plant with trailing silvery shoots, leaves
covered with silky hairs, and flower clus-
ters of soft rose colour. It does best in
warm places near the sea, planted in sunny
corners of the rock garden. Where the
soil is free and open, it thrives as a border
plant. It has a long season of flower,
even lasting into October, growing best
in south and west aspects, in sandy loam
with a generous addition of mortar rubble.
Cuttings 2 inches long of the unflowered
shoots root readily in sandy soil in July
and August. Seed (which ripens only in
good years), layers, and cuttings. A good
form of this is Leichtlini, with larger
flowers of deeper colour with a conspicu-
ous eye. From 7000 to 10,000 feet.
Himalayas.

A. OBTUSIFOLIA. — Robust and easily
grown, with large rosettes of spoon-shaped
leaves fringed by fine hairs, and short
downy stems carrying from one to six
white or rosy flowers with a yellow eye.
It is nearly 6 inches high, and may be
gathered by the handful upon the alpine
slopes at midsummer. With us it flowers
earlier, planted in peaty soil and in full
sun. Alps and Carpathians.

A. pubescens. — A mossy kind with
leaves turning red-brown in autumn. It
may be known by a small swelling on the
very short flower-stem, just below the
flower. These are white, rather large,
with a faint yellow eye, and come singly
just above the little cushion of hoary
leaves covered with star-like hairs. Of
easy culture in crevices of sandy soil.
Alps.

A. PYRENAICA. — One of the same mossy
group, with tiny grey rosettes in dense
tufts, one flower from every centre, white
like helvetica but less pure, not so well
formed, and upon short stems. It is not

ANDROSACE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ANEMONE.

341

easy to grow well, but does best in deep
fissures between upright rocks ; it may
also be grown on the flat, in peat and
sandy loam between buried stones. Cen-
tral Pyrenees.

A. SARMENTOSA. — Leaves silvery with
hairs, in dense rosettes, from which
spring a few larger spoon-shaped leaves
around the base of the flower-stem, and
slender runners which spread and root in
all directions. This kind spreads fast,
when kept from damping by a layer of
fine stones under the shoots and a glass
shade in winter. It thrives in free lime-
stone soil, firmly wedged between masses
of rock in a sunny spot. The runners are
easily layered and detached when rooted.

A. SEMPERVIVOIDES. — A rare plant,

Androsace Villosa.

Plant firmly in good, free soil, with lime
rubble and sandstone fragments to keep
it well drained. The downy leaves need
shields of glass in winter. Seed.

A. VILLOSA var. CHAM^JASME. — A beau-
tiful alpine plant known as the Rock Jas-
mine, inhabiting a vast range through
Europe, Asia, and the Arctic regions.
Though like villosa in flower it differs from
it in leaf and habit, with a branching root-
stock, spreading clusters of fringed leaves,
and stout flower stems several inches high,
bearing three to six flowers. These change
from white to yellow, pink, and crimson,
opening from May to June, and borne in
long succession. It is one of the best and
easiest of rock plants to grow in open soil,
mixed and surfaced with broken lime
rubbish or slate dust,
thriving in full sun.

A. VITALIANA (Syn.,
Douglasia). — Like a tiny
Furze bush, hardly an
inch high, with silvery
leaves dusted over with
white powder, and many
flowers borne singly. Dis-
liking dry or heavy soils, it
does best in full sun, set
in buried stones and free
sandy loam mixed with
pebbles and heath soil.
Runners and seeds. Alps,
Pyrenees and Sierras of
Spain.

Androsaces are often
high alpine plants, and
it is only on the well-
formed and cared-for
rock gardens that one
may grow more than a
few kinds.

pretty, easily grown, spreading by runners,
and bearing clusters of pink or purplish
flowers upon a stout stem in May and
June. Its tiny leaves curl in dense cone-
like rosettes, at times only half an inch
across, but often larger in gardens ; the
new snoots only take this curled form as
they mature. This is one of the best of
the Indian kinds, quite hardy, and growing
well upon mounds of granite soil packed
with stones. Kashmir and W. Thibet, at
11,000 feet.

A. VILLOSA. — A plant of wide range,
from the Alps and Pyrenees eastward to
Kashmir and the Himalayas, where it
grows at elevations of 12,000 to 17,000
feet. The Western form is dwarf, with
neat rosettes of shaggy leaves so thickly
set with white or pale pink flowers that for
the time the plant lies hidden. The Indian
variety is of larger growth and blooms
later, its leaves silvery with long, white
hairs, and loose heads of flowers with a
raised ring of darker colour at the centre.

ANDRYALA.— Small plants of the
Dandelion order ; some with woolly
leaves. The shrubby A . mogadorensis
forms snowy masses on a little islet
on the Morocco coast, and has not
been found elsewhere. It bears flowers
as large as a half-crown, of a bright
yellow, the disc being bright orange.
Little is known of its culture and hardi-
ness. A. lanata has woolly silvery
leaves, and grows well in any soil not
too damp.

ANEMONE (Windflower}.—K noble"
family of tuberous alpine meadow and
herbaceous plants, of the Buttercup
family, to which is due much of the
beauty of spring and early summer of
northern and temperate countries. In
early spring, or what is winter to us in
Northern Europe, when the valleys of
Southern Europe and sunny sheltered
spots all round the great rocky basin

342

ANEMONE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ANEMONE.

of the Mediterranean are beginning to
glow with colour, we see the earliest
Windflowers in all their loveliness.
Those arid mountains that look so
barren have on their sunny sides car-
pets of Anemones in countless variety.
Later on the Star Anemone begins, and
troops in thousands over the terraces,
meadows, and fields of the same
regions. Climbing the mountains in
April, the Hepatica nestles in nooks all
over the bushy parts of the hills.
Farther east, while the common Ane-
mones are aflame along the Riviera
valleys and terraces, the blue Greek
Anemone is open on the hills of Greece ;
a little later the blue Apennine Ane-
mone blossoms. Meanwhile our Wood
Anemone adorns the woods throughout
the northern world, and here and there
through the brown grass on the chalk
hills comes the purple of the Pasque-
flower. The grass has grown tall
before the graceful alpine Windflower
flowers in all the natural meadows of
the Alps ; later on bloom the high
alpine Windflowers, which soon flower
and fruit, and are ready to sleep for
nine months in the snow. These are
but few examples of what is done for
the northern and temperate world by
these Windflowers, so precious for our
gardens also.

A. ALPINA (Alpine Windflower). — On
nearly every great mountain range in
northern climes, this is one of the hand-
somest plants, growing 15 inches to
2 feet high. Seed is the best way to
increase it. Sow this in November in a
rather moist, peaty bed out of doors, and
allow the seedlings to remain for two
years. When growth begins in spring trans-
plant to where they are to flower. Full
exposure, good drainage, and moisture in
summer are essential.

A. ANGULOSA (Great Hepatica). — Larger
than the Hepatica, with sky-blue flowers
as large as a crown-piece, and five-lobed
leaves. In rock gardens, or near them,
it will succeed in spaces between choice
dwarf shrubs in beds. Seed and division.
Transylvania.

A. APENNINA (Apennine Windflower). —
A blue, hardy, tuberous kind. This makes
pictures with Daffodils, and adds a new
charm to our spring. It is readily
increased by division, and grows about
4 inches to 9 inches in height. Besides a
white form there are others, not so impor-
tant, however, as the wild one. Italy.

A. BLAND A (Blue Winter Windflower). —
A lovely plant from the hills of Greece,
of a fine blue, and blooming in winter and
early spring. It should be grown in every
rock garden, planted on banks that catch
the early sun. It has irregular tuberous

roots ; increased by division and seed, and
varies in size and colour. There are
white, rose, and pink varieties. Excellent
for naturalising in sandy ground. Sow
the seed in drills in the open as soon as
ripe. Greece, Asia Minor.

The Blue Apennine Windflower.

A. CORONARIA (Poppy Anemone). — One
of the most admired flowers of our gardens
from earliest times. There are many
varieties, single and double. The single
sorts may be readily grown from seed
sown in the open air in April, and, being
varied in fine colour, they deserve to be
cultivated even more than many of the
doubles. The planting of the double
varieties may be made in autumn or in
spring, or at intervals all through the
winter, to secure a continuity of flowers ;
but the best bloom is secured by October
planting. The Poppy Anemone thrives
in warm loam, and the roots of the more
select kinds may be taken up when the
leaves die down. They are seldom worth
this trouble, as many fine varieties may
be grown from seed sown in June. Prick
out the plants in autumn ; they will flower
well in the following spring, so that the
plant is as easily raised as an annual.
Apart from the old florists' or double
Anemones and the single ones, there are
certain races of French origin of much
value, as the Caen Anemones. These are
raised from the same species, but are
more vigorous, and have larger flowers than
the older Dutch kinds. Of the Caen Ane-
mones there are both single and double
kinds, and the Chrysanthemum-flowered is
another fine double race, whilst ope may
also note the deep scarlet double form —
Chapeau de Cardinal, and the double
Nice Anemones. The fine variety of the
Poppy Anemones leads to mixed collec-
tions being grown. While it is well to
plant mixtures now and then, it is better
to select and keep true some of the finer
forms in any desired colour. A fine scar-

ANEMONE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ANEMONE.

343

let, purple, or violet kind should be grown
by itself, as a greater aid to the garden
artist. All kinds thrive in light garden
soils of fair quality, and in many districts
there is no trouble in their culture ; in
cold soils this plant never does well, and
is often killed in winter. The St Bridgid
Anemones, like those of Caen and Nice,
are selections from the Poppy Anemone,
depending for their value on care in selec-
tion, and also on good culture in the warm
limestone soil the plants enjoy so well.

A. FULGENS (The Scarlet Windflower). —
A brilliant flower of the south of France.
In good well-drained soils it will thrive,
but is best in a rich manured loam in a
northern aspect and in a shaded situation.
Division is the surest way of increasing
it, as it is liable to sport if raised from
seeds. Roots may be transplanted almost
all the year round, though the resting
time extends only from June to August,
and to ensure early and good flowers plant
the roots as early as possible in the
autumn. With me it thrives in meadow
turf, and dies out in garden borders.

The Greek form of A . fulgens is larger,
and very intense in colour. A fine strain
was raised by the late Rev. J. G. Nelson,
and called by him A . fulgens major. The
Peacock Anemone (A. Pavonina) is a
double form of this.

A. HEPATIC A (Alpine Hepatica). — A
beautiful early hardy flower. In sheltered
spots on porous soil the foliage will remain
through the winter. The- Hepatica is a
deep rooter, hence it thrives so well upon
made banks, and it will do as well as
Primroses or Violets in any good garden
soil. Where let alone, and not often
pulled to pieces, it makes strong tufts.
The best-known kinds are the double red
and single blue, both amongst the hardiest
of the section. Then there are the single
white ; single red ; double blue, rich in
colour ; Barlowi, a rich-coloured sport
from the single blue ; splendens, a single
red ; lilacina, a pretty mauve kind ; and
some others — every variety being worthy
of culture. I prefer the single wild blue
kind to any.

A. JAPONICA (Japan Anemone). — A tall
autumn-blooming kind, 2 feet to 4 feet
high, with fine foliage and large rose-
coloured flowers. The variety named
Honorine Jobert, with pure white flowers,
is a beautiful plant ; and all good forms
of the plant should be cultivated where
cut flowers are required in autumn. By
having some on a north border, and some
on a warm one, the bloom may be pro-
longed. The secret of success seems to
be to prepare at first a deep bed of rich
soil, and to leave the plants alone. They
abhor frequent disturbance.

The various forms of the Japan Ane-
mone are useful for borders, groups, fringes
of shrubberv in rich soil, and here and

there in half-shady places by wood walks.
I like best the single forms.

Anemone japonica alba.

A. NEMOROSA (Wood Anemone). — In
spring this native plant adorns our woods,
and also those of nearly all Europe and
N. Asia, but so abundant in the British
Isles that there is no need to plead for its
culture. There are double varieties, and
the colour of the flower is occasionally
lilac, or reddish, or purplish. A sky-blue
variety, A . Robinsoniana, is of easy culture
and much beauty, especially if seen when
the noon-day sun is on the flowers. It is
useful for the rock garden in wide-spread-
ing tufts, or for the margins of borders, or
as a ground plant beneath shrubs, or for
the wild garden or for dotting through the
grass in the pleasure-ground in spots not
mown early. Other forms worth growing
are Connubiensis, the blue wild Welsh
form, and a large white form. There are
also other blue forms raised, though not
yet proved, Alleni and Bluebonnet and
purpurea.

A. PALMATA (Cyclamen-leaved Ane-
mone).— A distinct kind, with leathery
leaves and large handsome flowers in May
and June, glossy yellow, only opening to
the sun. Native of N. Africa and other
places on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Planted in deep turfy peat, or light fibrous
loam with leaf-mould, not on the face of
rocks, but rather on level spots, where it
can root deeply and grow into strong tufts.

344

ANEMONE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ANOPTERUS.

There is a double variety. Division or
seeds.

A. PULSATILLA (Pasque-flower). — There
are few sights more pleasant to the lover
of spring flowers than the Pasque-flower
just showing through the dry grass of a
bleak down on an early spring day. It is
smaller in a wild than in a cultivated state,
forming in the garden strong healthy tufts,
but it is one of the plants more beautiful
in a wild state than in a garden. I grow it
freely as an edging plant. There are
several varieties, including red, lilac, and

Pasque-flower (Anemone pulsatilla).

white kinds, but they are not common,
and there is also a double variety. A. p.
rubra is of vigorous habit, whilst 'A . pulsa-
tilla Van der Elsh, a recent introduction,
with clear rose flowers, is also a valuable
addition.

A. RANUNCULOIDES (Yellow Wood Ane-
mone).— Not unlike the Apennine and the
Wood Anemone in habit, this is distinct
in its yellow flowers in March and April.
It is S. European, and less free on common
soils than the Apennine A., and is happier
on chalky soil.

A. RUPICOLA (Rock Windflower). — For
sheer beauty this species ranks with the
choicest of its race, the flowers comparable
only perhaps to the alpine Windflower
(A. alpind) in their shell-like form, sub-
stance, and velvety texture. They are
of a snowy whiteness, in pleasing contrast
with the clusters of yellow stamens. The
outer petals are tinged with pale blue,
the colour early attracting the cultivator.
Less than a foot high, the glistening cups
rising well above the foliage are protected
from harm by a spreading tuft of pale
green much-divided leaves, which also
constitute a perfect setting for the flowers.
Happily the plant is easily cultivated in
light loam, leaf soil, and grit. A first-rate
plant in every way, it is at home in the
rock garden in a sunny position and a
good depth of soil. Perfectly hardy, it is
readily increased by seeds or division of

the roots. Native of China, where it was
discovered by Mr George Forrest.

A. STELLATA (Star Windflower). — The
star-like flowers of this, ruby, rosy, purple-
rosy, or whitish, vary in a charming
way, and usually have a large white eye
at the base, contrasting with the delicate
colouring of the rest of the petals. It is
not so vigorous as the Poppy A., and
requires a sheltered warm position, a light,
sandy, well-drained soil. Division and
seeds. Syn. A. hortensis. S. Europe.

A. SYLVESTRIS (Snowdrop Windflower).
— A handsome plant, about 15 inches
high, with large white flowers in spring
and beautiful buds. Hardy and free on
all soils, but fails to bloom on some cool
soils. The aspect of the drooping, un-
opened buds suggested its English name —
the Snowdrop Anemone. Division and
seeds. A . sylvestris major is the best form.

A. THALICTROIDES (Thalictrum ane-
monoides).

A. VITIFOLIA. — A bold perennial some-
what like the Japan Anemone, but dis-
tinct in foliage and hardy in the Southern
Counties. The beauty of trie newer forms
of A . japonica makes this of less value.

The previously named Anemones are
the most beautiful of the family, which,
however, contains many other interest-
ing plants, but many of the 'higher
alpine kinds are grown and increased
with difficulty, and only in carefully
chosen situations. Some, again, how-
ever distinct as species, are not strik-
ingly so in gardens, and for the flower
gardener the best way is to make good
use of the proved species. Lovers of
alpine flowers will no doubt look out
for the wild species, while many un-
known species must adorn the vast
solitudes of Asia, Arctic America, and
other countries.

ANOMATHECA (Flowering Grass}.
— A. cruenta is a pretty little South
African bulb of the Iris order, from 6
to 12 inches high, flowers | inch across,
carmine, crimson, three of the lower
segments marked with a dark spot ;
in loose clusters on slender stems and
grass-like leaves. Hardy on warm
soils, but in others it should be planted
on slopes, in very sandy dry soil, or
on warm borders ; the bulbs planted
rather deep. In many soils it increases
rapidly. Syn. Lapeyrousia.

ANOPTERUS GLANDULOSA (Tas-
manian Laurel}. — A vigorous ever-
green shrub with dark, shining green
leaves, bearing long, erect, terminal
racemes of white cup-shaped flowers,
resembling the blossoms of Clethra
arbor ea, but larger. Tasmania,

ANTENNARIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ANTIRRHINUM.

345

ANTENNARIA ( Cat's-ear) .—Mostly
hardy alpine or border flowers. A.
margaritacea is a North American
plant, 2 feet high, with flowers in clus-
ters, white and chaffy, hence kept in a
dry state and dyed in various colours.
The pretty but rare A . triplinervis from
Nepal is closely allied to this plant.
The Mountain Cat's-ears, A. dioica and
A. alpina, and such forms as A.
minima, are neat little plants with
whitish foliage, used as carpeting. All
are of simple culture in ordinary soil
in exposed positions. These are good
rock garden plants, and the pretty
little rosy heads of one form of the
Mountain Everlasting may often be
seen in the cottage gardens of War-
wickshire. A. tomentosa has been
much used as a dwarf silvery plant
in the flower garden.

ANTHEMIS (Rock Camomile}.—
Vigorous perennials and rock plants.
Of the kinds in cultivation, A. Aizoon
is a dwarf silvery rock plant, 2 to 4
inches high, with Daisy-like flowers.
A . Kitaibeli is pretty in the mixed bor-
der, with large, pale, lemon-coloured,
Marguerite-like flowers. A. tinctoria is
similar, and both are excellent for
cutting, growing very freely in ordinary
soil. The double-flowered form of the
Corn Camomile (A . arvensis} is some-
times cultivated among annual plants.

Ant /lean's M acedonica,

A . M acedonica is a neat species with
white flowers, excellent as a rock
garden plant. There is also a variety
called A. nobilis.

ANTHERICUM (St Bruno's Lily).—
Bulbous plants of the Lily family, con-
taining a few species hardy in this
country. These are the European
kinds, among the most beautiful
of hardy flowers. A. Hookeri (Syn.
Chrysobactron) is a distinct New Zea-
land plant, 15 to 20 inches high, with

bright yellow flowers, in long spikes
in early summer. It grows best in
moist, deep soils. A. Liliago (St
Bernard's Lily) is about 2 feet high,
with white flowers in early summer.
A. ramosum has flower-stems about
2 feet high, much branched, and small
white flowers. A. Liliastrum (St
Bruno's Lily) is a graceful alpine
meadow plant in deep, free, sandy soil,
in early summer throwing up spikes of
snowy- white Lily-like blossoms. Divi-
sion of the roots in autumn, or it may
be raised from seed. The major
variety of the St Bruno's Lily has much
larger flowers. It grows 3 feet high
in good soil, and is a fine border plant.
Replant when dormant. Increased by
division and seeds.

ANTHOLYZA.— These South Afri-
can plants occur sometimes in cata-
logues, but they are not such good
garden plants as the nearly allied
Montbretia, much improved as these
have been of late.

ANTHYLLIS (Silver Bush).—Dwari
mountain plants of the Pea family, of
which there are some half a dozen
species in cultivation. As far as now
known, few are worth growing on the
rock garden.

A. MONTANUS, the Mountain Kidney
Vetch, is a very hardy rock plant ; dwarf,
about 6 inches high," the leaves pinnate,
and nearly white with down, the pinkish,
flowers in dense heads, rising little above
the foliage, and forming with the hoary
leaves pretty little trailing tufts. I have
never seen any alpine plant thrive better
on the stiff clay of North London. Resist-
ing any cold or moisture, it is among dwarf
plants of the first order of merit as a rock
plant. The variety rubra has darker red
flowers. Alps of Europe. Division and
seeds.

A. BARBA-JOVIS (Jupiter's Beard) is a
shrubby plant of erect growth, with sil-
very, silky leaves and creamy-yellow
flowers in spring. Coming from Spain, it
is suited to a hot, dry place in the rock
garden, and in cold places is sometimes
grown against a wall.

A. ERINACEA is a singular-looking, much-
branched, tufty, spiny, almost leafless
shrub, about i foot high, with purplish
flowers.

A. HERMANNS. — Not so pretty in
colour, is a grey bush of pleasant aspect,
flowering in summer and fitted for a sunny
place in the rock garden. S.W. Europe.

ANTIRRHINUM (Snapdragon). — A
numerous family of rock plants and
perennial herbs, mostly hardy and
many of them from mountainous
regions, but none so popular in gar-

346 APIOS TUBEROSA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. AQUILEGIA.

dens as the Snapdragon (A. majus),
which, like the Wallflowers, often grows
on walls and. stony places. There are
many species, but they do not take a
large place in gardens, among the best
being A. Asarina and A. rupestre. Of
the common Snapdragon, the garden
varieties are now numerous, and often
showy in effect, the best being the pure
colours. Sandy and free soils suit
them. They are sown : (i) in August
in the place where they are to grow,
or preferably in seed-beds, in which
latter case plant close to a south wall,
sheltering from continued frosts with
dry leaves or straw, planting out in
spring 1 6 inches to 24 inches apart ;
(2) in July, in seed-beds in a well-
exposed position, planting out the
seedlings in the spring ; (3) in seed-
beds (March to April) at the foot of
a south wall. By means of successive
sowings it is possible to obtain an
almost uninterrupted bloom from June
until frost comes. They are also pro-
pagated by cuttings made in the spring
or summer, and even during the whole
of flowering time.

APIOS TUBEROSA (Ground Nut).—
A graceful tuberous-rooted perennial of
twining habit, with leaves cut into five
lance-shaped leaflets, and fragrant
brown flowers in dense clusters from
July to September. It climbs over
bushes to a height of 4 to 8 feet, and
may be planted to cover a trellis or to
roam among the shrubs at the back of
a sunny rock garden, several tubers
being planted together to secure the
best effect. To do well the soil should
be light and warm, with full sun and
some shelter. The roots are eaten in
winter by the Indians. N. America.

Aponogeton (Cape Pond-flower).

APONOGETON (Cape Pond- flower}.
is a beautiful and

fragrant water-plant from the Cape of
Good Hope, hardy in many parts of
these islands. Near London, during
severe winters, it is interesting to see
the profuse bloom of this plant in
spring, and in cold districts it is neces-
sary, for its perfect culture in the
open air, to grow it in spring or other
water that does not freeze ; in mild
districts this is not needed. Failures
often result from putting it in too
shallow water. There is a rosy-tinted
variety (roseus).

AQUILEGIA (Columbine). — Alpine,
rock, and meadow perennials of the
Buttercup order, often beautiful and
widely distributed over the northern
and mountain regions of Europe, Asia,
and America. Of great variety in
colour — white, rose, buff, blue, and
purple, and also stripes and inter-
mediate shades, the American kinds
having yellow, scarlet, and most
delicate shades of blue flowers. Fre-
quently taller than most of the plants
strictly termed alpine, they are true
alpine plants, and among the most
singularly beautiful of the class. On
the sunny hills of the Sierras in Cali-
fornia, one meets with a large scarlet
Columbine, that has almost the vigour
of a Lily, and in the mountains of Utah,
and on many others in the Rocky
Mountain region, there is the Rocky
Mountain Columbine (A . ccerulea) ,
with its long and slender spurs and
lovely cool tints, and there is no family
that has a wider share in adorning the
mountains. The rarer alpine kinds
should be planted in sandy or gritty
though moist ground, and in well-
drained ledges in the rock garden, in
half-shady positions or northern ex-
posures. Most rare Columbines fail to
form enduring tufts in our gardens,
and they must be raised from seeds as
often as good seed can be got. It is
the alpine character of the home of
many of the Columbines which makes
the culture of some of the lovely kinds
so uncertain, and which causes them
to thrive so well in the North of Scot-
land while they fail in our ordinary
dry garden borders. No plants are
more capricious ; the charming A .
glandulosa, grows like a weed at Forres,
in Scotland, and is so short-lived in most
gardens. The best soil for them is
deep, well-drained, rich, alluvial loam.
As probably many of the species are
biennial, it is necessary to raise them
from seed frequently ; and to avoid
the results of crossing it is better to

AQUILEGIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

AQUILEGIA.

347

get the seed, if we can, from the wild
home of the species. Sow early in
spring, and prick the young plants out
into pans or into an old garden frame

A Columbine.

as soon as they are fit to handle,
removing them early in August to the
borders. Choose a cloudy day for the
work, and give them a little shading
for a few days.

A. ALPINA (Alpine C.). — A beautiful
high mountain plant i foot to 2 feet high,
with showy blue flowers, and there is a
lovely variety with a white centre to the
flower. In the rock garden it should have
a rather moist and sheltered, but not
shady, spot in deep sandy loam or peat.
Seed or division.

A. CALIFORNICA (Californian C.). — One
of the finest of the American species, with
one bold woody stem, 3 feet high, and
bright orange flowers. The seeds should
be carefully looked after, as having once
blossomed the old plant may perish.
Thrives best on a deep sandy loam and
moist.

A. CANADENSIS (Canadian C.). — The
flowers are smaller than the W. American
kinds. This is compensated for by the
brilliancy of the scarlet colour of the
sepals and of the erect spurs, and by the
bright yellow of the petals. The true
plant is a slender grower, i foot in height.
A plant for borders, or placing here and
there among dwarf shrubs and plants in
the rougher parts of the rock garden.

A. CHRYSANTHA (Golden C.). — This tall
and beautiful species is perennial on many
soils where the other kinds perish, thriving
even on the stiff clay soils north of London.
It comes true from seed, which is most
safely raised under glass.

A. COZRULEA (Rocky Mountain C.). —
This is very beautiful, the green-tipped
spurs of the flower being as slender as a
thread, and having a tendency to twist
round each other. It is hardy, flowering
early in summer, from 12 inches to 15
inches high, worthy of the best position
on the rock garden, and in choice mixed
borders, where the soil is free and deep.
Unlike the Golden Columbine, it is not
perennial on many soils, though longer-
lived in cool hill gardens. To get healthy
plants that will flower freely, seeds should
be sown annually.

A. GLANDULOSA (Altaian C.). — A beau-
tiful plant of tufted habit, flowering in
early summer — a fine blue, with tips of
petals creamy-white, the spur curved
backwards towards the stalk, the sepals
dark blue, large, with a long footstalk.
It is a native of the Altai Mountains, and
one of the most precious flowers for the
rock garden, in deep sandy soil. Seed
and division.

A. SKINNERI (Skinner's C.). — A distinct
plant, the flowers produced later on slender
pedicles, the sepals greenish, the petals
small and yellow ; the spurs are 2 inches
long and bright orange-red. Though
from Guatemala, it comes from mountain
districts, and is nearly hardy. While the
name is often seen, the true plant is rare.

A. VIRIDIFLORA. — A fragrant Siberian
Columbine, the sage-green of the flower
and the delicate tint of the leaf offering
a delicate harmony. In tjie border it

348

ARABIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ARALIA.

may not be noticed, but if a spray or two
are put in a glass its beauty is seen. Seed.

A. VULGARIS (Common C.). — There are
many forms of this, and double kinds,
flowering from May till towards the end
of summer. Its varieties, and some hybrid
forms, may well be used in the more pic-
turesque parts of large pleasure grounds,
by streams and in copses. Where bare
places occur, and seedlings have a chance
of coming up without being strangled by
other plants, seed may be scattered as
soon as ripe.

ARABIS (Rock Cress).— A large
family of hill-plants, few of which are
grown. A. albida (White Rock Cress)
will grow in any soil, where its sheets
of snowy bloom may open in early
spring. The double white form is a
favourite. Both are easily increased
by seed or cuttings, and are useful for

Aralia. spinosa.

the mixed border, the spring garden,
and for naturalising in bare or rocky

spots. There is now a pale rose form.
It is closely allied to the alpine Rock
Cress (A. alpina), so widely distributed
on the Alps, but is distinct, and the
best kind. A variegated form is the
dwarfest and whitest of the Rock
Cresses. A. blepharophylla (Rosy
Rock Cress) is not unlike the white
Arabis, but the flowers are rosy-purple.
It varies a good deal, but there is no
difficulty in selecting a strain of the
deepest rose, its healthy tufts being
effective in April. There are varie-
gated forms of the commoner species,
but none have much value. A. are-
nosa, from the south of Europe, is a
pretty annual in the spring garden or
naturalised on old ruins or dry bare
banks. A. petrcea, a neat, sturdy little
plant, with pure white flowers, is a
native of some of the higher Scottish
mountains, rare, but very pretty when
well grown on a moist well-exposed
spot on the rock garden. A. S teller i,
a Chinese species, is a much freer
flowering plant than A . blepharophylla,
ripening seed freely, and easily grown
in the rock garden.

ARALIA. — Shrubs or stout her-
baceous plants of the Ivy order, of
diverse aspects, few fitted for open
air, except A. canescens and A. spinosa,
which thrive in our gardens, and which
in size and beauty of leaf are far before
many " fme-foliaged plants " grown in
hothouses. The Aralias described are
now placed under Fatsia, but we retain
the older name as better known in
gardens. A . papyrifera (Chinese Rice-
paper Plant), though a native of the
hot island of Formosa, is useful for the
greenhouse in winter and the flower
garden in summer. It is handsome in
leaf, but is only suited for southern or
very warm gardens.

A. CHINENSIS. — A hardy shrub, with
very large, much-divided, spiny leaves,
resembling those of the Angelica Tree of
N. America. In this country it attains
the height of from 6 to 12 feet. In deep
loam it thrives vigorously. May be useful
in a garden where tender fine-leaved
plants will not thrive. Syn. Dimorphan-
thus mandschuricus.

A. SIEBOLDI. — A shrubby species, with
fine green leaves, nearly hardy, and a
handsome bush on dry soils and near the
sea. It may be used in the flower garden
or the pleasure ground, but it soon turns
yellow and unhappy looking if exposed to
much sunshine. It is hardier in the shade,
its foliage browning badly if caught too
suddenly by the sun after hard frosts.
Syn. Fatsia Japonica.

A. SPINOSA (Angelica Tree). — This fine

AkAitCARiA.

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ARC±O*IS 349

shrub has often been put in exposed places,
but it is better where its great leaves will
not be torn, and in every size may be used

alia c/iliiensis.

in the pleasure ground. Its small white
flowers appear in autumn in great panicles.
Cuttings of the roots. N. America.

ARAUCARIA (Monkey- Puzzle}.— A
noble group of cone-bearing trees,
most of them too tender for our winters.
A. imbricata is a native of Chili, and
the only species which does at all well
on high ground. It was killed by
thousands in the nurseries and gardens
in the severe winter of 1860, and it is
no way suitable for the garden, being
a forest tree of a climate very different
from ours.

ARAUJIA SERICOFERA.— A bold
and distinct evergreen climber, not
hardy everywhere, but where it suc-
ceeds in a southern county flowers, and
in late summer bears curious fruits.
Syn. Physianthus albens. S'. America.

ARBUTUS (Strawberry Tree}.— Ever-
green shrubs of much beauty, both of
flower and form of leaf or bush, coming
from warmer countries thrive best on
our sea-shore or warmer districts. The
beautiful A . Unedo grows 20 feet high
or more in the coast districts, but inland
it is cut down in severe winters. There
are varieties of it, one of the best being
A. Croomei, which has longer and
broader leaves than the common kind.
The variety rubra has almost bright
scarlet flowers in autumn. S. Europe,
and also wild in the south of Ireland.
The other species are not so important

as flowering trees, though good ever-
greens where they will face the climate.
A. Andrachne, with smooth, ruddy-
tinged bark, is hardy in the south and
coast districts. It grows wild in
Greece, and is a very old tree in gar-
dens. The fine Calif ornian Arbutus
Menziesii is hardy with us. These
shrubs succeed best in a deep light
loam, and will thrive on chalky soils
much better than many other ever-
green shrubs. In the south and west
of England, and in Ireland, the fruits
are freely borne.

ARCTOSTAPHYLOS (Bear-berry}.—
Mostly trailing alpine evergreen of the
Heath order, of which few are in culti-
vation. Of this group A. alpina is
useful for rocky banks or edging bog-
beds. A. Uva-ursi (Bear-berry) is a
dwarf evergreen mountain shrub, i foot
high, sometimes grown with rock
plants. It has small rose flowers in
early summer and red berries in
autumn. A. alpina, the Black Bear-
berry, has trailing stems and white or
flesh-coloured flowers. It is abundant
in hilly places in Europe and N.
America. Grows in any soil, but
prefers a moist border or ledge. Divi-
sion. A. nitida is a Mexican half-
hardy evergreen with shining green
leaves and white flowers. The dwarf,
much branched A. pungens is also a
native of Mexico ; while the shrubby,
hardy A. tomentosa comes from N.W.
America.

Arctotis arborescens.

ARCTOTIS. — .Showy half-hardy
composites from "the Cape, numbering

35° ARENARlA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ARGEMONE.

between forty and fifty species, for the
most part little known. The bright
colours of many are more intense in the
open air than when the plants are
cramped in pots in a greenhouse. Dry
sunny banks often devoid of plant life
might be clothed with them. Although
true sun-loving plants, they may be
used as a groundwork in spots where,
in the shade if not too dense, they
flower almost as freely as in the sun.
They require warm greenhouse treat-
ment in winter.

A. ACAULIS is a variable dwarf species ;
the flowers are large, attractive, and of a
deep rich orange. It does not ripen seed
freely, but is easily propagated from side
shoots.

A. ASPERA is a half-shrubby species,
with deeply cut and wrinkled leaves and
creamy flowers, purplish outside. It may
be used in vases and hanging baskets, the
pink buds being pretty. Cuttings strike
readily in heat.

A. AUREOLA is of shrubby habit, i to
2 feet in height, with handsome orange
flowers towards the end of the branches.
Cuttings. Syn. A . grandiflora.

A. GRANDIS. — A handsome kind from
the Cape, with grey or silvery leaves and
stems, and showy white flowers, 2 inches
or more across, with a gold-banded pale
mauve centre, and shaded with lilac on
the outside. It forms a bushy plant of
about 2 feet high, flowering freely and
through a long season, and the long-
stemmed flowers are useful for cutting if
gathered on first, expanding, though they
close up each evening. Seed should be
sown under glass in early spring, and the I
seedlings planted in rich light soil and in
the hottest part of the garden, as soon as
danger from frost is over.

A. LEPTORHIZA. — A showy annual, with
rich orange flowers, as is also A . breviscapa,
which likes a sunny position. The seeds
may be sown in the open air, the plant
being treated as a hardy annual. A sunny
spot should be chosen, and the seedlings
well thinned. — K.

ARENARIA (Sandwort). — A numer-
ous family of rock and mountain plants,
of vast distribution over northern and
alpine ranges, and in temperate coun-
tries. Few kinds are in gardens, and
these are dwarf plants, easy to grow.

A. BALEARICA (Creeping Sandwort). — A
pretty little plant, which covers rocks and
stones with verdure, and scatters over the
green mantle countless white starry
flowers. Plant firmly in any common soil
near the stones or rocks it is to cover, and
it will soon begin to clothe them. Flowers
in spring. Division. Corsica.

A. MONTANA (Mountain Sandwort). — A
pretty rock, plant, with fine large white

flowers. It is the best of the large Sand-
worts, and should be in every collection
of rock plants, being hardy and free.
France. Seed or division.

A. NORWEGICA is one of the best kinds,
forming dense cushions about 6 inches in
diameter, and covered with large white
flowers throughout the summer. A fine
alpine plant. Norway.

A. PURPURASCENS (Purplish Sandwort).
— An interesting kind with purplish
flowers, on a dwarf tufted mass of smooth-
pointed leaves. It is plentiful over the

Mountain Sandwort (A reiiaria nwntana).

Pyrenean Mountains. Seed or division.
It should be associated in the rock garden
with the smallest plants.

There are many species, but not
among them plants of much garden
value.

ARETHUSA. — A. bulbosa is a beau-
tiful American hardy Orchid, which
grows in wet meadows or bogland,
blossoming in May and June. Each
plant bears a bright rose-purple flower
that shows well on its bed of Sphag-
num, Cranberry, and Sedge. The little
bulbs grow in a mossy mat formed by
the roots and decaying herbage of
plants and moss. A shady moist spot
with a northern exposure is best, and
the soil should be a mixture of well-
rotted manure and Sphagnum. Dur-
ing winter protect the bed with some
cover.

ARGEMONE (Prickly Poppy}.—
Handsome Poppy-like plants, said to
be perennial, but perishing on moist
soils after the first year. As they come
from the warmer parts of California and
Mexico, and even there grow on dry
hill-sides and in warm valleys, their
perishing here may be understood.
Usually about 2 feet high, they have
large white flowers 4 inches across, with

ARISTOLOCHIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ARNICA.

351

a bunch of yellow stamens in the centre.
They require a warm loam, and go
with the choicest annual flowers.
Mostly grown are A. mexicana, A.
grandi flora, and A. hispida ; so much
alike in habit as not to need separate
description. Seed end of April in
open.

ARISTOLOCHIA (Dutchman's Pipe}.
— Climbing Birthworts of curious form
of flower, and effective in foliage. A.
Sipho is generally used as a wall-plant,
but is finer for covering bowers, or for
clambering up trees or over stumps.
A. tomentosa is smaller, distinct in its
tone of green, and useful in like ways ;
both plants are N. American, growing
with freedom in ordinary garden soil.
The family is a large one, mainly
tropical, but some of the forms go into
northern countries. Cuttings.

ARISTOTELIA. — A. macqui is a
hardy Chilian shrub of the Lime Tree
family, chiefly esteemed for its hand-
some evergreen foliage. The pea-like
berries are at first dark purple, but
eventually black. There is a varie-
gated form, but not quite so hardy as
the species. Commoner in southern
Ireland than in England.

ARMERIA ( Thrift] .—Rock and
shore plants of the Statice order, of
which the best known is the common
A . vulgar is (Thrift) . This native of
our shores, and of the tops of the

The Tufted Thrift {Armenia ccespitosci).

Scottish mountains, is very pretty,
with its flowers of soft lilac or white
springing from cushions of grass-like
leaves ; but the deep rosy form, rarely

seen wild, best deserves cultivation.
It is useful for the spring garden, for
banks or borders in shrubberies, for
edgings, and for the rock garden, and
is easily increased by division. As old
plants do not bloom so long as young
ones, occasional replanting is desirable.
In addition to the white variety and
the old dark red one, there are Crimson
Gem and Laucheana, the flowers intense
pink. A. ccespitosa is a rose-coloured
kind from the south of Europe, 5000 to
8000 feet above sea-level. Its flower-
heads, each from f inch to i inch in
diameter, are borne on slender stems
i to 2 inches high from June to Sep-
tember. A. cephalotes (Great Thrift)
is one of the best hardy flowers from
S. Europe, and should be in every
collection. A. setacea is an alpine
species, with little globose heads of
pink flowers so numerous as almost to
conceal the plant on flower-stems from
i to 3 inches high. This and A . juncea
are found in the south of France on
barren stony mounds.

A R N E B I A (Prophet-flower] .—A
handsome and distinct perennial, i
foot to 1 8 inches high. A. echioides
has flowers of a bright primrose-yellow,
with five black spots on the corolla,
which gradually fade and finally dis-
appear. It is hardy either on the
rock garden or in a well-drained border,
and prefers partial shade. A native of
the Caucasus and Northern Persia, and
though long introduced is still among
the rarest of hardy flowers. Young
plants bloom long, which adds to their
charms. Increased by seeds and by
root cuttings in winter.

ARNICA (Lamb's-skin).—A small
group of perennial herbs of the Daisy
order, with clustered leaves and neat
yellow flowers on long stems. They do
well in the ropk garden or border, in
open sandy soils. Increase by divi-
sion, or seed when obtainable. A.
Chamissonis from N. America is a
pretty plant of i to 2 feet, with woolly
leaves and yellow flowers 2 inches
across, from July to September. A.
montana (Mountain Tobacco) is a
European plant about 12 inches high,
with smooth, lance-shaped leaves and
yellow flowers 2 inches across in sum-
mer, the blooms gathered into threes
and fours on hairy stems. This pretty
rock plant is of slow growth, and
should have a place in sandy peat and
partial shade. A. foliosa, from the
Rocky Mountains, is not unlike the

ARONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ARTEMISIA.

last, but taller, with smaller flowers,
and needs a damp place. A. sachalin-
ensis from the Far East grows 18
inches high, with abundant yellow
flowers.

ARONIA. — A group of shrubs allied
to Pyrus, but distinct in aspect, and
when grouped effective in colour, but
so fragile that mixed in the ordinary

rarely for their flowers. A. anethi folia
is one of the most elegant herbaceous
perennials, 5 feet in height. A . annua
is a graceful plant with tall stems 5 or
6 feet high, the foliage fine, and the
flowers not showy in elegant panicles.
The hue is a fresh and pleasing green,
and the plant is a graceful centre of a
flower-bed or group. Other kinds, like

Arum crinitum (Dragon's Mouth).

way they give little effect, whereas
massed they are charming both in
flower and in fine colour of leaf in
autumn. Three kinds of easy culture
are nigra, arbutifolia, and floribunda.

ARTEMISIA (Wormwood}. — Herbs
and low bushes covering a large part
of the surface of northern and arid
regions. Though often poor weeds,
some have a use in gardens, though

A . alpina and A . frigida, belong to an
alpine group, which is at home in the
rock garden, while there are many
taller herbaceous and half-woody
plants of a silvery hue, such as A . Stel-
leriana, A . cana, A . maritima, and some
with handsome Fern-like foliage, as A.
tanaceti folia. A . lactiflora, from China,
has stately Spiraea-like plumes oi
creamy flowers, 6 feet high. It is
valuable for grouping.

ARUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ASIMINA.

353

ARUM (Cuckoo Pint).— Tuberous
rooted plants of distinct form ; some
are hardy. They thrive best in warm
borders and about the sunny side of
garden walls. Some nine or ten kinds
are found in S. Europe. They have,
when in bloom, a very offensive odour.

A. CRINITUM (Dragon's Mouth). — In
flower this is very grotesque, from the
singular shape of its broad speckled spathe.
The leaves are cut into deep segments,
and the leaf-stalks overlapping each other,
form a sort of spurious stem i foot or
14 inches high, marbled and spotted with
purplish-black. Warm borders, fringes of
shrubberies, or beds of the smaller sub-
tropical plants suit it best. Division of
tubers.

A. DRACUNCULUS (Dragons, Snake
Plant), from S. Europe, attains a height
of 2 to 3 feet ; the leaves large ; the stalks
and stem of a fleshy colour, deeply mottled
with black. It loves best a corner to
itself in sandy loam at the foot of a south
wall. Has a disagreeable odour. Divi-
sion.

A. ITALICUM (Italian Arum) is larger
than our native Arum ; the veins blotched
with yellow. As the leaves come very
early in the season, they are attractive.
In the autumn, when they have died away,
the clusters of scarlet berries, on foot-
stalks 10 inches or 12 inches long, are
showy.

Arundinaria. See BAMBUSA.

ARUNDO (Great Reed) .—Important
grasses of fine form, sometimes of great
height. A. conspicua (New Zealand
Reed) is a grass of noble form — a com-
panion for the Pampas Grass, especially
in the western and southern countries
and on light soils. In fine deep loams
it reaches a height of nearly 1 2 feet, but
perishes from cold or other causes on
many soils. It flowers earlier than
the Pampas Grass. It likes plenty of
water nearly all the year round, and
may be increased by seeds or division.
A. Donax is the " Great Reed " of the
south of Europe, a noble plant on good
soils, in the south of England making
canes 10 feet high, in rich soil, but in
our country it has suffered much in
recent severe winters. A. Phragmites
(Common Reed) is the native marsh
plant, 6 feet or more high, bearing
when in flower a large, handsome,
spreading, purplish panicle. It is an
excellent cover for water birds.

ASARUM (Asarabacca). — Curious
little plants resembling Cyclamens in
their leaves, but of little value except
as curiosities. A. canadense is the

Canadian Snakeroot, which bears in
spring curious brownish-purple flowers,
the roots being strongly aromatic, like
Ginger. A. virginicum is the Heart
Snakeroot, its leaves thick and leathery,
with the upper surface mottled with
white. A. caudatum is from Oregon,
and much like the others in habit, but
the divisions of the flower have long
tail-like appendages. A. europceum is
the Asarabacca, the flowers greenish,
about ^ inch long, and close to the
ground.

ASCLEPIAS (Milk-weed, Silk-i
— A large genus of strong - growing
herbaceous perennials, few of them
adapted for the flower garden, as they
require a good deal of room, and are
not attractive. They thrive in a light
or peaty soil, and may be increased by
division. A. acuminata has red and
white flowers. A. amcena, purple;
A. Cornuti (the common Milk- weed) —
also known as A . syriaca — grows vigor-
ously to a height of 4 feet, and bears
umbels of deep purple fragrant flowers,
of which bees seem to be fond. A.
incarnata (the Swamp Milk-weed) is a
good waterside plant with rose-purple
flowers. A. quadrifolia (Four-leaved
Milk-weed) bears fragrant terminal
heads of lilac-white flowers early in
the summer. A. purpumscens is also
a waterside plant with purple flowers.
A. rubra (the Red Milk- weed) is a dis-
tinct tall-growing plant with long
bright green foliage, and large umbels
of purple-red flowers. A. tuber osa
(the Butterfly Silk-weed) is the pretti-
est species, with its clusters of showy
bright orange-red flowers in the
autumn. Good flowering plants may
be obtained from seed in three years,
but is mostly increased by dividing
the tubers. This species likes sandy
soil and a warm situation. A. varie-
gata (Variegated Milk-weed) has dense
umbels of handsome white flowers with
a reddish centre. The downy stems
reach a height of 2 to 4 feet, and are
mottled with purple.

ASIMINA ( Virginian Papaw). — A
N. American shrub, or low tree of
the Custard Apple family. A. triloba
forms a small tree, with dull purple
flowers, about 2 inches across. It bears
fruit eaten by the inhabitants of the
Southern States ; hence the name.
Sometimes grown against a wall in
this country, but hardy in the southern
counties.

354 ASPARAGUS. fHE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ASPLENIUM.

ASPARAGUS.— Herbaceous plants
or climbers of the Lily order, of fine
habit with elegant leaves. The vigor-
ous and tall A. Broussoneti is quite

A Climbing Asparagus.

hardy in warm sandy soil, and so are
A. tenuifolius and others. The com-
mon Asparagus is as good as any, and
a tuft or group of it is graceful in a
border of flowers or a bed of fine-leaved
plants.

ASPERULA (Sweet Woodruff).— A.
odorata, which belongs to the same
family as the Coffee Plant, is abundant
in many parts of Britain, and worthy
of the garden or shrubbery, especially
in districts where it does not occur
wild. Its stems and leaves give off a
fragrant hay-like odour when dried ;
and in May the small white flowers,
dotted over the tufts of whorled leaves,
are pretty. A . azurea setosa (A . orien-
talis] is a pretty hardy blue annual,
flowering in April and May. Sow seed
in the previous autumn. A. cynan-
chica is a rosy-red perennial, and a
good bank or rough rock- plant. A.
hexaphylla is a tall slender white-
flowered species.

ASPHODELINE. — Plants nearly
allied to the following, but the stems

of Asphodelus are leafless, while in
Asphodeline the leaves are produced on
erect stems. About six kinds are in
cultivation, the best known being A.
lutea, which grows about 3 feet high,
with yellow flowers in dense clustered
spikes. A. taurica has white flowers,
on stems i to 2 feet high. A. liburnica
(A . cretica) and A . tenuior have yellow
flowers in loose racemes. A. damas-
cena has white blossoms in dense
racemes, and A. brevicaulis has yellow
flowers in loose racemes. These all
thrive in ordinary soil.

ASPHODELUS (A sphodel) .—Tuber-
ous plants of the Lily order, with
spiked flowers, and not of a high order
of beauty, thriving in any free garden
soil. The best known is the bold A.
ramosus, a S. European species, familiar
in most old herbaceous plant borders.
Other kinds are A . fistulosus and tenui-
folius, with white flowers, the plant
growing from i-J- to 3 feet high. The
last-named kind" has delicate feathery
foliage. A . creticus, the Cretan Aspho-
del, has yellow flowers, and is an easily
cultivated border plant.

ASPIDIUM (Shield or Wood Fern].—
This family now embraces the Poly-
stichum and some species of Lastrea.
There are numerous hardy kinds,
among them the Male Fern (A. Filix-
mas) and the Prickly Shield Fern.
Either alone or in groups they have a
fine effect, as an undergrowth to trees
in the pleasure garden or in the shadier
parts of the garden, and are evergreen.
There are no fewer than a hundred
named sorts of A . aculeatum and fifty of
A . Filixmas being enumerated in trade
lists. The smaller and more delicate
kinds require some care. A . aculeatum
is best in rich loam, with sand and leaf-
mould, well-drained, and so does the
Male Fern. The border Ferns of this
group give fine cool effects in rightly
chosen spots in and near the flower
garden.

ASPLENIUM (Spleenwort).—The fine
dark green colour and free-growing
character of most of the Spleenwort
Ferns give them distinct value. The
best soil for them is a well-drained
mixture of peat, sand, and loam, in
which the finer kinds of flowering
shrubs, such as Kalmias and Andro-
medas, thrive. A. Adiantum nigrum
(the Black Spleenwort) when wild,
fringes copses or is found on hedge-
banks, where it gets a little protection
from the summer sun. The various
smaller species of this genus belong

ASTER.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN". ASTRAGALUS. 355

more to the choice fernery than to the
flower garden, unless when we are
happy in having old walls near or
around it, often so congenial a home
for the smaller rock- ferns.

ASTER (Starwort, Michaelmas
Daisy}. — Hardy perennial plants.
There is a quiet beauty about the more
select Starworts, which is charming in

• the autumn days, and their variety of
colour, of form, and of bud and blos-
som is delightful. For the most part
Starworts are regardless of cold or
rain. Even where not introduced into
the flower garden, they should always
be grown for cutting ; and they aie

i excellent for forming bold groups to
cover the bare ground among newly-

I planted shrubs. Nothing can be more
easy to cultivate. The essential point

1 is to get the distinct kinds, of which
the following are amongst the best that
flower in early October : — Aster amel-

I lus, acris, cassubicus, turbinellus, Chap-

! mani, versicolor, pulchellus, cordifolius,
elegans, Reevesi, discolor, laxus, horizon-
tails, ericoides, Shorti, multiflorus, dumo-
sus, Curtisi, l&vis, longifolius, coccineus,
sericeus, Nova-Angler, Ncvo - Belgii,
puniceus, and vimineus. Every year
adds to our autumn-blooming hardy

Aster Strackeyi.

plants, and a choice of Starworts may
be made by autumn visits to collec-
tions.

ASTILBE (Goat's Beard}.— A vigor-
ous group of. chiefly tall-branching
herbaceous perennials. The robust
kinds resemble the Spiraeas of the
Aruncus group, but are bolder, and
perhaps better suited for the margin
of water. There are eight kinds in
cultivation, the best known of which
are A. japonica and A. rivularis.
Moist places in the wild garden are

most suitable for A. decandra, A.
rivularis, A. rubra, A. Lemoinei, and
A. Thunbergi, the last being also
known as Spiraea. These plants group
well, and the handsome foliage makes
healthy undergrowth, over which the
tall plumes of white or red flowers
tower with good effect. The new.
hybrid Astilbes, raised by crossing A.
Davidii and other species, are important
gains, and may be used with good
effect, particularly in cool or moist
situations where a rich soil obtains.
Their habit is that of an enlarged A.
japonica, both in foliage and flower,
the chief colours being pink, rose,
salmon, and carmine. They are of a
uniform height of 3 feet. Ceres, rosy-
lilac ; Gloria, rich rose ; Kriemhilde,
salmon ; opal, purplish - pink ; Sieg-
fried, carmine ; Venus, rosy-purple ;
Queen Alexandra, pink; and Salmon

gueen, are a selection of the best,
ivision of the roots, and some by the
runners.

A recently introduced kind is the
vigorous and handsome A. Davidii,
with crimson-purple flowers on stems
about 6 feet high. It is a fine peren-
nial. A . Simplicifolia, a new perennial
Alpine species of the highest beauty
and omament from Japan. Rarely a
foot high, with somewhat hairy, palin-
ately lobed leaves in cushion-like form.
It produces graceful pamiles of creamy
white flowers in July and August with
the greatest freedom. A first-class
plant for cool or moist places in the
rock garden in rich vegetable soils.
^There is also a rose-coloured variety,
the twain unequalled for dainty grace.
A most amiable and easily grown plant,
it produces seeds freely and may be
quickly had in quantity. Quite an
acquisition.

ASTRAGALUS (Milk Vetcfo.—A
large family of alpine and perennial
leguminous plants, not many of which
are valuable for the garden. The best
are rock plants, but they grow freely
on the level ground in borders. A.
monspessulanus is useful for the front
of borders and for the rock garden.
The vigorous shoots are prostrate,
so that it is seen to greater advantage
when its long heads of crimson and
rosy flowers droop over rocks. It grows
well in any soil. Ther£ are several
varieties. A. Onobrychis (Saintfoin
Milk Vetch) is a handsome species
from S. Europe and Siberia (in
some varieties spreading, and in others
about 1 8 inches high), with racemes of

356 ASTRANTIA. fHE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. AUBRIETIA.

purplish-crimson flowers in June. It
thrives well on any good loam. A.
dasy glottis is well suited for the rock
garden. Its numerous showy flower-
heads, of a clear bright purple, are set
off by the fresh green foliage. A.
adsurgens is dwarf, with numbers of
violet-carmine flowers. A. vaginatus
succeeds in an exposed position in any
ordinary border. The showy deep
violet-purple flowers are borne in dense
erect clusters for a long time.

ASTRANTIA (Master-wort}. — Um-
belliferous plants, natives of the moun-
tains of S. Europe. The most distinct
are A. major and A. helleborifolia. A.
helleborifolia is from the Caucasus, with
the largest flower of any, the colour
clear pink ; but the habit of the plant
is straggling, and the flowers smell
unpleasantly of sour milk. The

of water during their growing period,
but not in winter, because all the
varieties are deciduous, the ground at
that period being wet enough naturally.
Among many fine hardy evergreen and
herbaceous plants Lady Ferns might
be planted with advantage ; they will
thrive in a little shade where protected
from drying winds. There are many
beautiful forms.

Atragene. See CLEMATIS.

ATRAPHAXIS (Goat Wheat}. -
Plants allied to the Polygonums.
There are two or three kinds, but not
attractive plants for the garden.

AUBRIETIA (Purple Rock Cress).—
A charming group of rock plants from
the mountains of S. Europe. There
are many varieties in gardens, the
majority descendants probably from
A . deltoidea. Of these the best of the

Aster elegnns (Lilac Starwort)

Astrantias have a quaint beauty of
their own ; they are not showy, nor
particular about soil or aspect. They
are easily established in woodland
walks where the growth of weeds is
not too rank.

ATHROTAXIS. — A little group of
tender trees from Tasmania, which do
well in the southern parts of our
islands near the sea, but of slight value
elsewhere.

ATHYRIUM (Lady Fern).— Beau-
tiful hardy Ferns, which A. Filix-
femina may be taken to represent.
They like a compost of loam, leaf-
mould, and peat, mixed in about equal
proportions, with the addition of some
sharp sand. They require abundance

older sorts are Campbelli, graca, grandi-
flora, Hendersoni, and violacea. Some,
like Dr. Mules, Beauty of Baden,
Souvenir de W. Ingram, and LeicJiUini,
are of more recent date and higher
garden value ; while such as Lavender,
Fire King, Aubrey Prichard, Prichard's
Ai, Violet Queen and Lloyd Edwards,
represent the most recent additions to
this valuable and easily-grown class of
hardy plants.

The Aubrietia is excellent as a wall-
plant. We need only sow the seed in
any mossy or earthy chinks in autumn
or spring ; indeed they will sow them-
selves on walls, and often bloom on the
sunny sides in February. Rock gar-
dens, stony places, and sloping banks
suit Aubrietias perfectly. They make

AUCUBA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

AZALEA.

357

neat edgings, and may be used as such
with good effect. There are one or
two variegated varieties. Aubrietias
are easy to naturalise in rocky places,
and may be easily got from seeds,
cuttings (young unflowered pieces
being the best), or by division.

AUCUBA (Himalayan Laurel). — A
noble evergreen which came into this
country in a curious way. Like the
young man from the country fas-
cinated by the painted lady on the
stage, the man who first brought it to
this country selected a poor spotted
form. People who love variegation
were delighted with this for years, and

perfect health, and fruiting yearly.
Where it fruits well, it is very pretty
for indoor decoration. The natural
plant varies much in form of leaf, and
sometimes names are given to these
forms, but they have little value.
Where an evergreen covert is desired
under trees it might be well to use
Aucubas — it is so easily increased, that
it would not be difficult to get a stock.
The Himalayan kind is thought by
Mr Bean not to differ very much from
the Japanese kind.

AZALEA (Swamp Honeysuckle). —
Beautiful upland and bog shrubs from
N. America, and, if only as a relie

Purple Rock Cress (Aubrietia).

it took long to find out the really good
things under this name. As with so
many other plants, variegation is a
disease. The natural plant is the best
evergreen yet introduced. It is fine
in colour and hardier than the true
Laurel, and has good qualities in all
ways for garden or woodland. I began
with the spotted kind, but, not loving
variegation in any form, I went to a
good nursery, where I picked out a
number of green forms, which differed
so much in leaf that I had the greatest
pleasure in using them. Fully exposed,
the foliage is very attractive, and the
plant has the precious quality of grow-
ing under Pines or various trees in

from the heaviness of Rhododendrons,
their graceful growth is precious.
Nothing in the open garden is so charm-
ing as old Azalea bushes in flower, with
their branches in table-like tiers ; but
the brilliant tints always seem most
effective in the subdued light of a
shady wood, and happily few shrubs
flower better in partial shade than
Azaleas. They like shelter, even from
southerly winds, and peaty soil suits
them best, though they grow well in
loam.

The hardy Azaleas, called Ghent
Azaleas, have sprung chiefly from
the wild kinds of N. America — A.
nudi flora, 'A. calendulacea, and A.

353

AZALEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

viscosa. These and A. ponlica have
been so hybridised with the wild
Azalea of S. Europe that we have a
race in which the colours of the various
species are blended and diversified in
a great variety of tints, and they all
intercross so freely that it is difficult

Flowers of Azalea awllis.

to single out a variety identical with
any of the wild species. Fifty years
ago, Latin names were given to every
fine variety, but they could soon be
numbered by the hundred from Belgian
gardens alone. Now very few soits are
named. Every variation of tint, from
the most fiery scarlets to delicate pinks,
whites, and dark and pale yellows, is
to be had in Ghent Azaleas, a very
beautiful one being the pure white
Mrs Anthony Waterer. Of late years
there has sprung up a new race with
double Hose-in-hose flowers, collec-
tively called the Narcissi-flora group,
the chief sorts of which number about
a score — Graf von Meran, one of
the first, being still among the best
yellows. A Calif ornian species, named
A. occidentalis , is distinct from the
deciduous Azaleas, as it flowers after
the others are past. It has bunches
of fragrant white flowers and broad
foliage. A. mollis, a dwarf deciduous
shrub from Japan and China, has given
rise to a variety of kinds, yellow,
salmon-red, and orange-scarlet being
the prevailing colours. It is hardy,
and being dwarf may be grouped as a
foreground to a mass of the tall kinds.
The Chinese A. amcena, with small
magenta flowers, common enough in
greenhouses, is quite hardy in mild
localities and rich in bold masses. The
Chinese 4; indica, the ordinary Azalea

of greenhouses, is hardy in many places,
especially the white variety, which,
even in mid-Sussex, thrives in the open
air. The Ledum-leaved Azalea (A.
ledifolia] is a hardy evergreen shrub,
also from China, with white flowers,
large and, open, like A. indica. It
grows from 5 to 6 feet high, and
London states that in Cornwall, on
Sir Charles Lemon's estate at Carclew,
it was planted in hedges, which flowered
magnificently without the slightest
protection. Though Azaleas are now
in botanical books made synonymous
with Rhododendrons, I have preferred
to deal with them separately here.

AZARA. — Distinct and graceful
Chilian shrubs, or low trees, nearly
hardy in many parts. On east or
west walls they flower freely ; while
in the southern counties, at least, they
do well in the open. Well-drained
loam and the partial shade of taller
shrubs suit them. A. Gillesi is prob-
ably the most handsome, its toothed
leaves resembling in colour and texture
those of the Holly, with the branches
tinged with red. Both in the open air
and under glass it blooms in late
autumn and winter, the flowers small,
and resembling golden catkins. A.
celastrina has rather smaller leaves,
and yellow blossoms. A. integrifolia
has drooping spikes of fragrant yellow
blossoms, which form a dense bush a
few feet in height. A. microphylla is
a graceful evergreen shrub, with many
small flowers, succeeded in autumn by
small orange-red berries. Even quite
near London it makes a good hedge,
and its elegant sprays of glossy leaves
are valuable for cutting in winter.
Among other kinds are A. dentata, a
quick grower ; and A . serrata, with
prettily serrated leaves, and umbels of
yellow blossoms.

AZOLLA. — A . Caroliniana is a very
small and curious water-plant, which
floats on water quite free of soil, the
tufts of delicate green leaves like tiny
emeralds. During summer it will
grow out of doors, and then becomes
bronzed, and perhaps it is prettier
when light green, as it is in the green-
houses or window. Syn. A. rubra.
A. pinnata is a distinct species.

BABIANA (Baboon-root]. — Charming
bulbs of the Iris order, from S. Africa,
allied to Sparaxis and Tritonia, but
having broader foliage, often hairy
and plaited ; they grow from 6 to 12
inches high, with spikes of sometimes
sweetly-scented brilliant flowers rang-

BACCHARIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BAMBUSA.

359

ing in colour from blue to crimson-
magenta. The bulbs should be planted
from September to January, about 4
inches deep and 2 to 4 inches apart, in
light loamy soil thoroughly drained,
with a due south aspect. The early
plantings make foliage in autumn, and
require protection of mats against
frost. Those planted later will only
require a covering of Fern, which
should be removed as the foliage
appears. In wet soils surround the
bulbs with sand, and raise the beds
above the level. Many varieties are
in catalogues, but in the open air their
growth is not satisfactory save in
favoured spots.

BACCHARIS. — Curious evergreen
shrubs mostly from S. America, and
not always hardy with us inland,
though excellent for seaside places,
where they thrive down to the water's
edge. They do best in rather poor
soils and upon dry stony banks, grow-
ing rapidly and giving distinct effect
both of leaf and flower. The various
kinds differ widely from one another,
B. halimifolia (Sea Purslane), the best
known, attaining a height of 6 to 12
feet. B. patagonica (Groundsell Tree)
is handsome in foliage, with white
flower-heads, borne in profusion. It is
said to make an effective hedge-plant.
B. salicina, a shrub of about 6 feet,
from Colorado, comes near halimifolia,
but is hardier. B. Xalapensis and B.
trimera are seldom seen, but well worth
a place in coast gardens.

BAMBUSA (Bamboo}.— There are
some forty or more varieties of these
graceful woody grasses, which are
hardy in all but the coldest parts of
our islands, though best in sheltered
places.

ARUNDINARIA RACEMOSA. — This grows
about 15 feet high in its own country.
Stem smooth and round. Internodes
about 2 inches apart, leaves 2 to 4 inches
in length and narrow, cross veins well
defined. After the trying winter of 1895,
quite green and fresh at Kew. Himalayas.

A. HUMILIS. — About 2 feet to 3 feet high,
with round and green stem, bright ever-
green leaves smooth on both sides, 4^
inches long, three-quarters of an inch
broad, and tapering to a point. A very
pretty plant to form a carpet or isolated
group near rocks.

BAMBUSA PUMILA (Arundinaria). — A
very pretty dwarf Bamboo somewhat like
Arundinaria humilis, but smaller in habit,
the leaves are less broad, shorter, and do
not taper so gradually to a point. The
teeth of the serrated edges are less con-

spicuous, and the lower sheaths are not
so hairy.

ARUNDINARIA HINDSII. — A distinct and
beautiful species. In its first year with
me it has grown to a height "of 6 feet
3 inches, but will evidently attain a
greater stature. The young dark green
stems have a lovely white wax on them
like the bloom on a Grape. The leaves
are 6 inches long by about five-eighths of
an inch across ; they are thicker than in
most Bamboos.

A. JAPONICA. — A fine and valuable
plant, generally grown in gardens under
the name of Bambusa Mttakt. The leaves
are from 8 inches to I foot in length by
about i£ inches, sometimes more, broad.
The upper surface is smooth and shining,
the lower side paler, rather glaucous and
wrinkled ; the edges are finely serrated.

A. SIMONI. — Of this fine species, at Kew,
old-established plants have reached a
height of 1 8 feet. The leaves are from
10 inches to I foot long, slightly hairy,
lanceolate, longitudinally ribbed, ending
in a long narrow point. So far as experi-
ence at present goes, this is the greatest
runner of all the hardy Bamboos. Its
young shoots will appear at a great dis-
tance from the parent plant. It should
be planted apart in the wild garden, where
it may wander at pleasure without injury
to any neighbour.

BAMBUSA PALMATA (Arundinaria). — A
beautiful species, about 5 feet high, con-
spicuous from the size of its leaves, which
are often used by Japanese peasants to
wrap up the bit of salt fish or other con-
diment which they eat with their rice.
These are the chief beauty of the plant,
each from i foot to 13 inches long and
3 inches to 3^ inches broad, tapering
rather suddenly to a very fine point ; the
colour a vivid green on the upper surface,
glaucous on the lower.

B. TESSELLATA. — A very beautiful
species having the largest leaves of any
of the hardy Bamboos. The stem is
about i\ feet high, round, slightly flattened
at the top, the colour a purplish-green,
much hidden by persistent withered
sheaths. The slender new culms spring
gracefully from the carpet of arching
foliage.

ARUNDINARIA NITIDA. — A very lovely
species from N.W. Szechuan. The culms
are purple-black, very slender and round.
The leaves are small, lancet-shaped, and
tessellated. Quite the hardiest of all our
Bamboos.

A. MARMOREA. — A pretty and distinct
little Bamboo, for which I have chosen
the name marmorea on account of the very
peculiar appearance of the young stems,
which are folded in purple sheaths, deli-
cately marbled with a pinkish silver-grey,
through which, near the knots, peep
glimmers of the bright emerald-green or
dark purple of the stem itself. The leaves,

360

BAMBUSA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BAMBUSA.

which are bright green, are about 4^ inches
long by three-eighths to five-eighths of an
inch broad.

PHYLLOSTACHYS HETEROCYCLA. — This is

and partially suppressed internodes at the
base of the stem, which sheathe it in plate
armour like the scales on a tortoise's back.
At about 2 feet or 3 feet from the ground

called by the Japanese Kiko-chiku, or
the " tortoiseshell Bamboo," from the
curious arrangement of the alternately

the nodes are regularly denned, as in other
Bamboos.

P, MARLIACEA. — A rare, handsome

BAMBUSA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BAPTISIA.

36l

species. The only plant of it I possess
has in its third year grown to a height of
8 feet, and promises to become very tall
and vigorous. The stem is a dark green,
shining like enamel ; the internodes at the
base are very close together, not more than
i^ inches to 2 inches.

"P. FASTUOSA. — A very stately and
beautiful plant, quite conspicuous among
its fellows. The leaves are from 5 inches
to 7 inches long by three-quarters of an
inch to i inch in width, tapering to a sharp
point, and markedly constricted at about
an inch from the end, which has the
appearance of a little tongue. Tall,
spreading, gracefully plumed with foliage,
which for richness and beauty of colour is
without a rival.

P. AUREA. — The distinctive name aurea
is not very happily chosen, for there is
nothing golden about the plant, unless it
be the yellow stems, and these are not
peculiar to the variety named.

P. MITIS. — This is the tallest, and in
that respect the noblest, of all the Bamboos
capable of being cultivated in this coun-
try. At Shrubland the culms of plants
imported seven years ago are 19 feet

5 inches high and 4^ inches in circumfer-
ence. In China and Japan it grows to
60 feet high. The stems, some of which
spring out of the ground like spears, are,
when fully developed, beautifully arched.

P. QUILIOI. — A very distinct Bamboo,
introduced from the north of Japan. To
me it appears to have a character alto-
gether its own, and the many botanists
and gardeners to whom I have shown it
have without exception come round to my
opinion. Altogether a notable Bamboo,
growing at Shrubland to a height of 18 feet

6 inches. Syn. Phyllostachys Mazeli.

P. VIRIDI-GLAUCESCENS. — A most ele-
gant and graceful Bamboo, growing to a
great height — nearly 18 feet at Shrub-
land. The root-stock is very active, the
plant being a great runner, while many of
the culms come almost horizontally out
of the ground, giving the plant a very
wide spread.

P. VIOLESCENS. — This is sometimes said
to be a variety of P. viridi-glaucescens, but
quite different both in appearance and
behaviour. It is somewhat more tender,
the leaves being apt to be cut by frost,
which gives the plant an ugly appearance
in winter, but with the spring the culms
are clothed with new foliage, and after all
it is only those shoots which come into
existence in the late autumn which suffer.

P. HENONIS. — To my taste this is the
loveliest of all our Bamboos, and it is
perfectly hardy, bearing up bravely
against our coldest weather. The slender
tall stems are green at first, growing yel-
lower with age, slightly zigzagged. The
root-stock runs rather freely, but it is
to its habit that this Bamboo owes its
surpassing loveliness. The two-year-old

culms, borne down by the weight of their
own foliage, bend almost to the earth in
graceful curves, forming a pretty ground-
work from which the stems of the year
spring up, arching and waving their
feathery fronds, the delicate green leaves
seeming to float in the air.

P. BORYANA. — One of the handsomest
and most vigorous of the hardy Bamboos,
very graceful in its habit. Like P. nigra,
the stems are green during their first year,
but change colour the second year to a
dull brown splashed with large deep purple
or black notches.

P. CASTILLONIS. — A most lovely plant.
The foliage is larger than it is in most of
the Bamboos, some of the leaves being as
much as between 8 inches and 9 inches
long by nearly 2 inches broad. When
they first appear they are striped with
bright orange-yellow, which in time fades
to a creamy white. As the sheaths of the
branchlets are of a very pretty pink, the
plant has a tricoloured effect.

ARUNDINARIA ANCEPS. — A very beau-
tiful Bamboo discovered by Mr Jordan,
superintendent of Regent's Park, in the
stock of a dead nursery gardener, whose
books being lost, it was impossible to
trace its origin. It is probably a Chinese
species. The culms are brown when ripe ;
the leaf-sheaths are hairy, and the petiole
of the leaf is yellow.

A. NOBILIS. — A grand Bamboo, probably
of Chinese origin, growing to a height of
24 feet at Menabilly, in Cornwall. It is
quite hardy, only losing its leaves in early
summer when the new ones are ready to
appear. The tall stems are yellowish in
colour, with very dark purplish nodes, of
which the lower rim is broadly marked
with grey.

BAMBUSA DISTICHA. — A pretty little
dwarf Bamboo. Stem about 2 feet high,
round, very slightly zigzagged ; branches
and leaves distichous ; leaves hairy, especi-
ally at the base, and serrated at the edges
about i£ inches long by three-quarters of
an inch broad, tapering to a point ; leaf-
sheaths hairy ; rhizome inclined to run.
A very distinct little plant, most useful
for a choice corner in a rock garden.

BANKSIA. — Handsome Australian
plants, shrubs, and trees, at one time
much grown under glass, some of them
brilliant in flower. A few kinds are
found to thrive in the open air in Devon
and Dorset. The kinds so far proved
to live in the south of England, at
Tresco and Abbotsbury, are grandis,
serrata, and quercifolia. They should
be given warm soil and the most favour-
able position.

BAPTISIA (False Indigo}.— A vigor-
ous Lupine-like group of perennials
from N. America, forming strong tufts

BARBAREA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BELLIS.

3 to 5 feet high, with sea-green leaves ;
the flowers, mostly of a delicate blue,
in long spikes. B. australis, exaltata,
and alba are the best-known kinds,
and should be placed in the mixed
border in any garden soil, but their
value is not high.

BARBAREA. — Mountain and marsh
cruciferous herbs of the Old World, few
of much garden value, only two varie-
ties being worth growing. The finest
is the double yellow Rocket (B. vulgar is
fl.-pl.}, which is a beautiful and curious
plant. It is about 18 inches high,
flowers bright yellow, from June till
late summer, and often till autumn.
It succeeds in almost any soil, prefer-
ring a rich, light loam. Division.

Barkhausia. See CREPIS.

Bartonia aurea. See MENTZELIA.

BEGONIA ( Elephant' s Ear] . — A
large tropical and sub-tropical family
of plants, many of them of much value
in our hothouses, and, of recent years,
in our open gardens. The Tuberous
Begonia is the most familiar to flower
gardeners, and now plays a large part
in summer bedding. Grouped together
in beds a fine effect is produced, and
the colours vary from the darkest
scarlets and crimsons to the various
shades of rose and pink ; also white and
blush-coloured kinds.

The cultivation of the Begonia is not
difficult. Seedlings raised in March
will make good plants for planting early
in June. One can just prick them off
into pans ; from these, when large
enough, they are put in shallow boxes,
and not disturbed again until planted
out, unless getting overcrowded. The
beds should be well prepared for them,
if the soil is heavy, using plenty of
well-decomposed leaf-mould, and fail-
ing this old Mushroom manure. Dur-
ing the first year those of inferior
quality should be discarded when lifted,
marking the finest for another year.
For the second and after season's dis-
play start the tubers in a gentle heat
in boxes in March, transferring them
to a cold frame or pit in May. A north
frame is best, as the plants make very
free growth, and get a good size for
planting out the first week in June.
The beds should be surfaced with either
a dwarf kind of plant or with Cocoa-nut
fibre. When planted thickly together
use the fibre, which will soon be covered
by the foliage. Begonias planted in
dry positions should always be kept
moist at the root. Damping the beds

overhead as the sun leaves them in the
after part of the day when the weather
is dry and warm will greatly refresh
them. W7hen lifted, the tuberous
varieties require careful attention so
as to prevent the decaying stems from
imparting any ill-effects to the tubers.
Remove these stems as soon as they
can be twisted out without any trouble.
Some growers expose the tubers in a
light, dry, and airy house until the
stems are quite dried up. Later on
the bulbs, when quite at rest, should
be kept in a cool place, neither too
dry nor too moist, but where frost
cannot reach them, being stored in
either Cocoa-nut fibre or silver sand
in shallow boxes until again required
for starting. It is better to have
single than double flowers for bedding
out, and there is no want of good
colours.

A class getting more popular each
year is that called the shrubby set,
these being known as forms of B.
semper florens. They are neat and
shrubby in growth, with an abundance
of rather small leaves, varying in shade.
Conspicuous is Vernon's variety, the
leaves deep crimson to light green, and
pinky blossoms. There are many
varieties, and as easily and similarly
raised as the tuberous kinds. The
plants are, when in beauty, a mass of
bloom, the small flowers almost hiding
the leaves. But many of the kinds are
very dull in colour, and get shabby
towards the end of summer. There are
many uses for them in gardens — as
distinct groups, or as a groundwork to
beds filled with taller plants.

Bellevallia. See HYACINTHUS.

BELLIS (Daisy}. — B. perennis
needs only simple culture, increases
rapidly, and in the spring garden is of
great service in large clumps or masses.
Growers adhere most closely to the old
flat-petalled white and the old quilled
red, but besides these there are the
flat-petalled Pink Beauty, a charming
pink of the quilled class ; Rob Roy,
a deep rich red or crimson quilled
kind ; White Globe, with large white
quilled petals, and many others. Of
the yellow-blotched or Aucuba-leaved
kinds, one, aucubfcelia is pretty, but
rather tender. It will do well in winter
on a free porous soil, and in summer in a
cool shady border, if transplanted
there. The giant or crown-flowered
Daisies, though vigorous, are much less
free of bloom. They are best suited
for mixed borders.

BELLIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. BERBERIS.

Propagation is simple, and may be
done in spring and autumn. Pull the
plants to pieces, dibbling them in six
inches apart, or a little closer.

BELLIUM. — Plants of the same
order as the Daisy (Compositae), of
which some three or four forms are
in cultivation. Although from the
south of Europe they are hardy on the
rock garden, but are apt to exhaust
themselves in flowering. B. belli-
dioides, B. crassifolium, and B. minu-
tum are much alike and are easily
grown in light soil. B. rofundifolium
ccerulescens (Blue Daisy) is a native of
Morocco, and a pretty rock plant.
Division or by seed.

BERBERIDOPSIS (Coral Barberry}-
— B. corallina is a beautiful evergreen
climbing shrub from Chili, hardy
enough for open walls in the southern
counties. It has large spiny leaves
very much like some Barberries, the
flowers bright coral-red, hanging in
clusters on slender stalks, and borne
for several weeks in summer. It is
charming for a wall, preferring partial
shade, such as that of a wall facing
east or west, and does best in peaty or
sandy soil. Seed or layers.

BERBERIS (Barberry}. — A brilliant
family of shrubs so numerous that
perhaps no one garden can show a
half of their beauty. From many
parts of the world the variety is almost
amazing of summer leafing Barberries,
each group containing plants of the
highest value, hardy in our islands, too,
as some native plants, and not only
for the garden or rock garden, but also
for copses and woodland, in which
some evergreen kinds may be used
with fine effect. The fruits also are
among the most brilliant in colour and
graceful in form we have, as is shown
in our one native kind, the foliage of
which is often fine in colour and form
too. The summer leafing kinds take
on a splendid colour in autumn.

B. AQUIFOLIUM. — A sturdy evergreen of
N.W. America and parts of the Rocky
Mountains, quite hardy in our islands,
and useful both for the pleasure garden
and as a cover plant in woods. It is easy
of increase in most soils, but does best in
peaty or leafy soils. There are several
forms, and all valuable.

B. DARWINI (Darwin's B.). — A plant of
Chili of great beauty, vigorous, tall, and
charming in flower, and in my own garden
often brilliant in fruit. No more beautiful
hardy shrub. It may not be hardy in all
districts, but is so beautiful that it deserves
a place in all where it thrives. Seed.

B. DICTYOPHYLLA. — Under cultivation
it is a spreading bush, 4 feet to 5 feet high/
with glaucous stems. The yellow flowers
appear singly, or in pairs, from the leaf-
axils in May, and they are succeeded in
autumn by bright red fruits. China.

B. DULCIS. — Generally a dwarf bush,
quite hardy and free. There is a tall as
well as a dwarf form. Both are easily
grown, but are not quite as attractive as
some of the newer kinds.

B. EMPETRIFOLIA. — A dwarf and grace-
ful shrub, very hardy and excellent for
rock gardens or banks, and interesting as
one of the parents of the handsome
stenophylla.

B. FORTUNE:. — A distinct evergreen
species, but though said to do well in
southern districts, I have found it rather
tender and a poor kind.

B. GAGNEPAINII. — Forms a dense bush
4 feet to 6 feet high, with narrowly lanceo-
late, prickly leaves, each i£ inches to
-z\ inches long, and about \ inch broad.
The bright yellow flowers borne in dense
racemose clusters are followed by black
fruits. When seen in good condition this
is one of the handsomest of the Berberis.
China.

B. JAPONICA. — A noble evergreen with
very fine foliage in our country. It thrives
best in peaty or leaf soil and partial shade,

Berberis japonic a.

in which conditions it is often very hancj-
some for effect.

BERBERIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BERCHEMIA.

B. NEPALENSIS (Nepal Barberry) is dis-
tinct from the last, and, being much rarer,
one cannot be sure of its hardiness for
northern districts. It is a very fine plant
in foliage, but seems a bit tender in the
south ; if tried in woods, might have a
better chance. It is a noble evergreen,
best tried in half-shaded spots.

B. PINNATA. — A very handsome upright
^evergreen bush, profuse in flower, and
growing well in most soils. A great plant
for garden or covert. I am not quite sure
if this ought to be accepted as a distinct
species or as a variety of the Rocky
Mountain one, but in my own garden it
has proved a very handsome and vigorous
evergreen, full of flower in the spring. It
is a good plant for the copse and the wild
garden anywhere. N.W. America.

B. POLYANTHA. — This grows from 5 to
10 feet high, erect and much branched ;
the flowers rich, clear yellow, freely pro-
duced iii pendulous lax panicles each 6
inches to 9 inches long. The fruits oblong,
dull salmon-red, with a pale glaucous
bloom. Native of Szechuan, W. China.

B. SARGENTIANA (Sargent's Barberry). —
A hardy evergreen kind with yellow
flowers and black fruit, as yet not" much
known, but well deserves a trial.

B. STAPFIANA. — This is somewhat sug-
gestive of the charming Berberis Wilsonts,
but is quite distinct therefrom. The
specimen shown was a dense bush, some
4 feet high and more through, the shoots,
from which the greater number of leaves
had fallen, being freely furnished with
roundish berries of a bright red translu-
cence.

B. STENOPHYLLA. — A garden hybrid
between B. Darwini and B. empetri folia.
The long slender branches droop gracefully
on all sides, the bush being profusely laden
with yellow blossoms. It is much hardier
than B. Darwini, and seldom suffers from
severe frosts, and grows freely in ordinary
soils.

B. *THUNBERGI. — A Japanese Berberis
well worth planting for the sake of its
coral-red berries and the brilliant tints
of the leaves previous to falling in autumn.
The leaves are small, and turn to a bright
orange-scarlet towards the end of Sep-
tember. It is an easy flowerer, and the
blossoms are usually at their best about
mid-May. The fruits are smaller than
those of the common Barberry, and a
little deeper in colour. It thrives in any
ordinary garden soil. China.

B. VERRUCULOSA is a dwarf-growing
plant i foot to 2 feet high ; semi-prostrate
in habit, with ornate prickly leaves,
shining above and glaucous below, the
golden yellow flowers being followed by
violet-black fruits,

B. VIRESCENS. — A handsome upright
shrub with showy leaves that take on
fine colour in autumn. The young bark
is also a good colour, which makes it an
excellent plant for grouping. It grows
very well in any soil. Is a native of the
mountains of India.

B. VULGARIS (Common Barberry) is,
when in fruit, very attractive, the long,
drooping racemes of bright scarlet berries
being produced very abundantly. There
are several named varieties of it. A selec-
tion should include the white and violet-
berried kinds, sanguinolenta, and the
purple-leaved kind, a very ornamental
shrub, the foliage of which is of a purple
hue. It is a very effective shrub when
grouped. It is the only native kind of
our country, and is found wild over a
large part of Europe, N. Africa, and C.
Asia also. It is an interesting shrub in
any position, but its full beauty is never
seen unless it is grouped in the full sun.

B WALLICHIANA.— Has glossy evergreen
foliage, with which the clear yellow
flowers contrast finely. It is hardy,
though liable to be injured by very severe
frost. It thrives in ordinary soil and in
any position.

B. WILSON^E (Wilson's B.). — This came
to us from China in recent years, and is
one of the most brilliant shrubs we have
ever had for the rock or choice shrub
garden, flowering and fruiting early, and
very graceful in form.

BERCHEMIA. — A small group of
shrubby climbing plants or low trees,
of the Buckthorn order, found in parts
of Asia, Africa, and N. America, and
for the most part too tender for our
gardens, though the following are
worth growing : — •

B. VOLUBILIS (Supple Jack) from Caro-
lina. A vigorous and graceful summer-
leafing climber of 10 to 20 feet, with bright
glossy green oval leaves, sharply pointed
and slightly waved. Inconspicuous green
and white flowers appear from the leaf-
axils and the tips of the shoots, in June,
and these are followed by oval fleshy fruits
of a bluish-black colour. This species is
hardy almost anywhere in Britain.

A nearly allied plant, B. racemosa, from
Japan, is less freely climbing in habit,
with more rounded leaves, greenish flowers
and showy fruits turning from bright red
to black. There is a form of this kind in
which the leaves are heavily variegated,
but this is tender and needs partial shade.

The Berchemias grow in any good
garden soil, and may be used to cover
tree-stumps and roots, arbours, trellis,
and the like. Increase by seeds, root-
cuttings, layers, or cuttings of the
ripened shoots, rooted under glass in
the autumn,

6ESCHORNERIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BETA.

365

Berkheya. See STOB^A.

BE SCHORNERIA.— Mexican plants
allied to the Agaves, but hardier and
more easily grown. They perish in-
land, but in warm shore-gardens several
kinds thrive in the open air, their fine
bluish-green leaves, like those of a

crimson as to make a striking picture.
They need all the sun they can have, a
light rich soil, and a dry place such as
the crest of a sheltered bank or the foot
of a warm wall. Several kinds have
been tried successfully, such as B.
yuccoides, B. bvacteata, and B. tonelii,
but all are similar in effect, though

Weeping Birch.

Yucca but more fleshy, without spines,
and often a yard long and several
inches wide, create an effect unlike any
other hardy plant. When well estab-
lished they bloom freely, and though
the flowers are only small and mostly
green in colour, the large leafy bracts,
the flower-stalks, and the great arching
stems themselves, are of so vivid a

seldom seen except in the shore-gardens
of the south and west.

BETA (Cilian Beet}. — B.cicla varie-
gata is a variety of common Beet, the
leaves being more than 3 feet long,
vivid in colour, their midribs varying
from dark waxy orange to vivid crim-
son. The plant should be sown in a

366

BETULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. BILLIARDIERA.

gently heated frame, and afterwards
planted out in rich ground. It varies
much from seed, and the most striking
individuals should be selected before
the plants are put out. Used sparingly,
its effect is often perhaps more telling,
but it is a mistake to use this or any
such vegetables in the flower garden.
Other varieties of the common Beet
are misused in the garden for the sake
of their dark colours, but no artistic
flower gardening is possible where such
vegetables out of place are used.

BETTJLA (Birch}. — Trees of cold and
Arctic regions, often forming vast
forests. Sometimes, in the extreme
north, even the tall and graceful
Birches of more temperate lands take
a bushy form, and there are also
Arctic and northern species which are
small and give us little effect or
interest except for botanic gardens.
The Birches, generally, are easy to
grow and should be raised from seed,
in which way they come very easily,
excepting what are called the garden or
nursery varieties. These are grafted,
and might be propagated by layers, if
anybody would take the trouble, and
in this way might be longer lived and
useful in some ways. Owing to the
beauty of our native species in all sorts
of positions north and south, we have
not lost so much by neglecting the
American species, but it would be
difficult to expect any of them to show
anything finer in effect than such
woods as we see in Northern and Cen-
tral Europe, of Birch alone, the silvery
stems rising out of heath or Ferns.
Among the greater, or tree, Birches
after our own (including its varieties
or allies, verrucosa and pubescens) are
the Canoe Birch (B. papyri/era) or
Paper Birch, a forest tree of N.
America, which is hardy in Britain ;
the River Birch (B. nigra), also a tall
tree of N. America ; the Cherry or Sweet
Birch (B. lento), which is sometimes
80 feet high and also of northern dis-
tribution (Canada, Newfoundland) ;
the Yellow Birch (B. lutea), sometimes
100 feet high ; the Western Birch (B.
occidentals), a medium-sized tree of
W. America and British Columbia,
and the White Birch (B. populifolia),
also a slender tree of Canada and the
Northern States, with tremulous leaves
like some of the Aspens. B. maxi-
mowiczi is a distinct and fine Japanese
kind which grows very high and with
a trunk 2 to 3 feet in diameter, the
bark orange-coloured, the leaves very

large. B. ermani is also a common
kind in Japan.

Having got a collection from
America, I planted them by some
ponds where I thought they might
have a better chance, as they often
grow well near water in their native
country. I lost a good many of them,
not knowing the cause until I happened
to pull up some of the dead young
trees, when I found the main roots
were all barked round by the common
water-rat, working below the line of
the snow during a hard winter.

As regards the positions of Birches
in a pleasure-ground, there is not a
more graceful lawn tree than the cut-
leaved and weeping kinds, the more
so where trees of light shade are
desired. The American tree kinds
might take their places in the mixed
woodlands of a country place, or by
streams or pools.

BIGELOVIA (Plumed Golden Rod).—
Shrubby or half-shrubby perennials
coming from the dry plains and moun-
tain slopes of the 'Western States of
America, as yet little tried in Britain.
They thrive in dry soils and sunny
places, where they are not overgrown
by stronger plants.

B. ARBORESCENS is a shrubby plant,
covered with long, narrow leaves, and
crowded heads of yellow flowers 6 to 8 feet
high, and rather pretty.

B. BOLANDERI is about a foot high with
viscid stems covered with dense white
wool ; its flowers are a bright yellow.

B. CERUMINOSA is a strongly-scented
shrub. The leaves are sticky and needle-
like, and the flowers a pretty pale yellow.

B. COOPERI is a low-growing plant with
very narrow, almost needle-like, leaves,
and heads of yellow flowers.

B. DOUGLASII varies from i to 6 feet in
height, forming a stout, shrubby column
or pyramid, with narrow leaves and bright
yellow flowers.

B. GRAVEOLENS, the best-known species,
is of shrubby habit and from i to 6 feet
high, much branched and thickly covered
with narrow light green leaves about
2 inches long and covered with white silky
wool. The flowers appear as heads of
4 to 6 inches, very fragrant and of a pale
yellow, lasting from the middle of summer
to late autumn.

Bignonia. See TECOMA.

BILLIARDIERA LONGIFLORA

(Purple Apple-berry). — An elegant
climbing plant, hardy in the southern
counties. Its narrow oblong leaves
show its purple-blue berries to advan-
tage as they dangle in profusion in

BLETlA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BORONIA.

367

autumn. The flowers are of a greenish-
white colour, and are not so showy as
are the berries. The Tasmanian Apple-
berry is a charming shrub for a low
wall, or it may be grown in pots
plunged outside and trained on old
Bamboo stems, so as to be taken
indoors when the fruits are coloured.
It is readily increased either by cuttings
or layers, or by seeds sown as soon
as the berries shrivel on the stems.
B. cymosa is also in cultivation.
Australia.

Blechnum. See LOMARIA.

BLETIA. — B. hyacintha is a beau-
tiful Chinese Orchid, with ribbed
leaves, and slender flower-stems i foot
or more high, bearing about half a
dozen showy flowers of a deep rosy
pink. It is hardy, and thrives in
sheltered and shaded situations in peat
borders in winter. In cold districts
it would be well to cover the roots. It
is very interesting for the bog garden
or a bed of hardy Orchids.

Blitum. See CHENOPODIUM.

BLUMENBACHIA.— B. coronata is
an interesting annual flower, showy,
the foliage elegant, and the growth
dwarf, the structure of the flowers
singular. Its culture is that of a hardy
annual, but it is better sown in spring
than in autumn. S. America.

BOCCONIA (Plume Poppy}. — B.
cordata is a handsome and vigorous
perennial of the Poppy order, growing
in erect tufts 5 to over 8 feet high, with
numerous flowers in very large panicles.
It is best in the shrubbery in ordinary
garden soil, in bold groups. Seed.

Boltonia. See ASTER.

BOMAREA. — Curious and handsome
plants of the Amaryllis order allied to
Alstrcemeria, requiring greenhouse tem-
perature so far as now known. Mr
Archer Hind, of Newton Abbot, has
B. edulis out of doors, and it has
flowered well after surviving a tem-
perature of 25° below freezing. Best
in free sandy or peaty soil.

BONGARDIA.— B. rauwolfi is a
plant of the Barberry order, though
remarkably unlike one, as it has a
Cyclamen-like root-stem, from the
apex of which spring the flower stems
6 inches high, bearing roundish golden
blossoms from f to i inch across, which
droop gracefully from slender stalks.
Though now rare, this beautiful plant
was among our earliest garden plants.
Found from the Greek Archipelago to

Afghanistan, and hardy on dry soils.
Seed. Syn. Leontice.

The Plume Poppy (Bacccnia cordata).

BORAGO (Borage).— B. orientalis is
a vigorous perennial, bearing pale blue
flowers early in spring, having very
large leaves through the summer.
Easily naturalised in any rough place,
but not worth a place in the garden
proper, being coarse and taking up
much space. The common Borage is
very pretty, naturalised in dry places
or banks, where it might often be
welcome for use as well as beauty.
There is a white variety. B. la xi flora
is . pretty, with pendent blue flowers ;
it grows very freely on sandy soils.

Borkhausia. See CREPIS.

BORONIA. — These are usually
treated as greenhouse plants, but
succeed in the open in the south-
west, according to Mr Fitzherbert.
At Tregothnan, at the end of March,
two bushes of B. megastigma, planted
in front of a wall, the larger of which
was about '3 feet in height, were

368 BOUSSINGAULTIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BRODI^A.

coming into profuse bloom, and already
scented the air with the first of their
brown-yellow drooping cups. Aus-
tralia.

Botryanthus. See MUSCARI.

BOUSSINGAULTIA (Madeira Vine}.
— B. baselloides is a luxuriant trailing
plant of the Spinach order with shoots
1 6 to 20 feet long, flowering late in
autumn, the flowers small, white,
fragrant, and becoming black as they
fade. The fine green leaves are shin-
ing, fleshy, and slightly wavy ; stems
twining, tinged with red, growing with
extraordinary rapidity, and bearing
many tubercles. Suited only for dry
banks and chalk-pits, associated with
climbing and trailing plants. In-
creased by tubercles of the stem,
which break with the least shock, but
the smallest fragment will vegetate.
S. America.

BOWKERIA. — B. triphylla is a
scarce shrub from S. Africa, hardy in
a few sheltered places along the
south coast. It grows to a height of
7 feet or more, with wrinkled leaves
and white flowers appearing singly or
in loose clusters from the leaf-axils
during July and August. They are
hooded and pouched like a Calceolaria
flower, and about an inch across every
way.

BRACHYCOME (Swan River Daisy}.
— B. iberidifolia is a pretty Australian
annual of simple culture, about 8 to
12 inches high, the flowers about i
inch across, and bright blue, with a
paler centre. Sow in cool house in
September as soon as ready, prick off
four or five in a 4-inch pot, keep in
cold pits during winter, and guard
against damp. Pot on again in March
singly into 4-inch pots, and at end of
April plant out into open borders ; or
sow on slight hot-bed in March, prick
out into pits for transplanting into
open in May ; or sow in open in April
and May.

BRACHYGLOTTIS REPANDA.— A
New Zealand shrub, with fine foliage,
deeply toothed ; of a deep green,
mottled with dark purple on the upper
side and silvery-white beneath. As
many of the leaves on a shrub invari-
ably display their undersides, the
sharp contrast between the white and
the deep green is striking. The leaves
are nearly a foot in length and 8 inches
in breadth. In the small state they
are ivory-white on both sides. The
flowers are said to be minute and

inconspicuous, but the shrub is not
apparently a free bloomer, as a speci-
men that has grown at Kingswear,
S. Devon, for six years, and is now
5 feet 6 inches in height, has shown no
sign of blossom up to the present. It
appears to be quite hardy in the south-
west. Syn. Senecio Foster i.

BRASSICA. — Some forms of the
Cabbage, particularly the variegated
Kales, are used in the flower garden for
winter effect, where people are ignorant
of what a flower garden means — in*
winter even a beautiful thing to those
who know how to make it so. The
odour of such things about a house
after a hard frost should be enough
of itself to condemn them. And as
for beauty, a corner of a labourer's
garden with a few Snowdrops and
Hepaticas is worth all the displays of
the floral kaleyard ever seen.

BRA VGA (Scarlet Twinflower}.—B.
geminiflora is a pretty Mexican bulbous
plant of the Amaryllis order. From
i to 2 feet high, the flower stems stout
and erect, bearing on the upper part
numerous pairs of nodding tubular
flowers of a rich scarlet outside, but
inclined to yellow within. It succeeds
well in warm sheltered situations in
borders of light and well-drained soil,
but requires some protection over the
bulbs in winter. It flowers in autumn,
and remains a long time in bloom.

BREVOORTIA( Crimson Satin-
flower}. — B. coccinea is a beautiful
bulbous flower of the Lily order, also
known as B. I da- Mai. It is one of
the prettiest Californian plants. The
flowers grow on stems, i|- to 2 feet
high, and are tubular and of a deep
crimson-red, the lips a vivid green.
It succeeds best in friable loam.
Plant in October, and the roots may
remain undisturbed for several years.
Offsets and seed.

BRIZA (Quaking Grass}. — A grace-
ful family of grasses, American and
European. B. maxima is one of the
handsomest, growing 12 to 18 inches
high ; may be sown in the open in
March in any garden soil, is quite
hardy and graceful while growing, and
useful for decoration either green or
dried. B. media (Common Quaking
Grass) is smaller, 9 to 15 inches high.
Borders. Seed.

BRODLEA (Brodie's Lily or Cali-
fornian Hyacinth}. — A charming family
of N. American liliaceous plants.

BROMUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BUDDLEIA.

369

B. CONGESTA has the stems long and
wiry, the flowers in a dense umbel ;
purplish-blue in colour, and very lasting.
B. alba is a pretty white-flowered variety.
B. capitata much resembles this kind.

B. GRANDIFLORA. — This is an old and
pretty plant, about 5 inches high, with
deep purplish-blue flowers in a loose umbel
in July. At the time of flowering the
foliage is often withered, and to hide the
nakedness of the stems it is sometimes best
planted among other low-growing plants.

B. HOWELLI. — This pretty species has
flowers in a fine umbel, bell-shaped and
milky white. A beautiful variety of it
(lilacina) has delicate bluish flowers,
retaining its fine deep green foliage at the
time of flowering, and throwing up sturdy
stems about 2 feet high, crowned by large
flat umbels of well-shaped flowers.

B. LAX A is a very old garden plant, of
which there are several varieties, not only
varying in colour, but in the size of the
flowers and the umbels.

B. MINOR, probably a variety of the
foregoing, is very pretty ; the scape is not
more than an "inch high, about fifteen
flowers in the umbel ; the colour purplish-
blue, with a lighter centre.

B. PEDUNCULARIS is a pretty, white-
flowered species, with large umbel of
porcelain- white blossoms.

These bulbs may be planted from
October until December, and in mild
localities will pass the winter in the open
unprotected. In Holland, where the
winters are often very severe, they are
covered with reeds or straw at the
approach of the cold season. This cover-
ing will keep the cold off, the soil open,
and ward off the effects of a treacherous
winter sun.

BROMUS (Brome Grass). — At least
one of this large genus of grasses is
very graceful and worthy of culture —
that is B. brizceformis, a hardy biennial
about 2 feet high, with large, graceful,
and drooping heads. It is more valu-
able for cutting and drying than any
of the Quaking Grasses. It may be
grown as an annual sown out of doors
in spring, and autumnal-sown plants
would be best in warm soils.

BROUSSONETIA PAPYRIFERA

(Paper Mulberry). — A small summer-
leafing tree allied to the Mulberry,
and somewhat similar in its broadly-
rounded head and the large and softly
hairy leaves. The shape of the leaf
is, however, most variable even upon
the same tree, some being entire and
others deeply lobed, while there are
varieties with leaves crisped, varie-
gated, and variously cut. The catkin-
like flowers are dull red, and with a
scent of Cowslips, coming in May

either as short spikes or rounded
fleshy balls, according as they are
male or female, while the fruits consist
of small fleshy nutlets. Though hardy
in the south of Britain, where it makes
a shapely lawri tree, in the north it
needs shelter, and is safest against a
wall. China.

BROWALLIA.— Annual plants of
the Nightshade order, chiefly Peruvian.
B. elata has usually been regarded only
as a beautiful pot-plant, but it does
well in the open air, either in a bed by
itself or in large patches with other
things. It supplies a shade of colour
difficult to obtain, and is useful to cut
from. Sow the seeds in March, prick
off the young plants when large enough
to handle, grow them on till they are
strong, and plant out in May. There
is a white variety equally useful. B.
Roezli is a dense compact bush, 16 to
20 inches high, with shining green
leaves. The flowers are of a delicate
azure blue, or are white with a yellow
tube, and are unusually large for the
genus. They come in uninterrupted
succession from spring till autumn.
Rocky Mountains.

BRUCKENTHALIA SPICULIFO-
LIA.— A pretty little Heath-like plant
with pale purple flowers under i foot
high. It is a plant for the rock garden
in free peaty soils. S.E. Europe.

Brugmansia. See DATURA.

BRYANTHUS.— A rare and inter-
esting group of northern and Arctic
Heath-like plants, few of which are in
cultivation. B. erectus is a dwarf
evergreen Ericaceous bush, from 8
inches to I foot high, bearing pretty
pinkish flowers. Said to be a hybrid.
In fine peat it grows well, and is best
on the rock garden or among dwarf
alpine shrubs. Among the known
kinds are Breweri, glanduliflorus,
gmelini, all peat and rock garden plants.
Sometimes our own native Menziesia
ccerula is included under this name.

BUDDLEIA (Orange Ball Tree).—B.
globosa is a favourite shrub from Chili,
often seen in the southern coast gar-
dens, where it is hardier, and in
Ireland ; the flowers, balls of bright
yellow, are showy in early summer.
It is of rapid growth, and if badly cut
down during a severe winter generally
grows again in the following summer.
B. Colvillei is a tender Himalayan kind,
with bunches of pale rose-coloured
flowers. It is a shrub for mild districts
only. Other species less satisfactory

2 A

370 BULBINELLA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

BUXUS.

for open-air culture are B. crispa, B.
Lindleyana. B. albi flora is from Cen-
tral China, with flowers in long spikes.
The name is a mistake, as the flowers
are mauve. It is a handsome plant,
and promises to be hardy and free.
B. variabilis is a native of the moun-
tains of China. It is a large shrub,
8 to 10 or more feet high, variable in
foliage, and with flowers densely
crowded in globose heads peduncled
in the axils of the uppermost leaves,
and which vary in colour from pink to

Buphthalmum speciosum.

pale lilac, with an orange throat. Some
forms of this, Veitchiana and Magni-
fied, are very free and beautiful. These
B. variabilis forms are best pruned in
March, or even later.

BULBINELLA HOOKERI. — Also
known as Anthericum and Chryso-
bactron, this graceful member of the
Lily order is well suited to either
border or rockwork. The plant forms
a rosette of linear sheathing leaves,
from which columnar spikes i to 2 feet
high, bearing bright yellow starry
flowers in a dense raceme, and having
the aspect of a miniature Eremurus,
issue. Prefers a deep rich loam.
Flowers in June. Plant 3 inches
deep. Seeds or division. New Zealand.

BULBOCODIUM (Spring Meadow
Saffron). — B. vernum is a pretty

liliaceous bulb from 4 to 6 inches
high, and one of the earliest of flowers,
sending up large rosy-purple flower-
buds, distinct in colour. The tubular
flowers are nearly 4 inches long, and
are usually prettiest in the bud state.
Easily increased by dividing the bulbs
in July or August, and replanting them
from 4 to 6 inches apart. Alps of
Europe.

BUPHTHALMUM.— B. speciosum is
a bold, free, and showy perennial,
hardy, and growing in any soil, with
large heart-shaped leaves in great
tufts, and, in summer and autumn,
handsome heads of showy yellow
flowers with dark centres. An excel-
lent plant for shrubberies and covering
the ground here and there in bold
masses, as it grows so close that it
keeps the weeds down, and in such
ways also gives a better effect than in
small tufts in the mixed border. Cen-
tral Europe. Division. Syn. Telekia
speciosa.

BURSARIA SPINOSA.— Mr E. A.
Bowles describes this as growing at
Lanarth, " the most southern garden
in England." "A freely - branched,
small tree about 15 feet high ; the
stems are slender for its height, and
so freely clothed with silvery green
tufts of lichen that even should it
never bear flowers it would be a beau-
tiful object in any garden." When
Mr Bowles saw it in autumn it was so
full of flower that it looked like a
graceful spout of white spray, and as
though it was trying to imitate some
of the wonderful effects of the sea-wash
on stormy days. The flowers appear
in panicles at the ends of the shoots,
and in this case every growth is bearing
its feathery head of blossoms, so that
they arch out in a singularly graceful
manner. — The Garden, nth October
1919.

Bursaria spinosa thrives very well
in Devonshire and the West of England,
but elsewhere perhaps it would be best
to begin with it against a wall.

BUTOMUS (Flowering Rush).~-B.
umbellatus is a handsome native water-
plant, often very fine in a rich, muddy
soil, and hardy and free to flower.
Common by some river-banks, and
growing with water-side weeds in
garden ponds and lakes, flowering in
summer rose-red in bold umbels. Divi-
sion.

BUXUS (Box). —-This beautiful bush
grows wild on some of our southern
chalk hills, and is much cultivated in

CACCINIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CALCEOLARIA

371

gardens as an edging, and also in
shrubberies. The beauty of its habit
is seldom seen in gardens, owing to
being too much crowded, but seen
wild its habit is most graceful, and it
might be well to secure the same
beauty of habit by planting in groups
upon exposed knolls. Almost all the
• species and varieties have variegated
forms, which, though pretty, are not so
good as the natural forms. B. sem-
pervirens (the Common Box) from its
close bushy habit is one of the most
useful Evergreens for garden hedges.
It may be pruned or clipped into any
shape. While there are few soils in
which it will not thrive, it prefers such
as are light, with a warm gravelly
subsoil. Among the species is Japon-
ica, a dwarf form, but hardier. The
Minorca Box (B. balearica) is a native
of islands in the Mediterranean, as
well as Italy and Turkey, where it
forms a fine tree of from 60 to 80 feet
in height. The leaves are larger than
those of the Common Box, and when
exposed to the sun are of a lighter
green, but it only succeeds well in
warm, well-sheltered situations, with a
dry soil and a warm subsoil. Other
species are Harlandi, microphylla, and
Wallichiana, but few of these so
precious as the Common Box. The
variegated forms are never so good as
the green.

CACCINIA GLAUCA. — A dwarf
hardy perennial belonging to the
Borage family from the highlands of
Persia. About 9 inches high, with
sparingly branched, succulent stems
and glaucous leaves, covered with
stiff hairs and short terminal racemes
of flowers about half an inch in dia-
meter, resembling in form that of
Borage.

CACTUS. — Various plants belonging
to the Cactus order of plants have
proved hardy in England. Opuntia,
Echinocereus, Mammillaria, and Echin-
opsis are among the hardiest. Pretty
effects are shown by some Cacti in the
open air in Southern England, the
plants blooming freely when fully
exposed in the sun on a warm rock
garden, though the loss of the sun
of their native plains is against their
being very happy in Britain.

It is well to place Cacti so that they
may be safe from injuries, apart from
climate, and the best places are, as a
rule, on well-drained ledges in the rock
garden. In effect they seem out of
place in an English garden.

CAESALPINIA JAPONICA. — A

graceful and distinct summer-leafing
shrub, one of a genus usually tropical,
but this is hardy in the country around
London. It has hard prickles, leaves
a foot long and very graceful, and hand-
some yellow flowers in racemes. Does
best in good free soil, and is excellent
for dry banks, and in Midland and cold
districts deserves a south wall. Seeds.

Calampelis. See ECCREMOCARPUS.

CALANDRINIA (Rock Purslane).—
Dwarf annual or perennial plants of
the Purslane order. Few are very
effective for gardens ; some are bril-
liant border or rock plants, thriving
in warm soils. C. discolor is a beau-
tiful S. American plant, from i to i£
feet high, with fleshy leaves, pale green
above and purple beneath, and bright
rose flowers in a long raceme, i| inches
across. C. grandiflora is a handsome
annual with showy blossoms. It
thrives in a warm and good loam, and
blooms throughout the autumn. C.
oppositifolia is a distinct plant, and is
well marked by its larger, very thick,
succulent leaves and delicate white
flowers. C. speciosa has flowers from
£ to i inch across, purple-crimson ;
on sunny mornings they open fully,
closing early in the afternoon. C!
umbellata is a distinct and pretty
plant, the flower dazzling magenta-
crimson. It does well in sandy peat
or in other light earth, and is perennial
on dry soils and in chinks in a well-
drained rock garden. Seed sown in
pots or in the open air in fine sandy
soil. Chili.

CALCEOLARIA (Slipper Flower).—
Handsome herbs or low shrubs of
the Foxglove order, mostly from S.
America, many of high garden value,
but few hardy. In the London dis-
trict many of the varieties die from
disease, or are short-lived as regards
bloom, but the handsome C. amplexi-
canlis, with its bold habit and lemon-
yellow flowers, is always a favourite.

The best time for propagating the
shrubby varieties is the end of Sep-
tember and October. Cuttings of
recent growth of 3 inches or so long
are the best, and if made to a joint in
the usual way and inserted in sandy
soil in a cold frame, will, if kept close
and fairly moist, root to almost cent,
per cent. When rooted ventilate
freely. Kept moderately dry, the
young plants will pass an ordinary
winter with impunity. In February

372 CALCEOLARIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CALCEOLARIA.

the plants should be potted singly or
transplanted, in order to make bushy
examples for bedding out in due course.

Apart from the varieties, a number
of species are of some merit for the
flower garden. The greater number
inhabit mountain valleys, and ascend
to an elevation of from 13,000 to 14,000
feet in S. America.

C. ALBA. — One of the most attractive,
with narrow dark green leaves, slightly
toothed. The flowers, produced in
branched racemes, are small and pure
white. The whole plant is somewhat

C. JOHN INNES. — A remarkably fine
plant raised at the John Innes Horticul-
tural Institute, Surrey, the result of
crossing C. plantaginea and C. polyrrhiza.
In habit it closely resembles C. plantaginea,
forming a comparatively compact mass,
increasing by short side growths ; the
leaves are intermediate, narrower than
those of C. plantaginea, but not showing
the distinct petiole of C. polyrrhiza. The
flowers, produced in pairs, and carried on
wiry stems each 9 inches to a foot in
height, are longer than in either of the
parents, the pouch widening as it expands,
becoming somewhat wedge-shaped. The

Calandrinia oppositifolia.

viscid or clammy. This makes an inter-
esting wall plant, and is worth persevering
with where good plants are appreciated.

C. AMPLEXICAULIS. — A fine kind with
soft green leaves clasping the stem and
many lemon-yellow flowers. Owing to
its tall habit it groups well with various
plants, and it is handsome in the flower
garden in autumn. Ecuador.

C. HYSSOPIFOLIA. — One of the best of
the dwarf kinds, bearing loose clusters of
lemon-yellow blossoms from early summer
till autumn, the foliage resembling that
of Hyssop. "Ecuador.

colour is bright yellow, with a few brown
spots on the underside of the pouch.

C. KELLYANA. — A curious hardy hybrid,
with short downy stems, 6 to 9 inches
high, flowers about an inch across, yellow
with numerous small brown dots top of
the stems. Its foliage resembles a Mimu-
lus, creeping along the ground, and it is
a very interesting dwarf rock garden
plant.

C. PAVONII. — A noble kind, from 2 to
4 feet high, with large light green, much-
wrinkled foliage, bearing large, pale
yellow, slipper-shaped blossoms. It is a

CALLA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CALLISTEPHUS. 373

fine object against a warm south wall,
but at the approach of winter it should
either be lifted or protected. Peru.

C. PLANTAGINEA. — A low-growing plant
spreading by means of short side growths ;
the leaves, formed in rosettes, are broadly
ovate, with toothed margins and attain
a considerable size in moist positions.
The flowers, produced on slender stems,
9 inches to a foot high, are of a fine bright
yellow.

C. POLYRRHIZA increases rapidly by
means of wide-spreading rhizomes, and
quickly finds its way into conditions which
suit it. At Glasnevin, where it was origin-
ally planted in a small bog, it spread up
a bank on one side and established itself
among the roots of ferns growing there ;
it appears to like rather drier conditions
than C. plantaginea. The leaves are long
and narrowed into a petiole, and are softly
hairy on both surfaces. The flowers,
produced singly on slender stems, have a
rounded " pouch " yellow with numerous
reddish-brown spots underneath.

C. VIOLACEA. — A distinct kind, with
small helmet-shaped flowers, rich purple
and spotted ; succeeds well on warm
borders or the rock garden, and, if slightly
protected, withstands mild winters in the
south. Chili.

CALENDULA OFFICINALIS (Pot Marigold).
— A hardy biennial ; one of the best for
autumn and winter flowering. The petals
were formerly used to flavour dishes in old
English cookery. For late blooming, seed
should be sown in July. The plants sow
themselves freely, and may be sown in the
open ground either in spring or autumn.
There are now pretty varieties.

CALLA (Bog Arum).— C. palustris
is a small, hardy, trailing Arum, with
white spathes. Flowering in summer,
and increasing rapidly by its running
stems. For moist spongy spots near
the rock garden, or by the side of a
rill, it is one of the best plants, but its
beauty is best seen when it is allowed
to ramble over rich, muddy soil. N.
Europe.

Callichroa. See LA VIA.
Calliopsis. See COREOPSIS.
Calliprora. See BRODI^A.

CALLIRHOE (Poppy Mallow}.—
Handsome N. American plants of the
Mallow order, of which some half-dozen
kinds are known in our gardens. They
are hardy, herbaceous perennials, and
succeed well in the open border in rich,
light soil.

C. ALC^OIDES is an erect herbaceous
perennial, with the habit of a Malva, the
flowers from i inch to li inches in dia-
meter.

C. DIGITATA. — A distinct glaucous peren-
nial herb, 2 or 3 feet high, with reddish-
purple flowers in summer ; it is not so
showy as the other kinds.

C. INVOLUCRATA. — A dwarf perennial,
with large violet-crimson flowers 2 inches
in diameter. It is excellent for the rock
garden, bearing a continuous crop of showy
blossoms from early summer till late in
autumn. California.

C. PAPAVER has a trailing habit, and
flowers incessantly from early summer
until late autumn. The flowers are a
bright purple-red, as large and somewhat
resembling those of our common field
Poppy.

C. PEDATA. — A perennial, with trailing
stems bearing handsome crimson flowers,
2 inches in diameter ; sown early the
plants bloom the first season, and flower
until late in autumn, and in dry soils the
roots survive our average winters.

CALLISTEMON SALIGNUS.— There
are two forms of this Bottle-brush
shrub, one bearing pale yellow flowers
and the other crimson. Others are
C. lanceolatus, carmine, and C. specio-
sus. These grow well as bushes, some
of the first sometimes 10 feet, and as
much in diameter. These plants thrive
in Devon and Cornwall, and in the
milder seashore districts. Australia.

CALLISTEPHUS (China Aster}. -
Among the many annuals now in
cultivation, China Asters ( C. chinensis}
are among the best, and when well
grown and cared for they do as much
to adorn a garden during summer and
autumn as any annual plant. To see
them in their beauty, however, they
must be grown in masses, and not a"t
any stage left to haphazard or poor
culture. It will also be found that
they are more satisfactory on good
open soils than on heavy ones.

VARIETIES. — China Asters may be
classed according to height, habit, char-
acter of flower. Tall Asters comprise
the fine Paeony-flowered, the tall
Chrysanthemum, the Emperor, the tall
Victoria, the Quilled, and a few others.
Kinds of medium height are the dwarfer
forms of the Victoria, the fine Cocar-
deau, the Rose, and the Porcupine.
The dwarf forms comprise the short
Chrysanthemum, the dwarf pyramidal,
and specially the dwarf bouquet, which
is one of the most beautiful for pot
culture. The best bedding kinds are
the medium-growing Victoria, the
Rose, and the dwarf Chrysanthemum,
as these vary from 9 to 12 inches in
height, a*nd form good bunches of

374 CALOCHORTUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CALOCHORTUS.

bloom on each plant, and fine masses
of colour collectively. The dwarf
bouquet kinds, whilst specially good
for pot culture, are valuable as edgings
to beds of taller kinds. For pot
culture for exhibition, the best are the
medium-growing Victorias, as these,
if of a good strain, possess quality,
and handsome even heads of bloom.

Mr J. Betteridge, a very successful
grower of Asters, writes : — " For
several years I always sowed the seed
in bottom-heat ; now I sow it between
26th March and 26th April, in a cold
frame, under glass, in drills 6 inches
apart, and not too thick in the drills.
A few days suffice to bring the plants
above the soil, when air must be given,
or they will be weak. When large
enough, prick them out into another
cold frame, slightly shaded, where they
will soon root, and after they are strong
enough to handle, plant them out in
well-manured soil, and be careful not
to break the tender fibres of the roots.
Let the rows be i foot apart, and plant
the strongest plants i foot from each
other, in showery weather, and they
will soon root. If the weather be hot,
give them a little water till rooted ;
afterwards keep them clear of weeds.
About the first week in August top
dress with manure from an old hot-bed,
giving a good soaking all over in dry
weather.

" China Asters like a deep rich soil,
and, should dry weather set in, it is
only in such soil that really fine flowers
can be obtained. Planted in the
ordinary way, they are weeds in com-
parison with those that are well
nourished. Confined to the top shal-
low crust of earth, they soon starve.
The best way to manage them is to
dig and cast off the top spit to one
side, handy to be returned to its place
again, and then to trench and break
up the soil below, working in plenty
of short manure. In very light soils
a few barrow-loads of clay, chopped
fine and mixed well in, will help. The
thing to aim at is to keep the soil cool
and moist ; then, if the weather be
favourable, the plants will take care
of themselves."

Calluna. See ERICA VULGARIS.

CALOCHORTUS (Mariposa Lily).—
Bulbous plants from western N. America,
of the Lily order, and forming one of
the most charming groups of hardy
plants, the colours of the flowers varied
and beautifuL Excepting the Mexican
species, which are few, Calochorti arc

hardy ; but my experience is that
unless on very warm soils their culture
is precarious in our country, and no
wonder, considering they come from
one of the most genial climates.

They are so singularly beautiful,
however, that many will attempt
their cultivation, and the advice of
Mr Carl Purdy, who has studied the
species in their native wilds, and cul-
tivated them, is the best we can have :

Calochorti are natives of a vast region
in N. America, stretching from far
east of the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific Ocean, and from Northern
Mexico to British America. From the
sea-coast and islands they grow from
6000 feet to 9000 feet altitude on the
peaks. Some are natives of the in-
tensely hot deserts of Southern Cali-
fornia and Arizona, and some grow
in the moist meadows of Oregon in a
climate differing but little from that
of England. In Montana and other
states of the inland region the species
indigenous there have to bear as low
a temperature as 40 below zero. In
the soils in which they naturally grow
there is as much diversity. Clay,
sand, loam and rocky debris are respec-
tively the chosen homes of certain
species, and several choose the blackest
and stickiest of clays. One is found
in salt meadows, and many in grassy
meadows.

' ' I have at different times tried nearly
every known species in many soils and
situations. The winter climate of
Ukiah is quite wet, with the thermo-
meter often at 20° to 24°, and some-
times as low as 15° above zero. Often
the Calochorti leaves are frozen till
they crackle, but I have never known
any injury to result. In spring there
is abundant rain until their flowering
time, while our summer is perfectly
dry. Perfect drainage is the first
essential to success for all sorts. I
have gradually come to the use of
three mixtures. Along our river banks
there is a winter deposit of sandy silt.
This is excellent Calochortus soil, but
not so good as the next. I find the
best results follow from the use of
about one-half half-rotten spent tan
bark with one-half sandy or clay loam.
The tan bark rots slowly and gives a
loose, well-drained soil, which will not
pack. This suits all Calochorti, and
gives a splendid bloom and firm, well-
ripened bulbs. For English growers
many substitutes will occur. I know
of but one disease to which Calochorti
are subject. This is a mildew, the

CALocHORTtrs. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CAIOPOGON. 375

' Lily leaf ash.' It attacks them in
the spring, just before the flowering
stalk appears. It attacks the leaf
tissue, and in a week entirely destroys
the leaf and injures the bulb. In their
susceptibility to the attacks of the
fungus Calochorti vary greatly. All
of the species having a single, glossy,
radical leaf are free from its attacks.
This includes all of the Star Tulips and
the C. nitidus group. While all of the
desert species, such as C. splendens,
C. Kennedyi, C. Palmeri, C. Gunni-
soni, C. Nuttalli, C. macrocarpus, and
C. flexuosus are subject to it to such
an extent as to make their successful
culture very near hopeless unless some
cure can be found for this mildew.

" While the amateur may prefer to
try all sorts and get his experience for
himself, I believe that many growers
will appreciate a list of the best growers
among the Calochorti. For such I
would recommend the following : —

" In the globular - flowered Star
Tulips, C. albus (white), C. pulchellus
(yellow), and C.amoenus (rose-coloured),
are all thrifty and beautiful. Among
the open-cupped Star Tulips, C. Bent-
hami, in yellow, and C. Maweanus var.
major, are the best. There is, however,
a race of giant Star Tulips, sturdy
plants 9 inches to 16 inches high, with
large flowers of the same delicate
style as Maweanus, which, although
rare now, will soon quite displace the
smaller ones. These are C. apiculatus
(straw-coloured), C. Greeni (blue), and
C. Howelli (yellow). C. lilacinus, a
lavender-coloured sort, is a splendid
grower and very desirable. In the
next section, C. nitidus is a fine hardy
and very beautiful plant, combining
the attributes of Star Tulip and Mari-
posa. In the C. Weedi set, C. Plum-
mercB is best. Of the true Butterfly
Tulips, C. Vesta is by far the best
grower. It is a sort which has great
vitality, can be propagated very
rapidly by offsets (three or four a year),
and grows well in any well-drained
soil. C. venustus var. purpurescens is
almost as good a grower, and the two
are by all odds the easiest Calochorti
to grow. C. venustus var. citrinus,
in lemon, is very thrifty. That grand
plant C. clavatus is a fine grower.

" I have found that by very late
planting I can bring sorts to flower
which, planted early, invariably suc-
cumb. I had the same experience a
year ago. It would seem that when
planted early they reach a standstill
period in late winter and cannot resist

disease, while planted late they are in
full growth at the critical period.

" Clearly if so much care is needed in
their own lovely climate, in ours it will
require all our care to secure them
perfect drainage, porous soil and
warmth, though no doubt some of the
naturally warm soils may suit them."

C. ALBUS. — A charming species more
easily grown than most. May be planted
in the open border without much fear of
failure.

Calochortus fuscus.

CALOPHACA.— Pretty Pea-flowered
rock shrublets, C. Wolgarica, a native
of S. Russia, and C. grandiflora, Central
Asia. Plants for the rocks, banks, and
free soil, and, as far as I have seen
them, of good effect. They are allied
to Caragana.

CALOPOGON.— C. pulchellus is a
beautiful hardy Orchid suitable for
boggy ground, the flowers pink, i inch
in diameter, in clusters of two to six
upon a stem, beautifully bearded with
white, yellow, and purple hairs. Plant
in the rock garden, bog, or in an open
spot in the hardy fernery in moist,
peaty soil, as it is a native of wet

376

CAtTHA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CAMELLIA.

spots at the edges of Pine woods in the
moss in Cranberry swamps, and in
wet grassy marshes, and occasionally
seen on solid ground in low, wet
woody situations in N. America.

CALTHA (Marsh Marigold). —The
Marsh Marigold (C. palustris), that in
early spring " shines like fire in swamps
and hollows grey," and is one of our
good plants, though it is so frequent in
a wild state that there is little need
to give it a place in country gardens.
Its double varieties are good in a moist
rich border, or by the water-side.
There is a double variety of the smaller
creeping C. radicans, about half the
size of the common plant. There are
double-flowered forms bearing beautiful
golden rosettes — Tyreman's variety
is a good showy one. There are
also C. leptosepala, a Calif ornian kind,
and C. purpurascens, distinct and hand-
some, about i foot high, with purplish
stems, and bright orange flowers, the
outside of the petals flushed with a
purplish tinge. The various Marsh
Marigolds in groups or bold masses are
effective, polypetala being the finest
kind ; they are easily grown in shallow
water or boggy soil, and increased by
division.

CALYCANTHUS (Allspice Tree}.—
N. American shrubs with flowers of
pleasant fragrance. C. occidentalis is
from 6 to 8 feet high, with large
maroon - crimson flowers of fine fra-
grance, and is worthy of cultivation.
C. floridus is smaller and not so dense,
with purplish-red flowers, strongly-
scented. The two described are hardy,
the Carolina species having been grown
since 1757. They flourish best when
somewhat shaded by other trees and
where the ground is damp. The
Winter Sweet, Chimonanthus, is some-
times included among these shrubs in
lists.

CALYPSO. — C. borealis is a pretty
little hardy Orchid, with rosy-purple
sepals and petals, and a white lip,
heavily blotched with cinnamon brown,
from the cold regions of N. America.
It succeeds in half-shady spots on the
margin of the rock garden or bog, or
in a select spot among choice shrubs in
light, moist vegetable soil, covered
with Cocoa fibre to keep the surface
open.

Calystegia. See CONVOLVULUS.

CAM A SSI A (Quamash).— N. Ameri-
can plants of the Lily order, hardy,
handsome, and of easy culture.

C. CUSICKI, from the Blue Mountains of
Oregon, has been described as the most
vigorous species yet found with large
broad leaves, a stout flower-stem growing
3 feet high, and flowers of a pale delicate
blue, large and spreading.

C. ESCULENTA (Quamash) is a native of
meadows and marshes in N.W. America,
from i to 3 feet high, its stalks bearing a
loose raceme of from ten to twenty flowers
about 2 inches across, the colour from
deep to pale blue. There is also a pure
white, and various other forms thriving
in moist situations in a deep light soil.

C. FRASERI (Eastern Quamash). — A
native of the States east of the Missis-
sippi, its flowers are rather smaller than
those of the western species ; about i£ feet
high, the scape bearing a raceme of ten
to thirty pale blue flowers, each about i
inch across. It is later in flowering than
other Camassias, thriving in a light rich
soil.

C. LEICHTLINI (White Camassia) — This
often grows on sandy ridge-tops, and is
found in dry spots in ravines ; its bulbs
are generally deep in some stiff soil. The
flower-spike is large, bearing creamy white
flowers, the stem 3 to 4 feet high. It is
vigorous, but not so handsome as the
above. British Columbia.

CAMELLIA. — Handsome shrubs of
the Tea order, mostly grown under
glass in our country, but in the Isle of
Wight and the southern coasts of
England and Ireland it is often laden
with flcwers. Most people who have
Camellias in the open air find that they
flower well five out of every six years,
and that the plants are hardier than
many shrubs that make their new
growth early in the year. Their
greatest enemy is fierce winds. In
planting them out for the first time
it is well to plant first some of the
commoner kinds, and in sheltered
spots ; then, when these thrive, to
continue* with more valuable ones.
The best aspect for Camellias is a south
or south-west one, sheltered by a bank
or wall, but in some districts they
thrive on north walls. Planting from
pots may take place at any period,
but about July is the best time, as
the wood is then well ripened. The
Camellia is hardier than some more
popular things, such as the Bay, or
even the Cherry Laurel, and will not
only grow in the south of England and
Ireland, but in many other parts as
well. When I first came to Gravetye,
I put a group in what was then a copse,
rather carelessly, and they have thriven
ever since — that is to say, for twenty-
ive years certain, and have never

CAMPANULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CAMPANULA.

377

turned a leaf in any frost or storm.
The soil is rather poor, and the position
slightly shaded under trees. They
were never mulched or attended to,
and are rather close-set. The only
nourishment they have is the fall of
their leaves ! One should keep to the
single forms — red, rose, or white, as
may be preferred. Camellias have
been very much neglected in the past,
the trade seeking double forms, which
are not nearly as good for the open air.

C. RETICULATA. — This is hardy, but
rarely flowers satisfactorily in the open,
except in the south-west, where it is grown
both against walls and as a bush plant.
It is by far the finest of the Camellias,
bearing lovely pink semi-double flowers
6 inches in diameter, with bright yellow
spreading stamens.

At Scorrier House, Tremough, and
Pengreep, among the varieties that
do best are Mathotiana, the largest,
anemone flora, very profuse flowering ;
Countess of Orkney, Donkelaari, which
comes very early ; and the old japon-
ica. C. Reticulata is the handsomest
of the Camellias, but needs a warm
and sheltered place.

CAMPANULA ( Hairbell} . — The
alpine kinds are charming for rock
gardens, and not as a rule difficult to
cultivate. A group of kinds somewhat
larger than the high alpines adorn
rocks and old walls on the mountains,
and may be used for these in our gar-
dens. Some are pretty window plants.
Numbers are good border and edging
plants of easy culture ; the tall and
straggling kinds admirable for the
wild garden, or rough woody places
or hedgerows, but these tall species
must not be used much in the flower
garden or mixed borders, as their time
of bloom is short. Some of the annual
kinds, if well grown, are showy. The
Canterbury Bell is one of the finest of
biennials, the tall chimney Campanula
a very handsome and precious plant
for garden or greenhouse.

C. ABIETINA. — Forms close mats of
leaves 2 inches high, and gives a delightful
lot of open starry reddish-purple flowers
in May, on wiry stems 9 inches high. A
rock garden gem.

C. ALLIONI. — An alpine kind forming a
network of succulent roots, with stemless
rosettes of leaves an inch long, from which
arise stalkless erect flowers. It thrives in
exposed positions in the rock garden in a
moist, free, and sandy loam ; dislikes
limestone. Division. Alps.

C. ALPINA (Alpine Hairbell). — Covered
with stiff down, giving it a slightly grey

appearance, 5 to 10 inches high ; flowers
of dark fine blue, scattered along the
stems, margins of mixed border, and the
rock garden. Division or seeds. Carpa-
thians.

C. ARVATICA (Acutangula). — A pretty
Spanish kind affording a profusion of
starry deep violet flowers in July and
August. A good moraine plant 4 inches
high.

C. C^ESPITOSA (Tufted Hairbell). — A
charming little plant, its roots ramble very
much, and it soon forms large patches in
any garden soil. Excellent for edgings
and rocks, the angles of steps in rock gar-
dens, and where flagstones are used to
form paths it is one of the plants that run
about among the stones with pretty effect.
The white kind is as free and useful as the
purple one.

Alpine Hairbell in rock garden.

C. CARPATICA (Carpathian Hairbell). — A
dwarf plant of free-flowering habit, the
light-blue flowers large and cup-shaped,
borne on footstalks 12 to 15 inches high
in July and August in succession. There
are pale and white forms of this plant and
the hybrid forms, none "of them better
than the wild plant. Isabel, pelirformis,
Riverslea, and White Star are some of the
best oi these.

378

CAMPANULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CAMPANULA .

C. CENISIA (Mont Cenis Hairbell). — A
high alpine plant growing among Saxifraga
biflora on the sides of glaciers, making
little show above ground but vigorous
below, and compact rosettes of light green
leaves, with blue flowers. It should have
a sandy or gritty and moist soil on the
rock garden among the smallest plants.
Division.

C. FRAGILIS (Brittle Hairbell). — The
young branches are coated with soft down ;
the flowering branches prostrate, 12 or
15 inches long ; the flowers i inch or more
in diameter, delicate blue. A variety C.
hirsuta is covered with stiff down, and
looks almost woolly. Division, cuttings,
and seeds.

C. GARGANICA (Gargano Hairbell). — A
compact plant of prostrate habit, the
starry erect flowers in branching racemes,
pale blue, shading off to white towards
the centre in summer, thriving in a rock
garden or a border. There is a white
variety. C. H. Paine, a soft violet blue
with white centre, is the best of all. Divi-
sion or by cuttings taken in early spring.

Campanula carpatica.

C. GLOMERATA (Clustered Bellflower). —
A handsome plant about 2 feet high, the
stems terminated by dense clusters of
pretty intense purple flowers. The variety
Dahurica.; with deep purple heads of
flowers, is of exceptional merit.

C. HENDERSONI. — Good hybrid for
August and later. This forms a mound
15 inches high and through, flowering
abundantly when established. Prefers a
cool, rather heavy loam.

C. ISOPHYLLA (Ligurian Hairbell). — A
very pretty Italian species ; the leaves
are round or heart-shaped, the flowers a
pale but very bright blue, and with whitish
centre. A charming ornament for the
rock garden, in sunny positions in well-
drained, rather dry fissures, in sandy loam.

The variety alba is a beautiful form with
white flowers. Both are good in chinks of
rock or rock walls, but rarely endure the
winter if planted on level ground. Seed
and cuttings.

C. MACRANTHA. — The stems of this
handsome plant rise to a height of 5 feet,
terminated by clusters of large deep blue
flowers almost as large as Canterbury
Bells, but less contracted at the mouth
of the tube. It is a free vigorous perennial,
best fitted for naturalisation in woody
places. Its variety C. I. macrantha is
more stately, with huge violet-purple
bells. C. Van Houttei is regarded by
some as a variety of the above, though the
evidences of hybrid origin are not wanting.
It is of elegant and graceful habit, grow-
ing 3 feet high, and producing glossy pale
purple bells 3 inches long in abundance.
A first-rate border plant of easy cultiva-
tion. June, July. Division.

C. MACROSTYLA (Candelabra Bellflower).
— A singular plant, having large flowers,
with blue netted veins on a white ground,
which gets purple at the edges, and with
a huge stigma. It is wholly distinct from
any of the Campanulas in our gardens,
and well deserves culture. It is readily
recognised by its candelabra habit of
growth, and is a fine annual of easy
culture. Asia Minor.

C. MEDIUM (Canterbury Bell). — A
familiar old plant having many varie-
ties of various colours, bearing single
flowers, doubles, in which two, three, and
even four bells seem to be compressed
into the outer one ; and duplex flowers,
in which one bell grows in the other, the
two combined resembling a cup standing
in a saucer. There are many colours,
such as white, lavender, mauve, several
shades of purple, pink, rose, salmon, and
blue. The habit of the plants as a rule is
compact when in bloom, ranging from 18
to 24 inches in height, and forming perfect
pyramids of flowers.

March or April is the best time to sow
seed in a warm spot in the open ground,
but it is much safer to sow some also in
shallow pans or boxes placed in a frame
or on a shelf in the greenhouse. When the
seedlings are large enough to handle, prick
them out into some shady spot, and keep
them watered until well rooted. From
that time they may be safely left to take
care of themselves until September, when
they should be transplanted into their
permanent places in the flower borders,
where they will get well established before
the winter and develop blooming crowns
for the next year.

C. PERSICIFOLIA (Peach-leaved Bell-
flower). — A beautiful kind, with cup-
shaped flowers 2 inches across, in July
and August. Besides the double blue and
white forms, there is an interesting variety
named coronata, in which the corolla is
doubled. There are many varieties single

CAMPANULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CAMPANULA. 379

and double, white and blue or purple
among them, and worth a place — Daisy
Hill mcerheimi, Alba grandiflora maxima,
Pallida grandiflora, and Felham Beauty,
a handsome single blue, are the best. All
the varieties of this group revel in a cool
soil, shade, or moisture.

C. PORTENSCHLAGIANA (Wall Hairbell) .
— A dense tufted evergreen kind, with
small bright green leaves, so dense as to
obscure the foot-stalks, i inch or more in
length, by which they are supported. The
flowers, pale blue, appear in masses in
June, and continue with some freedom for
weeks. It spreads slowly by underground
stems, and succeeds in crevices of the rock
garden or border. Dalmatia.

C. PROFUSION. — A charming late flower-
ing sort of hybrid origin raised by Mr E. H.
Jenkins. Two varieties are in cultivation
under this name, both of the same parent-
age, one having self-blue flowers ; the
other a lovely plant, sky-blue and mauve
.shaded. They flower in August and Sep-
tember. Though of easy cultivation, but
having isophylla blood in them, they are
seen to the best advantage when draping
rock gullies in positions where the roots
can penetrate into cool soil behind. Divi-
sion and cuttings to any extent.

C. PULLA (Austrian Hairbell). — One of
! the most beautiful of the Alpine Hairbells,
j a native of the Austrian Alps, on high
; mountain pastures ; in the rock garden it
i should have a shelf of soil in which peat
and sand have been mixed. Division.

C. PULLOIDES. — Perhaps the finest of
I the dwarf Campanulas, and a plant of
I unsurpassed beauty. Habit, close and
\ tufted ; 6 inches high ; affording in June
' and July a wealth of glowing purple, pen-
dent, bell-shaped flowers that impel
; admiration. A gem for the rock garden.
: Quite happy in cool loam and leaf mould.
Division in spring.

C. PUSILLA. — Smaller than C. ccespitosa,
rarely exceeding 4 inches in height, the
shining green leaves heart-shaped and
toothed, the flowers pale blue, in racemes,
in June and July. Very gritty moist loam
in the rock garden is best for it. The
silvery blue, Miss Willmott, is the best
form. Switzerland.

C. PYRAMIDALIS (Steeple Bellflower). — A
vigorous plant, with thick and fleshy
flower-stems, rising to a height of 4 to
6 feet ; the flowers, close to the stem,
giving the inflorescence a steeple-kke form.
The flowers are blue or white, coming in
succession over a considerable time in
i July, August, and September. Though
not quite a biennial, it is better in general
cultivation to treat it as such, as from
seedling plants, well grown on during the
first year, the finest stems arise. A border
flower of the highest merit in favourable
soils ; occasional batches of seed should
be sown to keep up a supply. It is often
grown in pots for the house both in Eng-
land and France.

C. RADDEANA. — A species of distinction
and merit from the Caucasus of the easiest
cultivation. Height, 9 inches to 12 inches,
the lax branching stems bearing a rich

Ca mpa nula py ; 'a in Ida lis.

profusion of large pendent bells of the
deepest purple. An acquisition. Quite
happy in chalky loams. Division.

C. RAINERI (Rainer's Hairbell). — A
dwarf, sturdy plant, 3 to 6 inches high,
each shoot bearing a large dark blue
flower. It thrives best in sunny positions
in loam freely intermingled with pieces of
stone, and well watered in dry weather,
and is a gem for the rock garden. Alps
of N. Italy.

C. ROTUNDIFOLIA (English Hairbell).—
Of this pretty wild plant we have a white
variety, generally dwarfer, and there are
several forms all beautiful, and of easy
culture in any soil. These are all excellent
border flowers, and also for the rock
garden. C. R. Hostii, and its white form,
are also good, and flower in July.

C. STANSFIELDI. — A hybrid of unre-
corded parentage, and one of the most
charming of rock garden plants. Greyish
ovate, acutely pointed leaves, and horizon-
tally disposed bells of violet-purple colour
on wiry stems, 6 inches high, mark it
well. A good grower of easy cultivation,
flowering in July, it is readily increased by
division. Succeeds best perhaps in chalky

380 CAMPTOSORUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CARDAMINK.

loam or soil containing much mortar
rubble or the like.

C. TURBINATA (Turban Bellflower) is a
dwarf plant with greyish-green leaves, the
flowers borne singly on stems about 6
inches long, deep blue, and ij inches
across ; a charming plant for choice border
or rock culture. Transylvania.

C. WALDSTEINIANA. — A gem-like species
from Croatia, and quite unique. Hardy
and deciduous, it reaches 4 to 6 inches
high at its best, the stems freely furnished
with glaucous ovate acutely pointed leaves,
each stem terminated by a solitary salver-
shaped, azure-blue flower with a base of
deepest violet. Happy in rich loam and
old mortar rubble. Increased by careful
division in spring.

C, G. F. WILSON. — A fine hybrid of C.
pulla and C. carpatica that no collection
should be without. The cupped flowers
are a modification of those of the parents
named, and of rich purple colour. Free
flowering, vigorous and hardy, it is one
of. the most amiable and desirable.
Height, 6 inches. June, July. Division.

CAMPTOSORUS (Walking Leaf).—
C. rhizophyllus is a curious N. American
Fern, remarkable for its narrow fronds,
which taper into slender prolongations,
and take root at the tips like runners,
giving rise to young plants. Thrives
in gritty loamy soil in a somewhat
shaded position in the rock garden or
hardy fernery.

CANNA (Indian Shot}.— Handsome
tropical plants of the Ginger order
with fine foliage. The tendency of
most half-hardy flower garden plants
is to flatness, and the grace of the
Cannas make them valuable, though
our country in many parts is too cool
for their fair development ; in the
warmer south and in sheltered gardens
they may be grown with profit.
Another good quality is their power
of withstanding the storms of autumn.
Sheltered] situations, places near warm
walls, and sheltered dells are the best
places for them. As to culture and
propagation, nothing can be more
simple ; they may be stored in winter
under shelves in the houses, in the
root-room — in fact, anywhere, if
covered up to protect them from
frost, in spring pulling the roots in
pieces and potting them separately.
Afterwards it is usual to bring them
on in heat, and finally to harden
them off previous to planting out in
the middle of May. The soil should
be deep, rich, and light. In cool soils
and districts in our country the growth
of Cannas is so poor and uncertain that,

compared with beautiful hardy plants,
they are really not worth a place. In
my own garden in some seasons they
do not begin to move until after
midsummer. It is only in warm
countries their fine form and abundant
and showy flowers can be enjoyed.

CANNABIS SATIVA (Hemp Plant}.
— A vigorous annual largely cultivated
for its fibre. In our country it is 4 to
10 feet high, but in Italy sometimes
20 feet high. In plants growing singly
the stem is much branched, but in
masses is generally simple. It should
be sown in the open ground early in
April ; to get larger plants it is best
to raise it in frames. It loves a warm
sandy loam, and is one of the few plants
that thrive in small London gardens.

CARAGANA (Siberian Pea-tree}.—
A curious group of wiry bushes of the
Pea order which, as seen in gardens
generally, are not pretty, but as the
name occurs so often, and the wretched
appearance they usually present may
be in part owing to their being grafted,
I give them a place. They are mostly
rock or desert shrubs of arid regions
in Central Asia, and the species are<
C. arborescens and its varieties, C.
aurantiaca, which is the prettiest, and
would perhaps be a graceful rock-
shrub, C. chamlagu, C. jubata, C.
microphylla, C. pygmcea, and C.
spinosa. If we could get these shrubs
on their own roots, the best place fon
them would be the bold rock garden
or dry banks.

CARBENIA (Blessed Thistle}. — C.
benedicta is a handsome biennial,
having bold, deep green leaves,
blotched and marbled with silvery
white. It is useful for associating
with plants of fine foliage. It grows
freely in a thin shrubbery, or on banks
of rubbish. S. Europe. Syn. Cnicus
benedictus.

CARDAMINE ( Cuckoo-flower or
Lady's Smock}. — Plants of the Wall-
flower order, few of which arc culti-
vated, the best being the native
Cuckoo-flower in its double form.
This will grow well almost anywhere,
although, like the wild plant that
colours the meadows with its soft-
hued flowers, it delights in swampy
ground. Division. C. tri folia is a
pretty species, with white flowers, from
Switzerland ; 9 to 12 inches high ; a
border or rough rock plant.

The Toothworts (syn. Dentaria},
now included in this genus, arc inter-

CARDUNCELLUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CARPINUS. 381

esting spring- flowering plants. They
grow best in sandy or peaty soils.
Their flowers are welcome in early
spring, remain some time in beauty,
and they are easily increased from
the small tuber-like roots. Some, like
C. bulbifera (Coral Root), bear bulblets
on the stem, and from these the plant
may be increased. C. digitata, a hand-
some dwarf kind, about 12 inches high,
flowers in April ; rich purple, in flat
racemes at the top of the stem. C.
maxima is the largest of the species,
being 2 feet high, with many pale
purple flowers, a native of N. America.
C. pinnata is a stout kind, pinnate
leaves ; from 14 to 20 inches high,
flowering from April to June, with
large pale purple, lilac, or white flowers
in a cluster.

CARDUNCELLUS PINNATUS.— A
pretty little alpine plant of the Thistle
order, writh finely-cut leaves and
attractive heads of lilac flowers like a
Cornflower. If in strong or rich soils
it spreads from the root and becomes
rank, but in light dry soils and full
sun it makes neat tufts of about
8 inches, hardy, and not troublesome.
Division. S. Europe.

CAREX (Sedge).— Grass-like herbs
of northern and temperate countries,
few having a place in the garden.

C. PANICULATA is a very large Sedge,

Carpenteria californica in a Sussex garden.

like a dwarf Tree Fern, with strong thick
stems and masses of drooping leaves,
forming dense tufts, i to 3 feet high ;
flowers in a large and spreading panicle.
It is very effective in wet places. The
finer specimens are of great age, and are
found in the bogs where the plant is wild.

C. PENDULA. — A graceful British Sedge,
with evergreen foliage, numerous flowering
stems 3 to 6 feet high, the leaves 2 feet or
more in length. When in flower the
graceful spikes, from 4 to 7 inches long,
are pretty, and the plant is useful for
shady or moist spots. Common in Britain
in evergreen patches in marshy woods.

C. FRASERI and C. SCAPOSA are pretty
evergreen Sedges for shady spots.

CARPENTERIA CALIFORNICA.—

A lovely hardy shrub for walls in
southern districts, 6 to 10 feet high,
with long, narrow, pale green leaves,
and clusters of large white fragrant
flowers. The first account of it in
England was from Mr Saul, of Wash-
ington, who sent specimens of it to
The Garden in 1880. It is nearly
related to the Mock Oranges, which it
resembles, but is handsomer ; thrives
in light warm soil, and increased from
suckers, cuttings, or seeds. In cold
districts will require the protection of
a greenhouse.

CARPINUS (Hornbeam}. -^C. betulus
is a native tree, especially of the south,
sometimes attaining a height of 70 feet,
frequent in some woodlands, and in
Epping Forest. There are several
varieties of this tree, such as the fern-
leaved, cut-leaved, and purple kinds,
and also the never-failing variegated
kind. The common kind is often used
as a fence plant, and also in many
Continental gardens to form green
walls and hedges. It is one of the
best of all woods to burn, and if we
ever go back to the best of all ways
of firing for a dwelling-house in the
country — a wood fire, it should not be
forgotten. It is easily lighted, burns
cheerfully and equably, and gives a
good heat. Other species are C.
caroliniana, cordata, japonica, orientals,
and Turczaninovii. Three species of
Hornbeam are natives of Japan, viz.,
C. japonica, C. cordata, and C. laxi-
flora, the last belonging to the true
Hornbeams typified in our native
species C. betulus ; the other two to
the group which some botanists have
made a separate genus. They differ
from the ' ' true ' ' Hornbeams in the
trunks having a scaling bark, as dis-
tinct from the smooth trunks seen in
our native species ; also in the bracts

382 CARRIEREA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CASSINIA.

of the fruit clusters being enfolded at
the base and almost entirely covering
the nut. In C. betulus and its allies
of the " true " Hornbeam section, the
nut is exposed.

CARRIEREA CALYCINA.— A sum-
mer-leafing Chinese tree found at high
altitudes, and said by Mr Wilson to be
a tree ol much beauty. As yet not
known to be hardy in our country.

CARYA (Hickory). — A very inter-
esting and distinct group of forest
trees, little planted in England in our
own day, but so valuable in their own
country for their wood that they
deserve a place in our choice planta-
tions. Trees of N.E. America mostly,
and usually hardy, they are sometimes
well over 100 feet high ; in their own
country inhabiting moist woods and
swampy grounds, and therefore likely
to be useful in ours in soil not thought
good enough for many trees. Among
them are : — C. oliv&formis Pecan, a tree
which sometimes attains to a height
of over 150 feet, with a trunk diameter
of 6 feet, and which bears a delicious
nut. It has rather a southern distri-
bution, and therefore would be best,
no doubt, in good warm soils in our
country. C. amara (the bitter nut), a
tree of about 100 feet in moist woods,
from Canada downwards, ascending
high on the mountains. C. aquatic a
(Water Hickory), a swamp tree some-
times nearly 100 feet high in wet
woods and swamps from Virginia
south and westwards. C. alba (Shell-
bark Hickory) also often over 100 feet
high ; a native of Canada and of the
Western and Southern States. C.
sulcata (King-nut), a tall forest tree
over 100 feet high in the New England
States and westwards. C. tomentosa
(Fragrant Hickory) growing nearly
100 feet high and inhabiting the cold
regions of the West and New England.
C. microcarpa (Small-fruited Hickory),
a tall tree of nearly 90 feet high ; New
England and westwards. C. porcina
(Pig-nut Hickory), a very tall tree of
over 100 feet, bearing very bitter seeds,
also a tree of cold northern regions.

CARYOPTERIS.— C. mastacanthus is

a small shrub with greyish foliage,
distinct in habit, and with purple
flowers, not quite hardy perhaps in
all soils, but pretty on warm banks and
in warm gardens. There is a white
variety. It would group well with
the dwarfer shrubs, and in cool districts
and on cool soils it will grow against
warm walls. On warm soils it would

come in well with borders of greyish
plants, such as the Lavenders.

CASSIA (Wild Senna}.— The only
hardy member of a great family, with
us it is nearly herbaceous, dying back,
and so deserving a warm place in a
free soil. It is best in the southern
counties. N. America.

CASSINIA FULVIDA (Golden Bush).
—A distinct, half-shrubby plant of a
yellowish hue. Hardy, and easily
grown over a large area of our country.

Ccissiope fastig ia ta .

It is more effective in groups than when
planted in the usual dotting way. It
is evergreen, and carries its colour
throughout the year. Best suited for
bold rock gardening, or a place among
dwarf shrubs. New Zealand. Syn.
Diplopappus chrysophyllus.

CASSIOPE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CATANANCHE. 383

CASSIOPE (Himalayan Heather}.—
Tiny alpine bushes, thriving in peaty
soil well drained, as they are all im-
patient of stagnant moisture about
their roots, while absolute shade from
the midday sun is also necessary. The
best plan is to raise small banks of
peat, and plant them on the top,
taking care that they do not want for
water both at the roots and overhead.
They are increased by division, rooting
freely when pegged down. C. fasti-
giata is one of the most fragile and
beautiful of alpine woody plants ; it
(may be grown without much trouble
with the more common C. tetragona.
Both are pretty for the rock or bog
garden.

CASTANEA ( Chestnut] . — A noble
tree, native of E. and S. Europe.
There are fine old trees in many of
I our country seats in all parts of the
south of the country, though excepting
;in the warmer counties, the fruit is
not as good as on the Continent of
I Europe. The Chestnut thrives best
in airy and warm situations, and upon
stony or free soils, not caring much for
j chalk or heavy soils. It is easily raised
'from seed planted directly where it is
jto grow. There are on the Continent,
I where the tree is much more grown
| than here, a good many varieties grown
I for the value of their fruits. Varie-

?ited varieties as usual are useless,
here are a few other species, such
] as C. crenata (Japan), dentata (N.

Cdstanea. punrila..

America), and the dwarf C. pumila
of the southern States of N. America,
but these are of slight value compared
to that of C. Vesca, the beauty of old
trees of which is very great, as seen

at Shrubland, Tortworth, Co'wdray,
and many other places. The names
"Sweet" and "Spanish," applied
to this tree, are quite needless and
confusing. There is a cut-leaved form,
C. dissecta.

CASTANOPSIS CHRYSOPHYLLA

(Golden Chestnut}. — A beautiful ever-
green tree of the Pacific Coast of N.
America, coming between the Oaks
and the Chestnuts. In moist valleys
near the sea the finest trees reach a
height of 150 feet, but it is often only
a low shrub on the mountain sides.
At a little distance these low densely-
branched little trees look like a Bay
or a Holly Oak, only the leaf is smaller
and narrower, with a powdery golden
under-surface of beautiful effect when
stirred by wind. It blooms in Septem-
ber and ripens its fruits, like tiny sweet
Chestnuts, in the succeeding autumn.
Though borne freely upon little plants
only 2 feet high, they seldom reach
perfection in this country. The plant
is hardy even in the north of Scotland,
and does well about Edinburgh and in
sheltered parts of the west country,
thriving in good heavy soil, but growing
very slowly, so that it must never be
put near greedy shrubs that would
outgrow and smother it. Being very
averse to removal, it is mostly planted
from pots. The hardiest form of all
is minor, from the mountain tops of
California — a pretty little shrub for
raised banks.

CATALPA. — Handsome flowering
trees of the Bignonia order, one of
them forming a beautiful tree even
in London gardens.

C. BIGNONIOIDES (Indian Bean). — A
handsome tree, hardy in S. Britain and
the kind which flowers so well in London.
There is no more precious lawn tree for
good shade and flowering at a season when
all the early trees are out of flower. It is
best propagated by seed, and is not diffi-
cult about soil. N. America.

C. SPECIOSA (Catawba Tree). — A forest
tree in America, westwards, and is little
known in our country yet, though pro-
mising to be a forest tree ; reaches 120 feet
high in its own country. It deserves a
very good position among the best flower-
ing trees for lawn or for a grove. C.
Bungei and C. Kcsmpferi are two other
kinds known in gardens, both inferior in
size to the foregoing trees, and less attrac-
tive unless where collections are desired.

CATANANCHE (Blue Cupidone}.—
C. coerulea is an old border plant,
about 2 feet high, flowering in summer ;

CEANOTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CEDRONELLA.

fine blue, and growing freely in borders
and margins of shrubberies. There is
a white variety. Catananche is easily
grown in any soil, and quickly raised
from seed. S. Europe.

CEANOTHUS (Mountain Sweet).—
Beautiful shrubs of the Buckthorn
family, some hardy enough on light
soils in sunny places to endure our
climate, even as bush plants, though
the majority form good wall plants.
In all the kinds the flowers are small,
but abundant. As wall shrubs it is
best to prune them in April ; and as
all the sorts flower on the shoots of the
current year's growth, from one to
three eyes of the preceding year's wood
should be left, reserving, or at most
only topping, such shoots as are
required for filling up the open spaces
on the wall. Most of the introduced

Catananche carrulea..

kinds are of free growth in warm soil,
and they flower most freely in sunny
exposures. As they are for the most
part natives of the Pacific slope of
N. Ameiica no one should attempt
their culture except in warm soil. The
following are distinct and pretty : —

C. AMERICANUS (New Jersey Tea). —
Though one of the hardiest, this thrives
best against a wall, and in a dry porous
soil ; the flowers, in succession from about
the middle of June till August, white.
E. America.

C. AZUREUS. — From the temperate
regions of Mexico, where it grows as a
straggling bush about 10 feet high. It
is one of our prettiest wall shrubs, flower-
ing abundantly in dry, sunny situations,
the flowers bright blue, from June to

September. C. pallidus is a handsome
variety, with pale blue flowers. The
result of crossing with this species may be
seen in such lovely shrubs as C. Gloire des
Versailles, Arnoldii, Lucie Simon, Theo-
dore Froebel, Bertinii, President Reveil,
Lucie Moser, and others, all of which
have flowers in large plumy clusters,
some white, others rose, but mostly of
some shade of blue.

C. DENTATUS is an elegant little evergreen
shrub, rarely higher than about 3 feet.
The flowers, which appear in May or
June, are deep blue, and continue the
greater part of the season.

C. DIVARICATUS grows as a dense broad
evergreen bush of about 10 feet high. It
is a free-growing handsome wall plant,
flowering from May to autumn, the flowers
a bright blue.

C. PAPILLOSUS is a pretty little species
from the mountains of California, where
it is a densely-branched straggling bush
6 to 10 feet high. The panicles of pale
blue flowers are borne on long foot-stalks
from the sides of the young shoots. Like
the other kinds, it loves the protecting
of a wall, on which it blooms in summer.

C. RIGIDUS is a sub-evergreen, or in
sheltered places an evergreen, rarely
exceeding 6 feet in height, the branches
stiff and wiry ; the flowers, in clusters
on the sides of the young shoots, are deep
purple, in April and May.

C. VEITCHIANUS is one of the best kinds,
the flowers of a rich deep blue, in dense
clusters at the ends of leafy branches. — G.

C. VERRUCOSUS forms a thickly branched
evergreen bush about 6 feet high. As a
wall plant it is of free growth, and has a
good effect, the flowers coming in May
and during the summer month,s, borne in
corymbs along the whole length of the
young branches, often so profusely as to
hide the foliage.

CEDRELA. — C. sinensis is a Chinese
tree not yet common in gardens. The
largest trees I have seen are about
30 feet high. The tree is chiefly note-
worthy for the large pinnate leaves it;
bears. It has small yellowish flowers
arranged in great numbers in pendent
clusters said to be agreeably scented.
It promises to be a graceful lawn tree,
but has not been long enough in the
country yet to speak with certainty
of its hardiness, although we see it
flourishing in unlikely places.

CEDRONELLA (Balm of Gilead) is-
a distinct, half - bushy herb of the
Sage order, C. triphylla having leaves
with a pungent but grateful odour, in
our country 2^ to 4 feet high, varying
much according to soil, and not quite
hardy, but living out of doors most
winters if in dry free soil and planted
against walls. Seed.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CEDRUS.

385

CEDRUS (Cedar}. — Noble trees of
the mountains of Asia Minor and India,
some hardy, and often planted on
lawns. The India Cedar (Deodar) is
really a tender tree, and though it may
seem to promise well in seashore and
favoured districts, planters should not
forget that it is to the Cedars of the
northern mountains they must look —
the Lebanon and Atlas Cedars, which
have been proved
so hardy and so
well fitted for our
country. Nothing
finer can be within
view, but they
should never be
planted near the
house.

In books and
catalogues a form
called C. Atlantica
is considered dis-
tinct enough to
merit a separate
name, but having
seen the trees on
their native moun-
tains, I think the
Atlas Cedar is the
same species as the
Lebanon Cedar
(C.Lebani). There
are varieties of
each in catalogues,
rarely so valuable
as the wild tree,
except the glau-
cous or silvery
forms, which are
worth planting.
The Deodar (C.
Deodari) is dis-
tinct from the N.
African Cedars,
and differs so also
in its tenderness
and unfitness for
our country gener-
ally.

The Cedars, though hardy in our
country, are nevertheless the victims
of storm and snow to an often painful
extent, owing to the nearly universal
"specimen" way of planting these
trees. The pinetum is not only a mis-
take from an artistic point of view,
with its stuck-about trees, but it also
is so in the exposure of the trees to all
the storms and accidents of weather,
including heavy snowfalls. Naturally,
pines often grow together and shelter
each other, and where this is so, great
falls of snow do not harm them to the

same degree. The lower boughs fall
off in due time, as is their nature, the
tree often showing a bare, mast-like
stem beneath its crown of leaves.
Clearly, when we isolate any tree in
the open and induce a tree which
naturally grows upright in a great
mountain forest to throw its limbs
out in all directions, we expose it to
an unfair test ; hence the Cedars of

Cedrela sinensis.

which we in England are so proud are
often swept down in numbers by heavy
gales and snowfalls. The idea that
every choice tree in our pleasure
grounds should be set out by itself
like an electric lamp-post is deeply
impressed in the gardening mind, and
we have to pay dearly for it. Even
where the Cedars are grouped, great
storms may do harm, but nothing like
what happens to the isolated trees.
Think of the weight that a Cedar of
Lebanon, with its great spreading
arms, would have to carry in a snow-

2 B

386

CEDRUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CELMISIA.

storm, and how much more able to
bear it are the Cedars planted in woods
and allowed to grow mast-like shafts !

The cure for much of this loss and
waste of valuable trees lies in planting
in more natural ways and in grouping
and keeping the trees together.

With regard to soil and situation,
each planter seeks the best possible
development for his Cedars, and so
selects the best soil and position he
has, and, probably, digs a big hole for
each tree and puts many loads of earth
in. The result of this is not good, in
more ways than one, first in creating
a too rapid growth in the young tree,
and soft unresisting wood in the old ;
and, secondly, any proof that the
natural soil and other conditions of
the place suit the tree is withheld from
us by the deep preparation of soil made,
entirely altering the natural conditions.
Cedars usually inhabit high mountains,
often on bare, shaly slopes, though
never so well developed as when

Cedar of Lebanon.

growing where a little soil collects.
That soil is often of a rocky or pervious
nature. Surely this points out that in
country seats, instead of taking the
very best soil, we should plant on rocky
or sandy places where the tree will,
though growing at first slowly, even-
tually get a safer and hardier growth
than it ever would on rich deep soil.
It would be well to plant it in the
ordinary woodland, in which the trees
would be drawn up with a tall stem,
very effective near drives or in woods.
The difficulty of dealing with the Cedar
is increased by its being made a kind
of fetish in our nurseries, always being
offered in the "specimen" state, so
that nowadays it is not easy to get a
nice healthy stock of young plants of
it, and those offered are generally
highly priced, as if they were some rare
novelty instead of a tree known for
some centuries. The seed of the tree
is plentiful in Asia Minor and N. Africa,
and it really ought to be grown in
forest nurseries and offered among the

other forest trees. All young planta-
tions of Cedars should be securely
wired for seven years, as rabbits destroy
them more than any other tree of the
Pine tribe.

CELASTRUS (Staff Vine). — C.
scandens is a shrubby climber from
N. America, and valuable for its rapid
twining growth, for trailing over trellis-
work and arbours. Theie are several
kinds not yet well known or used — C.
corticulatus, Flagellaris, hypolucus, and
Zatifolius, which promise well, and to
reap their full beauty the two sexes are
essential.

CELMISIA. — Charming Daisy-like
plants from New Zealand, where they
fill the mountain meadows with
cushions of downy leaves covered
with glistening Daisy - like flowers.
There are upwards of thirty kinds,
differing more in leaf than in their
flowers, which are mostly white,
though sometimes purple and very
variable in size. They grow in varied
situations, some in swamps, some in
dry shingly places, others on moist
river - banks or the gritty moun-
tain side. To succeed with them we
need therefore to know just how
each grows in its own country, and
things are made more difficult by the
fact that they are not fully hardy with
us, and seem to dislike the moisture
that gathers on their hairy leaves and
stems in a wet season. The few kinds
that have been introduced have never
become common, though they may
be seen doing well here and there.
The following are in cultivation : —

C. CORIACEA, a hardy little kind not
difficult to grow, and the largest in its
flowers, i£ to 3 inches across, pure white
with a yellow centre, and borne on stout
stems a foot long. The leaves are like
those of a small Yucca, 10 to 18 inches
long, covered with cottony threads and
dense white down.

C. HAASTII. — A plant of strong growth
with large leaves similar to, but less
woolly, than those just described, the
flowers, i£ to -2\ inches across, coming
upon short sturdy stems.

C. LINDSAYI forms dense tufts of leaves
3 to 6 inches long, very white on the
underside, and with white flowers i to
2 inches across on stems of 6 inches.

C. MONROEI is also hardy, growing well
near the sea in N. Wales. Its leaves are
silver-grey with down, almost sword-
shaped, and very white beneath. The
pure white flowers are 2 inches across,

CELOSIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CENTAUREA.

387

coming in early summer and lasting for
a considerable time.

C. RAMULOSA is a very distinct and
pretty plant, its small short leaves forming
cushions completely covered with small
white flowers on short stems. Among the
stones of a rock garden nothing could be
more charming.

C. SPECTABILIS. — In leaf, flowers, and
manner of growth, this comes near C.
Monroei, but the flower-stems are shorter,
and the narrow ray - florets more or
less tipped with violet. The variety
argentea is a striking plant, hardy and
free.

CELOSIA (Cocks-comb). — Indian
annuals of the Amaranth family, gener-
ally too tender for the open air, though
effective in bold groups. For this
purpose they should be sown in pans
in March, and kept near the glass to
prevent the seedlings being drawn,
and as soon as they are large enough
to handle they should be pricked off
into small pots and grown on fast in
gentle heat until the crowns are
formed. Planted out in June in rich
soil, and liberally watered, they con-
tinue in good condition for a long
time.

GEL SI A (Cretan Mullein). — C. cre-
tica is a pretty plant, allied to the
Mulleins, with rich yellow flowers and
polished buds ; may be treated as an
annual. Well grown in good soil, it
is distinct and effective. Candia, N.
Africa.

CELTIS (Nettle-tree).— Trees of the
Elm order, natives of temperate coun-
tries, much mentioned in books, and
introduced to Britain many years, but
have never made much way with us,
and are less attractive to planters than
other trees of the same order. Among
a crowd of synonyms, the following
are the names : — C. australis, caucasica,
glabrata, japonica, mississipiensis, occi-
dentalis, and Tournefortii. Some of
the kinds are tropical, and not hardy
in our country.

CENTAUREA ( Knapweed) .—Peren-
nial or annual herbs inhabiting S. and
Middle Europe, some being good garden
plants, most of them hardy. Some of
the southern species require the green-
house in winter, but, making free
growth out of doors in summer, are
freely used for their silvery foliage.

C. ARGENTEA has elegant silvery Fern-
like leaves, and when planted out or
plunged in pots has a good effect ; for

bedding it must be plunged and partly
starved to bring out its whiteness.

C. BABYLONICA. — A distinct perennial,
tall and with silvery leaves, hardy, and
when in good ground its strong shoots
with yellow flowers reach a height of
10 or 12 feet. The bloom, which con-
tinues from July to September, is less
attractive than the leaves, but the plant

Celsia. cretica (Cretan Mullein).

is at all times picturesque. A free, sandy
loam suits it best. Seed. Levant.

C. CLEMENTEI. — A silver-grey-leaved
plant of fine form. Small plants from
seed are useful for edging bold beds, and
when too large for that purpose they may
be transferred to borders, or planted out
singly on grass. The blossoms are best

388

CENTAUREA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CENTRANTHUS.

picked off, as they detract from the beauty
of the plant.

C. CYANUS (Blue Cornflower). — A beau-
tiful native annual of easy culture, often
sowing itself. The young plants stand
our hardest winters, and flower better
grown thus than if sown in spring. It is
best sown in September, either where it is
to flower, or in beds to be transplanted.
Self-sown plants, too, may be trans-
planted, or allowed to remain where they
come up, as they are often the finest
plants. The many garden varieties range
through white, rose, sky-blue, striped, to
dark purple, the delicate tints of which
are most attractive.

C. DEALBATA. — A hardy perennial, with
graceful and somewhat silvery leaves, 15
to 1 8 inches high, flowering in summer ;
rose - coloured. Borders. Divisions.
Caucasus.

Mountain Knapweed.

C. GYMNOCARPA. — A half-shrubby plant
from the south of Europe, nearly 2 feet
high, with hard, branching, bushy stems,
and elegantly cut leaves, covered with
short whitish-satiny down. Useful as it
is for edging or bedding, it is when grown
in fine single specimens that its beauty is
most seen.

C. MACROCEPHALA (Great Golden Knap-
weed).— A strong plant from 4 to 5 feet
high, with a great golden head of bloom.
In the back part of a herbaceous border,
or where herbaceous plants must compete
with +*"* roots of trees and shrubs, this
robust plant deserves a place. Armenia.

C. MONTANA (Mountain Knapweed).—
A handsome border plant, i to 2| feet
high, with slightly cottony leaves, and
flowers resembling those of the Cornflower.

There is a white and a red variety, all
thriving in borders, margins of shrub-
beries, or the wild garden in any soil.
Division.

C. MOSCHATA (Sweet Sultan). — A fra-
grant annual, of which there are two
shades — delicate purple and creamy white,
the first giving the finest flowers ; but
both are valuable. Aphides are very
partial to the young seedlings, and unless
the pests are quickly cleared off the plants
soon dwindle away. The first essential
is a calcareous soil, and any soil deficient
in lime should have lime rubble worked
into it. The best time to sow is about the
middle of April, in an open and sunny
place, sowing the seed where the plants
are to remain, as they do not move well.
Valuable, too, for pot culture, and sown,
in autumn may be had quite early. Syn.
Amberboa moschata.

C. RAGUSINA. — A showy silvery-leaved
plant, tender, but of rapid growth out of
doors in summer, and valued for the sum-
mer garden. Cuttings should not be cut
away, but pulled off with a " heel," so as
to have a firm base ; small firm shoots
should be preferred ; in taking them the
knife should be used very little, and each
cutting put singly into a small 2^-inch pot
filled with a mixture of loam and leaf
mould. A cold frame from which frost
can be excluded is their best winter quar-
ters ; the leaves should be kept dry, as
they are rather liable to damp during the
short days. They also winter well in an
airy vinery or greenhouse.

C. SUAVEOLENS (Yellow-sweet Sultan).
— A pretty citron -yellow hardy annual
and favourite border flower, thriving best
in light dry soil. Sow in beds in April,
raising one batch in frames and sowing
another in the open air in light rich earth
where it is to remain.

CENTAURIDIUM.— A showy, half-
hardy annual from Texas, C. Drum-
mondi being from i\ to 3 feet high,
and flowering from July to September.
It should be sown in a frame on slight
heat in April, and planted out in May.
It has large citron-yellow flowers, much
resembling those of Centaurea.

CENTRANTHUS. — C. macrosiphon,
a hardy Spanish annual of the Val-
erian order, with pretty rose-coloured
flowers, is useful for the rock garden
or flower border. It may be sown in
September and pricked off into pots
for winter for transplanting in spring,
or again in the open ground in March
and April, the seedlings being thinned
out about i foot apart. There are
several varieties — white, red, and two-
coloured, and a dwarf form.

CERASTIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CHAM^PEUCE.

C. RUBER (Red Valerian). — A handsome,
hardy border plant from the Mediter-
ranean, and an old inhabitant of gardens,
often also naturalised. There are two
or three varieties — white, purple, and
red or crimson. It has stout stems,
woody at the base, and bold clusters of
flowers, blooming in June and through
the summer. It is often naturalised on
walls, ruins, and on rocky or stony banks.
Seeds and cuttings.

CERASTIUM (Mouse - ear Chick-
weed). — Dwarf herbaceous or alpine
plants of the Pink order, containing
few garden plants of value, and these
mostly used as edgings, among the
best being Biebersteini, tomentosum,
and grandiflorum, all hardy plants of
easy culture, and increase in ordinary
soil.

Cerasus. See PRUNUS CERASUS.

CERATOSTIGMA POLHILLI. — A

pretty creeping shrub from a great
height in the mountains of W. China,
with grey leaves and stems and clusters
of charming pale lavender-blue flowers.
It is hardy in warm, well-drained nooks
of the rock garden, and is increased
by cuttings.

C. PLUMBAGINOIDES is the plant so long
known as Plumbago Larpentcs, which pro-
vides effective patches of blue in late
summer.

C. WILLMOTTIANA is a recent addition
from China, the species forming a wiry-
limbed bush of several feet high, and
producing a great wealth of clear blue
flowers during many weeks. Of quite
easy culture.

CERCIDYPHYLLUM. — A very
beautiful tree, so far hardy in Britain.
It is a forest tree abundant in certain
parts of Japan on the slopes of hills
and mountains, reaching a height of
between 80 and 100 feet. We read
that it cannot be grafted, which is a
blessing, as the natural way of pro-
ducing it is much better.

CERCIS (Judas Tree}. — Flowering
trees of much beauty of bloom and
form of tree. Of the three different
kinds of Judas Tree in gardens, the
most beautiful is C. Siliquastrum, from
S. Europe, which for nearly three
hundred years has been a favourite in
English gardens. It is from 15 to
30 feet in height, and thrives in a light,
deep, loam soil. There are several
varieties, differing chiefly in the colour
of the flowers. It is of slow growth,
and though young specimens flower
profusely, only very old ones show the
picturesque growth of the tree. Other

kinds are C. Chinensis, and the better-
known canadensis, or Red Bud, a hand-
some tree of the American forests.

CERINTHE ( Honey wort] . — Annual
or biennial herbs of the Borage family.
C. aspera bears many yellow flowers,
the tube of which is black at the base.
In C. minor the flower-stems arch over,
so that at the apex of the stem the
delicate yellow tube-shaped bloom is
hidden by the pale green leaves. C.
retorta is a beautiful kind, the floral
leaves of a purple tint, and from
among them peep the yellow purple-
tipped flowers. They are half-hardy
annuals, and should be sown in early
spring on warm borders or in frames,
and afterwards planted out in good
soil. S. Europe.

CETERA CH (Stone Fern). — This is
now placed with the Aspleniums, but is
known so well under the above name
that we retain it. C. officinarum is a
distinct and beautiful little native
Fern, admirably suited for rock or
alpine gardens, as it thrives best when
planted between the chinks of rocks
or of stone walls. The chinks and
crevices should be filled with a mixture
of sandy peat and pounded limestone.

CHZENOSTOMA.— A small group of
the Figwort family, natives of the
Cape. They are naturally perennial,
but in the open air must be treated as
half-hardy annuals. C. fastigiatum
and C. hispidum are the prettiest.
They grow 6 to 9 inches high, forming
dense bushes, with many small pinkish,
and sometimes white, flowers. The
seeds should be sown in warm frames
in spring or in August, when the seed-
lings require to be wintered in a pit,
and flowers are borne from June to
November. Other species in cultiva-
tion are C. cordatum, C. linifolium, and
C. polyanthum.

CHAMtflBATIA ( Tarweed) . — C.
foliolosa is a little shrubby plant of the
Rose family, remarkable for the Fern-
like beauty of its leaves ; the flowers
white and something like those of a
Bramble. It grows about i foot high,
forming a dense spreading tuft, and
covering the ground in California, its
native country. I have seen it growing
in mountain districts often covered
with snow, and believe it to be worth
trial in our rock gardens.

CHAM2EPEUCE (Fish-bone Thistle).
— Spiny-leaved plants allied to the
Thistle. C. diacantha has foliage of
shining green, marking with silvery

390 CHAM^ROPS, THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CHEiRANfrius.

lines, and the spines are ivory white.
C. Casabonce has deep green white-
veined leaves with brown spines.
Both kinds grow in compact rosette-
like masses about 9 inches high, till the
second year, when the flower-stems
grow 2 to 3 feet high. They require
light, well-drained soil and a warm
position, and should seldom be watered.
Seed sown in February.

i to 2 feet long, and quite unarmed. It
grows 12 feet or more high, and has a
spreading head of fan-like leaves, and is
hardy. If small plants are procured,
grow them on freely for a year or two in
the greenhouse, and then plant out in
April, spreading the roots a little and giv-
ing them a deep loamy soil. Plant in a
sheltered place, so that the leaves may
not be injured by winds when they get
large. A gentle hollow, or among shrubs

Chaituerofis Fortunei

CHAM.E1ROPS.— Handsome palms,
hardy, and giving distinct effects in the
garden.

C. FORTUNEI (The Chusan Palm). — A
valuable Palm, often confounded with
C. excelsa. It is stouter and has a more
profuse matted network of fibres round
the bases of the leaves ; the segments of
the leaves are much broader, and the
leaf-stalks shorter and stouter, being from

in a Surrey garden.

on the sides of some sheltered glade, is
the best place. C. humilis is also hardy,
at least, on sandy soil.

CHEIRANTHUS * (Wallflower}. —
Beautiful plants made familiar by the
favourite Wallflower (C. Cheiri), the
only kind much grown in gardens. It
is a native of S. Europe, but naturalised
on old walls, in quarries, and on sea-

CHEIRANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CHIMAPHILA.

cliffs. It loves a wall better than any
garden ; it grows coarsely in garden
soil, but forms a dwarf enduring bush
on an old wall if planted in mortar,
and grows even on walls quite new.
No variety is unworthy of cultivation,
and the choice old garden kinds — the
double yellow, double purple, double
orange, dark, etc. — are worthy of a
place among the finest border plants.

The double perennials are the yellow,
dark crimson, red, and dwarf yellow.
The yellow is most common, and a
beautiful clear-coloured kind it is, a
great favourite with cottagers, who
propagate it by putting in slips about
the time the plants are in flower. It
can be propagated freely by means of
slips put in under hand-lights in sharp
sandy soil, and the plants will flower
the next spring. The old dark crimson
is now almost extinct ; in colour the
flowers are almost black, and very
striking ; the dwarf yellow has flowers
of a dull, almost buff tint ; the Raby
Castle variety is valuable and sturdy.

Many persons sow seed of Cheiran-
thus too late — in June and July,
instead of April and May. If dry
weather follows close on the sowing,
or after the plants have grown 2 or
3 inches, they receive a check, and
instead of being dwarf, vigorous, and
bushy they are thin and poor. The
winter will sometimes injure the Wall-
flower severely, especially when very
severe frost follows close on heavy
rains, and the stronger and better
rooted the plants are the more likely
are they to stand the weather. The
plants used for filling beds should
have been once transplanted at least,
because the moving induces them to
throw out fibry roots near the surface,
and they can be lifted with soil adhering
to them. When the Wallflower is
allowed to grow where it is sown, a
strong tap-root is formed, which
strikes deep into the soil, and but few
surface roots are put forth. In trans-
planting from the seed-beds, it is well
to pinch off the tap-root, and thereby
induce fibrous roots.

C. ALLIONII. — Said to be a hybrid.
Flowers long and well in my garden.

C. ALPINUS is a sub-shrubby alpine
Wallflower from Scandinavia, forming
bushes nearly i foot high, covered in May
with clusters of sulphury-yellow flowers.
Good for rock garden.

C. LINAFOLIA. — A new species from
Spain, and is one of the best rock plants
introduced.

C. PAMELA PERSHOUSE is a hybrid of

the above and C. Allionii. A lovely plant
of perennial habit, bearing the clear orange
flowers of the last-named species in hand-
some heads. C. Marshalli is also a fine
perennial hybrid sort with flowers of rich
orange in large heads. Both are sub-
shrubby. Increase by cuttings.

All these perennials prefer dry soil
during winter, or a place on rough
stone walls. Propagation is by cut-
tings, and top dressing with fine soil
often induces the summer wood to
root freely, and by autumn a good
stock can be had.

C H E L 0 N E ( Turtle-head] . — N.
American plants nearly allied to Pent-
stemon, the species in cultivation are
handsome border plants, flowering in
late summer and in autumn. C. Lyoni
grows from 2 to 3 feet high, forms a
dense mass of stems, with deep green
foliage, from July to September bearing
dense clusters of showy pink blossoms.
C. obliqua is taller and more slender,
but the colour of the typical form is a
richer pink, and there is a white-
flowered variety. Both are of easy
culture, thriving in open borders of
good deep soil, and increased by seeds,
cuttings, or division of the roots.
These plants, though bearing pretty
flowers, and free in growth, are not
of high garden value.

CHENOPODIUM (Goosefoof). — An-
nuals or biennials, few of much garden
value, except C. Atriplicis, a vigorous
Chinese annual, with erect reddish
stem, slightly branched, over 3 feet
in height, and with its young shoots
and leaves covered with a rosy-violet
powder, pretty in foliage in any soil.
C. scoparium (Belvedere) is a graceful
annual plant, like a miniature Cypress
in form, and worth a place among
curious annual plants. C. Blitum
capitatum (Strawberry- blite) is a hardy
annual, growing from i£ to 2 feet high,
the flowers small, followed by high-
coloured fruit calyxes resembling small
Strawberries. Sow in April in the
open air.

CHILOPSIS LINEARIS (Flowering
Willow}. — A very pretty flowering
shrub from the warmest parts of Texas,
and hence only suited to warm and
sheltered shore gardens. Its slender
branches of 10 to 20 feet bear narrow
leaves like .a Willow, and an abundance
of handsome lilac trumpet-flowers,
i to 2 inches long, and continue as long
as the warm season lasts.

CHIMAPHILA ( Pipsissewa) .— Small
shrubby plants of the Heather order,

392 ctiiMottANTHUS. TtiE EtiGLtSH FLOWER GARDEN. CHIONODOXA.

natives of the dry woods of N. America.
C. maculata (Spotted Winter-green)
has small leathery leaves variegated
with white, 3 to 6 inches high, and is
pretty for a half-shady and mossy, but
not wet, place in the rock garden, with
such plants as the dwarf Andromeda
and the Pyrola, and succeeds best in
very sandy leaf-soil. C. umbellata,
with glossy, unspotted leaves and some-
what larger reddish flowers, is also
suited for like positions.

CHIMONANTHUS (Winter Sweet).—
C. fragrans is a lovely shrub, which in
our country enjoys a wall, flowers in
December and January, of delicious
fragrance ; brownish-yellow, marked

sandy loam ; in early summer it bears
long clusters of white flowers, with
petals long and narrow like a fringe.
N. America. 'A newer species is the
Chinese C. retusus, which is not so
pretty, though its flowers are white
and fringed.

CHIONODOXA (Snow Glory}. —
Beautiful early spring-flowering bulbs,
flowering with the Snowdrop, and later,
and forming a precious addition to our
garden flora, growing and increasing
freely in most soils. It is well to
arrange successive groups in sunny
and cool parts of the same garden.
The bulbs should be planted not less
than 3 inches deep.

with purple inside ; and precious for
gathering for the house. The best
variety is grandiflora, its flowers being
longer and more open, but the shrub
varies a little from seed. It does best
on a wall with a southern or western
aspect. A few shoots with blooms
upon them placed in a room last a long
time, and diffuse their pleasant fra-
grance. In light or warm soils in the
south it thrives as a bush, needing no
pruning or other care ; best on a sunny
bank. On walls, moderate pruning is
needed, mainly shortening rampant
shoots and removing weak wood.
Layers and seed. Japan.

CHIONANTHUS (Fringe Tree).— A
beautiful, small, hardy tree of the Olive
family, well grown in this country in

C. GIGANTEA (Iridescent Snow Glory).-—
A very handsome plant of robust habit,
with broader leaves and taller spikes than
in any other kind. The colour of the
flowers is soft violet or porcelain blue with
a small white centre, coming some weeks
later than the early kinds. A white form
of this plant is now to be had, and a
variety albo-rosea, with flowers delicately
tinged with rose, but nothing can surpass
in lovely and changing colour the wild
form.

C. LUCILI^.— Opening from early in
February, with starry flowers an inch or
more across and in many shades, from
pale to deep blue, shading to a white
centre. It is found in three or four well-
marked forms : alba, a white kind with
large flowers, found wild with the blue
form, but scarce in gardens. Rosea is a
scarce variety bearing pink flowers ;
pallida has flowers of a very light blue ;

CHOISYA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CHRYSANTHEMUM. 393

and Boissieri, the best of the late flowering
sorts, shows bright, deep colour.

C. NANA (Dwarf Snow Glory). — A dwarf
kind from Crete rarely more than 4 inches
high. Its flowers are small but attractive,
and carried in dense spikes of white or
pale bluish lilac.

C. SARDENSIS (Sardis Snow Glory). — A
beautiful plant with flowers of rich deep
blue, free from the pale shading of other
kinds, the white eye being sharply defined.
It flowers during February and March
according to aspect, the effect of its
flowers being very good. Several varie-
ties are grown, but the typical kind sur-
passes them all in beauty. Mountains of
Asia Minor.

C. TMOLUSI (late Snow Glory). — A
dwarf variety of strong growth and latest
of any in bloom. Its large flowers are of
rich blue, with a large white eye faintly
outlined in purplish-blue, and with a
touch of deeper colour on the tips of the
petals.

CHOISYA TERNATA (Mexican

Orange-flower}. — A handsome shrub ;
in the south and west often thrives
with the shelter of a wall and a southern
or western aspect, and in high ground,
at least, as a bush. It is fast-growing,
the flowers a lovely contrast to the
deep rich green foliage, best in free,
warm soils ; in the north and Midlands
against walls.

CHRYSANTHEMUM. — Perennial
and annual plants, some of which are
of great value for the garden.

C. ARCTICUM. — A good plant for the
rock garden, about a foot high, flowering
all the summer ; white, tinged with lilac
or rose.

C. CARINATUM (Tricolor Chrysanthe-
mum).— A showy annual from N. Africa,
which varies much in cultivation, and is
valuable if only for its yield of flowers for
cutting. There are double white and
yellow forms, and the showy ones known
as C. Burridgeanum. Dunnett's varieties
of the same plant are also good. They
are propagated from seeds sown in April
in open beds or borders where the plants
are to flower.

C. CORONARIUM (Crown Daisy). — A
handsome annual 2 to 3 feet high in its
wild form in S. Europe and N. Africa, and
in cultivation breaking into a number of
forms, few of them so pretty as the single
wild flower, pale yellow or buff, treated as
a half-hardy annual, and sown in good
ground in April.

C. FRUTESCENS (Paris Daisy, Mar-
guerite).— A half-hardy bushy plant from
the Canary Isles ; the foliage glaucous ;
the flowers large, pure white, with a yellow
centre, and appearing from June until cut
down by frost. Several forms or allies

are also valuable, such as the yellow
Etoile d'Or and Comtesse de Chambord.
These are of easy culture and propagation,
for the outdoor garden, treated as half-
hardy plants and put out in May.

^

p^?a-

»l^m«

Paris Daisy (C /, tttescens).

C. INDICUM. — The parent of the numer-
ous varieties of the hybrid Chrysanthe-
mum. Although in our country, gener-
ally, open-air culture will often be imprac-
ticable, the outdoor kinds are so pretty
that it is worth while trying to secure the
best kinds where the climate allows of
their growth out of doors.

In many well-kept gardens there are
open spaces on the walls, and the
question is often asked : What can be
done to hide them ? The answer is :
Train Chrysanthemums upon them ;
if well nailed in they take up but little
room, and afford a pleasing background
to the other occupants of the borders.
Strong cuttings or suckers, or, what is
better still, the old roots or stools that
flowered in pots the previous season,
planted at the foot of the wall 3 feet
apart early in March, in soil similar
to that just recommended, will make
remarkably rapid growth, and, if kept
neatly nailed in and all the side-shoots
removed as they appear, will soon cover
a wall of ordinary height. Should it be
desirable to protect the blossoms from
wind and weather, a canvas covering
fastened in front when the nights are
cold will generally prove sufficient pro-
tection. Those named below are suit-
able varieties. — Doubles : Bronze
Crawfordia ; Bronze Soleil d'Octobre ;
Crawfordia, golden ; crimson Source
d'Or; Kathleen Thompson, crimson-

394 CHRYSANTHEMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CHRYSANTHEMUM.

red ; La Triomphante, pink ; Lizzie
Adcock, rich yellow ; Soeur Melaine,

Singles : Golden Mensa ; Gracie Page,
rose ; Mabel Russell, crimson ; Mensa,

Chrysanthemum Mme. Desgrange, grown in the open air.

white ; Mrs Roots, white ; Uxbridgc
Pink ; Jules Lagravere, crimson ;
Eynsford, white ; Elaine, white.

pure white ; Molly Godfrey, pink ;
Mrs Loo Thompson, soft yellow ; Mrs
R. C. Pulling, pink ; Tom Wren, white ;

CHRYSANTHEMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CINNAMOMUM. 395

T. Barnes, ruby-crimson. By sowing
seeds in slight warmth in February,
single - flowered varieties may be
flowered the same year, a good strain
yielding many useful varieties.

EARLY FLOWERING SORTS. — These
are valuable alike for the border and
for cutting, and afford a wealth of
bloom of diversified colouring when it
is much needed in the garden. Few
plants respond more promptly than
these to generous cultivation, and none
are more worthy of it. The mistakes
usually made are those of rooting the
cuttings too early in the year and
employing the gross sucker growth so
prevalent in autumn for propagation.
The first of these results is the young
plants becoming hide-bound before the
planting season arrives, and rarely
developing afterwards, the suckers pro-
ducing their own characteristic growth,
which never flowers. February to
April is early enough to root cuttings
of these varieties, and given freshly-
made shoots 2 or 3 inches in length, no
difficulty is experienced. It is impor-
tant, however, that the cuttings be
potted or transplanted so soon as
rooted, so that sturdy examples for
putting out in May are the result.
Those named flower from August to
October : — Bronze Goacher ; Cottage
Pink ; Crawford Pink ; Crawford
White ; Crawford Yellow ; Dorothy
Humphrey, pink ; Goacher 's Crimson ;
Harry Thorpe, rich yellow ; Horace
Martin, golden yellow ; Mme. C.
Desgrange, maize to white ; Mme.
Marie Masse, lilac ; G. Werning, soft
yellow ; Mrs J. Fielding, reddish ;
Carrie, yellow ; Polly, orange-yellow ;
Crimson Polly ; Mrs Ward, creamy-
white ; Nina Blick, red and bronze ;
October, gold ; Elenore, rose-pink ;
Betty Spark, deep pink ; Bronze
Betty Spark ; Crimson Marie Masse ;
Decorator, bronze ; and Diadem, rich
wine-red.

POMPONS. — Anastasia, light purple ;
Blushing Bride, rose-lilac ; Flora, gol-
den ; Golden Fleece, golden ; L'Ami
Conderchet, primrose ; Little Bob,
crimson ; Mignon, Mr Selby, Mrs E.
Stacey, yellow ; Orange Pet.

C. LATIFOLIUM is the largest of the
Ox-eye Daisies, with fleshy, coarsely ser-
rated, broad leaves. The seeds have large
flower-heads, 3 to 4 inches across ; a
strong growing species requiring plenty of
room. Division and seeds. A number of
varieties of this and the following species
have been raised, which have value as
border plants and for cutting.

C. MAXIMUM. — The leaves of C. maxi-
mum are bluntly serrated, stems more or
less branched, each carrying a single white
flower-head. This vigorous plant has
broken into a number of varieties of recent
years, some with thread-like petals, others
with larger and strap-shaped petals. Most
of them are worth growing, but being
very vigorous should not be planted near
to delicate or fragile plants. Daviesii,
King Edward VII., and Mrs C. Lothian
Bell are some of the finest sorts. Mari-
time Alps.

C. ZAWADSKII, of tufted habit, bears
numerous rose-tinted flowers all through
the summer months.

C. SEGETUM (Corn Marigold). — A showy
yellow native plant, as worthy of cultiva-
tion as many an exotic, and in certain
cases worth growing for cutting. Treat as
a hardy annual, preferring autumn sowing,
though it may be sown in spring also.

Chrysobactron Hookeri. See BUL-

BINELLA.

Chrysurus. See LAMARCKIA.

CICHORIUM (Chicory}.— A pretty
native plant, from 2 to 5 feet high.
C. Intybus, bearing in summer and
autumn handsome blue flowers. It
is worth introducing as a wild plant
into localities where it is not common.
It is a rampant grower, and will take
care of itself even in arable crops, but
it dislikes heavy and cold soils. The
seed may be sown on rubbish heaps
and in stony places, old quarries, and
by roadsides.

CIMICIFUGA ( B ugbane}.— Plants of
the Crowfoot order, nearly allied to the
Baneberry. They are tall, hand-
some, herbaceous plants. C. cordifolia
attains 3 to 4 feet high, giving erect
feathery plumes of whitish flowers.
It is a good border plant. C. race-
mosa (Black Snakeroot), 3 to 8 feet
high, with feathery racemes of white
blossoms i to 3 feet long, which, being
slender, droop gracefully ; but the
plants generally are not of much garden
value. They are of easy culture in
rich soil, and may be used as groups
in the wild garden. The flowers have
an offensive odour. Division. N.
America and Asia. C. simplex, from
Japan, is one of the most elegant, the
flowers pure white in erect spikes.
September.

Cineraria maritima. See SENECIO.

CINNAMOMUM CAMPHORA (Cam-
phor Laurel). — That this beautiful
sub-tropical evergreen tree is hardier
than often supposed is proved by Mrs

396

CISTUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CISTUS.

Dugmore, of Parkstone, Dorset, who
writes as follows : — ' ' The Camphor
Tree flourishes here, and is now a fine
shrub about 10 feet high and quite
healthy, bearing handsome glossy
leaves. It has never been artificially
protected, though sheltered by adja-
cent shrubs, and it has been planted
quite 12 or 14 years. The soil is peat
with a sub-soil of gravel, the whole
well trenched and manured." There
is also a fine specimen at Leonards-lee,
near Horsham, and probably others in
the gardens of Devon and Cornwall.

Cissus. See VITIS.

CISTUS (Rock Rose).— The Rock
Roses are amongst the most beautiful
of flowering shrubs, but in our country
it is only on the lightest and warmest
soils and on walls that they may be
trusted to survive our winters. Most
of the species have been at one time
or other in cultivation in this
country, but their value is greatly
lessened by the recurring severe win-
ters, which kill unprotected plants of
so many of the kinds. All the species
are Old World plants, most of them
being natives of South - Western
Europe ; some extend to North Africa
and Asia Minor, and one to the Canary
Islands. Many of them vary in colour,
and hybridise freely. In spite of the
fugacious character of the flowers,
their bright colours and the profusion
in which a succession is kept up for
a considerable time give the Cistus
a high place among garden shrubs.
They prefer a dry sandy soil, and,
although some grow freely enough in
almost any garden soil, they are much
more likely to suffer during winter in
rich ground. The positions best for
them are sunny banks on warm sandy
soil, and something may be done by
protection and frequently raising and
propagating the plant. There are
many natural hybrids, some confusion
of names, and many more names than
distinct plants. This, and the fact that
these sun-loving bushes from the
south are tender over a large area
of our islands makes us limit the
species named here to the more distinct
and hardier kinds.

C. ALBIDUS (White Rock Rose). — The
name of this is derived from the whitish
tomentum which clothes the leaves and
young shoots. It forms a compact bush
2 to 4 feet high ; the rose-coloured flowers
are about 2 inches across, and the style is
longer than the tuft of yellow stamens.
S. Europe.

C. ALYSSOIDES. — Compact and shrubby,
not more than 6 inches in height. The
foliage greyish-green, spangled with lovely
yellow blooms each about \ inch across,
and having a tiny brown blotch at the
base of each petal. The flowers are borne
in little clusters of four or five at the
extremities of the growths.

C. BOURG^ANUS is a native of the Pine
woods of S. Spain and Portugal, where it
flowers in the month of April, growrs a
foot in height, and has prostrate branches
covered with narrow dark green leaves.
The white flowers are about an inch across,
and it is a good plant for a sunny spot in
the rock garden.

C. CRISPUS. — This forms a compact
bush, i to 2 feet high, with tortuous
branches, the rose-coloured flowers nearly
i inch across. There are some hybrids
between this species and C. albidus which
are nearer the seed-bearing parent than
they are to C. albidus.

C. CYPRIUS. — This is a handsome bush
like the Gum Cistus, but the flowers appear
several together instead of solitary. It is
nearly hardy — at least, in the south — has
a glutinous exudation, and the flowers are
large with a dark spot at the base. It is
said to be a native of Cyprus, but doubt-
fully.

C. FLORENTINUS (Florence Rock Rose).
— A handsome bush, flowering freely and
of easy culture, and I find it hardy and
enduring on soils where other kinds
perish. It is evergreen and charming on
the tops of dry walls and banks, and for
the bold rock garden one could not desire
a prettier bush ; 2 to 3 feet high, bearing
myriads of white flowers throughout the
summer.

C. GLAUCUS. — A much-branched bush,
i to 2 feet in height, with red-brown bark ;
the upper surface of the leaves is dull
green, glossy, and glabrous, the lower
strongly veined and clothed with a hoary
down. The flowers are large, white with
a yellow blotch at the base of each petal,
and the very short style is much exceeded
by the stamens. S. Europe.

C. HIRSUTUS (Hairy Rock Rose). — A
shrub i to 3 feet high ; the young shoots
and flower-stalks are hairy, as are the
leaves on both surfaces ; the flowers
whitish, and the style is shorter than the
stamens. S.W. Europe.

C. LADANIFERUS (Gum Cistus). — One of
the best ; the leaves, smooth and glossy
above, clothed with a dense white wool
beneath. The large flowers are white, in
some forms with a large dark vinous-red
blotch towards the base of each petal;
in others without blotch. It also varies
in the size of the leaves, the extreme forms
having narrow, almost linear, leaves. This
seeds and naturalises itself freely on dry
banks in a wood of mine.

C. LAURIFOLIUS (Bush Rock Rose). —
The hardiest kind ; in some southern

CISTUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CLADRASTIS. 397

gardens plants exist, which have withstood
many winters. The flowers are white
with a small citron-yellow blotch at the
base of each petal. It requires no protec-
tion, and may be raised from seeds, which
ripen in abundance, and also by cuttings,
which, however, do not strike so freely as
in some of the other kinds. S.W. Europe.

C. LUSITANICUS. — A pretty kind of
garden origin, which makes a shapely
bush of spreading habit and slender wiry
stems, covered during summer with large
white flowers marked with a deep crimson
spot at the base of each petal. Narrow,
bright green foliage, which is slightly
viscous.

C. MONSPELIENSIS (Montpelier Rock
Rose). — Widely distributed in the Medi-
terranean region, and very variable in

habit, with Sage-like leaves, and long-
stalked, white, yellow-blotched flowers.
In a wild state it is found all along the
Mediterranean, and a number of slightly
varying forms have received distinctive
names, but do not appear to have been
introduced to gardens.

C. VAGINATUS is the largest of the red-
flowered kinds ; robust, with large-
stalked, hairy leaves, and large, deep,
rose-coloured yellow-centred flowers. The
stamens are more numerous in this than
in, perhaps, any other Cistus, and form a
dense, brush-like tuft, overtopped by the
long style.

C. VILLOSUS.— A Mediterranean kind, a
variable and erect bush with firm-textured
leaves. The flowers of all the forms are
rose-coloured, with long styles. C. undu-

Cistus fonnosus.

size of its leaves and also in stature of
plant ; in some spots it hardly grows more
than 6 inches in height ; in others to
6 feet. The flowers are white, about an
inch in diameter, each petal bearing a
yellow blotch at the base.

C. POPULIFOLIUS (Poplar-leaved Rock
Rose) is a robust kind, with large rugose,
stalked, Poplar-like leaves and medium-
sized white flowers, tinged with yellow at
the base of the petals. Varieties of C.
salvifolius are often misnamed C. populi-
folius in nurseries and gardens. Amongst
the numerous forms of this species may
be mentioned C. narbonnensis , with shorter
flower-stalks, smaller leaves — altogether
a smaller plant than the type — and C. lati-
folius, another with broader leaves. S.
Europe.

C. SALVIFOLIUS (Sage-leaved Rock
Rose). — A variable kind, and of slender

latus is a variety with wavy-margined
leaves. C. incanus represents what may
be regarded as the common typical form.
C. creticus is another with deeper rose-red
flowers than those already mentioned.

CLADIUM. — C. Mariscus is a vigor-
pus native fen plant, 2 to 6 feet high,
in flower crowned with dense, close
chestnut-coloured panicles, sometimes
3 feet in length, the leaves glaucous
rigid, and often 4 feet long. It is a
water plant for association with the
taller sedges, Bulrush, and bolder
water-side plants.

CLADRASTIS, the Yellow-wood of
N. America. C. tinctoria is a pretty
lawn tree of medium size and sym-
metrical growth, but not a good flower-
ing tree. Its leaves, in autumn, turn

398

CLARKIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CLARKIA.

to a rich yellow, and remain bright for
weeks until cut off by frosts. The
white pea-shaped flowers are borne in
loose clusters. C. amurensis is a shrub
introduced a few years ago from the
Amoor Valley. Its leaves resemble
those of the Yellow-wood, but are of
thicker texture, not so large, and of a
duller green. In late summer it pro-

of hardy annuals, robust, of easy
culture, and flower for a long time.
There are two species from which the
numerous varieties now in cultivation
have been obtained. C. elegans grows
2 feet high, erect, much branched,
and bears long leafy racemes of flowers
with undivided petals, varying from
purple to pale red or a salmon colour.

Cistus ladani/et

duces a plentiful crop of flowers, even
when only a few feet high. The spikes
are dense, the blossoms white, inclined
to yellow, and endure a long time.
Small bushes flower freely. It is hardy
in sandy loam.

CLARKIA. — These Californian
plants of the Evening Primrose and
Fuchsia order are among the prettiest

The principal varieties of this species
have double flowers, and two — Purple
King (deep purple) and Salmon Queen
(salmon-pink) — have flowers produced
freely on strong branching plants, and
are very effective border flowers. The
other species, C. pulchella, varies in
height from about i foot in the Tom
Thumb sorts to 2 feet. It has magenta
flowers normally, but there is every

CLAYTONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CLEMATIS.

399

variation between deep purple and
pure white, and there are also several
double-flowered forms. Many varie-
ties are mentioned in seed lists, some
well worth growing.

Clarkia may be sown either in
autumn or spring, and by sowing in
the beginning of September the seed-
lings gain strength before the winter,
and flower well in early spring, but
these autumn sowings are liable to
accident, and should only be tried on
warm soils. The first spring sowing
should take place in the middle of
March, when the plants would flower
in July.

CLAYTONIA. — A small group of the
Purslane order, of which three species
are pretty garden plants. C. caro-
liniana is a spreading dwarf species
bearing in spring loose racemes of
pretty rose flowers, and C. virginica
(Spring Beauty) is a slender erect plant,
with pink blossoms. Both are suitable
for warm spots in the rock garden in
loamy soils, but C. sibirica, also a
dwarf species with pink flowers, requires
a damp peaty soil.

CLEMATIS (Virgin's Bower}. —
Beautiful climbing shrubs and herbs
from northern and temperate regions,
and of the highest value for gardens.
Among hardy climbers there is no
other group of plants that equals the
Clematis in variety and in beauty.

The Clematis vary in habit from
herbaceous plants little more than
i foot high to woody climbers with
stems 50 feet or more in length. Most
of the climbing species support them-
selves by means of the leaf-stalks,
which curl round twigs or other slender
objects near. The Clematis flower
possesses no true petals, but in their
place a coloured calyx consisting of
usually four, but sometimes as many
as eight sepals.

The Clematises may be used to
cover walls, mounds, arbours, pergolas,
and fences, and in the open, where no
other support is available, rough Oak
branches may be used for them, either
singly or set together to form a pyra-
mid, while the more vigorous species
will run over trees. The most graceful
climbing plants of the northern world,
for half a century most of them have
been lost to our gardens owing to the
mistaken mode of increase by grafting
these beautiful Chinese and Japanese
plants on the common vigorous kind
that grows on the chalk-hills of Surrey.
Death is inevitable, and few succeed,

some struggling to establish them-
selves in spite of it. I have proved in
my own garden for many years that
the right and natural way of propaga-
tion is by layering, cuttings, or seed-
lings of good kinds. The French
nurserymen use the Viticella for the
stock, which is nearly as bad. The
right way is to have nothing to do with
grafting or potting.

C. ALPINA (Alpine Clematis).— A very
pretty plant flowering in spring. The
flowers are nodding, the four large sepals
being soft blue with a whitish margin, or
sometimes almost entirely white. The
flower is 2 inches or more across. Syn.
Atragene.

C. APHYLLA. — A leafless species forming
masses of long, wiry, roundish, rush-like
stems of a dark green colour, on which in
axillary clusters the greenish- yellow, fra-
grant flowers occur in almost whorl-like
formation. At first sight the plant does
not greatly attract — that is to say, from
the point of size or colour of its flowers —
yet it is worth having for its exceedingly
grateful perfume, which reminds one of
the Winter Sweet. The stem-growth
extends to several feet in length, not
greater in circumference than the common
Rush. The flowers are bell-shaped, about
f inch across, and produced on pedicels
1 1 inches long.

C. ARMANDI. — An evergreen species,
native of Central and Western China. At
first glance this might almost be taken for
the New Zealand Clematis indivisa, bear-
ing as it does trifoliate leaves of a dark
green, leathery texture. The flowers,
borne freely in the axils of the leaves, are
each 2 inches in diameter, and composed
of six or eight segments, thus forming a
starry bloom.

C. CAMPANIFLORA (Bell-flowered C.). — A
graceful, small bell-shaped flower about
i inch in diameter, pale violet or almost
white. The flowers are very freely borne,
and against the deep green, often finely-
divided foliage, they are very effective.
The plant is not often seen in gardens,
though coming freely from seed.

C. CALYCINA (Winter-flowering C.). — A
native of Minorca and Corsica, evergreen
with dark brown-angled stems, and during
the winter the foliage acquires a fine
bronzy hue. The flower is about 2 inches
across, yellowish-white, stained inside
with oblong, irregular, reddish-purple
spots. December to April. In the Lon-
don district it ought to have the shelter
of a wall to flower well. From its near
ally, the following species, it differs in its
narrower and more divided foliage..

C. CIRRHOSA (Evergreen C.). — This
evergreen species has been much confused
with C. calycina. C. cirrhosa, however, if
it comes from the Balearic Islands, is not
confined to them, but is a native also of

4oo

CLEMATIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CLEMATIS.

various parts of Spain, and is found also
in Algiers and on the mountains of N.
Africa. The flowers are dull white or
cream-coloured, downy outside, smooth
within, and about i£ inches in diameter.
In S. Europe it climbs over big trees, but
it grows only some 8 or 10 feet high in
these colder latitudes.

C. COCCINEA (Scarlet C.). — A distinct
species, some 6 to 10 feet high, the flowers
varying in colour from rosy carmine to
scarlet ; they are swollen at the base, but
narrow towards the top. A larger-
flowered variety is known as major, and
various hybrids have been raised by
crossing this and other species. N.
America.

C. CRISPA (Frilled C.). — A distinct and
good kind. The colour is purple margined
with white, or in some forms pale lilac.
The flowers are fragrant and appear in
June, continuing up to autumn. Some
of the forms are bright in colour and
pretty, but others are amongst the least
effective of the shrubby Clematis, the
thick, heavy sepals being of a dull purple.
N. America.

C. FLAMMULA (Fragrant Virgin's Bower).
— A vigorous grower, its leaves are of a
rich dark green and remain fresh till well
into the winter. The flowers are small
(half-inch to three-quarters of an inch
across), and appear in late summer and
autumn ; fragrant, creamy-white, the
fruit white and feathery. This species is
variable in the size and shape of the
leaflets and in the flower panicles, some
of which are large with numerous blos-
soms, whilst in other forms the panicles
are few-flowered and scarcely branched.

C. FLORIDA (var. bicolor}. — The type
C. florida is a native of China and has been
long known in European gardens. It is
allied to C. patens, and, like that species,
produces its flowers earlier than the
lanuginosa varieties, for the blossoms
appear from ripened wood of the previous
year, and are usually at their best in June.
As a rule, the flowers are whitish with
dark stamens in the forms that closely
resemble the type, but in the variety
bicolor the flowers are doubled, the outer
part being white and the inner part purple.
As the expanded blossoms are each at
least 4 inches across, the beauty of a well-
flowered plant may be imagined. The
variety bicolor is said to have been intro-
duced from Japan about seventy-five
years ago.

C. GRATA (Indian Virgin's Bower). — A
free, much-branched Indian climber, grow-
ing from 12 to 15 feet high, with hairy
stems and leaves, flowering freely with me
on pergola or over bushes. It is a very
good kind, flowering late when few
climbers are in bloom.

C. HERACLE^FOLIA (David's Virgin's
Bower). — A dwarf, sturdy plant under

2 feet high, with large leaves and short
stalked corymbs of flowers of a hyacinthirn
shape and purplish-blue colour. Mud
superior to it as a garden plant is th<
variety Davidiana, which often ranks as •<
species. Its stems are about 4 feet long
but are rarely strong enough to stand erec
without support. The largest leaflet
often measure 6 inches in length by nearb
as much in width. The bright lavender

Clematis lanuginosa alba growing through Azara.

blue flowers are in dense heads, borne on
long stalks in early autumn. N. China.

C. LANUGINOSA (Great-flowered Virgin's
Bower). — A noble Chinese species 5 or 6
feet high, the leaves covered beneath with
greyish wool, the flowers the largest of
any of the wild kinds, 6 inches across, and
the sepals flat and overlapping and of a
pale lavender colour. It is to this species
more than to any other that the beauty of
the garden hybrids of Clematis is due. Its
flowers range in colour from pure white to
deep rich purple, and appear from July to
October.

C. MONTANA (White Virgin's Bower). —
One of the most beautiful kinds, and when
covered with its white flowers during May,
one of the most attractive of all hardy

CLEMATIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CLEMATIS. 401

climbers. It is quite hardy and vigorous,
and may frequently be seen covering walls
to a great height ; also will run up trees
and prove very effective in that way,
thriving in ordinary soil and increased by
seed or layers. C. lilacina is a hybrid of
C. montana and something else. It is
very delicate in colour, and very hardy.
I plant it at the foot of trees, a favourite
way of mine of growing Clematises.

C. NUTANS (The Nodding Virgin's
Bower). — After coming, as I thought, to
the end of my enjoyment of these plants,
in 1912 I find in the middle of October
pretty flowers of the nodding Clematis.
We have it in several positions, and it
seems to grow well in all. It is a Chinese
kind, fragrant, of good growth, and a real
addition. Some of the smaller kinds of
Clematis are scarcely worth cultivation ;
but this may well be, it carries the bloom-
ing season so much further on in the year.

C. ORIENTALIS (Yellow Indian Virgin's
Bower). — A vigorous climber growing 12
to 30 feet high, flowering abundantly in
August and September, the four sepals
being of a yellow colour, tinged with
green, and having a sweet but not very
strong fragrance. The fruit heads are
handsome with the silky tail attached to
each seed vessel. Mountains of India and
N. Asia.

C. PANICULATA (Japanese Virgin's
Bower). — A vigorous climber, growing
to a height of 30 feet or more. The
flowers have a hawthorn-like fragrance,
the four sepals being of a rather dull white.
It is hardy in Britain, and flowers during
September, but with nothing like the pro-
fusion that makes it so beautiful a climber
in America.

C. PATENS, — Next to C. lanuginosa, this
is perhaps the most important of the
wild types of Clematis. It is a native of
Japan (having been found on the Isle of
Nippon), and possibly of China also. It
was introduced about sixty years ago by
Siebold, who obtained it in the gardens
near Yokohama, where it had, no doubt,
been long in cultivation. The sepals are
from six to eight in number, narrow in the
form originally introduced, and a delicate
mauve colour, but the varieties subse-
quently obtained from it under cultivation
have flowers much larger, the colours
varying from white to deep violet and
blue. Its value as one of the parent
species of the garden Clematis is due not
only to its beauty, but more especially to
its flowering as early as May and June.

C. RUBENS (The Rosy Virgin's Bower)
is a recent and very pretty form from
China, usually classed as a variety of
C. montana, but I think distinct, finer in
habit, and less rampant. A friend who
grows it in N. Germany tells me it is
hardier there than montana. It is excel-
lent for various garlands over walls, light

arches, and over low trees and shrubs.
It is of easy culture in ordinary soil.

C. TANGUTICA (The Russian Virgin's
Bower). — A noble kind of recent coming,
often wrongly described as a variety of
C. orientalis. It is a distinct and finer
plant. The error has been fostered by
botanists, who do not often see the plants
alive, and " argue " from the dried plants.

Clematis Lady Caroline Neville.

It grows freely here in our ordinary soil,
deep and moist, but no trellis is large
enough for it. The large, deep yellow
flowers are followed by handsome seed
heads.

C. VIRGINIANA (American Virgin's
Bower). — The common Virgin's Bower
of the United States and Canada. The
flowers are borne in flat panicles, the sepals
thin and dull white, and although hardy
enough, is not in Britain so strong and
woody a grower as our native Traveller's

Joy-

C. VITALBA (Traveller's Joy). — There
is no climber native to Britain that gives
so near an approach to tropical luxuriance

2 C

402 CLEMATIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CLEMAtlS.

of vegetation as this. The numerous^ dull
white flowers are each three-quarters of an
inch or so across, with a faint odour
resembling that of Almonds. It is, per-
haps, most beautiful when covered with
its white fruits, the seeds having long
feathery tails.

C. VITICELLA (Purple Virgin's Bower). —
A graceful climber, from 8 to 12 feet high ;
its flowers in summer i£ to 2 inches in
diameter, the sepals blue, purple, or rosy-
purple, and the fruits have only short
tails, which are devoid of the plumose
covering so often seen in this genus. There
are now numerous varieties of the species
superior to it in size of flower, and offering
also a variety of shades, some very pretty.

Hybrid Clematis.— Among the best
of the many hybrids raised both abroad
or in England are Alba magna, Asco-
tensis, Beauty of Worcester, Belle of
Woking, Blue Gem, Countess of Love-
lace, Countess of Onslow, Duchess
of Albany, Duchess of Edinburgh,
Duchess of York, Fair Rosamond,
Fairy Queen, Gem, Gipsy Queen,
Henryi, Jackmanni, Jackmanni super-
ba, Jackmanni alba, John Gould Veitch,
Lady Bovill, Lady Caroline Neville,
Lucie Lemoine, Mme. Grange, Mme.
Edouard Andre, Mme. Van Houtte,
Miss Bateman, Miss Crawshay, Mrs
Geo. Jackman, Mrs Hope, Otto
Froebel, Princess of Wales, Purpurea
elegans, Rubella, Sir Garnet Wolseley,
Star of India, Stella, The Queen,
William Kennett. It has been usual
in treating of these and other Clematis
to throw them into groups, a mislead-
ing and useless plan from a garden
point of view; the best way is to
regard the species each separately, as
they differ so much in vigour and in
their use : the hybrids also are better
to look at as a class apart, fitted more
for flower-garden use than some of
the species. The hybrid kinds are
usually grafted, and this is no doubt
the reason why they die off like flies,
and why these fine plants, of which
hundreds have been raised, are so
rarely seen well grown in gardens.
The stocks used are C. Viticella and
C. Vitalba, plants very different in
their nature from the fine species
from China and Japan, and though
a growth is obtained at first, an
early death too often follows of the
kinds worked on them. The best way
is to get the plants from layers, never
to purchase any but these. Seed
raising, too, should be regularly pur-
sued, and in those ways we should
get over the deaths of these fine

plants caused by the short - sighted
practice.

Clematis in Colours.— In this the
general effect of the whole, the
abundance and duration of the flowers,
and the purity and brilliancy of their
colours, are the prime factors, enabling
plant-lovers to obtain the richest
effects. As regards the plants them-
selves, all but those of proved vigour
and hardiness have been rejected ; in
fact, so robust are many of those here
enumerated as to have reached the
thickness of an old Vine stem.

YELLOW. — C. tangutica, the most
beautiful of its colour. Flowers of a
fine yellow in spring. Stems woody
and short, throwing out numerous
flowering shoots each season. C.
orientalis, light yellow in colour,
flowering in summer and autumn ; is
best grown trained against a house or
wall, when it sometimes attains a
large size. C. Wilfordi resembles it ;
a plant for the rock garden, where it
forms low tufts covered with flowers,
its shoots taking root wherever they
touch the soil.

WHITE.— C. apiifolia, somewhat like
Vitalba, flowering in autumn. C.
balearica, scented blossoms during
autumn and winter. C. cirrhosa, a
vigorous plant, flowering from October
to December. C. flammula ; a variety
robusta is larger, and flowers a little
later. C. lanuginosa Candida, large
flowers, coming mainly in spring, but
again at intervals during summer and
autumn. There are in existence a
great number of its forms, hybrid and
otherwise, with beautiful white flowers,
but none are so robust or lasting as
the old form, which has flourished
for many years in our garden. C.
montana ; its variety grandiflora is
larger in flower, but they are not
fragrant. C. Viticella alba, a good
plant with flowers of exquisite purity
and grace ; its form Luxurians is
more robust, attaining a large size,
and sometimes, as a result of its
great vigour, the first flowers are some-
what greenish in colour. The varieties
Arabella and Mme. Moser are also
forms of Viticella alba.

ROSE. — Comtesse de Bouchaud,
large and beautiful flowers of a fine
rose colour, and very free. Mme.
Baron Veillard, large flowers appearing
rather late, towards the end of summer,
and autumn. Vagabonde, flowers of?
four sepals set crosswise, pale rose in
the centre, deepening towards the
edges; a plant of great vigour. C.

CLEMATIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CLETHRA.

403

Viticella rosea, a charming plant,
flowers smaller, but of a beautiful
shaded rose. Neige et cerise, also
a form of Viticella, medium-sized
flowers, white in the centre, with a
border of bright cherry-red. Duchess
of Albany, flowers of a good light pink.

CRIMSON AND RED. — Mme. Edouard
Andre, crimson-purple ; Mme. Furtado-
Heine, rose-shaded flowers ; Mme. Julia
Correvon, dark crimson - red colour ;
Oriflamme, bright red, approaching
vermilion, covered with minute touches
of white ; Jackmanni rubra ; Ville de
Lyon, crimson-red. Amongst red forms
of C. Viticella are Kermesina, small
flowers but very abundant and deep
crimson in colour ; Leonidas ; Rubra
grandiflora, reddish - crimson ; Flore-
pleno purpurea, and atropurpurea, of a
deeper purple ; C. coccinea, Countess of
Onslow, hybrid of coccinea, crimson
shading to purple.

BLUE. — Durandi, intense blue ;
Perle d'Azure, large light blue flowers ;
Victor Ceresole, a form approaching
lanuginosa, with large flowers of a
good blue ; Caeligina, a fine shade of
ultramarine in colour ; Bifrons, light
blue in the centre shaded to dark
indigo at the edges, and silvery-white
at the back ; this double tinting on
the same plant has at times a very
peculiar effect. Of purple forms of
C. Viticella there are atragenoides, a
very free and vigorous plant, with
blue flowers, paler in parts and towards
the centre ; ccevulea, with myriads of
bell-shaped, azure-blue blossoms ; and
Monsieur Tisserand, robust and good,
with light blue flowers streaked with
darker veinings.

VIOLET AND PURPLE. — The purple
Clematis are a numerous class, but
the best are as follows: — C. Flam-
mula rubra marginata, flowers small
but produced in such quantity as to
make the plant one sheet of violet ;
Etoile violette, large well - formed
flowers upon a vigorous plant, which
reaches a great size. Franco-furtensis,
dark purple ; Gipsy Queen ; Jack-
manni and its variety superba ;
Mme. Grange, ruddy violet ; Mod-
esta, inclining to mauve ; Neptune,
clear blue-violet ; Prince of Wales,
rich violet-purple ; Rubella, dark and
richly shaded ; Star of India, clear
violet, with bright purple markings ;
Rubra-violacea, a peculiar brown tint
of violet, passing to ruddy violet-
crimson. Amongst forms of C. Viti-
cella are Iris, rosy violet ; Negresse, a
dark velvety purple ; Venosa, pale

blue, veined with violet purple, passing
to darker tones at the edges ; and
Venosa violacea, darker in colour ;
C. odorata ccerulea, with scented blue
flowers.

This list does not include a number
of varieties still on trial in our gardens,
which promise ere long to add to the
list plants distinct in colour, particu-
larly in the newly-developed group of
hybrids of coccinea and megalantha, of
which the Countess of Onslow, Sir
Trevor Lawrence, Duchess of Albany,
Duchess of York, and Grace Darling
form a part. — FRAN^ISQUE MOREL.

CLERODENDRON. — Tropical or
sub-tropical trees or shrubs, only two
species of which have any claim to
hardiness, C. trichotomum, a Japanese
plant, and C. fcetidum, a native of
China, an old garden plant usually
seen in greenhouses, but hardy enough
for open-air culture in all southern and
warm parts. In southern gardens,
especially near the sea, it grows 5 feet
high, and is handsome for the several
weeks it is in bloom. The other species
is less common, and is a free-growing
shrub, 6 feet high or more, bearing
large loose clusters of flowers, the
corollas white, the calyces a deep
brownish-red, blooming in September.

CLETHRA (Sweet Pepper Bush).

Shrubs and small trees of the Heath
order, the hardy species natives of
North America. The Alder - leaved
Clethra ( C. alnifolia) in the wet copses
of Virginia reaches a height of 10 feet
or more. With us it grows from 3
to 5 feet, makes a dense bush, bear-
ing in summer white, sweet-scented
flowers in feathery spikes. C. acu-
minata has more pointed leaves, and
it also has spikes of white scented
flowers ; it is quite a small tree in
the woods of the Alleghanies. Both
are valuable shrubs for moist peaty
places.

C. ARBOREA is the handsome Lily-of-
the- Valley tree. It bears panicles of white,
bell-shaped flowers in the summer at
which time it is quite a feature at Tresco.
It thrives out of doors in the south, and
may be worth trying in the warmer parts
of S. Ireland, but usually in our country
is a shrub for the greenhouse. Madeira.

C. CANESCENS. — An erect deciduous
bush, 4 feet or so high, native of China and
Japan, whence it was introduced about
1870. The leaves are greyish, the white
fragrant flowers borne in terminal inflores-
cences in August. It is somewhat tender
when young, but stands better after the
first few years.

464 CLIANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

COLCHICUM

C. TOMENTOSA. — Closely allied to C.
alnifolia, and from the same region. The
flowers, in large terminal and axillary
panicles, are white and fragrant, and at
their best in September.

CLIANTHUS (Glory Pea) .—Brilliant
shrubs seldom seen out of doors in the
London district or home counties, but
one kind is quite free as a wall plant
in Irish and west country gardens,
and should be more frequently planted
in seashore and warm places. It is
C. puniceus, a native of New Zealand,
and as handsome a shrub when in
bloom as one could wish to see, its
splendid crimson blooms borne in large
bunches during summer. Cuttings.

Clintonia. See DOWINGIA.
Cnicus benedictus. See GARDENIA.

COB2EA ( Cups and Saucers] . — In
favourable localities in the southern
and western counties C. scandens, a
well-known greenhouse plant, thrives
against an outside wall, and will cover
a considerable space of trellis-work
during summer. It should be planted
in light rich soil, and if watered
liberally during the growing season
will soon cover a large space and
flower freely. With some protection
it will survive an ordinary winter.

CODONOPSIS. — The members of
this small genus of the Bellflower order
are remarkable rather for a quaint,
distinctive beauty of their own, not
half of which is disclosed externally.
Of drooping, bell-shaped outline, the
flowers contain their greater beauty
within the corolla, and which, more-
over, is not all seen at a glance. At
the present time greater interest
attaches to the group than was for-
merly the case, by reason of several
new additions from China, some of
these surpassing in their quaint mark-
ings .the earlier-known members of the
race. A possible weak point, one not
favouring their general cultivation
perhaps, is that of lacking complete
hardiness, and in northern districts
winter protection had better be afforded
the roots. In other respects they are
not difficult of cultivation, preferring
always well-drained sandy loams and
a warm exposure. So far as position
is concerned, it were better, I think,
because of the greater beauty of the
flowers internally, that the plants be
raised on moderately high shelving
rocks, where the root-run is deep and
good, and where complete drainage,
and possibly, also, a certain immunity

from the attacks of slugs — which have
a fondness for the young shoots of the
plant — would, to some extent, be
assured. Such a position, too, would
exactly suit the trailing habit of some.
The plants may be raised from seeds
and from cuttings. The following are
the more important : —

C. BULLEYI. — A trailing species found
by Mr Forrest when plant-hunting in
China. The soft, lavender-blue flowers
are drooping, distinctly contracted about
the middle, and openly bell-shaped at the
mouth. A pretty free-flowering novelty.

C. CLEMATIDEA. — A climbing or twining
species of 2 or 3 feet high ; flowers creamy-
white spotted with purple and tinged with
blue.

C. MELEAGRIS. — This remarkable Chinese
species has for a year or two past been
one of the more conspicuous hardy plant
novelties in- Messrs Bees' exhibits at the
Holland House Show. As there shown,
the well-flowered examples were nearly a
foot high, the roundly, bell-shaped, droop-
ing flowers of rare beauty. The ground
colour is a very pale porcelain-blue, the
heavy markings, so striking a feature of
the species, rich chocolate to purple, the
base or centre of the flowers internally
green.

C. OVATA. — The flowers, two or more
on a stem, are drooping, bell-shaped, pale
greyish-blue in colour, with purple reticu-
lations and orange and white base inter-
nally. The greater beauty is within the
nodding bells. The plant is 18 inches or
2 feet high, with small, ovate, soft, greyish
and somewhat downy leaves and flowers
from June onwards. W. Himalayas. —
E. H. J.

COLCHICUM (Meadow Saffron}. —
Hardy bulbs, some handsome in
autumn. The individual flowers do
not, as a rule, last long, but, as they
come in succession, there is a long
season of bloom. The flowers are
often destroyed through being grown
in bare beds of soil, where the splashing
of the soil in heavy rains impairs their
beauty. In the rock garden among
dwarf plants Colchicums thrive, and
make a pretty show in autumn, when
rock gardens are often flowerless.
They look better in grassy places or
in the wild garden than in beds or
borders. Their naked flowers want
the relief and grace of grass and foliage,
There are about thirty kinds, though
only about half of them are in cultiva-
tion, and among these the differences
are often slight.

C. AUTUMNALE, commonly called the •
autumn Crocus. The flowers appear
before the leaves, rosy-purple, in clusters

COLEUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. COLLINS: A.

405

of about six, 2 or 3 inches above the sur-
face, flowering from September to Novem-
ber. There are several varieties, the chief
being the double purple, white and striped ;

Colchicum in Grass.

rose-lilac ; rose-lilac, striped with white,
pale rose ; and pure white.

C. PARKINSONI. — • A distinct plant,
readily distinguished from any of the fore-
going by the peculiar chequered markings
of its violet-purple flowers. Its flowers
come in autumn, and its leaves in spring.
Similar kinds are Bivonce, variegatum,
agrippinum, chionense, tessellatum, all of
which have the flowers chequered with
dark purple on a white ground.

C. SPECIOSUM, from the Caucasus, is
large and beautiful, and valuable for the
garden in autumn, .where its large rosy-
purple flowers appear nearly i foot above
the ground. C. s. rubrum is a very hand-
some variety, the pure white C. s. album
being unique. These speciosum varieties
make excellent groups in grass and on the
fringes of woodland places. Like the
rest of the Meadow Saffrons, they are as
well suited for the rock garden as the
border, thriving in any soil ; but to have
it in perfection, choose a situation exposed
to the sun, with sandy soil — in fact, a
spot likely to dry up during summer.

COLEUS.— A few kinds of these
pretty-leaved plants, of the Sage order,
succeed in the open air in summer. In
some of the London parks they are
arranged by themselves in large masses,
generally of one kind only. Though
there is a host of varieties, few succeed
in the open air. Mr Wildsmith, of
Heckfield, wrote : " We have tried at
least a score of varieties, with the result

that the first kind recommended ( Vers-
chaffelti} is still the only one that
succeeds well." The culture of all the
varieties is of the simplest nature ;
cuttings strike freely in any sandy soil
in a moist heat of 70°.

COLLETIA. — Curious shrubs of the
Buckthorn order from Chili, some
species of which are hardy enough for
the open air in all but the coldest
parts of the country, in free sandy
soils. They have spiny branches with
a few minute leaves. C. cruciata is
the commonest ; its stems are armed
with stout flattened spines, its flowers
white and small, making a bush about
4 feet high. C. spinosa has its spines
round or awl-shaped, the white flowers,
though small, are very numerous in
summer. Under favourable conditions
it makes a formidable hedge in the
southern counties, where it flourishes.
Colletia are often neglected and placed
against walls, but it will be found that
the hardiest one is much better in the
open sun, and best, perhaps, in sandy
or stony ground, in which it is very
effective in autumn.

COLLINSIA. — Annual flowers mainly
of N.W. America. Some of real value
for gardens, and often enduring our
winters, so admitting of autumn sow-
ing, which gives a better bloom, and
frequently also sown in spring.

Colletia cruciata (C. bictoniensis).

C. BICOLOR (Chinese Houses). — A beau-
tiful and free-growing annual of very good
effect in the spring. Often sows itself in
free soil, and sown in September in any
spare bed blooms finely in May.

406

COLLOMIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CONVALLARIA.

C. GRANDIFLORA (Chintz Flower) . — A
quite distinct kind, it gives a very pretty
purplish effect, and endures our winters
well, thriving from autumn-sown seeds,
and often coming self-sown.

C. VERNA. (Vernal C.). — A beautiful
kind, native of the colder parts of N.
America. Not much in cultivation with
us. In my own garden we repeatedly
failed to raise it, but still hope on and
blame the seeds.

C. INSIGNIS (Baby Blue Eyes). — A
beautiful flower easily grown, usually sown
in the spring or, often better, in warm and
southern districts in September, if good
seed can be had then. To make sure of
early sowing, it is well to save some of
the seeds, as the stocks may not be ready.
Sow on Rose or other open beds ; thinly
set out.

C. MACULATA. — A spotted kind, distinct
and beautiful. Grown easily from
autumn-sown seeds, and also seed sown
in the spring. It is excellent for carpeting
beds and for edgings. Seeds of all kinds
are easily raised.

COLLOMIA. — C. coccinea is a bright-
coloured annual, i foot to 18 inches
high, flowering in summer and autumn.
Sow it in April in open ground ; or
else in a frame in autumn, and pro-
tect it during winter, if good plants
are desired, either for pots or planting
out. On warm soils it grows best and
sows itself every year, surviving the
winter, and growing much stronger.

COLUTEA (Bladder Senna) .—These
cannot be called choice flowering
shrubs, but they are very useful for
poor hungry soils, particularly for dry
sunny banks, where few other plants
can exist ; they are excellent, too, in
smoky districts. Like the Gorse and
a few other shrubs of the Pea family,
they delight in a dry, sandy soil, and
when in flower, which is during several
weeks in late summer and in autumn,
they are pretty, their foliage being
light and elegant. They have numer-
ous names, but there are only one or
two distinct kinds. The commonest is
C. arborescens, which, under favourable
conditions, grows 6 or 8 feet high, has
large flowers, varying in different
varieties from yellow to a deep reddish-
yellow. C. cruenta, C. halepica, and
C. media — all natives of Europe — are
smaller, and have bright yellow flowers ;
but all have much the same aspect.

COMMELINA (Blue Spiderwort) .— A
charming old garden plant with flowers
of a fine blue, C. Ccelestis delights in

light warm soils. The roots arc
fleshy, and in some districts it is well
to cover them with coal ashes on the
approach of winter. In cold, wet
districts the roots may be lifted and
stored in dry leaf-mould. On some
warm or stony soils, and in districts
near the sea where light soil prevails,
it grows like a weed. It is so fine in
colour that a group or small bed is
always welcome. There is a white
form. Mexico.

Comptonia. See MYRICA.

CONANDRON. — C. ramondioides
is a small Japanese plant allied
to Ramondia, having thick wrinkled
leaves, in flat tufts, from which arise
erect flower-stems some 6 inches high,
bearing numerous lilac-purple and
white blossoms. It cannot be relied
on as quite hardy, and requires a
sheltered position, such as is afforded
by a snug nook in the rock garden.
Plants placed between blocks of stone
thrive if there is a good depth of
soil in the chink and the soil is
moist.

CONVALLARIA MAJALIS (Lily-
of -the- Valley}. — It is well to have a
plantation of Lilies-of-the-Valley upon
a south aspect, for the sake of earliness
and of producing them in succession,
for by this means flowers may be
gathered a fortnight or three weeks
earlier. The best places are those
which afford shade and moisture, in
which they revel. Give liberal surface-
dressings of rotten manure annually in
autumn. Frost is destructive to the
blooms, which appear with the leaves.
Spruce or other evergreen branches
placed sparsely over the beds are a
protection, and encourage growth.

The best time to plant is early in
autumn, immediately after the foliage
decays, selecting plump single crowns
and dividing them. For beds likely to
remain undisturbed for several years,
the crowns should be planted 6 inches
apart. Cover the surface after plant-
ing with i or 2 inches of rotten manure,
thorough maturity being only insured
by repeated applications of water —
weak manure-water being the most
effective. Treated thus, with annual
surface-dressings of manure, the beds
will keep in good condition for years,
and bears fine blossoms in abundance.
When the plants become crowded with
shoots they should be thinned out,
or, better still, lifted and replanted.
It is now largely forced into flower

CONVOLVULUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. COPROSMA. 407

early, the roots being usually imported
from the Continent, where they are
grown and prepared for the purpose.
It may be naturalised, too, on any
place sufficiently moist and shaded,
and soon spreads into broad masses.
There is a variety with gold-striped
foliage, and another with double
flowers, but this is not pretty. The
finest form is called Fortin's, which is
more robust than the common kind,
having larger flowers.

CONVOLVULUS (Bindweed}.—
Handsome climbing herbs ; some
hardy, and, where properly used, effec-
tive.

C. ALTH^IODES. — A graceful trailer with
numerous rosy flowers, hardy and free
among rocks. Seeds or division of root.
Mediterranean region.

C. CNEORUM. — A silvery - leaved
shrubby species of high ornament and
beauty, growing 3 to 5 feet high. In
favoured localities it is excellent for sunny
positions on rock work ; otherwise it
should be planted near a wall. Cuttings
root readily. S. Europe.

C. DAHURICUS (Dahurian C.). — A showy,
twining perennial, bearing in summer
rosy-purple flowers. Excellent for cover-
ing bowers, railings, stumps, cottages, etc.,
and also for naturalisation in hedgerows
and copses. It grows in almost any soil,
and, like its relation the Bindweed, is
readily increased by division of the roots,
which creep. Syn. Calystegia. Cauca-
sus.

C. MAJOR. See IPOMOZA.

C. MAURITANICUS (Blue Rock Bind-
weed).— A beautiful, prostrate, twining
plant from N. Africa, with slender stems.
The flowers blue, i inch across, with a
white throat and yellow anthers. The
rock garden and raised borders ; supposed
to require sunny positions, in sandy, well-
drained soil, but I find it fine on stiffish
cool soils. Seeds or cuttings. .

C. PUBESCENS FL.-PL. (Double Bind-
weed). — Handsome and useful for cloth-
ing trellises, stumps, porches, and rustic-
work. It grows rapidly to the height of
6 feet. The flowers are large, double, and
of a pale rose, appearing in June and on-
ward. Division. China.

C. SOLDANELLA (Sea Bindweed). — A
distinct trailing species with fleshy leaves ;
flowering in summer, pale red, and hand-
some in the rock garden, if planted so that
its shoots droop over stones. Also suited
for borders, in sandy soil. Division.
Europe and Britain.

C. SYLVATICUS. — No plant forms more
beautiful and delicate curtains of foliage
and flowers than this, which grows vigor-
ously in any soil. The wild garden is the

place where it is most at home, and where
its vigorous roots may ramble without
doing injury to other plants. Among
bushes or hedges, over railings, or on
rough banks, it is charming, and takes
care of itself. The rosy-pink form incar-
nata is supposed to be a native of N.
America, but is naturalised in some parts
of Ireland. Native of S. Europe and N.
Africa.

C. TRICOLOR. — One of the most beau-
tiful of hardy annuals. There are numerous
varieties, varying more or less in colour
of flowers or in habit of growth. The
flowers of the type are blue, yellow, and
white, and the plant being perfectly hardy,
may be sown in the open ground in Sep-
tember for flowering in spring, or sown in
February in a heated frame for trans-
planting in May for midsummer flowering,
and in the open ground from April to the
end of May for flowering in late summer
and autumn. Syn. C. minor.

COPROSMA. — Dwarf evergreen
shrubs from New Zealand, best seen
in shore and southern gardens, and
most at home on a bold rock garden.
The Coprosmas are widely distributed
in New Zealand, some of the Pacific
Islands, Chili, and elsewhere. Of the
forty or more known species a few only
have been introduced to cultivation in
this country, those few being chiefly
natives of New Zealand. They are too
tender for general outdoor planting in
the British Isles, although they thrive
in the milder parts, and very few are
grown indoors except in botanic collec-
tions of plants. As evergreens they
are most useful, for they have little
flower beauty, the blooms being very
small, and not bright enough to make
them conspicuous. When fruit is
borne freely it has attractions, but
fruit cannot be depended upon in this
country. Given suitable climatic con-
ditions, they are not difficult to culti-
vate, for they thrive in well-drained,
loamy soil, to which a little peat or
leaf-mould has been added. Cuttings
inserted in a close and warm frame
during summer root with little trouble,
and soon form good plants.

Of the various species the following
are most easily obtained : —

C. ARBOREA. — A bush or small tree 20
to 30 feet high, with dark green or
brownish-green leaves, each I to 3 inches
long, and up to i \ inches wide. It is the
Tree Karamee of the Maoris, and when
grown in the open forms a wide, bushy
head. When grown close together, how-
ever, tall, slender trunks with small heads

408

COPTIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CORDYLINE.

are formed. The male and female flowers,
borne by different plants, are in small,
terminal heads, and are not showy. The
berries are two-seeded and black when
ripe. The wood is yellow, tough, and
straight-grained, and is used for ornamen-
tal cabinet work.

C. BAUERI. — One of the best for outdoor
planting in the South of England, it forms
a handsome evergreen, with glossy, oval, or
oblong leaves, which are thick in texture,
2 to 3 inches long, and up to 2^ inches
wide. The flowers are of no consequence,
but the orange-coloured fruits are said to
be attractive when produced freely.
There are gold and silver variegated
varieties worth planting. In New Zealand
and the Norfolk Islands it grows from
12 to 25 feet high under favourable con-
ditions, but when growing in exposed,
rocky places it is often a prostrate shrub
or low bush. Kirk, in the Forest Flora of
New Zealand, says that there is a Maori
legend connected with this species, which
states that it originated from the paddles
and skids of the canoe which landed the
original Maori immigrants in the Bay of
Plenty. The paddles and skids are said
to have been stuck in the ground, and
to have developed into a grove of trees,
from which all the other trees of the
same kind have originated. A plant at
Maketu was standing a few years ago, and
was pointed out as a direct descendant
of one of the original trees grown at that
point.

C. LINEARIFOLIA, sometimes called Yel-
low-wood, is a small tree up to 25 feet
high, with narrow leaves up to i| inches
long. It is not such a fine evergreen as
some of the other species, and cannot be
said to be very ornamental.

C. LUCIDA has much in common with C.
Baueri. Both it and C. Baueri are recom-
mended for planting near the sea, even
where washed by spray, violent winds and
dashing spray being said to brighten the
glossy surface of the leaves. They are
planted as hedges in New Zealand, and
are said to withstand clipping very well.
A third bold-leaved species is C. robusta,
which may be included with C. lucida and
C. Baueri.

C. PENDULA is worth growing on account
of its fine branchlets and semi-pendulous
habit. The small, brownish-green leaves
are rounded, and often less than half an
inch across. It grows into a bush at least
8 feet high.

COPTIS. — The interesting genus
Coptis belongs to the Ranunculus
family, and consists of about half a
dozen species of low-growing evergreen
plants spread over the whole of the
North Temperate Zone. Coptis is
closely related to Anemone, Helle-
borus and Thalictrum. The name

Coptis signifies ' ' cut ' ' in reference to
the numerous divisions of the leaves.
The species are mostly woodland
plants, and all thrive in partly shaded
situations. They flower very early in
the year, and are useful subjects for
the rock garden. Most of the species
produce seeds, by means of which they
can be increased. All grow well in
light, rich, well-drained soils that do
not become excessively dry. The
following five species are probably all
in cultivation : —

C. ASPLENIFOLIA. — The leaves of this
species have very much the appearance
of the Spleen wort or Asplenium, from
which the specific name is derived. They
are biternate, while the leaflets are pinna-
tifid and deeply cut. The scapes grow
about 9 inches high, and usually bear two
white flowers with five petals. This
species is found in the Sphagnum bogs of
N.W. America and also in Japan.

C. BRACHYPETALA. — This plant is
similar to C. asplenifolia in habit, but
has more finely-cut leaves, which have
acute divisions. The pretty white flowers
are produced early in March on scapes a
few inches high. This species is a native
of Japan.

C. OCCIDENTALIS. — This is one of the
largest species. It grows more than a foot
in height. The leaves are trifoliolate and
the leaflets are about 3 inches across,
deeply and unequally cut and lobed. The
white flowers have six petals and are
usually produced three together on each
scape. N. America.

C. ORIENTALIS.— This species blooms in
February, and makes a good plant for
the alpine house with its bronzy leaves
and scapes of white flowers. When in
flower the plant is about 6 inches high ;
the flower scapes of this species, as well
as those-of all the others, develop consider-
ably after flowering. Japan.

C. TRIFOLIA. — This, the most widely
spread and commonest species of all the
Coptis, is found in the mossy woods of
Canada, Siberia, and N. Europe. It forms
a dwarf-growing, creeping plant with tri-
foliolate leaves and pretty white flowers
on single-flowered scapes 3 to 4 inches
long. The roots are yellow, and together
with the leaves are used for producing a
yellow dye. From this fact it receives
its common name of " Gold Thread." It
is a suitable plant for the peaty bog, soon
spreading and forming an evergreen carpet
studded from April to July with flowers. —
Gardeners' Chronicle.

CORDYLINE (Club Palm). — Fine-
leaved shrub plants common in green-
houses, but only in the mildest parts
of England and Ireland can they be

CORDYLINE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CORDYLINE.

409

grown well in the open air. In the
Isle of Wight, and from thence along
the shores of Devonshire and Cornwall
to the Scilly Isles, they succeed well,
forming a fine feature even in cottage
gardens, whilst in some larger gardens
whole avenues are planted. But, in
far less favoured places, it is often seen
thriving for years in the open air,
though it is not worth trying in cold,
high, and inland places, especially on
clay soils.

Dublin, a plant, 16 feet high, with a
stem some 6 inches in diameter,
annually flowered and bore an abun-
dance of seeds, from which seedlings
were easily raised in a cold frame. In
the Scilly Islands the plant becomes a
great tree, in the warmth and moisture
from the Gulf Stream. The fact that
in Dublin young plants annually
flower and ripen seed is sufficient proof
of its hardiness and of its prospects
of success in many districts. It is

Cordyline australis, Bosachan, Cornwall.

The true C. indivisa is distinct, and
a large number of plants have at dif-
ferent times been in cultivation ; owing,
however, to their being treated as
tropical plants, they usually proved
short-lived. One of the finest speci-
mens in the country is in Mr Rash-
leigh's garden at Menabilly, Cornwall.
C. i. lineata is a fine variety, with
leaves much broader than those of
the type, and sometimes 4 inches
across, coloured with reddish-pink at
the sheathing base. There are many
forms. At Knockmaroon Lodge, near

readily increased also from pieces of
the stem and offsets. If a plant is
cut down close to the ground, there
soon spring up a number of young
shoots, which can be taken off as
cuttings, and which strike with free-
dom. Recent severe winters may have
hurt it in many places ; but after so
many years' success no one in a likely
district will give up its culture. — B.

C. ERYTHRORACHIS. — A distinct and
beautiful plant, hardy only in the warmest
parts of Britain, and then only when of a
certain age. It does not form a main stem

4io

COREMA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CORIARIA.

like most of the Dracaena family, but
remains as a bold spreading tuft, which
sends up graceful arching spikes of ivory-
white flowers every year from near the
ground to a height of 4 to 6 feet. The
leaves are very stout, about 4 feet long
and 3 inches wide, with dark edges and
tapering rapidly ; towards the base they
become deeply channelled, with the edges
rolled inwards until they almost meet as
a tube. The plant seeds freely, the seed-
vessels being white at first and then blue.
It grows freely from seed, but the young
plants should be wintered under glass
until three or four years old. Botanically
it is classed as a form of C. Banksii, but for
garden purposes it is quite distinct. N.
Australia.

COREMA (Plymouth Crowberry).—
An evergreen Heath-like shrub, native
of America and S.W. Europe ; one a
Portuguese. The American Crowberry
is said to be pretty in its own country,
but is not known in ours.

COREOPSIS ( Tickseed) . — Showy
N. American herbs, perennial or
annual ; the annuals being pretty
summer flowers, and the perennials
valuable late-blooming plants. One of
the best of the perennials is C. auricu-
lata, about 2 feet high, with a spreading
growth, and bearing in autumn abun-
dance of rich yellow blossoms on slender
stalks. Nearly allied and similar to
it is C. lanceolata, an equally showy
plant, also delighting in a rich, damp
soil. C. rosea is a neat and pretty
plant. C. verticillata (tenuifolia) is a
pretty plant, with elegant feathery
foliage and rich golden-yellow blossoms
from summer till autumn. It is less
robust than the taller kinds, and there-
fore requires a more select spot, such
as the front rows of a mixed border or
parts of the rock garden. The annuals
are among the showiest summer
flowers ; being hardy, they make a
fine display in spring from seeds sown
in September ; while an almost con-
tinuous bloom may be had from July
to October by sowing successively
from early March till the middle of
June in ordinary garden soil — that of
a moist description being preferable
for the spring sowings. The following
are the principal annuals : C. aristosa,
2 to 3 feet high, with large golden-
yellow blossoms ; C. Atkinsoniana,
i to 3 feet high, flowers orange-yellow
spotted with brown in centre ; C.
coronata, orange-yellow, with a circle
of brownish-crimson in centre ; C.
Drummondi, I to \\ feet high, golden-
yellow ; C, tinctoria, i to 3 feet high,

flowers crimson-brown tipped with
orange-yellow.

C. GRANDIFLORA. — A very fine showy
plant. It fully deserves its name, as its
flowers are very much larger than those of
any other Coreopsis grown in gardens.
Even if we come to treat it entirely as an
annual, this will not detract from its value,
for it is a graceful flower and worthy of
special care. Raising a batch of seedlings
once a year is easily done. The seed may
be sown at any time in spring, and strong
plants be rea'dy to put out into their
flowering quarters in autumn. Its hand-
some flowers are borne on strong stems
12 to 1 8 inches in length. In the garden
the flowers are brilliant and long-lasting,
and they are also valuable for cutting.

CORIARIA.— This group now con-
tains two or three new and hand-
some kinds of value. The peculiarity of
these shrubs is in the formation of
their berry-like fruits. The flowers
are small and inconspicuous, with
scale-like petals of green, yellow,
brown, or pink, and the sexes mostly
apart, though found upon the same
plant. After flowering, however, the
tiny petals thicken and swell into a
juicy fruit-like envelope surrounding
the seeds, and handsome when bril-
liantly coloured, as in the finer kinds.
While these fruits are of tempting
appearance, they are all more or less
poisonous -a- fact to be borne in mind
by planters. All the kinds are of the
easiest culture in moist, loamy soils,
the best kinds being hardy (at least,
at the root), and growing again if cut
down by frost. The following are in
cultivation : —

C. JAPONICA.— A handsome shrub with
red-brown woody stems 8 or 10 feet high.
The leaves come in opposite pairs arranged
regularly along either side of the stem,
while the tiny flowers, of a pretty pink
or coral-red, appear early in June as
racemes of i£ to 3 inches upon the stem
of the previous year. The fruits are
round and bright red.

C. NEPALENSIS. — A stout rambling shrub
of nearly 20 leet, with woody stems
bearing three-nerved leaves and axillary
clusters of flowers and fruit, which dis-
tinguish it at once from C. terminalis,
with which, however, it was long con-
fused. The flowers are brown, appear-
ing in May, and followed by black fruits.
In the south-west of England and along
the south coast, this plant succeeds
in the open, but inland it makes little
progress. In the variety maxima, the
fruits are larger and of a bluish colour.
Himalayas, China, and Japan.

C. RUSTIFOLIA is a tall shrubby climber
of 10 to 20 feet, with square stems

CORIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CORNUS.

411

and slender arching shoots, covered with
fresh green foliage and sprays of tiny
green flowers drooping prettily from
the leaf-axils. It is hardy even into
Scotland, where it dies down like an
herbaceous perennial. The flowers come
in slender racemes of 6 to 12 inches,
and towards autumn the tiny green
petals swell into juicy fruits, of a rich
purple colour in September and October,
when this is one of the most striking
of wall or border plants. New Zealand.

C. TORMINALIS. — A plant from the
Thibetan frontier of China, and quite
hardy in the south of Britain at least,
making a shrubby root-stock and her-
baceous stems of 2 or 3 feet, which die
back each winter. The bark is rough
and warty, and the shoots thickly set
with pairs of rounded, dull green leaves.
The brown and yellow flowers appear in
long racemes from the tips of the shoots,
differing in this from other kinds, in
which they burst from the leaf-axils.
These inconspicuous flowers give place
to glossy, orange-yellow fruits of great
beauty, crowded upon long tapering
spikes of 6 to 9 inches. These last
well upon the p'.ar.t, but are worthless
for cutting.

CORIS (Montpelier C.}. — C. mon-
speliensis is a pretty dwarf plant of the
Primrose order, about 6 inches high,
usually biennial in our gardens, thriving
on dry sunny parts of the rock garden,
in sandy soil, and among dwarf plants.
South of France. Seed.

CORNUS (Dogweed : Cornel).— Most
of the Dogwoods known in cultiva-
tion are shrubs or small trees.
Some are pretty shrubs, useful in the
park and pleasure garden, or along
watercourses, the shoots of some
giving fine colour in winter ; and there
are two very dwarf species for the
bog garden.

C. ALBA, the white-fruited Dogwood, is
a native of Asia, growing to a height of
from 5 to 10 feet, with slender branches
clothed with bright-red bark, giving a
charming effect all through the year,
either in a mass or as a specimen plant
on a lawn or in the shrubbery. The
flowers, white or cream-coloured, are in
crowded cymes, followed by white fruits.
The variety Spathi is one of the finest of
shrubs, with coloured leaves. In spring
the leaves are bronzy, in summer deeply
and irregularly margined with gold. The
habit of the plant is vigorous, the variega-
tion constant, and the foliage does not
scorch in bright sunlight, as is the case
in not a few plants with golden variegated
leaves.

C. BRETSCHNEIDERI. — Native of China,
it was brought into prominent notice in

1899, when a figure and description
appeared in Le Jar din. Since that time
ample opportunity has occurred of judging
its merits as an ornamental shrub, and
although this group of the family is some-
times despised for its flowering qualities,
it has the advantage of producing attrac-
tive fruit towards the end of August, the
berries being alternately white and bluish
in colour. Its bark has the familiar red
colouring of several other species in the
group, although it is less bright than that
of C. alba and its varieties. It can be
grown almost anywhere and in almost any
deeply-worked soil. By inserting cuttings
a foot long out of doors, in autumn or
winter, it is easily increased. It is of
vigorous habit, and requires plenty of
room. Has to be severely pruned to keep
it from smothering other subjects.

C. CANADENSIS (Bunchberry) is a pretty
little plant with creeping underground
rhizomes and upright stems from 4 to
8 inches high, the leaves in a whorl of four
or six near the summit of the stems ; the
true flowers are minute, but the four rather
large white or cream-coloured bracts con-
spicuous. The berries are red, and show
well above the short stems : in taste they
are sweet and palatable. Japan and N.
America.

C. CAPITATA (Strawberry-tree). — This is
more widely known under the name of
Benthamiafragifera. It is a sub-evergreen
tree, a native of N. India and China. In
the gardens of Mr R. G. Lake, Trevarrick,
St Austell, some trees are about 40 feet
high, and the trunk is one of 5 feet in
diameter at 5 feet from the ground. There
are numbers of fine specimens at Trelissick
and in Devon and Cornwall. The large
bracts, white tinged with pink or rose,
make this one of the most beautiful trees
when in flower, and the large clear red
fleshy fruits somewhat resembling a
Strawberry.

C. CIRCINATA. — This is conspicuous by
reason of its large round leaves, which are
4 or 5 inches long and 3 inches or more
wide, and its clusters of bright-blue fruits,
each being about the size of a Pea. It is
3 feet or more — rarely reaching 10 feet — in
height, and has rather rigid erect stems
covered with warted bark, which is at first
pale green, and later becomes light brown
or purple. N. America.

C. FLORIDA (Flowering Dogwood) is very
showy in flower, scarcely less so in fruit,
and beautiful in autumn, when the leaves
change colour before falling. Unfor-
tunately, we do not obtain sufficient sum-
mer heat to thoroughly ripen the wood,
and so the flowering of this species in
Britain is not common, although it was
one of the earliest amongst N. American
shrubs to find its way to British gardens.

C. FLORIDA RUBRA. — It is a source of
regret to shrub-lovers that the ordinary
C. florida rarely flowers in England, but

412

CORNUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CORNUS.

this variety does so well. It has pure pink
bracts. There is also a variety known as
C. florida pendula, with a weeping habit.
The large white bracts which surround the
flowers come in great abundance before
the leaves appear.

C. KOUSA is a native of Japan, quite
hardy, but needs to be well established
and several years old before it shows to
advantage. The white flowers appear in
May and June.

fruit much larger than that of the wild
plant. The Cornelian Cherry is a native
of C. and S. Europe, and sometimes attains
20 feet in height.

C. NUTTALLI. — A tree, in its native
country, 50 or 60 feet high. Generally it
has six large, broad white bracts 2 or 3
inches long, so that the so-called flower
measures 4 or 6 inches across. It is one
of the most beautiful trees in the forests
in many parts of California and Oregon.

Cornusjlorida rubra.

C. MAS (Cornelian Cherry). — Although
the flowers of this are small, they are borne
so freely by old trees that the clusters of
yellow flowers are conspicuous on the
leafless twigs. Old trees fruit freely, and
bear fruit half an inch long or more, bright
red and individually as handsome as a
Cherry. On the Continent in many places
selected varieties are grown for the sake
of the fruit, for preserving. Amongst the
forms are some with yellow, bright blood -
red, and violet fruits, and another with

C. PAUCINERVIS. — One of the most com-
pact growing of the Dogwoods, and a
pretty flowering shrub. It forms a dense-
growing bush. The flowers are borne in
flattish clusters. In August it is very
useful.

C. STOLONIFERA (Red Osier Dogwood). —
It spreads and multiplies freely by pros-
trate or subterranean shoots, and grows
6 or 8 feet high ; the leaves light green
above and paler beneath ; fruit varying
from white to lead colour. In winter the

COROklA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. cofcVbALis. 413

growths, especially those of the previous
season, are a bright red-purple colour. In
its native habitats it grows in wet places,
but in Britain thrives in our ordinary soil.
N. America.

C. SUECICA is a native of N. and Arctic
Europe, Asia, and America, in Britain
occurring on high moorlands from York-
shire northwards, and ascends to 3000
feet. It is a charming little plant, flower-
ing in July and August, with rather large
white bracts, followed by red drupes. It
should be grown in light soil or in peat in
partial shade in the bog garden. — N.

COROKIA. — Two pretty evergreen
shrubs from New Zealand, allied to the
Dogwoods, and hardy only in the
warmer parts of Britain. Plants more
unlike are seldom found so nearly
related. Increase by cuttings or by
layers in the autumn.

C. BUDDLEOIDES is from the New Zea-
land coast-belt, with glossy leaves forming
a handsome shrub 10 feet high and
through, with lance-shaped dark green
leaves, silvery on the under side, from a
downy covering which extends to the
stems and branches. Starry yellow
flowers with an orange centre appear in
loose spike-like clusters during May and
June, followed by oval yellow berries. It
likes a half-shaded position in good loam,
growing fast and fruiting freely.

C. COTONEASTER. — Coming from the
mountains, this kind is hardier, and easily
grown in southern gardens. Though really
evergreen, the leaves are so small and
scattered that even in full growth the
plant has a peculiar appearance, and yet
so thickly do the stems interlace that there
is no suggestion of nakedness. The tiny
leaves are bright green while young,
becoming dark, and finally orange-red
before falling. The plant grows well in
a north aspect and in partial shade, but
will also bear the sun in sheltered spots on
the lawn or in the rock garden, where its
tendency is to spread.

CORONILLA. — Flowering shrubs of
the Pea family.

C. EMERUS (Scorpion Senna). — An ele-
gant loose bush, 3 to 6 feet high, in mild
seasons, remaining green through the
winter. The flowers are reddish when
first expanded, becoming yellow. It
blooms freely in early summer, and flowers
again in autumn, This is the only bushy
Coronilla that can be well grown in the
open air in our country, but in mild dis-
tricts C. glauca, a beautiful shrub with
glaucous foliage and yellow flowers, usually
grown in greenhouses, may be grown out
of doors. S. Europe.

C. CAPPADOCICA (IBERICA) is a vigorous
trailer well suited to the larger rock
garden. In early summer, with its bright
yellow blossoms, resting on deep glaucous

blue foliage, it is very effective. Cuttings,
division and seed. Asia Minor.

C. MINIMA is similar to C. iberica, but
smaller ; a pretty rock plant. It is not
frequent, though quite good.

C. VARIA. — A handsome plant, with
rose-coloured flowers ; found in stony
places and on many railway banks in
France and N. Italy, forming low, dense
tufts, sheeted with rosy-pink, their beauty
conspicuous among the weeds. Seeds.

CORYDALIS (Fumitory}.— A numer-
ous family, of the Poppy order, not
many important for the garden.

C. BRACTEATA (Bracted Fumitory). — A
distinct kind, with yellow flowers. More
erect than some other kinds, the flowers
cluster together at intervals. The plant
is of quite easy culture. Siberia.

C. BULBOSA (Bulbous Fumitory). — A
compact tuberous-rooted kind, 4 inches
to 6 or 7 inches high, with dull purplish
flowers in April, and a solid bulbous root,
quite hardy, and of easy culture in almost
any soil. A pretty little plant for borders,
for naturalising in open spots in woods,
and also for the spring garden. It is
naturalised in several parts of England,
but its home is in the warmer parts of
Europe.

C. CAVA. — One of the dwarfest race,
flowering early in the year, with purplish
blossoms. A prettier kind is the variety
albiflora, which is similar, save the colour
of the flowers.

C. LEDEBOURIANA (Ledebour's Fumi-
tory).— Distinct on account of its peculiar
glaucous leaves, arranged in a whorl about
half-way up the stem, 9 to 12 inches high.
Flowers are a deep vinous purple, with
pinkish spurs. It is early and hardy.
Siberia.

C. LUTEA (Yellow Fumitory). — Graceful
masses of delicate pale green leaves dotted
with spurred yellow flowers. It is pretty
in borders, and grows to perfection on
walls, and the tufts, when emerging from
some chink in a fortress wall where rain
never falls upon them, are often as full of
flower as when planted in fertile soil. A
naturalised plant in England. Seeds.

C. NOBILIS (Noble Fumitory). — A dis-
tinct and handsome plant, 10 inches or
i foot high ; the flower-stems are stout
and leafy to the top, and in summer bear
a head of rich golden-yellow flowers with
a small reddish point in the centre of each.
It is easy of culture in warm borders, but
is rather slow of increase. Division.
Siberia.

C. SEMENOVII. — A pretty kind from
Turkestan. The yellow flowers cluster
together in the upper part of the stem
and assume a somewhat pendent position.
The spur in this kind is very short. It
flowers usually in early spring.

C. THALICTRIFOLIA. — A charming addi-
tion to rock garden plants. One foot high,

414 CORYLOPSIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. COTONEASTER.

tufted, and spreading, the thin, wiry stems '
each carry two pairs of leaves on pedicels
an inch long, and a terminal leaflet, all '
deeply notched. The blossoms are yellow,
each about an inch long. It flowers pro-
fusely from May to October. China.

CORYLOPSIS. — A small group of
hardy shrubs, allied to the Witch
Hazel from China, Japan, and N.
India. They are thin and dwarf,
have ribbed leaves resembling the
Hazel, and bear flowers in drooping
racemes. As these are early spring-
flowering shrubs, they should be
planted in spots sheltered from cold
winds.

C. MULTIFLORA resembles somewhat
closely the C. Veitchiana ; the racemes
are rather longer. There are, however,
certain botanical differences connected
with the arrangement and hairiness of the
leaves which separate the two species.

C. PAUCIFLORA, another Japanese
species, is .a very beautiful shrub when
well grown, for its long, slender branches
are clothed with rather thin, heart-shaped
leaves. The upper surface of the leaves
is green, the under side glaucous, but
there is usually, when young, a well-defined
margin of red or brown. The fragrant
flowers, which have primrose-coloured
petals and red anthers, come in April.

C. SPICATA, the commonest kind, is a
native of Japan, and was introduced about
1864. Mature bushes are 3 feet or so high
and rather more through. During March
and early April the primrose-coloured
flowers appear in drooping catkins each
2 to 3 inches in length. In the absence of
frost they are showy for a period of several
weeks, whilst their fragrance is very notice-
able.

C. VEITCHIANA is one of six species
which occur in E. and C. China. It forms
a shrub 5 to 6 feet high, with long and
rather slender branches. When young
the leaves are margined with red and
brown. Ten to fifteen primrose-coloured
flowers are borne together in dense
racemes.

C. WILSONI. — This is distinguished from
other kinds from C. China by having one
or more leaves developed on the flower-
ing branches at the time the leaves
expand, whereas in most cases no leaves
are developed until after the flowers have
faded. The flowers have the usual prim-
rose colour and fragrance.

CORYLUS (Hazel-nut}. — A small
group of European and Asiatic trees,
represented in our country by the
Hazel, C. avellana, which is precious
in its nut-bearing forms for our gar-
dens. There are varieties, including
a weeping one, pendula, and cut-leaved
and nettle-leaved forms. Other species

worth growing are C. americana,
heterophylla, mandshurica, and maxima,
with its very fine variety atropurpurea,
and other forms, among them the
varieties of cobs and filbert nuts grown
for their fruits. It is a very pleasant
way to plant a group of the best
fruiting Hazel in the pleasure ground,
or to form what is called a Hazel walk.

COSMOS.— Mexican plants allied to
the Dahlia. C. bipinnatus is a hand-
some annual, 3 feet to 5 feet high,
having finely-divided, feathery foliage,
and large Dahlia-like bright red-purple
blossoms, with yellow centres. It is
best raised a tender annual by sowing
the seeds in February or March in a
heated frame, and transplanting in
May in good, rich soil with a warm
exposure. It flowers from August to
October, is good for grouping with
bold and graceful annuals. There arc
now varieties rose, white, purple, and
orange. C. atropurpurea, called the
" Black Dahlia," is a handsome plant
with nearly black flowers, thriving in
ordinary soil.

COTONEASTER (Rockspray).
— Trailing, or erect, shrubs of the
highest garden value, with a great
variety of habit — little things to
crawl over walls or rock gardens, and
also medium and most graceful shrubs
like horizontalis, and brilliant fruiting
trees like the Indian C. frigida, coming
in among the ornamental trees. The
cultivation is usually very simple, the
plants thriving in any soil, and easy
to increase by seed or division of the
dwarf creeping kind. Hardy and
close in growth, they are among the
best shrubs for exposed situations. As
fence plants they have been advertised,
but I found them of no use in that way.

C. ADPRESSA. — A new, and as yet rare,
kind, forming a low, dense, spreading
shrub. It is related to C. buxifolia, with
flowers resembling those of C. horizontalis
—i.e., white, with the extremities of the
petals rose. The fruit is a brilliant red,
and ripens in August. It is likely to be
a valuable shrub for the rock garden.
China.

C. ANGUSTIFOLIA.- — A new kind, 3 to 5
feet high, with spreading spiny stems,
loaded with brilliant red berries, persistent
throughout the winter. If this plant
proves hardy in our winters, it will be of
great value in gardens.

C. BULLATA. — A shrub reaching 3 to 4
feet in height, with a somewhat drooping
habit, bearing berries of a dark blood-red
colour. A distinct, new, and deciduous
species, with blistered leaves (bulle) ; the

COTONEASTER. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. COTYLEDON. 413

flowers white and borne in corymbs ; fruit
brilliant and about the size of a Pea.
Thibet.

C. BUXIFOLIA. — A free-growing bush
that at times attains the height of 6 feet,
forming a rather wide-spreading bush, the
branches clothed with deep green box-like
leaves ; the crimson berries, nestling in
profusion among the leaves, are pretty in
autumn.

C. FRANCHETI. — An erect-growing
handsome shrub, 4 to 5 feet in height,
stems at first covered with white hairs,
then brown. It flowers in June, white,
marked with red on the outside of the
petals ; the berries, light orange in colour,
appear in September, and last during a
great part of the winter. Handsome in
form and berry, and likely to be very useful
in gardens. Yunnan.

C. FRIGIDA. — A low tree reaching 20 feet
or more. During mild winters some of the
leaves will be retained throughout the
year, while if the weather is very sharp it
will become quite bare, the showy fruits
being of a bright crimson. If untouched
by birds, the berries retain their beauty
a long time ; but if the weather be severe,
they soon disappear. Mountains of India.
It is useful for grouping here and there,
its main value, however, being from the
beauty of its richly-coloured fruits in
autumn. Himalayas. Certain other
allied Indian kinds, without being any
better in effect than this, such as C. affinis,
C. baxilaria, all free-growing, hardy, low
trees.

C. HENRYANA. — A sparse-habited ever-
green species, reaching 10 to 12 feet high.
The finely-pointed leaves are roughish to
the touch, dark green above, greyish
beneath. Flowers white in June in
corymbs. The brownish-crimson fruits
are egg-shaped. Good plant for a wall.
It is allied to C. salicifolia, and not infre-
quently referred to as a form of C. rugosa.
C. China.

C. HORIZONTALS (Plumed C.). — In this
the branches are frond-like and almost
horizontal, while the small leaves are
regularly disposed along the thick, sturdy
branches. A charm of this species is the
manner in which the leaves die off in the
autumn ; frequently the leaves will be of
a glowing red colour, with the exception of
those on the tips of the shoots. The ber-
ries are very showy, bright vermilion, and
the flowers pretty. China.

C. MICROPHYLLA (Wall C.). — An ever-
green clothed with tiny deep green leaves,
in spring crowded with whitish blossoms,
the berries crimson, and, if untouched,
remaining on the plants for a long time.
There are some well-marked varieties of
C. microphylla. It is useful for sloping
banks or like positions, while it will cover
a wall with such a dense mass that
nothing else can be seen.> Again, in the
larger parts of the rock garden a place may

be found for it ; and its variety congestais,
more at home when draping a large stone
than in any other way. Himalayas.

C. PANNOSA.— A free and graceful kind,
a native of Yunnan, white flower and a
woolly calyx, and a red, pear-shaped fruit.

C. ROTUNDIFOLIA is like the preceding,
but with thicker branches and rounder
leaves. The berries are of a brighter tint.
Both these species may, where a group of
the larger Cotoneasters is planted, be used
for the outskirts of the clump.

C. SIMONSII. — An erect, woody shrub of
medium height, with long slender branches
and shoots covered with stiff hair. The
blossoms appear at the beginning of July,
borne singly, or at most in umbels of twos
or fives, white with red stains ; the fruit,
bright vermilion. I have found this a
poor kind for effect, only useful as an
undergrowth, and poor at that. It is
much overplanted.

C. THYMIFOLIA (Thyme Rockspray). — A
small shrub, bearing the smallest leaf of
the family. The shoots, at first covered
with soft hairs, soon become smooth and
red-brown in colour. The flowers and
berries are smaller than those of micro-
phylla. Himalayas.

C. ZABELI. — A loose-habited bush of a
sub-evergreen character, clothed with
ovate, pointed leaves, each about a couple
of inches in length. The berries, borne in
great profusion, are of a brownish-crimson
tint.

COTYLEDON.— As understood by
botanists, this now includes the groups
long known as Echeveria and Umbili-
cus. The first of these is still known
so universally under the old name
that we have no hesitation in keeping
to it in this book, and we have therefore
only to deal with the Pennyworts —
little succulent plants similar to the
Houseleeks and once grouped under
Umbilicus. They are planted as
edgings or in dry places where few
other things would live, and even thus
the kinds are not all hardy. Four or
five sorts are grown : —

C. chrysanthus, a little plant like a small
Houseleek, about 4 inches high, with
white or creamy-yellow flowers in short
panicles. C. sempervivum grows rather
taller, its dull green rosettes shaded with
brown, and the pink flowers coming as
large clusters in early autumn. This
kind is most used for carpet-bedding,
and the flowers are then carefully pinched
out. Kurdistan. C. spinosus is a quaint
little plant like a small Apicra or
Haworthia, with a rosette of flat, spoon-
shaped leaves, each tipped with a spine,
and a spike of yellow flowers in early
summer. It sometimes reaches a height
of 12 inches or more, and is only hardy in
dry and sunny places ; in a sharp winter

TH£ ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and in cold places it is only safe under
glass, and it needs careful protection from
slugs at all times. Siberia, China, and
Japan. Syn. Sempervivum spinosum. S.
sedoides is a little plant with thick reddish
leaves like a Sedum, from S. Europe.
C. simplicifolia is an interesting, desirable,
and free-growing subject for the rock
garden ; flowers rich yellow in June and
July, on arching and drooping Laburnum-
like racemes. Seeds and cuttings. C.
Umbilicus is a hardy British plant, with
queer rounded leaves almost like a tiny
mushroom, and greenish-yellow flowers
in June. It grows on walls and rocky
places near the south and west coasts,
with stems of 6 to 18 inches, and leaves
coming after the flowers are past.

CRAMBE. — One of the finest of
hardy and large-leaved herbaceous
plants, as easily grown as the common
Seakale, and in rich ground having
many stout leaves and dense sprays of
small white flowers. C. covdifolia may
be planted wherever a bold type of
vegetation is desired. C. juncea, a
dwarf kind, has white flowers and
much-branched stems, the ramifica-
tions of which are elegant, but it is
not so valuable as C. cordifolia.

CRAT^GO MESPILUS.— The name
is a dreadful invention of some one
with a callous mind, as if we had not
enough of ugly names already. It is
given to a supposed hybrid between
the Hawthorn and the Medlar. These
hybrids sometimes arise from grafting.
We have so many beautiful and noble
hardy trees that we can well dispense
with grafted hybrids. One was known
in old times as Mespilus-Smithi, and is
rather common in old London gardens.

CR AT JE GU S ( Thorns}. — Hardy
flowering trees, of which some of the
most beautiful kinds are seldom
planted ; many are charming for their
flowers, others for their fruits, while in
a few the habit is picturesque. Per-
haps the most beautiful of all is C.
Oxyacantha, the Hawthorn or White-
thorn, and its varieties have every
gradation of tint, from deep crimson,
through pinks, to the snowy whiteness
of the double sort. Paul's Double
Scarlet, the double pink, double white,
the single scarlet (Punicea), rose (Car-
minata or Rosea), and various others,
are precious for the garden. Some
varieties, like the graceful Pendula, are
remarkable for their habit ; others
have distinct foliage, and a few differ
as regards fruit, there being white and
yellow berried varieties.

Other species deserving of a place in

gardens are many. A selection of the
best includes the Cockspur Thorn
(C. Crusgalli), from North America,
usually about 10 feet high, is remark-
able for peculiar growth, especially
the variety pyracanthifolia. In this
the branches spread out like a table,
and the older the tree becomes the
more pronounced the table-like growth.
Other distinct sorts of the Cockspur
Thorn are nana, linearis, ovalifolia,
and prunifolia. The Scarlet-fruited
Thorn, also N. American, is beautiful
both when covered with white bloom
in early summer or with scarlet fruits
in autumn. The Tansy-leaved Thorn
(C. tanacetifolia) is distinct in foliage,
with cut leaves of a whitish hue, and
it is one of the latest Thorns to flower.
C. Azarolus, Aroma, and oriental is are
all natives of the Levant, and they are
so beautiful in autumn, with fine-
coloured fruits as big as Hazel nuts,
that they deserve a place. One speci-
men of any of these on a lawn would
be sufficient in a small garden, as they
are spreading, and in good soils 15 or
20 feet high. The Washington Thorn
( C. cordata) flowers when all the others
are past ; hence its value. C. glandu-
losa, also known as C. flava, has yellow
fruits. C. Douglas i has dark purple
haws, and C. melanocarpa and C. nigra
have black haws. The Pyracantha
(C. Pyracantha), so common as a wall
climber, is a favourite because of its
orange-scarlet berries and evergreen
foliage. It is suitable for planting in
the open, and some beautiful effects
may be made by making its spreading
and trailing growth serve as a margin
to groups of taller Thorns, or other
small trees. The variety Lcelandi
fruits more freely than the common
Pyracantha when planted as a bush,
and another variety, Pausiflora, is
dwarfer and closer in habit, and, in
France, where these shrubs are much
grown, is found to be the hardiest.

Until of late the Hawthorns of
America were little known ; many
kinds have now been described, among
which the following kinds are said to
be of garden value. They are adapted
to all kinds of ornamental planting,
and seem to prefer heavy limestone
soil, for they occur very sparingly in
light or sandy soils. Planters have
an idea that they are difficult to trans-
plant, but if pruned back rather
severely, quite large plants may be
moved without loss, and in two or
three years' time they will be objects
of great beauty.

CRAT^GUS. TUB ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CRAT^GUS. 417

C. ANGUSTIFOLIA. — This is proving much
more attractive as a wall shrub than
appeared likely when it was first intro-
duced a few years ago, fruiting very freely
and growing luxuriantly. It is quite
evergreen, like the common Pyracantha,
but differs from it in its narrower downy
leaves. The fruits become a brilliant
orange, and on sunny winter days make a
bright effect.

C. ARNOLDIANA, a tree 15 or 20 feet
in height, with a broad irregular head.
The flowers are borne as loose downy
clusters towards the end of May. The
bright crimson fruit, usually a little

clusters, ripens at the end of September
or early in October. The foliage is a
deep blue-green, and the tree is exceedingly
handsome when in flower.

C. COCCINOIDES. — Comes rather near C.
Durobrivensis, but differs in its dark
grey branches, smaller flowers, and the
early dropping of its fruit. It is a hand-
some species, found from S. Illinois to
E. Missouri.

C. DUNBARI. — Forms a dense round-
topped shrub of 12 to 15 feet. The flowers,
with rose-coloured anthers, gathered into
long compound clusters, open about
2oth May. The large drooping clusters

Cratcegus Elliva.ngeria.no..

longer than broad, ripens about the middle
of August, and soon falls. The tree is
remarkable for the early ripening of its
finely-coloured fruits in summer or early
autumn.

C. BAXTERI. — A spreading shrub, with a
broad head and 12 to 14 feet high. The
flowers come about the first week in June,
and the orange-red fruits ripen about the
middle of October. The leaves are dull
bluish-green, nearly oval in outline, and
with a peculiarly concave surface, by
which the tree is easily recognised.

C. BEATA. — A handsome shrub of 15 to
1 8 feet, bearing large saucer - shaped
flowers, an inch or more across, with dark
crimson anthers, coming into bloom
during the last week in May. The oblong,
crimson fruit, gathered in large drooping

of showy crimson fruit ripen towards the
end of September. The leaves are very
distinct in outline, oval or almost evenly
rounded.

C. DUROBRIVENSIS. — A tall, upright
shrub of 15 to 18 feet, with olive-grey
stems. The large showy flowers, with
rose-coloured anthers, open in the last
week of May, and the glowing scarlet fruits
ripen about the end of September and
hang without loss of beauty all through
the autumn and early winter, when their
colour is very valuable.

C. ELLWANGERIANA. — A handsome tree
25 or more feet high, with a trunk a foot
in diameter, and branching into a spread-
ing head 25 to 30 feet across. The
fragrant flowers, an inch across, with rosy
anthers, conie in large clusters about

2 D

4i8

CREPIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWED GARDEN.

CRlNUM.

2oth May. The drooping crimson fruits
ripen early in September, and fall towards
the end of the month ; when just matured
their effect is very striking, but the birds
soon find them out. The leaves are large,
oval, and dark green.

C. FERENTARIA. — A tall, handsome shrub
of 15 to 1 8 feet, with hairy clusters of
flower, open towards the end of May. The
small fruits of a glowing crimson hang in
broad drooping clusters, fully coloured
from about the middle of September. The
leaves turn to a fine yellow in the autumn,
and fall early.

C. FORMOSA. — A tall, branching shrub of
12 to 15 feet, with a spreading head.
The large showy flowers come into bloom
about the last week in May, and the
glaucous fruits ripen in October. The
foliage is of a distinct yellowish-green.

C. HOLMESIANA. — A tree 30 feet in
height, with upright branches and a broad
compact head. The cup-shaped flowers,
with purple-red anthers, open about the
middle of May. The bright crimson lus-
trous fruits ripen and fall early in Septem-
ber. The leaves are yellowish-green in
colour, with prominent lobes and long
sharp teeth.

C. LANEYI. — A tall shrub with slender,
spreading branches, rare even in its own
country. The large flowers on stems
covered with shaggy hairs, come into
bloom during the first week of June, and
the orange-red fruits ripen in October.

C. PEDICILLATA. — Bears flowers with
rose-coloured anthers, which expand about
24th May. The bright scarlet fruits ripen
early in September and fall about the
middle of the month. The leaves are
broadly-oval and rich dark green in
colour. Prof. Sargent regards this as
" one of the largest and most beautiful
thorn- trees of the northern United States."
C. PRINGLEI. — Forms a dense oval head,
branching from near the ground and
reaching a height of 20 to 30 feet. The
white flowers, with reddish anthers, open
about the middle of May, and the dull-red
fruits — occasionally marked with yellow-
ish freckles — ripen about the end of August
and fall about three weeks later. This
Hawthorn is readily distinguished by its
drooping leaves of convex form, this being
due to the infolding of the sides towards
the mid-rib.

C. SPISSIFLORA. — A shrub or low tree in
which the flowers, with ten stamens and
purple-red anthers, are borne in dense
short clusters, and come into beauty just
after the middle of May. The bright
scarlet, almost pear-shaped fruits are
borne in dense clusters, which began to
colour in August, but are not fully ripe till
the middle of September. The foliage is
ample, and the fruit remarkably handsome
when ripe.

CREPIS (Hawk's-beard). — Of this
genus of Composite, few save B.

rubra, the Reel Hawk's-beard, are
worthy of culture. It is a hardy
Italian annual, bearing pretty pink
flowers about the size and form of the
Dandelion, and should be sown in
spring or autumn like other hardy
annuals in any ordinary garden soil.
It flowers from June to September, anel
is suitable for borders or beds of annual
flowers. There is also a variety with
white flowers. C. aurea is a perennial,
6 to 12 inches high, with small orange
blossoms, but seldom more than one
to- each slender stem. C. incisa is a
good species for borders, owing to its
compact habit and large showy light
purple flowers, as is also indica, a
dwarf species, free-flowering and
pretty. Division and seed.

CRINUM. — A few S. African species
of these are hardy and very beautiful.
One of the best known is C. capense,

2 to 3 feet high, flowering late in
summer, the large funnel-shaped pink
blossoms in umbels of ten or fifteen
blooms on a stout stem. There are
several varieties — album, pure white ;
riparium, deep purple ; fortuitum,
white ; and striatum, striped pink and
white ; and fine hybrids have also been
raised — all good in borders or with
groups of hardy plants that flower in
early autumn ; or for grouping near
water.

C. CRASSIFOLIUM. — Grows well in warm
soils, such as in the Cambridge Botanic
Garden. It flowers earlier than C. capense,
in June and July, with compact heads of
flowers nine to twelve in number ; many
of them open at the same time. They are

3 inches long, white turning to deep rose,
and very fragrant.

C. POWELLII. — The best o.f hardy
Crinums, raised as a cross between
C. Mooreanum and C. capense. It bears
smaller flowers than Mooreanum, but is
hardier, and with a little care in severe
winters will grow well in almost any part
of Britain. It makes a large club-shaped
bulb 2 to 3 feet long, with spreading leaves
many feet in length and massive spikes of
fragrant flowers during August. Strong
bulbs will give three spikes in one season,
eack spike bearing twelve to twenty pink
flowers 6 inches across, with buds a deeper
red, and opening in succession, so that the
display lasts for some weeks. The bulb
should be so deeply planted as to show only
the upper part of the neck, the whole being
surrounded with clean sand and the crowns
covered up with leaves and bracken during
winter. In cold places a spot at the foot
of a south wall is best, and shelter for the
leaves from cutting winds should be con-
sidered even where the extra warmth is

CROCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CROCUS.

419

unnecessary. There are two or three
colour varieties — album, pure white and
the best of all.

C. YEMENSE is also hardy in the south-
west and other favoured parts of Britain,
bearing large sweet-scented flowers of a
beautiful satin-white colour. The true
plant is rare. In flower beauty, however,
surpassing all other white flowering kinds.

CROCUS. — Of a genus of nearly
seventy species, it is surprising that
only three or four are generally used
for garden decoration, and these — C.
aureus and C. vernus and their varie-
ties, and perhaps one or two other
species — have been in cultivation at
least three hundred years. Crocuses
flower at a time when every flower is
of value, and we do not doubt that
ere long species recently introduced
will add largely to our means of garden
decoration during the dull months
from late autumn to early spring.

Cultural Directions seem almost
superfluous, but there are a few points
to which it may be convenient to refer.
The genus must be viewed as in succes-
sion, from the beginning of August till
April ; but of these only the earlier
autumnal, or the distinctly vernal,
species can be relied upon for open-air
decoration. Although all are hardy,
those that flower in November, Decem-
ber, and January are so liable to injury
by frost and rain that they are prac-
tically worthless.

Crocuses are easily multiplied by
seed, which should be sown in July as
soon as ripe, though germination will
not take place till the natural growing
period of the species. Seedlings take
from two to three years to arrive at
maturity, and should be left for the
first two years undisturbed in the
seed-bed, and then taken up and
replanted. Holland, with its rich,
light, alluvial soil, and Lincolnshire,
with its " Trent warp," have for many
generations been the sources from
which the English market has been
supplied with the varieties of the three
or four species grown in English gar-
dens. The last five or six years have
put us in possession of nearly the
whole of the known species, and we
must commend them to the Dutch
and Lincolnshire bulb-growers.

For the less robust and less flori-
ferous species a brick pit is necessary.
The bottom of this should be well
below the level of the ground, and it
should be filled up with about i foot
in depth of fine river silt or sandy
loam, the surface of which should be
a little below the level of the adjacent

ground. Proper drainage is essential,
but Crocuses delight in a uniformly
moist subsoil during their period of
growth. It is convenient to separate
the different species by strips of slate
or tiles, buried below the surface, the
corms being planted about 3 inches
deep. A mulching of rotted Cocoa-nut
fibre or finely-sifted peat keeps the
surface moist, and prevents the loam
from clogging or caking on the surface.
At the time of the maturity of the
foliage, generally about the end of
May, water should be withheld and
the bed covered up and allowed to
get quite dry till the end of July,
when a copious watering may be given,
or the pit may be exposed to rain.

Of the earlier autumnal species
suitable for the open border, the
following may be enumerated for
successional flowering : —

C. Scharcjani, orange ; early in
August.

,, vallicola, straw-coloured ; late in
August and early in Sep-
tember.

,, nudiftorus, blue

,, pulchellus, lilac :
October.

,, speciosus, blue ;
October.

,, iridiftorus, blue
October.

,, Salzmanni\li\3iC or blue ; October

,, Clusi ] and November.

, , cancellatus

,, Cambessidesis

,, hadriaticus

These are succeeded by a long series of
late autumnal, winter, and early vernal
species, which are grown to best advan-
tage in a brick pit.

Of the vernal species suitable for
the border, the earliest is C. Imperati,
flowering in February, followed by

C. susianus, or Cloth of Gold, in
February.

, , biftorus \

, , etruscus

,, sauveolens

, , versicolor

,, vernus

, , Tommasinianus

, , dalmaticus

, , banaticus

, , Sieberi and var. versicolor

,, chrysanthus

, , aureus

, , sulphureus

,, vars. pallidus and stviatus

, , stellarist .

, Olivier*

in

September.
September and

September and
September and

dUU

}'

in the early
autumn.

mnmus

J

420

CROCUS.

ZNGltSti FlOWEtl GARDEN.

CROCUS.

Of the Crocuses recently introduced,
many vernal species will probably be
suitable for the spring garden, but as
they are rare and scarcely procurable,
we give those more generally known
and easy to obtain.

C. ALTAVICUS. — The flowers of this new
Asiatic species are white, yellow towards
the throat, the outer surface of the outer
segments being freckled with rich purple.
It is a free-flowering species, but from its
early-flowering time, January and Febru-
ary, it can only be grown to advantage
under a cold frame. A white variety
without external purple freckling is not
uncommon. The leaves are produced at
the flowering time in early spring.

C. AUREUS. — A handsome plant from
the Banat, Transylvania, European Tur-
key, Greece, and W. Bithynia, generally at
low elevations, flowering in February. It
was one of the first introduced to cultiva-
tion, and is the parent of our yellow garden
or Dutch yellow Crocus, and of a number
of old varieties — lacteus, sulphureus, palli-
dus, striatus, etc., the history of which is
unknown ; they are not found wild, and
are sterile. The wild plant varies con-
siderably, from unstriped orange to varie-
ties striped with grey lines, like those in
the Dutch yellow Crocus. The stigmata
are short, unbranched, pale yellow, and
much shorter than the anthers ; in the
Transylvanian plant the stigmata are
occasionally orange. The anthers are
wedge-shaped tapering towards the point,
and notably divergent. The unstriped
form readily produces seed when in culti-
vation, but the striped Dutch yellow is
sterile, though effete capsules are occasion-
ally formed. C. Olivieri resembles C.
aureus, but is smaller.

C. BANATICUS. — Common in the Banat,
Hungary, and Transylvania, where it
takes the place of C. vernus, to which it
is allied. It is highly ornamental ; the
flowers are a rich deep purple, occasionally
varied with white, with a darker purple
blotch near the end of the segments. The
throat is glabrous, which easily distin-
guishes it from C. vernus. It is cultivated
in several Continental and English gardens
under the name of C. veluchensis — a dis-
tinct species. Flowers in February and
March.

C. BIFLORUS. — The Scotch, or Cloth of
Silver, Crocus is a large variety of the
typical form, and is abundant throughout
a large portion of Italy. The segments
vary from white to a pale lavender, the
outer surface of the outer segments being
distinctly feathered with purple markings.
In var. estriatus, from Florence, the
flowers . are a uniform pale lavender,
orange towards the base. In var. Weldeni,
from Trieste and Dalmatia, the outer
segments ,are externally freckled with
bright purple. In C. nubigenus, a very

small variety from Asia Minor, the outer
segments are suffused and freckled with
brown ; C. Pestalozza is an albino of this
variety. In C. Adami, from the Caucasus,
the segments are pale purple, either self-
coloured or externally feathered with dark
purple. C. biflorus is an early-flowering
spring species, and is high ornamental for
border decoration.

C. BORYI. — Flowers white, but bright
orange at the throat. Abundant at Corfu
and in the neighbourhood of Patras,
flowers in October, but it does not bloom
freely in cultivation, and requires the
protection of glass for the development of
its flowers.

C. BYZANTINUS. See C. iridiflorus.
C. CANCELLATUS. — A beautiful autumnal
species, varying from white to pale bluish-
purple. The flowers are generally veined
or feathered towards the base of the seg-
ments. They appear without the leaves,
which come in spring. The flowering time
is from the end of October to December.
A robust species, easy of culture, but, like
many late autumnal species, is seen to
best advantage under a cold frame. It is
known as C. Schimperi, C. Spruneri, C.
cilicicus, and C. damascenus. The western
forms are nearly white, and the eastern
are either blue or purple ; but the differ-
ences of colour are not sufficient to distin-
guish them as species.

C. CHRYSANTHUS. — A vernal Crocus,
flowering from January to March according
to elevation, which varies from a little
above the sea-level to a height of three or
four thousand feet. The flowers are
smaller than those of C. aureus, and are
usually of bright orange, but occasionally
bronzed and feathered externally. A
white variety is also found in Bithynia
and on Mount Olympus above Broussa ;
this species also varies with pale sulphur-
coloured flowers, occasionally suffused
with blue towards the end of trie segments
dying out towards the orange throat.
There are four varieties of this Crocus,
distinct in colouring; they arefusco-tinctus,
fusco-lineatus, albidus, and ccerulescens .

C. IMPERATI. — One of the earliest vernal
species, abundant south of Naples, and .
said to extend to Calabria. Lilac. Very
variable in colour and markings. Two
varieties occur near Ravelle — a self-
coloured white and a clear rose. The
outer surface of the outer segments is
coated with rich buff, suffused with purple
featherings. Its robust habit and early
flowering make it one of the most valuable
species for spring gardening. It flowers a
fortnight and three weeks before C. vernus.
Similar to it is C. minimus, abundant on
the west coast of Corsica, the neighbouring
islets, and in parts of Sardinia ; it flowers
from the end of January to March. The
flowers resemble those of C. Imperati in
miniature, but are of a darker purple and
heavily suffused with external brown

Crocus bif torus pusiluis

r ./;•;"/'<; '"£&%

^4

Crocus LeucorHynchjus

Crocus retlcuUtus

422

CROCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CROCUS.

featherings. Although perfectly hardy, it
is not robust enough for gardens. C.
suaveolens is also closely allied to C.
Imperati, and flowers in February. The
flowers are somewhat smaller and the
segments more acute than in C. Imperati.
It is hardy and free-flowering, and under
bright sunshine is a good ornament to the
early spring garden.

C. IRIDIFLORUS. — The Banat and Tran-
sylvania. Bears in September and Octo-
ber bright purple flowers before the leaves.
Remarkable for purple stigmata and the
marked difference between the size of the
inner and the outer segments of the
perianth. This beautiful plant should be
secured if possible. It is often sold as
C. byzantinus.

C. L^VIGATUS. — A pretty species from
the mountains of Greece and the Cyclades.
The flowers vary from white to lilac, being
distinctly feathered with purple markings.
Its usual flowering time is from the end of
October to Christmas, but through the
winter to March under cultivation. It
does not flower freely in cultivation, and,
like the allied species, it is seen to best
advantage under a cold frame.

C. LONGIFLORUS. — Abundant in the
south of Italy, Sicily, and Malta ; flowers
in October. The flowers are light purple,
yellow at the throat. In general aspect
it somewhat resembles C. sativus, especi-
ally in the stigmata, which are usually
bright scarlet and entire, but occasionally
broken up into fine capillary divisions.
In Sicily the stigmata are collected from
the wild plant for saffron. It is free-
flowering and very ornamental.

C. MARATHONISIUS. — One of the finest
white-flowered autumn Crocuses ; slightly
tinged with yellow at the base. It comes
into flower late in October and continues
well into November. The plant is fully
6 or 7 inches high.

C. MEDIUS. — A beautiful purple autumn-
flowering species, limited to the Riviera
and the adjacent spurs of the Maritime
Alps. The flowers are produced in Octo-
ber before the leaves, which appear in the
following spring, and rarely exceed two
or three to a corm ; the blossoms are bright
purple, veined at the base ; the stigmata
bright scarlet and much branched.

C. NUDIFLORUS. — A pretty and well-
known species. Pyrenees and north of
Spain. Naturalised at Nottingham and
elsewhere in the midland counties. Its
large bluish-purple flowers are produced
in September and October before the
leaves. Where established it is difficult
to eradicate ; the corms produce long
stolon-like shoots, which form independent
corms on the death of the parent, and the
plant soon spreads to considerable dis-
tances.

C. OCHROLEUCUS bears many creamy-
white flowers, with orange throat, from
the end of October to the end of Decem-

ber. It well deserves a cold .frame, to
preserve its showy flowers from frost and
rain.

C. PULCHELLUS. — An autumnal species,
invaluable for the garden. The pale
lavender flowers, with bright yellow
throat, are freely produced .from the
middle of September to early in December.
Seed.

C. SEROTINUS. — South of Spain. Flow-
ers in November. The blossoms are more
or less distinctly feathered with darker
purple. C. Salzmanni is closely allied to
C. serotinus, but is of larger stature,
flowering with the leaves in October and
November. It is robust and readily mul-
tiplied. As the flowers are liable to injury
by frost and snow, it is seen to best advan-
tage under a cold frame. C. CJusi closely
resembles C. serotinus, and flowers with
the leaves in October.

C. SIEBERI. — A vernal species common
in the Greek Archipelago and the moun-
tains of Greece. The flower is usually
bright lilac, orange at the base, but the
form found in Crete and the Cyclades
presents a great variety of colour, from
white to purple, and these colours are
mottled, intermixed, and striped in endless
variety, contrasting with the bright orange
throat. The Cretan variety is of excep-
tional beauty. It flowers in cultivation
from the end of February to the middle of
March.

C. SPECIOSUS. — Among the handsomest
autumn Crocuses, flowering at the end of
September and early in October. Ranges
from N. Persia, through Georgia, the
Caucasus, and the Crimea, to Hungary.
The perianth segments, 2 inches high, are
rich bluish-purple, suffused with darker
purple veins, with which the bright orange
much-divided stigmata form a beautiful
contrast. It has been long in cultivation,
and readily multiplies by small bulbels at
the base of the corm.

C. SUSIANUS. — The well-known Cloth of
Gold Crocus, an early importation from
the Crimea. Both the orange and bronzed
susianus are among the earliest vernal
Crocuses, flowering in the open border in
February. C. stellaris is an old garden
plant somewhat resembling C. susianus.
The flower is orange, distinctly feathered
with bronze on the outer coat of the outer
segments. It is sterile, and never pro-
duces seed. It flowers early in March.

C. VERNUS (Spring Crocus). — One of the
earliest cultivated species. Alps, Pyre-
nees, Tyrol, Carpathians, Italy, and
Dalmatia. Naturalised in several parts of
England. Remarkable for its range of
colour, from pure white to deep purple,
endless varieties being generally inter-
mixed in its native habitats, and corre-
sponding with the horticultural varieties of
our gardens. Flowers early in March at
low elevations, and as late as June and
July in the higher Alps. The parent of

CRYPTOMERIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CUPHEA.

423

nearly all the purple, white, and striped
Crocuses grown in Holland.

C. VERSICOLOR. — A species long been in
cultivation. The flowers present a great
variety of colouring, from purple to white,
and are variously striped and feathered.
It differs from the two preceding species
in having the whole of the perianth seg-
ments similarly coloured, and the external
buff coating of C. Tmperati and C. suaveo-
lens is absent. Its flowering time is March.

C. ZONATUS. — Mountains of Cilicia.
Bright vinous-lilac flowers, golden at the
base, abundant about the middle of
September. It is highly ornamental and
free-flowering, and easy of culture. The
flowers come before the leaves, which do
not appear till spring. It has been in
cultivation about fourteen years.

CRYPTOMERIA. — C. japonica is a
graceful and famous Japanese and
Chinese tree much planted in Britain,
but rarely thriving except under the
genial influence of the sea, and even
there never getting to half the noble
dimensions it does in Japan. The finest
tree I have seen is at Fota.

CUCURBITA (Gourd}. — There is no
order more wonderful in the variety
and shape of its fruit than that to
which the Melon and Cucumber belong.
From the writhing Snake Cucumber,
which hangs down 4 or 5 feet long
from its stem, to the enormous Giant
Pumpkin, their variation in colour,
shape, and size is marvellous. Those
who have seen a good collection will
understand Nathaniel Hawthorne's
enthusiasm when he says : "A hun-
dred Gourds in my garden were worthy,
in my eyes at least, of being rendered
indestructible in marble. If ever Pro-
vidence (but I know it never will)
should assign me a superfluity of gold,
part of it should be expended for a
service of plate, or most delicate por-
celain, to be wrought into the shape of
Gourds gathered in my garden." They
may be readily grown in this country,
and there are many ways in which they
may be grown with great advantage —
on low trellises ; depending from the
edges of raised beds ; the smaller and
medium-sized trained over arches or
arched trellis-work, covering banks, or
growing on the level earth. A bold
and effective use may now and then
be made of them on walls and on the
roofs of sheds or outhouses, as the
roofs "carry" the large leaves and
showy fruit so well.

A SELECTION OF GOURDS. — Amongst
the most beautiful are the Turk's-cap

varieties, such as Grand Mogul, Pasha
of Egypt, Viceroy, Empress, Bishop's
Hat, etc. ; the Serpent Gourd, Goose-
berry Gourd, Hercules' Club, Gorilla,
St Aignan, M. Fould, Siphon, Half-
moon, Giant's Punchbowl, and the
Mammoth, weighing from 170 Ibs. to
upwards of 200 Ibs. ; while amongst the
miniature varieties the Fig, Cricket-
ball, Thumb, Cherry, Striped Custard,
Hen's-egg, Pear, Bottle, Orange,
Plover' s-egg are pretty examples, and
useful for ornament. All these are
well suited to our climate. Sowing in
a frame at the end of April, and expos-
ing the plants to the air during the day
to prevent their being drawn, and then
removing the frame altogether to har-
den them off before planting out, is the
best way to secure an early growth.
Sowing in the open ground under hand-
lights would do, but not so well.
Where there are waste heaps of rub-
bish or manure it is a good plan to
cover them with Gourds. Although
they grow under the conditions de-
scribed above, they do best with plenty
of manure, and should be mulched or
well watered if the soil be not deep and
rich.

CUNNINGHAMIA SINENSIS. — A

tree of the Pine tribe, and perhaps the
most miserable-looking ever intro-
duced. Something like an Arancaria,
it is usually full of tiny twigs. In its
own country, at high elevations, it is'
said to form good forests. The original
tree in our gardens was found in the
island of Shusan, and may be of a
tender race.

CUPHEA. — Pretty plants, of which
C. platycentra (Cigar-plant) is useful
for the summer flower garden. It is a
dwarf plant, about 12 inches high,
with vermilion tube-shaped blossoms.
Easily propagated by cuttings taken
in September or April, and put in
slight heat, and also raised from seed
sown in heat in spring. C. strigulosa
is a pretty variety, useful for planting
out as single plants in the mixed
border for cutting from, but chiefly
used as a pot plant for the autumn
greenhouse. C. Zimapani is a most
useful annual, growing about i^ feet
high, with flowers of a rich deep purple
bordered with a lighter hue, resembling
those of a Sweet Pea, and of about the
same size. They are well fitted for
cutting, as the branches lengthen and
the flowers expand a long time in
wrater. Other kinds are C, eminens,

424 CUPRESSUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CUPRESSUS.

Galeottiana, miniata, ocymoides, pur-
purea, Roezli, and silenoides, all of less
importance for the flower garden than
those before named.

CUPRESSUS ( Cypress) . — Graceful
evergreen trees, charming for back-
grounds, but not many really hardy,
save in seashore and in warm southern
districts, and even there they often
perish in hard winters. The Monterey
Cypress is beautiful in Ireland and in
the western coast gardens, but even
there it perishes in hard winters. The
beautiful Eastern Cypress, so fine in
the Italian and Eastern landscape, is
worth planting under the best con-
ditions ; so distinct a tree would, if
hardy, have been everywhere planted
long "ago.

Many know the beauty of a few of
these trees in the small state, but few
realise their dignity and beauty as
forest trees, such as the Great Japanese
Cypress, and if we take the trouble to
grow and group them well there are
no more effective trees in their peren-
nial verdure. But the system of
increasing them adopted in nurseries
by which these trees, being very free
in growth, lend themselves to increase
from cuttings like verbenas and gera-
niums, does not help to the possession
of the trees in all their dignity. Trees
we should raise always in the natural
way — i.e., from seed — and I find some
of these cypresses and their allies break
into a number of stems and lose the
tree form, the result of this cutting
propagation, so entirely needless in
the case of forest trees of the highest
beauty, which some of these are.

C. FUNEBRIS (Chinese Funeral Cypress).
— A hardy, picturesque tree in its own
country, and sometimes reaching a height
of nearly 50 feet. Robert Fortune de-
scribed it as having a beautiful effect in
the Chinese landscape, but it is not hardy
in our country, though here and there it
may be seen in sheltered and warm places.

C. GOWENIANA (Gowen Cypress). — A
low growing tree from the neighbourhood
of Monterey, in California, and of doubtful
hardiness in our country. It may be
classed with a group, unhappily, many of
them tender in this country. It is known
from the Monterey Cypress by its spread-
ing, slender, and pendulous habit and
small cones.

C. LAWSONIANA (Lawson Cypress). — A
tall and beautiful tree of the Pacific coast
of N. America, 100 feet high, and very
free in our climate. Owing to propaga-
tion from cuttings, instead of in the natural
way from seed, the tree often breaks into

a number of stems, which interferes with
its natural habit and beauty. It varies
very much into what are called " sports,"
and which are often a manifestation of
disease, especially when they take the
variegated form. There are a number of
fastigiate forms, but they are mere mal-
formations, and as they get old the
branches are pressed so closely together
that they die, unless we take the trouble
to tie or wire them up in some way to
prevent them falling about. The spread-
ing varieties are not so liable to this, but
many of them go back, as they get older,
towards the natural form of tree of which
they are mere states. For the pendulous
ones there is perhaps a little excuse — for
the globular ones none at all ; and the
multiplicity of Latin names for these
varieties in catalogues does harm in
weakening the interest in the natural
tree.

C. LUSITANICA (Cedar of Goa). — A name
well known through books and lists, and
a graceful tree of uncertain origin, but not
succeeding in our country, save in seashore
gardens and very mild districts. It is
naturalised in temperate countries like
Spain and Portugal.

C. MACROCARPA (Monterey Cypress). — A
very graceful and often stately tree, much
planted and succeeding well near the sea
coast. It is described in catalogues and
even in books on Forestry as hardy, but
it is not so, perishing in severe winters.
Like many other conifers, it has varieties
of little value.

C. NOOTKATENSIS (Yellow Cypress). —
Really a most distinct tree, and I think
the most precious of the whole family
for our country, being quite hardy. It
is a native of the N. Pacific coast and
British Columbia, and has various
synonyms and several variegated varie-
ties of no value. I have found it to thrive
in cold ordinary soils, and it is a pleasure
to see it at all seasons. The English name
of Yellow Cypress was given by the
colonists of Vancouver's Island from the
fresh wood being yellow in colour.

C. OBTUSA (Great Japanese Cypress). — A
very beautiful evergreen tree of the
mountains of Japan, better known in
our gardens under the wrong name of
Retinospora. It has many forms and
so-called varieties which are really states
of growth only, and which are nearly
always grown in nurseries under the name
of " Retinospora." The confusion of
names in this plant and its varieties
has caused its great value as a tree to be
overlooked. It grows nearly 100 feet
high, and is very handsome. In its own
country it is much used to form avenues.

C. PISIFERA (Peafruited Cypress). — Here,
as with C. obtusa, there is much confusion
of names and giving of Latin ones to mere
varieties and states of growth. It is a
much smaller tree than the great Japanese

CYANANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CYCLAMEN. 425

Cypress, but a hardy and useful one.
Syn. Retinospora.

C. SEMPERVIRENS (Eastern Cypress). —
One of the most graceful of all evergreen
trees, giving distinct and good effects in
many parts of the East and N. Africa,
spreading into N. India also. In some
N. Italian gardens it grows well over
100 feet, as in the Giusti Garden at Verona.
In Algeria and Tunis I have seen it form-
ing noble shelters for the orange gardens,
far better than any clipped tree could do.

C. THYOIDES (Southern White Cedar). —
This is a tree of the N. American woods,
sometimes reaching nearly 100 feet high
in its best state, inhabiting wet places
and swamps in New England, westward
and southward, rather near the coast, and
forming very dark woods. Coming from
a very cold country, it is hardy, and may
be planted in wet and marshy places.
There are several varieties, one variegated
and of no value.

CYANANTHUS (Lobed C.).—
A pretty Himalayan rock plant, about
4 inches high, flowering in August and
September ; C. lobatus has purplish-
blue flower, with a whitish centre, and
thriving in sunny chinks in the rock
garden. It grows best in a mixture of
sandy peat and leaf-mould, with
plenty of moisture during growth, and
is increased by cuttings. Campanu-
lacecB.

C. INCANUS. — Flowers more freely than
C. lobatus ; and, like that species, it should
be planted in a dry, sunny, well-drained
position, as, if the situation be too damp,
the fleshy root-stock is liable to rot. It is
even a good plan to place something over
the plant during the resting season. The
flowers are not so large as those of the
other species, but are more charming in
colour, their beauty enhanced by the
white tuft of silky hairs in the throat of
the corolla. Campanulaceee.

CYATHEA (Silver Tree-fern). — This
very handsome Fern, C. dealbata,
known in New Zealand as the Silver
Tree-fern, has a slender, almost black
stem, 4 to 8 feet high, ending in a fine
crown of fronds, dark green above and
milk-white below. It may be placed
in the open air, in the southern and
milder districts, from the end of May
till the end of September.

CYCAS.— C. revoluta is a tropical
plant, with a stout stem, sometimes
6 to 10 feet high, from the top of which
issues a beautiful crown of superb
dark green leaves 2 to 6 feet long. It
is one of the most valuable greenhouse
plants that may be placed out from
the end of May till October, always in
a warm position,

CYCLAMEN (Sowbread). — Except
the Persian, Cyclamens are as hardy as
Primroses ; but they love the shelter
and shade of low bushes or hill copses.
The Ivy-leaved Cyclamen is in full
leaf through winter and early spring,
and for the sake of the beauty of the
leaves alone it is desirable to place it
so that it may be safe from injury. It
is easy to naturalise the hardier
Cyclamens in many parts of the coun-
try. Good drainage is necessary to
their open-air culture, as they grow
naturally among broken rocks and
stones mixed with vegetable soil, grit,
etc., where they are not surrounded
by stagnant water. They are well
suited for the rock garden, and enjoy
warm nooks, partial shade, and shelter
from dry, cutting winds. They may
be grown on any aspect if the con-
ditions above mentioned be secured,
but an eastern or south-eastern one is
best.

They are best propagated by seed
sown, as soon as it is ripe, in well-
drained pots of light soil. Cover the
soil after sowing with a little Moss, to
ensure uniform dampness, and place
them in shelter out of doors. As soon
as they begin to appear, which may
be in a month or six weeks, gradually
remove the moss. When the first
leaf is fairly developed they should be
transplanted about i inch apart in
seed pans of rich light earth, and
encouraged to grow as long as possible,
being sheltered in a cold frame, but
always allowed abundance of air.
When the leaves have perished in the
following summer, the tubers may be
planted out or potted, according to
their strength.

There appears to have always been
great difficulty in defining the species
of Cyclamen, from the great variation
in shape and colour of the leaves,
both above and below. Too much
dependence on these characteristics
has caused confusion and an undue
multiplication of species. Some of the
varieties become so fixed, and repro-
duce themselves so truly from seed,
as to be regarded as species by some
cultivators.

C. ATKINSI. — A hybrid variety of the
Coum section. The flowers are larger
than in the type, varying in colour from
deep red to pure white, and are plentiful
in winter.

C. COUM (Round-leaved Cyclamen). —
This, like the others of the same section,
is perfectly hardy, and frequently in bloom
jn the open ground before the Snowdrop ;

426

CYCLAMEN.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CYDONIA.

yet, to preserve the flowers from unfavour-
able weather, the plants will be better for
slight protection, or a pit or frame in
which to plant them out. Grown in this
way during the early spring, from January
to the middle of March, they are one sheet
of bloom. When so cultivated, take out
the soil, say i| to 2 feet deep, place at
the bottom a layer of rough stones 9 to
12 inches deep, and cover them with
inverted turf to keep the soil from washing
down and injuring the drainage ; then
fill up with soil composed of about one-
third of good free loam, one-third of well-
decayed leaf-mould, and one-third of
thoroughly decomposed cow manure.
Plant i£ to 2 inches deep, and every year,
soon after the leaves die down, take off
the surface as far as the tops of the tubers,
and fresh surface them with the same
compost, or in alternate years give them
only a surface dressing of well-decayed
leaves or cow manure. During summer,
or indeed after April, the glass should be
removed, and they ought to be slightly
shaded with Larch Fir boughs (cut before
the leaves expand) laid over them, to
shelter from the extreme heat of the sun.
As soon as they begin to appear in the
autumn, gradually take them off.

C. CYPRIUM. — This well-defined species
has rather small heart-shaped leaves of
dark green, marbled on the upper surface
with bluish- grey and of a deep purple
beneath. The flowers which are pure
white, tinted with soft lilac (the restricted
mouth being spotted with carmine-purple),
are well elevated above the foliage. It is
one of the most chaste and beautiful of
the hardy kinds. S. Europe. It is found
on shaded rocks in mountainous districts.

C. EUROPIUM (European Cyclamen). —
The leaves of this species appear before
and with the flowers, and remain during
the greater part of the year. Flowers
from August to November, or, with slight
protection, until the end of the year. The
flowers are a reddish purple. C, europium
thrives freely in various parts of the coun-
try in light, loamy, well-drained soil, as
a choice border and rock-garden plant.
Where it does badly in ordinary soil it
should be tried in a deep bed of light loam,
mingled with pieces of broken stone. It
luxuriates on old walls and on the moun-
tain side, with little earth to grow in.

C. HEDER^FOLIUM (Ivy-leaved Cycla-
men).— Tuber not unfrequently I foot in
diameter, and covered with a brownish
rough rind, which cracks irregularly so
as to form little scales. The root-fibres
emerge from the whole of the upper surface
of the tuber, but principally from the
rim ; few or none issue from the lower
surface. The leaves and flowers gener-
ally spring direct from the tuber without
any stem (there is sometimes, however, a
small stem, especially if the tuber be
planted deep) ; at first they spread hori-

zontally, but ultimately become erect.
The leaves are variously marked ; the
greater portion appear after the flowers,
and continue in great beauty the whole
winter and early spring, when, if well
grown, they are one of the greatest orna-
ments of borders and rock gardens.
Often these leaves are 6 inches long,
5^ inches diameter, and 100 to 150 spring
from one tuber. This species has been
naturalised on the mossy floor of a thin
wood, on very sandy, poor soil, and may
be naturalised almost everywhere. It
would be peculiarly attractive in a semi-
wild state in pleasure grounds and by
wood walks.

C. IBERICUM (Iberian Cyclamen). —
There is some obscurity respecting the
authority for the species and its native
country. The leaves are very various.
It flowers in spring, the flowers varying
from deep red-purple to rose, lilac, and
white, with intensely dark mouth.

C. VERNUM (Spring Cyclamen). — The
leaves rise before the flowers in spring ;
they are generally more or less white on
the upper surface, and are often purplish
beneath. Though one of the most inter-
esting species, and perfectly hardy, it is
seldom cultivated successfully in the open
border or rock garden ; it is impatient of
excessive wet about the tubers, and likes
a light soil, in a rather shady nook shel-
tered from winds, its fleshy leaves being
soon injured. The tubers should be
planted deep ; say not less than 2 to
2 1 inches below the surface.

Cyclobothra. See CALOCHORTUS.

CYDONIA (Quince}. — Among the
most beautiful of hardy flowering
shrubs long known as Pyrus. Free,
hardy, of rich colour, and easily grown.
Few shrubs have given so many fine
varieties ranging in colour from deep
crimson and scarlet through shades of
cherry and salmon red to pink and pure
white. The flowers also are larger and
very abundant, there is much variety
in habit of growth, and whereas the
old kinds are best on a wall in our
colder districts, these garden forms do
well anywhere in the open in the south.
They thrive in almost any soil, and
even on chalk, though what they like
best is a deep warm loam, and what
most tries them are dry and sandy
heath soils, where they grow slowly
and flower less freely. Their flowers
continue in succession during several
months, and branches cut while in
bud will open prettily in a room and
last fresh for a considerable time in
water. Syn. Pyrus japonica.

C. JAPONICA. — Varieties of these are
numerous, though many are much alike,

CYDONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

CYDONIA.

427

Among the best are Knap Hill Scarlet,
with large crimson-scarlet flowers ; nivalis,
the best pure white ; albo-cincta, in which
they are tinted pink ; coccinea, bright
scarlet ; princeps, glowing crimson ; um-
bilicata, bright pink and one of the best,
its flowers thickly clustered and yet well
distributed ; Moerloosei, crimson-scarlet ;
rosea, rosy-pink ; sulphured, pale creamy-
yellow ; and cardinalis, deep purplish-

shoots show to perfection. These are
C. Sargenti, from the mountains of Japan,
with a semi-prostrate habit and rather
small, bright red flowers borne very freely.
C. pygmaea is only 2 feet high, of a more
erect habit, and so near C. Maulei in ap-
pearance and colour of its orange-salmon
flowers that it is supposed to have come
from that kind. C. Simonii, a seedling
form of C. japonica, is of prostrate habit,

Flower Spray of the Vranja Quince.

crimson. New continental forms are
Baltzii, with rosy-red flowers on the new
wood ; Mallardi, rosy flowers edged with
white ; Gaugardi, salmon-red ; semper-
florens, with a very long succession of
bright red flowers ; and macrocarpa and
Columbia, f remarkable for their large
fruits, which in the last kind sometimes
measure 10 inches in circumference.
There are beside several kinds of distinct
habit, useful for planting in the rock
garden where the larger kinds would be
out of place, and yet where the' trailing

with large blood-red flowers of rich effect
in the rock garden.

C. MAULEI (Maule's Quince). — This
differs in its smaller growth, smaller
foliage, spiny branches, smaller flowers,
and also in the fruits, which are more
deeply grooved, turn to a bright golden
colour with ruddy cheeks, and are strongly
scented. The plant has shown far less
variation than the Japan Quince, but
there are a few named forms, and other
good seedlings distinct in colour are now
in cultivation. Trie best variety is

428

CYDONIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CYPRIPEDIUM.

,

superba, with flowers of a deeper, richer
colour than the bright orange-scarlet of
the parent. This is a beautiful shrub of
prostrate habit, covered with flowers in
early May, and pretty again in autumn
when loaded with its handsome apple-like
fruits.

C. SINENSIS and C. CATHAYENSIS are
kinds ot minor interest seen only in botani-
cal collections, but a word may be said as to
C. vulgaris, the Common Quince, a native
of Europe, which, though grown chiefly
for its fruit, is a charming tree for the
lawn, especially when old. In spring it
bears large bluish-pink flowers, and in
autumn is again .attractive with its large
golden fruits. The pear-shaped variety
is the most ornamental, the branches
of well-laden trees sweeping gracefully to
the turf.

FRUITING KINDS. — Beside the older
varieties of Quince known for generations
past, there are now many improved forms.
The old Orange Quince, a round-shaped
fruit of deep colour, was long the standard
American kind, but has now largely given
place to Rea's Mammoth, with larger
fruits of tender flesh, free from the hardi-
ness and harshness of the old Pear Quince.
A newer kind, Champion, is also grown in
the States. It begins to bear very early
and its fruits come a fortnight later than
the Orange — a useful succession where
the winter is not too early. They are
apple-shaped, bright yellow, of good
quality and rich colour, while 18 ounces
is no uncommon weight. Another good
late kind much grown for the American
market is Meech's Prolific. Other Ameri-
can varieties little known in this country
are the Fuller Quince, with large pale
yellow fruits of soft flesh and fine flavour ;
and Van Deman, a seedling from the Portu-
gal Quince, with handsome fruits of great
size and good quality. A variety thought
well of in France is De Bourgeaut, a vigor-
ous tree with large rounded fruits of
t olden yellow. Nor are the new sorts con-
ned to America, for several good ones
have been found in S. Europe, such as
the Lescovez Quince (from the town of
that name, where it has grown for genera-
tions), an apple-shaped fruit of immense
size and refined flavour, said to be the
best of all for marmalade, yielding a clear
jelly of rich colour. The tree is of rather
weak habit, with small and very dark
green leaves. Another kind from the
Balkans is the Bereczki Quince (also known
as the Vranja, from its native place), a
tree of robust growth with large leaves,
very free even from a small size in its
large golden fruits with a clear shining
skin. The Quince De Baden bears large
pear-shaped fruits ; Monstrueux de Bazine,
fruits of the same shape, but nearly 2 Ibs.
in weight and excellent for preserves ;
while the Zucker or " Sugar Quince " is a
smaller kind from Asia, very sweet and

good for stewing. Other sorts offered
continental growers are the Maskat
Quince, the Persian Quince, the Con-
stantinople Quince, and the Angers \ this
last comes freely from seed, and is that
most used for grafting Pears.

CYNARA (Artichoke).— This plant,
C. Scolymus, much grown as food, is
of noble form and much beauty. Its
long, silvery, deeply divided leaves and
purplish flower-heads make it useful
for pleasure grounds, but it may get
killed in hard winters.

CYPERUS (Galingale}. — A water
plant of fine form from 2 to 3 feet
high, C. longus is crowned by a hand-
some, loose, umbellate panicle of
chestnut-coloured flower-spikes, at the
base of which there are three or more
leaves, often i or 2 feet long, the lower
ones of a bright shining green arching
gracefully. The root-stock is thick and
aromatic, and was formerly used much
as a tonic. A rare native plant.

CYPRIPEDIUM (Lady's Slipper).—
Handsome Orchids, embracing several
hardy species, of which the Mocassin-
flower (C. spectabile) is the finest culti-
vated hardy kind.

C. ACAULE (Stemless Lady's Slipper). — •
A dwarf species with a naked downy
flower-stalk, 8 to 12 inches high, bearing
a green bract at the top, flowers early in
summer, large, solitary, purplish with a
rosy-purple (rarely white) lip, nearly
2 inches long, which has a singular closed
fissure down its whole length in front.
N. America in woods and bogs. Thriving in
moist, peaty, or sandy soil.

C. CALCEOLUS (English Lady's Slipper).
— The only British species and the largest
flowered of our native Orchids, i to i J feet
high, flowers in summer, solitary (some-
times two) large flowers of a dark brown
colour, with an inflated clear yellow lip
netted with darker veins, and about i inch
in length. N. Europe, and occasionally
in the northern counties of England, where,
however, it is now almost exterminated.
Very ornamental for the rock garden,
where it should be planted in sunny
sheltered nooks of calcareous soil, or in
narrow fissures of limestone rock, in
well-drained, rich, fibrous loam, in attJ
east aspect.

C. GUTTATUM (Spotted Lady's Slipper).
— A beautiful kind, 6 to 9 inches high ;
flowers in summer solitary, rather small,
white, heavily blotched, with rosy purple.
Grows in dense forests amongst the roots
of trees in black vegetable mould. Re-
quires a half-shady position in leaf-mould,
moss, and sand, and not wet in winter,
N. Europe and Asia.

cVpRiPEDiuM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARbEN. CVRILLA. 429

C. JAPONICUM (Japanese Lady's Slip-
per).— About i foot high, and its hairy
stems, which are as thick as one's little
finger, bear two plicate fan-shaped leaves
of bright green, rather jagged round the
margins. The flowers are solitary, the
sepals being of an apple-green tint ; the
petals, too, are of the same colour, but
are dotted with purplish crimson at the
base.

C. MACRANTHUM (Large Lady's Slipper).
— A choice species, the flowers, large, of a

C. SPECTABILE (Mocassin-flower) . — The
most beautiful of this group; 15 inches
to 2^ feet high, flowers in summer, one or
two on each stem (rarely three), large,
with inflated, rounded lip, about i£ inches
long, white, with a large blotch of bright
rosy carmine in front. A variety (C. s.
album) has the lip entirely white. In
America it grows in open boggy woods,
moist meadows, and also in peaty bogs in
the Northern States. Good native speci-
mens produce from fifty to seventy flowers

Mocassin-flower (Cyprifediuin spectabile].

uniform purplish rose with deeper coloured
veins ; early in June. Lip globose,
inflated, and finely marked with deep
purple reticulations. Grows best in pure
loam of a heavy nature. Siberia.

C. PUBESCENS— A dwarf species with
a pubescent stem, seldom more than 2 feet
high, flowers early in summer, on each
stem one to three flowers ; scentless,
greenish yellow, spotted with brown, with
a pale yellow lip from i| to 2 inches long,
and flattened at the sides. America,
found in bogs and low woods, from Penn-
sylvania to Carolina. An accommodating
species, and does well in leaf-soil, loam,
stones, and grit.

on a single tuft, 3 feet across, formed on
a thick mat of fleshy roots. The plant is
hardy, and succeeds if planted out in a
deep, rich, peaty soil, with loam and leaf-
mould added. Woodland shade and
moisture are very desirable, with a few
nodules of sandstone or rough sandstone
grit mixed with the soil. It also thrives
in turfy loam on a moist bottom ; in any
case, deep planting is necessary.

CYRILLA RACEMIFLORA( Leather-
wood}. — A shrub, or low tree, covering
a vast area in the warmer parts of
America, yet hardy in the warmest
parts of this country, where it grows

430 CYSTOPTERIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CYTISUS.

as a shrub of about 5 feet high, of
slender growth, with fine glossy green
foliage, which is nearly evergreen in
warm places, and in a mild season.
The flowers come as narrow, slender
white spikes of graceful effect from
June to August, and the leaves take
glowing tints of orange and crimson in
the autumn. Seed.

CYSTOPTERIS (Bladder Fern).—
The cultivated kinds of this native
group are small elegant Ferns of
delicate fragile texture. They grow
on rocks and walls, chiefly in moun-
tainous districts. The best - known
are : C. fragilis, which has finely-cut
fronds about 6 inches high. It is of
easy culture, succeeding in an ordinary
border, though seen to best advantage
on shady parts of the rock garden in a
well-drained soil. There are two or
three varieties, Dickieana being the
best. C. alpina is much smaller, and
when once established not difficult to
cultivate or increase, but more affected
by excessive moisture than C. fragilis.
A sheltered situation in a well-drained
part of the rock garden suits it. C.
montana is another elegant plant
requiring the same treatment as C.
fragilis.

CYTISUS ( Broom) . — Beautiful
shrubs, mostly from the warmer and
arid hills of S. and W. Europe, some
hardy in our country. They are easily
raised from seed, and profuse in effec-
tive bloom. Many kinds come freely
from seed scattered here and there, if
care be taken to give the young plants
some little protection from accident
in their earliest stages ; it may also
be taken as an axiom that no kind
should be grafted that can possibly be
obtained on its own roots.

CYTISUS ALDUS (White Spanish Broom) .
— A graceful shrub, reaching a height of
5 or 6 feet in three or four years from
seed, while old plants sometimes reach
15 feet. When thickly covered with its
white blossoms, borne in long racemes,
there are few finer flowering shrubs. The
plant ripens seed in abundance, from which
young plants are easily raised. Two or
three varieties of this kind are grown —
incarnatus, bearing flowers tinged, especi-
ally when in bud and newly opened, with
pink or red-purple ; multiflorus, a free-
flowered garden variety with flowers of
creamy white ; and grandiflorus, with
blossoms that are larger and of a fine pure
white.

C. ARDOINII (Dwarf Alpine Cytisus). — A
low- trailing shrub, 4 to 6 inches high, and
a gem for the rock garden. It is covered

during April and May with deep yellow
flowers, thriving in dry and sunny spots,
its silky trifoliate leaves carried upon fine
rod-like stems. Maritime Alps. Cuttings
or seed.

C. ARGENTEUS (Silver-leaved Cytisus). —
A silvery-leaved plant found in the
Maritime Alps, its leaves and stems
densely clothed in thick down white, and
growing in the sunniest and most arid
spots.

C. AUSTRIACUS (Austrian Cytisus). — A
hardy kind from the east of Europe, grow-
ing as a compact leafy bush of 2 to 4 feet,
bearing terminal clusters of yellow flowers
during early summer and again in autumn.

C. BEANII (Bean's Cytisus). — A cross
between Ardoinii and biflorus, which
originated in the Royal Gardens, Kew.
It is a dwarf, prostrate shrub, with the
habit of Ardoinii, useful in masses for the
rock garden, its yellow flowers coming
early in May.

C. BIFLORUS (Twin-flowered Cytisus). —
The earliest of the Brooms, it is neat in
habit, growing very freely and about
4 feet high. The bright yellow flowers
appear in the axils of the leaves throughout
the long shoots.

C. CAPITATUS (Cluster-flowered Cytisus).
— A low, semi-evergreen shrub growing in
the outskirts and clearings of sunny woods
throughout C. and S. Europe, bearing
clusters of pale yellow flowers at times
shaded with bronze, at the tips of the
long erect shoots. Though less showy
than some kinds, its habit is neat and
compact, and it flowers from the middle of
July into autumn, when few sorts are in
beauty. Seed.

C. DECUMBENS (Trailing Cytisus). — A
dwarf, prostrate shrub from E. Europe,
with large pale yellow flowers in long erect
spikes coming from June till August, and
pretty in the rock garden.

C. GLABRESCENS (Italian Cytisus). — A
hardy plant from the mountains of N.
Italy, and almost untried in gardens,
though pretty as a rock plant. It forms
a small bush with the pendulous habit of
C. purpureus, but with golden flowers
crowded in the axils of the leaves ; these
are deciduous, smooth above, and covered
with soft hairs beneath.

C. HIRSUTUS (Hairy Cytisus).— A dwarf
shrub i to 2 feet high, with trailing stems
and yellow flowers in June and July, and
useful in the rock garden or the front line
of the shrubbery. The hairiness is only
in the young growths, the adult leaves
being smooth. S.E. Europe.

C. KEWENSIS (Kew Cytisus). — A beau-
tiful prostrate plant raised in Kew Gardens
as a cross between Ardoinii and the White
Broom, but distinct in habit from both
parents. It spreads by long trailing
shoots, rising only about 3 inches, but in
old plants covering a wide surface. Its
creamy white or pale yellow flowers

CYTISUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DAHLIA.

43*

thickly cover the pendent shoots during
May and June.

C. NIGRICANS (Summer-flowering Cyti-
sus). — Of neat habit, with long slender
shoots reaching 6 feet or more when full
grown, hardy and thriving in dry warm
ground. The pale yellow flowers are
borne in long erect spikes of 9 inches at
the ends of the new growths ; it is easily
raised from seed. Two or three varieties
of this plant are grown in longispicatus,
with longer spikes of flower, and Carlieri,
with a long season of bloom and showing
flower-spikes and reddish seed-pods inter-
mingled.

C. PURGANS (Auvergne Broom). — A bush
of 2 or 3 feet, the flowers, in April and May,
yellow and fragrant, while the plant
retains its good habit longer than many
kinds. It is easily increased from seed or
cuttings under glass in August. A native
of the mountains of France, it is quite
hardy.

C. PURPUREUS (Purple Cytisus). — A
hardy plant from E. Europe, often grafted
standard high upon the Laburnum, and
in that way short lived ; it is better on
its own roots as a low spreading bush in
rock garden, its drooping shoots hung
with purple flowers from May onwards.
It is so readily increased from seed or
cuttings that there is no need for grafting.
There are several varieties.

C. SCHIPKAENSIS (Schipka Cytisus). — Of
low spreading habit, flowering in a long
succession from the end of June, the
yellowish-white flowers borne in clusters.
It is distinct, hardy, but a greatly over-
rated kind.

C. SCOPARIUS (Common Broom). —
Though a native wild plant, the Broom
sometimes surfers in severe winters,
especially when upon low valley bottoms ;
in this way is less hardy than the white
and early Brooms. There are several
varieties of the Common Broom, the finest
is Andre's Broom (C. Andreanus), in which
the lower petals are richly shaded with
crimson or bronze colour. When grafted
it never lives long, often disappearing
suddenly ; but on its own roots it is as
indifferent to adverse conditions as any
of the Brooms, fine mature plants reaching
a height of 12 feet or more, fully branched,
and of great beauty when in flower. The
most effective way to grow the Broom in
country places is to throw it out of hand
on any waste spots, such as railway banks,
newly-formed fences, bare patches in
woodland.

C. VERSICOLOR (Many-coloured Cytisus).
— A peculiar plant, hybrid of purpureus
and hirsutus, in growth and outline like
the Purple Cytisus. Its leaves and shoots
are, however, thickly pubescent, and its
flowers, appearing in May, pass from
creamy- white to rose and lilac, the several
stages showing in the same cluster.

Though not a new plant, this hybrid is
uncommon and distinct.

The many forms of Laburnum, including
the peculiar graft-hybrid once known as
Cytisus Adami, are now classed by them-
selves in a separate group.

Daboecia. See ERICA.

DACRYDIUM (Huon Pine).— -A tree
of the Pine order of exquisite grace,
but not hardy in Britain except in
the Cornish and Devon gardens, and
others of the south of England and
Ireland. There are two species, D.
Franklini (Huon Pine) and D. cupres-
sinum (New Zealand Cypress), a com-
mon New Zealand tree attaining nearly
100 feet in height.

DACTYLIS (Cocksfoot).— The varie-
gated forms of this native grass are
attractive to those concerned much
with bedding-out, D. glomerata varie-
gata being one of the most useful of
edging plants, and easily increased by
division in autumn or spring, thriving
in almost any soil.

DAHLIA. — Distinct groups of Dah-
lias present a fine effect, if the colours
are well chosen, and many good effects
are spoilt by mixing up tall and dwarf
bushy kinds indiscriminately.

" CACTUS" DAHLIAS. — These origin-
ated from D. Juarezi, which was
introduced from Mexico about 1879,
and they retain the characteristic
shape of that species, the petals
twisted, so to say, and reminding one
of those of some of the Cacti. The
earlier Cactus Dahlias had one fault —
hiding the flowers amongst the leaves ;
but this is to a large extent changed,
so that we have now a beautiful race
of garden plants for summer and
autumn, with flowers of bold form
and charming and varied colours. A
new group is formed by the single
Cactus kinds. The flowers are quite
single, about as large as those of a
good single Dahlia of the ordinary
type, and with twisted petals.

The following are good garden varie-
ties : — Amos Perry, Avoca, Clarisse,
Duchess of Sutherland, Eclaire, Erecta,
Glare of the Garden, Hon. Mrs Greville,
Mauve Queen, Mrs J. H. Usmar,
Juarezi, Primrose Queen, Sweet Briar,
White Ensign.

COLLERETTE DAHLIAS. — A compara-
tively new section of virtually single-
flowered varieties which is well suited
to the garden, and rapidly becom-
ing popular. Good sorts are Argyll,
Bonfire, Black Watch, Cormorant,

43*

DAHLtA.

THE EtfGLtSti FLOWE& GARDEN.

DAHLIA.

Cameron, Eden, Fusilier, Nightingale,
Royal Scot, Starling, Scarlet Queen,
Wren.

FANCY DAHLIAS. — These are not so
much grown in gardens as formerly,
but are still seen at the exhibi-
tion, Dahlias being shown in a far
freer way than was usual a genera-
tion ago, and the Cactus and Single
classes have, to some extent, over-
shadowed the formal Show and Fancy
varieties. The reason why these are
less valuable than many other kinds
of Dahlia in the garden is because of
the weight of the flowers. There is
little graceful beauty about them, the
stems being bent with the burden of
a too heavy blossom, hence the greater
popularity of the many lovely Cactus
varieties.

Fancy Dahlias are Buffalo Bill,
Charles Wyatt, Comedian, Duchess
of Albany, Frank Pearce, Gaiety,
General Gordon, H. Eckford, H. Glass-
cock, Fanny Sturt, Mrs Ocock, Mrs
Saunders, Peacock, Rebecca, Rev. J. B.
M. Camm, Sunset, T. W. Girdlestone.

P^ONY-FLOWERED DAHLIAS. The

flower-heads are of huge size on
vigorous habited plants. Aprodite,
Amber Queen, Beacon, Edina, Fire
Dragon, Holman Hunt, Old Gold,
Portia, and White Flag are some good
and distinct sorts.

POMPON OR BOUQUET DAHLIAS. —
These should be quite small, as the
name Pompon suggests, not like a
Show or Fancy Dahlia. Although
many additions have been made to
this section, the pure white variety,
White Aster, still retains its popularity,
and it is grown largely for cutting, and
also for its effects. The Pompon
Dahlias are very free-blooming, throw-
ing their charming flowers well above
the leaves. Admiration, Arthur West,
Countess von Sternberg, Coquette,
Crimson Beauty, Cupid, Darkness,
Dove, E. F. Jungker, Eurydice, Eva,
Fairy Tales, Gem, German Favourite,
Glowworm, Golden Gem, Hedwig Poll-
wig, Juno, Lilian, Little Bobby, Little
Ethel, Marion, Midget, Pure Love,
Tommy Keith, Vivid, White Aster.

SINGLE DAHLIAS. — D. coccinea (D.
Mercki), D. variabilis, and others
formed the foundation, so to say, of
this group. The value of Single
Dahlias as beautiful garden flowers
was not considered until a reaction
set in against the show blooms, and
then the elegant single kinds became
popular. In the best kinds the flowers
are carried erect above the foliage, the

growth bushy and the flowers abun-
dant. No summer flower gives a
greater variety of brilliant colours,
rich selfs and delicate hues of mauve
and rose to pure white. With all this
choice, one, unfortunately, sees much
of the striped kinds, too often praised,
for the reason perhaps that they are
well shown at some exhibition ; but
a new Dahlia should be seen in the
garden to judge of its merits. The
striped kinds are also sportive, like
striped Carnations, and depend in a
large measure for their peculiar colour
upon the weather. This class must
not be confounded with those that have
flowers boldly margined with colour.
As the round-flowered form of Single
Dahlia is declining in popularity one
sees less of the big saucer-shaped
blooms, so large that it was necessary
to support them when gathered.
These flabby varieties won few friends,
and the more recent kinds are far
smaller and better. Cardinal, Chil-
well Beauty, Conspicua, Duke of York,
Duchess of Westminster, Eclipse, En-
sign, Evelyn, Gulielpna, Jack, James
Scobie, Kitty, Morning Glow, Midget
Improved, Mikado, Magpie, Nellie,
Paragon, Rose Queen, Yellow Boy,
Snowdrop.

"STAR" OR " COSMEA-FLOWERED "
DAHLIAS. — These are invaluable for
the garden or as cut flowers, and being
of medium size, excellent in decoration.
Crawley Star, White Star, Yellow Star,
Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury are some
of them. All are single flowered or
semi-double and prodigal bloomers.

TOM THUMB DAHLIAS. — This is a
very dwarf race, the plants forming
little bushes, but they are not satis-
factory, as they appear not to bloom
with great freedom, whilst the growth
does not retain its true dwarf character.
When true, the habit is compact,
dense, and the single flowers borne
well above the mass of leaves. For-
tunately the colours of the flowers are
for the most part simple, and raisers
should steer clear of the ugly striped
kinds. Dwarfing any flower naturally
tall and graceful is a doubtful practice.

SPECIES. — Amongst these we may
note the following : —

D. COCCINEA. — A tall plant with bright
scarlet flowers that rarely vary. Nearly
related to it, and differing only in some
slight points, is D. Cervantesi, also with
showy scarlet flowers.

D. GLABRATA is a beautiful plant
dwarf spreading growth, more slen
than any of the other species.

DAHLIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DAHLIA.

433

flowers are smaller than those of other
kinds, and vary from pure white to deep

gjrple. It is hardier than any other
ahlia, and plants left in the ground are
generally uninjured throughout the win-
ter. Its dwarf growth adapts it for posi-
tions unsuitable for the latter kinds, and
it has a good effect in masses, its colour
being unlike that of any other Dahlia. It
is known also as D. Mercki, repens, and
Decaisneana.

D. JUAREZI. — Now well known. It is
the more desirable because of its easy
culture, as it requires no different treat-
ment from ordinary Dahlias. It is not
quite double, but is very fine in form and
brilliant in colour, though it flowers
somewhat sparsely.

D. VARIABILIS. — Supposed parent of
all the garden varieties. The wild plant
has scarlet flowers like coccinea, and is of
similar growth. A packet of seed, how-

Cactus Dahlia "Juarezi."

D. GRACILIS. — A distinct and graceful
plant, with slender stems and finely
divided foliage, which gives it a freer
habit than any other Dahlia. The bright-
scarlet flowers are of the ordinary size.

D. IMPERIALIS. — Large and graceful
much-divided leaves, and flowers of a
beautiful French white, thrown up in a
great cone-like mass. It rarely flowers in
the open air, but it is of service both in
the flower garden and conservatory.
Planted in rich soil, and placed in a warm,
sheltered position in the open air at the
end of May, it grows well in summer.

ever, will yield plants with flowers of all
shades, from crimson to white and yellow.

To get a good result it is essential to
have rich, deep, and moist soil, and to
put out strong plants as early as may
be safe, so as to secure a good growth
or autumn bloom. If planted in May
and frost is feared, protect the young
plants at night by turning a garden
pot over them. Pot roots of the
previous year, and the more youthful
portions of the old stools are particu-

2 E

434

DAHLIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DAPHNE.

larly valuable for garden beds and
borders where a big early display is
required. Plant these in April 4 to 6
inches deep. If the soil is not deep,
rich, and moist, manure-water should
be used. Watering is usually necessary
in early growth, afterwards it is not
so in moist districts where the plant is
well treated as regards depth and
quality of soil. In dry places water is
essential in most seasons. Staking and
tying out the shoots must be attended
to, as the stems break early under
little wind - pressure. Earwigs are
great enemies to Dahlias, but can be
trapped in small round troughs, which
may be got from any pottery. They
may also be caught on pieces of Hem-
lock stem, 6 inches long, by leaving a
joint at one end and sticking the pieces
here and there through the Dahlias.
Small pots, with a little bit of dry
Sphagnum Moss inside, inverted on the
tops of stakes, also form good traps.

In increasing Dahlias the usual
practice is to take up the roots and
store them in a dry frost-proof cellar
in winter. Dahlias may be propa-
gated by cuttings, root-division, and
seed, the last way being used only
where new kinds are sought. Cuttings
are the means adopted by the special-
ists, though division of the roots is
also practised by the amateur. If
started in February or March in a
temperature of 60° to 70° F., each
crown will produce three or four
cuttings every two or three days.
These may be taken off close to the
crown when about 3 inches long.
When the crowns have supplied all
the cuttings that can be got from them
they may be divided, and therefore
nothing is lost. Cuttings may be
successfully struck during the summer
months ; but this is unusual except in
the case of choice varieties, or when pot
roots are desired for the following
year. Three-inch pots are best for
putting the cuttings into, one or two
in each pot. They should be plunged
in a brisk bottom-heat, covered with
hand-glasses, and shaded from bright
sunshine. In less than a fortnight
they will be all rooted, and may be
potted off singly into large 3-inch pots.
To raise seedlings, sow the seed in
heat in February, and treat the young
plants in the same way as cuttings.

As long as the weather keeps mild
Dahlia roots are best in the soil, and
need not be taken up till the end of
November ; but should sharp frosts
be followed by heavy rain they should

be promptly removed from the ground.
Lift the roots on a dry day and cut off
the stems to within 2 or 3 inches of
the crown. Remove the greater por-
tion of the soil from the tubers and
lay the latter out in the sun to dry
before storing. The floor of a green-
house where frost can be excluded, or
a dry cellar, is a good place to store
the roots in. A little ventilation is
necessary to keep them from getting
mouldy ; but a hot, dry atmosphere
must also be avoided, as the tubers
might shrivel in it. The roots may be
kept plump during the winter by
storing in soil in a cool place secure
from frost.

The species of Dahlia are natives of
Mexico and adjacent regions — i, arbor ea ;
2, astrantia 'flora ; 3, coccinea ; 4, excelsa ;
5, gracilis ; 6, imperialis ; 7, Maximi-
liana ; 8, Mercki , 9, platylepis ; 10,
pubescens ; n, scapigera ; 12, variabiHs ;
13, Juarezi.

DAPHNE (Garland Flower}. — Alpine
and mountain shrubs, beautiful, fra-
grant, and of high value for the garden.
They are chiefly natives of Europe,
and in cultivation do best when shaded
in summer from the mid-day sun, and
in winter screened from cold winds.
If nurtured by the fallen leaves of
trees, they will grow with a vigour
that we can scarcely hope to see in
ordinary soil. They have but few
roots, and are best transplanted when
young. The best soil is a mixture of
free loam and decayed leaf-mould,
with some old road-sand added. None
of them require a rich soil, and some
of them even prefer old road-sand to
any other.

D. ALPINA (Mountain Mezereon). — A
dwarf summer-leafing and distinct rock
shrub, about 2 feet high, the flowers
yellowish- white, silky outside, fragrant,
in clusters of five from the sides of the
branches. It is a low, branching shrub,
flowering from April to June, and bearing
red berries in September. C. and S.
Europe.

D. ARBUSCULA. — A native of Transyl-
vania, it bears a resemblance to the small-
growing D. petrcea from the same region,
differing mainly in its more robust habit.
It is also said to grow wild in Grass land,
whilst D. petrcea more frequently inhabits
rocky ground. The evergreen leaves are
linear and not more than i inch long,
whilst the fragrant, rosy-pink flowers are
borne in terminal heads of six flowers to
ten flowers each. It is essentially a plant
for the rock garden, and should be planted
in soil containing lime or amongst lime-
stone rocks. Seeds.

DAPHNE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DAPHNE.

435

D. BLAGAYANA (King's Garland Flower).
— A dwarf alpine shrub, 3 to 8 inches high,
of straggling growth, the leaves forming
rosette-like tufts at the tips of the
branches, encircling dense clusters of
fragrant, creamy-white flowers, blooming
in spring and thriving in the rock garden.
It is vigorous and free if planted in well-
drained loam — calcareous for preference —
and leaf-soil, and likes best a rather cool
spot. Increased by layers. Layering, in
the strict sense, is not necessary. Pegging
down the shoots of the previous season's
growth, or weighting them down to the
soil by placing stones upon the branches,
is ample. If this is indulged in annually,
new root activity and increased vigour
are continuously promoted. The species
is so choice and fragrant as to be worthy
our best endeavours to make it a success.

D. CNEORUM (Garland Flower). — A
dwarf spreading shrub, from 6 inches to

Garland Flower (Daphne Cneorum).

10 inches high, and bearing rosy-lilac
flowers, and so sweet that where much
grown the air often seems charged with
their fragrance. It is a native of most of
the great mountain chains of Europe, and
is one of the best plants for the rock
garden, thriving in peaty and very sandy
soils ; in stiff soils often fails ; is usually
increased by layers.

D. COLLINA (Box - leaved Garland
Flower). — The leaves of this much re-
semble in shape and size those of the
Balearic Box, the upper surface of a
dark glossy green. The flowers are in
close groups, and of a light lilac or pinkish
colour, the tubes rather broad and densely
coated with silky white hairs. It forms
a low, dense, evergreen shrub, the branches
of which always take an upright direction
and form a level head, covered with
flowers from February to May. S.
Europe. D. Neapolitana is a variety of
it.

D. DAUPHINI. — Flowering as it does
.during the depth of winter, the blossoms

of this pretty and interesting Daphne are
much appreciated. It has been long
known, but is even now decidedly uncom-
mon. It is said to be the result of a cross
between the S. European D. sericea and
D. odora. Outdoors D. odora can only be
grown in especially favoured parts of the
country, while the hybrid is also somewhat
tender, and in the London district must
be looked upon as a greenhouse plant
rather than a hardy shrub. The blossoms
are purplish in the bud, but more of a
lilac tint when fully expanded. They
have to a great extent the fragrance of
D. odora.

D. EDGWORTHIA CHRYSANTHA (Golden
Daphne). — A very distinct plant of China
and Japan, flowering in midwinter. Is
closely related to the Daphnes, is very
interesting in structure of the flower, and
has a delicate fragrance. Our midwinter
climate invites us to take it into the house,
where it will help to prove that there is no
dearth of flowers in winter, even for those
who have no hot-house. The English
name I here propose for it for the first
time is as above. It seems quite hardy
here, but may require a wall in the north.

D. FIONIANA (Fion's Garland Flower). —
A compact shrub, the heads of bloom are
in clusters, five fragrant flowers in each,
of a pale lilac colour, the tubes densely
covered externally with short silvery hairs.
This shrub flowers from March to May,
and is hardy about London.

D. GENKWA (Lilac Garland Flower) is
a summer-leafing shrub of from 2 to 3 feet
in height, with downy branches, and
fragrant violet-coloured flowers thickly
set on the leafless branches in early spring.
There appears to be several varieties of
D. Genkwa, some with much larger
flowers than others, and some of a darker
shade of purple. It is not quite hardy
in cold districts. Syn. D. Fortunei.

D. HOUTTEIANA (Van Houttes Meze-
reon). — This forms a robust spreading
bush, 3 or 4 feet high, with all the leaves
collected on the young branches, while
the old ones are naked. It is distinct,
hardy, flowering in the spring before the
leaves appear, and is said to be a hybrid
between Mezereon and the Spurge Laurel.
Its leaves are from 3 to 3^ inches long,
purple on the upper side when fully
developed, and when quite young and in
the bud state, of a dark purple colour.
The flowers are small, dark purple, quite
smooth, and are borne along the shoots
of the previous year before the young
leaves appear.

D. MEZEREUM (Mezereon). — A wild
plant in English woods, is a charming
and fragrant bush, and the earliest to
flower, often in February. Where the
shrubby rock garden is carried out, nothing
is more lovely for its adorning than a
group of this. Though quite hardy, it is
slow, and not so pretty on some cold soils.

436 DAPHNIPHYLLUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DATURA.

It is best to begin with little plants, and
it is easily raised from seed, thriving best
in calcareous soils.

D. ODORA (Sweet Daphne). — A fragrant
and beautiful kind, in mild and southern
districts hardy on the rock garden, usually
best on western aspects ; but in the north
a greenhouse plant. There are varieties
called alba, rubra, Mazeli, punctata.
Mazeli is, according to Max Leichtlin,
hardier than the older kind. Syn. D.
indica. China.

D. PETRJEA (Syn. D. rupestris) (Rock
Garland Flower). — A neat little shrub,
with erect shoots forming dense, compact
tufts, 2 inches high, often covered with
flowers of a soft-shaded pink, in clustered
heads. It is a mountain plant, growing
wild in fissures of limestone in peaty loam,
of slow growth, and it takes some years to
form a good tuft. It seems to thrive in
very stony and. peaty earth, with abund-
ance of white sand, and should be planted
in a well-drained but not a dry spot.
D. p. grandiflora is a much larger form,
well deserving its name.

D. STRIATA (Fairy Garland Flower).
— A hardy trailing kind, forming dense,
spreading masses, i to 3 feet across, in
June and July are covered with rosy-
purple scented flowers in clusters. The
spreading habit of this plant recommends
it for covering bare spots in the rock
garden. Alps.

DAPHNIPHYLLUM. Evergreen

shrubs of fine effect of foliage and little
beauty of flower. D. Glaucescens
grows well in the home counties so
far as tried, the leaves over 6 inches
long, and glaucous underneath, the
flowers small, in the autumn ; but the
habit is so fine wherever evergreens are
cared for that this will be worth grow-
ing, at least in the southern and
warmer counties. The other species
known is D. josoenses. It is a much
dwarfer plant, and is an under shrub
in the forests of Yezo. These plants
seem to be hardy enough in the
southern districts of Britain, and rich
as we are in evergreen plants in Britain,
these are distinct enough to take a
good place.

DARLINGTONIA (Californian
Pitcher-plant). — A most singular plant,
resembling the Sarracenias, but very
distinct ; the leaves of D. calif ornica
rise to a height of 2 feet or more, are
hollow, and form a curiously shaped
hood, from which hang two ribbon-
like appendages, the hood often a
crimson-red, and the flowers are almost
as curious. This remarkable plant is
found to grow in our climate if care
be taken with it, and it would be

difficult to name a more interesting
plant for a sheltered bog garden. It
is less trouble out of doors than under
glass ; indeed, it only requires a
moderately wet bog in a light spongy
soil of fibrous peat and chopped
Sphagnum Moss. A place should be
selected by the side of a stream, or in any
moist place, and the plants should be
fully exposed to direct sunlight, but
sheltered from the cold winds of early
spring when they are throwing up
their young leaves. They require fre-
quent watering in dry seasons, unless
they are in a naturally wet spot. Seed.

DATISCA (Bastard Hemp).—D.
Cannabina is a tall and graceful her-
baceous perennial from 4 to 7 feet
high, the long stems clothed with large
pinnate leaves, yellowish-green flowers
appearing towards the end of summer.
The male plant is very strong and
graceful in habit ; the female remains
green much longer than the male ;
when it is laden with fruit, each shoot
droops gracefully, and the plant should
be included in any selection of hardy
plants of good form. Seed will be
found the best way to increase it, and
would secure plants of both sexes.
The border is not its place ; it is, above
most other plants, suited for the grassy
margin of an irregular shrubbery.
Himalayas.

DATURA (Thorn Apple}. — Natives
of Mexico and similar countries, none
are hardy, but owing to rapid growth
some succeed well if treated as half-
hardy annuals, and make effective
plants in a short season. The best
are : D. ceratocaula, from 2 to 3 feet
high, with large, scented, trumpet-like
flowers, often 6 inches in length, and
4 or 5 inches across, white, tinged with
violet-purple, expanding in the after-
noon and closing on the following
morning. D. fastuosa is a handsome
species, having white blossoms smaller
than the preceding ; there is a fine
variety of it with the tube of the
flower violet and the inside white.
The most striking forms of this species
bear "double" flowers, the primary
corolla having a second and sometimes
a third corolla arising from its tube,
all being perfectly regular in form, and
often being parti-coloured, as in the
single variety with violet flowers. D.
meteloides is a handsome Mexican plant,
called in gardens Wright's Datura.
Isolated specimens of it have a fine
aspect in sunny but sheltered nooks.

DATURA.

THE ENGLISH PLOW ER

DATURA.

437

It is from 3 to 4 feet high, has wide-
spreading branches, and blooms from
the middle of July till frost sets in,
the flowers white, tinged with mauve ;
from 4 to 6 inches across, showy and
sweet, but the leaves emit a disagree-
able odour.

The plants hitherto known as Brug-
mansia are now considered to belong

should be given early in the spring,
and they should be kept within bounds.
Under glass the chief enemy is green
fly, but fumigation soon disposes of
this. The propagation of these plants
is simple, the young shoots being
merely taken off in spring and struck
in a gentle heat, one cutting in a small
pot. Grow them on as fast as possible

D. cornigera, (Brugmansia Knighti) in the flower garden.

to Datura. They are of easy cultiva-
tion, and soon make large plants. The
best way of growing is as standards, so
that their long drooping flowers may
be better seen. In the flower garden a
sheltered but sunny position should be
chosen. The plants may be safely
put out about the end of May in good
warm soil. When in a house, either in
tubs or in the border, an annual priming

keeping them to the one stem until of
good height. They will yield a few
flowers the first autumn when planted
out, but as they get older they flower
more profusely. D. suaveolens, another
good white variety, is a profuse
bloomer, its flowers being perhaps
larger than those of D. cornigera, but
single. D. sanguined has flowers of a
deep orange-yellow tinged with green

438 DAVIDIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DELPHINIUM.

towards the base ; it does not flower
quite so freely as the white kinds, but
should be grown for its distinct char-
acter.

DAVIDIA INVOLUCRATA (Bract
Tree). — A remarkable tree from the
mountains of C. China, where the
winters are severe, it has proved hardy
in this country. It belongs to the
Dogwood family, and the large white
bracts are more showy than the
flowers. It is described by Dr Henry
as a large tree, bearing thousands of
flowers, which are most peculiar.
Inside a pair of white bracts about the
size of the hand is a head of red-
anthered stamens, and a tree in full
flower is a marvellous sight, owing to
the alternate white and green caused
by the large bracts intermingling with
the leaves. Its value for our islands
is known, and a subject of such orna-
ment and distinction merits the best
positions among the choice trees and
shrubs.

DECAISNEA. — Curious ailantus-
like shrubs, natives of mountain woods,
China, and India ; as yet little known
in our country, but deserving of a place
as soon as they can be obtained, among
rare and beautiful shrubs. The leaves
of D. Fargesi are pinnate and the
flowers not showy, but the fruits
become an attractive blue in autumn.
Until more common, cultivate in open
free soil and sheltered places.

DECUMARIA.— Two species of this
interesting genus are in cultivation ;
both are hardy, and useful climbers for
walls and buildings. D. barbara, a
native of Carolina, where it is found
in shady places along the margins of
swamps, is a very elegant plant. The
branches cling to the wall by small
rootlets, as in the Ivy, and when
allowed to ramble at will are very
grotesque, ascending trees or walls
to a considerable height, and requiring
no nailing and little attention. The
flowers are in large bunches in May
and June, pure white and fragrant,
resembling Hydrangea., D. sinensis
is a native of C. China, and a beauti-
ful hardy species. It is a climber, and
was found by Dr Henry covering the
cliffs of the Ichang Gorge with clusters
of fragrant white flowers.

DEINANTHE CCERULEA.— An in-
teresting Chinese plant of herbaceous
habit, when happy growing to
2 feet in height and over. Large
veined cordate leaves, amongst which

nestle the double round flowers of a
delicate light saxe-blue colour. It is
somewhat precocious to grow, and the
sun must not reach the leaves,
which are easily scorched and checked,
but it delights in surrounding warmth,
and requires moisture when growth
starts in the spring and throughout
the summer. Place it in leaf-mould,
peat, and good garden soil mixed
together, as it is a hungry plant. It is
worthy of care and attention.

DELPHINIUM (Larkspur}. — Few
plants contribute so much to the beauty
of the garden as these fine plants of
the Crowfoot order. There are in
cultivation many species, both annual
and perennial, but the most important
are the tall hybrid perennials, of which
there are many varieties with a won-
derful range of lovely colour. They
are very valuable for their great variety
in height, from i to 10 feet ; for their
greater variety in shades of colour,
which range from almost scarlet to
pure white, from the palest and most
chaste lavender up through every
conceivable shade of blue to deep
indigo ; and for the variety of size
and form of their individual blooms,
some of which are single, some semi-
double, and some perfectly double,
and all set on spikes ranging from i
to 6 feet in length. About a dozen
species have given rise to the
cultivated varieties, the chief species
being D. grandiflorum, formosum,
lasiostachyum, cheilanthum, elatum,
and peregrinum.

The combinations in which they can
be placed are numerous. They are
splendid objects in various positions,
and may be used in various ways — in
the mixed border, in masses or groups
in one or several colours, or associated
with other flowering plants or with
shrubs. Perennial Larkspurs thrive
in almost any situation or soil ; they
are easily increased, and are quite
hardy. A deep, friable loam, enriched
with rotten manure, is a good soil for
them, but they will grow well in a hot
sandy soil if it be heavily manured and
watered. Every three or four years
they should be replanted and divided,
preferably in spring, just as they are
starting into growth, or in summer ; if it
is done in summer, cut down the plants
intended foi division, and let them
remain for a fortnight after flowering
until they start afresh ; then carefully
divide and replant them, shading and
watering until they are established.

DELPHINIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DELPHINIUM. 439

Late autumn division is not advisable.
Delphiniums can be made to bloom
for several months by continually
cutting off the spikes immediately after
they have done flowering. If the
central spike be removed, the side
shoots will flower, and by thus cutting
off the old flowers before they form

Delphinium.

seeds we cause fresh shoots to issue
from the base, and to keep up a
succession of bloom. Another plan is
to let the shoots remain intact until
all have nearly done flowering, and
then to cut the entire plant to the
ground, when in about three weeks
there will be a fresh bloom. In this
case, however, to keep the plants from
becoming exhausted, they must have
a heavy dressing of manure or manure-
water. Top-dressings keep the soil

cool and moist, give the plants a
healthier growth, increase the number,
and improve the quality of the flowers.

The following is a selection of the
good kinds : — Belladonna grandiflora,
Blue King, Capri, China Blue, Con-
spicua, formosum, Lamatino, Mcer-
heimi (valuable pure white), Mr J. S.
Brunton, Persimmon, Queen Mary,
Twertonia, and Royal Blue. Double
Varieties. — Ampere, Col. Sir Wynd-
ham Murray, Chantry Queen, Dusky
Monarch, Elsie, Harry Smetham,
James W. Kelway, King of Del-
phiniums, Lavanda, Le Danube, Lizzie
Van Veen, Monarch of All, Mrs A. J.
Watson, Mrs Colin M'lver, Mrs H.
Kaye, Mrs Shirley, Perfection, Queen
Wilhelmina, Robert Cox, Rev. E.
Lacelles, Statuaire Rude, The Alake,
Willy O'Breen, Walter T. Ware. The
beautiful old double variety D. grandi-
florumfl.-pl. is one of the most charming
of border plants.

The best of the numerous perennial
species distinct from the hybrids are :
D. cashmerianum, with flowers nearly
as large as those of D. formosum, and
with stems about 15 inches in height.
D. cashmerianum is well suited for the
border or for a large rockery ; in either
case perfect drainage is essential, and
this is best attained in rock garden
culture. Its branches have a prostrate
habit, apparently adapting it to such
conditions. It is best increased from
seed. D. cardinale is a beautiful
species of tall growth, hav ng bright
scarlet flowers, like those of D.
nudicaule. It blossoms later in sum-
mer, and continues longer in flower
than D. nudicaule, owing in part to
its slower development. It is a most
desirable plant, and as hardy as D.
nudicaule. Seedlings will probably not
flower till the second season. In very
damp soil it would be prudent in winter
to protect the root with a hand-light
or inverted pot. £>. chinense is distinct
from other Larkspurs, and is neat and
rather dwarf in growth, having finely
cut feathery foliage, and freely pro-
ducing spikes of large blossoms, usually
of a rich blue-purple, but sometimes
white. It is a good perennial, is easily
raised from seed, and continues to
flower throughout the summer till late
in autumn. It is suited for borders
and beds. D. nudicaule has scarlet
blossoms, a dwarf, compact, branching
growth, a hardy constitution, and a
free blooming habit, i to 3 feet high.
The flowers are in loose spikes, each

440 DELPHINIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DELPHINIUM.

blossom being about i inch in length ;
the colour varies from light scarlet to
a shade verging closely on crimson,
and when seen in the open air, especi-
ally in sunshine, dazzles the eye by
its brilliancy. D. nudicaule is per-
fectly hardy, and commences growth
so early that it may almost be termed
a spring flower, but it may be had in
bloom during several of the summer
months, and is handsome for warm
borders. Although somewhat apt to
damp off on level ground, it is a per-
ennial on raised ground, and keeps up
a succession of bloom. Seed.

THE ANNUAL LARKSPURS. — In these
hardy annuals there is also a wealth
of beauty for the summer garden, and
we have a host of beautiful sorts with
a wide range of colour. There is great
diversity, too, in the habit of growth,
some being as dwarf as a Hyacinth,
others 3 or 4^ feet high, others with a
branching habit resembling a candela-
brum. The species which have given
rise to these varieties are D. Ajacis
(Rocket Larkspur) and D. Consolida.
D. Ajacis has the flowers in long, loose
spikes forming an erect and spreading
panicle, the stem vigorous with open
spreading branches. All the varieties
of the Rocket Larkspur may be
arranged in three great groups : —
(i) D. Ajacis majus (large Larkspur). —
The stem of this is single, and varies
in height, from 3 to 4 feet 6 inches ;
the flowers double, in a long, single,
and compact spike, generally rounded
off at the extremity. This kind has
given the following varieties — white,
flesh-coloured, rose, mauve, or puce-
coloured, pale violet, violet, ash-
coloured, claret, and brown. (2) D.
Ajacis minus (dwarf Larkspur). — The
stem of this is from 20 to 24 inches in
height, and is even shorter when the
plant is sown thickly or in dry or poor
soils. The flowers are very double,
and in a single well-furnished spike,
usually cylindrical, and rounded off at
the extremity, but rarely tapering.
The principal varieties are — white,
mother-of-pearl, flesh colour, rose,
mauve, pale mauve, peach blossom,
light violet, violet, blue -violet, pale
blue, ash-grey, brown, light brown,
white striped with rose, white striped
with grey, rose and white, and flax-
coloured and white. (3) D. Ajacis
hyacinthiflorum (dwarf Hyacinth -
flowered Larkspur). — The varieties of
this group have been raised in Belgium
and Germany. They do not differ

from other kinds in form of flower,
but only in the spike on which the
flowers are set, being more tapering,
and the flowers farther apart than
those of the two previously mentioned
groups. There is a strain called the
tall Hyacinth Larkspur. Other strains
mentioned in catalogues are the Ranun-
culus-flowered (rannnculiflorum] and
the Stock-flowered, both of which are
worth cultivating.

D, Consolida (branched Larkspur). —
This species has branching stems and
beautiful violet-blue flowers hung on
slender stalks, and coming later than
those of D. Ajacis. It embraces
several varieties, both single and
double, all of which may be reproduced
from seed. The principal sorts are
white, flesh colour, red, lilac, violet,
flaxen, and variegated. The varieties
especially worthy of cultivation are
candelabrum, bearing pyramidal spikes
of flowers of various colours ; and the
Emperor varieties, of symmetrical bushy
habit, which form compact and well-
proportioned specimens, i| feet high
by 3^ feet in circumference, doubleness
of flowers possessing great constancy.
There are three colours — viz., dark
blue, tri-coloured, and red-striped. In
D. tricolor elegans the flowers are
rose-coloured, streaked with blue or
purple, and about 3 feet high.

Annual Larkspurs should be sown
where they are to remain at any
time after February when the weather
permits — usually in March and
April. They may also be sown in
September and October, and even
later when the ground is not frozen,
but the produce of winter sowing is
liable to be devoured by slugs and
grubs. The sowing may be made
either broadcast or in rows 4 inches to
8 inches apart, and the plants should
stand 4 inches or 5 inches asunder.
The branching varieties may be sown
in reserve beds, and in March when
about 12 inches or 16 inches high should
be transferred to the flower-beds, lifted
carefully with balls of earth round
the roots, so that they may not suffer.
These branching varieties are well
suited for the garden, either in masses
of one colour or of various colours.
They may be planted in borders or
among shrubs thinly planted. Azure
Fairy and Blue Butterfly are very
beautiful sorts. Larkspurs are at their
best in June and July. Sown in March,
a succession is obtained into Septem-
ber.

DENDROMECON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DEUTZIA.

441

DENDROMECON RIGIDUM

(Shrubby Poppy). — A handsome half-
shrubby Poppy bearing yellow flowers
and glaucous grey leaves ; a little ten-
der, and one that requires a warm wall
and some protection in winter. In
the extreme south it may thrive in the
open. Best in free, warm loam. Cali-
fornia. Seeds are not abundantly
produced, but the plants may be
increased from cuttings of half-matured
shoots in summer, but it often perishes,
and seeds should give the most enduring
plants.

Dentaria. See CARDAMINE.

DESFONTAINEA.— In favoured gat-
dens along the southern coast, and in
other mild parts, -D. spinosa, a very
beautiful evergreen shrub from Chili,
can be grown and flowered out of doors.
It is of moderate growth, having foliage
very much like the Holly, and hand-
some flowers in the form of a tube of
bright scarlet tipped with yellow. It
usually flowers about the end of sum-
mer, and in some parts, as at Abbots-
bury and in Devonshire, it blooms
profusely, thriving in a light loamy
soil, and even round the coasts as far
as the north of Ireland, but once a
few miles from the protection of the
sea air it ceases to thrive and perishes,
and is therefore only of most value
on seashore or hill districts.

DESMODIUM (Tick Trefoil). — A
few of the N. American species are
cultivated, but their weedy appearance
prevents their general culture. These
are D. canadense, marilandicum, and
Dilleni, all from 2 to 4 feet high, with
slender stems, terminated by dense
racemes of small purplish flowers. D.
penduliflorum is a really pretty shrub,
and hardy if the stems are annually
cut down, with graceful shoots, bearing
along their upper portions numerous
rich violet-purple blossoms in Sep-
tember. It is the name by which the
beautiful Lespedeza bicolor is generally
known. It is a slender shrub, graceful
when in flower, 6 feet or more in
height, bearing drooping racemes of
small Pea-shaped flowers of a carmine-
purple colour. China and Japan.

DEUTZIA.— Hardy, summer-leafing
shrubs of high value for the garden,
requiring no special attention, and of
varied character, owing to hybrids
having been raised by M. Lemoine and
others, and species newly introduced
from China. These shrubs deserve a
better fate than that of the common

shrubbery, mixed up with all sorts of
things of different natures and sizes,
and should be grouped by themselves.
They thrive in ordinary soils, and
when pruned should not be reduced to
mopheadedness by cutting back, but
only old and exhausted wood should
be cut out, the natural forms of the
plants being kept. It is better not to
prune at all than to hack them into
ugly shapes. They ought to have a
good position among choice shrubs on
banks or on masses.

D. CORYMBIFLORA. — Forms a shrub
from 4 to 5 feet high, the young shoots
erect and clothed with bronzy-green bark.
The mature growths of the previous year
carry massive clusters of white flowers,
with often from 50 to 100 buds, and
expanded blooms opening in summer.
Though a promising shrub in some parts
of France, it in this country appears to be
too tender to prove valuable. This is the
D. corymbosa of gardens, and D. setchuensis
of Franchet. China.

D. CRENATA. — Reaches a height of
6 to 10 feet, the flowers in erect thyrses,
each flower composed of five pointed
petals. Chief among its varieties are
D. crenata, flore punlces, whose double
white flowers are shaded with rosy-purple
on the exterior ; alba plena, candidissima
plena, and Pride of Rochester, for the
three are almost, if not quite, identical ;
Watereri, white, flushed with rosy-lilac on
the outside ; and Wellsii, a double white
flower, but in habit quite different from
the other white forms.

D. DISCOLOR. — The true plant is a
charming little shrub with arching, wand-
like shoots of 2 to 3 feet, crowded from
base to tip with clusters of rose-flushed
white flowers, each three-quarters of an
inch across. At present a rare plant,
D. discolor is represented in our gardens
by the variety purpuvascens, which is a
more vigorous plant than the wild form,
reaching a height of 3 to 4 feet, with slender
rounded stems of a bronzy-green or red
colour, covered with little starry scales.
The flowers, six to eight in a cluster, are
rosy-purple on the outside, showing within
as a pretty flush ; the buds are of a car-
mine tint.

D. DISCOLOR FLORIBUNDA. — The other
parent of this was D. gracilis, but it shows
more of the influence of D. discolor. It
forms a somewhat erect-growing little
shrub that flowers freely ; the blossoms
in erect panicles, white, with a rosy flush
on the outer petals and buds.

D. DISCOLOR GRANDIFLORA. In this the

influence of D. gracilis is shown in the
long leaves borne upon stiffly erect shoots.
The flower panicles are longer than in
D. purpurasctns, and the rosy-tinted

442

DEUTZIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DIANTHUS.

flowers themselves larger, covering the
stems throughout their length.

D. GRACILIS. — Between this and D.
discolor purpurascens, M. Lemoine has
raised a number of hybrids, two of which
have been just dealt with. The following,
however, of the same parentage, are so
much more nearly related to D. gracilis
that they may well be regarded as varieties
of that well-known species.

D. GRACILIS CAMPANULATA. This IS

taller than the others of its class, and
bears long sprays of large milk-white
flowers, which are bell-shaped and borne
on dark coloured stems.

D. GRACILIS ROSEA. — A dense shrub a
yard or more in height, hardy, and free-
flowering. Its growth is erect, with small
narrow leaves, and upright sprays of open
bell-shaped flowers, rosy-grey on the out-
side and soft carmine within.

D. KALM^EFLORA. — A hybrid 3 to 4 feet
high, flowering towards the end of May
in spreading clusters of a pale silvery-rose
colour, deepening towards the edges of
the waved petals. The outside of the
petals and the buds are of a bright rose-
lake tint, while the peculiarity to which
the plant owes its name is the ring of
petal-like stamens forming a raised disc
in the centre of the flower.

D. LEMOINEI APPLE BLOSSOM. — An
erect shrub, 2 feet high, laden with rounded
clusters of twenty to thirty flowers,
springing erect from every joint. The
petals fold back prettily, with margins
fringed and waved, passing from rose in
the bud to blush-pink, becoming white
when fully expanded.

D. LEMOINEI AVALANCHE. — In this the
stems are densely clothed with small dark
green leaves and a profusion of crowded
flower clusters, whose weight causes the
stems to arch over in a pleasing manner.
The flowers are of medium size, and it is
hardy.

D. LEMOINEI ROSEBALL. — A counter-
part of the last, save in the flowers, which,
opening towards the end of May, are of a
blush-pink with yellow stamens, the red
flush deepening at the edges and on the
outside of the petals.

D. LEMOINEI SNOWBALL. — Nearer to
D. parviflora than its other parent, the
flowers of this are mostly borne at the
tips of the branches in compact rounded
heads. Individually they are of great
substance, with wavy petals, and in colour
creamy-white, relieved by stamens and
disc of pale yellow.

D. LONGIFOLIA. — One of the new
Chinese species, and, like all the Deutzias,
very free-flowering. The shoots are dis-
posed in a graceful arching manner, and
the flowers, which are borne in rounded
clusters, are of a pretty blush-mauve tint
when first expanded, but afterwards be-
come almost white. The central cluster

of yellow stamens forms a noticeable
feature. It is said to force well.

D. MYRIANTHA. — The massive flower
clusters of this open early in June, the
blooms each three-quarters of an inch
wide and of snowy whiteness, save for the
pale yellow stamens. From the period
at which it flowers this forms a valuable
succession to those just named, while, in
addition, it is perfectly hardy.

D. PARVIFLORA. — This species, which
has played a part in the production of
some of the varieties above named, is in
itself a handsome shrub of 4 to 5 feet, its
erect stems being crowned in spring by
flattened clusters of flowers, suggestive of
those of the Hawthorn. The manner in
which the bark peels away in bands from
the older stems is characteristic of this
kind. It flowers in April and May, and
it is by no means proof against spring
frosts.

D. SCABRA. — To M. Lemoine we owe
the reintroduction of this scarce shrub,
the true D. scabra, a name often errone-
ously applied in gardens to D. crenata.
The true D. scabra, which is from Japan,
flowers about the middle of May, and is
sometimes injured by late frosts. The
shrub itself is a rather loose grower, while
the flowers borne in spike-like clusters
are each about half an inch across, and
of snowy whiteness with yellow stamens.

D. VEITCHI. — A very promising Deutzia,
whose flowers, borne very freely, are of a
deep pink when fully expanded, but rich
rose in the bud state. About an inch
across, with a central cluster of yellow
stamens. It appears to be later in bloom-
ing than some of the other Deutzias, and
should prove of considerable value to the
hybridist.

D. VILMORIN.E. — A new kind of con-
siderable promise, native of China. It
bids fair to attain a height of 5 to 6 feet,
while the flowers, at their best in the early
part of June, are disposed 20 to 35 together
in large clusters, which, at first erect,
become afterwards, from their weight,
partially drooping. This, though charm-
ing from the graceful habit of the plant
and its bloom, has yet to be tested as to
its value in the open air in this country.

D. WILSONI. — A handsome shrub from
W. China, introduced by Wilson in 1901.
The large flowers are white and borne in
corymbose panicles. The leaves, 4 to
5 inches long, are ovate oblong, dull green
above and grey beneath.

DIANTHUS (Pink). — Plants of
the highest garden value, containing
several of our finest families of hardy
flowers — the Carnation, Pink, and
Sweet William — besides numerous
alpine and rock plants that are
among the most charming of mountain
plants. Many of the species are

DIANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DIANTHUS. 443

plants of the heath, dry meadow, or
maritime Alps ; or shore plants, such
as the Fringed Pink (D. superbus) ;
and, so far as our climate is concerned,
they are almost at home in lowland
gardens. On the other hand, some
are among the very highest alpine
plants, like the Glacier Pink and the
Alpine Pink.

in a fully exposed spot, and carefully
guarded against drought, especially when
recently planted. It is not difficult to
increase from seed, and it comes true ;
and it may be also increased by division.
Alps of Austria.

D. BARBATUS (Sweet William). — One of
the most admired of garden flowers., hardy
and vigorous, with a profusion of bright
flowers.

Deutzia pann ; flora.

The following is a selection of the
best species for gardens : —

D. ALPINUS (Alpine Pink). — A beautiful
and distinct plant, distinguished at a
glance from any other cultivated Pink by
blunt-pointed, shining green leaves. The
stems bear in summer solitary circular
flowers of deep rose spotted with crimson,
and when the plant is in good health they
are so numerous as to hide the leaves. In
poor, moist, and very sandy loam this-
Pink thrives, and forms a dwarf carpet,
though the flower-stems are little more
than i inch in height ; but both leaves
and stems are much more vigorous and
tall in deep, moist, peaty soil. Wire-
worms cause its death more frequently
than unsuitable soil. It should be placed

The Sweet William has been greatly
improved of late years, and the old
varieties are surpassed. The colours
vary, and they may be classed under
two heads — dark and light kinds. Of
the latter there is a strain known as the
Auricula-eyed, the blooms of which
have a clear white eye in a setting of
red or purple, or some other rich dark
colour. The finest strain is usually
found where year after year care has
been exercised in selecting only the
finest flowers, with the largest trusses
and most various markings. The only
self-coloured flowers are those of pure
white, pink, or crimson ; all the others
are parti -coloured or variously marked,

444 DIANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DI AN THUS.

some very prettily mottled, others
more or less edged with white or pale
pink.

Their culture is very simple. Sow
the seed in April, in a well-prepared
bed in a sunny spot, transplanting
when they are large enough, about
6 inches apart, in good soil. About
the end of September transplant them
to their permanent quarters, and in the
following summer they will bloom.
Plant out in light loam, dressed only
with a little leaf-mould or loam from
rotted turfs, placing the seedlings so
that a few of the lower joints are under
the soil. Sweet Williams may also be
propagated by cuttings taken off in
early summer, but good kinds from

Dianthus alpinus (Alpine Pink).

seed are best; for the main stems,
which should rise for bloom, creep
along the ground, and throw up from
every joint shoots suitable for cuttings ;
and a little sheaf of cuttings may be
taken from the tips of the main stems,
so that each plant would furnish over
a hundred cuttings.

Double-flowered kinds, as a rule, are
not desirable, except the double dwarf
magnificus, the deep velvety crimson
flowers of which are the finest among
the double kinds : the large heads of
flower are numerous, the colour is rich
and effective, it is a dwarf, vigorous
grower, and soon forms a strong tuft.
The Sweet William is easily naturalised
in woods or copses by simply scattering
the seed in barish spots, using any
single kinds.

D. c^sius (Cheddar Pink). — One of the
prettiest of the dwarf Pinks, the fragrant
and rosy flowers appearing in spring, on
stems 6 inches high. In winter it perishes
in the ordinary border, while quite happy
on an old wall. It is a native of Europe
and Britain (the rocks at Cheddar, in
Somersetshire). To establish it on the
top or any part of an old wall, sow the
seeds on the wall in a little cushion of
Moss, if such exists, or, if not, place a little
earth in a chink with the seed, and it may
also be grown upon the rock garden in
firm, calcareous, or gritty earth, placed in
a chink between two small rocks.

D. CAL-ALPINUS. — A hybrid of D. calli-
zonus and D. alpinus, and one of the best
of the dwarf alpine set. The handsome
flowers are of rosy crimson with a darker
central zone.

D. FREYNII (Microlepsis), from Hungary,
is a minute-growing kind of 2 inches high ;
the flowers are pink. Suited for rock
walls, crevices, or the moraine.

D. SUB-ACAULIS. — Also a minute-grow-
ing species having glaucous tufts an inch
high, covered in its day with pale pink
flowers. Dauphiny.

D. CARYOPHYLLUS (Carnation). — This
beautiful flower, so much loved in all
countries where it can be grown, both
under glass and in the open air, is derived
from a wild Dianthus of W. Europe and
the Alps, which, as regards our own
country, is wild on Norman castles such
as Rochester. From very early days it
seems to have been a favourite flower, as
in Dutch pictures nearly three hundred
years old the Carnation, mostly in its
striped forms, is shown in perfection. At
a very early date the Carnation was
divided into four classes, viz., Flakes,
Bizarres, Picotees, and Painted Ladies.
The Flakes had two colours only, the
stripes going the whole length of the
petals. Bizarres (from the French, mean-
ing odd or irregular) were spotted or
striped with three distinct colours. Pico-
tees (from the French piquoUe] had a
white ground with additional colours in
spots, giving the flowers the appearance
of being dusted with colour. Painted
Ladies had the under side of the petals
white and the upper side red or purple, so
laid on as to appear as if really painted.
Unfortunately this class has so entirely
disappeared that many growers are not
aware that it ever existed. The first two
classes still remain unchanged ; but the
Picotee, instead of being spotted, has the
colours confined to the edge of the petals,
and any spot on the ground colour (which
may be either white or yellow) would
detract from the merits of the flower as
an exhibition flower.

Another class, too long neglected,
consists of self-colouredL kinds. A
familiar type is the old Crimson Clove,

DIANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DIANTHUS.

445

a sweet and lovely thing, which may
be had also in several different shades
of self-colour. The florists of the old
school did not pay much attention
to self-coloured Carnations, and till
recently there was a scarcity of fine
varieties. We may now have them
in all shades of colour. They combine
hardiness and vigour with free bloom-
ing and great effect. For the flower
garden they are the most important.
They should be grown in bold groups
or simple masses associated with Roses
or choice hardy flowers.

The Tree or perpetual flowering
Carnation is valuable as a pot plant ;
or, if planted out in a greenhouse
border, it produces flowers in winter
and spring, when none can be had out
of doors. The most popular of this
class is Souvenir de la Malmaison, with
large cream-coloured blossoms and
delightful fragrance, and from this
have been obtained many new and
beautiful colours ; so that, with these
and other varieties, there is now no
difficulty in obtaining all colours, from
pure white to bright scarlet.

We have had the greatest success
with fine selfs that combine hardiness
with good form and colour, and, what
is more precious, a perpetual blooming
habit. Nothing could be better than
Countess of Paris, Carolus Duran,
Colin de Harville, Mad Roland, Murillo,
Mme. Lafausse, Mdlle. Rouselle, Vero-
nica, Jenny Lind, Comte de Melbourne,
and Flora." Of English kinds the only
one we have had to equal the preceding
is Alice, a white self of perfect form
and a perpetual bloomer. Some stan-
dard kinds of the present are : Beau
Nash, Border Yellow, Bookham Clove,
Gordon Douglas, The King, Bookham
White, Innocence, Fujiyama, Mrs
Eliot Douglas. The Grey Douglas,
Daffodil, Elizabeth Shiffner, Hercules,
Lawrence, Linkman, Lord Steyne,
Mephisto, Miss Willmott, Pasquin,
Ruby, Pink Beauty, Solfaterre, Ketton
Rose, Purple Emperor, Rose Celestial,
Mary Morris, Roy Moms (scarlet),
Trojan (white), George Maquay (white),
Mrs Sudway (dark red), Robinson
Suisse (rosy), Raby Castle (rose), Lady
Hermione '(salmon), Crimson Clove
(not the old Clove), Redskin (red),
Mephisto (rich velvety claret), Suisse
Seedling (pale rose), and Fred Vaughan
(striped red and dark).

The soil has a marked influence upon
Carnations. In very light, hot soils,
as in Surrey, they cannot be grown

well at all. They want a loamy soil,
calcareous loams being the best. In
these they make a harder growth, and
stand two or more years, spreading
into great tufts and bushes.

CULTURE FOR BEDS AND BORDERS. —
For this purpose no type of plant sur-
passes well-rooted layers. To obtain
these the layering must be done in
July, when the young plants will be
ready for their permanent quarters by
the end of September. At that season
the soil is usually warm and in good
condition, and the plants quickly take
to their new positions. Planting must
be firmly done, and the plants bedded
in the soil right up to the lowest leaves.
The border Carnation prefers loam of
a good holding type which is also
moderately sandy. Chalky and cal-
careous loams are the best, and where
these are not at hand ceiling plaster or
old mortar rubble may be added freely
to the soil. In light, sandy, and
gravelly soils the Carnation is rarely
happy, and where these obtain, clay
soil, if added to the extent of one- third,
will materially benefit. Air-slaked
lime may also be added to such soils
with decided advantage. Whilst the
Carnation prefers a soil of moderate
richness, the excessive use of manure
is abhorrent to it. Bone-meal worked
into the soil prior to planting is useful
and enduring, or a dressing of steamed
bone-flour and superphosphate of lime
mixed in equal parts may be given in
March and pricked lightly into the
soil between the plants. This latter
is excellent, and while gently stimulat-
ing, promotes that firm and good
growth from which the best results
ensue. Where from any cause Sep-
tember planting is not possible, the
layers should be potted and kept in an
airy frame for the winter, bedding
them out in March. In such a case,
however, the ground should be pre-
pared and treated as suggested above
during the winter season. In certain
instances Carnations so treated may
remain in position for two years
without layering, when they afford a
magnificent display of flowers.

PERPETUAL CARNATIONS IN THE
OPEN AIR. — For open-air gardening
these have the decided advantage of
continuous flowering over the border
types of Carnations, and for bedding
out are increasing in popularity. To
ensure success, however, they require
to be specially grown for the purpose.

446

DIANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DIANTHUS.

Cuttings should be rooted in July, and
the young plants grown on in pots and
wintered in a frame or cool greenhouse.
By removing the point of growth so
soon as the young plant is established
in September, and again six weeks or
so later, bushy plants having six or
eight shoots result, and towards the
end of the year should be potted into
5-inch pots. Hardily grown subse-
quently they will be ready for bedding
out in March or early April, and will
flower long and continuously during
the ensuing summer and early autumn
months. Stake and tie the plants as
necessary.

Some thousands of these flowers were
grown for years at Gravetye in the
open, and while the result was often
beautiful, our cold retentive soil never
gave the same growth as one finds on
the chalk hills, on the warm limestone
soils of Ireland, or on the satiny loam
round Edinburgh. In wet winters the
plants, on our soil, became gouty.
After many years of labour in layering
and planting, the attempt to grow
named varieties in the usual way was
abandoned, and the plan was adopted
of raising seedlings, the Carnation
being thus treated practically as a
biennial. Unquestionably more vigor-
ous plants and more abundant and
continuous bloom are obtained by
raising the Carnation from seed,
though the average quality of bloom
may not equal that of selected and
named varieties. These, however, may
be had by wintering layers under glass
and planting them out in late April or
early May. At the same time, Car-
nations, however carefully managed,
are liable to have their blooms spoiled
in the open by continuous rains, so
that where the soil is not specially
favourable to Carnation growing, it
might be found advisable to substitute
the stronger-growing Pinks, which are
bright in colour and fragrant, and less
liable to decay in damp winters than
the Carnation. Both the Carnation
and the Pink, from the beauty and
sweetness of their bloom and the
cheerful effect of their foliage in winter,
are well deserving of cultivation in all
gardens where soil and climate suit
these flowers. Our mild and moist
southern winters are really less favour-
able to the cultivation of the Carnation
than the more rigorous winter of the
north, where a covering of snow
secures for the flower a complete period
of rest. It is damp and not cold that

tries the constitution of the Carnation
in winter.

SEEDLING RAISING. — The seed-bear-
ing plants being carefully selected and
artificially pollinated is the means
whereby new and improved varieties
are obtained. It is a fascinating pur-
suit, albeit the number of high-class
novelties obtained is relatively small.
Some of the specialists, indeed, who
raise these flowers largely from seed,
consider a dozen first-rate sorts a fair
return from a batch of seedlings 3000
strong, so high is the standard of
perfection already attained, and so
exacting the demands of the florist. It
may be, however, that quite half the
number of those rejected may be of
merit, and not a few of them equal
to many already bearing distinctive
names. The phase of seedling raising
to which it is desired to direct atten-
tion at the moment, however, is that
whereby our gardens could be beautiful
to a far greater extent than is now the
case by raising seedling Carnations
periodically and systematically. A
layered plant gives but one flowering
stem each year. A well-grown per-
petual sort may give a dozen or more,
while the correctly grown seedling
plant, when sixteen months old, will
easily produce a sheaf of fifty flowering
stems, and often twice that number.
It is true that, unless the plants are
generously cultivated, many flowers
will not be high class ; but even so,
the magnitude of the display is beyond
dispute, just as the wealth of the
flowers and their fragrance would be
unparalleled. To achieve such results,
sow the seeds in a greenhouse tem-
perature in February or March, using
light sandy soil. Pot them singly in
3-inch pots when large enough, and in
May plant out in well-cultivated
ground i| or 2 feet apart. Beyond
the usual cultural needs, nothing more
will be required. A few of the more
precocious may attempt to flower the
same autumn, but the flowering spike
should be removed as soon as seen,
the object being to provide for a big
display in the ensuing summer. From
a high-class strain, 80 per cent, will
give double flowers, a well-flowered
bed constituting a fine feature in any
garden. By sowing a few seeds annu-
ally a flowering bed may be had each
year, and once the amateur has seen
the results he will hardly forgo its
pleasure in the future.

DIANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DIANTHUS.

447

PIPINGS. — When the plants throw
up shoots too numerous to layer, or
when the root is attacked by disease,
the shoots may be taken off as follows :
Take the shoot just above the fourth or
fifth joint from the top, and with a
sharp pull draw it out from the socket
formed by the next joint, which it will
pull away with it. Insert on sandy
soil under a hand-light, water thor-
oughly, and in three or four weeks the
pipings will be rooted. They may
then be potted off singly or bedded
like layers, and will flower the next
year. Plants thus struck are never so
good as those propagated by layers,
but this method is a useful expedient
to save a good sort or to get up a good
stock.

LAYERS. — This is the best and most
generally accepted method of propagat-
ing Carnations and Pico tees. It should
be commenced at latest the last week
in July, and finished by the second
week in August. It is performed
as follows : — Scrape away the earth
round the plant to the depth of
2 inches, and substitute for the earth
removed the compost prescribed.
Strip each shoot up to the top three
or four joints, going all round the
plant before proceeding farther. Then
with a sharp knife cut half through a
shoot, just below a joint, make a
slanting cut up through the joint, and
bring the knife out just above it ; take
a peg with a hook in it and thrust it
into the fresh compost just above the
tongue, so that as the peg comes down
it will catch the tongue and peg it into
the earth. Cover it with a little more
compost placed firmly. Proceed thus
all round the plant, finally watering
carefully with a fine rose waterpot
to settle the soil around the layers.
In about a month the layers will be
rooted, and by the second week in
October all the young plants ought to
be in their winter quarters.

Several diseases affect Carnations.
Two of the worst are fungoid growths.
One of these is a fungus which grows
between the membranes of the leaf,
and the only method of destroying it
is to pick off and burn every infected
leaf. It appears at first as a small
blister which bursts, scattering its
spores and leaving a dark brown scar.
A more familiar disease is that known
as spot ; a damp atmosphere or over-
crowding of the plants being the causes.
It spreads rapidly, but some kinds
enjoy a complete immunity from it.

Dusting the plants two or three times
with a mixture of soot and sulphur
has been found effectual. The gout is
a swelling of the stem close to the
surface of the ground, which eventually
bursts, supposed to be caused by little
worms which eat their way into the
collar of the plant and lay eggs there
which hatch worms that feed upon
and eventually kill the plant. The
Maggot is a small insect with great
powers for mischief. It comes from
an egg laid no doubt in the skin or
tissues of the leaf, and eating its way
under the skin of the leaf, makes a
home in the main stem of the plant,
eating out the centre and killing it.
The only remedy appears to be dili-
gently searching for and hunting it out
before it has traversed the leaf. By
spraying with quassia and soft soap
the plants are made better and dis-
tasteful to the pest, which is deterred
from depositing eggs on the plants.
Wire-worm is a pest to be reckoned
with, but usually only gives trouble in
fresh soil. Spittle-fly, which appears
when the flower-spikes are growing,
must be destroyed, or it will do serious
harm. An open situation and a well-
drained soil are conditions unfavour-
able to the spot diseases, whilst rotation
in planting keeps the stock free from
the worm pests and maggots.

D. DELTOIDES (Maiden Pink). — A pretty
native plant, with bright pink-spotted or
white flowers, on stems from 6 to 12 inches
long. It grows almost anywhere, in bor-
ders or on rockwork ; does not so much
suffer from wire-worm. It may be
readily raised from seed, and is easily
increased by division. The variety glauca
has white flowers with a pink eye. It is
abundant on Arthur's Seat, near Edin-
burgh, and forms a charming contrast to
the crimson kind.

D. DENTOSUS (Amoor Pink). — A distinct
and pretty dwarf Pink, with violet lilac
flowers, more than i inch across, the
margins toothed, and the base of each
petal having a regular dark violet spot,
which forms a dark " eye " nearly \ inch
across in the centre of the flower. The
plant flowers from May or June till
autumn, and thrives in sandy soil, in
borders, or on rockwood. Seed. S. Rus-
sia.

D. NEGLECTUS (Glacier Pink). — A bril-
liant alpine plant, forming, very close to
the ground, tufts like short wiry grass,
from which spring many flowers, i inch
across, and of bright rose. It grows freely
in very sandy loam, either in pots or on
the rock garden, rooting into the sand
through the oottom of the pots as freely

44*

D1ANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DIANTHUS.

as any weed, is hardy, easily grown, and
best increased from seed. Alps and
Pyrenees. Syn. D. glacialis.

D. PETROUS (Rock Pink). — A charming
Pink, forming hard tufts, i or 2 inches
high, from which spring numerous flower-
stems, each bearing a fine rose-coloured
flower. It seems to escape the attacks of
wire-worm. It flowers in summer, and
should be planted on the rock garden in
sandy and rather poor moist loam. Hun-
gary. Seed or division.

D. PLUMARIUS (The Common Pink). —
This is the parent of our numerous varie-
ties of Pinks, and has single purple flowers,
rather deeply cut at the margin, and is
naturalised on old walls in various parts

surface of the beds should be stirred a
little and given a top-dressing of fine old
manure and a slight dusting of guano.
The culture of Pinks for the garden is
simple, and the outlay small. Get newly
struck pipings in August and September —
the best months to plant them in a sunny
place. In a smoky town a cold frame will
be needed ; but if the air be clear, an open
bed will do. When the pipings are once
planted in the open garden, they require
little care till they begin to push up their
flower-stems.

GARDEN OR BORDER PINKS. — The
show Pinks may be left to the ex-
hibitor. There are certain kinds, both

Dianthus neglectus (Glacier Pink)

of England. The wild plant is rather
handsome when grown in healthy tufts,
but on the level ground it is apt to perish.
The many fragrant double varieties are
welcome everywhere, and should be culti-
vated as rock or bank plants, as they live
longer and thrive better when raised above
the general level of the ground, though
they grow well in ordinary soil. They
have for many years been amongst the
favourite " florists' " flowers in European
countries, and are hardier and dwarfer
than the Carnation. In August, Pinks
should be planted 9 inches apart, the
ground being rich and well prepared. If
the winter be very severe, a little litter
should be put over them, and in spring the

old and new, which must be taken care
of by the " general lover" of flowers,
These are the hardier border kinds,
grown for their beauty and fragrance.
As in the case of the hardier Carnations,
we must encourage these. Some of
the best of the hardier kinds are : —
Alice, Brightness, Coronation, Elsie,
Joyce, Market Favourite, Salmon Rose,
Anne Boleyn, Ascot (soft pink), Fim-
briatus major, Fragrans, Hercules,
Lady Blanche, Mrs Moore, Mrs Sinkins,
Marie Pare (Mule Pink), Napoleon III.,
Multiflorus, Newmarket, Pluto, Purity.
Robustus, Rubens, High Clere, Multi-
florus flore-pleno, Multiflorus roseus,

DIANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DICENTRA.

449

Coccineus, Early Blush, Fimbriatus
albus (old white), the Clove Pink, Her
Majesty.

All the garden or border Pinks are
best increased by means of pipings ;
no other method approaches it. The
latter half of June and early July is
the best time. A " piping" is created
by detaching the upper part of the
freshly-made shoot, and should be
about 3 inches in length. Grasp a
shoot with the left hand near the
ground and hold firmly. Now take
the upper part of the shoot by the
right hand, and with a sharp upward
pull remove it from its socket. The
" piping " is in your right hand. Insert
without more ado — no "making"
being required — in sandy soil under
hand-light or bell-glass. Roots are
emitted in three or four weeks if
watering has been attended to, when
the hand-light should be removed. In
early September they may be planted
where required. Pipings are removed
more readily and with greater certainty
if the stock plants (in dry weather) be
thoroughly soaked with water the day
previous to taking them.

D. SINENSIS (Chinese Pink). — This has
given rise to a race of beautiful garden
flowers. It is an annual, or biennial,
according to the way it is sown and grown.
If sown early the plants will flower the
first year ; if late, the second. On dry
soils, and if the winters be mild, they will
live for two or three years. The varieties,
both single and double, are now very
numerous and beautiful, and may be
classed under D. Heddewigi and D. lacini-
atus. The forms of Heddewigi, the
Japanese variety, are dwarf and hand-
some, while there are double-flowered
forms, particularly diadematus, the flowers
of which are large and very double. The
petals of the laciniated section are very
deeply cut into a fine fringe. Of this class
there are also double-flowered forms. The
colours of both are much varied, and there
are striped crimson and white sorts. Two
beautiful and distinct selected sorts,
Crimson Belle and Eastern Queen, are
among the best varieties. Sow D. sinensis
under glass in February, with very little
or no bottom-heat ; give air freely during
open weather, and in April plant out in
well-cultivated soil, which need not be
rich. Place the plants 9 to 12 inches
apart each way, and they will form com-
pact tufts. Encourage the laterals by
pinching off decayed flowers, and the result
will be a mass of blossom throughout the
summer, and probably till November.
These Pinks are admirable for the flower
garden, either in beds by themselves or
mixed ; they may be well used with taller

plants of a different character dotted
sparsely among them.

D. SUPERBUS (Fringed Pink). — A fra-
grant wild Pink, easily known by its petals
being cut into strips for more than half
their length. It inhabits many parts of
Europe from Norway to the Pyrenees,
and is a true perennial, though it perishes
so often in gardens that many regard it as
a biennial. It is more likely to perish in
winter on rich and moist soil than on poor
and light soil, and when it is desired to
establish it as a perennial, it should be
planted in fibry loam, well mixed with
sand or grit. It grows, however, on nearly
any soil, and by raising it every year from
seed an abundant stock may be kept up
even where the plant perishes in winter.

DIAPENSIA (D. lapponica) is a
sturdy and dwarf evergreen alpine
shrub, often under 2 inches in height,
growing in dense rounded tufts, having
narrow, closely-packed leaves, and
bearing in summer solitary white
flowers about half an inch across. It
may be grown well on fully exposed
spots on the rock garden, in deep,
sandy, and stony peat which is kept
well moistened during the warm
season. N. Europe and N. America,
on high mountains or in Arctic latitudes.

DIASCIA. — A pretty group of herbs
from S. Africa, allied to Alonsoa. The
only kind in cultivation is D. Barbara,
a neat annual 9 to 12 inches high,
with square stems and small wedge-
shaped leaves. Raised in heat in
spring and planted out in May, it
flowers until late autumn, the soft
coral-pink flowers with two spurs.
Though mostly treated as a half-hardy
annual, the roots are perennial in the
warm soils of southern gardens, spread-
ing by stolons into handsome tufts.
Seeds.

DICENTRA (Bleeding Heart}. —
Graceful plants of the Fumitory order,
including about half a dozen cultivated
species, of which the finest are : —

D. CHRYSANTHA. — This handsome plant
forms a spreading tuft of rigid glaucous
foliage, from which arises a stiff leafy
stem, 3 to 4 feet high, with long branching
panicles of bright golden-yellow blossoms,
about i inch long in August and Septem-
r. It seems hardy in light rich soil if
warm and sheltered. Seed. California.

D. CUCULLARIA (Dutchman's-breeches)
and D. thalictnfolia are less important,
and rather belong to the curious garden.

D. EXIMIA combines a Fern-like grace
with the flowering qualities of a good
hardy perennial. From i to i£ feet high,
with numerous reddish-purple blossoms in
ong drooping racemes. It is useful for

2 F

45°

DICKSONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DIGITALIS.

the rock garden and the mixed border, or
for naturalising by woodland walks ;
thriving in rich sandy soil. Division. N.
America.

D. FORMOSA is similar to the preceding,
having also Fern-like foliage, but is
dwarfer in growth, its racemes shorter and
more crowded, and its flowers lighter.
Suitable for same positions as D. eximia.
California.

D. SPECTABILIS. — A beautiful plant,
bearing singular flowers, resembling rosy
hearts, and in strings of a dozen or more
gracefully borne on slender stalks. It
succeeds best in warm, light, rich soils, if
in sheltered positions, being liable to be
cut down by late spring frosts. It is,
moreover, suited for the mixed border,
but is of such remarkable beauty and
grace that it may be used with the best
effect near the lower flanks of rockwork, in
bushy places near it. It is excellent for
mixed borders, and for snug corners on
the fringes of choice shrubs in peat.
Division in autumn.

DICKSONIA (D. antarctica}.—K
noble evergreen Tree Fern, having
a stout trunk, 30 feet high or more,
the fronds forming a magnificent
crown, often 20 to 30 feet across.
They are from 6 to 20 feet long, becom-
ing pendulous with age. It is the
hardiest of Tree Ferns, and the most
suitable for the open air, in sheltered
shady dells. From the end of May to
October. In favourable localities it
may even be left out all the winter.

D. PUNCTILOBULA. — A beautiful hardy
Fern found in shady woods and moist
copses in N. America, from New Bruns-
wick and Canada to the Central United
States. Its graceful pale green fronds are
i to 2 feet long and 5 to 9 inches broad,
twice or thrice divided, and carried upon
roots which creep just under the ground.
The fronds are held very erect upon hairy
stems, are soft in texture, and dry prettily
in the autumn, when the tiny glands on
the under surface give out a pleasing
fragrance to which the plant owes its
name of the Hay-scented Fern. It is
hardy in Britain, thriving in peaty or leafy
soils in partial shade.

DICTAMNUS ( Fraxinella) .—D.
Fraxinella is a favourite old plant,
about 2 feet high, forming dense tufts,
flowers pale purple, and with darker
lines (there is a white form) borne in
racemes in June and July. This plant
does best in a light soil. It is propa-
gated by seeds sown as soon as they
are ripe, or by its fleshy roots, which,
if cut into pieces, in spring, will form
good plants much quicker than seed-
lings. It is a slow-growing plant in
most gardens, though it is freer in

some warm soils, and a very long-lived
plant where it likes the soil. It is at
home in the sunny mixed border
among medium-sized plants. Cauca-
sian Mountains.

The Caucasian kind is a larger and
more handsome form. There is also
a white form albus.

DIDISCUS.— A native of New Hol-
land, and from i to 2 feet high. In
D. cceruleus the stems are erect and
much branched, each branch ter-
minating in a flat umbel of small
flowers, of a pleasing clear blue colour,
which are borne freely from August to
October. It is a half-hardy annual,
and requires rather careful treatment,
as it is impatient of excessive moisture,
especially in the early stages of its
growth. It requires to be raised in a
gentle hot-bed, and the seedlings should
be transplanted in May to a warm
friable soil, in which they will flower
freely.

Dielytra. See DICENTRA.

Dierama. See SPARAXIS.

Diervilla. See WEIGELA.

DIETES.— Rather tall, graceful Iris-
like plants. One kind only is known
to be hardy in our country (Huttoni),
which grows freely in my garden in
ordinary soil at the foot of a west wall.
S. Africa.

DIGITALIS (Foxglove).— The most
important plant of this genus is our
native Foxglove, the handsomest of
the several species in cultivation.
The best of the exotics is D. grandi-
flora, a tall, slender plant, bearing large
bell-shaped yellow blossoms in long
racemes. The other kinds are £>.
ferruginea, aurea, eriostachys, fulva,
IcBvigata, lanata, lutea, ochroleuca, parvi-
flora, Thapsi, tomentosa, but these are
suited mainly for botanical collections.

D. PURPUREA (Foxglove). — Wild Fox-
gloves seldom differ in colour, but culti-
vated ones assume a variety of colours,
including white, cream, rose, red, deep red,
and other shades. The charm of these
varieties, however, lies in their pretty
throat-markings — spots and blotchings of
deep purple and maroon, which make large
flowers resemble those of a Gloxinia. The
seed is small, and is best sown in pans or
boxes, under glass, early in May. When
the young plants are well up they should
be placed out of doors to get thoroughly
hardened before being finally planted out.
In shrubbery borders varied clumps of
several plants produce a finer effect than
when set singly. The Foxglove frequently
blooms two years in succession ; but it is
always well to sow a little seed annually,

DIGRAPHIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. D. PALUSTRIS. 451

and if there be any to spare, it may be
scattered in woods or copses where it is
desired to establish the plants.

DIGRAPHIS (Ribbon Grass). —
Grasses, of which the Ribbon Grass
(D. arundinacea variegata) is the most
familiar. Being hardy and perennial,
it is valuable for good effect in the
flower garden. It should be treated
liberally, and renewed by young plants
every other year. If it be not desired
in the flower garden proper, a few
tufts by a back shrubbery will suffice.
It grows anywhere.

Dimorphanthus. See ARALIA.

DIMORPHOTHECA (Cape Mari-
gold) . — A hardy annual from the Cape,
1 8 inches to 2 feet high ; the flowers of
D. pluvialis are white and purplish-
violet beneath, expanding in fine
weather. Plants from spring-sown
seed flower from July to September.
It is a bold, free annual, thriving in
any good soil and an effective ground
plant with the larger flower garden
subjects ; alone, however, it is well
worth growing. Composites.

D. AURANTIACA (The Mamaqualand
Daisy) is a brilliantly flowered half-hardy
annual rather less than a foot high. A
sun-lover of the first water. Flower-heads
richest golden, the florets having a blackish
or crimson zone at their base near the
disc. Should be raised in slight warmth
in March and April, the seedlings potted
singly and planted in the open in May.
A raised position on a sunny rock garden
in rich soil suits it well.

DIOSPYROS (Persimmon). — Trees
from China and Japan which, in our
warm counties, appear to be hardy,
but do not often produce fruits except
in warm soils in the best conditions.
One is a native of America, where the
fruit is eaten. Others are natives of
China.

DIOSTEA JUNCEA.— This rather
uncommon shrub presents, when in
flower, quite a pleasing appearance.
At Glasnevin it forms a densely-
branched shrub of about 10 feet high,
with green twiggy branches sparingly
•clothed with tiny, green, ovate leaves.
It is at its best towards the end of
June, and at that time it carries
myriads of sweetly fragrant tubular
flowers. The flowers are quite small,
being only about £ inch long, and are
of a very pale lilac colour. It is quite
hardy. Chili.

DIOTIS (Sea Cotton-weed). — D. mari-
tima is a dwarf cottony herb, and
sometimes used in the flower garden

as an edging plant. It is apt to grow
rather straggling, and to prevent this
it is kept neatly pegged down and cut
in well. It should have deep sandy
soil. Native of our southern shores.

DIPELTA FLORIBUNDA. — Among
the recent discoveries in China are four
species of the interesting group called
Dipelta. Allied to the Honeysuckles,
they are distinct in their fruits, which
have attached to them two shield-like
discs of the same texture as the wings
of Elm seeds. The blossoms are
funnel-shaped, i inch to i finches long,
dividing at the mouth into five rounded
divisions and measuring there i inch
across ; they are pale pink, stained
with yellow in the throat, and fragrant.
It is deciduous and described as
being 10 to 15 feet high in a wild
state, the bark of the stem and older
branches peeling off in thin flakes.

DIPHYLLEIA CYMOSA. — A per-
ennial of the Barberry family, about
i foot high, having large umbrella-like
leaves in pairs. It flowers white, in
loose clusters in summer, and suc-
ceeded by bluish-black berries. North
America, on the borders of rivulets and
on mountains, thriving in peat borders
and fringes of beds of American plants
in moist soil.

DIPLACUS GLUTINOSUS (Shrubby
Mimulus) . — A beautiful flowering
shrub from California. In the south-
west of Britain as hardy as a Fuchsia,
starting away well every spring, free
from insect pests, and with a long
season of beauty. In many gardens,
even as far north as Yorkshire, it may
be grown well against a wall, and even
if destroyed in a hard season increase
is so easy that the loss is soon made
good. Seed or cuttings.

Diplopappus. See ASTER.

DIPSACUS ( Teasel) .—Coarse-grow-
ing plants, annual or biennial, striking
in form, in woods and hedgerows.
There are three native species, D. Ful-
lonum, pilosus, and sylvestris ; the
boldest kind is D. laciniatus, a European
species growing 5 to 8 feet high, with
large deeply-cut foliage. The seed
may be sown in woody places and by
freshly broken hedge-banks, where the
plants will often perpetuate themselves.

DIPTERONIA SINENSIS.— A little
known summer - leafing Chinese tree
with beautiful foliage.

DIRCA PALUSTRIS (Leatherwood).
— A rough little summer-leafing shrub
in our country from N. America, long

452 D. CERCIDIFOLIUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

DORCNICUM.

introduced but mainly in botanic
gardens. The American Indians are
said to have used the bark for making
ropes, hence the name " Leather- wood.' '

DISANTHUS CERCIDIFOLIUS.— A

native of Japan, and a near relative of
the Witch Hazels. Like them, it is
remarkable for the curious twisted
petals of its weird-looking flowers.
The most attractive period of this
shrub is in the autumn, when the
leaves assume a rich red-purplish hue.
According to Professor Sargent, the
colour of the flowers is dark purple,
while the fruit resembles that of the
Witch Hazels. He also says : "In
the autumn colour of its leaves,
Disanthus is one of the most beautiful
shrubs I saw in Japan."

DISCARIA (Wild Irishman) .—Spiny
shrubs allied to Colletia and Ceanothus,
and only hardy in the open in the more
favoured parts of the south and south-
west, though thriving against walls
near London and farther north. D.
serratifolia from Chili is a loosely
branched shrub covered with stout
thorns an inch or more long and sharp
as a needle. The small bell-shaped
flowers are white, coming in pairs at
the base of the spines. The leaves
are very small. D. toumaton, from
New Zealand, bears thorns almost at
right angles with the stems, and the
tiny leaves are more numerous. The
flowers also, though much smaller, are
in larger clusters and pretty when
abundant as in a good season. Light
loamy soil and a sunny sheltered spot
are the best conditions. Increase by
seed or layers.

DISTYLIUM.— Two species of small
evergreen trees allied to the Witch
Hazel, and much used for hedges in
China and Japan. D. racemosum has
recently been introduced and is prob-
ably hardy, but still on its trial in
this country. The leaves are thick,
leathery, and narrowly - oblong in
shape, and in one kind prettily varie-
gated. The flowers are small and
devoid of petals, but described as
glowing like red fringed buttons all
along the stems in early spring. Seed.

DODECATHEON (American Cow-
slip}.— Beautiful plants of the Primrose
family ; perennials from N. America.
They are all hardy, requiring a cool
situation and light loamy soil, but in
some soils apt to perish. The nature
of the soil is, however, of small import-
ance, as they grow almost as freely in

peat or leaf-mould as in loam ; situa-
tion is the principal point. In borders
where Primulas thrive, Dodecatheons
will soon establish themselves. The
best time for transplanting them is
early autumn or the beginning of
February, when the roots are becoming
active. All may be easily raised from
seed snow after ripening.

D. INTEGRIFOLIUM. — A lovely flower ;
the petals have a white base, and spring
from a yellow and dark orange cup, the
flowers deep rosy crimson, on stems from
4 to 6 inches high, in March. It is a native
of the Rocky Mountains, and a choice
plant for the rock garden, if planted in
sandy peat or sandy loam with leaf-mould.
Strong well-established plants produce
abundance of seed, which should be sown
soon after it is gathered. Careful division.

D. JEFFREYI. — A stout kind, more than
2 feet high in good soil, with larger and
thicker leaves than D. Meadia, reddish
midribs strong and conspicuous, and the
flower somewhat larger and darker. D.
Jeffreyi is a hardy and distinct plant,
thriving best in light, rich, and deep loam,
in a cool and sheltered spot, where its
great leaves are not broken by high winds.

D. MEADIA (American Cowslip). — A
graceful plant and a favourite among old
border flowers, its slender stems from 10 to
1 6 inches high, bearing umbels of elegantly
drooping flowers, the purplish petals
springing up vertically from the pointed
centre of the flowers, something like those
of the greenhouse Cyclamen. It loves a
rich light loam, and is one of the most
suitable plants for the rock garden, for
choice mixed borders, or for the fringes
of beds of American plants.

DONDIA (D. Epipactis) is a singular
little herb, 3 to 6 inches high, having
small heads of greenish-yellow flowers
in spring, and suitable for the rock
garden, margins of borders, or banks ;
increased by division after flowering.
Carinthia and Carniola.

DORONICUM (Leopard's Bane).—
Showy plants of the order Composite,
of which half a dozen species are in
gardens, all of vigorous growth, flower-
ing in spring, and thrive in any soil ;
they are therefore excellent for rough
places, for naturalising, or for dry
banks, where little else will thrive.
All are readily increased by division
of the roots. They range in height
from 9 inches to 3 feet, and have large,
bright yellow Daisy-like flowers. The
best species are D. austriacum and
caucasicum. Other kinds are D. Clusi,
carpelanum, Columns, Pardalianches,
and plantagineum, all natives of
Europe. D. plantagineum var. excel-

DOWNINGIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. DRYAS.

453

sum (syn., Harper Crewe) is by far the
best.

DOWNINGIA.— Charming little Cali-
fornian half-hardy annuals, generally
known as Clintonia. There are two
species, D. pulchella and elegans.
D. pulchella is of dwarf habit, rarely
exceeding 6 inches in height, and is
suitable for edging small beds or bor-
ders, as when covered with its bright
blue flowers it is very pretty. In
March and April the seed should be
sown in the open ground in a free
soil and an open situation ; but if the
plants are intended for pot culture,
the sowing should be two months
earlier. Each plant should be allowed
quite 8 inches for development, and in
hot weather those from the latest
sowing should be well watered. The
flowers of the several varieties of D.
pulchella differ in colour, the best
variety being alba (white), rubra (red)
and atro-purpurea (dark purple). All
may be raised from seed.

DRAB A (Whitlow Grass}. — Minute
alpine plants, most of them having
bright yellow or white flowers, and
leaves often in neat rosettes. They
are too dwarf to take care of them-
selves among plants much bigger than
Mosses, and therefore there are few
positions suitable for them ; but it
would be very interesting to try them
on mossy walls, ruins, or bits of
mountain ground with sparse vegeta-
tion. The best-known and showiest is
D. aizoides, found on old walls and
rocks in the west of England. It
forms a dwarf, spreading, cushion-like
tuft, which in spring is covered with
bright yellow blossoms. D. Aizoon,
alpina, ciliaris, cuspidata, lapponica,
rupestris, frigida, and helvetica are
very dwarf, compact-growing plants.
In each the small flowers, white
or yellow, are produced abundantly.
Rarer kinds are D. Mawi, glacialis, and
brunitf folia, all worth growing in a
full collection of alpine flowers for a
choice rock garden.

Dracaena. See CORDYLINE.

DRACOCEPHALUM (Dragon's -
head). — Plants of the Sage family,
among thein a few choice perennials
suitable for the rock garden or the
mixed border, succeeding in light
garden soil and increased by division
or seed. D. altaiense has bright green
leaves, and axillary clusters of large
tubular flowers of a dense Gentian-like
blue, spotted with red in the throat.
D. austriacum has flower-stems nearly

i foot in height, densely covered with
rich purple blossoms ; D. Ruyschia-
num, a handsome species, has narrow
Hyssop-like leaves and purplish-blue
flowers, but its variety japonicum, a
new introduction from Japan, is even
more showy. D. peregrinum, with
pretty blue flowers always produced
in pairs, is desirable, and so is D.
argunense, which is a variety of
D. Ruyschianum. The most beautiful
of all is D. grandiflorum, a rock garden

Flant, which is the earliest in flower,
t is very dwarf, and has large clusters
of intensely blue flowers, which scarcely
overtop the foliage. In D. speciosum,
a Himalayan species, the small deep
purple flowers are nearly smothered
by the large green bracts.

DRIMYS. — Evergreen shrubs of the
Magnolia family, natives of Tasmania,
Australia, and S. America, thriving also
as evergreens in much of the southern
parts of England and Ireland. D.
aromatica is sometimes known as
Tasmannia aromatica, R.Br. ; D. Win-
teri (Winter's Bark) is a native of
S. America ; these graceful shrubs
are worth a place in the range of
southern country, while they thrive
in free soil and sheltered lawns, but
are often cut down in severe winters.

DROSERA (Sundew). — Most inter-
esting little bog plants, of which all
the hardy species but one are natives
of Britain. All have leaves covered
with dense glandular hairs. In a bog
on a very small scale it is not easy to
secure the humid atmosphere they
have at home, but they will grow
wherever Sphagnum grows. The
native kinds are intermedia, longifolia,
obovata, and rotundifolia. The North
American Thread-leaved Sundew (D.
filiformis] is a beautiful bog plant,
with very long slender leaves covered
with glandular hairs, the flowers purple-
rose colour, half an inch wide, and
opening only in the sunshine.

DRYAS (Mountain Avens). — Moun-
tain plants of the Rose family, con-
taining two or three dwarf alpine
plants of spreading growth and neat
evergreen foliage. They thrive in
borders in light soil, though they are
seen to best advantage in the rock
garden, where they can spread over
the brows and surfaces of limestone
rocks, best on an exposed spot, not
too dry, though when well established
they will flourish under almost any
conditions. Division in spring. The
kinds are D. Drummondi, a dwarf,

454 ECCREMOCARPUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ECHINOPS.

hardy, evergreen trailer, with flower-
stems 3 to 8 inches high ; its yellow
flowers, i inch across, appear in
summer. A native of North America.
D. octopetala, a creeping evergreen,
forming dense tufts, with pretty white
flowers. It is a British plant, and
there are two others, D. lanata, a
native of Europe, and D. integrifolia,
American.

ECCREMOCARPUS.— E. Scaber is a
delightful old climber for walls, trellises,
and pillars, its orange-red flowers are
beautiful, and its rambling shoots
graceful. If the roots are protected
during winter they are uninjured, and
the plant annually increases in size.
Increased freely by seed, and should
be raised in this way occasionally.
Syn., Calampelis.

ECHEVERIA. — Dwarf succulent
plants, much used in the flower garden,
especially the • half-hardy species like
secunda. Other species are tenderer,
and need a greenhouse to keep them
through the winter, and a warm house
or frame to propagate them in the
spring. £. metallica is a noble species,
and distinct in the size of its leaves
and in their rich metallic hue. The
fine E. metallica is very effective on
the margins of beds and groups of the
dwarfer foliage plants, or here and
there among hardy succulents. It
should be planted out about the middle
of May.

As soon as the seed is ripe, prepare
to sow it. Fill some 4-inch pots to
within £ inch of the rim with equal
proportions of leaf-mould and well-
sanded loam. Make the surface very
firm, and water the soil so that the
whole body of it becomes thoroughly
moistened. Having allowed the mois-
ture to drain away, scatter the seed
lightly and cover it thinly with silver
sand. Place the pot in a hand-light
or in a close frame ; cover with a pane
of glass and shade. The seed will ger-
minate before the soil can dry, and if it
is sown as soon as it is ripe every seed
will come up. As soon as the see'dlings
are large enough to handle, prick them
out thinly into pans or 6-inch pots ;
keep them close until they are fairly
established, and then allow them the
full benefit of sun and air. After the
middle of September give no water,
and take care to remove all decay as
soon as it is perceived. If planted
early in April in well-worked and fairly
enriched soil, these little plants will be
strong by the autumn, but they are of
little value for the northern gardens.

Echinacea. See RUDBECKIA.

ECHINO CACTUS.— E. Simpsoni is
a beautiful little Cactus (Pincushion
Cactus] plant, a native of Colorado,
occurring at great elevations, and
hardy. It grows in a globular mass,
3 or 4 inches across, which is covered;
with white spines. It flowers early in
March, bearing large pale purple blos-
soms, which are very beautiful. In
its native habitat it enjoys a dry
climate, and, in some seasons at least, '•
is more or less protected from frost by
a covering of snow. In this country,
however, it has withstood 32° of frost. (
The flowers are pink or red, arranged
in a cluster or circle at the top of the.
plant. This grows all among the loweri
mountains and foothills, and in Britain*
is best on warm spots in the rock gar-;
den.

ECHINOCEREUS. — Plants of the
Cactus family (from arid regions inj
N. America), some of which are hardy.
All are beautiful, and some quite splen-

Echinocereus.

did when in flower. E. Fendleri
some of the brightest flowers. Other;
kinds are E. ncephiceus, gonacanthus,k
viridiflorus, and paucispinus. Givq
them soil which is well drained and!
a sunny, exposed place away from
all protection, taking care so to place
them in relation to surrounding objects
that their stems cannot easily be hurt,
A few protecting stones cah be grouped
so as to keep off the digger and other
dangerous animals. A close turf oj
some dwarf clean alpine will prevent
earth splashings and will improve the
effect.

Echinochloa. See PANICUM.

ECHINOPS (Globe Thistle).— A fine
hardy plant from S. Russia, 3 to 5 feet

ECHIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EL^AGNUS. 455

high, covered with a silvery down,
E. ruthenicus having the flowers blue,
in round heads. Thrives in ordinary
soil. Easily multiplied by division of
the tufts, or by cuttings of the roots
in spring. It is the -most ornamental
of its distinct family, and is highly
suitable for grouping with the bolder
herbaceous plants. It would also look
well when isolated on the turf. E.
humilus is a very good kind.

ECHIUM (Viper's Bugloss] .—Hand-
some plants of the Forget-me-not
order, the finer kinds of which, though
superb in the open gardens of S.
Europe, are too tender for our gardens.
E. plantagineum is one of the hand-
somest of the annual or biennial species.
Its showy flowers, of rich purplish-
violet, are in long slender wreaths that
rise erect from a tuft of broad leaves.
It is handsomer than our indigenous
species, E. pustulatum and E. vulgar e.
E. rubrum is a scarce and handsome
species, its habit is similar to those
above mentioned, but its colour is a
reddish- violet, similar to the attractive
E. creticum. They are all showy
and of the simplest culture. The
seeds should be sown in ordinary
garden soil, either in spring for the
current year's flowering, or late in
autumn for flowering in early summer.
Our native E. vulgare is good in certain
positions ; its long racemes of blue
flowers are handsomer than those of
the Italian Anchusa. Against a hot
wall, where nothing else would grow,
Dr Acland, of the Grammar School,
Colchester, planted some, and they
gave a beautiful bloom. It is valuable
for such positions, particularly on hot
gravelly or chalky soils.

Edraianthus. See WAHLENBERGIA.

Edwardsia. See SOPHORA.

EL^AGNUS (Oleaster}.— Shrubs of
much garden value.

E. ANGUSTIFOLIA, the form which grows
wild in S.E. Europe, is the wild Olive of
the old Greek authors. The long, silvery-
grey fruit is constantly sold in the Con-
stantinople markets under the name of
" Ighide agaghi," and is sweet and
pleasant to the taste, abounding as it
does in a dry, mealy, saccharine substance.
The general aspect of this form is much
more that of a Willow than an Olive, the
long lanceolate leaves being greyish above
and silvery-white beneath. Best in sandy
or warm soil.

E. ARGENTEA (the Silver Berry or
Missouri Silver Tree). — Has very fragrant
tubular yellow flowers, followed by an
abundance of nearly globular, dry, mealy,
edibJe fruit. This species gives a charac-

teristic feature to the vegetation of the
Upper Missouri valley, and in a wild state
grows 8 or 10 feet in height. The oval
leaves are silvery- white. In nearly all
British and foreign nurseries this species
is confused with the Buffalo Berry
(Shepherdia argented), a genus belonging
to the same natural order, but altogether
different from it.

E. HORTENSIS. — A somewhat variable
plant with a wide geographical distribu-
tion, is cultivated in many countries for
the sake of its fruit. In Dr Aitchison's
Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Com-
mission it is described as a shrub or tree
occurring at an elevation of 3000 feet and
upwards, near running streams, and cul-
tivated largely in orchards for its fruit.

E. LONGIPES. — Prof. Sargent thus writes
of it in Garden and Forest : " The plant
may well be grown for the beauty of its
fruit alone, which, moreover, is juicy and
edible, with a sharp, rather pungent, agree-
able flavour. Both the size and the
flavour can doubtless be improved by
careful selection, and it is quite within the
range of possibility that it may become a
highly esteemed and popular dessert and
culinary fruit. To some persons, even in
its present state, the flavour is far prefer-
able to that of the Currant or the Goose-
berry." The fruit, as implied by the
specific name, is borne on long stalks ; it
is bright red in colour and covered with
minute white dots. The branches are
covered with rusty brown scales, and the
somewhat leathery leaves are dark green
above and silvery-white beneath.

E. MACROPHYLLA, an evergreen species
from China and Japan, has large roundish
leaves, greyish above and silvery beneath.
It is quite distinct in appearance from any
other hardy shrub, and is a very fine
silvery evergreen, distinct in effect.

E. PUNGENS, E. GLABRA, and E. REFLEXA

are beautiful evergreens, which are not
very dissimilar in general aspect, and
which without long dry scientific descrip-
tions it would be impossible to distinguish.
Variegated forms exist of all three, and
any of them, as well as the types, are
well worthy of a place in the pleasure-
ground. They are all natives of Japan,
etc., but do not appear to be quite as
hardy as the species previously mentioned ;
all could be tried, however, with every
prospect of success in the southern coun-
ties. Some of them in the south of
Europe assume a somewhat climbing habit,
and round the N. Italian lakes, for
example, grow up to the tops of high Fir
and Pine trees.

E. UMBELLATA is a beautiful shrub.
The leaves are deep green and glabrous on
the upper surface ; in a young state earlier
in the season they are silvery-grey, and
silvery- white beneath. The creamy- white
flowers are produced in the greatest pro-

456 E. RACEMOSA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EMBOTHRIUM.

fusion in June. In some localities the
plant is nearly evergreen, and is probably
hardy throughout Britain, as it withstands
the winters of N. Germany. In a wild
state it occurs from the Himalayas to
China and Japan.

ELLIOTTIA RACEMOSA.— A low

tree from 15 to 20 feet high, forming a
pyramidal head of oblong dark green
leaves 4 inches long, and large racemes
of flowers each an inch in diameter,
and consisting of four white petals

and distinct, which, if planted in deep
soil near the margin of a shrubbery,
or on a bank on the grass, makes an
effective plant, growing 4 feet high,
and as we should cultivate it for the
leaves, there would be no loss if the
flowers were removed. It is frequent
on our shores, but more abundant in
the north than in the south. E. con-
densatus (Bunch Grass) is a vigorous
perennial grass from British Columbia,
forming a dense, compact, column-like

Lyme Grass (Elymus arenarius)

borne on a short tubular hairy red-
brown calyx. So far it has proved
quite hardy at Kew. It is very rare
even in its own country, where it is
found growing in sandy woods S
United States.

ELSHOTZIA STAUNTONH. — Re-
cently introduced half-woody plant of
the Sage order, and often dying back.
In our isles it is best in the full sun
China.

ELYMUS (Lyme Grass}.— E. aren-
arius is a wild British grass, vigorous

frowth, and more than 8 feet high,
t is covered from the base almost to
the top with long, arching leaves, and
in the flowering season is crowned with
erect rigid spikes 6£ inches long, so
that it resembles an elongated ear of
wheat. It is very ornamental, and
may be grown in the same way as the
.Lyme Grass.

EMBOTHRIUM (Fire Bush).—E. coc-
cineum is a very beautiful South Ameri-
can evergreen shrub of the Protea
family, hardy in warm parts of Britain,

EMPETRUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EPILOBIUM.

457

even without the protection of a wall.
At Coombe Royal, in South Devon, it
grows quite 20 feet high, and is a
spectacle of wondrous beauty about
the end of April or the beginning of
May, when every twig carries a cluster
of fiery flowers. Even on the favoured
Devonshire coast a sharp late frost
will sometimes injure the flowers. It
thrives near the coast in Southern
Ireland and in Wicklow at Mr Acton's,
but soon perishes in less favoured
places.

EMPETRUM ( Crowberry) . — E. ni-
grum is a small evergreen Heath-like
bush, of the easiest culture, which
may be associated with the dwarfer
rock shrubs. It is a native plant, and
the badge of the Scotch clan M'Lean.
There are several other varieties, but
the plants have less flower beauty
than many other mountain shrublets.

ENKIANTHUS. — E. campanulatus
is a graceful shrub, native of North-
ern Japan. It has slender branches
covered with a light brown bark, and
campanulate flowers produced in a
pendulous cluster, and of a pale rosy-
red colour, with three darker lines on
each of the five sections of the corolla.

E. CERNUUS. — A little-known species
only recently introduced from Japan,
where it is said to be a bush 6 to 8 feet
high. The reddish flowers are campanu-
late, and slightly five-lobed. Syn., Meis-
teria cernua.

E. JAPONICUS. — A rare shrub, first dis-
covered by Sir Rutherford Alcock near
Nagasaki, Japan, in 1859, and afterwards
introduced by Messrs Standish. The
leaves turn to a beautiful deep orange
colour before falling in autumn. The
pendent flowers are pure white, globose,
and contracted to a much narrower mouth
than in E. campanulatus.

EOMECON (Cyclamen Poppy}.— E.
chionanthus is a hardy perennial Poppy-
wort. The root-stocks are usually as
thick as the finger ; they run freely
underground and increase rapidly.
The flowers, 2 to 3 inches in diameter,
are pure white, with a bunch of yellow
anthers in the centre ; several borne
on stems about i foot high. It is apt
to grow too freely in good soil. China.

EPHEDRA (Shrubby Horsetail). —
; Curious greyish, wiry, trailing bushes
of S. Europe and N. Africa, rare in our
gardens, but hardy here and there, as
in the Cambridge Botanic Gardens,
where there is light, warm soil.

All these plants resemble to a certain
extent the Equisetums, and though
they are leafless, or nearly so, the bright

green colour of the bark makes them
conspicuous at all seasons. E. dis-
tachya is a native of the southern part
of France and Spain, in sandy soils on
the seashore, a yard or more high,
forming a spreading mass of bright
green cylindrical branches distinct
from all hardy shrubs ; the berries,
which do not always appear in this
country, are red. It is also known as
E. nebrodensis. E. vulgaris is a
smaller plant, and one that will resist
more cold, as it is a native of Siberia,
also some of the more southern districts
of Asia. Other species are found in
different parts of the world.

EPIG-ffiA (Mayflower). — A small
Evergreen found in sandy soil in the
shade of Pines in many parts of N.
America, E. repens having pretty
rose-tinted flowers in small clusters,
which exhale a rich odour, and appear
in spring. Its natural home is under
trees, and it would be well to plant
some of it in the shade of Pines or
shrubs. It is a charming plant,
thriving best in sandy or peaty soil
under shrubs, growing only a few
inches high.

Epigcea. repens (Mayflower).

EPILOBIUM (French Willow). — Few
of these plants are worthy of cultiva-
tion, but some are important, and the
best perhaps is the showy crimson
native E. angustifolium, of which there
is a pure white variety. This plant
runs in a border so quickly as soon to
become a troublesome weed,, but is
fine when allowed to run wild in a

EPIMEDIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EREMURUS.

rough shrubbery or copse, where it
may bloom with the Foxglove. It is
a native of Europe and many parts of
Britain. Division. Other kinds some-
what less vigorous are E. angustissi-
mum, E. Dodon&i, and E. rosmarini-
folium. The common native E. hir-
sutum is stouter than the French
Willow, and is only useful by the
margins of streams and ponds, associ-
ated with the Loosestrife and such
plants. There is a variegated form.
The Rocky Mountain Willow Herb
(E. obcordatum} is a beautiful rock
plant. The Willow Herbs of our own
latitudes are very tall and vigorous,
but on the dreary summits of the
Rocky Mountains and the Californian
Sierras one species has succeeded in
contending against the elements by
reason of its very dwarf stature ; it
has imitated the Phloxes and Pent-
stemons of the same region ; though
not more than 3 inches high, it has
retained the size and beauty of flower
of the finest species, the colour being
rosy-crimson. It is hardy, and thrives
in ordinary sandy soil in the rock
garden. Some of the small New
Zealand species, such as glabellum,
nummularicB folium, and longipes, are
very useful for draping stones on
rock gardens.

EPIMEDIUM (Barren-wort}. — Inter-
esting and, when well grown, elegant
plants of the Barberry order, but not
shrubby. E. pinnatum is a hardy
dwarf perennial from Asia Minor,
8 inches to 2^ feet high, with hand-
some leaves, and bearing long clusters
of yellow flowers. The old leaves
remain fine until the new ones appear
in the ensuing spring. I have found
this a most useful bold edging to large
beds, and growing so close that it will
keep all weeds off. Other species are
alpinum, macranthum, Musschianum,
purpureum, rubrum, niveum, and viola-
ceum, all loving half-shady spots in
peat, or in moist, sandy soil. None
are so valuable for general culture as
the first mentioned.

EPIPACTIS (Marsh E.). — E. palus-
tris is a somewhat showy hardy
Orchid, i to i£ feet high, flowering
late in summer, and bearing rather
handsome purplish flowers. A native
of moist grassy places in all parts of
temperate and Southern Europe. A
good plant for the bog garden, or for
moist spots near a rivulet, in soft peat.
In moist districts it thrives very well
in ordinary moist soil.

EQUISETUM (Giant Horse-tail}.— E.
Telmateia is a tall British plant, of
much grace of habit when well devel-
oped, and from 3 to 6 feet high in
moist, peaty, or clay hollows in woods.
The stem is furnished from top to
bottom with spreading whorls of
slender branches, slightly drooping,
the whole forming a graceful pyramid.
It is fit for the hardy fernery, shady
peat borders, near cascades, or among
shrubs, and grows in any moist soil.
Division. E. sylvaticum is another
native Horse-tail, much dwarfer, but
graceful when well grown, 8 to 15
inches high, and covered with slender
branches. Usually these plants are
not fit for garden culture, but some
are troublesome weeds.

ERAGROSTIS (Love Grass}. —
Grasses, some of which are worth
cultivating for their elegant feathery
panicles. E. cegyptiaca, with silvery-
white plumes, maxima, elegans, pilosa,
amabilis, pellucida, capillaris, plumosa,
are all elegant annuals. They are
useful for cutting for the house dur-
ing summer. Seed may be sown in
autumn or spring in the open air, on
or in a slightly heated frame. For
preserving, the stems should be
gathered before the seeds are too
ripe.

ERANTHIS (Winter Aconite}. — E.
hyemalis is a pretty early plant with
yellow flowers surrounded by a whorl
of shining green. It is 3 to 8 inches
high, and flowers from January to
March. It is seen best in a half-wild
state under trees or on banks in woody
places, though it is occasionally worthy
of a place among the earliest border
flowers. It often naturalises itself
freely in grass, and is very beautiful
when the little yellow flowers peep out
in early spring. We may therefore
enjoy it without giving it positions
suited for more delicate plants, or
taking any trouble about it, but it is
more vigorous on chalky or warm
soils, and dwindles on some cold
soils. E. cilicicus is a recent introduc-
tion of like stature and character,
though distinct as a species, and of like
value and hardiness.

EREMURUS. — Noble tuberous - ;
rooted plants from N. India, Persia,
and C. Asia, now finding favour in our I
gardens. Most of the kinds are hand-
some, and well suited for the warm
sheltered glades of gardens where hardy \
flowers and plants are grown in a
natural and informal way. In such a 3
home they are seen to advantage in ,

EREMURUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ERIANTHUS.

459"

bold groups with some of the finest
hardy plants, with a background of
shrubs. These plants are far more
accommodating than at first was
imagined. Groups of the bolder kinds
associated with Hydrangea panic-
ulata grandiflora, Lilium Henryi, and
Azalea mollis are effective for months
on end, and all revel in deep rich loam,
old manure, and leaf-mould. The
plants named afford them shelter from
spring frosts, which is important.
Such bold and vigorous growers as
E. robustus and E. Elwesianus should
never be planted in prepared " holes,"
but, because of their extended root
systems, on a much more generous
plan, so that their thong-like roots,
radiating like the spokes of a wheel
from its hub, may be catered for. In
planting, keep the crowns of these
giants of the race fully 6 inches deep :
they will come to the surface a year
or two later by the very nature of their
crown-above-crown annual increase.
In all my ill-drained and clay soils
they succeed quite well. The modern,
late-flowering hybrids are not averse
to thin partial shade, and in such last
well, while the earliest sorts are capable
of fine effect amid their plantings of
Rhododendrons or other shrubs.
They thrive admirably in deep, rich,
sandy loam, with the addition of some
decayed cow manure. Autumn is the
best period for planting.

The Rev. F. Page-Roberts writes
from Scole Rectory : —

" With a little trouble Eremuri may
be grown successfully by every lover
of beautiful flowers. All that is
necessary for their well-being is pro-
tection from slugs, which soon scent
them from afar. I keep a perforated
zinc collar round the crown and protect
from spring frosts. The plant early
forces its way up even through the
frost-bound earth, but the tender
flower-spike, tender only in infancy, is
nipped in the bud if rain fall on it and
freezes. Protection also from cutting
winds which destroy the foliage is
needed. With such precautions and
planted in loam, deep but not
too stiff, in a well - drained sunny
border, and with an occasional dose
of weak liquid manure, they will
repay one for all the care given to
them."

E. AITCHISONII. — A fine kind from
Afghanistan, where it grows on ridges of
the hills nearly 12,000 feet above sea-level,
bearing in June dense spikes of pale

reddish flowers, robust, and on stems from
3 to 5 feet high.

E. AURANTIACUS. — A dwarf plant,
hardy, flowering in April, the numerous
spikes of bright citron-yellow flowers
giving quite a character to part of the
Hariab district, where it is one of the
commonest plants on rough ground. It
is the vegetable of the Hariab district
upon which the inhabitants depend for
at least two months of the year. The
leaves are cut from the root-stock, as
close to the ground as possible, and
cooked.

E. BUNGEI. — A beautiful plant with,
wand-like spikes of yellow flowers 2 to
3 feet high. E. B. pallidus (primrose
yellow) and E. B. superbus, a magnificent
plant with towering spikes of yellow
flowers, are notable varieties. Native of
Persia, flowering in July.

E. HIMALAICUS is a beautiful white-
flowered kind. The flower-stems are 4 to-
8 feet high, the dense racemes taking up
quite 2 feet of the upper portion, with
flowers as large as a florin. It is one of
the hardiest and best of the known kinds.
It flowers in May and June, and is a native
of the temperate Himalayas.

E. OLG^E. — A dwarf kind, and one of
the latest to flower. The flower-stem is
nearly 4 feet high, and is densely set' with
handsome lilac flowers as large as a five-
shilling piece. It is certainly one of the
handsomest species. E. O. roseus and
E. O. Salmon Queen are beautiful varieties.
A native of Turkestan, flowering in June
and July.

E. ROBUSTUS. — One of the best known
in gardens, with a huge flower-stem 6 to
10 feet high, bearing a dense raceme of
peach-shaped lilac flowers nearly 2 inches
in diameter. It is hardy, and may often
be seen forcing its shoots through frozen
ground. Native of Turkestan, flowering
in June.

In addition to the above named are
E. Shelford and E. St Michael, raised
by the late Sir Michael Foster, and
considered by him to be the best of
his many seedlings ; Tubergini and
Warei, of coppery-pink hue, and a
wide range of seedlings affording shades
of cream, pink, buff, salmon, and
orange, which, apart from colour,
beauty, and novelty, have greatly
added to the value of the group by
their late (July) flowering.

ERIANTHUS. — A fine grass from S.
Europe, E. Ravennce is somewhat like
the Pampas Grass in habit, but smaller
in size, having violet-tinged leaves.
The flowering stems grow from 5 to-
6£ feet high, but as it only flowers
with us in a very warm season, it
must be valued for its foliage alone.
Its dense tufts are strongest with us-

46o

ERICA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ERICA.

in light or warm soil, in positions with
a south aspect. It is poor on cold
soils, and will probably not grow well
north of London. It is fitted for
association with such grasses as
Arundo conspicua. Division of the
tufts in spring or autumn. E. strictus
is another species, but is not so good
as E. Ravennce.

ERICA (Heath}. — Beautiful shrubs,
of which the kinds that are wild in
Europe are very precious for gardens.
We should take more hints from our
own wild plants and bring the hardy
Heaths of Britain into the garden.
Why should we have such things as
the Alternanthera grown with care
.and cost in hothouses, and then put
out in summer to make our flower
gardens ridiculous, while neglecting
:such lovely hardy things as our own
Heaths and their many pretty varie-
ties ? But very many people do not
know how happy these Heaths are as
garden plants, and how well they mark
the seasons, and for the most part
at a time when people go into the
country. Where, as in many country
places, the Heaths abound, there is
less need to cultivate them, although
we cultivate nothing prettier. In
places large enough for bold Heath
gardens it would be well to plant
*hem, but a small place is often large
•enough for a few beds of hardy Heaths.
Once established they need very little
attention. The varieties are often
quite as free as the wild sorts, and give
delightful colour in a Heath garden,
which need not by any means be a
pretentious affair, but quite simple ;
for heaths are best on the nearly level
ground. This group of plants has as
yet had but scant care, and if grown
at all, is grown in a poor way, and more
for its " botanical interest " than from
any just sense of its great beauty.
That can only be fairly judged of by
those who see Heaths on mountains
and moors, where they are among the
most beautiful of plants in effect in
broad masses. This can hardly ever
be shown in small gardens, but why
should it not be in large ones ? We
need not even have a garden to culti-
vate Heaths in a picturesque way, as
almost any rough open ground will do,
and some kinds will do among bushes
and in woody places. The larger
Heaths, where grown, should be massed
in visible groups, and the dwarf ones
seen in masses also, and not treated as
mere " specks " on rockeries. They
are all of easy culture, and all the

dwarf kinds of easy increase by pulling
in pieces and re-planting at once any
time from October to April.

E. ARBOREA (Tree Heath). — A tall and
graceful shrub of Southern Europe and
N. Africa ; white flowered, and covering
vast areas in the upland woods of Oak or
other trees, attaining a height of 12 feet
or more in N. Africa, and in the Canaries
becoming a tree. This Heath is tender in
Britain generally, but may be grown in
southern and warm districts and on warm
soil in sheltered valleys near the sea with
its friendly warmth.

E. AUSTRALIS (Southern Heath). — A
pretty bush heath of the sandy hills and
wastes of Spain and Portugal, 2 feet to
3 feet high, flowering in spring in Britain.
The flowers are rosy purple and fragrant.
It deserves a place in healthy soils.

E. CARNEA (Alpine Forest Heath). — A
jewel among mountain Heaths, and hardy
as the rock Lichen. On many ranges of
Central Europe at rest in the snow in
winter, in our mild winters it flowers in
January in the south, and in all districts
is in bloom in the dawn of spring — deep
rosy flowers, carpeting the ground, the
leaves and all good in colour. There are
one or two varieties, one white. This
Heath is not averse to loamy soils, and
often thrives on them as well as on peat
soil. Syn., E. herbacea.

E. CILIARIS (Dorset Heath). — A lovely
plant, and as pretty as any Heath of
Europe. A native of Western France and
Spain in heaths and sandy woods ; it
also comes into Southern England, and
is hardy farther north than the districts
it inhabits naturally. The flowers are of
a purple-crimson, and fade away into a
pretty brown. It is excellent in every
way, thriving in loamy as well as in peaty
soils, and flowering in summer and into
late autumn.

E. CINEREA (Scotch Heath). — A dwarf
and pretty Heath common in many parts
of Britain, and particularly Scotland, very
easily grown, and having good varieties.
Among them are alba, bicolor, coccinea,
pallida, purpurea, and rosea ; flowering
in summer, and very pretty for rock
gardens.

E. HIBERNICA (Irish Heath). — Mr Bos-
well Syme, whose knowledge of British
plants was profound, considered this Irish
plant distinct from the Mediterranean
Heath, the flowering not taking place
in the Irish plant till three or four months
after the Mediterranean Heath ; a fine
shrub in Mayo and Galway, growing
from 2 to 5 feet high.

E. HYBRIDA (Hybrid Heath). — A cross
between E. carnea and E. mediterranea.
It is a good plant, and flowers through the
winter and far into the spring, thriving
in loamy soil almost as well as in peat,

ERICA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ERIGERON.

46!

and is excellent as a groundwork below
Azaleas.

E. LUSITANICA (Portuguese Heath). —
This is for Britain the most precious of
the taller Heaths, 2 to 4 feet high, and,
hardier than the Tree Heath, it may be
grown over a larger area. Even in a cool
district I have had it in a loamy soil ten
years, and almost every year it bears
lovely wreaths of flowers in mid-winter,
white flowers with a little touch of pink,
in fine, long, Foxbrush-like shoots. This
would probably perish in the north, but
is a shrub of rare beauty for sea coast and
mild districts. Syn., E. codonodes.

E. MEDITERRANEA (Mediterranean
Heath). — A bushy kind, 3 to 5 feet high,
best in peat, and flowering prettily in
spring. Although a native of Southern
Europe, it is hardier in our country than
the Tree Heaths of Southern Europe. Of
this species there are several varieties.

E. SCOPARIA (Broom Heath). — A tall and
wiry-looking Heath, reaching 8 feet or
more in our country, flowering in summer,
not showy. I have seen this in cold parts
of France (Sologne), and it is hardier
than most of the larger Heaths ; it is
often naked at the bottom and bushy
and close at the top.

E. STRICTA (Corsican Heath). — A wiry-
looking shrub, compact in habit, about
4 feet high, and a handsome plant. A
native of the mountains of Corsica,
nowering in summer.

E. TETRALIX (Marsh or Bell Heather). —
This beautiful Heath is frequent through-
out the northern, as well as western,
regions, thriving in moist or boggy places,
but also in ordinary soil in gardens. This
Heath has several varieties, differing in
colour mainly. E. Mackaiana is thought
to be a variety of the Bell Heather.
There is also a supposed hybrid between
this and the Dorset Heath. E. Watsoni
is a hybrid between the Bell Heather and
Dorset Heath. Flowering summer and
early autumn.

E. VAGANS (Cornish Heath) is a vigorous
bush Heath thriving in almost any soil,
2 to 4 feet high. A native of Southern
Britain and Ireland, and better fitted
for bold groups in the pleasure ground
or covert than the garden. There are
several varieties, alba and rubra grandiflora
being the best, with St Keverne (rosy
pink) the most beautiful of all.

E. VULGARIS (Heather: Ling). — As
precious as any Heath is the common
Heather and its many varieties, none of
them prettier than the common form,
but worth having, excluding only the
very dwarf and monstrous ones, which are
useless except in the rock garden, and
not of much good there. Heathers are
excellent for forming low covert, and, of
all the plants, none so quickly clothes a
bare slope or shaly soil, not taking any
notice of the hottest summer in such

situations. Among the best varieties are
alba, Alporti, coccinea, decumbens, Ham-
mondi, pumila, rigida, Serlei, and tomen-
tosa. Syn., Calluna.

E. DABCECII (Daboecs Heath). — The name
of this fine plant has been so often changed
by botanists that it is difficult to find it
by name in books, and I give it by the
Linnean name here. It is a beautiful
shrub 1 8 inches to 30 inches high, bear-
ing crimson - purple blooms in drooping
racemes. There is a white variety even
more beautiful, and one with purple and
white flowers, called bicolor. I have had
the white form in flower throughout
the summer and autumn on a slope
fully exposed to the sun, and in very
hot years too. Syn., Menziesia polifolia,
also Dabacia and Boretta. West of
Ireland.

E. MAWEANA (Maw's Heath). — Of this
Heath, Mr Robert Lindsay writes as
follows : " This is one of the handsomest
of all the hardy Heaths, and was dis-
covered by Mr George Maw in Portugal
in 1872. It may be best described as
a very vigorous - growing E. ciliaris,
which it resembles, but is more robust
in all its parts ; the flowers also, besides
being larger than those of E. ciliaris, are
darker in colour. It flowers from July to
December."

E. MULTIFLORA (Many-flowered Heath).
— Somewhat like a white Cornish Heath,
but dwarf and close-set ; flowers, in the
form usually grown, white ; many in close
racemes. Southern Europe and North
Africa on calcareous soil, thriving in
ordinary soil in gardens.

ERIGERON (Fleabane). — Michael-
mas Daisy-like plants of dwarf growth,
somewhat alike in general appearance,
and having pink or purple flowers
with yellow centres. They flourish in
any garden soil, and some are of a
weedy nature. One or two are best
suited for the rock garden ; of these,
E. alpinum grandiflorum is the finest.
It is similar to the alpine Aster, having
large heads of purplish flowers in late
summer, and remaining in beauty a
long time. Suitable for the rock
garden and well - drained borders.
Division or seed. E. Roylei, a Hima-
layan plant, is another good alpine, of
very dwarf, tufted growth, having
large blossoms of a bluish-purple with
yellow eye. By far the best of the
taller kinds is E. (Stenactis) speciosus,
3i vigorous species, with erect stems
that grow about 2| feet high, and
bear during June and July many
large purplish lilac Aster-like flowers
with conspicuous orange centres. E.
macranthus, another showy species, is

462

ER1NUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ERODIUM.

of a neat habit and about i foot high.
It bears an abundance of large, purple,
yellow-eyed blossoms in summer, and,
like E. speciosus, will grow in any soil.
E. mucronatus, known also as Vitta-
denia triloba, is a valuable border
flower, neat and compact, and for
several weeks in summer is a dense
rounded mass of bloom about 9 inches
high. The flowers are pink when first
expanded, and afterwards change to
white, and the plant therefore pre-
sents every intermediate shade. Other
kinds in gardens are E. multiradiatus,
glabellus, glaucus, bellidifolius, strigosus,
and philadelphicus — the last two being
the prettiest. All are easily increased
by division in autumn or spring. The
most effective and useful of the genus
is E. speciosus, which is excellent for
groups or borders.

ERINUS (Wall E.}. — E. alpinus is
a pretty alpine plant, with racemes
of violet-purple flowers, abundant on
dwarf tufts of leaves in early summer.
In winter it perishes on the level
ground in most gardens, but it is
permanent when allowed to run wild
on old walls or ruins, and it is easily
established on old ruins by sowing
seeds in mossy or earthy chinks. It
is well suited for the rock garden,
where it grows in any position, and
often flowers bravely on earthless
mossy rocks and stones. E. hirsutus
is a variety covered with down. There
is a white variety. Pyrenees.

ERINACEA PUNGENS.— A dwarf,
much-branched shrub, forming foot-
high cushions of spiny branches, and
producing in May and June pea-shaped
flowers of an exquisite blue shade.
The species is an old introduction from
Spain, and despite hardiness and dis-
tinctive beauty, still remains one of the
most rare of hardy plants. Best suited
to sunny positions in the rock garden.
Increased by seeds when procurable,
and layers. It grows well in sandy
loam, or this with peat added.

ERIOBOTRYA (E. japonica :
Loquat). — A large-leaved shrub from
Japan ; in our country tender, and
only suitable for walls in warm and
sheltered places. Its large evergreen
leaves are handsome, and in warm
districts it flowers, the blossoms white,
but it does not fruit in the open air
in England.

ERIOGONUM.— N. American alpine
plants which, on the mountains of
California, are of much beauty. From
a dense tuft of leaves E. umbellatum

throws up numerous stems, 6 to 8
inches high, on which golden-yellow
blooms, in umbels 4 inches or more
across, form a neat and conspicuous
tuft. In light sandy soil of the rock
garden it has never failed to bloom
profusely. Other kinds are E. com-
position, flavum, Jamesi, racemosum,
ursinum.

ERIOPHORUM (Cotton Grass). -
Sedge-like plants, whose heads of white
cottony seeds make them interesting
in the bog garden or in wet places in
grass. E. polystachyon is the best for
a garden ; it is plentiful in some
marshy districts.

ERITRICHIUM (Fairy Forget-me-
not). — E. nanum is an alpine gem,
closely allied to the Forget-me-nots,
which, however, it excels in intensity
of azure-blue. Though reputed to be
difficult to cultivate, a fair amount of
success may be ensured by planting it
in broken limestone or sandstone,
mixed with a small quantity of rich
fibry loam and peat, in a spot in the
rock garden where it will be fully
exposed, and where the roots will
be near half -buried rock. The chief
enemy of this little plant, and indeed
of all alpine plants with silky or
cottony foliage, is moisture in winter,
which soon causes it to damp off. In
its native habitat it is covered with
dry snow during that period. Some,
therefore, recommend an over-hanging
ledge, but if such protection be not
removed during summer, it causes too
much shade and dryness. A better
plan is to place two pieces of glass in
a ridge over the plant, thus keeping
it dry and allowing a free access of air,
but these should be removed early in
spring. Alps, at high elevations. A
stone or slate over the plant for the
worst months (November to end of
February) is a good way.

ERODIUM (Stork's - bill). — Like
hardy Geraniums, but usually smaller
and more southern in origin. Suited
for chalky banks or the rock garden,
and some are suited for borders, while
others may be naturalised in the grass
in warm soil. Among the best species
are : —

E. CORSICUM. — A choice alpine species
of easy culture, having tufts of grey leaves
and rose-coloured flowers. Four inches
high. Seeds.

E. MACRADENIUM. — A dwarf Pyrenean
plant, 6 to 10 inches high, with the blooms
of French white delicately tinged with
purple, and veined with purplish-rose ;
the lower petals are larger than the others ;

ERYNGIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ERYNGIUM.

463

the two upper ones have each a dark spot.
This plant should be exposed to the full
sun, in crevices situated between two
rocks, and where the roots can penetrate
gritty or stony soil to the depth of 3 feet.
The flowers come in abundance during
the summer months, and the plant has
an aromatic fragrance.

E. MANESCAVI is a vigorous herbaceous
plant, and the most showy kind. It grows

1 to iij feet high, and throws up strong
flower-stalks above the foliage, each with
seven to fifteen purplish flowers, i to i£
inches across. It is not fastidious as to
soil or situation, but its best place is in
dry soil, fully exposed. If the soil be too
rich, the plant bears so many leaves that
the flowers are hidden. Seed or careful
division.

E. PETR^EUM (now MOLTKIA PETR^A).

This has three to five purplish-rose flowers
on each stalk, which are 4 to 6 inches
high. The leaves and flower-stalks are
densely clothed with minute hairs. It
thrives best among the dwarfer alpine
plants, in warm positions, in deep sandy
or gravelly soil.

E. REICHARDI. — A miniature species

2 to 3 inches high when in flower. The
small heart-shaped leaves lie close to the
ground, and form little tufts from which
arise slender stalks, each bearing a solitary
white flower, marked with delicate pink
veins ; flowering for many weeks. It
should be grown in gritty peat mixed with
a small portion of loam.

To the foregoing may be added : E.
caruifolium, 6 to 10 inches high ;
flowers red, about | inch in diameter,
and in umbels of nine or ten blos-
soms. E. romanum, 6 to 9 inches
high ; flowers purplish, in spring and
early summer. E. trichomanefolium, a
pretty kind, 4 to 6 inches high, with
leaves deeply cut ; flowers flesh-
coloured, marked with darker veins.
E. chrysanthum, with lemon-yellow
flowers, and E. guttatum, these being
mostly fitted for the warmer parts of
the rock garden. E. daucoides. E.
supracanum.

Erpetion. See VIOLA.

ERYNGIUM (Sea Holly] .—Hand-
some perennials or biennials of the
Parsley order, but so unlike that class
of plants in general appearance as to
be often mistaken for Thistles. For
the garden — whether the decoration
of the border, or rock garden, or the
lawn — few plants yield a greater
charm from the size and colour of
involucres and stems. The stems are
so singularly beautiful with their vivid
steel-blue tints, surmounted with an
involucre even more brilliant, that the
effect of good large groups is hardly

excelled by that of any plants that
live in our climate. The great diver-
sity in the form of the leaves is very
interesting, ranging from the great
Pandanus-like foliage of E. pandani-
folium to the very small thistle-like
leaves of E. dichotomum. Those be-
longing to the Pandanus set, such as
E. Lasseauxi, eburneum, bromelics-
folium, are less hardy than some, but
are useful among fine-leaved plants,
their leaves being mostly of a thick
succulent nature, and not liable to be
damaged by the cold nights in early
autumn ; indeed, in all but very damp
places or heavy soils they continue
effective as regards foliage all through
the winter season. E. alpinum, Oli-
verianum, and giganteum are very useful
for borders, and all are the more valu-
able for this purpose owing to the
length of time they continue in bloom,
and retain their handsome blue tints.
They are hardier, too. A good rich
and well-drained soil suits most of the
species ; damp carries off more of the
tender species during winter than cold.
Protection is not needed, as the Sea
Hollies will stand any exposure so long
as the drainage is good. E. alpinum
may be made an exception to the above
directions, as in the south of England ;
at any rate, it prefers a shady spot in
a good stiff soil. Much the same
treatment will also answer in the case
of E. Oliverianum.

The best way of increasing perennial
Sea Hollies is by root cuttings. They
may also be easily raised from seed.
Sow the seed in pans as soon as
gathered, and place in a cold frame.
The seeds will germinate in the spring,
and if properly managed will be ready
to plant out the following year. These
plants often " sow themselves," afcd
seedlings come up in all sorts of places.

The under-mentioned are a few of
the best kinds : —

E. ALPINUM (Alpine Sea Holly). — This
is found in the alpine pastures of Switzer-
land, and when well grown is not surpassed
in beauty by any plant. The involucres,
as well as the stems, are of a fine blue, and
its flower-stems, about 2 feet high, arise
during July and August.

E. AMETHYSTINUM (Amethyst Sea
Holly). — This- has been confounded with
the much more robust E. Oliverianum,
although they have little in common.
E. amethystinum rarely exceeds i foot to
i£ feet in height, is of a somewhat strag-
gling habit, and has flower heads and
stems of the finest amethyst blue. It can
be increased by division, and easily raised
from seed. Dalmatia and Croatia.

464

ERYNGIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ERYSIMUM.

E. GIGANTEUM (Giant Sea Holly). — This
is an excellent plant for grouping, and a
picturesque object, growing from 3 to 4 feet
high, with stout stems and deeply-lobed,
spiny, glaucous leaves. The involucre, of
eight to nine large, oval, spiny leaves, pale
grey or glaucous, is very effective. Cauca-
sian Alps and Armenia.

The Amethyst Sea Holly (E. amethystinuni).

E. MARITIMUM (Common Sea Holly). —
This native plant (Mertensia maritima) is
a very pretty kind, requiring no special
culture. It is one of the most glaucous of
the species, flowering from July to Octo-
ber, and grows from 6 inches to i£ feet
high.

E. OLIVERIANUM (Oliver's Sea Holly). —
This is of easy cultivation, and the abun-
dance of its highly coloured flower-heads
makes it attractive in the flower border.
It grows 2 to 3 feet and often 4 feet in
height. The ten to twelve bracts com-
posing the involucre are longer than the
head of flowers, and have about half a
dozen teeth on each sid6. It ripens seed
freely, and in this way it may be readily
increased. S. Europe.

Other attractive kinds are E. Bour-
gati, campestre, cceruleum, planum, of

which there is a very beautiful variety,
dichotomum, triquetrum, creticum, glad-
ale, spina-album.

THE PANDANUS GROUP. — To this
group, chiefly natives of Mexico and
Brazil, belong some of the extra-
ordinary forms in this genus. Begin-
ning with Serra, we have a large
broad - leaved species with curious
double spines ; Carrierei, said to be
the finest of all, having a compact
habit combined with large, beautiful
leaves. E. bromeliczfolium is a charm-
ing plant, striking and distinct in
habit, and forming elegant Yucca-like
tufts, with its graceful leaves sur-
mounted with whitish flower-heads.
E. pandanifolium is a noble plant, very
effective when grown as an isolated
plant on a lawn. E. Lasseauxi is
nearly allied, and quite hardy in the
open air. E. eburneum, aquaticum,
virginianum, Leavenworthi, and others
are all worthy of attention for their fine
foliage, but not so beautiful in colour
as the European Sea Hollies.

ERYSIMUM. — Wallflower-like
perennials, biennials, and annuals,
mostly of dwarf growth. Of the
perennials the following are the finest :

E. OCHROLEUCUM (Alpine Wallflower). —
This handsome plant forms, under cultiva-
tion, neat rich green tufts, 6 to 12 inches
high, and in spring is covered with sulphur
flowers. The rock garden is most con-
genial to it ; but it does very well on good
level ground, though it is apt to get naked
about the base, and may perish on heavy
soils. Division and cuttings. Alps and
Pyrenees. There are several varieties.
Syn., Cheiranthus alpinus.

E. PUMILUM (Fairy Wallflower). — A
very small plant, rare in cultivation,
resembling the alpine Wallflower in the
size and colour of its flowers, but lacking
its vigorous and rich green foliage. It is
often only i inch high, and it bears very
large flowers for its size. They appear
above a few narrow sparsely toothed
leaves, which barely rise from the ground.
Alps and Pyrenees. It requires an ex-
posed spot of very sandy or gritty loam
in the rock garden, where it must be sur-
rounded by a few small stones to guard it
from drought, and it must be associated
with alpine plants.

E. RH;ETICUM. — A pretty mountain
flower which, though rare in cultivation,
is a common alpine in Rhaetia and the
neighbouring districts, where in early
summer its broad, densely-tufted masses
are aglow with pretty, clear, yellow blos-
soms. E. canescens, a S. European
species with scentless yellow flowers, is
also a neat alpine, and so is E. rupestre,
which is desirable for the rock garden.

ERYTHRJEA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ERYTHRONIUM. 465

All of them are easy to grow, and delight
in gritty soil and a well-drained and sunny
position on the rock garden. Among the
biennial and annual kinds, the best is
E. Perofskianum, i to i£ feet high, with
dense racemes of orange-yellow flowers.
For early flowering it should be sown in
autumn, and again in March and April
for later bloom. E. arkansanum and
pachycarpum are similar to E. Perofski-
ant>tm.

Eryn°iuin Oliverianum.

ERYTHRZEA (Centaury). — Pretty
dwarf biennials belonging to the
Gentian family. E. littoralis, common
in some shore districts, is worth culti-
vating. It is 4 to 6 inches high, and
bears an abundance of rich pink
flowers, which last a considerable
time in beauty. The very beautiful
E. diffusa is a similar species. It is a
rapid grower, with a profusion of pink
blossoms in summer.

E. MUHLENBERGI. — A beautiful plant
about 8 inches high, putting out many
slender branches. It bears many flowers,
the blossoms 3^ inches across, of a deep
pink, with a greenish-white star in the
centre. Seeds should be sown in autumn,
and well grown till the spring ; the plants
will then flower earlier and produce finer
flowers than spring-sown plants. They
are excellent for the rock garden and the
margins of a loamy border. The soil must
be moist.

The native kind and its forms are
pretty in the fields and shores, and the
plants so far rarely have a place in
gardens.

ERYTHEINA (Coral Tree).— These
beautiful trees are pretty general
through the tropics. Some attain
great dimensions, while others are
dwarf bushes with woody root-stocks.
Many produce beautiful large Pea
flowers, usually of a blood -red or
scarlet colour. E. Cristagalli will
thrive for years against a warm south
wall in a light soil if protected about
the roots in winter.

ERYTHRONIUM (Dog's-tooth Vio-
let).— Liliaceous bulbs, among the
loveliest of our hardy flowers, with
many species and varieties of inter-
est, and high garden value. These
belong to N. America, with the excep-
tion of : —

E. DENS-CANIS. — A beautiful plant
found in various parts of Europe. It has
handsome oval leaves, with patches of
reddish-brown ; the rosy-purple or lilac
flowers are borne singly on stems 4 to
6 inches high, and droop gracefully. It
thrives in moist, sandy, or peaty soil. In
sun or shade it is most valuable for the
spring or rock garden, or for a border of
choice hardy bulbs, and where it is suffi-
ciently plentiful, for edgings to American
plants in peat soil. The bulbs are white
and oblong, resembling a dog's tooth,
hence its name. It is increased by divid-
ing the bulbs every two or three years,
and replanting rather deeply. C. Europe.
There are now many varieties — white,
purple, rose, and violet. I have planted
them largely in grass, and find they thrive
in any soil in that way, and are very early
and pretty both in leaf and flower,
scattered in groups and colonies in turf.

E. AMERICANUM (Yellow Adder 's-
tongue). — Common in the woods of the
eastern states of N. America. Its pale
green leaves are mottled, and commonly
dotted with purple and white. Flowers
i inch across, pale yellow, and spotted
near the base ; on slender stalks 6 to
9 inches high in May. A variety (E. brac-
teatum) differs in having a bract developed,
as E. grandiflorum sometimes has. It is
very pretty, but being somewhat shy to
flower, is seldom seen in cultivation. In
poor, sandy soil, this little plant blooms
better than in compact or cold soil.

E. GIGANTEUM. — A variety of E. grandi-
florum. Its showy flowers of pure white
have a ring of bright orange-red, and
measure 3 inches in diameter. It is found
in California at an elevation of 6000 to
10,000 feet, and also in Vancouver's
Island.

E. GRANDIFLORUM. — The only cultivated
kind with more than one flower on a stem.
In a peat bed, with Lilies and other peat-
loving plants, it is very fine, and produces
as many as five flowers on a stem.

2 G

466

ESCALLONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

EUCNIDE.

For a full account of the western
Erythroniums, see Flora and Sylva,
p. 250, vol. i.

ESCALLONIA. — The Escallonias in
cultivation are often beautiful shrubs,
unfortunately sometimes perishing in
hard winters save in favoured districts.
In mild places the common E. mac-
rantha succeeds in the open, but, as a
rule, it must be regarded as a wall
shrub. Even in the mild districts it
is cut down during severe winters, but
it usually shoots up again strongly
in the returning spring. There is a
variety called sanguinea, with deeper
coloured flowers. Somewhat similar
to E. macrantha is E. rubra ; but the
foliage is less handsome and the
flowers are paler. E. Philippiana is
very beautiful and hardy, as it may
be grown as a bush in the neighbour-
hood of London. It is an evergreen
with small leaves, and bears a profusion
of large panicles of small white flowers.
It is a first-rate shrub, and one of the
best of the Escallonias. E. pterocladon
is very free-flowering, the small flowers
being white and pink, while E. punc-
tata has dark red flowers somewhat
similar to those of E. rubra. Another
species, E. montevidensis, also known
as E. floribunda, bears large, loose
clusters of white flowers, and there
are seedling forms known under
different names, especially in seaside
gardens. Among these, E. Ingrami
is one of the best, being hardier than
E. macrantha, though not so hand-
some.

Perhaps one of the best of all is
E. langleyensis, a hybrid between
E. macrantha and E. Philippiana. It
is a shrub of rapid growth, 8 to 10 feet
high, with slender wand-like shoots
gracefully arched, bearing small neat
leaves of a cheerful yellow-green,
becoming darker with age, and the
stems wreathed throughout their length
with vivid crimson flowers as large as
a sixpence, in July. In cold places it
needs the shelter of a wall, but is fairly
hardy, and so beautiful as to be worth
trying anywhere. S. America.

ESCHSCHOLTZIA (Calif ornian
Poppy). — Brilliant annual flowers, of
easy culture in ordinary soil. To
have them in all their beauty, they
should be sown in August and Sep-
tember for early summer bloom.
They may be sown later, and should
then be allowed to bloom where they
are sown. They get deeply and firmly
rooted, and flower much longer than
if sown in spring. They are very

hardy, and snails and slugs do not
molest them. There are some half a
dozen kinds, well worth growing, viz.,
E. californica ; E. crocea, saffron
colour ; E. c. alba, white ; E. c.
Mandarin, orange and crimson, very
fine; E. c.fl.-pl., double ; E. c. rosea,
and E. tenuifplia ; and new forms are
raised from time to time and given in
the seed lists. They are plants that
should not be used to any great extent
in the select flower garden.

EUCALYPTUS (Gum Tree) .—Large
and handsome Australian trees and
shrubs, of which, in the south of
England and Ireland, a few of the
species live in the open air. Only in
the more favoured districts have these
trees any chance, and they never
present the graceful and stately port
which they show in countries that
really suit them, such as parts of
Italy and California. I think these
trees are unfitted for our climate, and
even in Algeria, where many species
were planted by the French Govern-
ment, the result, as I saw it some
years ago, was anything but good.
Among the hardier kinds are E.
globulus, Gunnii, citriodora, amyg-
dalina, cor data.

EUCHARIDIUM. — Pretty hardy
annuals of the Evening Primrose
family, thriving under the same treat-
ment as all annuals from California.
They may be sown in autumn for early
summer flowering, or from March to
June for late summer and autumn
bloom. They flower about eight
weeks after sowing, and remain in
bloom a long time. Three specie?
are cultivated — E. concinnum, about
9 inches high, with many rosy-purple
blooms ; E. grandiflorum, larger rosy-
purple flowers, streaked with white,
which has a white variety (album],
and a variety with pink flowers
(roseum) ; and E. Breweri, an elegant
new annual, more robust, and with red
flowers of a deeper, richer colour than
E. grandiflorum. These species are
of secondary importance in the flower
garden, and like many other annuals,
they suffer through being judged
by spring-sown plants of short-lived
bloom .

EUCNIDE. — E. bartonioides is a half-
hardy annual of the Loasa family,
from Mexico. The stems are about
i foot high, and bear sulphur-yellow
flowers, i£ inches across, showy in
August and September when several
are expanded. Seeds should be sown
in heated frames in early spring, but

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

EUONYMUS.

467

the seedlings should be very carefully
transplanted to the open border in
May, as they are then very liable to
injury.

EUCOMIS.— Cape bulbs, not very
showy, though deserving of cultivation
in the outdoor garden, on account of
their broad handsome foliage, more or
less spotted with purple at the base,
from which rise tall cylindrical spikes
of blossoms surmounted by a crown of
leaves. Like many Cape plants, they
are hardy on light and dry soils.
There are four species, all of which are
in cultivation. E. undulata has leaves
1 8 inches long, wavy at the margins,
and profusely marked on the under
surface with dark purple blotches
which, in the variety striata, assume
the form of stripes. The flower spike
is 2 to 4 feet high. On the upper
half are densely arranged, in a cylin-
drical manner, numerous greenish-white
blossoms, with purplish centre, crowned
by a tuft of narrow green leaves. E.
punctata is the largest kind, having
leaves about 3 feet long. E. regia is
dwarf er than either of the preceding.
The raceme of flowers is about i foot
high, and the tuft of leaves at the top
is larger than in other kinds. E. nana
is the smallest. The spreading leaves
lie horizontally, while in the others
they are more erect. They thrive best
in light sandy soil, with the roots
protected by a covering during winter.
The foot of a south wall suits them if
they are associated with the larger
hardy bulbs, but they are not the
most effective or graceful of the Lily
family.

EUCRYPHIA (The Brush Bush}.—
A handsome shrub, E. pinnatijolia
hardy, a native of S. America. The
flowers, borne plentifully, are very
beautiful. They come at the end of the
summer, when blooming shrubs are
few. The shrub has pinnate leaves
and large white flowers about 3 inches
in diameter. Propagated by layers.
Seed should be plentiful, and that is
the best way to increase it.

E. CORDIFOLIA. — A shrub as fine as
that first introduced, but quite distinct,
bearing very attractive berries, and grow-
ing 10 feet or more high. It is said to be
tender at Kew, and even against a wall
not to succeed, but it seems quite hardy
with me in the Sussex hills. I think it
will be one of the best shrubs ever intro-
duced. It is a native of Valdivia and the
island of Chiloe, where it attains to the
stature of a small tree.

EULALIA.— This Japanese Grass,
E. gracillima, is less vigorous in growth
than either of the better known kinds,
the leaves being more narrow and
more gracefully recurved. They are
bright green in colour, with a stripe of
white down the centre of each.

E. JAPONICA. — A hardy and ornamental
perennial grass of robust growth, 6 to
7 feet high. The brownish-violet flower
panicles have at first erect branches, but
as the flowers open these branches curve
over gracefully and resemble a Prince of
Wales' Feather. Each of the numerous
flowers has at its base a tuft of long silky
hairs, which contribute greatly to the
feathery lightness of the whole. For
isolated positions on lawns it is excellent.
Even more valuable than the type are the
two variegated forms — variegata, with
leaves longitudinally striped with white
and green ; and zebrina, with distinct
cross bars of yellow on the green. Division
or seed. Japan.

EUONYMUS (Spindle Tree}.— "Low
trees with little beauty of flower, but
of good foliage, habit, and bright fruit.
They grow well in almost every variety
of soil, and, as a rule, they prefer open
sunny situations, particularly the ever-
green sorts, and all thrive near the sea.

E. AMERICANUS (American Spindle
Tree). — In mild winters and sheltered
situations, a small sub-evergreen shrub,
of about 6 feet in height. It is found wild
over a wide area in Canada and the United
States. It has an erect habit of growth,
with numerous long slender branches
covered with a smooth light green bark ;
the flowers, open in June, are succeeded
by rough warted brilliant crimson cap-
sules. In this country it is generally
cultivated as a wall plant.

E. ANGUSTIFOLIUS (Narrow - leaved
Spindle Tree). — A sub-evergreen shrub
about 4 feet in height, with long wiry
branches, clothed with narrow oblong
leaves of a deep green colour in summer,
changing in autumn to a dull red tint.
The flowers are small, of a greenish-white
colour, followed by red fruit capsules. It
is a very distinct and interesting shrub for
a low wall, and has a pretty effect on
raised banks, growing freely in shady
sheltered aspects, and in damp, heavy
soils.

E. EUROP^EUS (Common Spindle Tree). —
This is a native of England, and is a bushy
tree, from 10 to 25 feet high ; the leaves
of a warm green colour, changing as they
decay to a reddish tint. Its small green-
ish-white flowers expand in May, and are
followed almost always by an abundant
crop of fruit, in bright pink capsules,
which, opening up in the autumn, reveal
the orange-coloured sac which envelops
the seeds, producing a beautiful effect. Of
several varieties, the most interesting are

468

EUONYMUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EUONYMUS.

the white-fruited kind, which differs from
the species in producing white instead of
pink capsules, the variety with scarlet
leaves, and nanus or pumilus, a neat little
plant, very bushy, and one which never
grows higher than about 2 feet, and is
admirably suited for the rock garden, or

Few evergreens thrive better near the
sea, and either it or some of its varieties
are frequently met with on the west and
south coasts of England, and west coast
of Scotland, forming handsome specimen
shrubs on lawns and shrubberies. In the
inland districts it suffers from frosts, and

Eulalia japonica.

any situation where a dwarf plant is
desirable.

E. JAPONICUS (Japan Spindle Tree).—
An evergreen species 4 to 6 feet in height,
of bushy habit, the branches clothed with
numerous leaves of a dark glossy green
colour. Though hardy in sheltered dis-
tricts, it seldom flowers in this country.

can only be depended upon on walls or
in favoured situations. During recent
years a number of varieties have been
sent home from Japan ; several of these,
and particularly the variegated forms, are
favourites.

All the varieties thrive best in warm
sunny exposure, and in well-drained soils.

EUPATORIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EXOGONIUM.

469

The kind called argenteus variegatus has
leaves clothed with silver ; aureus varie-
gatus, leaves margined with deep yellow ;
latifolius argenteus and latifolius aureus,
leaves with white and yellow variegations
respectively.

E. KEWENSIS. — A pretty dwarf-growing
kind well suited to dry banks and poor
soils.

E. RADICANS VARIEGATUS. A dwarf

creeping variety, its leaves are variegated
with white ; it is hardy, and useful for
planting as an edging. On low walls it
has a pretty effect, and as it forms roots
similar to those of the Ivy, it requires little
care to keep it to the wall or other support.
E. LATIFOLIUS (Broad-leaved Spindle
Tree). — Wild in the south of France and
in some parts of Germany, and a tree of
from 10 to 20 feet high, the leaves shining
green ; the flowers, which expand in June,
a purplish white ; the capsules large and
deep red, contrasting, as they open, most
effectively with the bright orange seed
pods. It is quite hardy, and forms an
ornamental tree, well fitted for a lawn.

EUPATORIUM ( Thorough-wort] .—
Coarse Composite perennials, most of
which are better suited for the wild
gardens than for borders, though two
or three kinds are worth a place for
supplying cut flowers in autumn. The
most suitable are E. ageratoides,
altissimum, and aromaticum, which
are 3 to 5 feet high, and bear a pro-
fusion of white blossoms in dense flat
heads, E. cannabinum (Hemp Agri-
mony), E. perfoliatum, and E. pur-
pur eum (Trumpet- weed), a fine object
in the rougher parts of a garden, being
12 feet high, with stems terminated by
huge clusters of purple flowers. All
grow in ordinary soil.

EUPHORBIA (Spurge}.— Perennials
and dwarf bushy plants, including few
hardy species of value for the flower
garden. The foliage of some, such as
E. cyparissus (Cypress Spurge), is
elegant. In spring E. pilosa and
amygdaloides are attractive by their
yellow flowers when little else is in
bloom, but they are scarcely worth
growing in a general way. Some of the
dwarf kinds, such as E. Myrsinites,
portlandica, capitata, and triflora, are
neat and distinct in habit and grow in
any soil. There are a few variegated
forms. The well-known Caper Spurge
(E. Lathyris) is often seen in cottage
gardens, and in habit is a distinct
plant, with a certain beauty of foliage
and habit. A few plants of it on a
bank or rough place are not amiss.
They are all poisonous, and are for the
mostjpart kept in botanical collections.

EUPTELEA.— Trees of China and
Japan as yet little known in our
country, but said to have much
beauty of leaf and to be hardy.

EUSCAPHIS. — Summer - leafing
shrubs from the Far East, allied to
Staphylea. There are two kinds, but
only one, E. staphyleoides , is in culti-
vation, and that little known. It
grows 10 or 12 feet high, with smooth
deeply-cut leaves and clusters of white
or yellowish flowers at the tips of the
shoots in early summer. In the
autumn these give place to red blad-
der-like fruits of attractive appearance,
filled with shining black seeds. China
and Japan. The plant needs good
soil and a warm place, and is increased
by seeds, or cuttings of the ripened
shoots rooted under glass.

Eutoca. See PHACELIA.

EVODIA HUPEHENSIS. — Until
quite recent years, Evodia was not
represented in the outdoor garden,
but there are now several kinds suit-
able for planting in sunny positions in
well-drained loamy soil. E. hupe-
hensis grows into a small, wide-headed
tree or large shrub. The leaves are
made up of about eleven ovate leaflets,
the larger ones exceeding 5 inches in
length and 2^ inches in width. The
flowers appear in large terminal clus-
ters in August, a creamy-white colour.
Judging from its growth since its
introduction, it is likely to become a
very useful shrub.

EXOCHORDA (Pearl Bush).— Beau-
tiful summer-leafing, hardy shrubs
with pearl-like flower buds ; of easy
culture.

E. GRANDIFLORA. — One of the loveliest
of hardy shrubs allied to the Spiraeas, but
with larger flowers, forming, when full
grown, a rounded bush of about 10 feet
high. It flowers about the middle of May,
just after the foliage unfolds, and affords
a charming contrast between tender green
leaves and snow-white flowers as large as
florins. It likes shelter, and grows best in
warm loam, though hardy anywhere.

E. ALBERTI. — Has larger leaves borne
upon stems of stouter and more rigid habit,
and of a brighter reddish-brown. The
flowers are clustered in erect spikes, are
sessile, of a greenish- white, with the petals
rather far apart. Coming from C. Asia,
it is hardier than the Chinese plant, but
does not bloom freely in cold soils. A
cross between these two species, known as
Alberti macrantha, has great vigour, and is
more profuse in its snow-white flowers
than either of the parents.

EXOGONIUM (Jalap Plant). — A
graceful perennial trailing plant, none

470

FABIANA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

FENDLERA.

more beautiful among climbing plants
than E. purga, and of its hardiness
there can be little doubt. It has lived
for years at Bitton, Gloucestershire,
without any protection, and each year
it has flowered well. It has grown
well at Kew, Fulham, and in the
Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. If not
checked by late spring frosts at
Bitton, it comes into blossom early
in September, and continues to flower
till cut down by frost. It has roundish
tubers of variable size, those of mature
growth being about as large as an
orange and of a dark colour. These
are the true Jalap tubers. The plant
gets its name from Xalapa, in Mexico,
its native region, and is increased by
division of tubers.

FABIANA (False Heath).— F. imbri-
cata is a pretty shrub of the Potato
family, but so much resembling a
Heath that it might well be mistaken
for one. It is slender, with evergreen
leaves, and in early summer every
shoot is wreathed with small white
trumpet-shaped flowers. A native of
Chili, it is not perfectly hardy as a
bush except in the southern and
western counties, in which it is often
a beautiful shrub.

FAGUS (Beech). — Not a very large
family of trees, but including one of the
noblest of all our native Beech. It is
a great tree in all the countries of
Europe, from N. Greece to Den-
mark, thriving admirably in soils use-
less for the Oak and other trees,
and beautiful in many of our poor
chalky soils. It is so often seen in
our woodlands that there is no need
to advocate its use elsewhere ; a wild
tree common in the woodlands and
forests in Europe everywhere can have
little place in gardens. The varieties
of the Beech, however, are of the high-
est garden value as lawn trees, and
some of the most beautiful weeping
trees in England are those of the
weeping form of the Beech. The fine
character of the pendent Beech is that
it is not only graceful in a young state,
but improves every year of its life,
very old trees being picturesque in a
high degree. The fern-leaved variety
is one of the best, and the purple Beech
is the most striking of our coloured
trees, and will come true from seed,
which is a gain. Even if all the seeds
do not come true it does not matter in
the least, as long as we get some plants
of the colour we seek, and in raising
trees from seed we always obtain some
slight variation. The Copper Beech

is a little paler and more coppery than
the old purple Beech, and there is a
weeping form as well as a dark purple.
These dark coloured forms should not
be used too freely — one to three purple
Beeches in each parish are ample.

F. AMERICANA (American Beech) .^Is in
its own country a forest tree well above
100 feet high, inhabiting the northern
regions, as well as westwards and south-
wards, but the European Beech is a so
much greater tree, for our climate at least,
that less importance is attached to the
American sort. See also NOTHOFAGUS
(Southern Beeches).

FALLUGIA PARADOXA.— A rare
and interesting shrub, belonging to the
Rose family. Native of New Mexico
and regions near. About 4 feet high,
composed of a thicket of slender
branches clothed with tiny, dark-green
leaves, which form a good setting for
the white Potentilla-like flowers which
open during summer. It might well
be tried on walls or warm, sheltered
banks by those who are in search of
raie and out-of-the-way shrubs for
warm walls.

FARFUGIUM.— A vigorous peren-
nial, F. grande having fleshy stems
i to 2 feet high, and with broad leaves
of light green variously streaked,
spotted with yellow in one variety,
and having white and rose in another.
It does best in a half-shady position
in free moist soil, During the heats
of summer it requires frequent water-
ing, and at the approach of winter it
should be moved to the greenhouse,
except in mild districts. In colder
parts it is scarcely worth planting
out, as it grows slowly ; but where it
thrives it is handsome in borders or
on the margins of beds. Multiplied
by division in spring ; the offsets being
potted and kept in a frame until they
are well rooted.

FENDLERA RUPICOLA.— A beau-
tiful shrub allied to Philadelphus,
reaching a height of 12 feet in its own
land, but rarely much over 4 feet
high with us. Coming from dry, rocky
places of Texas and Colorado, it is
hardy only in the warmer parts of
Britain, and does best against a wall
in light fertile soil and in a sunny
aspect. The neat grey leaves are
nearly like those of a Rock Rose, while
the charming pure white flowers, com-
posed of petals set like a Maltese cross,
are fragrant and appear in June.
Plants are sometimes found in which
the flowers have a faint rosy flush.
Increase by seeds, which ripen in

FENZLIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. FORSYTHIA. 471

September, or soft cuttings rooted
under glass.
FENZLIA DIANTHIFLORA. — A

fragile Californian annual, very attrac-
tive with its exquisitely formed flowers
and dwarf growth. It is precious for
bare spots in the rock garden or the
margins of choice beds. Sown in the
open in April, it should have a light,
well-prepared soil. In cold soils a
good way is to sow in boxes and plant
out when small near dwarf plants only.
It is now classed among the Gilias,
but I keep to the old name.

FERULA (Giant Fennel}. — Very
graceful umbelliferous plants long
known in our botanic gardens, their
charm consisting in large tufts of the
freshest green leaves in early spring.
The foliage is apt to fade in summer.
Where bold spring flowers are natur-
alised, a group of Giant Fennels will
be effective, with their fine plumes in
early spring. They are among the
true hardy plants of the northern
world, never suffering from cold.
Their fine forms in summer or autumn,
when they throw up flowering-shoots
to a height of 10 feet or so, are remark-
able enough ; but their appearance
when breaking up in spring charms
us most. The plants do not bear
division well, though with care they
may be transplanted. One of the
most valuable is F. tingitana ; it takes
several years to form strong plants that
look like massive plumes of filmy
Ferns. F. communis is also a good
species, and others, including F. glauca,
neapolitana, Ferulago, and persica, may
be added where variety is sought.
S. Europe and N. Africa. Seed.

FESTUCA (Fescue Grass). — Annual
and perennial grasses, containing few
species for the garden. A variety of
Sheep's Fescue (F. ovina), named
glauca, is a pretty dwarf hardy grass,
forming dense tufts of leaves of a
glaucous hue or soft blue, and on this
account sometimes called " blue "
Grass. It makes good edgings, and
when it is used for this purpose the
flower-spikes should be cut away. F.
ovina viridis is also a pretty edging
plant, and being of slow growth, does
not require renewal for years.

FICARIA (Pileworf). — Plants of the
Crowfoot family, much resembling
some kinds of Buttercup. F. ranun-
culoides (Lesser Celandine) is a common
British plant, 3 to 6 inches high, bear-
ing glossy yellow flowers in early
spring. It is so common that it would
not be mentioned but for its pretty

double and white varieties. A good
plant for growing under trees, in moist
borders, in any soil. Division.

F. GRANDIFLORA (Great Pilewort). — A
large-flowered kind, about twice the size
of our native kind. It is easily grown
and showy, and gould be naturalised,
especially on sandy and free soils. S.
Europe.

FITZROYA PATAGONICA (Fitz-
roy's Cypress). — A graceful, and in its
own country, stately evergreen forest
tree, with some claim to hardiness in
Devon, Cornwall, and the south and
sea-coast of Ireland. There are beau-
tiful examples of it at Fota, Killerton,
and other southern gardens, but its
use is limited to these and sheltered
coast gardens, and there it will thrive
best on' open free soils. Andes of S.
America.

FORSYTHIA (Golden Bell) .—Beau-
tiful spring-flowering shrubs, especially
F. suspensa, whose long, slender,
wand-like shoots are studded for a
considerable distance with bright gol-
den blossoms. Being of a rather loose
habit, it is suited for training on walls
or banks ; indeed, few subjects are
superior to it for a sunny spot, where
the wood will thoroughly ripen. When
rambling about in a free state, or when
hanging over a bank or a cutting, this
Forsythia is seen to very great advan-
tage. F. viridissima, another species,
is quite a shrub. It needs a spot fully
exposed to the sun, so that a good
display of bloom may be ensured. A
certain Forsythia was sent here from
the Continent two or three years
since under the name of F. intermedia,
and was announced as a hybrid be-
tween F. suspensa and F. viridissima.
Though at first very little disposed
in its favour, I have recently seen it
in a better light. Its general appear-
ance is about midway between its
alleged parents. F. i. densi flora and
F. i. spectabilis are well-marked forms
of this plant, the last named with-
out doubt the most beautiful of all
known Forsythias. Forsythias may be
flowered under glass in the greenhouse
or the conservatory during the early
months of the year, and if so treated
they will bloom well. Owing to the
time the blossoms expand, when in the
open ground, very little forcing is
necessary to have them in bloom quite
early. Fortunei and Sieboldi are names
often used ; but these represent only
vigorous forms of F. suspensa. Shoots
of the rambling kinds root from the
points almost as readily as ajbramble,

472 FONTANESIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. FOTHERGILLA.

and cuttings strike freely. A new
kind has recently been found in
Europe — 5. europcea, and has proved
the least ornamental.

FONTANESIA. — Summer - leafing,
Privet-like shrubs, one a native of
China, another of Asia Minor. Of
slight garden value so far as tried.

Being only 2 or 3 feet high, and not a
very vigorous grower, it is unfitted for
the ordinary rough shrubbery ; but if
it lacks the self-assertion necessary for
such a position, there are few more
charming plants for a border of select
and carefully tended shrubs. It blos-
soms in spring, the inflorescence having

Francoa ratnosa (Maiden's Wreath).

FOTHERGILLA GARDENI (Syn.
F. alnifolia). — Although introduced
many years ago, this deciduous shrub
has never become common in gardens.
It is perfectly hardy so far as its
capability of withstanding our severe
winters is concerned, but it is evidently
in some way lacking in robustness,
otherwise it would not be so scarce.

a bottle-brush appearance owing to the
length of the white stamens, which,
petals being absent, form the only
conspicuous part of the flowers. The
greatest beauty of this Fothergilla is,
however, apparent in autumn, when
its leaves turn a rich, glowing red. It
is a native of Eastern N. America, and
the generic name was given in honour

FRAGARIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. FRITILLARIA. 473

of Dr John Fothergill, famous in the
later years of the eighteenth century
for his botanical collections at Upton,
in Essex. F. Gardeni enjoys a light
loam, and grows all the better if peat
and leaf-soil are mixed with the loam
at planting- time. — W. J. B., in Gar-
deners' Chronicle.

F. MAJOR. — A deciduous shrub 6 to
8 feet high, forming a rounded bush, with
mostly erect stems. The flowers, pro-
duced in May on erect cylindrical spikes,
i to 2 inches long, terminating short
lateral twigs. Native of Alleghany Moun-
tains from Virginia to S. Carolina. It
was grown in English gardens in 1780, but
apparently lost to cultivation until reintro-
duced to Kew from Arnold Arboretum in
1902. Mr Bean (Trees and Shrubs)
describes it as a charming shrub, especially
to those who love out-of-the-way plants,
and says it is decidedly superior to the
commoner F. Gardeni. Cuttings of fairly
firm wood in gentle heat. It is quite
hardy.

FRAGARIA (Strawberry).— The
wild Strawberry is pretty on banks
and on old mossy garden walls.
F. monophylla is a beautiful rock
garden plant, with large white flowers.
The Indian Strawberry, F. indici, is
a pretty trailer, bearing many red
berries and flowering late. All are of
the easiest culture.

FRANCOA (Maiden's Wreath}. —
Chilian plants of the Saxifrage family,
somewhat tender, and best for dry
sheltered positions on warm borders
in light loam. F. ramosa, bearing
white or pink flowers, and having a
short stem, differs from F. appendi-
culata, which is stemless, and has
flowers deeper in colour than the others.
F. sonchifolia has also a short stem,
but its leaves are sessile and not
stalked, and its flowers are rose-
coloured. Often grown as window
plants.

FRANKENIA LJEVIS (Sea Heath).—
A very small evergreen plant with
crowded leaves like a Heath, common
in marshes by the sea in many parts
of Europe and on the east coast of
England. Best for the rock garden in
ordinary soil, among very dwarf herbs.

FRAXINUS (Ash).— The British Ash
is a variable tree, and its varieties are
more valuable than those of many
other trees, the best of them not
depending on mere variegation, but
sometimes on habit, as in the pen-
dulous variety, so well known, and
used for bowers and on lawns. There
is a form of this with yellow shoots,
and certain kinds with singular leaves —

mere monstrosities without value, for
this fine tree has not escaped the
variegation hunter. There is a variety
of F. Lentiscifolia, a native of Asia
Minor, which is pendulous in habit.

The Ash is never more beautiful
than when fully exposed in the cool and
northern parts of the country, and in
Ireland and Scotland. America is rich
in species, and in past times, before
the conifers mania arose, they were

Slanted, but of late very little attention
as been given to them, and few of
these reach the size and fine form of
our native Ash.

Occasionally very picturesque effects
arise from grafting the Weeping Ash
on a very tall stem of the ordinary
kind, of which there is a good example
at Elvaston.

F. ORNUS. — The celebrated Manna Ash,
a native of the East and Mediterranean
regions, which has several varieties. It is
an effective and hardy tree in England,
and even in London gardens is vigorous
and handsome. It is grafted on the
Common Ash, so what it would be if on
its own roots we have no knowledge. Its
place is generally among the larger flower-
ing trees. Syn. Ornus.

FREMONTIA (D. californica). — A
handsome Californian shrub. A fine
old plant in Sir Harry Veitch's garden,
East Burnham Park, having outgrown
the wall against which it was planted,
has risen many feet above, and flowers
there with remarkable freedom, with-
out the least protection, year by year.
In flower it is a fine sight. It has
large yellow bowl-shaped flowers,
2 inches or more across, the deep,
green leaves being lobed. In favour-
able places it reaches 10 or 12 feet in
height, and flowers in early summer.
It succeeds best against a north, west,
or east wall, a southern exposure being
usually too hot and dry. It is, some
think, a naturally short-lived tree.

FRITILLARIA ( Fritillary) .—Bulbs
of the Lily family, several of which are
valuable, some, such as the Crown
Imperial, being stately ; others, such
as F. recurva, being delicate and
pretty, but most have dull-tinted,
curiously interesting flowers. They
may be put to many uses — the Crown
Imperial is a fine plant for the mixed
border or the shrubbery. The Snake' s-
head ( F. Meleagris) and others, such as
F. latifolia, pyrenaica, together with
the choicer kinds, are fitted to the bulb
border and for grassy places. They
may all be readily increased by offsets
from the old bulbs, which should be

474 FRITILLARIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. FRITILLARIA.

lifted every three or four years and
planted in fresh soil. The lifting
should be done in autumn, and the
bulbs replanted without delay.

F. AUREA. — One of the prettiest of the
genus, quite hardy, about 5 inches high.
Has a stem of 4 to 6 inches thick, fleshy,
deep green leaves, with a nodding flower,
which is pale yellow spotted, or chequered
with brown. Silesia. Should be lifted and
rested each year for a short period.

White Fritillary.

F. BURNETI. — A handsome hardy plant
about 9 inches high, with solitary drooping
blossoms, 2 inches long, which are of a
plum colour chequered with yellowish-
green. Alps. Flowers with the Snow-
drop, and is as easy to grow.

F. IMPERIALIS (Crown Imperial). — A
showy and stately plant, from 3 to 4 feet
high, with stout bright green shoots,
crested by large dense whorls of drooping
bell-like flowers and a crown of foliage.
There are several varieties, differing chiefly
in the colour of the flowers. The principal
are — lutea (yellow), rubra (red), double red
and double yellow, rubra maxima (very
large red flowers), Aurora (bronzy orange),
sulphurine (large sulphur-yellow), Orange
Crown (orange-red). This plant thrives
best in a rich, deep loam, especially if the
bulbs remain undisturbed for years. Its
best place, perhaps, is in a group on the
fringe of the shrubbery or a group of
American plants. These are essentially

garden plants, their strong odour being
against them when gathered.

F. KARELINI. — An interesting kind,
4 to 5 inches high, with two or three broad
leaves clasping its stem, and having a
terminal raceme of slightly drooping, bell-
like flowers. These flowers, about i inch
across, are of a pale purple, with darker
veins, a few darker spots, and a distinct
yellowish-green pit at the base of each
reflexed segment. Native of C. Asia, and,
flowering in late autumn or early winter,
is valuable for a collection of winter-flower-
ing outdoor plants. According to Dr
Regel, it must be kept in dry sand until
November, and should not grow or show
bloom before spring. If planted in
November, growth is retarded, and it
does not bloom in spring, which it ought
to do ; while those flowering in autumn
invariably dwindle away, and do not pro-
duce any new bulbs. It should be planted
in light soil in well-drained borders with
a warm exposure.

F. LATIFOLIA. — Variable as regards the
colour of the flowers, which are larger than
those of our native F. Meleagris, and are
borne on stems about i foot high, are
pendulous, and vary in colour through
various shades of purple, black, lilac, and
yellow. The principal named varieties
are — Black Knight, Captain Marryat,
Caroline Chisholm, Cooper, Dandy,
Jerome, Maria Goldsmith, Marianne, Mel-
lina, Pharaoh, Rembrandt, Shakespeare,
Van Speyk, each representing a different
shade of colour. They grow freely in an
open situation in any soil, and are excellent
for naturalising. Caucasus.

F. MELEAGRIS (Snake's-head). — An ele-
gant native species, of which there are
numerous varieties. It is 9 to 18 inches
high, and in early summer bears a solitary
drooping flower, beautifully tessellated
with purple or purplish-maroon on a pale
ground. The chief varieties are — the
white (alba], which has scarcely any dark
markings ; nigra, a deep purplish-black ;
pallida, light purple ; angustifolia, with
long narrow leaves ; major, with flowers
larger than the type ; prcecox, which
flowers about a week earlier than the
other forms ; flavida, yellowish ; and the
rare double variety. All forms of this
beautiful plant may be used with excellent
effect. It grows freely in grass not mown
early, and is therefore admirable for the
wild garden ; its various forms are among
the most beautiful inhabitants of the
hardy bulb garden, and tufts of the
chequered or white-flowered variety are
among the most graceful plants in cottage
gardens.

F. MOGGRIDGEI (Golden Snake's-head).
— A beautiful plant with pendulous blos-
soms, 2 inches long, which are of fine
golden-yellow, chequered with brownish-
crimson on the inner surface of the bell.
It may be seen on its native Alps, at an

FUCHSIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

FUNKIA.

475

elevation of 5000 to 7000 feet, among the
short stunted grass, accompanied by
alpine plants, and giving the slopes the
appearance of a sheet of golden bloom.
It is hardy, and flowers early in spring.

F. PUDICA. — One of the most charming
of hardy bulbs. Native of the Rocky
Mountains and the Sierra Nevada of Cali-
fornia, in a dry, barren soil. It is one
of the principal ornaments of the spring
flora, being nearly 6 inches high, and
having bright golden-yellow flowers, grace-
ful in form and drooping like a Snow-
flake. It thrives in warm, sunny borders
of loamy soil, or preferably in almost
pure sand.

F. RECURVA. — The showiest of the
Fritillaries, its red colour being as bright
as some Lilies, and mixed with bright
yellow, especially on the inside of the
flower. It flowers early in May or towards
the end of April. The bulbs consist of a
slightly flattened tuberous stock, covered
by articulated scales, somewhat widely
placed, which at first sight resemble those
of Lilium philadelphicum. A tuft of
bright green linear leaves appears above
the soil, and from this rises a slender
purplish stem, 6 inches to 2^- feet high,
with several pendent Lily-like flowers. It
is not robust, and has succeeded only
under careful cultivation, growing best in
fibry loam, on a warm sunny border, near
a wall. Best when lifted and rested for
a few weeks each year. California.

F. SEWERZOWI. — A singular - looking
plant, growing from i to i£ feet high,
having broad glaucous leaves and nod-
ding flowers that are greenish outside and
vinous-purple within. A native of the
mountains of Turcomania, quite hardy in
our climate. Propagated by bulblets or
seed.

Many others are in cultivation, but the
majority are unattractive, though some
are useful for naturalising. The most
suitable are — F. delphinensis, a robust
plant with stems i foot or more high,
bearing brownish-purple flowers, more or
less chequered with greenish-yellow ; F.
pyrenaica, a similar species, but more
robust.

FUCHSIA.— Graceful and distinct
shrubs, flourishing near the coasts, and
especially in southern and western
parts. In other districts Fuchsias are
cut down by frost, but spring up
again, and, in fact, live the life of
herbaceous plants ; but in mild dis-
tricts they often escape for years, and
become handsome bushes. All may
be freely propagated from cuttings in
spring or autumn. There are about
a dozen more or less hardy kinds that
succeed in the open air in the southern
and western counties.

F. COCCINEA. — A bushy plant, graceful,
hardy, and free in growth and bloom,
unless the soil be of the coldest descrip-
tion, and even then a slight covering of
coal ashes after the stems are cut down in
autumn will protect the roots in winter.
Chili.

F. CONICA. — A vigorous compact species
3 to 6 feet high, but not such a free flowerer
as some of the others. The flowers have
scarlet sepals and dark purple petals.
Chili.

F. CORALLINA. — A beautiful tall plant,
and therefore suited for walls and houses.
The flowers are large and of a showy red
colour, and the plant is a vigorous grower
and free bloomer.

F. DISCOLOR.— A dwarf variety with
numerous small scarlet flowers. It is the
hardiest of all. not being injured by the
winters in the milder parts of Scotland if
treated as a herbaceous plant. F. pumila
is similar, but more slender, and equally
desirable.

F. GLOBOSA. — One of the best of the
hardy Fuchsias. The flowers are globose
in bud, and retain their shape for some
time after they begin to expand, on
account of the petals adhering at the tips.
It forms a sturdy and often a large shrub
in seashore districts.

F. GRACILIS. — A distinct, slender plant,
with flowers on long slender stalks. The
young shoots are a purplish-red, the calyx
is a brighter scarlet, and the corolla has
a greater infusion of red than other hardy
kinds. There is a variety called multi-
flora, which is very free-flowering, and
which has shorter flowers and of darker
crimson. F. tenella is a seedling variety.
Chili.

•F. RICCARTONI. — One of the prettiest
and hardiest sorts, growing well without
protection even in parts of Scotland. It
is compact and twiggy, ^and in summer
bears many bright red blossoms. A gar-
den hybrid.

Besides these, other kinds are in
cultivation, such as procumbens — a
curious little New Zealand species —
serratifolia, magellanica, thymifolia, and
microphylla, and nearly all the hybrid
kinds do out of doors in summer,
and bloom well, though they may be
cut down in winter. Among the most
distinct and pretty are the dwarf and
fragile kinds, such as F. microphylla,
F. pumila, and several hardy hybrids
of the globosa section, all of which
seem to flourish near the sea.

FUNKIA (Plantain Lily}. — Valuable
Japanese plants of the Lily order, of
which there are about half a dozen
species and numerous varieties. The
different species are free-flowering,
herbaceous plants, with spikes of
bell-shaped flowers, but the chief value

476

FUNKIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

FUNKIA.

is in the foliage. They are noble
plants, most useful for many positions
in the garden, while few lend such a
fine effect as F. Sieboldi when finely
developed. They are highly suitable
for grouping, and few plants thrive
better in open places in shrubberies
or near water. The bold, striking
foliage of some of the strongest plain-
leaved section renders them very
effective for edging large beds. They
are best seen in well-drained deep soil.

F. LANCIFOLIA. — A small species, with
tufts of lance-shaped leaves, narrowing
from the middle towards both ends.
There are some interesting varieties, chief
among which are the white-flowered
variety, a beautiful plant, spathulata, and
plantaginifolia, with long narrow leaves.
There are some varieties with leaves of
different variegation, all well worth grow-
ing, notably albo-marginata, with a narrow
wfcite line along the margin of the leaf ;
undulata variegata, in which the leaves
are undulated on the margin and varie-

Plantain Lily {Funkia Sieboldi}.

All are easily multiplied by division
in spring or autumn. The best are : —

F. FORTUNEI. — This strong species has
smaller and more leathery leaves than
-F. Sieboldi. and they are of a much more
bluish or glaucous tint. The flowers are
pure white or pale mauve.

F. GRANDIFLORA (Corfu Lily). — Is 12 to
1 8 inches high, producing in August and
September numerous large, pure white,
sweet-scented flowers. It is best in groups,
beds, or borders, in a well-drained sandy
loam. About Paris it is grown as a flower
garden plant, but with us it does not
flower regularly unless in sunny spots and
warm, well-drained, and very sandy loam.
The young leaves are a favourite prey of
slugs and snails. Syn. F. subcordata.

gated on the greater part of the surface ;
and univittata, with a broad white mid-rib
to the leaf.

F. OVATA. — Has large tufts of broad,
deep, shining green leaves. Flower-stems
12 or 1 8 inches high, terminating in a short
raceme of lilac-blue flowers, which appear
in late summer and autumn. One of the
strongest species, and when in flower is
very handsome. There is a variegated-
leaved form.

F. SIEBOLDI. — The finest for foliage. It
is 1 8 inches to 3 feet high, and has large
glaucous leaves, somewhat heart-shaped.
Admirable plants for picturesque groups,
very hardy, easy of increase by division,
thriving in any soil, but the foliage effect
is finer on deep, rich soil.

GAILLARDIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GAILLARDIA.

477

GAILLARDIA (Blanket Flower}.—
Handsome perennial and biennial herbs
including some of the showiest flowers,
valuable for their long duration both
on the plants and in a cut state; The
genus numbers some half a dozen
species from N. America, and many
garden varieties. The numerous kinds

G. picta somewhat resembles G. aristata,
but has smaller flowers, and is a biennial.
It is dwarfer, and its flowers are brighter.
G. amblyodon is a beautiful Texan annual,
introduced a few years ago. Its flowers
are even smaller than those of G. picta,
and are of a deep cinnabar red.

The garden varieties, as has been

Gaillardia.

now in gardens appear to fall under
three species, but there is a strong
family likeness throughout the series.
The kinds are : —

G. ARISTATA. — A perennial i to i£ feet
high, with narrow leaves, sometimes
deeply cut. The flowers are i£ to 4 inches
across, the ray florets having an outer zone
of orange-yellow and an inner one of
brownish-red, while the centre is deep
bluish-purple. It is the commonest kind,
and having been raised largely from seed,
has many varieties, differing more or less
widely from the type, with various names.

stated, are numerous, but the most
distinct of those named are : —

G. GRANDIFLORA. — Said to be a hybrid,
presumably between G. picta and G. aris-
tata, is a beautiful and vigorous plant'with
large brightly-coloured flowers, which are
only surpassed by its variety maxima. It
is by far the finest of all.

The hybrid Gaillardias of to-day are
a great advance upon those of former
years. Among modern improvements
are Aurora, Brilliant, Lady Rolleston,
Monarch, Shirley, Sulphur Gem,

478 &AILLARDIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GALANTHUS.

Superb, Vivian Grey, and Yellow
Prince. Gaillardias in many soils soon
exhaust themselves by their flowering,
and should be renewed periodically
from seed, the seedlings being most
vigorous and free. Named sorts may,
however, be raised from root cuttings
inserted from January to March in
gentle heat.

All thrive in good friable garden
soil, but not on a cold stiff soil or on
one that is too light or dry. Where
possible they should be grown in bold
groups, for they thrive better if so
placed than as solitary plants in a
parched border, and no plants have
a finer effect in a bed by themselves.
Where apt to die in winter, they may
be used in mixed borders, if treated as
half-hardy annuals ; for if sown in a
mild hot-bed at the end of February
or the beginning of March, they may
be grown into good plants, and give
a full display of their fine flower-heads
as early as those that have withstood
the winter in the borders. It is well
to note that these in many soils are
not nearly so hardy or enduring as
many of the perennials we have from
N. America, and therefore cannot in
cold soils be depended on.

The culture of the perennial Gaillar-
dia is difficult, and the plant is
seen best in bold groups, rather
than small clumps here and there
in the border. If established plants
in pots are obtained in April and
put out in the places they are to
occupy about 2 feet apart each way,
a good bloom may be expected the
same season if the soil is well dug and
mixed with well-decayed manure. Mr
W. Kelway, of Langport, Somerset, in
a note to The Garden on 27th January
1887, mentions that a collection planted
in this manner bore the drought of the
previous five years better than any other
herbaceous perennial grown at Lang-
port, and stood the winter so well
that not 3 per cent, suffered. Some
commend the Gaillardia for bedding,
though it is seldom grown in this way,
but a pretty effect is obtained when
plants of one distinct variety, or shades
of the same colour, are put about
i foot apart with the stems pegged
down. The situation, however, where
the Gaillardias remain out winter after
winter must be warm, the soil not too
heavy, but light and dry. In very
cold and wet seasons in Midland coun-
ties the plants often succumb ; but it
is very easy in the autumn to strike

cuttings, which may be taken off and
treated similarly to the Pelargonium,
or seeds raised in March, and the plants
hardened off before putting out, will
also give a quick return in the shape
of flowers ; or it may be increased by
division in spring.

GALANTHUS (Snowdrop] .—Always
loved in English gardens, the old Snow-
drop is now known to be only one
member of a large family, most of
which have merits for garden culture.
The Snowdrop never looks better than
when naturalised in turf in orchards,
on the margins of lawns, or beside
woodland walks. Almost any soil suits
the Snowdrop, but peaty and warm
open soils are best. All the Snowdrops
are hardy, and may be naturalised,
grown on the rock garden, or in the
wild garden, where they may be
associated with Anemone, early Cro-
cuses, Winter Aconites. As cut
flowers, Snowdrops are most attrac-
tive, but to cull the flowers in bud is
essential, as they can be carried
better and open fresher in water
than if cut when fully open. Buds
so gathered will remain beautiful
for ten days or longer, while flowers
cut after expansion will fade in about
a week.

The present growing state of our
knowledge of Snowdrops may best be
gleaned from a paper read by Mr Jas.
Allen before the Royal Horticultural
Society, of which the following is an
abstract : —

In speaking of Snowdrops we must
not forget that, besides the division
into species and sub-species, we have
the arrangements into classes, accord-
ing to colours and other peculiarities.
Consequently we hear of white Snow-
drops and yellow Snowdrops, and also
green Snowdrops.

G. IMPERATI. — I think no botanist would
be able to say where nivalis ended and
Imperati commenced. In the section to
which G. nivalis and G. Imperati belong,
there are some most lovely Snowdrops,
amongst which I would mention first
Mr Melville's Dunrobin form. G. n.
Atkinsi is second to none in size, form,
quality and freedom in growth. It is the
plant known to some as Imperati of
Atkins.

G. PLICATUS. — Is very distinct, and
in its best forms of great beauty. The
foremost place in this section belongs to
G. p. maximus. G. plicatus usually
flowers late, but I have a selected form,
G. p. pr&cox, which flowers with the early
varieties of G. nivalis. Another selected

GALANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

GALEGA.

479

form, G. p. Omega, flowers with the very
latest.

G. ELWESI. — The best forms of this are
large and handsome, but it wants the most
sheltered spots in the garden to thrive.
Many find it difficult to manage, but with
me it grows very freely, especially on one
bed of very light soil, where the seedlings
are almost a nuisance.

G. LATIFOLIUS. — -The most distinct of
all Snowdrops, with its broad grass-green
foliage and small pure white flowers, it
has a delicate beauty all its own, more
especially just before the bud expands,
when the two leaves curve so lovingly
round the flower-stem.

G. FOSTERI. — The markings on the inner
petals are very similar to those of G. Elwesi,
but the foliage is quite different, being
broad and somewhat blunt, and in shape
and colour much like the leaves of Scilla
sibirica.

G. ALLENI. — Mr Barker thinks this is
probably a hybrid between G. latifolius
and G. caucasicus, as it has some of the
features of each species. The flower is of
much the same character as that of G.
latifolius, but nearly twice as large, and
the foliage corresponds in size with the
blossoms.

AUTUMNAL SNOWDROPS. — In Greece
and the adjacent countries several
Snowdrops have been found which
flower in the autumn or early winter.
They seem to belong to the nivahs
section. One peculiarity I have
noticed in them is that they have
a glaucous line running down the
centre of each leaf, and by this they
can be at once distinguished from the
spring-flowering forms of nivalis. So
far as I can learn, all these Snowdrops
grow on high ground, mostly on
mountains. I understand that the
Snowdrops on the lower grounds do
not flower until early in the year.

G. OLG;E. — From the descriptions given
of it, G. Olgce must be a fine variety, and
it is very unfortunate that it is lost to
cultivation. M. Tanka, the Hungarian
botanist, asserts that this and G. octobrenfis
are identical, but I do not think so ; and
the difference between G. octobrensis and
G. Rachels confirms my opinion.

G. OCTOBRENSIS. — Lord Walsingham,
when travelling in Albania about the year
1875, collected some bulbs on one of the
mountains and sent them to the late Rev.
H. Harpur-Crewe. Amongst these was a
bulb which proved to be a Snowdrop
flowering in the autumn, usually in Octo-
ber. I am sorry to say that it is somewhat
delicate and increases very slowly with
me.

G. RACHELS. — This is of the same type
as G. octobrensis, but the flower is a little
larger, and the leaves are quite a third

broader, and it seems to have a stronger
constitution than that variety. It also
differs in being a week or ten days later in
flowering.

THE YELLOW SNOWDROPS form but
a small class, two varieties only being
known at present, G. lutescens and G.
flavescens. It must not be supposed
that the petals of the flower are
yellow ; the name is given because
of the rich yellow colour of the ovary,
and the markings on the inner petals
are also of that colour, instead of the
usual green, and even the flower-stalks
are more yellow than green.

With me G. nivalis grows freely in
all soils and situations. G. plicatus is
not very particular, but still some of
its varieties require extra care, as they
have an unpleasant way of disappear-
ing. G. Elwesi does not do well in
close retentive soil. The situation I
should choose would be a gently
sloping bank, more or less shaded by
trees whose roots were allowed to
wander freely among the Snowdrops.
I believe that all bulbs are healthier
when planted amongst active roots
than in ordinary beds. When the
bulbs are at rest it is very essential
that the soil should be kept sweet by
the activity of other roots. We too
often lose sight of this fact. I think
the autumnal - flowering Snowdrops
should be treated as alpine plants.
All my best Snowdrops are grown under
trees, the soil being quite full of their
roots. I do not use manure for them.

GALAX (Wand Plant}.— C. aphylla
is one of the neatest little plants for
the rock garden ; its white wand-like
flowers are in dense spike-like racemes
9 to 15 inches high. The heart-shaped
evergreen leaves are produced in
cushion-like tufts, and in autumn are
a rich crimson. Of easy culture in
moist peat or leaf-soil, in the bog
garden, or on the margins of beds of
dwarf shrubs in peat. America. There
is a larger form, G. macrophylla.

GALEGA (Goat's Rue). — Graceful
perennials of the Pea family flourishing
in any soil. On account of their free
growth they are useful for the wild
garden, and are effective in groups.
They are herbaceous perennials, grow-
ing from 2 to 5 feet in height. The
best kinds are — G. officinalis, or Com-
mon Goat's Rue, a native of S.
Europe, and 3 to 5 feet high, in summer
bearing dense clusters of Pea-shaped
blossoms of a pretty pink. There is
a white variety (alba] useful for

480 GALTONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

GAZANIA.

cutting. G. orientalis is from the
Caucasus, 3 to 4 feet high, with bluish-
purple flowers. G. patula Hartlandi
has pale blue and white flowers, and
with G. His Majesty are the most
ornamental of these plants.

GALTONIA (Cape Hyacinth}. — A
noble bulb from the Cape, G. candicans
having spires of waxy, white, bell-
like blossoms, i£ inches long, on
stems 4 to 6 feet high, in late summer
and autumn. It is of easy culture,
hardy in light soils, and valuable for
bold groups in the mixed border, in
the flower garden, or between choice
shrubs and among hardy Fuchsias.
Increased by offsets from the bulbs,
or from seeds, which flower about the
fourth year. The distinct habit of
this plant makes it -one of the most
valuable. Syn. Hyacinthus candicans.

GARRY A.— G. Ettiptica is a fine
Californian Evergreen, and beautiful
winter-flowering shrub. In mild win-
ters it begins to flower as early as
December, and bears among handsome

Garrya elliptica.

deep green leaves gracefully drooping
tufts of pale green catkins, which, if
cut with the twigs, endure a long time
in vases, and are welcome in winter.
Though often grown on walls, it is
hardy and makes a dense bush, 5 to
8-10 feet high. In cold districts it is

well to give it shelter, but in the south
and west it does not require this.
There are male and female forms, the
most elegant being the pollen-bearing
plant. Killed at Gavetye, we had to
give it up as a bush in the orchard.

GAULTHERIA (Partridge Berry}.—
Dwarf evergreen shrubs, G. procumbens
having berries which give it a charm
in winter, when it is one of the brightest
plants in the rock garden. Its droop-
ing white flowers are also pretty. A
native of sandy places and cool damp
woods from Canada to Virginia, and
often found in the shade of evergreens,
it does best in moist peat, and forms
edgings to beds where the soil is of
that nature, but it will also grow in
loam. Easily increased by division or
seeds. Suitable for the rock garden,
for the front margins of borders, and
for edgings to beds of dwarf American
plants, and it is best where well
exposed. G. Shallon is too large for
all but the rougher flanks of the rock
garden, being a vigorous shrub and an
excellent covert for game.

G. TRICHOPHYLLA. — An elegant little
plant for the rock garden, doing admirably
in sandy peat and leaf-soil. The leaves
are very small and numerously produced
on the sub-prostrate branches, and are
hairy at the margin. The pretty pink
flowers are succeeded in autumn by pea-
cock-blue berries. Himalayas.

GAURA. — G. Lindheimeri is a grace-
ful perennial, 3 to 4^ feet high, flower-
ing in summer and autumn, on long,
slender spikes bearing numerous white
and rose flowers.

GAYLUSSACIA (Huckleberry).— -The
kinds in cultivation in Britain are N.
American, allied to Vaccinium. Some
bear edible fruit in America. Syn.

Vaccinium. •

GAZANIA (Treasure Flower).—
Handsome and distinct dwarf plants ;
of some value, though only hardy
enough for our summers. They are
most useful on warm soils, and should
always be placed in open sunny spots
and among dwarf plants. They strike
freely in a cold frame in August, but
later require bottom - heat. Unless
struck very early, spring-struck plants
are almost worthless, so that it is best
to put in the stock in August and
let them stand in cutting - pots till
potting-off time in spring. They will
then come well into flower when put
out in May ; whereas, if they are
topped for spring cuttings, both lots

GENISTA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

GENTIANA. 481

will be small and late. Short young
tops should be used for cuttings, and
may be inserted pretty thickly in the
cutting-pots. When established they
must be just protected from frost, and
kept in dry airy quarters. If kept
warm they grow too much, and in
spring are poor lanky plants that can

Gazania nh'ea..

hardly be handled ; but cool airy
treatment keeps them short and
sturdy. G. rigens is the best known.
It has long deep-green leaves, silvery
beneath, and bears flowers 2 inches
across, which are of bright orange-
yellow, with a dark centre. G. splen-
dens is a fine variety, and there is
also one with variegated leaves. Some
kinds are offered in the seed catalogues
and may be raised in heat in spring.

GENISTA (Rock Broom). — Some of
these are good garden and rock garden
shrubs, thriving in almost any soil
which is not too wet, and readily raised
from seeds.

G. ^TNENSIS. — A native of Sicily, is one
of the best kinds. In a young state the
twigs are sparsely clothed with linear
silky leaves, but when old no leaves are
developed, and the green slender twigs
perform the functions of leaves. An old
tree — for this species attains a height of
12 feet or more — is a beautiful sight in
July or August when in full flower.

G. ANGLICA (Needle Furze). — A pros-
trate spiny shrub, sometimes growing to a
height of 2 feet, widely distributed
throughout W. Europe, and in Britain
occurring on moist moors from Ross south-
wards. The short leafy racemes of yellow
flowers appear in May and June.

G. ASPALATHOIDES. — A native of S.W.
Europe, makes a densely-branched, com-
pact, spiny bush from i to 2 feet in height.
It flowers in July and August, and is a
good shrub for the rock garden.

G. GERMANICA. — A species widely dis-
tributed throughout Europe, it makes a
bright rock garden shrub not more than
a couple of feet in height. It flowers very
freely during the summer and autumn
months, and the stems are inclined to arch
when i foot or more high.

G. HISPANICA. — Native of S.W. Europe,
and a compact under-shrub, evergreen
from the colour of its shoots. It scarcely
attains more than i foot or 18 inches in
height, and the crowded racemes of yellow
flowers are borne at the tips of the spiny
twigs from May onwards.

G. PILOSA. — A dense, prostrate bush
and a delightful rock garden plant. In
Britain it is rare and local, being confined
to gravelly heaths in the south and south-
west of England. It grows freely and
flowers abundantly in May and June.

G. RADIATA. — Native of C. and S.
Europe, 3 or 4 feet in height, evergreen
from the colour of its much-branched
spiny twigs. The terminal heads of bright
yellow flowers are throughout the summer
months. It is hardy in the south of
England.

G. SAGITTALIS. — A frequent plant on
the alpine meadows of Europe. In habit
it differs widely from any of the other
kinds, the leaves being replaced by a
winged stem. It scarcely grows a foot
high, and forms a mass of branches bearing
racemes of yellow flowers in May and June.

G. TINCTORIA (Dyer's Greenweed). —
Occurring in a wild state in Britain, it
rarely exceeds 18 inches in height, and is
a spineless shrub bearing a profusion of
bright yellow flowers from July until
September.

GENTIANA (Gentian). — Dwarf ever-
green alpine plants, some of them
difficult to cultivate, but others easily
grown (on the rock garden and in
borders). The most precious are the
perennial alpine kinds, which are such
a beautiful feature on the mountains
of Europe, and with care in our gardens
spread into healthy tufts and flower as
well as on the mountains.

G. ACAULIS (Gentianella) . — An old in-
habitant of English gardens, and among
the most beautiful of the Gentians. It is
easily cultivated, except on very dry soils.
In some soils edgings are made of it, which,
when the plant is in flower, are of great
beauty. It is at home on the rock garden,
where there are good masses of moist loam
in which it can root. With us the flowers
open in spring and in early summer, but
on its native hills they open according to

2 H

482

GENTIANA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

GENTIANA.

position, like the Vernal Gentian. G.
alpina is a marked variety with small
broad leaves, and there are several other
varieties. Their colours vary from the
deepest blue to white, and in one white
flower the tips of the corolla are a rich
blue. In all the forms, except the white,
the throat of the corolla is spotted with
blue on a greenish ground, and all have
greenish marks on the outside. Alps and
Pyrenees.

G. ASCLEPIADEA (Willow Gentian). — A
good herbaceous kind, this gives no
trouble, but dies down out of harm's way
in winter. Well grown, it will spring up
to 2 feet, and freely produce good-sized
flowers of a purple-blue along nearly the
whole stem in late summer and autumn.
This Gentian will grow in open woods. It

Gent i ana affinis.

may therefore be naturalised, and its effect
among the grass in a wood is charming.
There is a white form. It is freely in-
creased from seeds and by division.
Europe.

G. BAVARICA (Bavarian Gentian). — In
size this resembles the Vernal Gentian,
but it has smaller Box-like leaves of
yellowish-green, and its tiny stems are
thickly clothed with dense little tufts of
foliage, from which arise flowers of lovely
iridescent blue. While G. verna is found
on dry ground, or on ground not over-
flowed by water, G. bavarica is in perfection
in boggy spots, by some little rill. We
must imitate these conditions if we desire
to succeed, and a moist peat or bog bed,
with no coarse plants near, will enable us
to grow this lovely plant. Alps.

G. FARRERI. — A novelty of great beauty
and importance from China, having affinity
with G. sino-orwata. It forms spreading

masses, the stems furnished with long
linear leaves and terminated by flowers of
the largest size — surpassing those of G.
acaulis in this respect— and of the most
beautiful sky-blue imaginable. The tube
is white. Peat and sandy loam, with
moisture in full sun. Cuttings made of
the young shoots root readily, and soon
make plants. September.

G. FREYNIANA. — A beautiful and ami-
ably disposed species of the easiest culti-
vation, and very free flowering. The
flowers, which appear in July and August
in terminal club-like clusters on foot-high
stems, are of intense indigo blue. First-
rate in every way. Seeds.

G. LAGODECHIANA. — A sub-prostrate
growing species having probably affinity
with G. septemfida, of which it may be said
to be a vigorous form. It quickly forms
foot-wide masses of semi-procumbent
stems, thickly furnished with small glossy
green leaves, and terminated by clusters
of brilliant blue white - throated flowers,
whose lobes are copiously freckled with
white. Best in deep sandy loam. No
species is more easily cultivated. August
and September. Increased by seeds.

G. SEPTEMFIDA (Crested Gentian) .—A
lovely plant, bearing on stems 6 to 12
inches high clusters of cylindrical flowers,
widening towards the mouth and a beau-
tiful blue-white inside, and greenish-brown
outside, having between each of the larger
segments one smaller and finely cut. In
the variety cordifolia leaves are more cor-
date, but it grows about only half the
height of the type, with a much neater
habit, and there is a dwarf form. Best in
moist sandy peat. The finest of all is the
variety latifolia. All are of sub-prostrate
habit, flowering in August and September.
Seeds. Caucasus.

G. SINO-ORNATA. — The advent of this
autumn-flowering species enriched our
gardens, it having proved of more facile
cultivation than the Himalayan ornata or
the earlier introduced Veitchiana. Flowers
rich blue. Peat and sandy loam, with
moisture in full sun. Readily increased
by cuttings. September and October.

G. VERNA (Vernal Gentian). — One of the
most beautiful of alpine flowers, thriving
in deep sandy loam, with abundance of
water during the warm and dry months,
and perfect exposure to the sun. The
absence of these conditions is a frequent
cause of failure. It thrives wild in cool
pastures and uplands, where it is rarely
subjected to such drought as it is in a
parched border. Grit or broken lime-
stone may be mingled with the soil ; if
there be plenty of sand this is not essen-
tial ; a few pieces half buried in the ground
will tend to prevent evaporation and guard
the plant till it has taken root. It is so

GENTIANA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GERANIUM. 483

dwarf that if weeds be allowed to grow
round it they soon injure it, and tall
plants overshadow or overrun it. It is
abundant in mountain pastures on the
Alps, in Asia, and also in Britain.

Gentiana z'erna.

G. v. ANGULOSA, with winged calyx, has
flowers almost twice as large as the type
and equally brilliant, while it is of the
easiest cultivation. Its requirements are
the same, and it may be raised by hun-
dreds from seeds, if these are sown prac-
tically as soon as ripe. No alpine merits
the attention of the cultivator more than
this.

Mr Correvon, of Geneva, who knows
these plants well, classifies them as
follows for cultivation : —

Acaulis Group. — Alpina, angusti folia,
Clusii, and Kochiana, which thrive best in
calcareous soils, except the last, which
requires a soil free of it. In our country
they thrive in a way on moist soils, but
flower best in the limestone soils of Ireland.
They will not flower well in shade.

Tall kinds, with large roots, G. Burseri,
lutea, pannonica, punctata, purpurea.
[These are only worth growing in botanic
gardens.]

Dwarf tufted kinds requiring care on
the bog or rock garden, those marked *
thriving in moist open soil in turf or
sphagnum in full sun : the others dryer
spots and pebbly soil ; calcareous soil to
be preferred for vernea and its forms.
G. *bavarica, brachyphylla, Favrati, imbri-
cata, pyrenaica, *Rostani, *septemfida,
verna.

Kinds for marshy ground: — G. An-
drewsi, angusti folia, asclepiadcsa, Pneu-
monanthe. [Most of these seem of easy
culture, but the American kinds gradually
perish on heavy, compact soils.]

Kinds thriving in leaf soil and sandy
peat, with broken bits of sandstone : —
G. alba, Bigelowi, ciliata, frigida, Frey-
niana, Frcelichii, Kurroo, Parryi, pumila,
Wallichiana, Weschniakowi.

Kinds of easy culture : — G. brevidens,
cruciata, dahurica, decumbens, Fetisowi,
Kesselringii, macrophylla, Olivieri, phlogi-
folia, Przewaldskii, Saponaria, scabra,
straminea, tibetica, Tianschanica, Walu-
jewi, Weschniakowi.

Annual kinds : — G. amarella, campestris,
Germanica, nivalis, tenella.

These groupings are, like so many
others, arbitrary if convenient. Many
of the rarer kinds of Gentian come from
countries little known to us, and even
if we did know them the cultivation
of plants is often only learned through
experience, and it is common to see
them thriving in conditions wholly
different from those in which they
grow naturally. Certain things, how-
ever, are to be borne in mind by those
who aspire to cultivate Gentians, viz.,
that these are alpine or high mountain
plants, or plants of the open breezy
marsh, and that in such conditions
they rarely have to do with compact
heavy soils. Gritty, sandy, or peaty
soils therefore suit them best — even
marsh land, though saturated, is free
in texture.

They grow also very often above the
tree and shrub line of life, and are
therefore fully exposed to the sun, and
any planting of them on stuffy, half-
shady conditions common in many
gardens is against them, as also is the
unfortunate and common practice of
putting rock gardens in hollow places
instead of places fully exposed to the
sun. Lastly, to associate them with
ferns or taller or more vigorous plants
is a mistake ; and, above all things,
the printed lists or any other lists
must not be taken to mean that the
great beauty of some kinds is typical
of all, as not a few Gentians are
unworthy of garden cultivation. I
have grown them in the most unlikely
place of all, a battered wall with earth
behind, and they flowered very well.
The plan may be worth trying in
certain soils with G. acaulis, where it
fails to flower in borders.

GERANIUM (Cranesbill) . — The
hardy Geraniums are usually stout
perennials and natives of the fields
and woods of Europe and Britain,
though some are dainty alpine flowers.
The handsomest of them is probably
G. armenum. It is sometimes 3 feet

484

GERANIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

GERBERA.

in height, flowering in midsummer
abundantly, and sometimes till late
in autumn to a less degree. Its flowers
are large and handsome. It requires
only ordinary garden soil, and is well
suited for the mixed border, or for
grouping with the finer perennials in
beds or on the margins of shrubberies.
Some other kinds are showy, and the
best of these are : the dwarf G.
sanguineum ; its beautiful Lancashire
variety, with rose-coloured blossoms
finely marked with dark lines ; G.
pratense, a tall kind, with large purple
flowers ; and its pure white variety.
There is also an intermediate form with

A group of hardy Geraniums.

white and purple flowers. The Cauca-
sian species, G. gymnocaulon and G.
ibericum, are beautiful, with their rich
purple blossoms, 2 inches across,
delicately pencilled with black. G.
platypetalum, striatum, ibericum, and
Lamberti are suited for shrubbery
borders, and most of them are free
and vigorous enough for naturalisation.
G. Endressi, with light rose-coloured
blossoms, is also very attractive.
Much the handsomest of the flowered
sorts is the foot-high G. grandiflorum,
which everybody should grow. All the
above-mentioned Geraniums are hardy,
easily cultivated, and grow in ordin-
ary soil. The pretty rock garden
kinds, G. cinereum and G. argenteum,
are alpine plants, and, unlike stout
perennials, they must be associated
with very dwarf rock plants. All the
Geraniums are increased by seed, and
with the exception perhaps of the
G. cinereum, and G. argenteum, all
are freely multiplied by division.

GERARDIA. — I have never, either in
gardens or in the wild land, or in the
Alpine mountains, where beauty of
plant life is at its highest, seen any-
thing that struck me more than a
Gerardia I once met with in the
roadside in New Jersey, growing abun-
dantly here and there like a little
tre3 in habit, 15 inches to 18 inches
high, bearing most graceful miniature
Pentstemon-like flowers, but far more
refined in colour and distinct in form
than any Pentstemon. Naturally I
asked why such a plant was not in
cultivation, and learnt that the Gerar-
dias are mostly parasites on the roots
"of other plants. In spite of this, I
brought home some seed of one or
two kinds and sowed it where I
thought it would have some chance,
but nothing ever came of it. Gerardia,
a genus called after John Gerard,
who wrote the famous Herbal in the
time of Queen Elizabeth, is, as a
group, of the highest interest. I hope
that some of them may be introduced.
G. tenuifolia is a species long known,
which thrives in the open, and forms
charming tufts covered with pretty
flowers in summer. It is dwarf and
bushy in habit, light and graceful in
effect with its numerous pale blue
flowers.

GERBERA ( Transvaal Daisy] . —
Perennials from South Africa, of which
few are yet in cultivation. G. Jame-
soni is a handsome plant, nearly hardy
in the southern counties, but too
tender for the midlands and the north.
Its leathery dark green leaves are
shaped like those of a Dandelion, and
arranged in a rosette, and the flowers
are glowing scarlet, 4 inches across,
borne singly on tall bare stems.
Where the plant cannot be grown in
the border it will bloom in a sunny,
airy greenhouse potted in a mixture
of loam, peat, and sand, and treated
as one would a Cineraria. In some
gardens it is well grown upon such
parts of the rock garden as are devoted
to hardy Cacti, where it can be shel-
tered by a glass roof in winter and
kept dry while freely exposed to the
air on all sides. G. viridifolia, a
dwarfer plant with smaller flowers,
white flushed with lilac, is also grown,
and between this and G. Jamesoni
beautiful hybrids have been raised in
which the flowers vary in colour from
nearly white to salmon-pink, coral-red,
orange, and yellow.

GEUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GLADIOLUS.

485

GEUM. — Dwarf handsome perennial
herbs, G. montanum being one of the
best of the dwarf kinds for the rock
garden, and very beautiful when well
established in early spring. It has a
compact habit, the leaves lying close
on the ground, the erect stems of
solitary clear yellow flowers being
abundant. It likes plenty of mois-
ture. G. reptans is also a pretty rock
plant, differing from G. montanum in
its finely-cut leaves, large flowers, and
in producing stolons, which are absent
in G. montanum. There is a variety,
however, of the latter which is by
far the most ornamental plant of
the European kinds. It is of a very
vigorous habit, with large, fine leaves,
and bears freely deep yellow flowers
on each stem. This form has been
cultivated in the Liverpool Botanic
Garden for over twenty years, and is
said to be of garden origin.

G. CHILOENSE. — -G. chiloense grandiflorum
is one of the best single-flowered forms in
the group. A native of Chiloe, introduced
to cultivation somewhere about 1826, it
is a magnificent border plant, its dazzling
scarlet flowers and bold habit making it
a favourite with all who love brilliant
patches in their mixed borders. The
double-flowered form of this seems to be
a more general favourite, the blooms last-
ing longer, though I think they lack the
elegance of those of the simpler form.
The variety Mrs J. Bradshaw is an im-
provement on the old double. They begin
to expand soon after May, and continue
until October.

G. CHILOENSE VAR. MINIATUM. This

plant, figured in The Garden in 1890, is
said to have originated in the nursery of
Robert Parker at Tooting, and was named
by him G. miniatum. Another plant
known as the Altrincham variety, or
G. hybridum, was raised about the same
time, but, unless in the flowers being
brighter, I see no difference. But there
can be no question as to the value of this
plant, its robust constitution standing it
in good stead in almost every kind of soil.
It flowers from April until the end of July,
and when doing well often attains a height
of from 2 to 3 feet.

G. COCCINEUM is a rare and entirely
different plant. A native of Mount
Olympus.

G. HELDREICHI MAGNIFICUM. — Splendid
in colour as any orange flower, I like this
for Heldreich's sake as well as its own, as
I once spent a few pleasant days with him
near Athens in the time of Windflowers
that clothe the fields there.

GILIA. — Hardy Californian annuals,
i to 2 feet high, and bearing for a long
time a succession of blossoms either

blue, white, lavender, or rose-coloured.
Seed may be sown in autumn for spring
blooming, and in April for summer and
autumn blooming ; and the soil should
be light and rich. The best are G.
achillecB folia (blue), G. a. alba (white),
G. capitata (lavender), G. tricolor
(white and purple), G. rosea splendens
(rose), G. nivalis (white), G. liniflora,
G. dianthoides, and G. laciniata. They
may occasionally be made of graceful
use as carpet plants.

G. CORONOPIFOLIA. — A brilliant (scarlet)
biennial from the south-eastern states of
America ; it is an old plant, and sometimes
used as a flower garden plant. It should
be raised early in the year, as sown late it
only flowers the following year.

GILLENIA. — G. trifoliata is a
Spiraea-like plant with numerous erect
slender stems, about 2 feet high, and
branching in the upper part into a
loose panicle of white flowers. Dis-
tinct and graceful ; is of value for the
garden, growing in free loamy soil, and
may be given a place in the shrubbery
or in the wild garden. N. America.
Division.

G. STIPULACEA. — This is a rather taller
plant, and not quite so compact in habit,
but it is graceful, and no more charming
plant could be introduced to parts of the
garden where there is an extra amount of
moisture and a little shade from mid-day
sun.

Gingko. — See SALISBURIA.

GLADIOLUS (Sword Lily}.— Beau-
tiful bulbous plants, the best kinds
natives of S. Africa. Every species
introduced is of value, is easily grown,
and is suitable for many garden uses,
but the charm of the Gladiolus is
derived from the beautiful hybrid
varieties. G. gandavensis and brench-
leyensis are the principal kinds from
which these hybrids come, and are by
far the most important class. The
gandavensis section suffers from cold
autumn rains, and the bulbs must be
lifted in autumn.

They are happy in clumps between
Dahlias, Phloxes, Roses, and subjects
of a somewhat similar character, and
are very effective in clumps alternating
with Tritomas, and also when associ-
ated with masses of Cannas ; while
they are suitable for intermixing with
American plants whose dark foliage
shows off rich flowers to good advan-
tage. The position should be marked
out and prepared in the autumn or
winter. March and April are the best
months for planting Gladioli ; they are

486 GLADIOLUS. THE EtiGLiSH FLOWER GARDEN. GLAUCIUM.

then at their best during August and
the early part of September. A suc-
cession of planting is desirable to
secure a late bloom. Those who desire
their gardens to be beautiful late in
the autumn should not fail to employ
the Gladiolus largely. A deep loamy
soil, not too heavy, is the most suitable,
but very satisfactory results may even
be obtained by deep digging and
liberal manuring in poor soils. After
the manure is spread over the sur-
face, trench the soil up to a depth
of 2 feet, and leave the ground as
rough as possible, so as to expose it to
winter frost and rain. If this is done
the soil will be fit for working in spring,
and a pricking over with the fork will
reduce it to a fine tilth, and will admit
of the bulbs being planted promptly.
Planting in March and until June, at
intervals of a fortnight. By this there
will be obtained a succession of bloom,
from the earliest moment at which the
show varieties may be had in flower
until the end of the season. As soon
as the plants have made sufficient
progress to require support, stout
stakes should be put to them. The
top of the stake must not be higher
than the first bloom, and the stem
should have one tie only — a strong one
of bast.

EARLY-FLOWERING KINDS. — During
the past few years the early-flowering
Gladioli have become popular on
account of their great value for cutting.
These, the dwarfer kinds, are, more-
over, much the hardiest, and beds of
them may be left unprotected during
winter, so as to afford early flowers for
cutting, for unless the weather is very
severe, these beds never require any
covering. This remark applies only
to bulbs established in the ground, for
fresh bulbs are as tender as other
Gladioli, and must be protected from
frost. Amateurs often make a mistake
in this matter. Many plants are hardy
only after they are well established.
G. Colvillei is one of the prettiest and
hardiest of all, and is most valuable for
cutting, particularly the white variety,
which has many beautiful white
flowers in early summer. The time
of flowering depends upon the time of
planting, but the dwarf sections are
the earliest. If the varieties of G.
ramosus are planted at the same time
as the dwarfs, the dwarfs are in flower
a fortnight before the others.

These early-flowering kinds are of
simple culture, and succeed best in

well-drained raised beds of good loamy
soil, in a sunny position.

Another interesting race of hybrids
has lately been obtained between G.
gandavensis and G. piirpureo-auratus,
a Cape species, with yellow and purple
flowers. These hybrids have large
flowers of a creamy-white and a deep
purplish-crimson. The named kinds
are G. hybridus Frcobeli, G. h. Lemoinei,
and Marie Lemoine. Although by no
means so showy as many others, they
are most graceful and distinct in port,
and in the shape and colour of their
flowers. In deep sandy soil they
attain a height of nearly 5 feet, and the
gradual development of the flowers
renders them effective for at least
five weeks after the first and lower-
most blossom.

G. PRINCEPS is the latest gain amongst
the hybrids of garden value. Its flowers
of crimson-scarlet are intense in colour, of
great size, and fine form. The brightness
of the flower is relieved by touches of
white, or frequently by a white stripe
across the centre of the lower petals, which
are very full and rounded. It flowers late
in August and September, when other
kinds are on the wane. Though expand-
ing in slow succession, and never having
more than three or four blooms open at
the same time, the size and quality of its
flowers do much to make up for this.

A few of the wild species almost
equal the hybrids in beauty. One of
the finest is G. Saundersi, about 2 feet
high, with large flowers of a brilliant
scarlet and a conspicuous pure white
centre. It is not often grown, though
hardy and of very easy culture, and
only requiring a sunny position in a
light rich soil.

The European wild Gladioli arc
pretty plants for the mixed border.
There is a strong similarity among
them, being from i to i£ feet high,
and all bearing rather small rosy-
purple flowers. The best known are
G. byzantinus, communis, segetus, illy-
ricus, neglectus, serotinus. They like
warm dry soil and a sunny situation.
They are of particular interest from
their free and hardy habit, which makes
them as easy to grow as native plants.
They are admirable for the wild garden,
as they thrive in copses, open warm
woods, in snug spots in broken hedge-
row banks, and on fringes of shrubbery
in the garden.

GLAUCIUM (Horned Poppy}. -
Plants of the Poppy family, usually
biennials. G. luteum is quite hardy
and has handsome silver foliage. The

GLOBULARIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GREVILLEA. 487

leaves are deeply cut, and, planted
close, are effective either in masses or
lines. To ensure strong plants for
winter borders or beds, seed should be
sown about May, as the plant is a
biennial. When in bloom it makes a
striking border plant, the flowers being
large and orange-red. G. Fischeri is
a handsome plant ; its snow-white
woolly foliage is very telling, and its
blossom is of an unusual flame colour.
G. corniculatum is similar, but not so
handsome. Both require the same
treatment as G. luteum.

GLOBULARIA (Globe Daisy}.—
Interesting and dwarf alpine plants,
good on the rock garden in light and
peaty soils. G. Alypum is among the
best ; it inhabits dry rocks. Other
kinds are G. cordifolia, G. nana, G.
nudicaulis, and G. trichosantha. All
are blue flowered.

GOODYERA (Rattlesnake Plantain).
— A beautiful little Orchid, G. pubes-
cens having leaves close to the ground,
delicately veined with silver ; hardy,
distinct, and charming, though its
flowers are not showy. It has long
been grown in botanic and choice
collections, thriving in a shady posi-
tion such as may be found in a good
rock garden, in moist peaty soil, with
here and there a soft sandstone for its
roots to run among. G. repens and
Menziesi are less desirable and much
rarer. N. America.

GORDONIA. — Handsome flowering
shrubs allied to Camellia, rare in gar-
dens, and in the case of G. pubescens,
extinct as a wild tree. Most of the
species are tender shrubs from Asia,
but two fairly hardy kinds will grow
in warm and sheltered places of the
south, and near the coast. These
come from the " Pine Barrens " of
Virginia and Florida, a region of sandy
peat-bogs made beautiful by dense
thickets of Gordonia Lasianthus in
every stage of growth, from that of a
low shrub to trees of 70 feet or more.
The long black roots run out just
beneath the thin peaty layers, and the
ground being covered deep with moss,
it remains moist and cool during the
hottest summer. G. pubescens grew
under similar conditions on the banks
of the Altamaha River in Georgia, but
only two or three plants were ever
found, and it seems long since to have
disappeared altogether, those to be
found in gardens having all come from
one tree. They should therefore stand
in sunny and sheltered spots, with a

constantly moist soil of sandy peat or
leaf-mould, and at the same time per-
fect drainage. I may, however, say
that I have never seen Gordonia in
flower but once, in a park in Phila-
delphia many years ago, and I doubt
very much if any of them be hardy in
this country.

G. GRANDIS, a tender kind with creamy-
white flowers and glossy leaves, is grown
upon walls in a few of the warmest gardens
of Cornwall, but it is really a greenhouse
plant.

G. LASIANTHUS (Loblolly Bay) with us
rarely exceeds 10 or 12 feet, growing as a
shapely pyramid, with glossy dark green
leaves almost evergreen in a mild winter.
Before falling they take golden, crimson,
and purple tints, which are charming in
mid-winter after such tints have mostly
disappeared. The fragrant white flowers
come in succession from July to Septem-
ber, their broad-cupped petals set off by
golden stamens.

G. PUBESCENS is similar in general effect,
but loses its leaves in winter and is
smaller, hardly exceeding a low shrub
with us. It may be known by its thinner
leaves coated underneath with a pale
down, the shorter stems of its hairy
flowers, and the thin smooth bark of
the stems. The flowers are larger and
less fragrant than in G. • Lasianthus,
3 inches or more across ; in the States
they come early in August, but with us
not much before September, and begin-
ning late they are less abundant. The
leaves turn a fine scarlet in autumn.
While somewhat hardier than the Lob-
lolly Bay, it is perhaps more difficult
to manage in other ways.

GRAMMANTHES. — A pretty half-
hardy annual, G. gentianoides being a
capital plant for the dry parts of a
rock garden, about 2 inches high,
forming a dense tuft, with fleshy leaves
about | inch long, and many flowers
about f inch across ; orange when
first expanded, with a distinct V-shaped
mark at the base of each petal, but
finally assuming a deep red. Seeds
should be sown in heat in February
and March, and the seedlings planted
out in May. Stonecrop family. S.
Africa.

GREVILLEA. — Australian shrubs,
generally grown in the greenhouse,
but a few are quite hardy enough for
wall culture ; and G. sulphur ea, the
hardiest in cultivation, lives against
walls about London. Its pale yellow
flowers, of curious shape, as in all
Grevilleas, come throughout the sum-
mer. G. , rosmarinifolia is another
hardy kind with Rosemary-like leaves

488 GRISELINIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

GUNNER A.

and clusters of red flowers. The
Grevilleas do best against a warm
wall in a sheltered situation.

GRISELINIA.— There are certain
exposed spots in our shore gardens
where even the toughest of shrubs are
apt to fail, and in this little group we
have the best of all plants for such a
position, thriving in any soil, and sea-
wind proof. The greenish flowers are
insignificant, and the fruits, like clus-
ters of small Ivy berries, are seldom
seen in this country, but the fleshy
leaves are so unlike any others that
these are among the most distinct of
evergreens. Of compact and fairly
rapid growth, they make dense bushes
of 6 to i o feet, freely branched to the
ground, and of so good a shape that
they may be almost left alone. Hardy
as they are far into the north and near
the sea, the Griselinias fail inland, save
in quite the waimest places, and are
tender round London even upon shel-
tered walls. The glossy leaves are
always attractive and seldom attacked
by insects, and, when safe from frost,
the shoots will cover a wall where
even Ivy fails. There are two species,
both from New Zealand : —

G. LITTORALIS. — Reaches a height of
30 feet, with wedge-shaped leaves, greyish
beneath, where the veins show very faintly.
The appearance of the sexes (which are
apart) is very different, the male plant
bearing small oval leaves of dark green,
with an erect habit, and the female much
larger and broader leaves of yellow-green,
and of a more diffuse habit.

G. LUCID A. — Has very glossy pale green
leaves, which are most unevenly divided
by the mid-rib. It is of smaller growth
than littoralis, reaching only 10 to 12 feet,
with leaves more fleshy and the veins very
distinct on the under side. G. macro-
phylla is a robust natural form of this,
with much larger bright green leaves, so
thick as to be almost succulent. This
makes a handsome buslry tree of 20 to
25 feet in the gardens of Devon and
Cornwall.

GUEVINA AVELLANA (Chilian
Nut). — An evergreen tree of about
30 feet in its native land, and here
confined to favoured gardens in Devon
and Cornwall, the finest specimen in
Britain being probably at Greenway
on the River Dart, where it flowers
and fruits freely. The blossoms, at
their best in September, are carried
as erect spikes of about 4 inches, each
spike holding about a score of small
ivory - white flowers with reflexing

petals and protruding stamens. Al-
though freely borne, they are not at
all showy, the feature of the tree being
its fruits, over 2 inches in circumfer-
ence, which become red and eventually
purple. They contain Almond - like
seeds of mild and somewhat oily taste,
which are eaten in Chili and Peru,
where the fleshy envelope is made a
substitute for the Pomegranate. The
foliage is very handsome, the great
leaves, often 2 feet in length, being
divided into many deep green leaflets.
Increase by layers and by seeds —
which, however, do not germinate
freely.

G U N N E R A (Prickly Rhubarb).—
S. American plants remarkable for
large and handsome foliage. They are
hardy if slightly protected during the
winter by a layer of dry leaves placed
among the stems. Given any diversity
of surface it will be easy to select a
spot well open to the sun and yet
sheltered by shrubs. A large hole,
about 6 by 4 feet deep, should be dug
out, a good layer of drainage material
put at the bottom, and the hole filled
with a rich compost of loam and
manure. In summer the plants ought
to have plenty of water, and a ridge
of turf should be placed round them,
to compel the water to sink down about
their roots. They should also have a
mulching of well-rotted manure eaily
in every spring. They thrive on the
margins of ponds where their roots can
penetrate the moist soil, and if judici-
ously placed in such a position, they
have a fine effect. Though the two
kinds G. scabra and G. manicata greatly
resemble each other, the leaves of
G. manicata are more kidney-shaped
and attain a much larger size, often
measuring 4 to 6 feet across. The
spikes of fruit are also much longer,
and the secondary spikes are long and
flexuose, whereas in G. scabra they are
short and stiff. Propagated by seed
or division of established plants.

G. MANICATA. — Writing from Trelissick,
Truro, Mr W. Sangwin says : "It never
attains the extraordinary dimensions it is
capable of, unless planted in deep, rich
soil, with its roots in the water by the side
of a pond or stream. Our plant covers a
space fully 30 feet across, and consists of
from twenty-five to thirty leaves, some of
them over 9 feet in diameter, upon clear
stems 8 feet high. The crowns are as
large as a man's body, of a delicate pink
colour. Flower spikes are produced freely,
and should be cut as soon as seen, or
they will check the growth of the leaves.

GYNERIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GYPSOPHILA. 489

When they die down in autumn, the leaves
should be placed loosely over the crowns,
with their stems on top to prevent them
being blown away by the wind." These
plants had attraction, and I never planted
them, as they did not seem to be quite at
home in an English garden.

GYNERIUM (Pampas Grass).— This
noble grass, G. argenteum, 6 to 14 feet
high, according to soil or district, is
most precious for our gardens, but in
many districts suffers from our severe
winters, and we seldom now see the
fine plants of it that were not uncom-
mon soon after its introduction. Some
varieties are better in habit than others,

stems, each bearing an immense loose
panicle of long filamentous silvery
flowers, of a rosy tint with silvery
sheen. It is a native of Ecuador, and
is earlier in bloom than G. argenteum.
The sexes are borne on separate plants
in all the species, and the plumes of
male flowers are neither so handsome
nor so durable as the plumes of female
flowers. Syn. Cortaderia.

GYPSOPHILA. — Plants of the
Stitchwort family, the larger kinds
usually very elegant, and bearing
myriads of tiny white blossoms on
slender spreading panicles. One of the

A Gunnera in an English Garden.

and flower earlier, and it would be
better to patiently divide such than to
trust to seedlings. There are various
interesting varieties ; Rendatleri, a
roseate form, is very free. No plant
better repays a thorough preparation,
and we rarely see such fine specimens
as in quiet nooks where it is sheltered
by the surrounding vegetation. It
should be planted about the beginning
of April in deep open soil mulched with
rotten manure, and watered copiously
in hot dry weather. G. jubatum is
very well spoken of, but as yet has not
been tried much except in favoured
spots. The leaves resemble those of
G. argenteum, but are of deeper green,
and droop elegantly at the extremities.
From the centre of the tuft, and exceed-
ing it by 2 or 3 feet, arise numerous

best is G. paniculata, which forms a
dense compact bush, 3 feet or more
high, the numerous flowers small white,
on thread-like stalks on much-branched
stems, with the light, airy effect of
certain grasses, and very useful for
cutting. It thrives in any soil, and is
suitable for borders and for natural-
isation. There is a double variety.
G. acutifolia, altissima, fastigiata,
glauca, mangini, perfoliata, Rokejeka,
Steveni, transylvania are very similar.
G. pro strata is a pretty species for the
rock garden or the mixed border. It
grows in spreading masses, and from
midsummer to September has loose
graceful panicles of small white or
pink flowers on slender stems. Divi-
sion, seeds, or cuttings in spring. G.
repens rosea is a pretty dwarf rock plant,

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

MALESIA.

thriving also in borders ; flowering
long in summer and autumn, and with
foliage of a pleasant glaucous colour. G.
elegans is a graceful feathery annual
much used for bouquets.

Gypsophila cerastioidcs.

HABENARIA (Rein Orchis).— Ter-
restrial Orchids from N. America, i to
2 feet high, some of which are pretty.
For outdoor culture, a partially-shaded
spot should be prepared with about
equal parts of leaf-mould or peat and
sand, and well mulched with leaves,
grass, or other material, to keep it
moist. H. blephariglottis bears in July
spikes of white flowers beautifully
fringed. H . ciliaris has bright orange-
yellow flowers with a conspicuous
fringe, which appear from July to
September. H. fimbriata has a long
spike of lilac-purple flowers beautifully
fringed. H. psy codes bears spikes
4 to 10 inches long of handsome and
fragrant purple flowers. They are
charming plants for the bog garden.

HABERLEA.— H. rhodopensis is a
pretty little rock plant with flowers
resembling a Gloxinia in miniature,
forming dense tufts of leaves, every
rosette bearing in spring one to five
slender flower-stalks, each with two to
four blossoms, nearly i inch long, of
a bluish-lilac colour with a yellowish
throat. The typical species is a shy
bloomer. Quite the best of the
coloured forms is that known as
Ferdinandi Coburgii, the flowers being
much larger and more freely produced.
Imported examples show considerable
variety, both in habit and flower — the
outcome, as it would appear, of natural
crosses. A choice and rare sort is the
pure white-flowered H. virginalis. In
cultivation, all the Haberleas are happy
in cool shaded places between rocks in

deep sandy loam, or with peat added.
Dryness they abhor. Flowers in May
and June. Best increased by seeds,
sown as soon as ripe. Native of the
Balkan Mountains, where they are
found among moss and leaves on damp,
shady, steep declivities at high eleva-
tions.

HABRANTHUS,— A brilliant bulb
of the Amaryllis family, hardy, at least
in the southern and eastern parts of
the country. H. pratensis has stout
and erect flower-stems, about i foot
high, and the brightest scarlet flowers,
feathered here and there at the base
with yellow. The variety fulgens is
the finest form. It blooms freely in
the open border of the Rev. Mr Nelson's
garden at Aldborough, in Norfolk,
flowering at the end of May or begin-
ning of June. It grows very freely in
strong loam improved by the addition
of a little leaf-mould and sand. Its
propagation is too easy, for in many
soils it is said to split up into offsets
instead of growing to a flowering size.
A choice plant for the select bulb
garden or rock garden, but dies out in
heavy soil, thriving in calcareous soils.
Chili.

HALESIA (Snowdrop Tree}.— Beau-
tiful N. American trees, hardy in this
country. The commonest is H. tetrap-
tera, one of the prettiest of flower-
ing trees. It grows in England from
20 to 30 feet high, has a rounded head,
with sharply-toothed leaves, in May
bearing many white blossoms, in form
like the Snowdrop, hence its popular
name. It is of moderately rapid
growth, and flourishes in any good,
free soil. In some parts it ripens its
seed. A similar species, distinguished
in having but two wings to the seed-
vessel (tetraptera having four), is H.
diptera, of smaller growth, and not such
a suitable tree for this climate ; neither
is H. parviflora, which, like the others,
has small bell-like flowers.

The Snowdrop Tree is very slow, and
grows and flowers badly on heavy,
cold soils ; on free, sandy loams it
grows freely and flowers abundantly,
and in that case is the most beautiful
of flowering trees. There are several
varieties of the common Snowdrop
Tree — Meehani and Icsvigata and parvi-
flora— as yet rare in gardens though
deserving a place.

H. HISPID A. — The best examples of the
tree I know of are in the neighbourhood of
Cork and Queenstown, but mild climatic

. THE EtfGLlSH FLOWER GARDEN.

HEDERA. 491

conditions such as they exist, under there
are not essential to their well-being. The
pure white fragrant flowers open in June
and July on pendulous panicles, 6 to 9
inches long, that hang in a row beneath
the branches, one from each joint. The
curious fruits are spindle-shaped and
covered with pale brown hairs. This tree,
a native of Japan and China, is sometimes
called Pterostyrax hispidum, and is, indeed,
very distinct from the N. American
Halesias of which the Snowdrop Tree is
so well known a representative.

H. TETRAPTERA, VAR. MONTICOLA.

This grows at low altitudes, and does not
appear to ascend to the slopes of the high
Appalachian mountains, although the
Halesia of those mountain forests was
long considered identical with the lowland
tree. The Halesia of the high slopes,
however, is a tree often 80 or 90 feet high,
with a trunk 3 feet in diameter, sometimes
free of branches for a distance of 60 feet
from the ground. Young trees are clean
stemmed with short branches, which form
a narrow pyramidal head. The leaves are
of rather different shape and less hairy
than those of the lowland tree ; the
flowers are fully a third larger, and the
fruit is nearly twice as large. Trees less
than 10 feet high produce flowers and fruit
freely. There is now every reason to
believe that the mountain Halesia will
prove one of the handsomest flowering
trees of large size which it is possible to
cultivate in this climate. Its tall trunk
and narrow head suggest that it may prove
a good street and roadside tree. — Arnold
Arboretum Bulletin.

HALIMONDENDRON (Salt Tree}.—
H. argenteum is a small shrub belong-
ing to the Pea family, with elegant
leaves, silky and whitish, the flowers
purplish in early summer ; a native
of Asiatic Russia, it is hardy, grows
from 5 to 6 feet high, and sometimes
is grafted on to the tall stems of
the Laburnum.

HAMAMELIS (Witch Hazel}.—
Hardy shrub with singular blossoms
flowering in winter. They have a
peculiar value as winter - flowering
shrubs, and several are worth planting
in all good gardens. H. arbor ea, or
Tree Witch Hazel, does not rise
generally above 8 feet high. In Janu-
ary, and sometimes before, its leafless
branches are covered with flowers,
which have twisted, bright yellow
petals and crimson calyces, so that a
well-flowered plant is very pretty. It
is a hardy Japanese shrub, and thrives
in most kinds of soil, but must have
an open situation. Another Japanese
species is H . japonica, a smaller and

dwarfer plant than H. arborea, and
bearing flowers of a lighter yellow
colour, while that called H. zuc-
cariniana is very similar to it. Though
not so showy when in flower as the
Japanese species, it is a pretty shrub,
and like the others, thrives in any soil.

H. MOLLIS. — The best kind so far. It
is hardy in England and grows freely. It
differs from the other kinds in its much
larger leaves, 5 inches long by 3 inches
wide, of a distinct shape, and covered on
the under side with a dense felt-like
coating of hairs (hence the name). Its
flowers resemble those of the Japanese
kinds, but the yellow petals are somewhat
larger and less waved. The flowers are
the brightest of all the forms in colour.

H. VIRGINICA. — The Virginian Witch
Hazel, is really a beautiful hardy tree,
and charming in October even in poor stiff
soil.

HEBENSTRETIA. — Interesting little
plants allied to the Sage family, mainly
suitable for botanical collections.

H. COMOSA. — A recent introduction
from S. Africa, has curiously formed small
white flowers, which are disposed in a long
slender spike, and the bright orange-scarlet
blotches make them interesting when
closely examined. It succeeds well as a
half-hardy annual, sown outdoors in April.
Height, 1 8 inches. It is fragrant in the
evening.

HEDERA (Ivy). — H. helix is the
most beautiful evergreen climber of our
northern and temperate world, and is
a noble garden plant that may be
used in many 'ways. The common
Ivy of the woods is familiar to all,
but its many beautiful varieties are
not so often seen. All are not of the
same vigorous habit, as will easily be
seen by cultivating a collection ; but
the rich, self, green-leaved kinds are
usually as free and as hardy as the
wild plant. Although there are many
varieties, there are only two accepted
species — the Australian, that is con-
fined to the continent of Australia ;
and Hedera helix, which is found wild
in the British Isles, and spreads over
Europe, reaching into N. Africa
and C. Asia. It is under our
English Ivy that the large number of
forms in cultivation are classed.
Although there are only two species,
we can classify the Ivies in several
groups, after the variation in the
leaves. If we want Ivies in their
fullest beauty, it is necessary to pay
some attention to position, soil, and
training. This applies to all kinds,
but especially to the more delicate

492

HEDERA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

HEDERA.

varieties. Ordinary garden soil will
grow the Ivy well, and the strong
growers will thrive in ordinary soil.
It is better to plant choice kinds as
edgings to a bed of shrubs, or permit
them to clamber over a root-stump,
arbour, or form a pyramid of them,
where they will be less exposed to the
full force of wind than if they were
stiffly trained on walls. The spring
months are the most suitable for

IVY AS A DESTROYER. — There is
hardly an old ruin in England or in
N. France that does not bear evidence
of Ivy being the most destructive of
plants. If put on houses it seeds itself
in the most insidious way in places
where it is not wanted at all ; on walls
even. Still, as the most graceful of
hardy climbers of the Western world,
there must be some place found for it
where it cannot ruin ; but never on

Pyramid of large-leaved Ivy, 7 feet high.

planting Ivy, but it may be planted
any time. A word should be said for
Tree Ivies, which make fine bushes in
the garden, and may be associated with
other shrubs in beds. Healthy plants
make dense rounded heads of foliage,
relieved during the blooming season
with many flowers. By far the most
important Ivies, however, are the
green-leaved forms — many, various,
and nearly all beautiful in form.
Whatever kinds among these we may
prefer, a fuller and more graceful use
oi the Ivy in or near the flower garden
and its surroundings is desirable.

any house, castle, or cottage should it
be planted — not even on a shed. It
grows when we are asleep, and gets
its fungus under tiles and walls, and
tears off roofs. If we want a climber
on the house, there are better things
than Ivy as regards flower which will
do no harm (Rose Vine and Clematis).
There are still many places where Ivy
can do no harm, and is very charming
on trees — I never cut it off trees — rocks
and river banks, shelters, bowers in
the pleasure garden, when these have
strong iron supports, and often as
screens on strong trellis-work, pyra-

HEDYCHIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HELIANTHUS. 493

mids also, and anywhere so long as it
is away from any kind of building.

HEDYCHIUM. — Tall and graceful
tropical plants. H. Gardnerianum,
though usually grown in the green-
house, will flower out of doors, and
live through an ordinary winter with
a little protection. 'It should be
planted out in May, in a loose, sandy
loam, and in a warm sheltered spot.
A heap of cinders or half-rotten leaves
laid over the crowns in winter will
ensure their safety ; or the roots may
be lifted in autumn and wintered in any
dry cellar. It is increased by dividing
the roots in spring.

HEDYSARUM (French Honey-
suckle}.— Plants of the Pea order,
mostly weedy, only a few perennials
being ornamental. H. coronarium is
a showy plant, 3 or 4 feet high, bearing
in summer dense spikes of red flowers.
It grows in any ordinary soil, but is
not a perennial, though it usually sows
itself where it is established. There is
a white variety. Among the dwarfer
kinds the following is desirable : H.
obscurum, a brilliant and compact
perennial ; 6 to 12 inches high, with
racemes of showy purple flowers. It
is suitable for the rock garden, for
borders, and for naturalisation amongst
vegetation not more than i foot high,
chiefly on banks and slopes in sandy
loam, and is increased by division or
seed.

HELENIUM (Sneeze-weed}. — Vigor-
ous and showy plants, flowering in
autumn, and thriving in any soil,
and, where rightly used, excellent
plants. There are two or three
species, the most useful being H.
autumnale, about 6 feet high, bear-
ing yellow flower-heads. The varieties
grandiceps and pumilum are very dis-
tinct : grandiceps being of gigantic
growth with a fasciated head of bloom,
which makes it very showy ; pumilum
being much dwarfer and better than the
type. The variety magnificum is the
best. H. atro-purpureum grows 3 or 4
feet high, and has reddish-brown flower-
heads. H. Hoopesi flowers in early
summer, but is a rather coarse grower,
with large orange-yellow flowers. The
best modern varieties are H . autumnale
rubrum, H. a. superbum, and H. a.
Riverton Gem, which, producing great
masses of crimson and yellow flowers,
grows 5 to 6 feet high. All are very
useful for cutting, and remain & long
time fresh. N. America.

HELIANTHEMUM (Sun Rose}.—
There are few more brilliant sights than
masses of these when in full beauty,
and they are of the easiest culture,
dwarf, and bearing in great profusion
flowers with fine diversity of colour.
The common Sun Rose (H. vulgare} is
variable in colour, and from it have
sprung the many varieties. The
colours range from white and yellow
to deep crimson. There are also
double-flowered kinds and one with
variegated foliage. Other pretty,
dwarf, shrubby species, similar to H.
vulgare, are H. rosmarinifolium, philo-
sum, and croceum. There is also a
herbaceous perennial species. H,
Tuberaria (Truffle Sun Rose), which
in aspect differs from the shrubby
species, and is second to none in beauty.
It grows 6 to 12 inches high, with
flowers 2 inches across, resembling a
single yellow Rose, with dark centre,
and drooping when in bud. It is
suited for warm ledges on the rock
garden in well-drained sandy or cal-
careous soil. It is propagated by
either seed or division. If a full collec-
tion is required there are other species,
but the above fairly represent the
beauty of the family. The shrubby
kinds are easily increased in July and
August if young shoots are used as
cuttings.

HELIANTHUS (Sunflower}.— Usually
stout, vigorous, and showy plants,
abounding in N. America, of which not
a few have found their way into
English gardens. All the perennials
are vigorous growers, and generally
attain a great height, being most
precious for the autumnal garden
when well placed. Sunflowers may be
cultivated with the greatest ease ;
they are gross feeders, and the richer
the soil the better the result. All are
benefited by periodical division and
replanting in spring.

H. DECAPETALUS. — One of the best
species in the whole genus as a background
to mixed borders, or as a feature in open
shrubberies. It forms large, bushy plants
4 to 6 feet in height, with strong, much-
branched stems, rough on the upper
half and usually quite smooth on the
lower.

H. GIGANTEUS. — A very tall, elegant
plant. The stems often exceed 10 to
12 feet high, the leaves narrow, tapering
to both ends ; the flowers deep yellow,
2 to 3 inches in diameter. It is one of
the latest to flower, and has been found
variable under cultivation, giving rise to
several garden names. Moist ground. N.
America. ,

494 HKLIANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HELICHRYSUM.

H. MULTIFLORUS. — It is so very distinct
from all the other species so well known
in gardens, and such a good all-round
plant, that it well deserves a place. It
rarely exceeds 3 to 5 feet in height, pro-
ducing numerous large fine rich yellow
flowers, remaining a considerable time in
good form. The var. maximus has larger

Double Perennial Sunflower.

flowers with more pointed rays, and the
varieties plenus and Soleil d'Or are both
very desirable double-flowered forms.
From the garden standpoint, the varieties
of H. multiflorus rank high, and should be
grown by all.

H. ORGYALIS, though a small-flowered
plant, is yet one of the best for the pic-
turesque garden. It is one of the late-
flowering species, and is often damaged
by early frosts. It grows from 6 to 10 feet
high, having numerous linear leaves and
bunches of deep golden-yellow flowers.
It is a native of dry plains of Nebraska
and Texas.

H. RIGIDUS (Primrose Sunflower). — This
distinct, though variable, species is per-
haps the best known of all the Perennial
Sunflowers. It grows from 4 to 5 feet in
height, with a rough stem, the upper
leaves always alternate, distinctly three-
nerved and veined. The flowers, bright
yellow and very showy, are produced very
freely. It is a native of the plains and
prairies of Georgia and Texas. H. r. Miss
Mellish is one of the best varieties.

H. SPARSIFOLIUS. — A giant among per-
ennial kinds, and a late-flowering sort to
boot. Flowers golden-yellow. October-
November.

H. TOMENTOSUS. — A beautiful and dis-
tinct species of bushy habit, having silvery
downy foliage. The golden-orange flowers
are produced freely in September. Height,
4 feet.

The larger kinds of annual Sun-
flowers are noble plants, requiring
plenty of space, a sheltered position,
and a good background. They are
easily raised from seed, which may be
sown in pans in early March or in the
open air in April, where they are
intended to flower, and thinned out to
a yard apart.

H. ANNUUS (Common Sunflower). —
Although often regarded only as a cot-
tagers' flower, the Annual Sunflower is
one of the noblest plants we have, and
one of the most effective for various
positions. In order to dispense with
support, it should be planted in a sheltered
place, as among tall shrubs. Here it
assumes a dense branching tree-like habit,
and often produces flowers each over a
foot in diameter. It requires a strong
rich soil. There are many varieties, the
most notable being one called calif ornicus,
a more robust and darker-flowered form.
H. Dammanni and H. D. var. sulphureus
are said to be garden hybrids between
H. argophyllus and H. annuus. H.
cucumerifolius , the Miniature Sunflower,
is a good annual, growing from 2 to 3 feet
high, usually with purple mottling on the
stems, the leaves thin, and bright apple-
green. The stems are much branched,
and when allowed plenty of room the
plants form perfect symmetrical speci-
mens. The flowers are yellow, about

3 inches in diameter, nicely set off with
the almost black disc. Sandy soils in
woods from Texas westwards.

H. EXILIS. — A very slender species,
rarely more than a couple of feet in height,
with lance-shaped leaves and yellow
flowers, about 2 inches in diameter. N.
California.

H. PETIOLARIS. — A fine kind rarely seen
in gardens, though from its neat habit and
profusion of flowers it should be a welcome
addition to the mixed border. It grows
about a yard high, loosely branched, the
stem as well as the leaves being covered
with stiff hairs ; flowers yellow, 3 to

4 inches in diameter. The variety cartes-
cens is covered with white pubescence.
Texas.

H. SCABERRIMUS. — A very distinct
plant with large deep yellow flowers, stout
branching stems, and broad, oval, coarsely-
toothed leaves. California.

HELICHRYSUM (Everlasting
Flower}. — Composites, mostly natives
of the Cape of Good Hope, of which a
few arje cultivated. The most impor-
tant garden plants are H. macranthum

HELIOPHILA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HELLEBORUS. 495

and H . bmcteatum. They are generally
treated as annuals, and, unless excep-
tionally well managed by being sown
early under glass, they commence
flowering so late that the best period
for laying on the brightest colours is
lost, and early frosts find them just
approaching their best. They are
particularly suited for background
plants on dry borders. If they are
sown in pans or boxes where they can
be slightly protected during winter,
and are planted out early in April,
they have a chance of producing a
good crop of flowers for drying. The
colours vary from deep crimson to
yellow and white. The hardy peren-
nials are not important, and seldom
succeed. H . orientale, which furnishes
the Immortelle of the French, flowers
poorly except in very hot seasons.
Hardy kinds worth growing are H.
arenarium, flowers bright yellow ; H.
bellidioides, mats of grey - green
studded in May with white flowers ;
H . frigidum, a tiny grey plant with
white flowers ; and H. rupestra, whose
silvery foliage is usually retained
during winter.

HELIOPHILA.— Small and pretty
Calif ornian annuals. H. araboides is a
pretty blue plant, of which occasional
use might be made, being dwarf, and
free in growth and flower. Another
kind is H. pilosa.

HELIOTROPIUM (Cherry Pie}.— A
great favourite for flower gardens on
account of its delicate fragrance. For
the flower garden spring-struck plants
are the best. It is a good plan to
take root cuttings in August or Sep-
tember, winter them in a greenhouse,
and in spring to put them in a warm
place, where they will soon produce
plenty of cuttings. These cuttings
may be struck on slight heat like
Verbenas, potted on, made to grow
rapidly, so as to be fit to plant out at
the end of May when danger of frost
is past. Heliotropes may be raised
from seed and flowered the same year ;
in fact, treated as annuals. Sown
early — in February or the beginning
of March — they become sturdy little
plants before planting time. When
bedded out they should be placed
in good dry soil. The following are
good varieties, and new varieties are
raised from time to time : Anna Tur-
rell, General Garfield, Roi des Noirs,
Triomphe de Liege, and the old
H. peruvianum, which many like from
its associations, if for no other reason.

Heliotropes, though quiet in colour,
are charming flower garden plants,
either when grown for their own sakes
as simple masses or when associated
with tall plants which grow above
them. In cold soils and upland dis-
tricts they are very slow at starting if
not brought on and hardened off before
being planted out in early June, and
even then the growth is very slow, and
the plant does much better in valley
soils and sheltered gardens.

HELIPTERUM.— H. Sandfordi is a
pretty, bright yellow, half-hardy annual
" everlasting," of dwarf, branched
habit of growth. Its merits are not
remarkable, and the short season of
bloom of spring - raised everlasting
annuals leads to a poor result.

HELLEBORUS (Christmas Rose). —
One of the most valuable classes of
hardy perennials we have, as they
flower in the open air when there is
little else in bloom. They appear in
succession from October till April,
beginning with the Christmas Rose
(H. niger), and ending with the hand-
some crimson kinds. The old white
Christmas Rose is well known and much
admired, but the handsome kinds with
coloured flowers have, hitherto, not
been much known. Recently, too,
some really beautiful hybrids have
added a great deal of beauty to our
winter and spring garden, for their
flowers withstand the winter, and their
verdure and the vigorous growth of
their leaves distinguish them through-
out the year.

The Hellebores, besides being excel-
lent border flowers, are suited for
naturalising. There are a few kinds —
those with inconspicuous flowers, but
handsome foliage — whose only place
is the wild garden, such as the native
H. fcetidus, H. lividus, viridus, and
H. Bocconi, which have elegant foliage
when well developed in a shady place
in rich soil, like that usually found in
woods. The Hellebores may be classed
in three groups, according to the colour
of the flowers — white, red, or green,
which last will get little place in the
garden. The white-flowered group is
the most important, as it contains the
beautiful old Christmas Rose.

H. niger is a well-known kind, scarcely
needing description. It may be recog-
nised at once by its pale green
smooth leathery leaves, divided into
seven or nine segments, 3 to 6 inches
long and .1 to 2 inches broad. The
flowers, which are usually borne singly

496 HELLEBORUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HELLEBORUS.

on stems 6 inches long, are about 3
inches across, and vary from a waxy-
white to a delicate blush tint. The
variety minor is smaller in every part,
and is also known as H. angustifolius.
H. altifolius, though sometimes con-
sidered a variety of H. niger, is a
distinct kind, and much larger than
H. niger. It has leaf -stalks over i foot
long, and blossoms 3 to 5 inches across,

much earlier — in some seasons in the
beginning of October. The Riverston,
St Brigids, Mme. Fourcade and Bath
varieties are all good.

Other white kinds are H. olympicus
— a tall slender species with cup-shaped
blossoms that appear in early spring
and vary from pure white to greenish-
white. H. guttatus is like it, but has
the inside of the blossoms spotted with

Christmas Rose.

which are borne on branching stems,
each stem bearing from two to seven
flowers, which have a stronger ten-
dency to assume a rosy hue than the
ordinary kind. Another characteristic
is that the leaf and flower-stems are
beautifully mottled with purple and
green, while in H. niger they are of
a pale green. H . altifolius also flowers

purple. There are several forms ; in
some the markings assume the form
of small dots, in others of thin streaks.
It is one of the parents of the many
beautiful hybrids.

The finest of the red or crimson kinds
is H. colchicus, which is larger than any
other, and may be readily recognised
by its thick, dark green leaves, with

kELLEBORus. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HELONIAS.

497

five to seven broad and coarsely-
toothed divisions, the veins of which
are raised on the under sides and are
of a dark purple when young. The
blossoms, borne on forked stems
rising considerably above the foliage,
are dark purple. Under good cultiva-
tion the leaves attain the length of
i \ and 2 feet, forming fine specimens,
and flowers are produced from the end
of January to the end of March. A
fine hybrid has been obtained by
crossing it with H . guttatus, the result
being a form with large spreading
flower slighter than in H. colchicus, and
profusely marked with dark carmine
streaks. Another hybrid between this
and H. altifolius resulted in a form
with larger flowers of a lighter purple.
H. atro-nibens has leaves much thinner
and flowers much smaller than H.
colchicus, the latter dull purple on the
outside and greenish - purple within.
It is a native of Hungary, and is
common in gardens, but is often con-
fused with H. abchasicus, a taller and
more slender plant, the flower-stems
of which are longer, and the blossoms
nodding and smaller. H. abchasicus
is much superior to atro-rubens, the
colour of the blossoms — a deep ruby-
crimson — making them very attractive.
Other fine varieties of the red-flowered
group are Gretchen Heinemann, James
Atkins, and Apotheker Bogren, all
worthy of culture. Other reddish
kinds, such as H . purpurascens and
H. cupreus, are not worth growing.

All the kinds will thrive in ordin-
ary garden soil, but for the choicer
kinds a prepared soil is preferable.
This should consist of equal parts
of good fibry loam and well-decom-
posed manure, half fibry peat, and
half coarse sand. Thorough drainage
should always be given, as stagnant
moisture is very injurious. A moist
and sheltered situation, where they
will obtain partial shade, such as the
margins of shrubberies, is best, but
care should be taken to keep the roots
of shrubs from exhausting the border.
In the flowering season a thin mulching
of moss or similar material should be
placed on the soil round the plants,
as this prevents the blossoms from
being spattered by heavy rains, etc.
Any one beginning to grow these
useful plants should give the soil a
good preparation. If well trenched
and manured, they will not require
replanting for at least seven years ;
but a top-dressing of well-decayed
manure and a little liquid manure

might be given during the growing
season when the plants are making
their foliage, as upon the size and
substance of the leaves will depend the
size of the flowers. The common white
Christmas Rose is a favourite pot-plant,
and if required for potting its foliage
should be protected from injury ;
when the blooming season is over it
should be protected by a frame until
genial weather permits it to be plunged
in the open air. Hardy subjects like
the Christmas Rose frequently suffer
when removed from under glass, for
although hardy enough to withstand
our severest winters when continually
exposed, their growth, when made
under more exciting circumstances, will
not withstand sudden variations of
temperature. For this reason it is
advisable to keep them in as cool a
position as possible when in flower, so
that the growth of young foliage may
not be excited before its natural
season.

Propagation may be effected by
division or by seeds, which, in favour-
able seasons, are plentiful ; as soon
as thoroughly ripened they should be
sown in pans under glass, for they soon
lose their vitality. As soon as the
seedlings are large enough they should
be pricked off thickly into a shady
border, in a light rich soil ; the second
year they should be transplanted to
their permanent place, and in the
third season most of them will bloom.
In division the clumps must be well
established, with root -stocks large
enough to cut up. The divided plants,
if placed in a bed of good light soil,
and undisturbed, will be good flowering
plants in a couple of years, but four
years are required to bring a Christ-
mas Rose to perfection. The best
time for dividing and planting is Sep-
tember and October, the earlier the
better, though the season might be
extended to February with compara-
tive impunity. Christmas Roses
should never be transplanted in big
clumps intact — nothing is more fatal
to success. Well-rooted divisions of
three to five crowns apiece are amply
large, and soon take to the new con-
ditions.

HELONIAS (Stud Flower}. — A dis-
tinct and handsome bog perennial,
H. bullata being 12 to 16 inches high,
with handsome purplish-rose flowers
in an oval spike. It is suitable for the
bog garden or for moist ground near a
rivulet. In fine sandy and very moist

498 HELONIOPSIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HEMEROCALLIS.

soil it thrives as a border plant. N.
America. Syn. H. latifolia.

HELONIOPSIS. — Dwarf perennial
plants of the Lily order, from Japan,
forming neat tufts of erect lance-shaped
leaves of a few inches high, and carry-
ing short spikes of flower in early
spring. In H. breviscapa they are
6 or 8 inches long, white with deep
lilac stamens, the whole turning a
pretty rose-red before fading. In H.
japonica the flowers are larger, but
only two or three on a stalk, their
colour a deep rose with blue anthers.
The plants thrive in moist peaty soil
and in sunny sheltered nooks ; H.
breviscapa also does well in partial
shade. Increase by division late in
summer, or seeds sown in a cold
frame.

HEMEROCALLIS (Day Lily}. — The
Day Lilies, though not numbering
many distinct species, are varied both
in habit and flower, and are very useful
in the mixed border and in groups by
the water-side. Few plants surpass a
strong, well-flowered clump of Hemero-
callis fulva, as we have seen it, mixed
with a group of male Fern near a
brook. The leaves of this Day Lily
were overhanging the banks of the
stream, intermingled with the Fern
fronds, while the flower-heads, tall and
straight, were towering upwards. If
the ground is well broken up and some
lasting manure supplied at planting
time, they maybe left undisturbed for
years. The forms of H. disticha, both
single and double, are also useful for
clumps by water, or intermixed with
other robust or bold-foliaged plants ;
indeed, there seems no reason why all
the Day Lilies could not be treated
in this picturesque way, the trouble
entailed being small, and that chiefly
at planting time only. For cutting,
H. flava, minor, and Dumortieri are
useful, the flowers lasting a few days
and the buds opening well in water.
The fragrance of these flowers is
delightful ; they are readily increased
by division, and grow with such
rapidity that in the course of a few
years they may be increased to almost
any extent.

The following are the species as they
are now recognised, with the principal
varieties : —

H. AURANTIACA MAJOR. — This is the
name given by Mr Baker, of Kew, to a new
and handsome kind from Japan, and of
which a coloured plate was given in The
Garden, 23rd November 1895. It is one

of the finest new hardy plants of recent
years, and reminds one of H. fulva (syn.
H. disticha}. The new kind has bold
leafage, a glaucous tinge overlying the
deep green body colour ; the flowers, of
a rich apricot colour, open out widely, and
are of great substance.

H. DUMORTIERI (Dumortier's Day Lily).
— This valuable kind is the first to flower
of all the Day Lilies. Coming from Japan
and W. Siberia, it is hardy in the open air,
requires no protection during winter, and
we have never known it fail to bear freely
its charming and fragrant flowers. The
blooms are shcrt-lived, but the reserves
are so numerous as to keep up the succession
for a long time. This Day Lily dwindles
in vigour of the plants and size of the
flowers if allowed to remain too long in
one place. If the plants are examined,
the centres will be found to be matted

Yellow Day Lily (Hcmerocallisjlava},

together, the stronger shoots appearing
on the outside. If the plant is divided
and replanted it will amply repay the
trouble by increased vigour and larger
flowers. It, is closely allied to H. minor,
also known as H. graminea, but it is a
much stronger plant, however, with leaves
twice as broad, the flower-stems short,

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HESPERIS. 493

and the divisions of the perianth divided
almost or entirely to their base. The
leaves are about five or six to a growth,
about 1 8 inches long and half an inch
broad, bright green above, and pale but
not glaucous on the under surface ; flower-
stem i to 2 feet in height, bearing a
corymb of large orange-yellow flowers.
H. rittilans and Sieboldi of gardens belong
to the same species.

H. FLAVA (Yellow Day Lily). — Few
plants can be grown with so little trouble
in the border, and give- such a valuable
return as this one — the flowers large and
in such quantities, emitting such an agree-
able fragrance, as to earn the name of
yellow Tuberose. The length of time the
flowers last enhances its value as a border
plant. It is hardy, and though not so
robust in habit as H. fulva, it increases
rapidly, and where the soil is good, might
be naturalised. On banks the beautiful
light green curving leaves hang gracefully,
surmounted by bunches of large yellow
heads of flower in June and July. Europe
and N. Asia. H. Thunbergi and japonica
are forms of this species.

H. FULVA (Copper-coloured Day Lily)
is a much larger plant than H. flava, and
more suitable for extensive planting in
semi- wild or rough parts of the garden.
It is variable under cultivation, and the
numerous forms now grown, many without
names, are all worthy of attention. H.
disticha is a well-known garden variety of
this species, notable for the fan-like form
of its growths. The flower- stem is forked
near the summit, and carries two or three
heads of flowers, six to eight blooms on
each, of a brown-orange colour.

H. MIDDENDORFIANA. — From Amur-
land ; in appearance resembling H.
Dumortieri; but the leaves are broader,
the flowers about the same size, closer,
and paler in colour, and with a distinct
cylindrical tube half an inch or so long.
It is of easy cultivation.

H. MINOR. — Known in many gardens
under the name of H. graminea, from its
grass-like foliage, was formerly classed by
the older botanists as a variety of H. flava,
though now considered distinct. It is the
smallest though not the least showy, and,
like flava, sweetly -scented, the flowers
lasting two or three days. It makes a
handsome plant for a rocky bank, and
even when flowers are absent the pretty
grass-like leaves are welcome. It flowers
during June and July. It is also known
under the names gramini folia and pumila.
Siberia. Aureole, Citrina, Baroni, and
Sovereign are modern hybrid sorts of
much value.

HEMIPHRAGMA.— H. heterophylla
is a dwarf trailing plant of the Figwort
family, bearing inconspicuous flowers,
succeeded by bright red berries about

the size of small peas, on slender creep-
ing stems. It is rather tender, and
requires a sheltered and well-drained
spot in the rock garden. Himalayas.

HERACLEUM (Giant Parsnip). -
Umbelliferous perennials, mostly of
gigantic growth, having huge spread-
ing leaves and tall flower-stems, with
umbelled clusters of small white
flowers i foot or more across. Though
well-developed plants of the large
kinds have a fine effect when isolated
in copse or wood, they are out of
place in the flower garden and
suitable only for the rougher parts
of pleasure grounds, the banks of
rivers or lakes, and other places where
they can grow freely without injury
to other plants. The finest are H.
giganteum, lanatum, sibiricum, eminens,
Wilhelmsi, and pubescens, all of which,
when in flower, are 5 to 10 feet high.

Of quite unique presence is the bush-
forming H. Mantegazzianum, from the
Caucasus, which attains to 6 to 7 feet
high and a diameter of 8 to 10 feet. In
flower or leaf it is the best and most
imposing. All are increased by seed.

HERNIARIA. — Dwarf perennial
trailers, forming a dense turfy mass,
green throughout the year. There are
two or three species, but the most
important is H. glabra, which has been
largely used as a carpeting plant on
account of its dwarf growth, and it is
always a deep green, even in a hot
season.

HESPERIS (Rocket}. — H. matronalis
is a popular old garden plant, and
among the most desirable of hardy
flowers. It bears showy, varied, and
fragrant flower-spikes. The original
single-flowered kind grows i to 3 feet
high, and has pinkish flowers, but the
double kinds are much more valued.
There are two distinct forms of the
double white Rocket as well as of the
double purple Rocket in cultivation.
One is a tall white, turning to a pale
flesh colour with age ; the other is the
old white variety, of dwarfer growth,
with smaller and more compact
flowers. It is met with in the north,
but is little known in the south, where
it does not flourish so well as the com-
mon variety. There is the old purple
double Rocket and a free - growing
dwarf form known as Compactness,
which has also larger and darker
flowers. Rockets require care in cul-
tivating, and will soon be lost if left
to themselves. They should be divided

. THE INGUSH FLOWER GARDEN. H£UCHERA.

at least every second year and trans-
planted, for they seem to tire of the
soil and to require more change than
most perennials. If the young shoots
are formed into cuttings when they
are about 3 inches long, they strike
very freely in the open ground, and
the spikes of bloom on the remaining
stems are all the finer when some of
the others have been removed. When
shaded from the sun for about three
weeks with a few Laurel branches,
the cuttings do better than when
covered with a pot or box, as has been
advised. They like a rich, rather moist
and strong soil, and are all the better
for repeated applications of liquid
manure if the soil is not as deep and
good as it should be. Double Rockets
really belong to the garden plants
requiring annual attention, and can-
not well be used as true perennials.
It is always worth while having a bed
of them in the reserve garden in case
the plants should be lost or neglected
in the borders. We have seen them
best grown where there was a yearly
transfer of plants from the reserve
garden to the mixed border, and the
groups look very well. The single
Rocket is easily naturalised, and is a
showy plant in woods or shrubberies.

H. TRISTIS (Night-scented Stock).— A
quaint plant with dull-coloured flowers,
sweet-scented at night. It is rather ten-
der, and requires a light warm soil and a
sheltered position.

HESPEROCfflRON.— H. pumilus, a
pretty Californian rock plant, is stem-
less, dwarf in growth, with leaves borne
on slender stalks, forming a rosulate
tuft. The flowers are bell -shaped,
£ inch across, and white, varying to a
purplish tinge. It grows in marshy
ground, and in damp places in the
Rocky Mountains and N. Utah, and
is apparently quite hardy, as it
thrives in ordinary soil in well-drained
parts of the rock garden. H. calif or-
nicus is a species of somewhat the
same form.

HETEBOMELES ARBUTIFOLIA.—

A Californian evergreen tree, thriving
in high ground in our southern
counties, also near the coast in the
north of Ireland, as at Castlewellan.

HEUCHERA (Alum Root).— A few
years ago this little group of hardy
perennials was hardly known, and had
there not been improvement under
cultivation they might well have re-

mained so, many of the wild kinds
have little to recommend them
save a graceful leaf. Even H.
sanguined, however attractive at its
best, is not a good plant, dwindling
away persistently in many gardens in
spite of rich soil and every care. By
crossing, however, seedlings have been
raised that are more tractable in the
garden and not without effect in the
border and for cutting. All are of
somewhat slow growth, requiring
shelter, a rich soil, and frequently
division, or they deteriorate. They
cannot endure drought or a poor
soil, and therefore need special care
in a dry season. All are easily raised
from seed, but the seedlings need
careful selection, their colour being
often poor. Selected plants may be
increased by division of the tufts in
October, or cuttings of the creeping
stems rooted in heat during spring.
Dwarf, tufted, perennial herbs, with
distinct and sometimes finely-coloured
leaves, and modest but inconspicuous
flowers. Of little value for their
flowers, one or two kinds give pretty
effects of foliage either as edgings to
or beneath groups of shrubs ; the best
are also worth growing for their leaves
for cutting for the house in winter,
lasting as they do fresh for weeks in
winter, the foliage being good in form
as well as colour. Among the best are
H. hispida (Richardsoni) americana,
pubescens, and sanguinea, the last the
only one with any showy bloom.
They are N. American plants of the
easiest cultivation in ordinary soil.

The following species and their
hybrids are now in cultivation : —

H. FLAMBEAU (sanguinea x zabelana}. —
A pretty garden seedling of good colour,
with numerous stems of red flowers 2 feet
high, and closely clustered as in H. zabe-
lana.

H. GRACILLIMA (micrantha x sanguinea) .
— Bears cloudy pink heads like a wreath
of mist, seen in the dim perspective of a
shady border. Leaf like that of micrantha.

H. HISPIDA. — Of no value unless for its
leaves ; marked with rich brown zones,
and turning wholly bronze and crimson
towards autumn. Being evergreen, they
are of some value for cutting, or as edgings
and tufts in the rock garden, the flowers
being removed as soon as they show. The
variety macrophylla has large leaves.
Syn. H. Richardsoni.

H. LUCIFER (brizoides x sanguinea}. —
A good and vigorous plant of 3 feet, and
a real gain, being easy to grow, with the
bronze leaf-tints of brizoides and coral-red

HIBISCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HIPPOCREPIS. 501

flowers, smaller than in that kind, very
abundant, and, like it, produced twice in
the season.

H. ROSAMUNDI (micrantha rosea x san-
guinea). — The best hybrid yet raised, with
tall branched stems of rosy flowers, inter-
mediate in size between those of gracillima
and sanguinea. It is of good constitution
and pretty for cutting.

H. SANGUINEA. — The prettiest of the
wild kinds. There are several varieties
in cultivation, but none of them show
much improvement in constitution ; they
are grandiflora robusta, with larger flowers
of a paler pink ; splendens, with larger
and darker flowers, the best of all in
colour ; rosea, also with pale flowers ; and
alba, the so-called white form, though the
flowers are only an uncertain greenish-
grey, turning pink with exposure.

HIBISCUS (Rose Mallow}.— Shrubby
and herbaceous perennials and annuals,
from 4 to 7 feet high, they have
splendid crimson or rosy flowers, as
large as saucers. The finest are
H. Moscheutos, H. palustris, H.
grandiflorus, and H. coccineus. They
seldom bloom in the open air in

*

Venice Mallow (Hibiscus Triomtni).

England, as they flower late in the
season. There are two or three annual
kinds, the finest being H. Manihot,
which forms handsome pyramids 4 to
6 feet high, the flowers being 3 or 4
inches across, and pale yellow with a
dark centre. H. Manihot should be
treated as a half-hardy annual, sown in
heat in February, and in May planted
out in good deep soil. H. africanus is
a hardy annual with showy pale
yellow flowers that only open in fine
weather. In light soil it usually sows
itself. H. Trionum appears to be
extremely variable, and has long been
cultivated in gardens. It is widely
scattered over all the warm regions of
the O}4 World, and is usually described

as a common sub-tropical weed found
plentifully in cultivated fields in
Afghanistan.

H. SYRIACUS (Syrian Mallow, Rose of
Sharon). — A beautiful shrub, bearing
showy blossoms in late summer and in
autumn. The wild form has bluish-purple
flowers with crimson centres, but now
there are forms representing every tint
from white (totus albus) to crimson and
purple, while the blooms of one sort
(Celeste) are almost blue. There are also
double flowers of varied colours. The
best kinds, single and double, are totus
albus, Celeste, Violet Claire, Leopoldi,
bicolor, roseus plenus, Pompon rouge, car-
neoplenus, Due de Brabant, albus plenus,
puniceus plenus, and anemon&florus.

In the South German gardens this
shrub bears much larger flowers than
in England. The pure white kind
(totus albus] and a few others lead to
the hope that it is a plant capable of
real improvement through raising seed-
ling forms, and perpetuating the best
of them. In my own trials here this
tree did not open on cool hilly soils,
and half open it is not worth having.
In the Thames valley and below the
downs it flowers well.

HIDALGOA WERCKLEI (Climbing
Dahlia] . — A showy climbing half-hardy
plant from the mountains of Costa
Rica, nearly allied to the Dahlia.
Planted out against a sunny wall at
the end of May, its stems quickly
cover a wide space with their cheerful
bright green and much cut leaves,
which attach themselves to surround-
ing objects by a twist of the stalk.
Towards autumn bright scarlet flowers
appear, 2| inches across, and like those
of a single dahlia, but lasting much
longer, and pretty for cutting. The
plant should have all the sun one can
give it, and a soil not too rich, or there
is luxuriant growth without flowers.

HIERACIUM ( Hawkweed) .—Peren-
nial herbs with yellow flowers, very
numerous, and often beautiful in
nature, but not much grown in
gardens. Among the best are auran-
tiacum, with orange flowers, a good
plant, but apt to spread too much in
the garden ; and villosum, the Shaggy
Hawkweed, a handsome plant with
silvery leaves and large yellow flowers.
Free in ordinary soil. Borders. Divi-
sion.

HIPPOCREPIS COMOSA (Horse-
shoe Vetch) . — A small prostrate British
plant, with pretty little deep-yellow
flowers, in , coronilla-like crowns, the

502 HIPPOPH*.. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

HOTTONIA.

upper petal faintly veined with brown,
the pinnate leaves small and leaflets
smooth. It is a capital little plant
for the upper ledges of rocks in dry
positions, as in such places the shoots
will fall down some 18 or 20 inches ;
it is easily raised from seed ; partial to
chalky soils ; and is rather common
in the south of England, but not a
native of Ireland or Scotland.

HIPPOPHZE (Sea Buckthorn). — H.
rhamnoides is a beautiful seashore
native shrub, happy in any free soil.
The best position for it is a rather
damp spot near a running stream,
where the subsoil is always moist. It
forms, when wild, a straggling bush,
8 or 10 feet high. In gardens it grows
taller. The Sea Buckthorn has silvery-
looking Willow-like leaves and bears
a profusion of orange berries. Apart
from th? brilliantly coloured fruit, the
silvery effect of the leaves is good
where the bush thrives. There are
other kinds, H. fasciculata and H.
salicifolia, natives of Indian mountains,
but they are so far rare in gardens.

HOHERIA POPULNEA (New Zea-
land Ribbon - wood}. — An evergreen
shrub from New Zealand, in flower and
habit like a coarse-leaved Deutzia, and
not at all like the Mallows, to which
it is related. It is hardy in the warmer
parts of Ireland and in the south-west
of England, a fine plant 10 feet high
having flowered in the Trinity College
Gardens, Dublin, for several years past.
The pure white flowers are borne
freely in clusters in autumn, and the
sharply-tapering dark green leaves are
deeply toothed. New Zealand. Seed
or cuttings of the young shoots in
spring.

HOLBCELLIA. — H. latifolia is a
beautiful evergreen climbing shrub
from the Himalayas, hardy against
walls in the southern and the warm
districts. The foliage is thick, with
three or five leaflets of a deep shining
green. The flowers are deliciously
fragrant and in colour dull purplish
green, but it does not bloom so freely
out of doors as in a cool conservatory.
As it is of tall growth, it must be
planted against a" high wall, such as
that of a house or stable.

HOMERIA COLLINA. — A choice
bulbous plant from the Cape, thriving
in such light southern soils as suit
Sparaxis, Ixia, and the like. The
flowers, in finely blending tints of
orange or salmon pink shaded with

purple about a yellow eye, are 2| inches
across and borne four or more together
on stems of 2| feet. They close to-
wards evening until morning. The
leaves are 4 feet long and half an incli
wide, and are so succulent that unless
I carefully protected from snails they
are soon eaten through. The bulbs
increase rapidly in warm open soils,
and they may be left in the ground
with a covering of ashes in the south.
Seed ripens freely, and germinates
without any trouble in sunny seaside
gardens.

HORDEUM.— Grasses, of which the
Barley is the most familiar type, few
of ornamental value except H. jubatum

I (Squirrel-tail Grass), which has long
feathery spikes. It grows in any soil

I in open places, is easily raised as an
annual, and is one of the most distinct
dwarf er grasses. Sow in autumn or
spring.

HORMINUM PYRENAICUM. — A

Pyrenean plant, forming dense tufts
of foliage, and having purplish-blue
flowers, in spikes about 9 inches high,
which appear in July or August. It
is hardy and of easy culture, but is
not a plant of much effect from a
garden point of view.

HOTEIA.— H. japonica is a fine
tufted herbaceous plant i foot to
1 6 inches high, with silvery - white
flowers early in summer in a panicled
cluster. In a rich soil it is excellent
for a shady border. Strong clumps
planted in autumn will flower in the
following spring. Where there are
forced plants to spare they may be
planted out when they have done
blooming, but will not make much
show in the following season. Much
used indoors ; is seldom good in the
open garden, partly because it does
badly in heavy and poor soils. Where
it thrives and flowers well it would be
a graceful aid in the varied flower
garden. Increased by division in
autumn. Japan. Syns. Spircea japo-
nica, Astilbe barbata. Henry's variety
of H. japonicum is found to be a very
good plant.

HOTTONIA (Water Violet}.— H.
palustris is a pretty British water-
plant, which, however, thrives better
on soft mud-banks than when sub-
merged. The deep-cut leaves form a
dwarf deep-green tuft over the mud,
and from this tuft arise stems bearing
at intervals whorls of handsome pale
lilac or pink flowers. As water an4

HOUSTONIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HYACINTHUS. 503

bog may be associated with the rock
garden, this plant may with advantage
be grown at its margin in the water or
on a bank of wet soil. It grows from
9 inches to 2 feet high, flowers in early
summer, and is abundant in many
parts of England.

HOUSTONIA ( Bluets] . — A very
pretty little American plant, H. ccerulea
forming small, dense, cushion-like tufts,
and from late spring to autumn bearing
crowds of tiny slender stems, about
3 inches high. The flowers are pale
blue, changing to white. There is also
a white variety. It succeeds best in

Houstonia cuerulea.

peaty or sandy soil, in sheltered shady
nooks on well - drained parts of the
rock garden. As it sometimes perishes
in winter, it is advisable to keep reserve
plants in pots. Propagated by careful
division in spring, or by seed. H.
serpyllifolia and H. purpurea are allied
species and alike in stature and wants.

HOUTTUYNIA CORDATA. — This
small genus contains only three species.
They are beautiful as well as graceful
plants, and are the only hardy repre-
sentatives of the natural order Piper-
aceae. All of them are well suited for
the bog garden, where, in a peaty soil,
they have quite a tropical appearance.
The spathe bracts resemble a corolla,
and consist of four large pure white
spreading leaves from the base of the
spadix or cone of flowers. Thunberg

first found this plant in Japan, growing
in great abundance in ditches by the
wayside.

HUMEA. — A very graceful half-
hardy biennial, 3 to 8 feet high, H.
elegans having large leaves with a
strong odour, and forming, when
in flower, an elegant feathery pyra-
mid of reddish-brown blossoms. It
is highly ornamental as a back line
to a long border, as a single specimen
to let into the lawn, as the centre
of a bed or vase, or in masses with
other elegant foliage plants. Excellent
effects may be obtained by combining
it in masses or groups with other good
plants. For cutting, its light feathery
sprays are useful. The proper time to
sow seed is July or August, as plants do
not bloom the first year, and, if raised
before those months, get too large to
winter conveniently, often becoming
leafless below, and the nakedness of
stem detracts from their beauty.

HUMULUS (Common Hop}.— H.
lupulus, a well-known, vigorous, twin-
ing perennial, is admirable for bowers,
especially when vegetation that dis-
appears in winter is desired. It will
soon run wild in almost any soil, among
shrubs or hedgerows. A slender
plant climbing up an Apple or other
fruit tree, near the mixed border,
looks well. Division. H.japonicus,a,n
annual plant of merit, quick growth,
and graceful festooning habit.

HUNNEMANNIA. — H. fumaria-
folia is an erect perennial, 2 to 3 feet
high, with glaucous foliage, like some
of the Fumitories. Its flowers are
large and showy, of a rich orange, and
in form are like Eschscholtzia califor-
nica. They continue long in perfec-
tion. Being a native of Mexico, it is
rather tender, and not satisfactory for
open-air culture. Poppy family.

HUTCHINSIA. — A neat little alpine
plant, H. alpina having shining leaves
and white flowers, in clusters about
i inch high, quite free in sandy soil,
and easily increased by division or
seeds. In an open spot, either in the
rock garden or in good free border
soil, it becomes a mass of white flowers.
Its proper home is the rock garden,
though in borders of dwarf and
choice hardy plants it may be grown
with success. Central and S. Europe.
Cruciferce.

HYACINTHUS ( Hyacinth] . — The
familiar garden Hyacinth is not gener-
ally included among hardy plants,

HYACINTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

HYDRANGEA.

though it is perfectly hardy, and when
treated as it should be, most impor-
tant. The parent of all the varieties,
H. orientalis is as hardy as a Daffodil,
and its varieties are scarcely less
hardy. Hyacinths in the open air
are generally the refuse, as it were, of
the forced bulbs of preceding years,
but even these make a good display
in suitable positions. To have a fine
bloom of Hyacinths in the open air,
however, it is essential that the bulbs
should be good and sound, and due
regard paid to assortment of colour, as
tints massed by themselves are far
more effective than a confusion of
various colours. Late planting and
deep planting both tend to defer the
bloom, but make no great difference,
and as a rule late bloom is to be pre-
ferred, being less liable to injury from
frost. . The shallowest planting should
ensure a depth of 3 inches of earth
above the crown of the bulb, but,
generally speaking, they will flower
better, be a few days later, and form
stronger bulbs after flowering, if there
is fully 6 inches of earth over the
crowns. Hyacinths in the open air
seldom require artificial watering,
the natural moisture of the soil and
the strength of the manure mixed
with it being sufficient. When grown
in beds they do not require sticks or
ties ; simply proper planting. After
blooming, the bulbs, if intended to
flower again, must be left undisturbed
until the leaves wither or die. The
bulbs should then be taken up, dried
in a stack for a week or two, and
finally placed in the sun for a few hours,
the dry leaves being pulled off. Offsets
should also be removed from the bulbs,
and stored in dry sand or earth till the
next planting time. Some take up the
bulbs every year, but we have seen
handsome beds that were not disturbed
for several years.

H. AMETHYSTINUS. — Though nearly re-
lated to H. azureus, is quite different, and
flowers a month later and at a time when
there is a dearth of flowers of this descrip-
tion in the hardy bulb garden. The great
mistake with a bulb like this is to have
two or three, or even a dozen, in a clump.
Instead of the dozen, it should be grown
by the hundred, and no prettier sight can
well be imagined than a large sheet of this
graceful Hyacinth, with its loose racemes
of vivid amethyst flowers.

H. AZUREUS. — One of the earliest as
well as the most charming of our early
spring flowers. In the case of a dwarf
bulb of this kind flowering so early, a

handlight or bell-glass is simply placed
over the clump on the approach of a
storm," taking the cover off when all danger
is past. The flowers stand any amount
of frost without injury, and it is only the
chance of their being broken with snow
that renders a covering necessary. The
bulb is whitish, round, an inch or so in
diameter, producing in great abundance
stolons or bulbils from the base ; the
leaves, in number from six to eight to a
bulb, are broad, strap-shaped, glaucous,
and deeply channelled ; the flower-heads
dense, conical, upper flowers sky-blue,
campanulate, the lower deep azure blue,
and larger than those of the ordinary
Grape Hyacinth.

H. candicans. See GALTONIA.

HYDRANGEA.— Handsome flower-
ing shrubs, some well known in gar-
dens, others neglected. In warm dis-
tricts and on good warm soils it would
be well worth while to grow many of
the rarer and finer forms of the common
Hydrangea, which always flowers best
in seashore districts, where its shoots
are not cut down by frost or by the
knife every winter.

H. ARBORESCENS. — A vigorous and
hardy shrub, 4 feet or more high, flowering
freely July and August. Flowers a dull
white, very small and crowded. Native
of eastern N. America, south of New York
State. The variety grandiflora, a very
beautiful form, with flowers large and pure
white, is from the mountains of Pennsyl-
vania.

H. BRETSCHNEIDERI (syn. H. pekinen-
sis). — A Chinese shrub from the mountains
near Pekin. Planted in the full sun is
said to make a very handsome shrub,
vigorous and hardy, and flowering in mid-
summer.

H. CHINENSIS (Fortune's H.). — Near
the last, but of more robust habit, with
leaves 3 to 5 inches long, and with cymes
of flowers much larger. It differs from
H. virens in the leaves, being green on
both sides, and in the enlarged sepals
being nearly equal in size, much thicker —
in fact, almost fleshy — in substance, and
remaining on the branches until the fruit
of the fertile flowers is ripe. This species
was collected by Mr Fortune in N. China.

H. HIRTA (Nettle-leaved H.). — A dwarf
shrub, 3 or 4 feet high, with slender hairy
branches and Nettle-like leaves. The
leaves and branches become nearly or
quite glabrous with age. This, although
not a showy species, seems to be a pretty,
compact, dwarf shrub, with numerous
clusters of white flowers. A native of the
mountains of Japan.

H. HORTENSIA. — The common Hydran-
gea (H. Hortensia), from China, may be
grown well out of doors, but is not always

HYDRANGEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. HYDRANGEA.

505

satisfactory in the midlands and the north,
being liable to injury in winter. It likes
a sheltered yet sunny spot and good soil.
In order to get good heads of bloom the
Hydrangea must be pruned so as to
induce the growth of strong shoots. In
favoured spots it reaches a height of 6
feet, making a beautiful object on a
lawn or in the shrubbery margin.
From time to time, and especially in
recent years, other forms have been intro-
duced and described, some of them as
distinct species. Dr Maximowicz, who
has had opportunities of studying them
in European and Japanese gardens, and
also in a wild state, arranges the following
forms under H. Hortensia : —

H. Hortensia acuminata. — A much-
branched shrub, 2 to 5 feet high ; flowers
blue. It sports according to locality, and
Maximowicz enumerates four such sports,
viz. : In open places and in a rich soil it
is stouter, with erect thick branches, large,
broad, firm leaves, and larger flowers, with
somewhat fleshy sepals ; under cultivation
it becomes more showy, passing into H.
Belzonii. In woods and on the shady
banks of rivers it grows taller with slender
stems, pointed leaves, and much smaller
flowers.

H. Hortensia japonica.— The H.japonica
of Siebold and Zuccarini's Flora Japonica,
and the H. japonica macrosepala of Regel's
Gartenflora. It is exactly like acuminata,
save that the flowers are tinged with red,
and the sepals of the barren flowers are
elegantly toothed.

H. Hortensia Belzonii. — A short stout
plant, with beautiful flowers, the inner
sterile ones being of an indigo-blue, and
the enlarged sterile ones white, or only
slightly tinged with blue, and having
entire sepals. There is a sport of this in
which the leaves are elegantly variegated
with white. This was raised by Messrs
Rovelli, of Pallanza.

H. Hortensia Otaksa. — This has all the
flowers sterile and enlarged. A very
handsome variety with rich dark green
leaves nearly as broad as long, and large
hemispherical heads of pale pink or flesh-
coloured flowers, very fine when well
grown.

H. Hortensia communis. — The old
variety with rosy-pink flowers, commonly
cultivated in European gardens. It differs
from the last in being perfectly glabrous
in its longer, less-rounded leaves, and in
its deeper-coloured flowers.

H. Hortensia stellata. — The chief char-
acter of this variety is in the flowers,
which are all sterile and double. The
variety in cultivation has pink flowers,
but they are described as being either pale
blue or rose, finally changing to a greenish
colour, and distinctly net-veined.

The white variety, Thomas Hogg, is a
very fine one, now widely cultivated.

Most of the above-named deserve the
attention of all who have soil and climate
suited to these shrubs.

H. PANICULATA (Plumed Hydrangea). —
A shrub or small tree. According to
Maximowicz, the only Japanese Hydran-
gea that becomes a tree. It grows as
much as 25 feet high, with a dense rounded
head and a straight trunk 6 inches in
diameter. But it more commonly forms
a shrub a few feet high, bearing enormous
panicles of flower. With the exception of
H. Hortensia, it is the commonest species
in Japan, growing throughout that country
both in the mountains and the plains,
being more abundant in the northern
parts, and it is said to vary very much.
It is commonly cultivated by the Japanese.
The clusters are often i foot long and half
as much in diameter, but to get such
flowers we must cultivate well and prune
the shrubs hard down in winter.

H. PETIOLARIS (Climbing Hydrangea). —
A Japanese climbing shrub with tall
slender stems that send out roots which
will fix it to a wall. Its wood is of a
soft character, resembling that of the

The Plumed Hydrangea.

slower-growing Ivies, and it annually
gives off fresh sets of roots along its
branches by means of which it clings to
rocks, stone, stucco, bricks, and even
wooden palings. It is deciduous, of free
growth, and flowers freely in sunny
positions. I know one case where a plant
has grown in a sunny corner of the house

506 HYDROCHARIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

HYPERICUM.

near French windows, up the sides of
which there is lattice-work, and so charmed
were the owners with the tender foliage,
feathering the coign of the window, that
they made more lattice-work in front of
the window so that the creeper could
extend and form a natural sunshade before
the glass.

H. QUERCIFOLIA (Oak-leaved H.). — This
is a fine distinct kind, and though not
showy like the popular kinds, it is an
excellent shrub, and one I have noticed
growing with fine vigour in seashore
gardens. The leaves have a good deep
colour in the autumn, and the flowers are
beautiful, while old plants have a pic-
turesque habit.

H. SARGENTIANA. — Of the several species
of Hydrangea introduced from China, this
is the most distinct. The stems are stout
and erect ; the large and handsome leaves
very hairy on both surfaces, the upper one
of a deep velvety green. The flower-heads
are broad, but the large white sterile
blossoms are limited to a few outside the
cluster, the small fertile ones being of a
bluish colour. From a flowering point of
view it is far from the showiest of the
Hydrangeas, but it is a distinct and
striking species. An uncommon feature
of the plant is the large scale-like hairs
with which the stems and leaf-stalks are
covered.

H. VIRENS (Changing H.). — This is a
remarkable and elegant shrub, varying in
height from 2 to 6 feet. The branches,
straight, slender, and polished, bearing
small, thin, deeply-toothed leaves, 2 to
3 inches long, yellowish-green above and
pale beneath, with small clusters of
flowers, some of which are sterile. Alto-
gether this is a pretty little shrub, and it
is somewhat surprising that it has not
been introduced, as it is common in the
neighbourhood of Nagasaki in Japan.

Although there is a large range of
land in Great Britain in which Hydran-
geas seem happy, there are other inland
and cold districts in which they make
poor growth, or are cut down so fre-
quently that experiments come to
little. I made a trial myself on a cool
hill-side in Sussex without getting any
bloom or a healthy growth ; but on
the other hand we see, especially in
the south of England and Ireland,
beautiful results in warm valleys and
on sandy and alluvial soils even from
the use of one kind.

HYDROCHARIS (Frog - bit}. — H.
Morsus-rance is a native water-plant,
having floating leaves and pretty white
flowers, and well worth introducing to
ponds. It may often be gathered
from pools in spring, when it floats
a.fter being submerged in winter.

HYDRO COTYLE (Penny wort) . —
Small creeping plants, usually with
round leaves and inconspicuous flowers.
There are several kinds grown, their
main use being as a surface growth
to the artificial bog. The best are
H. moschata and microphylla, two New
Zealand species, and nitidula, though
all of these are somewhat tender.
The common H. vulgaris is rather too
rank a grower, and dangerous to intro-
duce among choice bog plants.

HYMENANTHERA.— A small group
of shrubs and low trees from New
Zealand, only one of which, H. crassi-
folia, has been introduced. This is a
low evergreen with the spreading and
freely-branched habit of a Cotoneaster,
with small leathery leaves and incon-
spicuous flowers, followed by small
berries covered with tiny black specks.
These berries are studded thickly over
the ash-grey stems and even on the
old main branches, the one fault being
that, clustering mainly on the under-
side, they are not readily seen. The
plant seldom exceeds 3 or 4 feet in
height, though the branches trail
widely, and it is hardier than many
New Zealand shrubs, growing in
exposed places and without protection
in the north of England. Increase by
seeds, or cuttings rooted under glass
during summer and early autumn.

HYMENOPHYLLUM (Filmy Fern).
— Although these tiny Filmy Ferns are
hardy and beautiful, yet the conditions
for their successful culture occur so
seldom that in a general sense they
cannot be used with effect in the open
air. Still, as they grow abundantly
wild in certain hilly districts, in moist,
shady, or rocky situations, there is no
reason why they should not be grown
in some places in the west or north,
or in hilly districts.

HYPERICUM (St John's Wort).—
For the most part shrubs and under-
shrubs, including a few herbaceous
perennials and annuals ; these are
interesting, though not of high value
where effect is sought, and the best
kinds do not thrive in the colder lands.
The Rose of Sharon (H. calycinum) is
probably the most familiar, and there
are other shrubby species of some
beauty. Some of the perennials are
good border and rock garden plants,
and the best of these is H. olympicum,
one of the largest flowered kinds,
though not more than i foot high. It
is Icnown by its very glaucous foliage

HYPOLEPIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IBERIS.

507

and erect single stems, with bright
yellow flowers about 2 inches across.
It forms handsome specimens that
flower early, and its value as a choice
border plant can scarcely be over-rated.
It may be propagated easily by cuttings,
which should be put in when the shoots
are fully ripened, so that the young
plants may become well established
before winter. H . elodes is a pretty
native plant suitable for the banks of
pools and lakes. H. nummularium
and humifusum, both dwarf trailers,
are also desirable for the rock garden.
Owing to their dwarf compact growth,
several of the shrubby species are well
suited for the rock garden. Of these,
the best are H. csgyptiacum, balearicum,
empetrifolium, Coris, patulum, uralum,
and oblongifolium. The last three are
larger than the others, but as they
droop they have a good effect among
the boulders of a large rock garden, or
on banks. H. Moserianum is a hand-
some hybrid kind raised in France
and well worth a place.

HYPOLEPIS (New Zealand Brac-
ken).— H. millefolium is a very elegant
New Zealand Fern, with a stout and
wide-spreading rhizome, from which
arise erect light green fronds, i to
i£ feet high, very finely cut. Its
hardiness is proved by the fact that it
has flourished for two or three years
in a Surrey garden, and was also quite
hardy and vigorous in Mr F.Lubbock's
garden in Kent. It thrives in a shel-
tered nook and in peaty soil.

HYPOXIS. — Low-growing plants,
mostly natives of S. Africa. They
have grassy foliage and yellow flowers,
are tender, but are sometimes planted
out in summer, in light, sandy soil, in
warm borders. The kinds grown are
erecta, elegans, stellata, and villosa..

HYSSOPUS OFFICINALIS (Hyssop).
— A little pot herb which has some
beauty grown on a rock or wall, and is
worth a place apart from its use in the
herb border. S. Europe.

IBERIS ( Candytuft) .—Valuable
hardy perennials and annuals, the
perennials somewhat shrubby and
evergreen, and precious as rock .garden,
border, and margining plants : —

I. CORIFOLIA. — A dwarf kind 3 or 4
inches high, and covered with small white
blooms early in May. Few alpine plants
are more worthy of general culture, either
in the rock garden or the mixed border,
for the front of which it is well suited.
Easily propagated by seeds or cuttings, and
thriving best in light sandy soil. Sicily.

I. coRRE-iEFOLiA is known by its large
leaves, its compact heads of large white
flowers, by flowering later than other
common white kinds, and both the flowers
and the corymb are larger than in the
other species, coming into beauty about
the end of May, when the other kinds are
fading. It is excellent for the rock garden,
the mixed border, and is well suited for
the margins of beds of shrubs. Increased
by cuttings, not coming true from seed.

I. GIBRALTARICA. — A beautiful plant,
larger in all its parts than the other kinds,
with flowers of delicate lilac in low close
heads, in spring and early summer. Its
hardiness is doubtful, and it should, there-
fore, be planted on sunny spots in the rock
garden or on banks in light soil, and win-
tered in frames. Readily increased from
seeds.

I. JUCUNDA. — Distinct, growing about
2^ inches high, the leaves small, the
flowers in small clusters, flesh colour,
prettily veined with rose in early summer.
It does not possess the vigour of the other
evergreen Iberises, but it is fitted for
grouping with dwarf alpine flowers on
warm parts of the rock garden in well-
drained sandy loam. Syn. /. JEthionema.

Iberis jucu nda .

I. PETR^A. — A pretty alpine species,
3 inches high, with a flat cluster of white
flowers, relieved in the centre by a tinge
of red, thriving among rock plants in well-
drained spots with plenty of moisture.

I. SEMPERFLORENS. — A shrubby plant,
with dense corymbs of white flowers, and
not suited for border culture, though
hardy enough to stand our winters when
grown at the foot of a south wall or in a
very sunny corner of the rock garden.
Under those favourable conditions it forms
a pretty evergreen bush in bloom nearly
all the year. Mediterranean islands.

IDESIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ILEX.

I. SEMPERVIRENS. — The commonest
perennial Candytuft, half-shrubby, dwarf,
spreading, evergreen, and perfectly hardy,
it escapes where many plants are destroyed
by cold ; and in April and May its neat
tufts of dark green change into masses of
snowy white. Where a very dwarf ever-
green edging is required for a shrubbery,
or for beds of shrubs, it is one of the best
plants known, as on any soil it quickly
forms spreading masses almost as low as
the lawn-grass.

I. TENOREANA. — A dwarf kind, with
white flowers, changing to purple. It has
not, however, the hardiness of the white
kinds, and perishes on heavy soils in
winter ; on light sandy soils in the rock
garden it is pretty. It is easily raised
from seed, and should be treated as a
biennial. S. Italy.

I. UMBELLATA (Annual Candytuft). —
This and its ally (I. coronaria) are the
hardy annual Candytufts. They are
varied in colour, and are among the most
useful of annual flowers. They may be
sown at all seasons, but, as in the case of
most other hardy* annuals, the finest
flowers are from autumn-sown plants,
which flower from May to July. They
like a rich soil and plenty of room to flower
freely. There are a great number of
varieties, differing both in growth and
colour. What are known as the dwarf
or nana strain are neat and dwarf in
growth, are abundant bloomers and showy.
/. umbeUata nana rosea and alba are two of
the most distinct, being about 9 inches
high ; the dark crimson, carmine, lilac,
and purple sorts, about i foot high, are
also fine. The Rocket Candytuft (/. coro-
naria) in good soil grows 12 to 16 inches
high, with pure white flowers in long dense
heads, and there is a dwarf variety of it
(pumila), 4 to 6 inches high, forming
spreading tufts i foot or more across. The
Giant Snowflake is also an excellent
variety. These Rocket Candytufts re-
quire the same treatment as the common
varieties.

IDESIA. — /. poly car pa is a Japanese
tree of recent introduction. It has
large leaves, bright green above, and
whitish beneath. The flowers form
long, drooping, branched racemes, and
are fragrant. The colour is not bril-
liant, but their effect, combined with
the red leaf stalks, the varying green
of the leaves, and their drooping habit,
is good. There are male and female
forms, and, although the tree may be
increased by cuttings, it is better
raised from seed.

ILEX (Holly}. — Beautiful evergreen
shrubs of northern temperate countries,
of which the most precious is our
own native Holly, Ilex aquifolium. It

would be difficult to exaggerate the
value of this plant, whether as an
evergreen tree, as the best of all fence-
shelters for our fields, or as a lovely
ornament of our gardens. No other
shrub known to us may be so often
used with good effect near the house
and garden, and it will be clear, there-
fore, how much one should consider
the common Holly in all its forms and
ways. Valuable as many varieties are,
probably none are quite so good as
seedlings of the common kind. Good
seedling plants are the easiest to trans-
plant and establish. The ait of graft-
ing— most delusive as well as most
curious of arts — should be carefully
guarded against as regards Hollies.
Hitherto the way has been to graft the
many variegated kinds on the common
Holly, and although we often see good
results in that way, it is by far the safer
plan to insist on the variegated and
curious kinds being raised from layers
or cuttings. It will perhaps take a
long time to recognise the immense
superiority of own root plants, but if
purchasers inquire for and insist upon
getting them, it will very much hasten
progress. Old plants grafted are ex-
tremely difficult to move with safety,
and, generally, Hollies and other trees
are best not moved when old. It is an
expensive and troublesome business,
and often a failure. Young healthy
bushes, seedling or layer, will in a few
years beat old grafted trees — that at
least is my experience. Very often old
specimens from the nursery live for a
number of years, but their appearance
is deplorable, whereas healthy, well-
grown young plants, from 3 to 5 feet
high, when transplanted in May, are
often beautiful from the first. No
doubt healthy seedling plants might be
transplanted at various times, but
experience has proved that there is a
distinct gain in transplanting Hollies
in May ; and if we transplant them
carefully at that time we shall probably
see good healthy growth the same year.
As regards the uses of the Holly, they
are so many in the garden that it is
difficult even to generalise them. As
shelter in bold groups, dividing lines,
hedges, beautiful effects of fruit in
autumn, masses of evergreen foliage,
bright glistening colour from variegated
kinds — variegation in the Holly, unlike
other shrubs, being quite consistent
with health and beauty ; elegant
groups of the most beautiful varieties —
every kind of delightful use may be
found for them in gardens,

ILLICIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. INCARVILLEA. 509

According to the late Mr Shirley
Hibberd, who was a very keen observer
of the Holly, in the selection of varie-
ties it is well to bear in mind that the
variety known as Scotica answers best
of any plant near the sea. The variety
known as Hodgins's is the most free in
growth in a town garden, being less
affected by smoke than most others.
The most fruitful varieties are fcemina,
glabra, madeirensis, balearica, lutea,
and flava. The most distinct and
beautiful of the variegated kinds are
Golden Queen, Silver Queen, Painted
Lady, Broad-leaved Silver, Gold Milk-
maid, Watereriana, and argentea mar-
ginata. The following classification of
Hollies is in relation to their several
characters : —

" MALE-FLOWERING HOLLIES. — Cili-
ata, Heterophylla, Latispina, Lauri-
folia, Tortuosa, Gold Tortuosa, Beetii,
Cookii, Gold Cookii, Cornuta, Doning-
tonensis, Ferox, Ferox fol. arg., Ferox
aurea, Foxii, Furcata, Ovata, Picta
marginata, Golden Queen, Longifolia
aurea, Longifolia argentea, Watereri-
ana, Gold Few - spined, Silver Queen,
Shepherdii.

" FEMALE - FLOWERING HOLLIES. —
Angustifolia, Angustifolia aurea pen-
dula, Angustifolia medio picta pen-
dula, Balearica, Broad leaf, Dark
shoot, Fisherii, Flavo fructo aurea,
Fcemina, Golden Milkmaid, Glabra,
Hands worthiana, Silver Handsworthi-
ana, Heterophylla, Hodginsii, Latifolia
argentea, Latifolia aurea, Lutea,
Mme. Briot, Madeirensis, Madeirensis
nigrescens, Madeirensis variegata Myrti-
folia, Milkmaid, red berry ; Milkmaid,
yellow berry; Moonlight, Perry's Weep-
ing, Picta aurea, Platyphylla, Scotica,
Watereriana, Weeping.

" HERMAPHRODITE-FLOWERING HOL-
LIES.— Shepherdii, Smithiana, Silver
Queen, Heterophylla, Hodginsii, Lauri-
folia, Handsworthiana, Lutea, Flava,
Scotica, Balearica, Rotundifolia."

By far the best of all known Hollies
is our native Holly, but there are
Japanese and American kinds worth
growing, such as Ilex crenata and the
fine /. latifolia, which requires our
most temperate districts to thrive.

ILLICIUM. (Anise Tree). — A half-
hardy evergreen shrub from the
Southern States of N. America, I. flo-
ridanum bearing fragrant flowers of a
deep red. 7. religiosum, also known
as 7. anisatum, from China and Japan,
with pale yellow flowers, is also inter-

esting, and may be grown against
walls or as bushes in warm places.

IMPATIENS (Balsam).— The species
of Impatiens that thrive in the open
air are all annual and hardy, and sow
themselves freely where they get a
chance. The best are — the common
7. glandulifera, which attains a height
of 4 to 6 feet, and bears numerous
flowers, varying in colour from white
to rose. It will soon take possession
of the shrubbery if not checked ; and
it is seen to advantage in cottage
gardens. 7. longicornu is beautiful
and has the same habit as glandulifera,
but the lower part of its helmet-shaped
flowers is bright yellow, marked by
transverse lines of dark brown, while
the upper part is rose colour. 7.
Roylei is much dwarfer than the
preceding, and has blossoms of a deep
rose. 7. cristata has light rose-coloured
blossoms.

I. BALSAMINA (Garden Balsam) may
be grown in the open air in warm valleys,
and makes a pretty display in warm places.
The plants should be raised in a frame and
transplanted . Soil which is too rich should
be avoided ; but soil manured for a pre-
vious crop, and which has been well pul-
verised by forking, gives the finest flowers
and a less sappy growth. Suitable for a
limited area in the south only.

IMPERATA SACCHARIFLORA.—

A hardy Grass, from the Amoor, with
graceful foliage, forming a tuft, about
3 feet high, that throws up numerous
flower-spikes, about 5 feet in height,
bearing silvery plumes of flowers. The
leaves are of a lively green, with a
broad white stripe down the mid-rib.

INCARVILLEA (PERENNIAL TRUM-
PET FLOWERS). — Among the most dis-
tinct and handsome plants of recent
introduction. All are perennials, some-
times with a fleshy root and soft tissues,
in others woody and sub-shrubby in
character. Their flowers are large,
handsome and trumpet-shaped. They
thrive best in warm soils, deep and
rich to favour their strong roots, and
well drained to preserve them from
stagnant moisture in winter.

I. BREVISCAPA.- — A rather dwarf, hardy
and good kind, which often succeeds where
other kinds perish. Rock garden in
ordinary soil.

I. COMPACTA (Dwarf Trumpet Flower).
— This is a shy bloomer, bearing upon short
stalks, hardly rising above the leaves,
clusters of deep pink flowers, funnel-
shaped, and about 2^ inches long. It is
found in forms with stalks of various
lengths, but is usually of compact habit.

5io iNDicofrERA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. IONOPSIDIUM.

I. DELAVAYI (Delavay's Trumpet
Flower). — Vigorous and handsome per-
ennial, flowering in the second year from
seed sown in April. The dark green
leaves vary in length, and often reach
2 feet long, and are finely cut, fleshy, and
of a peculiar odour when handled. In
cold districts the fleshy root may be lifted
and stored like a Dahlia, but must be
covered with soil and not allowed to dry.
Well planted, the tubers gain force each
season, forming at last masses of five
or six flower-stems of about a yard high,
with ten to fifteen trumpet-shaped flowers
in a cluster, the lower ones drooping
loosely from the central mass.

I. GRANDIFLORA. — Of this the flowers are
larger than those of /. Delavayi, and the
habit of the plant is dwarfer, with shorter
leaves and rounded leaflets, while it
blooms, about a fortnight earlier. Its
root, large and fleshy, is less tuberous,
throwing a scanty rosette of leaves rather
more than a foot long, of deep shining
green, and in young plants prostrate,
arching when older. On a strong mature
plant they are nearly 4 inches across and
2 to 3 inches deep in the tube, the limb
being divided into four broad lobes of
soft rosy-carmine, deepening towards the
yellow tube, and relieved by handsome
white blotches in the throat. It is easily
raised and grown from seed in rich, free
soil ; seedlings take three or four years
to flower.

I. OLG^E (Princess* Trumpet Flower).
— A handsome perennial of shrubby habit,
and hardy in all but cold districts. Its
pretty cut leaves are borne upon long,
straggling stems of 4 or 5 feet, which
rather spoil its beauty. The tubular
flowers, about an inch long and wide,
are of a pretty pale pink, borne in
loose clusters upon very short stalks
during summer. Turkestan.

I. VARIABILIS (Fern-leaved Trumpet
Flower). — A shrubby perennial of fine
habit, hardy in light, warm soils, and in
mild districts. The flowers, borne upon
stems of about 2 feet, are an inch long and
of a beautiful light rose, with finely-cut
foliage of vivid green. It is beautiful for
several weeks during late summer and
early autumn.

INDIGOFERA.— Elegant shrubs of
medium or dwarf stature, so far as
known with us, natives of China and
Japan. Very little is known of their
garden value, though occasionally seen
as wall plants in mild districts. /.
Gerardiana is a pretty plant which
may be grown as a bush or against
a wall, which it clothes gracefully with
feathery leaves, towards the close of
summer, bearing small Pea-like bright
pink blooms. In certain districts it
may be well to give it protection in cold
winters if not against a wall, and the

only attention it requires is close
pruning in early winter. The kinds
in cultivation — some rare — are /. Bun-
geana, decora, decora alba, Delavayi,
Dosua, Dosua minor, Gerardiana, Gerar-
diana alba, hebepetala, Kirilowii, macro-
stachya, pendula, reticulata, Roy lei.
For treatment we can only say warm
walls or sunny positions in open well-
drained soils.

INULA. — Perennials, few of which
are of high value for the garden. I.
Helenium (Elecampane], a vigorous
British plant, 3 or 4 feet high, with a
stout stem, large leaves, and yellow

In it la gla. n du losa .

flowers, is well suited for planting
with other large-leaved plants, or in
isolated specimens on rough slopes or
wild places, in good soil. /. Ocitlus
Christi grows i| to 2 feet high, and
bears orange flowers in summer. /.
salicina, montana, and glandulosa are
similar. Royleana, macracephala, gran-
diflora — the finest kind, and its varie-
ties under various names. Seed or
division.

IONOPSIDIUM (Violet Cress}.— !,
acaule is a charming little Portuguese
annual about 2 inches high, whose
dense tufts of violet flowers spring up
freely where plants of it have existed
the pievious season. On the rock
garden, associated with even the
choicest of alpine plants, it holds its
own as regards beauty, never overruns
its neighbours, and is often happy sown
near pathways or rugged steps, growing
freely in such places ; indeed, it would
even flourish on a gravel walk. It

IPOM^A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

flowers a couple of months after sowing.
Portugal and Morocco.

IP01OEA (Morning Glory] .—Beau-
tiful, slender, twining plants of the
Convolvulus family, for the most part
tropical. A few succeed in the open
air when treated as half-hardy annuals.
The most popular of these is : —

I. PURPUREA (Convolvulus major). — Its
varieties are numerous ; there are white,
rose, and deep violet varieties, while
Burbidgei is crimson, Dicksoni deep blue,
and tricolor striped with red, white, and
blue. This beautiful though common
plant may be used for the open border,
for festooning branches, for covering
arbours, trellises, and the like, or for
rambling over shrubs, growing freely in
any good ordinary garden soil. Seeds
should be sown in heat in early spring,
and the seedlings transplanted in May as
soon as large enough. In the south seed
may be sown at once in the open border.
Tropical America.

I. HEDERACEA (Ivy-leaved Morning
Glory). — Is somewhat similar, but has
lobed leaves like Ivy. Its flowers, too,
are smaller, of a deep blue striped with
red. The varieties grandiflora (light blue),
superba (light blue, bordered with white),
and atvoviolacea (dark violet and white)
are all worth cultivating, and Japanese
variety. Seeds may be sown in the open
border in April, in light rich soil, where it
will flower from July to September.
N. America. Other kinds of Ipom&a for
open-air culture are /. rubroccerulea, a half-
hardy annual, and I. leptophylla, a hardy
perennial from N. America.

IPOMOPSIS. — Graceful biennials
from California, thriving in light, dry,
and warm soils in the milder districts.
There are three kinds ; each forms a
tuft of finely-cut feathery foliage, and
has slender flower spikes from 2 to
3 feet high, thickly set with flowers
that open in succession. In I. elegans
the flowers are scarlet and thickly
spotted, and in I. superba they are
much the same, while in the rosea
variety they are a deep pink. The
seeds should be sown in spring in pots
in the open border in ordinary soil.
During the first year the plants make
growth, and early the following sum-
mer they flower. If planted out to
stand the winter, it is advisable to
give a little protection. Other kinds
mentioned in catalogues belong to
Gilia, of which Ipomopsis is really a
synonym. On light soils early autumn-
sowing should be tried. These plants
are very seldom well grown.

IRESINE. — Dwarf half-hardy plants,
remarkable for their foliage, and much
misused in the flower garden. /.
Herbsli grows from i to 2 feet high,
and has crimson stems and rich car-
mine-veined foliage, the brilliancy of
which continues until late in autumn,
and is more effective in wet than in
hot dry seasons. Lindeni has more
pointed leaves, a deep blood-red colour,
is compact and graceful, and bears
pinching back and pegging down to
any height.

IRIS (Flag}. —Beautiful bulbous or
tuberous plants numerous in kind and
wonderfully varied in beauty. The
plants are for the most part hardy,
and have much diversity of habit and
colour, varying in height from a few
inches to 6 feet. They may be con-
veniently divided into two classes —
those with bulbous roots, which are now
called Xiphions, and those (the greatest
number) with creeping stems. In
treating of culture it is well to consider
these separately. The bulbous kinds
should have a warm and sheltered
situation, such as the protection of a
south wall, and succeed in almost any
light garden soil, but prefer one that is
friable, and sandy, not too poor, but
enriched with rotten leaf - mould and
manure. Sun they must have, and
the shelter must be without shade.
They need an autumn drought to ripen,
and a dry soil in winter to preserve
the bulbs and keep them at rest ;
but in spring, when the leaves are
pushing up, they love moderate rain.
These observations apply to the Span-
ish and English Irises as well as the
rarer bulbous kinds.

The more vigorous kinds are suited
for planting among large shrubs, which
ought to be wider apart than they
generally are in shrubberies ; and may
be employed in groups near water, and
also on mixed borders and beds. The
flowering season of the Iris extends
over the greater part of the year.
The following selection of the more
important kinds for our gardens is
arranged in alphabetical order for con-
venience of reference : —

I. ALATA (Scorpion Iris). — A beautiful
bulbous kind with fine large blossoms, the
ground colour delicate lilac-blue, with
showy blotches of bright yellow, copiously
spotted with a darker hue. The foliage,
which appears with the flowers, much
resembles that of a Leek. It is easy to
grow on a warm, dry, sunny border ;
planted in autumn in ordinary garden
soil.

512

IRIS.

TH£ ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

I. ASIATICA (Asiatic Flag). — Allied to
the German Iris, but the handsome flowers
are much larger, the lip especially being
very long and broad ; its colour is a very
fine pale purplish-blue, the standards a
little paler than the falls. A good border
kind.

Iris asiatica.

I. ATRO-PURPUREA. — This Iris may be
considered as coming within the iberica
group, as the foliage is not unlike that
kind, and the stem, though always of some
length, never rises very high. The flower
is somewhat small, and for the most part
of deep purple colouring.

I. AUREA (Golden Flag). — A lovely tall
plant, with yellow flowers of great beauty,
hardy in the coldest soils. It does well
among shrubs or in borders of the best
perennials, and groups of it so placed are
very handsome. It is one of the kinds
that may be grouped with good effect
near water, though it thrives in moist
borders. Division and seed. Himalayas.

I. BAKERIANA. — This is one of the most
beautiful of the spring-flowering Irises.
The flowers remind one of those of the
netted Iris. The colouring varies, the
yellow streak on the fall, which is con-
spicuous in some of the forms, being almost

entirely absent in others ; the size and
number of the violet spots and the breadth
of the rich violet edging, as well as the
size and brilliancy of their tints, vary in
individual flowers. Armenia.

I. BARNUM^;. — This Iris, a native of the
hills of Kurdistan, belongs to the iberica
group. The flower is smaller than that of
that Flag, and both falls and standards
are vinous red-purple marked with darker
veins, the standard being lighter in colour
than the fall, and its veins more conspicu-
ous. There is a yellow variety described
by Prof. Foster as "an exceedingly
charming plant," and fragrant, the odour
not being unlike the Lily-of-the-Valley.

I. BIFLORA. — A handsome Flag, 9 to
15 inches high, bearing large violet flowers
on stout stems. Similar to it are I. sub-
biflora and /. nudicaulis, which is one of
the best of the dwarf Flags, from 4 to
ip inches high ; its flowers large, of a rich
violet-blue, four to seven on a stem in
early summer.

I. CRISTATA (Dwarf-crested Iris) is a
charming dwarf Flag, flowering in spring
and also in autumn, delicate blue and

Iris cristata.

richly marked. A fragile plant, 4 to 6
inches high, with broad leaves, it throws
out long slender rhizomes, wholly above
ground, and thrives in sandy earth, in
borders, or on the rock garden.

I. FLORENTINA (Florentine Flag). — Its
large delicate flowers are nearly 6 inches
deep, faintly tinged with blue, the falls
veined with yellow, and green, at the base,

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

513

with an orange-yellow beard, whilst the
broad leaves are rich dark green. A native
of S. Europe, flowering during May and
June. The variety albicans is almost pure
white.

I. FCETIDISSIMA (Gladwin). — A British
plant, i^ to 2 feet high, with bluish flowers.
There is a variety with variegated leaves.
The common green form is worth growing
in rough grassy places for its brilliant coral-
red seeds.

Iris faetldissinia (Glad win).

. I. GATESI. — A handsome Flag from
Armenia, and very near to susiana, but
the rhizome is more compact, and the
foliage smaller, .shorter, and narrower.
The stem is taller, i£ feet or even 2 feet,
and the flower, when well grown, larger.
The prevailing colour of the specimens so
far cultivated is, when seen at a distance,
a soft delicate grey, brought about by
very thin clear veins and minute dots or
points of purple on a creamy-white ground.
I. GERMANIC A (Common German Flag).
• — The best-known Flag and one of the
few plants that succeed well in London.
/. nepalensis is a charming form from
India, with flowers from 5 to 6 inches
long, the standards rich dark violet-purple,
the falls intense violet, striped white and
purple at the base, with yellow and reddish
markings. It flowers during May and
June, and may be increased quickly. The
•German Flags flourish in ordinary garden,
•dry gravelly soil, or sandy banks. A good
selection of varieties of the German Iris,
all good garden flowers, would be com-
posed oiAtro-purpurea, Aurea, Bridesmaid,
Calypso, Celeste, Gracchus, Mme. Chereau,
Mrs H. Darwin, Queen of May, Rigolette,
Victorine, and George Thorbeck.

IRIS (June - flowering or Bearded). —
These are the noblest of a great race :
moderns for which gardeners are indebted
to enthusiasts like the late Professor
Foster and Mr Bliss, who, happily, is still
continuing the good work. In vigour,
branching habit, freedom of flowering,
stature, and fine presence, they are im-
measurably superior to the older sorts ;
giants many of them, and of beauty
unknown till recent years. In cultiva-
tion they ask for nothing more than a
sunny garden or position, while revelling
in light sandy or calcareous loam ; indeed,
in common with all the Flag Iris, they
much appreciate a limy soil. March-
April and September-October are the best
planting seasons in the order given. In
planting keep the rhizomes quite near the
surface. The following is a selection of
them : — Alcazar — a giant in flower and
growth, bluish violet and purple — Azure ;
magnificent and free, and a most effective
garden plant ; Black Prince ; Clematis —
well named, giving an /. Kcempferi effect ;
Crusader — noblest of Irises and the bluest
of the blues ; Dominion — a Black Prince
glorified : quite unique, as is also the
price, five guineas being asked for a plant ;
E. H. Jenkins — a great Iris in lavender
and allied shades, branching to the ground ;
Eldorado — yellow, bronze, and helio-
trope ; Miranda — big deep blue self,
early ; Knysna — crimson and gold, abso-
lutely unique, late ; Lady Foster, Lord
of June — two of the best in violet and
blue ; Phyllis Bliss — a great Iris with rosy
lilac flowers of extremely handsome pro-
portions ; Prosper Langier — a notable in
smoky bronze and rich crimson ; Rosalind
— a rosy pallida, very free ; Sweet Laven-
der— lavender and blue ; and Shelford
Giant — bright blue and violet.

I. GRACILIPES. — Unique species from
Japan, virtually a miniature of the roof
Iris (/. tectofum). The grassy leaf tufts
reach dinner-plate dimensions, and yield
numerous pretty fringed flowers of lilac
hue with rich orange centres. A gem for
the rock garden or choice border. Quite
easy in sandy loam.

I. HELDREICHI. — A beautiful bulbous
species allied to I. persica, and first known
as /. stenophylla. Native of the Cilician
Taurus, and attaining 4 to 6 inches high.
It flowers in February and March, the
flowers, which have an exceptional ex-
panse, being of lavender-blue colour, and
characterised by a large triangular dark
velvety-blue blotch on the falls. A gem
for the cold greenhouse. Rich sandy
loam.

I. HISTRIO. — This beautiful bulbous Iris,
when peeping through the ground in
winter or early spring, reminds one of
/. reticulata, but it is rather taller, and its
sweetly-scented flowers are broader and
more conspicuously spotted or blotched,
the colour being rich bluish-purple, flushed

2 K

IRIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

towards the base of the petals with rose-
pink, whilst the markings are of the deep-
est purple, relieved by a crest of gold.
Syria.

I. HISTRIOIDES. — One of the most
charming of the spring flowering bulbous
Irises. Though it has only been in culti-
vation a few years, it has proved of easy
culture. The flowers are larger than those
of any of the group, the falls mottled with
white and rich lilac both on the claw and
on the broad rounded blade. It is a native
of E. Anatolia, and blooms in early March.

I. IBERICA (Iberian Flag). — One of the
most singular of Iris. The flowers are
large, the standards white, pencilled and
spotted with purple or violet, while the
falls are veined with dark purple or purple-
black on a yellowish ground, with a con-
spicuous dark blotch in the centre. The
rhizome should not be planted deep, but
only just below the surface, as in most cases
the roots perish when planted deeply.
Coarse river sand should be used, the
rhizome being planted completely in it,
and by this means it is kept rather dry
during the winter. Dry borders or on the
rock garden.

Iris iberica*

I. JUNCEA (Rush-leaved Flag). — A lovely
bulbous Iris, graceful in habit and with
bright yellow flowers of a delightful
fragrance, whilst it can be grown almost
as easily as the English Irises. It requires
a light, rich, deep soil, and will be all the
better if planted where it can be kept
fairly dry during winter. Spain.

I. K^EMPFERI (Japanese Flag). — The
many varieties in cultivation under this
name have sprung from /. Icevigata and
/. setosa, and form a fine race of garden
plants, whilst every year many beautiful
sorts are added, chiefly from Japan, though
many seedlings have been raised in this
country. The flowers are variable in size

and colour, some measuring as much as
9 and 10 inches across. The varieties of
/. setosa differ from those of /. lesvigata in
having broader and less-drooping petals,
and the three inner petals are often of the
same size as the outer, so that the flower
is symmetrical. /. Kcempferi will grow in
almost any soil, but is best in a good loam,
with peat added to it, though this is not
so much for nourishment as to retain
moisture during the hot and dry summer
months, for this Flag likes moisture, and
its numerous roots will often go 2 feet
deep in search of it. It dislikes shade,
preferring a warm sunny position, being
especially happy when planted by the
margin of a lake, pond, or stream, where
cooling conditions obtain, but where the
roots or crowns are not submerged. Two-
year-old seedling plants of it bloom in
June and July, and amongst them will be
found an endless variety of colours from
white to the richest plum, the deep blues
being very rich. In cultivation they pre-
fer a generous treatment, rich loam and
old manure suiting them. Plant Sep-
tember to November and March to early
April. When transplanted this moisture-
loving Flag does not bloom well until the
second season after planting. Division,
or seeds, which should be sown as soon as
gathered either in pots or in the open
ground, they will vegetate in the following
spring.

I. KOLPAKOWSKIANA. — An ally of /.
reticulata, perfectly hardy and flowering
about the same time, and effective in
groups. The chief difference from the
netted Iris is in the bulb and leaves, which
are narrow, linear, deeply channelled on
the inner face, with a central band or rib
like a Crocus leaf, and pale green without
the glaucous tint usual to this group.
The falls are deep violet-purple, with a
beardless bright yellow keel, from which
are purplish branchings, whilst the stan-
dards are pale self-lilac with creamy
anthers. Turkestan.

I. KOROLKOWI. — Of this the leaves are
tall, narrow, and upright, the scape, which
is about i foot or so high, bearing two
large flowers of delicate shades of grey
and brown, and beautifully veined. Warm
and dry spots on the rock garden.

I. LACUSTRIS (Dwarf Lake Iris). — A
dainty, quite hardy Iris, with beautiful
sky-blue flowers in spring and again in
the autumn. It belongs to the rhizoma-
tose group, is free both in growth and
bloom, and succeeds in full sun and in
sandy soil. N. America.

I. LORTETI. — In general features it is
near to /. Sari, but its wonderful colouring
makes it, perhaps, the most beautiful Iris
in the world. " In a plant flowered by
myself this summer (1893)," writes Prof.
Foster, " the falls showed a creamy-yellow
ground marked with crimson spots, con-
centrated at the centre into a dark crimson

IRIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

515

signal, while the standards were nearly
pure white, marked with very thin violet
veins, hardly visible at a distance."
Lebanon.

I. MARINE. — Belongs to the iberica
group, and was discovered on the confines
of Egypt and Palestine. The rhizome is
compact, rather slender, the foliage being
not unlike that of iberica, but narrower.
The flowers, on a stem of about 6 inches
high, are somewhat smaller than /. iberica,
of a uniform lilac colour, though marked
with veins, but the uniformity is broken
by a conspicuous " signal " patch of deep
purple on the fall.

I. MEDIA. — Native of Persia, and has a
small, slender, and compact rhizome.
The leaves are narrower than /. iberica,
and for the most part erect, the stem being
about 6 inches in length, more or less, but
it seems to vary a good deal. The fall,
which spreads horizontally, is narrow and
pointed, the blade being sharply curved
back on itself.

I. MISSOURIENSIS (Missouri Flag). — A
Rocky Mountain kind, graceful, and with
delicate purplish-blue flowers, which are
valuable to cut in the month of May. It
grows well in a border of good soil.

I. MONNIERI. — A noble Flag, distinct
from any other in cultivation, the leaves
being dark green, and the flower-stem
nearly 4 feet high, whilst the outer divi-
sions of the flowers, which are very fra-
grant, are recurved, and of a rich golden-
yellow, margined with white. It is a
native of Crete, and succeeds best in rather
moist soil, whilst increased easily by
division or seed.

I. NEGLECTA. — One of the tallest grow-
ing species, having given rise to numerous
garden varieties. Its flowers rarely
measure more than 2^ inches across, the
standards being of a pale blue, with darker
shading, and the much reflexed falls are
of a deep blue, veined with purplish-red ;
the crest or beard is bright yellow, and
very striking.

I. OCHROLEUCA (Yellow-banded Flag). —
A stately vigorous Flag and an old plant
in our gardens, the foliage slender, about
4 feet long, and coming up in a graceful
twist. The spikes usually bear four or
five flowers, white or nearly so, with large
yellow blotch on the fall, and some reach
nearly 6 feet in height, strong clumps
producing four or five. Few Flags will
thrive better in the shrubbery border.
There is a variety called gigantea, which
has larger and finer flowers.

I. ORCHIOIDES. — Distinct in its rich,
dark yellow blossoms, with black spots on
the lower petals and a vigorous leafy
growth. It is a profuse flowering kind,
often bearing as many as six blossoms on
a single spike. It is a tuberous-rooted
species, hardy and free at least on warm
soils.

I. PALLIDA (Great Purple Flag). — One
of the stateliest and most beautiful of
Flags. When in full vigour, the spikes
will reach 4 feet in height, with a succession

Iris ochroleuca.

of from eight to twelve of its large pale
mauve or purple flowers, scented like the
elder. There are forms of it, such as the
Dalmatian and also Mandraliscse, which
have deep blue flowers. It is a fine border
plant, and charming in large groups.

516

IRIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

I. PARADOXA. — A singular Cushion Iris,
native of W. Persia and the Caucasus, and
fitly called " paradoxical." The fall is
reduced to a narrow strap half an inch or
less in width, but the standard is large,
erect, and while the small fall is stout and
firm, almost leathery, is delicate and
flimsy in texture. The ground colour of
the claw is a rich crimson or deep pink,
but beneath the claw and for some little
distance in front of it the crimson hue is
all but entirely hid by numerous short
dark purple, almost black, hairs, so thickly
set as to imitate velvet very closely indeed.
The plant varies much in size and colour,
and the effect of the flower is very striking.

I. PERSICA (Persian Iris). — One of the
most charming of the early kinds, it
deserves a place wherever the soil is warm
and dry. Its flowers, produced from a
tuft of bright green leaves that just peep
over the soil, are white, suffused with pale
Prussian blue, and blotched with velvety
purple. It is somewhat tender, but in
warm sheltered spots, in light sandy soil,
succeeds, and flowers in winter and spring.

I. PSEUDO-ACORUS (Common Water
Flag). — Common as is this Flag, every one
who has grown it fairly will admit its
beauty. Whoever has in his garden a
pond or a ditch, or even a thoroughly
damp spot, ought to plant this Flag.

Iris fallida.

I. PUMILA (Dwarf Flag).— The best of
the dwarf Flags, for tp it we owe the many
lovely varieties that 'give us such a rich

display of bloom in spring. It grows from
4 to 8 inches high, and has deep violet
flowers, unusually large for its size. There
are several named varieties, the most
attractive being the sky-blue (casrulea),
which in early spring forms sheets of bright
colour edgings in free soil.

I. RETICULATA (Netted Iris).— One of
the most beautiful of hardy flowers.
While the snow is still on the ground — in
January, or even earlier — its leaves begin
to shoot, and while these are only a few
inches high, the bud opens to the pale
wintry sun a beauty of violet and gold.
After the flower has faded, the erect narrow
leaves grow to a height of i foot or more.
The plant comes from some parts of the
Caucasus and from Palestine, and there
are several varieties. Krelagei may be
recognised by flowers of a purple or plum
colour, with the yellow marking less vivid ;
the whole flower is smaller, also less
fragrant ; in fact, is almost wholly without
scent, and it flowers ten or fourteen days
earlier. An exquisite gem is I. r. cyanea,
which is very bright in colour, a slaty blue,
and dwarf. Sophonensis, with red-purple
flowers and a bold crest, is a native of
Asia Minor, and blooms in early February.
/. r. purpurea, a small variety with deep
purple flowers, is pleasing. There are
also many beautiful hybrids, Cantab being
one of the most charming. A sunny
sheltered spot is, however, advisable, that
its tall narrow leaves may after flowering
be protected from the wind. Sandy soil
will do, but it is not particular in this
respect. Sometimes, however, it refuses
to grow, and in damp places the bulbs rot

IRIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IRIS.

517

in summer. Since the flowers come before
the leaves grow tall, it makes a good pot
plant, and a well-grown clump is a
charming addition to the Christmas table.
I. ROSENBACHIANA. — A charming bul-
bous Iris, and found on the mountains of
E. Buchara, Turkestan, at an elevation of
6000 to 7000 feet, we are told, in two varie-
ties, both growing together, the flowers
of one form being blue, those of the other
of a fine violet, whilst the bulbs of both
the varieties are small, with thin tunics,
never reticulated as in the netted Iris.

Iris persica.

I. SARI. — Derives its name from the
river Sar, in Cilicia, in the neighbourhood
of which it was found. It comes near to
/. susiana, having a compact rhizome,
relatively large foliage, a fairly tall (a foot
or less in height) stem and large flowers ;
indeed, the var. lurida, which Prof. Foster
mentions as the only one he has seen in
cultivation, is often mistaken by a casual
observer for /. susiana.

I. SIBIRICA (Siberian Flag). — A slender
plant, 2 or 3 feet high, with narrow grassy
leaves, and in summer somewhat small
showy blue flowers, beautifully veined
with white and violet. There are several
varieties, the white variety, also called
/. flexuosat being pretty, and so is /. acuta,
but the double-flowered form is not. The
finest variety is /. orientalis, having larger
flowers of a deeper colour, with a different
veining, and the falls especially broad and
expanding. The Siberian Iris is very
hardy and spare plants are easily estab-
lished in ditches or damp spots.

I. SINDJARENSIS. — An interesting species
with the habit and general character of
/. caucasica, but having bluish flowers and
a distinct crest. It flowers, however, at
a time when no other Iris except /. reticu-
lata is in bloom, and possesses a certain
distinctive charm.

I. STYLOSA (Algerian Iris). — A beautiful
plant, flowering in mid-winter, its flowers
hidden in grassy foliage. When mixed
with even the most delicate flowers of the
stove or Orchid-house, its silky sky-blue
fragrant flowers possess a charm and soft-
ness equalled by scarcely any other flower
of the same colour. Although hardy, its
flowers are so delicate that it should have
protection from heavy rains unless the
position is well sheltered. There are
several varieties in catalogues, speciosa
being one of the best, this having larger
flowers of a deep blue colour. Syn. /.
unguicularis . They all thrive best on
very light warm soil on well-drained
borders in sheltered gardens. Division.

I. SUSIANA (Mourning Iris). — One of the
most singular of all flowers, from i| to
2^ feet high ; the flowers very large and
densely spotted and striped with dark
purple on a grey ground. It should be
grown in sunny nooks in the rock garden,
or on sheltered banks or borders, but
always in light, warm, or chalky soils. I
have seen it flowering well in a border in
the Archbishop of Canterbury's garden
near Broadstairs, where it is hardy. Asia
Minor. Division.

Iris reticulata.

I. TUBEROSA (Snake's-head). — This is an
interesting if quiet-coloured kind, 12 or
13 inches high, the flowers small, brownish-
green marked with yellow, and a purplish-
brown tinge on the upper part. There
are usually two tubers. It is not showy
enough for every garden, but where
admired it may be naturalised in light
soil. S. Europe.

IRIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

I. VARIEGATA. — A handsome Flag of the
Germanica group, i to 2 feet high, with
large, slightly fragrant flowers, having
bright yellow standards and claret-red
falls beautifully veined. Similar in aspect
is /. aphylla, with deep lilac falls and white
standards veined with purple, whilst there
are numerous varieties, the colours of
which are varied and beautiful. /. lurida
and its varieties also come under this
group.

tinct in aspect from those of the Spanish
Iris, and appear a fortnight or so later.
They are broad and display a beautiful
diversity of colour, from deepest purple
to pure white. Among the good varieties
are Leon Tolstoi, Mont Blanc, Grande
Celeste, King of the Blues, La Charmante,
and Vainqueur. There are, of course,
many other varieties in which one gets
flowers splashed and mottled with various
colours. These are not so fine as the bold

Iris susiana.

I. XIPHIOIDES (English Iris). — A beau-
tiful flower, and the many garden varieties
are amongst the finest things we have in
early summer.

The English Iris got its popular name
in a rather curious way, being sent from
its Pyrenean home, where its distribution
is limited, to Bristol traders, thence to
Holland. The Dutch, supposing it to be
a native of our shores, called it the
English Iris. The flowers are quite dis-

self kinds, and raisers should think less of
them, rather giving us self-colours, which
are always more effective, both in the
garden and when gathered for the house.
There is a curious variety called Thunder-
bolt, which is of a dusky dull colour.

I. XIPHIUM (Spanish Iris). — A very beau-
tiful flower, and an old inhabitant of
gardens. The prevailing colours are blue,
with various shades of purple or violet,
yellow, and white. The blue tints of the

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ISATIS.

519

cultivated seedlings seem to be derived
from the typical Spanish plant ; the yellow
hues may be traced to the Portuguese
variety, sometimes known as /. lusitanica.
The Spanish Iris must not be water-
logged in autumn and winter, preferring
a loose, friable, sandy soil, which, however,
should not be too poor, for it repays feed-
ing with thoroughly rotten leaf- mould or
manure. Sun it must have, but as its
slender stalks suffer from winds, it should
have shelter without shade. The golden
rule of not meddling over-much applies
distinctly to the Spanish Iris, as the new
roots begin to shoot out almost before
the old stalk has withered, and the bulb

They are vigorous and multiply readily,
and well suited to the English climate.

THE IRIS : ITS PLACE IN THE
FLOWER GARDEN. — The Iris family,
comprising as it does a vast number of
plants which can hardly be done justice
to in any one garden, there arises,
apart from the wishes of the owner,
the question of the value of the family
in the garden. The difficulty in the
w§ay of growing various wild species
from climates quite unlike our own —
the shortness of the season of bloom —
makes one limit the number of species

must not be kept out of the ground.
Plant, then, the Spanish Iris in clumps on
some rich, loose, friable plot, where their
bright colour may be shown to advantage,
and let them stay there year after year
until the dwindling foliage tells you that
they have exhausted their soil. The
beautiful varieties of Spanish Iris are well
worth a place in the reserve garden for
supplying cut flowers.

DUTCH IRIS. — A new race of bulbous
Irises is known by this name. They are
earlier than the Spanish sorts, larger, and
with bolder and handsomer flowers Albert
Cuyp, David Teniers, Hackaert, Hob-
bema, Pieter de Hoogh, Rembrandt (a
glorious blue, and one of the best), and
Van der Helsh is a selection of them.

to be grown in any one place. As to
the collector who rears all novelties
and rarities, the best way is to devote
to the Iris a special border where they
may be grown apart from other con-
siderations. The Iris of the riverside
and marsh I find the least trouble and
the most enduring ; such as the Siberian
Iris and the Japanese Iris often thrive
with me in wet soil near the pond side,
untouched and uncared for for years.

ISATIS. — A small group of peren-
nials, with little garden value ; the
Dyer's Woad, a native plant (Isatis
tinctoria) is interesting as yielding the
blue dye with which the ancient Britons

520

ISOPYRUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

IXIOLIRION.

painted their bodies. I satis glauca is a
handsome perennial of 3 feet, with grey-
green furrowed stems and long narrow
leaves with a white mid-rib. The tiny
bright yellow flowers come during July
in large feathery heads. The plant
thrives in ordinary soil if given a moist
and well-drained position, with full
sunlight. Seeds or division. Asia
Minor.

ISOPYRUM.— A graceful little plant
allied to the Meadow Rues, /.
thalictroides has prettier white flowers,
and is valuable for its Maiden-hair
Fern-like foliage. It is well suited
for the rock garden, is hardy, and
prefers a soil mixture of peat and loam.
Division or seed. Europe. Ranun-
culaceae.

ISOTOMA. — /. axillaris is a showy
half-hardy plant, resembling some of
the dwarf er Lobelias, its growth dense
and compact, the flowers J inch across,
star-shaped, and of a pale blue, con-
tinuing a long time, even till cut off
by frosts. If preserved in a frame
during winter, after the manner of
bedding Lobelias, it is perennial, and
may be propagated in spring by
cuttings. New Holland.

ITEA. — Graceful and distinct shrubs>
evergreen and deciduous, Chinese or
N. American, the species ilicifolia
being quite a choice evergreen, Holly-
like shrub, but smoother and thinner,
it bearing weeping racemes nearly a
foot long. It is not likely to be hardy
except in warm valleys and seashore
places. I. virginica is moisture-
loving, hardy, and deciduous. N.
America.

I XI A. — Charming S. African bulbs,
slender and elegant in growth, and
brilliant in flower, but not much grown,
because some are tender and require
glass protection. For culture out-
doors, choose a light loamy soil,
thoroughly drained, and with a due
south aspect ; if backed by a wall or
a greenhouse, so much the better. In
favoured gardens near the coast they
are perfectly hardy in the open, and
increase rapidly. Plant from Sep-
tember to January, 3 to 4 inches
deep, and i to 3 inches apart. As the
early plantings make foliage during
the autumn, it is necessary to give
protection during severe frost, and
this may be best accomplished by
hooping the beds over and covering
when necessary with mats ; or if
tiffany is used, it may be allowed

to remain till the danger of severe
frosts has ceased. The December and
January plantings require no protec-
tion in winter, but as they will flower
later in the summer than the early
plantings, an aspect where the sun's
rays are somewhat broken will prolong
the blooming period. On stiff soil, or
on soils that lie rather wet in winter,
the beds should be raised, and the
bulbs should be surrounded with
sand, care being taken that they are
planted i or 2 inches above the level
of the path ; and, where protection
cannot conveniently be given, plant-
ing should not take place till Decem-
ber or January. A large number of
varieties are in cultivation, and the
chief species from which they appear
to be derived are /. crateroides, patens,
maculata, fusco-citrina, ochroleuca, colu-
mellaris, speciosa, and viridiflora, which
last is of a beautiful sea - green, a
colour quite unique among cultivated
plants, and in no case to be omitted.
A collection of varieties might include
the following : Achievement, Amanda,
aurantiaca, Cleopatra, Conqueror,
Duchess of Edinburgh, Gracchus,
Hercules, Hypatia, Isabelle, Lady of
the Lake, Lesbia, Loela, Miralba, Nose-
gay, Pallas, Pearl, Princess Alexandra,
Sunbeam, Surprise, Titian, and Vulcan.

IXIOLIRION (Ixia Lily}.— Beautiful
plants of the Amaryllis order somewhat
resembling each other, and about i to
1 1 feet high, with grassy foliage, and
bearing large trumpet-shaped flowers
in a loose, elegant manner. /. Pallasi
has flowers of the deepest shade, and
/. tataricum of the palest, the inter-
mediate shades being /. montanum and
/. Ledebouri. They should be grown
in an open and dry position — in a
sunny border, for example, which is
all the better with a wall at the back,
so as to catch all the sun-heat possible
in early spring, when the bulbs are
pushing up their young leaves. The
border should be well drained and a
bed of light, rich, loamy soil, about
i foot in depth, placed upon the
drainage. When the young growth
appears, place a common handlight
over the plants — even two panes of
glass will be beneficial — and if similar
protection is afforded at the latter
part of summer, it will tend to keep
the soil dry and warm, and so ripen the
bulbs. A handful of dry sharp sand
placed in a layer under and around
the bulbs is conducive to the formation
of roots. W. Asia.

JABOROSA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. JASMINUM. 521

JABOROSA (/. integri folia). — An

interesting dwarf perennial, allied to
the Mandrake, growing 9 to 12 inches
high, with broad leaves, and white
tubular flowers about 2 inches long,
fragrant and handsome. A native of
Buenos Ayres, it is somewhat tender,
only succeeding in light warm soils in
sheltered situations, and is best close
to the foot of a south wall in warm
loamy soil. Here it makes a good
plant, sometimes spreading so rapidly
as to become a weed. Division of the
long creeping stems. Solanaceae.

JAMESIA (/. americana). — A
dwarf shrub from the Rocky Moun-
tains, about 3 feet high, summer
leafing, many clusters of white flowers.
It is hardy, of easy culture, and fitted
for association with flowering shrubs
of a medium size, but is of no high
garden value in view of the many
handsome hardy shrubs we possess.

JANKffiA. — /. Heldreichi is one of
the prettiest of the Ramondia family,
a native of the mountains of Macedonia,
growing in ravines. It has been con-
sidered a tender plant, dying away in

Jankiea Heldreichi.

our gardens in spite of the most
careful handling, but it is likely to grow
as well as other Ramondias if its special
wants are attended to. It likes to be
moderately moist at the roots and
have shade and moisture in the air.
Some place on a well-constructed rock
garden should be chosen, where it will
thrive in peat. The blooms are of a
deep blue, nodding, and shaped like
those of a Soldanella, and it has
silver-grey leaves.

JASIONE (Sheep's Scabious). — Dwarf
perennials and annuals of the Bell-
flower family. J. humilis is a creep-

ing tufted plant, about 6 inches high,
bearing small heads of pretty blue
flowers in July and August. Though
a native of the high Pyrenees, it often
succumbs to the damp and frosts of
our climate, and it therefore requires
a dry well-drained part of the rock
garden, and should have a little
protection in winter during severe
cold and wet. /. perennis is taller,
often above i foot high, with dense
heads of bright blue flowers, from June
to August ; it is a rock garden plant,
stronger than the preceding, thriving
in good light loam, and a native of
the mountains of C. and S. Europe.
These perennial kinds may be pro-
pagated best from seed, as they do-
not divide well. /. montana is a
neat, hardy annual with small, pretty
bright blue flower-heads in summer.
Seed in autumn or spring. A native
plant.

JASMINUM ( Jasmine) . — Beautiful
shrubs, the hardy ones among the best
introduced to our country, and of
very wide and precious use.

J. FRUTICANS (Shrubby Jasmine). — A
wiry-looking shrub from S. Europe and
the Mediterranean region ; hardy in
England, and though not so important
as some of the free-growing kinds, is worth
a place on dry banks. It has numerous
small yellow flowers.

J. HUMILE (Indian Yellow Jasmine). —
A handsome kind, being quite hardy for
wall culture in all parts ; with evergreen
foliage, which adds to its value. It flowers
freely, and its yellow bloom amidst the
deep green foliage is welcome in summer
and autumn. Being an Indian plant, it
should have a warm aspect and good warm
soil. Syn. /. revoluium and /. wallichia-
num.

J. NUDIFLORUM (Winter Jasmine). — A
lovely Chinese bush which is happy enough
in our northern climate to flower very
often in the depth of winter, clustering
round cottage walls and shelters, and often
very lovely when not too tightly trained.
In wet years it will be noticed increasing
as freely as twitch at the points of the
shoots. It should be planted in different
aspects so as to prolong the bloom, planting
each side of a house or cottage, for
example. The sun coming out after hard
frost may destroy the bloom on one side,
and it may escape on the other.

J. PRIMULINUM is a good evergreen form
of this, recently brought from China, but
found not to be so hardy as the winter
Jasmine ; though it will probably be a
valuable plant in southern gardens.

J. OFFICINALE (White Jasmine). — The
old white Jasmine of our gardens, one of
the most charming shrubs ever introduced

522 JEFFERSONIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. JUGLANS.

for walls and warm banks ; it is best on
warm and sandy soils, and often thrives in
the heart of our cities. It should be
planted in every garden against a wall, or
used for trailing over arbours. It is one
of the best of all climbing shrubs, on
account of its hardiness and rapid growth
in almost any soil. There are several
varieties of it, the best being /. affine, with
flowers larger than those of the ordinary
kind. There is a variegated-leaved kind,
not of much value, and one with golden
foliage, and there is a rare double-flowered
form. It is almost evergreen, except in
exposed places. It is a native of Persia
and the north-western mountains of India,
but is naturalised here and there in S.
Europe.

JEFFERSONIA (Twin-leaf}. — An in-
teresting dwarf plant, allied to the
Blood - root, /. diphylla being from
-6 to 10 inches high, the flowers white,
about i inch across, in early spring.
It is a good plant for peaty and some-
what shady spots on the rock garden,
and for the margins of beds of dwarf
American plants. Seed should be sown
in sandy soil as soon as gathered,
but careful division of the root in
winter is the best way to increase the
plant. A native of rich woods in N.
America.

J. DUBIA is a new and exquisitely beau-
tiful species from Manchuria, flowering in
May. The plant produces a tuft of
roundish leaves and great numbers of
Hepatica-like flowers of pale mauve
colour. Height, 6 inches. Quite happy
in peat and loam.

JUB-ffiA (/. spectabilis).—A hand-
some, hardy S. American palm, with
a short, tree-like stem, which some-
times attains a great height, and pin-
nate leaves of a deep green colour
and from 6 feet to 12 feet long. The
leaf-stalks are very thick at the base,
where they are enclosed in a dense
mass of rough, brown fibres, which
grow upon their lower edges. Young
plants are prettier than old ones, and
when well established grow without
any trouble, and are free from the
diseases which attack the softer leaves
of other palms. The soil for this
plant should be a mixture of two
parts of rich loam and two parts
composed of peat, leaf -mould, and
sand. This exists in the open air
throughout the winter in the warmest
parts of Britain, growing fully hardy
and making a fair growth where the
climate at all resembles that of Chili.
Grown in tubs in the conservatory in
winter, and placed in the open air in

summer, it is useful for grouping with
the hardier palms.

JUGLANS (Walnut).— Stately trees
of northern and eastern regions, among
them being our noble European Wal-
nut, a tree as well known to the
ancients as to ourselves, and useful
and beautiful in all ways.

Our Walnut (/. regia), like many
other fruit trees, has been cultivated
for so long that no one is clear as
to its origin, but it is a tree of
wide distribution in the East, and
in countries where it is much culti-
vated has many varieties, differing
much in size and in the tenderness of
their shells, and even in earliness.
Though the Walnut is not so much
grown in Britain as in countries of S.
Europe, it is very happy in some of
our southern, western, and eastern
counties, occasionally attaining fine
proportions, especially on warm and
chalky soil ; but as we go farther
north it becomes less and less likely
to ripen its fruit, and in Scotland it
has to be grown against walls. In
parts of C. and S. Europe it is so
much cultivated that the wood and
fruit and oil produced by it form a
principal source of commerce. There
is very much of interest as regards the
uses of the various products of the
Walnut in countries where it is at
home, but here we are concerned with
its culture and beauty as a lawn,
pleasure ground, or orchard tree, and
in this way with us it does best
in good and rather dry soils on cal-
careous base, though thriving in other
soils.

The form of single trees is often very
fine, as indeed it is as a group, and
sometimes as a short avenue. It may
also be grown as an orchard tree where
the soil is favourable and there is
plenty of room. The finest specimens
are occasionally nearly 100 feet in
diameter in spread of branch. The
cut-leaved forms will appeal to some.
Among the other species there are
remarkable trees, but our common
Walnut has in Europe so many good
qualities that it is the best to plant,
although some of the other species are
good for collections of hardy trees,
such as /. cineria, the Butternut, /.
nigra, the black Walnut, both of
America ; the latter a very hardy,
fine tree which would thrive in situa-
tions where our common Walnut might
not be so free ; /. mandshurica, of the
Amoor region ; /. rupestris, of the

JUNCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

JUNIPERUS.

523

W. United States ; and /. Sieboldi, of
Japan ; besides several hybrids be-
tween the common Walnut and other
species.

JUNCUS (Rush}. — Water - side or
marsh plants, generally with long round
leaves. /. effusus spiralis is a very
singular plant, whose spreading tufts
of leaves, instead of growing straight,
are twisted in a cork-screw form. It
is worth cultivating on the margins
of water. It is easily multiplied by
division of the tufts. /. zebrinus is
apparently a form of the common
Rush (/. communis). The long round
leaves are barred with bands of yellow
and green, and it is a striking plant,
as its rigid habit and singular mark-
ings stand out in bold relief.

JUNIPERUS. — Evergreen shrubs
and medium - sized trees, natives
of northern and temperate countries.
The wood of some kinds is fragrant,
and the foliage contains an acrid
principle as in the Savin. The Juni-
pers vary much in size and habit in
their native countries owing to their
usually wide geographical range, and
to growing in all sorts and conditions
of soil and climate, so that, probably,
mere forms of varieties have been con-
sidered species. Some are too tender
for our' climate, although of much value
in their own, while others are quite
hardy and vigorous with us. Such
beauty as the hardy kinds possess is
very much diminished by the common
way of planting them among shrubs ;
or, in the case of the pmetum, isolating
in grass, both ways being against their
good effect and good cultivation even.
Where possible, the really effective
way is to group them. The good effect
of this is well seen in the case of the
common Savin, as indeed it would be
in most of the others, and where there
is no room to do this, and do them
justice, it would be better to leave
them out altogether, as, starving in
the embraces of the common British
shrubbery, they soon come to a bad
end. The following are, so far as we
know, the most distinct of the hardy
kinds only : —

J. CHINENSIS (The Winter-flowering
Juniper). — A low tree or bush, hardy and
useful in gardens, as during winter or in
early spring, when covered with its yellow
male flowers, it is beautiful, and of the
easiest culture, succeeding well on loamy
soil ; several varieties are in cultivation.
/. Japonica is thought to be an alpine
form of this.

J. COMMUNIS (The British Juniper). —
Chiefly found growing in England on sandy
or chalky soils or on open downs, while
in Scotland its native home is amongst
the granite or trap on hill and mountain
sides. The Irish Juniper is a close erect
form, not confined to Ireland, but occur-
ring also wherever the Juniper is plentiful.
/. communis varies much in gardens, and
we often see forms of it where the wild
plant is never cultivated, though we doubt
if any of the varieties are better, if as
good. The Swedish and Canadian Jum-
pers are supposed to be varieties of this.
/. oxycedrus is the Mediterranean repre-
sentative of our common Juniper, but in
our climate it does not generally thrive.

J. DRUPACEA (Plum-fruited Juniper). — A
native of Syria and Asia Minor, on the
mountains there attaining a height of
some 15 feet. Thrives in gardens best
on good, well-drained soil. It has a close,
conical habit of growth, with branches of
a light grassy-green colour. This Juniper
makes a good tree for a lawn. The fruit
is a fleshy one, enclosing a hard kernel,
about the size of the Sloe, and of a plum-
like purple.

J. EXCELSA (Tree Juniper). — A graceful
tree native of many countries in Northern
India, Persia,
Arabia, and
Asia Minor,
in some of
the most
favourable
conditions
forming large
forests at
very high
elevations.
A close taper-
ing form was
sent out from
Messrs Rol-
lisson's nur-
series as /.
e. stricta, and
is a very

glauCOUS and Juniperus drupacea,

attra c tive
shrub.

J. PHCENCEA (Phoenicea Juniper). — A
shrub of conical form from the Mediter-
ranean region, the male and female
flowers on the same plant but on different
branches. Although long introduced to
our country it is as yet far from common.

J. RECURVA (Weeping Juniper). — A dis-
tinct kind with graceful drooping branches,
from the mountains of India and Cash-
mere, varying in size from a low bush to
a medium-sized tree according to climate
and soil. The male form is more close in
habit than the seed-bearing one. A
graceful kind for banks or the outer
flanks of the rock garden. At Bryn-
meirig, near the Penrhyn slate quarries,
there are a number of these graceful

524

JUSSLSSA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. KIRENGESHOMA.

Junipers, which for size are perhaps not
excelled in Britain. The soil is loam
and peat resting on shaly slate rock — the
situation is shady and with a northern
aspect, which seems to suit this species.

J. RIGIDA (Mount Hakone Jumper). —
A graceful and picturesque kind with
free and often drooping habit, and in S.
England at least vigorous and hardy,
assuming in autumn and winter a pleasant
bronzy hue of green. It has not been
long enough in cultivation to judge of
its stature or permanent habit and value
in Britain, but it promises well. Japan.

J. SABINA (Savin). — A hardy and plumy
bush of the mountains of Europe, few
evergreen shrubs being more beautiful.
In the garden at Goddendene, near
Bromley, a dwarf form is very prettily
used as a lawn plant. Among the varie-
ties of the Savin the most useful forms
are /. prostrata and /. tamariscifolia —
variegated ones, as usual, being ugly and
useless.

J. THURIFERA (Frankincense Juniper). —
A small distinct tree, in its native country
attaining a height of 40 feet. As a lawn
tree it is attractive, and from its dense
conical shape associates well with trees
of the same race, and is very hardy.
Spain and Portugal.

J. VIRGINIANA (Red Cedar). — A grace-
ful, hardy tree on the hills and mountains
of N.E. America, giving somewhat of the
effect of the Eastern Cypress in Italy, and
in Britain one of the hardiest and most
graceful except evergreen trees. This
tree, like many Conifers that have been
much grown, has had its forms and
varieties propagated, few of them being
better than, if as good as, the common
kind, except, perhaps, the silvery forms,
which sometimes occur among plants
raised from seed, as they should always
be. Garden varieties must- be grafted, as
if raised from seed most of these would
revert to the wild form.

Dwarf Junipers for the rock garden :
Small forms of the northern Junipers are
used on rock gardens with good effect, as
giving on a small scale the form of the
alpine Conifers. Among these are /. nana
and Echniceformis, and other dwarf forms.

JUSSLEA NATANS. — A curious
aquatic plant that bears large yellow
blossoms a few inches above the surface
of the water. It is a valuable plant
for a pool or small lake, and hardy.

KADSURA JAPONICA.— A climbing
evergreen of Japan, belonging to the
Magnolia family, bearing scarlet berries
in clusters. So far as known, it should
be tried on a wall.

KALMIA (Mountain Laurel). — The
Kalmias are among the most beautiful
of N. American shrubs, evergreen in

foliage and charming in flower. Like
the Rhododendron and Azalea, Kal-
mias must be grown in a moist, peaty
soil, or one light or sandy. They will
not thrive in stiff or chalky soils.
Their lovely clusters of pink wax-like
flowers open about the end of June,
when the bloom of the Rhododendron
and Azalea is on the wane, and last
for a fortnight or longer. There
are varieties of the common kind
having, in some cases, larger flowers,
and in others flowers of a deeper
colour, the finest being maxima, which
is much superior in size of flower
and richness of tint. The Myrtle-
leaved Kalmia ( K. myrtifolia] seems
to be only a variety of K. latifolia,
with smaller Myrtle-like foliage. The
growth is dwarf and compact, and the
flowers are almost as large as those of
K. latifolia. The other species of
Kalmia, though very beautiful, are of
less value, because they are smaller,
more delicate, and less showy, but in
peat - soil gardens they should be
grown. K. angustifolia grows about
1 1 feet high, and bears in early June
dense clusters of rosy-pink flowers.
K. glauca and K. hirsuta are also
pretty shrubs, K. glauca flowering in
early summer, and K. hirsuta in
August.

KERNERA SAXATILIS. — A neat
little plant forming a compact tuft of
foliage, and in early summer a dense
mass of tiny white blooms. It grows
in any soil in an open position in the
rock garden, where it is an attractive
plant in spring, and may be freely
propagated by seeds. Europe.

KERRIA (Jew's Mallow) . — The
double variety of this Japanese shrub,
K. japonica, is an old favourite in
cottage gardens. The large yellow
rosette flowers are more showy than
those of the single kind, which is a
pretty shrub. Though usually planted
against walls, the Kerria is hardy, and
may be grown as a bush except in the
coldest parts.

KETELEEREA FORTUNEI. — A
Chinese evergreen tree, said to attain
100 feet in its own country. It thrives
in N. Italy, and may be worth trying
in our country in the southern counties.

KIRENGESHOMA PALMATA.— A

vigorous, hardy, herbaceous plant from
the mountains of Japan, with dark
stems of about 3 feet high, bearing
thin hairy leaves shaped like those of
a Sycamore, and clusters of long droop-

KITAIBELIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. KNIPHOFIA. 525

ing bright yellow flowers in early
autumn, the five fleshy petals over-
lapping so closely as to .appear like
one, and measuring 2 inches long and
about half as wide. The plant is best
in moist, peaty soil, and in partial
shade, fierce sun heat scorching both
leaves and flowers. Increase by seeds
and division.

KITAIBELIA VITIFOLIA. — A

large, coarse-growing plant, from 4 feet
to 6 feet or more high, with Grapevine-
like foliage. It bears in summer large
white blooms from the upper parts
of the stems. The plant is too coarse
for border culture, but adapted for
growing among shrubs or for naturalis-
ing. Seed or division. Hungary.

KNIPHOFIA (Torch Lily].— Hand-
some and very distinct perennials, but
prevented by our severe winters from
becoming very popular. The genus,
as understood by botanists, is restricted
to the mountains of Abyssinia and the
Cape, with the exception of one species
found by Speke and Grant near the
Equator, and one or two kinds indi-
genous to the mountains of Madagas-
car. There are twenty or thirty
species, and none of the six found in
Abyssinia is identical with any sort
found at the Cape. The Kniphofias,
and especially the forms of K. uvaria,
are among the most striking of autumn
flowers. Large irregular groups in
open spots give a brilliant effect in
autumn, and they require no attention
beyond an occasional top-dressing of
rich soil or well-rotted manure. Dur-
ing the late winters many kinds have
perished from frost, but these dangers
may be averted by a covering of dry
leaves or ashes in late autumn. The
stemless kinds are easily propagated
by division and by seed when produced
in favourable seasons ; but not the
stemmed or caulescent kinds. How-
ever, those who wish to increase their
stock of the stemmed kinds need not
fear to behead them ; in fact, this is
the only way in which K. caulescens
can be propagated, as otherwise it
seldom develops off-shoots. When so
treated it will throw up a large number
of shoots, which, if allowed to remain
until a few roots are produced, may be
taken off and kept in a close frame for
a time, and then potted in a sandy
compost. K. sarmentosa is the easiest
to increase, as it throws out under-
ground shoots, which may be taken off
at any time.

K. ALOIDES (Torch Lily). — An excellent
border plant, suitable for all soils, and
while few plants are better for picturesque
grouping in the pleasure ground, in the
shrubbery, with a fairly open space and
with deep rich soil it forms handsome
groups. It begins to flower in late sum-
mer, and lasts for many weeks in perfec-
tion, and nearly 70 per cent, of the garden
varieties are traceable to it. K. pumila
is a pretty dwarf form. The variety
prescox flowers much earlier than K.
aloides, from the middle to the end of
May ; its leaves are broader than those
of the type, and are not glaucous, while
the raceme is shorter, the stems being

Kniphofta grandis.

about half as long as the leaves. The
variety nobilis, which very much resembles
grandis, if indeed it is not the same kind,
is a robust and noble plant, its leaves more
distinctly serrated than those of grandis,
its flowering stem 5 to 8 feet in height,
with flowers varying from scarlet to
orange-scarlet ; the anthers are pro-
minent. It blooms throughout August.
The variety serotina is interesting from
blooming a month or so after all the other
Kniphofias are over ; its flowers are
greenish-yellow, occasionally tinged with
red. The variety Saundersi has bright
green leaves and very rich orange-scarlet
flowers ; the variety longiscapa has very
long flower-heads, and is a most desirable

526

KNIPHOFIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. KNIPHOFIA.

form ; the variety maxima globosa has
globose heads of yellow and red flowers ;
and the variety glaucescens has large flower-
spikes, the flowers being vermilion-scarlet
shading to orange. It is a free-flowering
plant, and is one of the best for heavy rich
soil.

K. BURCHELLI. — Introduced by Mr
Burchell from the Cape, is a distinct and
beautiful plant with a purple-spotted
stem and bright green leaves, firm in
texture, 2 to 3 feet long, which taper
gradually to the apex. It flowers soon
after midsummer, and just between prcscox
and the other forms of K. aloides. The
flower-heads are moderately dense, and
the flowers are bright red, excepting those
at the lower end of the head, which are
bright yellow, the style protruding, the
stamens being included in the tube. A
useful and distinct plant, suited for dry
banks and borders.

K. CARNOSA. — A beautiful plant, form-
ing low spreading leaf-rosettes, from the
midst of which a number of flower-stalks
rise to the height of i foot, with cylindrical
flower-spikes about 3 by i£ inches ; the
smallness of the flowers is compensated
for by their glowing apricot colour,
enhanced by bright yellow anthers. The
flowers open first on the top side in Sep-
tember. Abyssinia.

K. CAULESCENS and K. NORTHIJE. —
These differ from all other cultivated
kinds in having stems. K. caulescens
differs from all the forms of aloides in
being smaller, and in having very glaucous
leaves, short heads, and smaller and less
curved flowers. The stem, at 5 or 6
inches from the ground, can just be
spanned by both hands ; the scape is
about 4^ feet high, with a dense head of
flower 6 inches in length of a reddish-sal-
mon colour in its earlier stages, but in the
fully-expanded flower it gradually becomes
white, faintly tinged with greenish-yellow,
producing an effective contrast. The
glaucous blue-grey foliage is pretty.
Though less brilliant than most of the
species, it is one of the hardiest, and is
distinct and robust. It is a very striking
plant for the bold rock garden, and it
does well and flowers freely on dry slopes
in light warm soils, and in open sunny
positions. It should have a little protec-
tion in severe cold. Suckers or offsets
taken off in early autumn root freely in
sand in a cold frame. .

K. COMOSA. — Seems closely allied to
K. pumila, and has a peculiar appearance
with its long protruding style and anthers.
It is much dwarfer than K. aloides, its
leaves are much narrower, while its flowers
are smaller and its bright green leaves are
in dense rosettes, narrow, very pointed,
and almost three-cornered. The bright
yellow flowers droop in a dense oblong
head, the stamen and style being about
twice the length of the flower tube. K.

comosa is a showy plant, flowering in
September, but is rather tender.

K. FOLIOSA. — Almost the counterpart
of K. caulescens, but it has distinct stems,
being also one of the most robust of all
the Kniphofias, and easily distinguished
by its broadish leaves and its protruding
stamens. The leaves form a dense tuft
on the top of a stem i to 3 feet high, and
are 3 or 4 inches broad at the base, tapering
to a long point ; flowers in a dense oblong
head nearly i foot long, bright yellow or
tinged red, appearing in late autumn.
Cape. Syn. K. Quartiniana.

K. LEICHTLINI. — Native of Abyssinia,
and requires winter protection even in
the south of England. Its spreading
bright green leaves form a dense tuft ;
they are 2 to 4 feet long, three-cornered,
with entire margins, the flower-stems 2 to
4 feet high, the flower-head about 6 inches
long, the drooping flowers of a dull ver-
milion-red and yellow. The variety dis-
ticha, which is quite distinct from the type,
is more robust, its leaves broader, and
flower-tube shorter ; two or three heads of
bright deep yellow flowers are borne on
the same stem in August. Some have
suggested that it is a hybrid between
K. Leichtlini and K. comosa.

K. MACOWANI. — This differs from most
Kniphofias in having the segments of its
corolla reflexed, and in being of dwarf
. habit, 12 to 1 8 inches high, the narrow
grassy leaves i to 2 feet long, the flower-
heads small, the flowers of a bright orange-
red. It is hardy, and is suitable for rock
gardens. Rigidissima and maroccana are
garden synonyms. The variety longiflora
has much longer flowers. K. corallina is
a robust hybrid. It is exactly interme-
diate between K. Macowani and K. aloides,
and is a very pretty plant.

K. NORTHI^E. — This is most nearly
allied to K. caulescens, but its leaves are
much broader, are not keeled, and are
serrulate on the margins. The dense
flower-heads are about i foot long, the
flowers being pale yellow, but the upper
ones are tinged with red towards the tips.
S. Africa.

K. ROOPERI. — Nearly allied to K.
aloides, but is an early or summer-flowering
plant, while the stamens are included in
the tube ; the flowers are paler and less
curved, and the leaves are broad and very
glaucous. K. Rooperi is a native of
Caffraria, and requires a little protection
during severe winters. It has a fine bold
effect when in full flower, the flower-heads,
6 inches to i foot long, being crowded with
bright orange-red flowers, which get
yellowish with age.

K. SARMENTOSA. — Distinguished from
K. aloides by its smaller glaucous leaves,
the cylindrical flower-heads from 6 inches
to i foot long, the flowers red in the upper
half, and yellow, or yellow tinged red, in
the lower. It is perfectly hardy. Cape.

KNIPHOFIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

KOCHIA.

527

K. TRIANGULARIS. — Reminds one of
K. Macowani, especially as regards the
flower-spike, which is about the same size
and of a similar tint. The foliage, how-
ever, is broader and longer, and in this
respect it resembles K. Uvaria. It is
desirable because it is earlier in flower than
most varieties, and also because it is a
free grower.

K. TYSONI. — A handsome new variety,
with persistent strong foliage of a soft
glaucous shade, each leaf measuring 3 feet
or more in length and 3^ inches wide at

Kniphofia Obelisk.

base, tapering to a fine point ; the edges
of leaf finely serrated. Through June the
strong Yucca-like growths bear bold
spikes of orange-scarlet and primrose-
yellow flowers, the upper portion of the
inflorescence being red, the lower primrose.
In the bud stage the whole is orange-red,
but as the lower flowers expand they
change to soft primrose, the flowers open-
ing from the bottom upwards.

K. TUCKI. — Has large, glaucous, Yucca-
like foliage, growing 4 to 5 feet high, with

massive heads of bright red flowers,
changing to yellow, and borne early in
June.

Other species not noticed in detail are
K. pumila, pallidiflora, pauciflora, nata-
lensis, Kirki, Tysoni, modesta, Granti.

HYBRIDS AND VARIETIES. — We are
indebted to Mr Max Leichtlin for quite
a group of them. Others have given
us beautiful forms, such as the varieties
John Waterer, Otto Mann, Max Leicht-
lin, and John Benary, but all these owe
their origin to red-flowered species,
and do not much depart from the
typical forms. Since the introduction,
however, of yellow-flowered species, a
new field was opened to the hybridiser.
The predominating colour in these new
hybrids is yellow, in all shades varying
through orange to a crimson - scarlet.
In habit the plants vary quite as much
as in the colour and form of the flower-
spikes. Of some, whose parentage to
K. Leichtlini must be very near, the
foliage is narrow and deciduous, and
the spikes not more than 3 feet high.
Other varieties have massive foliage
some 3 inches or 4 inches broad, the
spikes attaining a height of 7 feet.
The variety Obelisk is robust, with
broad leafage and spikes some 5 feet
in height. The colour of the spikes is
a pure golden - yellow, and strong
spikes often produce two or three
additional spikelets.

Other beautiful forms are Triumph,
a very fine hybrid ; Star of Baden-
Baden, straw-yellow, the spikes more
than 7 feet high ; Ophir, orange-
yellow, very free-flowering ; Lachesis,
very hardy and rapid in growth, the
flower deep yellow, turning to straw
colour. Turning from the yellow
varieties we have Leda, a beautiful
and early-flowering form, about 4 feet
high, the flowers coral-red with an
orange tinge. Matador seems to have
nobilis for one of its parents ; the
spikes are large, broad, and the colour
a deep red. All the hardy kinds grow
well in deep well-drained loam, and are
readily increased by division or by
seeds, which some varieties bear freely
in mild localities.

KOCHIA ( Belvedere) . — K. trico-
phylla is an interesting summer Cypress
of the Goosefoot family, forming a
neat pointed bush from 3 to 5 feet high,
the flowers insignificant. The graceful
habit of the plant makes it valuable,
placed either singly or in groups,
especially from July to September,
the time of its full development. In

528 KCELREUTERIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LANTANA.

autumn it assumes a very effective
reddish tint. It should be sown in
April in a hot-bed, and afterwards
planted out in beds or borders. S.
Europe.

KCELREUTERIA. — K. paniculata is
a small tree, beautiful when in flower ;
the long divided leaves, elegant
throughout summer, in autumn die
off a rich yellow, and the yellow
flowers form large clusters over the
spreading mass of foliage. It is pic-
turesque, valuable for groups, is a
native of China, hardy, and thrives
in any good soil.

A new variety, K. bipinnata, has
recently been introduced from China,
but it has not yet been established
sufficiently long in this country to
enable us to judge of its value.

KLOKWITZIA AMABILIS.—

A Chinese summer-leafing bush said
to come from high elevations. The
flowers are somewhat like those of
Abelia. A promising shrub.

KOROLKOWIA SEWERZOWL— A

singular-looking bulbous plant, allied
to and much resembling a Fritillary.
It grows from i foot to i| feet high,
and has broad glaucous leaves and
nodding flowers, greenish outside and
vinous purple within. A native of
the mountains of Turcomania, hardy
in our climate. Bulblets or seed.

LABURNUM (Golden Rain}.—
Flowering trees of Europe, of singular
beauty, quite hardy and vigorous in
our islands, and giving fine effects, all
the more so if placed with some care
as to position and surroundings.

L. ADAMI. — Is a graft-hybrid ; the same
tree, and even the same branch, bearing
racemes of both yellow and purple flowers,
and sometimes flowers of a dull purple.
Old trees of these are quaint and not with-
out beauty, though it is far from having
the effect of the natural species and their
varieties.

L. ALPINUM (Alpine L.). — A hardy tree,
native of the hill forests of France and
C. Europe, reaching a height of nearly
40 feet. The natural form is a very
beautiful tree, and from it varieties of the
highest value have been raised and in-
creased from time to time, among the
best Parkesi, Watereri, autumnalis, biferum
grandiflorum ; hirsutum, pendulum, Vossi.
The Alpine Laburnum and its best varie-
ties may be known from the other Euro-
pean species by its longer raceme, broader
and deeper green leaves, and later bloom.
Grown from seed it varies a good deal.
Some fine varieties came in that way.

L. VULGARE (Common L.). — A beautiful
flowering tree of mountain woods on cal-
careous soil, but growing freely in any
soil in our gardens, flowering densely and
earlier than the Alpine Laburnum, and,
like it, reaching almost tree-like stature —
30 to 40 feet — in the best conditions. It
has several varieties, among them Carlieri
intermedium, pendulum, semperflorens, and
quercifolium, and the inevitable worthless
variegated forms.

L A C TU C A ( Blue Thistle) . — M.
Plumieri is a native of the Pyrenees,
where it is 4 or 5 feet high, but in our
borders and in deep strong soils it is
frequently as much as 8 or 9 feet high.
Its foliage is beautifully varied in out-
line, and it should be planted in the
rougher parts of the wild garden, and
left to itself, as nothing seems to inter-
fere with its rapid growth. M. alpi-
num is a smaller plant, and the worst
weed ever got into the garden. Seed
or division. Syn. Mulgedium. Some
of the kinds are very difficult to get
rid of once planted in good garden
soil, and the place for them is the wild
garden.

LAGURUS (Hare's-tail Grass).— A
pretty annual grass, about i foot high,
L. ovatus having hare's-tail-like plumes,
useful for bouquets. It should be
sown in pots in August, wintered in
frames, and divided and transplanted
in spring, or sown in open ground in
April. Flowers from July to Sep-
tember, and is pretty in the flower
garden in large patches as a relief to
showy flowering things.

LAMARCKIA. — L. aurea is a small
hardy annual grass, with silky plumes,
becoming golden as they mature. It
is suitable for bouquets, and may be
dried for winter use. Seeds should be
sown in spring or autumn, in the open
border in light soil. S. Europe and
N. Africa.

LAMIUM (Dead Nettle). — Perennial
herbs of which there are a few plants
occasionally worth a place in poor
dry soils, where little else will grow —
such as are found on dry banks or
beneath trees. L. garganicum, from
i to 1 1 feet high, has in summer whorls
of purplish blossoms. L. Orvala is
taller and has deep red flowers
in early summer. L. maculatum, a
native plant, has leaves blotched with
silvery- white .

LANTANA. — S. American plants,
usually grown in greenhouses and

LAPAGERIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LARIX.

529

also in the summer garden. The
Verbena-like heads of bloom are rich
and varied in colour, and range from
crimson, through scarlet, orange, and
yellow, to white, the colours varying
in the same head. They flower freely
for about nine months, and are easy
to grow, requiring the protection of
the greenhouse during winter after
being lifted in autumn. Propagated
in spring by cuttings or seeds, the
plants being grown in rich light soil
till planted out in a warm position.
There are many sorts grown, and a
selection should include Phosphore,
Don Calmet, Distinction, Eclat, Vic-
toire, La Neige, Feu Follet, Pluie
d'Or, Ver Luisant, Ne Plus Ultra,
Eldorado, and Heroine. Like many
dwarf half-hardy plants, they have
various uses -in the flower garden,
and may be trained as standards.
The pretty L. Sellowi is a good dwarf
plant ; but the odour of these plants
is unpleasant, and they are not
worthy of much care. West Indies.
Verbenaceae.

LAPAGERIA (Napoleon's Bell).— A
beautiful climber usually grown in the
greenhouse, but hardy and flowering
well in the open air in Cornwall and
the south of Ireland ; with care it
would be found to do over a larger
area round the coast. It forms a
lovely picture at Caerhays, trained
on a north-west wall, and flowers
quite freely. Often at Christmas and
onwards through the winter and spring
it comes out beautifully ; the rose and
white and other forms have been
tried, as well as the original form.
Soil should be peaty with plenty of
sand and leaf - mould. The great
enemy of the plant is the slug, which
destroys the young growths. The
plant may be nailed direct to a wall,
or planted among choice shrubs to
take its own way as a climber, and it
might be well to try it in various
aspects, as the conditions that suit it
in the extreme south of England may
not do so in all parts.

LARDIZABALA. — L. biternata is a
handsome evergreen climber from
Chili, hardy enough for walls in the
south and coast districts ; the foliage
a deep green, the leaflets thick. Along
the south coast it makes a beautiful
wall-covering, reaching a height of
20 feet or more, but its inconspicuous
purple flowers are seldom borne in the
open air. It should be planted in
light or well-drained soil.

LARIX (Larch). — One of the most
beautiful trees of the north, and though
much cultivated in our woodlands for
its value as a timber tree, it is none the
less precious for the lawn and home
grounds. Belonging to the great Pine
family, it has the summer-leafing habit
of our ordinary trees, which enhances
its charms, not only showing the form
better in winter, but the fine colour
of the budding leaves in spring, and
the ripening leaves in autumn. A true
child of the northern mountains, the
Larch is hardy everywhere in our
country, perhaps thriving better in
the north, as in the case of the lovely
old trees at Dunkeld, its only enemy
beinej a dreadful parasitic fungus,
which eats into the tree and mars its
beauty and vigour. Other kinds of
Larch are known, and some coming
into cultivation, but it is not always
easy to obtain them in a good state,
and we have yet but little evidence
as to their value. All are worth
trial, though it is probable that none
will ever rival the charms of the
European Larch.

L. AMERICANA (Tamarack). — A slender
tree, in its own country reaching a height
of nearly 100 feet, but not thriving so well
in England, and not so remarkable for
beauty as our European Larch. It grows
naturally in low-lying ground or swamps,
and has not been fairly tried in our gar-
dens, in which such ground does not often
occur. Syn. Microcarpa and Pendula.

L. EUROP^EA (European Larch). — A tall
and lovely tree with pendent branches
emitting a delicate fragrance in the spring
when budding. It is a native of the
northern and central European Alps, and
also the mountains of N. Asia. The weep-
ing variety is picturesque, but L. dahurica
is considered to be a form of this, and is
likely to be of distinct value for gardens.

L. GRIFFITHII (Sikkim Larch) . — A
Himalayan Larch, attaining in its own
country to the height of a stately tree,
but often dwarfed into an alpine bush.
It bears large cones, and in our country
has not yet been proved to be of great
value.

L. K^EMPFERI (Chinese Golden Larch). —
A beautiful tree of W. China, attaining in
its own country a height of over 100 feet,
and of good growth and habit in our
country, though not so rapid as other
species. A choice lawn tree, and also,
when it can be got in any quantity in the
form of healthy seedling plants, as a group
in park or woodland.

L. LEPTOLEPSIS (Japan Larch). — In its
own country this is described as a medium-
sized tree resembling our European Larch,
to which it is said to be inferior, but from

2 L

530 LASTHENIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LATHYRUS.

experience gained by planters this is
thought doubtful, as it promises very well
indeed as a woodland tree, and is said to
escape the Larch fungus canker, which is
so deadly to the European Larch.

L. OCCIDENTALIS (Western Larch). —
Said to be the noblest of all the Larches,
from the mountains of N.W. America.
It is of great height, but as yet little tried
in our country, though promising well.

LASTHENIA. — A pretty hardy
annual, L. glabrata being from 9 inches
to i^ feet high, with many rich orange-
yellow blossoms. It should be sown
in autumn or early summer, or in
spring for later bloom. Like other
annuals, it looks best in broad tufts,
but care must be taken that the
plants are properly thinned. The
autumn-sown plants come in with the
Iberis, Wallflowers, and early Phloxes.
L. californica is a variety. California.
Composite.

Lastrea. Syn. Aspidium and
Nephrodium.

LATHYRUS (Everlasting P.ea). -
Hardy annual and perennial plants,
several of them very beautiful for the
garden. The perennial kinds of Peas
are valuable, as they are of such free
growth and last long in bloom. The
kinds worth growing are not numerous,
yet sufficient to keep up an unbroken
display from May till October. They
have long fleshy roots, which, when
once established, will go on for years
without giving further trouble or
needing attention. Near a low wall
or trellis they succeed admirably, and
climbing gracefully drape such surfaces
with veils of foliage and blossom.
Upon banks, raised borders, or on the
bold rock garden few things are pret-
tier, and they never look better than
when scrambling over the face of a
rock, flowering as they go. The way
to spoil them is to attempt to tie and
train them in a stiff or formal way.
They may be used with good effect in
mixed borders, and they are valuable
for cutting from. The best varieties
are pretty if allowed to grow through
beds of medium-sized shrubs, and there
are few effects in gardens prettier than
that of the best white varieties when
allowed to trail and bloom on a grassy
place untrained in any way ; a few
tufts so placed are charming and live
for many years. Most of the species
ripen seed freely, and all may be divided
either in autumn or spring.

L. GRANDIFLORUS (Two-flowered Ever-
lasting Pea). — A very handsome plant for
the early summer garden, succeeding any-
where, and, as the name implies, is the
largest flowered species, the blooms being
as large as those of a Sweet Pea. It is at
its best in June and early July, the flowers
usually borne in pairs, of a rosy-purple
colour, the stems in good soil reaching

The White Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius
albus).

6 feet. It is one of the hardiest of the
genus, and from its neat and free-flowering
habit a very useful border plant, common
in cottage gardens. It has not so far
varied in colour as the Everlasting Pea,
but it may do so yet, and varieties of it
would be welcome.

L. LATIFOLIUS (Everlasting Pea). — One
of the hardiest and most easily cultivated
of plants, thriving almost anywhere, even
in courtyards amongst Flags. There are
good white varieties and some striped
with deeper coloured flowers than the old
kind. The best white-flowered variety is
The Pearl, an invaluable plant. All are
peculiarly suited for rough places, and
will scramble over bushes. Staking, tying,
and training only spoil them. An old

LATHYRUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LATHYRUS. 531

tree-stump, or the side of a trellis or sum-
mer-house, is where they delight to grow
undisturbed.

L. MAGELLANICUS (Lord Alison's Pea). —
The most beautiful of blue-flowered Peas.
It grows from 3 to 5 feet high ; the flowers,
many in a bunch, are of medium size,
violet-blue with darker veins, opening in
June and continuing until the end of July.
This species is said to have been originally
introduced by the cook of H.M. ship Cen-
turion, commanded by Lord Anson, in
1744, and was cultivated by Philip Miller
in the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. S.
America.

L. MARITIMUS (Beach Pea). — This is a
very interesting native plant, inhabiting
the seashore, and not so vigorous as the
preceding kinds. It is, however, pretty
and worth a place on open parts of the
rock garden, in gravelly or gritty soil.
The stems are prostrate, 18 inches to 3 feet
long, sea-green in colour ; flowers in
summer, purple fading to blue. N.
Europe, America, and Asia.

L. ODORATUS (Sweet Pea). — Perhaps the
most precious annual plant grown. There
are many ways in which it may be prettily
used in a garden. A common method is
to sow little patches in borders, the seed
being generally that of mixed varieties,
and by placing some stakes against them,
to secure pillars of flower. Where it can
be done, a hedge of Sweet Peas is an
attractive sight, and sometimes Sweet Peas
can be used to hide an unsightly place
during the summer. Many people grow
a hedge of Sweet Peas in order to yield a
supply of cut flowers, but it is useless to
grow the Sweet Pea except in good soil.
Some sow in late autumn ; this is not
always satisfactory, though, when it
succeeds, the result is good. By sowing
indoors in pots or boxes about the middle
of February, and gradually hardening off
the young plants when they are i inch
high, Sweet Peas may be made to acquire
a sturdiness and toughness which, when
they are planted out in good well-manured
soil in April, conduces to rapid growth and
to immunity from birds and slugs, which
would otherwise attack the tender shoots
the moment they appeared above the
ground. The soil should be well trenched,
and plenty of good stable manure should
be worked in ; and after the plants have
been rather thickly dibbled in, supports of
hazel stakes or netting should be placed
round them. Then, with a little attention
during dry weather and the regular
removal of incipient pods, they yield
abundance of beautiful and fragrant
flowers all through the summer and
autumn. When getting past their best
they should be cut down level with the
top of the sticks, and the result will be
that from the bottom to the top a new
growth will spring up, and there will be
an abundance of bloom until the end of

October. There are now many fine
varieties of the Sweet Pea, varying chiefly
in colour.

Mr Eckford, of Wem, Salop, now so
well known for the many varieties of
Sweet Peas he has raised, in writing to
me as to their good cultivation, says : "I
do not like the Celery-trench fashion. If
the ground is in a tolerably good state of
cultivation — -that is, has been fairly well
dug — simply put on a fair coat of stable
manure and dig deep, leaving it rough.
In the beginning of March, when the soil
is in good condition, thoroughly break
with a fork, which will be sufficient pre-
paration for the seed. To obtain the best
results, clumps of two or three plants at
i or 2 yards apart are better than con-
tinuous rows. In staking put three or
four bushy stakes thus : : round the
clump, but well away from the plants,
which should have a few smaller sticks to
lead them up to the taller ones. Round
the whole put a string or bit of wire to
keep them together, so that when the
plants have grown up a sort of cone may
be formed. The sticks should be, if pos-
sible, 8 or 10 feet high, as planted in this
way the Peas will, if mulched with half-
spent manure or any kind of refuse to
protect the roots from hot sun, grow very
strong and tall, and if the flowers are cut
close every morning, so that no seed can
form, they will continue to bloom till the
frost puts an end to them. Should the
weather prove dry, a soaking of weak
manure water two or three times during
the season would be beneficial. Should
they from excessive growth get untidy,
take the hedge-shears and clip them over
neatly ; they will in a few days throw out
fresh growths and a profusion of flowers.
If this way of growing Sweet Peas is
adopted, it is a good plan to put the seed
singly into small pots, and when the seed-
lings are strong enough to plant them out ;
in doing so make the ground very firm
about them — they delight in firm ground.
If the weather be dry tread well in."

Sweet Peas do admirably in Scotland.
Mr Brotherston thus writes concerning his
mode of treatment at Tynninghame :
" Mr Eckford (the raiser of many charming
varieties of Sweet Peas) was here a few
weeks ago, and he confessed to be unable
to grow them so fine. He said that he
had never previously seen the flowers of
his own Peas grown to so large a size or so
fine in colour. Grow the plants singly,
allowing each plenty of room. If you are
able to get plenty of good loam, allow
each plant one and a half barrowfuls, and
of leaf-soil half a barrowful, incorporating
these with the top spit of the garden soil.
Heavy dressings of manure produce rank
growth when the plants are young. I
prefer to add manure as a surface dressing ;
my favourite manures for this purpose
being soot, pigeon manure, superphos-

532

LATHYRUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LAVANDULA.

phate of lime and sulphate of ammonia.
Peat litter, which has passed through a
stable, is also good. Manure water will,
of course, be also beneficial. For training
on, nothing is more satisfactory than a
dead Spruce Fir for each plant. Pinching
is important, as it not only keeps the plant
within bounds, but all through the season
it causes the formation of young flowering
growths. Seeding is so fatal to the pro-
duction of bloom, and exhausts the ener-
gies of the plant so rapidly and immedi-
ately that in hot weather I should not
hesitate to remove every flower and
opening bud rather than risk leaving them
to form seed-pods. A position little
exposed to continuous sunshine will be
advantageous. I would make a late
sowing about the middle of June, or per-
haps even later, always, however, allowing
each plant plenty of room."

Though none of the other annual kinds
of Lathyrus rival the Sweet Pea, there are
several pretty ones. Of these the Tangier
Pea (L. tingitanus) grows about 3 feet
high, and has small dark red-purple
flowers ; the Chickling Vetch (L. sativus)
has flowers varying from pure white to
deep purple. The variety azureus is a
remarkably elegant dwarf kind with many
clear blue flowers ; L. s. color atus has
flowers white, purple, and blue ; L. Gor-
goni, about 2 feet high, pale salmon-
coloured flowers ; L. articulatus, Cly-
menum, and calcaralus are other pretty
kinds for borders.

L. ROTUNDIFOLIUS (Persian Everlasting
Pea). — A very old species, it is not so
common as the larger kinds, though good
from its earliness and freedom of flowering.
It grows about 5 feet high, the leaves are
nearly round, the flowers in large clusters,
bright rose-pink, about an inch in dia-
meter, and open in early June. It is of
easy culture, and increased by division.
Asia Minor and Persia.

L. SIBTHORPI (Early Everlasting Pea). —
This is valuable because it is so early,
being at its best in May and June. It
does not grow very tall, rarely more than
2 or 3 feet, but it bears many fine spikes
of delicate flowers of a beautiful purplish-
red colour. It has been in cultivation at
Oxford Botanic Garden for many years,
and is said to have been introduced by
Sibthorp. It flowers a month earlier than
L. rotundifolius, and may be increased by
division or seed, but is not so vigorous in
ordinary conditions as the commoner
Everlasting Peas, and should, until plen-
tiful, be planted in warm borders.

L. TUBEROSUS (Tuber Pea). — A pretty
low-growing kind, with flowers of a bright
dark pink. It is found in many of our
cornfields, and is cultivated in Holland
for the tuberous roots, which are said to
be edible. The tubers are about 2 inches
long, broadest at the root end and tapering
to the apex. It will be found a useful

plant for the flower border, it being a true
perennial, of neat habit, and very free-
flowering. Europe and W. Asia ; natura-
lised in England.

LAURELIA AROMATICA. — A

noble evergreen tree from S. America,
resembling the Common Bay in its
fine appearance and fragrant leaves,
and attaining a height of 30 feet or
more in parts of Ireland and at Pen-
jerrick, near Falmouth, Cornwall.
Being scarce it has not yet been much
tried, but like other Chilian shrubs,
it is probably hardy in the milder
parts of Britain. The leaves are thick,
fleshy, studded all over with minute
transparent dots, and have a fine
aromatic smell. The flowers and fruits
are not showy, coming as dense clusters
nestling in the leaf-axils, and only on
well-established plants. It is worth
a trial in seashore districts.

LAURUS (Poet's Laurel).— L. nobilis
is generally known as Sweet Bay, but
its true name Laurel should be kept,
for it is the true Poet's Laurel, the
vigorous Cherry Laurel having wrongly
taken the name. Gardeners in the
larger places rather neglect it, and
seldom plant it in groups and colonies,
as they might well do on dry banks.
The plant is interesting in every way
for its associations as well as for its
beauty, and there are several varie-
ties. It requires some care in trans-
planting, or it will be a long time
rooting well. Warm and sheltered
places are best for it, if possible on
sandy or free soil ; and it might
be planted in different aspects with
advantage.

In N. and C. Europe it is grown
to an enormous extent in tubs, as
in these countries it is quite a tender
plant, and the same plan may
sometimes be worth doing in colder
and more inland and northern parts
of our islands, where this hand-
some evergreen is often cut down by
frost.

LAVANDULA ( Lavender] . — Grey,
half-shrubby plants, mostly dwarf
with greyish leaves and warm and
grateful odour ; mostly coming from
warmer countries than ours, but,
happily, one of the most beautiful
survives on all our light and warm
soils, and may be cultivated almost
everywhere, as even if in winter killed
in valleys and on cool soils it is easily
raised by division or by seeds, and will
escape all save the most severe winters.
It succeeds best in an open sunny

LAVATERA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LEONTOPODIUM. 533

position, in light soil. The white-
flowered variety is as sweet as the blue,
and flowers at the same time. Though
a bush, the Lavender has been for
centuries associated with our old
garden flowers. For low hedges, as
dividing lines in or around ground
devoted to nursery beds of hardy
flowers, and many other purposes, it
is admirable, and for dry banks and
warm slopes. The forms of Lavender
in cultivation in our islands are varie-
ties of the wild kinds. The dwarf
forms are very pretty and useful for
edgings. One is sometimes called the
Dutch Lavender. Lavenders want
little care beyond occasional replant-
ing after several years' growth.

LAVATERA ( Tree Mallow] .—For
the most part vigorous and some-
what coarse annuals, biennials, and
perennials, few of great value in the
garden. The most useful is L. trimes-
tris, a beautiful S. European annual,
from 2 to 3 feet high, bearing in summer
large pale rose or white blossoms,
thriving in rich and light soil. It
may be sown in the open border in
autumn or early spring. Among the
taller kinds the best is L. arbor ea,
which has the look of a small tree, in
the southern counties sometimes 10
feet high. The stem branches into a
broad, compact, roundish, and very
leafy head. In rich well-drained beds
it would be a worthy companion for
the Ricinus and the Cannas. It is
most at home on dry soils, but during
the summer months it does on all kinds
of soil. A biennial, it should be raised
from seed annually. L. cashmeriana,
unguiculata, thuringiaca, sylvestris,
and others of a similar character are
not worth growing except in the wild
garden, or naturalised.

LEDUM (Labrador Tea}. — Dwarf
hardy shrubs, of which the best of the
few species grown in gardens is L. lati-
folium, which represents the genus
well. Its usual height is under 2 feet,
but sometimes it reaches 3 feet ; it is
dense and compact, and has small
leaves, of a rusty brown beneath.
During the latter part of May it bears
clusters of white flowers. It is a very
old garden plant, and was brought
from N. America more than a century
ago. The Canadian form of it (cana-
dsnse) is found in some gardens, but
does not differ materially from the
type. A form called globosum is finer,
as the flower-clusters are larger and
rnora globular. L. palustre is com-

moner than L. latifolium, but being
smaller in every part is not so good ;
it is dwarf and spreading, and its
flowers are white. N. Europe and
America.

LEIOPHYLLUM (Sand Myrtle).— L.
buxifolium is a neat, pretty, and tiny
shrub, forming compact bushes 4 to
6 inches high, with evergreen leaves
resembling those of the Box. The
small white flowers are borne in dense
clusters in early summer, the unopened
buds being of a delicate pink hue, and
it is suited for grouping with diminu-
tive shrubs, such as the Partridge
Berry, Daphne Cneorum, the small
Andromedas. A native of sandy " pine
barrens " in New Jersey.

LEITNERIA FLORIDANA (Cork-
wood) . — A small tree, native of southern
United States. A swamp-plant, and
said to thrive as far north as Boston,
United States.

LEONTOPODIUM ( Edelweiss) . — A
pretty and hoary-leaved alpine plant,
L. alpinum, having small yellow
flowers surrounded by star-like heads

Leontopo.lium alpinum (Edelweiss).

of leaves clothed with a dense white
woolly substance. Some people are
so pleased at seeing this plant in culti-
vation that they send letters to the
Times to announce the fact ; but its
culture is not difficult on sandy soils,
or even as a border plant, and it grows,
too, luxuriantly in moist rich soils.
To keep a good stock of flowering

534

LEONURUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LEPTOSYNE.

plants, the old ones should be divided
annually or young ones raised from
seeds, which in some seasons ripen
plentifully. It succeeds either on
exposed spots of the rock garden or
in an ordinary border, if not placed
too near rank-growing things.

LEONURUS (Lion' s-tail] . — L. Leon-
itis is a distinct and handsome plant of
the Salvia Order, allied to Phlomis,
about 2 feet high, and bearing in
summer whorls of very showy bright
scarlet flowers. It is a Cape plant, and
is not hardy enough for our climate

The 'L\on's-tai\(Leonurus Leonitis). Engraved from
a photograph by Miss Wilmott.

during the winter, even when protected
by a cold frame, though in warm light
soils, in the southern parts of the
country, it thrives out of doors in
summer, and where it will not bloom
out of doors, it is worthy of a place
as a cool greenhouse plant. Near
Paris, established plants placed out
for the summer flower well. Wherever
it can be grown in the open air, it
would be valuable for association with
the finer bedding and sub-tropical
plants. Cuttings strike freely in spring
— more freely than in autumn — in a
slight bottom heat.

LEPTOSIPHON.— Pretty Californian
annuals. To produce the best results
these charming plants must be strongly
grown, and robust specimens can only
be obtained by thin sowing. In light
dry soils early autumn sowing is recom-
mended, sufficiently early to permit
the young plants to attain some size
before the setting-in of winter. Fair
success, however, may be looked for,
especially in good soils, where spring
sowing will often yield excellent results,
while the advantages of autumn sowing
are best seen in light sandy soils. Of
the numerous kinds in cultivation the
best is L. roseus, which is one of the
most charming of hardy annuals,
forming dense tufts, studded with
rosy-carmine flowers. The very pretty
L. luteus and its deeper-coloured
variety aureus are scarcely inferior to
L. roseus, which they resemble in
habit, though with smaller flowers.
The hybrid varieties of these are in-
teresting for the singular variety of
shades occurring among them. The
larger-flowered species, L. densiflorus
and L. androsaceus, should be too
well known to need description ; both
have lilac-purple flowers, and are most
attractive annuals, and of both species
there are good white varieties deserv-
ing of especial recommendation. All
natives of California. Polemoniaceae.

LEPTOSPERMUM (South Sea
Myrtle}. — One of the few Australian
shrubs which thrive in our country,
often attaining much beauty in sea-
shore gardens, not only in the south
but in the west. Among the prettiest
effects in flowering shrubs I have seen
were from this in the garden of the
late W. O. Stanley at Penross. It
should have shelter and as warm a soil
as we can give it, although it grows
well near the sea and sea gales have
power to injure it. It would have
less chance in cold and inland places,
and valleys where the frost is more
severe. L. scoparium, var. Nicholii,
with carmine-red flowers, is the most
beautiful of these plants. It may be
increased by cuttings, but best by seed.

LEPTOSYNE. — Californian plants of
the Composite family, resembling some
of the Coreopsis. L. Douglasi is a
pretty half-hardy annual, about i foot
high, and having large yellow flowers.
L. Stillmanni resembles it, but is
smaller. L. maritima, a perennial, is
somewhat tender, and should be treated
as an annual. It is a showy plant,
about 6 inches high, and bears large

LESPEDEZA.

THE .ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LEWISIA.

535

bright yellow flowers. All these plants
thrive best in an open sunny position
in a light warm soil. The seeds should
be sown early in heat, and the seedlings
transplanted in May.

LESPEDEZA (Bush Clover}.—
Large flowering plants of the Pea order,
few as yet tried in our country.
Mostly from China, Japan, Korea, and
India.

LEUCANTHEMUM (A Ipine Fever-
few).— L. alpinum is a very dwarf
plant. The leaves are small, and the
abundant flowers are supported on
hoary little stems i to 3 inches long,
are pure white with yellow centres,
and are more than i inch across. It
is rather quaint and pretty, and well
deserves cultivation in bare level
places, on poor sandy or gravelly soil
in the rock garden. It is sometimes
known as Chrysanthemum arcticum
and Pyrethrum alpinum. It is a
native of the Alps, and is readily
increased by division or seed. (For
other species of Leucanthemum see
Chrysanthemum.)

LEUCOJUM (Snowflake}. — Pretty
bulbs allied to the Snowdrop, but
bolder and easily naturalised in rich
valley soils.

L. ^STIVUM (Summer Snowflake). — A
vigorous plant, flowers white drooping on
stalks i to i£ feet high, and clusters of
four to eight on a stem, with leaves shaped
like those of Daffodils. It blooms early
in summer (in many places before the end
of spring), and is pretty in mixed borders
or on the margins of shrubberies. It
thrives in almost any soil, but is strongest
in deep alluvial soil, and is multiplied by
separation of the bulbs. It is excellent
for the wild garden, and increases as
rapidly as the common Daffodil. A form
of L. fsstivum is L. Hernandezi, a native of
Majorca and Minorca, growing to about
the same height as L. cestivum, but with
narrower leaves, flowers only half the size,
and usually not more than three flowers
on each stem, appearing nearly a month
earlier.

L. CARPATICUM. — Is considered a vari-
ety, bearing two flowers on the stem,
flowering a month later. Other cultivated
Snowflakes are L. hyemale and L. roseum ;
but these are very rare, and somewhat
difficult to cultivate.

L. VERNUM (Spring Snowflake). — A
beautiful early flower about 6 inches high.
The fragrant drooping flower resembles a
large Snowdrop, the tips of the petals
being marked with a greenish spot. It is
excellent for the rock garden or borders,
and "thrives in a light, rich soil. Imported

bulbs make little show for the first year
or two, but when established they flower
freely.

LEUCOTHOE. — Beautiful evergreen
shrubs of the He.ath family, most of
them very old garden plants, and
common in collections of American
plants. There is a family likeness
among the kinds, the best known being
L. acuminata, ij to 2^ feet high, with
slender arching stems, in early sum-
mer wreathed with white bell-shaped
pretty flowers. L. axillavis is similar,
and so are L. Catesbcei and L. race-
mosa, all of which are known under the
name Andromeda. They are natives
of N. America, hardy, thriving in
light soil, preferring peat, and are
suitable for the margins of groups of
American shrubs and for low parts
of rock gardens. A newer and very
beautiful species is L. Davisice, intro-
duced a few years since from California,
and not so hardy as the others. It
makes a neat little evergreen bush
2 or 3 feet high, and has small leaves
on slender stems, in May bearing
clusters of small white flowers. It is
one of the choicest of evergreen hardy
shrubs, and thrives with Rhododen-
drons and Azaleas in peat soil.

LEWISIA (Spatlum) . — Remarkable
and beautiful Rocky Mountain plants,
allied to Portulaca, L. rediviva being
very dwarf, i inch or so high, with a
small tuft of narrow leaves, from the
centre of which the flower-stalks arise.
The blossoms are large for the size of
the plant, being from i to 2| inches
across, and vary from deep rose to
white. The roots are succulent, and
can retain life a long time even when
dry, and as the plant sometimes fails
to develop leaves annually, it is wrongly
supposed to be dead. It should be
grown in sunshine, for it cannot be
flowered in shade, and the crown kept
high and dry, though the roots should
have moisture. A crevice in the rock
garden is the best situation for it. If
grown in pots, the plant should be on
broken stones, and the roots in light
sandy loam with peat. After flowering
it shrivels up and becomes a withered
twisted mass, like so many bits of
string. There are several other kinds
in cultivation, as L. Cotyledon, T weedy i
and Howelli. A warm situation in
the rock garden is best, in a mixture of
half soil and half-broken rock. They
are easily raised from seeds, which are
freely produced in hot summers,
seedlings occasionally appearing by

536 LEYCESTERIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LIGUSTRUM.

the score around the old plants. Sow
while quite fresh. Oregon, Utah, and
Rocky Mountains.

LEYCESTERIA ( Flowering Nutmeg] .
— L. formosa is a distinct flowering
shrub, and hardy, but much commoner
in Ireland and the west than in the
home counties. It is graceful in flower
and form, and reaches 6 feet high in
mild districts, with white flowers tinged
with purple ; the leafy purple bracts,
succeeded in autumn by purple berries,
are eaten by pheasants, and therefore
it is planted in some places for covert.
It thrives in various soils, and under
trees. Himalayas.

LIATRIS (Snakeroot). — N. American
perennials of some beauty, having
the flower - heads arranged in long
dense spikes. Some are effective
border flowers when well grown, and
well repay good cultivation. L.
elegans grows about 2 feet high, and
has pale purple spikes i foot or more in
length. L. pycnostachya, 4 to 6 feet
high, has deep purple flower-spikes
from August to October. L. spicata
is one of the handsomest and neatest,
growing 3 feet high, and its violet-
purple spikes continue long in beauty.
L. scaiiosa, squarrosa, cylindracea,
elegans, and pumila much resemble
the foregoing, and, like them, succeed
in any rich light soil, and are best here
and there in among peat-loving shrubs
or in good borders. Propagated by
division in spring or by seed.

LIBERTIA. — Beautiful plants of the
Iris order, of which some are hardy
enough for the open border. L. for-
mosa is beautiful at all seasons, even
in the depth of winter, owing to the
colour of its foliage, which is as green
as the Holly ; and it bears spikes of
flowers of snowy whiteness like some
delicate Orchid. It is neat, dwarf, and
compact, and has flowers twice as
large as the other kinds. They lie
close together on the stem, and remind
one of the old double white Rocket.
L. ixioides, a New Zealand plant, is
also a handsome evergreen species,
with narrow grassy foliage and small
white blossoms. L. magellanica is
also pretty when in flower. All of
these thrive in borders of peaty soil,
but they grow slowly on certain loamy
soils, living perhaps, but never showing
the freedom and grace which they do
on peaty soils. Increased by seed or
by careful division in spring.

LIBROCEDRUS (Incense Cedar}.—
L. decurrens is a handsome evergreen
tree of the mountains of Oregon and
N. California, being very distinct in-
habit and found in the Sierra Nevada
as high as 8,000 or 9,000 feet, is likely
to prove a tree that will last in our
climate. It is a beautiful tree for
grouping with the choicer Pines ; more
columnar in habit than most, it
does not require the wide spacing
too often given to our trees in the
pinetum. This tree, more than most
other Pines, illustrates the mistake of
supposing that conifers should be
clothed to the ground with branches,
as the natural habit of such trees is
often to shed their branches as other
trees shed their leaves. In its native
country the stem of this tree is often
quite free and clear of branches to a
height of 70 feet, and this instead of
taking from the beauty of the tree
really adds to it.

LIGULARIA. — Large perennials,
remarkable for bold foliage, one or
two of great size, and strikingly dis-
tinct aspect, though not quite beautiful
in flower. L. macrophylla is vigorous,
with an erect stem nearly 3^ feet high,
and very large glaucous leaves, the
yellow flowers borne in a long spike.
Free, moist, and somewhat peaty soil
is the most suitable for this plant,
which is multiplied by careful division
in autumn or in spring ; it is useful for
grouping with fine-leaved herbaceous
plants, but will seldom find a place in
the select flower garden. Caucasus.
L. sibirica, Fisc\eri, and thyrsoidea
are fine-leaved plants, and worth grow-
ing with L. macrophylla for their foli-
age. The Japanese species, L. Kcemp-
feri and H-odgsoni, are better grown
under glass, except in summer, when
they may be used among fine-leaved
plants, in the sub-tropical garden ;
but the hardy kinds are most interest-
ing. Syn. Senecio.

LIGUSTRUM (Privet}. — The meanest
of all mean shrubs, I think, but popular
beyond all others, its weed-like facility
of increase making it dear to those
to whom something growing with a
fungus-like rapidity is a treasure. It
is not only that Privets are poor in
themselves, and as a rule without
beauty of leaf or flower, but it is the
number of beautiful shrubs they shut
out, millions being annually sold to
take the places of better things, and
helping to kill the few that are planted
near them or among them. The com-

LIGUSTRUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

537

moner sorts have no beauty what-
ever, and they all have the same vile
sickly odour in summer days when
they flower. Happy in the possession
of the finest hedging and fencing
plants of the northern world, Quick,
Holly, Box, Yew, and Sweet Brier,
nurserymen and jobbing gardeners
make hedges and fences with these
wretched Privets, fences which have
the one poor quality of rapid growth,
but which a man, let alone a beast,
could walk through without effort. I
have seen whole towns like Leicester
with miles of these poor hedges, and
they are even to be seen in pretentious
show places, where one would expect
people to know what a real fence
meant.

Rich in native and other covert
plants, I have seen the Privet recom-
mended as a covert plant, for which it
is useless beside the beautiful covert
plants we have — Furze, Sloe, Sweet
Brier, Juniper, and Wild Brier Rose —
and above all things recommended as
a covert plant near water, for which
Nature has given us the most fitting of
all in the spiry-leaved trees of the
Willow and Dogwood order, of which
there are many kinds.

As to beauty, the wildest Briers that
vex our legs and sometimes our faces,
have far more beauty, whether of leaf,
form, flower, or fruit.

The land which has given us so many
beautiful trees and shrubs and flowers,
America, has nothing to do with the
Privets, which are inhabitants of Asia
and Europe, including China and
Japan. Some of the species are ever-
green, some summer leafing, and others
in our mild climate hang between the
two, and keep their leaves, except in
very severe winters. They are all too
quickly propagated by cuttings, and
there are tropical species not hardy in
our country.

The gain of the rapidity of growth
of the Privet is more apparent than real,
as it simply leads to equally quick
decay if used as a fence plant or in
any other way. The true fence plants,
when fairly treated and put in the open
in good condition, as all fence plants
should be, are not by any means slow
growers. Holly in good soil will grow
2 feet in a year.

L. CORIACEUM. — A distinct and curious
species from Japan, evergreen, dwarf, and
bushy, from 2 to 5 feet high, with thick
leathery leaves, of stiff habit, and flowers
in white panicles with the sickly odour of

the tribe. It might have some use
among dwarf bushes on banks.

L. IBOTA. — A shrub from 5 to 8 feet high
or more, of free habit and form, blooming
freely in summer. The white flowers in
spikes followed by dark berries. A native
of China and Japan. Syn. L. amurense.

L. JAPONICUM. — A good evergreen kind,
rather dwarf and shrubby, with pointed
leaves 2 to 3 inches long, leathery, and
of a deep green with straggling panicles
of flowers. Syn. L. Sieboldi.

L. LUCIDUM. — One of the best for erect
and bold growth, growing 10 feet high or
more, with firm lustrous leaves, 5 to 6
inches long by over 2 inches wide, and bold
panicles of flowers 6 inches long in summer
and autumn. It is a native of China,
where it forms a tree. A variety, L.
Alivoni, has longer leaves, and there is
a variegated variety. Syn. L. sinense
lati folium.

L. OVALIFOLIUM. — One of the most popu-
lar varieties, and much used for forming
hedges, as it retains its foliage through
the winter better than the commoner
Privet, but it is without much character
as a shrub. There is a yellow variegated
variety which is also very popular, but
less showy as it gets old.

L. QUIHONI. — A Chinese Privet of a wiry
dwarf character; with small leaves, and
the branches covered with a purple down ;
flowering freely and rather showily.

L. SINENSE. — Not quite hardy on cold
soils, but one of the best species, preferring
a dry soil and flowering freely and rather
handsomely on warm soils. It bears many
purple berries, and it is a tall species, often
attaining a height of 15 feet. China.

L. VULGARE. — This is the kind generally
used for hedges and arbours, standing
all ill-treatment in town and suburban
gardens, and growing pretty well where
nothing else will grow, but not worth
having anywhere. It bears dark purple
fruit like most of the kinds, and there are
several varieties of it, especially variegated
ones of little value.

LILIUM (Lily}. — The Lilies are
among the most beautiful bulbous
plants, combining as they do stateli-
ness and grace with brilliant and
delicately-coloured flowers. The many
kinds in cultivation afford a rich
choice. All are beautiful, but some
are better suited for particular localities
than others. The habit and general
character of the plants being so
varied, their uses are likewise varied.
Some are suited for the rock garden,
others for the mixed border, many
for the shrubbery — especially for the
Rhododendron beds — while not a few
are so robust that they are at home
in the wild garden, holding their own
against native plants. Much of the

538

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THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

great northern world of mountain and
forest is a Lily garden, and it is impos-
sible to imitate such conditions in
one's own garden, so that the best we
can do is study the soil of our district
and find out the Lilies that grow best
there. If one can get half a dozen
kinds to grow in the natural soil of a
garden, it is as much as we can expect.
Lilies are very much governed by the
nature of the soil, and to imitate their
natural soil is not easy or always pos-
sible. Kinds that thrive in peat and
leafy soil sometimes perish in loam and
cold and heavy soil. After we find
the kind that thrive in our soil, the
next thing is to associate with them
evergreen or other choice shrubs. The
blooming period of some kinds is rather
short, and we do not miss them so
much if they emerge out of a shrub.
Slight shade is often an advantage, and
even grown in the open sun it is much
the best to let them come out of a
carpet or an undergrowth of some
other plants ; this will save the soil
and give a much prettier effect.

Culture is important, but arrange-
ment and grouping are even more so.
There are Lilies which will grow in any
ordinary soil ; a good, rich loamy soil
suits the greater number ; others want
plenty of sand, so as to keep the soil
free ; while others can be easily grown
in ordinary soil if it is mixed with
leaf-mould or peat. In nearly all cases
Lilies are more vigorous and brilliant
where partially protected from severe
frosts, and the flowers last longer when
sheltered from the scorching rays of
the midday sun. The shrubbery
border, among Rhododendrons (for
those requiring peat), and the mixed
border between shrubs and herbaceous
plants, where the young shoots get a
slight protection from the early frosts,
are among the best situations. A very
safe place is near the edge of a Rhodo-
dendron bed ; soil that will grow
Rhododendrons will grow most sorts
of Lilies, and afford protection from
" blight and spot," which in some
seasons, notably when cold and wet,
follow drought, greatly injure the
growth and flowering of some species,
even though the bulbs be unhurt. It
should be remembered that bulbs of
nearly all Lilies occasionally lie dor-
mant a whole season, and push out
luxuriantly the following summer,
especially the Martagon tribe.

Manure should never be dug in
with the bulbs, though they accept it
gratefully if liberally applied as a top-

dressing after they have been estab-
lished a year. The only manure to be
lug in at planting is rich peat and
sand, in the proportion of two parts
of peat to one of sea sand. In light
soils L. auratum and some others are
all the better for a top-dressing of dry
clay broken small. Lilies may be
divided into three classes — first, those
that are best grown in pots, such
as neilgherrense, Wallichianum, philip-
pinense, and nepalense ; also Wallichi-
anum superbum (sulphureum] , Lowi
primulinum, Bakeri, new Burmese
Lilies ; and, in many soils and climates,
speciosum, auratum, and longiflorum ;
secondly, those that are best grown
out of doors^ in loamy soil ; thirdly,
those that are best grown out of doors
in peaty soil. On light soils the follow-
ing kinds do remarkably well : L.
candidum, longiflorum and its vari-
eties, chalcedonicum, excelsum, and
the speciosum section ; all of the
umbellatum, croceum, and elegans
type ; also tigrinum sinense. For
deep loamy soil the best kinds are
L. auratum, Szovitzianum, Humboldti,
the Tiger family, most of the Martagon
group ; while in an intermediate soil
of leaf-mould, loam, and sand, we
advise the planting of Buschianum,
philadelphicum, pulchelhim, Browni,
giganteum, tenuifolium, Krameri, etc.
The N. American forms require more
peat and more moisture than the
other groups. Lilies require, so far as
their roots are concerned, a cool
bottom, abundant moisture, and, for
most kinds, a free drainage. The
slope of a hill, facing south-east or
south-west, for instance, with water
from above percolating through the
sub - soil, so as to always afford a
supply, without stagnation, would
be an admirable site.

The propagation of Lilies is generally
and most readily effected by separating
the bulblets or offsets from the parent
bulbs, and these, detached and grown
in the same way as the parent, in the
course of a year or two make good
flowering plants. The scales of the
bulbs afford a means of propagation ;
but this is a slower method. Raising
Lilies from seed, if somewhat tedious,
has much to commend it, and as many
kinds in this country perfect seed in
plenty, and the seedlings flower in
three or four years, it is quite worth
while. The finest kinds, such as the
Japanese and Californian Lilies, are
now so cheap that it is scarcely
necessary to propagate from home-

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

539

grown plants. It will be well, however,
if, by rapid increase or otherwise,
they become plentiful enough to adorn
the smallest cottage gardens. Several
Lilies, chiefly Japanese and Californian,
are largely imported every year. As
soon as received, all bulbs should be
examined, and decaying matter should
be removed. They should then be
laid in soil, or, better still, cocoa-nut
fibre in a moderate condition of
moisture, until the bulbs recover
their plumpness and the roots are on
the point of starting from the base.
Then they should be potted or planted
out as required ; but, before this, de-
caying scales should have been again
removed, as a few of the outside ones
are often bruised in transit, and after
they have been in the soil a little time
decay sets in, which if not then taken
off may contaminate the whole bulb.
Of those so imported, L. auratum
and Krameri should, when potted, be
surrounded with sand, but some do
well without it. The most difficult
to import among the N. American
Lilies are L. W ashingtonianum and L.
rubescens, since, as a rule, they suffer
much more than the large, solid bulbs
of L. Humboldti, or than those of
pardalinum, canadense, and superbum.
These solid bulbs should" be treated
as above directed, but L. W ashing-
tonianum, rubescens, and Humboldti
should not be potted, as they never
succeed in that way ; and indeed
all the N. American Lilies do much
better if planted out. Those grown
in Holland, such as the varieties of
davuricum, elegans, and speciosum,
etc., arrive plump and sound, but it is
much better to lay even these in soil a
little while before potting.

L. AURATUM. — Some forms have flowers
nearly i foot across, with broad white
petals copiously spotted with reddish-
brown, and having broad bands of golden-
yellow down the centre. The poorest
forms have starry flowers and scarcely
any markings. Several named varieties
are particularly distinct, and the chief are
cruentum and rubro-vittatum, which have
deep crimson instead of yellow bands down
the petals. Rubro-vittatum is a variety
with a very distinct bulb, the foliage is
darker, and it is a hardier, better doer
than the type. Platyphyllum is also more
easily grown than the type, more vigorous,
and quite the best generally. The white-
petalled variety of platyphyllum, generally
called virginale, is perhaps one of the most
beautiful forms. Wittei and virginale,
the flowers of which have no colour but
the golden bands ; rubro-pictum, with a

red stripe and spots ; platyphyllum, with
very large flowers and broad leaves ; and
Emperor, a grand flower, with reddish
spots and centre. There are also some
beautiful hybrids raised between L. aura-
tum and some of the other species ; for
example, L. Parkmanni (between L. aura-
tum and L. speciosum}, which has large
white flowers banded and spotted with
carmine-crimson. It grows freely in peat
or loam, a mixture of both with, a little
road-scrapings best fulfilling its require-
ments. Where the soil is naturally poor,
light, and sandy, it should be taken out
to a depth of 18 inches, and replaced with
the compost above mentioned, or some
fine well-enriched mould. The bulbs
should be planted in this, and as soon as
growth commences in spring, should be
mulched with decomposed manure or
short grass. If the garden soil be fairly
good, it need only be well stirred and
manured, but the manure should be
thoroughly decomposed. A sheltered
situation should be chosen, and, if possible,
screened from the midday sun, and pro-
tected from westerly and southerly gales
and from heavy driving rains ; for this
Lily is very susceptible to injury by cold
draughts and cutting winds. No better
place can be chosen than a snug nook
sheltered from the north and east by
shrubs, but at the same time open to the
sun. The best examples that have been
seen were grown in a Rhododendron bed,
and planted in a deep, moist, peaty soil,
where they have been for years undis-
turbed. When planted among - other
things the young and tender uprising
shoots are greatly protected in spring.
As to propagation, there is scarcely any
need to enlarge upon that, as bulbs are
imported so plentifully ; and it is only
necessary to separate the young bulbs and
replant them in good soil. Those who
increase this Lily from seed must be pre-
pared to exercise a little patience, as the
seed is long germiriating, and the seedlings
are several years before flowering. The
seed should be sown, as soon as ripe, in a
frame. The seedlings should be planted
out as soon as the bulbs are of an appreci-
able size.

L. BAKERIANUM. — A charming Lily
covering a wide area of country from
Upper Burmah to W. and C. China, grow-
ing on steep rocky slopes amongst tall
grass and brush- wood, and very variable
in its character. It is a delicate plant
not easy to keep in health, seeming to need
a drier and warmer climate than can easily
be given it in this country. The bulbs
are small, throwing slender grey stems of
i to 3 feet, sparingly covered with three-
nerved leaves. The stems are crowned
with umbels of medium-sized drooping
flowers, one to six in number, fragrant
and creamy-white in colour when fully

540

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

open, with the inside of the tube dotted
or splashed with reddish-purple.

L. BROWNI. — It is readily distinguished
from any other kind by the rich brownish-
purple markings on the exterior of the
blossoms, which in well-grown plants are
sometimes 9 inches in length. It is hardy
and vigorous, and succeeds without giving
much trouble. In a soil and position
which suit L. auratum it nourishes, and

cultivated Lilies. It is 2 to 4 feet high,
and bears, on slender stems, terminal
clusters of drooping blossoms usually
orange, and copiously spotted with deep
brown. It also occurs with red flowers
(rubrum] and with yellow flowers (flavum).
L. parvum, L. Bolanderi, L. Grayi, and
L. maritimum resemble it, and like it
require a partially-shaded position and a
moist, deep, peaty soil enriched by decayed

L ilium Rakerianum.

need only be lifted every few years and
replanted in fresh rich soil. It grows from
2 to 4 feet high, and has deep green foliage
distinct from allied kinds. The variety
Colchesteri is handsome. Quite recently
some remarkably fine and strong-growing
varieties of this Lily have been obtained
from the district whence L. Henry i came ;
named by Mr Baker Chloraster and Leu-
canthum.

L. BULBIFERUM is one of the hand-
somest of European Lilies, and is about
2 feet high. It bears large crimson flowers
shading to orange. The variety umbella-
tum is finer and stronger, and has large
umbelled clusters of flowers. This Lily is
generally distinguished from its congeners
by bulblets on the axils of the leaves. It
grows freely in ordinary soil, and flowers
in early summer. A capital plant for
bold groups, and thriving under partial
shade or in the open.

L. CANADENSE (Canadian Lily). — This
beautiful flower is among the oldest of

leaf-mould. It flowers late in summer,
and is very attractive in bold masses, such
as are often seen in nurseries about
London. Like its allied forms, it makes
elegant groups among choice shrubs such
as Azaleas and Rhododendrons ; and by
such an arrangement we get a second
bloom and a variety of form from beds
that had only one blossoming season, and
were poor and stiff in outline ; we prevent
senseless digging when the groups are once
in place ; and we keep the shrubs from
growing into a solid ugly mass, while they
shelter our Lilies.

L. CANDIDUM. — One of the best-known
and loveliest Lilies, seen in almost every
cottage garden, and producing snow-white
blooms in summer. It dislikes coddling
or being meddled with, and thrives best
when undisturbed for years in good garden
soil. Any attempt to deal with it like the
more delicate ones generally results in
failure. The best-flowered plants are in
old gardens, where the bulbs are allowed

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

541

to run as they like with no attention what-
ever. In bold masses, no plants can com-
pare with the common white Lily when in
bloom. It is so fair a flower that there is
scarcely a place which a good plant or
well-grown group of it will not adorn.
Moist loam seems to suit it generally,
though, like other Lilies, it will grow in a
variety of soils. There are two forms in
gardens — a thin petalled and a broad
petalled form, with petals overlapping
and dark stem. This is the handsomest
and most vigorous. There is also
a late tall variety called speciosum,
a beautiful one. It thrives best on
calcareous soils.

L. CHALCEDONICUM (Scarlet Mar-
tagon) . — A very old and handsome
Lily, of tall and graceful growth,
and bears several pendulous, ver-
milion, turban-shaped blossoms
about the end of July. It is one
of the easiest to cultivate, thrives
in almost any soil, and is best when
well established and left undis-
turbed. There are a few varieties,
majus being the largest and best.
The others are grcecum, rather
taller than the type, and having
smaller flowers ; pyrenaicum, with
yellow flowers ; Heldreichi, tall
and robust, flowering a week or
two earlier ; and maculatum, a
very handsome form. Native of
Greece and Ionian Isles. Similar
to the scarlet Martagon is the
Japanese L. callosum, a pretty
Lily, i^ to 3 feet high, with slender
stems, bearing in summer several
brilliant scarlet blossoms. L. car-
niolicum, of a similar character,
is i to 3 feet high, and produces in
early summer turban-shaped nod-
ding blossoms of bright vermilion
or yellow.

L. CONCOLOR. — A pretty little
Lily from Japan, i to 3 feet high,
bearing three to six bright scarlet
flowers, which are spotted with
black, star-shaped, and erect.
There are some three or four
varieties — pulchellum, or Buschi-
anum, an early variety from
Siberia, i£ to 2 feet high, with
crimson blossoms ; Coridion, with
flowers somewhat larger than the
type, and of a rich yellow spotted
with brown ; sinicum, a Chinese
form, with four to six crimson
flowers heavily spotted and larger
than the type ; and Partheneion,
with scarlet flowers flushed with
yellow. This charming Lily and
its varieties are quite hardy, though they
require some attention in cultivating.
They succeed in half-shady places in a
soil composed of two parts of peat, one
of loam, and one of road-scrapings ; but
seem to require renewing every few years.

L. CROCEUM (Orange Lily). — One of the
sturdiest and hardiest, and therefore one
of the commonest of Lilies. It grows in
almost any soil or position, and bears in
early summer huge heads of large rich
orange flowers. In the mixed border it
is attractive, but shows best on the margin
of a shrubbery, where its stems just over-
top the surrounding foliage. It is always
best after some years' growth. Lilies are
said not to like manure, but we have never
seen this one so fine as when in well-

Lilium candidum (White or Madonna Lily).

manured ground after several years'
growth.

L. DAVURICUM. — A slender European
Lily with moderate-sized red flowers,
spotted with black. Like L. elegans, it
has several, varieties, the chief being

542

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN,

LILIUM

Sappho, incomparable, erectum, multi-
florum, Don Juan, and Rubens. Being
'strong growers and flowering freely, they
are fine plants for the mixed border, for
margins of shrubberies, or for groups or
masses, thriving in partial shade as well
as in sunny places.

L. ELEGANS. — One of the best and most
generally known of the early Lilies. It is
commonly known by the name of Thunber-
gianum. It is very variable, and there are
about a dozen named varieties. The type
grows about i foot high, and has stout
erect stems, which bear numerous narrow
leaves, and are terminated by a bright
orange-red flower, 5 or 6 inches across.
A native of Japan, flowering with us about
the beginning of July. Most of the varie-
ties are so distinct as to merit a slight
description. They are — marmoratum and
marmoratum aureum, two of the earliest
forms ; alutaceum, not more than 9 inches
high, with a large, pale apricot-coloured
flower, copiously spotted ; armenaicum
(venustum), about i£ feet high, with
several moderate-sized flowers (in autumn)
of a rich glowing orange-red ; atrosan-
guineum, about i£ feet high, with large
flowers of rich deep crimson ; Batemannice,
about 4 feet high, with several moderate-
sized flowers, in late summer, of a rich
unspotted apricot tint (L. Batemannice
and L. Wallacei are put by Mr Baker as
allied to L. Leichtlini and the Tiger group.
I do not consider the above two species to
be Thunbergianum) ; bicolor, about I foot
high, with large flowers orange-red, flamed
with a deeper hue ; brevifolium, i|r feet
high, with flowers pale red and slightly
spotted ; citrinum, like armenaicum, but
taller; fulgens, i to i£ feet high, with
four to six large flowers of a deep red ;
sanguineum, i to i£ feet high, with one or
two large blood-red flowers ; L. Hors-
manni, a dwarf form with richly-coloured
flowers of a blood-red mahogany tint, and
Splendens, the early form of L. Wilsoni ;
Alice Wilson, the beautiful, scarce, lemon-
yellow, dwarf form ; Van Houttei, i£ feet
high, with very deep crimson-red flowers,
spotted with black ; Wallacei, -2\ feet
high, with rich orange-red flowers, spotted
with black ; Wilsoni, 2 feet high, with
large apricot- tinted, yellow-striped flowers
• — one of the latest to bloom. All the
L. elegans group are perfectly hardy ; they
grow vigorously in almost any soil, but
prefer a deep loamy one with an admixture
of peat. They like an open position, and
are suitable for planting around the mar-
gins of shrubberies. Small groups are
beautiful in the open spaces that should
exist in every shrubbery or Rhododendron
bed. They are all excellent border plants,
and the dwarf kinds may be introduced
into the rock garden. In all cases they
must be placed in sunny situations.

L. GIGANTEUM. — A noble Lily of huge
growth, and in aspect different from any

other. Its bulb is large and conical, and
develops spreading tufts of handsome
shining heart-shaped foliage. The flower-
stems are stout and erect, 6 to 10 feet high,
terminated by a huge raceme, i to 2 feet
in length, of about a dozen long nodding
fragrant flowers, which are white and
tinged with purple on the inside. It is
one of the hardiest Lilies, and gives very
little trouble. It flourishes best in a
sheltered position, where there is an under-
growth of thin shrubs to protect the
growth in spring. The soil must be deep
and well drained, and must consist of
sandy peat and leaf-mould, strengthened

'a***s*!KL3«£

W1^^^^

L ilium giganiei'-w.

by a little rich loam, and plenty of rich
manure. At Wisley this noble species is
quite at home, and gives many of its
towering spikes annually. After flowering
and maturing seeds the old bulb perishes,
the plant being perpetuated by offsets,
which flower three or four years later.
Seeds are abundantly produced, and
should be sown when ripe, the seedlings
appearing the following spring in their
hundreds. Seedlings take about eight
years before flowering, and should be
planted in their permanent positions when
about half grown. The planting of giant
bulbs fully grown is a fatal error. Nepal.
L. HANSONI. — A handsome Japanese
species, about 4 feet high, having whorls of
bright green leaves and a terminal spike
of about a dozen bright, orange-yellow,
brown-spotted flowers. It flowers about
the beginning of June, is quite hardy, and
succeeds in sheltered situations in a soil
consisting of two parts of peat, one of
loam, and one of road-scrapings.

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

543

L. HENRYI has been erroneously referred
to as "an orange-coloured speciosum," a
misleading description since in habit of
growth, flowering, and bulb it is not only
distinct from speciosum but entirely
unique among its fellows. Of a splendid
constitution and one of the
most reliable, it is also quite a
giant in its way, often attain-
ing 7 to 8 feet high, produc-
ing twenty or thirty orange-
coloured reflexing flowers in
a pyramidally-framed head.
In flower it is of fine orna-
ment, and few more florifer-
ous. A lime - loving species,
it is quite happy in calcareous
loams or deep loam, leaf-soil,
and old manure. The bulbs
attain to a huge size, and
being a stem-rooting kind,
should be planted 8 inches
deep. Because of its fine
stature, it associates well with
Hydrangea paniculata grandi-
flora, and the twain flowering
together in August and later
provide a rare picture. Plant
in November. C. China.

L. HUMBOLDTI. — A very
graceful Lily. The singular
beauty of the blossoms and
the elegant manner in which
they droop from their slender
stalks, make it most desir-
able, and its flowers, on
account of their great sub-
stance, are more lasting than
any other Californian Lily.
The stout and purplish stems
attain a height of 4 to 8 feet.
The leaves are in whorls of
from ten to twenty each, and
are of a bright green. The
flowers differ considerably in
colour and markings, but are
usually bright golden-yellow,
richly spotted with crimson-
purple. The variety ocellatum
or Bloomerianum is dwarf,
and has petals tipped with
brownish-crimson. It grows
best in an open border of
rich peaty or leafy soil of
a good depth. Columbi
anum (syn. Nitidum) seems
to be a smaller variety of this
Lily.

L. JAPONICUM. — Or Krameri as it is
more often called, possesses the most
delicate beauty of any. The flowers
are of the shape and nearly as large
as those of L. auratum. They are
either pure white or delicate rosy-pink
— generally the latter. L. japonicum
is i to 3 feet high, and sometimes
bears five blooms — but generally only
one or two. It is somewhat difficult to
grow, owing to its delicate constitution,

but the best specimens produced in this
country were grown under the same con-
ditions as L. auratum and speciosum.
On account of its beauty it deserves the
most careful attention. It is a lovely
plant for a select spot between choice

Li Hum Humboldti.

dwarf shrubs, in free peaty soil or deep
sandy loam with vegetable soil in it.
When Mr Kramer first sent me this Lily
he wrote that he obtained it from a moun-
tainous slope at a high altitude.

L. LEUCANTHUM. — Though perfectly dis-
tinct for garden purposes, this is really a
form of L. Browni, brought from the
Chinese province of Yunnan, L. myrio-
phyllum and L. formosum (also best

544

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

regarded as forms of L. Browni] replacing
it in adjoining provinces. The stems of
L. leucanthum are stout, 3 to 4 feet high,
and the leaves narrow and of a lustrous
green. The fragrant flowers, borne two
to four together, are of a long funnel-
shape, ruddy-brown on the outside and
milk-white within, with a rich yellow
throat. Being at its best in August, when
no other Lily of the same group is in
flower, it promises to be an important
gain, the more so as the plant is vigorous
and hardy.

L. LONGIFLORUM (White Trumpet Lily).
— This is among the most beautiful and
most valuable of garden Lilies. The typical

about 9 inches long. Takesima is the
latest to bloom. Mme. Von Siebold is also
a fine variety. L. longiflorum giganteum
is the variety generally obtained from
Japan ; strong bulbs will send up a head of
from eight to twelve flowers widely opened;
the foliage is bright green ; under glass
this Lily may easily be forced. L. for-
mosanum, the variety from Formosa, has
its flowers ribbed and flushed with rosy-
brown ; they are somewhat smaller in size
than the type. L. Harrisi is L. longi-
florum altered by growth in a tropical
climate, Bermudas, S. Africa, etc. Jama-
Jura and Liukiu are native names for the
varieties mentioned. The variegated-

Lilium longijlorum Harrisi.

form is i to 3 feet high, the stems in
summer being terminated by reflexed,
tubular, waxy- white flowers, which are
sweetly scented. There are several varie-
ties, the best being the early variety now
called PVCBCOX, of rather dwarf habit, with
long, pointed, three-nerved, dark green
foliage ; the flowers are of great substance,
tubular, and but little reflexed at the tip.
This flowers a fortnight earlier than the
type, bears larger and more numerous
flowers, and is in every way superior to it.
Takesima is recognised by a purplish tint
on the exterior of the blossoms and on the
stem. Wilsoni, or eximium, the finest
variety, has bold dark foliage, and is
nearly 4 feet high, with numerous flowers

leaved form (albo-marginatum) is desirable,
as the vegetation is distinct and constant.
L. longiflorum and its varieties sometimes
bloom well in borders, but care should be
taken that they are not injured by spring
frosts. L. longiflorum is so early that,
unless protected by the leaves of ever-
greens, its growth is apt to be checked.
A well-drained light loam, well enriched
with leaf-mould, suits it admirably. L.
Wilsoni is benefited by a lighter soil and
by a warmer and more sheltered position.
When just pushing the growth in spring,
it is advisable to encircle the plants with
a few dead branches, if unprotected by
shrubs. Where this fine species and its
forms fail in the ordinary soil of the garden,

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

545

success may be ensured by making a
special soil of rotten manure, leaf-mould,

White Martagon lilies.

or cocoa-fibre. In such a mixture, so free
and open that the hand could be pushed
down below the bulb, we have seen them
perfectly grown where the natural soil was
too stiff and impervious. The hardier
varieties are admirable for artistic garden-
ing, their fine forms being very effective
when tastefully grouped on the fringe of
beds of choice bushes and when touching
and seeming to spring out of the grass.
They are also good in beds either specially
devoted to them alone or in combination
with other plants. Similar to L. longi-
florum are L. neilgherrense, philippinense,
Wallichianum, and nepalense, but none is
hardy, and all are poor and unsatisfactory,
except, perhaps, for the greenhouse.

L. MARTAGON (Turk's-cap Lily). — This
is so common that we need only mention
its varieties. These are very fine, especi-
ally dalmaticum, which has flowers larger
than the type, and of a shining blackish-
purple, a contrast to the loveliness of the
pure white variety (album). Cattanice is a
form of dalmaticum, and scarcely differs
from it. Like the type, the varieties
thrive freely in a good loamy soil ; they
are perfectly hardy and are rather partial
to shade, growing freely in grassy places,
open woods, or copses. Some of the finer
varieties are good garden plants, and
should be grouped in the spaces between
hardy Azaleas or similar flowering bushes.

L. MONADELPHUM. — A magnificent Lily
of noble growth. The stout flower-stems
vary from 3 to 5 feet in height, and are
terminated by a pyramid of six to twenty
turban-shaped flowers, ranging in colour
from a rich canary-yellow to a pale lemon-
yellow. Some forms have spotted flowers,
and some are much larger than others.
The varieties are known as L. Szovitzi-
anum, colchicum, and Loddigesianum. L.
monadelphum thrives best in moist, deep,
loamy soil, well enriched with good manure

Liliutn monadelphum, var. Szovitzianunt.

at the time of planting ; but does not
show its true character till it has been

2 M

546

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

planted several years. It rarely fails, and
is one of the least disappointing of all. It
may be readily increased from root-scales,
a fact which is taken advantage of by
many cultivators, and is the only method
of increasing and keeping pure any really
good or marked variety. Seed is, how-
ever, the readiest way of acquiring a stock
of this truly charming plant. The seeds
are usually sown in large shallow pans as
soon as ripe, and remain there for two
years, by which time the bulbs have
attained a considerable size ; they are
then planted in beds in rows 6 inches
apart, with 4 inches between the bulbs,
replanting when necessary. By this treat-
ment flowers are frequently produced by
seedling plants four or five years after
sowing.

L. PARDALINUM (Pan-
ther Lily). — One of the r^r
handsomest of the Cali-
fornian Lilies, and one of !
the most valuable for
English gardens, as it
makes itself thoroughly
at home in them and
grows as vigorously as in
its native habitat. It is
6 to 8 feet high, and has
large drooping flowers of
bright orange, spotted
with maroon. There are
several varieties, the most
distinct being — Bowgcei,
one of the finest, having
stout stems 6 to 7 feet
high, with twelve to
twenty flowers of bright
crimson, shading to or-
ange, and freely spotted
with maroon, and bloom-
ing a fortnight later than
any other ; pallida, a
dwarf variety, scarcely 5
feet high, bears flowers
nearly double the size of
the type, and paler in
colour ; californicum, a
more slender variety, 3 to 4 feet high, and
the brightest in colour ; pallidifolium
(puberulum), a small form, with lighter
flowers ; and Robinsoni, a robust variety,
with stout stems 7 to 8 feet high, and with
massive foliage, large flowers of a bright
vermilion shading to yellow, and freely
spotted. This last is the noblest, and should
be grown if possible. The Panther Lily is
one of the most satisfactory of all Lilies ;
it has a strong constitution, increases
rapidly, soon becomes established, and
rarely pines away, as many kinds do. It
likes a deep, light, good soil, enriched with
plenty of decayed manure and leaf-soil,
where the roots can receive ample mois-
ture. It should always be in a sheltered
position, like the sunny side of a bold
group of shrubs or low trees. In a special
bed the near shelter of hedges is desirable,

though their roots should be kept away.
Bare borders are not the places where this
noble Lily does or looks best — there is no
shelter or support for plants which in their
own country have many shrubs for com-
panions and are sheltered by the finest
trees of the northern world.

L. PARRYI. — A new and distinct species
from California, elegant and slender in
growth, and 2 to 4 feet high, bearing
graceful trumpet-shaped flowers of rich
yellow, copiously spotted with chocolate-
red, and delicately perfumed. The flowers
being borne horizontally, render it very
distinct. It grows in elevated districts in
S. California, in boggy ground. Not much
is known of its culture, but the finest
plants have been produced where the soil
was two-thirds common peat and one-third

Liliujn Parry i.

loam, with plenty of coarse sand. A bed
in a shady spot was selected, in which the
bulbs were placed at a depth of 4 inches,
having underneath about I foot of the
soil. Here the strongest bulbs threw up
stems 4 feet in height, and the greatest
number of 'blossoms on one stem for the
first season was six.

L. POLYPHYLLUM. — A rare and beautiful
Lily, 2 to 4 feet high, and having large
turban-shaped flowers of a waxy white,
copiously spotted and lined with purple.
N. India. Mr M Intosh of Duneevan,
Weybridge, who has been most successful
with it, writes : " Sandy loam, peat, or
leaf- mould, sand, and charcoal, with a
slight admixture of pulverised horse-
droppings, and good drainage under the
bulbs, are all I have to tell ; and I think

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LILIUM.

547

early staking and tying may have some-
thing to do with many growing taller than
they otherwise might."

L POMPONIUM. — This lovely Lily must
not be confounded with the L. pomponium
usually sold as such, this latter being
simply the red variety of L. pyrenaicum.
L. pomponium is elegant and vigorous, and
blooms earlier than the varieties of chalce-
donicum and pyrenaicum, to which it is
related. It is about 3 feet high, is erect,
and has long linear leaves. The flowers
appear in a lax raceme i foot through, and
a well-established plant will bear as many
as twenty flowers. In rich loam it grows
luxuriantly in sunshine or shade, and no
difficulty is experienced with either home-
grown or imported roots. Maritime Alps.
/.. pyrenaicum, a similar but smaller plant,
with small yellow flowers, is a variety of
L. pomponium, and the red form is much
inferior to the true L. pomponium, though
generally sold for it. These varieties
require the same culture as L. pomponium.
L. pomponium has an extremely offensive
odour, and is not, therefore, likely to be
used for cutting.

L. REGALE.— This, the handsomest Lily
of the Browni group, and formerly known
as L. myriophyllum, is nearly allied to
L. hucanthum (itself a form of L. Browni},
from which it differs in its narrow one-
nerved leaves densely crowded on the
stems, the absence of bulbils, its earlier
flowers, and other minor details. The
grey-green stems vary from i£ to 5 feet
in height, bearing fragrant funnel-shaped
flowers 5 or 6 inches long, shaded with
purple on the outside, and pure white
shading to clear yellow on the inside and
in the tube. No greater acquisition to the
Lily tribe has ever been introduced, it
being not only the handsomest but the
most reliable of garden Lilies. Sir Herbert
Maxwell has said of it that it has " the
constitution of a dray-horse and the grace
of a thoroughbred." It is not a Lily for
peat, and thrives best in cool loam, leaf-
mould and sand, preferring distant shade.
Perfect drainage is essential. Seeds are
produced abundantly, and as the seedlings
flower when three years old the wait is
not great. Seed may be sown in drills in
the open or in frames. Coddling in pans
or in the greenhouse is not necessary.
The bulbs are found on the scrub-clad
mountain sides of W. China at elevations
of 3,000 to 6,000 feet, where they seem to
prefer rocky, stone-filled soils.

L. SPECIOSUM, or lancifolium as it is
erroneously called, is one of the most
popular for pot-culture, and is no less
desirable for the open air, though, being
somewhat delicate, it is grown to perfec-
tion under glass. It is well known, and
we need not describe it. The chief varie-
ties of it are the true speciosum, which has
large deep rosy blossoms, richly spotted ;
vestale, pure white ; album, white or faintly

tinged with pink ; rubrum, deep red ;
roseum, rosy-pink ; punctatum, white
spotted with pink ; Krcstzcri, very large
white flowers with greenish stripe on the
exterior ; album novum, a somewhat finer
variety with light orange anthers, and
broader petals of great substance ; fas-
datum album and fasciatum rubrum, two
monstrous varieties bearing numerous
flowers on flattened stems. Among the
more beautiful Japanese forms are roseum,
superbum, and formosum, and rubrum
macranthum, cruentum, compactum, and,
darkest of all, Melpomene (not the Ameri-
can Melpomene}. The speciosum Lilies
are stem-rooting, and should be planted
deep and generously treated. All the
varieties require shelter from winds and
draughts, and a rich loamy soil mixed
with peat and leaf-manure. They flower
for the most part in September, and last
longer in bloom than many other Lilies.
In good soils, very happy use can be made
of these handsome Lilies in warm and
sheltered places where their blooms may
be fully developed.

L. SUPERBUM (Swamp Lily). — One of
the stateliest of N. American Lilies, bear-
ing late in summer beautiful orange-red
flowers, thickly spotted. It may be recog-
nised at once by its purple-tinged stems,
which rise 5 to 10 feet high, and which are
very graceful, waving with the slightest
breeze. A pyramid of flowers terminates
each stem. L. superbum delights in moist
deep soil consisting chiefly of peaty and
decayed leaf-manure, and is one of the
best Lilies for growing in shady woods
when the undergrowth is not too rank.
In the garden it should have snug glades
and nooks protected by shrubs, and moist
rich soil. L. carolinianum is a less showy
form.

L. SUTCHUENENSE. — One of the showiest
Lilies introduced of recent years. A good
idea of it is gained by likening it to a
miniature form of the old Tiger Lily, but
with no bulbils, narrower leaves, and
earlier flowers on very long flatly-spreading
stalks. The hairy stalks vary in height
from i£ to 6 feet, with many narrow leaves
and a head of bright scarlet flowers
covered with black dots, which vary in
density and are sometimes wanting alto-
gether. It comes from the grass-clad
mountain slopes of the Chino-Thibetan
frontier, and is commonly grown by the
peasants on the roofs of their houses, and
the bulbs used as food. The plant is of
easy culture, and flowers in three years
from seed. As many as twenty to twenty-
five flowers and buds often are produced
in a single head, so that when commoner
it should be a very handsome garden
plant.

L. TENUIFOLIUM. — A most elegant dwarf
Lily, especially valuable for earliness in
flowering. It is i to ij feet high, and has
narrow leaves on slender stems, furnished

548

LILIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LIMNANTHES.

with a cluster of about a dozen brilliant
red turban-shaped flowers, which shine like
sealing-wax. It succeeds in open warm
borders of light sandy loam, but is all the
better for a hand-light or frame, as it
flowers very early. Siberia and N. China.
L. callosum and its form stenophyllum are
similar but less showy.

L. TESTACEUM (Nankeen Lily}. — This is
a distinct coloured Lily, and should always
be grown, being of easy culture and thriv-
ing in any ordinary soil, though preferring
one that is peaty. It has the growth of

Lilium tcstaceutn.

the white L. candidum, but the flowers are
a delicate apricot, or nankeen, colour.
When well grown it is 6 or 7 feet high, and
bears several flowers in a large spreading
head in late July. Other names for this
Lily are L. excelsum and isabellinum.
Excellent for deep sandy loam and leaf-
soil, and endures sun and heat better than
most Lilies. It is one of the plants that
grow freely in London.

L. TIGRINUM (Tiger Lily).— This is one
of the commonest kinds, and is too well
known to need description. No garden
should be without it, for few plants are
so attractive or have such stately growth.
The common kind is handsome, but the
variety splendens is much finer, having
larger flowers with larger spots, is produced
later, and grows 7 feet high. Fortunei is
an early form and as desirable as splendens.
The double-flowered variety (flore-pleno)
is showy and vigorous. Erectum also is
distinct and desirable . L . pseudo-tigrinum
and the varieties of Maximowiczi, though
referred to other species, much resemble
L. tigrinum. The Tiger Lily is very easy
of cultivation, thriving best in deep sandy
loam with an open but sheltered position.
The earliest varieties begin to flower at
the end of August, and the latest last till
the end of October. The Tiger Lily may
be quickly propagated by the bulblets,
which form in the axils of the leaves.

L. WASHINGTONIANUM. — A lovely Cali-
fornian Lily, 2 to 5 feet high, bearing a
cluster of large, white, purple-spotted
flowers that become tinged with purple
after expansion. Nearly allied to this,
and by some considered a variety, is
L. rubescens, which has smaller flowers,
which are of a pale lilac or nearly white.
These flowers are erect — not horizontal,
as in the Washington Lily. Neither L.
Washingtonianum nor L. rubescens is easy
to grow owing, probably, to their being
but little understood at present. The best
results have been obtained in partially-
shaded situations, in loose, peaty, wen-
drained, but moist soil.

L. WILLMOTTIA. — A new, choice, and
distinct species of much promise from
W. China. The plant is 3 to 4 feet high,
the stem crowded with narrow linear
leaves and surmounted by a dozen to
fifteen large Turk's-cap-like flowers of a
glistening red colour, and which depend
gracefully on thin, wiry, 6-inches-long foot-
stalks. It is one of the most floriferous
of Lilies for July and early August. It is
a stem-rooting kind, and should therefore
be planted deep — not less than 6 inches.
It does best in cool places in deep loam
and leaf-soil, or in positions where the
ground is screened from the hottest sun
by dwarf shrubs, Azalea mollis, Kalmia,
Andromeda floribunda, or Rhododendron
racemosum.

LIMNANTHEMUM (Fringed Buck-
bean}. — L. nymphceoides is a pretty
native water plant, growing in ponds
or slow streams, with floating leaves,
and bright yellow flowers i inch or
more across. One of the prettiest of
floating water plants, flowering for
months in the summer and autumn.
Wild in the southern and eastern
counties, and naturalised in other
districts. Division as soon as gathered.
Syn. Villarsia. Gentian order.

LIMNANTHES. — A vigorous though
dwarf hardy annual, valuable because
so early ; L. Douglasi has yellow and
white flowers, and there is a pure
white variety. Few annuals are
hardier, severe winters not injuring it,
and it requires neither a deep nor a
rich soil, but thrives where the earth
is poor as well as in ordinary garden
soil. It often sows itself on light
soils, and gives no further trouble ;
but if wanted for a special purpose
in spring, the seed should be sown
in autumn in boxes or in the open
ground ; for summer-flowering, sow
in the spring. Plains of California
and foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

LlNARlA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LlNN^A. 549

L I N A R I A ( Toadflax) .—Includes
some beautiful garden annuals and
perennials, varying from dwarf alpines
to tall, coarse plants.

L. ALPINA (Alpine Toadflax). — Forms
dense, spreading, dwarf, and silvery tufts,
covered with bluish- violet and intense
orange flowers. It is usually biennial ;
but in favoured spots, both wild and culti-
vated, becomes perennial. It sows itself
freely, being one of the most charming
subjects that we can allow to "go wild "
in sandy, gritty earth, or in chinks in the
rock garden. It is found on moraines and
in the debris of the Alps and Pyrenees.

L. ANTIRRHINIFOLIA. — This elegant little
rock plant forms a very neat spreading
mass about 2 feet across, and about 6 to
8 inches high, and has the advantage of

Linaria antirrhinifolia.

not spreading so rapidly as some of its
congeners, and its bright purple flowers
are produced incessantly during the
summer and autumn. The plant is of
the easiest possible culture, and can be
highly recommended for the rock garden.

L. CYMBALARIA (Ivy-leaved Toadflax). —
Often drapes walls in a graceful way, and
is grown by cottagers as a window plant,
a common name for it being " Mother of
Thousands." A moist half -shady place
best suits it, and the white variety is even
prettier than the species.

L. DALMATICA. — A handsome plant,
3 to 5 feet high, much branched, and in
summer has a profusion of large showy
sulphur-yellow blossoms. It thrives best
in warm places in light well-drained soil,

and when once established can be eradi-
cated with difficulty.

L. MACEDONICA. — A new and distinct
plant, from 2 to 3 feet high, and throwing
up shoots from the base. It differs from
L. dalmatica in its broader leaves, and is
quite hardy.

L. PURPUREA. — A pretty kind with
spikes of purple flowers, and one occasion-
ally sees it on old walls, as it thrives well
in dry spots

L. TRIORNITHOPHORA. — A beautiful
plant when well grown, i to i£ feet high,
and with large purple long-spurred flowers
in whorls of three. It is rather delicate
and, though perennial, should be raised
yearly from seed.

L. VULGARIS (Common Toadflax). — Is
very pretty as one sees it growing wild,
but is also a good garden plant. The
British variety Peloria is a handsome
Toadflax, flowering freely after midsum-
mer in a warm sunny border, and is effec-
tive in a mass.

A few other perennial Lin arias that
may be mentioned are L. Uepaticce-
folia (Hepatica-leaved Toadflax), from
Corsica, which is nearly always in
flower in summer and autumn ; L.
saxatilis, with dark brown and yellow
flowers ; and L. anticaria, a good rock
plant, forming little tufts and sowing
itself freely. The finely-veined flowers
are dull white tinged with lilac. A
very dwarf pretty plant in flower all
summer is L. pallida, from Italy.

Some of the annual species of
Toadflax are among our prettiest
border flowers, growing about i foot
high, and very effective in broad
masses. Seed should be sown in
ordinary garden soil in early spring,
and the seedlings will flower in July
and August. The best are L. reticu-
lata, with small purple flowers ; the
variety aureo-purpurea being a charm-
ing plant, with flowers which vary from
rose-purple to dark orange. L. bipar-
tita is also very variable, the colours
ranging from deep purple to white.
Perezi has small yellow flowers ; whilst
the flowers of maroccana vary from
violet to pink ; and those of multi-
punctata, the dwarfest of the group,
are black spotted with yellow.

LINNJEA (Twin Flower). — A little
evergreen creeper, L. borealis having
slender upright stalks bearing two
flowers each, delicately fragrant white,
often tinged with pink, and drooping.
It is usually found in moist woods,
where it forms a dense carpet. I have
often seen it thriving where the air
was pure and the soil suitable ; and it

LlNUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LIRIODENDRON.

is excellent for a moist rock garden,
growing rapidly, and forming a charm-
ing fringe to groups of small alpine
shrubs, on cool parts of the rock gar-
den. N. Europe, Asia, and America ;
also Scottish Mountains.

LINUM (Flax). — A very interesting
group of plants, too often neglected in
gardens, though remarkable for beauty
of colour, and including one of the
most useful plants that gives us linen
and also the best paper for the books
meant to last.

L. CAMPANULATUM (Yellow Herbaceous
Flax). — A perennial with yellow flowers
on stems 12 to 18 inches high, distinct and
worthy of a place. A native of the south
of Europe, it flowers in summer and
flourishes freely in dry soil on the warm
sides of banks or rock gardens. Similar
to it is L. flavuwi, or tauricum, also a hand-
some and hardy plant, with yellow flowers ;
but L. arboreum, a shrubby kind, also
with yellow flowers, is not hardy in all
districts, though where it thrives it is a
pretty little evergreen bush for the rock
garden.

L. GRANDIFLORUM (Red Flax) is a showy
hardy annual from Algeria, with deep red
blossoms. By successive sowings it may
be had in bloom from May till October.
Seed sown in autumn will give plants for
spring-blooming, and sowings made from
March to June will yield a display through
the summer and autumn. If protected
from frost the plant is perennial.

L. MONOGYNUM (New Zealand Flax). —
A beautiful kind with large pure white
blossoms blooming in summer. It grows
about i£ feet high in good light soil, and
its neat and slender habit renders it
particularly pleasing for the borders of
the rock garden or for pot-culture. In-
creased by seed or division ; it is hardy in
the more temperate parts of England, but
in the colder districts is said to require
some protection. L. candidissimum is a
finer and hardier variety. Both are
natives of New Zealand.

L. NARBONNENSE (Narbonne Flax). — A
beautiful kind, bearing during summer
many large light sky-blue flowers, with
violet veins, growing best on rich light
soils, and is a fine plant for borders, or for
the lower flanks of the rock garden, form-
ing lovely blue masses 15 to 20 inches
high. S. Europe.

Other similar blue-flowered kinds are
L. perenne, usitatissimum, alpinum, sibiri-
cum, alpicola, collinum, and austriacum ;
all are hardy European species, and make
pretty border or rock garden plants. The
white and rose varieties of L. perenne are
pretty.

L. SALSOLOIDES (White Rock Flax). —
Dwarf half-shrubby species, essentially a
rock garden plant ; its flowers, white with

a purplish eye. In the rock garden, in
a well-exposed sunny nook, the plant is
hardy, and trails over stones, flowering
abundantly. It produces seeds rarely, so
that it must be increased by cuttings of
the short shoots taken off about mid-
summer ; these will strike freely, and
make vigorous plants when potted off in
the following spring. L. s. nanum is a
rare dwarf form studded with large pinky-
white flowers. An excellent rock garden
plant. Mountains of Europe. L. vis-
cosum, with pink flowers, is a closely allied
plant not so pretty.

The Common Flax, which gives us the
linen fibre, is a pretty annual plant worth
a place for its beauty among annual
flowers.

L. USITATISSIMUM (The True Flax). — A
beautiful annual. I have oft thought it
worthy a place even in the flower-beds.
Sown in mid- April, it flowers long through
the summer, but is a hungry feeder that
few will place for.

LIPPIA. — L. nodiflora is a dwarf
perennial creeper bearing in summer
heads of pretty pink blooms. It grows
in any situation or soil, and is a capital
plant for quickly covering bare spaces
in the rock garden where choicer
subjects will not thrive.

LIQUID AMBAR (Sweet Gum). — A
very beautiful summer-leafing maple-
like tree from Florida westward to
the prairie states, often reaching
100 feet in height, the leaves turning
an intense deep purplish red in autumn,
fine in effect. This tree, thriving in
wet and marshy places, is more at
home in Great Britain than some of the
American trees. It would probably
attain a greater stature in river-side
soil in a warmer country than ours, the
best trees in its native country growing
in rich moist soils. In N. Britain, and
N. Europe generally, it is somewhat
slow and tender. It makes a beautiful
lawn and home - ground tree, but
should be planted in rather deep moist
soil. The leaves are fragrant in spring.
It would be better grown as a group
than as single plants. Seed.

LIRIODENDRON (Tulip Tree).~L.
tulipiferum is one of the noblest of
flowering trees. It is only when the
tree has reached maturity that it bears
its beautiful Tulip-like flowers of pale
green and yellow. Young Tulip trees
should be planted on lawns in free or
ordinary soils, as the flowers are very
pretty in a cut state for the house, and
the tree a beautiful one at all times.
N. America.

LITHOSPERMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LOBELIA.

551

LITHO SPERMUM ( Gromwell) . — A
few of these Borage-worts are well
worth growing. One of the finest is
L. prostratum,- a spreading little ever-
green having flowers of a lovely blue,
with faint reddish-violet stripes, in
great profusion when the plant is well
grown. It is hardy, and valuable as
a rock plant from its prostrate habit
and the fine blue of its flowers. Its
shoots will fall down the sunny face of
a rocky nook, to spread into flat tufts
on level parts of the rock garden. On

Lithosperinuni prostratum.

dry sandy soils it forms an excellent
border plant. In such soils, it is
suited for the margins of beds of choice
and dwarf shrubs. It is sometimes
grown as L. fruticosum, but the true
L. fruticosum is a little bush, and not
prostrate. Easily propagated by cut-
tings. S. Europe.

L. PETR^iUM (Rock Gromwell) . — A neat,
dwarf shrub, something like a small
Lavender bush, with small greyish leaves.
Late in May or early in June all the little
grey shoots bear small oblong purplish
heads, and early in July the plant is in full
blossom, the full-blown flowers being a
beautiful violet-blue. The best position
for it is in the rock garden somewhere
near or on a level with the eye, on a well-
drained, deep, rather dry sandy soil.
Native of dry rocky places in Dalmatia and
S. Europe. Cuttings or seeds.

L.purpureum-cceruleum (Heavenly Blue),
a British plant, is a good addition, and its
brilliant blue flowers are most effective.
L. Gastoni, L. canescens, L. gramini folium,
L. tinctorium, and L. rosmarinifolium are
very pretty plants, but coming from
sunnier lands than ours are not really at
home in our climate, and for the most
part they can only be grown well on dry
Ledges of the rock garden in the most
favourable districts.

LLOYDIA (Mountain Spider-wort}.—
L. serotina is a small bulbous liliaceous
plant, suitable for the cool parts of the
rock garden, and not of the showy

order of beauty. It is one of the
first flowers the early visitor to the
Alps sees by the pathway over the
high mountains.

LOASA. — Curious prickly annuals
with singular flowers and stinging
foliage. L. hispida is pretty, growing
about 1 8 inches high, with deeply-cut
foliage and short stinging hairs, the
flowers i inch across, of a bright lemon-
yellow, the centre prettily marked
with green and white. It blossoms
several weeks in succession during
August and September. The other
kinds in cultivation are the beautiful
L. vulcanica, with its pure white flowers
and red and white striped centres ;
L. lateritia, a twining species, with
orange-red flowers ; and L. triloba.
All are natives of the cool regions of
Peru and Brazil, and can be grown in
the open air during summer. Treated
as half-hardy annuals, and grown in
a light fertile soil, they are interesting
for open borders ; the climbing species,
such as lateritia, require branches to
twine among. Seed.

LOBELIA. — Distinct and much
varied perennials and annuals, some
of high value for the flower garden.
The perennial Lobelias, like L. splen-
dens, are amongst the finest of autumn
flowers. Although fairly hardy, they
are impatient of excessive moisture,
and in most districts require protection
during winter. It is often best to
winter them in a cool house and plant
out in April. Although impatient of
moisture during the resting period,
they revel in it when in active growth,
and where beds can be prepared in
the vicinity of lakes or streams, better
results will be obtained than in the
mixed border. In propagating in
early spring they can be divided into
single crowns, and these potted on
soon form sturdy plants ready to plant
out on the approach of warm weather.
They thrive best in a free vegetable
soil, and like plenty of sun, unless in
the case of L. cardinalis, which I find
thrives best in a partially-shaded bed.
In some districts with light soils, and
often near the sea, these plants do not
require protection in winter. Both
types may be raised freely from seed
sown in gentle heat in February.
There are many good varieties.

L. CARDINALIS (Cardinal Flower). — The
true plant is one of the rarest and one of
the prettiest of the genus. The brilliant
effect produced in autumn by tufts of this
species well repays any trouble it may give,

552

LOBELIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LOBELIA.

for though by no means fastidious, the
difficulty of growing it well in small
gardens in the absence of shade and mois-
ture is great. It is a bog-loving plant,
being found in wet ground in N. America.
It is, however, a true perennial, although
maybe a short-lived one, and should be
frequently raised from seed to make sure

The Scarlet Lobelia.

of keeping up the stock. This species is
not so liable to disease as L. splendens and
its varieties. Grown on an ordinary bor-
der it invariably has a weak, stunted
appearance ; but in a free rich soil, in a
shady position and well supplied with
moisture, I have often seen it 3 to 4 £ feet
high and flowering profusely. The flowers
are of the most vivid scarlet, and as they
last a long time in bloom it well deserves
care. Dr Gray mentions it as varying to
rose colour and even white, but this, it
seems, is rare. Parkinson mentions it as
"cherished in our garden in 1629," and

gives it as " growing near the river of
Canada where the French plantation in
America is seated." It is hardier than
L. fulgens, living through the winter in
open beds and with little or no protection.
Its leaves are shorter and greener than
those of L. fulgens ; the flowers, too, are
smaller, but more numerous on the spikes.

L. ERINUS. — The dwarf section of
annual Lobelia is one of the most impor-
tant, being much used among half-hardy
plants. The chief points to start with
are good soil and well-grown established
plants. The soil should be light and rich,
and rest on a dry bottom perfectly drained.
On a porous bottom it may be plentifully
watered during a dry time in summer
without fear of injuring the roots. The
roots cannot make way, nor can the plants
thrive in a strong adhesive soil of clay or
heavy loam, and if the soil be heavy, it
must be lightened by a plentiful addition
of leaf-mould, sand, or peat. This Lobelia
thrives admirably in equal parts of sandy
loam and leaf - mould, with sharp sand
to keep it open. A slight mulching of
one-year-old sifted hot-bed manure will
be found useful for keeping out the drought
and nourishing the roots through a dry
season. One of the difficulties in carrying
dwarf Lobelias in full beauty through the
season is the freedom with which they
seed, and the moment the flowers fade
they should be picked off every week
throughout the season. Dwarf Lobelias
may be propagated by seeds or cuttings.
For ensuring stock for propagating in
spring, a batch of cuttings should be
rooted in August from plants cut back a
month earlier. Or these cut-back plants
may be earthed up and later pulled to
pieces and pricked out in boxes of sandy
soil. These youthful examples are in-
finitely superior to worn-out lifted stock,
and yield quantities of vigorous cuttings
for February and March propagation.
The cuttings should be potted by the end
of May, and treated in the same way as
seedlings.

The varieties are numerous, and it is
difficult to make a selection to suit every
locality. L. Erinus is divided into three
sections — viz., compacta, of which there is
a white form ; speciosa, of which the best
are Blue Stone, Ebor, Blue Beauty,
Emperor William, Blue King, Lustrous,
Brilliant ; ramosoides ; pumila, of which
grandiflora and magnified are fine forms,
as is also the pure white Mrs Murphy ;
and Paxtoniana is a lovely blue. Other
dwarf Lobelias are ramosa, with large
light-blue flowers, and coronopifolia, also
with large blue flowers. Both are half-
hardy annuals, requiring the same treat-
ment as L. Erinus.

L. GERARDI. — A hybrid raised by
Messieurs Chabanne and Goujon, is a
vigorous growing and very continuous
flowering plant. Before the flowering

LOBELIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LOISELEURIA. 553

stems make their appearance it forms a
rosette of leaves of a very pure green
colour, and resembling the rosette of the
wild Chicory. The running roots are
abundantly furnished with fibres. When
fully grown the plant attains a height of

4 to 5 feet ; the strongest flowering stems
are as thick as one's thumb at the base,
and branch with from twelve to fifteen
clusters of fine broad flowers, which all
bloom together, the whole forming a com-
pact, rigid pyramid needing no stake or

Erop to support it. I have never seen any
ybrid of these fine plants as good as the
wild species.

L. SPLENDENS. — A) so called L. fulgens,
it is a brilliant and precious plant for the
flower garden. Its leaves are long and
narrow, and the flower-stalks taller and
thicker than those of L. cardinalis, the
flowers larger with broad over-lapping
petals. The best known, and a handsome
form of this, bears the name Queen Vic-
toria. Its leaves are a deep purple colour,
and the flowers a brilliant crimson-red.
Firefly is the handsomest variety in this
section, and was raised in Ireland. In
good rich soil it attains to a height of

5 feet, whilst in colour the flowers are
intensely vivid and rich. One of its
merits is that it bears lateral flower-spikes
around the central one much more freely
than Queen Victoria, and these keep up
a succession of bloom after the leading
spike is past its best. Huntsman is
another variety, brighter in colour than
Firefly. Sir R. Napier, Rob Roy, and
other varieties have been obtained from
it. These vary in colour and habit very
much, and as they are all robust, free-
flowering plants, they are valuable in the
autumn garden, giving brilliant effects
until cut down by frost. The variety ignea
has broader leaves and larger flowers.

This Lobelia suffers from a kind of rust,
which fastens on the main fleshy roots
when the plants are at rest, and rots them.
This disease, working as it does at a time
when growth is at a standstill, is not per-
ceived in time to be checked, and makes its
appearance in November, especially if the
weather be wet. The plants should then
be carefully taken up, reserving as much
of the roots as possible, the soil being
shaken off, and the roots well washed.
The disease will be readily discovered by
its rusty-looking spots, which must be cut
out with a sharp knife, as the least portion
will suffice to destroy the plant. After
the plants are examined they may be
potted or laid in a frame in some free sandy
soil, and very fine specimens may be
obtained by potting and plunging in a
slight bottom-heat, keeping the top quite
cool. In about a fortnight they will have
made fresh fibre, and all danger will be
past. They may then be kept in a cold
frame during the winter, and planted out
where desired in spring. The bottom-

heat, however, is not indispensable ; for
they will succeed if carefully and sparingly
watered after potting. All the plants of
the fulgens group show their great beauty
only on peaty or deep leafy and moist
soils ; often on loamy soils the growth is
short and weak, the flowers poor, and
under such conditions they may not be
worth growing.

L. SYPHILITICA. — A variable species, not
very showy, and robust in free moist soils,
it stands our winters well, and is prolific
in varieties of violet and purple, varying to
rose and white. A poor kind, it never had
a place in my garden. The hybrids raised
by crossing with the splendidly coloured
kinds are also a poor lot, so far as tried.
L. syphilitica has rich violet-purple flowers,
which mark it out for special distinction.
It is valuable for grouping in the mixed
border, may be left out during winter with
safety, and can be lifted, divided, and
replanted in spring.

L. TUPA. — This is also known as Tupa
Fuelli, and although a native of Chili, will be
found to stand well in the south protected
with sifted ashes, gravel; or other loose
material in autumn. It is best, however,
against a south wall, and when doing well
often attains a height of 6 to 8 feet ; the
flowers large, brick-red, in large racemes,
from July to September. In deep free
soils near the sea, L. Tupa is a very hand-
some plant.

L. cavanillesii is of more graceful habit
and hardier. We have seen patches of it
at the base of rockwork, where it has stood
unprotected for years, several feet across.
The flowers are scarlet, long and tubular.
Very showy August-flowering subject.

LOCUST TREE. — These tall Lobelias
have a great attraction for me, and
my experience of their ways may be
of use to others. The Cardinal Lobelia
is a hardy one, grows in the colder
parts of N. America, on the fringe of
lakes, and hardy in England. Brilliant,
but not so fine as the more southern
species splendens. This I never like
to be without, and find it not so easy
to succeed with, though it lives through
the winter in Irish sea-coast gardens.
With me it is very difficult to keep
over winter owing to the attacks of
minute insect enemies. It must have
a peaty soil, plenty of water, and be
carefully housed in autumn. In the
west, with a greater rainfall, it grows
stronger, sometimes over 5 feet high.

LOISELEURIA. — A wiry little shrub,
L. procumbens, growing close to the
ground, the plants forming tufts with
small reddish flowers in spring. Its
bloom is never attractive, and the
plants transferred to gardens from

554

LOMARIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LON1CERA.

the mountains usually perish, because
perhaps the strongest specimens are
selected instead of the younger ones.
Its true home is the rock garden, and
it prefers deep sandy peat. Heath
order. Arctic and alpine Europe and
Asia and higher Scottish mountains.
Syn. Azalea procumbens.

LOMARIA.— Ferns, for the most
part tropical, and requiring artificial
heat ; but in mild parts two or three
thrive in the open air. L. alpina, a
native of New Zealand, is dwarf, and
produces from a creeping rhizome
abundance of dark shining green
fronds, 4 to 6 inches in height. It is
specially adapted for the rock garden,
should receive similar treatment to the
Ceterach (to which it forms a charming
companion), and should, like it, be
associated with Sedums and alpine
plants. L. crenulata is similar, but
not quite so hardy, though it succeeds
iii the mildest localities, as will also
the Chili L. chilens'is, a tree Fern of
noble growth. These Ferns should be
placed in the snuggest quarters of the
hardy fernery, and care should be
taken to protect them during severe
cold. A fine bold kind is L. magel-
lanica.

L. PROCERA. — A handsome large-grow-
ing Fern, thriving in the open air in the
milder parts of Britain, particularly where
the atmosphere is moist, as in Ireland and
the south-west of England. It is a
variable plant, spread over nearly half
the world, the hardiest forms coming from
Chili, New Zealand, and Tasmania. L. p.
chilensis, one of the best, grows in com-
paratively cold regions of S. America, its
stout leathery fronds once cut to the mid-
rib being 4 or 5 feet long, and produced on
stout red stalks from a prostrate fleshy
stem or trunk. This trunk never rises,
but creeps along the ground, its under-
ground rhizomes freely giving off young
plants in rich open soils. L. p Gilliesii,
another fine evergreen form from Chili,
differs from that just described in its short
erect trunk, and shorter fronds on pale
green stalks.

LOMATIA. — Evergreen shrubs of
slow growth, with finely-cut fern-like
leaves so tough in texture that they
outlast almost any other foliage.
Several kinds are hardy in the milder
parts of Britain, and deserve a more
extensive trial. L. ferruginea, from
Chili, has grown well for many years
in the north of Ireland, at Castlewellan,
making a bush 9 feet high and 27 feet
in circumference, flowering freely, and
never yet injured during the winter,

though grown in the open during the
past twenty years. L. longifolia, an
Australian species, planted out in a
bed of Rhododendrons at Forest Hill,
near London, grew luxuriantly in the
open air, flowering and bearing seed,
and only twice cut to the ground by
frost during twenty years. L. elegan-
tissima, of New Zealand, has also proved
fairly hardy, and with other kinds,
such as L. filicifolia and L. propinqua,
might be given a trial with the choicer
evergreen shrubs in the sheltered shore
gardens of Devon and Cornwall. The
rather difficult increase of these shrubs
has probably been against them.

LONICERA ( Honeysuckle) .—Grace-
ful and fragrant woody climbers and
bushes precious for gardens. The
Twining Honeysuckles form a distinct
group of species with whorled clusters
of flowers terminating the young
shoots. The erect-growing or Bush
Honeysuckles have the flowers axillary
and generally in pairs, Among the
twining species there are a few that
have axillary flowers, and of these
Lonicera japonica is a typical example,
while the commonest example of the
Bush Honeysuckles is the Tartarian
Honeysuckle.

They all flourish best in a light rich
soil in a fully-exposed sunny position.
It is a mistake to plant Honeysuckles
at the base of shady trees and expect
them to climb up and produce crops
of flowers as they do when in the open.
Honeysuckles naturally delight to
twine upon other plants, but in shade
they do not flower. One often sees a
thicket overrun with common Honey-
suckle, but until the trees have been
cut the Honeysuckle does not flower
so well. It loves to ramble over a
hedge, as we see it by the wayside, and
in the garden one can make various
hedge combinations with it and some
other hedge plants, such as Sweet
Brier and Holly. To cultivate Honey-
suckles to perfection, they should not
be planted near any other living shrub,
but should be supported by a dead
tree trunk or trellis, as then the Honey-
suckle gets all the food from the soil.
This is why one sees plants of Honey-
suckle on a wire trellis bearing much
finer blooms than is the case when
growing over trees or hedges. A good
plan is to plant some in good soil
against wooden posts at distances of
12 feet apart, and when they have
reached the top of the posts to connect
them by a festooning chain from post

tnn ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LOPHOSPERMUM. 555

to post, as Roses and Clematises are
often done.

Some attention is required in prun-
ing, especially the European and
American deciduous species. The old
stems should be cut away so as to
encourage new ones, otherwise if
allowed to go unpruned the plants
die out. The Japanese Honeysuckles
are more vigorous, and only require
pruning to keep them in check. This
is especially the case with L. japonica
and its variegated form, which soon
form an impenetrable mass of shoots,
and that is why they should not be
grown on an arbour or over a walk,
as owing to the dense shade the under
side becomes full of dead leaves and
shoots.

L. CAPRIFOLIUM (Goat Honeysuckle). —
A common plant, but not a true native,
though it occurs occasionally in a natura-
lised state. The flowers, borne in clusters,
have long tubes, yellowish and blush
tinted, and very fragrant, coming in May
and June, succeeded in autumn by
yellowish berries. It is a robust twiner,
and grows wild in chalky districts in
hedges and woods. There are numerous
recorded names of varieties of this Honey-
suckle, among them being rubella, pallida,
verna, villosa, atrosanguinea, and Magne-
villei. The last named is one of the most
distinct.

L. CILIOSA (Western Trumpet Honey-
suckle).— A rare and beautiful kind
recently reintroduced. A twining species
of the L. sempervirens set, but differing in
having leaves hairy at the margins.
Flowers i£ inches long, very freely pro-
duced, and in their self-coloured refined
orange tone very effective and distinct
from all else. Flowers in early summer,
the scarlet fruits ripening in September.

L. CONFUSA. — De Candolle's Honey-
suckle is the beautiful Honeysuckle that is
grown under the name of L. Halleana. A
slender plant with long twining branches,
the leaves are ovate, and not pinnatifid
as in L. japonica, deep green, with not
such a ruddy tinge as in L. japonica. The
flowers are in pairs from the axils of the
leaves on the tips of the young shoots, pure
white when first expanded, changing to
yellow, and this is the character that makes
the plant so beautiful apart from its
fragrance and free flowering. It flowers
throughout the summer, and its lithe,
slender stems will soon reach the top of
a wall or tree stump.

L. FLAVA. — A moderate climber, with
broad ovate leaves, pale green beneath,
and terminal clusters of flowers, bright
rich yellow fading to a deeper shade, and
delightfully fragrant. It is best when

planted against a sunny wall in this
country. N. America.

L. FRAGRANTISSIMA (The Winter Honey-
suckle).— Among the earliest of all hardy
shrubs whose flowers greet the new year
are this species and its close ally, L.
Standishi. Neither of them can be called
showy, yet they are both well worth grow-
ing, because their flowers, although small,
are abundant, and have besides a fine
fragrance. These are only good in warm
southern valleys or warm walls, but never
so valuable as the summer-flowering kinds.

L. TRAGOPHYLLA (Chinese Honeysuckle).
— A beautiful Honeysuckle, large yellow
flowers, vigorous and hardy. Best in a
half-shady position and in good moist
loam.

L. JAPONICA (Japan Honeysuckle). —
This is as hardy as the common Honey-
suckle, and retains its foliage during win-
ter. It may be distinguished from the
other two Japanese species by its slender
growth, deep green shining leaves, which
have a marked tendency to vary from the
normal ovate form to a pinnatifid or Oak-
leaved form. The flowers are in pairs on
the tips of the young shoots, tubular,
slender, white tinged with red, and fra-
grant, from midsummer till the beginning
of autumn.

L. PERICLYMENUM (Honeysuckle :
Woodbine). — A native of the middle of
Europe and northwards, and is a true
native in England, where it is generally
seen in hedgerows and thickets. Numer-
ous varieties of this species have sprung
up either wild or under cultivation. Some
differ in regard to colour of flowers, others
in time of flowering, and these are the
most important. The wild form flowers
about midsummer, according to the season
— the variety known as the Late Dutch
Honeysuckle flowers into autumn.
Another variety, belgica, is known as the
Dutch Honeysuckle, as distinguished from
the late Dutch, and it is a stronger growing
plant than the type. Its branches are
purplish, and its flowers are reddish out-
side, yellowish within.

L. SEMPERVIRENS (Trumpet Honey-
suckle).— The most beautiful Honeysuckle
that has come to us from America for the
open garden, where it flourishes well in
the southern counties, and none of the
Honeysuckles have such brilliant flowers.
From the beginning of summer till the
end it bears loose clusters of long flowers,
scarlet outside. It is best against a warm
wall in the cooler parts of the country.

LOPHOSPERMUM. — L. scandens is
a tender climber with long slender
stems, pale green hairy leaves, and
large pink flowers. It thrives in the
open air in summer, and is a beautiful
plant for festooning old stumps, or

556

LOTUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LUNARIA.

for trailing over dead branches placed
against a warm south wall. It may
be easily raised from seed in heat
in early spring or autumn and kept
through the winter, but the best plan
is to lift the plants in autumn and to
winter them in a greenhouse.

in the garden. The double-flowered
variety is the best, as the flowers con-:
tinue longer in perfection. L. creticus,
maroccanus, sericeus, are found in
botanical gardens, but are not so
pretty. L. Jacob&us, a tender species
with almost black flowers, succeeds

Lonicera Periclymenum (Honeysuckle).

LOTUS (Bird's-foot Trefoil) .—Trail-
ing or half-shrubby herbs, the one best
worth growing being the native L.
corniculatus , which occurs in almost
every meadow or pasture, forming
tufts of yellow flowers with the upper
part often red on the outside. Though
so common, it is worthy of a place

in the open air in summer, and is all
the better for planting out. The Lotus
is best planted so that its shoots may
fall in long and dense tufts over the
face of stones.

LUNARIA (Honesty}.— When well

frown this old-fashioned plant, L.
iennis, is beautiful, not only on

LUPINUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LYCHNIS.

557

account of its fragrant purple blos-
soms, but from the silvery flat seed-
pods that succeed them. In borders,
on the margins of shrubberies, and in
half-shady situations, it is effective in
April and May, in any ordinary light
garden soil. Honesty is charming in a
semi-wild state on chalky or dry banks
and in open bushy places. Seed should
be sown every spring, and the plants
should be thinned out during growth
in order to make good ones for the next
year. L. rediviva is a perennial similar
to the Honesty, but with larger and
more showy flowers. It is 2 or 3 feet
high, and flowers in early summer,
doing best in half -shady borders of good
light soil. Division or seed. Moun-
tain woods of Europe.

LUPINUS (Lupine). — Beautiful an-
nuals, biennials, and perennials, chiefly
from N. America. The species in culti-
vation are few, though the names
occurring in catalogues are numerous.
The best of the perennials are : —

L. ARBOREUS (Tree Lupine) . — A precious
plant for dry soils and rough rocky banks
or slopes, the scent of a single bush remind-
ing one of a field of Beans. Its purplish
variety is good, though not nearly so
valuable, and there are some inferior
yellowish varieties. The best variety is
the yellow, because while there are good
blue perennial Lupines, there is no other
good yellow. It forms a roundish bush,
5 to 7 feet high, and is easily raised from
seed ; handsome forms are increased from
cuttings. As a wall plant it is excellent.
It may be killed in severe winters, but is
worth raising from time to time where the
soil suits it. Mr T. Smith, of Newry, has
raised many good forms of this.

L. NOOTKATENSIS. — A dwarfer species,
and has large spikes of blue and white
blossoms. It flowers earlier than L. poly-
phyllus, and continues in bloom for a long
time, but it is not a good perennial, and
requires to be frequently raised from seeds.
N.W. America.

L. POLYPHYLLUS. — One of the hand-
somest hardy plants, 3 to 6 feet high, with
tall flower-spikes crowded with blossoms,
varying from blue and purple to reddish-
purple and white ; in summer thriving in
open positions in any kind of garden soil.
It is a fine plant for naturalising, as it
holds its own against stout weeds. The
principal varieties are argenteus, flexuosus,
laxiflorus ,Lachmanni , rivularis, andgrandi-
florus. N. America. Seeds.

Annual Lupines are among the best
of hardy annuals, varied in colour, and
of the simplest culture. As they grow
quickly, they need not be sown till
about the middle of April. They

thrive in any common soil. L. sub-
carnosus is a beautiful ultramarine
blue, and should always be grown.
L. hybridus atrococcineus is the finest
of all, having long and graceful spikes
of flowers of a bright crimson-scarlet,
with white tips. Other excellent sorts
are mutabilis, Ci uikshanki, Menziesi,
luteus, superbus, pubescens, Hartwegi,

Ltipinus arboreus,

and the varieties of Dunnetti. Many
other sorts are so much alike that they
are not worth separating. The smaller
annual Lupines are very pretty, and
could be charmingly used to precede
late-blooming and taller plants.

LYCHNIS (Campion). — Plants of the
Pink family, among which are a few
well suited for the garden. All are
perennial.

L. ALPINA. — A diminutive form of L.
Viscaria, the tufts being seldom more than
a few inches high and not clammy. In
cultivation it is pretty and interesting, if
not brilliant, and may be grown without
difficulty in the rock garden, or in rather
moist, sandy soil. A British plant.

L. CHALCEDONICA. — An old border plant,
i£ to 4 feet high, with large dense heads of
brilliant scarlet flowers, and of easy cul-
ture in any good ordinary soil. There is
a handsome double scarlet variety. The
double white and single white kinds are
less desirable. Division.

L. DIURNA. — The double deep purple-
red sort of this common native plant is
very desirable, being very hardy and very

558

LYCHNIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

LYCHNIS.

showy, and never failing in any soil to
produce a fine crop of bloom in early
summer.

There are two double-red varieties of
L. Flos-cuculi (Ragged Robin), pretty
border plants. Division.

Lupinuspolyphyllus.

L. GRANDIFLORA. — A handsome plant,
typical of the numerous varieties now in
cultivation under the names of Bungeana,
and others which grow i to 2 feet high,
and bear flowers in a cluster of a dozen or
so, each flower being i to 2 inches across,
fringed at the edges, and varying from
vivid scarlet to deep crimson, and from
pink to white. Exposed to strong sun the

colour of the flowers soon fades, but in a
partially-shaded place the flowers retain
their true colour for a considerable time.
They are good border flowers, thriving in
warm sheltered situations in light soil, for
though quite hardy they are apt to suffer
from moisture and cold. Plant in deep
sandy well-drained soil in a sunny position.
All the varieties may be raised by seeds.
L. fulgens, a Siberian plant, is similar to
the forms of L. grandi flora.

L. HAAGEANA. — Reputed a hybrid be-
tween L. fulgens and L. coronata or grandi -
flora, it is one of the best of this valuable
group of border plants, in itself extremely
variable, affording nearly every shade of
colour, from the brightest scarlet to white.
The flowers are large, of good substance,
and produced in- the greatest profusion all
through the summer months ; indeed, as
a permanent " bedder " we have rarely
seen its equal. Where it can be managed,
a partially shady spot should be chosen
for the most brilliantly coloured forms, as
the flowers fade somewhat when exposed
to bright sunshine. The colours seem
fixed, and we have now good distinct
scarlet, crimson, pink, and salmon shades,
all worthy of attention. The great enemy
of this and other tuberous rooted sorts,
e.g., grandiflora and others, is the slug in
winter, the pest destroying the crowns and
roots. They should be raised periodically
from seeds, which are freely produced, the
seedlings flowering in the second year.
They dislike heavy and cold retentive soils,
and should be given rich light sandy soil
and a not too sunny aspect. L. Ark-
wrighti, boomed as a novelty, of late
appears to be but a vigorous counterpart
of this old and well-tried plant.

L. LAGASC-3E. — A lovely dwarf alpine
plant, with many bright rose-coloured
flowers, about f inch across. It is suited
for adorning fissures on the exposed faces
of rocks associated with the smallest alpine
plants. It is easily cultivated in the rock
garden in any free, sandy, or gritty soil.
An exposed position should be preferred,
as the plant is very free in growth. The
flowers appear in early summer, and if not
weakened by shade, or by being placed in
frames, are in fine condition when the
plant is about 3 inches high. Seed. Syn.
Petrocoptis Lagasca.

L. VISCARIA (German Catchfly). — A
British plant, with long grass-like leaves,
bearing in June many showy panicles of
rosy-red flowers, on stems 10 to nearly
1 8 inches high. The bright-coloured
variety called splendens is the most worthy
of cultivation. L. V. alba, a charming
white variety, is worthy of a place in
gardens, as also is the double variety,
which has rocket-like blooms. They are
excellent for the rougher parts of the rock
garden, and as border plants on dry soils.
The double variety is used with good
effect as an edging plant about Paris.

LYCIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LYSIMACHIA. 559

Easily propagated by seed or division ;
or, preferably, by cuttings secured with
a heel in early summer, and which when
rooted make excellent plants.

Double Ragged Robin.

LYCIUM (Box Thorn). — Rambling
shrubs, the best known being L.
chinense, a common climber on cot-
tage walls. Though not a showy
flowering shrub, few others are so
rapid in growth, so graceful, and so
indifferent to the nature of the soil.
It is also suited for covering porches,
pergolas, and arbours, and in late
summer and autumn, when every long
drooping branch is thickly hung with
small orange-scarlet berries, it is pretty.
The flowers are small, purple and
white, and the unripe berries are of
the same tints. The commonest kinds
are — L. chinense, from China ; L. bar-
barum, from N. Asia ; L. afrum, from
N. Africa ; L. Trewianum, and L.
pallidum, from Colorado. They are of
rapid growth, and therefore suitable
for covering high walls, though all are
deciduous.

LYCOPODIUM (Ground Pine).—L.
dendroideum is a very distinct Club
Moss, worth a place in the rock
garden, its little stems, 6 to 9 inches
high, much branched, and clothed
with small, bright, shining green
leaves. It flourishes best in a deep
bed of moist peat in a low part of the
rock garden, where its distinct habit
is attractive at all seasons. Difficult

to increase, it is rare in this country.
N. America, in moist thin woods.

LYGODIUM (Climbing Fern).—L.
palmatum is an elegant N. American
twining Fern, hardy in a deep, peaty,
moist soil if in a sheltered and partially
shady position. It is remarkable that
so charming a plant is not yet in culti-
vation. I have so far failed with it,
though I have seen it among wild
shrubs in New Jersey.

LYONIA. — Plants allied to Andro-
meda ; indeed, the species belonging
to it, numbering about three, are some-
times called Andromedas. They are
not important, but would add interest
to a collection of peat-loving shrubs.
The chief are L. ligustrina, frondosa,
and rubiginosa, which have evergreen
foliage and small white blossoms.

LYSIMACHIA (Loosestrife).— Plants
of the Primrose family of much diver-
sity of habit. The most familiar
example is the common creeping
Jenny (L. Nummularia) , than which
there is no hardy flower more suit-
able for any position where long-droop-
ing, flower-laden shoots are desired,
whether on points of the rock garden,
or on steep banks, growing in any soil.
In moist soil the shoots attain a length
of nearly 3 feet, flowering throughout
their extent ; it is easily increased by
division, and flowers in early summer
and often throughout the season.
There is a yellow-leaved variety (L. N.
aurea), which retains its colour well,
can be readily increased, is useful for
rock gardens or borders, and merits
its name. The other kinds are tall
and erect. L. vulgaris, thy r sifter a,
lanceolata, ciliata, verticillata, punctata,
and davurica are all 2 to 3 feet high,
have spikes of yellow flowers, and,
delighting in wet places, are suitable
for the sides of ponds, lakes, streams,
and similar spots. Indeed, they grow
almost anywhere, but in a border they
must have a place to themselves, as
by their spreading they soon destroy
weaker subjects. L. clethroides, a
Japanese species, is a graceful plant,
2 to 3 feet high, with long nodding
dense spikes of white blossoms, and
the leaves in autumn of brilliant hues.
L. Ephemerum is a similar plant, from
S. Europe, but is scarcely so fine.
There are some beautiful species, such
as L. atro - purpurea and lupinoides,
which are rare.

560

LYTHRUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

MAGNOLIA.

LYTHRUM (Purple Loosestrife). —
The common waterside L. Salicaria is
the most familiar plant of this genus,
and one of the showiest. It is well
worthy of culture where it is not
plentiful. The beauty of the ordinary
wild kind is surpassed by the varieties
originated in gardens, of which super-
bum and roseum are the finest. The
colour of these is a much clearer rose
than that of the wild kind, and the
spikes are larger, particularly those of
superbum, which, under good cultiva-
tion, are 5 or 6 feet high. These plants
are well worth growing by lakes or
in boggy ground, and are easily in-
creased by cuttings, which soon make
good flowering specimens. Isolated
plants in good soil make well-shaped
bushes, 3 or 4 feet high and as much
through, and look better than when
planted closely in rows.

L. virgatum, alatum, Gr&ffffi, flexuo-
sum, and diffusum, smaller plants, and
not so showy, are not without beauty.

MAACHIA AMURENSIS.— A sum-
mer-leafing tree, from Manchuria and
Japan. Syn. Cladastris.

MACLURA (Osage Orange}.— A tree
of great use in its own country, and
occasionally grown with us in the
south and near the sea, but of slight
value for its beauty, and as a fence
not nearly as good as our native
Whitethorn or some of the American
Thorns.

MACROTIMIA (ARNEBIA) ECHI-
OIDES (Prophet Flower}.— A handsome
and distinct perennial herb, i foot to
1 8 inches high. M. echioides has
flowers of a bright primrose-yellow,
marked by five black spots on the
corolla, which gradually fade and
finally disappear. It is quite hardy
and suited either to the border or rock
garden. Quite happy in rich light
loamy soils. It is a native of the
Caucasus and N. Persia, and though
long introduced is still among the
rarest of hardy flowers. It is a most
profuse bloomer, which adds to its
value. Seeds are but sparsely pro-
duced and rarely, and should be care-
fully sought after. The best method
of increase is by root cuttings, which
may be inserted from October to
March.

MAGNOLIA ( Lily Tree] . — Most
beautiful of flowering trees and shrubs,
there are about twenty species of
Magnolia known, and all but some
half-dozen or so are in cultivation in

this country. The headquarters of
these trees are in China and Japan, a
few are peculiar to the Himalayan
region, and a few more to N. America.
It is true that frosts sometimes injure
the flowers and change their snowy
whiteness into an unsightly brown.
The reason that this Magnolia and its
allies are not more often met with in
gardens is, perhaps, owing to the fact
of their not transplanting readily. A
little care in transplanting in spring,
in sheltering with mats from dry winds
or hot sun, and in syringing the wood
to prevent shrivelling, until the plants
are established, would do much to
prove that the Magnolias can be
planted with every prospect of suc-
cess. Some species occasionally ripen
seed freely in this country, but if dried
and kept like other seeds until the
following season, all chance of ger-
mination will have passed. All have
seeds which retain their vitality for
but a short time.

M. ACUMINATA (Cucumber Tree). — Is a
noble tree planted singly in a park. It is
deciduous, the leaves varying from 5 inches
to i foot in length, and glaucous green, the
flowers yellow - tinged, bell-shaped, and
slightly fragrant. There are fine examples
of this tree at Kew, in the gardens of Syon
House, and Claremont. In its native
country it attains a height of from 60 to
90 feet, with a trunk from 2 to 4 feet in
diameter. The yellow Cucumber Tree
(M. cordata) is regarded by Professor C. S.
Sargent as a variety of M, acuminata.

M. CAMPBELLI (Indian Magnolia). — One
of the most gorgeous of Indian forest
trees, has not fulfilled the expectations of
those who took so much trouble in intro-
ducing the species to British gardens. In
a wild state it attains a height of 150 feet,
and the fragrant flowers, varying from
deep rose to crimson, come before the
leaves. Probably the finest specimen in
the British Islands is the one at Lakelands,
near Cork. In 1884 it flowered for the
first time, and it has also flowered well at
Fota.

M. CONSPICUA (Lily Tree). — In its
typical form this has snowy-white flowers,
which are borne in the greatest profusion
in the latter part of April and beginning
of May. Splendid specimens of this beau-
tiful Cninese and Japanese tree are to be
seen at Gunnersbury House, Syon House,
and Kew. Several hybrid forms between
this species and M. obovata occur in gar-
dens. M. Soulangeana has flowers similar
in shape and size to those of typical M.
conspicua, but they are deeply tinged with
red ; M. Soulangeana nigra has dark
plum-coloured flowers. Both these bloom
a week or ten days later than the type.

MAGNOLIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MAGNOLIA. 561

Other seedling forms or slight varieties of
the Yulan are M. Alexandrina, M. cyathi-
formis, M. speciosa, M. spectabilis, M.
superba, M. triumphans, and M. Yulan
grandis.

M. DELAVAYI. — A native of Yunnan,
where it is plentiful in the mountains at
an altitude of 5500 to 7000 feet above
sea-level. On poor soil it forms a bush
8 feet or so high, but in rich soil it reaches
a height of 30 feet. It has magnificent
foliage, for the larger leaves are each from
10 to 13 inches long and up to 7 inches
wide, with stout stalks 2 to 3 inches in
length, and remarkable for their thick
texture and rich colouring, the dark green
with a silvery reverse, and the younger
foliage a glaucous bloom. Like other
Magnolias, it should only be planted in
warm, well-drained ground. Soil of a
light, loamy character is quite suitable,
but when peat can be procured it is advis-
able to place a little about the roots at
planting time.

M. FRASERI (Eraser's Magnolia).- —
Native of the southern United States,
recognised by its green spathulate leaves,
measuring about 8 inches to i foot in
length, and about 3 or 4 inches across at
the widest part, the flowers, 3 or 4 inches
in diameter, are creamy-white in colour,
and appear later than those of any other
cultivated species.

M. GLAUCA (Laurel Magnolia). — Of the
eastern United States, is a delightful sub-
evergreen shrub, with leathery leaves,
bluish-green above and silvery below.
The flowers are globular in shape, very
fragrant, opening of a rich cream colour,
and gradually acquiring a pale apricot
tint with age. In a wild state this species
occurs in swamps and attains a height of
20 feet. It is hardy and easily grown in
Britain in peat soil.

M. GRANDIFLORA. — The great Laurel
Magnolia of the southern United States is,
in England, best treated as a wall plant ;
under these conditions it thrives well and
flowers freely. A correspondent in the
west of England has written to The Garden
as to the culture of this plant : "At one
time it was thought necessary to protect
the trees with mats during the winter, but
this practice has largely ceased, and the
trees in some instances have attained a
very great height. For instance, there is
one under my charge that is now fully
50 feet high. The bole of the stem is
slightly over a yard in circumference. In
some seasons several scores of blooms are
borne by this tree, but during the winters
of 1891 and 1 892 many of the more exposed
points were badly injured by frosts, and
the bloom lessened in quality accordingly.
A very exposed position is not suitable for
this heavy-foliaged tree, and shelter from

cold winds is desirable. Where the ever-
green Magnolia does best is in the nooks
between bay windows or irregular fronts
of dwelling-houses, buttresses on extra
high walls also affording a good shelter.
The best instance of what can be done in
the way of clothing extra high yet shel-
tered walls with evergreen Magnolias is to
be seen at Canford Manor, Wimborne,
Dorset, while there are also several fine
specimens against high walls at Ashton
Court, near Bristol. The site should be
well prepared by trenching or forking peat
and leaf soil freely into common garden
soil, or, better still, fresh loam, a space not
less than 3 feet by3o inches being prepared
for each tree. Once the trees have
attained a good size, no further trouble
need be taken with the roots. The tops
branch naturally, and all that need be
done is to spread them out thinly, and to
keep the growths secured to the walls or
trellis. They ought not to be closely
trained, but if the branches or shoots are
left too long the strong winds may break
them off.

M. HYPOLEUCA. — This is the wood used
by the Japanese for lacquer, for sword
sheaths, etc., and the charcoal made from
it is used for polishing lac. In the southern
part of Yesso it is abundant in the forests,
and forms fine trees, 60 feet or more in
height, with a trunk diameter of 2 feet.
The leaves are I foot or more long, and
6 or 7 inches wide, dark green and smooth
above, and clothed with white hairs
beneath. The flowers are creamy-white
in colour, deliriously fragrant, and when
fully expanded measure 6 or 7 inches
across, the brilliant scarlet filaments form-
ing a striking contrast to the petals.

M. KOBUS. — Is hardy in the south of
England. The leaves are 6 or 7 inches
long by about half as much in width, the
flowers 4 to 5 inches in diameter, creamy-
white. Professor Sargent, who found the
species growing in the forests of Hok-
kaido, in Japan, describes it as a tree
70 to 80 feet high, with a tall straight
trunk 2 feet in diameter. He says the
flowers appear before the leaves, about the
middle of May. Japan.

M. MACROPHYLLA. — This, though some-
what tender in the young plants, is worth
growing simply for its beautiful leaves,
which are green above and clothed with
white hairs beneath, and attain a length
of upwards of 3 feet. The open bell-
shaped fragrant flowers are white with a
purple blotch at the base of the inner
petals, and measure 8 or 10 inches across.
It is a lovely flowering tree on warm soils
in the southern counties of England, as
may be seen at Claremont.

M. OBOVATA. — Dwarf-growing bush,
hardy in the south of England, and bears
freely its purple, sweet-scented flowers.
This species has a number of synonyms,

2 N

56a MAGNOLIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MALdotMiA

amongst which the following are the most
frequently met with in books and nursery
catalogues : M. discolor, M. denudata, M.
liliflora, M. purpurea, Talauma Sieboldi.
China.

M. SALICIFOLIA (Willow-leaved M.). —
A native of Japan, where it forms a small
tree 20 feet high ; in this country speci-
mens 10 or 12 feet high already exist.
Its graceful habit, slender branchlets, and
narrow, Willow-like, deciduous leaves
make it a desirable shrub. The glistening
white flowers, made up of six narrow
petals, when fully expanded are each

and obovate-lanceolate leaves, from i to
3 feet in length. In a wild state the tree
rarely exceeds 40 feet in height. Philip
Miller was the first to introduce this fine
species to British gardens.

M. WATSONI. — A coloured plate of this
beautiful Japanese species was published
in The Garden in December 1883, under
the name of M. parviflora ; at that time
it had not flowered in British gardens.
It is hardy, has large creamy-white fra-
grant flowers with petals of great substance
and deep red filaments, which add materi-
ally to the beauty of the blossoms.

Magnolia oboTata var.

nearly 4 inches across. It gives excellent
results in light, well-drained, loamy soil,
with which a little peat has been mixed.

M. STELLATA. — An excellent coloured
plate of this very beautiful Japanese shrub
was published in The Garden in June 1878,
under the name of M. Halleana. This
species is the earliest of the Magnolias to
flower, and it should be extensively grown
for the beauty of its starry white flowers.
A variety with blush-coloured flowers was
sent from Japan by Maries.

M. TRIPETALA, a native of the southern
United States, has large slightly-scented
white flowers, from 5 to 8 inches across,

MAIANTHEMUM ( Twin - leaved
Lily -of -the- Valley}. — A plant allied to
the Lily-of-the-Valley, M. bifolium is
a native of our own country. Its
habit and relationship make it inter-
esting, and it is easily grown in shady
or half-shady spots, and under or near
Hollies or other bushes. It is not
fitted for the border, and is more suit-
able for the rock garden.

MALCOLMIA ( Virginian Stock).—
The old M. maritima is a dwarf hardy
annual, and grows in any soil. The

MALLOTUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MARGVRICARPUS. 563

Virginian Stock, like many other
annuals, does not show its full beauty
from spring-sown seedlings, and where
it sows itself in the gravel it is often
welcome. Being easily raised, it is a
good surfacing plant in the spring or
early summer garden, bolder flowers
standing up from its sheets of bloom,
and in masses it is effective. S.
Europe.

MALLOTUS JAPONICUS.— A sum-
mer-leafing shrub from Japan and
C. China, as yet little known, but
thriving in high ground at Haslemere,
in Surrey.

MALOPE.— M. grandiflora is one of
the most showy of hardy annuals, and

native Musk Mallow (M. moschata).
It is a branching bush, with stems
about 2 feet high, and many flowers
i to i£ inches in diameter. M. cam-
panulata is a beautiful dwarf plant,
but rare and not hardy except in very
mild districts. It is dwarf and spread-
ing, and bears numerous lilac bell-
shaped flowers. M. Alcea, Moreni
and mauritanica are worth growing in
a full collection, and so is the annual
M. crispa, 3 to 6 feet high — an erect
pyramidal bush of broad leaves, with
a crimped margin, pretty in groups or
borders.

MALVASTRUM (Rock Mallow).—
These are in flower like Mallows, but

Magnolia stellata.

effective where a bold crimson flower
is desired. It is 18 to 24 inches high,
and the better the soil the finer will be
its bloom. There is a white variety,
M. g. alba. The variety M. g. rosea,
white flushed with rose, is pretty and
distinct. M. trifida is smaller in every
part, but showy. These bold annuals
are rarely used with good effect. If
from any cause the beds or borders get
worn out, it is worth while to try the
effect of a crop of the best annuals.
The Malopes, being vigorous plants,
are, as a rule, best in groups. S.
Europe.

MALVA (Mallow}.— Stout and some-
times showy perennial and half-
shrubby plants, of which there are
few pretty garden plants, the majority
being coarse and weedy. One of the
best is the white variety of the

dwarfer, not quite hardy, beingjnatives
of the warmer parts of America. M.
Munroanum is a dwarf plant with
rather small orange-red flowers, and
M . lateritium, a dwarf native of Buenos
Ayres, has brick-red flowers. Some-
times in mild districts these plants
thrive in the rock garden or well-
drained borders, in light warm soil.
M . coccineum has flowers of a brick-
red and blue-grey leaves. M. gillissi,
crimson flowers. Dry and warm posi-
tions on the rock garden.

MANDRAGORA (Mandrake). —Curi-
ous plants of the Solanum family, suit-
able mainly for botanical collections.
They are easily grown in warm, free
soil, and enjoy borders at the foot of
south walls.

MARGYRICARPUS (Pearl Berry).—
Small wiry shrubs, natives of the moun-

MARTYNIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MATTHIOLA.

tains and cool parts of South America,
the flowers not showy, but the berries
pretty. One kind, M. setosus, is best
suited for the rock garden in dry soil.

MARTYNIA. — M. lutea is a pretty
Brazilian annual, about i£ feet high,
with large roundish leaves and hand-
some yellow flowers in clusters, useful
for beds, groups, and borders. It re-
quires a light, rich, cool soil, a warm
place, and frequent watering in sum-
mer. M. fragrans, another species, has
sweet - scented flowers, and, under
similar conditions, thrives in the open
air in summer. It is best in rich
borders or among groups or beds of
curious or distinct plants. Seed.

MATRICARIA (Mayweed).— Weeds,
excepting the double variety of M.
inodora, which is a pretty plant with
feathery foliage somewhat like Fennel,
and with large white flowers, perfectly
double. It is creeping, requires much
space, and pegged down forms a dense
mass which has a pretty effect in
autumn. It is hardy, and perennial on
most soils, and is easily propagated
by cuttings or division in autumn or
spring.

MATTHIOLA (Stock) .—Annual or
perennial herbs, sometimes inhabiting
sea cliffs. From a few wild kinds have
been obtained the numerous varieties
of the garden Stocks, which have so
long been among the best of our open-
air flowers. The principal of these
species are M. incana, M. annua, and
M. sinuata. M. incana grows wild on
cliffs in the Isle of Wight, and is the
origin of the Biennial, or Brompton
and Queen Stocks ; M. annua has
yielded the Ten-week Stocks, and M.
sinuata the others. These three
primary divisions — the Ten-week,
Intermediate, and Biennials — require
each different treatment, and Stocks
are so easily grown, so fragrant and
handsome, that they will ever deserve
care in our gardens.

Ten-week Stocks, if sown in spring,
will flower continuously during the
summer and autumn. The finest strain
is the large flowering Pyramidal Ten-
week, vigorous plants, each branching
freely, bearing a huge main spike of
double flowers and numerous branching
spikes in succession. A bed of these
Stocks should be grown if cut flowers
are in request during the summer.
The seed may be sown at any time
from the middle of March onward, but
it is always well to get Stocks from

seed early. The seed can be sown
thinly in pans or shallow boxes, in a
gentle heat, and as soon as the plants
can be handled without injury, they
should be transplanted to other pans
or boxes and grown on quickly, care
being taken not to draw them so as
to make them lanky. There are
various places in most gardens where
a bed or patches of Stocks might be
grown with advantage, and, given
good rich soil, they will amply reward
the grower. The German growers
have a formidable list of kinds, many
of which are more curious than showy.
There are, however, sufficient good
colours among them, such as crimson,
rose, purple, violet, and white, to yield
distinct hues. There is a strain of
English - selected Stocks, known as
Pyramidal, which are of tall growth,
and remarkable for their large pyra-
mids of flowers, and there is a very
distinct type known as Wallflower-
leaved, which was introduced many
years ago from the Grecian Archi-
pelago, and which has shining deep-
green leaves, not unlike a Wallflower.
In all other respects the type is like
the ordinary German Stock. One of
the finest varieties of this type, and
one of the most beautiful Stocks in
cultivation, is known as Mauve Beauty.
It has huge heads of pale, lustrous,
mauve-coloured flowers. The culture
for the Ten-week Stock will answer
for this. The autumn-flowering strain
is very desirable, as the plants succeed
the German varieties, and so prolong
the season.

Intermediate Stocks may be sown
either in July or August, to stand the
winter and flower early in the spring,
or in March, to flower in the following
autumn. The strain is dwarf and
bushy, and very free-blooming, and
the varieties may be said to be confined
to scarlet, purple, and white. There
is a strain grown in Scotland under the
name of the East Lothian Intermediate
Stock, and much used there for beds
and borders, the climate exactly suiting
it for late summer blooming. It is
sown in the usual way about the end
of March, planted out at the end of
May when 3 or 4 inches high, and
blooms finely through August and
September, and even later, as the
numerous side shoots give spikes of
flowers. Thus, by using the autumn-
sown Intermediate Stocks for early
blooming, the ordinary large flowering
German Ten-week Stock for summer

MAURANDIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MECONOPSIS.

56.5

flowering, and the later East Lothian
Intermediate Stock for late summer,
Stocks can be had in flower for eight
or nine months of the year without
intermission.

Biennial Stocks comprise the
Brompton and the Queen, and they
should be sown in June and July to
flower in the following spring or
summer. They are closely allied, and
are probably only varieties of the same
kind ; but the seed of the white
Brompton is pale in colour, whilst
that of the Queen is quite dark. Old
growers of the Stock assert that while
the under side of the leaf of the Queen
Stock is rough and woolly, the leaf of
the Brompton Stock is smooth on
both sides. Of the Queen Stock there
are three colours — purple, scarlet, and
white ; and of the Brompton Stock
the same, with the addition of a
selected crimson variety of great
beauty, but somewhat difficult to per-
petuate. Both types are really bien-
nials. The seed should be sown at
the end of July in beds, and the plants
transplanted to the open ground in
the autumn. The difficulty of win-
tering the Brompton Stocks deters
many from attempting their cultiva-
tion, and many die, even in a mild
winter. A well-drained subsoil with
a porous surface soil suits them best,
and shelter from hard frost and nipping
winds is of great service. A second
transplantation of the seedlings about
December has been tried with success.

MAURANDIA.— An elegant Mexican
twining plant, M. barclayana is often
grown in the greenhouse, but hardy
enough for the open air in summer,
and admirably suited for covering
trellises. The deep violet flowers are
very showy, and there are also white
(alba), deep purple (atro-purpurea) , and
rosy-purple (rosea) varieties. Easily
raised from seed sown in early spring
in heat, they will flower in the follow-
ing summer if planted out in May in
good soil and sheltered situations.

MAZUS. — M. pumilio is a distinct
New Zealand plant, vigorous, and
creeping underground so as rapidly to
form dense tufts, rarely more than
\ inch high ; the pale violet flowers
are borne on very short stems in early
summer, and the leaves lie flat on the
soil. M. pumilio thrives in pots, cold
frames, or the open air, and does best
in firm, open, bare spots in the rock
garden, in warm positions in free sandy
soil. Though not showy, it is an

interesting plant, easily increased by
division. Figwort family.

MECONOPSIS (Indian Poppy}.—
Handsome Poppyworts, the most fam-
iliar of which is the common Welsh
Poppy (M. cambrica) ; the other kinds
are natives of the Himalayas, hardy,
but only of biennial duration. They
may be easily raised from seed sown
soon after ripening, preferably in a
little warmth ; and, indeed, a good
stock of strong plants can be ensured
only by annual sowings. The following
is the most successful mode of culti-
vating them : A piece of ground is
prepared by digging in good loam and
well-rotted stable manure ; a two-light
frame is placed over it, and seedlings
are put in about March. As soon as
the plants are fairly established the
sashes are removed (unless the weather
is frosty), and throughout the summer
the plants are well supplied with water.
In the following April and May they
will have become large plants, often
2 to 3 feet in diameter, and are then
removed to where they are wanted to
flower. This may be readily done
without needlessly checking them, as
they form so many fibrous roots that a
good ball of soil usually adheres to
them. They are thus grown on as
quickly as possible, being treated like
biennials. They should be planted out
in a well-drained rock garden in good
soil, with plenty of water in summer,
but they must be kept as dry as
possible in the winter, as excessive
moisture in cold weather soon kills
them. Sandstone broken fine should
be placed under the leaves, to prevent
contact with the damp soil.

M. ACULEATA. — A singularly beautiful
plant, with purple petals, like shot silk,
which contrast charmingly with the numer-
ous yellow stamens. The flowers are
2 inches across, on stems about 2 feet high.

M. CAMBRICA. — For the wild garden or
wilderness the Welsh Poppy is one of the
best plants. It is a cheerful plant in all
seasons, and a coloniser, making its home
of the wall, rock, and the ruin. In many
places it grows freely at the bottom of
walls, or even in gravel walks if allowed
a chance.

M. GRANDIS. — A newly introduced kind
from the mountains of Sikkim, and one of
the few true perennials in the genus. It
is a plant of tall habit, with uncut leaves
and solitary purple flowers of beautiful
glossy texture.

M. HETEROPHYLLA. — The only kind
found in America, where it grows over a
wide area but is nowhere abundant, thriv-

566

MECONOPSIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MELANTHIVM.

ing best in the light, dry soils of California.
It is an annual, and succeeds in this
country both as a pot-plant under glass,
or in the border during summer, where it
flowers and ripens seed freely. It is a
variable plant, but mostly reaches 12 to
1 8 inches in height, with pale green leaves,
deeply cut, and hairy. The flowers, upon
long slender stems, are red copper-coloured
or orange, with a deep maroon blotch in
the centre, and a scent of Lily-of-the-
Valley.

M. HORRIDULA. — A little plant found at
a great height in the Himalayas, growing
as almost stemless tufts of lanceolate
leaves, covered densely with prickles ;
the short stems bear bluish-purple flowers
about an inch and a half wide.

M. INTEGRIFOLIA. — A new kind, its pale
yellow flowers being much admired. The
plant grows at a height of 11,000 feet to
15,500 feet in the mountains of Thibet
and S.W. China, where myriads of plants
are to be seen bearing flowers which some-
times measure 10 inches across. It is a
biennial, hardy, and with oval uncut leaves
of pale green, about i foot long when fully
grown, and more or less covered with soft,
silky hairs. The stems vary in height,
but the plants flowered in this country
were from 12 to 18 inches high, flowering
until the first keen frosts. It is a mois-
ture-loving plant, thriving in peat or leafy
soil in a half -shady place.

M. NEPALENSIS has flower-stems 3 to

5 feet high, which are not much branched,,
the nodding blossoms, borne freely, are
2 to 3^ inches across, and of a pale yellow.

M. "PANICULATA. — A beautiful Hima-
layan plant with much-cut foliage and
panicles of bright yellow flowers, which
come true from the seed ripened sparingly
in fine seasons.

M. PRINCIPIS. — A plant first found by
Franchet in Thibet ; it comes near M.
punicea, but is not so large a plant, and its
smaller crimson flowers are held erect
instead of nodding.

M. PUNICEA. — A fine kind, growing at
a great height in the mountains of Thibet.
The leaves are entire, tapering at both
ends, and covered with long coarse hairs
of a shining yellow colour. The massive
flowers are borne singly upon slender stems
of 1} to 2 feet, reaching at their best

6 inches wide, and composed of large
drooping petals of carmine-red or reddish-
purple.

M. QUINTUPLINERVIA. — A perennial kind
from Manchuria, of dwarf growth as a
rosette of long-stemmed uncut leaves,
covered with reddish hairs and traversed
by five prominent veins. The nodding
flowers come during summer upon hairy
stems of 6 to 12 inches, and are cup-
shaped, 1 1 inches wide, and pale violet or
purple with a large cluster of golden
stamens.

M. RACEMOSA. — A rare plant but lately
introduced to this country. Its flowers
range in colour from pale lilac to deep
purple, and have given good seed in the
past autumn. China.

M. SIMPLICIFOLIA has a tuft of lance-
shaped leaves, 3 to 5 inches long, slightly
toothed, and covered with a short, dense,
brownish pubescence. The unbranched
flower-stalk is about i foot high, and bears
at its apex a single violet-purple blossom,
2 to 3 inches in diameter.

M. SINUATA LOBATA. — This handsome
Meconopsis was very fine in a Scottish
garden I visited this year. It was raised
in quantity from seeds, and a good group
in a partially-shaded place was very effec-
tive. The plants were about 3 feet high
and bore many flowers of a wonderfully
burnished purple. It is one of the best of
the many Meconopsis which have been
recently introduced. Like most of the
others, it evidently prefers a moist and
partially-shaded place. — S. ARNOTT.

M. WALLICHI. — A very handsome plant,
between 4 and 5 feet high. It forms an
erect pyramid, the upper half of which is
covered with pretty pale blue blossoms,
drooping gracefully from slender branch-
lets. It is a most conspicuous plant in the
rock garden, where it withstands the
winter without the least injury. Well-
grown specimens have leaves 12 to 15
inches long, and a great number of pale
blue flowers, opening terminally. Separ-
ate flowers do not last long, but a few
expand at a time, and it is fully a month
before they are all expanded at the base,
by which time the seeds of those which
opened first are nearly ripe.

MEDICAGO (Medick).— This is a
large genus, but it contains few, if any,
good garden plants. One or two aie
useful for planting on banks or slopes.
For this purpose the most suitable are
M. falcata and elegans, both vigorous
herbs with yellow flowers, thiiving in
almost any kind of soil.

MEGARRHIZA CALIFORNIA

(Calif ornian Big Root). — A twining
Bryony-like plant, having an enor-
mous root. Only suitable for botani-
cal gardens.

MELANOSELINUM DECIPIENS.-

An umbelliferous shrub from Madeira,
with a round simple stem, bare below,
and large, spreading compound leaves.
The flowers are white, and borne in
umbels. Young plants are to be pre-
ferred for placing out. Seed.

MELANTHIUM TRIQUETRUM.—

A bulbous-rooted plant little known to
cultivation. It has long, round leaves,
like those of some of the Alliums, and
its flowers, which are small and have

MELIANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MELITTIS.

567

delicate mauve petals and a purple
centre, are borne on spikes from
5 inches to 6 inches long. It is a
half-hardy plant — hardy, perhaps, in
favoured districts.

Meconopsis Wallichi.

MELIANTHUS (Cape Honey
Flower] . — An effective half-hardy plant
for the summer ; M. major having
finely-cut, large, glaucous leaves con-
trasting effectively with the garden
vegetation, and being of the easiest
cultivation, it has become a favourite
in sub - tropical gardening. Plants

raised from seed early in the season
make good growth by planting-out
time, and by midsummer attain a
height of 3 to 4 feet. S. Africa.

MELIOSMA CUNEIFOLIA. — The

genus Meliosma was probably repre-
sented by one species only in British
gardens previous to Mr E. H. Wilson's
plant- collecting journeys to China,
that species being M. myriantha, which
was introduced by Maries in 1879.
There are now several species available,
all of them handsome decorative
bushes, both as regards foliage and
flowers. M. cuneifolia is more like the
older M. myriantha than the other new
species, for it has somewhat similar
simple leaves, which are up to 7 inches
long and 3 inches wide, with prominent
veins. The flowers are small and
alternately creamy- white and white.
They are borne in long terminal
panicles, sometimes 9 inches long and
6 inches through, and are fragrant.
In a wild state it forms a large tree,
but in this country so far it is only a
well-branched shrub which flowers
freely every summer. The leaves have
regular pinnate nerves, marginal teeth,
and a dark green glossy surface ; but
they are smaller, the largest being
about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide.
The flowers are in effect like those of
some of the Sumachs.

M. VEITCHIORUM. — Has noble pinnate
leaves each 2 feet or more long, with five
pairs of leaflets and a terminal odd one,
the largest being 6 inches long and 3 inches
wide ; the rachis and principal nerves
dark red, the other parts a rich green.
It forms a fairly large tree, not unlike a
Walnut, and the panicles of small white
flowers are said to be 18 inches long and
very decorative. The young shoots are
stout with smooth bark, and the leaves,
when they first develop, are dark crimson.

MELISSA (Common Balm}. — M.
officinalis is a well-known old garden
plant, 2 to 3 feet high, emitting a
grateful odour when bruised. It may
be naturalised in any soil. Division.
Europe.

MELITTIS (Bastard Balm). — M.
Melissophyllum is a distinct plant of
the Salvia order, with one to three
flowers about i£ inches long in May.
The handsome purple lip reminds one
of some Orchids. M. grandiflora is a
slight variety, differing in colour from
the normal form. The plant is dis-
tinct, and merits a place by shady
wood walks, as it naturally inhabits
woods, 'Woody spots near a fernery

568 MENISPERMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MERTENSIA.

:

or a rock garden suit it ; it grows
readily among shrubs, and in the mixed
border. It is found in a few places in
England, and widely over Europe and
Asia. Seed or division.

MENISPERMUM (Canadian Moon-
seed}. — M. canadense is a hardy climber
of rapid growth, having slender, twin-
ing, large roundish leaves, in summer
bearing long feathery clusters of yel-
lowish flowers. It is useful for cover-
ing a wall quickly for summer effect or
for arbours, trellises, and pergolas, and
thrives in almost any soil in shade or
sun.

MENTHA (Mint}. — Marsh herbs or
rock plants of which the variegated
form of M. rotundifolia is common, and
useful for edgings or for clothing any
dry spots. Another is M. gibraltarica,
a variety of the native M. Pulegium,
used in summer for flat geometrical
beds on account of its compact growth.
In its growth it hugs the soil,
and throws out roots at every joint,
and all that is necessary is to keep
cutting off little plants and potting
them, or planting them in shallow
boxes, and in a very short time
they will in their turn bear cutting
up in like manner. A native of S.
Europe, it is somewhat tender, and is
generally killed in winter.

M. REQUIENI. — A minute creeping plant
with a strong odour of Peppermint, and
trails about among the tiniest plants in
the rock garden. I use it often for cover-
ing the ground beneath Tea Roses, and it
spreads and grows everywhere. It is the
smallest flowering plant grown in gardens,
and for chinks in paved pathways one of
the most charming.

MENTZELIA.— Lovely Californian
plants, mostly of biennial duration,
and requiring more care than most
half-hardy plants. The following is a
selection of the prettiest kinds : M.
(Bartonia) aurea I. — A showy golden-
flowered hardy annual, i to 2 feet high.
Should be sown in April in groups or
patches where it is to remain in light
soil and warm situations, the plants
being thinned to about i foot apart.
As the seed is very small, care should
be taken not to bury it too deep.
When well grown it might be used as
a bold group, relieved here and there
by tall plants. Chili. M. Icevicaulis is
a good kind, with whitish stem, i to
3 feet high, both stems and leaves
covered with short and stout bristles,
the rich yellow flowers opening only in
bright sunshine. M. nuda is 2 to 4 feet

high, with flowers resembling the last
M. oligosperma is a perennial, i to 3
feet high, with bright yellow flowers
3 inches across, opening in sunshine.
M. ornata is a biennial, 2 to 4 feet in
height, with creamy-white fragrant
flowers 2 1 to 4 inches across. It
belongs to the vespertine section, that
is, to those in which the flowers expand
towards evening. Syn. Bartonia.

MENYANTHES ( Buckbean] . — M.
trifoliata is a beautiful and fragrant
native of Britain, found in shallow
streams or pools, in very wet marshy
ground, and in bogs ; its strong creep-
ing, rooting stems often floating in
deeper water. The flowers are borne
on stout stalks, which vary in length
with the depth of the water, and are
beautifully fringed and suffused with
pink. M. trifoliata is easy to establish
by introducing pieces of stems, and
securing them till, by the emission of
roots, they have secured themselves.
In some moist soils it thrives in the
ordinary border.

MENZIESIA. — Dwarf shrubs re-
sembling Heaths, and, like them, ad-
mirably suited for large rock gardens
or wherever there is a moist peat soil.
They are all of neat growth, and bear
pretty flowers.

M. CCERULEA. — A tiny alpine shrub,
native of Scotch mountains and of nor-
thern European mountains. A pretty
bush for the rock garden or for choice beds
of dwarf plants, 4 to 6 inches high, with
pinkish-lilac flowers, flowering rather late
in summer and in autumn. Europe.

M. EMPETRIFORMIS. — A dwarf Heath-
like bush, seldom more than 6 inches high,
with clusters of rosy-purple bells in sum-
mer. Though not common in gardens, it
is one of the brightest gems for the choice
rock garden, and thrives in exposed posi-
tions in moist sandy peat soil, and should
be associated with the dwarfest rock
plants. N. America.

MERENDERA. — M. bulbocodium is
very much like Bulbocodium vernum,
but flowers in autumn, having large
handsome blooms of a pale pinkish-
lilac. Suitable for the rock garden
and the bulb garden till plentiful
.enough for borders. Increased by
separation of the new bulbs and by
seed. S. Europe.

MERTENSIA. — Borage-worts, beau-
tiful in form of foliage and stem, and
in the graceful way in which they rise
in panicles of blue.

MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MESPILUS. 569

M. ALPINA. — A dwarf kind. The leaves
are bluish-green ; the stem 6 to 10 inches
high, bearing in early summer one to three
drooping terminal clusters of light blue
flowers.

M. DAHURICA. — Although very slender
and liable to be broken by high winds, is
hardy. It is 6 to 12 inches high, has erect
branching stems, and bears in June
panicles of handsome drooping azure-blue
flowers. It is very pretty for the rock
garden borders, and should be planted
in a sheltered nook in a mixture of peat
and loam. Division or seed.

M. MARITIMA (Oyster Plant). — Very
little known in gardens, and though a
seaside plant and usually found growing
in sea-sand, it is amenable to garden cul-
ture. Given a light sandy soil of good
depth, and a sunny position where its long
and succulent flower-stems may spread
themselves out, carrying a long succession
of turquoise-blue flowers, it is a plant that
we may expect to see year after year.

M. OBLONGIFOLIA. — Another dwarf
species. The stems are 6 to 9 inches high,
and they bear handsome clustered heads
of brilliant blue flowers, and deep green
fleshy leaves.

M. PRIMULOIDES. — A beautiful and
choice species from the Himalayas, with
rich blue Forget-me-not like flowers.
Quite happy in cool places in peat and
loam. Height, 6 inches. Seeds and divi-
sion.

M. SIBIRICA. — A plant of much beauty
of colour and grace of habit, grows and
flowers for a long period in ordinary soil.
The small bell-shaped flowers are borne in
loose drooping clusters, gracefully ter-
minating in arching stems. The colour
varies from a delicate pale purple-blue to
a rosy-pink in the young flowers. A
hardy perennial growing best in a peaty
bog. Division. '

M. VIRGINICA (Virginian Cowslip). — The
handsomest of the Mertensias, bearing in
early spring drooping clusters of lovely
purple-blue blossoms on stems i to i i feet
high, the leaves large and of bluish-grey.
In many gardens it never makes the
slightest progress ; but a sheltered, moist,
peaty nook is the place for it. The finest
plants are grown in moist, sandy peat,
with shelter near. It is an old garden
plant, and one which has never become
common ; in the southern country it is
grown too dry.

MESEMBRYANTHEMUM ( Ice

Plant). — Dwarf or trailing succulent
plants, of which there are several
grown in the open air, though none
are hardy. The Common Ice Plant
(M. crystallinum) is grown for garnish-
ing in most large gardens and is also
used as a pot plant ; but it is most
effective when planted out in the rock
garden or on an old wall. In a sunny

situation it will grow in any good soil,
and will grow from 3 to 4 feet in a
season. On warm days has a refresh-
ing look, and its flowers, unimportant
compared with the stems and foliage,
are bespangled with crystal. Seeds
should be sown in heat in March, and
the seedlings planted out 6 to 8 inches
apart. There are two varieties — one

"»/c<» ( Vii gininn Co\v\slip).

red and the other white. M. cordi-
folium is a perennial, the variegated
form of which is used in carpet-gar-
dening. M. Pomeridianum is a strong
species with broad foliage and large
purple and rose flowers. It is not so
common as the last, but it deserves a
place on the south border. M. tricolor
is the most showy of the annual Mes-
embryanthemums. It is a neat plant
with cylindrical foliage, growing in
neat tufts 4 to 6 inches in height ; its
abundant flowers, of purple-rose or
white, afford good contrast. It should
be sown in sandy soil in the open garden
about the end of April ; it dislikes
transplantation, and lasts longer in
the ground than in a pot. They are
children of the sun, and a rock garden
devoted to a collection in an open sunny
spot is worth seeing. A soil consisting
of little besides sand and gravel suits
them perfectly.

MESPILUS (Medlar}. — M. germanica
is a beautiful small tree or bush with
large and handsome flowers, and a
wide-spreading head, and is beautiful
in early summer when studded with
great white flowers among its large
pale green leaves. The only other
species in gardens is M. grandiflora,

57°

MEUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

MIMULUS.

also called M. Smithi. It is a good
lawn tree. About the middle of May
it is attractive with its large flowers.

MEUM (Spignel). — M. athamanticum
is a graceful fine-leaved perennial,
dwarf in habit, 6 to 12 inches high,
free in ordinary soils, and hardy. In
dry seasons it might wither too soon,
but it is pretty for the rock garden or
borders. A British mountain plant
and aromatic. Division.

MICHAUXIA (Michaux's Bellflower}.
— M. campanuloides is a remarkable
plant of the Bellflower family, 3 to
8 feet high, the flowers white tinged
with purple, and arranged in a pyra-
midal candelabra - like head. Some-

Michauxia cainpanuloides.

times it flowers in the third or even in
the fourth year, but is usually con-
sidered a biennial, and should be
treated as a hardy one. Seedlings
should be raised annually, so as to
always have good flowering plants.
It flourishes best in a deep loam. Its
stately form and tall stature are
effective in the mixed border or in a
nook in a bed of evergreen shrubs.
Warm sheltered borders and borders
on the south side of walls suit it best.
Levant.

M. TCHIHATCHEFFII. — A remarkable
species from Asia Minor, rare 'in cultiva-
tion and difficult to flower. It forms large
spreading rosettes of leaves and produces
pale blue flowers. It should be tried in a
sunny, well-drained position in loam and
lime rubble. As a plant difficult to culti-
vate, it ranks with, or surpasses, the
equally remarkable Ostrowskia magnified.

MIGHELIA. — Very interesting trees
and shrubs of the Magnolia order ;
mostly from Asia and China. Little
known in our gardens as yet, except-

ing one kind, which is grown in con-
servatories. They are only likely to
succeed in the southern most favoured
parts of the country.

MICROLEPIA.— M. anthriscifolia is
an elegant Fern, 6 to 12 inches high,
hardy, deciduous, charming in spring
and summer, and of easy culture. It
thrives in the open as well as in the
shade, and may be used with good
effect as an edging to a sheltered
border.

MICROMERIA (Pepper Nettle}. —
Dwarf plants of the Sage family, with
strong odours, chiefly from S. Europe,
W. Asia and America ; as yet little
known in gardens and mostly fitted
for the rock garden or dry banks.

MIKANIA (German Ivy}. — M. scan-
dens is a slender twining perennial,
with Ivy-like foliage and small flesh-
coloured flowers. It is hardy in light
warm soils, and is used for cover-
ing trellises. N. America.

MILIUM (Millet Grass}. — Grasses,
some of them graceful. Our native M.
effusum is worth cultivating for its
feathery plumes. It is suitable for
associating with flowers in summer,
and grows in any soil, preferring moist
places. There are one or two other
kinds worth growing.

MILLA. — The bulbous plants for-
merly known under this name are now
described under the name of Brodiaea.
The only true Milla is said to be
M. biflora, a beautiful plant with
large snow-white blossoms deliciously
scented. It is rather difficult to cul-
tivate, but it is well worth any care.

MIMULUS (Monkey-flower}. — The
cultivated species are valuable showy
border flowers, and are for the most
part natives of California. They love
moisture, and are suitable for damp
places, such as bogs, moist borders,
and the margins of streams and
artificial water. The old M. cardin-
alis is showy when well grown, and is
deserving of a place. There are several
varieties of it. The common Musk,
so hardy and enduring for many years,
is now lost. M. luteus and its varie-
ties, cupreus, guttatus, and others, are
typical of the beautiful hybrids which
are now in gardens, and which combine
the dwarf habit and hardiness of M.
cupreus with the large flowers, richly
spotted and blotched, of the other
parent, the old M. variegatus. These
hybrids, wliich are knowri as M.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MOLOPOSPERMUM. 571

losus, bear exposure to the sun better
than the parents. These sorts should
be grown, and a packet of seeds affords
a wonderful \ ariety. The seeds of the
Mimulus should be merely sprinkled on
the soil ; if covered by it they may
vegetate less quickly and abundantly.
A little damp moss may, however, be
laid over the surface, but should be
removed as soon as the seeds have
germinated.

MINA. — Fast-growing climbers from
Mexico, and, while perennials in their
own country, mostly grown as tender
annuals with us. M. lobata, the best-
known kind, is used for summer gar-
dening, its three-lobed leaves of deep
green being handsome upon arches or
trellises. Sprays of tubular flowers
spring upon the upper leaf-axils, deep
crimson in bud fading to pale yellow
as they open, giving a parti-coloured
effect. It is easily grown, flowers
freely until frost, and continues until
winter if taken under glass. M. cor-
data comes very near the older kind,
save that its leaves are rounded and
tapering like those of a Convolvulus,
and the flowers have traces of a
magenta-purple. Both kinds are
raised from seeds sown in heat early
in the year, and the tips of old plants
rooted under glass come into flower
earlier than seedlings.

MIRABILIS (Marvel of Peru). —
Stout herbaceous plants, the most
familiar of which is M. Jalapa,
a dense, round bush covered with
flowers, nearly 3 feet high, the flowers
about i inch across, white, rose, lilac,
yellow, crimson and purple — striped,
mottled, and selfs. The plants may
be treated as half-hardy annuals,
raised from seed in a warm frame,
potted on, and planted out in
May. They are, however, peren-
nial, and when the leaves are killed
by frost the tapering black root
must be lifted and stored in sand
during the winter. The plants should
be started in pots in spring and planted
out as before ; but after the second
year the roots become unwieldy, and
should be discarded. They require a I
warm soil and all the sunshine of our
climate. The seeds ripen rapidly and
readily ; each flower produces one
seed only, and as the seeds are large
they can be gathered from the ground
beneath the plants. M. multiflora is
somewhat similar to M. Jalapa, but
dwarfer, and the bright crimson-purple
flowers are in large clusters, expand-

ing in bright sunshine. It is a hardy
perennial in light warm soils, and is
a good border plant. M. longiflora,
having long tubular flowers with car-
mine centres, is capital for the foot of
a warm south wall. Mexico.

MITCHELLA (Deer Berry}. — M.
repens is a neat, trailing, small ever-
green herb, 2 or 3 inches high, with
white flowers in summer, succeeded
by small bright red berries. It thrives
in shady spots on the rock garden or
the hardy fernery, in sandy peat.
Division. N. America.

MITRARIA (Mitre-flower}.— M. coc-
cinea is a bright charming little shrub
from Chili, hardy in mild districts, but
generally requiring winter protection.
It is a small evergreen shrub, bear-
ing in summer numerous urn-shaped
flowers about i| inches long and of a
brilliant scarlet, thriving in a mixture
of sandy peat and loam, in a moist
sheltered spot with perfect drainage.

MOLOPOSPERMUM. — M. cicu-
tarium is a hardy perennial, 5 feet or
more high, with large graceful leaves
which form a dense bush. It thrives

Molopospermitm cicutarinin.

in ordinary soil, and is useful for
grouping with fine - leaved plants,
Division and seed, Carniola,

572

MOLUCCELLA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MONTBRETIA.

MOLUGCELLA (M. Icevis}. — A sin-
gular plant of the Dead Nettle family.
It is by no means showy, and its only
recommendation for the garden is the
singular form of its calyces, which are
bell-shaped and densely arranged on
erect stems about i foot in height.
It is a fine subject for skeletonising,
and the stems, bracts, and calyces
may be skeletonised intact. For this
purpose they should not be cut before
autumn, when the plant is fully
matured. Should be treated as a
half-hardy annual. Eastern Mediter-
ranean.

MONARDA (Bee Balm) . — Border
perennials of the simplest culture,
thriving in any soil, and suited for
borders or for naturalisation in open
copses. The red kind scattered
through American woods in autumn
is very handsome. M. fistulosa (Wild
Bergamo t) is a robust perennial, 2 to
4 feet high, the flowers variable ; the
usual colour is pale red, and every
gradation almost to white may be
found in it. M. didyma (Oswego Tea)
is robust, about 3 feet high, the deep
red flowers, borne in head-like whorls,
continuing a long time in summer.
M. Kalmiana is a showy plant, often
4 feet high, the deep crimson flowers
in dense whorls. To see the true effect
of this fine plant it must be massed in
groups. In M. purpurea the deep
purplish-crimson flowers are smaller.
N. America. Division or seed.

MONTAGN^IA HERACLEIFOLIA

( Polymnia grandis) . — A half-hardy
shrub with large, much divided, and
elegantly-lobed leaves, about 3 feet
long, presenting luxuriant masses of
foliage. The stem and leaf -stalks are
spotted with white, and the leaves
when young are covered with a soft
white down. Easily multiplied from
cuttings, which plants freely produce
if placed in heat in January, but it is
only useful where sub-tropical plants
are put out for the fine months in
sheltered dells.

MONTBRETIA ( Tritonia] .—Grace-
ful and showy plants from the Cape,
better than most S. African plants in
their hardiness and vitality, even in
the poorest conditions of soil and
exposure, growing, indeed, like weeds,
and so close that I have used them
between shrubs to keep the ground free
from weeds ; and well they do it,
giving very graceful bloom in masses
towards the summer and autumn. In

rich light soils they give little trouble ;
in clay soils where the drainage is less
under control they are apt to fail, but
we have seen them thrive in poor
clayey soil if not wet. In badly-
drained soils it is best to grow them in
raised beds of good soil. All danger
can be avoided by lifting, though some
hold that this is injurious. The suc-
cess which attends the planting of dry
bulbs during the early spring months— -
frequently as late as April — is the best
proof that the harm from drying such
things is of small moment. Where both
systems can be pursued in one garden
a long succession of bloom will be the
result. The spring planted stock of
this year may remain undisturbed
through the coming winter, to yield
early bloom next year, while the batch
that remained in the ground the winter
previous is the one to be lifted this
coming autumn. In this way there is
little loss in a single year by deteriora-
tion, and the corms, if harvested at
the right time and well kept — i.e., cool
and dry — will more than repay the
labour and trouble involved. Even in
those gardens where there is no real
need to lift the roots the plan is of
value for the longer time of blooming
it ensures.

During recent years the Montbretia
has been much improved, both as
regards the size of the flowers and their
colour. Of more imposing stature
than aforetime varieties, with freer
branching habit, more erectly-held
sprays, and widely expanded flowers
that face the observer, they make for
greater garden display ; in fine, are
immeasurably superior even when
compared to those raised little more
than a decade ago. Those named are
among the best of this modern race.
Comet, crimson stained, very large ;
King Edmund, 3 to 4 feet, rich yellow ;
Lord Nelson, deepest of all, orange-
scarlet and crimson, 3^ feet ; Prome-
theus, one of the giants, orange and
crimson flowers, 4 inches across ; Star
of the East, pure orange-yellow with
lemon centre, probably the best yet
raised ; Westwick, orange and maroon ;

eueen Alexandra, apricot-yellow ;
ueen Mary, orange, dark purple
stems ; Nimbus, golden-yellow, very
fine ; Citronella, pale refined yellow,
very beautiful ; Queen Boadicea,
4 feet, orange and copper ; His
Majesty, yellow and brownish crimson ;
and Una, pale refined orange with
crimson zone.

GLAUCOPIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

MORtrs.

573

CULTURE IN THE WEST COUNTRY. —
We have seen the Tritonias (of the
Montbretia section) bloom every year
freely on poor clay ; the better soils
and more copious rainfall of the west
make a difference, and this note as to
their culture in a Cheshire garden may
be useful to any who work under like
conditions : "To make them do well,
the chief point is to keep them thin,
and so they must be divided every
year. This may be done any time in
autumn before the ground is frozen
up. My practice at Edge after digging
them up — suppose there are twelve
stalks, that is, twelve bulbs in each
clump, with three or four young points
to each bulb — is to have fifty or a
hundred pots ready and to put three
bulbs into each pot, filling up with any
waste soil, drainage being superfluous.
The less they grow before March the
better. They must not be cut down
till spring. When all the pots are full
they are placed together in some shel-
tered spot out of doors and well
watered — for if kept dry they die —
then they are covered with a foot or
two, according to weather, of dry leaves
or other litter, enough to ensure their
safety from frosts. By the end of
March they are safe, and may then be
planted out anywhere, letting the bulbs
be at least 6 inches deep, either amongst
herbaceous plants, which they like, or
amongst low shrubs. I have some in
beds of dwarf Roses, where they do
and look very well. As they increase
at least fourfold every year, the gar-
dener must harden his heart and not
be tempted to let them grow more
densely, but as he will find that most
of his friends have as many as they
want, throw the surplus on to the
rubbish heap. I find one morning in
each year enough for this work, which
may be done in the roughest and most
hasty way without detriment to the
bulbs. Indeed, I have sometimes
buried the clumps in a soil heap for
winter, littering them over as described,
and planting the bulbs out by threes
in spring. The main objects are not
to let them get frozen and not to let
them get dry or grow during winter. I
generally also replant three bulbs
where I dig up each clump. If the
winter is mild, these survive and the
pots are not wanted ; if they are
killed, the pots take their place. They
flower better if a spadeful of rich stuff
is put in where each pot is planted.

MOR^JA GLAUCOPIS (Peacock
Iris). — A charming bulbous plant

9 to 15 inches high, with flowers in
early summer, about 2 inches across,
pure white, with a beautiful porcelain-
blue stain nearly 1 inch broad, at the
base of each of the three larger divi-
sions. This stain is deep violet at
the base, and edged with deep purple
teeth. There is only one long narrow
leaf. The plant should be grown on
warm sheltered borders in sandy peat
or sandy loam and leaf-mould. In-
crease by separation of the bulbs in
autumn. S. Africa.

MORINA (Whorl-flower).— M. longi-
folia is a handsome and singular peren-
nial, with large spiny leaves, resembling
those of certain Thistles, and with long

j spikes of whorled flowers, 2 to 3 feet

| high. It is excellent for the mixed
border, and for grouping with medium-

| sized perennials that have fine foliage.

i It thrives in ordinary soil. Nepaul.

I Seed.

MORISIA (M. hypog&a).—A pretty

| alpine plant from the mountains of

I Sardinia. The flowers, as large as a

| shilling and of a bright yellow, are on

short stalks rising very little above the

tufted foliage, in April and May, and

the contrast between them and the

| dark glossy foliage is effective. It

, seems to do best in a light gritty soil,

| and the seed should be sown directly

it is ripe.

M 0 R U S (Mulberry}. — Usually
medium-sized trees of the temperate
| and sub- tropical countries, the best
kind for our country is the Black
Mulberry (M. nigra), a distinct tree of
great value and beauty giving showers
of fruit in hot days. The Mulberry
often attains great age, and when old
gives deep shade, thriving best always
in sheltered gardens in deep soils. It
is hardy, coming late in leaf, and the
leaves fall with the first touch of the
frost. It is often a beautiful lawn
tree, though it may well take its place
in the orchard or enclosed fruit garden,
always, if possible, giving it a free
deep soil.

It is not difficult to increase from
cuttings or even pieces of branches,
and by layers, but not by any means
common to find good stocks of the
trees in nurseries. A very much more
cultivated species in Europe and other
countries is the White Mulberry (M.
alba) and its varieties, but as our
country is too cold for silk cultivation
it is of slight value with us, and the
same may be said of the other kinds,

574 MuriLENBEckiA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MuscARi.

the one exception being, perhaps, the
American Red Mulberry (M. rubra),
a native of the northern United States.
MUHLENBECKIA. — These graceful
free-growing evergreen trailers are
useful as coverings for trellis-work or
rocks or stumps. The kinds in culti-
vation are natives of New Zealand ;
the best known, M. complexa, is a
very rapid grower, with long wiry and
entangled branches, small leaves, and
rather inconspicuous white waxy
flowers. M. adpressa is larger and
has heart-shaped leaves, and long
racemes of whitish flowers. M. varia

and placed on shelves in houses with
a temperature of not less than 45°.
Here they are laid on their sides,
their leaves being kept close together,
I and remain throughout the winter,
with only a mat thrown over the roots.
In February the roots are examined,
! planted in trenches, and subjected to
i an increased temperature, when new
! roots soon form and begin to grow
afresh. In June, after being gradually
i hardened, the leaves are tied up, the
• plants are lifted with as good balls
as possible, and placed in their sum-
mer quarters. M. Ensete is the kind

Musa Ensete.

is a small kind, with fiddle-shaped
leaves, and is very distinct from either
of the above.

Mulgedium (Blue Thistle}.
TUCA.

See LAC-

HI U S A (Banana). -— These fine
tropical plants are seen in our parks
during summer, and less frequently in
private gardens. In the London parks,
Musas, especially the smaller ones, are
often plunged in the ground in their
pots during the summer, but the larger
ones are planted out. When they are
lifted in autumn, those in pots are
stored in houses, but the larger ones
are lifted with small balls of earth

generally used in the open air, and

in form is one of the noblest plants.

Any one with a warm house may grow

it, and when planted out in June, in

| deep, warm, rich soil, and a sheltered

j position, it will grow well during

summer ; such, at least, is our experi-

i ence in London and the home counties,

but such tender plants must ever have

a limited use in our country. M.

Basjoo, a graceful Japanese species

j that has some pretensions to hardi-

! ness, has been tried as a plant for the

open, but it is not hardy enough for

our winters except in the south.

MUSGARI (Grape Hyacinth). — A
very pretty little family, mostly from

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARbEti.

kvosotis.

S. Europe, easily grown in ordinary
soil, and charming spring bloomers.
They are all so much alike in their
characteristics that a separate descrip-
tion for each one is not needed. The
main thing is to get the best kinds and
enough of these and use them rightly.
They do not come well into the flower
garden, as their season of bloom is not
long, and it is therefore worth while
naturalising them in free soils, and
also using them as edgings in the
flower garden. One of the best is
conicum, which is free and handsome ;
botry ' aides and its forms are also good.
I find the native racemosum as good as
any.

MUTISIA.— Very curious and dis-
tinct half-shrubby climbers from Peru,
with tendril-pointed leaves. Other

kinds are natives of the Chilian Andes,
and have simple leaves, rigid in tex-
ture, and their habit is, as a rule, bushy
and not climbing. They are found
at elevations sufficiently high to admit
of their being grown out of doors in
England, or at any rate in the warmer
parts of the country, and yet the
Mutisias are scarcely known in our
gardens. Some few cultivators have
been successful with M. decurrens ;
once or twice M. ilicifolia has been
grown and flowered very well. M.
Clematis is the least delicate of the
garden Mutisias.

M. CLEMATIS. — The first coloured pic-
ture of this species ever published in any
English work was the plate in The Garden,
ayth July 1883. It is a tall herbaceous
climber, 10 to 20 feet high, with pinnate
leaves, terminating in branched tendrils,

the leaflets being covered on the under
side with a fine silky down. There are
very few instances of its successful culture,
even in the south. This species is a native
of New Grenada, Peru, and Ecuador, at
elevations of from 6000 to 11,000 feet.

M. DECURRENS. — Of this, the most
beautiful of the three garden Mutisias,
a fine plate will be found in The Garden
for 1883, p. 553. Mr Coleman has grown
it well amongst Rhododendrons at Eastnor
Castle ; Mr Gumbleton, Mr Hooke, Mr
Ellacombe, and Kew have also had it in
good condition. Most cultivators kill this
species by planting it in a hot, sunny, dry
position. It wants a moist, cool soil, a
sunny, airy position, and a few slender
Pea-sticks to clamber upon. The stems
when mature are wiry, the leaves strap-
shaped, with the blade extending a long
distance down the stem, forming very
conspicuous wings. The midrib is pro-
longed into a stout wiry tendril, which
holds on firmly to anything it once clasps.
There are fourteen ray-florets, each half
an inch across, spreading, and then curving
elegantly downwards, their colour being
brilliant orange. The disc is bluish-green.

M. ILICIFOLIA. — Native of Chili, where
it grows over bushes. The plant has thin
wiry stems, and every part is covered with
a cobweb-like tomentum. The leaves
are about 2 inches long, the margins spiny-
toothed, the texture leathery, and the
midrib extending beyond the blade,
branching and forming a strong twining
tendril. The flowers are axillary, 3 inches
across, with from eight to twelve ray
florets coloured pale pink or sometimes
white with pink tips ; the disc is lemon-
yellow. It is a distinct, interesting, and
beautiful plant, but very difficult to grow.

MYOSOTIDIUM (Antarctic Forget-
me-Not). — M. nobile is a lovely her-
baceous plant about which very little
is known. In its native isle it is a
seaside plant, in damp sand. It has
a thick root-stock, from which arise
the large heart-shaped, shining green
leaves. The erect stem is leafy all the
way up, and is terminated by a loose
corymb of flowers in colour like Forget-
me-Not, but the shade of blue varies.
After flowering, the plants should be
kept in a cool and light position in a
frame, and be liberally watered in dry
weather. It is a native of the Chatham
Islands, a small group in the Pacific,
lying 400 miles east of New Zealand.
It was flowered in several gardens of
recent years, and very finely by Mrs
Rogers, in Cornwall in the open air.

MYOSOTIS ( Forget-me- Not) .—Beau-
tiful perennial and biennial marsh and
alpine plants, children of the mountain
and marsh land from many parts of

576 ' MYOSOTIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

MYRRHIS.

Europe and our own land, and of high
value and charming in all ways for
gardens.

M. ALPESTRIS (Alpine Forget- me-Not). —
A compact plant of the loveliest blue
flowers, thriving on the rock garden, in
moist gritty soil. It should be surrounded

Myosotis alpestris.

by half -buried pieces of sandstone. There
are various forms, some very dwarf, with
white and rose flowers. Princess Maud is
a robust variety with rich deep blue
flowers.

M. AZORICA (Azorean Forget-me-Not). —
A beautiful somewhat tender kind, with
dark blue blooms, 6 to 10 inches high, and,
coming from the extreme W. Azores,
will not survive except in warm corners
of the rock garden. It grows freely in
light soil, and may be raised from seed or
cuttings. Not easy to grow, and only
by raising from seed.

M. DISSITIFLORA (Early Forget-me-
Not). — Beautiful and early flowering, 6
to 12 inches high, with large handsome
flowers deep sky-blue, continuing till
midsummer. It is best in broad masses
in open spots of the rock garden, or
wherever spring flowers are much valued.

M. PALUSTRIS. — Although common in
wet ditches and by streams and canals
throughout Britain, M. palustris should
be grown in the garden among shrubs in
peat beds, or for edgings, or as a carpet
to taller subjects, in small beds or borders
in moist soil. There are forms of this,
one with white flowers, another with
larger flowers than the type, whilst one is
called semperflorens, from its long season
of. flowering.

M. REHSTEINERI. — One of the prettiest
Forget-me-Nots, an effective close-to-the-
ground creeper, practically forming a
dense cushion of blue for several weeks in
April and May. The plant thrives and
spreads like a mossy Saxifrage, but keeps
flat to the ground.

M. SYLVATICA (Wood Forget-me-Not).—
A beautiful woodland plant, and of great
value for the wild garden. It should be
abundant in a wild state by wood walks,
in copses, and sows itself freely in such
places. For the garden, sow seeds in beds
in August every year. Britain. Seed.
There are a white, a rose-coloured, and a
striped variety.

MYRICA (Sweet Gale). — The
Myricas, though not showy flowering
shrubs, are desirable on account of
their scented foliage. The native
Sweet Gale or Dutch Myrtle (M. Gale)
should be wherever sweet-smelling
plants are cared for. It is a thin
bush, 2 to 3 feet high, having fragrant
leaves. In a moist spot, such as a
bog, it spreads by underground shoots
and makes a large mass.

M. CERIFERA (Wax Myrtle) and also
M. Pennsylvanica and Californica, N.
American species, are less common. The
last is a good evergreen of dense growth,
with fragrant leaves, green through the
winter. It is a vigorous plant, especially
in light soils, and is hardy, but is little
known outside botanical collections. The
Wax Myrtle is met with in old gardens,
where it was planted for its spicy foliage.
I find our native Sweet Gale free and
vigorous in stiff soils where few things
grow well.

M. (COMPTONIA) ASPLENIFOLIA (Sweet

Fern). — A quaint little shrub 2 to 3 feet
high, with Fern-like long, cut into rounded
lobes, and aromatic leaves. It spreads
freely in sandy soils, and may be increased
by layers, suckers, or seeds. A pretty
plant in the sandy woods of many other
parts of N. America. In gardens its
place is among small shrubs and on the
margins of peat beds.

MYRICARIA (German Tamarisk}.—
M. germanica is an elegant shrub,
hardly differing from the common
Tamarisk of our sea - coasts, with
feathery foliage and many long plume-
like clusters of small pink flowers.
It grows 6 or 8 feet high in warm
sandy soils, and, like the true Tamarisk,
is a good shrub for dry banks where
few shrubs would flourish.

MYRRHIS (Sweet Cicely}. — M.
odorata is a graceful native plant, with
a peculiar but grateful odour and
sweet- tasting stems, 2 to 3 feet high,
with white flowers in early summer,

MYRSINE AFRICANA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NARCISSUS. 577

in compound umbels. Suitable for
naturalising near wood walks and in
open shrubberies in any soil, and may
be used among fine-leaved perennials.
Division.

Myrrhis odot-ata (Sweet Cicely).

MYRSINE AFRICANA.— A curious
little evergreen found in many parts
of the world — India, China, etc. — and
of very neat habit. Thrives in the
rock garden.

MYRTUS (Myrtle).— In southern and
coast counties the Myrtle is hardy
enough to be planted as a bush, for if
its shoots are killed by frosts it often
recovers the following season. But
the common Myrtle is most gener-
ally grown as a wall-shrub, and house
walls could not have a more beauti-
ful covering, especially if some pretty
Clematis or other graceful climber be
allowed to ramble amongst the Myrtle.
There are many varieties of the
common Myrtle, every one with sweet-
smelling leaves, and all with white
flowers. The chief sorts are the Dutch,
Italian, Roman, Rosemary or Thyme-
leaved, Nutmeg, Box - leaved, and
Andalusian. Besides these there are
some with variegated leaves, the leaves
being striped with gold or silver, or
spotted and blotched. In planting a
Myrtle against a wall, choice should,
if possible, be given to a space pro-
tected from northerly and easterly

winds, which in spring are injurious
to the leaves. S. Europe.

NANDINA (Heavenly Bamboo).— N.
domestica is a distinct and graceful
shrub with dark leathery leaves, often
flushed with red towards autumn.
The flowers are small and whitish, in
panicles, the berries about the size of
peas, of a fine red. In our climate, it
does not produce these freely, but it
thrives in southern and western gar-
dens, and is best grouped with Ameri-
can plants on peaty or free soil, best
in half-shade. China and Japan.

NARCISSUS (Daffodil). — Beautiful
bulbous flowers of mountain and alpine
pastures, plains, or woods, thriving
admirably in most parts of our island ;
if anywhere, better in the cooler nor-
thern parts and in Ireland, though
excellent in cool soils in the south.
They are to the spring what Roses,
Irises, and Lilies are to summer, what
Sunflowers and Chrysanthemums are
to autumn, and what Hellebores and
Aconite are to winter. No good garden
should be without the best of the
lovely varieties now known. Narcissi
vary so much in form, size, colour, and
in time of flowering, that a most attrac-
tive spring garden could be made with
them alone ; provided one had suitable
soil, and a background of fresh turf,
shrubs, and trees. The best of the
commoner kinds should be planted by
the thousand, and, indeed, in many
cases this has been done with the best
results. On grassy banks, on turfy
bosses near the roots of lawn - trees,
or in meadows near the house, their
effect is delightful. All the best Nar-
cissi, and practically all the forms of
the yellow and the bicolor Daffodils,
may be planted in June, July, or
August, in three ways — in the lawn
or meadow, in the beds and borders
of the garden, or in 6 or 8 -inch pots.
Five bulbs should be planted in a
pot and covered over with coal-ashes
or sand until January, when they may
be placed in a sunny frame, pit, or
greenhouse, or even in a sunshiny
window, and a crop of flowers can
be secured earlier than on the open
ground. The main points in beginning
the culture of Narcissi are to get sound
and healthy bulbs as early as possible
after June, and to plant or pot them
at once in good fibrous, sandy, or
gravelly loam, or in any virgin soil.
They like fresh deep-tilled loam, and
the strongest of the bicolor and star
Narcissi do not object to soils rich in

2 O

NARCISSUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN, NARCISSUS.

manure ; but it is as well to remem-
ber that no manure should be used in
its raw or crude state, and that wild
species and wild - collected varieties
suffer and often fail if planted at once
in heavily manured soils.

In naturalising the Daffodil en the

frass, the Poet's Narcissus, or the
tar Narcissus ( N. incomparabilis in all
its forms), do not begin as late as
November or December by planting
the sweepings out of the bulb-stores,
since such bulbs are weak and flabby,
and are liable to rot in the frozen
ground. The time to begin planting
is June and July, and it is a good rule
to refuse to plant in quantity after
August or September.

In grouping border Narcissi it \\ill
usually be found advisable to lift and
replant the clumps every three or four
years, but if any delicate varieties do
not flower well, or if they show signs
of weakness or of disease, they should
be lifted not later than July, and after
being cleaned, at once replanted in
fresh and good soil, and, if possible, in
shady or gravelly loam free from fresh

Narcissus calathiniis.

manures. It is better to dig and
replant Daffodils too soon than too late.
The best time is when the leaves turn
yellow in June or July. On well-
drained loams resting on gravel, the
bulbs lose both leaves and roots in
June or July, and may be taken up
and removed with advantage ; and,
indeed, where good round presentable
sale bulbs are grown, the rule is to dig

them every summer as soon as the
leaves wither. Whenever an amateur's
stock of bulbs is divided, it is wise to
replant some in fresh ground, and any
surplus may be naturalised in grass.
The rate of increase on good soils
is surprising, such splendid sorts as
N. John Horsfield, N. Empress, N.
Grandee, N. Emperor, and N. Sir
Watkin actually trebling themselves
the second year after planting. The
depth at which the bulbs should be
planted varies according to the tex-
ture and the drainage of the soil. In
strong or wet and retentive soils,
shallow planting, say 3 to 5 inches
beneath the surface, is ample, but on
light, sandy, and well-drained soils, or
on what are known as warm soils, the
depth may vary from 6 to 12 inches —
in a word, the bulbs should be as far
as possible below the drought and
frost line. The best grown private
collections of these flowers I have
seen are those at Great Warley, Essex,
and at Totley Hall, near Sheffield,
where the best kinds are grouped
boldly by the thousand.

If cut flowers are desired, then bold
groups on borders, in beds, or on
grass sheltered by hedges or shrubs
are desirable. The first crop can be
obtained from pots or boxes in the
greenhouse, and these will be followed
by fully formed and bursting buds, in
sheltered and sunny- places. These
buds will open large, fresh, and fair
if placed in pots of water in a warm
greenhouse or a sunny frame or
window. In March and April comes
the prolific harvest of golden open-air
blossoms. In cutting Daffodils or
Narcissi for indoor decoration, cut the
flowers when the buds are opening, or
even just before, and let the stalks
be long, as the flowers group better
with long stalks. Do not cut the
leaves of choice kinds, but use leaves
of common sorts with choice flowers.
Put each kind in a separate glass, but
put together as many of the same kind
as you like.

Such delicate southern kinds as N.
Bulbocodium, N. triandrus, N. cala-
thinus, N. juncifolius, and most of the
varieties of N. Tazetta may be grown
in front of sunny walls on prepared
peaty or on sandy borders, or else in
glasshouses in the garden ; but even
in such places their flowers often suffer
from spring storms, and the surest
plan is to adopt pot-culture in a sunny
frame. N. viridiflorus, N. serotinus,
N. intermedius, N. elegans, N. pachy-

NARCISSUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NARCISSUS.

579

bulbus, N. Broussoneti, etc., are inter-
esting to collectors ; but the diffi-
culties of their culture are out of all
proportion to their beauty, and those
who only wish for large and beautiful
flowers had better ignore them. Prac-
tically, we have only six species of
Narcissus worth cultivating — N. Bul-
bocodium, N. pseudo-narcissus, N.
poeticus, N. Tazetta, N. jonquilla, and
N. triandrus. Then for naturalisa-
tion, or for ordinary garden culture,
these six may be reduced to three
groups — N. pseudo-narcissus, or the
Ajax Daffodils ; N. poeticus, or the
Poet's Narcissus ; and the natural
hybrid between these two species, the
ubiquitous Star Narcissus — N. incom-
parabilis. These kinds are really the
only free and hardy open-air Narcissi,
and are the best for the meadow or
the lawn.

Of the newer seedlings, perhaps
the finest are N. " Ellen Willmott "
and N. Mme. de Graaff, which first
flowered at Leyden in 1883. N. Glory
of Leyden is a yellow counterpart of
it. The two were offered, one bulb of
each, for seven guineas only a year
or two ago. They are so vigorous,
and they increase so fast in good soil,
that buyers were amply repaid, high
as these prices appear. N. Weardale
Perfection, N. Monarch, and some
others are so fine and so rare that they
are practically not to be had, anything
less than ten guineas having been
refused for a single bulb of N. Wear-
dale Perfection. These are only show
flowers, however, and many others
not much less handsome may be had
by the hundred or the thousand at a
moderate price.

Narcissi flower in continuous suc-
cession from February until June ; and
when pot - culture and warm - house
treatment is adopted, the double
Roman Narcissus and the Italian
paper- white Narcissus flower in Novem-
ber, and there are always some Nar-
cissi in flower from that time to June.

HYBRID NARCISSI. — The species
which have best lent themselves to
the hybridiser's art are AT", pseudo-
narcissus, N. poeticus, N. montanus, N.
triandrus, N. jonquilla, and N. Tazetta.
The type hybrids are N. incompara-
bilis, Bernardi (both found wild),
Nelsoni, Barrii, Burbidgei, Humel,
Leedsii, Milneri, tridymus, and odorus.
There are wild and garden hybrids
between N. Bulbocodium and pseudo-
narcissus ; N. triandrus and N.
pseudo-narcissus ; N. jonquilla and N.

pseudo-narcissus ; N. juncifolius and
N. pseudo-narcissus ; N. Tazetta and
N. pseudo-narcissus ; N. Tazetta and
• N. poeticus ; N. poeticus and N.
pseudo-narcissus ; and N. montanus
and N. poeticus ; and also N. pseudo-
narcissus and N. montanus ; while
derivative hybrids have been obtained
between some of these hybrids and
some of the parent species. It is
remarkable that while wild hybrids
and garden seedlings usually enjoy
richly manured soils, wild species and
the white varieties of the Daffodil, . N.
triandrus and N. Bulbocodium, usually
die out on deep richly manured borders,
but frequently live on poor stony or
sandy soils, on dry grassy banks, or
amongst the roots on the sunny sides
of hedges, shrubs, stone walls, and
trees.

N. BIFLORUS (Primrose Peerless). —
Similar in habit to N. poeticus, but has
creamy-white flowers, two on a scape, and
the rim of the primrose corona is scariose
but colourless (i.e., not purple). N. bi-
florus is now known to be a natural hybrid
between N. poeticus and N. Tazetta, hav-
ing been found wild with its parents near
Montpellier by Mr Barr ; and also raised
from its parents in the garden by the
Rev. Mr Engleheart. N. biflorus is
naturalised in England and Ireland, but
is a native of Europe. It is one of the
easiest of all the kinds to naturalise, and
spreads rapidly, but is usually supposed
not to bear seed. N. Dr Laumonier
(Wilks) is a very fine seedling of this
group.

PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF NARCISSI.

N. (CORBULARIA) BULBOCODIUM (The

Hooped Petticoat Daffodil). — This is one
of a kind with slender rush-like leaves.
In Spain it grows in wet meadows during
winter and spring, but is dried up through-
out summer and autumn. The types are
golden-yellow in Spain and Portugal,
sulphur-yellow in S. France, as at Biarritz
and Bayonne, one variety in the Pyrenean
district (N. Grcellsii) is whitish, but in
Algeria grows the exquisite snowy- white
N. monophyllus. Hybrids between N.
Bulbocodium, N. triandrus, and the Daffo-
dil have been obtained in gardens, and
are also found wild. The main varieties
are conspicuus, a large, rich, golden-
yellow kind with green rushy leaves ;
tenuifolius, a small golden form, having
a six-lobed rim to the corona, and very
long rush leaves which lie on the ground ;
nivalis, abundant in Portugal and near
Leon in Spain, a small golden kind with
short erect leaves ; prcscox, a large early-
blooming form, found by Mr Barr in
Spain ; citrinus, a pale French form,

NARCISSUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NARCISSUS.

varying much in size ; Grallsii, the Euro-
pean white ; and monophyllus, the African
white. These are dainty bulbs for pots
or for choice borders on warm dry soils.
They can rarely be naturalised in our
country.

N. CYCLAMINEUS (Cyclamen Daffodil). —
A dainty but not showy species, easily
grown in a peat-earth rock garden or in
pots of peaty compost. It seldom exists
from year to year in the open air. It has
lived on grass in peat, and, no doubt,
could be naturalised easily enough on

green leaves. There are large and small
forms, and a bicolor variety seems to have
been known long ago. N. cyclamineus,
although but lately re-discovered, was
figured in French books early in the
seventeenth century. Like N. Johnstoni,
it came from Oporto in 1884-85.

N. INCOMPARABILIS (Star Daffodil). —
To this group belong N. incompardbilis,
Barrii, Burbidgei, odorus, Backhousei,
Nelsoni, Sabinei, tridymus, and the Pyre-
nean wild hybrid Bernardi, which is found
wherever N. variiformis and N. poeticus

Narcissus Sir Watkin.

sandy peat soils which are wet in winter
and spring and dry in summer and
autumn. In April 1892 I saw a most
lovely specimen low down in a damp
little grassy bay beside a mill-race at
Mount Usher in Wicklow. N. cycla-
mineus likes the sides of a stream, and is
found by streams in Portugal. Like
N. triandrus, it is readily raised from seed,
and the seedlings flower the third year.
It is 6 to 8 inches high, and the scapes are
about the same length, each bearing a
bright golden reflexed flower. It has sap-

occur together. Of N. incomparabilis
there are over a hundred named kinds,
the best being : Sir Watkin or Welsh
Peerless, Gloria Mundi, Queen Sophia,
C. J, Backhouse, Princess Mary, Gwyther,
splendens, Beauty, Autocrat, Frank Miles,
Cynosure, James Bateman, King of the
Netherlands, Commander, Figaro, Goliath,
Mabel Cowan, Mary Anderson (delicate,
but of a splendid colour), Fair Helen, Lul-
worth, St Patrick, and Queen Bess.
Mr Engleheart has a large series of
shapely seedlings with richly coloured

NARCISSUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NARCISSUS.

581

crowns, such as " Southern Star," Lettice
Harmer, Red Prince, Beacon, and White
Queen. There are three or four hand-
some double forms of AT. incomparabilis,
long known in gardens. The most abun-
dant of these is incomparabilis fl.-pl.
(Butter and Eggs). There is a white
variety, with vermilion chalice segments,
known as Eggs and Bacon or Orange
Phoenix ; and a pale sulphur double called
Sulphur Kroon, which is exquisite if well
grown. Sulphur Kroon is often known as
Codlins and Cream.

Of Barr's Peerless (N. Barrii, hybrids),
the best are Conspicuus and Sensation,
but Golden Star, Crown Prince, Flora
Wilson, Miriam, Barton, Orphee, General
Murray, Albatross, Sea Gull, Maurice
Vilmorin, and Dorothy E. Wemyss are all
good, and are useful for extended culture
on grass or for cut flowers.

The Burbidge hybrids are like the
Barrii forms, but have small crowns.
Their chief value lies in the freedom and
earliness of their bloom, as they open
days before even ornatus — the early April
form of N. poeticus. The best varieties
are Burbidgei (type), Agnes Barr, Beatrice
Heseltine, Baroness Heath, Constance,
Crown Princess, Ellen Barr, John Bain.
Little Dirk, Model, Mrs Krelage, and
Mary.

Of Leeds' Silver Star forms the best are
exquisite on good sandy soils, and their
whiteness, delicate purity, and grace
render them most acceptable as cut
flowers. The best are : N. Leedsii (type),
amabilis, Beatrice, Hon. Mrs Barton,
Katherine Spurrell, Duchess of West-
minster, Madge Matthew, elegans, Minnie
Hume, superbus, Princess of Wales, Mag-
dalina de Graaff, Gem, Grand Duchess,
Acis, and Palmerston. Hume's hybrids
are deformed Daffodils, the best being
Giant and concolor. Sabine's hybrid (N.
Sabinei) is a bold white bicolor, with a
shortened trumpet, and so are the so-
called Backhouse hybrids — Wolley Dod
and William Wilks, a shapely and effec-
tive flower of good substance and with
vigorous leaves.

More starry, but with smaller cups,
are Nelson's hybrids ; tall, free, and dis-
tinct habit ; the best, Nelsoni major,
minor, pulchellus (perfect shape), Mrs C. J.
Backhouse, aurantius (orange-red cup),
and William Backhouse. Collected bulbs
of N. Bernardi are very variable in size
and form, and some, like E. Buxton, have
fine orange-red cups, which resemble
Nelson's aurantius. N. tridymus is a
variable hybrid between the Daffodil and
N. Tazetta, with two or three flowers on
a scape.

N. JONQUILLA (Jonquil). — Long known
in gardens, and imported from Italy and
Holland for forcing in pots. Much grown
at Grasse, Cannes, etc., for its perfume.
N. stellaris has narrow perianth lobes, and

N. jonquilloides is a robust form from
Spain. The varieties gracilis and tenuior
are now supposed to be hybrids between
the Jonquil and some other species, or
between N. intermedius and juncifolius,
N. intermedius itself being a hybrid be-
tween some form of N. Tazetta and the
Jonquil. The Jonquil, when strongly
grown on a warm border, is handsome
and very sweet-scented, and N. gracilis is
the latest of all single Narcissi, as it blooms
with N. poeticus fl.-pl. in May or early
June. The double Jonquil is rarely seen
doing well in open ground, but as a pot-
plant it is handsome. S. France and
Spain.

N. JUNCIFOLIUS (Rush Jonquil). — A
small plant, suitable only for sheltered
borders, for stone edgings, and for pot-
culture in a cold frame. It is very vari-
able, and rupicola, minutiflorus, and
scaberulus are well-known variations.
Its small Jonquil-scented flowers have
very large cups, often widely expanded,
which are crenelate at their edges. The
var. rupicola flowers and seeds annually
in the Rock Garden at Edinburgh Botani-
cal Gardens, and seems hardier than the
type.

N. ODORUS (Great Jonquil). — This
plant, although found wild in S. France,
Portugal, and N. Spain, is now believed
to be a hybrid — N. jonquilla x N. pseudo-
narcissus. The leaves are rushy, and two
or three yellow starry flowers are borne
on each scape. The best kinds are N.
odorus (Campernelle) and rugulosus, a
more robust form, with larger flowers.
A double form, very handsome on warm
soils, is known as Queen Anne's Jonquil.

N. POETICUS (Poet's or Pheasant's-eye
Narcissus). — One of the oldest and most
popular of garden flowers, and errone-
ously supposed to be the Narcissus of the
Greek poets. It is widely distributed in
France and Germany, and extends to the
Pyrenees. In upland meadows of the
Pyrenees it is very abundant in June and
July. It flowers from the beginning of
April until June. The older forms of
N. poeticus are now far surpassed by
Mr Engleheart's new seedlings, such as '
Dante, Petrarch, and many others. N.
ornatus is now grown by the million for
Easter decoration. N. grandiflorus is a
very large floppy variety, N. poetarum
has a saffron-red crown, and N. tripodalis
has reflexed segments and a bold crimson-
scarlet ring. The typical N. poeticus is a
tall plant, with a small shapely flower,
but is not often seen. N. Marvel has a
bladder-like spathe like an Allium, and a
pale and shapely flower. N. patellaris
has a broad crown and a saffron rim, and
blooms late ; but the form usually met
with early in May is N. recurvus, the
Pheasant's-eye of cottage gardens. N.
recurvus has a green eye and a crimson-
fringed crown. All the forms, especially

Narcissus Emperor.

NARCISSUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NARCISSUS. 583

ornatus and recurvus, naturalise perfectly,
and of recent years bulbs have been dug
on the Pyrenees by the thousand for
naturalisation. They are so variable in
habit, size, shape, and colour that any
number of varieties could be selected from
them. The June-flowering double form
of AT", patellaris, or Gardenia Narcissus, is
very fine. It does well on sandy deep
borders. It is a shy flowerer, and many
of its buds go blind, so that half the stock
should be transplanted every year in
August. N. stellaris, the latest single
form of N. poeticus, flowers in June.
Some very fine and shapely seedlings of
N. poeticus have been raised by Mr Engle-
heart.

N. PSEUDO-NARCISSUS (Common Daffo-
dil).— There are several hundred varieties
of the Common Daffodil, either wild or
cultivated. The only native of Britain is
the common English kind, which extends
from Cornwall to Fife, and is specially
plentiful in the south-eastern counties.
In Normandy, Daffodils by millions light
up the woods in April, while many fine
forms are wild in Spain and in the Pyre-
nean region, and the richest of golden
Daffodils come from Spain and Portugal.
The Rev. C. Wolley Dod found N. maxi-
mus growing between Dax and Bayonne,
probably naturalised. Nearly all Daffo-
dils do well on grass, if the soil be at all
suitable ; and as regards our wild English
Daffodil, the grass is the only place in
which to grow it permanently. Daffodils
are usually divided into three groups —
first, golden Daffodils, such as N. maxi-
mus, Tenby, and spurius ; secondly,
bicolors, such as John Horsfield, Empress,
Grandee, etc. ; thirdly, sulphur and white
kinds, such as Exquisite, and the white
Daffodils, such as the wild Pyrenean and
N. moschatus. Nearly all the golden
kinds are robust and easily grown, and
the bicolor group are even more so, but,
speaking broadly, the delicate sulphur
and white sorts are tender and unsatis-
factory, except on the most favourable
soils. The following are the best in each
group : —

Golden Daffodil Group. — A,bscissus
(muticus), Ard Righ, Emperor, Countess
of Annesley, Bastemil, Captain Nelson,
spurius, coronatus (General Gordon), Gol-
den Spur, Distinction, obvallaris, Henry
Irving, Glory of Leyden, Golden Prince,
Golden Plover, Golden Vase, Her Majesty,
John Nelson, spurius, major, maximus,
M. J. Berkeley, and Mrs Elwes. Nanus
and minor are dwarf varieties, minimus
is the smallest of all the Daffodils.
Shakespeare, Hodsock's Price, Fred.
Moore, Wide Awake, Marchioness of
Headfort, P. R. Barr, rugilobus, Santa
Maria, Samson, Sir W. Harcourt, Town-
shend, Boscawen, Stanfield, Croom a Boo
{Ard Righ with a frilled trumpet), Weardale
Perfection, " Ellen Willmott," Monarch,

and many others are not as yet much
grown.

Bicolor Group. — Empress, John Hors-
field, Grandee, Dean Herbert, Michael
Foster, Alfred Parsons, George C. Barr,
Harrison Weir, J. B. M. Camm, John
Parkinson, Mrs Walter Ware, Mad.
Plemp, T. A. Dorien Smith, and varii-
formis. Carrie Plemp, Princess Colibri,
Duchess of Teck. and Victoria are new
kinds.

White and Sulphur-flowered Group. —
Moschatus, albicans (Leda), cernuus (very
variable), Cecilia de Graaff, Colleen Bawn,
cernuus pulcher, C. W. Cowan, Dr Hogg,
Exquisite, J. G. Baker (volutus), F. W.

Hybrid Narcissus Snowdrop.

Burbidge, Lady Grosvenor, Galatea, Mme.
de Graaff, Mrs F. W. Burbidge, Mrs
J. B. M. Camm, Mrs Thompson, Helen
Falkiner, pallidus pvcecox (the variable
sulphur Daffodil of Biarritz and Bayonne),
pallidus asturicus, Princess Ida, Sarnian
Belle, tortuosus, Wm. Goldring, W. P.
Milner, Minnie Warren, Countess of
Desmond, Robert Boyle, Silver Bar,
Mrs Vincent.

The best of the double Daffodils are
— Telamonius plenus (Van Sion), very
free and robust, naturalised everywhere ;
double English, minor plenus (Rip van
Winkle) ; lobularis plenus; Scoticus plenus;
plenissimus (Parkinson's great rose double);
capax plenus (Eystettensis), an exqui-
sitely pretty and pale six-rowed double,
but requiring a warm sandy soil, and
remarkable as being a distinct double,
of which the single type is unknown ;
Cernuus, C. bicinctus ; the last do well in
warm, stony soils, and, like other delicate
kinds, enjoy the company of tree, shrub,
or Rose roots.

Johnstoni (Johnston's hybrid Daffodil)
was found by Mr A. W. Tait near Oporto
in 1885, and figured in Bot. Mag., 7012 ;
it is a natural hybrid, between N. pseudo-
narcissus and N. triandrus, and is variable,

5*4

NARCISSUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NARCISSUS.

Mr Tait having in March 1892 sent me a
bicolor form (Garrett x N. triandrus albus} .
The best forms are N. Johnstoni (type),
Queen of Spain, Mrs Geo. Cammell, Pelayo,
and Mr Tait's new bicolor form to which
I have above alluded. The Rev. G. H.
Engleheart has repeated crosses between
the parent species, and has produced a
pale sulphur or white Johnstoni (Snow-
drop) and others.

N. TAZETTA (Polyanthus or Bunch
Narcissus). — This is the classical Narcis-
sus of Homer and other poets, Greek and
Roman — the flower of a hundred heads
that delights all men, and lends a glory to
the sea and the sky. Tazetta is focused
in the Mediterranean Basin, but extends
from the Canary Islands to the north of
India and to Japan. It has long been
naturalised in the Scilly Isles and in
Cornwall ; but its early habit of growth.,
acquired in more sunny climes, often with
us causes the flowers to be injured by
frosts and storms. These Narcissi are
hardy on warm dry soils, and as pot-
plants many of them are handsome, while
in deep, warm, sandy borders, which are
sheltered by sunny walls or by plant-
houses, they frequently do well, but as a
rule bulbs must be imported from France,
Italy, or Holland every year. The earliest
are the double Roman and the paper-
white (N. papyraceus}. One variety from
China may be grown in a* sunny window
if placed in water, and the bulbs sub-
merged and held in position by gravel or
stones. The growth of this variety is
rapid, and good bulbs produce five to
eight spikes. Its shop name is " Sacred
Narcissus " or Chinese " Joss Lily."

The best varieties are Grand Monarque,
States-General, Newton, Scilly White
(White Pearl), Soleil d'Or, Bathurst,
Baselman major (Trewianus), Gloriosus,
Sulphurine, Czar de Muscovie, Grand
Sultana, Grand Primo Citroniere, Luna,
Her Majesty, Queen of the Netherlands,
Lord Canning, and Golden Era.

N. Baselman minor is now proved by
Mr Engleheart and others to be a hybrid
between N. Tazetta and N. poeticus, and
a similar hybrid has been found wild near
Montpellier.

N. TRIANDRUS (Ganymede's Cup). — A
distinct and elegant species which is rarely
happy out of doors except on warm, moist
and sheltered borders, or in nooks of the
rock garden, but which as a pot-bulb has
no superior for delicate beauty, its flowers
rivalling in texture those of the Cape
Freezias. The late Mr Rawson, of Fall-
barrow, Windermere, grew it in pots, and
his specimens bore fifty to a hundred
flowers. His plan was to rest it thor-
oughly after the leaves faded, and then to
top-dress the bulbs, and rarely or never
to re-pot them. As a rule, N. triandrus
is short-lived, but it naturally reproduces
itself from seeds, which bloom the second

or third year after sowing. The principal
varieties are N. albus (Angel's Tears),
N. calathinus (a robust form from the
Isle de Glennans), and LTle St Nicholas.
On the coast of Brittany, N. calathinus
grows among rocks and short sandy sward
close to the sea, and within reach of its
spray during rough weather. N. pul-
chellus has a primrose perianth and a
white cup, and is very pretty. In the
late Mr R. Parker's nursery at Lower
Tooting, in 1874, it was very strong and
healthy in an open-air bed resting on the
gravel, and some of its scapes bore seven
or nine flowers. No other Narcissus has
a cup paler than the perianth segments.
Pulchellus has recently been found wild
in Portugal and Spain.

NEW HYBRID AND CROSS-BRED NAR-
CISSI.— Every year we have the
pleasure of seeing new and improved
seedlings by the score, and any one
may raise seedlings for themselves if
they will take the trouble to cross-
fertilise the flowers either as grown in
pots in cool greenhouse or cold frame,
or in open-air borders. In some gar-
dens, as at Chirnside and Kilma-
curragh, series of natural cross-bred
kinds have appeared spontaneously,
and this is doubtless how White
Minor, St Austin, Countess of Des-
mond, and many other Irish forms
appeared.

DISEASES AND INSECTS. — As Narcissi
may be grown on dry warm soils, or
in grassy lawns and meadows, the
insects and fungoid diseases that would
affect them on deep-dug and highly
manured borders are few and far
between. Neither cattle nor sheep
molest them, and game and poultry,
and even the more voracious of rabbits
and the most impudent of town-
sparrows leave the flowers alone.
That their leaves and roots are
poisonous, or acridly narcotic, may
account for this. In some gardens
and nurseries the larva of the Nar-
cissus Fly (Merodon equestris] infests
old bulbs, and whenever bulbs are
imported from abroad or are dug
for replanting, this larva should be
searched for and exterminated. The
bulbs affected may generally be known
by their necks feeling soft when
pinched. All such bulbs should be
cut open and the larvae extracted and
killed. Such means are the only cure,
as no insecticides will kill the pest with-
out destroying the bulbs. The pest
checks both root and bulb growth,
but after the larvae are removed the
rare bulbs recently infected may be

NARDOSTACHYS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NEMESIA.

585

planted for stock, for although the
heart be eaten away, the lateral buds
at the base of the bulb-scales often
produce young bulbs.

N. poeticus and its varieties have
rarely been infected by a leaf fungus
(Puccinia Schrceteri), and so far its
ravages have been limited.

Bulbs of Narcissus are now and then
found to be afflicted with black canker
or " black-rot," probably caused by
Peziza cibovioides, but so far little
serious injury has been done. The
most insidious disease that affects
Narcissi is one to which Mr C. W. Dod
some few years ago originally drew
attention, under the name of " basal
rot." The stunted flowers come up
prematurely, while the leaves have a
diseased appearance, and are much
dwarfed and contorted. The base of
the bulb rots away, while no roots
are formed from the disc, and the wet
and flabby bulb-coats are more or
less discoloured, as if parboiled. This
disease is most prevalent among white
Daffodils, white single and double ;
but yellow kinds such as Ard Righ
and maximus are affected on wet and
cold soils, and even N. Tazetta, N.
Leedsii, and N. jonquilla are also
affected. In many cases this disease
is checked by annual digging and
replanting in July or August ; and
sometimes bulbs, affected on deep
rich borders, have recovered on being
transplanted to grass or beds of moss
and Brier Roses. Cold and wet, or
even richly manured soils, seem especi-
ally conducive to this disease, and the
only remedy is to alter the conditions
of growth as soon as the leaves have
died away. A celebrated northern
grower of Narcissi tells me that some
sorts that formerly failed on level
borders do well on the drier and warmer
grassy banks to which he transferred
them. Facility in altering conditions
of growth is often the best way to
save plants that show signs of disease
or failing in any way. It is a great
consolation to know that many of the
best and most showy kinds, if broadly
and naturally grown on the grass of
meadow or of outlying lawn, are rarely,
if ever, afflicted seriously with the
above pests.

NARDOSTACHYS (Spikenard). —
There are two kinds, but only one is
in cultivation, N. Jatamansi, a pretty
little perennial plant, hardy, and very
attractive when well grown in the
rock garden. Its leaves are spoon-

shaped and pointed, and rising above
them are stems of 6 to 10 inches high,
bearing dense heads of pale pink or
whitish flowers in September. Though
the flowers are sweet, the special
fragrance lies in the short thick root,
from which the celebrated perfume of
the ancients is supposed to have come.
Himalayas.

NEILLIA (Nine Bark). — N. opuli-
folia is a hardy shrub generally known
as Spircea opulifolia. Usually 3 to 5.
feet in height, but in good soils and
in sheltered places it makes a bush 8
or 10 feet high, and as much through.
It blooms about mid - summer, the-
small white flowers being borne in
dense feathery clusters. The yellow
tinge of the foliage is extremely bright,
and at a distance looks like a glowing
mass of yellow bloom. This variety
is a hardy and vigorous shrub suitable
for planting anywhere. Other kinds
as yet little known in gardens are N.
Amurensis, N. thyrsiflora, N. Torryii,
sinensis, and capitata.

NELUMBIUM (Yellow Sacred Bean).
— N. luteum is the hardiest known
Sacred Bean, and therefore the one-
most interesting for northern gardens.
Its large blossoms are a pale yellow,
and its large round leaves arise boldly
out of the water 3 to 4 feet. I have
seen it flower strongly in the Garden
of Plants at Paris ; it remained out all
the winter in a fountain basin in a
sheltered and warm nook in the open
air. It would probably flower out of
doors in a sunny and sheltered spot in
the south of England. It is rare, but
may be procured from some nurseries,
or from America.

NEMESIA. — Pretty hardy annuals-
of the simplest culture, N. floribunda
growing about i foot high, and bear-
ing in summer fragrant Linaria-like
blossoms, white with yellow throats.
N. versicolor has blue, lilac, or yellow
and white blossoms ; and its variety
compacta, blue and white flowers. If
sown in ordinary soil in masses in early
spring and then well thinned, the
plants will have a pretty effect for
several weeks after June. In N.
strumosa the flowers display a variety
of colours, white, pale yellow, and
shades between pink and deep crimson.
It grows 12 to 15 inches high, and has-
five or six stems, each of which bears a
head of flowers, blooming from summer
until late in autumn. The blue forms
are charming in effect, but seem dying

586

NEMOPHILA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NICANDRA.

•out. Sow in heat in March, and trans-
plant the seedlings in May, or sow in
the open ground after the middle of
May. S. Africa.

NEMOPHILA (Calif ornian Bluebell).
— Pretty Californian hardy annuals of
much value for our gardens. The
species from which the cultivated
varieties have been derived are N.
insignis, N. atomaria, N. discoidalis,
and AT. maculata. N. insignis has
sky-blue flowers, and its varieties are
grandiflora, alba, purpurea-rubra, and
striata. N. atomaria has white flowers
speckled with blue. Its varieties are
.ccelestis (sky-blue margin), oculata (pale
blue and black centre), and alba nigra
(white and black centre). N. dis-
.coidalis has dark purple flowers edged
with white, and the flowers of its
variety elegans are maroon margined
with white. N. maculata has large
white flowers blotched with violet, and
its variety purpurea is of a mauve
colour. These kinds are all worth
growing. They thrive in any soil, and
are of the simplest culture. In spring
some pretty combinations may be
effected by arranging the masses in
harmonising colours. All Nemophilas
.are well suited for edgings and for
filling small beds, as they are compact
in growth. The insignis section should
always be preferred to the others.
Seeds should be sown early in August
ior spring flowering, and in April for
summer flowering. To secure a good
display of flower, however, the best
time to sow is in August, and the soil
should be a light one, where the seed
can germinate freely, and where the
plants will not become too robust
before winter sets in. If the seed be
sown where the plants are to flower,
the results will be most satisfactory ;
but if transplanting be necessary, it
should be done early in the winter.
These plants often give prettier effects
in the cooler northern parts of the
•country and in Scotland.

NEPETA (Cat Mint] .—Herbaceous
perennials, of which N. macrantha has
rather showy purple flowers, but is too
tall and coarse for the border. N.
Mussini is an old plant, flourishing in
ordinary garden soil, and was once
used for edgings to borders, a purpose
for which its compact growth suits it
well ; but none of these plants are
among the best for choice borders.

NEPHRODIUM. — N. American
Ferns, some, hardy and very hand-

some, and these thrive under the
same conditions as our native Ferns.
The chief sorts are N. Goldieanum,
N. intermedium, N. marginale, and N.
noveberacense. Several Japanese and
Chinese species thrive without pro-
tection in mild localities, but they
cannot be recommended for general
culture. N. fragrans is a sweet-
scented little form. It is somewhat
delicate, but thrives in a sheltered
situation.

NERTERA (Fruiting Duckweed). —
N. depressa is a pretty creeping and
minute plant, thickly studded with
tiny reddish-orange berries, and with
minute round leaves which are sugges-
tive of the Duckweed of our stagnant
pools. It forms densely matted tufts
in the open air, best perhaps on level
spots in the rock garden. It is also
often grown in pans, and out of doors
in some places may require protection
in winter. N. depressa may be pro-
pagated by dividing old plants into
small portions and placing them in
small pots in a gentle heat until they
start into growth, and then removing
them to a cooler atmosphere. New
Zealand.

NEVIUSIA ALABAMENSIS (Snow
Wreath). — Introduced in 1882, the
objection generally made to it is that
the flowers, instead of a snowy white-
ness, are a dingy green. The foliage
resembles that of Spirtea opuli folia.
Of this shrub Mr John Saul, of Wash-
ington, U.S.A., has written : " Large
bushes in my nursery were covered
with flowers of the purest snow-white.
The small flowers, from their immense
number and purity and their light
airiness, could be likened in justice to
waves of flickering snow. It appears
quite hardy, as it passed through
10 degs. of frost on four nights last
winter, which killed many tender
subjects, without being harmed in the
least. It is easily raised from suckers,
which spring up in numbers aroim'd
the parent plant and can be taken off
with roots attached."

NICANDRA. — N. physaloides is a
pretty Peruvian half-hardy annual,
about 2 feet high, of stout growth,
bearing in summer numerous showy
blue and white bell-like flowers, and
thriving in an open position in light
soil. Seed should be sown in heat in
early spring or in the open air about
the end of March, and the seedlings
should be transplanted in May. One

NICOTIANA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NIGELLA.

plant is sufficient for a square yard.
S. America.

NICOTIANA (Tobacco}.— Stout half-
hardy annuals of rapid growth. The
varieties differ chiefly in the stoutness
and the height of their stems, and in
size of their leaves and flowers, these
differences depending largely on cul-
tivation. Seed must be sown in
February in a warm house or frame.
Prick off the plants as soon as they
appear, and pot them in a genial heat
of, say, 60°. Then about the end of
May fine plants will be ready for put-
ting out from 6 or 8-inch pots. They
will start off at once, and not cease
growing until frost comes. The most
useful of all is N. affinis, used largely
in gardens large and small, in distinct
groups or with other things. It is
much smaller in leaf and habit than
.such kinds as N. macrophylla, and.
therefore more suitable for small gar-
dens.

N. SANDERS. — A hybrid form of rich
and varied colour, of easy culture for the
flower garden.

N. SYLVESTRIS. — Is one of the most
ornamental of these plants. Vigorous
habited, it often reaches 3 to 5 feet high,
producing over a long season endless num-
bers of long tubular white flowers. In
some instances the flowers remain open
throughout the day.

NIEREMBERGIA.— The only quite
hardy Nierembergia is M. rivularis

Holland Violet, while barely pushed
above the foliage are open cup-like

Nierembergia rivularis.

(White Cup), one of the handsomest of
all. The stems and foliage trail along
the ground like those of the New

Nigella dauiascena.

creamy-white flowers, usually nearly
2 inches across. They continue during
the summer and autumn, and have a
pleasing effect in the distance, as they
suggest Snowdrops at first, and are
quite as pretty when closely viewed.
To ensure success with Nierembergias
have heavy, firm soil, a level surface,
and sunny aspect. The tender Nierem-
bergias are N. frutescens, a sub-shrubby
plant of erect growth, and N. fili-
caulis, or gracilis, as it is called, which
has slender drooping branches. Both
have pretty white flowers pencilled
with purple, and are suitable for the
rock garden in summer or for drooping
over the edges of vases. Propagate
by cuttings in spring in heat.

NIGELLA (Fennel Flower}. — Hardy
annuals of the Crowfoot family, all
curious and pretty with feathery
Fennel-like foliage and bluish or
yellowish blossoms. N. saliva, N.
orientalis, N. damascena (Devil- in- a-
Bush), and AT", hispanica are the kinds
cultivated, N. hispanica being the
prettiest, growing about i foot high,
and with showy blue flowers from
July onwards. There is a white variety
and a variety with deep purple blos-
soms. AH the Nigellas should be

588

NOCC^EA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NOTOSPARTIUM.

sown in March, in light warm soil in
the open border. They should be
sown in the place which they are to
occupy, as they do not succeed so
well if transplanted. If sown in
autumn, the seedlings often survive
the winter and flower early and well.

NOCCZEA. — Pretty rock plants, with
evergreen foliage and flowers like a
little Candytuft. The most familiar is
N. stylosa, perhaps better known as an
Iberis, which makes tiny dark green
cushions barely 2 inches high, covered
early in the year with clusters of
rosy-purple flowers smelling like helio-
trope. It will root into the narrowest
of chinks upon walls or stonework,
braving the full sun, and spreading
into neat tufts in the rock garden in
dry, gritty soil. In seaside gardens it
often comes into flower with the new
year, and is seldom later than the
first week of March anywhere, bloom-
ing thenceforward into early summer.

Notospartium Carmichaelhe.

Though short-lived, self-sown seedlings
maintain themselves as pretty patches,

coming year after year on old walls or
any rocky surface. A variety known
as speciosa has larger and deeper
coloured flowers. Syn. Iberis stylosa.
N. alpina, better known as Hutchinsia,
is also attractive, with its glossy green
leaves and white flowers.

NOLANA (Chilian Bellflower}.—
Pretty hardy annuals from S.
America — N. paradoxa, N. prostrata,
and N. atriplicifolia among the best.
They have slender trailing stems, and
flowers generally blue. N. atriplici-
folia has beautiful and very showy
blue flowers with a white centre, and
there is a white variety (N. a. alba).
The Nolanas are suitable for borders
or for the rock garden, as they thrive
in any warm open situation in good
light soil. As seedlings do not trans-
plant well, seed should be sown in the
open in March, and the plants well
thinned out. Seeds.

NOTHOFAGUS (Southern Beeches).—
A very interesting group of trees, quite
distinct from our Northern Beeches,
and, though as yet little tried in our
country, likely to give us in time some
of the most beautiful trees for the
lawn and pleasure ground, but only in
the southern parts of our isles. Some
are evergreen and some are summer-
leafing, and all love cool and moist
places. First among them is the
Antarctic Beech, thought to be about
the best for our land ; next, Betuloides,
a native of S. America (Terra del
Fuego), has been several times intro-
duced, but not very successfully,
although there are several trees of it
on high southern ground ; the Moun-
tain Beech of New Zealand is another :
it thrives in Surrey ; Cunningham's
Beech, a native of Tasmania, succeeds
in the Isle of Wight and also in S.
Ireland. N. Fusca, a native of New
Zealand, also thrives in Surrey ; and
Moore's Australian Beech, found in
New South Wales, does well at Kilma-
curragh, Co. Wicklow, but cannot be
said to IDC hardy, except in the mildest
parts of our land. Among the most
charming experiments for the tree-lover
to make would be these Southern
Beeches, but the trouble is that for
some time it may be difficult to get
healthy young stock.

NOTOSPARTIUM (Pink Broom of
New Zealand) . — N. Carmichaelice is
much like some of the Brooms, hence
its name, the leafless, graceful shoots
studded late in June with small bright

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NYMPH^A. 589

rosy flowers in clusters towards the
point. Its graceful growth is well
seen in the bolder arrangement of the
rock garden. In New Zealand it
grows 20 feet in height, and seems to
be fairly hardy here, though not a
shrub for cold climates or exposed
places.

NUPHAR ( Yellow Water- Lily] . —
Bold water plants nearly allied to
the Water-Lily , but not so handsome.
The most familiar Nuphar is the com-
mon Yellow Water- Lily (N. lutea),
which inhabits many of our lakes and
slow-running rivers. It has a very
interesting little variety called pumila,
which is found wild in some of the
Highland lakes, and which has the
same vinous perfume as the type. N.
advena is the N American ally of our

When in bloom it bears a resemblance
to the Flowering Currant, and forms
a dense bush, 6 to 12 feet high, growing
in any kind of soil. California.

NYCTERINI A.— Half-hardy annuals
from the Cape of Good Hope. N.
selaginoides grows about 9 inches
high, forming dense compact tufts of
slender stems, in late autumn covered
with small white, orange-centred blos-
soms fragrant at night. N. capensis is
about the same size as N. selaginoides,
and is of similar growth, its flowers
larger, and not of so pure a white.
N. selaginoides and N. capensis require
to be sown early in heat, and to be
transplanted in May in light, rich
sandy loam in warm borders.

NYMPELffiJA (Water-Lily).—& beau-
tiful family of water plants, distributed

Hardy American Water-Lily (N. tuberosa).

yellow Water-Lily, and resembling it,
but larger and with leaves which stand
erect out of the water, and is a much
finer plant. N. Kalmiana, also a
N. American kind, much resembles
the small variety of N. lutea, and is
an interesting plant to grow in com-
pany with it. The cultivation is
quite simple — placing the root-stocks in
water 2 or 3 feet deep, when they will
soon root in the mud ; but they are
apt to increase too rapidly, and may
prove troublesome to get rid of.

NTJTTALLIA (Osoberry). — N. cerasi-
formis is a hardy shrub, and one of
the earliest to flower. Hardly before
winter is past its abundant drooping
racemes of white flowers appear, and
they usually do so before the leaves.

over many parts of the world, some of
the northern kinds hardy. Our own
native Water-Lily was always neglected
and rarely effective, except in a wild
state ; but when it is seen that we
may have in Britain the soft and beau-
tiful yellows and the delicate rose and
red flowers of the tropical Water-Lilies
throughout summer and autumn, we
shall begin to take more interest in
our garden water flowers, and even the
wretched formless duckponds which
disfigure so many country seats may
have a reason to be. The new hybrid
kinds continue blooming long after
our native kind has ceased, and from
the middle of May to nearly the end
of October flowers are abundant.

CULTURE OF HARDY WATER-LILIES.

590

NYMPH^EA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NYMPH-fliA.

— These lovely water flowers are not
difficult to manage. A simple way of
planting is to put the plants with soil
in some shallow baskets and sink these
to the bottom, and before the basket
has rotted the plant will have fixed
itself to the bottom. Or in ponds
where there is a rich muddy bottom
I plant by tying a drain-pipe or a
piece of waste iron to a root and
throw it in where the water is between
1 8 inches and 2 feet deep. The best
season for planting is the spring, and
plants put in in April or May make

conditions of the cemented tank. But
if neither ponds nor tanks are available,
these Water-Lilies can still be easily
grown, for, as M. Latour-Marliac says,
like Diogenes, they can content them-
selves in a tub.

" The enemies of Water-Lilies are
water-rats and swans and other water
birds, especially moorhens, which often
pull them to pieces. Moorhens are
very destructive to the flowers, and
should be closely watched. There is,
however, another enemy. We noticed
it first from seeing leaves detached and

Bud of hybrid Water-Lily, N. Marliacea. carnea (natural size), gathered from open water at Gravetye,

Sussex, at the end of October.

sufficient progress to flower before
summer is gone. They are often
grown in brick and cement tanks, sunk
in the ground to a depth of from
•2\ to 3 feet. These, with a foot of
soil and the rest water, would grow
excellent Water-Lilies, and the plants
do not want a great depth of water
over their crowns. It would be well
to arrange that at least a foot might
cover them in winter, and then they
are virtually safe from frost. They
grow better in the mud of ponds and
lakes than under the more artificial

floating. On the water becoming
clearer one could see what appeared
to be small bits of stick an inch or so
long attached in numbers to the leaf-
stalk. It was the grub of the caddis-
fly, with its house upon its back. In
the hollow stick it was safe from the
fish, and, fastening upon the young
and tender leaf-stalk, the grubs fed
away until the leaf was eaten asunder.
Strongly - established plants are not
likely to suffer, but a watch should be
kept on young plants if rare varieties."
The common water-rat or vole is an

NYMPH^A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. NYMPH^EA. 59*

active destroyer of the flowers, and
where it inhabits water, as it commonly
does all ponds and streams, nearly all
the flowers will be destroyed if this
animal is not constantly kept down.

In the recent story of our open-air
gardens, there have been no gains so
good as those which have transformed
our waters into gardens of beautiful,
hardy plants. Wherever there exists
a streamlet, we may arrange a water
garden, and in the many places where
pieces of water already exist, nothing
is easier than to establish colonies of
these flowers, of charming effect from
June to September. The water is best
when open to the sun, renewed by
only a small inflow, and if possible
sheltered from rough wincls by the
lie of the land or by a belt of shrubs.
The water should be cleared of coarse
weeds, and in most cases the natural
mud is the best soil in which to plant.
In artificial pools a layer of soil may
be prepared by mixing loam with a
little sand and some of the rich deposit
of grit, leaves, and mud so often left
behind by water when in flood. This
is the natural food of the Water-Lily,
and manure only excites rank leaf-
growth and predisposes to disease.
Little mounds may be made by laying
a few sods together, but if the depth
of water makes this difficult the plants
may be simply lowered into place —
planted firmly in baskets — and the
mud pressed around them. May is a
good time for planting, and (for estab-
lished plants) the flower season begins in
June, reaches its height in August, and
in good years lasts into October. After
growing for three or four years, some
kinds get too thick, and these may be
raised and divided late in April ; others
we have had in the same place for ten
years with no loss of health or bloom.

A crowded water garden is often a
matter of necessity, but where space
is at command the plants are best in
bold groups and far enough apart to
keep the kinds distinct. The depth of
water may vary from a foot to as
much as 7 feet, but only the strongest
kinds will thrive in water as deep as
this. The flowers vary as to opening
and closing, and while on bright days
they mostly fold away about four in
the afternoon, on dark days they some-
times keep open until evening. But
it is, perhaps, after a sharp shower,
when leaves and flower - cups are
thickly set with diamond drops, that
the water garden is at its best. If the
fading flowers and damaged leaves can

be removed from day to day (by the
help of a flower-cutter and long-handled
rake), the flower season will be longer,
but this cannot well be done save in
small tanks. As soon as they open,
the flowers may be arranged very
prettily in shallow bowls, lasting fresh
for several days and fragrant. If care
is taken to bend back the sepals when
the flowers are cut, the blooms remain
open until they wither.

INCREASE. — Though some of the
finer hybrids make few side crowns
and thus increase slowly, others may
be freely divided, the offsets being cut
away with a bit of the old stem
attached. Some kinds — mostly of the
odorata and tuberosa sections — are
easily increased from seed, but many
kinds are sterile, in others seed is slow
in germinating, and the seedlings are
so liable to degenerate that this way
of increase is not much followed. The
flowers sink upon the third day, and,
ripening under water, open half-way
when mature to allow the seeds to
escape. They are at first held together
by a mass of jelly-like matter, and
float for several hours, and during this
time may be skimmed from the surface
and sown at once in pans of mud.
Care must be taken not to disturb the
soil when adding water, and if placed
in a warm and sunny corner the
seedlings are not long in starting.

PESTS. — Weeds must be kept under,
such things as the Water Starwort
and Floating Pond Weed giving
trouble, the last pest with its brittle
roots being especially difficult to get
out. In early summer the grubs of
the caddis-fly gnaw the young leaves
and stems, and water snails so load
them with eggs as to cause curling
and distortion, but as a rule the plants
outgrow these troubles with the warmer
days, and have more to fear from rats
and water-fowl when in full bloom.
In small ponds these may be kept
under, but in larger sheets of water
they often do harm, gnawing the buds
before they open, and even carrying
them off to build their nests. Green-
fly also appears upon the leaves and
flowers above water, and grubs of
various kinds attack them, but spray-
ing with a weak solution of quassia
will generally clear the emergent leaves
and flowers, while a few drops of a
mixture of three parts of colza to one
of paraffin will spread over the water
and check, the foe.

592

NYMPH^EA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NYMPH^A.

NYMPH^A ALBA (White Water-lily). —
Found in many parts of our country
and throughout Europe to Siberia. The
flowers, of 4 to 6 inches across, float upon
the water amid rounded leaves of bright
green, very variable as to size, and reddish
while young.

N. ALBA VAR. CANDIDISSIMA. A large-

flowered form sometimes called the
Hampton Court Lily. Its white flowers
are broader in petal, coming early and
continuing late, and thrust well above the
water. Its growth is strong, needing
ample space. Leaves of yellow green
while young, the leaf-lobes much curved
and overlapping. At certain times and
in certain soils the sepals are flushed
with rose-colour.

N. ALBA VAR. DELICATA. Flowers

flushed with pale rose. N. alba maxima
large flowers. N. alba minor, a small- flow-
ered variety with blooms of great purity,
and prettily incurved. N. alba var. plenis-
sima, a form with large, nearly double
flowers. N. alba var. rubra is a scarce
plant, best known as the Swedish Water-
Lily, and classed as a form of alba, though
distinct in its smaller leaves of different
shape, slightly rolled inwards at the edges,
olive-green above and dull reddish below.
The flowers are smaller, fuller, and more
refined, with broader and blunter petals.
It blooms early, but soon goes to rest.
With so short a season it spreads slowly,
is averse to removal, and also to hot
weather. The flowers vary from pale
pink to a deep magenta, deepening towards
the centre of the flower and from day to
day. Seeds freely, but the seedlings
mostly revert, only the tiny slow-growing
plants coming true. Syns. N. Caspary
and N. sphcerocarpa.

N. ANDREANA. — Bears cup-shaped
flowers of brick-red colour shaded with
orange, and held well above the water.
The leaves are blotched with chestnut-
brown, their lobes overlapping, and with
such long stalks that they float out, far
apart. The flowers come so freely that a
score or more are sometimes open together
on one strong plant.

N. ARC-EN-CIEL. — A distinct hybrid with
blending shades of pale salmon streaked
with rose, and crimson spotted sepals.
The leaves are variegated in white, rose,
and shades of green and bronze.

N. ARETHUSA. — A plant of strong growth
and very free, coming near Laydekeri
fulgens in its bright crimson colour, but
larger in flower and more robust.

N. ATROPURPUREA. — One of the darkest
of all, with very large flowers of deep
port-wine colour, with pale yellow stamens
and petals incurved at the tips. Of good
growth, free, with dark leaves shaded with
red on their under surface.

N. AURORA. — So named from its chang-
ing tints, which vary from a pale rosy-
yellow on opening, to orange or reddish

tones on the third day, different plants
showing much variation in depth of colour.

N. CARRISBROOKI. — A new kind raised in
California, and described as bearing flowers
of bright flesh pink, and fragrant.

N. CHRYSANTHA. — A handsome kind of
medium growth, and deep yellow flowers
passing to orange-red, with a cluster of
bright red stamens ; leaves edged and
marbled with bronze.

N. COLOSSEA. — Very large in leaf and
flower, blooming with the earliest and
lasting well into the autumn. Leaves
rich green above and brown beneath, the
fragrant flowers of pale pink, the outer
segments of pale olive-green, and pale
yellow stamens. Thrives in open water
in deep pond mud, even when exposed in
large lakes.

N. EI.LISIANA. — One of the best, rich
in colour and conspicuous at a distance.
Large broad-petalled flowers of reddish-
crimson with orange - red stamens. A
plant of robust growth and free in flower.

N. FRCEBELI. — An improved form of the
Swedish Water-Lily raised at Zurich, and
of deeper colour and stronger growth.
Of good size and fragrant, its flowers are
of deep crimson with orange stamens,
coming freely to the end of September.
It is one of the finest dark kinds, thriving
in exposed open water, and effective in
the distance.

N. FULVA. — Bears medium-sized star-
shaped flowers, curiously incurved at the
tips of the petals, and sweetly scented.
Its colour is rose upon yellow, with yellow
stamens, the red growing deeper towards
the centre and brightening with age.
Leaves spotted with brown above, and
suffused with red beneath.

N. GLADSTONIANA. — Has white flowers
of great size, sometimes 8 inches across.
They are free from all traces of colour,
and stand well above the water on stout
stems, the whole plant being of free and
open habit. One of the first to bloom
in spring, and the last flowers are only
cut down by autumn frosts.

N. GLORIOSA. — Bears massive flowers
7 inches across, rich dark red with orange-
coloured stamens, and fragrant. Being
slow to spread and difficult of increase,
it should be left for several years undis-
turbed, and while of strong growth, it
sometimes dies off suddenly. The flowers
are very full, and floating, the lower
petals often prettily tipped with rosy-
white during the heat of summer, becoming
deeper and more uniform towards the
autumn. This is the only kind always
bearing five sepals.

N. JAMES BRYDON. — A distinct sort with
flowers of 4 to 6 inches wide, of a soft
rose-crimson ; petals finely rounded and
curving inwards, with a paler, silvery
sheen beneath, and stamens of bright
orange. An excellent kind, quite hardy.

NYMPH^A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NYMPH^A.

593

N. LAYDEKERI FULGENS. — A flower of
fine colour and cupped, the rounded petals
of crimson-purple showing paler within and
enclosing a cluster of vivid red stamens.
Like all of this .group, it is a good plant
for tanks.

N. LAYDEKERI LILACEA. — Very free in
its small flowers of soft rosy-lilac tipped
with clear pink, their colour deepening
to rosy-crimson on the third day. They
are held well above the water, shining with
an almost silvery lustre in bright sunlight,
and scented like a tea-rose. The plant
does best in shallow water, and is one of
the earliest to show flower.

X. LAYDEKERI PURPURATA. — A telling
flower, larger than others in this group,
and very shapely with its long pointed
petals. They are early, free, and fragrant,
of a conspicuous shade of wine-red with
orange-red stamens.

N. LAYDEKERI ROSEA. — One of the most
useful of hardy Water-Lilies, with fragrant,
pale pink flowers, passing through several
shades to deep rose as they fade away.
It does best in shallow water and gives
so few offsets that several plants should
be grouped to secure the full effect of the
changing flowers.

N. LUCIDA. — With massive flowers open-
ing starwise and rosy-vermilion in colour,
paling towards the edges and the tips of
the petals and deepening towards the
cluster of orange stamens. The leaves,
borne upon very long stems, are bold and
finely blotched with chestnut-red above
and reddish streaks beneath.

N. MARLIACEA ALBIDA. — A superb plant,
thriving in deep water, where it should be
sometimes thinned to avoid overcrowding ;
its massive white flowers, of 8 or more
inches across, are pushed well above the
water, and last into October. They are
of glistening purity, fragrant, and very
full of petals guarding the cluster of golden
anthers. The guard petals are long and
broad, but inside they grow shorter and
narrower towards the centre. In large
groups its general effect is fine.

N. MARL. CARNEA. — A noble hardy
plant, in colour a soft flesh-pink, deepening
towards the base of the petals and paling
gradually to white. It grows well in
shallow or deep water, flowering late, and
showing its vanilla-scented flowers well
above the dark leaves.

N. MARL. CHROMATELLA. — The first yel-
low kind sent out, a free and fine plant, but
apt to get crowded, and when this happens
it does not flower so well. Being vigorous,
it is a good plant for deep open water,
where its large flowers of canary-yellow
show finely against the dark brown leaves,
and remain open for a long while each
day.

N. MARL. FLAMMEA. — A handsome,
though inaptly named, flower of medium
size, being a deep wine-red rather than

flame-colour, with red stamens and petals
flaked with white towards the tips.
Leaves streaked with reddish-brown.

N. MARL. IGNEA. — One of the brightest
in its uniform carmine-red, deepening
slightly towards the crown of vivid orange-
red stamens ; sepals pale olive-green edged
with rose beneath, and paler above.
Though not large, the flowers are good
in colour, composed of eighteen cupped
and shapely petals.

N. MARL. ROSEA. — Another stout
grower, thriving in deep water, to which
its long slender stems are suited. Flowers
rose colour, changing to flesh - pink,
broader in petal and fuller than in M.
carnea, with the colour deepening towards
the tips. Young leaves purplish-red,
changing to deep green.

N. MARL. RUBRO-PUNCTATA. — Flowers of
great size borne freely and through a long
season. Petals rosy-purple, tipped and
flaked with pink ; stamens orange-red.

N. ODORATA. — The white American
Pond-Lily, common in the eastern States
and with all the beauty of our own, and
fragrant. It varies much in size and
colour, and, being of moderate growth, is
well suited to tanks. The leaf may be
anything from 5 to 10 inches across, nearly
round, and purplish when young, chang-
ing to pure green and reddish beneath.
Flowers of 3 to 5 inches, composed of
narrow pointed petals, long in the bud.

N. ODORATA CAROLINIANA. — The leaves
are green above and red beneath, and
though nearly a foot across when fully
grown, the plant is only of moderate
growth and not too vigorous for a tank.
Though easily divided, the plant is best
left alone for several years, gaining in size
of flowers, which become 6 or more inches
across, composed of very narrow pale pink
petals, deepening in colour towards the
centre. The flowers vary through several
shades of colour, according to soil and
climate, the following varieties being fairly
constant : — nivea, with very double pure
white flowers, narrow petals and rich
yellow stamens ; perfecta, with semi-
double flowers of the small narrow petals,
but more rounded at the tip and deep
flesh or salmon in colour ; and salmonea,
a strong form with flowers of decided
salmon-pink.

N. ODORATA EXQUISITA. — Finely-shaped
rosy-carmine flowers of medium size, with
narrow, pointed petals and golden sta-
mens ; they are the darkest of this group,
and stand well out of the water. Leaves
green above and intense red below.

N. ODORATA GIGANTEA. — The larger
southern form of odorata, found from
N. Carolina to Florida, and known as
the Rice-field Water-Lily. It is of great
vigour, delighting in deep water and flow
ering early in the season, but not in
the autumn. The leaves are very large,

2 P

594

NYMPH^A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

NYMPHJEA.

sometimes measuring as much as 16 inches
across, and dark green tinged with purple
towards the edges, which are often partly
rolled inwards. The flowers — 4 to 7
inches across — are pure white with green
sepals, slightly incurved, and nearly
scentless.

N. ODORATA MINOR. — A pretty little
plant of slow growth, and one of the best
for tanks and shallow water. The starry
white flowers are 2 to 3 inches across,
with purplish sepals and sweetly scented,
though forms occur that are almost with-
out scent, and others with flowers more
or less incurved. The leaves are small,
bright green above, and deep red beneath.
A native of the shallow bogs of New
Jersey.

N. ODORATA ROSACEA — A good form
coming near exquisita but more vigorous,
with bright rosy flowers about 4 inches
across, paling to salmon-yellow towards
the crown of golden stamens ; petals nar-
row and pointed.

N. ODORATA ROSEA. — The Cape Cod
Water- Lily — a plant of moderate vigour,
with petals of a uniform bright rose colour
with yellow stamens, and fragrant. It
begins early, and seeds so freely that
(unless the dead flowers are kept cut) its
season is short. The flowers also lose
colour quickly when fully expanded, and
will sometimes burn in hot sunlight.
Leaves rather small, deep red on both
sides while young, becoming dark green.
Massachusetts.

N. ODORATA SULPHUREA. — A beautiful
plant, distinct from all other kinds in
the cactus-shape of its flowers. It is a
plant of strong growth, forming many
crowns and a profusion of clear yellow
vanilla-scented flowers, from July into
the autumn. Though not much above
medium size, they are conspicuous, rising
well out of the water, and the long pointed
buds open early in the day. The leaves
rest on the water unless crowded, and are
evenly rounded, and finely blotched and
marbled. It is slow in starting to flower,
hardly beginning until July.

N. O. SULPHUREA GRANDIFLORA. A fine

form, with the same starry cactus-shaped
flowers, but much larger, fuller, and of
paler yellow. Though its parent is one
of the latest, this kind is the first in bloom
and bears the largest flower, opening out
very flat, with narrow, crowded petals
of elegant effect. It is free in flower when
well established, and makes many crowns,
with bold foliage of paler green, less
mottled above, but covered beneath with
reddish blotches.

N. ROBINSONI. — A star-like flower of
distinct colour, a reddish-purple deepening
towards the centre, which shows traces of
an orange ground, paling again towards
the tips of the petals. The flowers are of
medium size, with pointed and sharply
tapering petals, and they last longer than

almost any other kind when open. Leaf
dark green, blotched with chestnut above
and on the stems, and reddish below.

N. SEIGNOURETI.— One of the older
hybrids, its colour being indistinct. The
flowers are dull yellow washed with rose,
and are held several inches above the
water. A compact grower, with small
but dense leaves, finely spotted.

N. Sioux. — This, one of the recent gains
given to us by the late M. Latour Marliac,
has handsome copper-yellow flowers. The
petals are pointed and sprinkled with red
about the edges, the stamens deep yellow.
The leaves are of a rich bronzy-green
stained with deep brown on the upper side
and reddish-brown on the under side.

N. TETRAGON A. — The smallest of Water-
Lilies. with little flowers i£ to 2^ inches
across and pure white with yellow stamens,
opening for three or four days from noon
till about 5 P.M. The leaf is as large as
the palm of the hand, and shaped almost
like a horse-shoe, with the lobes wide
apart ; coloured dark green above and
reddish below. This kind and its forms
thrive well in tanks; forming no offsets and
spreading slowly, though free to flower
from May to the end of September. It
is grown from seed. N. Asia and parts of
N. America.

N. TETRAGONA VAR. HELVOLA. — A seed-
ling with pale yellow flowers 2 inches
across, open during the afternoon and
slightly raised above the water. The leaf
is oval and yet smaller than in the parent,
and freely blotched with brown. It thrives
in shallow water with a long season of
flower, while a dozen or more blooms may
often be counted at once upon a strong
plant. In hot sunlight they sometimes
come flushed with rose.

N. TUBEROSA. — The vigorous Water-Lily
of the United States, thriving in deep
water, lifting its flowers high out of the
water, and spreading rapidly by long
tuberous offsets. It should, therefore, be
planted by itself in deep water, but only
flowers freely under a warm sky or in
hot summers. They are creamy white,
without a trace of colour in the sepals or
petals, which are longer and broader than
in any other wild kind, and scenttess.
They vary from 4^ to nearly 9 inches
across, and bear larger seeds than any
other kind.

N. TUBEROSA VAR. MAXIMA. A form

found in Lake Hopatkong, New Jersey,
growing in deep water, and supposed to
be a wild cross between tuberosa and odor-
ata. It is of smaller growth and blooms
later than the parent, with cup-shaped
pure white flowers, prettily shaded with
green upon the outer petals. The flower-
stalks bear long hairs and a few faint brown
streaks.

N. TUBEROSA VAR. RlCHARDSONI. An

American seedling with double pure
white flowers standing well out of the

NYSSA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CENOTHERA.

595

water ; they are of finely rounded petals,
curving inwards, the outer row and the
sepals slightly drooping. Its subdued
growth and distinct globe-shaped flowers
make it one of the most distinct of white
Water- Lilies.

N. TUBEROSA VAR. ROSEA. A Supposed

natural cross with the rosy Cape Cod
Water-Lily. It is nearly as vigorous as
its parent, with large pink flowers rising
above the water, and opening widely to
show the crown of bright red stamens.
A good plant for deep water.

N. WILLIAM DOOGUE. — An American
hybrid with large floweis of soft pink,
very broad in petal, much cupped, and
evenly coloured throughout. A charming
plant and quite hardy.

N. WILLIAM FALCONER. — A flower of
striking colour, one of the best dark Water-
Lilies. The blooms are large (6 or 7
inches) and deep crimson, shaded with
purple, and yellow in the centre. The
young leaves are bright red, changing to
deep green, with veins of reddish purple.

M. Latour Marliac sends me a list of
the newest varieties of these beautiful
plants of his raising : — Escarboucle, (Sloire
du Temple-sur-Lot, Indiana, Marguerite
Laplace, Newton, Mrs Richmond, Sirius,
Sylphida.

NYSSA (Tupelo Tree}.— A small
group of trees little planted, but hav-
ing certain good qualities. One of the
most brilliant sights I remember was
a Tupelo tree at Strathsfieldsaye in
Hampshire in autumn — a tall slender
tree, in splendid colour of leaf. The
trees are mostly natives of N.E.
America, a very cold country, so that
there can be no doubt about their
hardiness; and the fact that they
grow in swampy places should make
them easy to find a place in this river
and estuary veined land.

N. AQUATIC A (Tupelo Gum) rises some-
times to a height of 100 feet, and is rather
of southern and western distribution.
The two first-named species are the most
important for our country.

N. BIFLORA (Water Tupelo) is a some-
what smaller swamp and waterside tree,
of N, Jersey and southwards.

N. SYLVATICA (Sour Gum) is the Tupelo,
a tree over 100 feet high in deep swampy
ground in Maine and Canada, southwards
and westwards.

CENOTHERA (Evening Primrose).—
These are amongst the prettiest of
hardy flowers, and are easily grown
in all soils. From June onward they
are in their beauty. They have large
bright yellow or white flowers, in
many kinds freely borne. Their name
notwithstanding, many are open by
day ; as for instance, (E. linearis,

speciosa, taraxacifolia, and trichocalyx.
Many of the finest Evening Primroses
are natives of States west of Missis-
sippi, such as California, Utah, Mis-
souri, and Texas. They all bloom the
first season from early seedlings. Some
of the true perennials, and particularly
the prostrate ones, are shy seeders, but
the tall ones seed freely. Sowing
themselves freely, they are apt to
become too numerous and somewhat
" starved," so that they are best
grown in large groups. Amongst them
we have tall erect sorts like (E. Lam-
arckiana, prostrate, as in trichocalyx

OEnothera marginata.

and ccespitosa, and white flowers,
as in the two last named, while coronopi-
folia and speciosa often change with
age to pink or rose. Few plants have
finer yellow blooms than missouriensis ;
and, moreover, they are very large —
4 to 6 inches across. Neatly all are
more or less fragrant, particularly
ccespitosa, marginata, fragrans, and
eximia.

CE. BIENNIS. — A handsome biennial,
3 to 5 feet high, with large bright
yellow flowers. Its variety grandiflora or
Lamarckiana should always be preferred
to the ordinary kind, as the flowers are
larger and of a finer colour, having a fine
effect in large masses, and it is well suited
for the wild garden.

596 CENOTHERA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

OLEARIA.

CE. FRUTICOSA (Sundrops). — This and
its varieties are amongst the finest of
hardy perennials, i to 3 feet high, with
showy yellow blossoms. There are about
half a dozen distinct varieties, the best
being linearis, or, as it is usually called,
riparia, about i£ feet high, bearing an
abundance of yellow blossoms. It is
always prudent to lift a few or strike a
potful of cuttings in case of accident,
though in spring the old plants may be
divided to any extent. Given sandy
loam, these plants thrive in borders or in
the margins of shrubberies. N. America.

An Evening Primrose (CEnothera Lamarckiana).

CE. GLAUCA. — A handsome N. American
species similar to fruticosa. It is of sub-
shrubby growth, becomes bushy, and
bears yellow flowers. The variety Fraseri
is a still finer plant, and where an attrac-
tive mass of yellow is desired through the
summer there are few hardy plants of
easy cultivation so effective. In a large
rock garden a few plants here and there
give good colour, and the plants bloom
long.

(E. MARGINATA. — A dwarf plant with
flowers in May, 4 to 5 inches across, from
white gradually changing to a delicate
rose ; as evening approaches, coming well

above the jagged leaves, retaining their
beauty all night, and emitting a Magnolia-
like odour. It is a hardy perennial, and
is increased by suckers from the roots and
by cuttings, which root readily. It is
excellent for the rock garden and for bor-
ders. CE. trichocalyx, a similar species,
but probably only an annual, is a beautiful
plant well worth growing.

CE. MISSOURIENSIS (Prairie Evening
Primrose). — A precious herbaceous plant
from N. America, with prostrate downy
stems and clear yellow flowers, sometimes
5 inches in diameter, and borne freely.
There is no more valuable border flower,
and when well placed in the rock garden
it is effective, especially if the luxuriant
shoots are allowed to hang down. I plant
it as an undergrowth to a tea-rose. As a
border plant it does not grow so freely in
cold clayey soils as in warm soils. The
blooms open best in the evening.

(E. ROSEA (Rosy Evening Primrose). —
There are several forms of this name quite
worthless, but there is also a very beau-
tiful perennial rosy form, which seems to
show that the plant may vary a good deal
in its native country. The one I have
found so useful is less than i foot high
and of easy propagation and culture in
ordinary soil.

CE. SPECIOSA — A handsome plant, with
many large flowers, at first white, changing
to a delicate rose. The plant is erect and
its stems almost shrubby, 14 to 18 inches
high. A true perennial, valuable for
borders, or the rougher parts of the rock
garden in good loam. It is a native of
N. America, and is increased by division,
cuttings, or seeds, but does not seed freely
in this country. Its variety, rosea, is also
to be recommended.

CE. TARAXACIFOLIA (Chilian Evening
Primrose). — One of the finest, of a low
trailing growth and large blossoms, which
attain their full size towards evening. It
has a fine effect in rich deep soil in the
rock garden, where its trailing stems can
droop over the ledge of a block of stone.
The flowers, 2^ to 3^ inches across, are
pure white, changing to a delicate pink.

CE. TRILOBA. — A handsome hardy annual
species, dwarf, with large and showy
yellow blossoms. Other showy annuals
are CE. sinuata and its variety maxima,
(E macrantha, odorata, bistorta, Veitchiana,
and Dvummondi. These are all worthy of
culture, requiring the treatment of half-
hardy annuals, and ordinary garden soil.

OLEARIA (Daisy Trees] .—Pretty
evergreen bushes, natives of Australia
and New Zealand. Their only fault
is in not proving really hardy, ex-
cept in warm localities in the south-
ern counties. They may exist in
other districts, but gardens are none

OLEAUIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

OLEARIA.

597

the better for the presence of shrubs
not really hardy in them, or perhaps
in a half-dead or flowerless state,
or requiring protection, which has a
tendency to make gardens needlessly
ugly for half the year.

O. INSIGNIS. — The plant is dwarf,
branched, the branches as thick as the
little finger ; the leaves from 3 to 5 inches

and prettiest of the composites which are
found in New Zealand. It is a native of
Middle Island, where it is said to grow
on the driest rocks.

O. HAASTI. — This is pretty hardy in
various parts of England, growing to a
large size in the more favoured localities,
and if planted in groups it has a good effect
when covered with its Aster-like flowers,

Olearia Haasti.

long, 2 inches broad, rounded at the
ends, thick and hard, shining green on
the upper surface. With this exception
the whole plant is covered with a thick,
felt-like coating of pale brownish tomen-
tum. The flowers are on erect peduncles,
which are as thick as a goose-quill and
from 6 to 9 inches long ; the flower-heads
are a little over 2 inches across ; remaining
fresh on the plant for about six weeks.
This plant is one of the most interesting

and even out of bloom it is attractive.
In New Zealand, where it is found at
altitudes of about 4,000 feet, it forms a
small shrubby tree. The flowers are very
numerous, in terminal corymbs, the ray
florets \ inch long, white, the disc yellow.
The plants usually bloom in August, and
remain in perfection several weeks. Other
kinds grown against walls and on warm
soils with some success are ramulosa,
ilicifolia, myvsinoides, nitida, macrodonta,

598 OMPHALODES. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ONOPORDON.

stellulata, Traversi, Gunniuna, dentata,
argophylla, insignis, Fosteri

OMPHALODES (Navelworf).— Pretty
dwarf rock or mountain plants belong-
ing to the Borage order.

O. CAPPADOCICA. — A new and brilliant
addition that should be grown by all.
Ths plant is vigorous habited, forming
foot-high mounds crowded with rich
gentian-blue flowers like a glorified Forget-
me-Not. Delights in cool loam. A most
beautiful and amiable plant, flowering in
spring.

O. LINIFOLIA. — A distinct Portuguese
hardy annual, 9 to 12 inches high, with
glaucous-green leaves and pure white
flowers from June to August ; it may be
grown in ordinary soil, the seeds sown in
April or in September and October ; the
plant often sows itself.

Oinphalodes I^ucilite.

O. LUCILIJE. — A lovely rock plant, with
flowers a pretty lilac-blue, and glaucous
grey foliage. It is hardy, and succeeds in
the rock garden, but the soil must be
thoroughly drained, for though the plant
requires abundance of water during
growth, it suffers from stagnant moisture.
To protect it against slugs, which are too
fond of it, strips of perforated zinc, about
3 inches wide, bent so as to form rings
round the plants, are used. It is best
increased by seeds, and may be cultivated
with success in the moraine, and grows
well in sandy loam and peat. Asia Minor.

O. VERNA (Creeping Forget- me-Not). —
A pretty hardy plant, bearing in early
spring handsome flowers of a deep clear
blue with white throats. The plant is
useful for borders and the rock and spring
garden : no plant is more worthy of
naturalisation ; in cool, thin woods it runs
about like a native plant, and in any
position is one of the prettiest plants.
There is a white variety, not so pretty as
the blue.

ONOCLEA (Sensitive Fern}. — O.
sensibilis belongs to the group known
as " flowering Ferns," from the fertile
frond being contracted so as to give it
the appearance of an unopened spike
of flowers. The fronds are a beauti-
ful fresh green, especially in spring.
Though not very fastidious as to soil,
it succeeds best in a cool and moist
situation, such as the base of the rock
garden, or in the American garden,
especially if a little sheltered by neigh-
bouring plants. If the fronds are
allowed to remain on the plants until
they appear to be ripe, it will be found
that the spore-cases are open and
the spores shed, as they drop while
the fronds look quite green, therefore
the best way is to cut off the frond as
soon as indications of bursting are per-
ceived, and to lay it on a sheet of paper
for a few days, when all the spores will
drop out. N. America.

ONONIS (Rest Harrow). — Hardy
plants of the Pea family, of which the
wild Liquorice (O. arvensis) is one of
the prettiest of our wild plants, and
is worthy of cultivation on banks and
in the rough rock garden, forming
dense tufts covered in summer with
racemes of pink flowers. It is distinct
from the spiny O. campestris, which
has stems nearly 2 feet high, and some-
times more. O. rotundifolia is a dis-
tinct and pretty plant, which is hardy,
and easily cultivated, flowering in May
and June and through the summer ;
it attains a height of 12 to 20 inches
according to soil, and is suitable for
the mixed border of the rougher parts
of the rock garden. Seeds or division.
Pyrenees and Alps. These are the
best of about half a dozen garden
species, which also include O. fruticosa,
Natrix, viscosa and aragonenis.

ONOPORDON (Cotton Thistle}. -
Handsome vigorous Thistle-like plants
mostly biennial, and valuable for their
stately port and showy flowers. They
thrive in exposed places and among
shrubs in sheltered ones, and may be
effectively used in a variety of ways.

ONOSMA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN, OPHRYS.

599

Moderation in their use, however, is
desirable, as in some situations they
seed so freely as to require judicious
keeping down. O, Acanthium (Down
Thistle) is a bold and vigorous native
plant, with very large, stout branching
stems, often more than 5 feet high,
covered with long, whitish web-like
hairs, and bearing large heads of
purplish flowers. The habit of O.
illyricum is more branching, the leaves
and stems are much more spiny, the
stems are stiffer and the leaves are
greener and more deeply cut. O.
arabicum is 8 to 10 feet high, is erect
and very slightly branching, and both
sides of the leaves, as well as the
steins, are covered with white down.
O. grcecum is also a handsome plant.

ONOSMA (Golden Drop}. — O. taurica
is an evergreen perennial, 6 to 12 inches
high, soon forming dense tufts, and
bearing in summer drooping clusters

Onosma taurica (Golden Drop).

of clear yellow almond-scented blos-
soms. The best place for it is the
rock garden in a sunny position,
drained, with a good depth of soil,
so that the plants may root strongly
between the stones, the soil a good
sandy loam, mixed with broken grit.
It is impatient of disturbance and
abhors rich soils. Seeds are rarely
if ever produced in this country.
Cuttings, if secured with a heel
attached when quite young and in-
serted without further ado in sandy
soil in a handlight, root freely in
early summer. Greece. O. albo-roseum
from Asia Minor, and O. Bourgcei
from Armenia, are characterised by
woolly leaves and are dwarf er habited.
Their larger drooping flowers are
coloured rose and white. All respond

to the same method of increase and
similar conditions of cultivation.
They are among the choicest of
alpine flowers.

ONYCHITJM. — O, japonicum, an ele-
gant Japanese Fern, often grown in the
greenhouse, is hardy in the outdoors
fernery. In severe winters, however,
some common Brake may be thrown
over it. The fronds are finely divided,
an intensely dark green, from i to
2 feet high, and useful for bouquets,
or for placing loosely in vases with
cut flowers.

OPHIOGLOSSUM (A ddtr's-t
— O. vulgatum is a native Fern not
often seen in gardens ; found in moist
meadows ; and the best position for
it therefore is in colonies in the hardy
fernery or the moist stiff soil in the
rock garden. O. lusitanicum, a dwarf
variety, is interesting, but capricious
and difficult to cultivate.

OPHIOPOGON (Snake's - beard). -
Herbaceous perennials, about ij feet
high, the flowers, usually small, lilac,
appearing late in summer and in
autumn in spikes, 2 to 5 inches long,
rising from grassy tufts of evergreen
foliage. They thrive in borders or
margins of shrubberies in sandy loam,
but are scarcely ornamental. O. ja-
ponicus, Jaburan, spicatus, Muscari,
and longifolius are the best known,
and usually in botanical collections.
In Italy they are used to form green
turf, in lieu of grass, which perishes
from the heat. Division. Japan and
India.

OPHRYS. — Small terrestrial Orchids,
singularly beautiful, and among the
most curious of plants. Many have
been in cultivation, but these being
tender plants, chiefly from S. Europe,
they must have protection, and require
much attention. A few native species,
however, can be grown in gardens, and
of these one of the most singularly
beautiful is the Bee Orchis (O. apifera).
This varies from 6 inches to more than
i foot in height ; it has a few glaucous
leaves near the ground ; flowers
in early summer, the lip of a rich
velvety brown with yellow markings,
bearing a fanciful resemblance to a.
bee. It is usually considered difficult
to grow, but it may be easily kept on
dry banks in the rock garden in a
firm bed of calcareous soil, or of loam
mixed with broken limestone. It
thrive > best if the soil be surfaced with
some very dwarf plant, or with an

6oo

OPUNTIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

OPUNTIA.

inch of cocoa-fibre and sand, so as to
keep it moist and compact about the
plants. Other interesting species for
a collection of hardy Orchids are O.
muscifera (Fly Orchis), arachnites
and ar an if era (Spider Orchis).

OPUNTIA (Prickly Fig}.— There are
several of these succulent plants in
cultivation, but few are hardy enough
for the open air in our climate. The
hardiest are 0. vulgaris, missouriensis,
humilis, brachyantha, and Rafinesquei ;
the finest being O. Rafinesquei, an ever-
green well worthy of culture, bearing
in summer large showy yellow blossoms
on fleshy branches. It thrives in a
sunny corner of the rock garden in
good dry soil, sheltered from any pass-
ing danger to the stems, for it is
rather fragile, and anything brush-
ing against it would injure it, but by
the skilful placing of a few rough
stones it is easy to prevent injury
without shading the plant. To prevent
splashings, the ground might be sur-
faced with a dwarf mossy Saxifrage
or Sandwort. Snails and slugs are
fond of this plant, and in spring, and
even in mild winters, may destroy it.
A dressing of soot will keep away
these pests. To increase the plant,
the cutting, a single joint, is potted
in sandy soil, and the pot placed in
a sunny airy spot under glass and
watered very sparingly, and in a short
time it will form roots, and commence
to push out young shoots. The hardier
kinds are from N.W. America, where
the winters are severe.

Recently, the German traveller, Dr
Purpus, and various American botan-
ists have found in the mountains of
Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, and Arizona
a rich variety of hardy Cacti thriving
at elevations of 5,000 to 8,000 feet.
The entire collection contains upwards
of 100 kinds of Cacti (species and
variety) of proved hardiness through-
out C. Europe, many of them
plants of real beauty and value for
our rock and wall gardens. The
Darmstadt collection fills a large rock
garden formed of limestone blocks,
and Dr Purpus considers the use of
limestone essential for these plants,
all being found on soils of this nature.
In many botanical gardens in Ger-
many a feature is made of these hardy
Cacti, and their value is well seen at
Giessen, Jena, Leipzig, Magdeburg,
Dusseldorf, and many other places.
Many of the Opuntias produce beau-
tiful flowers from the middle of

June to October, which in many
cases are remarkable for their bright
colour.

The following kinds may be con-
sidered hardy for C. Europe : —

O. ARBORESCENS. — Tree-like in its wild
state, with a stout stem 30 feet or more
in height, covered with clusters of sharp
spines, and many rose or rosy-purple
flowers. In C. Europe it spreads on the
ground instead, and is the least hardy of
outdoor kinds. Opuntia camanchica, with
its seven varieties, some so distinct that
they might be classed as separate species.
Thus, albispina, with large brown-yellow
flowers and long white spines upon the
joints ; pallida, with very pale yellow
flowers ; rubra, a beautiful little plant
with rosy or deep pink flowers, and golden
stamens ; spinocentra, with large yellow
flowers ; and gigantea, orbicularis, and
salwionea.

The O. polyacantha, or missouriensis,
bears pale yellow flowers upon large flat
joints, studded with fine spines set in
bunches of yellow down. It is a creeping
plant in cultivation since 1814, but until
lately always under glass. There are two
beautiful varieties of it : erythrostemma ,
with yellow flowers and red stamens ; and
salmonea, with salmon-pink flowers. O.
fragilis is an old greenhouse plant of droop-
ing habit, its short, rounded joints thickly
set with white spines and little yellow
flowers. Its variety cczspitosa is more
compact, with larger yellow flowers shad-
ing to brown in the centre, and bright red
stamens. O. mesacantha is a little tuft of
spreading, spiny growths, with bright
yellow flowers in summer. O. Greenii
bears beautiful pale lemon-yellow flowers.
O. Rhodantha and xanthostemma are, per-
haps, the finest of all. The first exists
under five distinct forms — 0. Rhodantha,
with large rosy-lilac flowers of rich silky
texture, the stamens bright red, and the
style green ; var. brevispina, in which the
joints are large and of a dark grey-green,
covered with short spines and bearing very
large flowers of intense carmine colour ;
flavispina, with smaller, pale green joints
and with larger spines, which in their
early stages are yellow with green tips,
the flowers large and rose-coloured ; pisci-
formis, so called from the fish-like joints
studded with flowers of pale pink with
bright red stamens ; and Schumanniance ,
with the largest flowers 2 inches or more
across and bright crimson, upon erect
growths of a pretty blue-green colour. O.
xanthostemma bears flowers of carmine-
purple, which, with the golden stamens,
are striking in effect ; it also exists in
several varieties, as follows : elegans, with
large rosy glossy flowers glistening when
newly expanded ; fulgens, with flowers of
glowing carmine ; gracilis, with smaller
pale pink flowers ; orbicularis, with

ORCHIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ORCHIS.

60 1

rounded growths and many pale pink
flowers of 2 to 3 inches across ; and rosea,
with numerous blush - pink blossoms.
Other kinds, such as the O. arenaria,
arkansana, cymochila, hybrida, macrorhiza,
and phcBacantha, have now lived in the
open air for several seasons ; all the plants
we have named, with others, thrive in the
open air with complete success. To do

grown if placed under good condi-
tions at first. Some of our native
Orchids are worth a place, but few
succeed with them, chiefly because the
plants are transplanted at the wrong
season. The usual plan is to trans-
plant just when the flowers are opening,
but at this period of growth the plant

Orchis foliosa (Madeira Orchis).

well they must have a sunny spot, as open
to the winds as their own mountain tops,
but dry, well drained, and with a sufficient
layer of limestone soil. — H. C.

ORCHIS.— These terrestrial Orchids
are beautiful, and well worth culti-
vation among hardy flowers. For
those who do not want a full collection
the species mentioned below are easily

is forming a tuber for the following
year, and if this is in any way injured
it dies. If, instead, the plants are
marked when in flower and allowed
to remain until August or September,
when the tubers are matured, the
risk of transplanting is lessened,
provided the plant be taken up with
a deep sod. The ground where the

602 OREOCOME. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

OROXTIUM.

plants grow may be surfaced with
such plants as the Balearic Sandwort,
Lawn Pearlwort, and the mossy Saxi-
frages. The situation for Orchids
should be an open one, and the soil a
deep, fibry loam in a drained border.
The following are the kinds most
worthy of culture : —

O. FOLIOSA. — A handsome Orchid, one
of the finest of the hardy kinds, 2 feet or
more in height, with long spikes of rosy-
purple blossoms in May, lasting long in
bloom. It delights in moist nooks at the
base of the rock garden, though quite
happy in deep light soil. Plant in early
autumn. Madeira.

O. LATIFOLIA (Marsh Orchis). — A fine
native kind, i to i£ feet high, with long
spikes of purple flowers in early summer.
It thrives in damp boggy soil, in peat or
leaf-mould. There are several beautiful
varieties, the best being prtecox and sesqui-
pedalis ; the last being one of the finest of
hardy Orchids, about i£ feet high, and a
third of the stem is covered with purplish-
violet flowers.

O. LAXIFLORA. — A pretty species, i foot
to 1 8 inches high, with loose spikes of rich
purplish-red flowers, opening in May and
June, and thriving in a moist spot in
the rock garden. Guernsey and Jersey.
Division.

O. MACULATA (Hand Orchis). — One of
the handsomest of British Orchids, finest
in rich soil, and if well grown in moist and
rather stiff garden loam its beauty will
surprise even those who know it well in
a wild state. The variety superba is a
fine plant, and should be secured.

Other beautiful kinds, but more or less
difficult to establish in gardens, are O.
papilionacea, purpurea, militaris, mascula,
pyramidalis, spectabilis, tephrosanthos, and
Robertiana.

OREOCOME CANDOLLEI. — An

effective plant of the Fennel order for
the margins of shrubberies, or groups
of fine-leaved hardy plants. It grows
5 feet in height, with large leaves finely
divided, of a fresh green colour, and
the flowers, which rise well above the
foliage, are in umbels, and white. It
grows well in any ordinary garden soil,
and is quite hardy. Himalayas.

ORIGANUM (Dittany, Hop Plant}.—
O. Dictamnus (Dittany of Crete) is a
pretty plant, somewhat tender, and
best grown under glass rather than in
the open air, though during mild
winters it may survive. It has mottled
downy foliage, and small purplish
flowers, in heads like the Hop, hence
the name Hop-plant. O. Sipyleum
is similar, and is quite as pretty. In

the open air these plants should have
a warm spot in the rock garden.

ORIXA JAPONICA— A very
interesting summer-leafing shrub of
graceful habit. Native of China and
Japan. Mr Wilson, who saw them in
China, says they have the curious
and interesting faculty, when ripe,
of shooting out the seed at a distance
of several feet. Mr W. J. Bean
( Trees and Shrubs) has seen the
shrub at Kew, but nowhere else.
He says the leaves have a pleasant
spicy odour when crushed. The
shrub is largely used by the Japanese
as a hedge plant.

ORNITHOGALUM (Star of Bethle-
}. — Bulbous plants, some of them
handsome, others not very distinct,
but all useful in the grass and in
borders, in any good garden soil —
one or two kinds among the hardy
species important for choice borders
and bulb, beds, i.e., pyramidale and
latifolium. Among other kinds worth
growing are nutans (free in grass),
narbonnense, sororium, exscapum, and
umbellatum — natives mostly 'of S.
Europe, N. Africa, and Asia Minor.

OROBUS (Bitter Vetch).— Often
pretty plants of the Pea order, flower-
ing usually in spring. They are suit-
able for the mixed border, for the
rock garden, or for naturalising.

O. AURANTIUS. — A handsome plant,
1 8 to 24 inches high, with orange-yellow
flowers in early summer. O. tauricus'is a
nearly-allied species, also with orange
flowers. Both require to be well estab-
lished before they bloom freely.

O. LATHYROIDES. — A lovely border
plant, 1 8 to 24 inches high; its bright
blue flowers borne in dense racemes ;
increased freely by seeds, and thrives in
ordinary soil.

O. VERNUS (Spring Bitter Vetch).— One
of the most charming of border flowers.
From black roots spring healthy tufts of
leaves with two or three pairs of shining
leaflets ; the flower-buds appearing soon
afterwards, almost covering the plant with
beautiful purple and blue blooms in April.
There are varieties of which cyaneus is the
most attractive, with its larger flowers
and strange intermixture of colours.

ORONTIUM (Golden Club}.—O.
aguaticum is an interesting perennial
of the Arum family, 12 to 18 inches
high ; in early summer its narrow
spadix is densely covered with yellow
flowers. The plant may be grown on

OSMANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

OSMUNDA.

603

the margins of ponds and fountain-
basins, or in the wettest part of the
bog garden. N. America.

OSMANTHUS. — Handsome ever-
green shrubs, few hardy in our islands ;
but some of these are of value : —

O. AQUIFOLIUM. — Botanically all forms
of the Osmanthus in Britain are of this
species. They can scarcely be called
varieties, for it is not unusual to see a
plant with two so-called varieties on one
branch. For convenience, however, and
especially as they keep true to character
in the majority of instances, the common
nursery names are given here. O. aqui-
folium is a native of China and Japan. In
some of its forms it is curiously like the
Holly, and is frequently mistaken for it,
but it is of looser growth and less thickly
furnished with leaves, and is of dwarfer
and more shrubby habit. The generally
accepted typical form of this species is the
one with the largest and broadest leaves.
In this the leaves are 3 to 4 inches long,
of oblong or oval shape, pointed or
toothed, but not so deeply as the smaller-
leaved forms known as ilicifolius. They
are a deep green colour and very firm
texture. This plant is, according to my
experience, the least hardy of this set. It
flowers in autumn, and the blossoms are
fragrant.

O. DELAVAYI. — A charming species
from Yunnan, China, which will be welcome
should it prove generally hardy. An
evergreen reaching 4 to 6 feet high, the
branches freely furnished with dark
leathery, glossy, small green leaves, which,
with its terminal clusters of white Bouvar-
dia-like fragrant flowers, distinguishes it
from all the other species of the genus.
Light loamy soils in warm well-drained
situations.

O. ILICIFOLIUS. — This is by far the most
common and useful kind, and is, more-
over, a valuable shrub for town planting.
The leaves are usually much smaller than
those of the plant just described, and may
be easily recognised by their deep lobing.
The largest specimen at Kew is 9 feet
high, with a spreading base and foliage of
the deepest and glossiest green. The
leaves average i| inches to 2 inches in
length, and are cut half-way to the mid-
rib into several sharply-pointed lobes.
Some of them are quite entire, others
lobed on one side only, but most of them
have the upper half lobed, the lower half
entire.

O. PURPURASCENS. — The young leaves
of this variety are tinged with purple,
especially on the under side. It is un-
doubtedly the best of all the Osmanthuses
for outdoor work, being much hardier than
the variegated forms. At Kew there is a
group of this purple-leaved variety near

the Palm House, amongst which is planted
Lilium candidum, and nothing could more
happily set off the beauty of this Lily.

O. MYRTIFOI.IUS. — There is this Osman-
thus at Kew, the lower part of which is
ilicifolius, the upper part myrtifolius. It
appears, however, to be itself constant,
and when grown on its own roots I have
never noticed any reversion. It makes a
neat bush, with leaves like those of the
Myrtle in shape, but larger and firmer in
texture.

O. ROTUNDIFOLIUS. — This is the dwarf -
est and one of the most distinct. Its
leaves are very stiff and leathery, and dis-
tinguish the variety by their more or less
obovate outline. The margins are not
distinctly serrated, but have a very
shallow irregular lobing.

The Osmanthuses may all be propa-
gated by cuttings, and although it
takes longer to obtain plants on their
own roots they are much to be pre-
ferred to those grafted on the Privet.
Cuttings should be taken in August
when the wood has become firm, and
they may be struck in a cool propa-
gating frame. — W. J. B.

OSMUNDA (Royal Fern}.— So- called
' ' flowering ' ' Ferns made familiar by
our native Royal Fern (O. regalis},
which is found in many bogs and
marshy woods, and is well worth
cultivating, as it is the largest and
most striking of our native Ferns,
sometimes attaining a height of 8 feet.
It should be planted in moist peaty
soil, and the most suitable spots are
half-shady places on the banks of
streams or of pieces of water. When
exposed to the full sun it does well,
with its roots in a constantly moist,
porous, moss-covered soil, if sheltered
from strong winds. In shady positions
and in deep bog soil it attains a great
size. A gross feeder, revelling in
richly manured soils.

The various N. American Osmun-
das may be associated with it. O.
cinnamomea is an elegant N. Ameri-
can Fern with pale green fronds ;
the variety angustata is smaller, and
the fronds are less inclined to droop.
This species, like O. regalis, is decidu-
ous. O. Claytoniana is another deci-
duous species, and has vivid green
fronds, 2 to 3 feet high. O. interrupta
is the same. O. gracilis is a native
of Canada, somewhat resembling a
dwarf form of our Royal Fern, the
fronds about 2 feet high. O. specta-
bilis is a slender form of O. regalis ;
its fronds are smaller, and the young
ones come up reddish-purple. These

604

OSTEOMELES. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

OXALIS.

exotic species are of the simplest culture
in the hardy fernery, in moist peaty
soil. N. America.

OSTEOMELES ANTHYLIDIFOLIA.
— A small evergreen shrub from 5 to
6 feet high, mostly grown upon walls
in this country, but fairly hardy in
the south-west. It has silvery leaves
divided into a number of small leaflets,
and clusters of white flowers like the
Hawthorn, followed by red - brown
berries. Native of China and the
N. Pacific islands.

OSTROWSKYA (Great Oriental Bell-
flower). — O. magnified is a remarkable
and handsome hardy plant found by
Dr Regel on the higher mountains of
Chanat Darwas, in E. Bokhara, and
is like a huge Platycodon in aspect,
but distinct, the flowers being of great
beauty, 4 to 6 inches across, of a
delicate purple, veined, and varying
from seed ; the leaves are in whorls.
The plants like a deep sandy loam, as
the carrot-like roots when of full size
go down to a depth of 2 feet. They
must be carefully handled, as they are

Ostroiuskya. ma.gnifi.ca.

very brittle. The Ostrowskya does
not apparently thrive equally in all
places, and is often disappointing.
Seeds germinate readily in a cold
frame, but a few years elapse between
sowing and flowering. Unique among
perennials, it is worthy of any care
to make it a success. Plant year-old
seedlings where disturbance is un-
necessary.

0 S T R Y A ( Hop Hornbeam) .—
According to Mr Bean one is a species
common to Europe and Asia Minor,
another is of E. Asia, and there is
one in western and one in eastern
N. America. They are summer-
leafing and should be raised from seed ;
they thrive in any soil of good or
moderate quality, and are all perfectly
hardy.

OTHONNOPSIS (Barbary Ragwort).
— O. cheirifolia is a distinct Composite
plant, with whitish-green tufts, 8 inches
to i foot high, or on rich soils perhaps
more. It is a spreading evergreen,
flowering sparsely on heavy and cold
soil, but on light soils often blooming
freely in May ; the flowers yellow,
about i^ inches across, but not pretty.
It is useful from its distinct aspect
on the rough rock garden or in the
mixed border. Cuttings. Perishes in
severe winters ; at least on clay soils.
Barbary.

OURISIA. — O. coccinea is a bright
dwarf Chilian creeper, bearing in early
summer scarlet blossoms in slender
clusters, 6 to 9 inches high. For
years this brilliant subject was reput-
edly difficult to grow. Experience
proves, however, that it revels in
cool rich loam and leaf soil, and
flowers profusely when with these
are associated broken sandstone, over
which the rhizomes creep and flower.
On no account should the rhizomes
be buried. Keep them level with
the surface. As it forms a perfect
mat, it should be divided and replanted
every two years.

OXALIS (Wood Sorrel). — Dwarf and
often pretty perennial or annual plants,
for the most part more happy and
free in temperate countries, but some
hardy with us on warm borders and
on the rock garden. They all thrive
best in a sandy soil in the warmest and
driest place in a garden. The following
are the best kinds for our gardens : —

O. ACETOSELLA (Stubwoit, Wood Sor-
rel).— The prettiest of all the kinds known
for our gardens is our native Wood Sorrel,
which bore in old times the better name of
" Stubwort " — a name which should be
used always. This grows in such pretty
ways in woody and shady places that in
many gardens there is no need to cultivate
it. Where it must be cultivated it will
be happy in the hardy fernery or in shady
spots in the rock garden, or under trees,
or the lawn, or in any shady or half -shady
places in ground not dug.

OXALIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. OXYTROPIS. 605

There are other species worthy of a
place, especially on very dry sandy soils,
and among them are O. Smithi, rosea,
Deppei, speciosa, arborea, violacea, versi-
color, incarnata, telraphylla, venusta, and
corniculata. If a collection, it should be
borne in mind that it is very difficult to
preserve the correctness of the names, for
the minute bulblets become mixed up

Oxalis Acetosellfi.

with the earth, and the elasticity of the
seed-pots permits the seeds to scatter in
all directions.

O. ADENOPHYLLA. — A very beautiful
new species from the Andes rivalling and
even eclipsing in beauty the better known
O. Enneaphylla. The plant is vigorous
habited, quite hardy, and grows freely in
loamy soils. The flowers are large and
coloured rosy-white, and appear in early
summer. Rare at present, it is one of
the choicest of gems for the rock garden.
Height, 4 to 6 inches. Increased by divi-
sion of the tubers when dormant.

O. BOWIEANA. — A robust species, form-
ing rich masses of leaves, 6 to 9 inches high,
and umbels of rose flowers continuously
throughout the summer, suitable for warm
borders at the foot of a south wall. In
cold soils it seldom flowers, but on very
sandy, warm, and well-drained soils it
flowers abundantly, and where it does
well it is one of the most precious of hardy
flowers. Division. Cape of Good Hope.

O. FLORIBUNDA. — A free-flowering kind,
hardy in all soils ; for months in succes-
sion it bears numbers of dark- veined
rose-coloured flowers. The white-flowered
variety flowers as freely as the rose-
coloured form, and both are very useful
for the rock garden and for margins of
borders, and are easily increased by
division. America.

O. LASIANDRA. — A distinct and beau-
tiful kind, with large dark green leaves,
and in early summer umbels of bright
rose-coloured flowers, and useful for warm
borders and the rock garden. Mexico.

O. ENNEAPHYLLA. — A lovely plant
from the Falkland Islands, producing
handsome, pure white, erect, open, bell-
shaped flowers from amid pale glaucous

green foliage. The plant revels in cool
rich loam and leaf-mould, and in such
flowers well and increases rapidly. Per-
fectly hardy and quite amiable. Does
not object to thin screening shade. June-
July. Increased by tuber division when
dormant. O. e. rosea is a pretty variety
whose flowers are delicately tinted rose.

O. LOBATA. — A stemless little plant
with three deeply-lobed bright green
leaflets, and blossoms about | inch across,
rich yellow, the centre delicately pencilled
with chocolate. A free-flowering bright
little plant during sunshine, thriving in
warm sandy loam on well-drained borders.
Flowers in September-October. Should
be planted in the warmest and sunniest
position. Chili.

O. LUTEOLA. — One of the prettiest,
forming a compact tuft ; the flower-buds
£ inch in length, and a soft creamy-yellow,
but when open they are as large as a half-
crown, and pure white, shading to yellow
towards the centre ; it is not hardy, but
in light sandy soil will survive a winter if
protected.

OXYDENDRUM (Sorrel Tree}.— A
handsome flowering tree reaching a
height of over 50 feet in its native
country, with rather large fine leaves
and many racemes of white flowers ;
thriving in our country, at least, on
peaty soils, and flowering freely in
summer. Ohio and Pennsylvania to
Florida, both in mountain and coast
lands. The tree is as yet far from
common, and the best way at first is
to group it with the American shrubs
in peaty and free soils. I have
planted it in rich leafy soil in most
spots in woods, where even small
plants so far hold their own among
the stoutest sedges.

OXYTROPIS.— Plants of the Pea

family, nearly allied to Astragalus, the
best of which is O. pyrenaica, a dwarf
species, with pinnate leaves covered
with silky down, barely rising above
the ground, the flowers a purplish-
lilac, barred with white, and borne in
heads of from four to fifteen in early
summer. Native of the Pyrenees,
rarely in gardens, and increased by
seed or division. Plant on well-
exposed and bare parts of rock gardens,
in firm, sandy, or gravelly soil. O.
Halleri has charming, compact flowers,
of as deep a blue as that of the Gentians,
and proves a manageable plant in
the rock garden in deep moist loam.
O. uralensis, a dwarf species from
the Ural Mountains, has rosy-blue
flowers in compact heads, about
4 inches high. Other kinds are — O.

606 OZOTHAMNUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

P^ONIA.

montana, fcetida, strobilacea, campestris,
and its several varieties ; all of these
are dwarf, and thrive in sandy loamy
soil in open spots in the rock garden.

OZOTHAMNUS. — O. rosmarini -
folius is a neat little evergreen shrub
almost hardy in the south and coast
districts, with small, Rosemary-like
leaves, and about the end of summer
bears dense clusters of small white
flowers. It thrives in any light soil,
and should be planted in an open
sunny spot or on a warm bank.
Tasmania.

PACHYSANDRA (Mountain Spurge).
— P. procumbens is a little sub-ever-

mountains of N.W. America. P.
myrsinites, the only kind in our
gardens, is i to 2 feet high, with Box-
like leaves and inconspicuous reddish
flowers followed by berries. Well-
drained and sunny places of the rock
garden in full sun. Seeds, layers, or
cuttings.

P.3EONIA (P atony). — Among the
most showy of hardy perennial
plants, with much beauty of colour
and often fragrance. Though there
are several species in collections, the
most important are the hybrids ob-
tained by inter-crossing. Paeonies are
divided into two groups — the tree or

Ozothainnus rosmarinifolius

green plant from the rocky woods of
N. America, 6 to 12 inches high,
and nearly allied to the Common Box.
Its prostrate stems bear deeply toothed
leaves of dull green, with small crowded
spikes of white or purplish flowers
in early spring, when they are much
sought by bees. A better plant is P.
terminalis from Japan. This is a true
evergreen, with thick glossy dark
green leaves, sometimes variegated,
and forms a neat carpet in the rock
garden. Both plants are hardy, and
mostly do best in a moist spot and in
half -shade, though the Japanese kind
will also grow in full sunlight. Easily
increased by division.

PACHYSTIMA.— A group of low
evergreen shrubs, like the Euonymus,
the two best known being from the

shrubby kinds, comprising the varieties
of P. Moutan ; and the herbaceous
kinds. The hybrid sorts have been
obtained chiefly from P. officinalis and
other European kinds, together with
the Chinese species albiflora, sinensis,
and edulis. The European varieties
flower early and the Chinese late, so
that the flowering season is prolonged.
Among the hybrid Paeonias there is
much variety of colour — white, pale
yellow, salmon, flesh-pink, and numer-
ous intermediate shades from carmine
to brightest purple. Among the oldest
varieties the most remarkable are —
grandi flora, double white ; Louis Van
Houtte, papaveriflora, rubra trium-
phans, sulphurea plenissima, rosea
superba, Zoe, Mme. Calot, Gloria
Patrice, and Prince Troubetskoy.
The most beautiful of recent date are —

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

P^ONIA

607

GOOD SINGLE KINDS : Argus, Armida,
Autumnus, Bridesmaid, Countess of
Warwick, Duchess of Sutherland,
Emily, Frank Bramley, Giganteus,
Miss Ida Chamberlain, Mrs J. Gundry,
Mrs Templeman, Philip H. Miller,
Stanley, The King, The Queen.
DOUBLE KINDS : Agnes Mar Kelway,
Arethusa, Beaute Franchise, Canarie,
Comte de Paris, Coronation, Dean
Hole, Dr Bonavia, Due de Wellington,
Duchesse de Nemours, Edulis superba,
Ella Christine Kelway, Etendard du
Grand Homme, Festiva Maxima, Glory
of Somerset, Henri Demay, Lady
Alexandra Duff, Lady Curzon, Leonie,
Queen of Roses, Mme. Vilmorin,
Monsieur Rousselon, Octavie Demay,
Philomele, Prolifera tricolor, Mme.
Charming, Mme. Calot, Mme. Charles
Leveque, Queen Victoria, Reine des
Franchises, Solfatarri Virginie, Souvenir
de Gaspar Calot, Triomphe de Paris,
Venus. Theie are many others — for ex-
ample, the forms of P. officinalis (such as
anemones flora, rubra, and Sabini, and the
rosy, crimson, and white double-flowered
varieties) ; also P. albiflora, peregrina,
paradoxa, and especially the small
P. tenui folia, with its feathery foliage
and large deep red blossoms. There
is a double form of this species, and
a variety called latifolia with broader
foliage, and one of the earliest of
Paeonies to flower. Then there is
P. lobata, with fine single flowers
of salmon-scarlet ; and P. corallina,
a native plant, with single reddish-
purple flowers followed by hand-
some pods of red and black seeds.
But the most distinct of all is P.
Wittmanniana, with single pale yellow
flowers early in May. Until recently
this was the only known Paeony with
yellow flowers, and the new P. lutea
belongs rather to the Tree Paeonies.
These, as well as the varieties, are
perfectly hardy, and need no protec-
tion against frost, however severe.

A good moist loam, enriched with
cow manure, is the soil best suited
to Paeonias. The best season for
planting is September- October ; the
earlier the better. New roots are
in course of formation at that time,
and the plants more quickly become
established. In any case the planting
should be completed while the crowns
remain dormant. To divide and
transplant in spring when in growth
is fatal to success, equally bad being
that of transplanting large specimens
intact. These are grave fundamental
errors. Plants having three or five

plump crowns are by far the best for
the planter. Have the ground well
prepared by manuring and by trench-
ing to the depth of about 3 feet,
and plant them at least 4 feet apart
in each direction. They will not
flower well before the second or third
year. An open position is best. The
Paeony revels in the deepest and
richest of soils, and once well planted
is good for a dozen years without
disturbance. When established apply
liquid manure in autumn and winter.

Besides their value for the garden
proper, there are few plants more fitted
for the wild garden ; and the most
brilliant and one of the boldest things
in wild gardening is a group of scarlet
Paeonies, or any of the hardy species
in meadow grass, in early summer.
This may be managed so that they
come into the garden landscape, so
to say, and are seen at a considerable
distance from certain points of view.
So placed, they could not be in the
way when out of flower, as they some-
times are in the mixed border.

P. MOUTAN (Tree Paeony). — A noble
plant of great beauty for its varieties,
which are very numerous. It is hardy,
and properly planted requires little care ; '
precious also for borders and for lawns.
Its blossoms are gorgeous in early spring,
and its young leaves assume every shade
of colour, from violet-crimson to green.
Tree Paeonies are not particular as to soil
or position, they grow and flower well in
chalky soils, or those of good sandy loam.
Moutans are gross feeders, and amply
repay generous treatments with occasional
top - dressings of half - decomposed cow
manure.

September and October are the best
months for planting Moutans, but if
planted from pots they may be put out
in spring, when all danger of frosts is over.
Good plants set in autumn produce many
flowers the second or third year after
planting, and soon become a most attrac-
tive feature of the garden. They flower
the first of any Paeonies, and put forth
their blooms early in May. When plant-
ing, because of their early flowering,
positions sheltering them from north and
east should be selected, in order that the
young tender shoots and flowers may
escape the ill effects of spring frosts.
Until the second half of this century only,
white, rose, salmon, and lilac sorts were
known ; and we are indebted to Mr
Fortune for his Chinese varieties, most of
which have scarlet, violet, and magenta
flowers. Von Siebold, too, introduced a
number of Japanese varieties, which,
however, form a different race, and are
mostly single or semi-double.

6o8

P^ONIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PANCRATIUM.

The following list contains the best
varieties of single and double kinds : — ,

SINGLE TREE PJEONIES. — Beatrice
Kelway, Cecil Rhodes, Christine
Keiway, Ella C. Stubbs, Henry
Irving, Jean de Reszke, Julius Caesar, ,
Karl Haag, Lady Sarah Wilson,
Miss Beatrice Jones, Mrs W. Kelway,
Princess of Wales, Queen Alexandra, |
Queen of Denmark. DOUBLE TREE \
PEONIES : Bijou du Chusan, Blanche |
Noisette, Debugny, Dr Bowring, Glory I
of Shanghai, James Kelway (semi-
double), La ville de St Denis, Lilacea

hardy as the others, and responds to
identical treatment. In all probability
it will prove the progenitor of a new
race of these plants.

PANAX SESSILIFLORUM. — This
really belongs to Acanthopanax, but
is sold under the above name. It is
one of the few shrubby Ar alias hardy
in Britain, coming from Manchuria,
where it grows as a tall dense shrub
with large trifoliate leaves and rounded
heads of dull purple flowers. The
chief beauty of the plant lies in the

Pceonia lutea.

pallida, Louise Mouchelet, Mme.
Rattier, Mme. Stuart Low, Maxima
plena, Reine Elizabeth, Triomphe de
Vandermael, Zenobia. Some of the
most strikingly beautiful are well
worthy of glass — that is, having a
sash or two put over them in spring
to save them from late frosts and
rainy weather. Plenty of air must
be admitted, and the flowers gain in
an astonishing degree, both in size
and colour

P. lutea, a new plant, has lately come
from the mountains of China, with the
woody stems of a Tree Paeony and
handsome yellow flowers. It is as

glossy black berries, which hang far
into the winter. Syn. Acanthopanax
sessiliflorum.

PANCRATIUM.— Graceful Lily-like
plants of the Amaryllis order, the
only really hardy kind being the S.
European P. illyricum, i to 2 feet
high, which bears in summer umbels
of large white fragrant blossoms. It
thrives in a warm exposed border of
sandy loam soil, well drained, the
bulbs protected by litter in winter.
These plants are better for transplan-
tation about every third year, as soon
as the leaves are decayed in autumn.

PANICUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PAPAVER.

609

Increased by offsets. P. maritimum is
also hardy in the south, if planted at
the foot of a warm wall in light soil
its large white flowers, in clustered
heads, are very fragrant and semi-
transparent in texture. The hardiest
of the other species are P. parviflorum,
littorale, and rotatum, but these only
succeed on warm soils in mild locali-
ties, and are best in a frame or a
cool greenhouse.

PANICUM. — Grasses, chiefly tropical,
though a few are hardy enough for
outdoor cultivation, and easy to grow
in ordinary garden soils.

P. ALTISSIMUM is a handsome hardy per-
ennial grass, forming dense erect tufts, 3
to 6£ feet high, according to climate and
soil, the flowers being a dark chestnut-red.

P. BULBOSUM. — A stout kind, with a
free and beautiful inflorescence, about
5 feet high ; the flowers spread gracefully.
It is suited for grouping near the margins
of shrubberies.

P. CAPILLARE. — A hardy annual, growing
in tufts from 1 6 to 20 inches high, pretty
in full flower, the tufts being then covered
with large pyramidal panicles of graceful
airy form and purplish in colour. It
grows in any soil, often sows itself, and
is suited for borders or beds, being one
of the most graceful of grasses.

P. VIRGATUM. — A handsome hardy grass,
4 to 6 feet high, forming close tufts of
leaves i to 3 feet long, with graceful
branching panicles of dull purple, the
spikelets drooping and curiously twisted.
Admirable for borders or for isolation in
the picturesque flower garden or pleasure
ground. Its colour, though quiet, is
pretty throughout the autumn, and not
without effect even in winter. Division.

PAPAVER (Poppy).— Some of the
most brilliant of hardy flowers, and of
the simplest culture. There are a few
good perennials, but the majority are
annual and biennial. They range from
the tiny alpine Poppy to the stately
Eastern Poppy and its varieties. All
are easily 'raised from fresh seeds.
Most Poppies re-sow themselves, and
sometimes too freely, and these self-
sown plants are always the first to
flower. Where seed is not wanted, the
pods should be removed as fast as they
form, to prolong the show of flowers.
The following are the best garden
kinds : —

P. ALPINUM (Alpine Poppy). — A plant
of dwarf habit from the limestone rocks of
the Alps, about 6 inches high, with finely
cut grey-green leaves and large white
flowers of silky texture, yellow at the
centre, with sometimes a green spot at
the base of each petal. When in good

condition, from May to September, this
little plant is charming, but it is apt to
perish, unlike a true perennial, especially
if disturbed. It does best in the rock
garden, in rather poor soil, with good
drainage and full sunlight, and will thrive
in walls and rocky clefts ; it will sometimes
" sow itself," coming easily from seed.
It varies much in colour, with scarlet, pale
rose, and yellow forms, and one in which
the petals are fringed.

P. NUDICAULE (Iceland Poppy). — A
dwarf robust kind, with leaves deeply
lobed, and large rich yellow flowers on
stems of 12 to 15 inches. It thrives in rich
light soils, and is useful for cutting, if
young flowers are gathered early in the
day. Though a perennial, it is a short-
lived one, and worth little after its second
season. Coming readily from seed and
blooming in its first year, it is more often
grown as an annual, flowering from May to
October if kept from seeding. The flowers
give many pretty shades, from orange to
pale red, yellow, and white, the petals
with a satin sheen and crumpled.

P. ORIENTALE. — The most showy of
Poppies, and among the noblest of hardy
plants, being robust, long - lived, with
stout hairy leaves and stems, and of easy
increase by seeds or division. A fine
distinct form of P. orientate is P. brac-
teatum, and the two have been freely
crossed with good results. Bracteatum is
the better plant, rising with masses of
luxuriant foliage and huge blood-red
flowers with bold dark blotches, 6 to 9
inches across, and carried on stout stems
with blooms set among large leafy bracts,
the flowers coming a little earlier and
lasting longer. Other forms are concolor,
an unspotted variety ; and triumphans,
of dwarf habit. The named garden
hybrids in red, orange, salmon, pale pink,
purple, and maroon, with many inter-
mediate shades, are useful for bold effects.

NAMED HYBRIDS. — The best of
these are Blush Queen, Loveliness, and
Medusa, in carmine and pale pink ; with
Psyche, Vesta, and Silver Queen coming
nearest white. Rosea, Rose Queen, and
The Shah are fine shades of deep rose
approaching crimson ; with Pride of
Livermere, an immense flower of blood-
red, and Waterloo, a dark crimson suffused
with violet, the leaves remarkably woolly.
Salmon Queen, Lady Roscoe, Brightness,
and Hesperia give charming shades of
salmon-red, and Prince of Orange, Mogul,
Fire-King, Trilby, and Duke of Teck
flowers of crimson or scarlet. Mahony
and Darkness are in shades of deep
maroon ; Distinction is rosy-lilac shading
to maroon ; the Princess of Wales a
peculiar satin-grey tint shot with pink.
There are now many seedlings in such
soft " art shades," and though not pleasing
to all tastes, these flowers gain in value
for decoration by their milder poppy

2 Q

6io

PAP AVER.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PAPAVER.

smell, this being a serious fault with the
more showy kinds. Other distinct varie-
ties are Grenadier and semi-plenum with
duplicate petals ; Fringed Beauty, in
which the crimson-scarlet petals are deeply
cut ; Tulip, with long taperirg buds of
lasting character ; and Mrs Marsh, a fine
flower with a showy blending of scarlet
and white. Dividing is best done after
flowering in autumn, and the choicer

flowers are borne very freely, several
together upon a stem ; they are about
3 inches across, and of a pretty soft shade
of reddish-buff, with a pale spot at the
base of the petals. A good kind for group-
ing on dry banks.

P. RH^EAS (Field Poppy). — Annual
flowers raised from the scarlet Poppy of
our fields, in varied colours ; single and
double forms, some self-coloured, and

White Poppies.

kinds may be raised from root-cuttings,
which come quite true.

P. PAVONINUM (Peacock Poppy). — An
annual from the sandy plains of Turkestan,
where it makes neat little tufts of about
12 inches, free in flowers of crimson-
scarlet with an inside ring of black. The
flowers are peculiar in bearing two horns
upon the sepals ; the brilliant flowers
and compact growth of the plants make
this one of the best of annual Poppies.

P. PILOSUM. — A perennial Poppy from
the mountains of Greece, with tall much-
branched stems and hoary leaves. The

others variegated or fringed. A well-
known strain is that of the " Shirley
Poppy," now much varied as to colour,
the latest gains being pretty salmon tints.
These little plants should be sown thinly
in light rich soil, and thinned to pre-
vent crowding. There are several double-
flowered strains, known as French, Ger-
man, and Ranunculus flowered Poppies.
A new variety, japonicum, from Japanese
gardens, has smaller and fuller flowers,
more varied as to shape

P. RUPIFRAGUM. — Little hairy plants like
a perennial Shirley Poppy, of delicate

PARNASSIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PARROTIA.

appearance, i to 2 feet high, with a neat
habit, and useful for cutting. The
flowers are 2 to 3 inches across when
fully open, and a soft orange or terra-
cotta colour. Morocco and S.W. Europe.

P. SOMNIFERUM (Opium Poppy). — An
annual stately and showy with large
flowers, the foliage grey-green, flowers
variable in form and colour, rank in smell
and useless for cutting, but of good effect
when grouped boldly. The plants mostly
grow 2 to 3 feet high, with single flowers
ranging from white to deep crimson, and
double ones with heavy scarlet, white, or
striped flowers, of great beauty. Good
single kinds are Maid of the Mist, white
with finely fringed petals ; The Bride,
also white ; Flag of Truce, Miss Sherwood,
with pale pink edges ; Danebrog, a very
handsome flower in scarlet and white ;
and Mephisto, scarlet and black. The
double forms are yet more varied, includ-
ing those known as the Carnation and
Paeony-flowered Poppies, the first with
fringed petals, and the second with very
full broad ones. Favourite double kinds
coming fairly-true are Mursellii and Mur-
sellii splendens : Mikado, in white and
crimson ; Mary Campbell, very full and
finely fringed ; White Swan, also white ;
and Cardinal, with fiery red flowers,
very large and full, with fringed petals.

P. UMBROSUM. — A brilliant annual,
about 2 feet high, like the common field
Poppy, but of a darker red, and with a jet
black blotch at the base of each petal con-
spicuous both inside and out, making
masses of this plant showy in early sum-
mer. A compact form has arisen under
cultivation, and one with double flowers.
Seeds should be sown in autumn, in order
to secure strong plants for the ensuing
summer. Caucasus.

P. ARENARIUM. — A showy annual from
the Caucasus, bearing purple flowers with
dark spots. Other handsome Poppies,
such as Heldreichii and spicatum, both
from Asia Minor, with orange and brick-
red flowers respectively, are perennials of
easy culture.

PARNASSIA (Grass of Parnassus).—
Pretty perennials for the bog garden.
In our moist heaths and bogs Parnassia
palustris is frequent, and a very pretty
plant it is — handsome enough to cul-
tivate in moist spots, where it will
grow as in its native haunts. Three
other kinds, natives of N. America,
are quite as showy. P. fimbriata has
large flowers with peculiar fringe-like
appendages, its kidney-shaped leaves
resembling those of P. asarifolia,
another hardy species, about 9 inches
high, which bears similar white flowers
without fringes. P. caroliniana differs
from P. asarifolia in having oval or
heart-shaped leaves ; it flowers about

the same time, usually from the begin-
ning of July till the end of August.
These hardy Parnassias thrive best in
a moist peaty soil or a spongy bog.
Seed, division. Saxifrage order.

Opium Poppies (Palaver somniferuni).

PAROCHETUS (Shamrock Pea}. —
P. communis is a beautiful little creep-
ing perennial with Clover-like leaves,
2 to 3 inches high, bearing in spring
Pea-shaped blossoms of a beautiful
blue. It is of easy culture in warm
positions on the rock garden and the
choice border, and where the climate
is too cold to grow it in the open air
it may be grown in a cold frame or
in baskets in the greenhouse. Division
or seed. Nepaul.

PARROTIA (Iron Tree). — Low
Hazel - like trees, natives of N.
India and Persia, less remarkable for
their beauty of flower than for fine
colour in autumn, when the leaves
give a mixture of crimson, orange, and
yellow, unique among hardy trees.
The best known is the Persian, P.
persica, which is hardy at least in

612

PARRYA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PELARGONIUM.

S. England. It is quite free in our
Sussex soils. Seeds or layers.

PARRYA. — A small group of dwarf
perennial herbs from high mountain or
arctic regions, with thick root-stocks,
narrow leaves, and showy flowers in
white, rose, or purple, and rather like
a dwarf Hesperis in effect. They are
easily grown in the rock garden in
ordinary soil, and increase by division.
Very few kinds are in cultivation,
though several are well worth growing,
such as P. integerrima, with pretty
purple flowers in April and May ; P.
nudicaulis, a charming plant with

Parnassiapalustris (Grass of Parnassus).

large lilac flowers in early summer ;
and P. Menziesii, from N.W. America,
with soft rosy or deep purple flowers
in spikes of 6 inches.

PASSIFLORA (Passion-flower). —
The hardy blue Passion-flower, P.
c&rulea, from its beauty and dis-
tinctness deserves to be grown wher-
ever the climate permits. It is not
so suitable for arbours or trellises
as for walls ; the heat from the walls
aids in ripening the wood, and so
enables it to withstand the winter. A
southern aspect is best for it, though it
grows against west or east walls, only
requiring a good soil, and, perhaps, a
slight protection during winter. In
places where it fruits freely the bright

orange colour continued far into
autumn is an added merit. To ensure
fruiting, several plants should be
planted not far from one another. The
white variety, Constance Elliot, is as
hardy as the older kind. No other
variety of P. ccerulea is so distinct,
and no other Passion-flower is hardy
enough for outdoor walls.

PAULOWNIA. — P. imperialis is a
fine flowering tree from Japan, not
suitable for our climate generally,
though in a few places it succeeds.
It comes into flower and leaf so early
that the buds, and often the young
leaves, are injured by late frosts ;
otherwise there may be a lovely bloom.
It is fine in leaf as well as in bloom ;
the leaves are a foot in length, and
have even exceeded 20 inches. The
flowers are in erect spikes, and shaped
like those of a Bignonia of a delicate
mauve purple, blotched inside with
a deeper tint. In countries a little
warmer than Britain this tree is very
beautiful, and much used in public
gardens and even in street planting.
At maturity the Paulo wnia assumes
a dense rounded head, but rarely
exceeds 30 feet in height, although
in some south-coast gardens there are
trees of 40 feet.

If the young trees are cut back
annually they make strong shoots
bearing enormous leaves, with the
advantage of being much hardier than
the tender greenhouse plants used
in summer to give such effects. The
tree is best on a light deep loam.

PELARGONIUM (Stork's Bill).—
Nearly all Pelargoniums are natives
of the southern hemisphere, or have
originated as cross-bred va tie ties in
European countries. They are wrongly
termed Geraniums, as, although allied
to that family, they are distinct
from it, Geraniums being chiefly
natives of the northern half of the
globe, and all of them hardy plants.
The genus Pelargonium contains many
species, which botanists have divided
into sections, and many kinds will
grow and flower in the open air during
summer, although unable to withstand
our winters.

Of all the varieties of the flower
garden the " zonals " are the most
useful, and they are supposed to be
descended from two distinct species,
P. zonale and P. inquinans. As
bedding-out plants they are of great
value ; and the ease with which they
yield improved forms has led to the

PELARGONIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PELARGONIUM. 613

introduction of many beau-
tiful varieties, in colours
ranging from white to in-
tense scarlet, purple, and
violet. On account of the
brilliancy of their flowers,
these plants have some-
times been too freely used
in the flower garden, but
their use is now better
understood. Among the
Zonal varieties there are
many with variegated and
beautiful foliage, especially
in that section known as
Tricolors, and these, on
account of their not suc-
ceeding well in all soils,
are less grown out of doors
than they deserve. Where
they succeed, however, they
form very attractive beds,
when grown for the sake of
their foliage, the trusses
of bloom being removed
from time to time as
they appear. The varieties
known as " bronze zonals "
are also good outdoor
plants, the free exposure
intensifying their rich tints.

ISlo plants are more easily
increased than these : cut-
tings may be inserted at
any time, and root freely
in sandy soil, in the open
air during summer and
autumn, and under glass
during winter and spring.
But the principal stock of
plants is got by cuttings
inserted in pots, pans, or
boxes in the open air during
the early autumn, and
such make the best plants.
During winter the protec-
tion of glass and the exclu-
sion of frost are essential.

Zonal Pelargoniums from
seed may also be treated
as annuals, and will bloom
in less than ten months
from the time of sowing ;
but the seed should be
sown as soon as it is ripe,
say during August. Enough
seed can always be had by
retaining a few plants for
the purpose in front of a
greenhouse, in any light,
airy spot. If new varieties
are" sought, there should be
artificial fertilisation : but

Passiflora Constance Elliot.

614

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PELARGONIUM.

this is unnecessary if the plants are
merely for planting out in the parterre.
If the plants used for seed be all of
the same sort, the seedlings will be
tolerably true — i.e., the same variety
as the parent. The pots should be of
convenient size (say 6 inches in dia-
meter), and filled to within £ inch of
the rims with light turfy soil ; the
seed may be sown rather thickly,
gently pressed into the soil, and
slightly covered with it. Water with
a fine rose, cover the pots with a piece
of glass, and place them in a tempera-
ture of about 65° ; the seeds will soon
vegetate, and the piece of glass should
then be removed ; the plants when
large enough should be pricked off

this form they are sometimes effective,
for the drawing of sustenance through
a slender stem induces a very free-
flowering habit. Strong stakes are
needed to support the heavy heads,
and the principal branches should be
secured to circular hoops. Single varie-
ties may also be grown into standards,
and in their case seedlings are likely
to form specimens sooner than plants
from cuttings. Before frost, all stan-
dards should be well cut back, taken
up, and repotted in pots not larger
than may contain the roots ; they
should be staked and afterwards placed
in a temperature not under 60° until
they root. Treated thus annually,
such plants are often in perfect health

Pelargonium Dr Andre.

into seed-pans and kept near the glass
in a reduced temperature during the
winter. Early in the following March
they should be potted singly into
3-inch pots and placed in a cold pit,
or a similar structure where frost is
excluded, until the time arrives when
they may be safely planted out.
During the first part of the season such
plants may bloom less freely than
those from cuttings, but their neat
habit and healthy foliage will com-
pensate for this.

Many sorts remarkable for their fine
flowers are so poor in habit as to be
useless for bedding-out ; and few of
the many beautiful double varieties of
Zonals can be recommended for out-
door culture, unless as standards, with
clean stems, 2| to 3 feet in length. In

even when twelve or fourteen years
old.

Next in importance to the Zonals for
outdoor culture are the Ivy-leaved
kinds, or the varieties of P. lateripes.
More particularly is this the case
since their crossing with the Zonal
varieties, which has produced many
beautiful sorts useful for outdoor
culture. They should be treated like
the Zonals, but being rather more
tender they need a little more warmth
in winter.

The following are a few of the many
Zonal varieties suited for outdoor
culture or for massing in the flower
garden or elsewhere : Beckwith's Pink,
Crimson Crampel, Salmon Crampel,
Comber's Pink, Maxime Kovalesky,
Henry Jacoby Improved, King Edward

PENNISETUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PENTSTEMON. 615

VII., King of Bedders, Lady Bailey,
Mons. Myriel, Mrs Holford, Mrs R.
Cannell, Omphale, Paul Crampel,
Phyllis, Queen of Whites, Sam Jacoby,
Snowdrop, Surprise, Swanley White,
Vesuvius, and West Brighton Gem.
These are all with single flowers, but
a few of the double kinds are also
useful, such as Double Jacoby, Hermi-
one, F. V. Raspail, Gustav Emich,
Jean Viaud, King of Denmark, and
Ville de Poitiers. Several of these
are also excellent for blooming under
glass during the winter, among the
best in this way being Countess of
Dudley, Carmaina, Aldenham, Helen
Countess of Radnor, Mrs Lawson,
F. V. Raspail Improved, Hall Caine,
Hermione, King of Denmark, King
Edward VII., Lady Roscoe, Mary
Beaton, Mrs Chas. Pearson, Mrs Law-
rence, Prince of Orange, Sirdar, and
Ville de Poitiers.

Of the -Ivy-leaved sorts and their
hybrid varieties the following are
useful as bedding plants for their
double flowers of fine colour : Achieve-
ment, Col. Baden-Powell, Galilee, Her
Majesty the Queen, Mme. Crousse,
Mrs Hawley, Souvenir de Chas. Turner.
Bridal Wreath and Dolly Varden are
older single-flowered kinds, and Duke
of Edinburgh and Aureum margina-
tum varieties with variegated leaves.
These Ivy-leaved sorts are invaluable
for vases, balconies, and for pegging
down on the surface of beds. There
is now coming out a new series of
hybrids combining the fine glossy
foliage and bright flowers of the ivy-
leaved kinds with the sturdy erect
habit, and often the distinct leaf-
marking of the zonal section. As yet
one cannot say much as to their
garden value, but such kinds as Ching-
foid Beauty, belonging to this class,
seem to promise well for the future.

PENNISETUM. — P. longistylum is

one of the most elegant of grasses, i to
1 1 feet high ; the flower-spikes, borne
on slender stems, are from 4 to 6 inches
long, of singular twisted form, and
enveloped in a purplish feathery down.
It is useful for cutting, as it lasts a
long time, is perennial and hardy,
growing in free garden soil. Easily
raised from seed, or root division in
early spring. P. fimbriatum is a
similar species, equally desirable. P.
japonicum is a taller kind with long
narrow leaves and a dense rounded
spike. P. macrourum, like a miniature
Pampas Grass, is a tall perennial from

the mountains of S. Africa, with spikes
of flower a foot long. P. latifolium
from S. America is a noble plant in the
summer garden, but will not stand
our winters in the open.

PENTSTEMON (Beard Tongue].—
For their varied colour, profuse flower-
ing, and graceful habit, Pentstemons
have a high value for our flower-beds,
especially as their beauty covers five
months, commencing in June with the
charming blue P. procerus, and finish-
ing with the endless varieties of P.
Hartwegi in shades of rose, scarlet,
and crimson, whose beauty holds its
own even in November, after more
fragile plants have perished.

Pelargonium "Pretty Polly."

As regards culture, the species have
the reputation of being difficult to
manage, as some of the shrubby section
die when apparently in health. To
ensure success, drainage is often essen-
tial, as they fear moisture at the roots
more than cold. The best soil is friable
loam, with a mixture of well-decayed
leaf mould and sharp sand. It is well
to have a few plants in cold frames,
to fill any gaps in the borders. They
may be grown from cuttings or seeds.
Seed should be sown in February
or March on a gentle hot-bed under
a frame, in seed-pans well drained
with broken plaster and filled with a
compost of peat soil and sand. In
April the seedlings should be pricked
out under a frame, and these, planted

6i6

PENTSTEMON.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PENTSTEMON.

out in May, will usually flower by
autumn.

The following are the cultivated
species. Some are not sufficiently
hardy for border culture, though they
succeed well enough against a warm
wall. It is a very large genus in the
vast range of its own country, so here
are given a selection best for our
climate.

P. ACUMINATUS. — A pretty plant growing
rigidly erect to 12 or 1 8 inches, with thick
greyish leaves clasping the stem and a
compact spike of mauve or violet flowers,
wide at the throat and nearly an inch
long.

P. AZUREUS. — A beautiful plant form-
ing a neat tuft of narrow grey leaves
and loose spikes of azure-blue flowers
shading to reddish-purple at the base.
N. California. Jaffrayanus. — One of the
best dwarf forms, about a foot high, with
redish stems bearing large flowers of rich
blue in showy clusters of three to five
blossoms.

P. BARBATUS. — A tall, erect plant, very
showy in a dry season, and one of the best
and hardiest kinds. Its spikes of narrow
tubular flowers, varying from light pink
to bright carmine, rise from a dense
spreading tuft of bright green leaves. A
flesh-coloured form is known as carneum,
and there is also a white form. Other
varieties are Torreyi with deep scarlet
flowers, longer in the lip and coming
rather later than in the parent ; and
Antwerpensis, of looser procumbent habit,
the stems rooting where they touch the
ground, and bearing small flowers of vivid
scarlet. Syn. Chelone Barbata.

P. C^RULEUS. — A dwarf kind rarely
exceeding 9 inches, with large flowers
varying from light blue to lilac and
white, or more rarely flushed with rose.
The plant is sub-shrubby in habit with
grey foliage, and is one of the most beau-
tiful for the rock garden.

P. CAMPANULATUS. — A Mexican species
of about 2 feet with diffuse spreading habit,
branching freely from a woody base ;
stemless leaves narrowing from a broad
base and much toothed. Long narrow
spikes of flowers variously shaded in pink
and violet, and borne during a long
season. Comes freely from seed.

P. CONFERTUS. — A distinct plant with
short erect stems rising from a carpet of
dark green shining leaves, at times finely
toothed. Small flowers of pale yellow or
creamy white in dense crowded spikes.
A much prettier variety of this is P.
c&ruleo-purpureus, with compact heads of
deep violet blue, appearing earlier than
any other kind. Syn. P. procerus.

P. CORDIFOLIUS. — A useful shrubbery
plant of semi-climbing habit, flowering
from early summer to late autumn. Its
growths are leafy, the long slender stems

loaded with tubular scarlet flowers about
an inch long. S. California. Being
tender, this handsome kind needs shelter
in winter.

P. GLABER.— A handsome plant, and one
of the best, with several fine seedling
forms. Dwarf erect growths, often less
than a foot high and slender in habit, with
long narrow leaves, smooth and wavy.
Profuse in fleshy flowers of an inch or
more, wide at the mouth and borne in
clusters of six or seven ; colour, bright
blue shading to violet or purple. Banks
of the Spokane River in N.W. America.
Among its many good forms are alpinus, a
dwarf robust kind with dense clusters of
clear azure blue ; cyanthus, a form from
the Rocky Mountains, with taller and
greener stems, broader in leaf, with dense
clusters of blue ; hybridus, stouter and
more vigorous with large heads of blue
and rosy-purple ; speciosus, a narrow-
leaved form with beautiful bright blue
flowers shaded purple ; and splendens, a
tall plant with flowers of rich dark blue.
Seed should be sown early* in spring.
Syns. P. speciosus and preanihera.

P. HETEROPHYLLUS.- — A lovely little sub-
shrub, 12 to 15 inches high, with narrow
leaves of grey-green, and slender branching
stems of clear, bright blue flowers, with a
rosy flush deepening to purple, and often
much varied upon the same plant. July.
Thrives best in warm sheltered spots and
light soil, and it is best to winter a reserve
of cuttings under glass. California.

]?. MENZIESII. — A shrubby kind found
by Douglas in the Rocky Mountains. It is
a good rock plant for a sunny corner in dry
sandy soil, with freely spreading stems of
less than 12 inches, and pretty rose-purple
flowers of brilliant hue. Increased by
cuttings in sandy soil. Its several forms
are : Douglasi, wi-* • cmall thick leaves
and lilac or rosy-i trple flowers; New-
berryi, forming a graceful bush . ' ^ink
or rosy-purple flo <:rs ; and Scouleri, a
taller and earlier f cring form
habit, rooting at 1^.0 joints, and hardier
than most, its flowers ui i>;
violet-purple. Oregon.

P. OVATUS. — A pretty mountain A
from the limestone summits of Idaho, with
slender erect stems of 3 feet, bearing bright
green leaves and loose spikes of blue
flowers changing to rosy-purple. It is
best grown from seed at frequent intervals,
old plants perishing.

P. SECUNDIFLORUS. — A distinct plant of
free growth, with narrow grey-green leaves
and bluish flowers suffused with bronze
where touched by sunlight. They are an
inch or more long, very broad and bell-
shaped towards the mouth, and carried
in long, narrow, one - sided racemes.
Colorado.

Hybrid Pentstemons are supposed
to have come from P. gentianoides,

PENTSTEMON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PERNETTYA. 617

but more largely from the pretty P.
Hartwegi. P. Cobcea, too, has prob-
ably come in somewhere, for some
varieties bear a strong resemblance to
it. Whatever their parentage, they
are beautiful plants, and much use
should be made of them, as they are
valuable in autumn and carry their
beauty into winter ; at least, in wes-
tern and seaside gardens.

They succeed in any good soil, such
as a good loam enriched with manure
and leaf-soil. They can be planted
out as groups in beds, or in the mixed
border, where their various colours
blend charmingly, ranging from white
to scarlet, with intermediate shades of
pink, rose, purple, carmine, and pur-

Elish-lilac. If good plants be put out
y the end of April, they will bloom
about the middle of June, and yield
flowers until winter. They are in-
creased both by cuttings and by seeds.
The Pentstemon is a free seeder,
and there is no difficulty in obtaining
seed. It should be taken from only
the finest varieties showing distinct
or novel character — and such varieties
can scarcely fail to yield something
worthy of cultivation. The seed
should be sown in February or early
in March in a gentle heat : it will
quickly germinate, and when the
plants are large enough to handle, they
should be pricked off into shallow
boxes, and after a time hardened off
in a cold frame. Here they can
remain till the end of May or later,
according to size, and they should
then be planted out in well-prepared
beds. When they flower, which they
will do by August and September,
any especially good varieties should
be marked for increase. If the bed
of seedlings be allowed to stand for
another season (and this is often a
good plan), the seed-stalks should be
cut away as soon as ripe, and the bed
cleaned, top-dressed with leaf-soil and
short manure in spring, and there will
be a plentiful harvest of flowers the
following summer. Seedlings should
be protected by a cold frame during
winter, and planted out in April in
good soil in a sunny spot.

Good garden forms of Pentstemons
are : Arthur J. Ward, Countess of
Tweeddale, Dr Baine, Dr Barrie,
Edwin Beckett, Emile Rodigas,
George Home, James Robertson, Jane
Dieulafoy, John A. Elliot, John Forbes,
John Jennings, Joseph Chamberlain,
Joseph Kent, Lady Arthur, Lord
Lister, Lord Rothschild, Marconi, Miss

Stewart Peter, Miss Talbot, Mrs Forbes,
Mrs J. Chamberlain, Mrs Oliver, Mrs
Jennings, Mrs Younger, M. Deherain,
Peter Readman, Simon Campbell, and
Walter Thomson. The above are
remarkable for the large size and
brilliant colour of their flowers, but a
variety that for massing is as good as
any is Newberry Gem. In this the
blooms are small and graceful, very
freely carried during many weeks on a
plant of neat compact habit, their
glowing crimson colour rendering great
effect in the border or in massed beds.
It is hardier, too, than the others,
and in many gardens quite a good
perennial.

PERAPHYLLUM RAMOSISSIMUM.

— A shrub of the Rose family, summer-
leafing, inhabiting dry hillsides in
California and other parts of the
western United States. Its blossoms,
pure white and each about three-
quarters of an inch wide, are followed
by round, yellowish edible berries
about half an inch in diameter. The
foliage is a greyish-green. The chief
thing to remember in its cultivation is
that it needs as sunny a position as
possible.

PERILLA. — P. nankinensis is a half-
hardy annual, with dark vinous-purple
foliage. Seed should be sown about
the middle of February in pans or
boxes in heat ; the seedlings should
be transplanted into boxes in soil not
over-rich, and after being gradually
hardened off they should be planted
out about the end of May. To those
who cannot give it artificial heat in
spring it is worth little, as it needs
heat to reach a fair size for planting.
It has never had a place in my garden.
Much used in bedding-out, and often
with the worst effect.

PERIPLOCA (Silk Vine).—P.graca
is a hardy shrubby climber of the
Stephanotis order, excellent for walls,
arbours, trellises, and the like, but
owing to the somewhat unpleasant
odour of its flowers should not be
planted against a dwelling-house. Its
long slender stems and branches
form a dense mass, and at midsummer
are covered with brownish-red velvety
flowers. Seeds or layers. S. Europe.

PERNETTYA (Prickly Heath). —
Evergreen shrubs of the Heath family,
from S. America. At one time
several of the wild kinds were grown,
but none proved satisfactory until by
crossing and selection a race of seed-

6i8

PEROWSKIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PETASITES.

lings was obtained from Ps. mucronaia
and angustifolia. These seedling forms
of mucronata are among the most
beautiful of berried shrubs, bearing
dense clusters of berries varying in
size from a small Pea to a small Cherry,
and in colour from white, pale pink,
and lilac, to crimson, purple, and
nearly black. The plants differ in
habit, some being nearly prostrate,
and others erect or drooping, though
the largest are not much over 2 feet
high ; their fruits also vary in density
and texture. They are often borne
so freely that little plants of a few
inches high will be loaded down with
them, but in some gardens, and for
no apparent reason, not many are set.
The plants do best grouped together
in sunny places, where they shade each
other's roots, and where the atmo-
sphere is moist and the ground cool,
and the soil rich in peaty or vegetable
matter. They succeed well, however,
in stiffer soils, such as clay and lime-
stone marl, especially if given a little
good soil at the outset, and soon make
dense masses, spreading by suckers.
They grow fairly well even in shade,
but fruit less freely, and only fail in
hot, sandy, or chalky soils, or where
there is much lime. Otherwise they
are fully hardy, free from insect pests,
and move readily, though averse to
disturbance. The small sharply -
pointed deep green leaves are always
neat, and the numerous bell-like white
flowers expanding in May, and in
pretty contrast with the bright red of
the new shoots, render these little
shrubs worth growing for their spring-
tide beauty alone.

PEROWSKIA ATRIPLICIFOLIA

(Silvery Sage}. — A beautiful silver-grey
half-shrubby plant of the Sage order,
with a pungent odour, growing 3 to 5
feet high, with blue and white flowers
in July and August. The effect
of the numerous flowering shoots and
the grey foliage is good, and the plant
is worth a place in the choicest garden
for its graceful habit and long season
of beauty, and the value of its slender
panicles for cutting. It does best in a
sunny spot, and is hardy — at least in
the south. Cuttings. Afghanistan.

PETALOSTEMON (Prairie Clover).—
Pretty clover-like perennials, mostly
from the western states of America,
and not much grown, though well
worthy of cultivation in warm open
soils, coming readily from seed. The
best species are P. candidus, with white

flowers on stems of i to 2 feet ; P.
oligophyllum, with spike-like white
heads on slender stems ; P. tenui-
folium, with narrow silvery down-
covered foliage, and spikes of rosy-
purple flowers ; and violaceus, forming
a neat tuft of finely-cut foliage and
showy spikes of deep violet flowers.
All are better for a dry place.

PETASITES (Winter Heliotrope).—
P. fragrans is a rampant weed bloom-
ing in December and January, unless
the weather is very severe. The
flowers, deliciously fragrant and of a
pale dingy lilac, are gathered in short

The Winter Heliotrope (Fetasites fragran*).

panicles upon stems of 4 to 12 inches.
It is unfit for garden culture, as it runs
very much at the root and becomes a
weed, and should be planted on rough
banks and in hedgerows, as it is very
useful for winter bouquets, and may
carpet a small clump of shrubbery
where it can be conveniently gathered.
It is not a hardy plant, and is cut down
by severe frost. S. Europe. Another
species, P. vulgaris (Common Butter-
bur), is a native plant, 2 to 2^ feet
high, closely allied to the common
Coltsfoot, but having great Rhubarb-
like leaves. The flowers appear in
spring before the leaves, and are a dull
pinkish-purple. Exotic plants with
less effective leaves than this have been
used in gardens ; but it should not be
allowed to come nearer to the garden

PETROCALLIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PHACELIA. 619

than the margin of some adjacent
stream or moist bottom. An allied
plant, P. japonica gigantea, has re-
cently come to us from the Far East,
where the great rounded leaves, as
large as a small sunshade and used as
such by Japanese children, rise on
stout fleshy stems as high as a man. It
makes a stately waterside plant, and
coming from the island of Saghalien
it should prove fully hardy in this
country. Its flowers come in early
spring, before the leaves. Division.

PETROCALLIS (Rock Beauty}. — P.
pyrenaica is a beautiful little alpine
plant, forming dense cushions 2 to
3 inches high, resembling a mossy
Saxifrage, with fragrant pale lilac
flowers, faintly veined, coming in April.
Though hardy, it is fragile, and hap-
piest on the rock garden, in sandy
fibry loam, in level sunny spots, where
it can root freely in moist soil mingled
with broken stones. It may also be
grown in pots plunged in sand in the
open air, and in frames in winter, but
it becomes " drawn " and delicate
under glass. Increase by seed or
careful division. Alps and Pyrenees.
P. fenestmta is a newer kind, of similar
habit but with white flowers.

PETTERIA RAMENTACEA

(Dalmatian Laburnum}. — A deciduous
tree-like shrub allied to Laburnum
and Cytisus. Introduced in the middle
of the last century, but not common
in gardens. It is quite hardy, flowering
in May and June. The seeds are
poisonous. Dajmatia and Montenegro.

PETUNIA. — In certain positions,
some of these showy half-hardy plants
of the Solanum order produce a good
effect. The spots chosen for Petunias
should be open and sunny, and the soil
deep and rich, for in low damp situa-
tions' they perish with the first cold
nights of autumn. A pleasing variety
may be quickly raised from seeds of a
good strain. Sown in heat in February
or March, good plants may be had for
putting out at the end of May, but it
is not safe to plant them out earlier.
Seedlings, too, are now so good that
they are frequently planted in mixed
borders for cutting.

PHACELIA. — A group of sun-loving
annuals with showy flowers, mainly
from the western states of N.
America. Some are only a few inches
high and spread along the ground ;
others are several feet in height,
bearing bell-shaped or tubular flowers,

blue, mauve, purple, or white, and
carried in curved racemes which
straighten as they expand. Only two
or three kinds have been grown in our
gardens, but others are well worth a
place as they become better known.
They are of easy culture as annuals,
some kinds preferring sandy soils and
others something stiffer. The tall
kinds should be planted fairly close,
and the trailers farther apart, and most
kinds will begin to flower in about
ten weeks from sowing. Nearly all
are more or less hairy, and like, most
hairy plants- they like a dry place,
and then bloom freely and through a
long season. Seeds may be raised in
heat, and the seedlings planted out in
clumps, but this needs care, for all
Phacelias dislike moving. They may

/»**•»,

ir-

Petrocallis pyrenaica.

be sown in the open during April.
August sowings may also be made,
to be wintered under glass, and
flower in early spring. Few plants are
more valuable to bee-keepers. The
best kinds are : —

P. BIPINNATIFIDA. — A bushy plant of
i to 2 feet, with dissected leaves irregu-
larly lobed and toothed, and covered with
downy hairs. The flowers, opening in
succession from July and September, are
small but very numerous, and arranged
as in the Heliotrope. The buds are white
and the open flowers bright blue with
prominent stamens. Pretty for cutting.
Found in Ohio and Alabama, much farther
east than other kinds.

P. CAMPANULARIA (Gentianelle) . — The
best kind, free in its fine dark blue flowers,
spotted with white in the throat ; they
last a long while, and the plant makes a
pretty carpet in sunny places.

P. DIVARICATA. — A showy kind, abound-
ing on the shores of the Bay of San Fran-
cisco. Its fragile stems spread freely,

62O

PHALARIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PHILADELPHUS.

bearing oval leaves curving upwards at
the edges, and loose spikes of pale violet
flowers three-quarters of an inch across.

P. DOUGLASII. — A neat spreading plant
with the habit and appearance of Nemo-
phila insignis, its hairy and much-cut
leaves gathered near the base of the
stems, and the bell-shaped flowers half
an inch across.

P. HUMILIS. — An alpine species, coming
from a height of 5,000 to 6,000 feet in the
mountains of California. Though of erect
habit, it is only a few inches high, branch-
ing freely from the base. The leaves are
spoon-shaped, and the rich indigo-blue
flowers carried freely as locse spikes.

P. MENZIESII. — Of erect habit and 9 to
12 inches high, covered with rough grey
hairs ; leaves long, narrow, and stemless.
The flowers come freely in clusters of
bell-shaped deep violet or white blossoms,
half to three-quarters of an inch across,
rich and lasting. A good and easily
grown kind.

P. PARRYI. — From S. California, is a
compact plant of 6 to 12 inches, with
oval leaves, hairy on both sides and some-
what sticky. The flowers are shaped
like a shallow bell, with a spreading mouth
an inch across, their prevailing rich purple
colour relieved by five pure white spots.
This with me was almost as pretty as the
Gentianelle.

P. SERICEA. — A perennial species from
Colorado, with leafy stems of 6 or 8 inches,
leaves cut into narrow leaflets, and dense
heads of violet-purple flowers. A pretty
plant, best suited to the warm soils of
pur southern shore gardens, proving tender
in colder soils and inland.

P. VISCIDA. — From open spaces near the
Pacific coast ; is a hairy, gum-covered
plant of i to 2 feet, with rounded and
toothed leaves i £ to 3 inches long ; the
flowers are deep blue or purple with a
white centre. Syn. Eutoca viscida.

P. WHITLAVIA. — A loosely-branched
plant of I to 2 feet, with angular toothed
leaves, and large rich blue flowers nearly
an inch across, the corolla divided into
five spreading lobes. There is a white
form and a variety gloxinioides, in which
the flowers are spotted.

PHALARIS (Ribbon Grass). — Gar-
den grasses useful in the wild garden
or beside water, where the spreading
roots can do no harm. The forms
commonly grown are those striped
with yellow or creamy-white, and
known as arundinacea variegata and
elegantissima. These grow about 4 feet
high, and are best in rather poor soils,
but are not particular, doing well
almost anywhere, and also in shallow
water. The Canary Grass, P. canari-
ensis, is a pretty annual kind, with

graceful variegated seed spikes. Syn.
Digraphis.

PHELLODENDRON (Eastern Cork
Tree) . — Hardy summer - leafing trees
about 50 feet high, from China and
Japan, spreading in habit, and with
large leaves cut into many leaflets.
Of quick growth, they soon make a
low round head, and thrive in all save
wet soils. The bark is thick, light
grey, and corky. They are being used
in America for street planting, but are
little known in this country. Increase
by seeds and root-cuttings rooted in
sand. The Chinese P. amurense is the
hardier and more vigorous kind, P.
japonicum being perhaps a form of it,
and P. sachalinense, a promising
kind, the last to come.

PHILADELPHUS (Mock Orange). — •
Beautiful flowering shrubs from the
temperate regions of the northern
hemisphere, summer-leafing, and with
few exceptions hardy. There are
several wild kinds so much alike in
flower that some confusion of name has
arisen, and no garden need contain
more than the best kinds, which are
now fairly well known. Of more im-
portance than the natural species are
the new hybrid forms, valuable for
their neat habit and the fact that they
bloom in a small state, whereas the
wild kinds seldom flower well until
large. These tall kinds are of fine
effect when allowed to take their
natural form as masses of 15 to 20
feet, loaded with white flowers in
May, June, or early July. By growing
several kinds we secure a succession of
flower. They do best in light and
rather dry soils, and some do not
bloom freely in rich moist land. Some
kinds thrive in partial shade, and all
are good town plants, but they are
finest when well exposed, and such
kinds as microphyllus, Coulter i, and
mexicanus enjoy a hot place, the last
two being tender, save upon a wall.
All should have plenty of room to
spread and droop, and if they grow too
large it is better to cut them to the
ground and start afresh than to cut
them into ugly forms. There is a
golden-leaved form of the Common
Mock Orange, which retains its
colour well and does not burn if
planted where it gets a little shade
at mid-day. Increase is by suckers,
layers, or cuttings of soft wood rooted
under glass during summer, or ripened
stems inserted in the open during

PHILADELPHIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PHILADELPHIA. 621

autumn ; these last, however, take
about a year to root. The best kinds
are as follows : —

P. CORONARIUS (Mock Orange). — This
kind, with its twiggy growth and heavy
perfume, is well known, but less planted
now than formerly, or banished to distant
parts of the garden, where, under good
conditions, it will reach a height of 10 feet,
flowering early in May. Some of its gar-
den varieties are distinct and useful : foliis
aureis is the Golden Philadelphus ; nanus
is a dwarf plant, but too shy in flower to
be of value ; Satsumi is a graceful Asiatic
form ; while there are varieties
with variegated foliage, and
others known as flore-pleno,
primulcBflorus , and dianthiflorus,
with double or semi-double
flowers.

P. COULTERI. — A nearly ever-
green kind from N. Mexico, of
fine habit, and distinct in its
waxy flowers with a rosy-purple
flush at the base of each petal,
forming an inner zone of colour.
It is somewhat tender, and does
not flower freely, but by crossing
it has given the new hybrid P.
purpureo-maculatus, a hardy
and free-flowering kind, differ-
ing from anything hitherto seen
in this family.

P. FALCONERI. — A graceful
plant, 1 6 feet high, of un-
certain origin, but probably
from Japan. Its pure white
fragrant flowers, of waxen tex-
ture, and with sharply - pointed
petals, are borne freely in June
upon wand-like arching stems
that droop gracefully under the
heavy clusters.

P. GORDONIANUS. — From N.
America, where it is common
near the Columbia River. It
grows 10 to 15 feet, is of graceful
habit, with a profusion of large
faintly-scented flowers in July.
This kind will do well with a
little shade, and its great value
is its late blooming.

P. GRANDIFLORUS. The best

large-flowering kind, and one of
the finest of hardy shrubs,
reaching a height of 15 to 20
feet. Its numerous flowers
measure 2 inches or more across,
of a good white, and either scentless
or faintly fragrant. There are many
forms and slight variations of this plant,
differing little in general character,
and running, one into the other. The
forms known as floribundus, latifolius,
and Zeyheri are all good, and especially
laxus, a loosely spreading plant of graceful
outline, and not very tall-growing. These
forms flower in June.

P. HIRSUTUS. — Less showy than most
kinds, the flowers being small and mostly
solitary, but they are scattered so freely
that a well-flowered plant of 4 to 5 feet is
pretty, and its effect distinct from the
other kinds.

P. INODORUS. — Much like P. laxus, but
more erect and vigorous, with large scent-
less flowers, useful for cutting where the
odour of other kinds is an objection. It
is a plant that forces well, but, coming
from the southern States, it is a little
tender in cold districts.

Philadelphus nricrophyllus.

P. LEMOINEI. — A hybrid from micro-
phyllus crossed with coronarius — a beau-
tiful shrub, flowering in the latter half
of June, its abundant pure white flowers
about i£ inches across, and with a pleasant
fruity fragrance. Of neatly compact
habit, it reaches a considerable size at
maturity. Its form erectus differs only
in its more rigidly erect habit. From this
first cross has sprung a race of shrubs of

622 PHILADELPHIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PHILLYRAEA.

fine habit, refined fragrance, and much
freedom of flower, the value of which is as
yet hardly shown in our gardens. One of
the newest and best is P. purpureo-
maculatus — quite a distinct break in
colour.

P. LEWISII. — From the Pacific coast of
N. America, and nearest hirsutus in its
hair-fringed leaves. The flowers are a
little smaller, scentless, opening at the
end of June and early in July. P. califor-
nicus is a pretty but rather tender form
of this plant.

P. MEXICANUS. — A beautiful plant and
nearly evergreen, but tender save in
the warmest parts of the south-west of
England and Ireland, where it occasionally
covers warm walls near the sea to a height
of 15 feet. The flowers are large and
deeply cupped, of waxy texture, and either
creamy- white or faintly flushed with rose.
Their strong spicy perfume is agreeable,
and unlike that of any other kind.

P. MICROPHYLLUS. — From Colorado,
California, and N. Mexico ; hardy with
us and richly beautiful in warm soil and
a place where its wood is well ripened.
The flowers are small and solitary, but
freely produced towards the end of June,
milk-white, and with a fruity fragrance.
It is the tiniest of the genus, rarely reach-
ing 3 feet in height, with slender stems and
small glossy green leaves the size of Box,
and greyish, with hair on the underside.

P. NORMA. — A beautiful garden form of
Mock Orange. The flowers, which are
borne for some distance along the grace-
fully arching shoots, are each fully 2 inches
in diameter, and single, except in a few
cases where there is a tendency to an
increased number of petals. They are of
the purest white, with bright yellow
anthers.

P. SATSUMI. — From Japan, with freely-
branched slender stems of 4 to 6 feet, long
narrow leaves, and rather small pure white
flowers, in pairs or loosely clustered.

HYBRID KINDS.

P. AVALANCHE. — Flowers large with a
pleasing odour, and so numerous that the
branches are weighed down with them.

P. BOULE D' ARGENT. — A dwarf spread-
ing plant with double flowers and very
fragrant.

P. BOUQUET BLANC. — Pure white double
flowers borne in profusion.

P. CANDELABRE. — A dwarf - growing
form, with flowers larger than those of
P. Lemoinei, and with undulated petals.
Very pretty in the rock garden.

P. CONQUETE. — A free-flowering form,
whose branches arch over with the weight
of blossoms. These, which are large and
double, have almost a Tulip shape, and
are fragrant.

P. FANTAISIE. — From the seed-bearing
parent this inherited a slight pink tinge

towards the centre of the flower, and for
hybridising it has proved to be valuable.

P. GERBE DE NEIGE. — Pure white
single flowers nearly a couple of inches in
diameter and prettily cup-shaped.

P. MANTEAU D'HERMINE. — A general
favourite which forms a compact specimen
thickly clothed, when at its best, with
double creamy-white blossoms.

P. MONT BLANC. — This, which reaches
a height of 4 to 5 feet, is of rather
upright growth, with large, sweet-scented
flowers.

P. NUEE BLANCHE. — This has large
shining green leaves, and regularly shaped
round blossoms, deeply cupped.

P. PERLE BLANCHE. — The finest double
Philadelphus, with very large flowers of
the purest white, and borne in great
profusion.

P. PURPUREO-MACULATUS. — This was
given a first-class certificate by the
R.H.S., which was well deserved, not only
for its merit, but also for the possibilities
it opened up of quite a new race of these
beautiful shrubs, whose blossoms hitherto
have been white, or nearly so, whereas
those of the newcomer have on each petal
a distinct blotch of purple-rose.

ROSACE. — This bears large double
flowers, consisting of two or three rows
of petals, at first creamy-white, but after
expansion becoming pure white.

PHILESIA (Pepino).—P. buxifolia
is an exquisite dwarf shrub, with
large carmine-red Lapageria-like bells
(2 inches long) nestling among and
suffusing with their rich colour the
sombre evergreen foliage. It is a
precious shrub for the cooler parts of
the rock garden and succeeds admir-
ably in the more favourable coast
gardens, and in moist peat or turfy
loam. At Abbotsford it is in specimen
form 2 feet high and 6 feet across,
and flowers profusely all the summer.
May be increased by suckers from the
base, but in a plant of such slow
growth these should only be removed
from strong and well-established roots.
S. America.

PHILLYRAEA (Jasmine Box).—
Distinct shrubs from the south of
Europe, at one time among our best
evergreens in the south. Farther
north they are tender in hard winters.
The newest kind, and the hardiest
and best, is Vilmorin's Jasmine Box
(P. decora), with laurel-like leaves and
fragrant white flowers in early spring.
Coming from the mountains of Asia
Minor, this will withstand severe frost,
is free from insects and disease, and
quite at home in town gardens. The
flowers are sometimes fo lowed by

PHLOMIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PHLOMIS. 623

black fruits like a sloe, containing seed
by which the plant is readily increased .
Nurserymen have found that the
Phillyraea unites readily with Privet,
so that nearly all their stock is grafted,
and the plants die out just as they
should be in full beauty. This has
helped to give the group a bad name,
but for shore gardens of light soil
there are few better shrubs.

The kinds from the Mediterranean
are classed as three species, but they
vary so much from seed and are so
closely connected by intermediate
forms as to be better treated as one
variable kind. There is first the
Narrow-leaved Phillyraea (P. angusti-
folia), 15 feet or so in height, with long
narrow leaves which may be small
and narrow, as in rosmarinifolia, a fine
dwarf evergreen from Italy. P. lati-
folia reaches the size of a small tree
of 30 feet, with rigidly spreading
branches, a compact habit of growth,
and broad deep green leaves. To it
belong several forms — the Holly-leaved
(P. ilicifolia), which is one of the best
known ; laevis, with rounded leaves
and saw-like edges ; spinosa, in which
the edges are more sharply toothed ;
and rotundifolia, with broadly rounded
leaves. Between angustifolia and lati-
folia comes P. media, intermediate in
size and vigour as well as in its leaves.
Strangely enough, it is also the most
tender, many plants having been cut
to the ground or killed outright in the
winter of 1880. This also has several
forms, such as buxifolia, with short
rounded leaves ; olecejolia, in which
they are longer and narrower ; and
pendula, with a diffuse habit. All do
best in light open soils and in full sun,
and all are of fine habit without much
pruning, though they will bear this if
necessary and make thick, handsome
hedges. All the kinds bear greenish-
white flowers, but only in P. decora
are they large enough to attract.

PHLOMIS (Jerusalem Sage}. — A
group of old-fashioned shrubs and
perennial plants belonging to the Sage
family, and interesting because so
unlike most other plants. There are
now not many kinds in cultivation,
but even these show much beauty and
diversity of form and habit. The
leaves of many kinds are wrinkled,
woolly, or hoary, becoming smaller up
the stems, while the handsome hooded
flowers are yellow, purple, or white,
and borne in clusters around the stem,
tier above tier. The perennial kinds

are easily suited as to soil, and will
take care of themselves in the wild
garden or rougher parts of the pleasure
grounds. The shrubby species are
best in light and dry soils where their
growth is not too vigorous and the
wood well ripened. All are easily
increased, the shrubby kinds from
seed, or cuttings of the young shoots
put in under glass in spring or sum-
mer ; the herbaceous kinds by seed,
or division in spring or autumn.
The best kinds are : —

P. ARMENIACA. — With down-covered
silvery leaves and stems crowded with
whorls of rosy flowers, several of which
are in good condition at the same time.
A good rock plant. Armenia.

P. CASHMERIANA. — At its best a striking
plant, about 2 feet high, with densely
woolly stems and leaves, and heavily
crowded whorls of pale lilac or rosy-purple
flowers, from the end of July. Newly
reintroduced, doing best in light soils and
in warm gardens near the sea. N. India.

P. FRUTICOSA (Jerusalem Sage). — A
shrubby kind, hardy in warm dry soils,
with evergreen stems at times reaching
6 to 8 feet, but mostly 3 or 4 feet high,
and clothed with evergreen woolly-grey
leaves of wrinkled texture. The flowers
are showy, coming as whorled heads of
bronzy-yellow from June to August, and
lasting well on the plant, or when cut.
S. Europe.

P. HERBA-VENTI. — Handsome perennial
from Spain, needing a warm dry soil and
some protection if grown far inland. It
makes a bold spreading mass of 2 to 3 feet,
with hairy green or purple stems, and long
green leaves which are rough on the upper
side and hoary beneath ; flowers violet-
purple, from July to September. It is a
good perennial of easy culture.

P. LUNARIFOLIA. — A fine border plant,
free in its bright yellow flowers. The
white woolly leaves and stems render it
conspicuous even when out of flower.

P. PURPUREA.- — From S. Europe, low
and shrubby, with much-wrinkled oblong
or triangular leaves, covered with down,
and rosy-purple flowers in July.

P. SAMIA. — For warm soils, free in its
pale yellow and orange flowers, sometimes
shading to pink. A pretty plant, blooms
in May and June. Mountains of N. Africa.

P. TUBEROSA. — In good soils, 3 to 5 feet,
with handsome dark-green leaves and
dense whorls of rosy-purple flowers in
summer, partly fringed with white hairs.
The foliage is good, and the plant of easy
increase by its fleshy tubers. East of
Europe and Siberia.

P. VISCOSA (also P. Russelliana) . — A
rather clammy plant of 3 feet, with bold
wrinkled leaves, green above and downy

624

PHLOX.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PHLOX.

beneath, and numerous bright yellow
flowers of fine effect.

PHLOX. — For the most part showy
garden perennials ; but the annual P.
Drummondi alone has produced distinct
varieties enough to furnish a garden
with almost every shade of colour.
The perennials are numerous, and pre-
sent such variety in habit that for the
garden they may be divided into three
distinct groups. One is alpine in
habit ; of this the beautiful P. subu-
lata, or Moss Pink, is the best known,
but there are many others in the
Rocky Mountains and westward, some
of them more truly alpine. Next to
these are several that may be grouped
as running or creeping Phloxes, peren-
nial, but with prostrate stems. Lastly,
there are the well-known herbaceous
Phloxes, which are invaluable for the
garden.

Early or summer-flowering Phloxes
have chiefly come from P. suffruticosa.
They include many varieties, from
2 to 2£ feet in height, varying princi-
pally in colour, and flowering during
June and July. They grow in any
good border or bed, and if the sub-soil
be too wet, it must be drained and
enriched with good old manure. In
the south of England, and especially
on warm dry soils, these early Phloxes
often do best in partial shade, being
more sensitive to fierce sun heat than
the later kinds. In dry seasons a

?Dod surface mulching is a great help,
he following are some of the finest :
Attraction, Burns, Charles Downie,
Conqueror, Duke of Athole, James
Hunter. John Fairband, Lady Napier,
.Miss Robertson, Mrs Craven, Mrs
Duncan, Mrs Forbes, Mrs J. Hope,
Mrs Leckie, Mrs Miller, Nettie Stewart,
Perfection, Snowdon.

Herbaceous Phloxes have been
obtained by hybridising and selecting
from various N. American species,
principally P. paniculata and its
varieties acuminata, decussata, and
pyramidalis, which are stronger and
taller than the early Phloxes, and
immediately succeed them in flower,
thus prolonging the season. Within
the last few years there has been
great advance in these plants, both
in habit and freedom of flower. They
are now bright and varied in colour,
including all shades from rich vermilion
to pure white, the old dingy purples
and magentas having disappeared.
These Phloxes are gross feeders and
repay generous treatment and rich
soils. Being great surface rooters,

too, they are much benefited during
the growing and flowering season by
a mulching of old manure or loam
with artificial manure added, and
by copious waterings of weak liquid
manure or water. Saturating the
beds once each week is the most
satisfactory way, and to make this
effective it were better that the
surface of the beds be slightly below
that of the surrounding level. For
large beds, and to get bold masses oi
distinct colour, the following are the
most effective, and can be used
according to the shades of colour
required, viz. : Mrs Jenkins, Frau
Ant. Buchner and Sylphide, white ;
Etna, orange-red ; Eclaireur, carmine
and salmon ; Coquelicot, rich ver-
milion, but not always easy to grow :
Boule de feu, scarlet with a dark eye
Eclatante, crimson shaded orange ;
Crepuscule, silvery mauve with crimson
centre ; Aubrey Alder, pale salmon-
carmine eye ; Aurora, salmon-rose ;
Baron von Dedem, brilliant scarlet,
best of its colour ; Elizabeth Campbell,
handsome light salmon, indispensable ;
Dr Konigshofer, orange-scarlet, very
brilliant; Eugene Danzauvilliers, lilac
and white ; General van Heutz,
brilliant salmon-red. Iris, Le Mahdi,
and Widar are of shades of violel
or heliotrope. They are very beauti-
ful and distinct. The varieties named
vary from 2| to 3! feet in height.

Phloxes are propagated in various
ways : by seeds, cuttings of the young
shoots in spring, by division, and by
root cuttings in autumn and winter.
The first and last should be left to
the commercial man. Propagation by
cuttings in spring is best effected by
early lifting the plants and placing
them in a frame, the resulting growth
rooting more quickly and certainly
than shoots taken direct from plants
in the open. In a frame or in gentle
heat cuttings of the freshly made
shoots root in about three weeks.
Cutting propagation is necessary
periodically in order to maintain
vigour, the plants giving their best
spikes when from two to four years
old. Propagation by division is easy.
The only pieces of value, however,
are the young vigorous ones around the
outside of the clump, and in particular
those which run out at a short distance
from the clump. The solid woody
portion of the clump is useless and
should be rejected.

The leaves also strike, but this is a
very slow way. As regards division,

PHLOX.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PHLOX.

625

this consists in taking the old plant
and cutting it into small pieces. The
habit of the plant should be strong and
erect, with plenty of broad and healthy
foliage, and not exceed 3 or 4 feet.

P. DIVARICATA. — A handsome plant
from N. America, larger than either the
Creeping Phlox (P. reptans] or the Moss
Pink (P. subulata}, and about i foot high,
with large lilac-purple blossoms in sum-
mer, while the leaves are rounded at the
base, and are egg-shaped or lance-shaped.
There is a good pure white form, and a
new garden variety Laphamii, with larger
flowers of deeper colour and of much
stronger growth, reaching 1 8 or 20 inches.
Its great value is, however, the fact that
it flowers considerably later. Rock gar-
den in good soil. Increased by cuttings
and division.

P. DRUMMONDI. — One of the best of
half-hardy annuals, varied and brilliant
in colour. Seed should be sown about
the first week in March in shallow pans or
boxes, in a light rich soil, and a warm and
rather moist temperature. Prick off the
seedlings when fit to handle in boxes, or
a bed in a warm house in a temperature of
50° to 60°. Here they will soon grow, and
place them out in the shade to harden as
the weather gets warm. Those growing
in a bed should be again transplanted to
a prepared bed in a cold frame, kept
covered for a few days, and hardened
gradually. When the plants are 3 to
4 inches high, pinch out the main shoot,
to induce bushy growth and prolong the
flowering period. The bed should be
fully exposed to the sun, and if good moist
soil, the plants will be uninjured even in
the hottest weather. Varieties are end-
less, and some very distinct named sorts
differ from the type not only in colour,
but in growth and the shape of their
flowers.

P. OVATA CAROLINA. — A handsome
plant, about i foot high, with slender
stems terminated by a cluster of large
showy deep rose flowers very useful for
cutting. P. ovata has broader leaves,
while P. nitida is also handsome. P.
glaberrima is far less important. These
kinds flower in summer, in ordinary soil
and an open spot. Cuttings or division.

P. PILOSA. — A pretty plant i to 2 feet
high, large flat clusters of white, pink, or
purple flowers, \ to f inch in diameter,
appearing from June to August. It is
one of the rarest of cultivated Phloxes,
though a spurious kind is sometimes sold
for it. The true plant reminds one of
P. Drummondi. Another rare species is
the true P. bifida, an elegant plant, the
flowers bluish-purple.

P. REPTANS (Creeping Phlox). — This is
a beautiful little plant, sending up numbers
of stems from 4 to 6 inches at the end of
April or beginning of May, each bearing
from five to eight deep-rose flowers Of

mat-forming habit and easiest culture, it
thrives best in moist loam and cool situa-
tions, and is readily increased by division.
Syn. P. verna and P. stolonifera.

P. SETACEA. — Sometimes considered the
same as P. subulata, but its leaves are
longer and farther apart on its trailing
stems, the whole plant being less rigid.
The flowers are of a charming soft rosy-
pink, and have delicate markings at the
mouth of the tube. P. 5. violacea is a
handsome Scotch variety, more lax in
growth and with deeper coloured flowers,
almost crimson. Both the variety and
the type are lovely plants for the rock
garden, where, with roots deeply seated
among the fissures and enjoying coolness
and moisture^ they thrive luxuriantly in
any amount of sunshine.

P. STELLARIA. — This little plant is often
confused with P. subulata, but is quite
distinct, with much longer, narrow, pale
green leaves, and white flowers. There
are several fine garden varieties belonging
here, with lilac or mauve flowers on dark
wiry stems, their petals set starwise.
They flower in May and June, and are
exceedingly beautiful in masses, but they
do not hug the ground like the more
mossy forms of subulata. The form called
lilacina in particular is so strong that it
is best used by itself, or its stems overrun
the dwarfer kinds. Its leaves are beauti-
fully clean-looking and healthy, and the
charming pale mauve flowers are carried
in profusion.

P. SUBULATA (Moss Pink). — A moss-like
little evergreen, the flowers pinkish-purple
or rose-colour, with a dark centre, and so
dense as to completely hide the plant.
The stems, though 4 inches to i foot high,
are always prostrate, so that the dense
matted tufts are seldom more than
6 inches high ; but in moist, sandy, and
well-drained soil, when the plant is fully
exposed, the tufts attain a diameter of
several feet and a height of i foot or more.
P. frondosa is a vigorous form, and in
light garden soil its trailing branches will
soon cover almost a square yard of surface.
P. nivalis is as trailing, but smaller, and
with shorter, more densely arranged
leaves. Its flowers are snow-white. P.
Nelsoni is a hybrid between P. subulata
and its forms, as it possesses foliage of an
intermediate character ; the flowers pure
white with a charming pink eye.

The dwarf Phloxes are so closely
allied that general cultural remarks
will suffice. Well - drained ordinary
garden soil and sunny exposure are
essential. Though perfectly hardy,
the damp atmosphere of mild winters
is fatal, and as the plants do not
seed freely, they must be increased
by cuttings. Inch-long, young un-
flowered shoots make the best cuttings,
and root with greater certainty. Heel

2 R

626

PHORMIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PHUOPSIS,

cuttings, too, with the lowest leaves
removed, are also excellent. Insert in
very sandy soil June to August, placing
cutting pots in handlight in frame or
greenhouse. They will soon root, and
become good flowering plants the
following season. With large patches,
the readiest way is to sprinkle sandy
soil over the entire plant and to work
the same gently amongst the branches
with the -hand. If this be done during
the summer or the early autumn, the
trailing branches will form roots the
following season, and may be planted
elsewhere. These Phloxes are charm-
ing in spring, hardy, and form gay
cushions on the level ground, or pen-
dent sheets from the tops of crags or
from chinks in the rock garden.
Rocky hills and sandy wastes in N..
America.

PHORMIUM (New Zealand Flax}.—
Fine-leaved plants from New Zealand,
like giant Iris in foliage, their tough
broadly sword-shaped leaves rising
to a height of many feet in the
more vigorous kinds, and of stately
effect at the waterside mingled
with Bamboos, Pampas Grass, and
Gunneras. In hard winters even
strong plants may be injured or cut
to the ground, but the roots seldom
perish, and by selection hardier forms
are now available than those first
introduced. In the most favoured
districts one well - grown plant of
Phormium will spread into a mass
30 or 40 feet in circumference and
8 to 10 feet high, with flower-stems
rising several feet above this. The
reddish-brown flowers are more curious
than beautiful, but when borne freely
they give character to the plant. In
cold districts the roots should be
well protected, or the plants can be
grown in tubs and moved to the
conservatory, after a time on the
lawn or terrace during summer. P.
tenax is the common green - leaved
kind, and is a noble plant of very
vigorous growth, but tender. Some
of its forms are more resistant, the
hardiest of all being the Powerscourt
variety, with a narrower and more
glaucous leaf of erect growth, and
about 6 feet long. A form with dark
leaves is atro-purpurea, with a deep
purplish zone along the edges of the
leaf, and in some plants wholly
suffusing it. P. Cookianum is hardier
than P. tenax and a much smaller
plant, with leaves of only 3 to 4 feet
and yellow flowers ; it also has a

variegated variety. P. Colensoi is
another fairly hardy kind from the
mountains of New Zealand, with
a spreading and graceful way of
growth and narrow leaves. Of this
there is a distinct garden form called
compacta, very dwarf, neat, and hardy,
with quite narrow leaves. Increase by
seed and root-division, seed from one
plant yielding a variety of forms. The
Phormiums like a deep soil with abun-
dance of sunlight and moisture, and
where there is nothing to fear from
frost they do well treated as water-
side plants.

PHOTINIA.— A group of handsome
shrubs, mostly evergreen, and too
tender for our gardens, where even
the hardiest kind, P. serrulata — known
as the Chinese Hawthorn — is rarely
seen except along the south coast,
though quite hardy enough for
sheltered places inland. This is one
of the best of seaside shrubs, making
dense masses 20 or more feet in height
and width. The foliage is handsome,
glossy like that of a Portugal Laurel,
and of a fine red colour in spring.
These young leaves come so early as
to risk injury from late frosts, and to
escape this the plant is mostly grown
against walls when away from the sea,
and is very handsome in this way,
bearing heads of small white flowers
in May and June.

Another hardy kind from China and
Japan is P. variabilis, which loses its
leaves in winter, but retains its bright
scarlet berries long, and the leaves
themselves turn a fine crimson before
falling when the plant is grown in an
open and sunny place and in dry soil.
To do well with us the Photinias
should have a light, well-drained soil,
shelter, and sunshine.

PHRAGMITES (Great Reed).— P.
communis is a most graceful plant in
all open waters, by which it forms
excellent covert for duck. It grows
to a height of 6 feet, with drooping
heads of brownish - purple flowers in
autumn.

PHUOPSIS (Crosswort).— A pretty
little hardy perennial of trailing habit,
with heads of pale rosy flowers in
early spring. The individual blooms
are small, but clustered in dense heads,
their one fault being a somewhat
unpleasant smell. There are garden
forms with deep crimson and with
purple flowers. Increase by seed, or
division in early spring. Old tufts

PHYGELIUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PHYTEUMA. 627

should be trimmed with scissors or a
pair of shears from time to time, and
soon push out afresh. Easily grown
in any soil, on open banks or sunny
places in the rock garden. Caucasus.
Syn. Crucianella stylosa.

PHYGELIUS (Cape Figwort).—P.
capensis, a Cape plant of some beauty,
3 or 4 feet high, and bearing racemes of
brilliant scarlet flowers, which open
in May and June and continue far
into autumn. It is hardy near London,
though it does not flourish so well
in the open as on a wall, where it will
stand any amount of sun - heat and
even long periods of drought. Readily
increased by cuttings or portions
of the root-stock, the bases of the
stems being furnished with rootlets.

PHYLLODOCE. — A dwarf ever-
green mountain shrub with pretty
bell flowers, thriving only in cool
parts of a good rock garden. A
British species thrives in fine soil
about Edinburgh. P. Breweri is found
in vast areas of the Sierra Nevada,
California.

PHYSALIS (Winter Cherry}. — P.
Alkekengi is a handsome and curious
S. European plant with ample downy
leaves, bearing in autumn bright
orange-red bladder-like calyces, en-
closing Cherry-like fruits of a pleasant
acid flavour, and perfectly wholesome
either raw or preserved. It is a hardy
perennial, requiring a warm border ;
i to ij feet high. Division or seed.
Solanaceae.

P. FRANCHETI. — A splendid new hardy
plant from Japan, possibly a variety of
P. Alkekengi, but so distinct as to merit
special attention. It is larger altogether
than the old kind both in foliage and calyx,
which is brilliant coral-red in colour,
though varying a little in shade, sometimes
touched with orange, and generally

3 inches in length with a circumference of
7 or 8 inches. The plant grows 18 inches
high and requires a similar position to
P. Alkekengi, spreading strongly by under-
ground stems. The dried fruits are beau-
tiful in winter bouquets. P. Bunyardi is
a, hybrid, a vigorous and good kind.

PHYSOSTEGIA (False Dragon' s-
Head) . — Vigorous perennials, best
for grouping with the bolder kinds
of hardy plants. P. virginiana, i to

4 feet high, has flesh-coloured or
purple flowers crowded in terminal
racemes. There are pretty white and
pink forms, alba and rosea, and a
more vigorous one, speciosa, with
larger flowers of deeper purple colour.

These are all very pretty for cut work,
or grouped in the border. P. imbricata
from Texas has higher and more
slender stems, broader leaves, and
larger flowers of a deeper colour. P.
denticulata is similar to P. virginiana,
but rarer and less showy. All these
kinds flower in summer, and thrive in
any ordinary soil. Division.

Physalis Alkekengi (Winter Cherry).

PHYTEUMA (Rampiori).—The Ram-
pions are neat, pretty, and interesting
plants of the Bellflower order, with
small flowers in profusion. They enjoy
a sunny position, and some of them
are good rock plants. P. orbicular e is
a rare and desirable native Rampion,
i to 2 feet high, and is best among
rock plants, where it would be free
from the destructive effects of the
hoe and rake. It flourishes in a dry
position in a mixture of limestone
grit, peat, sand, and loam, and has
violet - blue flowers in July. It is
extremely impatient of removal or
division, and should be raised from
seed sown in autumn in a cool frame.
P. Sieberi is neat for the rock garden,
requiring a moist, sunny situation,
and a mixture of leaf - mould, peat,
and sand. It forms cushion-like tufts,

628 PHYTOLACCA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PICEA.

and in May and June has dark blue
flower-heads, on stems 4 to 6 inches
long. Division. P. humile is a neat
tufted plant for the rock garden, where
it can get a dry sheltered position in
winter and plenty of water in summer.
The flowers are blue, and produced
in June on stems 6 inches high.
Division. P. comosum is very slow-
growing, and must be particularly
guarded against slugs. It is a true
rock plant, suitable for a fissure,
vertical or sloping to the sun, and
does best amongst a mixture of a
little loam, peat, sand, or grit, where
it can root to the depth of 2 feet. It
bears almost stalkless heads of dark
purple flowers, has Holly-like leaves
in June and July, and comes best

Phyteuma comosum.

from seed. P. Charmeli and P.
Scheuchzeri are much alike, P. Scheuch-
zeri being dwarfer. It bears pretty
blue flowers, on stems from 6 to 12
inches in height, and is evergreen.
A new kind, P. campanuloides, is one
of the best, with tall much-branched
spikes of deep violet-blue flowers, very
freely produced. Sow seed in autumn,
and do not expect too much the first
year.

PHYTOLACCA (Virginian Poke). —
This N. American perennial, P.
decandra, is from 5^ to nearly 10 feet
high, with reddish stems and flower
stalks. The flowers, on cylindrical
spikes, are at first white, but after-
wards change to a delicate rose. In
autumn the colour of the leaves is in
rich, contrast to the purplish-black
berries, closely set on columnar spikes.
It grows in almost any kind of soil,
and is raised from seed or division.

It is scarcely refined enough in leaf
for the flower garden, but is effective
near the rougher approaches of a
hardy fernery, in open glades near
woodland walks, or in any like posi-
tion. There is a garden form in
which the leaves are variegated with
rose and white. P. acinosa,ihe Indian
Poke, comes from the Himalayas, and,
while much resembling P. decandra,
is a little less tall, with its berries in
drooping clusters instead of held erect.
P. icosandra is a bushy plant, 2 to
3 feet high, the leaves similar to those
of a Hydrangea. It has rather long
spikes of creamy - white flowers,
succeeded by fruit-clusters similar in
size and shape to Indian Corn, but
composed of ripe Blackberries. Should
have the same treatment and position
as P. decandra.

PICEA (Spruce Fir}. — Usually
stately evergreen cone - bearing trees
of the northern world and mountains,
including among them' the common
Norway Spruce and the Douglas Fir,
usually doing best in moist valley
soils. Trees that were once included
under this head are now placed under
Abies and also Pinus, to which the
reader should refer for trees he seeks
which are not placed under this head-
ing. As regards grouping and other
matters, what has been said of Pinus
and A bies may be considered as apply-
ing to a great extent to these trees
also.

P. AJANENSIS. — The finest of the
Japanese Spruces, distinguished from all
others by the bluish silver tint of the
young branches on the undersides, but
which are upturned so that the whole
tree has a silvery appearance. It is very
hardy, and thrives best in a stiffish soil.
It should not be in a too sheltered place,
or it will commence growth too early
and be liable to injury by late frosts.

P. DOUGLASI (Douglas Fir). — Among
the noblest trees of the west American
forests, this is one of the best trees ever
introduced, both for ornament and timber.
It should be planted only where the soil
and situation are suitable, and not in
exposed places, as it thrives best in shel-
tered valleys or woods, but it will live in
various soils. There are several varieties
of the tree, that known as the Colorado
variety being considered the hardiest.
The glaucous form is a handsome tree,
more rapid in growth than any other
silvery conifer. Varieties of this tree are
of slight value, the best being the natural
form from the Rocky Mountains.

P. EXCELSA (Norway S.). — Is a quick-
growing tree, but too short-lived to be of

PICEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PIERIS.

629

great value for ornament. It is a mistake
to plant it on high exposed places or in
hot sandy soil. In most sheltered valleys
it is a beautiful tree when seen in masses.
There are many forms of it, a good number
of which are mere monstrosities not worthy
of the garden, especially the so-called
golden and silvery varieties.

P. SITCHENSIS. — In places where this
Spruce thrives it is a very beautiful tree,
because of the bluish silvery-grey tone of
its needle-like leaves. In a damp climate
where the soil is deep and moist it thrives,
but in dry soils soon in a wretched
condition. It grows well and rapidly
with me, and is the best of trees for wet
soils. Alaska to N. California.

P. MORINDA. — No other Spruce has such
gracefully drooping branches as this
Himalayan tree, which is also known well
by its other name, P. Smithiana. It is
worthy of a place among the finest orna-
mental trees, but must have a deep moist
soil, more heavy than light, and the posi-
tion not too sheltered. Under these con-
ditions it flourishes in the bleakest parts
of the eastern counties, where some of
the finest examples of it exist.

P. OMORICA (Servians.). — A recent intro-
duction which promises to be a good
addition to the Spruces notable for orna-
mental planting. It has somewhat the
appearance of P. orientalis in its growth,
and very dark green foliage, but the leaves
are larger, flat, and decidedly silvery
beneath.

P. ORIENTALIS. — This Caucasian Spruce
has somewhat the appearance of the Nor-
way Spruce, but it is a smaller growing
tree with much shorter leaves and
branches, and is more suitable as a garden
tree, as it is of denser growth and retains
its lower branches. It is of a deep glossy
green, and on this account, and its dwarfed
growth, is especially suitable for grouping
with the larger conifers. It is very
hardy, and thrives best in moist soils.

P. POLITA (Tiger-tail S.). — This is one of
our newer Japanese trees, but, judg-
ing by the largest trees in various parts
of the country, it is a Spruce that will
thrive in these islands. It is of handsome
outline, and with leaves the stiffest and
sharpest of all, which renders it cattle
proof. It stands exposure well, and is a
tree for high windy places.

P. PUNGENS. — An American Spruce
most valuable for this country, hardy,
standing exposure in high places better
than any other. It is generally known in
gardens by the variety glauca. It is
largely raised from seed in order to select
from the seedlings silvery plants. This
Spruce is confused with another Cali-
fornian Spruce called P. Engelmanni,
P. commutata, or P. Parryana, but which
is quite inferior to P. pungens.

PIERIS. — Evergreen shrubs of Japan,
China, and America. Their effect is
precious among Magnolias, Rhodo-
dendrons, and the choicer evergreen
shrubs, and the same soil usually
suits them. They may also be grouped

Picea JHorinda.

as bold rock garden shrubs in moist
peaty or leafy soils, thriving all the
better for partial shade at mid-day.
The following are the best kinds : —

P. FLORIBUNDA. — A close-growing ever-
green shrub from N. America, with nar-
row oblong leaves and white urn-shape
flowers in dense one-sided racemes, formed
in the autumn and opening in spring.
They will do so much earlier, however,
and come much whiter too, if put in gentle
heat under glass, or even cut and placed
in water in a warm room. The plant is
hardy in most soils, but thrives best in
those of a sandy and leafy nature. It
never grows high, and may be grouped
with the choicer evergreen shrubs.

P. FORMOSA. — A beautiful and tall ever-
green shrub, only hardy in the west and
south of England, suffering injury at
times even in the Thames Valley. It
bears dark green leathery leaves, finely
toothed at the edges, and drooping clus-

630 PINGUICULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PINUS.

ters of white bells, 6 inches in length,
expanding in April and May. Nepaul.

P. JAPONICA. — A beautiful evergreen
shrub with long drooping clusters of white
flowers, giving almost a lace-like effect
to freely flowered plants. It is hardy,
and grows much larger than floribunda,
but is slow and poor on cold or loamy
soils, and only luxuriant in peaty or leaf
beds that are well drained and free from
lime. It will grow in shade and in full
sun, but a moist half-shaded place is what
it likes best. The flowers open from
January to March, according to season,
and last a long time, whether cut or in

Flowers of Pieris.

the open air. There are some dwarf
garden forms, and one with variegated
leaves. Japan.

The increase of all these shrubs is slow,
but not difficult. Cuttings from forced
plants root most readily, those made from
ripened shoots in August taking many
months to start in a greenhouse ; the
same applies to layers, so that these ways
are seldom used, except to increase fine
seedlings. Seeds ripen freely, and should
be treated like those of Azaleas and
Rhododendrons.

PINGUICULA (Butterworf).— These
interesting dwarf bog-plants are pretty
in the bog garden or moist spots in
the rock garden. There are about
half-a-dozen kinds, all resembling each
other and, except P. vallisnerics folia,
natives. P. grandiflora (Irish Butter-
wort) is the finest. Its flowers are

large and blue - purple, the leaves
broad, spreading fiat upon the rock
or soil. It prefers the shady side of
a moist mossy rock, where the face is
steep and the narrow chinks are filled
with rich loam. If planted in earth
alone, where the drainage is imperfect,
it usually perishes in winter. P. alpina
differs from all other kinds in having
white flowers, marked more or less
with lemon - yellow on the lip, but
sometimes tinted with pale pink. It
roots firmly, by means of strong woody
fibres, and prefers peaty soil mingled
with shale or rough gravel, and shady
humid positions, such as are afforded
by a high rock garden with a north
aspect, or by the shelter of a north
wall. P. vulgaris grows freely in any
sunny position in rich moist peat or
peaty loam. A small form, with leaves
like those of P. alpina, both in form
and colour, is found in alpine bogs in
the north of England. P. htsitanica,
found on the west coast of Scotland
and in Ireland, is smaller than any
of the preceding, and has pale yellow
flowers. It grows in peaty bogs ex-
posed to the sun. P. vallisnericefolia
from the mountains of Spain differs
from others in its clustered habit of
growth. Its leaves are pale yellowish-
green, and sometimes almost trans-
parent, becoming 4 or 5 inches long,
and occasionally even 7 inches towards
the end of the season. The flowers
are large, soft lilac colour, with con-
spicuous white or pale centres.

PINUS (Pine) . — Noble evergreen,
cone -bearing trees of northern and
temperate regions, of highest beauty
and use, some of them admirably
suited for the climate of the British
Islands and giving finest evergreen
shelter. When the Mexican and
Californian Pines were first introduced
and much talked of, little care was
taken in discriminating between the
hardy and tender kinds, so that the
Pines of Mexico and S. California
got as good a chance in our pleasure
grounds as the most precious of
the hardy ones ; but if we want
to make the best use of the Pines
we must plant only the best of the
hardy ones and those likely to endure
and be useful and beautiful in our
climate. Nurserymen seldom take the
trouble to see these trees in their
native beauty on their native moun-
tains, and, assuming that the nursery
or infant state of the tree is the
natural form, make ceaseless efforts

PINUS.

TtiE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PINUS. 631

to keep the trees always in this form,
whereas the nature of the Pine is
generally to shed its lower branches,
and hence we get that wonderful
dignity of the Pine as seen on the
mountains, both in the new and
old worlds, lovely pillars crowding
all over the northern mountains.
I have seen Pines condemned because
they began to assume this habit of
shedding their lower branches and
taking their true character. Like
other important families of trees, these
have numerous garden and other
varieties which are generally best left
out if we seek to get the full expression
of the natural beauty of the trees ;
but, as usual, the practice of pro-
fessional planters generally is rather
against us. Ugly, contracted, and
monstrous forms are always in cata-
logues, which should be let alone
there. While such varieties are often
worthless, natural varieties, especially
of kinds inhabiting vast regions of the
earth, like the Scotch Pine in northern
Europe, and the Western Yellow Pine
in America, may be important in
giving us hardier varieties, or those
of special use, like the Russian form
of the Scotch Fir. Synonyms are
numerous, and unfortunately lead to
confusion in the nomenclature, but
among Pines, if anywhere, what is
not worth knowing is not worth grow-
ing, and all the great Pines are so
distinct in form that those who care
about them will soon know them by
heart, and the showy labelling method
of the "pinetum" is not necessary in
any good way of planting.

The "pinetum" which we see in
many country places is not by any
means the best way of growing the
trees. The isolation of specimens
in the turf allows the grass in dry
seasons to take away all the moisture
from the tree, while the effect of this
dotting about of trees is far from
artistic. The true pinetum is a wood
of Pines chosen for their perfect
hardiness in any given district, shel-
tering each other, promoting the true
growth of the Pine by their close
planting, especially in early life, shad-
ing the ground and keeping the
moisture in it. In such a pinetum the
trees should be planted in groups and
colonies, not necessarily rigidly separ-
ated by hard-and-fast lines, but some-
times those of like regions running
together as the European cone-bear-
ing trees do in the mountains of C.
Europe.

The advantage of grouping and
massing the Pines in a natural way
is that they not only protect them-
selves from the sun, but the leaves
and dead branches of the trees help
to nourish the ground. The roots are
very near the surface, and they get a
source of nourishment which fails them
in the ordinary pinetum.

In places where there is not room
enough to make a Pine-wood even, we
should get a better effect by grouping
the Pines than by scattering them
about as they are often seen, where
there is little room.

In making the " pinetum," the
richest ground is often taken, and large
holes are made and filled with rich
soil, whereas I think the better way
would be to choose true Pine soil, if
we have it — that is, rocky or poor
ground of little use for anything else,
and, by rightly choosing and plant-
ing the trees, thus doing away with
the need of costly and special prepara-
tion. Rich soil and preparation give
a rapid growth at first, but no means of
testing the value of any Pine in the
natural soil of the place. The rapid
growth is often followed by weak-
ness of wood, and often by too early
destruction from storms, while the
timber of such trees is always inferior
to that grown in poor or rocky ground.
We have the clearest evidence, on
the mountains of Europe, California,
Scotland, and elsewhere, that very fine
Pines may be, and are, grown naturally
on very poor rocky soils, and we should
take this lesson and make our Pine-
wood in such a soil, or one as near
as we can approach to it. In some
places, we may wish for the effects of a
Pine-wood in a given situation, and in
that way we must take the soil as it
comes.

The habit of planting " specimen "
trees, common in our present day
pinetums, is a costly and not a good
way. The best way in all cases is to
plant little trees, never over i foot
high. I have often planted them much
smaller with perfect success; they
have a struggle at first, but the growth
is quicker and cleaner than that of
larger trees, the specimens of the
ordinary nursery having a very hard
time in dry seasons.

In the following enumeration of the
finer Pines I have omitted those of
doubtful hardiness or fitness for our
climate from any cause : —

P. AUSTRIACA (Austrian Pine). — One of
the best and hardiest pines ; distinct in

632

PINUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PINUS.

form and colour, attaining a maximum
height of nearly 100 feet, of close, dense
growth when young, thriving on calcareous
and poor stony or rock ground and on
clay soils (but not on poor sands). Owing
to its close " covert " and habit it nour-
ishes the ground beneath it so well with
its fallen leaves that it is self-supporting
and gives precious shelter. It is often
planted in Britain, but generally set out
in the usual specimen way, so "that the
tree is slow to take its true form as it
does when grouped as trees should be.
The final form of the tree, which so far
we hardly ever see in our grounds, is very
picturesque, with a free open head, but,
bsing a free grower and giving valuable
wood, however, grouped or massed it
should be freely thinned so as to allow
of its full development.

In books this Pine is sometimes classed
as a variety of the Corsican Pine, but,
from a planter's point of view, the trees
are as distinct as any other Pines in colour
and form. Being a native of the moun-
tains of Lower Austria, Styria, and Carin-
thia, sometimes also growing on the low
hills and even plains, it would, I think,
be distinctly hardier than the Corsican
in the case of very severe winters and
their effects in low ground.

P. CEMBRA (Swiss P.). — A hardy
northern Pine of distinct, close-growing
form, and a very slow grower in our
country, as well as in its native land on
the mountains of C. Europe or in Siberia,
where it attains a maximum height of
100 feet.

P. COULTERI. — A Californian tree, not
so large as other kinds from that great
country of Pines, but remarkable for the
great size of its cones, which are often
20 inches long and weighing 10 Ib. in its
own country. In our country this tree
should be planted only under the most
favourable conditions, in sheltered valleys
and on warm soils.

P. EXCELSA (Himalayan P.). — A hand-
some tree, much planted in Britain, with
long, slender, drooping leaves and pen-
dent cones. It is a native of the Hima-
layas and of very wide distribution in
Asia, and also in another form inhabits
the mountains of Greece and S.E.
Europe on high elevations. In our coun-
try it thrives in warm and well-drained
soils.

P. HALEPENSIS (Jerusalem P.). — A dis-
tinct and very useful Pine throughout
the rocky parts of Greece and its islands,
also Crete, Asia Minor, Syria, and Pales-
tine. When one travels in those countries
the hills seem very bare until you get
near their slopes, when the welcome growth
of this pine appears, a frequently graceful
and stately tree. Coming from such a
hot country, it is not likely to be so useful
with us, except in warm districts.

P. RADIATA (Monterey P.). — A beau-
tiful Pine of the seashore of California,
grass green in colour, and often thriving
very well in the southern and western
parts of our country, but in inland places
suffering in hard winters, although on
high ground in the home counties healthy
trees may be seen. Syn. P. insignis.

P. LAMBERTIANA (Sugar P.). — A
noble tree of California and Columbia
River, reaching a maximum height of
300 feet, and sometimes 60 feet in girth
of stem. We cannot omit such a tree
here, but could not expect it to make such
progress as in its own genial climate, and
where planted with us it is usual to do so
in sheltered situations and in free, warm
soils. The cones are each sometimes over
2 feet long.

P. LARICIO (Corsican P.). — The tallest
Pine of Europe, reaching 160 feet high,
and over in Calabria and its own country,
Corsica, and of very rapid growth in our
country, as I have raised woods of it in
ten years. The tree, if one raises it from
seed, as we should in planting, shows a
great variety of habit and even foliage,
and if one liked to do anything so foolish
one could give Latin names to several
forms found in one wood. The Calabrian
variety is a more vigorous tree, especi-
ally in poor soils.

P. MONTANA (Mountain P.) — A dwarf,
very hardy Pine, which clothes the
mountains of many parts of C. Europe
with a low bushy growth not much larger
than the Savin or Furze, but under better
conditions getting into a larger state,
sometimes into a low tree. In our country
it is often called mughus and pumilio, but
the best name for the species is the one
given here. It is a useful and distinct
Pine for clothing banks and giving cover
between taller trees.

P. MONTICOLA (Western White P.). — A
Pine of the higher mountains of California,
Oregon, and Montana, reaching a maxi-
mum height of 80 feet, with a girth of
9 feet. It is considered a western repre-
sentative of the great White Pine of
Canada, and, as it is found at elevations
of 10,000 feet, is hardy in our country
and better worth planting than many
of the trees of greater size.

P. PARVIFLORA. — A medium sized and
pretty tree, with dense foliage, cultivated
much in Japan, and a native of the nor-
thern islands, therefore a hardy tree with
us, thriving in deep soil.

P. PINASTER (Cluster P.). — A beau-
tiful Pine of pleasant green colour, 70 feet
or more high, native of the Mediterranean
region, often by the seashore, and useful in
our country near the sea, but often thriving
in inland places, best in free and sandy
soils. It is also used much in France as
a protection against the encroachment
of the sea.

Corsican Pine.

634

PIN US.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PINUS.

P. PINEA (Stone P.). — A distinct and
picturesque Pine, old trees attaining a
height of 70 to 75 feet. This very char-
acteristic Pine of Italy is not hardy in
our country. It has been often planted
here, but does not survive hard winters,
and should not be planted except in the
most favoured parts of the south. It is
a native of sandy and rocky places by
the seashore in Greece, Syria, and Asia
Minor.

P. PONDEROSA (Western Yellow P.). —
A very noble tree, reaching nearly 300 feet
with a trunk girth of over 45 feet, but in
the arid regions found much smaller.
Sometimes one may see trees branchless
for over 100 feet, but in quite healthy
condition. It inhabits Montana, British
Columbia, W. Nebraska, and N. Cali-
fornia, and is hardy in Britain. There
is a form found on the eastern side
of the American continent which is
hardier. P. Jeffreyi (Black Pine) is now
supposed to be a variety, also scopularia,
but it does not grow quite so tall as the
others. This P. Jeffreyi is found 1,500
feet high on the eastern side of the Rocky
Mountains, this answering for its hardiness.

P. PYRENAICA (Pyrenean P.). — A fine,
rapid-growing tree," with bright green
foliage. A native of the Pyrenees and
Spanish mountains, and also in the south
of France ; 60 feet to 80 feet high. P.
Brutia is supposed to be a form of this.

P. RESINOSA (Red P.). — A tall Pine,
100 feet to 150 feet high, Newfoundland
to Manitoba, and southwards through the
New England States. From its northern
area of habitation this should be a hardy
and thriving Pine in Britain.

P. RIGIDA (Torch P.). — A forest Pine
reaching a height of 80 feet on sandy and
rocky places in Canada, Kentucky, Vir-

Pinus rigida.

P. SABINIANA (Grey-leaved P.). — A very
interesting Calif ornian Pine, inhabiting
the dry and warm hills and the coast
ranges and foot hills of Sierra Nevada ;
not often a very high mountain tree. The
grey foliage gives the wild trees the
appearance of clouds in the distance.

ginia, and the eastern states. This Pine
is hardy and a rapid grower in Britain,
growing in moist places less likely to suit
the greater Pines.

Old tree. Scotch Fir.

P. STROBUS (White P.). — One of the
noblest forest trees of the northern
world, sometimes reaching a height
of over 170 feet, with a girth of trunk
of 30 feet, though often found much
smaller. Owing to the cutting of the
woods in Canada and N. America it
is seldom seen in its native dignity in
the settled parts. It forms dense forests
in Newfoundland and Canada, and west-
wards and southwards along the moun-
tains. Among the many trees I have
planted at Gravetye as evergreen woods,
this only has failed. It is cool, heavy
soil; but in rocky soils and free there
are some fine trees in Wales. It is there-
fore mainly a question of soil.

P. SYLVESTRIS (Scotch P.). — Our native
Pine, and, in its old state, one of the
most beautiful and useful we can ever
have. It is of very wide distribution
in northern, Arctic, and mountain regions,
and also on the mountains of Italy and
Greece. The Russian variety is con-
sidered a more erect and stronger grower.
A great number of varieties are men-
tioned in books and catalogues, and some
hybrids, compact and dwarf varieties,
including variegated ones, none of any
value compared to the wild tree.
Pine sows itself freely in rough heaths
and sandy ground, and thrives there.

PIPTANTHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PLATANUS.

635

PIPTANTHUS (Nepaul Laburnum}.
— P. nepalensis is a Pea - flowered
shrub, with large deep green leaves like
those of the Laburnum. It is hardy
enough for walls, and in southern and
warm localities withstands our winters
without even this protection, but is
not the most desirable of plants. It
has evergreen foliage, and in early
summer long dense clusters of large
bright yellow flowers similar to those
of the Laburnum, but larger. It
succeeds best in light soils, and is
easily increased by seeds, layers, or
cuttings of the ripened shoots in
autumn. Himalayas.

PISTACIA (Mastic Trees}.—
Summer-leafing and evergreen trees,
generally not hardy enough in our
country to be of much value in our
gardens. Mr Bean mentions P. Tere-
binthus and P. Chinensis as adapted
to our climate. The latter is rarely
seen thriving. These two may be
grown in the open ground. P. Lenticus,
an evergreen shrub, or small tree,
occasionally 15 to 20 feet high, is a
native of the Mediterranean region,
and produces the resinous substance
known as mastic. It is tender in
our country, needing the protection
of a warm wall.

P. VERA. — A small summer-leafing
tree, 20 feet high, with reddish oval fruit,
is a native of the Levant and W. Asia.
It needs the protection of a warm wall,
and even then is occasionally injured by
cold.

PITTOSPORUM.— Evergreen shrubs,
natives of New Zealand, Australia, and
China, few of them in cultivation and
those usually only seen in southern
gardens or else in sheltered places
near the sea, where they form ever-
green bushes and trees of some beauty
and distinctness of form. P. tobira is
a good white flowering shrub in some
southern gardens, and is among the
plants worth growing in tubs or vases
for placing out in the summer. P.
undulatum is a graceful evergreen, and
P. Mayi and P. Colensoi are also very
pretty at Castlewellan and other
gardens in districts with a climate
allowing of the cultivation of the half-
hardy evergreens.

PLAGIANTHUS. — Handsome,
flowering shrubs of the Mallow order,
most of which belong to Australia, and
are tender, but three kinds come from
the mountains of New Zealand, and
succeed against walls in the milder
parts of Britain. The best is P. Lyalli,

with woolly leaves of a long heart-shape
and large pure white flowers with a
bunch of golden stamens, drooping
gracefully in clusters upon long stems
from the tips of the previous season's
growth. They open in June, when the
plant resembles nothing so much as a
beautiful large-flowered Cherry. After
flowering the stems should be cut back
and trained, and free growth encour-
aged, which lasts far into autumn ; in
fact, the leaves often hang nearly all
winter. In our warmest gardens P.
Lyalli is hardy without a wall, but
seldom flowers so well in the open. It
needs a warm, well-drained soil and
rich feeding, and is safest screened
from the morning sun. Increase by
layers and cuttings. P. Lampeni is
also grown against walls, where it
bears a profusion of fragrant, creamy-
white flowers, but it is tender, and
probably now confined to collections.
P. betulinus is also rare, but appears
hardier than the last, and has grown
very rapidly to a height of 20 feet at
Castlewellan. It makes a graceful,
birch-like tree of 50 to 60 feet in New
Zealand, with small leaves and clusters
of whitish flowers.

PLANERA (Water Elm}.— At one
time the Zelkowas were classed with
Planera, but botanists now recognise
only one kind, P. aquatica, a tree of
the second size, seldom exceeding
50 feet in height, and rare even in its
own country — the southern part of
the United States. It is hardy in
Britain, thriving best in sandy soils
beside water, but it will grow almost
anywhere except in hot, dry places.
It makes a rounded, much-branched
head of slender, dark grey shoots,
bearing small, Elm-like leaves, and
inconspicuous reddish flowers, which
appear at the same time in early spring.
The seeds are leathery and nut-like,
not winged as in the Elm. Increase
by seeds or layers, and not by grafting
on the Elm, as is too often done.

PLATANUS (Plane). — Stately sum-
mer - leafing trees of the East and
America, of rapid and vigorous growth
and high value in the warmer parts of
our islands as shade, lawn, or avenue
trees ; thriving, too, in the centre
even of smoke-polluted cities, as in
many of the squares in west and
central London, and not merely exist-
ing, as most trees do in such condition,
but attaining much beauty of form
and dignity there, as in Berkeley
Square and Lincoln's Inn Fields,

636 PLATANUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PLATYSTEMON.

Here the great trees, getting out of
the gardeners' way, or any attack of
primers or self-appointed tree-archi-
tects, assume their true and natural
form, and are fine at all seasons.
Where the Plane is used in the streets
of London, and on the Thames Embank-
ment, the costly and wasteful labour
of pruning the trees to one ugly shape
is carried out. The Planes are easily
increased by cuttings and layers, but
planters should in all cases avoid
them, as they cannot expect from such
beginnings the fine, rapid, natural
growth and true form of the tree.
The Plane which thrives best in

Platanus Orientatis. *

London, or what is often called the
London Plane, is not (as it used to be
thought) the American or Western
Plane, but the Eastern Plane or one
of its forms, of which the accepted
name is now acerifolia, a name with
many synonyms. The true Western
Plane, P. occidentalis, is rarely seen in
Europe outside of botanical gardens,
and, when it is, it has little of the
beautiful vigour of the Oriental Plane
in our country. The name Orientalis
is still kept up for a deeply-cut leaved
form of Plane, but it is not really
distinct as a species from the London
Plane. P. cuneata is an Eastern
species with deeply-cut leaves, but it
may be taken for all planting ends
that the vigorous London Plane is the
Eastern Plane, no matter by what
name it is called. The Plane, being a
tree of vast distribution in the East,
accounts for the origin and distribution
of the various forms, mainly differing
in the shape and lobing of the leaves.
While the tree attains its greatest

growth in S. Italy and S.E. Europe
generally, it is a noble tree in the
southern parts of England, attain-
ing its best size, height, and form
in good valley soils, and there are
many fine examples of it in the Thames
Valley. There is a peculiarity of the
bark in scaling off in large irregular
patches, which leads to rather a striking
effect, and is in no way harmful to the
tree. The Greeks and Romans used
it much as a shade tree near their
public buildings, and from all recorded
time it has been much planted in
Persia.

PLATYCODON (Great Bell-flower}.
—Perennials, allied to the Bell-flowers.
P. grandiflora is a handsome Siberian
perennial, hardy in light dry soils, but
impatient of damp and undrained
situations, where its thick fleshy
roots decay. Sometimes this begins
below and spreads upward, but it
generally begins above and spreads
downward, the plant rotting off at
the neck. The flowers are 2 to 3
inches across, deep blue with a slight
slaty shade, and in clusters at the end
of each branch. A rich loamy soil
and an open situation are best for it.
Propagate by seeds, which can be
readily procured. The young shoots,
if taken off when about 3 inches long,
in spring, and placed in a gentle bottom-
heat, will strike, but not freely. The
plant is a bad one to divide — division
often resulting in failure — and if
attempted must be carried out in May,
when the growth has just commenced.
P. autumnale, or chinense, from China
and Japan, is taller and more robust
than P. grandiflorum, with narrower
leaves, but more dense, and its flowers,
though smaller, are pretty evenly
distributed along the upper half of
the stems. Besides a white variety,
it has a tendency to become semi-
double, by a sort of " hose-in-hose "
re-duplication of the corolla, similar
to what occurs in many of our Cam-
panulas. The dwarf, Marie si, from
Japan, is distinct in habit, with rich
blue flowers.

PLATYSTEMON.— P. californicus is
a pretty Californian hardy annual
Poppywort, forming a dense tuft,
studded thickly in summer with
sulphur - yellow blossoms. It merely
requires to be sown in ordinary soil
in the open border either in autumn
or spring ; but the seedlings should
be well thinned out.

PLUMBAGO. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PODOPHYLLUM. 637

PLUMBAGO (Leadwort), syn. Cera-
tostigina plumb aginoides. — An inter-
esting family of graceful perennials
and half-shrubby plants, the hardiest
being P. Larpentts, the blue-flowered
Leadwort, from China. P. capensis,
usually grown under glass, may be
planted out in summer, bearing its
lovely pale blue flowers continuously.
The plants should be specially prepared
for out of doors, young ones being
best for edgings, though taller ones
may be used in certain positions. P.
capensis is used with good effect in
German gardens. P. Larpentce is
perfectly hardy, its wiry stems forming
neat and full tufts, varying from 6 to

Platystenwn californicus.

10 inches high, according to soil and
position. In September these are
nearly covered with flowers, arranged
in close trusses at the ends of the
shoots, and of a fine cobalt - blue,
changing to violet ; they usually last
till the frosts. A warm sandy loam
or other light soil and a sunny warm
position should be given. Increased
by division of the roots during winter
or early spring.

POA. — Perennial and annual grasses,
few worth cultivating. P. fertilis
has dense tufts of long, soft, smooth,
slender leaves, 10 to 18 inches high,
and arched gracefully on every side.
In the flowering season they bear
airy, purplish or violet-tinged panicles,
rising to twice the height of the tufts.

Isolated on lawns the plant is effective,
and if in good soil gives no trouble.
P. aquatica is a stout native grass,
4 to 6 feet high, usually occurring in
wet ditches, by rivers, and in marshes.
It is one of the boldest and handsomest
of hardy grasses for the margins of
artificial water or streams, associated
with such things as the Typhas,
Acorus, Bulrush, and Water Dock. It
increases rapidly.

PODO CARPUS.— Evergreen trees of
the Yew tribe, tender in Britain save
in the mildest parts. P. chilina is a
handsome tree which has reached a
fair size in a few sheltered gardens,
and P. japonica and P. macrophylla
from Japan, and P. Totara from New
Zealand, may prove more or less hardy
along the South Coast when older and
well established. P. alpina, from the
mountains of Tasmania, is probably
the hardiest of the group, but is only
a Yew - like shrub of semi - prostrate
habit, more interesting than beautiful.

PODOPHYLLUM (May Apple}. —
Distinct perennial herbs, three of which
are from Asia and one from N.
America. The best known is P.
Emodi, from the Himalayas, a plant
6 to 12 inches high, with large leaves
cut into wedge-shaped lobes, their
whole surface a fine bronzy red in
early spring. The flowers are large,
white or pale rose, and followed in
August by fruits of a brilliant red as
large as a hen's egg, and edible, though
of mawkish flavour. The plant suc-
ceeds in the moist peaty soil of wood-
lands, especially in wet places and in
partial shade, and where the leaves are
sheltered from cold winds. Increase
by division of the creeping root-stock,
or seed sown in cold frames as soon as
ripe. This is a handsome plant for
shady plots of deep moist soil in the
wild garden or the margins of peat
borders, but it dies away quite early
in summer, so must be grouped with
other things for autumn effect. P.
peltatum is from rich woods of the
eastern United States, with poisonous
roots and leaves, though the fruits are
harmless. It is not so handsome as
Emodi, but will grow in drier places,
and its glossy, wrinkled leaves, borne
umbrella-like on a long bare stem, are
distinct and interesting. The waxy-
white cup-like flowers come in May,
and give place to yellowish - green
fruits like a wild Apple — whence the
name May Apple. P. pleianthum is
from China, its spreading leaves rising

638 POHLIA PLATENSIS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. POLYGALA.

to nearly 2 feet in height, with large
drooping bunches of purple flowers and
heavy grey-green fruits turning purple
when fully ripe.

POHLIA PLATENSIS. — A pretty
little bulbous plant from S. America,
allied to Iris, and with several other
names, but mostly known under
this one. The flowers appear in sum-
mer, and are shaped like those of a
Tigridia, of a rich blue colour blotched
with white and yellow towards the
centre. The plant needs the same
treatment as Tigridias, and is so
beautiful that when better known it
will be much grown in light warm
soils.

POINCIANA. — P. Gilliesii is a beau-
tiful sub-tropical tree which thrives
against walls in the Isle of Wight. The
late Rev. H. Ewbank wrote of it in The
Garden as follows : — " The foliage gives
it very much the look of an Acacia at
a little distance, and it is often mistaken
for one of them. But no Acacia that
I have ever seen has such splendid
blossoms. My great surprise has been
in its well doing to such an extent in
the open ground that I have now no
fear for it at all, and during the worst
frost we have had here during the last
twenty or thirty years it was entirely
uninjured. A very great recommen-
dation for it in my eyes is the time of
year when it is accustomed to blossom.
All spring things have gone by, and the
wealth of flowering shrubs and trees
has become exhausted when this very
beautiful object makes full compen-
sation for any loss that has been sus-
tained."

POLEMONIUM (Greek Valerian). —
A small family of Phloxworts, mostly
from N. America. A few of them
are familiar in gardens, and among the
best are the following : —

P. CCERULEUM (Jacob's Ladder). — Be-
sides the original blue-flowered species,
there is a variety with white blossoms, a
second, acutiflorum, in which the petals
are narrow and pointed.

P. CONFERTUM. — This is one of the finest
of all, with slender deeply-cut leaves and
dense clusters of deep blue flowers on
stoutish stems about 6 inches high. It
requires a warm spot in the rock garden
and a well-drained, deep, loamy soil.
Though it requires plenty of moisture in
summer, excessive dampness about the
roots in winter is hurtful. Rocky Moun-
tains.

P. HUMILE. — A truly alpine plant with
pale blue flowers on stems a few inches

high. In a dry situation and a lighl
sandy soil it is hardy, but on a damj
subsoil not so. P. mexicanum is similai
but larger, and being only of biennia
duration is scarcely worth cultivating
There is a garden form, Richardsonii, o:
much stronger growth and with far large]
flowers, as many as a score of deep blue
bells with a yellow eye sometimes coming
in one cluster. N. America.

P. REPTANS. — An American alpine
plant, and, though far inferior in beaut}
to P. confertum, is worth growing. It<
stems are creeping, and its slate-blue
flowers form a loose drooping panicle 6 01
8 inches high. Snails devour it raven-
ously, especially the scaly root-stocks
during winter. P. sibiricum, grandiflorum
and foliosissimum much resemble P. cceru-
leum, but are more vigorous, with largei
flowers.

POLIANTHES (Tuberose] .—P '. tube-
rosa is a native of the East Indies,
but strong imported bulbs of this deli-
ciously fragrant plant, if inserted in
warm soil, will flower well in the open
air during August. In the neighbour-
hood of London we have seen the
Tuberose flowering freely in the open
border, the bulbs in a light, sandy,
well-drained soil, in which they had
remained all the winter, slightly pro-
tected during severe weather by ashes
or other dry material.

POLYGALA (Milkwort).—The hardy
Milkworts are neat dwarf plants, with
flowers much resembling those of the
Pea family. P. Chamcebuxus (Box-
leaved Milkwort) is a little creeping
shrub from the Alps of Austria and
Switzerland, where it often remains
quite tiny. In gardens, on peaty
soil and fine sandy loams, it spreads
out into compact tufts covered with
cream-coloured and yellow flowers.
The variety pur pure a is prettier ;
the flowers are a lovely bright magenta-
purple, with a clear yellow centre.
It succeeds in any sandy, well-drained
soil. P. paucifolia is a handsome N.
American trailer, 3 to 4 inches high,
with slender prostrate shoots and
concealed flowers. From these shoots
spring stems, bearing in summer one
to three handsome flowers about three-
quarters of an inch long, generally
rosy-purple, but sometimes white.
It> is suited for the rock garden, in
moist leaf -mould and sand. The finest
of the American kinds is lute a, with
bright yellow flowers, but this is
still very scarce with us. Some of
the British Milkworts, especially P.
calcarea and vulgaris, are interesting

POLYGONATUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. POLYGON ATUM. 639

and easily grown in sunny chinks of
the rock garden if in calcareous soil.
They form neat dressy tufts of blue,
purple-pink, and white flowers. Seed
may be gathered from wild plants and
sown in sandy soil.

POLYGONATUM (Solomon's Seal}.—
Graceful tuberous perennials, distri-
buted chiefly in the north temperate
regions, and with very few exceptions
quite hardy with us. They thrive in
almost any position in good sandy soil
and with an occasional dressing of leaf
soil. It is in shady nooks of the wild
garden, however, under deciduous
trees, that they are seen to the best
advantage. They are increased by

leaves bright green ; flowers large, two to
five in a bunch from the axils of the leaves,
greenish-white, in July. N. America.

P. MULTIFLORUM (Solomon's Seal). —
This is the common Solomon's Seal. It
grows from 2 to 3 feet high, glaucous
green ; the flowers are large, nearly white,
one to five in a bunch in the axils of all
the leaves. It is a very free-growing
species, and its arching stems and drooping
flowers are very attractive. There are
several garden varieties, notably a double-
flowered one. P. Broteri is a variety with
much larger flowers ; P. bracteatum, a
form in which the bracts at the base of
the flowers are well developed, flowering
throughout the summer.

P. OPPOSITIFOLIUM. — Confined to tem-
perate regions of the Himalayas and hardy,

W/vmM,

Polygonatum multiflorum (Solomon's Seal).

seeds, which, sown as soon as gathered
in autumn, germinate in early spring ;
the creeping root-stocks may also be
divided, and in good soil soon form
nice tufts.

P. BIFLORUM. — A pretty species from
the wooded hillsides of Canada and New
Brunswick, of slender, graceful growth,
the arching stems i to 3 feet in height, the
small flower-stems jointed near the base
of the flowers, which are greenish- white,
two or three together in the axils of the
leaves.

P. JAPONICUM. — A distinct plant, native
of Japan, hardy in this country, flowering
in early April, growing about 2 feet in
height, the leaves of a very firm leathery
texture, the flowers white, tinged purplish.

P. LATIFOLIUM. — It is a native of
Europe. A fine robust species, the stems
being from 2^ to 4 feet high, arching, the

although usually given as a greenhouse
species. It will doubtless do best in a
sheltered spot, but even in the open it has
given me no trouble, and it is a good plant
for shady spots on the rock garden, the
habit graceful, 2 to 3 feet in height, leaves
glossy green ; the flowers white, marked
with reddish lines and dots, are borne in
bunches of from six to ten in the axils on
both sides in late summer. The fruit is
red when ripe.

P. PUNCTATUM. — From the temperate
Himalayas, where it is found at altitudes
of 7,000 to 11,000 feet, and hardy in our
gardens ; about 2 feet in height, the stem
angular, with hard leathery leaves, flowers
white, with lilac dots, two to three in a
bunch, in late summer.

P. ROSEUM. — This appears to vary con-
siderably in the length and breadth of its
leaves, in their being more or less whorled,

640 POLYGONUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. POLYGONUM.

and also in the size of its flowers. It grows
2 to 3 feet in height, the leaves in whorls
of three or more ; the flowers, in pairs in
the axils of the leaves, are clear rose-
coloured and very pretty amongst the
narrow green foliage. N. Asia.

P. VERTICILLATUM. — From the temper-
ate Himalayas, and general in the northern
hemisphere. It was found in Perthshire,
Scotland, in 1792, and appears to have
been cultivated by John Tradescant, jun.,
as early as 1656 ; 2 to 3 feet high under
cultivation, the leaves four to eight in a
whorl ; the flowers, two to three in a
bunch in the axils of the leaves, are green-
ish-white. The fruits are red when ripe,
and remain hanging after the leaves have
fallen.

POLYGONUM (Knotweed}. — K
vast family, comprising 150 species of
world- wide distribution, the majority

Polygonum sachalinense.

insignificant weeds, but with several
noble plants well worth considering for
their beauty of form. They thrive in
any soil ; those of a bushy habit
should be allowed plenty of space.
Confinement mars their beauty, which
lies in the many flower-spikes rising
above a gracefully developed mass of
foliage reaching to the ground.

P. AFFINE. — An alpine plant of the
Himalayas, where it grows on the wet river
banks and meadows, and hangs in rosy
clumps from moist precipices. In culti-
vation it is 6 to 8 inches high, with rosy-red
flowers in dense spikes borne freely in
September and October. P. Brunonis is
similar and as desirable ; the flowers, of
a pale rose or flesh colour, borne in dense
erect spikes nearly 18 inches high, and
continuing more or less through the
summer.

P. BALDSCHUANICUM. — A plant of value
for draping low trees and bushes. Its
sprays of rose-flushed flowers come in
quantity with pretty effect during summer
and autumn. Too often it is set to climb
an upright pillar, but is prettier left to
grow freely among shrubs or along a
stretch of sunny fencing, finding its own
way gracefully. Its rosy fruits as well as
its flowers make it a bright object for
weeks together. C. Asia.

P. CILINODE. — A climbing kind from
N. America, of great vigour, a single
plant covering many square yards in a
season, with myriads of small white
flowers of charming effect in autumn.
For covering trees, thrusting its way
through bushes, or to adorn a hedgeside,
this is one of the best, not being averse
to shade.

P. CUSPIDATUM (Japan Knotweed). —
Of fine graceful habit, its creamy-white
flowers borne in profusion. It should be
grown apart on the turf or in the wild
garden. It is easier to plant than to
get rid of in the flower garden ; a rank
weed, right in copse or pond side.

P. MULTIFLORUM.— A tuberous-rooted
kind from China and Japan, with shining
deep-green leaves and loosely spreading
bunches of tiny white flowers on reddish
stems. Its chief merit is its great vigour
in rough places of the wild garden, or to
hide unsightly objects in a short time.

P. ORIENTALE (Persicary). — An annual
kind, easily raised from seed, and some-
times self - sown in old gardens. It is
mainly useful for bold temporary planting,
reaching a height of several feet within a
few weeks, and its white or rosy-purple
flowers are of some effect in autumn.

P. POLYSTACHYUM. — A Himalayan plant
much confused with P. molle, to which it is
superior. It never grows high, and from
late in September carries a mass of spread-
ing plume - like sprays of white flowers,
with a scent of honey, and lasting for
several weeks. It needs quite a sharp
November frost to check it, and its stout
leafy stems, with their olive-green leaves
threaded with red veins, are neat all the
summer, and its roots do not run.

P. SACHALINENSE. — A huge perennial
with bright green leaves upwards of a foot
in length, the flowers greenish-white, in
slender drooping racemes. It thrives in a
moist soil near water, where it is effective,

POLYPODIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PONTEDERIA. 641

and it makes a fine feature on the turf or
in a spot where it can run about freely.
Sachalien.

P. SPHAEROSTACHYUM. — One of the
dwarfest and prettiest of the group, but
not always easy to grow. From a tuber-
ous root rise short semi-prostrate stems
with narrow leaves and drooping spikes
of blood-red flowers, continued through a
long season on a healthy plant. It in-
creases very slowly, and thrives best in
an open place in the rock garden, where
it can enjoy moisture in summer and yet
be dry in winter. Himalayas.

P. VACCINIFOLIUM. — Very distinct in
aspect, quite hardy, and thrives in almost
any moist soil, but is best seen where its
shoots can ramble over stones or tree
stumps. Under favourable conditions it
grows rapidly, and produces a profusion
of Whortleberry - like leaves and rosy
flowers in September and October, when
it is valuable in the rock garden. Hima-
layas.

POLYPODIUM (Polypody] . — This
large family of Ferns contains several
good hardy kinds, the principal being
the common P. vulgare, which has
about a score of cultivated varieties
differing more or less widely from each
other. The most distinct and beau-
tiful as well as the freest in growth
are cambricum, elegantissimum, pul-
cherrimum, and trichomanoides. P.
Barrowi and P. Prestoni, plumous
forms of P. cambricum, are handsome
and ornamental forms. Though pre-
ferring shade, they only need a good
supply of water at the root during
summer, and will thrive even exposed
to the full rays of the sun. Plant them
in fibry loam and tough and fibry peat,
with a liberal admixture of leaf-mould
and well -decayed woody matter, to
which add a thin top-dressing of similar
material every autumn. The ever-

freen Polypodiums associate well with
owering plants that do not require
frequent removing, and they may be
made to cover bare spaces beneath
trees, or to overrun stumps. A beau-
tiful effect, too, is got by their use as a
carpet or setting to some of the plants
in the rock garden. Besides P. vulgare
and its varieties, there are several
deciduous kinds, such as P. dryopteris
(Oak Fern) , of which P. d. plumosum is
the best form, and P. phegopteris (Beech
Fern), well known to all Fern loveis.
They thrive best in peat, loam, and
sharp sand, with some broken lumps of
sandstone, and prefer a dry situation
in the rock garden, or any situation
which is not fully exposed to the sun.
A slightly shaded spot should be

selected, where they might be planted
among flowering plants suitable for
the same treatment and affording the
needed shelter. P. Robertianum (Lime-
stone Polybody) is a beautiful de-
ciduous species somewhat difficult
to manage ; it should have a dry

Polygonum vaccinifoliui::.

sheltered position, does not mind
sunshine, and prefers a mixture of
sandy and fibry loam, with a plenti-
ful addition of pounded limestone.
P. alpestre resembles the Lady Fern,
with fronds dark green, and sometimes
exceeding 2 feet in length. It may
with advantage be grouped with Lady
Ferns, as it flourishes under similar
treatment. P. hexagonopterum, a
native of N. America, is hardy in
sheltered positions, and has elegant
tapering dark green fronds about i
foot in height.

Polystichum. See ASPIDIUM.

PONTEDERIA (Pickerel Weed}.— P.
cordata is one of the handsomest
water plants, combining grace of habit
and leaf with beauty of flower. It
forms thick tufts of almost arrow-
shaped, long-stalked leaves, from i£
to over 2 feet high, crowned with
spikes of blue flowers. P. angustifolia
has narrower leaves. Both should
be planted in shallow pools of water.
Division of tufts at any season. N.
America.

2 S

642

POPULUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

POTENTILLA.

POPULUS (Poplar).-— Usually forest
trees of northern and temperate coun-
tries, often of rapid growth, mostly
hardy, in our country, some giving
very fine effects in the landscape, and
others of value in wet woodlands.
Among the best are the. white, or
the Abele Poplar (P. alba), and
its variety Bolleana nivea, which
is whiter in the foliage than the wild
tree ; the great P. momlifera of N.

um dryopteris).

America, grown under various names
in our gardens, and the most rapid
grower of Poplars ; the Balsam Poplar
(P. balsamifera) ; Fremont's Poplar
(P. Fremonti) ; P. grandidentata ; P.
heterophylla of N. America, of which
there is a pendulous variety ; P.
laurifolia of Siberia ; the Black Poplar
(P. nigra), a native tree which has one
or two varieties, one the Lombardy
Poplar ; P. Sieboldi of Japan ; P.
Simoni of China ; P. suaveolens of
N.W. India ; P: tremuloides of N.
America, and P. trichocarpa, one of
the finest, and P. lasiocarpa, a native of
C. China, with large and handsome
leaves : a tree for the moist woodland,
hardy, and of promise for our British
woods.

The true Aspen is one of our native
trees we may see here and there wild,
in woodland places, often grouping
itself very prettily. I know nothing

more attractive than a group of the
Aspen by the waterside or in almost
any position. In Ireland, and on warm
limestone soils elsewhere, the leaves
become a lovely colour in autumn, but
not on cold soils.

PORTULACA (Purslane}.— This
bright little annual, P. grandiflora, has
been introduced many years from its
native home in Chili, and few Chilian
plants have spread so widely all over
the world. It seems as happy under
a tropical sun as in an English gar-
den, where no other annual excels it
in brilliancy, delicacy, and diversity of
colour. It is at home as well on a
dry, poor bank as in a rich border
among taller things. One can see
by its growth that it is a child of
the sun, and that is why one finds it
so fine in gardens in the parched plains
of India and Egypt, as well as through-
out N. America. The colours vary
from crimson and white through every
shade to pure yellow. Seeds of the
Portulaca should be sown thinly
during the month of April in pans in a
frame, and the seedlings be planted
out early in June. They can be also
sown in the open ground in May.
The best plants are got when the
seedlings, as soon as they are large
enough to handle, are pricked out into
small pots of rich soil and kept in an
airy frame. The seed is best sown in
light soil, and only just covered.
In planting out, choose the sunniest
and warmest spots in the garden.

POTENTILLA (CinquefoiT). — A large
family, many hardy herbs and alpine
flowers among them. The most im-
portant are the fine hybrid varieties
got by crossing showy Himalayan
species such as P. insignis and P.
atro-sanguinea, a form of P. argyro-
phylla. These two species are well
worth growing. The first has clear
yellow and the other has deep velvety
crimson flowers. Other useful tall-
growing kinds are glandulosa from
California, a good plant for very dry
places, where the large golden flowers
come freely for several weeks during
the hottest weather. It is fully hardy,
and with leaves deeply cut. Other
plants for just such a position are P.
hippiana, with laige leaves of a decided
grey, and P. crinata, with silvery-
white leaves, the flowers bright yellow
in both kinds. One of the best,
however, is P. nepalensis (or formosa),
from the Himalayas, with stems of
1 8 inches, and fine bright red flowers

POTENTILLA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

POTERIUM.

643

shading to crimson. The most
brilliant of all, however, is Gibson's
Scarlet, than which no member of
the race has flowers of so dazzling a
scarlet. It is also very profuse and
quite an indispensable. It is probably
allied to P. argyrophylla atro-sanguinea,
the species hailing from the Himalayas.
P. Miss Willmott is also a valuable
modern sort with rosy or cherry-
carmine coloured flowers. As a com-
parison to this, though somewha t taller,
is P. Hopwoodiana, of hybrid origin,
with large flowers in blending shades
of rose, buff, and yellow. These single
kinds are easily grown, and never fail
to flower well. The hybrid double
kinds of garden origin are most showy,
lasting longer in perfection both on the
plants and when cut than the single
sorts. There are many distinct named
kinds to be had from hardy plant
nurseries, and these varieties represent
every shade of size and colour. The
culture of Potentillas, like that of
most hardy flowers, is simple. They
luxuriate in a light deep soil and
exposed positions. Best increased by
division and cutting in spring as new
growth commences. Old clumps divided
moderately well, though an even better
method of increasing is by means
of cuttings, which if stripped off by
the heel and inserted without more
ado in a handlight in sandy soil
will root to almost cent per cent.

Among the dwarf alpine species there
are some very beautiful plants for the
rock garden. Of these the following
are the best : —

P. ALBA (White Cinquefoil). — The leaves
of this pretty plant from the Alps and
Pyrenees are quite silvery, and have a
dense silky down on the lower sides. It
is very dwarf, and not rampant ; its white
Strawberry-like flowers nearly I inch
across, with a dark orange ring at the
base. Easily grown in ordinary soil ;
blooming in early summer. Division.

P. ALPESTRIS (Alpine Cinquefoil).—
Closely allied to the spring Potentilla,
forming tufts nearly i foot high, with
bright yellow flowers about i inch across.
Though not common, it is found on rocks
and dry banks, in several parts of the
country. A more vigorous form of this
plant, from the central and southern Pyre-
nees, is pyrenaica, with larger flowers of
a deeper yellow.

P. AMBIGUA. — A dwarf compact creeper,
with in summer large clear yellow blos-
soms on a dense carpet of foliage ; is
perfectly hardy, requiring only a good,
deep, well-drained soil in an open position
in the rock garden. Himalayas.

P. FRUTICOSA (Shrubby Cinquefoil).— A
pretty neat bush, 2 to 4 feet high, bearing
in summer clusters of showy golden-yellow
flowers. It is suited for the rock garden
or the dry bank. Its variety humilis is a
tiny miniature, of charming effect in the
rock garden, and the form davurica (per-
haps a hybrid) is quite prostrate.

P. NITIDA (Shining Cinquefoil). — A
beautiful little plant from the Alps, a
couple of inches high, its silky silvery
leaves seldom with more than three
leaflets each. The flowers are pretty and
delicate rose. It is well worth a good
place in the rock garden, and needs a
little more care than other kinds.

P. TONGUEI. — A charming plant for the
rock garden, and unlike any other kind
in its orange and terra-cotta coloured
flowers. It is of hybrid origin, and only
rises 3 or 4 inches above the soil.

P. TRIDENTATA. — A spreading carpet-
like plant from N. America, rarely rising
above 4 inches, its dark evergreen foliage
prettily spangled with white flowers in
June and July. It does best in a moist,
fairly rich place, and will bear partial
shade. Easily increased by division.

P. VEITCHI. — Finer in every way than
P. fruticosa, P. Fredrichseni, and the few
others of fruticose habit, while the flowers
are larger and prettier. It grows 3 or
4 feet high, is evergreen, and has handsome
sprays of nearly pure white flowers from
May onwards.

POTERIUM.— A small group of
herbs or shrubby plants of the Rose
order, confined to north temperate
regions, and worthy of some attention
for the rougher parts of pleasure
grounds, and for the wild garden,
their dense spikes of flower being
attractive and useful for cutting. P.
canadense is a good back-row plant
for the border, 4 to 5 feet high, with
deeply-cut grey-green foliage and long
spikes of creamy-white flowers from
the tip of every shoot during autumn.
Several plants should be grouped to
make a good bush - like mass. P.
sitchense is much shorter, rarely exceed-
ing 2 feet, and bearing purplish flowers ;
this grows best in damp ground. P.
tenuifolium, with spikes of white
flowers, is also worth growing, while
P. Sanguisorba, or Salad Burnet, is a
pretty native plant with green or
purple flowers, growing in dry
places.

P. OBTUSUM (Japanese Burnet). — From
the garden standpoint, this new species is
an acquisition. Vigorous habited and
attaining 3 feet high, it flowers in July,
producing numerous arching branched
spikes of rosy-crimson flowers. In cool
soil and thin screening shade it is most

644

PRATIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRIMULA.

effective. Few plants are more desirable.
Japan.

PRATIA.— P. angulata is a pretty
plant for the rock garden, creeping
over the soil like the Fruiting Duck-
weed ; the flowers white, and like a
dwarf Lobelia, numerous in autumn,
giving place to violet- coloured berries
about the size of Peas. It is fairly
hardy, and grows best in moist dis-
tricts, with a mild winter, such as
Cornwall, where charming carpets of
this little plant are not uncommon in
shady places. New Zealand. Syn.
Lobelia littoralis. A second kind, P.
begonifolia, is from the Himalayas,
and is larger in all its parts, with
downy leaves and purple berries.

Pratia angulata.

P. ARENARIA. — An interesting addition
to these little plants. The flowers are
about the size of those of the old ones, and
the growth is a little larger. All these
dwarf things are now very welcome when
everybody is making a rock garden.

PRIMULA (Primrose}.— There is so
much charm and beauty among Prim-
roses that no garden is complete without
them, and there is scarcely a species
not worth cultivating. They have a
great diversity of habit and growth.
Some are at home on the sunny slopes
of the rock garden, others in shade,
many make excellent border flowers,
and a few exotic species are at home
in the woodland with our common
Primrose. The family contains nearly
a hundred different sorts, and we have
therefore confined ourselves to the
most distinct and desirable kinds.
There is so much confusion among
certain sections, particularly in the
alpine and the Himalayan species,
that we have not attempted to deal
with these exhaustively ; while others,
such as P. nivalis, are too little known
in gardens to render it necessary for
us to speak of them.

P. AMCENA (Caucasian Primrose) is allied
to our common Primrose, but is distinct.
The corolla is purplish lilac in bud or when
recently expanded, but turns bluer after
a few days, and the blooms come out
before the snow has left the ground. It
is so much earlier than the common Prim-
rose, that while that species is in flower,
amasna has finished blooming, and has
sent up a strong tuft of leaves very much
like that sent up by the common Primrose
after its own flowers are faded. It is one
of the best plants for the spring garden
and the rock garden. Division of the
root. Caucasus.

P. AURICULA (Common Auricula). — In
a wild state this is one of the many charm-
ing Primulas that rival Gentians, Pinks,
and Forget-me-Nots in making the alpine
fields so exquisitely beautiful. Possessing
a vigorous constitution and sporting into
many varieties when raised from seed, it
attracted early attention from lovers of
flowers ; its more striking forms were
fixed and classified, and it became a
" florists' flower." Its cultivated varie-
ties may be roughly thrown into two
classes — first, self-coloured varieties, or
those which have the outer and larger
portion of the flower of one colour or
shaded, the centre or eye white or yellow,
and the flowers and other parts usually
smooth, and not powdery ; second, those
with flower and stems thickly covered
with a white powdery matter or " paste."
The handsomest of the first kinds are
known by the name of " alpines," to dis-
tinguish them from the florists' varieties,
and are the hardiest of all. The florists'
favourites are distinguished by the dense
mealy matter with which the flowers are
covered. They are divided by florists into
four sections — green-edged, grey-edged,
white-edged, and selfs. In the " green-
edged " class the throat of the flower is
usually yellow or yellowish ; this is sur-
rounded by a ring, varying in width, of
white powdery matter, and this again by
another ring of some dark colour, and
beyond this a green edge, which is some-
times \ inch in width. The outer portion
of the flower is really a monstrous develop-
ment of the petal into a leaf-like substance
identical in texture with the leaves. The
" grey-edged " varieties have the margin
of a green leafy texture, but this is so
thickly covered with powder that the
colour cannot be distinctly seen. The
same occurs in the " white-edged " kinds,
the difference being in the thickness and
hue of the powdery matter. In fact, the
terms " green-edged," " grey-edged," and
" white-edged " are simply used to indi-
cate slight differences between flowers
having an abnormal development of the
petals into leafy substance. It is a curious
fact that between the white and the grey
the line of demarcation is imaginary, for
both classes occasionally produce green-

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRIMULA.

645

edged flowers. The " selfs " are really
distinct, since the outer portion of the
corolla is of the ordinary texture, though
a ring of powdery matter surrounds the
eye.

The classification of such slight differ-
ences merely tends to throw obstacles in
the way of the general growth and enjoy-
ment of the flower in gardens. Let the
florists enjoy these fine distinctions ; those
who merely want to embellish their gardens
with the prettier varieties need not trouble
themselves with named sorts at all. The
florists' kinds are the most delicate and
difficult to cultivate. The curious de-
velopments of powdery matter, green
margins, etc., tend to enfeeble the plant.
They are variations that in nature would
have little or no chance of surviving in
the struggle for life. The general grower
will do well to select the free sorts — alpines,
and good varieties of the common border
kinds. The special merit of these is that
they may be grown in the open air on the
rock garden and in borders, while the
florists' kinds must be grown in frames.

Their culture is very simple, light vege-
table soil and plenty of moisture during the
growing season being the essentials. In
many districts the moisture of our climate
suits the Auricula to perfection, and great
tufts of it are grown in gardens without
any attention. In others it must be pro-
tected against excessive drought by stones
placed round it, and cocoa-fibre and leaf-
mould are also useful as a surfacing.
However, as none but good varieties of
the alpine section deserve this trouble, we
would prefer, wherever practicable, that
they should be placed in the rock garden
on spots where they would have some
shelter and could root freely into rich
light soil. They would cause no trouble
beyond taking up, dividing, and replant-
ing. This should be done every second or
third year, or as often as they become too
crowded or lanky. The very common
kinds may be planted as edgings or in
beds in the spring garden, but wherever
the plant is free, naturally improved
varieties should be substituted for the
common old border kinds. There are a
few good kinds already in the trade, most
of them in shades of yellow, such as
Alexandra, Celtic King — a very good
one — Erin's Queen, Miss Davis, and Yel-
low Queen — also known as Golden Gem.
Purple Bedder is crimson-purple ; Chame-
leon, with yellow, brown, and striped
flowers on the same plant ; and Sulphurea
with pale fragrant trusses.

Auriculas are easily propagated by
division in spring or autumn, but best in
early autumn. They are also easily raised
from seed. Seed ripens in July, and is
usually sown in a gentle heat in the follow-
ing January. It should be sown thinly
in pans. The plants need not be disturbed
till they are big enough to prick into fine

rich light soil on a half-shady border. It
is most desirable to raise seedlings, as in
this way many beautiful varieties may be
obtained, and if a desirable variety is
noticed, it should be marked, placed under
the best conditions, and propagated by
division as fast as possible.

As to the florists' varieties, the essential
points may be summed up thus : They
require protection in frames or pits during
winter and spring, and may be placed in
the open air in summer and early autumn.
While inside they should be very near the
glass, the lights being left off in mild
weather, and air being given at all times
day and night, except in severe frosts.
The pit or frame may be the usual one
for the winter months, but as the plants
show flower they ought to be removed to
one with a northern exposure, so as to
prolong the bloom. In such a place, with
abundance of air, they are not without
beauty .through April and the first weeks
of May. After flowering they should be
potted in May, and kept shaded till they
have recovered. The potting usually
consists of carefully shaking away all the
soil and putting the plant in fresh com-
post ; and the practice is a good one, for
this plant and its wild allies put forth
young roots higher up the stem every
year, and the encouragement of these
young roots is sure to have a good result.
The pots generally used (the 4-inch size)
are quite large enough for this annual
potting, one sucker of a kind being placed
in the centre of each pot. The wisdom of
potting every plant in this way is doubtful,
and it is better to select those that have
sound roots and are set firmly and low in
the earth, and, while disturbing the ball
but little, to give them a careful shift into
a 5 -inch pot. In growing the alpine kinds
in pots — and they are as worthy of it as
the other kinds — growers should put five
or six plants in a 6-inch pot, one in the
centre and four or five round the side, so
as to form a good group. The same prin-
ciple may be carried out in pans, and
applied to the free-growing florists' varie-
ties as well as the alpines. In summer all
the plants should be placed in the open
air on boards or slates or a bed of coal-
ashes, to prevent the entry of worms.
Some careful growers guard the plants
from heavy rains, but this is unnecessary
if the pots are perfectly drained and every-
thing else is as it ought to be. The florists
rarely plunge the pots ; but if plunged in
a bed of clean sharp sand, or in any like
material on a well-drained bottom, and
free from earthworm, they will be safer
and less troublesome, because free from
many risks which attend plants exposed
in a fragile porous shell containing but a
few inches of soil. Some pot their plants
in August, but the best time is just after
the flowering, as if disturbed in the autumn
the plants have less strength for flowering.

646

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRIMULA.

The compost for these tender florists'
kinds is one-third of good turfy loam,
one-third leaf-mould, and one of well-
decayed cow manure, and silver or sharp
river sand. Although we have given such
full directions in regard to the culture of
the florists' varieties, we again earnestly
advise all who care for the flower to culti-
vate the free and hardy forms that thrive
in the open air. It is a good plan to
select bright or delicate self or other
colours that please one. Such kinds
should be increased, so that definite effects
may be worked out with each colour.

HYBRIDS. — Primula auricula has
been freely crossed with other species,
and with excellent results, though
many of these hybrids are as yet little

Primula cashmiriana

known. One of the best is P. arctotis,
a cross with hirsuta, in which, how-
ever, the relation to auricula is at once
apparent. It is a stout little plant,
its compact leaves almost hidden in
flowers. It is hardy and easy to grow,
and one of the earliest to bloom in
spring. P. discolor is a natural cross
between auricula and cenensis, and
probably one parent of our garden
Auriculas ; P. Portce, with the same
parentage, differs from discolor in its
large wine - red flowers, free of the
mealiness of that kind. P. Gcebelii is
a natural cross with P. villosa, bearing
brownish- violet flowers, and, like all
the other auricula hybrids, quite easily
grown. A second cross with villosa,
known as P. Kerneri, comes nearer
that kind in its covering of dark

hairs ; the pretty flowers are rosy-
lilac with a yellow throat. P. Peyrit-
schii is a beautiful cross between
auricula and viscosa, but it comes so
near the latter as often to be called
viscosa major. P. venusta, a cross with
P. carniolica, is a stout little plant
of 3 or 4 inches, forming rosettes of
glossy leaves and large purple flowers.
P. Balbisii, with large white-throated
golden flowers, is an Auricula in all
but name, differing only in its more
rounded leaves, quite free of powder.
A cross between this and auricula has
given P. similis, a little plant just
intermediate, with bright yellow
flowers and slightly mealy foliage.

B. BEESIANA. — A new and vigorous
growing species from W. China. The rich
velvety purple flowers are produced in
whorls on -strong erect scapes 2 to 3 feet
high, the flowers appearing from May to
July. It is a plant of fine ornament and
constitution and withal a good perennial.
Revels in deep rich loam and cool and
moist places. In conjunction with P.
Bulleyana it has given rise to a remarkable
race of hybrids equally hardy and vigor-
ous as the originals, in which rose, salmon,
and many intermediate shades are found.

P. BULLEYANA. — A mountain meadow
species from W. China, where it is said to
cover vast areas. As an epoch-marking
kind it ranks with P. japonica and P. rosea,
equalling the former in robust constitu-
tion, vigour, and simple cultural needs.
It revels in rich soils and moisture, and
attains to 2^ feet high when well grown.
The flowers are produced in whorls on
stout erect scapes. Orange-scarlet in bud,
buff-orange and apricot tones are revealed
as the flowers expand. Seeds are pro-
duced abundantly, and if allowed to fall
on the moist ground where the plants
have flowered, seedlings will appear by the
hundred. Splendid for naturalising on a
large scale. Already in conjunction with
P. Beesiana it has given rise to a new and
glorious hybrid race whose varied beauty
and colour richness are beyond praise.

P. CAPITATA. — One of the finest of
Primroses, it is very distinct as a garden
plant, with a tuft of sharply-toothed pale
green leaves and dense heads of flowers of
the deepest Tyrian purple. It cannot be
termed a good perennial, as it is apt to
go off after flowering well, and it is well to
raise seedlings. This is easy, as the plant
seeds freely in most seasons, and the seed-
lings flower in the second year. An open
position with a north aspect in good loamy
soil free from lime, and well watered
in dry weather, suits it best. Himalayas.

P. COCKBURNIANA. — A new species from
the mountains of W. China, and in its
orange-red flowers quite unlike anything
previously seen in this group. It grows in

PRIMULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRIMULA. 647

wet upland meadows at elevations of
many thousand feet, forming a tuft of
wrinkled leaves not unlike those of our
wild Primrose, and slender stems of
12 inches high, with sparse whorls of
flowers nearly an inch across. It may
become freer in flower under cultivation,
otherwise it can hardly be called a showy
kind, its great value perhaps being the
new colour for our hybridists. Best
regarded as a biennial.

P. CORTUSOIDES. — A distinct species
bearing clusters of deep rosy flowers on
stalks 6 to 10 inches high. Of tall free
habit, it is liable to injury if placed in an
exposed spot or open border, and should
therefore be put in a sheltered position,
such as a sunny nook in the rock garden,
where it is surrounded by low shrubs, etc.,
or in any place where it is not exposed to
cutting winds, and at the same time not
shaded to its injury. It is a charming
ornament for the rock garden, for a sunny
sheltered border near a wall or a house,
or for the margin of the choice shrubbery.
The soil should be light and rich, and a
surfacing of cocoa-fibre or leaf-mould is
beneficial in dry positions. It is one of
the most beautiful of Primulas, being
readily increased from seed, and hardy in
any well-drained and suitable position.
Siberia. Near to this comes P. Veitchii,
newly introduced from W. China. The
new plant is yet more robust, with broader
leaves and larger flowers of a deeper rose
colour, and comes from open and sunny
places at an elevation of many thousand
feet.

P. DEFLEXA. — An attractive little plant
recently come to us from inland China,
where it grows in mountain woods at a
great elevation. Its stout scapes rise
from a rosette of hairy leaves to a height
of 1 2 or more inches, bearing a dense head
of small rosy-purple flowers which point
downwards, and thus account for the
specific name.

P. DENTICULATA. — A pretty Himalayan
Primrose, of robust growth, 8 to 10 inches
high. It has large tufts of broad foliage,
and produces in spring, on stout erect
stems, large dense clusters of lilac blos-
soms. It is a most variable plant, and
some of its more distinct forms have
received garden names, of which the
principal are mentioned below. It is
paler in colour than any of its varieties,
and its foliage and flower-stalks are not
mealy. An excellent pure white variety
is P. d. alba. P. pulcherrima is a great
improvement on the original. It grows
from 10 to 12 inches high, and has a more
globular flower-truss, which is of a deep
lilac colour. The stalks are olive-green,
and, like the leaves, are slightly mealy.
It is very beautiful when in flower. P.
cashmiviana is by far the finest variety.
The flowers are of a lovely dark lilac,
closely set in globe-like heads on stalks

over i foot high. They last from March
till May. The foliage is beautiful, and,
like the stalk, is thickly powdered with
meal. A new garden-raised variety,
Queen of Purples, is very handsome, with
large flowers of an intense deep purple.

All the varieties are hardy, though the
flowers are liable to be injured by early
spring frosts. They may be placed either
in the rock garden or in an ordinary bor-
der, and will grow vigorously in a deep,
moist, loamy soil, enriched by manure.
They prefer a shady situation, with a
clear sky overhead, and delight in an
abundance of moisture during warm
summers. All the forms of P. denticulata
are admirably suited for grouping or
naturalising in cool moist woodland spots,
and for this purpose seedlings should be
raised by the hundred. Sow the seeds as
soon as ripe, preferably on damp or moist
soils, in which the plant revels. On con-
sistently moist soil the seedlings virtually
carpet the ground in a short time if sown
as soon as ripe, and, while growing more
vigorously, cost nothing for the raising.

P. DEORUM. — A rare plant from the
mountains of Bulgaria, growing in damp
grassy places just under the snow-line.
Its leaves are rather fleshy, forming a
•tufted rosette, from which springs a stout
stem of 8 or 9 inches with a massive truss
of violet-purple flowers. It is hardy on the
north side of the rock garden, thriving in
sandy loam and in a moist position, such
as the foot of a broad flat stone, which
gathers the rain and conducts it to the
root. It should be shielded from heavy
winter rains by a tilted pane of glass.

P. FARINOSA (Bird's-eye Primrose). — A
pretty native Primrose with small rosettes
of silvery leaves ; the flowers, borne in a
compact umbel in early summer, are lilac-
purple with a yellow eye. They vary a
little in colour, there being shades of pink,
rose, and deep crimson. In our gardens
it loves a moist vegetable soil, and in
moist and elevated parts of the country
it flourishes in the rock garden and in
slightly elevated beds without any atten-
tion ; but in most districts more care is
necessary. In the rock garden it thrives
in a moist crevice, filled with peaty soil or
fibry sandy loam. In the drier districts
it would be well to cover the soil with
broken bits of sandstone to protect the
surface from being baked and from exces-
sive evaporation. A dainty plant for
colonising. Should be raised from seeds
sown while quite fresh. P. f. acaulis is
a very diminutive variety of the preced-
ing. The flowers nestle in the hearts of
the leaves, and both flowers and leaves
are very small. When a number of plants
are grown together they form a cushion
of leaves and flowers not more than \ inch
high. Being so small, the plant should
have greater care, whether it is grown in
the rock garden or in pots.

648

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRIMULA.

P. FORRESTII. — A remarkable species
from the Alps of Yunnan in China. The
rich golden-yellow flowers are produced in
drooping clusters, and, in common with the
foliage, possess the fragrance of ripe fruit.
Though of high ornament, it is unfortun-
ately not hardy in the open in England.

P. FRONDOSA. — A plant of the Balkans,
and related to the common Bird's-eye
(P. farinosa), but with larger leaves of a
different shape, and larger rosy-purple
flowers during May and June. The plant
is thickly covered in all its parts with a
fine white powder.

Q ' Primula farinosa (Bird's-eye Primrose).

P. GLUTINOSA. — A distinct little Prim-
rose, rare in gardens. On mountains near
Gastein and Salzburg, in the Tyrol, and
in Lower Austria, it flourishes, in peaty
soil, at a height of 7,000 to 8,000 feet. It
is 3 to 5 inches high, bearing one to five
blossoms of a peculiar purplish-mauve,
with divisions rather deeply cleft. Suit-
able for the rock garden, or for pots in
moist peat or very sandy soil. It should
be grown in clusters, being almost certain
to die out if isolated. Similar to P. gluti-
nosa are P. tirolensis, Floerkiana, Allioni,
and others, all natives of the Alps.

P. GRANDIS. — A distinct species from
the Caucasus, remarkable only for its large
foliage and the smallness of its flowers.

P. INTEGRIFOLIA. — A diminutive Prim-
rose, easily recognised by its smooth

shining leaves, which lie quite close to the
ground, and by its handsome rose flowers,
which are borne one to three on a dwarf
stem, and are often large enough to
obscure the plant. There is no difficulty
in growing this plant on flat exposed parts
of the rock garden, if the soil be firm, but
moist and free. The best way is to form
a wide tuft, by dotting six to twelve plants
over one spot, and in a dry district scatter
between them a few stones or a little
cocoa-fibre mixed with sand, so as to
prevent evaporation. P. Candolleana is
another name for this plant. P. glau-
cesens, spectabilis, Clusiana, and Wulfeni-
ana, all natives of the Alps, are of a similar
character. Division or seed. P. Heerii
is a wild cross between this kind and P.
hirsuta found in Switzerland ; it makes
neat low tufts bearing loose clusters of
purple flowers.

P. INTERMEDIA. — A charming hybrid
between P. ciliata and P. auricula. In
habit it closely resembles some of the
dwarf alpine Auriculas, and its purplish-
crimson flowers have a conspicuous yellow
eye, and are borne on stout erect scapes.
On sheltered portions of the rock garden
its richly-tinted blossoms are seen to
advantage. It is delicately fragrant.

P. JAPONICA. — A handsome Primrose
whose true home is in moist shady spots
or wet ditches, where in rich loam it grows
vigorously, throwing up flower-stems 2 feet
or more, and unfolding tier after tier of its
crimson blossoms for several weeks in
succession. It may be grown in the rock
garden, and is an excellent water-side
plant, thriving almost anywhere and sow-
ing itself freely. Given congenial con-
ditions self-sown seedlings appear in their
hundreds beside woodland walks or like
places, where uniform coolness or moisture
is not unknown, and the fact should drive
home the lesson to every gardener who
wishes to succeed with one of the best and
most amiable species of the genus. Cod-
dling the seeds in pans in frames is a mis-
take. Sow them when ripe in the cool
moist places in which the species delights,
and for once let Nature be the teacher.

P. JULI.E. — A dwarf early-flowering,
deciduous, amiably-disposed species of
carpeting habit. The rosy - crimson
flowers issue from the rhizomes a dozen
or so in sessile clusters, presently rising
amid the roundish ovate leaves on solitary
stems, like the common Primrose, which
they approximate to in form and size.
Less than 6 inches high, it is a most
charming plant, and flowers with great
freedom. Rich light loam, leaf-soil, and
manure in cool spots. Easily increased
by division. Caucasus.

P. KEWENSIS. — A hybrid of the Himala-
yan P. floribunda and the Abyssinian P.
verticillata. A delightful plant of amiable
disposition producing fragrant yellow

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRIMULA.

649

flowers in whorls. Admirable for the
conservatory or greenhouse, but of no
value for the open-air garden.

P. LATIFOLIA. — A handsome Primrose,
with from two to twenty violet flowers in
a head. It is less viscid, but larger and
more robust than its alpine congener, the
better-known P. viscosa. Its leaves some-
times attain a height of 4 inches and a
breadth of nearly 2 inches, and it grows to
a height of 4 to 8 inches. Its fragrant
flowers appear in early summer, and in
pure air it thrives on sunny slopes of the
rock garden, if it has sandy peat, plenty
of moisture during the dry season, and
perfect drainage in the winter months.
Like P. viscosa. it will bear frequent divi-
sion, and may be easily grown in cold
frames or pits. Alps.

P. LITTONIANA. — In a genus rich in
beauty and variety no species is more
remarkable than this. It is, indeed,
unique. Bright red calyces and rich
purple flowers are in sharp contrast, and
these, in conjunction with the red-tipped,
attenuated, spire-like outline of the floral
parts, are responsible for an effect sugges-
tive of an Orchid glorified. The scapes
are 2 feet or so high, leaves narrow,
ascending, woolly, and covered with
silvery hairs. Excellent for colonies in
the cool parts of the rock garden, or for
naturalising on a worthy scale. Quite
happy in cool loam and leaf-soil, and
seeds freely. From the mountain
meadows of W. China. June- July.

P. LUTEOLA. — One of the handsomest of
the yellow Primroses, and a noble plant
when well grown. The flower-stems are
often i£ to 2 feet high, though they are
usually under i foot in height. They
sometimes become fasciated, and thus
carry a huge cluster of flowers 4 to 6 inches
across. These flowers are like those of a
Polyanthus or an Auricula, but they are
borne in more compact heads. It likes
a moist situation in full exposure, and if
put out in rich borders of rather moist
soil, or on the lower banks of the rock gar-
den, or in a copse with a good bed of leaf-
soil, it will soon repay the planter. Cauca-
sus.

P. MALACOIDES. — A charming species,
remarkable for its elegant habit of growth
and freedom of flowering. Not hard
enough for growing in the open air, it is
favoured by amateur and professional
gardener alike for its adaptability to pot
cultivation and as a room plant. Florist
decorators also employ it freely. Rather
less than a foot high, the lilac or mauve-
coloured flowers are produced in whorls,
a dozen or more scapes issuing from quite
an ordinary sized plant. Seeds are pro-
duced abundantly and germinate freely
if sown soon after ripening. May be
treated as an annual or biennial. China.

P. MARGINATA. — One of the most
attractive of the alpine Primroses, and

distinguished by the silvery margin
of its greyish leaves and by its soft
violet-rose flowers in April or May.
It is of the aborescent class and should be
catered for as such. When the stems
become long, and emit roots above the
ground, it is a good plan to divide the
plants, and to insert each portion firmly
down to the leaves. If this be done
biennially the plants will be reinvigorated
and will flower in greater freedom. Alps.

P. MEGASE^EFOLIA. — A rare and distinct
species from Rhazistan, having large
roundly cordate leathery leaves which

Primula pubescens alba.

assume reddish or bronzy tints in autumn.
The flowers are rose with magenta shade.
Flowering in winter it is not a success in
the open, and should be grown in the green-
house. Even in the unheated alpine
house it is rarely seen in presentable con-
dition.

P. MINIMA (Fairy Primrose). — One of
the smallest of European Primroses.
Usually there is only one flower, which
is generally rose-coloured, and some-
times white, and appears in summer.
The plant is only an inch or so high,
but its single flower is nearly I inch
across, and almost covers the tiny rosettes
of foliage. Bare spots in firm open
parts of the rock garden are the. best
places for the plant, but the soil should
be very sandy peat free from lime, and
must never become too dry. It is peculi-
arly suited for association with the very
dwarf est and choicest of alpine plants.
Division or seed. Mountains of S. Europe.
P. Flcerkiana is much like it, and probably
is only a variety, since the sole differ-
ence is that it bears two, three, or more
flowers, instead of only one. It enjoys
the same treatment in the rock garden.
Austria. Of both kinds it is desirable
to establish wide-spreading patches on
firm bare spots, scattering half an inch
of silver sand between the plants to keep
the ground cool.

P. MUNROI. — This grows at very high

650

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRIMULA.

elevations on the mountains of N. India,
in the vicinity of water. Its smooth
green leaves are 2 inches long, from them
arising flower-stems 5 to 7 inches high,
bearing sweet creamy-white flowers- with
a yellowish eye, an inch across, from
March to May.

P. PALINURI. — This is quite different
from other cultivated Primroses, inasmuch
as it seems to grow all to leaf and stem,
while many of the other kinds often hide
their leaves with flowers. In April its
yellow flowers appear in a bunch at the
top of a powdery stem, and it emits a
Cowslip-like perfume. It thrives as a
border plant in light soil. Division. S.
Italy.

P. PARRYI. — A pretty Primrose, bearing
about a dozen large, bright, purple,
yellow-eyed flowers nearly i inch across.
These flowers are borne on stems about
i foot high. Though an undoubted
alpine, and growing on the margins of
streams near the snow-line, where its
roots are constantly bathed in ice-cold
water, it has succeeded in the open border
in moist, deep, loamy soil mingled with
peat ; it is hardy, and requires partial
shade from extreme heat rather than
protection from cold. N. America.

P. PUBESCENS. — A hybrid of P. auricula
and P. hirsuta. A perfectly hardy plant
of easy cultivation. Dwarf habited, the
clusters of rosy crimson, white-eyed
flowers appear in May and June. Rich
gritty, well-drained loam. Its most im-
portant variation is P. p. alba, the plant
not infrequently such in gardens as P.
nivalis, though quite distinct from the
true plant of that name. The clusters
of snow-white flowers appear in May and
June. It responds to cultivation in rich,
well-drained soils and is not averse to
manure. Rarely exceeds 4 inches high.
A gem for the rock garden in cool spots.
Seed and division.

P. PULVERULENTA. — For combined
stature and flower freedom no modern
introduction equals this imposing species
from W. China. A true bog plant in
nature, it occurs at high elevations in
moist open meadows, the moisture suiting
it equally in cultivation in lowland gardens,
where it will attain to 4 or even 5 feet
high. It is valuable also for cool moist
spots in any position responding to rich
well-manured soils. The genus contains
no species of greater magnificence, well-
developed examples producing six to
eight strong flowering scapes and tier upon
tier of rich wine-red to crimson flowers.
It is one of the most amiably disposed of
the whole race. It seeds as it flowers
with great freedom. Seeds if allowed to
fall on the wet soil will yield strong
seedlings by the hundred, an object lesson
of high import which. gardeners would do
well to note. For such vigorous wildlings
raising seedlings in frame or greenhouse

is wrong. It is perfectly hardy, its pale-
coloured variety Mrs Berkeley much less
so, and certainly also less desirable.
June-July.

P. PURPUREA. — A handsome Primrose,
with purple flowers borne in heads about
3 inches across. Sheltered and warm
but not very shady positions, either in
the rock garden or in the open parts
of the hardy fernery, will best suit it if
the soil is a light, deep, sandy loam,
and well enriched with decomposed
leaf-mould. It never thrives so well
as in nooks at the base of rocks, where
it enjoys more heat than it would if
exposed. It must not be confused with
the variety of P. denticulata commonly
called by the same name of P. purpurea.

P. ROSEA (Rosy Himalayan P.) is a
bright Primrose, with flowers of the
loveliest carmine-pink. Its pale green
leaves form compact tufts, and the
flower-stems, 4 to 9 inches high, appear
in early spring. It is hardy and grows
vigorously in almost any soil, preferring,
however, a deep rich loam in a moist
shady part of the rock garden. Often a
non-success if given true bog conditions,
and in such cases the plants should be so
raised above the water-level that the
root-fibres only reach moisture. In
partial shade and rich sandy soils,
heavily dressed with old cow manure, it
is often more vigorous and free flowering
than in conditions constantly wet, hence
a plant for experiment. Easily raised
from seeds it is the most brilliantly
flowered perennial kind of its race. Good
garden forms are grandiflora, with larger
blooms, and splendent, with flowers of an
intense colour.

P. SCOTICA is a native plant, and requires
similar treatment to P. farinosa. The
flowers, which show in April, are rich
purple with a yellow eye, and are borne
on stems a few inches high. Native of
damp pastures in the northern counties
of Scotland. There is also a beautiful
pure white form of farinosa found upon
Ingleborough, but this is very scarce.

P. SECUNDIFLORA. — A vigorous species
having the habit of growth of P. sikkim-
ensis, but of a rich wine-red colour and
greater flower freedom than that kind.
The flowers, too, are sweet scented. Full
of promise and distinction, quite hardy
and of easy cultivation, it should be
planted in cool or moist places in rich
loamy and vegetable soils where good
drainage is present. Easily raised from
seeds. June-July. W. China.

P. SIBIRICA. — A pretty little plant of a
few inches high, akin to the pale-flowered
P. involucrata. It carries rather deeply-
cut leaves and small clusters of three to
five pale rosy-red flowers encircled by
long bracts. Arctic regions of Asia and
N. America.

P. SIEBOLDI. — This is one of the

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRIMULA. 651

showiest of the Primulas, and is as
easy to grow and as hardy as many
others. Since its introduction from
Japan numerous beautiful varieties have
been raised, some of the most distinct
being clarkiceflora, lilacina - marginata,
fimbriata oculata, vincceflora, ccerulea-alba,
Mauve Beauty, Lavender Queen, laciniata,
and maxima. These possess a great
diversity of colour, and some have the
petals beautifully fringed. One of the
chief merits of these Primulas is that
they bloom early, flowering about the
month of April, when other flowering

Sieboldi is a hardy herbaceous perennial,
which loses its leaves in autumn and
winter, when it goes to rest, and starts
again early in spring.

P. SIKKIMENSIS. — This is a beautiful
tall Primrose species, herbaceous in
our climate, and quite distinct. It
throws up strong flower-stems, 15 to
24 inches high, bearing numerous bell-
shaped flowers of a pale yellow, and
having an agreeable perfume. Some
of the stems bear a head of more than
five dozen buds and flowers, and each
flower is nearly i inch long and more

Primula rosca.

plants are rare ; and another is that
they are remarkably free bloomers,
throwing up successive flower - stems,
and lasting a long time in perfection.
Their cultivation also is easy. This
species and its varieties delight in rich
soils and moisture, and given these
may be grown to perfection. In well-
manured soils the plants will attain
to 2 feet high, assuming a vigour and
freedom of flowering surprising to those
who believed in the fallacious notion
that moisture was opposed to its well-
being. A deciduous species and rooting
from the upper parts of the rhizome, it
should be planted 2 inches deep, prefer-
ably when dormant. Readily increased
by division at the same period. P.

than | inch across. It starts into growth
in April or early in May, and should
have a shady position when in bloom,
as its delicate blossoms suffer from
cutting winds and bright sunshine. It
is hardy, and loves deep, well-drained,
and moist ground ; but spots in the
lower parts of the rock garden near
water, or situations in deep boggy places,
suit it best. It is readily increased
by seeds sown in summer as soon as they
are ripe, giving the best results when
treated as a biennial. This Primrose
is said to be the pride of all the Primroses
of the mountains of India, inhabiting
wet boggy soil at elevations of from
12,000 to 17,000 feet, and covering acres
of ground with its yellow flowers.

652 PRIMULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRIMULA.

P. STUARTI (Stuart's P.). — A noble
and vigorous yellow Primrose, about
1 6 inches high. It has leaves nearly
i foot long, and many-flowered umbels.
A light deep soil, never allowed to get
dry in summer, suits it well ; but the
most suitable place for it is some per-
fectly drained and sheltered slightly
elevated spot in the rock garden. It
may be planted against the base of

sheltered and well-drained niche of the
rock garden.

P. UNIQUE. — A magnificent hybrid of
P. Cockburniana and P. pulverulenta,
and one of the finest of the whole genus.
Combining the perennial character and
vigour of the last named with the rich
cinnabar-red flowers of P. Cockburniana,
the flowers are produced in whorls on
tall graceful stems in early summer.

Primula. Sicboldi.

rocks, to shelter it from cutting winds,
though, when sufficiently plentiful, this
precaution is unnecessary. Mountains of
India.

P. SUFFRUTESCENS. — A plant growing in
small tufts on the heights of the Rocky
Mountains, with narrow spoon-shaped
leaves and large flowers of rosy-purple
with a yellow eye, carried in small clusters
during April and May. It is best in a

When in flower a group of it constitutes
a glorious picture. ^ Rich soils in cool
situations. Easily raised from seeds.

P. VILLOSA. — A lovely little Primrose.
The leaves have close-set teeth, and are
covered with glandular hairs, and are
viscid on both sides. Its flower-stems,
also viscid, barely elevate the sweet
blooms above the foliage. It is well
adapted for the rock garden, in which

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PRIMULA.

653

it may be grown in any position, but
it requires light, peaty, or spongy loam,
about one-half being fine sand, and its
roots should be kept moist during the
dry season. It is easily increased by
division, and may be raised from seed.
Varieties are sometimes, but rarely,
found with white flowers. It is some-
times grown under the name of P. viscosa.
It is of very easy culture, and may be
grown either in pots or in the rock garden,
a light free soil, and plenty of water during
the warm season. It flowers in April
and May. Alps. Similar to P. villosa
are P. ciliata, Steini, hirsuta, pubescens,
rh:~tica, pedemontana, oenensis, and Diny-

P. WINTERI. — The genus contains
nothing more exquisite than this lovely
Himalayan kind, albeit it is not a general
success and requires the protection of
the alpine house or miniature caves or
recesses in the rock garden which would
protect it from wet and frost. Lowly
habited like our common Primrose, and
with grey-green leaves covered with a
whitish meal, the florin large, clear mauve,
white-eyed flowers are freely produced
on well-grown plants. Requires careful
cultivation in rich loam and leaf soil.
Rare at present it should be raised freely
from seeds, the seedlings affording not
a little colour variation.

An Alpine Primrose.

ana, charming little species from the
Alps. All thrive under the same con-
ditions as P. villosa.

P. VISCOSA. — A plant of the granite
soils of the Alps and Pyrenees, and so
near P. villosa that the two are often
regarded as one, though kept distinct
by botanists. This differs mainly in
the longer tube of the flowers and their
longer stems, though there are other
small differences. It develops a thick
stem of several inches high, often branched
like a tiny shrub. The leaves are large,
covered with hairs, and fringed at the
edges, and the flowers, which come
in large bunches during April and May,
are of rosy-lilac with a white centre.
The plant is easily grown in peaty soil
between sandstone rocks, but it objects
to chalk or strong limestone soils. It
has been freely used in crossing with
other kinds, especially P. auricula.

P. VULGARIS (Common P.). — Of all
the Primula family, none excel our
native Primroses in loveliness.

In some places the Common Prim-
rose varies a good deal in colour.
Some of the prettiest of the wild
varieties are worthy of being intro-
duced into shrubberies and copses.
For shrubberies and by woodland
walks single varieties will always
prove more useful than the old double
kinds, because more vigorous in spring
after the flowering period. Named
or distinct varieties are readily in-
creased by division or by seeds,
which are produced in abundance.
As soon as they are parted, plant
them in the kitchen garden or in
some by- place. The more rich and
moist the soil the better they will
grow, especially if the position be

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRIMULA.

a half-shady one. Good varieties are : j
Cecil Rhodes, dark ruby-red, the best I
of its class ; Evelyn Ark-bright, only
differing from the wild kind in its
immense flowers, 2 to i\ inches
across ; Miss Massey, dark maroon-
crimson with a golden eye ; Munstead |
Early White, white with a golden I
centre, early in flower ; Novelty, large ,
flowers of a pretty tender green shade ; i
Oakwood Blue, a good blue kind,
which in turn has given other shades |
known as Wilson's New Blue Prim- I
roses.

The forms most precious for the ;
garden are the beautiful old double
kinds. No prettier flowers ever
warmed into beauty under a northern

extreme north, where the climate is
at once moist and temperate, they grow
almost with luxuriance. Increased by
division preferably after flowering.

The Rev. P. Mules, a good grower
of the Double Primroses, wrote to
the Field about them : " Unless these
flowers have been seen at their best,
and that can only be under the favour-
able conditions of suitable soil, pure
air, and great experience in culture,
no one can imagine their beauty.
I have had a bed of fifty plants of
the double white carrying at one
time 4,000 fully expanded blooms,
averaging ig inches in diameter. So
also Pompadour, with blooms of still
larger size, which has flowered without

Primrose Munstead Early White.

sun than their delicately-tinted little
rosettes. Once they were in every
garden, but the day came when,
like many hardy flowers, they were
cast aside to make way for gaudier
things. The best known and most
distinctly marked are the double
lilac, double purple, double sulphur,
double white, double crimson, and
double red. The double kinds are
slower in growth and more delicate
than the single ones, and require
more care, and the development
of healthy foliage after flowering
should be the object of those who
wish to succeed with them. In the
double kinds the deeper the hue the
less robust the plant. The rich crim-
sons and the deep purples are usually
most difficult to cultivate, but in the I

intermission since October, throwing
its rich crimson blossoms well above
the succulent green foliage, and pre-
senting a fine picture of form and
colour. Then we have double rose,
double mauve, double dark lilac,
double cerise, double sulphur, double
yellow, and double rose white mottled.
Besides these are some bright crim-
sons, making a combination of colours
which lend themselves to many varie-
ties of garden and house decoration.
Some — the sulphur and the dark lilac —
occasionally throw up corymbose heads
Polyanthus-wise ; but this is not un-
common with many Primroses, and
is the result of high cultivation, and
occurs towards the end of the flowering
period. The reason that the rarer
varieties are difficult and expensive to

PRIMULA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRIMULA.

obtain is because their culture is not
understood, and stocks once allowed
to die out can scarcely be replaced.
Their reproduction, as they have no
seed, is impossible, and one has to
depend on division alone for their
increase. Like all perennials, there is
a tendency to natural deterioration,
and unless they be kept in the highest
vigour by change of soil and locality
and breaking up, nothing can keep
them.

" The secret of growing double Prim-
roses differs little, if at all, from that
of the more delicate perennials, two
points being specially to be observed —
protection from cutting and strong

our spring gardens. It would require
pages to describe even the good
varieties. At one time the Polyanthus
was highly esteemed as a florists'
flower, and none in existence better
deserved the attention and regard of
amateurs ; but nearly all the choice
old kinds are now lost, and very few
florists really pay any attention to
the flower. Thanks to the great
facility with which varieties are raised
from seed, nobody need be without
handsome kinds, especially as raising
them will prove interesting amuse-
ment for the amateur.

Polyanthuses should be seen in
strong colonies in shrubberies and

" Bunch " Primrose

winds, and that they be grown
together in beds massed, not dotted
through the herbaceous border. Be-
yond this only such knowledge is
required as can be obtained by ex-
perience in the management of this
class of plants."

THE POLYANTHUS. — Though the
origin of this beautiful old-fashioned
flower is somewhat obscure, it is con-
sidered to be a form of the common
P. vulgaris with the stems developed.
Polyanthuses are not at all sufficiently
appreciated, considering the wonderful
array of beauty they present, and that
for rich and charmingly inlaid colour-
ing they surpass all other flowers of

borders. Their cultivation is almost
as simple as that of meadow grass.
They grow vigorously in almost any
garden soil, but best in a soil that
is somewhat rich and moist ; and
though they thrive in the full sun,
they enjoy best a partially shaded
and sheltered position, and are some-
what impatient of heat and drought.
When grown for bedding they are,
like the Primroses, removed in early
summer from the flower garden to
the kitchen garden or nursery, and
replaced there when the summer bed-
ding plants have passed away.

There have been lately raised some
varieties, a good deal larger in their parts

PRUMNOPITYS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRUNUS.

than the type, and these are very easy of
culture and very vigorous. There are
very few, if any, double varieties,
but some varieties are curious and
interesting from the duplication of the
calyx or corolla ; these are popularly
known as " hose-in-hose " Polyanthus.
They grow with the same facility as the
others. The beautiful Gold-laced Poly-
anthuses are much prized. The best
are those raised years ago, such as
Cheshire Favourite, George the Fourth,
Formosa, Duke of Wellington, Black
Prince, Lancashire Hero, and others,
and they are mentioned in most florists'
catalogues of hardy plants. The com-
mon Oxlip is a hybrid more or less inter-
mediate between the Cowslip and the
Primrose.

Where soil is prepared for the
choicer varieties, any good loam
with a free addition of sand, well-
rotted leaf - mould, and decomposed
cow manure will form an admirable
compost. The Polyanthus may easily
be raised from seed, which should be
sown as soon as ripe, say about the end
of June. It will also grow well if the
seed is not sown till the following spring,
but by sowing immediately nearly a
year is gained. With choice kinds it is
better to sow the seed in pans or rough
wooden boxes, but for ordinary pur-
poses a bed of finely-pulverised soil in
the open air will suffice. Sowings in
early spring are better made in pans or
rough shallow boxes, placed in cold
frames, as time will be gained thereby.

PRUMNOPITYS ELEGANS (Plum-
fruited Yew). — An evergreen tree from
Chili, allied to the common Yew, of
dense growth and cheerful green colour.
It is hardy over a great part of
Britain, easily suited as to soils, and
readily transplanted. Is a good lawn
tree, thiiving in towns better than
most conifers ; it also bears cutting
without injury, though naturally of
a fine pyramidal habit. In its own
land it reaches a height of 50 feet,
but our best trees do not yet exceed
one half this height. In severe winters
young trees are injured or even killed,
but when well established it endures
severe cold. It is an excellent seaside
shrub, well adapted for hedges and
screens. I think it is of doubtful
hardiness, and never gave it a place.
Syn. Podocarpus andina.

PRUNELLA (Self-heal).— This hand-
some and vigorous plant P. grandi-
flora is readily distinguished by its
large flowers. There is a white and

a purple variety, both handsome
plants, thriving in almost any soil.
In winter they are apt to go off on the
London clay, at least on the level
ground, but are well suited for mixed
borders, banks, or copses. P. Web-
biana is a good garden form, making
a thick green carpet, with spikes of
rosy-purple flowers. Europe.

PRUNUS (Plum, Almond, Peach,
Apricot, Cherry, Bird Cherry, Cherry -
Laurel). — Bentham and Hooker in the
" Genera Plantarum " united under
Prunus the whole of the species which
had at an earlier date been known under
one or other of the following names :
A mygdalus, Persica, A rmeniaca, Prunus,
Cerasus, Padus, and Laur o - cerasus.
This arrangement, which was necessary
from the fact that no well-defined line
could be drawn between them, has
given rise to some confusion. And we
may see in consequence two Apricots,
maybe, growing side by side, the older
one called Armeniaca, the newer one
Prunus. In the following notes the
whole of the species dealt with are
considered as Prunus and are arranged
alphabetically ; and some, not of much
garden value, or those not hardy in
Britain, are excluded. But it will be
well, perhaps, to first show the section
to which each belongs.

THE ALMONDS AND PEACHES— AMYGDAI.US.
P. Amygdalus, P. Davidiana, P. incana, P. iiantn
P. orientalis, P. Persica, P. Sintoni.

THE APRICOTS — ARMENIACA.

P. Anneniaca, P. brigantiaca, P. dasycarpa, P
Mume, P. sibirica, P. tomentosa, P. triloba.

THE PLUMS — PRUNUS.

P. alleghatiiensis, P. americana, P. angustifolia,
P. cerasifera, P. cerasifera var. atro-purpurea, P.
communis, P. cominunis var. pruneauliana, P. tiiv-
aricata, P. insititia, P. spinosa, P. trijlora, P.
Watsoni.

THE CHERRIES — CERASUS.

P. acida, P. Avium, P. Besseyi, P. Cerasus, P.
Pkamcecerasus, P. humilis, P. Jacquemonti, P.
japonica, P. maritima, P. Maxinwwiczi, P.pendula,
P. pennsylvanica, P. prostrata, P. pseudo-Cerasus,
P. Puddum, P.pumila, P. serrulata, P. sub/tirteUn,
P. tomentosa.

THE BIRD CHERRIES— PADUS.

P. Capollin, P. cornuta, P. demissa, P. Maackii,
P. Mahaleb, P. mollis, P. Padus, P. serotina, P.
virginiana.

THE CHERRY-LAURELS— LAURO-CERASUS.
/'. ilicifolia, P. Lauro-cerasus, P. lusitanica.

P. ACIDA. — One of the species from
which the Cherries of gardens have been
derived ; small, dark green, shining leaves
of firm texture and nearly glabrous. A
variety is semperflorens, of drooping habit,
and bearing white flowers (sometimes
double) from May to September, and
often carrying flowers and fruit. A dwarf
tree, usually grafted standard high.

PRUNUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRUNUS.

657

P. ALLEGHANIENSIS. — Usually a shrub
from 4 to 6 feet high, but sometimes a
small tree three or four times that height.
The flowers, ^ inch across, at first pure
white changing to pink, are followed by
handsome fruits, which are blue - purple,
nearly globular, and valued for preserving.
Pennsylvania.

P. AMERICANA (Wild Red Plum). — A
handsome tree found in North America to
the east of the Rocky Mountains, and one
of the hardiest. It is a tree 20 feet or
more high, of graceful habit, bearing at the
end of April or the beginning of May many
pure snowy white blossoms ; fruits red or
yellowish-red, the species being cultivated
in the United States on their account.
The Canada Plum, P. nigra, a form of this,
is yet more showy and earlier in flower, but
runs into americana through intermediate
forms.

P. AMYGDALUS (the Common Almond).
— One of the earliest of trees to bloom, and
reaching its best before hardy trees have
done more than show signs of reviving life.
There are several named varieties in
cultivation: Amara (Bitter Almond). —
flowers slightly larger than those of the
common Almond, petals almost white
towards the tips, deepening into rose at
the base. Dulcis (Sweet Almond). — This
has leaves of a grey-green colour, and is
one of the earliest to flower. Macrocarpa.
— This is a strong-growing tree with
larger, broader leaves than the type ; the
flowers, too, which are rose-tinted white,
are larger. This tree is hardy and vigorous
in our country. There are also double-
flowered and pendulous varieties culti-
vated under names denoting these char-
acters, and pretty dwarf forms, pink and
white, known as nanas, and charming
in the rock garden. Syn., Amygdalus
communis.

P. ANGUSTIFOLIA (Chickasaw Plum). —
In Britain this is a shrub 4 to 6 feet high,
but in America it is a small tree 20 to 25
feet high ; the leaves 3 inches long ;
flowers in clusters of one or two pairs,
white, sometimes with a creamy tint, one-
third of an inch in diameter. Several
excellent varieties of this plum are grown
in the United States for their bright red
fruits, and there are variegated forms
cultivated in Europe. P. Watsoni (Sand
Plum) is a form of this, reaching about 6
feet in height, with twiggy, much-spined
branches and abundant sweet white
flowers in May. The orange - coloured
fruits are small, but much valued in the
western states of America.

P. ARMENIACA (Common Apricot). — The
wild bush of the cultivated Apricot flowers
in February or early March, its blossoms
being usually of a pinkish-white, but there
are varieties with deeper-coloured flowers,
and one in which they are double. N.
China.

P. AVIUM (the Gean). — Wild in the
British Isles, generally as a tree 20 feet to

30 feet high. This has long been grown as
an ornamental tree, and there are three or
four good varieties. None is more beauti-
ful than the double form, whose pure white
flowers are borne in spring. The var,
decumana is a striking tree with large
leaves, some of which measure 6 inches to
8 inches in length. The var. nana is a
curious dwarf plant ; var. laciniata has
cut leaves ; and var. pendula is of weeping
habit. The fruit is sweet or bitter (not
acid) .

Cerasus Watereri.

P. BESSEYI (Western Sand Cherry). — A
fine dwarf form of P. pumila, the wild
Cherry of the Rocky Mountains. It is as
yet little known in our gardens, but will
make a pretty bushy shrub for dry places
in poor soil. The foliage is an ashen grey,
the flowers white in clusters of two to five,
and the fruits cherry-red on short stalks.

P. CAPOLLIN. — A native of Mexico and
southwards, where it ranks as a fruit tree ;
leaves are of a dark glossy green, and
hanging loose and pendent, as in some
Willows ; flowers in erect racemes, white ;
fruits round, dark red and like small
Cherries ; a tree 30 feet to 35 feet high.
This is now regarded as a willow-leaved
form of P. serotina, the wild Black Cherry
of America. In France it ripens seed.

P. CERASIFERA (the Myrobalan). — The
showiest of ajl the Plums, flowering whilst
the leaf-buds are as yet mere tips of green,

658

PRUNUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PRUNUS.

JDavii/Jaiiu.

the flowers three-quarters of an inch to i
inch in diameter, in clusters on the short
twigs ; tree round-headed and of spreading
habit, 20 feet high. Prunus Pissardi is a
variety of this species (var. atro-purpurea,
the purple Myrobalan), a variety of Persian
origin. Its white blossoms are followed by
the beautiful red-purple young leaves, which
assume their richest tints when just open-
ing and in late summer and autumn. It
fruits in -favourable seasons, the fruits being
coloured like the leaves, even when young.
PW CERASUS (Wild Cherry). — A native
of Britain, and usually a small tree or even
a shrub, bearing its pure white flowers in
spring. It is the double-flowered varieties,
however, that give this kind its chief
value in gardens. A very old and beauti-
ful Cherry is the variety known as persici-
flora, the flowers of which are double and
tinged with rose. One of more recent
origin is Rhexi fl.-pl., whose pure white,
long-stalked flowers, borne in May, hang
from the branches in great abundance. It
is a small tree, and one of the prettiest of
all the Cherries. Syn., Cerasus vulgaris.

P. CHAM^CERASUS (Siberian Cherry). —
A dwarf Cherry, the blossoms white, three-
quarters of an inch in diameter, appearing
in May.

P. COMMUNIS (Common Plum).- — This
species is believed to be the source from
which the cultivated Plums have been de-
rived, although in a less degree the Bullace
(P. insititia] and the Sloe (P. spinosa) have
each most probably a share in their origin.
It has, however, some value as an orna-
mental tree, and reaches a height of 15
to 20 feet, 'the flowers white. Of the
varieties cultivated as ornamental trees,
var. pruneauliana is perhaps the most
beautiful. It bears in April many white
flowers, not large, but so thickly borne as
to cover the twigs. There is also a double-
flowered form of this variety.

P. CORNUTA (Himalayan Bird Cherry). —
The Himalayan form of our Bird Cherry.
Its leaves are as a rule larger, broader,
and of stouter texture than those of our
British trees ; they are also distinct
in having red stalks.

P. DAVIDIANA. — The earliest of all
the Peaches to bloom, in mild winters
as early as January. Its branches are
of somewhat erect growth, the flowers
individually I inch across and completely
covering the shoots made the preceding
year, which are frequently 2 feet long.
The petals in one form (alba) are of a pure
white ; in the other (rubra) pink, but not
so freely borne.

P. INSITITIA (Bullace). — A small tree,
often wild in hedgerows, which bears
its white flowers in pairs during March and
April ; its black fruits are ripe in October.
There are several varieties, amongst which
may be mentioned that with double flowers,
another with yellowish-white fruits, and a
third with red fri.its.

PRUNUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PRUNUS.

659

P. JACQUEMONTI. — A pretty shrub,
native of N. India, where it is found
at altitudes from 6,000 to 12,000 feet, with
flowers of a bright rosy pink, about half an
inch across, and borne in great abundance
on the growths of the previous summer.
The Chinese P. humilis is nearly related to
this.

P. JAPONICA (Double Chinese Plum). —
This is one of the most lovely of spring-
flowering shrubs. The single form prob-
ably not in cultivation ; the double one
has white flowers with a more or less rosy
tint, some, indeed, of a distinct rose colour.
It can be struck from cuttings, but it is
better to layer the shoots of an old plant.
In that way nice flowering plants can be
obtained in two years. Grafted plants
neither grow nor flower so well, and a con-
stant watch has to be kept for suckers.
Syn., P. sinensis.

P. LAURO-CERASUS (Cherry Laurel). — A
noble evergreen tree often overplanted and
misused, and where this is so, Cherry
Laurels have to be continually cut back
to keep them within bounds, and their
hungry roots prevent the cultivation of
better things anywhere near. Several
varieties are in cultivation, the best of
which are colchica, caucasica, and rotundi-
folia, all with broader, larger leaves than
the common Laurel and preferable to it
on account of their hardier constitution.
Salicifolia, angustifolia, and parvifolia are
narrow - leaved varieties, the last being
often grown under the name of Havtoghia
capensis. A new variety from the Shipka
Pass (shipkaensis) is said to bethe hardiest
of all.'

P. LUSITANICA (Portugal Laurel).- — A
noble evergreen rarely seen in its full
beauty, because it is nearly always choked
with other things in the shrubbery. It is
as a group, and allowed full freedom of
growth, that its value both as a winter
and summer shrub is seen, though like
the Cherry Laurel it is often overplanted.
Var. myrtifolia has smaller leaves than the
common forms, and its branches are of
more erect 'growth. Being dwarf er, it is
also better suited for shrubberies. Var.
azorica has much larger leaves, and fewer
but larger flowers on the raceme. Spain,
Portugal, and the Azores.

P. MAH ALEB (Mahaleb) . — None of
the European Cherries surpass this in its
springtide beauty. The Mahaleb is a native
of Central and Southern Europe, perfectly
hardy in England, reaching a height of
20 to 30 feet, of free graceful growth.
Especially is this the case with the variety
pendula, which, although not strictly
weeping, is of looser, laxer habit than the
type. The leaves are each 2 inches long,
and the pure white flowers appear in rather
flat racemes in May.

P. MARITIMA (American Beach Plum). —
A very handsome bushy shrub, new to

British gardens. Its beauty is the great
profusion of its early flowers, but the purple
or yellow fruits, covered with a dense
bloom, though rather small, are edible.
A good kind for sandy shore lands.

P. MUME. — Under the hands of Japanese
cultivators this has varied into numerous
forms, and there are now at Kew varieties
with flowers red and white, single and
double, as well as one of the pendulous habit.
The wood resembles that of the common
Apricot. The plant is leafless at the time

Frunits japonica,.

of flowering. It has been in cultivation
for some years, both here and on the Con-
tinent, but disguised under other names,
one of which is Prunus Myrobalana fl.~
roseis. Corea.

P. NANA (Dwarf Almond). — This, a
native of Southern Russia, is one of the
dwarfest of the Almonds, being from 2 feet
to 5 feet high. It flowers during March and
April when the leaf-buds are only beginning
to burst, the flowers being of a lively rose
colour and about three-quarters of an inch
across. The leaves are narrow, smooth,
dark green, and glossy. It is a charming
shrub, and can be .easily and quickly
propagated by layering. The species will
thrive in a dry situation better than most
Almonds. There is a pretty double form.

P. PADUS (Bird Cherry). — This beau-
tiful tree, a native of Britain as well as
of North and Central Europe and Asia, is
often 40 feet high, the flowers being borne

66o

PRIJNUS.

tHE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEti.

PRUNUS.

in drooping racemes, in the commonest
form being 4 inches to 6 inches long.
There are varieties, however, finer both in
the flowers and racemes. The common
Bird Cherry is a tree rather for the park
and woodland than the garden proper,
but the Manchurian and double-flowered
varieties fully deserve a place among
flowering trees.

P. PENDULA (Rose-bud Cherry). — A
beautiful Japanese Cherry and one of the
earliest to come into flower, commencing
usually towards the end of March. Its
pendent growth has led to its being
commonly worked on stocks 5 to 6 feet
high, but it comes true from seed. The
leaves are much like those of the common
Cherry, the flowers of a lovely shade of
soft rose and borne in profusion. In the
United States, where the summers are
much hotter, it thrives better than in
England, and it should, if possible, be
planted in a sunny spot sheltered from the
north and east Syn., Cerasus pendula.

P. PERSICA (Peach). — Although neither
so free-growing nor so hardy as the
Almond, the Peach in various forms is
beautiful, and in positions sheltered from
the north and east ought to be planted
freely. There are now varieties at the
service of the planter, chiefly single
and double forms, with white or red
flowers. One of the best of these is
camellitzflora, with large single or double
red flowers. There is also one with purple
foliage known as foliis rubris, this colour
extending also to the fruit. The double
Peaches are often very handsome in
warm valley soils. Best from seeds or
layers, the grafting on the plum leading
to death or disease.

P. PROSTRATA (Mountain Cherry). — A
rare species, and one of the most lovely of
the dwarf Cherries, a native of the moun-
tains of the Levant, and, although not
strictly prostrate (at least in cultivation),
is a low spreading bush, the long, slender
branches arching outwards and down-
wards to the ground. The flowers, borne
on very short stalks, are of a beautiful
lively shade of rose, are half -an -inch to
three-quarters of an inch across, and so
plentiful as to almost hide the branches.

P. PSEUDO-CERASUS (Japanese Cherry).
— This is the tree whose flowering marks
one of the epochs of the year in Japan.
In the forests of N. Japan this species
becomes a large timber tree, but in
England it is not often seen above 20
feet high, and it is the double-flowered
varieties that are cultivated in England.
They are of various shades of rosy white,
and are known under such names as
Cerasus Watereri, C. Sieboldi, etc. More
so perhaps than any other are these double-
flowered Cherries worth extensive planting,
never failing to flower, being of surpassing
beauty and perfectly hardy. They should
be grown on a cool, moist bottom, and the

effect they produce in spring is all the
greater if room can be afforded for a grove
of a dozen or so trees with a backing of
Holly or other evergreen.

P. SERRULATA.- — A native of Japan,
and can be recognised by its peculiar
mode of branching. The main stem
is erect for a few feet, but then branches
off almost horizontally into three or
four divisions, and henceforth ceases to
send up a defined lead. It is picturesque,
representing one of the modes of growth
we have come to regard as essentially
typical of Japanese tree vegetation, and
its rosy-white double flowers come about
a fortnight later than in the common
Japanese Cherry. The single - flowered
form is not in cultivation.

P. SIBIRICA (Siberian Apricot) . — A pretty
little shrub now becoming better known
in gardens, where it is valued for its
early white or pink flowers carried in
profusion.

P. SIMONI.— Has leaves of about the
same size as the common Almond, but
the tree itself is of more erect habit and
frequently resembles the Lombardy Poplar
in form of growth. The flowers are white,
and appearing in February and March. Its
fruit is deep purple, and ripens early.
China.

P. SPINOSA FLORE-PLENO (double Sloe

or Blackthorn). — This flowers at the
same time as the Sloe, its blossoms white,
about half an inch in diameter, and not
perfectly double, the centre of the flower
containing a cluster of stamens. The
flowers are thickly crowded on the short
spiny branches, the black colour of which
serves to show off more vividly the beauty
of the flowers. It is one of the most
charming of March flowering shrubs.
There is a neat garden form in which the
leaves are a dark purple colour, like that
of P. Pissardii.

P. TOMENTOSA. — A pretty and very
distinct little Cherry from China and Man-
churia, its dense crown unlike other kinds,
and of beautiful effect. The pink flowers
come just before the hairy leaves, solitary
or in pairs, and with very short stalks.
The round fruits, set close against the
branches, are a pretty bright red.

P. TRIFLORA (Japanese Plum). — More
commonly grown in American gardens
than with us, and mainly valued for its
fruits. These are not equal to our orchard
plums, but are very abundant, of fine
appearance, and keep well, and the trees
are singularly free of disease.

P. TRILOBA FL.-PL. — Perhaps the most
lovely of all the dwarf Prunus, it is a
native of China and was introduced by
Fortune. The flowers are at their best
in early April, and each one measures i£
to 2 inches in diameter. On first opening
they are of a lovely shade of delicate
rose, changing with age to an almost
pure white. It is hardy and will thrive

PTERIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PULMONARIA. 66 1

as a bush in the open, although not so
well as on a wall. The same applies to
the double-flowered variety, which for
forty years has been in our gardens.
Within the last year or two, the single-
flowered wild type has been introduced.
It has smaller rosy -white flowers, and
leaves, of the same shape as Fortune's
plant, but smaller. — W. J. B.

PTERIS ( Brake) . — The Bracken
Fern (P. aquilina) , the only thoroughly
hardy species of this genus, is generally
so common as not to need cultivation.
In introducing it where it is scarce,
to transplant it successfully large sods
containing the strong creeping roots
must be dug up, and planted in light
soil ; if peaty, so much the better.
In very mild localities such species as
P. cretica and the elegant P. scaberula,
from New Zealand, sometimes thrive
in sheltered nooks.

PTEROCARYA (Winged Nut}.—
Walnut-like trees of fine stately form
of leaf and habit, P. caucasica being
hardy in our country, at least in the
southern and warmer parts. There
are good trees at Claremont and other
places, and one in Hyde Park. The
foliage is very glossy and large. The
tree is a vigorous grower, and should
not be planted near shrubs or other
plants we wish to have a fair chance.
The trees are natives of temperate
countries in Asia, and their number is
likely to be added to as soon as more
of China, Mongolia, and countries
near are opened up. The Caucasian is
the best known species — others are :
rhio folia, Japan, stenoptera, China, and
Delavayi, Yun-Nan.

PTEROCEPHALTJS. — P. Parnassi is
a Scabious-like plant of dwarf compact
growth, forming a dense rounded mass
of hoary foliage, which in summer is
studded with mauve-coloured flower-
heads. It is a most desirable plant,
thriving best in light warm soils, and
is suited either for the rock-garden or
dry banks. Syn., Scabiosa pterocephala.
Greece.

PTEROSTYRAX.— P. hispidum is
a Japanese shrub, and quite hardy
enough for culture as a bush. It
makes a capital wall shrub, being rapid
in growth, handsome in foliage, and
very beautiful in flower. The leaves
are heart-shaped, about 6 inches long
and 3 inches broad, the small white
flowers borne very freely in drooping
clusters about the end of July. Another
Japanese species, P. corymbosum, is
less common, though d'esirable for

walls. Its flowers, which are white or
faintly tinged, are in crowded clusters.
Both species are 8 to 12 feet high in
this country. They are known botani-
cally as Halesia hispida and H.
corymbosa, but ever since their intro-
duction they have been known as
Pterostyrax in gardens. Increase by
seeds, layers, and soft cuttings.

PUERARIA (Kudsu). — P. thunber-
giana is a remarkable climbing plant
of almost tropical vigour, growing up
poles, colonnades, and walls to a great
height in a very short time. It belongs
to the Pea family, and is a plant the
Japanese make a great economic use of

rterocefihalus Parnassi.

in various ways, but our main concern
with it here is for the flower garden,
where it is hardy and useful as a rapid-
growing leafy screen. The flowers are
a dull violet-purple and very fragrant,
but only come towards autumn, when
the plant is well established. Increase
by seeds, division of the fleshy roots,
or by cuttings.

PULMONARIA (Lungwort).— These
are vigorous and hardy in any soil.
Most of them grow well under the shade
of trees, and all succeed best in shade.
They form dense tufts of foliage,
generally handsomely blotched and
speckled with white, and make pretty-
groups in the spring garden, or in semi-
wild places, but are worthy of the best
places in the flower garden. There are
about half-a-dozen kinds, all like each
other. P. officinalis and P. angusti-
folia are native plants. P. officinalis
(sometimes called P. saccharata) has
rosy flowers turning to blue, and P.
angustifolia bears blue flowers. P.
mollis is intermediate between the two,
and P. grandiflora is somewhat] similar
to P. officinalis. P. azurea fcas rich.

662

PUNIC A.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PYRETHRUM.

blue flowers. P. arvernense, with deep
blue flowers, is of refined habit, and
well suited to the rock-garden. There
is a white-flowered form of it. Chiefly
natives of Europe. P. dahurica is
sometimes called Mertensia dahurica.

P. AZUREA. — Flower stems about 8
inches high, flowers a full, perfect blue in
bunchy heads, what botanists call a "twin
capitale " raceme. Some flowers in the
head stand up and some slightly droop.
Leaves dark green, no spots, broad, lance-
shaped, 8 to 10 inches long, stand up in a
prosperous-looking tuft after the flowers
are over. It is very near the rare native
P. angustifolia, but a good bit better as a
garden plant. Flowers in May, and a
really good plant.

PUNICA (Pomegranate). — Like the
Myrtle, the Pomegranate, P. granatum,
is grown as a wall shrub, the walls of
some old houses being covered with it,
and it makes a very beautiful covering
with its dense mass of tender green
foliage. The type has single flowers of
a brilliant scarlet, but the best is the
double-flowered sort (flore-pleno] , which
is also scarlet, and is that most com-
monly seen. There is also a yellow-
flowered sort and a white or almost
white kind (albescens) with single and
double forms, but these are rare. The
flowers are borne freely on the young
slender shoots of the previous year's
growth, and in pruning these must be
left untouched. Increase by cuttings
of dormant wood, rooted under glass
with some heat.

Puschkinia scilloides.

PUSCHKINIA (Striped Squill}. — P.
scilloides is one of the most beautiful of
spring bulbous flowers. In its growth
it is like some of the Scillas, but its
flowers are delicate blue, each petal
being marked through the centre with

a darker colour. The flower spikes are
4 or 5 inches high. There are two
forms of the plant — the ordinary one
and P. compacta. Compacta is so
called from its denser and more num-
erous flowers, and is therefore the hand-
somer of the two. The soil should be
light and friable, and about i foot in
depth ; and the bulbs planted about 4
inches deep. P. libanotica is a taller
and more vigorous plant of easy
culture and hardy. Shady situations
in sub-alpine districts of Asia Minor.

PYRETHRUM. — Vigorous perennial
or rock - plants, by far the most
important of which is the Caucasian
P. roseum, which has yielded the in-
numerable varieties, both single and
double, that have now become such
popular border flowers. They are
showy, hardy, and easy to grow, little
affected by sun or rain, and valuable
as cut flowers. The blossoms are con-
tinually becoming more varied in
colour and more refined in shape.
Though Pyrethrums are in their fullest
beauty in June, they are seldom alto-
gether nowerless throughout the sum-
mer ; and a succession can easily be kept
up by judicious stopping and thinning.
They are valuable for autumn decora-
tion, for if cut down after flowering
in June, they flower again in autumn.
Division, March or April and in July
after flowering. Seed. Take the
plants up, shake off all soil, pull
them to pieces, put them in small pots,
and place them in a cold frame for a
few weeks until established, but not
too close, as they are apt to damp.
When established, they may be planted
out. A good rich loam suits them
best, though they will grow and
flower freely in any good garden soil,
and the more we incorporate well-
rotted manure with the soil the better
they grow and flower. Mulching,
especially in dry soil, keeps the ground
moist and cool. The varieties are
so numerous that it is difficult to make
a selection, and as they vary from
year to year it is best to take them
from the catalogues of the day.

P. PARTHENIUM (Feverfew}. — The gol-
den-leaved variety of this plant (P.
aureum or Golden Feather) is now common.
Of this there are several forms. One is
called laciniatum, and is very distinct
from the older kind. These have their
uses in geometrical borders, where they
have a bright effect. Their culture
is of the simplest. Seed is sown in heat
in spring, and the seedlings are pricked

PYROLA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

PYRUS.

663

off iii pans, and when large enough
transferred to open borders, and there
they withstand the winter unprotected.
New plants should be raised every year,
as after flowering the second year the old
plants lose their neat compact growth.

P. TCHICHATCHEWI (Turfing Daisy). —
A Caucasian plant, retaining its verdure
in dry weather on dry banks or slopes
where few plants would nourish ; a
dwarf creeper, quickly forming a carpet
of green. The flowers have white rays
and a yellow disc, and in forming turf
of the plant in poor dry soils they should
be removed, though for the rock garden
of the rougher kind or for borders the
flowers have some claim to beauty.

P. ULIGINOSUM (Hungarian Daisy). —
One of the finest of tall herbaceous plants,
and forms tufts 5 to 7 feet in height.
These are crowned by lax clusters of
pure white flowers, each about twice the
size of an Ox-eye Daisy. It is excellent
for cutting, and its blossoms are produced
late in autumn before the Chrysanthe-
mums come in. It is a stately plant for
a rich border, and thrives best in deep,
moist, loamy soil. It may be natural-
ised in damp places. Division. Syn.,
P. serotinum. Hungary.

PYROLA (Winter -green). — Little
evergreen plants of the northern woods
and boggy or sandy places, very distinct
and attractive both in leaf and flower.

P. ROTUNDIFOLIA (Larger Winter-green).
— P. rotundi folia is a rare native plant,
6 to 12 inches high, inhabiting woods,
shady, bushy, and reedy places. It
has leathery leaves, and its erect stems
bear long, handsome, and slightly-droop-
ing racemes of pure white flowers, rather
like a Lily-of-the-Valley, half an inch
across, ten or twenty of which are borne
on a stem. They have a sweet scent.
P. r. arenaria is a very graceful plant,
found wild on sandy seashores. It
differs from the preceding in being
smooth, deep green, and dwarfer, and
in having as a rule several empty bracts
below the inflorescence. Both the type
and its variety are beautiful plants
for the shady mossy flanks of the rock
garden in free sandy and vegetable soil.
They flourish more readily in cultivation
than any other species of the family.
In America there are varieties with
flesh-coloured and reddish flowers, but
none of these are in cultivation. P.
uni flora, P. media, P. minor, and P.
secunda are also interesting British plants,
and the first-named is very ornamental,
besides being very rare. P. elliptica, a
native of N. America, is also found in our
gardens, though rarely. Any of the
Pyrolas are 'worth growing in thin mossy
copses on light sandy vegetable soil,
or in moist and half-shady parts of the
rock garden or the fernery, where they

make neat evergreen carpets, flowering
in summer. Increase by seeds sown as
soon as ripe, or division of the roots
in autumn or spring ; this last is a work
of care, the plants being somewhat
averse to disturbance.

PYRUS (Pear and Apple). — Beauti-
ful flowering trees and bushes of which
there is now a bewildering number,
since botanists have classed all Apples,
Pears, and their allies under the one
family. Here it will be convenient
to adhere to the old classification,
which places Pears under Pyrus,
Apples under Malus, Beams under Aria,
and Mountain Ashes and Service Trees
under Sorbus. No one is likely to
confuse one with another, and their
names are more easily remembered
when so classified. These old genera
are now placed as sections of Pyrus.
The finest flowering trees are those in-
cluded under the section Malus, the
type of which is the common Crab Apple
(M. communis). There is a beautiful
flowering variety of the Crab Apple
called the Paradise Apple, having large
handsome flowers, but it is seldom
planted for effect, although in com-
mon use as a stock for grafting. The
Chinese and Japanese Crab Apples
include the finest of our small trees that
flower in early summer. The Chinese
double-flowered Crab (P. M. spectabilis)
is a lovely tree 15 to 25 feet high, with
a wide - spreading head of branches
abundantly wreathed with large semi-
double delicate rose-pink flowers. It
is not often met with, except in old
gardens. The varieties of P. M.
baccata or Berry Apple (so called from
its small round fruits) are known as
Siberian Crabs. They are graceful in
growth, showy in flower, and have
highly-coloured fruits,, which add much
to the beauty of the garden in autumn.
The Japanese Crab (P. M. Toringo) has
beautiful flowers and fruits. The
flowers are white and pale pink, and the
very small fruits are hung on long
slender stalks. Of the Toringo Crab
there are now several forms, differing
in colour of flower and of fruit. It is
a small tree, and is a large - spreading
bush if the leaders are removed. The
finest of the Eastern Crab Apples is
the Japanese P. M. floribunda. Fully
grown it makes a low tree with a dense
wide-spreading head of slender branches
loaded every May with a profusion of
flowers of a pale pink when expanded,
and of a brilliant crimson in the bud,
when they are most beautiful. An-
other new mild kind from C. Asia is

664

PYRUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

QUERCUS.

P. M. niedwet~kyana, known as the
Red Apple. Not only are the flowers
a deeper red than in any other kind,
but the fruits, the bark of the twigs,
and even the leaves, when coming
and dying away, all carry deep shades
of crimson and purple. The N. Ameri-
can Sweet-Scented Crab Apple (P. M.
coronaria) is a lovely little tree with
large pink deliriously scented flowers.
There are other ornamental Apples
in the section Malus, but the fore-
going include the finest.

Of the one or two Pears that may
be planted for ornament one is P.
Bollwylleriana, from C. Europe, which
produces in spring an abundance
of small white blooms in clusters ; and
another is P. salicifolia (the Willow-
leaved Pear), which is well worthy of
planting on account of its distinct and
beautiful foliage, has leaves of silvery
whiteness. P. ol&agnifolia, or Oleaster-
leaved Pear, is another Eastern species
with hoary leaves.

Of the Sorbus section the common
Mountain Ash (P. Aucuparia) is a
familiar example, but it is too common
to need description. There is a kind
with yellow berries, another kind with
weeping branches, and a third of
erect growth. The last is not very
ornamental, as the variegation is
seldom distinct. Other species worthy
of attention are P. S. americana,
the American Mountain Ash, which is a
good deal like our own Mountain Ash ;
and P. S. hybrida, a tree of very dis-
tinct growth, with a dense pyramidal
head, and leaves intermediate between
those of P. S. Aucuparia and "P. Aria
(the White Beam). The true Service
Tree, P. S. domestica, used to be more
frequently planted than now. It is a
handsome tree with elegant foliage.
Of the White Beam (P. Aria] there are
some very handsome kinds. Like
the Mountain Ash, it is also one of
the best trees for planting in exposed
places on poor soil, and no tree thrives
so well on chalk. Its broad silvery
foliage makes it show in the landscape,
and it is a valuable park tree. Its
allies and varieties include some beauti-
ful trees, such as latifolia, with leaves
Which are broader than the type and
quite as silvery. Hosti is a good
tree, both in foliage and flower.
Its leaves are large and silvery,
and its delicate rose-pink flowers are in
broad flat clusters. It is a Central
European tree, perfectly hardy, and
about 10 feet high. The Himalayan
Beam Tree, P. vestita is extremely

fine, but is not hardy everywhere. Its
very large leaves are like those of the
Loquat, and are of silvery whiteness.
Where it thrives it is 20 to 30 feet
high.

PYXIDANTHERA (Pine Barren
Beauty}. — P. barbulata is a curious little
American evergreen shrub, smaller than
many Mosses, flowering in May, rose-
coloured in bud, white when open, the
effect of the rosy buds and the white
flowers on the dense dwarf cushions
being singularly pretty : it is plentiful
in the sandy dry " Pine barrens " be-
tween New Jersey and North Carolina,
and often found on little mounds in low
but not wet places. It is a charming
plant for the rock garden, planted in
pure sand and leaf-mould, and fully
exposed to the sun. Increase by care-
ful division of old plants, or seeds sown
in a cold frame as soon as ripe.

QUAMOCLIT. — Q. coccinea is a pretty
Convolvulus - like plant, with many
small scarlet flowers and slender stems
of rapid growth, attaining a height of
6 to 8 feet in a few weeks. It may be
treated either as a half-hardy annual,
and sown in February or March under
glass or in a hot-bed, but it requires a
warmer climate than ours to do well.
Q. hedercefolia is another pretty species.
It has scarlet flowers and lobed foliage,
and requires the same treatment.
Both are excellent plants for sheltered
trellises, as they give abundance of
flowers from July to September.

QUERCUS (Oak}.— Noble evergreen
and summer-leafing trees of northern
and temperate regions, of whose beauty
and value books can give but a feeble
impression. If we think of our own
stately Oak and its variety of form in
different situations, even within the
narrow area of our storm-tossed isle,
we may perhaps get some idea of the
value of the several hundred known
species of Oak. The evergreen Oaks,
though of vast importance in more
temperate countries (I have passed
through millions of acres of evergreen
Oak in N. Africa alone), are of less
value in our cold climate, but we have
one precious kind in the Ilex, and
other kinds may be grown in the mild
parts to a limited extent, especially
in seashore districts where evergreen
shelter is welcome.

From the point of view of effect, the
most noble of the summer-leafing Oaks
are the American Oaks, with their fine

QUERCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

QUERCUS.

665

colour in autumn. No trees have been i
more talked of, yet why are they so i
rare in our gardens ? The answer is, j
I think, because of our ways of pro- |
curing them, by plants too old, from
nurseries, and, most of all, by the
habit of grafting exotic kinds on the
common Oak, and neglecting the natural ;
modes of increase, which, in the case of
Oaks, is certainly by seed. If we were
dealing with plants of a tender nature,
for which some hardy stock would be
necessary, there might be some reason '
for this, but it is not so, because these
lovely American Oaks inhabit colder
regions than our own country, and they
are absolutely different in character
from ours, some of them living on dry,
warm soils, whereas our Oak is usually
best, and certainly the timber is best,
on soils of a heavy nature. Therefore
those who wish to have the American
Oaks in their beauty should work from
seed sown in the place where we wish
the trees to grow, or raised in nurseries
and transplanted early, or purchase
young and healthy plants from forest
tree nurseries, and in that way secure
the vigorous growth of the seedling
tree. There should be no trouble in
our nurserymen raising good stock from
seed of all the more essential and well-
known kinds, but acorns from America
or other countries should be sown as
soon as possible after coming to hand,
and it is best to have them packed
tightly in moist earth.

As a rule hybrids in this family are
not nearly so important as the wild
trees, if we except such varieties as
occur naturally when we raise the tree
from seed. The common European
evergreen Oak gives a pretty variety
from seed, as, indeed, our wild Oak
does, evidence of which we may see
in any good Oak district where the
trees show a dozen different states of
leaf and colour.

It is well that some of the favoured
shores and valleys of the world have
evergreen Oaks which we may grow
in our country, the best known of
these being the Ilex of Italy, happily,
hardy in our country. It is at home
most in seashore districts, and many
places both in England and Ireland
have fine trees. Old trees give ex-
cellent shade and shelter for the
flower garden.

With such a great shore-line, the
opportunities for growing the evergreen
Oaks well are vastly greater than in a
Continental country of like tempera-
ture. Thickly planted, they are lovely

shelter trees for gardens swept by sea
winds, as we may see at St Ann's, near
Dublin, Holkar, in Norfolk, and
Tregothnan, and they are just as
good in inland places wanting shelter.
Sometimes after very hard winters
the trees look as if they were killed,
but afterwards throw off the injured
leaves and grow happily again. They
should be transplanted with the
greatest care when young, and the
best way is often to raise plants from
acorns gathered where the tree grows
well, and sown as soon as possible after
ripening.

The following list excludes kinds not
likely, from their inhabiting warmer
regions or other reasons, to be hardy
and vigorous in our country : —

SUMMER-LEAFING OAKS.

Q. ACUMINATA (Chestnut Oak). — A tall
tree with a maximum height of over 150
feet, with grey flaky bark and chestnut-
like leaves, shiny on the upper surface and
greyish beneath. This should be a very
useful Oak in certain soils in Britain
supposed to be inimical to our own Oak.
Eastern States and Canada, and west-
wards, in dry limestone soil.

Q. ALBA (White Oak). — A fine forest
tree, sometimes 150 feet high, with deeply-
lobed but not sharp-pointed leaves, and
grey bark scaling off in plates. A native
of Canada and the more northern United
States, its hardiness need not be doubted,
and the wood is hard and tough and
good.

Q. CERRIS (Turkey Oak). — This is a valu-
able tree -for garden and park. Though
not unlike the common Oak in growth and
branching, it is readily distinguished by
its deeper green and finely cut foliage, and
by its mossy -cupped acorns. It is also
much more rapid in growth, and will
flourish in light and varied soils. It
retains its foliage longer than most other
trees, and some of its varieties are almost
evergreen. The chief of these is the
Lucombe Oak, a tree of graceful growth,
which rapidly ascends into a tall cone of
foliage and retains its leaves through mild
winters. The Fulham Oak is a similar
tree of hybrid origin. It is also partially
evergreen, and differs from the Lucombe
Oak chiefly in its habit of growth being
more spreading. The variety known
as Q. austnaca sempervirens is a form of the
Turkey Oak sub-evergreen in character and
of medium growth, and useful for small
gardens. These varieties rarely equal
the wild tree in beauty or character,
and have the disadvantage of being
increased by grafting, which bars them
from ever attaining the stature arjcj
dignity of the wild tree.

666

QUERCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

QUERCUS.

Q. COCCINEA (The Scarlet Oak). — A
forest tree, in its native country growing
to 1 60 feet high, and one of the best N.
American Oaks. It is a beautiful tree
at all seasons, but particularly so in the

way. It is a good Oak to plant as a
tree of the future, as it is very hardy
and grows well in almost all kinds of 1
soil.

Q. MACROCARPA (Bur Oak). — A large

An Evergreen Oak.

autumn, when the rich scarlet and
crimson hues of its foliage are very
handsome.

Q. CONFERTA (Hungarian Oak). — This is
a noble tree in its own country, and one of
the quickest growing Oaks in cultivation.
It has much larger leaves than the common
Oak, and they are cut in much the same

forest tree of a maximum height of 160
feet, with a trunk as much as 8 feet in
diameter, and rather large, thin, deeply
incised, but blunt-lobed, leaves, shiny on
the upper side and whitish below. The
timber is good and tough. A native of
rich soils from Nova Scotia to Manitoba,
and also southwards.

QUERCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

QUERCUS.

667

Q. MINOR (Post Oak).— A tall tree, some-
times in its best state 100 feet high, with
rough grey bark and deeply incised but
blunt pointed leaves. The wood is very
hard and durable. N. America.

Q. NIGRA (Water Oak). — A forest tree,
though not so tall as other Oaks — 80 feet.
There is a variety of it in cultivation
named nobilis, which has leaves 9 inches
or more in length of a rich green. It
makes a handsome small tree. In wet
and swampy ground, E. and W. United
States, also southwards.

Q. PALUSTRIS (Pin Oak). — A forest tree
with a maximum height of 120 feet.
It is one of the quickest growing Oaks,
and its chief beauty is the tender green,
almost yellow, of the unfolding foliage
in May and rich autumn tints. It
soon makes a fine tree, and is one of the
best to plant in marshy places, as it
grows naturally in such ground. Leaves
deeply cut, bright green and smooth.
N. America.

Q. PEDUNCULATA (British Oak). — Most
valuable of British trees, and most
beautiful in old age in many different
states alike in wood, park, chase, by
rivers, and in pasture land, and one which
comes well into the home grounds in
its old state, giving noble shade and
fine beauty of form, as at Shrubland
and in many other places. Botanists
give this and the other British Oak
under the general term of Q. Robur,
but they are wrong, as the Oaks are
distinct in form and habit. Of the
varieties that differ from the type in
growth the most distinct are fastigiata or
pyramidalis, which is of much the same
style of growth as the Lombardy Poplar,
but does not grow so tall. The Weeping
Oak (var. pendula] is as weeping as the
Weeping Ash, and is a vigorous grower
and a beautiful and graceful tree. There
are several forms with cut leaves, the most
distinct being those namedfilicifolia, or the
Fern-leaved Oak, heferaphylla, and scolo-
pendrifolia, which has leaves like a
miniature Hart's-tongue Fern. There are
variegated forms of both the common
type and of the Cypress Oak, but they are
not so important for landscape effect as
the varieties that take a natural colour.
As yet we have never seen any variety of
Oak as handsome as the wild tree. It is
frequently in forests over 100 feet high,
giving a great quantity of valuable timber.
The leaves fall earlier than those of the
Durmast Oak, and are more varied in
yellowish and brownish colours at the
commencement of growth.

Q. PHELLOS (Willow Oak). — A forest tree
80 feet high, and unlike the other Oaks in
its foliage, narrow and long like that of
a Willow and whitish beneath, giving
the tree a silvery appearance on a windy
day. It is not a common tree, though it
was introduced from N. America in the

last century. It is of slow growth in
cold places and soils, and thrives well and
grows rapidly on well-drained light soils,
especially in a gravelly subsoil. N.
America.

Q. PLATINOIDES (Swamp White Oak). —
A large forest tree with flaky green bark,
and in its best state reaching a height of
over 100 feet, with slightly lobed leaves
and the acorns on rather long stalks. It
has good, tough, closely - grained wood,
and is a native of moist and swampy soils
in Canada and west to Michigan.

Q. PRINUS (Rock Chestnut Oak). —
Sometimes attains a height of 100 feet,
the leaves somewhat chestnut-like, and
bearing an edible acorn, in dry soil.
Eastern States and Ontario and south-
wards.

Q. RUBRA (Champion Oak). — A noble
forest tree with a maximum height
of nearly 150 feet, and one of the finest of
American trees, remarkable for the rich-
ness of its autumn tints. It is a fine park
tree, and also makes a beautiful shade
tree for lawns. It grows best on a free
and deep soil, and is much more rapid in
growth on moist than on dry soils. Canada
and Eastern States.

Q. SESSILIFLORA (Durmast Oak). — The
second species of British Oak, and is often
included with Q. pedunculata, but is dis-
tinct from a planter's point of view, not
being so long-lived or quite so noble a
tree. It is none the less one of the finest
forest trees oi northern countries, and has a
straighter and more cylindrical stem and
form of tree even than the common Oak,
is of a deeper green, denser foliage, and
giving better covert and more leaf soil.
The leaves a little longer than those of
our other native Oak, sometimes, in mild
winters, remain on, the tree until the
others come. Its area of distribution is
slightly different, growing less in plains
and valleys than our other Oak, but
inhabiting plateaux and slopes of hills
and mountains, rising to elevations of
3,000 to 4,000 feet, and also different from
the common Oak in its thriving on
gravelly, sandy, and calcareous soil. The
qualities of the wood of the two kinds
have been the subject of much discussion,
perhaps often confused by the influence
of soils. The wood of Q. sessiliflora
is generally thought to be less tough
and less resisting than that of the common
Oak. It has a straighter fibre and finer
grain. It has several varieties of little
value.

Q. VELUTINA (Black Oak). — A tall tree
up to 150 feet, the outer bark a very dark
brown with deeply cut leaves with sharp
points. It is rare with us and worth
a trial from seed sown where we wish
it to grow, or from young seedling plants.
Northern United States, Canada, and
westwards, and also in the soiithern
states.

668 QUERCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RAMONDIA.

EVERGREEN OAKS.

Q. ACUTA. — Native of Japan, with dark
leathery leaves about the size of those of
the common Cherry Laurel. It has not
been long enough in the country to enable
one to judge its merits as an adult tree,
but even as a bush it is a line object. Q.
Buergeri robusta is a vigorous large-leaved
form.

Q. AGRIFOLIA. — The Enceno of the Cali-
fornian coast is a distinct Oak rarely
seen in gardens, in aspect not unlike some
forms of Q. Ilex, but the leaves are of a
different shade of green. Dr Engelmann
says it is "a large tree, with a stout, low
trunk, often 8 to 12 feet, sometimes 1 6 to
21 feet, in circumference, and with a
spread of branches of 120 feet."

Q. CHRYSOLEPIS (Californian Live Oak).
— Along the coast ranges and along
the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada,
it forms a tree 3 to 5 feet in diameter
of stem, or, at higher elevations, is reduced
to a shrub. It has pretty spiny- toothed
dark green leaves, somewhat golden on
the under surface, and in its native
country it is a beautiful evergreen tree.

Q. COCCIFERA. — A dense bush with small
spiny dark green leaves and very small
acorns, often hardly larger than a pea,
which now and then ripen in S. England.
S. Europe.

Q. DENSIFLORA. — A tree 50 to 60 feet
high, in some positions often a shrub. At
Kew it grows freely in rather sheltered
places, and produces fine leathery leaves
of a dark green colour, in outline somewhat
like those of a small Spanish Chestnut.
Mountains of California.

Q. GLABRA. — A Japanese Oak, with
large handsome leaves, the acorns borne
in upright spikes. -Several varieties are
mentioned in catalogues, but they are
hardly distinct. At Kew the species
makes a large bush, and is thoroughly
hardy.

Q. ILEX. — The best-known of Evergreen
Oaks, and the most valuable for Britain.
Old trees, which have been allowed plenty
of space and have been allowed to grow
naturally, resemble in form the Olive trees
of the Italian coast and of the Riviera.
It is one of the most variable of Oaks, but
few of the named varieties — and there are
many — are so beautiful as the wild kind.

Q. SUBER (Cork Oak). — The Cork Oak,
except for the curious growth of its
bark, hardly differs in effect from the Holm
Oak. There are fine old trees of this at
Mount Edgcumbe, Goodwood, and other
places, though the Cork Oak is not hardy
enough for our climate generally.

Q. VIRENS (Live Oak). — In its native
country a tree of the first economic value,
it deserves all the encomiums passed on
it by Cobbett in his Woodlands. All the
trees in England I have seen under this
name are, however, forms of Q. Ilex, and

I doubt there being any fine trees of the
true Q. virens in cultivation in this
country.

RAMONDIA (Rosette Mullein).— R.
pyrenaica is an interesting plant,
with leaves in rosettes close to the
ground, the flowers purple-violet
colour, with orange-yellow centre,

i to 1 1 inches across, on stems 2 to
6 inches long, in spring and early
summer. It is found in the valleys
of the Pyrenees, on the face of steep
and rather shady rocks. There is
a rare white variety and a rosy form
of much beauty has also appeared
quite recently. Less known, but more
easily grown, is R. serbica from the
Balkan Mountains, a rather taller
plant, in which the leaves are covered
with soft brown hair, and the flowers
are pale blue or mauve coloured.
A form of this from the Carpathian
Mountains, Nathalie, is peihaps the
best of all, though still scarce. Its
white variety is both choice and rare.
The Ramondias are not surpassed
by any alpines for choiceness, flower,
beauty and freedom, and adapta-
bility to cultivation in lowland gardens.
They revel in cool and shady places,
the nearly vertical faces of damp
rocks, cool and moist rock gullies,
and are well suited to wall gardening
where such conditions obtain. In
any of these places they should be
colonised on a generous scale. Quite
hardy, they are happiest when sheltered
from cutting winds. A lime - free

RANUNCULUS. THE EtiGLtSH FLOWER GARDEN. RAKufcrcuLus. 669

soil suits them best, a generous
mixture of loam, leaf soil and sand,
with consistently cool or moist con-
ditions, meeting all requirements. The
best method of increase is by seeds
which are freely produced and should
be sown promptly. The seeds are
exceedingly minute and require but
little or no covering.

RANUNCULUS (Crowfoot Buttercup}.
—Mountain, meadow, and marsh herbs,
many of them weeds, while others are
among the choicest of alpine flowers
and perennials for borders. They are
for the most part of the simplest
culture ; only R. asiaticus and its
many varieties require special treat-
ment.

R. ACONITIFOLIUS. — A mountain pasture
herb. The double-flowered variety which
is known as Fair Maids of France is a
pretty garden plant about 18 inches
high, covered for several weeks in early
summer with small rosette-like white
blossoms. It is a charming plant in
deep moist soils, especially the large-
flowered forms.

R. ACRIS (Bachelors' Buttons). — The
pretty double form of this plant is also
a useful kind, its rich yellow blossoms
borne in button-like rosettes : a border
plant, and good in moist soil, flowering
twice in the year.

R. ALPESTRIS (Alpine Buttercup). — A
native of the alpine regions of C. Europe,
and found chiefly growing in calcareous
soil : a handsome kind, forming small
tufts of shining, dark-green, prettily
cut leaves ; flowers large pure white,
with numerous yellow stamens in the
centre, and borne singly on erect stems
from 2 to 6 inches high in June and July.
A good rock garden plant in light, porous,
moist soil. There is a pretty dwarf form,
hardly rising above the soil. R. pyrenaus
comes near this in effect, with large
white flowers borne several together on
stems of 6 inches, but the leaf is a different
shape.

R. AMPLEXICAULIS (White Buttercup).
- — Lovely garden plant, about i foot
high, with slender stems, glaucous-grey
leaves, and blossoms i inch across,
pure white with yellow centres, bloom-
ing in April and May : a pretty border
and rock garden plant, doing best in a
deep moist loam. Pyrenees and Alps of
Provence.

R. ASIATICUS (Turban Buttercup). —
An old garden plant, with double flowers
of many colours, divided into various
sections, such as the Dutch, Scotch,
Persian and Turkish, each representing
a distinct race. The culture of this Ranun-
culus is simple if a few essentials are
observed. The situation should be open,
but not exposed, and the soil a loam

mixed with decayed stable manure equal
to a third of its bulk. About a month
previous to planting the bed should be
prepared to a depth of 15 inches, and
planting should take place about the last
half of February ; in some seasons it
may take place in October, though such
an early date is not the best. As this
Ranunculus delights in moist soil, water
should be given if there is a scarcity of
rain. Annual lifting and planting are
essential. The great pest of the tribe
is a maggot of the leaf-ruining fly, which
may be kept at bay by occasional dustings
of soot. The Persian varieties are the
finest as regards colour, compactness,
and symmetry of growth ; but the Turban
varieties are of hardier constitution

Ra>unici/h<!. acon'itifolins fl.-it>l. (Fair Maids of France).

and of freer growth, and therefore are
better suited for beds, lines, and masses.
The Scotch and Dutch varieties are also
fine for masses in beds, being all of
highly effective colours. The wild plant,
which I gathered in Egypt both in the
yellow and red forms, is a lovely single
flower, and as well worth growing as
any of its garden varieties, but it is
not hardy, and soon perished on my
cool stiff soil. To be grown it must
be treated like its variety, i.e., the roots
taken up yearly.

R. BULBOSUS FL.-PL. is a showy plant,
about i foot in height, with, in early
summer, numerous double yellow blos-
soms, growing well in any soil. There
is also a pretty pale yellow form.

R. CRENATUS. — Ablative of alpine and
siliceous mountains in Styria, the leaves
entire and roundish ; the flowers are
large, white, with almost entire petals,
•two or three together at the extremity
of stems 3 or 4 inches high in April and
May. Plant in the rock garden in deep
sandy soil in our country, fully exposed to
the sun.

6?o

tub ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

RESEDA.

R. GLACIALIS (Glacier Buttercup). —
This is the plant of the icy regions,
being found near to the melting snow
on the loftiest mountains. The thick,
fleshy leaves of a dark green and deeply
incised, the stem of a brown-red tint, 3 or
4 inches long, prostrate on the ground,
and bearing from one to four flowers,
the petals of which are at first of a light
pink colour, passing into a bright coppery-
red. Everything about this plant has
a glacial aspect. It thrives on cool
and moist but fully exposed ledges of
the rock garden, in. deep gritty soil
with white stones or sand on the surface
to keep it cool. Alps and Pyrenees.

R. GRAMINEUS. — A pretty little plant
from the Pyrenees, with slender, erect
stems of about a foot high and narrow
grass-like leaves of a blue-grey colour. Its
golden flowers
are produced
in great pro-
fusion during
early summer.
A useful plant
for the border
or moist corner
of the rock gar-
den, and also
quite happy if
treated as a bog-
plant.

R. LINGUA
(Great Spear-
wort). — A na-
tive kind and a
noble waterside
plant, its leaves
rising boldly out
of the water to
a height of 2 or
3 feet, with large
yellow and at-
tractive flowers.
Thrives in mud-
dy watersides,
and the numer-
ous and hand-
some flowers are good for cutting for the
house.

R. LYALLI (Rockwood Lily). — A lovely
New Zealand plant ; in moist places
in the Southern Alps the plant has
large rounded leaves and very large
handsome waxy white flowers, not unlike
those of Anemone japonica, with delicate
yellow stamens in the centre. In some
places in Britain this plant is not hardy,
but in others it stands the winter well,
but is difficult to cultivate in our climate.
R. MONSPELIACUS (Montpelier Butter-
cup).— A vigorous plant, growing about
1 8 inches high, with three-lobed woolly
leaves and large flowers like the Com-
mon Buttercup.

R. PARNASSIFOLIUS (Parnassia-leavcd
Buttercup). — A singular - looking plant
with thick, entire leaves, woolly on

Ranunculus Lingua.

the edges, flowers large, of a pure white
colour, borne two or three together
on a prostrate stem in the month of
May. In the Pyrenees and on the
French Alps it is rare to find a flower
of this handsome species which possesses
the full number of petals.

R. RUT^FOLIUS (Rue-leaved Buttercup).
— Rue-like leaves and white flowers
with dark-yellow centres. Coming from
the highest parts of the Alps, it requires
the same treatment as the higher alpine
plants, in a fully-exposed spot in moist
soil with plenty of grit in it.

R. SPECIOSUS (Large Double Buttercup).
— A showy plant, with compact rosette-
like flowers of bright yellow in May,
succeeding in any light soil. In a full
collection, R. chcevophyllus, illyricus, and
famiaricefolius may be included.

The above is but a selection from a
very large family in nature, many of
which are little known in gardens,
and many of no garden interest.

RAPHIOLEPIS ( Japanese Haw-
thorn).— R. ovata is a beautiful Japanese
shrub, hardy in southern districts,
and with a little winter protection
may even be planted in cold parts.
Its thick evergreen leaves are of a
dark colour, and its flowers, which are
large, white, and sweet - scented, are
in clusters terminating the young
branches. It is a low, spreading
bush, somewhat open and straggling,
and should not be crowded with other
shrubs. Some of the other species,
such as R. indica and R. salicifolia,
both from China, are not hardy enough
for the open ground, but make good
wall shrubs. A cross between ovata
and indica, named R. Delacourii, is
intermediate in foliage and bears
delicate pale pink flowers. It was
raised in France, and does not yet
seem to have been tried in the open
air with us.

RESEDA (Mignonette). — The only
species worth growing is R. odorata and
its varieties. Seed sown in the open
ground in March or April produces in
a few weeks flowering plants, which
continue to bloom till late in autumn.
If fine masses be wished for, the seed
should be sown in pans about the end
of March, the seedlings placed singly
in 3-inch pots, and planted out in good
soil in an open position. A little
attention should be given to thinning
out the weak shoots and stopping the
vigorous ones. Plants sown in autumn
will survive mild winters and produce
flowers in early summer, these being
finer than those of spring-sown plants.

KHAMtfUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

kHEUM.

67i

There are now many varieties, as R.
odorata grandi flora, R. o. pyramidalis
grandiflora, the compact, strong-grow-
ing variety Machet, with bold spikes
of reddish flowers and broad abundant
leaves, and dwarf varieties. Machet is
the kind grown so largely in pots for
the London markets, and it is also a
good kind for the open air, and Goliath
is far the finest in my garden.

Retinispora. — A name often wrongly
given, and it would be difficult to
exaggerate the evil effect in various
ways of giving long Latin names to
mere forms and " states " of twigs
which may unhappily be propagated
by cuttings or grafts, and the repeating
for ever in nursery catalogues of doubt-
ful generic names such as this, which
have crowded our catalogues for years.
The really distinct plants once known
as Retinisporas are now classed with
Cupressus. This name Retinispora,
therefore, may be dropped out of use
by those who care to simplify their
words and collections of trees. One
result of this confusion of mystifying
names is that it often keeps willing
planters from finding the really great
trees among the crowd of names.

RHAMNUS (Buckthorn}.-— An exten-
sive group of shrubs, of minor import-
ance, yet with some useful kinds. R.
Alaternus is a stout evergreen from
the Mediterranean region, with small
rounded leaves of firm texture, and
variable as to habit, but often strag-
gling. There are many forms of this
shrub, the best being that in which
the leaves are broadly edged with
silver ; effective against a sheltered
wall and in poor warm soils. A second
variety, angustifolia, is one of the finest
dwarf evergreens for the rock garden,
of dense growth, perfect in shape, with
neat dark green leaves. R. calif ornica
and R. crocea are other evergreen
species, the first unarmed and with
rather oblong leaves of dark green,
and the second (also from California)
with small glossy leaves which are
bright yellow underneath, and scarlet
berries in autumn. The other intro-
duced kinds are summer-leafing. The
Common Buckthorn (R. cathartica] and
the Black Alder (R. Frangula) are
found in our own hedges and wood-
lands. They are rarely seen in gar-
dens, though when heavily fruited the
clusters of R. Frangula, changing from
green to bright pink and dark purple,
are charming in the wild garden ; and
the leaves are pretty, especially in the

Fern-leaved variety, R. F. asplenifolia.
R. crenata, from Japan, is ornamental
in autumn, when loaded with its glossy
black berries. Several kinds are bold
and handsome in leaf, especially R.
alpina, R. libanotica, and R. tinctoria,
and in a less degree others like Pur-
shiana, Caroliniana, alnifolia, and
davurica. R. alpina grows slowly, and
may be used in the rock garden with
other mountain kinds like R. pumila
and R. saxatilis, tiny miniature shrubs
which grow in the crevices of sunny
rocks amid the mountains of Central
Europe, spreading flatly over their
surface, with glossy leaves and small
dark fruits. All the kinds are easily
grown and not particular as to soil,
the free-growing kinds mostly doing
best in damp places. The scarcer
sorts are commonly budded, but there
is no need for this, seeing that all can
be layered, or raised from seed or
cuttings.

RHAPHITHAMNUS CYANOCAR-

PUS (Chilian Needle Tree).— A shrub
or small tree of much beauty, but too
tender for any save favoured districts.
It is one of the neat, myrtle-like shrubs
of S. America, with shining dark green
leaves, heart-shaped, and about half
an inch long, thickly set upon graceful
stems in clusters of three. With these
are an equal number of needle-like
spines slightly longer than the leaves,
and to these the tree owes its name.
The stems are covered with soft thick
down of a rusty brown colour. Nar-
row tubular flowers of white and mauve
appear at the leaf-axils towards the
ends of the shoots, which are free of
spines.

RHEUM (Rhubarb). — Herbaceous
plants of great vigour and picturesque
aspect, and their fine leaves are well
seen by the margins of shrubberies and
in places where luxuriant vegetation
is desired. They like deep and rich
soil. R. Emodi is a fine-leaved plant,
for groups in the pleasure ground, but
requiring good soil. It grows about
5 feet high, and is imposing with its
wrinkled leaves and large red veins.
R. officinale, however, as regards
foliage, is the most effective from early
in the year, and should be placed near
the shrubbery, on the turf, or in the
wild garden. In small glades with
rich soil a bold effect might be pro-
duced by a good selection of Rhubarbs
with Ferulas, Heracleums, Rhubarbs,
Acanthuses, Yuccas, the common Arti-
choke, Gunnera scabra, and other

672

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON.

vigorous hardy plants. R. palmatum
is a slow-growing plant, and smaller
than its variety, R. p. tanguticum,
which increases rapidly, has fine
foliage, and will be welcome to those
who grow the other hardy species. R.
nobile is distinct, forming a dense
pyramid of foliage. It is, however,
one of the most difficult to cultivate,
and in Europe has succeeded only
in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden.
The garden Rhubarbs worth growing
are R. australe, R. compactum, R. rugo-
sum, R. hybridum, Victoria Rhubarb
(with very large leaves and long red
stalks), Myatt's Linnaeus, Prince
Albert, and Scott's Monarch.

RHEXIA (Meadow Beauty). — R.vir-
ginica is a beautiful dwarf bog plant
with vivid, deep rosy flowers 6 or 8
inches high, in sandy swamps in New
England and the Eastern States, and
is found as far west as Illinois and
Wisconsin. R. Mariana is even
scarcer in this country than R. vir-
ginica, and less important, growing in
drier places. The Rhexias must not
be divided much, and healthy tufts
should be obtained from their native
localities and planted in a sandy
peat bed.

Rhodothamnus. See RHODODEN-
DRON.

RHODANTHE ( Everlasting] .—
Charming half - hardy annuals from
Australia, valuable as border flowers
and for winter bouquets. They are
all of slender growth, i to i| feet
high, and have glaucous-grey foliage
and pretty flowers. The original
species, R. Manglesi, has fine rose-
coloured blossoms with yellow centres,
and of this there is a double variety.
R. maculata has a deep crimson ring
encircling the eye of the flower ; and
there is a pure white variety. R.
atro-sanguinea differs considerably
from R. maculata, being not only
d warier, but more branched. The
flowers, of a bright magenta colour,
are rather smaller than those of
maculata, but average i inch in
diameter. It is rather less hardy
than maculata, but sufficiently hardy
for the open air. All these kinds
should be sown thinly in heat in
pots in February or March. In the
southern counties they may also be
sown in the open air in May on warm
borders in good soil. Sow them in a
warm, open position, and a good light
soil — if peaty, the better. I have
found some gain from late sowing in

July, the May-sown plants dying off
in the August heats. We sow at both
seasons.

RHODODENDRON (Rose Tree).— A
noble family of shrubs, so popular that
they are often over-planted ; that is to
say, we see Rhododendrons in large
and often lumpy masses in many
country places where no planting of
any other kind worth speaking of is
carried out. In districts where they
do well, the soil and climate being
suitable, monotonous effects arise
through their over-use, against which
all who care for beautiful gardens
should protest. The mild climate of
our country and generally our rather
mild winters allow many more kinds
to grow with us than on the Continent
of Europe generally, or in North
America. In severe winters some
kinds are touched by frost even with
us, and therefore we must be on our
guard against planting other than the
hardy varieties except in the south of
England and Ireland. The hardy
American species should be grown more
in lowland valleys, as I find that they
stand winters which kill R. ponticum.

The vast range in our country over
which the plant will grow well, alike in
Ireland, England, and Scotland, makes
the possession of the finest kinds most
important. Among the numbers of
kinds that have been raised by English
nurserymen a good many poor, dull,
or ugly in colour have been sent out,
and therefore it is important to get
kinds good in colour and to group and
arrange them better than has hitherto
been done ; that is to say, not so much
in flat areas and lumpy beds. A far
better way is to break them up into
bold and simple groups, holding the
colours more together and not scatter-
ing them about in spotty mixtures.
It is important to get plants from
layers where possible, and not grafted
plants, as these are apt to perish and
their places be taken by the common
stock, of which we have already far
too much. Hitherto it has been very
difficult to get layered plants ; but
some of our best nurserymen see the
change suggested here is a good one,
and are providing for it. It makes
great difference in the end whether the
kind has its own roots and is spread
about into many plants, or is on some
wretched stock on which it perishes.

Rhododendrons are of free growth in
almost any soils except those with lime
in them. On many loamy soils free

RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 673

from lime the plants do perfectly well,
although perhaps never so much at
home as on a sandy peat. Over a
large area of Ireland where the lime-
stone prevails it is, I think, not worth
trying to cultivate Rhododendrons,
and it is always better to grow things
that do best on one's own soil. Given
a peaty or limeless soil, the difficulty
is to prevent their growing so quickly
as to smother each other. They are

Lilies and the other fine handsome
hardy flowers among Rhododendrons
and like shrubs tends to keep them
more open and delightful in every
way, their forms as well as flowers
being better shown.

The plants, forming generally close
balls of earth, are more easily trans-
planted than most shrubs. This is
often done in late spring and summer,
as for the London flower-shows, where

Rhododendron Falconer!.

often too closely planted, and after a
few years of rapid growth such planta-
tions cannot show their beauty. It
would be much better to plant all the
choice kinds rather thinly. Where
from previous thick planting the bushes
are too close together, thin them
promptly and severely, leaving the
choicer kinds and the finest - formed
bushes. In this way we get light and
shade among the plants instead of
allowing them to form one flat level
mass. The excellent plan of placing

numbers of the finest kinds are brought
in spring and taken away in summer.
In the case of all choice and rare
varieties remove the seed-vessels after
flowering, thus saving the strength of
the plants for future good growth and
flowers.

Hardy Rhododendrons seldom flower
profusely in consecutive years, but fine
displays biennially are usually made.
Established plants can take care of
themselves, and in strong loamy soil
artificial waterings are not required.

674 RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON.

In very dry summers mulching the
roots of a few single plants that occupy
a rather dry position is often necessary,
but where the beds are on level ground
they succeed without this attention.
This is not so in all cases, as drought
in the early autumn months often kills
many of the large plants on shallow
soils. Rhododendrons are, as a rule,
safe from over-dryness at the root
until August ; then, if the weather
should be dry, a good soaking of water
twice a week and a mulch over the
roots of half-rotten manure, 3 or 4
inches in thickness, will maintain them
in health. Some degree of shade is
helpful to Rhododendrons, all the
more so in dry soils and in the districts
with a slight rainfall.

A propos of the evils of grafting, Mr
Scrase Dickins writes : " We have a
large number of grafted Rhododen-
drons, planted over thirty years ago,
from the base of which every year
a thick growth of suckers springs up ;
these require to be cleared off in
the early summer, and again in the
autumn, if the intended variety is
to retain its claim to existence ;
but the labour entailed is con-
siderable, and many are overlooked or
passed by for want of time. Occa-
sionally one comes across a great bush
of the common ponticum, with a small
scraggy piece in the centre to show
that once it was meant to be a hybrid
variety of special beauty ; but the
worst of the whole business seems to be
that the older the plant the larger is the
base from which the suckers spring,
and consequently the larger is the
number of suckers. With Ghent
Azaleas the trouble is nearly as bad ;
the common yellow form on which
they are grafted, being a strong grower,
soon makes short work in ejecting
the less vigorous intruder. It is very
unfortunate when, after a certain
number of years, the labour and money
spent in an endeavour to obtain some
specially beautiful effect results in a
common - place arrangement of lilac
and yellow. When the snow has
prostrated large Rhododendrons, those
on their own roots will often raise
themselves in a thaw without help ;
whereas those grafted will most likely
have broken off short at the base.
If the union between the stock and
the scion is so imperfect as to give
way under these provocations, it
follows that the flow of sap and
consequent development of the plant
must be seriously interfered with. In

some cases this may prove beneficial
in restraining a coarseness of growth
and inducing fertility, but it is the
reason why we do not possess in our
gardens finer examples of graceful and
well-developed natural specimens. In
order to gain new and improved
varieties it is necessary to raise a
large number of seedlings. If nur-
serymen were to give their attention
more generally to raising seedlings and
layered plants, it might with reason
be expected that they would raise a
large number of new and improved
varieties. If planters, looking forward
to the future, as planters as a rule
must do, would insist on being supplied
by the nurserymen with own root plants
only, then our successors would have
finer examples to thank us for, and we
should be increasing our store of what
is beautiful among our treasures in
garden and wood."

Marked progress has been made with
hybrid Rhododendrons of recent years,
such fine new kinds as Pink Pearl,
White Pearl, Mrs E. C. Stirling, and
others of a like class, having put many
of the older kinds in the shade. These
varieties are, however, still scarce, and
likely for a while to remain so. The
following is a good selection among
the best hardy varieties : —

Album elegans.

Ingrami.

Album grandiflorum.

Jackson i

Alexander Adie.

James Bateman.

Alexander Dancer.

James Macintosh.

Atro-sanguineum.
Austin Layard.

James Ma*on.
J. Marshall Brooks.

Bacchus

John Spencer.

Barclayanum.

John Walter.

Baron Schroeder.

John Waterer.

Baroness Lionel Roths-
child.

Joseph Whitwortb.
Kate Waterer.

Blandyanum.

Kettledrum.

Boule de Neige.

King of Purples.

Broughtoni.

Lady Annette de Traf-

Caractacus.

ford.

Catawbiense.

Lady Armstrong.

Charles Bagley.
Charles Dickens.

Lady Clementina Mil-
ford.

Charlie Waterer.

Lady Clementina Walsh.

C. S. Sargent.

Lady Clermont.

Coerulescens.

Lady Dorothy Neville.

Coriaceum.

Lady Eleanor Cathcart.

Countess of Clancarty.

Lady Falmoutb.

Countess of Normanton.
Cynthia.

Lady Grey Egerton.
Lady Godiva.

Delicatissimum.

Limbatum.

Doncaster.

Luciferum.

Due de Brabant.

Madame Carvalho.

Duchess of Bedford

Marie Stuart.

Duchess of Connaught.

Marquis of Waterford.

E. A. Boulton.

Martin Hope Sutton.

Edward S. Rand.

Maximum.

Everestianuni.

Maximum Wellsianum,

Fair Helen.

Maxwell T. Masters.

Fastuosum fl. pi-

Michael Waterer.

F. L. Ames.

Minnie.

Frederick Waterer.

Miss Jekyll.

Gomer Waterer.

Miss Owen.

Govenianum

Mont Blanc.

Guide.

MrsBeresford Melville.

Helen Waterer.

Mrs Charles Sargent.

H. W. Sargent.

Mrs E. C. Stirling.

RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 675

Mrs F. J. Kirchner.

Mrs Fitzgerald.

Mrs Fredk. Hankey.

Mrs Harry Ingersoll.

Mrs John Glutton.

Mrs John Kelk.

Mrs John Penn.

Mrs John Waterer.

Mrs Mendel.

Mrs Milner.

Mrs R. S. Holford.

Mrs Russell Sturgis.

Mrs Thomas Agnew.

Mrs Tritton.

Mrs Walter.

Mrs W. Agnew.

Mrs William Bovill.

Mum.

Nero.

Odoratum.

Old Port.

Perfection.

Pictum.

Pink Pearl.

Prince Camillede Rohan.

Princess Christian.

Princess Mary of Cam-
bridge.

Purpureum elegans.
Purpureum grandiflorum.
Purity.

Ralph Sanders.
Rosabel.
Roseum elegans.
Sappho.

Sherwoodianum.
Sigismund Rucker.
Silvio.

Sir James Clnrk.
Snowflake.
Stella.
Sultana.
Surprise.
The Queen.
The Warrior.
Titian.
Vandyck.
Vauban.

Viscount Powerscourt.
White Pearl.
William Austin.

RHODODENDRONS GROUPED FOR
EFFECT OF COLOUR. — Reds, rose -
colours, and pinks, with a few whites,
viz., Reds — James Marshall Brooks,
John Waterer, Atro-sanguineum, Alex-
ander Adie, Baron Schrceder. Rose
and rosy-pinks — Mrs Penn, Ingrami,
Lady Armstrong, Mrs Charles Sargent,
and Mrs W. Agnew. Whites — Mrs
John Clutton, Minnie, Madame Car-
valho, Duchess of Connaught, and
Sappho. Rhododendrons of salmon-
red colour are best kept separate from
others ; of these, good colourings are
Lady Eleanor Cathcart and Mrs R. S.
Holford. Purples must be kept away
from reds, but group well with any
whites ; some of the best for col-
our are Everestianum, Album elegans,
Fastuosum, Cyaneum, Countess of
Normanton, Caractacus, and Sigismund
Rucker. Pretty shades of pale blush
are found in Lady Grey Egerton and
Marie Stuart, while for bold groups of
one colour Chas. S. Sargent, Edward
S. Rand, and James Mason are clear
shades approaching scarlet, and James
Macintosh, Maxwell T. Masters, and
Warrior, rich crimsons.

There are some dwarf kinds which
may be associated with alpine plants
in the rock garden. ; indeed, some
are but a span high. One of the
prettiest of these is R. Cham&cistus,
which has tiny leaves, and in early
summer exquisite purple flowers, of
the same size as those of Kalmia
latifolia. It is rarely seen in good
health in gardens, and is best in lime-
stone fissures, filled with peat, loam,
and sand, mixed in about equal pro-
portions. A native of calcareous rocks
in the Tyrol, and one of the most
precious of dwarf rock shrubs. The

well - known R. ferrugineum and R.
hirsutum both bear the name of Alpine
Rose, and often terminate the woody
vegetation on the great mountain
chains of Europe. They are easily
obtained from nurseries, and are well
suited for the large rock garden, where
they attain, in deep peat soil, a height
of about 1 8 inches, with red flowers
from June to August, hirsutum, having
hairy leaves and stems. But the best
of all the dwarf Rhododendrons is R.
arbutifolium (Wilson's Rhododendron),
a hybrid between R. ferrugineum and
R. punctatum, forming a dense bushy
plant with small, oval, pointed, dark
glossy green leaves assuming bronzy
winter shades, and bearing many
clusters of fragrant porcelain - pink
flowers in July. For hardiness, free-
dom, and fine habit, it is a choice little
plant when isolated, or as an edging
to plantations. R. myrtifolium is a
cross between punctatum and hirsutum
and intermediate in form and habit,
bearing clusters of deep rosy - red.
Besides these there are R. caucasicum
from the Caucasus Mountains, forming
a dense low shrub 2 feet high, with
clusters of pink to yellowish - white
flowers spotted with green within ;
the leaves oval, dark green above, and
velvety - brown beneath. R. Metier -
nichii, from Japan, 4 feet high, with
narrow leaves and rosy flowers spotted
with purple. Also R. brachycarpum,
another larger Japanese species, with
lighter green and more rounded foliage,
and creamy-white flowers spotted with
green. These are known to be exceed-
ingly hardy, but are as yet only to be
had with difficulty. R. amcenum, R.
hybridum, R. dauricum-atrovirens, R.
Govenianum, R. odoratum, and R.
Torlonianum are other dwarf kinds,
which may be used in the rock garden,
the last two being sweet - scented.
They should not be planted near
minute alpine plants.

As providing a more searching test
than our own climate affords, we give
here a list of kinds proved hardy in
the New England winters under very
varied trial, over a large range, and
for a good many years past : Album
elegans, light blush marked with straw
colour, fading to white, free, with an
upright habit well suited to the centre
of groups ; Album grandiflora, light
blush fading to white, strong growing,
and very free ; Alexander Dancer,
light rose with paler centre, open and
irregular habit, with a larger truss than
any other hardy kind ; Atrosan-

676 RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOW&R GARDEN. RHODODENDRON.

guineum, blood-red and early ; Carac-
tacus, rich purplish-crimson, one of the
best for size and colour of its flowers,
gathered into large compact trusses,
with fine habit and foliage ; Charles
Bagley, cherry-red, a late variety of
fine colour, with good habit and foliage ;
Charles Dickens, bright scarlet flowers,
coming early as compact trusses ;
C. S. Sargent, rich crimson flowers, fine
habit ; Ccerulescens, pale lilac-blue or
blush, strong growth, and loose habit ;
Coriaceum, a late kind, of dwarf habit
and creamy- white flowers ; Delicatis-
simum, also late, with white flowers
suffused pink, fine habit, and large
glossy leaves ; Everestianum, one of
the best in its freedom of flower and
dense habit, flowers rosy-lilac spotted
with yellow, and crinkled on the
margins ; F. L. Ames, pale pink
flowers with a band of deeper rose-
colour, good foliage, but ungainly
habit ; Guido, good habit, fine trusses
of rich crimson ; W. H. Sargent, large
crimson trusses and the darkest late
kind, but of poor habit ; James
Bateman, fine habit and rich scarlet
flowers ; Kettledrum, a deep red, late
kind ; King of Purples, dark purple,
free, and of fine habit ; Lady Arm-
strong, pale rose, beautifully spotted,
perhaps the best pink ; Lady Grey
Egerton, good in foliage, habit, and
its immense light mauve or silvery
blush trusses ; Mrs C. S. Sargent, like
Everestianum, but with bright pink
flowers with a yellow blotch ; Mrs
Harry Ingersoll, flowers of deep rosy-
lilac blotched green or yellow on the
upper lobe ; Mrs Milner, rich crimson
flowers, and excellent in other ways ;
Old Port, distinct in its rich plum
colour ; Purpureum elegans, purple ;
Purpureum crispum, clear purple with
crimped petals ; Purpureum grandi-
florum, the best of the purples in col-
our, habit, and freedom, flowering
late ; Roseum elegans, flowers deep
rosy-purple, with rich, glossy foliage ;
Roseum grandiflorum, near the last.
These kinds may be planted with every
confidence, even where the winters
are long and rigorous.

The following is an abstract from
The Garden of a paper by Mr W. J.
Bean, of the Royal Gardens at Kew,
on the Indian Rhododendrons in the
London district, and therefore of
interest to growers in the home coun-
cies, less favoured than many districts
for the growth of these fine shrubs :—

The altitudes at which these grow
range between 4,000 feet and 14,000

feet, but it is at heights of 10,000
feet and upwards that the genus is
most abundantly represented. Above
12,000 feet Sir J. Hooker says that
three-fourths of the whole vegetation
consists of Rhododendrons. The mean
temperature at Darjeeling (in which
neighbourhood most of the species are
found) does not widely differ from that
of London, but the extremes of heat
and cold are much greater here than
there, and it is only a few that can be
said to thrive put of doors really well
and flower in the London district,
although many can remain healthy in
foliage when grown in well - sheltered
spots. The greatest successes with
Himalayan Rhododendrons in the
British Isles have been obtained near
the sea in the south and south-western
counties, where the temperature is
equable and moist. The districts in
which they are grown to greatest per-
fection are near Swansea, in Wales,
and about Falmouth, in Cornwall, and
also in the south of England and Ire-
land generally, the coast line all round
the islands, too, being favourable. A
soil which is naturally peaty is no
doubt the best, but not essential ;
they may be grown out of doors in
loam either light or moderately stiff
so long as lime is absent, and with
plenty of leaf mould. They should
always, if possible, be planted near
trees — near enough to be screened
from the sun for a few hours a day.

The following is a list of species of
some proved hardy in Britain in the
southern counties and in good suitable
soils : —

R. ARBOREUM. — The best known of the
Himalayan species, and one of the most
variable. The various forms may roughly
be divided into two groups, the one with
foliage that is silvery beneath, the other
having the under side of the leaf covered
more or less with a reddish tomentum.
The leaves of all are from 5 to 8 inches
long, the trusses rounded or sometimes
almost conical, with the flowers closely
packed, the colour of the bell-shaped
corolla varying from rich crimson to
almost white. The plants known under the
following names belong to the arboreum
group, some having been given specific
rank : Campbellits, flowers rosy purple,
leaves rusty beneath ; Umbatum, flowers
rosy purple, leaves silvery beneath ;
nilagiricum, flowers rosy, leaves reddish
beneath ; cinnamomeum, flowers almost
white ; Windsori, flowers and trusses
smaller, rich crimson.

R. AUCKLANDI. — This tender species
attains the dimensions of a small tree,

RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 677

its stems being of. a grey colour with the
bark peeling off. A hybrid between it
and Hookeri called Kewense (raised at
Kew in 1874) has flowers of a pale flesh
colour, not so large as those of Auckland!,
but more numerous in the truss. There
is also a very pretty hybrid known as
Aucklandi hybridum, which is hardy in
the London district ; its flowers are pure
white. Syn. R. Griffithianum.

R. BARBATUM is described as being in a
wild state 40 to 60 feet high ; I have
seen it about 12 feet high in Cornwall.
The leaves are 5 to 7 inches long, with
flowers of a rich blood-red colour borne
in a compact truss 4 inches or more
in diameter. There are many seedling
forms of R. barbatum, one with fleshy-pink
flowers being especially good.

R. CAMPANULATUM. — Among the har-
diest of the Himalayan species, flowering
in April and forming a widely spreading
bush. The leaves are coated beneath with
a brightly-coloured reddish felt, and the
flowers are pale purple, changing to nearly
white.

R. CAMPYLOCARPUM is closely allied to
the preceding, and it is of similar habit,
but the flowers are pale yellow, borne in a
loose truss and scented like honey.

R. CILIATUM. — A bushy plant which
thrives well in sheltered positions near
London. Its leaves are densely covered
with hairs when young, less so as they
get older ; the flowers are borne loosely
in small trusses, rosy white on opening,
whiter with age. It has been used for
hybridisation, and amongst others R.
PYCBCOX and Rosy Bell have been raised
from it.

R. CINNABARINUM. — In " The Flora of
British India " this name is made to
include what have previously been known
as R. Roylei and R. blandfordicBflorum.
The species is, indeed, a most variable
one, having flowers of a brick-red, rich
crimson, or sometimes greenish colour.
They are all distinguished by the long
narrow corolla, resembling a Lapageria.

R. FALCONERI. — A noble kind thriving
in Cornish gardens, with oblong leaves
about 10 inches long, coated beneath with
reddish down, dark green, slightly downy
and curiously wrinkled above. The
flowers are of a curious shade of creamy
white tinged with lilac towards the base.
R. eximium is a fine variety of this,
differing in its bright pink flowers and
the thicker reddish brown fluff on the
upper surface of the leaves.

R. FORMOSUM. — There are two very
distinct varieties of this in cultivation —
the one has narrow leaves, in shape and
size almost like those of an Indian Azalea ;
the other has them many times larger,
obovate, and 5 inches long. Both have

the margins ciliated. The flowers are in
each variety white, although in the bud
stage quite rosy pink. They are about

3 inches wide and as much in depth. R.
Gibsoni and R. Johnstoni are forms of
this species, differing chiefly in the larger
leaves.

R. FULGENS. — One of the hardiest and
rarest of Himalayan Rhododendrons,
blooming out of doors early in March,
and not always escaping the damaging
spring frosts, but if it does, it is the most
brilliantly coloured shrub flowering at
that time. The flowers are in compact
rounded trusses about 4 inches across, a
bright blood - red, the leaves coated
beneath with a rusty felt. The true plant
has been grown outside for many years
in the Rhododendron dell at Kew, and it
has never been injured by frost, nor does
it ever fail to set abundance of bloom.
Himalayas, at elevations of 12,000 feet to
14,000 feet.

R. HODGSONI. — A spreading shrub or
small tree, rarely more than 12 feet high,
the stout leaves upwards of i foot long,
covered beneath with a grey tomentum,
the upper side a bright shade of green,
and flowers are of a pale rose-purple. It
is hardy in both the Welsh and Cornish
gardens.

R. HOOKERI. — A native of Bhotan, and
on the Oola Mountain this is said to form
entire thickets accompanied by Pinus
excelsa. The leaves are oblong or oval,

4 inches long and glaucous beneath, the
flowers of a bright red.

R. KEYSI. — A curious species, with
flowers more like those of a Correa, brick-
red, about i inch long, the lobes of the
tubular corolla being almost straight.

R. LANATUM. — The young branches,
both surfaces of the leaves, and the
petioles are covered with a dull white
or tawny tomentum ; the sulphur-yellow
flowers are 2 inches across.

R. MADDENI. — A shrub 8 to 10 feet
high, with bright green lanceolate leaves.
The corolla is pure white, bell-shaped, and
about 3 inches across the mouth. It is
known also as R. Jenkinsi. R. calophyllum
is practically the same thing, but a dis-
tinction is founded on the shorter calyx
lobes and much smaller seed vessels.

R. NIVEUM. — One of the hardiest species,
but far from the most showy, the young
leaves being covered with, a white tomen-
tum, the upper surface afterwards becom-
ing deep green and glabrous, the purplish
lilac flowers close in a small head.

R. THOMSONI. — The flowers of this
species, of a fine red, are borne in loose
trusses, hardy in the London district and
flowering in the early part of April ; the
leaves 3 to 4 inches long, very dark

678 RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON.

green above. This is a plant of bushy
habit ; the largest I have seen is growing
at Tremough, near Fa] mouth — a magni-
ficent garden for these Rhododendrons.
It was 12 feet high and 15 feet through.

R. WIGHTI. — A small tree, found at
elevations of 11,000 to 14,000 feet,
bearing yellow flowers 2£ inches across in
large rounded trusses. The leaves are
firm and stout, 6 to 10 inches in length,

ticum, caucasicum, and arboreum. For
many years raisers confined their
attention to these species, but of late
the field has been widened by the use
of Rs. Fortitnei, Aucklandi, Thomsoni,
and others, and many of the most
remarkable of recent gains have come
from this infusion of new blood. Some
of these hybrids are from the crossing

Tree Rhododendron at Castlewellan, co. Down.

and when young quite white under-
neath, becoming grey with age.

R. anthopogon, flowers sulphur-yellow ;
R. glaucum, flowers dull rose-purple ; and
R. pendulum, flowers white, are small-
leaved dwarf shrubs, chiefly of botanical
interest.

NEW HIMALAYAN HYBRIDS. — By far
the greater number of our garden
Rhododendrons are the product of only
four species which have been closely
inbred, these being catawbiense, pon-

of wild species, and others are of mixed
parentage — crossing of a species with
one of the hybrid garden varieties.
Among the best of these plants are :— -
Thomsoni hybrids : Ascot Brilliant,
Luscombei, and Luscombei splendens.
Fortunei hybrids : Duchess of York,
H. M. Ardenne, George Thiselton
Dyer, Mrs Thiselton Dyer, Francis
Thiselton Dyer, Harrisi, etc. Auck-
landi hybrids : Kewense, Pink Pearl,
White Pearl, Manglesi, Coombe Royal,

RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON. 679

Beauty of Tremough, Gauntletti, Dawn,
Beauty of Little worth, etc. Ciliatum
hybrids : Praecox, Rosy Bell. Arbo-
reum hybrids : Duke of Cornwall, and
the old series — Altaclerense, Noble-
anum, venustum, pulcherrimum, and
Russellianum. Others are named Mrs
Henry Shilson, Harry Mangles, Rose
Queen, Pride of Penjerrick, Glory
of Penjerrick, and Gertrude Jekyl.
Though hardy in all that concerns
growth, some of these fine plants bloom
too early for the open air, losing their
flowers by frost before they can
expand ; others are fully hardy. But
we need to know more about most of
these kinds before planting them in
the flower garden. Most of them are
fully described in "Flora and Sylva,"
vol. hi., p. 38. A correspondent in
the south of Ireland, in Fermoy, sends
to The Garden the following account of
the kinds he has found to do well
there — quite hardy without protec-
tion— and also of his failures : —

As I have taken much pleasure in
cultivating and hybridising Rhododen-
drons for about twenty-five years,
especially with a view to acclimatise
those of Sikkim and Bhotan, I think
the results at which I have arrived
may be interesting. In order to avoid
occupying too much space, I shall first
give the names, as furnished to me, of
those varieties which I have found
perfectly hardy trees without the slightest
protection, although some of those which
bloom early (about March) have their
flowers occasionally spoiled by the spring
frosts : —

Alpinum ; /Eruginosum ; Anthopogon ; Arboreum
album ; Arboreum roseum, very beautiful ; Arboreum
nepalense ; Barbatum, magnificent ; Calyculatum
Camel liaeflorum ; Campanulatum ; Campbell! ; Campy
locarpum; Ciliatum ; Cinnamomeum ; Cinnabarinum
Crispiflorum, not bloomed ; Eximium, fine, like
Falconeri ; Falconeri, grand ; Fulgens ; Falconer
superbum, not bloomed ; Glaucum ; Hodgsoni, grand
has not yet bloomed ; Hookeri ; Key si ; Lanatum
Lancifolium, not bloomed; Metternichi ; Massangei,
beautiful bloom this year ; Niveum ; Nobile, a grand
plant, never bloomed ; Ochraceum ; Roylei ; Virgatum ;
Wallichi, I think same as Niveum ; Wighti.

The following were more or less injured
last spring (those marked * I have not
yet succeeded in acclimatising) : —

Argentum, much injured, growing well, not
bloomed yet ; Aucklandi, much injured, growing well,
bloomed well in 1878-79-80; Calophyllum, apparently
killed, but growing well; *Dalhousianum, 1 do not
give this up ; *Edgeworthi, I do not give this up ;
Formosum Gibsoni, much injured, but growing well;
Jenkinsi, much injured, doing well, never injured in
twenty years previous; Kendricki, I doubt its name;
Longifolium, much injured, growing well, has never
bloomed; Lindleyanum, much injured, growing well;
Maddeni, much injured, growing well (I see no
essential difference between this and Jenkinsi ; centre
of Jenkinsi flower rose, of Maddeni yellow) ; Nilghiri-
cum, not bloomed, much injured ; *Nuttali, many
plants killed, I fear hopeless ; Thomson!, much

injured, but growing ; Windsor!, very much injured,
but growing well. The last two plants appear to me
less hardy varieties of R. arboreum.

I have not included any European
hybrids in my list, of which, between
Himalayan sorts alone, I know many,
and have a great number of my own
rearing also, and the reason I do not
give up Dalhousianum and Edgeworthi
is that I have seedlings from crosses
of them which promise well to be hardy,
one especially, between Edgeworthi and,
I think, calophyllum, which only lost its
bloom-buds last spring, I am very proud
of ; its fragrance is far beyond any I
know — Rollisson's fragrantissimum and
Lindleyanum being, so far, the best. I
have named it the Empress of India in
honour of our Queen. — H. H.

Indian Mountain Rhododendrons
may not only be successful in the
southern parts of England and Ireland,
but very fine flowers have been sent me
from Scotland (Stonefield, Tarbert,
Argyllshire), kinds thriving there that
do not always prove hardy in the south.
Mr D. Robertson, who sent the flowers,
said the effect produced by them was
very fine, and the following kinds have
flowered in that place without any
kind of protection : Falconeri, arbor-
eum, arboreum album, niveum, cinna-
momeum, Campbelli, campy locarpum,
Thomsoni, barbatum, fulgens, Wallichi,
ciliatum, Roylei, Edgeworthi, glaucum,
Gibsoni, candelabrum, setosum, and
pumilum. Another Scotch correspon-
dent, writing from Edinburgh, gives
the following additional kinds as hardy
and flowering well in his garden :
Mruginosum, argenteum, barbatum,
blandfordiceflorum, cinnabarinum and
its fine form majus, Fortunei, fulgens,
Hodgsoni, lepidotum, longifolium, and
virgatum.

NEW CHINESE RHODODENDRONS. —
These are not yet much known in our
gardens, and yet a few kinds have
already shown their value. On the
whole they approach the Rhodo-
dendrons of N. India — in fact, several
species in the one region have an
almost exact counterpart in the other.
On the other hand, not a few are quite
unlike any other known kinds, such as
the charming R. racemosum, in which
we have a distinct new type of Rhodo-
dendron. We may hope, too, from
the latitude and elevation at which
many of them grow, that they will
prove hardier than the Himalayan
species.

R. aucubcefolia is a fine species with
white flowers and bold leaves 6 or 8
inches long. R. Augustinii has large

68o RHODODENDRON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RHODODENDRON.

white, pink, or mauve coloured flowers,
finely waved around the edges of the
petals. R. auriculatum, a fine low
tree of 10 to 30 feet, with beautiful
white or rosy flowers, perhaps finer
than in any other Chinese kind. They
are funnel-shaped, 3 inches deep and
4^ inches across the mouth ; the leaves
leathery and 4 to 9 inches long. R.
ciliicalyx is another charming plant
with even larger white flowers flushed
with rose, but it is untried as to
hardiness. R. Delavayi, with dark red
flowers, comes very near the Himalayan
R. arboreum. R. Fortunei, though an
old kind, is still- rare, and one of the
best. It is the most fragrant of true
Rhododendrons, the flowers composed
of finely crisped petals, and clear pale
rose fading to white. Some garden
crosses have lately come from this
kind, which promises to give us a very
useful early-flowering group for gar-
dens. R. lacteum, grown already to a
fine size at Kilmacurragh, Ireland,
comes near the Indian R. Falconeri,
with trusses of white bell - shaped
flowers 2 inches across. Its leaves are
a foot long, covered beneath with a
beautiful felt, silvery - white at first,
turning brown with exposure. R.
racemosum is the most useful and
distinct of these new kinds, growing
without any trouble, and readily
increased. It makes a low shrub, well
adapted to the rock garden, growing
slowly, needing little root room, and
flowering freely from a height of only
a few inches. The white or pale rosy
flowers are not large, but instead of
confined as in other Rhododendrons
to a rounded truss at the tips of the
shoots, here they also appear all along
the shoots as clusters from the leaf-
axils, so that in April each branch is |
transformed into a raceme of flowers.
R. rubiginosum, a scarce kind which has
proved fully hardy at Kew, its flowers
bright rose spotted with crimson. It
flowers in late April or May, and
is easily increased from home - saved
seeds. R. scabrifolium is a pretty
little plant, never growing high, with
rosy flowers and hairy leaves and
stems. R. vunnanense, one of the
best, is a beautiful hardy kind of slender
open growth, doing best in a sheltered
spot, where it blooms in May. The |
trusses are small but exceedingly
graceful, composed of flowers 2 inches
or so across, white or rosy-lilac, freely
spotted with dark red on the upper
petals.

LAYERING RHODODENDRONS. — The

importance of getting the many beau-
tiful Rhododendrons hardy in our
country from layers is great. The
first garden in which I have seen the
practice well carried out was at
Sheffield Park, in Sussex, by Mr A. G.
Soames, who writes : —

Layering of Rhododendrons is a simple
affair. A shoot of the current season's
growth is cut about half through, and
we put a little wedge of wood in to keep
the cut effective, though I do not know
that this is necessary. The cut shoot
is then pegged firmly into the soil and
a couple of inches or so of soil are placed
over the pegged down portion. In
two years we have a plant on its own
roots. When I plant Rhododendrons
I always layer shoots all round, and have
some fine bushy plants. The shoots from
the layered branches always, I find, make
far more vigorous growth than the
main portion of the plant docs. I
started doing this some years ago, and
it proved so satisfactory that we never
think of planting Rhododrendrons with-
out at the same time layering them now.

The usual time is September or March,
or October or April, which coincides
with the right time for moving Rhodo-
dendrons. It also has the advantage of
keeping the plants firm, and by getting
down the outside branches a canopy from
the sun is sooner arrived at, which makes
a lot of difference in growth.

Of the very many Rhododendrons
raised at Knaphill Nurseries, Mr A.
Waterer tells me the best of them are
the following: — Album elegans, blush,
changing to white ; Atrosangiiineum,
intense blood-red, one of the hardiest ;
B. de Bruin, rich scarlet ; Caractacus,
purplish - crimson, splendid truss ;
Charles Dickens, dark scarlet, fine
habit ; Charles S. Sargent, bright
scarlet, fine truss ; Doncaster, bright-
est of scarlets ; Edward S. Rand, rich
scarlet ; F. L. Ames, rosy-pink, light
centre, large truss ; G. O. Sims, the
brightest of scarlets ; G. B. Simpson,
purplish-blue, distinct colour ; Gari-
baldi, bright salmon, distinct ; H. H.
Hunnewell, rich crimson, large truss ;
H. W. Sargent, crimson, very large
truss ; Kettledrum, purplish-crimson,
free-blooming ; Lady Armstrong, pale
rose, spotted ; Lady Clementina Mit-
ford, peach colour, deeper margin ;
Lady de Rothschild, blush spotted,
fine truss ; Lady Grey Egerton, silvery
blush, fine truss ; Marchioness of
Lansdowne, pale rose, with an intense
black spot; Martin Hope Sutton,
scarlet, richly marked, distinct ; Max-
well T. Masters, rosy-crimson, fine

RHODORA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

RHUS.

681

truss ; Memoir, white, fine habit ;
Mrs Anthony Waterer, a beautiful
white ; Mrs Charles Sargent, pink,
fine truss ; Mrs George Paul, blush-
white, fine truss of perfect shape ;
Mrs John Glutton, one of the best
whites ; Mrs J. C. Williams, blush
spotted, fine compact truss, late ;
Mis John Millais, white, yellow eye,
reflexed petal ; Mrs J. P. Lade,
French -grey, deeper centre ; Mrs
Milner, rich crimson, splendid habit ;
Mrs P. D. Williams, ivory-white, brown
spot ; Mrs R. G. Shaw, light blush,
with dark maroon blotch, fine truss ;
Mrs R. S. Holford, rich salmon, truss
large ; Mrs T. H. Lowinsky, blush-red,
spots very showy, late ; Sappho,
white, blotched with maroon ;
Sigismund Rucker, magenta, richly
spotted, distinct ; Snowflake, purest
white, fine conical truss, late ; Titian,
rosy-scarlet.

RHODORA (Canadian Rhodora). —
R. canadensis is an interesting
bush, 2 to 4 feet high, allied to the
Rhododendron, a native of the swamps
of Canada, hardy, and needing a moist
light soil, though it prefers peat. In
very early spring it has clusters of
fragrant rosy-purple flowers before the
leaves unfold.

RHODOTHAMNUS.— R, chamacis-
tus is a beautiful little alpine bush very
rare in gardens and rather difficult to
cultivate. It is less than i foot in
height, with ovate leaves from a
quarter of an inch to half an inch long,
thickly clustered on the twigs, the
margins set with slender hairs. It
flowers towards the end of April and
the beginning of May, and produces
its blossoms in clusters at the ends of
the shoots. From two to four flowers
are in the cluster, and each is about
1 1 inch in diameter, the free portions
of the petals fully expanded. The
colour is a pale clear pink with a ring
of a deeper shade in the centre. A
feature of the flower also is the long
stamens. It is by no means rare in a
wild state, being found in the Tyrol
(often in large patches) as well as in
Carniola. In cultivating this plant
full exposure of the foliage to sunlight,
combined with cool, uniformly moist
conditions at the roots, is necessary.
It should be planted in a sunny position
in a crevice or small pocket between
the stones, which keep the roots per-
manently moist and protected from
the hot sun that the leaves enjoy.

The compost should consist mainly of
good loam, to which a small proportion
of peat may be added, and which
should be free from calcareous matter.
Syn. Rhododendron chamcecistus.

RHODOTYPOS (White Jew's Mal-
low}.-— R. Kerrioides is a summer-
leafing shrub from Japan, with a
growth and foliage recalling the
familiar old Jew's Mallow on cottage
walls, but with white flowers. It is of
slender growth, but makes a vigorous
bush when well grown, and is usually
5 or 6 feet high, though against a wall
it reaches a height of 10 or 12 feet.
It flowers in May, and keeps in bloom
a considerable time.

RHUS (Sumach). — Low trees, shrubs,
or climbers, with an acrid juice,
usually hardy, and remarkable for their
elegant and picturesque growth, and
often brilliantly coloured leaves in

A' /i us copallina.

autumn. Such good qualities as they
have are rarely shown in our gardens,
where they are, indeed, often absent
save one or two of the commoner
kinds, and these never grouped or
shown in any right way, but perhaps
half starved in the conventional
muddle of the shrubbery. Several
kinds are poisonous, and should not
be planted near the house, and, if
used at all, should be handled with
great care, as accidents are frequent.
Their poisonous character is well
known and feared in their native
countries. The Sumachs are not diffi-
cult as to soil or cultivation, thriving in
ordinary garden soils, and rather
enjoying poor and dry soils, some of
them being suitable, therefore, for
grouping on dry banks where little

682

RHUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

RHUS.

else will grow. They may be increased
by root cuttings, layers, and also by
seed.

R. CANADENSIS (Fragrant Sumach). — A
hardy shrub with trifoliate leaves, a native
of rocky woods in Canada and New Eng-
land, and through eastern America,
especially along the mountains. It has
pale yellow flowers in short dense clusters,
formed in autumn but flowering in spring
before the leaves appear. Very useful for
dry rocky banks, where it spreads prettily.

The Venetian Sumach (Rhns cotinus).

R. COPALLINA (Mountain Sumach). — A
shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves of
smooth glossy texture, turning a fine
colour in autumn in its own country, as
they probably would in ours in full sun
in warm soil. New England, Canada,
and southward and westward.

R. COTINOIDES (American Smoke Tree).
— A small tree with oval leaves, and some-
what like our European kind, but really
better, with larger and thinner leaves,
taking also a fine colour in autumn, of a
beautiful scarlet, suffused with orange and
crimson. A native of Missouri, Indian
territory and eastwards. It should be
planted in dry, warm soil and sunny
positions. N. America,

R. COTINUS (Venetian Sumach). — A
beautiful and distinct shrub, long culti-
vated though not always well placed, the
simple leaves taking a fine colour in
autumn and the curious inflorescence
giving a very pretty effect. There is a
purple variety which is an improvement,
and a pendulous variety less important.
The Venetian Sumach looks very well as a
group in a sunny open situation. S. and
C. Europe and the East.

R. GLABRA (Scarlet Sumach). — A distinct
very hardy, bushy kind, with smooth
rather small leaves, thriving in any poor
dry soil, the leaves taking a very brilliant
colour in autumn. Var. laciniata is very
distinct, the leaflets longer and of much
greater breadth than in R. glabra itself,
but they are cut up into narrow pinnate
segments. When unfolding they remind
one of a finely-cut umbelliferous plant in
spring ; when fully grown the midribs are
red ; and in autumn the leaves glow off
into a bright colour after the fashion of
American shrubs. The wild plant is much
rarer in cultivation than the cut-leaved
variety.

R. OSBECKII. — A fine kind from China
and Japan, with pinnate leaves much finer
than the others, striking foliage, also
turning in good seasons and warm soils a
good orange colour in autumn. This is
one of the kinds that might be cut down
annually where plentiful, so as to get the
fine effect of the foliage on the young
vigorous stems.

R. RADICANS (Poison Ivy). — A distinct
woody climber very common in the N.
American hedgerows and copses and also
up trees. Its leaves give it somewhat the
character of a Virginian Creeper, and some
unsuspecting nurserymen sent it out with
a new name as Ampelopsis Hoggi, under
which it has been distributed in many
gardens. It is a most poisonous plant
in its own country and also in ours,
accidents taking place from it in gardens,
and the cause of the illness is not always
known. If kept at all in the garden, it
should be in rough places where it would
not have to be handled or pruned. Syn.
R. toxicodendron.

R. TYPHINA (Stag's Horn Sumach). — In
its own country often a small tree or
shrub, in ours generally a loose shrub
common in gardens. The leaves (and
stems) are densely covered with long soft
hairs, and often take a fine colour in
autumn, which is increased by the
persistent crimson seed-clusters. It is a
native of sandy or rocky soil from Nova
Scotia and Canada southwards. There is
a lace-leaved form of this species also,
in which the segments are very fine.

R. VERNICIFERA. — The famous Lacquer
Tree of Japan, and a graceful shrub in the
milder parts of Britain, but it is said to
be very poisonous,

RIBES.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. RICHARDIA.

K. VERNIX (Poison Sumach).- — This is a
shrub or, in its own country, a small tree
with pinnate leaves, and growing in
swamps in southern Ontario and the
coast district of the eastern States. It
is a very poisonous plant, and must not
be brought much into gardens. The
leaves are glossy and smooth, and turn a
fine colour in autumn.

R/nts typhina.

RIBES (Currant). — The favourite old
Crimson-flowering Currant (R. sangui-
neum) is typical of the few species that
can be called ornamental shrubs. This
shrub is so common that I need only
allude to the fine varieties of it that
are to be obtained from the best nur-
series. Perhaps the best form is that
named King Edward VII., with very
large flowers of intense colour. Deep
and rich in colour is the variety atro-
rubens (called also splendens), though
the flowers and racemes are smaller.
The crimson-red of its blooms forms a
striking contrast to the variety named
albidum, whose flowers are almost
white, though slightly suffused with
pink. The double sort (flore-pleno) is
an admirable shrub, with very double
flowers, which last a long time in
perfection, and, as they expand later
than the common kind, prolong the
season. The variety glutinosum is
distinguished by clammy foliage and
large pale rosy - pink flowers. A new
form with golden leaves has recently
come to light, but is not yet generally
obtainable.

The Yellow-flowering, or Buffalo
Currant (R. aureum), deserves to be
more commonly grown. It is a
different shrub from R. sanguineum,
having larger flowers of a rich yellow,
which appear about the end of April
or beginning of May ; the leaves also
are smaller, more deeply lobed, and of
a paler green. The variety prcecox is
so named because it flowers earlier

than R. aureum, and is most desirable
on that account, and the variety
serotinum, because it flowers late.
Serotinum is even finer than the
type.

R. GORDONIANUM.— A hybrid between
R. aureum and R. sanguineum, is an
old and tolerably common shrub — inter-
mediate in growth as well as in flowers,
which are an orange-red ; it is distinct
and showy. It is also known as R.
Beatoni and R. Loudoni. Of the numerous
other species there is none so fine as the
Californian Fuchsia Currant (R.speciosum),
whose flowers so much resemble miniature
Fuchsia blossoms that in some places
it goes by the name of R. Fuchsioides.
Its deep red blooms have protruding
stamens, and hang from the leaf-axils
in clusters of two or three. In growth
and foliage it resembles a Gooseberry.
A densely-flowered bush is extremely
pretty, and lasts in perfection a long
time. Though hardy enough to be
grown as a bush in the milder parts
of England, it is usually seen against
a wall, and there are few more elegant
wall shrubs. Grown thus it is 6 to
8 feet in height. Another and newer
kind, also very like a Gooseberry when
out of flower, is R. Lobbii, from Cali-
fornia, with very pretty purple and
white flowers like a little Fuchsia, followed
by small hairy fruits of agreeable flavour.
Most of the other varieties have incon-
spicuous flowers, but one or two are worth
growing for the sake of their autumn
foliage, which dies away in various
shades of crimson. The Missouri Currant
(R. floridum), also called R. missourense,
is one of the best of these. It is a stock
plant in some of the largest nurseries.
The Flowering Currants are really an
important group of shrubs and deserve
the best attention, and instead of being
crammed in the usual shrubbery-mixture,
should be grouped by themselves.

RICHARDIA (Calla).— This name
has been accepted by botanists for
the last three-quarters of a century,
although it is not yet generally used
by gardeners. The genus consists now
of various species. They all have a
perennial tuberous root-stock, not
unlike that of Caladium, from which
spring the annual leaves and scapes,
the former with folding stalks, which
form a kind of stem, bearing sagittate
leaves, the latter erect, stout, and
bearing a large spathe. There is a
noteworthy difference between R.
cethiopica and the others, the former
having a rhizome and never naturally
dying down.

R. JETHIOPICA (Lily of the Nile), —
Introduced into Europe from S.

684

RICINUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ROBINIA.

=

in 1687. It is emphatically a Cape plant,
and is not found within 1,000 miles
or so of the Nile, although it is commonly
known as the Lily of the Nile. In some
parts of this country, for instance Corn-
wall, it has become naturalised in shallow
water, spreading and flowering with
the same freedom as in the ditches
and swamps of the Cape.

RICINUS (Castor-oil Plant). — R.
commimis is a much-grown plant in

Rodgersia podophylln.

warm countries, growing out of doors
in the warm months in ours, and used
for bold beds near those of the more
brilliant flowers, but it is not well to
associate it closely with bedding
plants, because of its strong growth
and the shading of its leaves. It
requires rich deep earth to form its
finest leaves, and to raise the plants a
brisk hot-bed is needed in February
or March, in which to plunge the pots
in which the seeds should be sown.
About the end of May gradually inure
them to a cool temperature, and after
a few weeks place them in a sheltered
position out of doors. By the end of
June they may be planted out in the

beds ; the more sheltered the situati
the better. Plant and water them
with soft rain-water, and mulch the
surface with manure. During hot
weather manure-water will be of use.
It is not at home in our climate, and
I never wished to see it in my garden.

ROBINIA (False A cacia) .—Beau-
tiful flowering trees for lawn or shrub-
bery. The common Acacia or Locust
Tree (R. pseudoacacia) is of quick
growth, hardy, and thrives almost
anywhere. The ordinary form, with
its white Pea-shaped blossom, in full
beauty about the end of July, is the
most familiar. Of the numerous var-
ieties the following are the best :
Decaisneana, with delicate pink
flowers ; semperflorens, flowering
throughout the summer, and having
white blossoms and bright green
foliage ; and Bessoniana, the thornless
branches of which form a dense
globular head of deep green foliage,
which is retained until very late in
autumn, hence its great value as a
town or a street tree ; mimoscefolia,
with finely-divided leaves ; fastigiata,.
of upright growth ; crispa, with curled
foliage ; monophylla, with leaves entire
instead of pinnate ; umbraculifera, with
a spreading head ; macrophylla, with
large leaves ; sophor&folia, with leaves
like the Japanese Sophora ; and
inermis, with a small head of spineless
branches. The varieties of Robin ia
are very often striking and graceful
trees and group hardy. I planted
some of the most attractive, but they
were always grafted on the common
wild kind, which in due time kills the
precious variety, often smaller and
finer in leaf, and so little by little
they gradually perish. After much
trouble I was able to get a few
little cuttings of the Mimosa-leaved
form from a friend at Orleans. These
I put in, and are now graceful bushes,
quite hardy, and without a sign of
going back. This is only one of the
many examples of the evils of grafting,
the result of which for the trade is
serious, because the trees go out of
cultivation eventually.

R. HISPIDA (Rose Acacia) is one of
the finest of small trees, requiring little
room and not fastidious as to soil. It
is naturally straggling in growth, 5 to
15 feet high ; its foliage is much larger
than that of the other Robinias ; the
clear rose-pink flowers are also larger.
A well-flowered specimen is a pretty
sight. It flowers in Tune, but often

RObGERSlA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

continues at intervals till autumn. It
may be known when not in leaf by the
dense rusty hairs covering the young
twigs. Its branches are brittle and
apt to get broken by high winds, especi-
ally if it has been grafted high ; there-
fore choose a spot sheltered from high
winds. If the branches become heavy,
especially in flower time, support them
by stakes. It may be grown as an
espalier, like a fruit tree, and this will
protect it from winds, or it may be
trained against a wall. There are several
so-called varieties, but none is more
beautiful than the type. N. America.

R. KELSEYI (Kelsey's False Acacia). —
This is a new kind found by Mr Kelsey,
of Boston, a very graceful shrub, pretty
in flower and having its seed-pods covered
with red bristles. For some time this
plant will doubtless be propagated by
grafting on the common Acacia, but
the sooner we get it from seed the better.

R. NEO-MEXICANA (Western Locust
Tree.) — A spreading shrub or low tree of
20 to 25 feet. It is a vigorous plant of
fine habit, the young shoots, the under
side of the leaves, the flower stalks,
and the seed-pods covered with short
brown bristles ; the branches bear two
spines at each node. Its bluish-green
leaves are rather long and gracefully
drooping, while the flowers, of a pale
rose colour, are carried in short dense
clusters towards the end of the summer.
It is a useful addition to the group,
hardy, and flowering freely when quite
small. This is the only kind found in
the western states of America. It does
not thrive in heavy cold soils. N.
America.

R. VISCOSA (Clammy Locust). — Smaller
than the ordinary False Acacia, but is
elegant in foliage and beautiful in flower.
The flowers resemble those of Decaisne's
variety of the common Acacia, being
of a pale pink colour, but the clusters
are shorter and denser. It is a beauti-
ful lawn tree, flowering while the tree
is still small ; fully grown it is of pictur-
esque habit, from 30 to 50 feet high,
thriving best in a deep light soil in a
sheltered spot.

RODGERSIA. — Reputedly peat
and moisture-loving, one of the finest
groups of the Bronze Leaf (R. podo-
phylla) I have ever seen was growing
until a few years ago fully exposed in
light, loamy soil, without root moisture,
in the sun -kissed garden of the
Misses Ewbank at Ryde, Isle of Wight.
Given moisture, or sandy loam and
leaf-mould, with partial shade, Rod-
gersias are of quite easy culture.
Established examples will reach, when
in flower, to a height of 4 feet, or
even 5 feet. Essentially plants for

effective gardening, a free grouping
of them in the rock garden, or by shel-
tered streamlet in prepared soil, is
among the best ways of seeing them to
perfection. They are native of China
and Japan and amenable to cultiva-
tion throughout the British Isles.
Seeds and division of the root-stock
when the plants are dormant are the
best methods of increase. The follow-
ing are all worth growing : —

R. ^SCULIFOLIA. — A strong-growing
species with erect panicles of pinky-white,
fragrant flowers, on stems 3 to 4 feet
high. The leaves, as the specific name im-
plies, resemble those of the Horse Chest-
nut, and at maturity assume a rich
bronzy-green. A fine plant for waterside
gardening.

R. PINNATA. — A distinct plant, whose
handsome panicles, 3 to 4 feet high,
of rosy-pink flowers, stand out well above
the emerald-green, often bronzed, red-
tinged leaves. In this the leaflets are
arranged in pairs. R. pinnata alba is a
distinct wild form, with a leaf effect re-
sembling that of R. cesculifolia. This
produces panicles of creamy-white flowers.

R. PODOPHYLLA (Bronze Leaf). — At
once the best known and perhaps the most
picturesque of the whole race. Above the
handsome five-parted leaves, and rising
to 4 feet or so high, the tall panicles of
creamy-white flowers produce an effect
not unlike that of a giant Meadow Sweet.

R. SAMBUCIFOLIA. — With large pinnate,
deep-bronze leaves, and panicles of
creamy-white flowers in July. A novelty,
and probably not yet in general cultiva-
tion.— E. H. J.

R. TABULARIS (Table R.). — A very extra-
ordinary-looking plant with leaves like
round trays. It is free and hardy and
a fine thing for association with the
greater fine-leaved hardy plants. The
flowers are creamy-white and borne well
above the leaves.

All require the same treatment, and
if well grown flower well "every second
year. R. tabularis is a bold-growing
and handsome species with huge pel-
tate leaves and plumes of cream-white
flowers.

ROMNEYA (White Bush Poppy}.—
The fairest plant that ever came to
our land from that country of flowers,
California.

R. COULTERI (Matilifa Poppy). — A tall
perennial, with, when well grown, beauti-
ful close leaves and an immense white
fringe of flowers. The lustrous white
flowers are of a peculiarly delicate texture,
the petals somewhat transparent, and
yet enduring in a good state for days ;

686

ROMNEYA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ROMULKA.

their fragrance is delicate. The flowers
are borne mainly on the points of the new
shoots and on laterals nearest the points,
more sparingly on the lower laterals.
It seems quite hardy in our country,
with old mortar, rubble, and perfect
drainage. An American told me he had
never seen it so well in its own country
as in my garden in Sussex, where the
only protection it has is a few ashes
thrown round the roots in winter. It

do not seem to come so well. R. tncho-
calyx, a recent addition, is dwarfer,
more reliable in blooming, and more
freely flowering, though less handsome
than the older kind.

R. TRICHOCALYX. — Is another beauti-
ful and stately plant, evidently as hardy
as R. Coulteri, but somewhat dwarfer,
and if anything more free to flower.
In my garden it takes its place with other
hardy perennials and is not protected

Romneya Coulteri.

flowers right into autumn, and is beauti-
ful and stately in effect. Where it
will notjgrow well in the open, it would
do so in many places against a wall
with a southern aspect. When necessary,
transplanting should be in spring, just
before growth begins.

For winter protection, pine needles
form the best covering, and, after these,
rough cocoanut fibre. A point in starting
is to get healthy plants in pots, planting
in spring and not disturbing the roots
much. For its propagation seeds is
the best way, as from division the plants

in any way. A fine distinct plant, well
deserving of culture.

ROMULEA.— Bulbous plants of the
Iris family. They are of dwarf growth,
and have grassy foliage ; but though
their blossoms are showy, they are not
perfectly hardy, and they require to
be grown either in frames or in very
warm sheltered borders, in light soil.
The best known are R. Bulbocodium,
ramiflora, and Columns, natives of
S. Europe, and R. rosea and R.

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687

Macowani from the Cape of Good Hope.
The showy Crocus-like flowers of these
open fullest in sunshine, and vary as
to colour from crimson, purple, and
rnauve to white and yellow. Perhaps
the best of all is R. Pylia, a scarce but
very beautiful form of R. Bulbocodium,
with Rush-like leaves a foot long, and
pure white flowers with a yellow throat,
2 inches across when fully open. This
kind thrives in the south-west of
Britain, spreading fast and flowering
freely in spring.

ROSA (Rose}. — The queen of flowers,
fair as it is, would be much more at
home with all if one could get rid of
certain drawbacks. The common idea
that Roses can only be grown in heavy |
clay soil, if carried out would exclude |
them from a large area of our country
where light, sandy, and calcareous '
soils prevail. If we can get Roses on
their own roots we can grow them
well in such soils — in some cases better.
The trade practice of grafting all Roses
from various climates on the native
Dog Rose is a source of infinite trouble
to Rose growers. Some do well on
the stock, though in the end suckers
will prevail, some kinds flower badly,
and some die. For years I have grown
many hundreds of Roses in my flower
garden and also in open plots, and
found that quite half the Tea and
China Roses did badly, or perished, if
worked on the Brier, the most vigorous
of wild Roses. The old summer-
flowering Roses of European origin did
well on the Brier ; the trouble arose
from attempting to put the Roses of
Chinese origin on our native stock.
I had at first no choice but to use the
plants sold to me by the trade, and so
I lost years in trying to overcome the
difficulty. The suckers were so strong
and fierce in my plots that in getting
among them I had to wear very long
leather leggings. Getting rid of
suckers is laborious and tedious work. !
Where the popular idea is that Roses !
do best on clay, let people who enter-
tain it so enjoy them, but let those !
who have soils of a different nature
not despair, though they must make
their beds deep in the soil in which
Roses are supposed to grow best. In
districts with such soils — that is, light,
sandy, or calcareous — the best way is to
insert medium-sized cuttings of the
half-ripened wood in September, if
possible where they are to grow. The
chief difficulty in working plants on
their own roots is that the root is

more fragile than the Dog Rose root.
One Rose put against a wall many
years ago in my garden is still in
perfect growth, which, I am quite sure,
would, if grafted on the Brier, have
gone the way of all Roses.

The attempted classification of Roses
into Teas, hybrid perpetuals, etc., is
confusing and not sound, as all these
Roses are hybrids. What is wanted
in the trade and other catalogues is
alphabetical lists of the best varieties,
without following the absurd attempt
at classification. It would be dim-
cult to imagine anything more con-
fusing than the writings on the Rose
and our catalogues of the present
day ! Almost useless groups, like
the Boursault, are dignified as classes,
while more important groups like
the noble Teas often receive no due
notice ; the confusion arising from
the misleading term " hybrid per-
petual " has effectually concealed the
fact that the true perpetual bloomers
are the Tea Roses, so keeping the
noblest of all Roses out of gardens
even in the southern counties. For
many years Roses far superior to the
many so-called " perpetual " in point
of continuity of bloom have been
raised, and yet, as a result of that
ill-chosen name, one may go into some
of the largest gardens and hardly see
a Rose in the Rose garden in August.
The set idea of the Rose garden itself,
as laid down in all the books, i.e., a
place apart where one can only see
flowers at a certain season, was harm-
ful, as it led to the absence of the Rose
from the flower garden. Instead of
seeing the Rose in many different
attitudes in a country place, we see a
wretched mob of standards and half-
standards rising out of the ground,
generally in a miserable formal arrange-
ment called the Rosery. The Rose
exhibitors' Rose garden is even uglier
than the so-called Rosery in the large
country seat, and thus the beautiful
human and artistic side of the Rose
garden has been forgotten.

Tea Roses are in many ways so
superior to all other Roses that we
might place them first, yet there is
room for a great extension of their
culture in gardens, both large and
small. We find even standard works
on Rose growing speaking of the Teas
as tender and needing protection.
Others say that only in a few instances
can they be grown in the open ground ;
and to have them in full beauty, to
ensure a constant succession of flowers,

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ROSA.

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ROSA.

and to produce them in all their
loveliness and purity of colour, they
must be grown under glass. This is
not so. Tea Roses may be grown in
many gardens where they cannot now
be found, and all who love Roses
should try them. The variety of lovely
colours amongst Tea Roses, the odour,
the long season over which a profuse
bloom is borne, and their charming
foliage are great merits. Let us for
ever give up the stupid notion of grow-
ing our Roses only in a Rosery, in
some out-of-the-way spot. The grand
Tea Roses now under notice are worthy
of the best position in the garden.
None, with me, have ever been pro-

to grow. Another is not to let the
littJe plants flower — they try to do
so very early, and this must 'be pre-
vented by constant pinching. I feel
certain now that many of the kinds
I have lost, or that bloomed feebly and
died out, were the result of grafting,
or arose from the stock itself and con-
flict of the saps of plants of quite
different countries and natures. To
be quite fair to all these beautiful
Roses, they should be tried in both
ways, and not for one year only.

A ROSE SELECTION. — It is with some
regret that in previous editions of this
book I have followed the common way
of catalogues, of throwing Roses into

Rose, Celeste.

tected, but winter winds blow furiously
over the garden, and on several occa-
sions more than 20° of frost have been
registered among the plants. They
may be grown with every prospect of
success ovej: quite the southern half of
England and in many other favoured
spots. As it is extremely difficult to
buy strong plants of Tea Roses on
their own roots, the trials were neces-
sarily made with good plants grafted
on the Dog Rose, but all my experience
tends to show that with many of the
best kinds I should have been more
successful with plants raised from
cuttings struck in the open air in
autumn. A great point is to put the
cuttings in where we wish the plants

many classes, often without any sound
reason, and thereby doing infinite
harm in many ways by confusing
people with a multitude of kinds, by
making too much of supposed divisions,
and by, in the end, keeping in cultiva-
tion many Roses that are not worth
their place in view of the many good
ones that want more space than is
now allotted them. In every branch
of human effort the mania for hair-
splitting and classification is harmful
and even impossible, as in the attempt
to distinguish between practice and
science ! If we glance over the pre-
tended divisions in catalogues of Roses
and look only at those around us, the
real distinction comes from the infusion

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689

of the blood of Indian and China Roses
into, and often instead of, the old
summer Roses, which are mainly of
European origin and flower but a
short , time, to the lessening of their
value to us very much. The Tea
Roses form a precious division of
themselves in their beauty and length
of bloom and many other advantages.
The attempt Common in catalogues to
divide these from the hybrid Teas is
a mistake, and the best way is simply

the beautiful Japanese Rose of that
name, which is more beautiful than
the many Ramblers raised from it.
Some of these cover the earth in many
gardens with Roses that are little
better than Brambles. These Ramb-
lers have done infinite harm to the
culture of Roses, and excepting the
few kinds one really enjoys after a
thorough trial, would be best abolished.
The China Roses, from which we get
the Teas, also mark themselves pretty

Buds of Tea Rose, Anna Oliver.

to make a list of the ones that best
answer the helm and give them first
and sufficient place.

Hybrid perpetual Roses are far less
grown than they used to be, but some-
one must always have them; though,
generally speaking, summer Roses, as
compared with those that flower right
into the autumn, are hardly worth a
place. Climbing Roses tell their own
story, and some of them are most
precious, especially those of prolonged
bloom ; these have some of the China
Rose in them, and a fine type is
Bouquet d'Or.

The Wichuraiana Roses are based on

well, and the main concern about them
is to see that they are always grown
on their natural roots, and that the
old climbing Cramoisie is worth the
whole lot of Ramblers. There is no
need to make a class of Japanese
Roses ; we should do much better to
keep to the one noble wild Rose of
Japan, rugosa. Moss Roses, for those
that like them — few are worth growing
— and those always on their own roots,
if possible, in rather light, open, friable
soil, not the heavy soil which is said
so often to be good for Roses. Scotch
Roses were a group of some value in
old days, before we had the splendid

2 X

69o

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ROSA.

Roses of our day. Now they are of
very slight value, except for the wild
garden, and entirely without value for
the flower garden. Of the polyantha
Roses, I like much the wild kind, but
the forms made from it are inferior and
rarely worth growing. Noisettes are
simply a source of futile division. The
best of them might well be put with
the Teas. And so with the Damask,
which is of little value except as a
curiosity. And the same may be said

| Brunoni, Carmine Pillar, Caroline

| Testout, Climbing ditto, Climbing La

' France, Climbing Niphetos, Climbing

j Papa Gontier, Climbing Perle des

Jardins, Climbing Richmond, Comtesse

du Caryla, Cramoisie superieur, Dorothy

Page Roberts, Felicite Perpetue, Fel-

lenberg, General MacArthur, G. Nab-

bonaud, Gloire de Dijon, Gustavo

I Regis, Grand Duke of Luxemburg,

I Hugh Dickson, Irish Beauty, Irish

i Fireflame, Joseph Hill, Lady Ashtown,

Rose, Gloire Lyonnaise.

of the Bourbons, the Albas, and the
Gallicas, Ayrshires, and Boursaults.

In the face of these facts the best I
think I can do is to tell of Roses that
have given satisfactory results here
for years. No attempt is made to
classify them, but I simply give a list
of the proved kinds. No doubt indi-
vidual taste will vary, but these may
be depended on. Some of them, like
the China and the Cramoisie, are very
old and among the best : —

American Pillar, Anna Olivier,
Antoine Rivoire, Bouquet d'Or,

Lady Hillingdon, Lady Roberts, Lady
Waterlow, Lamarquc, La Tosca,
Laurent Carle, Laurette Messimy, Le
Progres, Lieut. Chaure, Mme. Abel
Chatenay, Mme. Berard, Mme. Eugene
Resal, Mme. Hector Lenillot, Mme.
Hoste, Mme. Isaac Pereire, Mme. Jules
Grolez, Mme. Lambard, Mme. Leon
Pain, Mme. Melanie Supert, Mme.
Ravary, Marie van Houtte, Marquise
de Sinety, Mrs Aaron Ward, Mrs A. R.
Waddell, Mrs David M'Kee, Mrs E. G.
Hill, Paul's Scarlet Climber, Papa
Gontier, Pharisaer, Pink China, Prince

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691

de Bulgaria, Princesse Mary Mert-
chersky, Princesse de Sagan, Red
Letter Day, Rene d' Or, Rosa Anemone
(Sinica), Rosa Bracteata, Simplicity,
Souv. de Gustave Prat, Souv. de
President Carnot, Theresa, Una, Wm.
Allen Richardson, Zepherine Dronhin.
There are many beautiful single
Roses, and now that some interest has
been awakened in them, we may expect
to see them more freely planted.
Some are vigorous climbers which,
allowed to have their own way and
a branched tree to support them, will
climb to a great height ; others, sturdy
and bushy, are suitable for planting
in bold groups and masses, and rare

avoiding anything in the nature of a
miscellaneous collection.

R. ACICULARIS (The Needle R.). — A
beautiful Wild Rose, which when leafless
might well be mistaken for the Japan Rose,
it is so armed with the sharpest needle-
pointed spines, and it has the same stout,
vigorous, b'ushy habit of growth as rugosa.
In flower and fruit it is quite different,
and is a bright flowered kind, but early
and long blooming ; and it is always one
of the first to open. It is a native of
Siberia, as hardy as any kind known,
but as yet uncommon in gardens.

R. ALPINA (Alpine R.). — More worthy
of a place in the garden than the varie-
ties of which it is the parent — the Bour-
saults — it grows to a great size, with

ones will merit special care. They are
free from the pests that infest the
double Roses, and above all things
when single Roses are present in the
garden a roseless June will not happen
even in the worst of seasons. Wild
Roses are such rapid growers, even
when not greatly encouraged, that they
should not be allowed in well-made
beds, like those for Rhododendrons, as
they soon exterminate other things.
Mine I put in an orchard, and they
spread about so quickly that they are
difficult to get rid of. It is best,
therefore, to have a limitfed number of
them only of the kinds one admires,

long, thornless shoots ; does not make
such a colour display as most kinds,
but it is welcome for its earliness, and a
bowl of its rosy-red flowers is pretty in
the house in May.

R. BRACTEATA (The Macartney R.). — A
little tender, but repays a little extra
care, and is better for a wall, which in a
sunny aspect is needed to bring it out
in its full beauty. The plant is almost
evergreen ; leaves dark green and shining ;
the flowers large, milk-white, sweetly
scented, of a pretty cupped form. China.

R. CANINA (Common Dog R.). — This
would not come into our garden roses list
were it not for the charming kind, Una,
which has recently come from it. The

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ROSA.

plant is a cross with a Dijon Tea, and of
freely rambling habit, well suited to
pillars, arches, pergolas, and either to
train against tree-trunks or pegged along
the ground. The buds are shapely, of a
clear buff yellow, opening as large single
flowers of pale creamy-white.

R. CAROLINA (Carolina .R.). — Some-
what resembles R. lucida, but distinct,
as it blooms during August, when most
kinds are over, and it keeps flowering
through September. It is a tall, upright
grower, established bushes being 6 feet
high. Its wood is smooth, with few
spines ; the leaflets are long and narrow,
and the flowers come in clusters of a
dozen or more among plenty of foliage,
the buds when opening being rich crimson
and the expanded flowers bright rosy-
red and sweet-scented. The leaves when
handled have a distinct and pleasant
fragrance.

R. HUGONIS. — A very beautiful, yellow
wild Rose, tall and free in Sussex. When
I first saw it over my head I was much
surprised. Native of W. China, it was
first sent to England by Father Hugh
Scallan, a missionary there. It flowers
early, which is an added charm. R.
.Hugonis is the most vigorous of the
yellow flowered species. It flowers early,
usually from seed. May onwards. At
Combe Warren a great rounded bush,
10 feet or more high and almost as much
through, is each year shrouded with the
delicate yellow flowers. Flowering, too,
when quite small, it is a delightful plant
to garden with.

R. INDICA (Indian R.). — In it we see
those excellent qualities and continuous
bloom that have been kept through
numerous generations, and contribute
so much to the charm of the Tea and
Monthly Roses of the present day. Of
this species there are two or three forms
in cultivation, and though somewhat
tender, if given some root protection,
they are seldom killed. Like the Tea
Roses, this species is ever growing, and
blooms from early summer till late
autumn.

R. LJEVIGATA (Cherokee R.). — This is
tender, save in a few favoured spots in the
south. Rose " Anemone " is from a cross
with some Tea Rose, but it retains the
fine foliage and form of flower of R.
Icevigata, and the dark brown shoots
freely armed with thorns and prickles.
It is of free growth, hardy, and blooms
freely in May and June from its second
year, the flowers 4 inches across, rosy-
crimson on first opening, fading to a
silvery rose threaded with darker veins.
The plant climbs freely, and lends itself
to pretty uses upon walls, pergolas and
banks ; it should have a sunny and shel-
tered place.

R. LUCIDA (Glossy R.). — One of the
best Wild Roses, with leaves of a shining

green colour, and just when our nativ«
and other early single Roses are passing
away this comes into bloom in July and
goes on for several weeks. Its flowers are
large, opening flat, clear rosy-pink, sweet-
scented, in clusters of from five to eight,
succeeding one another, so that there is
not usually more than one flower open at
a time in a cluster. A few plants soon
spread into a thick group, as it runs
freely underground, and it is so easily
increased by its suckers that it offers
every facility for free planting.

R. LUTEA. — This very distinct Rose is
better known through the forms derived
from it than in its wild form, pretty as
that is, and it would be charming to grow
on warm banks. There are two gar-
den varieties, commonly called Austrian
Briers, one with yellow flowers, the other
orange-red, both beautiful for a sunny
spot.

R. MACRANTHA. — An early bloomer
and a showy kind. The flowers are
large and beautiful, chiefly white, but
flesh-tinted round the edges and in the
centre with a tuft of fine yellow stamens.
In the open ground it makes a thick
spreading bush. Europe.

R. MICROPHYLLA. — A Chinese species
allied to R. rugosa. It is a sturdy bush,
noteworthy for its large yellowish, very
prickly fruits. Its stems, on the other
hand, have very few prickles, and they
are also distinguished by the peeling loose
bark. The flowers are delicate pale rose,
not very large, but very fragrant. When
it is in bloom the bees and flies swarm
more to this Rose than any other. It
does not come true from seed, but can be
increased by layers.

R. MOSCHATA (Musk R.). — It is a
little tender and should have a good place,
with shelter while young, but it is very
vigorous, and usually soon repairs any
damage inflicted. Old plants grow more
slowly and ripen better, so that hardi-
ness increases. A good plant is strong
enough to cover a high fence or wall,
but it likes best to scramble about freely
among other shrubs which give it support
and shelter. The flowers come in July
as spreading clusters of pure white with
a yellow centre, thirty or more blossoms
being often crowded into one mass,
with nine or a dozen open at once. Each
flower is large, opening wide and flat,
with sometimes a pale flushing towards
the edge of the petals. The musk-
like fragrance is not marked unless
in a moist atmosphere, such as after rain.
The grey-green leaves have seven leaflets,
and are scented when young.

R. MOYESI (Moyes R.). — The most
startlingly beautiful wild Rose that has
come to us for many years. It is splendid
in colour and vigour, with its red bottle-
shaped fruits. In Sussex it grows as
freely as any Brier. The colour is not

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693

easy to describe. Excellent for trellis
or as a single bush, or for any purpose
for which a wild rose can be used. Native
of W. China, it was found by Mr A. E.
Pratt on the Thibetan frontier at an
elevation of over 9,000 feet. Men talk
of getting fine things by crossing this,
but they will never get anything so good.
There should be little or no pruning,
the plant flowering on the previous
season's growth.

R. POLYANTHA (Garland R.). — A ram-
pant climber, which will quickly climb
a tree, cover a building, or, away from
any support, spread into an enormous
bush. It has long, spineless shoots
clothed with glossy green leaves, blooming
early in June ; a mass of white flowers

parent of the Ayrshire Roses. It is a
free-growing plant, but requires some
support to get it off the ground at first.
We train it up stout Oak branches, and
get it a few feet high, then let it ramble
at will. For covering roots, banks,
mounds, pillars, etc., these are excellent,
forming at last huge tangled masses
of the greatest beauty and elegance in the
wild garden. The flowers are white or
pale pink.

R. RUBIGINOSA (Sweet Brier). — It is a
native Rose, but also distributed through
much of Europe and Asia, and, although
often planted, is scarcely ever made
enough of in country places. It is most
useful for forming fences with Quick or
even by itself on good banks, as it is so

The Austrian Coppet Brier.

crowded in a pyramidal truss, with a
powerful scent. The variety grandiflora
is an improvement, with very large
flowers and its leaves almost evergreen.
It has all the vigour of the type, and its
flowers cluster in an immense truss, pure
white and sweetly scented.

R. POMIFERA (The Apple R.). — Among
the Roses which claim our notice for the
beauty of their fruits, none equal this old
but neglected species. It is worth growing
for its bright red fruit. Each fruit is i
to 1 1 inches long, apple or sometimes pear-
shaped, covered with bristles and sur-
mounted by a crown of large glandular
sepals.

R. REPENS (or R. arvensis) is the wild

spiny that cattle, which do so much harm
to almost every other kind of hedge plant,
do not touch this, so that it swings careless
in the field where they are. The plant
ought to be grown by the thousand, and
anybody with a few bushes of it can save
the seed for this purpose.

R. RUBRIFOLIA (Red-leaved R.) should
have a place for its lovely-tinted leaves
and shoots ; it has a rambling or climbing
habit, but also grows into a large self-
supporting bush or spreads nicely when
pegged down. The flowers are red and
small, the fruits purplish-red with soft
flesh. Its chief charm, however, is in the
colour of shoots and leaves. The young,
strong shoots are purple-red overlaid with
a pale grey bloom, whilst the leaves are

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ROSC02A.

of a peculiar glaucous colour brightly
tinged with red. N. America.

R. RUGOSA (Ramanas R.). — It is a long
and persistent bloomer, and reaches the
zenith of its beauty when the secondary
flowers come with the glowing orange
and red fruits that have succeeded the
first flowers. Then a second crop of ripe
fruit appears late in autumn, when the
leaves turn yellow, showing the Rose in
another pretty aspect. It makes a good
hedge, and where pretty dividing lines
are wanted, it is one of the best for the
purpose. There are purple, pink, and
white forms, this last being lovely,
and quite the best single white Rose
of the non-climbers.

R. SERICEA. — It is a very pretty Rose
both in flower and in leaf, and can be told
from all other Roses by its shapely white
flowers with four petals which ate arranged
in the shape of a Maltese cross, five being,
of course, the normal number in this
family. The leaflets are small and numer-
ous, not unlike those of the Scotch Rose,
and in one variety the young stems are
quite red. North India. There is a
strange form of this Rose from Yunnan,
known as pteracantha, or the Great Spined
Rose. It is remarkable for its stout ruddy
stems, set throughout their entire length
with broad wing-like spines, their effect
unlike anything hitherto seen in the Rose
family, and of remarkable brilliance in
sunlight.

R. SETIGERA (The Prairie R.). — Is a
climbing plant of vigorous growth, the
leaflets, of which there are three to each
leaf, being large for a Rose. It blooms in
July and August, and is thus one of the

latest of all the Wild Roses to flower. The
flowers are large and showy, and of a
deep rose, but without fragrance. This
Rose is seen best planted in a large
group, and, given a few rough roots or
posts to climb over, it soon makes a large
impenetrable thicket. The fruits are
small as compared with other Wild Roses.
R. SETIPODA. — A bushy species of
recent introduction from C. China (Hupeh),
whose purplish rose-coloured flowers
are freely produced in terminal corymbs.
It is of shrub-like habit of growth, and
reaches 6 or 10 feet high. June. Its
fruit beauty, if less large and striking,
is akin to R. Moyesie, and somewhat
more brilliantly coloured. The fruits,
too, are freely furnished with bristles.

R. SPINOSISSIMA (Burnet Rose). — A
pretty native Wild Rose, which will grow
and flourish in the lightest and hottest of
soils, where many Roses fail. It is the
parent of the Scotch Roses. The creamy
white flowers of the wild plant are pretty
and fragrant.

R. XANTHINA. — A charming plant for
the rock garden, very like the Austrian
Briers in general effect, but freer in growth
and flower. Its flowers are small (only
about i inch across), of a beautiful golden
yellow, with deeper spots at the base of
each petal. The stems are dwarf, slender,
and very prickly, wreathed with flowers
for a good part of their length. It flowers
annually on the rockery at Kew.

R. WILLMOTTI^E. — A new species from
W. China, where it was found by Wilson
when plant-hunting for the Messrs Veitch
on the Sangan Mountains at elevations
from 10,000 to 11,000 feet. It forms a
densely branched shrub 8 feet or more
high, furnished with elegant foliage.
The solitary flowers are of a bright rose-
pink, and are freely produced in June
on the arching branches of the previous
season's growth. Fruits roundish and
of orange-red colour. Quite hardy and
very pretty.

The above is a choice of the best
Wild Roses known to us for the garden
or shrubberies and fences near the
garden. There are many Wild Roses
inhabiting northern and temperate
countries, and many that have never
been in cultivation.

ROSCCEA. — A small though inter-
esting genus of tuberous rooted plants
from China and the Himalayas, of easy
cultivation if planted 4 to 5 inches
deep in sandy loam. All are dwarf
growing. The best known species is
R. purpurea, with richly coloured
flowers on stems 9 inches or so high.
R. Cantlioides is somewhat taller
growing, the erect leafy stems being
terminated by a cluster of yellow

ROSMARINUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

RUBUS.

695

flowers of delicate beauty. They are
distinct from all else, and of a beauty
quite apart. That last-named does
not appear above ground till quite late
in spring.

ROSMARINUS (Rosemary}. — A well-
known shrub, R. officinalis, is not hardy
enough anywhere, but in warm, rocky
banks in our southern gardens it is
useful ; all like its fragrance, and the
flowers are pretty when the plant is
grown on dry soils. Where it perishes
.in winter in the open ground it may
be grown against a wall. There are
several distinct forms, one of erect
habit known as pyramidalis ; one with
large pale flowers, and one with darker
blue flowers ; one with variegated
foliage ; and one, the best of all, known
as prostrata, with quite a creeping
habit and narrow leaves, very pretty
for sunny walls or sheltered ledges of
the rock garden. Cuttings and seed.

RUBUS ( Brambles] . — Trailing and
often prickly shrubs, some of the best
from America ; the finest of these being
the Rocky Mountain Bramble (R.
deliciosus), quite unlike an ordinary
Bramble, being without spines or
prickles. It makes a rounded spread-
ing bush about 4 feet high, and in
June bears snow-white flowers about
the size of Dog Roses, and like them
in form. It is hardy in most gardens
where the soil is light, and in cold
districts may be grown against a wall,
which it quickly clothes with a beau-
tiful growth, and flowers more abun-
dantly than as a bush. Always select
for it the sunniest and warmest place
in the garden.

R. BIFLORUS (Whitewashed Bramble). —
Has tall wand-like steins often 10 feet
or more in height, whitened with a
mealy substance on the bark. Its white
flowers are not showy, and are succeeded
by edible, Raspberry-like fruits. R.
australis, from New Zealand, is without
true leaves, and prickly. In warm
situations on walls it grows several
feet high, but it is not fully hardy. Hima-
layas.

Among the best native Brambles
are the beautiful double varieties
of R. fructicosus, which flower late
in summer. There are the double
pink and the double white kinds,
both known under various names ;
but the names of double pink and
double white are sufficient. As they
are forms of distinct species or
varieties, they differ in habit, the
double pink being much the stronger

and more free flowering. When well
placed the double pink makes a wide-
spreading mass like the common
Bramble, and gives from the middle
of August till autumn an abundance
of bloom, every flower being a rosette
of delicate pink petals. The double
white is a form of R. tomentosus, and
its flowers are larger than those of the
double pink, but less double. The
double white and the double pink
should be planted near each other, and
will clothe banks or associate with
bold rocks. Another fine Bramble is
the Cut -leaved, or Parsley - leaved
Bramble, which has a profusion of
white blooms, succeeded by large
delicious fruits. The Japanese Wine-

Rulus deliciosus,

berry (R. phcenicolasius] is a strong-
growing Bramble, the stems of which
are covered with reddish hairs, and
the leaves silvery white on the under
side. A group planted beside water
is very fine in windy weather, when the
under-surface is freely exposed. The
pink and white flowers are followed by
soft red fruits, like a little Raspberry.
R . sorbifolius is also pretty, with stout
erect stems of about 18 inches, bearing
elegant cut leaves and large white
flowers, followed by conical fruits of
fine appearance but of poor flavour.
Like some other Brambles, this grows
well in partial shade. Some of
the so-called American Blackberries,
such as the Lawton and Kittaninny,
do not succeed in our country.
Almost all kinds should have their
stems cut away after flowering,

696

RUBUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

RUDBECK1A.

leaving only the new shoots of the
season.

A few of the small kinds, such as
R. arcticus (which grows a few inches
high and bears numerous rosy-pink
blossoms), the Cloud-berry, R. Chamce-
morus (also dwarf and with white
blossoms), the Dewberry (R. C&sius),
and R. saxatilis, are pretty in partially-
shaded spots in the rock garden in
moist peaty soil.

R. GIRALDIANUS. — No Bramble in culti-
vation produces so striking an effect, in
my opinion, as R. giraldianus, named
in honour of Giraldi, an Italian, one
of the intrepid Jesuit priests in W. China,
whence this shrub was introduced by
Wilson in 1907. It grows about 7 feet
high, the slender, drooping part of the
stem being long enough for the tip to
reach the ground. Having reached the
soil, the tips there form curious thickened
ends similar to those so frequent in wild
British Brambles, and, taking root, form
new plants.

R. NUTKANUS. — This is found from
N. California to Nootka Sound, and
is rather taller in growth than R. odoratus,

Rubus nutkanus (the Nootka Sound Raspberry).

the flowers pure white. They are partial
to a moist soil, near the margins of
a pond or stream. They are among the
best shrubs for the wild garden, where
in a short time they spread into large
masses if in good soil and partial shade.

R. ODORATUS. — With large-lobed leaves,
and from June till August large clusters
of rich purple flowers. It may be used
in the rougher parts of the rock garden,
or in the wild garden, and is very hardy.
Like the garden Raspberry, it sends
up strong annual shoots, which in rich
soils reach 6 feet, bearing scented leaves,
the leaves and not the flowers being fra-
grant. There is no finer shrub for
planting under the shade of large trees
where the soil is not too full of roots.

R. SPECTABILIS (The Salmon Berry). —
Has flowers of a bright red and very
early. It is best in the rougher parts
of the rock garden or for the wild garden,

and grows well under trees or in under-
wood. N.W. America.

RUDBECKIA ( Cornflower}. — N.
American plants, with showy yellow
flower-heads, usually with a dark
central cone, making striking plants
for the hardy border, flowering in late
summer and autumn.

R. CALIFORNICA. — Largest in size of
flower and cone, the flower being often
about 6 inches across, and the cone
2 inches high ; leaves, flower-stalks, and
roots are equally robust. The flowers
come early in July ; they have few and
horizontal rays, and are solitary on the
stalks, their size making up for their small
number, and the whole plant having a
majestic appearance, with its broad,
plantain-like leaves.

R. HIRTA. — By Asa Gray said to be
" annual or biennial," and it certainly
requires frequent renewal from seed.
Two-year-old plants begin to flower early
in June, and continue gay through sum-
mer. It is well to select the largest and
most golden flowers for seed. This species
always attracts notice in my garden from
the bright colour of the rays and the good
contrast of the black cone.

R. LACINIATA. — Tallest of the Cone-
flowers, 7 to 10 feet high. The leaves
are unevenly divided into narrow ribbons,
or cut into larger lobes, different indi-
viduals varying much in leafage. The
flower is large, the rays curved downwards
so as nearly to touch the stalk, and the
cone is greenish. Plants live many
years without spreading much, but are
easily divided, and self-sown seedlings
come up round if the seed escapes the
green linnets and chaffinches, which
delight to eat it.

R. MAXIMA. — A handsome plant 6 or
7 feet high, having flowers densely set
with broad golden rays produced in
August and September. The large glau-
cous oval and entire leaf at once distin-
guishes it from others of the genus.
Native of the warmer States of America.

R. NITIDA. — The general habit of this is
that of R. laciniata, but the leaves are less
incised than in any of that species ; the
flowers, though smaller in outline, are
more regular and plentiful, and have
broader and more golden rays. They
begin to open when R. laciniata is over,
and continue into November.

R. PINNATA. — Flowers from July until
hard frosts overpower it. It is not a
long-lived plant, getting too hard and
woody at the base to continue to break
well, so it is better to keep a few seedlings
on hand. Seed is abundantly produced
and easily raised. Grows from 4 to 5
feet.

R. PURPUREA. — In this distinct Cone-
flower the ray florets are of a reddish or
rose-purple hue, and the flowers are fully

RUMEX.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SACCHARUM. 697

4 inches across. When fully established
the plants reach 3 to 4 feet high, and are
effective on account of their free-flowering
and erect habit. The plant only rarely
produces seeds, and these are generally
slow to vegetate, so much so that it is
best rather to rely on careful division of
the root to ensure maintaining a stock.
Other kinds closely allied to this species
are R. pallida, R. angustifolia, R. purpurea
intermedia, a fine form with branching
habit, and R. p. serotina.

R. SPECIOSA. — It is so well known that
I need say little more than advise those,
who wish it to succeed in hot and dry
summers, to dress the surface with rich
compost and to water it well, or it withers
prematurely. The garden form, speciosa
conspicua, comes into flower sooner, and
gives a longer season for cutting.

R. SUBTOMENTOSA. — In this the flowers
show hardly any raised cone ; the disc is
very black, and the golden rays, about an
inch long, continue horizontal, so that it
would hardly be taken for a Cone-flower.
It grows 4 feet high, flowering late and
very freely. Division.

Excepting R. maxima, in a long gar-
dening experience I have found no diffi-
culty in maintaining a stock of all these
Cone-flowers. R.pinnata, R. laciniata, and
R. hirta ripen plenty of seed every year.
I never found ripe seed on any of the
others, but they are all easily divided ;
the whole tribe likes a rich moist soil and
a warm aspect. — C. W. D.

RUMEX (Dock). — The only one
worth growing is our great native
Water Dock (R. Hydrolapathum). Its
leaves, sometimes 2 feet or more in
length, form erect and imposing tufts ;
while its flowering stem, frequently
6 feet in height, has a dense, pyramidal
panicle of an olive-fawn or reddish
colour. In autumn the leaves change
to a lurid red, a colour they retain for
some time.

RUSCUS (Butcher's Broom).— These
are distributed throughout Europe,
North Africa, and temperate Asia.
All the hardy kinds may be planted
under the drip and shade of trees
where few other evergreens could
exist. Propagate by division of the
roots. The R. aculeatus (Common
Butcher's Broom) is a native of our
copses and woods, with curious prickly
leaves, or rather substitutes for leaves,
and small greenish flowers in April,
which are succeeded by bright red
berries about the size of Peas. This
dense, much-branched evergreen rarely
<*rows more than 2 feet high, and its
thick, white, twining roots strike deep
into the ground. The sexes are apart

in Ruscus, and to enjoy the handsome
scarlet fruits the male and female
plants should be mingled.

The Alexandrian Laurel (R. race-
mosus) . — An elegant shrub with
glossy dark green leaves, its stems
valuable for cutting in winter. It is
one of the best plants for partial shade,
and should have deep loamy soil.
S. Europe. Syn., Danae racemosus.

RUTA (Rue). — The common Rue
(R. graveolens) is not ornamental, but
R. albiflora is a graceful autumn-
flowering plant about 2 feet high, with
leaves resembling those of the common
Rue, only more glaucous and finely
divided. The small white blossoms,
borne profusely in large terminal
drooping panicles, last until the frosts.
In some localities it is hardy, but,
unless planted against a wall, should
generally have slight protection in
severe weather. It is also known
as Bcenninghausenia albiflora. Nepal.
Another pretty plant is the Padua Rue
(R. patavina), 4 to 6 inches high, with
small golden-yellow flowers of the same
odour as the common Rue, and the
plant is about as hardy as R. albiflora.

SABBATIA (American Centaury).—
N. American plants of the Gentian
family. The species introduced are —
5. chloroides, with large pink flowers ;
5. campestris, with light rose flowers ;
and 5. angularis, with purplish-red
flowers. 5. chloroides, being found
in bogs, requires a very moist spot ;
5. campestris, an open and drier
place ; 5. angularis, a sheltered situa-
tion and partial shade, in imitation
of that afforded by the vegetation
amongst which it grows wild. The
soil should consist of equal parts of
good fibry loam and finely-sifted
leaf-mould, with enough sand to make
it open. Seed, which should be sown
in summer. The seedlings should be
potted off before they become in the
least drawn, or weak plants result.
They should be wintered in a cold,
airy frame, and freely pinched to
induce a bushy habit. All are bien-
nial, and seed should be sown each
year.

SACCHARUM (5. czgyptiacum}.—
Vigorous perennial grass, forming tufts
of reed-like downy stems, 6 to 10 feet
high, and clothed with graceful foliage.
It is suited for the margins of pieces
of water and for pleasure grounds, and
requires a warm position. In otir
climate it does not flower, but is a

698 SAGINA. THE ENGLISH FLOWEti GARDEN.

SALISBURIA.

good plant from its leaves and habit.
Division in spring, the offsets being
started in a frame or pit ; in May or
June they may be planted out. N.
Africa.

S AGIN A (Pearlwort),—The only
species worthy of culture is the Lawn
Pearl wort (5. glabra), a plant generally
known in consequence of its failure
some years since as a substitute for
lawn grass, though it has not answered
expectations. It is none the less a
pretty little alpine plant, forming on
level soils carpets almost as smooth
as velvet, starred in early summer with
little white flowers. It is multiplied
by pulling the tufts into small pieces
and then replanting them a few inches
apart, when they soon meet and
form a carpet. Corsica. Syn., Spergula
pilifera.

SAGITTARIA (A rrowhead}.— Grace-
ful water-plants not only charming at
the waterside, but from their structure
among the most interesting of hardy
perennials. Their parts are strangely
variable in appearance and structure —
the roots being tuberous, fibrous, and
stoloniferous (running) ; the leaves
submerged and ribbon-like, floating or
erect, and exceedingly variable in
shape ; the flowers are fertile or
sterile, single or double. This variety
of form is so confusing that uncer-
tainty prevails as to the entire group,
some botanists making a hundred
species, which others reduce to about
ten. There seems, indeed, to be little
fixity of character, the same plant
being unlike itself under changed
conditions. Several kinds are now in
cultivation, and no plants are more
easily grown in shallow water, where
they spread fast, the only care being
to keep them from overrunning other
things. Their tubers should be
planted in mud with water from
6 inches to a foot in depth, though
some kinds will make their way in
deeper water. The plants are quite
happy in partial shade, where the
flowers last longer. The following are
in cultivation : —

S. JAPONICA PLENA. — One of our
best hardy water-plants, with large full
flowers 2 to 2^ inches across and like a
white Stock, gathered into whorls all the
way up a stem of nearly 2 feet. The roots
spread fast and will grow in water 2 feet
deep, though 6 inches is deep enough for
planting. The single kind is scarce,
though the snowy flowers with golden
anthers are very attractive, and the foliage
lasts much longer than in our native kind.

S. LANCIFOLIA. — Of uncertain origin,
with several other names. It is of robust
growth, with stems 5 feet high and
leaves prolonged into a narrow lance shape.
The flowers are in whorls of three, the
outer petals greenish flushed with rose,
and the inner ones pure white, with a
cluster of golden stamens. Syns., 5.
gigantea and S. sinensis.

S. MACROPHYLLA. — With large leaves
and loose spikes of white flowers, standing
about 3 feet high. Not only are the
flowers larger than in any other kind, but
the plant is worth growing for its fine
leaves alone, which takes a rich autumn
colour.

S. MONTEVIDENSIS. — From S. America,
too tender for the open before the end of
May, though it will thrive in the water-
garden all summer. The growths stand
boldly 4 or 5 feet out of the water, with
large creamy-white flowers, 2 inches across,
marked with a deep purplish blotch at the
base of each petal. One good spike will
carry 100 flowers. Seeds sown in Febru-
ary germinate freely, and the young plants
flower by July, so that it is often treated
as an annual.

S. NATANS. — A very distinct kind from
North America, with floating heart-shaped
leaves and scanty single white flowers.

S. SAGITTIFOLIA. — The wild Arrowhead
of our ponds and rivers, familiar in its
graceful arrow - headed leaves and the
pretty white flowers half an inch across,
with purple claws and anthers. It spreads
fast and is tenacious of life, having been
the last wild flowering plant to flourish
on the banks of the Thames in the heart
of London. The double-flowered form is
that mostly seen in gardens, with very full
flowers about an inch across, and pure
white like a little Banksian Rose.

S. SIMPLEX. — A scarce and neat species,
well adapted for growing in tubs or small
ornamental basins. Though hardy, it is
less vigorous than most kinds, with small
leaves of a less decided arrow shape, and
delicate flowers of soft pale yellow.

S. VARIABILIS. — The common Arrow-
head of N. America ; a very variable
plant, with a number of distinct forms.
It comes near our own kind, but the flowers
differ in their greenish centre, free from
the purple shading of sagiUifolia. Among
the many varieties are hastata, latifolia,
obtusa, gracilis — a dwarf form rarely
exceeding 12 inches in height, and one
with double flowers.

SALISBURIA (Maiden-hair Tree}.—
S. adiantifolia is a beautiful tree in all
stages and at all seasons, perhaps most
attractive during the autumn, just
before the leaves drop, since the foliage
assumes then a bright yellow hue. A
rather deep, fairly moist soil of a
loamy nature seems to suit it best,

SALIX. THE ENGLISH FLOWER

SALIX.

699

but it is not very particular as to soil :
fine trees may be seen in old gardens.
Its fruits are said to be eaten in China
and Japan, but they are rarely pro-
duced here. There are two or three
varieties of the tree, and when raised
from seed, as it always should be,
there are individual differences. Syn.,
Ginkgo biloba.

SALIX ( Willow) . — Large and
medium sized trees, shrubs, and even
alpine trailers of northern and tem-
perate countries, mostly hardy and of
singular beauty and interest for our
gardens and home grounds, in which
they are much neglected. Notwith-
standing the number of trees in the
country, I doubt if there is a more
picturesque one than the Babylonian
Willow, which is not common in many
districts about London, although it is
by the river and in the eastern coun-
ties. There are many, however, who
plant this who do not care for hand-
some Willows of erect habit, but, as
we think, more beauty of colour,
such as the scarlet-barked or Cardinal
Willow, and even the old yellow
Willow. Of late years a number of j
other Weeping Willows have been
propagated in Germany and elsewhere,
so that we are no longer confined to
the old Weeping Willow, which was j
apt to be cut down occasionally in
hard winters. When the gardener
plants a Willow, it is generally some
curious one with a mop head, like the
" American " Weeping Willow. Coun-
try gentlemen should therefore take
the Tree Willows under their own care,
and plant them in bold groups and
colonies here and there, by water or
in wet or marshy places. A marshy
place planted with underwood formed
of the yellow or red Willow would
be charmingly picturesque in winter
— indeed, at all times — and there is |
no difficulty in getting any of these j
Willows by the hundred or thousand. I
In places which are much haunted by
the rabbit, young Willows of these !
kinds go very rapidly, and, planted by
streams in meadows where there are
cattle, they are nibbled down, so that
in certain districts a little care may be
wanted to protect them. None of the
Willows here mentioned should be ever
grafted. I have skeleton Willows
alongside some ponds, the sad remains
of grafted Willows which were inter-
esting and little - known kinds, all
grafted on the common Sallow (Salix
caprea) . The grafted portion gradually

died ; the stump on which they are
grafted remained sound, and from it
have come the vigorous shoots of
many Withies. Inasmuch as the whole
country and the woods near have
many of the same tree, which seeds
everywhere, this unsought plantation
of a common tree by garden ponds is
far from a gain. " As easy to strike
as a Willow," is a proverb among gar-
deners, and there is no good reason for
grafting these plants. The graceful
Willow, called in our gardens the
American Willow, is invariably grafted
on the Sallow, and if not watched and
the suckers removed, will quickly
perish ; but if a shoot of this plant
be hanging into water it quickly roots,
showing how easily the trees could be
increased if nurserymen would take
the trouble to do it in the right way.
The objection to the grafting is, first
of all, the frequent death of the tree ;
secondly, falsified and weak growth,
and where it does not die, endless
trouble ; thirdly, we lose some of the
true uses of the tree, the habit not
lending itself always to grafting on the
standard form. Why should we not
be able to use the Weeping Willows as
rock or bank plants, not on standards,
in which form the growth is often less
graceful than on our own root trees ?
Though we think the finest Willows
for effect in the landscape are the Tree
Willows, in all garden ground the
Weeping Willows are likely to be the
most planted, and we should guard
against an excessive use of them in
home landscape owing to this same
weeping habit. One large isolated
Weeping Willow, or a group of such
trees on the margin of water, gives a
much better effect than a number
dotted about. Further, the Weeping
Willow ungrafted when isolated has
an advantage over many other weeping
trees in its beauty of habit ; all is grace
and softness, like a fountain of water,
the branches rise lightly into the air
to fall again gracefully. On the other
\ hand, in most other weeping trees
j artificially made by grafting on stan-
i dards there is none of this lightness
of aspect and of form. Willows are
! admirably suited for giving us an
! abundance of shade where this is
', desired, and they are among the hardy
trees that thrive in and near towns.
Only the Willows most effective in the
home landscape and in the home woods
are named here. Some small and
alpine Willows are interesting for the

7oo

SALIX.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SALIX.

rock garden, but they are more suited
for botanical collections. The dwarf
creeping kinds grown in gardens are —
5. herbacea, S. lanata, S. reticulata,
and S. serpyllifolia, all natives of the
northern parts of Europe and America.
They grow well among stones in
ordinary garden soil. Sometimes cer-
tain of these dwarf forms are grafted,
generally on the Sallow, on which their
lives are very short, and it is impossible
for us to judge of the value of such
kinds as S. repens var. argentea and
pendula and 5. casia var. Zabeli pen-
dula, when stuck on the ends of sticks
of a wholly different nature.

S. ALBA (White W.). — A graceful and
stately tree of the marsh lands and river
valleys throughout Europe and Asia,
common in Britain, and often beautiful.
It has several varieties, particularly a
silvery one, and a red one (britzensis] .
Sometimes 80 feet or more high, with a
trunk diameter of 6 to 7 feet.

The Weeping Willow.

S. BABVLONICA (Weeping W.). — A beau-
tiful weeping tree, and the best known
of the Willows of this character, though
not the hardiest that we now know, and
sometimes liable to be cut off in cold
districts. There is a crisp-leaved variety.
It is called Babylonian because it was
thought to be the tree under which the
Jews sat down to weep on the banks of
the Euphrates River, but it is now known
that the tree which grows on the banks
of the Euphrates and resembles a Willow
is a Poplar, having narrow Willow-like
leaves. Japan and China. 5. Salomoni
is a variety of this, and seems to be a
free-growing and most graceful Willow,
but with us not old enough to show its
true form. It is a very rapid growing
tree, as, indeed, most Willows are in river
bank soils.

S. BLANDA (Hybrid Weeping W.). —
This is a vigorous and fine Weeping
Willow, though not yet long enough in
our country to show its true habit. It is
thought to be a hybrid between the
Babylon and Crack Willows, having regard
to its characteristics. The leaves, long
even at the base of the branches, are 3
inches to 5 inches long by less than i inch
across.

S. CAPREA (Withy, Sallow, Goat W.).
— The commonest Willow, often a round-
headed low tree, in our woodlands, and
the one which bears the pretty catkins
early in spring, and gathered at Easter,
called Palm branches. It is used in nur-
series throughout Europe as a stock to
secure the greatest growth of various
Willows, and usually with a fatal result
to the life of each kind grafted on it. The
Kilmarnock Willow is a weeping variety
of this Willow.

S. ELEGANTISSIMA. — A rapid-growing
and handsome weeping tree. Willows
have a curious way of crossing and inter-
crossing, hybridising themselves in all
sorts of ways, and it is difficult to account
for the origin of this ; but from a garden
point of view this is not of so much con-
sequence. It is tall, with long and pen-
dent branches, a yellowish-green, often
stained with russet, with a more spread-
ing habit and a larger crown than 5.
babylonica.

S. FRAGILIS (Crack W. ; Withy).— A
fine and often picturesque tree of our river
valleys, and a native of N. Europe
and W. Asia, including in it a variety
of forms, among the best being the Bas-
ford Willow and the broad-leaved form,
latifolia. S. Russelliana, the Bedford
Willow, is considered a hybrid between
this and the White Willow. There is
also an orange - twigged form of the
Crack Willow (S. decipiens).

S. PENTANDRA (Bay-leaved W.). — A
glossy leaved distinct looking Willow,
sometimes almost a tree ; a native of
Britain, mostly towards the north or
west, and the latest flowering Willow.

S. PURPUREA (Purple or Bitter Osier). —
A British Willow of some grace of habit,
though not quite a tree, and most inter-
esting from being the origin of the Willow
called American by mistake. It is really
a variety of this species, and a very beau-
tiful weeping bush, which, however, is
often lost by being grafted on the common
Withy, which soon kills the tree. This
Willow and its varieties and hybrids are
much grown in Osier beds for basket-
making, though not so much as the Osier.
The pendulous form of the Purple Weeping
Willow, commonly called the American
Weeping Willow, is not very high, but has
pretty grey slender leaves, with long
flexible twigs. It is usually grafted and
grown as a single, umbrella-headed tree

SALPIGLOSSIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SALVIA.

7OI

although it is much prettier grouped or
massed beside the water, and it is only
then that one gets its extreme grace.
This Willow is grafted on the common
Sallow — a usually coarse-growing Willow
of which the shoots spring from below the
graft. If let alone for a year or two they
would soon make an end of the Purple
Willow, but by continually removing
them one may keep the tree alive.

S. ROSMARINIFOLIA (Greybush W.). —
A graceful bushy Willow of a nice grey
colour, especially for groups near water or
in moist ground ; hardy and of easy
culture. Europe.

S. VIMINALIS (Osier).— A distinct and
native Willow, frequent in wet places in
woods and Osier beds, rarely planted in
gardens, the leaves and branches are very
fine in form. It is the Willow most used
for basket-making.

S. VITELLINA (Golden W.). — Some-
times classed with the White Willow by
botanists, but from a planter's point of
view it is a distinct tree, never so large as
the White Willow, but effective in the
colour of its yellow branches and twigs
in the winter sun. While old trees of this
often become good in form and occasion-
ally pendulous, there is of recent years a
distinctly pendulous variety, 5. pendula,
which is very graceful and precious
indeed, and quite hardy, which should
never be grafted. Some of the red twigged
Willows, such as that called the Cardinal
Willow, belong to 5. vitellina. The twigs
are used to a great extent for packing in
nurseries and tying fruit trees in gardens.

SALPIGLOSSIS. — S. sinuata is a
beautiful plant of the Solatium family,
and one of the finest of half-hardy
annuals ; it is slender, and has an
erect stem, i to 2 feet high, bearing
large funnel-shaped blossoms that have
dark veins on a ground which varies
from white to crimson, yellow, orange,
or purple, and intermediate shades.
As the colour of the blossoms is so
variable, the plant is known as 5.
variables, and its varieties have Latin
names according to their tints. S.
sinuata thrives in light, rich, sandy
loam, and should be treated as a half-
hardy annual. Chili.

SALVIA (Sage). — For the autumn
garden, few plants are more useful
than the Sages, with their showy spikes
of flowers. They are easily raised
from seed or cuttings, they grow in
almost any soil, and give good colour
during several months. They are
found in all parts of the world, the
tender shrubby kinds in the mountains
of tropical America, and the hardier
perennial sorts in Europe and Asia.

S. AZUREA. — A perennial from North
America, and one of the finest in its
flowers, borne as dense spikes of a beautiful
pale blue, during September and October.
Its habit is vigorous, with stems long and
straight, and it flowers rather too late to
be always good with us. There are several
forms of this plant, drawn from different
parts of its area, including grandiflora
(syn., S. Pitcheri), with down - covered
leaves and stems and denser spikes, and
angustifolia, with narrow leaves and longer
spikes of flower. Though often flowered
under glass, these plants thrive in the open
border in mild districts, and are very
useful for cutting.

Salpiglossis

S. COCCINEA. — This graceful plant covers
a wide area in America, and though small
the flowers are bright and well displayed.
It is excellent for borders, and a true
perennial, though often treated as an
annual. The habit and leaves are neat,
with bright scarlet flowers in airy spikes
of 12 to 1 8 inches, prettily set on dark
hairy stems, lasting for many weeks and
good for cutting.

S. GRAHAMI. — This good old kind forms
a handsome bush, bearing small bright
crimson flowers in light heads during
summer. The stems being woody, they
last well when cut, and are pretty in
vases. It is hardy in the milder parts of
Britain, but needs a good place against
a wall if it is to flower well. There are
varieties with white flowers, and shades
inclining to scarlet and purple.

S. GREGGII (Rosemary-scented Sage). —
One of the hardiest of the shrubby Salvias,
coming from the mountains of Texas. It
grows about 3 feet high, with small
bluntly-rounded leaves and spikes of
crimson and purple flowers 3 to 6 inches
long at the end of drooping branchlets.
The plant is hardy in light soils with root

702

SALVIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SALVIA.

protection, and resists drought, blooming
through a long season. Seedlings are
easily raised, and flower the first season,
or a reserve of rooted cuttings may be
wintered under glass.

S. HIANS. — A hardy perennial from Cash-
mere, growing 18 inches high, with large
hairy leaves like the Clary, and fine
violet-blue flowers with a pure white
lower lip, and carried in bunches of six
together. Free in growth and flower, it
is one of the best border Salvias.

S. HORMINUM (Bluebeard). — A useful
annual kind from the south of Europe, of
dwarf spreading habit, with oval or wedge-

Sah'ia patens.

shaped leaves and showy clusters of
coloured bracts around inconspicuous blue
flowers. These showy clusters are pro-
duced on every shoot and last fresh for
a long time, their colour carrying from
white to reddish-violet and deep purple,
according to the variety.

S. OFFICINALIS (Common Sage). — Apart
from its value as a garden herb, this is
good as a border plant when covered with
its flowers, either purple, blue, or white.
There are several garden varieties with
beauty of leaf, such as aurea with golden
leaves, crispa (in which they are finely
curled), and others in variegated colours —
green and white, green and gold, and
tricolor with blending shades of grey-
green, gold, and rosy-purple. The form
salicifolia from Spain has long and narrow
whitish leaves, and is strongly aromatic.

S. PATENS. — One of the best plants
in cultivation, the intense blue of its
flowers making it a charming object.
Though tender in most gardens, the
tuberous roots are easily wintered in a
frost-proof place, and increase is easy
from seed or cuttings rooted in early
spring.

S. PRATENSIS (Wild Sage). — One of our
prettiest native plants, and withal so un-
common as to be worth a place in gar-
dens, its graceful stems of about 2 feet
high bearing showy flowers of rich purple,
white, rose, blue, or reddish - purple,
according to the variety.

S. PRZEWALSKII. — A new hardy kind
from China and Central Asia, growing as
a stout perennial with conspicuous bluish-
violet flowers of a pretty pale shade
coming in June. Its earliness, resistance,
and vigour make it a useful border plant.
S. RINGENS. — A low shrubby kind, with
handsome Sage - like leaves and large
flowers of lavender-blue and white. The
plant will bear a mild winter in the south
of Britain.

S. ROEMERIANA. — A bright dwarf plant
from Texas, of such neat growth as to be
well fitted for edgings or the front of
borders. It flowers early, and the deep
crimson flowers are continued through
several weeks. Increase by seed or
cuttings, which should be wintered under
glass.

S. SCLAREA (Clary). — One of the old
plants long grown in British gardens, and
still valued in country districts for brewing
herb-wine. It is a biennial from the south
of Europe, with clammy hairy stems,
ample heart-shaped leaves, and bluish-
white flowers in August. A strong form
of this, known as bracteata (gigantea}, bears
pale mauve-coloured bracts ; and 5.
Forskohlei, which comes very near Sclarea,
shows a blending of violet, blue, and white.
S. SPLENDENS. - — This is the most
showy of the family, in its clear green
foliage and glowing scarlet flowers. A
native of Brazil, it needs care in winter ;
if in too low a temperature the roots
perish, and if too warm the plants become
weak and liable to red spider. The old
plan was to take cuttings in autumn and
winter them under glass, these plants
flowering earlier than the more vigorous
seedlings. From careful selection, how-
ever, there are now good early-flowering
varieties which come fairly true from
seed, and (except it be for a small stock of
the best named kinds) this is the best
means of increase. These forms are
vastly superior to the original plant,
which, besides being of ungainly habit,
had few and small flowers.

Two kinds rising to a good height are
grandiflora and gigantea ; though Fanfare
and Feu de Joie are fairly tall, they begin
to flowerjearly ; Gloire de Stuttgart and
Rudolph Pfiitzer are shorter ; and Boule

SAMBUCUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SAMBUCUS. 703

de Feu, Alfred Rageneau, Bolide, Phare
Poitevin, and Lord Fauntleroy are very
dwarf kinds, flowering through a long
season and admirable for massing in the
front of borders.

S. TARAXACIFOLIA. — Rare and pretty
shrubby plant from the north of Africa,
with its lower leaves like those of a
Dandelion, and pale pink or purple flowers
with a yellow lip,
gathered in whorls of
six to ten together.
It needs light soil and
a sunny place in the
rock garden, but is
of doubtful hardiness
even under the best
conditions, and plants
should always be held
in reserve.

S. TURKESTANICA.—

Hardy perennial kind
from W. Asia, with
angular stems 3 feet
high, ample foliage
which is strongly fra-
grant, and large white
flowers gathered in
whorls and surrounded
by pale pink-edged
bracts. The plant is
hardy and vigorous.

S. VERBENACEA. — A pretty native plant
about 1 8 inches high, with oblong wrinkled
leaves and blue or whitish flowers gathered
in sixes upon its numerous spikes. It is
coarse for the border, but interesting in
the wild garden.

S. VIRGATA. — A good kind, where its
abundant blue flowers and violet bracts
give good effect in July and August. The
plant is of medium size, hardy, and easily
increased by seed or division.

Few of those described require special
treatment, the herbaceous perennials
being rapidly propagated by division
or seed, and the half-shrubby species
by cuttings of the young soft shoots
in heat. In August and September
they should be raised in a close cold
frame, and in spring they should be
treated like Heliotropes or Ageratums.
When large plants are required the
old ones can either be potted or put
close together in deep boxes ; and, if
potted, they should be cut down to
within 6 inches of the soil. Both old
plants and potted cuttings are easily
wintered in any dry place where frost
is excluded.

SAMBUCUS (Elder}. — Our native
Elder is little valued in gardens, yet a
well-grown tree, laden with its clusters
of creamy-white blossoms or a pro-

fusion of purple fruits, is not without
effect. Added to this, it will hold its
own in any poor, dry soil, the leaves
are seldom attacked by insects, and
all the kinds bear hard pruning, and
are of easy increase from cuttings.

The wild kinds are perhaps less
important for our purpose than their
garden forms.

Sang'itinaria canadcnsis.

S. CANADENSIS.— N. America. Was in-
troduced long ago, but until recently has
remained almost unknown. In full flower
it is handsome and at its best in August,
when most flowering shrubs are past.
Though less woody than the common
species, it attains a height of 6 to 12 feet,
with bold, handsome leafage and flattened
clusters of creamy-white fragrant flowers,
which measure sometimes as much as
1 8 inches across. A new and beautiful
form of this shrub has recently come to
light in 5. canadensis acutiloba, the leaves
of which are cut into segments as fine as
any fern-frond. Though perhaps not yet
to be had easily, it will give a new charm
to our collections of hardy shrubs.

S. EBULUS (Dane-wort). — An herbaceous
Elder from N. Africa, China, and Europe,
including the British Isles. The popular
name refers to the legend that the plant
first sprang from the blood of Danish
invaders. It is a rough, rank-smelling
weed, growing from 2 to 4 feet high, with
finely-cut leaves and fine heads of flowers.
Its main value is for dry banks in the wild
garden or in coverts.

S. GLAUCA. — A little-known kind from
western N. America, where it is said to form
a tree of 30 to 50 feet. In this country it
does not appear likely to be of great value.
The name is derived from the glaucous
bloom with which the berries are covered,
which is so intense that though really
blackish they appear to be bluish- white.

SARCOCOCCA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SAPONARIA.

8. JCIORA (The Common Elder). — Best
known in its variety aurea. Planted in a
mass and cut down to the ground annually
is a good way of growing it. There are
varieties, but all the others are best left
out of the garden.

S RACEMOSA (Scarlet Elder) . — Although
not a native of this country, S. racemosa
occurs wild throughout much of the
northern hemisphere. In appearance the
Scarlet Elder somewhat resembles our
own species, but is readily known by the
flowers expanding much earlier, and the
bright red berries, which ripen long in
advance of the Common Elder. A cool,
moist soil and a sunny spot seem to suit
the Scarlet-berried Elder the best.

SARCOCOCCA (The Hardy Sarco-
coccas). — Are neat and pleasing ever-
green shrubs possessed of but a modest
flower beauty, though of more than
ordinary value, because of their suita-
bility to shaded positions and their
rich green lustrous foliage. They
are also of high utility for cutting,
lasting long and well in the house
where their refreshing shining green
is ever welcome. The most notable
are 5. humilis, of neat tufted habit,
i£ feet high, flowers white, fragrant,
succeeded by blue-black fruits. 5.
niscifolia is 2 feet or more high, of
dark lustrous green, flowers milk-
white, fragrant, and vieing with the
Alexandrian Laurel for its utility in
the cut state. The special value,
however, is because of their success
when planted under trees where so
few plants thrive. They grow from
the base after the style of the Butcher's
Broom. Readily increased. China.

SAMOLUS.— S. littoralis is a pretty
trailing plant, with long slender stems,
small evergreen foliage, and numerous
pink blossoms in summer. It thrives
in the bog garden or moist spots in the
rock garden in a peaty soil. New
Zealand.

S ANGUINARIA ( Bloodroot) . — S.
canadensis is a pretty and distinct
hardy plant, its thick creeping root-
stocks sending up glaucous leaves about
6 inches high ; the flowers, borne singly
on stems as high as the leaves, are
i inch across, white, with a tassel of
yellow stamens in spring, in good-sized
tufts, having a pretty effect. Some-
times the flowers are pinkish. It is
strongest and best in moist peaty
bottoms in woods or shrubberies. It
may be increased by division in
autumn, but its fleshy stems must not
be kept long out of the ground. Poppy
family. Nova Scotia, Canada, and

I westwards and southwards on the
! mountains.

SANTOLINA (Lavender Cotton}. —
Dwarf, half-shrubby plants, of neat
habit and pretty hoary foliage. One
of the most distinct and useful of them
is S. incana, a small grey shrub, with
close habit and narrow leaves covered
with dense white down. The pale
greenish-yellow flowers are small, not
showy, but the plant is useful from its
form and silvery hue for groups and
edgings, growing readily in ordinary
soil on the level border or on slopes of
the rock garden. Other species of
Santolina suited for rock gardens are
S. pectinata and 5. viridis, which form
bushes something like the Lavender
Cotton. 5. alpina is of more alpine
habit, forming dense tufts close to the
ground, from these arising slender
stems bearing yellow button-like
flowers. It grows in any soil, and
may be used in the less important
parts of the rock garden. Division.
Cuttings of the shrubby species.

SANVITALIA.— 5. procumbent is a
hardy annual from Mexico, with trail-
ing branches and bright yellow flowers.
In the single-flowered kind the blos-
soms have a dark purple centre, but
in the double (5. procumbens fl.-pl.},
which is by far the showier, they
are a bright yellow. 5. procumbens
flowers from July till late in Septem-
ber, and owing to its dwarf compact
growth it is useful for masses in beds
or for the front rows of borders, or
in suspended baskets, as the slender
branches droop gracefully over. It
may be sown in any ordinary garden
soil — in autumn for spring flowering,
or in March and April for summer
flowering.

SAPONARIA (Soapwort}. — Perennial
herbs and alpine plants or annuals of
the pink family.

S. C^ESPITOSA. — A neat little alpine
perennial, good in the higher regions of
the C. and E. Pyrenees, flowering in
August, but in the lowlands its beautiful
rose-coloured blossoms appear towards the
end of June. It forms rosettes of linear
leaves, thick, glabrous ; the flowers, form-
ing a thick cluster, are supported by short
stout stems. This graceful little plant is
valuable for the rock garden. A sandy
soil suits it best, and it endures our
winters.

S. CALABRICA. — A prostrate hardy an-
nual, 6 to 9 inches high, its slender stems
covered with small pink blossoms all the
summer. Seeds may be sown in the open

SARRACENIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SAXIFRAGA.

7C5

border in April, or earlier in heat if bloom
is required early in the season, in rich
sandy loam.

S. LUTEA. — A little rock plant, 3 to 6
inches high, with narrow leaves like those
of the Alpine Catchfly and a neat tufted
habit. The pale yellow flowers come as
close woolly heads in early summer.
Italy.

S. OCYMOIDES. — A trailing rock plant,
with prostrate stems, its rosy flowers com-
pletely covering its leaves and branches in
early summer. It is most valuable for
clothing arid parts of the rock garden,
where a trailing plant is desired, as the
shoots fall over the face of the rocks and
become masses of rosy bloom. It is also
excellent for old walls, and the seed should
be sown in mossy chinks where a little soil
has gathered. It thrives in ordinary soil,
and is often a good dwarf border plant.
Two or three garden varieties are now
grown, the best being splendens, with
much brighter flowers, alba, with pale
flowers, best in partial shade. Seeds and
cuttings. S. and C. Europe.

S. OFFICINALIS (Soapwort). — This is a
stout native plant about 2 to 4 feet high,
with large fragrant blossoms, usually rose-
pink, the double variety being best. A
third-rate plant, it should not be planted
in select borders, but is pretty for rough
places in the hedgerows and wild garden,
growing in any soil. Division.

SARRACENIA (Huntsman's Horn).
—This singular plant, 5. purpurea,
belongs to a family of Pitcher-plants,
natives of N. America, it being
the hardiest, and handsome when well
grown. Its curious leaves, hollowed
like a horn, are blood-red in colour,
and form a compact tuft i foot or
more in height and the same in
breadth ; the flowers, singular in
shape, are not very showy. It is a
good plant for the bog garden or for
damp spots in the rock garden, in an
open and fully-exposed position with
the choicer bog plants, in fibrous peat
well mixed with Sphagnum Moss, which
is common in marshy places. A layer
of living Moss should be placed round
the plant to keep it moist. The plant
is hardy under these conditions, but
precautions should be taken to pre-
vent birds from disturbing the soil
and exposing the roots. 5. flava, the
hardiest species next to S. purpurea,
is rarely satisfactory in the open air,
but does well in favoured spots.
Other species, including Drummondi,
psittacina, rubra, and variolaris, do
well in the open air in some parts of
Ireland if covered with a thick layer
of moss in hard weather.

SASSAFRAS (Ague Tree).—S. offici-
nale is a distinct and remarkable tree,
sometimes growing over 100 feet high,
with a trunk 6 feet or more in dia-
meter, and a rough aromatic bark in
sandy soils in New England, Canada,
and westwards and southwards. The
leaves are three-lobed, and vary much
in shape. In our country this plant
is best in warm soils similar to those in
which it grows in its own, as our cool
summers are less likely to ripen the
wood. Syn., Laurus sassafras.

SAXEGOTH(EA CONSPICUA (Prince
Albert's Yew), — A Chilian evergreen
tree of the Pine order. Some in the
south-western counties grow 40 feet
high or more, but it is not a tree for
our country.

SAXIFRAGA (Rockfoil).— This genus
includes perhaps more true Ulpine
flowers than any other. In the Arctic
circle, in the highest alpine regions, on
the arid mountains of S. and E. Europe
and N. Africa, and throughout the
length and breadth of Europe and of
N. Asia, they are found in many inter-
esting varieties of form and colour.
One might expect them to be as dim-
cult of cultivation as most alpine
plants, but they are the easiest to grow
of all. The most ordinary form is the
Mossy or hypnoides section, of which
there are many kinds in cultivation.
They are admirable for the fresh green
hue with which they clothe rocks and
banks in winter. Next to these we
may place the very extensive silvery
group. These have their greyish
leathery leaves margined with dots of
white, so as to give to the whole a
silvery character. This group is repre-
sented by such kinds as S. aizoon and
the great pyramidal-flowering 5. coty-
ledon of the Alps. The London Pride
section is another of some beauty, the
plants thriving under ordinary con-
ditions in lowland gardens, and soon
naturalising themselves in lowland
woods and copses. But the most
brilliant are the purple Saxifrage
(S. oppositifolia) group and its near
allies. Here we have tufts of splendid
colour in spring with dwarfness and
perfect hardiness. The large leathery
leaved group, of which the Siberian
S. crassifolia is best known, is also of
much importance, the plants thriving
in ordinary soil and on the level
ground. There are various minor
groups. Such of the smaller and rarer
alpine species as require any particular
attention should be planted in moist

2 Y

706

SAXIFRAGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SAXIFRAGA.

sandy loam mingled with grit and
broken stone, and made very firm.
Very dwarf and rather slow-growing
kinds, like 5. ccesia and 5. arelioides,
should be surrounded by half-buried
pieces of stone, to prevent their being
trampled on or overrun. Stone will
also help to preserve the ground in a
moist healthy condition in the dry
season, when the plants are most likely
to suffer. Very dry winds in spring
sometimes have a bad effect when such
precautions are not taken. The Saxi-
frages, or Rockfoils, are such an
enormous genus of plants in the
northern and temperate world, and
so many species in gardens have lately
been added to, in the shape of numerous
hybrids, that for these and various
reasons it is impossible that any
garden, generally speaking, could grow
so many kinds, and as the best and
rarer kinds can only be grown in rock
gardens, their shortness of bloom
excluding them from the flower gar-
den, the result is that only a limited
number can be grown with profit.

The following are among the most
important cultivated kinds, though
the list excludes many species that are
difficult to grow or to procure, and
which are found only in very full
collections : —

S. AIZOIDES. — A native plant, very
abundant in Scotland, the north of Eng-
land, and some parts of Ireland, and
generally found in wet places and by the
sides of mountain rills or streams. At
the end of summer or in autumn' it has
an abundance of flowers, \ inch across,
bright yellow (inclining to orange in the
form aurantiaca) dotted with red towards
the base. Although a mountain plant,
it is easy to grow in lowland gardens in
moist ground. Division.

S. AIZOON. — A good rock, border, and
edging plant. Plants established for two
or three years form grey-silvery tufts,
which do not flower so freely as the wild
plants, but this need not be regretted, as
it is the silvery mass, and not the flowers,
that is sought. There is a host of named
varieties. 5. a. balcana, pink spotted, and
5. a. rosea, are very desirable forms.
Division in spring.

S. ANDREWSI. — Among the green-leaved
Saxifrages there is no better kind than this.
Its flowers are freely produced, prettily
spotted, and larger than those of 5.
umbrosa. The plant is finer in the rock
garden than London Pride, grows as freely
on any border soil, and merely requires
to be replanted occasionally, when it
spreads into very large tufts, or to have a
dressing of fine light compost sprinkled

over it annually. A distinct variety,
Guthrieana, is from the Pyrenees.

S. APICULATA. — Apart from these there
are other varieties showing minor differ-
ences of leaf and times of flowering. Re-
cently, and almost simultaneously, in
different collections pure white sports of
these apiculata forms have appeared,
differing in no wise except the colour of
the flowers. Of easy culture, free growth
and flowering, they are welcome additions.

S. ARETIOIDES.— A real gem of the en-
crusted section, forming cushions of silvery
rosettes about £ inch high. It has rich
golden-yellow flowers in April, on stems
a little more than i inch high, which
remind one of the flowers of Aretia vital-
liana. S. aretioides require a moist and
well-drained soil, and, being so tiny, must
be protected from coarser neighbours.
There is a pretty form of it with pale
yellow flowers called primulina. It is
a rarity and a great improvement on
the type. Seed and careful division.
Pyrenees.

S. BIFLORA. — A dwarf kind coming near
S. oppositi folia, but larger in growth and
in its rosy flowers, fading to violet and
clustered loosely in twos and threes. It
grows in the loose, moist grit of the alpine
ice-fields, flowering as soon as the snow
melts in June.

S. BOYDII. — A presumed hybrid of
burseriana and aretioides, and one of the
most beautiful of yellow-flowered Saxi-
frages. It is, indeed, only eclipsed by
Faldonside, the queen of the yellow-
flowered set, which occurred as a seedling
from the original S. Boydii. Of the two,
Faldonside is the least exacting in its
requirements. Both should be grown in
gritty, well-drained loam, and are readily
increased by means of cuttings. The plant
known as S. Boydii alba, while very desir-
able, has nothing in common with the
others named. All were raised by Mr
James Boyd of Melrose.

S. BURSERIANA. — None of the Rockfoils
surpasses 5. Burseriana in vernal beauty.
The blossoms are borne singly on slender
red stalks, which rise 2 or 3 inches above
the silvery tufts, and are pure white, the
margins of the overlapping petals ele-
gantly frilled or crisped. They appear
freely in January and February. 5. flitr-
seriana soon forms good-sized tufts in the
open border or in the rock garden, but
prefers a dry sunny situation and calcare-
ous soil. All lovers of hardy spring
flowers should possess it. There are two
or three distinct forms which differ from
each other chiefly in habit or time of
flower. Readily increased by cuttings in
the spring. Austrian Alps.

S. BURSICULATA. — A beautiful hybrid
of burseriana major and apiculata, raised
by Mr E. H. Jenkins of Hampton Hill,
and probably the purest white-flowered

SAXIFRAGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SAXIFRAGA.

707

sort in cultivation. The large flowers are
in clusters as in apiculata, and supported
on stout erect stems. Vigorous and free
growing and of easy culture, it is one of
the most desirable of these plants.
Flowers in March.

S. C^ESIA. — Resembles an Androsace in
the neatness of its tufts. On the Alps it
covers the rocks and stones like a silvery
moss, and on level ground, where it has

garden soil, is useful for margins to her-
baceous borders, and makes a beautiful
covering for moist banks. It is one of
the most variable of Saxifrages, its most
distinct form being purpurea, with rosy
flowers.

S. CILIATA. — A deciduous kind. One of
the broad-leaved or Megasea section, with
large broad leaves covered with soft hair,
and carried on creeping stems. The

Saxifraga pyraiiiidalis (the great alpine Rockfoil).

some depth of soil, develops into beautiful
little cushions 2 to 6 inches across. It
has pretty white flowers in summer on
smooth thread-like stems, i to 3 inches
high. Though a native of the high Alps
and Pyrenees, it thrives in our gardens in
very firm sandy soil, if fully exposed and
well watered in summer.

S. C.ESPITOSA. — A dwarf kind forming a
dense carpet arranged in neat tufts and
studded in summer with white blossoms.
It succeeds in almost any situation in any

flower-stems are 6 to 9 inches high, and
bear numerous large flesh-coloured flowers
in spring. A native of N. India, S. ciliata
is suitable for open-air culture in the south
of England only, but is so handsome and
distinct that it should be tried wherever
it can be grown. A sheltered nook in
the rock garden, partially shaded, suits
it best.

S. COCHLEARIS. — Among summer-flower-
ing Saxifrages none is more desirable than
this graceful, easily-grown species from

yo8

SAXIFRAGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SAXIFRAGA.

the Maritime Alps. The pure white
flowers issue in elegant sprays from silvery
rosettes, and reach 9 inches high. There
are several forms of the plant, the most
charming being 5. c. minor, which in
gardens does duty for S. valdensis. It
forms dense hillocks of hoary rosettes, the
dainty sprays of white flowers appearing
in June. A good crevice plant and excel-
lent for rock walls. Both succeed well in
loam and old mortar rubble.

S. CORDIFOLIA. — A Siberian plant differ-
ing in aspect from the ordinary dwarf
Rockfoils, having ample heart-shaped
evergreen leaves on long and thick stalks.
Its clear rose-coloured flowers in early
spring are arranged in dense masses, and
half concealed among the great leaves, as
if hiding from the cutting breath of March.
5. cordifolia and its varieties flower in any
soil and position. These Saxifrages are
perhaps more fitted for association with
the larger spring flowers and herbaceous
plants than dwarf alpines, and may be
naturalised on banks, in wild sunny parts
of the pleasure ground, or by wood walks.
They may also be used with effect near
cascades, or on rough rock or root work,
or on the rocky margins of streams or
artificial water ; in fact, they are the
fine-foliaged plants of the rocks. There
are several handsome varieties of 5. cordi-
folia, the finest of all the group being one
called purpurea. No plant is handsomer
or more imposing when in flower, or affords
a greater leaf -beauty in autumn and
winter.

S. COTYLEDON (Pyramidal Saxifrage). —
This embellishes with its great silvery
rosettes and elegant pyramids of white
flowers many parts of the great mountain
ranges of Europe, from the Pyrenees to
Lapland. It is the largest of the culti-
vated Saxifrages, and also the finest,
except 5. longifolia, the linear leaves of
which it does not possess. There is con-
siderable difference in the size of the
rosettes, which when grown in tufts are
generally much smaller than in isolated
specimens. The flower-stem varies from
6 to 30 inches high, and about London, in
common soil, often reaches 20 inches. In
cultivation the plant usually attains a
greater size than on its native rocks.

S. CRASSIFOLIA. — A well-known Siberian
species of the Megasea section, with large
broad evergreen leaves. The flowers rise
from the terminal shoots in showy pendent
masses, and are pale rose with a suspicion
of lilac. The plant fulfils the same pur-
poses as S. cordifolia, but is dwarf and
not so ornamental.

S. CYMBALARIA. — Little tufts of this
Rockfoil form in early spring masses of
bright yellow flowers set in light green,
glossy, ivy-like leaves, the whole not above
3 inches high. Instead of fading, it pre-
serves its little rounded pyramids of
golden flowers until autumn, when it is

about 12 inches high. It is an annual or
biennial, sows itself abundantly, and is
suitable for moist spots on or near the
rock garden or on level ground, and in
large pleasure grounds is readily natura-
lised on the margins of a rocky stream
and elsewhere.

S. DELAVAYI. — A recent addition to
the broad-leaved or Megasea Rockfoils,
and probably the most brilliant flowered
of them all. Quite hardy, too, and an
evergreen assuming rich leaf colouring in
autumn and winter, it is of value for these
reasons also. The flowering scapes are a
foot high or thereabouts, the drooping
flowers in handsome umbels of richest
wine-red on opening, though paling some-
what later. In general aspect, vigour,
and refinement it is about midway between
crassifolia and cordifolia purpurea, and a
most desirable kind. It is happiest in
cool loam and leaf-soil with exposure,
though not the least fastidious. March-
April. China.

S. DR RAMSEY. — Said to be a hybrid of
5. cochlearis and 5. longifolia, this excellent
kind may be likened in habit to a small
compact growing S. cotyledon form. A
most genially-disposed plant and an indis-
pensable. Flowers fragrant, pure white,
copiously spotted with pink, and produced
in elegant sprays 6 to 8 inches high.
Flowers in June ; readily increased by
offsets.

S. ELIZABETHS. — A garden cross of fine
habit, with soft yellow flowers on red
stems, early in spring. It grows quickly
and is quite one of the best early kinds.
There are several forms — seedlings prob-
ably— of this plant, varying slightly in
flower and habit, though more particularly
in time of flowering, the later-flowered
ones being of distinct value . Those known
as Godsefi and Mrs Leng are not far
removed from Elizabethan. All have yel-
low flowers, are easily grown, and may be
increased freely by cuttings or division in
spring.

S. FORTUNEI. — Has large panicles of
white blossoms which rise in profusion
from rosettes of dark green rounded leaves.
It is a desirable plant, for it flowers in
autumn and is not particular as to treat-
ment.

S. GRANULATA (Meadow S.). — A low-
land plant, with several small scaly bulbs
in a crown at the root, and numerous
white flowers three-quarters of an inch
across. It is common in meadows and
banks in England, its double form being
very handsome ; also useful as a border
plant in the spring garden or in the
rougher parts of the rock garden.

S. GRISEBACHII. — A little gem, with
early flowers unfolding slowly from a crim-
son bud, and very distinct in their crimson-
purple colour. It is quite a new plant,
from Albania, and at certain stages not
unlike a small form of S. longifolia, but

SAXIFRAGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SAXIFRAGA.

709

at other seasons plainly a very different
plant. It is without doubt the most
remarkable of the red-flowered Rockfoils,
and an attractive garden plant withal. It
forms rosettes of silvery leaves 2 to 3 inches
across, from which issue leafy, glandular,
brilliant-coloured stems terminated by a
nodding inflorescence of reddish-crimson
flowers. No species of the genus is of
greater ornament or more worthy of
specialisation by the gardener. Quite
happy in gritty loam in sunny well-
drained spots. Colonies of it in the rock
garden are very effective. Easily raised
from seeds, which are freely produced in
those instances where artificial pollination
is resorted to. The plants should be
given dry conditions meanwhile. Mace-
donia.

S. HAAGEI. — Said to be a hybrid of
sancta and Ferdinandi Coburgi, this is
unique among golden-flowered Saxifrages,
and the most prodigal to bloom of the
whole race. Of carpeting habit and the
easiest culture, revelling in cool loamy
soil with full exposure, it is a plant of
indescribable beauty and utility. Flowers
in March and April.

S. HYPNOIDES (Mossy Rockfoil). — A very
variable plant as regards stem, leaves, and
flowers, but usually forms mossy tufts of
the freshest green, and no plant is more
useful for carpets in winter. For this
reason it is suited for the low rocky bor-
ders of town and villa gardens, thriving in
the rock garden or on level ground, either
in half-shady positions or fully exposed.
When exposed it forms the fullest tufts,
flowering profusely in early summer.
Nothing can be easier to grow or to increase
by division. Under this species may be
grouped 5. hirta, S. affinis, S. incurvifolia,
S. platypetala, S. decipiens, and several
others, all showing differences which some
think sufficient to mark them as species.
They are as free as 5. hypnoides, and
appear to suffer only from drought or
drying winds.

S. IRVINGI. — A pretty hybrid kind which
originated at Kew in 1909, 5. burseriana
macrantha and 5. Frederici-Augusti being
the parents. In effect it is a tiny pale
pink form of the first-named parent, the
whole plant less than 2 inches high. It
flowers with remarkable freedom, and has
already become popular. S. Kewensis is
of the same parentage and appeared at
the same time, the hybrid leaning strongly
to the red-flowered parent^a rather inter-
esting fact. Both are of easy cultivation
in gritty loam.

S. JUNIPERIFOLIA (Juniper Rockfoil). —
From the Caucasus, and probably the
shyest flowering member of the genus.
Leaves deep green, spiny tipped, the
rosettes arranged in cushion-like tufts,
not in mat-like masses, as in 5. sancta,
with which it is often confused. The
flowers are yellow and are produced in-

clusters on inch-high stems in spring.
The plant grows well in strong cool loam,
and may be increased by division or by
cuttings.

S. LIGULATA (Nepaul Rockfoil). — This
has broadly obovate leaves, bearing flowers
in small cymose panicles. The flowers
are white, with a rosy tint towards the
margin of the petals and crimson anthers.
Its early growth renders it tender, and
repeated injury is fatal. It should there-
fore have shelter and a little shade. The
varieties rubra and speciosa, particularly
the latter, are finer than the type, and
thysanoides bears pale flowers. 5. ligulata
may be associated with others of the
Megasea section.

S. LINGULATA. — A charming plant from
the Maritime Alps, characterised by very
long linear leaves with a conspicuously
encrusted margin. The flowers are of the
purest white, and are produced in elegant
sprays in May and June. 5. /. lantoscana
is a form of this species, easily distinguished
by its short, blunt, spathulate leaves and
arching racemes of white flowers, the latter
closely arranged on the upper surface of
the inflorescence. The twain are most
desirable and of the highest ornament.
Loamy soil with a third old mortar rubble
or pounded brick suits them well. Divi-
sion and seed.

S. LONGIFOLIA. — This Pyrenean plant
has single rosettes often 6, 7, and 8 inches
in diameter. Its greyish leathery leaves
are beautifully dotted with white on the
margins, and in early summer it pushes
up fox-brushlike columns of white flowers
from i to 2 feet long, the stems covered
with short, stiff, gland-tipped hairs. It
is perfectly hardy, and may be grown in
various ways. In some perpendicular
chink of a rock garden, where it can root
deeply, it is very striking when the long
outer leaves of the rosette spread away
from the densely-packed centre. It may
also be grown on the face of an old wall
by carefully packing a small plant of it
into a chink with a little soil. The stiff
leaves will, when they roll out, adhere
firmly to the wall in the form of a large
silver star. 5. longifolia will thrive on a
raised bed or border if surrounded by a
few stones to prevent evaporation and
injury. Increase is by seeds, which
should be sown as soon as ripe. As the
species perishes after flowering, it is
necessary to raise it from seeds periodi-
cally.

S. MAWEANA. — A handsome species of
the ccBspitosa section, and larger than any
other in foliage and flowers. The latter,
about the size of a shilling, form dense
white masses in early summer. After
flowering this species forms buds on the
stems, which remain dormant till the
following spring. Though rare it is of
easy culture. Similar, but finer, is S
Wallacei, which is far more robust, earlier,

7io SAXIFRAGA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SAXIFRAGA.

and freer as regards flowering, but which
does not develop buds during summer.

S. MUSCOIDES (Mossy Rockfoil). — A
beautiful little plant, forming a dense
bright-green cushion-like tuft. There are
several forms of it, one of the best being
atro-purpurea , which produces a dense
mass of deep red-purple blossoms on stalks
a few inches high. Other forms bear
yellowish or rosy flowers, the best being
5. Rhei, with laVge bright pink flowers,
borne very freely on long stalks, and
Guildford Seedling, a new kind, with large
crimson-purple flowers of fine effect. The
varieties pygmcea and crocea are pretty,
also the allied kinds, 5. exarata, S. pede-
montana, S. aromatica, and a few others ;
they grow in almost any soil.

S. MOSSY HYBRIDS. — These are great

Group of Silvery Kockfoils.

garden gains, the brilliant patches of
colour they afford in the nature of a
revelation. They have descended chiefly
probably from Muscoides atro-purpurea,
Rhei, Guildford Seedling, and the bolder-
growing decipiens, and are welcome
additions to a great race. Bakeri, Cli-
brani, Fergusoni, an early-flowering form
of Guildford Seedling, and sanguinea
superba, are of dwarf habit of growth and
richly coloured flowers, the last of rich
velvety crimson, the most brilliant of
them all. None are more desirable or
effective when freely massed. Bathoni-
ensis and decipiens grandiflora are bolder
growing, plus a little coarseness also, and
attain 9 inches or more high. They have
large rich red coloured flowers. All are
easily grown in cool, moist soil, and may

be increased at will, every rosette making
a plant if pricked out in moist sandy soil
in a cold frame.

S. OPPOSITIFOLIA. — It is impossible to
speak too highly of the beauties of this
bright little mountain-plant, in colour and
in habit so distinct from others of its
family. The moment the snow melts
it glows into solid sheets of purplish-rose
colour. Of the several varieties, that
known as splendens has flowers of far
greater brilliancy, though slightly smaller
and less abundant than those of the
parent ; in bud especially the colour is
almost carmine and most beautiful. This
variety was found many years ago on the
mountains of Scotland. 5. o. major has
flowers twice the size of the type, clear
rose, inclining to cherry, and has less of
a purple tinge. In 5. o. pyrenaica the
shoots are much stronger and the flowers
larger than in other forms. A fine form
is S. o. p. maxima, with lovely light rose
blossoms as large as a shilling ; while
5. o. alba has white flowers, in pleasing
contrast to other varieties. Perhaps the
best form of all is a new seedling, W. A.
Clark, with abundant rosy flowers of a
very bright shade. 5. Rudolphiana has a
more spreading habit of growth, and its
rosy-purple flowers are sometimes borne
singly and sometimes (though rarely) in
pairs. It is allied to S. biflora and S.
Kochii, the last with rosy-purple flowers
in twos and fours at the tips of the shoots.
The foliage of S. retusa is firm and compact,
with small flowers borne in clusters at the
tips of erect stalks ; their narrow petals
are usually a pale rose colour, sometimes
brighter. It blooms rather later than
the forms of 5. oppositifolia. S. Wul-
feniana is closely allied to 5. retusa. S.
oppositifolia and its varieties succeed in
deep, open, rich, loamy soil, and are finest
in a fissure or on a ledge of the rock
garden, where the roots can ramble
backwards or down to any depth. For
the soil, a rich light loam mixed with
fragments of limestone or grit, small
fragments of any rock, and a little river
sand will do. These plants must have
sunshine, for though they will grow in
the shade, they will not flower freely.

S. PAULINA. — A cushion sort of gem-
like habit of growth, and one of the easiest
to cultivate. Yellow-flowered and with
rosettes of pronounced»glaucous leaves, it
is quite distinct from all. Quite happy
and free in gritty loam, and flowering
abundantly in April.

S. PELTATA. — The shield-like leaves of S.
peltata make it unique among Saxifrages,
and on this account some have classed it
apart under the name Peltiphyllum . From
a thick fleshy root-stock rise stout erect
leaf-stalks to a height of 3 or 4 feet, where
they are terminated by target-like leaves
1 8 inches or more in diameter. The white
or pale pink flowers appear in spring, a

SAXIFRAGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SAXIFRAGA.

711

little before the leaves, on stalks i to 2 feet
high, and in loose clusters 3 to 6 inches in
diameter. It is found beside streamlets
and also in woods throughout the Sierra
Nevada of California, and is best in deep,
moist, loamy soil. Division or seeds.

S. PURPURASCENS. — A brilliant member
of the Megasea section. The stem is 12 to
1 6 inches high, and the flowers are pro-
duced in pendent masses of red and purple.
The ample foliage takes on charming
autumn tints in purple and crimson.

S. SARMENTOSA (Mother of Thousands). —
A well-known plant, with roundish leaves
and numbers of slender runners spreading
Strawberry fashion. It grows freely in
the dry air of a sitting-room, and may
often be seen in cottage windows, but is
most at home running wild in the cool
greenhouse or conservatory, where it
flowers during summer. In mild parts of
England it lives in the open air, and may
be used with Ferns and other creeping
plants. There is a pretty but rather

Saxi/raga Wallacei.

Succeeds best in a moist peaty soil in a
rather sheltered spot. Himalayas.

S. ROCHELIANA (Rochel's Rockfoil). — A
compact and dwarf kind, forming dense
mounds of silvery rosettes of tongue-
shaped leaves with white margins and
distinct dots. In spring appear large white
flowers on sturdy little stems. There is
no more exquisite plant for the rock
garden, pans, and for small rocky or
elevated borders. Any free, moist loam
suits it, and in London it thrives on
borders exposed to the full sun. Austria.

S. SANCTA. — A beautiful species, forming
a dense mass of deep green foliage, studded
in early spring with bright yellow blossoms
on short stems. It grows freely in any
position in the rock garden, but needs
moisture and free exposure to flower well.

delicate form in which the leaves are
finelv variegated with yellow and crimson.
China.

S. STRACHEYI. — A strong-growing plant
of the Megasea section, with leaves nearly
as broad as long. Its flowers, pro-
duced on broad branching panicles, are of
a light pink with a shade of lilac. It is
hardier than its closest ally, S. ciliata,
blooms in March, and should be sheltered
against bleak winds. It is suited for
borders and rock gardens.

S. TENEJ.LA. — A handsome plant, form-
ing tufts of delicate fine-leaved branches, 4
or 5 inches high, which root as they grow.
The flowers, which appear in summer, are
numerous, whitish-yellow, and arranged
in a loose panicle. Similar in growth are
5. aspera, S. bry aides, S. sedoides, 5.

7I2

SAXIFRAGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SCABIOSA.

Seguieri, S. stelleriana, and 5. tricuspidala,
all suitable for clothing the bare parts of
the rock garden and slopes, but require
moist soil and cool positions. Division
in spring or the end of summer.

S. UMBROSA (London Pride). — -This is
abundant on the mountains round Killar-
ney, and has long been grown in our
gardens. It is naturalised in several parts
of England, and grows freely in dwarf her-
bage or in rocky parts of woods.

Saxifraga sarmentosa.

There are other good kinds, but less
important than the foregoing, such as
S. mutata, S. florulenta, very difficult to
grow, the London Pride-like S. Geum,
the native S. Hirculus, and the small
grey tufted S. aspera.

HYBRID ROCKFOILS. — A fine series
of hybrid Megaseas is that due to
Mr T. Smith, of Newry, resulting from
crosses between cordifolia x purpuras-
cens, and with the good qualities of
both parents. The plants are all
robust, although varying much in
colour of flower and in stature.
Hybrida splendens is one of the finest
in the group, but the following are
all good : —

Brilliant. — Leaves large, richly
tinted in autumn and winter ; flowers
purple ; calyces and pedicels crimson ;
fine. Campana. — Very neat dwarf
crowded foliage ; scape i£ feet with
bell-shaped head of rosy-lilac flowers.
Corrugata. — Dwarf habit ; large rough
leaves ; flowers pink. Distinction. —

Dwarf crowded habit, with enormous
head of pale pink flowers. Nana. — A
miniature of hybrida splendens. Pro-
gress.— A free-growing plant, with tall
scapes of rosy purple, bell-shaped
blossoms, which are i^ inch across ;
extra fine. Sturdy. — Compact habit,
with short stout scape of rose-coloured
flowers.

SCABIOSA (Scabious).— Annual, bi-
ennial, and perennial plants, forming
by far the largest proportion of the
Teasel family cultivated in our gardens.
The old English name of Pincushion
Flower, from the resemblance of the
flower-heads to that useful article, is
perhaps a little more appropriate than
it is elegant, although it serves its
purpose very well, and, indeed, we
have been told these plants are known
by no other name in the country.
Although comprising a large number
of species, very few are found outside
the botanic garden, and were all the
known kinds hunted up, not a dozen
would prove worth growing.

S. ATRO-PURPUREA (Sweet S.). — The
commonest Scabious, grown in distinct
varieties, which add much to the beauty
of our mixed flower borders, as well as
being largely used for greenhouse and
conservatory decoration. The normal
colour is said to be deep crimson, but under
cultivation all shades of crimson, purplish-
yellow, and white may be seen. Many
varieties have double flowers and are
preferred by some growers, but I think
the single varieties are best, and they are
also extremely useful for cutting. Under
the name Saudade the flower-heads of this
plant are used for funeral wreaths by the
Portuguese and other nations ; indeed,
the white varieties are of such purity that
they might be so employed in our own
country, as they may be had at almost any
season if sown and grown under glass. To
secure gay groups for the flower borders,
order mixed packets of seeds, which should
be sown in the reserve ground along with
other annuals in May, or even later, to
bloom the following year. If sown earlier,
however, the Scabious will bloom the same
year, for though considered a biennial by
many growers, we have always looked
upon it as a hardy annual. By sowing
the seed in the open towards the end of
March and thinning out as required, the
plants will bloom well towards the latter
end of summer. To get earlier bloom,
those sown the previous autumn may be
transplanted in early spring to their
flowering quarters ; the succession will
then be continued from early summer
until late autumn. S.W. Europe.

S. CAUCASICA. — The finest perennial in
my garden, it flowers from early summer to

SCHINUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SCHIZANTHUS. 713

late autumn. It forms dense tufts, which
yield large quantities of blue flower-heads,
each usually from 3 to 4 inches in diameter,
on long foot-stalks, and useful for cutting,
as they last a long time. There is a white
variety, and others such as atYO-ccevulea,
which is very dark ; fimbriata, with the
petals finely fringed ; and perfecta, with
semi-double flowers. 5. amcena comes
very near caucasica, but is more vigorous
and with flowers of rosy-lilac colour.
Caucasus. Division and seed.

S. GRAMINIFOLIA (Grass-leaved S.). — A
graceful Scabious from i£ to 2 feet high,
with pale blue flowers and silvery white
leaves ; it is very useful for the rock
garden. S. Europe. June to October.
Division and seed.

S. PTEROCEPHALA (Wing-headed S.) is
a very dwarf-tufted hardy perennial, with
greyish-green foliage, and rarely exceeding
4 or 6 inches in height even when in
flower ; flower-heads pale purple in
summer.

S. WEBBIANA. — A useful species for the
rock garden or border, forming neat little
masses of hoary leaves, which are attrac-
tive, especially when the plant is grown
in poor soil. Its creamy-yellow flowers,
borne on long stalks, are pretty from July
to August. Division.

SCHINUS.— Evergreen shrubs allied
to the Sumacs. They grow well with
us, but are not very attractive. From
the high mountains of Chili.

SCHISTOSTEGA (Iridescent Moss}.
— This Moss (5. pennata) is so small
that it would hardly be noticed by
the naked eye but for the iridescent
gleams of beautiful colour which it
displays in suitable positions. Some
of the stones and sods on which it grows
look as if sown with a mixture of gold
and the material that forms the wings
of green humming-birds. It was sup-
posed to require a particular kind of
rock, but its wonderful coruscations
have lately been seen to spread over
sods of turf and masses of peat, as
well as over chips of rock brought
from its native place. Messrs Back-
house have it in perfection in the open
air, in a quiet deep gorge of rocks,
where it obtains sufficient moisture
without being washed by rains.

SCHIZANDRA.— A small group of
summer-leafing climbing shrubs allied
to Magnolia, and mostly from the Far
East, but with one kind from North
America. The best known is 5.
chinensis, with twining stems of 10 to
25 feet, bearing simple glossy leaves
and pale rosy flowers during early
summer, half an inch across and
fragrant. These are followed by dense

clusters of showy scarlet berries, which
ripen in August and hang far into the
winter. China and Japan. The plant
needs a sheltered place if it is to do
well, but with protection in winter is
hardy over at least the south of
Britain. A rich sandy loam, moist
yet well - drained, and partial shade

during the hottest hours of the day,
are the best conditions. Though
mostly grown against a trellis or sunny
wall, in sheltered places it is quite at
home roaming among shrubs and low
trees, as in its own land. Increase by
cuttings of the ripened shoots, root-
cuttings, layers, and suckers when these
can be had. Syn., Maximowiczia
sinensis.

SCHIZANTHUS ( Fringe - flower] . —
Pretty annuals of elegant growth,
which bear in summer many showy and
curiously-shaped blossoms. There are

7M

SCHIZOCODON. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SCHIZOSTYLIS.

in cultivation a few species, and these
have yielded numerous varieties. The
hardy kinds are 5. pinnatus, i^ to
3 feet high, its rosy-purple and yellow
blossoms copiously spotted. Its chief
varieties are — papilionaceus (purple
spotted), Priesti (white), atro-purpureus
(deep purple with dark eye), and Tom
Thumb (a dwarf compact variety). 5.
porrigens is similar to 5. pinnatus, but
has larger flowers. The half-hardy
kinds are 5. retusus (deep rose and
orange flowers with crimson tips),
Grahami (lilac and orange), and
Hookeri (pale rose and yellow). These
are also beautiful, and worthy of being
grown well. One of the best for
growing in pots is Wisetonensis, a com-
pact pyramidal form of 5. retusus, with
large flowers blending in white, pink,
and yellow. This should be grown
cool, just like a greenhouse Cineraria.
Caraway's is a good strain of large-
flowered forms, very useful for cutting
or decoration. If treated as half-
hardy annuals, the seed should be
sown in heat in spring, but if treated
as biennials, the seed should be sown
in August, the plants preserved in the
greenhouse till May, and then planted
out in rich, sandy loam. Chili.

SCHIZOCODON (Japanese Moon-
wort] . — 5. soldanelloides was introduced
by Captain Torrens, who in 1891 found
the plants growing beside sulphur
springs in the mountains of Japan, and,
after carrying them hundreds of miles,
succeeded at last in bringing home
three or four living plants. The
flowers of the Schizocodon are like
those of a large Soldanella, prettily
fringed, deep rose in the centre, passing
into blush or almost white towards the
edges. It requires much the same
treatment as Shortia, thriving in well-
drained sandy loam and peat, in cool
and moist but not wet or shady places.
Partial shade allows a finer develop-
ment of the rich crimson leaf - tints
in autumn. Captain Torrens says : —
" The plant I found in an overhanging
bank surrounded by moss and moisture.
Since I brought it home I have kept
it in a pot with peat and sand. It is
a hardy plant, and I have had it out
two winters in a cold frame, and it
seems to have stood the climate well."

SCHIZOPETALON.— 5. Walkeri is a
curious cruciferous half-hardy annual
from Chili, about i foot high, with
slender stems, and numerous white
almond-scented elegantly fringed blos-
soms. If sown in April or May, in

light, warm, rich soil in the open
border, it flowers in July and August,
and may also be sown in pots, but the
ball of earth must not be broken, as
the plant will not bear transplanting.

SCHIZOPHRAGMA (Climbing Hy-
drangea) . — 5. hydrangeoides is a
Japanese climbing shrub allied to the
Hydrangea, with tall slender stems
that send out roots which will fix
it to a wall. Its wood is soft, resem-
bling that of the slower-growing
Ivies, and it annually gives off fresh
sets of roots along its branches by
means of which it clings to rocks, stone,
stucco, bricks, and even wooden
palings. Its leaves are much less in
size than those of the climbing
Hydrangea, sharply toothed at the
edges, and of a lovely shade of green,
which contrasts prettily with the
reddish tinted young wood. It is
deciduous, of free growth, and flowers
freely in sunny positions. The sterile
flowers, though similar in effect to
those of the Hydrangea, are readily
distinguished, being composed of a
single bract, whereas the Hydrangea
flower is made up of four. I know
one case where a plant has grown in
a sunny corner of the house near French
windows, up the sides of which there
is lattice-work, and so charmed were
the owners with the tender foliage,
feathering the coign of the window,
that they made more lattice-work in
front of the window so that the creeper
could extend and form a natural
sunshade before the glass. In a few
years a plant had grown n feet high
and as much in width.

SCHIZOSTYLIS (Kaffir Lily).—S.
coccinea is a handsome bulbous plant
from Kaffraria, with the habit of a
Gladiolus, from 2 to 3 feet high. The
flowers appear late in the autumn on
a one-sided spike opening from below
upward, of a bright crimson colour,
resembling in form those of Tritonia
aurea, and should be well grown
wherever cut flowers are desired in
winter. It is hardy, and in a mild
autumn will flower out of doors, but
should have some protection. A good
row planted close to a wall or fence,
with some temporary protection against
severe frosts, will give many spikes
for cutting. 5. coccinea loves moisture,
both in the air and in the soil. " When
residing close to the sea in Dorset," says
"West Dorset," " I could grow this
winter Flag splendidly in a shallow

SCIADOPITYS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SCILLA.

715

trench in good rich soil. In summer
it was deluged with water when the
weather was dry, and in autumn a
splendid crop of strong spikes of bloom
resulted. In North Hants, with a
hot, dry, light soil, I never could grow
it well, although I always kept it
watered at the roots during summer."
Increase by seeds, or division in
spring.

SCIADOPITYS VERTICILLATA

(Umbrella Pine). — A stately evergreen
tree attaining a height of upwards of
100 feet in its own land, and forming
a dense pyramid of verdure of remark-
able beauty. It is not clearly allied
to any other known tree, and seems,
like the Salisburia, to be a last trace
of some long - past geological period.
Though fully hardy with us, it grows
slowly and only thrives in moist open
soils rich in humus. Where Rhodo-
dendrons do well the Sciadopitys also
flourishes, but it fails completely on
wet heavy soils and on those that are
poor and dry, and until established is
much tried by cold winds. The finest
trees in the country are not yet much
over 20 feet high, and are to be found
in Cornwall, where the rainfall is heavy
and the atmosphere moist ; all the
same, there are good ones at Kew,
Bagshot, and many other places. The
leaves vary in length from 2 to 4
inches, coming as whorled clusters of
twenty or thirty together, radiating
like the rays of an umbrella, each
whorl continuing for three years and
separated from its successor by the
length of the annual woody growth.
The branches are also whorled, making
this one of the most characteristic of
conifers. The cones are 2 to 3 inches
long, borne at the tips of the shoots,
and composed of thin imbricated
scales. They yield fertile seeds in this
country, ripening in their second
season. The young leaves are usually
a pale yellow green, but when in full
luxuriance the mature foliage is of a
rich deep tone. The young trees vary
in size of leaf, rate of growth, and in
habit — -some being dense and rigid,
and others freer and more luxuriant.
There is also a variety in which golden
or striped leaves mingle with the green
ones in a pretty way, but this variega-
tion is apt to disappear. The growth
outwards is almost equal to that in
height, and this spreading tendency
is fostered when stock is grown
from cuttings instead of seed. With
their passion for the miniature, the

Japs increase it in this way for their
temple gardens, and these trees seldom
approach the fine proportions of those
growing untended on the mountain
slopes of Nippon. Like all conifers,
the Sciadopitys should be planted
finally while small, larger trees being
averse to removal.

SCILLA. — Beautiful spring flowers
and bulbs, mostly natives of the colder,
parts of Europe or the Alps, and some
precious for our gardens. These all
flowrer in spring, and are of the simplest
culture. In early autumn, when the
plants are at rest, they should be
planted a few inches deep in any good
garden soil, not too heavy. They need
not be disturbed for years, except,
perhaps, for a slight yearly top-dressing
of manure. Some kinds, especially
the many-coloured varieties of the
Spanish Scilla, are suited for planting
by the sides of woodland walks, or on
the margins of shrubberies, and in the
wild garden. Offsets may be taken
from established clumps during sum-
mer. Raising Scillas from seed is
interesting, though slow. In some
seasons seed is plentiful, and many
improvements in size and colour have
been obtained in this way. We retain
the name Scilla as far prettier than the
English one of " Squill." The follow-
ing are best kinds : —

S. AMCENA (Star Hyacinth). — This
flowers in early spring, opening about
three weeks after S. sibirica. It is less
ornamental than any other kind, for its
flowers have none of the grace of 5. cam-
panulata and the varieties of 5. nutans,
nor the dwarf ness and brilliancy of 5.
sibirica. The leaves, usually about half
an inch across, are about i foot high, and
easily injured by cold or wind, so that a
sheltered position is necessary. It is not
exactly suited for the choice rock garden,
though worth a place on sunny banks in
semi- wild spots. Tyrol. Seeds or separa-
tion of the bulbs.

S. BIFOLIA. — Not so well known as 5.
sibirica, but quite as welcome. In the
very dawn of spring, and indeed often in
winter, this bears rich masses of dark blue
flowers, and forms handsome tufts. The
flowers are four to six on a spike, and the
plant varies from 6 to 10 inches high,
according to the soil and warmth and
shelter of the position. It thrives in
almost any position in ordinary garden
soil, the lighter the better, but must be
left to seed and increase as it likes.
Although earlier than 5. sibirica, it does
not so well withstand cold rains and
storms, and therefore some tufts of it
should be placed in warm sunny spots of

7i6

SCILLA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SCILLA.

the rock garden or sheltered border.
S. and C. Europe. Of all Scillas, S. bifolia
is the most variable, and most of the
garden forms are better than the type.
5. PYCBCOX is a stronger grower, the flowers
larger, more abundant, and earlier. In
purpureo-caerulea the ovary and base of
the segments are rosy-purple, gradually
merging into blue, which becomes intense
towards the tips, harmonising with the
black and gold-banded anthers. It is a
free flowerer, and the blooms individually
are nearly as large as a shilling. In the
Taurian variety, S. b. taurica, the flowers
are much larger than in 5. bifolia, and,
with the exception of the white base,
greatly resemble those of some of the forms
of Chiondoxa Lucilice. They vary from
ten to twenty on each scape, and the
leaves are larger and broader than those
of S. bifolia. The white form of 5. b.

bell-shaped flowers, usually of a clear
light blue. A variety major is larger in all
its parts, and is a noble flower ; still larger
is a new form, Excelsior, with large deep
blue bells, and Skyblue, with flowers of a
paler shade. S. hispanica is never better
seen than in the fringes of shrubberies.
The shelter so received protects its large
leaves from strong winds. It deserves to
be naturalised by wood-walks and in the
graSsy parts of the pleasure ground. S.
Europe.

S. ITALICA (Italian S.). — This kind, with
its pale blue flowers, intensely blue
stamens, and delicious odour, is one of the
best of the Scillas. It grows from 5 to
10 inches high, the flowers small and
spreading in short conical racemes, which
open in May. It is hardy, thriving best
in warm soils. Divide and replant in
fresh positions every three or four years,

Scilla hispanica.

taurica is very scarce. S. b. alba, a pretty
ivory-white form, has flowers not larger
than those of the type. S. b. rosea is a
new garden form with deep rosy flowers,
and carnea a paler variation.

S. FESTALIS (Wood Hyacinth). — Though
this abounds in many woods, its good
varieties are uncommon. Among the
best are — the white variety, alba ; the
rose-coloured variety, rosea ; the pale blue
variety, ccerulea ; and a pleasing " French-
white " variety. There are now selected
large-flowered strains of all these colour
varieties, mostly distinguished as major
or grandiflora. All these kinds should be
planted here and there in wood or copse
and along the margins of shrubberies.
Syn., S. nutans.

S. HISPANICA (Spanish Scilla). — One of
the finest of early summer flowers, and one
of the most robust of the family. It is
easily known by its strong pyramidal
raceme of pendent, short-stalked, large,

not oftener. It is easily naturalised in
meadow grass. S. Europe.

S. SIBIRICA (Siberian S.). — A noble
spring flower essential in every garden
where spring flowers are cared for. It
grows freely in ordinary soils, and is
hardy. Asia Minor.

OTHER CULTIVATED KINDS. —
Amongst Scillas not generally found in
gardens, but hardy in dry situations,
may be named S. peruviana, a large
species, with beautiful broad leaves,
Yucca-like and very distinct ; it stands
well in sheltered nooks, or even in
the open border in southern districts.
The numerous fine blue flowers are in
a superb umbel-like pyramid, which
lengthens during the flowering period.
Tufts of the Peruvian Scilla should be
taken up every three or four years,
when it is at rest. Divide the bulbs

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

717

and replant immediately. The variety
Clusi also succeeds.

SCIRPUS ( Bulrush] . — Sedge-like
plants fringing lakes and ponds. There
are numerous native species that might
be readily transplanted, and the best
of these are S. triqueter, S. sylvaticus,
and S. lacustris. These are from 3 to
8 feet high, and effective on the margins
of lakes or streams with other tall
plants. A distinct kind is 5. Erio-
phorum from N. America, a handsome
grassy plant with drooping heads of a
cinnamon-red colour.

SCOLOPENDRIUM ( Hart's-tongue) .
— 5. vulgare is one of the best known
of hardy evergreen British Ferns, and
broken into numberless interesting
forms and varieties, some being very
beautiful. It prefers shade, and
though sometimes met with on dry
stone and brick walls, its favourite
place is by the side of a stream in a
shady ravine. Fine specimens have
been seen between the joints of brick-
work at the tops of old wells, the fronds
developing fine proportions. A suit-
able soil consists of equal portions of
fibrous peat and loam, good sharp sand
being added, together with broken
oyster-shells or limestone.

No fewer than 400 varieties of the
Hart's-tongue were described thirty
years ago, and since then this number
has been much increased. Most of
these, however, are deformities — veget-
able cripples, so to speak. A few of the
characteristic forms of each group
might be used where collections of
hardy Ferns are being formed, being
evergreen and diversified in form.

SCUTELLARIA (Skullcap] .—Hardy
perennials, of which several are in cul-
tivation, but few are good garden
plants. These few are handsome
flowers for the border, and their dwarf
neat growth is also suited to the rock
garden in an open sunny situation in
any soil. 5. baicalensis , from Siberia,
is the finest of all the species. It is
an excellent alpine perennial, forming
a hardy woody root-stock, is 9 inches
high, and produces an abundance of
rich, velvety, dark blue flowers, finer
in colour than those of 5. japonica,
though this is a handsome plant. The
alpine Skullcap (S. alpina) is a spread-
ing plant with all the vigour of the
coarsest weeds of its natural order, but
neat in habit and ornamental in flower.
Pyrenees. Division or seed.

SCYPHANTHUS (Cup-flower}. — 5.
elegans is a beautiful slender climber,
5 to 8 feet high, with forked stems, and
valuable for trailing over a trellis or
against a wall. Its leaves are deeply
cut, and the flowers come singly in the
forks of the branches. They are cup-
like in shape, and of a bright golden-
yellow with fine red spots inside,
coming freely from August till October.

S cilia festalis (Wood Hyacinth).

5. elegans is easily grown as a half-
hardy annual in rich light soil. Chili.

SEDUM (Stonecrop). — Rock and
alpine plants which thrive in any soil.
They may be grown in the ordinary
border, in the rock garden, on walls,
and on ruins, and indeed in any place
where the roots find foothold. Like
the Saxifrages, they differ in habit,
some, like S. acre, being humble and
creeping, while others, like 5. spectabile,
are stately plants for the border. A
great many are in cultivation, and we
mention the best of the hardy kinds.

S. ACRE (Wall Pepper).— This little
plant, with its small, thick, bright green
leaves and its brilliant yellow flowers,
grows abundantly on walls, thatch, rocks,

7i8

SEDUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SEDUM.

and sandy places. It is beautiful in the
winter garden ; its golden tips peep out
in November, and only vanish with the
heat of May.

S. AIZOON. — Is i foot or more in height,
with erect stems crowned by dense clusters
of yellow flowers. It is an old garden
plant for the border or rock garden, and
requires open positions and a light soil.
Siberia and Japan.

S. EWERSI. — A neat hardy plant, about
6 inches high, with broad silvery .leaves
and clusters of purplish flowers. A good
edging plant. Siberia.

dozen named varieties. Of these by far
the most important is hcematodes, or ati-o-
purpureum, so called from the vivid purple
of the stems and large fleshy leaves. It
grows from i to 2 feet high, and though
the flowers are not showy, it is a stately
plant for poor stony soil.

S. PULCHELLUM (Purple American Stone-
crop). — Has purplish flowers, arranged in
several spreading and recurved branchlets,
bird's-foot fashion, with numerous spread-
ing stems. It is abundant in X. America.
It is also at home in the rock garden,
growing in any soil, and flowering in
summer.

The Japanese Stonecrop (Sedutn spectabile).

S. HISPANICUM. — A minute grey plant,
forming spreading tufts of short stems
densely clothed with thick leaves and
inconspicuous flowers. Other Sedums
nearly allied to it are 5. dasyphyllum, S.
glanduliferum, S. farinosum, and S. brevi-
folium ; but though hardy on walls and
rocks, they have not the vigour of many
Stonecrops.

S. LYDIUM. — A pretty little plant from
Asia Minor, scarcely an inch high. For
edgings or slopes bordering footpaths it is
useful. It roots on the surface with great
rapidity. Very small pieces put in the
soil in spring soon form a mass of rich
evergreen verdure, scarcely an inch in
height and level as turf.

S. MAXIMUM. — Like S. Telephium, is
variable, there being no fewer than a

S. RUPESTRE (Rock Stonecrop). — A
densely tufted native plant, with rather
loose corymbs of yellow flowers. There
are several similar kinds, such as the
glaucous-leaved 5. pruinatum ; S. Fos-
terianum, with light green leaves ; and
I S. reflexum, of which there are several
varieties.

S. SIEBOLDI. — A beautiful Stonecrop
grown in pots. Its glaucous leaves in
autumn often assume a rosy-coral hue.
The plant is hardy, and merits a place in
the rock garden, especially where its

; branches may fall without touching the
earth and its graceful habit may be well
seen. Grow in strong loam and mortar
rubble in fully exposed positions. An
excellent plant for vases in summer.

j Japan. Division.

SELAGINELLA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SEMPERVIVUM. 719

S. SPECTABILE. — This is distinct and
beautiful, erect, and with broad glaucous
leaves. Its rosy-purple flowers appear in
dense broad corymbs about the middle of
August, and remain in perfection for two
months or more. The glaucous foliage,
even before the flowers come, is a pleasant
relief to any high-coloured plant that may
be near it. It withstands extreme cold,
heat, or wet, and, unlike most plants, will
grow and flower to perfection in shaded
places, thriving in any soil. Varieties
with darker flowers have recently come to
light, the best being atro-purpureum,
with flowers of rich dark crimson-purple.
Japan.

S. STOLONIFERUM (Purple Stonecrop). —
The best of the Sedums with large flat
leaves is the Purple Stonecrop. It flowers

garden. These kinds are 5. den-
ticulata, S. helvetica, and 5. rupestris,
small trailing plants of a delicate
green, mossy growth. 5. Kraussiana,
generally known in plant - houses as
S. denticulata, is also hardy in many
places, and in Ireland grows and
thrives better than any of the kinds
mentioned. All these plants require a
well - drained peaty soil, shade, and
a sheltered position.

SEMPERVIVUM (Houseleek).— Suc-
culent rock and alpine plants, of
which the common Houseleek (5.
tectorum), often seen on old roofs and
walls, is the most familiar. There is
a strong family likeness throughout,

Sedum kamtschaticuin.

late in summer, and often through the
autumn makes a bright display, and is
suited for edgings, the margins of mixed
borders, and for the rock garden. Syns.,
5. dentatum and 5. spurinm. Caucasus.

S. TELEPHIUM. — This is the most vari-
able Stonecrop. No fewer than twenty
forms have received names either as sub-
species or as varieties, but our native form
is as showy as any. It is i to 2 feet high,
the stout erect stems furnished with fleshy
leaves, and in late summer and autumn
bearing dense broad clusters of bright
rosy-purple, but sometimes white flowers.
Frequent in hedgerows and thickets.

SELAGINELLA.— A few hardy kinds
of this large family of Lycopods are
valuable for carpeting the fernery or
clothing shady spots in the rock

and they form rosette - like tufts of
fleshy leaves, which chiefly differ in
the colour of the foliage, some deep
red, others pale green. The flowers of
most of them are of a reddish tinge,
and several are yellow. All the hardy
kinds will grow well in dry sandy parts
of the rock garden where few other
alpines thrive, or on old walls, ruins,
and the like, merely requiring to be
placed in chinks with a little soil.
Most of them thrive on any border, if
the soil be not too stiff and damp, but
they prefer a dry, elevated position
and full exposure to the sun. Nearly
all are easily increased by their abun-
dant offsets. Of late years some of
the larger kinds, such as 5. calcareum,
have been used for beds. Europe and
W. Asia.

720 SEMPERVIVUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SENECIO.

S. ARACHNOIDEUM (Cobweb Houseleek).
—One of the most singular of alpine plants,
with tiny rosettes of fleshy leaves covered
at the top with a thick white down, which
intertwines itself all over the leaves like
a spider's web. Invaluable for sunny
wall gardens and the hottest and driest of
rock garden chinks, where their true char-
acter is revealed. They are also most
effective in colonies, and should be freely
planted in vertical or horizontal positions
between rocks, where few plants can exist.
Admirable for pots on a sunny window-sill,
caring nothing for weeks of inattention.
Apart from the type gnaphalioides, Hookeri
and tomentosum are the most ornamental
and distinct. All are perfectly hardy.
Stiffish loam and old mortar rubble suits
them well.

S. ARENARIUM (Sand Houseleek).—
Grown in dense patches, this plant has
a lovely effect. It is much smaller than its
ally S. globiferum, and, unlike the latter
species, the leaves of the rosettes are not
incurved. The flowers are small, yellow,
pretty, and the leaves usually rich crimson.
5. Heufelli, a similar species, has in autumn
almost chocolate - crimson foliage, the
flowers being yellow. Other species of
similar character are S. hirtum, S. Neil-
reichi, and 5. soboliferum, which is often
confused with 5. globiferum.

S. CALCAREUM (Glaucous Houseleek). —
No finer Houseleek has ever been intro-
duced than this, often misnamed S. califor-
nicum. It is as easily grown and as hardy
as the common Houseleek, and thrives in
any soil. Planted singly, its rosettes are
sometimes nearly 5 inches across, the
leaves glaucous, and tipped at the points
with chocolate. It is deservedly popular
for edgings in the flower garden, and also
admirable for the rock garden. Other
cultivated kinds are S. glaucum, S.
Camollei, S. Lamottei, S. Verloti, and S.
juratense, and these are all desirable for
a full collection.

S. FIMBRIATUM (Fringed Houseleek). —
One of the most profusely blooming kinds,
the dark rose-coloured flowers appearing
in summer on stems 6 to 10 inches high.
The leaves, which are in small rosettes,
are smooth on both sides, strongly fringed,
and terminate in a long point, being
marked at the end with a large purple
spot. 5. Funcki, S. Powelli, S. barbatu-
lum, S. atlanticum, and S. piliferum are
similar.

S. GLOBIFERUM (Hen-and-chicken House-
leek).— This grows in firm dense tufts, its
little round offsets being so abundantly
thrown off that they are pushed clear
above the tufts, and lie on the surface in
small brownish - green balls. The small
leaves of the young rosettes all turn in-
ward, and appear of a purplish colour, but
in the full-grown rosettes are light green,
the tips of the under side being of a decided
chocolate -brown for nearly one- third of

i their length ; the flowers are small and
i yellow.

S. MONTANUM (Mountain Houseleek). — A

dark green kind, smaller than the common

Houseleek, the leaves forming neat

rosettes, from which spring dull rosy

flowers in summer. It is suitable for

edgings or for the rock garden, grows in

any soil, and is easily propagated. Alps.

; 5. assimile and 5. flagelliforme are similar.

S. TECTORUM (Common Houseleek).—

I Though a native of rocky places in the

i great mountain ranges of Europe and

I Asia, the common Houseleek, having been

! cultivated from time immemorial on

housetops and on old walls, is well known

to everybody. It may be used in flower

gardening, but it would be better to select

i some of the rarer species for edgings and

i other purposes.

S. TRISTE. — Distinct from other Housc-

j leeks, as its rosettes of leaves are of a

i deep dull red, which makes it a handsome

plant. It is about the size of 5. tectorum,

and in light warm soil is quite as vigorous

and rapid a grower. Its singular colour

j makes it a valuable contrast to other

| plants, but at present it is not much

\ known. S. rubicundum, of deep crimson

hue, is also worth a place.

SENECIO (Groundsel}. — An immense

genus of over a thousand described

species, most of them worthless weeds,

but with a few plants of value. They

are exceedingly variable in habit,

including annuals and herbaceous

perennials, shrubby plants and low

trees, climbers, and even succulents,

j but there is much sameness in the

flowers, which are yellow or orange in

most kinds, though sometimes purple

or white. They are among the most

easily grown of plants, and readily

increased from seeds, cuttings, division,

or root - cuttings. The silvery and

! down-covered kinds do best in dry

corners and fully exposed, while others,

i such as the large-leaved, tall-growing

| herbs, thrive in rich moist soil at the

| waterside, with some shelter from

I wind. The following are the best of

! the few cultivated kinds : —

S. ADONIDIFOLIUS. — A neat hardy peren-
nial, common in France and distinct from
other wild kinds of Europe. The rigidly
erect stems measure 2 to 3 feet, with
glossy and finely - cut foliage and bright
1 orange - yellow flowers in July. As it
spreads from the root, its true place is
the rougher part of the garden, where it
is well worth a place.

S. ARTEMISI^EFOLIUS. — A perennial
with broad clusters of showy yellow
flowers on stems of 12 to 18 inches high.
The deep green leaves are finely cut and
give a feathery appearance. S. abrotani-

SENECIO.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SENECIO.

72I

folius has similar foliage, but its orange-
yellow flowers are larger and fewer. These
are hardy European plants of the easiest
culture in the rock garden or border.

S. CAMPESTRIS. — A native plant, only
worth growing in its scarcer form maritima
(syn., 5. spathulcs folius}, found wild with
us in a few spots, but only common in
the south of Europe. It is an interest-
ing and pretty plant, with orange-yellow
flowers of the size of a shilling carried as
clustered heads upon stems of 6 to 12
inches high. A similar species is the
Piedmont Groundsel (5. Balbisianus) from
the mountains of N. Italy, and growing
from 3 to 9 inches high, with a ring of
hoary root - leaves. The golden flowers,
contrasted with the foliage, have a very
bright appearance. Both these kinds like
a light rubbly soil and a dry sunny place.

S. CINERARIA (Dusty Miller). — A fine-
leaved, half-shrubby perennial from the
Mediterranean coast, where it grows from
i£ to 3 feet in height, with much-cut
silvery leaves and clustered heads of yellow
flowers late in summer. It is tender in
many gardens, and especially in cold wet
soils, but is useful for its brightness
during summer when planted in May or
June. Cuttings taken in autumn will
root slowly on a greenhouse shelf, but
need careful watering in winter. This is
the best means of increase, for though
readily grown from seed, the seedlings
are often poor. There are several good
garden forms with very white leaves more
or less finely cut, the best of these being
candidissima, and a French form, Diamant.

S. CLIVORUM. — From China, with large
heart-shaped leaves of shining green, a
foot or more across, and tall much-
branched heads of orange-yellow flowers
with a brown centre, 2 to 3 inches wide,
in July and August. A bold waterside
plant of easy culture, too coarse for the
border, and not particular as to soil.

S. DORONICUM. — One of the showiest
and most useful of the group, i foot to
3 feet high, with stout stalks of large
bright yellow flowers in early summer.
It is hardy anywhere and in any soil.
Seed or division. Central Europe.

S. DOUGLASII. — A much-branched plant
of 3 feet, with a shrubby base, and
known as the Squaw Aster in N.W.
America. Its leaves are small and nar-
row or much cut, and the flowers appear
as very large heads of pale yellow flowers,
each an inch or more across. To do well
this needs a sheltered sunny corner and
dry soil.

S. ELEGANS (Purple Jacobaea). — This
beautiful half-hardy annual has long been
a favourite in gardens. It has a dwarf
form (nana) about a foot high, and there
are varieties with double flowers which are
showy and desirable, ranging in colour
from white to deep crimson, and lasting
a long while. The plant does best in

rich sandy loam and planted in bold
masses, which flower from July to October,
according to the time of sowing. Cape
of Good Hope.

S. GREYI. — A curious hardy shrub of
3 to 4 feet from New Zealand, with oval
silvery leaves and loose heads of yellow
flowers. There are several allied shrubs
from New Zealand and S. America,
which are sometimes planted in collections
of the rarer evergreens, and are more or
less hardy according to local conditions.
S. JAPONICUS. — One of the finest of the
large kinds, standing about 5 feet high
with us, its leaves nearly a foot across
and divided into about nine divisions.
The flower-stems are slightly branched,
and bear flowers 3 inches across of a rich
orange colour, in autumn. This is a hardy,
moisture - loving plant, and should be
grown in rich and moderately stiff loamy
soil, and beside a lake or pond where it
will never lack moisture. Japan — where
it is said to reach a height of 15 feet.
S. MACROPHYLLUS is a stout leafy per-
ennial, 6 feet high when full-grown, the
glossy green leaves and much-branched
heads of small yellow flowers of stately
effect when grown boldly on the lawn or
in the wild garden.

S. PALUDOSUS.— A handsome water-
plant for the wild garden, found in our
own fen district and in wet places through-
out Europe. It stands 4 to 6 feet high,
with long narrow leaves which are coarsely
toothed and white with cottony down
while young. The bright yellow flowers
appear in July and August. Division.

S. PULCHER. — One of the handsomest,

2 to 3 feet high, bearing in late autumn

rosy-purple flowers 2 to 3 inches across.

' The plant is hardy, but its beauty is

1 often marred by frost and bad weather.

It grows best in deep moist loam, and

• where some protection can be given from

I autumn frosts. With us it rarely ripens

' seed, but is easily increased in spring by

cuttings of the roots, an inch long, pricked

into pans of light sandy soil and placed

I on a shelf in the greenhouse. Buenos

Ayres.

S. ROTUNDIFOLIUS. — A shrub recently
come from New Zealand, with large
rounded leathery leaves covered with a
yellowish felt underneath. It is said to
be a good seaside plant in its own land,
despite its large leaves, and though as
yet on trial in this country, it has en-
dured 1 6 degrees of frost without injury
upon the south coast.

S. SARACENICUS. — In moist places in the
west of England this plant grows wild,
reaching a height of 4 or 5 feet. It is
useful for the margins of ponds or streams,
where it spreads fast, and, associated with
the Willow Herb, gives a beautiful effect.
Similar to this is 5. Dorio, also well suited
to the wild garden.

2 Z

722

SEQUOIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SHAMROCK.

S. TANGUTICUS. — A new kind from
China, with stout spiry stems of 6 or
7 feet, and bold leaves cut into irregular
lobes. The yellow flowers are small,
appearing in "autumn, when the general
effect of the plant is bold and pleasing,
growing apart on the lawn or in the wild
garden. S. Veitchianus and S. Wilsoni
are new Chinese species of bold habit well
suited to w-aterside gardening or woodland.

SEQUOIA. — Enormous cone-bearing
evergreen trees of the Pacific coast of
N. America, just hardy enough to
be the object of numerous experiments
in our country, far from successful
either from an artistic or most other
points of view. In some of the books
it is said that these great trees are
readily propagated by cuttings inserted
under glass in autumn, but we would
beg everybody never to plant any
tree of the kind except from seed.

S. GIGANTEA (Big Tree). — A colossal tree
in its own country, inhabiting mostly, in
scattered groups or groves, the Californian
Mountains for a distance of over 250 miles
in length, existing trees being over 300
feet high. No tree ever introduced has
excited so much interest or been the sub-
ject of so much costly experiment in this
country. It succeeds well in various dis-
tricts, but is badly treated as " set out "
in the " specimen " way. The right way
is to plant it forest fashion — say at 5 feet
apart — with Larch between, to be cut out
in due time, the big tree to be thinned as
the years went. Syn., Wellingtonia gigan-
tea.

S. SEMPERVIRENS (Red Wood). — A noble
evergreen tree, thriving somewhat better
in our country than the Big Tree, but,
planted as it usually is by itself, it is often
torn about by sleet storms in our climate,
which is so very different from that of
its native country. Still it grows rapidly
in good free soils, and is worth trying
grown in a wood or grove so that the
trees may shelter each other. Sheltering
groves or woods of it would give good
timber in quiek time, as it is a very rapid
grower. Coast range of W. America.
Syn., Taxodium sempervirens.

SERAPIAS. — Terrestrial Orchids
from S. Europe, worthy of a place
among hardy Orchids, as the flowers
are singular and in some kinds beauti-
ful, as S. cordigera, with large showy
flowers, chiefly of a blood-red colour ;
S. lingua, with peculiar brownish-
purple flowers ; and 5. longipetala,
with large rosy-red flowers. These are
all 9 to 12 inches high, and their
flowers are densely arranged on broad
erect stems. The plants succeed best
in a soil composed of two parts of peat,

one of loam, and one of sand and leaf-
mould. The position should be par-
tially shaded and well sheltered.

SERRATULA ATRIPLICIFOLIA.—

To gardeners the plants of this genus
were previously without interest, but
in this new plant from C. China we
seem to have a hardy perennial of
some value. It is a bold plant, stand-
ing rigidly erect to a height of 5 or
6 feet, with large heart-shaped leaves
and purple Thistle-like flower heads,
wrapped in overlapping bracts. They
expand in early autumn, but are
formed long before they open, and a
pretty feature of the buds is a fine
network of silky- white threads.

SESELI (Gum Seseli). — 5. gunimi-
ferum is a handsome plant, i \ to 3 feet
high, with elegantly-divided leaves of
a glaucous or almost silvery tone.
Though a biennial, it is so distinct
that some may like to grow it. The
best position for it is on dry and sunny
banks, or in raised beds or borders.
5. glauca is also cultivated for its
graceful white foliage and curious
heads of flowers.

SHAMROCK.— This little plant is
often grown in gardens through its
associations, but as several totally
different plants do duty for the
Shamrock, the following note by
Mr Hemsley of Kew may be of in-
terest : —

' ' The plant commonly sold at Co vent
Garden as Shamrock is Tr if oil ion
minus, a small yellow-flowered Clover,
and the same plant is now in use as
such in Ireland in the counties of
Antrim, Down, Meath, Fermanagh,
Dublin, Wicklow, Carlow, Westmeath,
Wexford, Limerick, Waterford, Cork,
and Kerry. This plant, therefore, so
far as present usage is concerned, has
the greatest claim to the name of true
Shamrock. Black Medick (Medicagp
lupulina], a very similar plant, is
sometimes substituted for the Clover,
from which it may be distinguished
by the leaflets being rounded, not
notched, at the top, and by the tiny
pod being twisted. The common red
Clover (Trifolium pratense), the white
Clover (T. repens), and the Wood
Sorrel are other plants more or less
known and used as Shamrock. Occa-
sionally one or the other of the plants
named produces leaves having four
leaflets, then called the four-leaved
Shamrock."

SHEFFIELDIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SIDALCEA.

SHEFFIELDIA. — 5. repens is a
hardy little New Zealand creeper, with
small leaves, small slender stems, and
tiny white flowers which appear in
summer. It is interesting for the rock
garden, and grows in any good well-
drained soil.

SHEPHERDIA. — A small group of
American shrubs, grown for their
bright silvery foliage, the flowers being
inconspicuous, though one kind bears [
an excellent fruit. All are hardy and
of easy culture, resisting cold and
drought even on dry banks where few
other plants can exist. S. canadensis
is excellent in this way, reaching a
height of 6 to 8 feet, with oval green
leaves, reddish underneath, and small
red or yellow berries. 5. argentea, the
Buffalo Berry, is a taller shrub of
nearly 20 feet, with thorny stems,
silvery leaves, and juicy red or yellow
berries, prized for jellies and preserves
by the Western colonists. 5. rotundi-
folius is an evergreen kind with silvery
leaves, from Utah.

SHORTIA. — S. galacifolia is an in-
teresting and beautiful plant, first dis-
covered over a hundred years ago by i
Michaux in the mountains of N. '
Carolina, and rediscovered in 1877. It
was found growing with Galax aphylla,
and forms runners like that plant, and
is propagated by this means. The
plant is of tufted habit, the flowers
reminding one of those of a Soldanella,
but large, with cut edges to the seg-
ments, like a frill, and pure white,
passing to rose as they get older.
There is now a pretty variety in which
the flowers are of a delicate pink from
the very first, and plants with semi-
double flowers also occur. There is
much beauty in the leaves, which are of
rather oval shape, deep green, tinged
with brownish - crimson, changing in
winter to quite a crimson, when it forms
a bright bit of colour in the rock garden
or border. A correspondent, writing
in The Garden, says: "The cultural'
directions given in catalogues to keep
the plant in a shady situation and
grow it in Sphagnum and peat deprive
us of its chief charm — i.e., the hand-
some-coloured leaves during the winter
and spring months. Instead of choos-
ing a shady spot I selected a fully
exposed .one, and here two plants have
been for over a year, one in peat and
the other in sandy loam. Both are
vigorous." It succeeds well in various
soils, as described, and is hardy. It
is also a delightful plant in a pot, as

the flowers on their crimson stems are
pretty, and one gets also the prettily
tinted leaves. North America. A
new species, S. uni flora, has recently
come to us from Japan, but is still rare.
While not unlike the American plant,
this differs from it in having larger
flowers, broader and more prostrate
leaves, and shorter flower-stems, some
of the flowers hardly rising above the
leaves, which turn a fine crimson from
August to the following spring. The
plant thrives in a mixture of peat and
loam, in full sun, and is fully hardy.
5. u. grandi flora is the finest of all.

Shortia unijlora

SIBTHORPIA (Moneywort]. — S.
europcea is a little native creeper with
slender stems and tiny round leaves.
In summer it forms a dense carpet on
moist soil, and should always be grown
in the bog garden or moist ferneries.
A native plant in the southern coun-
ties. Shady banks and ditches suit it.

SIDA. — 5. dioica and S. Napcea are
stout vigorous plants with ample
foliage, and suitable chiefly for the
wild garden and shrubbery borders.

SIDALCEA (Greek Mallow}. — A
group of graceful herbs from North
West America, with showy white, pink,
or purple flowers in long erect spikes like
a miniature Hollyhock. Those in culti-
vation are perennials, but do best if
frequently renewed from seed sown as
soon as ripe, the seedlings being win-
tered in a frame, and planted out in
spring. In sheltered places and in
warm soils these plants will pass the
winter in the open, but they prove a
little tender in many places, and the
autumn-sown plants bloom earlier and
more finely than those raised in heat
early in the year. The Sidalceas are
fast becoming better known, and, being
profuse in flower, excellent for cutting,

724

SILENE.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

and of the easiest culture. The best
kinds are S. Candida, with pretty
white flowers an inch across, on tall
stems of 2 to 3 feet — a showy plant
when freely grouped. Rosy Gem is
identical with this, save in its fine rosy
colour. S. malvceflora is of stout erect
growth and fine habit, with deep rosy-
purple flowers nearly 2 inches across
when fully expanded. A form of this,
5. Listeri, is charming, with spikes of
soft rosy flowers beautifully fringed at
the edges. Others are atro-purpurea,
with deep purple spikes, and Murray-
ana, a dwarf plant, in which the
flowers are a deep rose-crimson. 5.
oregana has smaller rosy flowers ;
5. incarnata, slender and rigid red
spikes ; while in 5. spicata they are
rosy-purple.

SILENE (Catchfly}. — A large family
containing few showy plants, but with
some of great beauty. S. and C.
Europe is the home of the Silene,
though a few extend west to America,
or east to Siberia, and a sprinkling is
found on the southern shores of the
Mediterranean and in Asia Minor. The
following dwarf kinds are suitable
chiefly for the rock garden : —

S. ACAULIS (Cushion Pink).- — A dwarf
alpine herb tufted into light green masses
like a wide - spreading Moss, but quite
firm. In summer it becomes a mass of
pink, rose, or crimson flowers barely
peeping above the leaves. Spots on the
mountains of Scotland, Northern Ireland,
North Wales, and the Lake District of
England are sheeted over with its firm
flat tufts, often several feet across. In
gardens it is as beautiful as when wild,
growing freely iu almost any soil, but not
shaded, or in pots and pans. A new
species of Silene, 5. Palestine, from Asia
Minor, comes near our Cushion Pink, with
heads of deep rosy flowers.

S. ALPESTRIS (Alpine Catchfly). — A very
dwarf alpine plant, hardy, and beautiful
when covered with white flowers in Ma}-.
It succeeds in any soil, and is 4 to 6 inches
high. It should be used freely in every
rock garden. 5. a. grandiflora is an invalu-
able double-flowered variety. Division
or seed.

S. ARMERIA is a showy annual kind with
leafy stems of 12 to 1 8 inches high, bluish-
green foliage, and dense clustered heads
of white, pink, or crimson flowers from
July to September. When established on
old walls and in rough places it will sow
itself freely with fine effect, some of the
prettiest wild pictures of S. Europe hav-
ing arisen in this way. It is already
naturalised in parts of Britain, and is just

the plant for a wild garden, in light and
well drained soils.

S. ELIZABETHS. — A richly beautiful and
scarce alpine plant, the flowers looking
more like those of some handsome but
tiny Clarkia than of the Silenes commonly
grown. They are very large, bright rose
with the claws or bases of the petals white.
One to seven flowers are borne on stems
3 to 4 inches high. It is considered diffi-
cult to grow, but strong plants are as easy
to manage as the Cushion Pink. It is
rare in a wild state, but occurs in the Tyrol
and Italy, amid shattered fragments of
rock, and sometimes in flaky rocks without
soil. This beautiful " Catchfly " is not
often seen even among the choicer alpines,
while colonies of it in the rock garden are
rare. The moraine should not prove
uncongenial to the plant itself, seeing
that in nature it is not infrequent among
limestone rubble on sunny slopes. Few
species of the genus are more distinct and
attractive, the plant bearing handsome
Clarkia-like flowers, on stems 6 to 8 inches
high, and of a rich, rosy-red colour. It
flowers late in June and through July.
Seeds.— E. H. J.

S. HOOKER: . — A dwarf and rare Cali-
fornian, with downy leaves of two different
shaped, trailing stems, and large deeply-
notched rose-coloured flowers 2 inches
across. The plant thrives in deep sandy
soil and in open and well-drained positions
in the alpine garden, nestled among the
larger rocks which reflect the sun and
protect from cold winds. Seeds.

S. MARITIMA. — The handsome double
variety (S. maritima fl.-pl.} of this British
plant is noteworthy, not only for its white
flowers like those of a small double Pink,
but for its dense spreading sea - green
carpet of leaves, pleasing on the margins
of raised borders, or hanging over the
faces of stones in the rougher parts of the
rock garden. The flowers appear in June,
and those of the double variety rarely rise
more than a couple of inches above the
leaves, which form a tuft about 2 inches
deep.

S. PENDULA. — There are many garden
forms of this fine biennial. There are
double-flowered forms of all these varia-
tions, which last longer in flower than the
single kinds, and also many named selec-
tions, such as Triumph, Snow King, Elfridc,
Venus, and Empress of India. These
compacta varieties are mostly used for
spring work, and form compact rounded
tufts about 4 inches high. To obtain the
finest plants for spring-flowering, seed
should be sown in the reserve garden in
autumn, and afterwards transplanted.
Flowers from May to August. Italy and
Sicily.

S. PENNSYLVANIA. — The wild Pink of
America is a dwarf plant, forming dense

SILPHIUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SIMPLOCUS. 725

patches, with clusters of six or eight
purplish-rose flowers, about I inch across,
and standing 4 to 7 inches high from
April to June. It thrives in light sandy
soil, and is not fastidious, coming from
sandy, gravelly places. It will often
flower the first year from seed, but mostly
not till the second season.

S. PUMILIO. — Like our Cushion Pink in
its dwarf, firm tufts of shining green leaves,
though these are a little more fleshy and
not so spiny. The rose-coloured flowers
are also much larger, handsomer, and
taller, though scarcely more than i inch
above the flat mass of leaves, so that the
whole plant is seldom more than 3 inches
high. It thrives in rock gardens as well
as the Cushion Pink, and should be planted
in deep sandy loam on a well-drained and
exposed spot, moist in summer, facing the
south. Place a few stones round the neck
of the young plant to keep it firm and to
hold moisture. Tyrol.

S. LACINIATA PURPUSI. — No member of
the race can vie with this in brilliant
colouring ; 6 to 8 inches high, with nearly
lance-shaped and woolly leaves, the
dazzling cardinal scarlet flowers, i£ inches
across, surpass all else by reason of their
intensity. It is valuable, too, for its late
summer and autumn flowering. Grows
well in rich sandy loam, and prefers a
high, dry, and sunny position.

S. SCHAFTA. — A spreading hardy plant
from the Caucasus forming very neat
tufts, 4 to 6 inches high, covered with
large purplish-rose flowers. As it flowers
late in summer, it should not be used
where early bloom is sought, but is useful
for edgings. Seed or division.

S. VIRGINICA (Fire Pink). — A brilliant
perennial, with flowers bright scarlet,
2 inches across. The somewhat slender
stalks lie flat on the soil, and the flowers
are borne a few inches above it. The Fire
Pink succeeds in a well-drained rock
garden. It comes from open woods in
America, from New York southwards,
flowering from June to August. The best
plants are obtained from seed, as it does
not bear division well. S. rupestris, a
sparkling-looking white species, little more
than 3 inches high when in bloom, is
rather like a dwarf 5. alpestris, but better
worthy of a place. It is, however, a little
particular as to soil, thriving best in rocky
ddbris, and refusing to grow where there
is much lime. 5. stellata is a graceful
plant from American woods, with starry
white flowers deeply fringed at the edges,
on stems of 18 inches high. S. Zawadski,
a neat Austrian species with white flowers
in spring.

SILPHIUM (Rosin Plant) .—Stout
N. American Sunflower-like perennials,

of stately habit, and among those
which suggested the idea of the " wild
garden " to me. There they are at
home among the most vigorous
growers, as they thrive and flower
freely on the worst clay soils. 5.
laciniatum is a vigorous perennial with
a stout stem, often 8 feet in height,
and fine yellow-coloured flowers, on
drooping heads, which have the pecu-
liarity of facing the east. 5. per-
foliatum (Cup Plant) is 4 to 8 feet in
height, and has broad yellow leaves
6 to 15 inches long and flower-heads
about 2 inches across. 5. terebin-
thinaceum (Prairie Dock) has stems

4 to 10 feet high, panicled at the
summit, and bearing many small heads
of light yellow flowers. A variety
(pinnatifidum) has leaves deeply cut
or pinnatifid. 5. terebinthinaceum
has a strong turpentine odour. Other
species are S. trifoliatum, S. integri-
folium, S. ternatum, and S. albiflorum,
in which the flowers are creamy-white
and nearly 4 inches across. If planted
in numbers in bold masses, these plants
produce a stately effect in the wild
garden, especially in autumn, but to do
well they need an open and sunny
space.

SILYBUM (Milk Thistle}.— S. mari-
anum is a vigorous naturalised plant,

5 feet or more in height. Its large
leaves are cut and undulated, and
tipped and margined with scattered
spines ; they are bright glistening
green, with broad white veins. The
Milk Thistle is easily raised from seed,
and thrives in almost any well-drained
soil. A few plants raised in the
garden and planted out in rough and
somewhat bare places or banks will
soon establish themselves.

SIMPLOCUS.— A group of shrubs or
low trees allied to Styrax, only one of
which is of any importance in our
gardens. This is 5. cratcegoides, a
compact hardy shrub of 10 or 12 feet,
found in Asia from the Himalayas to
Japan — whence all our plants have
come. The leaves vary much in form
and size, but are mostly ovate, scantily
covered with down on the under side,
and finely toothed. The small white
flowers, coming in dense clusters
during May, are of no great beauty,
but give place to brilliant blue berries
of fine appearance ; so far, however,
these do not seem to have been pro-
duced in this country.

726 SINOFRANCHETIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SMILACIXA.

SINOFRANCHETIA CHINENSIS.-

A recently-introduced summer-leafing
climbing plant from China. It is said
to be hardy, but its value for our
gardens has yet to be proved.

SINOURLSONIA HENRTI. — A
small Chinese tree of the Witch Hazel
family, of doubtful value, so far as
tried.

SISYRINCHIUM (Satin -flower). -
Iridaceous plants from N.W. Amer-
ica, of which only one species is
worth growing, namely 5. grandi-
florum, a beautiful perennial with nar-
row, grass-like leaves that blooms in
early spring. The flowers, borne on
slender stems 6 to 12 inches high, are

specific names, 5. fragrans being simply
the male of the true 5. japonica. The
Skimmias thrive as well in strong clay
as in poor sandy soil and peat, doing
best in partial shade and never growing
fast at any time. S. japonica is one
of the very best town evergreens we
possess. Other forms of it are 5.
Foremani, S. Rogersi, S. oblata wata,
S. o. Veitchi, and 5. fragrantissima.
To produce well-berried plants, put
the two sexes near to each other. Of
5. Fortunei (the S. japonica of gardens),
S. rubella is a seedling form.

SMILACINA (Wild Spikenard}. -
Graceful but not showy hardy peren-
nials. They are easily managed plants.

Skiinmia fragrans.

bell-shaped and drooping, more like
a Campanula than an Iris, and rich
purple in colour, which becomes a
transparent white in the variety album.
They are charming for the rock garden,
thriving in a light peaty soil. Divi-
sion.

SKIMMIA. — The ones best worth
cultivating are 5. japonica and 5.
Fortunei. There has been much con-
fusion between these plants, that
universally known in gardens as 5.
japonica not being Japanese at all,
but a native of China, its proper name
being Skimmia Fortunei. Unlike 5.
Fortunei, the true Japanese plant is
dioecious, and both sexes have received

and the N. American species will be
found useful for mixed herbaceous
borders, having rich green foliage and
white feathery flower-heads in May
and June.

S. OLERACEA. — Native of tempi-rait-
Sikkim, and has been grown for many
years at Kew. It is difficult to manage
unless left alone, being a slow growt r.
slow to increase, and a shy seeder. It is
the most striking species in cultivation,
and in the south at any rate is hardy,
succeeding in rich peaty soil with a nor-
thern exposure.

S. RACEMOSA and S. STELLATA. — Natives
of N. America, both white-flowered and
hardy. They may be cultivated with ease

SMILAX.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SOLANUM.

727

in the mixed flower border, where in May
and June they are very attractive.

SMILAX (Green Briar).— Distinct
and handsome climbing shrubs, nearly
all evergreen. They are most suitable
for walls, but several may be grown
over large tree roots or may be trained
over tree trunks in sheltered spots.
In some cases it is not the cold winter
that kills, but rather the lack of sum-
mer heat that prevents ripening of the
wood. Some plants can be divided,
or pieces may be taken off which
readily make plants, and this is the
surest way of increase for hardy kinds,
the best of which are as follows : —

S. ASPERA. — A well-marked species,
with angular and usually prickly stems,
reaching a height of 5 to 10 feet. In
colour the leaves are dark green, with
flecks of white on the upper surface, and
the flowers whitish and fragrant. Variety
maitritanica has angular stems of a con-
siderable length and bearing few prickles ;
they are also rare on the leaves. It is a
handsome plant from the Mediterranean
and the Canaries.

S. BONA-NOX (Bristly Green Briar). —
The root - stocks have large tubers ; the
stems are slightly angled, the branches
often four - angled, the leaves green and
shining on both sides, and their margins
fringed with needle -like prickles. N.
America.

S. CANTAB. — For many years this has
grown in the Cambridge Botanic Garden.
It is evergreen, the strong rounded shoots
reaching a height of 12 feet or more,
armed with strong, straight green prickles ;
the branches slender, and usually spineless.
The male flowers are fragrant, in clusters
of eight to twelve. This plant comes near
5. rotundifolia, but the leaves differ in
shape.

S. GLAUCA. — This plant has angular
stems of about 3 feet, armed with rather
stout numerous or scattered prickles, or
may sometimes be without any. The
leaves are partially persistent, glaucous
beneath and sometimes above. N.
America.

S. HISPIDA.— Quite a distinct plant, the
stems of which are usually thickly hispid
with slender straight prickles. The leaves
are thin and green on both surfaces,
the margins usually toothed. N.
America.

S. LAURIFOLIA. — A high climbing species,
the stems round, armed with strong
straight prickles, the branches angled,
mostly unarmed. It is evergreen, and
easily recognised by its leathery, bright
green, three - nerved leaves, elliptic in
shape.

S. PSEUDO-CHINA. — The lower part of
the stem is armed with straight, needle-
like prickles, the upper part and the
branches mostly unarmed. The leaves
become leathery when old. They are
ovate, often narrowed about the middle
or lobed at the base, seven- or nine-nerved
and green on both sides, sometimes
toothed on the margin. N. America and
the W. Indies.

S. ROTUNDIFOLIA (Green Briar). — A high
climbing species with large, thin, and
nearly round leaves. The stems are
angular and the prickles stout, scattered,
and sometimes a little curved. This is a
handsome strong-growing species, which
does well in the Trinity College Botanic
Gardens, Dublin. N. America. Syns.,
5. caduca and S. quadrangularis.

S. TAMNOIDES. — This grows well in the
Bamboo Garden at Kew, and shows well
how such a plant may be used to ramble
over tree stumps to make a mass of
picturesque vegetation. It has the free-
growing habit of S. aspera, and bears
numerous black berries.

S. WALTERI. — Stems angled, prickly
below, the branches usually unarmed.
The berries are bright red, but perhaps
not produced in this country. N. Amer-
ica.— R. IRWIN LYNCH.

SOLANUM. — The vast Solanum or
Potato family embraces plants of great
beauty from all over the world, many
being remarkable for their ample
foliage finely spined and cut. Others
are grown for their brilliant fruits of
many colours, and often of great food
value ; while others again carry hand-
some flowers, and in some cases charm
of foliage, fruit, and flower is found
in the same plant. They are equally
variable as to habit, many being stout
shrubs or low trees, and others climbing
or creeping plants. In a general way
the climbing kinds show beauty of
flower and the shrubby species beauty
of leaf and fruit. To do well these
kinds need a rich moist soil, with
shelter from wind. Those kinds hardy
enough to be grown against walls in
the open are best in rather poor dry
soil, for if grown too freely the shoots
perish during winter. Seed is easily
obtainable, and if raised early in heat
the plants are ready for putting out
by the end of May or early in June.
The following are among the best for
all purposes . —

S. ARBOREUM. — A shrub with handsome
flowers, hardy in mild seasons and on
sheltered walls near the south coast. The
leaves, 8 or 9 inches long, are set with
sharp brown spines, and the large flowers
in clusters of six to nine together are pale
blue or mauve with deep orange anthers.

728

SOLANUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SOLANUM.

S. ATRO-PURPUREUM. — An erect plant
with purple leaves and stems, 3 to 6 feet
high. The deeply - lobed long - spined
leaves are threaded with pale veins, and
the small purple flowers yield small round
berries. Brazil.

S. BALBISI. — A shrubby plant hardy
against walls in sheltered southern gar-
dens, with slender straggling stems and
deeply-cut leaves armed with pale brown
spines. The pale mauve flowers are large,
succeeded by bright scarlet berries like a
small cherry and sweet. Syn., S. sisym-
bri folium. This can be treated as a
tender annual, or grown from cuttings.

S. BETACEUM. — A small tree from S.
America of distinct appearance, with stout
smooth* stems and large oval leaves of
fleshy texture, veined with purple in the
variety purpureum. The flowers are
small, followed by orange-red or scarlet
fruits like a hen's egg for size and shape,
hanging in showy clusters and so thickly
that a thousand hang on a single mature
plant in its own land. This is one of the
best, of rapid growth, and easily handled.

S. CILIATUM. — With showy scarlet fruits,
round and like a small Tomato, of dry
texture, and useful for winter decoration,
as they will hang for months among the
glossy spined leaves without spoiling.
The variety macrocarpum is the best.

S. CRINITUM. — A stout shrubby plant of
5 or 6 feet, with leaves 2 feet or more long,
of velvet texture and tender green tint,
threaded with purple veins set with
spines. The deep blue flowers are 2
inches across and hang in heavy clusters,
followed by fruits an inch or more in
diameter. This grows strongly in shel-
tered southern gardens. Increase by
suckers. Guiana.

S. CRISPUM (Potato Tree). — Reaches 15
or 20 feet as a bush in the open, and ex-
ceeds this against a wall. It is one of the
hardiest kinds, resisting as far north as
the Trent on warm soils, though dying to
the ground in a hard winter. The leaves
vary in size, being much larger towards
the base than at the tips of the shoots,
and waved or loosely crisped around the
edges. The flowers are a pretty bluish j
colour, fragrant in summer.

S. GIGANTEUM. — A tree of 25 feet in its I
own land, with a trunk as thick as a
man's thigh. With us it is 5 or 6 feet I
high, prickly, and covered in white wool ; !
the leaves unarmed, deep green above and
whitish beneath ; the flowers pale blue, |
not showy ; the berries red and as large I
as peas. India.

S. JASMINOIDES (Jasmine Nightshade). —
A charming summer-leafing climber, and j
the most beautiful of the family, hardy i
anywhere in the south of Britain, where [
its wreaths of starry white flowers are j
freely borne upon a wall or house-front,

even in a north aspect. Grown out of
doors and in a strong light, the flowers arc
more or less shaded with greyish-blue or
purple, and there is a charming pale bluish
variety in which the colour seems fixed.
The flowers are pure white if grown in
partial shade, or in a north house. The
shoots should be well cut in after frost is
over in spring. Increase from side-shoots
taken with a heel.

S. LACINIATUM (Kangaroo Apple). — A
stout rapid-growing plant from the anti-
podes, with dark fleshy stems growing 4 to
6 feet in a season ; much-divided leaves,
dark violet flowers, and fruits the size of
a small plum, changing from green to
yellow and red. One of the easiest to
grow, and nearly hardy on the south
coast.

S. LASIOSTYLUM. — A low shrub of the
W. Australian deserts, with white
woolly leaves, spiny stems, and purple
flowers. The young plants need a warm
place and careful watering.

S. MARGIN ATUM. — A handsome fivelv-
branched species, the stout woody stems
coated with white wool and armed with
prickles. The leaves are oval, green above
with a waved white margin, and white
underneath and while young the droop-
ing white flowers are purple at the centre
with orange stamens, and give place to
yellow fruits like a small Tomato.
Abyssinia.

S. PLATENSE. — A true creeper, which
instead of rambling over the surrounding
vegetation runs over the ground, rooting
as it goes and seldom rising more than a
foot high. It is found on the banks of
the La Plata as a carpet of grey downy
leaves, with white bell-shaped flowers on
short erect stems, followed by sweet fruits
of the same colour.

S. ROBUSTUM. — A much-branched shrub
of 4 feet, its stems and leaf-ribs set with
sharp spines and dense red hairs. The
leaves are large, sharply oval, and bluntly
lobed, or nearly triangular higher on the
stems, green and velvety above, yellow and
woolly beneath. The flowers are white
with orange stamens, and the rounded
brown berries like a small cherry. Brazil.

S. TORREYI. — A free-flowering perennial
hardy in the south of Britain with root-
protection. The violet or white flowers
are large and handsome, followed by yellow
fruits an inch in diameter. The leaves
are waved like an Oak-leaf, 4 to 6 inches
long, and covered beneath with mealy
down. Texas.

S. WENDLANDI. — The noblest of Sola-
nums, and one of the handsomest climbing
plants for a cool greenhouse, flowering
profusely through a long season, and at
its best about August. It has been tried
in the open air with some success in warm
gardens south of the Thames and in shel-
tered places along our southern coasts.

SOLANUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SOLDANELLA. 729

The fleshy stems climb freely, bearing
sparse soft spines. Leaves variable in
size and shape, often cut into deep lobes.
Flowers in large drooping clusters of a
soft lilac-blue colour and 2 inches or more
across ; those shown in the engraving form

of tender side-shoots, taken with a heel
from plants started early under glass.
Costa Rica.

SOLDANELLA (Moon-wort) .—

Diminutive alpine flowers, at one time

Solatium Wendlandi.

only a small part of the perfect cluster,
which often measures a foot across. The
leaves fall in winter, when the plant
should be kept fairly dry at the root and
the shoots well cut back before again
starting into growth. Increase by cuttings

considered difficult to grow, but not
really so if grown in peaty or sandy
and moist soil, with coarse vigorous
plants kept at a distance. 5. alpina
is one of the most interesting of the

730

SOLIDAGO.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

plants growing near the snow-line on
the great mountain-chains of Europe.
The plants thrive best in moist dis-
tricts, and in dry ones evaporation
may be prevented by covering the
ground near them with cocoa-fibre
mixed with sand. The most suitable
position is a level spot in the rock
garden near the eye. The plant is
increased by division, though being
often starved and delicate from con-
finement in small worm-defiled pots,
exposed to daily vicissitudes, it is
rarely strong enough to be pulled to
pieces. 5. montana is allied to 5.
alpina, but with larger leaves and
purer blue flowers. It comes from the
same regions and needs the same treat-
ment. It is readily increased by divi-
sion, but like the last, is often too weak
for this. 5. pusilla has kidney-shaped
leaves, and a corolla less deeply fringed.
The very small S. minima, with its
minute round leaves and its single
flower, fringed for a portion of its
length only, is rare. These plants
thrive under the same conditions as
the' others, but, being much smaller,
require more care in planting, viz., in
a mixture of peat and good loam with
plenty of sharp sand, and associated
with minute alpine plants. They
require plenty of water in summer.

SOLIDAGO (Golden Rod).— These
N. American Composites exter-
minate valuable plants, and give a
coarse, ragged aspect to the border.
They are also gross feeders and im-
poverish the soil. They hold their
own, however, in a copse, or a rough
open shrubbery among the coarsest
vegetation, and the silky seeds of some
kinds persist, with a pretty effect, far
into the winter. There are nearly
100 kinds, of which the best are S.
Buckleyi, a dwarf species with bluish-
green foliage and orange flowers ;
ccesia, another dwarf kind of slender
growth with pale yellow flowers ;
Gattingeri, of good habit, with abun-
dant plume-like sprays ; latifolia, a
dwarf early kind with broad rounded
leaves ; odora, of slender growth, with
fragrant deep yellow flowers, quite one
of the best ; rigida, of dwarf erect
growth, with downy leaves, fine
flowers, and roots which do not run ;
serotina lepida (gigantea), often 6 feet
high, with dark stems and large heads
of flower ; Shortii, the best of the tall
kinds, with spreading, finely - arched
heads, very useful for cutting ; spec-
tabilis, of medium height, with fragrant,

deep yellow flowers, and not too strong
at the root ; and Virgaurea nana, the
neatest of all, with compact heads only
a foot high.

SOLLYA (Blue-bell Creeper}.— Beau-
tiful evergreen climbing shrubs from
Australia, mostly grown under glass
but hardy in the open air in the warm-
est parts of the south-west of England,
Wales, and Ireland. Trained around
the pillars of a sunny verandah, or
against a warm wall, the dark wiry
stems extend freely, bearing narrow
deep green leaves and small drooping
bell-flowers of a clear blue, continued
through a long season. The best
known kind is S. heterophylla, and of
this there is a distinct narrow-leaved
form, angustifolia, which twines less
freely. Swan River. Increase by
seeds and by cuttings of half-ripe
shoots, which root with some diffi-
culty.

SOPHORA (New Zealand Labur-
num] . — 5. tetraptera is a large tree in its
own country, and makes a charming
wall-plant here. The variety grandi-
flora has larger flowers and is more
robust, while the variety microphylla
is remarkable for finely-divided leaves
and smaller flowers. In sheltered
gardens against walls in the southern
and the mild parts all may be grown,
though they may need extra protection
in severe winters. Another species in
cultivation is S. chilensis, which also
needs protection. Syn., Edwardsia.

Sophora japonica.

S. JAPONICA (Pagoda Tree). — One of the
finest of flowering trees, elegant in foliage,
and in September covered with clusters of
white bloom. It is one of the largest of
trees, and when old has a wide-spreading
head with huge limbs. Its long pinnate
leaves retain their deep green colour until

SPARAXIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SPECULARIA. 731

autumn. Where space is limited it may
be kept in bounds by hard pruning. There
are several varieties— a drooping kind,
which is one of the best of all pendulous
trees, and'a variegated-leaved kind, which
is not satisfactory, as the variegation is
seldom good.

S. SECUNDIFLORA. — A low dense tree or
leafy shrub, with ornamental foliage com-
posed of neat rounded leaflets with a glossy
surface, and strongly fragrant violet-blue
flowers borne in a dense spike. These are
followed by soft silvery pods containing
bright red seeds. The plant is not easy
to obtain, but is hardy with protection in
our more favoured districts. Texas and
New Mexico.

S. VICIIFOLIA. — A native of China, it
has been grown in this country for the
last twelve or fifteen years, "and has
already proved one of the best hardy
summer-flowering shrubs. As a bush, it
grows at least 5 or 6 feet high, but will
attain quite double that height against a
wall. In good loamy soil there does not
appear to be any reason to doubt that it
will grow in almost any part of the
country, for there is no question as to its
hardiness. Cuttings root fairly readily,
and flcrwer earlier than seedlings. It
transplants badly, so should be planted
young. Mountains of China.

SPARAXIS. - - Charming bulbous
plants from the Cape of Good Hope,
the many varieties coming chiefly from
5. grandiflora and 5. tricolor. They
are about i foot high, of slender
growth, and bear large showy flowers
which vary from white to bright scarlet
and deep crimson, usually having dark
centres. Sparaxis are valuable for
early-summer flowers, and should be
treated like Ixias. There are a great
many named varieties offered by bulb-
growers, one of the most showy and
popular being Fire King. S. pul-
cherrima (the Wand-flower) is so dis-
tinct that its claim to be a Sparaxis
has often been disputed. Its tall and
graceful flower-stems rise to a height
of 5 or 6 feet, and wave in the wind,
but, though slender, are so tough and
wiry that they are never injured like
the much stronger-looking stems of the
Pampas Grass. It has a great objec-
tion to removal, and, if necessary, this
should be done as soon as the flowers
begin to fade. It succeeds in dry as
well as damp positions, if it has a rich
"friable soil, or if when beginning to
grow it is well watered. Syn., Die-
ram a.

SPARTINA POLYSTACHYA (Reed
Grass). — Though hating most variega-
tions, I have been forced to admire this

tall grass. It is very graceful, with
yellowish variegation and of tall habit.
It is a free grower and gives a fine
group of foliage in the mixed border.

Sparaxis pulcherriina (Wand Flower).

•

SPARTIUM (Spanish Broom). ~ S.
junceum is a S. European shrub,
blooming in July, August, and Sep-
tember, when shrubberies are usually
flowerless. It is thin-growing, 8 or
10 feet high, and its Rush-like shoots
have so few leaves as to appear leaf-
less. It bears erect clusters of fragrant
bright yellow flowers shaped like Pea-
blossoms, is perfectly hardy, and use-
ful for dry, poor soils, where, like the
common Broom, it does well, coming
freely from seed scattered broadcast
where we wish it to grow.

SPECULARIA (Venus' s Looking-
glass]. — These are similar to Cam-
panulas, and often placed with them,
though distinct. 5. Speculum, with
numerous open bell-like bright violet-
purple flowers, is one of the showiest
of our annuals. Besides the large-
flowered form called grandiflora, some-

732 SPHENOGYNE. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SPIRAEA.

times purple and sometimes white,
there is a double-flowered kind which
comes true from seed, also a dwarf
compact form with violet-blue flowers.
5. pentagonia is another favourite, its
flowers larger but less abundant than
those just described, purple in colour,
with a deep blue centre. Both these
kinds are hardy and generally scatter
seed, which comes up year after year,
without trouble, except to keep the
seedlings within bounds.

SPHENOGYNE.— 5. speciosa is a
beautiful half-hardy Mexican annual
Composite of slender, much-branched
growth, about i foot high. The
flowers, produced from July to Sep-
tember, are yellow with a brownish
centre encircled by a conspicuous black
ring, the centre being orange in the
variety aurea. S. speciosa will succeed
if sown in the open in April.

SPIGELIA (Worm Grass). — S.
Marilandica is a beautiful native of
N. America, distinct from all other
hardy plants. It forms a tuft of
slender stems about i foot high, each
bearing long tubular flowers in July,
which are deep red outside and yellow
inside. In its own land it grows in
sheltered situations, the roots going
deep down into rich vegetable mould.
Partial shade in summer and abund-
ance of moisture are essential. Best
in the lower parts of the rock garden.

Aruncus.

SPIR^JA.— Beautiful shrubby or
perennial plants of easy culture, dis-
tinct habit, and often of fine form.
They grow well in rich soil in borders,

and are also excellent for the margins
of water. The shrubby kinds are of
the highest value, and are described
in a sub-section. The best of the
herbaceous or Meadow Sweet section
are as follows : —

S. ARUNCUS (Goafs-beard). — A vigorous
perennial, 3 to 5 feet high, beautiful in
foliage and habit as well as in flower. Its
flowers are freely produced in summer in
large gracefully-drooping plumes. It is
valuable for grouping with other fine-
foliaged herbaceous plants. It thrives in
ordinary soil, but succeeds best in a deep
moist loam. Europe, Asia, and America.
Division.

S. ASTILBOIDES. — A moisture-loving
plant of unusual merit, happiest on the
banks of a stream or pond. It is quite
distinct, the inflorescence much branched,
and the flowers of a creamy white closely
packed' on the stems.

S. CAMTSCHATICA. — A gigantic Meadow
Sweet, growing from 6 to 10 feet high,
with huge palmate leaves and large fleecy
bunches of white flowers crowning the tall
stems. Its place is in rich bottoms or by
water in deep soil.

S. FILIPENDULA (Dropwort). — A British
species, i to 2 feet high, with loose clusters
of yellowish-white flowers, often tipped
with red. When the flower-stems are
pinched off it forms an effective edging
plant, its Fern-like foliage being distinct.
The double variety (S. Filipendula fl.-pl.)
is useful in the mixed border. Division.

S. LOBATA (Queen of the Prairie). — One
of the best of the hardy Spiraeas, 18 to
36 inches high, with deep rosy carmine
flowers in large terminal cymes. It thrives
in sandy loam on the mixed border, on
the margins of shrubberies, or grouped
with the finer perennials.

S. PALM ATA. — A beautiful herbaceous
plant from Japan. It has handsome pal-
mate foliage, and in late summer broad
clusters of rosy-crimson blossoms. When
well-grown it is a fine plant for large rock
gardens, in borders, or on the margin of
shrubberies, and being strong enough to
take care of itself, it may be naturalised.

S. ULMARIA. — This native Meadow
Sweet deserves a place, if only for the
sake of variety, in the mixed border, on
the margins of shrubberies.

S. BLUMEI. — -A rare and pretty shrub
of about 4 feet, gracefully arching, with
blunt deeply-notched leaves and abundant
white flowers in June. Japan.

S. BULLATA. — A neat shrub for the rock
garden, only 12 to 18 inches high, with
erect and downy branches, rounded and
wrinkled leaves, and deep pink flowers in
July and August. Japan. Syn., 5. crispi-
folia.

S. CANA. — A dense shrub of i to 2 feet,
with grey down-covered leaves which give
the plant a hoary appearance. The tiny

SPIRAEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

733

white flowers are borne upon arching
sprays throughout the summer, and quite
freely even on small plants.

S. CANESCENS. — A graceful shrub from
the Himalayas, reaching a height of many
feet at maturity, with hairy stems, small
bluntly-oval leaves, and white (or rarely
pale pink) Hawthorn-scented flowers in
crowded clusters upon the slender sprays.
The plant needs room to spread its whip-
like stems, and is best in a sheltered place.

toniensis, but its variety rotundiflora is
distinct and pretty.

S. DECUMBENS. — A mountain shrub from
the Tyrol, seldom exceeding 6 inches in
height, and excellent in the rock garden,
where it spreads by means of underground
stems. The clusters of white flowers,
about 2 inches across, come freely in June
against a setting of pretty toothed leaves.

S. DISCOLOR (Spray Bush). — A lovely
shrub 8 to 10 feet high. We should seek

Spircza discolor.

S. CANTONIENSIS (Canton S.). — A slender
bush, about a yard high, bearing many
small clusters of white flowers. There is
also a beautiful double variety in which
the flowers last longer. The Plum-leaved
Spiraea (S. prunifolia) is represented in
gardens by the double variety (fl.-pl.},
a charming shrub, with flowers like tiny
snow-white rosettes, in early summer
wreathing every twig. 5. media (better
known as 5. confusa) resembles 5. can-

to give full expression to its singular
beauty by careful grouping, taking care
to save it from the horrible jumble that
nurserymen give us when they plant a
" shrubbery." Given an open position,
it forms a large bush of good form laden
during summer with spray -like panicles of
small whitish flowers. Syn., S. aricefolia.
S. DOUGLASI and S. NOBLEANA. — Are so
similar in growth and flower that they
may be conveniently coupled, though as

734

SPIRAEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

SPIRAEA.

they bear their clusters of deep red flowers
at different times it is well to have both.
N. America. 5. Douglasi succeeds in
every part of the British Isles ; 5. Nob-
leana, from California, is less hardy, and
flowers earlier. An allied plant of garden
origin is 5. Billardii, raised from S.
Douglasi crossed with salicifolia. It is a
pretty shrub of 6 feet, with oblong leaves,
and narrow crowded spikes of bright pink
flowers, 5 to 8 inches long, from July into
September. S. pachystachys, another gar-
den hybrid (from corymbosa and Douglasi)
bears broader leaves and pale pink flowers.
S. HYPERICIFOLIA. — From Asia Minor,
the type of a small group, all good in
growth and flower. The tall slender
stems arch gracefully, and under good
conditions reach a height of 8 feet,
wreathed in the flowering season with
clusters of small white flowers.

its variety superba, and is a handsome
plant with graceful wand-like shoots and
large bright pink flowers. 5. Foxii,
another hybrid of dwarf habit, is less good.
S. bella, from the Himalayas, comes near
5. japonica, but is dwarfer and denser.
All these kinds flower freely through the
summer, and often till late in autumn.

S. LINDLEYANA (Plume S.). — A noble
shrub, sometimes 10 feet high, its graceful
foliage divided, and delicate green, the
flower clusters large, white, and plume-
like, being at their best in August. It
thrives in warm deep soil, and loves the
chalk. In cool soils it does not do so
well, seeming to spread more at the root,
but is always beautiful in foliage and
habit. Himalayas. 5. Aitchisoni from
Afghanistan also comes very near this,
differing little save in its larger flowers,

S. JAPONICA (Rosy Bush M.). — Easily
recognised by its slender stems 3 or
4 feet high, surmounted by broad flat
clusters of deep pink flowers. It is
a variable species with several other
names, such as 5. caUosa and 5. Fortunei.
There are also many distinct forms in
cultivation, and of these the best are
alba, a pretty compact shrub with
white flowers ; Bumalda, of the same
dwarf habit but with deep rosy flowers ;
Bumalda Anthony Waterer, a good plant
richer in colour and approaching the fine
form rubra from Japan, in which the
flowers are intense crimson-purple and a
shade larger. The plants called atro-
purpurea and coccinea by some hardly
differ from this. Other varieties are
splendens, with flowers of a pale peach
colour ; glabrata, of more rigid habit, with
bright pink flowers ; and Fraebeli, an early-
flowering form with wine-red flowers pass-
ing to deep crimson. S. Bumalda ruber-
rima is a cross between Bumalda and
bullata, dwarfer than its near parent, with
larger flowers of deeper colour ; S. Mar-
gavitce is a cross between S. japonica and

ica, A. Waterer.

ruddy bark, and darker green leaves cut
into smaller leaflets.

S. SALICIFOLIA. — A plant covering an
immense area in Europe, Asia, ami X.
America, and even naturalised in parts of
Britain. It reaches a height of 3 to 5
feet, with long serrate leaves and rosy
flowers in July and August, their precise
character differing in the many forms in
cultivation. The best of these are grandi-
flora, a shrub of dwarf habit with large
pale pink flowers ; lanceolata (or alba) with
white flowers ; and latifolia with larger
white or rose-tinted flowers.

S. THUNBERGI (Thunberg's M.). — A
dense bush, with small bright green leaves,
and in early spring a profusion of tiny
white blossoms. It is hardy, and especi-
ally suitable for planting in a bold rock
garden or on a raised bank among tree-
stems. Few shrubs are so fine in autumn,
its small leaves changing to brilliant
crimson.

S. TOMENTOSA. — A little shrub of about
4 feet, with down-covered branches, oblong
leaves grey or woolly with down on the
underside, and white, pink, or purplish

SPIRAEA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GA&DEN.

STACHYS.

735

flowers in dense spikes. N. America. A
pretty plant, one of the best in its autumn
flowers, and with roots not much inclined
to roam. Especially good in damp ground
and overhanging water.

S. VAN HOUTTEI. — A garden cross be-
tween media (confusa) and trilobata. In
late spring it bears masses of white flowers
so thickly clustered as to hide all else and
emphasise the graceful droop of the stems.
Indeed, these sometimes droop too much,
allowing the clusters to drag and spoil in
bad weather. The flowers open about the
middle of May, and the wand-like shoots
are useful for cutting. Being sensitive to
cold winds and late frost, a sheltered place
is best for this kind.

In a genus like Spiraea, numbering
many reputed species, and these bur-
dened with endless names and syno-

japonica coccinea, Billardii, Blumei,
japonica ruberrima, tomentosa, confusa,
japonica alba, and bullata (crispifolia] .
The ' ' mixed ' ' shrubbery, where the
delicate have to fight the strong, is no
place for these elegant plants, which,
being surface-rooters, need an open,
sunny spot, away from the roots of big
trees and shrubs, and where the garden
is large enough, I should have isolated
groups (bold masses from 10 to 15 feet
across) of the taller kinds, such as
Lindleyana, discolor, Douglasi, and
others, and lesser groups of the dwarfer
kinds — or these may form masses
jutting out from other groups.

SPRAGUEA. — 5. umbellata, a sin-
gular and pretty plant allied to Clay-

Spircea Bumaltia.

nyms, it is perplexing to single out
the choice few required for the garden.
The fact is, we have too many
Spiraeas and too great a similarity
among kinds flowering about the same
time. No collection need number
more than a dozen kinds, and good
grouping of these in a garden would
produce better effect than the dotting
about of many sorts. My dozen would
be the following : — S. 'Lindleyana, dis-
color, Douglasi, Van Houttei, pruni-
folia fl. pi., japonica superba, arguta,
canescens var. flagellaris, cantoniensis ,
bella, Thunbergi, and japonica Bum-
alda Anthony Waterer. This selection
embraces all the sections, and is suffi-
cient in a general way, but should
more be required, a second dozen
might include : — S. decumbens, salici-
folia grandiflora, Nobleana, Aitchisoni,

tonia, 6 to 9 inches high, has fleshy
foliage, and spikes of showy pinkish
blossoms. If seeds are sown in heat
early in February, then potted singly,
and planted out in May, the plants will
bloom in August and September ; if
sown in May, the plants will not flower
till the following summer. In light
soils the plants will stand an ordinary
winter, but they are safer in a frame,
but like most tap-rooted plants, they
do not bear moving well, except while
small. California.

STACHYS (Woundwort).—The com-
mon 5. lanata, a woolly-leaved plant
used for edging, thrives in any soil.
5. coccinea is a rather pretty perennial
with spikes of red flowers about i foot
high, and succeeds in a partially-shaded
border anywhere in the south. Coming

736 STACHYURUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. STEIRONEMA.

from Mexico, it is not hardy every-
where. S. grandiflora, from Asia
Minor and Siberia, is a neat downy
plant with showy spikes of reddish-
purple or rosy flowers from May on-
wards, sometimes used in the rougher
parts of the rock garden. Division.

STACHYURUS PRCE COX.— Chinese
shrubs of some beauty. They are
quite hardy and flower very early,
which is no great gain in our country.

STAPHYLEA (Bladder Nut). — Of
the older kinds only 5. colchica is
important, this being a beautiful
shrub with pinnate leaves and large

the finest of all, with wide-spreading
flower-sterns and a profusion of small
purplish-blue flowers ; and S. tatarica,
a dwarfer species, with distinct red
flowers. The smaller species, such as
5. minuta, S. minuti flora, S. caspia,
S. eximia, are good rock plants.
Among the half-hardy annuals and
biennials the best are : 5. Bonditelli
(yellow), a biennial if protected in
winter ; S. spicata, with spikes of
small rosy flowers ; Thouini (violet),
i very free flowering ; and sirniata
I (purple and white), pretty, and easy
| to grow.

Spir&a Lindleyana.

terminal clusters of snow-white flowers
in early summer. It is hardy, grows
well in any good soil, preferring partial
shade, and is commonly forced into
flower for the greenhouse in early
spring. Increase by suckers, layers,
and ripe autumn cuttings rooted under
a handlight in sandy soil. S. Caucasus.

STATICE (Sea Lavender) .—Plants
of the Leadwort or Plumbago family,
chiefly natives of shore and mountain
districts. The larger species require
least care when in an open place, while
some of them are happy on the rock
garden. They are deep-rooting and
dislike disturbance, taking some while
to regain strength. The best of the
larger kinds are S. Limonium, of which
there are several varieties ; S. latifolia,

STAUNTGNIA.— 5. hexaphylla is a
fine evergreen twining pinnate-leaved
shrub from China, hardy enough in the
warmer parts of these islands for walls.
Its small flowers are whitish, fragrant,
and form in early summer. Occasion-
ally these are succeeded by large
reddish-purple oval fruits, filled with
soft juicy pulp. It must have a
sheltered wall, but in a place not too
dry and sunny, or the leaves turn a
sickly yellow.

STEIRONEMA. — Showy perennials
of the Primrose order from N. America,
nearly allied to Loosestrife, and thriv-
ing under the same conditions. Two
kinds are useful at the waterside or in
the bog garden, 5. ciliata with leafy
stems i to 3 feet high, bearing showy

STENANTHIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. STERNBERGIA. 73?

pale-yellow flowers ; and 5. longi-
folium, with shorter square stems
clothed with narrow shining green
leaves, and crowned with heads of
bright yellow flowers.

STENANTHIUM.— A small group of
bulbous-rooted plants of the Lily
order, mostly from the Pacific coast
of N. America. The only species cer-
tainly in cultivation is 5. robustum, a
hardy plant 2 to 3 feet in height, with
graceful plumes of closely-packed,
creamy-white and fragrant flowers in
August.

STEPHANANDRA.— Graceful shrubs
allied to the Spiraeas. They like a good
loamy soil, well drained, but still
moist, and are some of the most easily
propagated of shrubs. Cuttings taken
towards the end of the summer before
the wood is too hard root readily,
they can also be increased by division.
When plants of 5. flexuosa which have
been growing long in one spot are
removed, quite a little thicket of young
plants will spring from the roots left
in the ground.

S. FLEXUOSA. — Although the earlier
introduced of the two species, this has
not long been in cultivation. It grows
3 to 4 feet high with us. It is chiefly for
its graceful habit and prettily cut foliage
that it is grown, though the soft red of
the young shoots in spring and the crim-
son-purple leaf tints in autumn render it
attractive through a long season. Japan
and Corea.

S. TANAK^E. — From S. flexuosa this new
species is readily distinguished by its
coarser, more succulent growth, and by
its larger and less-divided leaves. The
flowers are small, greenish, and scanty,
but the autumn tints of well-grown plants
are gorgeous, and the stems themselves
take on a bright ruddiness which is
retained all winter and makes a pretty
feature at that season. Japan.

STERNBERGIA (Lily-of -the- Field}.
— Charming hardy bulbs with flowers
of firm texture, better able to withstand
bad weathei than the Autumn Crocus.
One source of failure is moving them
at the wrong time, or before growth has
fully developed. What they want is
thorough ripening in summer and a
slight protection, such as dry litter,
during the winter. In sandy loams,
and fully exposed to the sun, the bulbs
will ripen without being lifted, and
are best left undisturbed until of
flowering size.

S. COLCHICIFLORA. — An old garden
plant, having been cultivated by Clusius
and Parkinson. Its fragrant, pale yellow

flowers come in autumn, perfuming with
a Jessamine-scent the fields of the Crimea
about the Bosphorus. The leaves are
narrow, and come with the fruit in spring.
The plants grow in dry exposed tracts of
the Caucasus and Crimea, and are hardy
in this country. 5. dalmatica and 5. pul-
chella are varieties.

S. FISCHERIANA. — Nearly allied, is
hardy, and has the habit of 5. lutea, from
which it differs chiefly in flowering in
spring instead of autumn, and by its
stalked ovary and capsule. Caucasus.

S. GR^ECA. — Has very narrow leaves and
broad perianth segments. Mountains of
Greece.

S. LUTEA. — The great autumn Daffodil
of Parkinson, it is a very pretty hardy
plant, best on warm gravelly soils. The

Sternbergia lutea.

absence of seed on this bulb in a cultivated
state is remarkable, seeing how plentiful
it is and how freely it flowers in many
parts of the country. It is supposed by
some writers to be the Lily of Scripture,
as it grows abundantly in the vales in
Palestine. 5. angustifolia appears to be
a narrow-leaved form, very free-flowering,
and more vigorous than S. lutea.

S. MACRANTHA. — This is a really hand-
some species, the leaves blunt and slightly
glaucous, about an inch broad when fully
developed about midsummer ; flowers
bright yellow in autumn. Asia Minor.

The rarest of these Sternbergias should
have a place in our bulb borders, in gritty
or open soil, associated with the rarer
Narcissi and choice hardy bulbs. Their
effect in masses near the shelter of walls
is very fine in autumn.

3 A

73*

STIPA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN

STEWART1A.

S. SICULA. — A form with narrower leaves
and segments than the type, while the
Cretan variety has considerably larger
flowers.

STIPA (Feather Grass). — A large

froup of grasses, the prettiest of which,
. pennata, is hardly to be distinguished
from a strong stiff tuft of common
grass, except in May and June, when
the tuft is surmounted by numerous
gracefully arching flower-stems, nearly
2 feet high, and covered with long,
twisted, feathery spikes. Division or
seed. 5. calamagrostis, S. capillata,
and 5. elegantissima are other good
Feather Grasses.

STOKESIA. — S. cyanea is a hand-
some hardy American perennial, 18 to
24 inches high, and of stout free
growth, with, in September, large
showy blue flowers somewhat similar to
those of a China Aster. It grows freely
in good warm soils, but from its late
season it does not always bloom well.
In damp localities place a handlight
over the plants at the flowering season,
but so arranged as to allow free admis-
sion of air. The variety precox, which
flowers in August, is better. There are
also white-flowered varieties of this
early form. Failing seed, the only
way to increase the Stokesia is by
means of root cuttings in winter, and
these inserted in pots of sandy soil in
the greenhouse soon make useful
plants.

STRANVCESIA.— Chinese evergreen
shrubs of some value for gardens.
One, 5. undulata, is quite hardy in my
garden, and pretty and graceful.
Flowers and fruits early.

STRATIOTES (Water Soldier).— S.
aloides is an interesting native water-
plant with a compact vasiform tuft of
leaves, from the centre of which arises
in summer a spike of unattractive
blossoms. In artificial lakes or ponds
it will take care of itself, increasing
by side-shoots from the base of the
leaves.

STRUTHIOPTERIS (Ostrich Fern).
— Tall, handsome, and vigorous hardy
ferns with fronds of two kinds, fertile
and sterile, the former being always
grouped in the centre of the plant, and
the latter forming a cordon round
them. Struthiopteris can be increased
by division of the creeping under-
ground stems, which run for some
distance round well-established plants.
They revel in moist loam and leaf-soil,
and "are of noble appearance in the

bolder rock gardens. The kinds suited
for gardens are S. germanica and 5.
pennsylvanica. The former is one of
the best hardy Ferns, with fronds
nearly 3 feet long, and well suited for
shady slopes, and the margins of
streams and pieces of water ; it will
thrive either in sun or shade. 5.
pennsylvanica closely resembles it, but
has narrow fertile fronds. 5. orientalis
I give a place to, but have not yet
found what suits it best. Both kinds
will grace the garden, and should not
be confined to the fernery, and for long
have had a cool corner in my garden.

STEW ARTIA.— Though these beau-
tiful shrubs flower at a time when the
shrub garden is past its best, they are
seldom planted. The flowers, like a
large single Camellia, are beautiful
and abundant. They need no care
beyond mulching in light soils and
during dry seasons, and the removal
at intervals of weak and exhausted
wood. The most vigorous kind is the
Japanese S. Pseudocamellia, and it is
also the finest in its autumn tints.
Though far less vigorous and hardy,
the flowers of 5. virginica, with their
contrast of white and crimson, are
chastely beautiful, and S. pentagyna
is also worth growing. Peat soil is
often recommended for these, but is
not necessary in gardens of good free
loam or alluvial grit, and they will
even flower well in some poor soils.
A damp place and a moist atmosphere
are favourable, as is proved by the
fine growth of Stewartias in a wet
season, and the fact that they invari-
ably choose stream-sides and wet
places in their own land. Increase is
difficult and the young plants of slow
growth. The lower branches may be
layered, or cuttings of the nearly ripe
wood, taken with a heel towards the
end of summer, and plunged in sandy
soil under a bell-glass, will slowly root.

There are five species of Stewartia,
but only three are in cultivation.

S. PENTAGYNA (Shell Flower). — The best
of the American kinds, reaching a height
of 15 to 20 feet, and freely branched from
the base upwards. The flowers are
fragrant, 3 to 4 inches across, creamy-
white with yellow anthers, coming in
July and August for about three weeks.
In all stages the flowers are beautiful,
almost translucent in their purity, tinged
with pink upon the outside while in bud,
and finely fringed at the edges. The
leaves are oval, 5 to 6 inches long, rounded
at the base, and • finely toothed.

StYLOPHORUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SYMPLOCOS.

S. PSEUDOCAMELLIA. — A lovely flower-
ing tree from the mountains of Japan,
where it reaches a height of 50 feet. The
white -flowers are 2 to 3 inches across, with
a tuft of yellow anthers, but they look
smaller than this because they remain
half-closed like an Abutilon, and never
open flat as in other Stewartias. The
leaves are thick like those of a Camellia,
smooth, bright green with often a reddish
tinge, and finely coloured with gold and
crimson in the autumn. Syn., S.japonica. •

S. VIRGINICA. — From the warmer
states of N. America, where it grows in
swamps, on river banks, and in shady
places. At its best it is one of the most
beautiful of flowering shrubs, though more
sensitive to cold and never so vigorous as
the other kinds, rarely exceeding 10 feet
in height, and with a looser habit of

frowth. In this kind the flowers are
nest of all but less abundant, measuring
4 inches across, with pure white shell-like
petals, sometimes more or less streaked
with crimson towards the base, and with
red stamens in the centre.

STYLOPHORUM.— S. diphyllum is
a hardy Poppywort, but a much finer
plant, bearing large bright yellow
flowers in early summer. It is best
in partial shade in ordinary soil. N.
America.

STYRAX. — Trees and shrubs belong-
ing mostly to warm countries ; a few
of the hardier kinds succeed fairly well
with us in light moist soils. They are
summer-leafing, of neat habit, and with
abundant flowers like little white bells
depending from the underside of the
branches. The commonest and best
kind is S. japonicum, but there are
others worth growing though seldom
planted. Increase by layers, seed,
and cuttings of the soft wood in heat,
or of partially ripened shoots under a
handlight in the open air, later in
summer. Peat is not necessary for
these plants where the natural soil is
good and free, but heavy soils are
against them and they dislike chalk
and much lime. The following kinds
are in cultivation : —

S. AMERICANUM. — A shrub of 6 to 8 feet,
grows in wet places in S. Carolina and
Virginia, with nodding white flowers from
April into June. 5. californicum, a shrub
of 5 to 8 feet from the mountains of
California, bears larger flowers, but is
tender with us.

S. GRANDIFOLIUM. — A pretty shrub of
8 to 10 feet high, and the best of the
American kinds for this country. To do
well it needs a warm and rather dry place,
even in our southern gardens, to ripen
the shoots in autumn, without which the
flowers are scanty and the plant liable

to injury. The leaves, are 3 to 6 inches
long, tapering to a point and hairy on the
underside, and freely bears during early
summer fragrant white flowers. Moun-
tains of Georgia and Carolina.

S. HEMSLEYANUM. — A summer-leafing
small tree, native of China, of recent
introduction, and growing well in Corn-
wall, and worth trying farther north.
Best in warm spots and on free soil.
Flowers white.

S. JAPONICUM. — The most useful and
handsome of the group, hardy almost
anywhere in the south, but tender in the
Midlands unless grown upon a sheltered
wall and protected in sharp weather.
The habit of the plant is characteristic,
the branches spreading flatly into slender
much-branched shoots, covered with ovate
glossy leaves and myriads of little white
bells dangling clear of the leaves upon
their long stems, which spring from the
underside of the branches. In Japan it is
a tree 40 feet high, but so far we have none
approaching this height. Another Japan-
ese kind, 5. serrulatum, comes very near
this, but is less hardy. There is a pretty
form of S. japonicum in which the buds
are flushed with rose colour.

S. OBASSIA. — A Japanese plant with
large broadly-oval leaves sometimes
8 inches across, and racemes of fragrant
white flowers like a Snowdrop, and open-
ing a little earlier than in 5. japonicum.
Two fine plants have grown for years
without injury at Coombe Wood. In
Japan it is 30 feet high, with bold leaf
effect even when out of flower.

S. OFFICINALE. — A shrub from the
Mediterranean, 12 to 15 feet high, with
sweet flowers like the Orange, opening as
little clusters in May or June. It needs
the same care as S. japonicum, flowering
and fruiting freely against a sheltered
wall.

SWERTIA (Marsh Swertia). — 5. per-
ennis has slender erect stems, i to 3
feet high, terminated by erect spikes
of flowers, which are greyish-purple
spotted with black, and produced in
summer. It is not showy, but inter-
esting for the bog garden, or may be
naturalised in damp peaty soil. Seed
or division.

SYCOPSIS SINENSIS.— An ever-
green shrub, in its native China a low
tree growing at rather high altitudes.
It is said by Mr Bdan to be hardy at
Kew. It is easily increased. Neat in
habit and distinct in appearance.

SYMPLOCOS CRATflSGOIDES. — A

summer-leafing shrub of elegant habit,
native of China and India, where its

740 SYMPHORICARPUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SVRINGA.

fruit is said to be a brilliant blue. It
has been little tried in our country
as yet.

SYMPHORICARPUS (Snowbeny).—
The common Snowberry (S. racemosus)
is a familiar shrub, but we would
exclude it from a choice selection ;
also the Wolf Berry (S. occidentalis) ,
and 5. vulgaris, the Coral Berry, or
Indian Currant, which has small pur-
plish berries in clusters. The flowers
of these kinds are not showy, their
growth is coarse, and they smother
choicer things. Their chief value is
for undergrowth in woods, or for orna-
mental covert (as birds eat the berries) ,
and they will flourish anywhere. If
admitted to the garden the clumps
should be cut to the ground every
spring to encourage young free-flower-
ing shoots, and the roots trimmed
deeply with a spade to prevent their
spreading unduly.

SYMPHYANDRA. — Campanula-like
plants of not high rank, 5. pendula
from the rocky parts of the Caucasus,
having branched pendulous stems and
large cream-coloured bell flowers,
almost hidden in the leaves. It is
hardy, and rarely more than i foot in
height. It does well with other Bell-
flowers, but is best seen at the level of
the eye in the rock garden ; it is also
a good border plant in ordinary garden
soil. Seed. The Austrian 5. Wanner i
rarely exceeds 6 inches in height, with
deep mauve flowers borne freely on
branching racemes. Like 5. pendula,
it prefers a light, warm, rich soil and
a partially-shaded situation. 5. Hof-
manni, from Bosnia, is considerably
taller than the others, with large white
flowers and hairy leaves. All these
plants are short-lived, and best re-
garded as of biennial duration only.

SYMPHYTUM ( Comfrey) .—Suited
for naturalising in open sunny places,
and, when well grown in masses, their
foliage has a fine effect. The largest
and best kinds for the wild garden are
5. asperrimum and 5. caucasicum.
The Bohemian Comfrey (S. bohemicum]
is a handsome perennial, about i foot
high, with, in early summer, erect twin
racemes of brilliant reddish-purple
flowers. The variegated leaved form
of the common Comfrey (5. officinale]
has striking variegation, effective in a
garden of hardy flowers, and thriving
in any soil.

SYNTHYRIS.— A group of hardy
little herbs from the Rocky Mountains,

allied to Wulfenia, and forming neat
tufts of elegant foliage with dense
spikes of blue, purple, or white flowers.
The best is 5. reniformis, with tough,
prettily-cut leaves, and spikes of bluish-
purple flowers a foot high. These come
in early spring or sometimes even in
autumn, and the plant does best in a
cool, shady place with free soil.

SYRINGA (Lilac). — Where these
lovely shrubs are well grown they
afford beautiful effects in the home
landscape as well as fragrance. To no
family has the harm done by grafting
been more injurious than to the Lilac,
when grafted on Privet for the sake of
cheapness and increase. I lost ten
years through a grafted collection ;
instead of growing up, the plants grew
down and slowly perished. And so it
has been in many gardens where Lilacs
have been planted but rarely show
their value, though so many superb
varieties have been raised of recent
years.

To secure the full value of the
varieties that we now have, with their
long racemes beautiful in colour if only
well grown, the first thing is to insist
that none shall be grafted on the Privet.
As to arrangement, the best way is to
group our Lilacs in the sun : they are
too often put away among mixed
shrubs, where they deteriorate, owing
to crowding.

Few shrubs are better worth pruning,
without which they become a tangled
mass of shoots, and we do not get the
fine full thyrses of bloom that are seen
in French gardens. On fading, the
flowers should be removed, and the
small and weak shoots also, if the plants
are too " stalky," the aim being to
secure healthy and open growth during
summer. Cutting back in winter is
wrong, because the flowers are pro-
duced on the wood of the previous
year, and cutting back to a stiff ugly
outline does not deserve the name of
pruning. To prune is to help the
natural shape of the bush and let the
light into it, so that it can concentrate
its energy on a number of strong
flowering shoots.

We read sometimes that the Lilac
will do in any soil, and so it may in
districts where the soil is warm and
good, as in much of Ireland, where the
Rouen Lilac (commonly called the
Persian) makes such lovely trees.
Cold places in valleys are not so good
for them, especially where heavy soil
occurs, because being early the bloom

SYRINGA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TAGETES.

741

is often caught by late frosts. There-
fore, in addition to warm soil, we should
try and secure positions not too low
down and somewhat sheltered. Com-
ing from a warmer and sunnier land
than our own — Transylvania and the
regions near — very cold soils and situa-
tions are against success.

Lilacs grow freely from seed if sown
as soon as ripe. Cuttings are best
made from the young wood in early
summer, struck in sand on a hotbed,
where they root in six to eight weeks.
Layering should be done in early
autumn, or suckers may be taken in
spring and root readily. When once
we have the Lilac on its own roots,
increase from suckers is easy.

Though some of the old varieties
were beautiful — even the common
Lilac when well grown — to have a
good Lilac-time it is essential to have
the newer varieties raised in France,
and remarkable for their full range of
colour. The best are : —

SINGLES. — White — Marie Legraye,
Princess Alexandra, Fr?u Dammann,
Madame Moser, alba pyramidalis.
Pink — Dr Regel, Eckenholm, Fiirst
Lichtenstein, Schermerhornii, Jacques
Callot, and Lovanensis. Dark flowers
— Dr Lindley, Ludwig Spath, Aline
Mocqueris, Toussaint L'Ouverture,
Volcan, Philemon, President Massart.

DOUBLES. — White — Madame Le-
moine, Madame Casimir Perier,
Obelisque, Madame Abel Chatenay.
Lavender and blue — Alphonse Lav-
allee, President Grevy, Lamarck, Leon
Simon, Monument Carnot, Condorcet,
Doyen Keteleer, Guizot, Marc Micheli.

These double kinds have denser
flower-clusters, and usually last longer
than the single varieties, but they are
not so pretty as the single kinds. An
indispensable Lilac is the small Persian
(S. persica], which, being dwarf and
erect, is well suited for the outskirts of
a group of Lilacs. Its small flower-
clusters are a pale lilac, or nearly white.
The pretty variety, with deeply-cut
leaves (laciniata], must not be over-
looked. The Rouen or Chinese Lilac
(S. chinensis), also known as S. dubia
and S. rothomagensis, is intermediate
between the common Lilac and the
Persian Lilac, and well worth growing.
The large 5" Emodi, from the Hima-
layas, is coarse in growth, and not
remarkable for its pale purple flowers,
which come later than the common
Lilac. The Hungarian Lilac (S.
Josikcea] is a pretty shrub differing
from other Lilacs. It reaches a height

of nearly 6 feet, and bears erect spikes
of small pale mauve flowers. S. japo-
nica bears in summer large dense
clusters of creamy-white flowers, which
somewhat resemble those of the
Japanese Privet. Other kinds that
have come to us recently from the Far
East are 5. villosa from Japan, which
also attains a large size with abundant
purple flowers about the middle of
June. 5. oblata, from China, is the
first of all Lilacs to bloom, with loose
clusters of purple or white flowers, and
large heart-shaped leaves of glossy
green which turn a wine-red colour
in autumn. 5. pekinensis, from the'
mountains of N. China, belong to the
Privet-like group represented by 5.
japonica, and is of graceful form,
though not quite so large a tree. It
is very hardy and keeps its handsome
foliage till late in autumn, but does
not flower freely in a young state.
There is a pretty variety of this, with
pendulous slender branches. Inter-
esting as these species are from a
botanical point of view, little is yet
known of their beauty in our country,
and such of them as have been tried
have less beauty than the finer forms
of the old hybrid Lilac.

TAGETES.— The French and Afri-
j can Marigolds have long been favourite
garden flowers. There are also peren-
• nial kinds, but they are too tender for
out of doors, though one or two, such
as T. lucida and T. Parryi, are desir-
able. The annual kinds are from
Mexico, and the best are : — •

T. ERECTA (African M.). — Known by its

stiff, erect habit, and massive double

yellow blooms. A peculiarity of it is that

one-third of the seeds saved from the finest

double flowers always produce single ones,

while the rest are invariably double. The

deep orange and pale yellow forms are

| pretty planted together. Sow seed under

j glass in April, for then, even without

; bottom-heat, they will start freely. When

! the young plants are 3 inches in height,

j dibble them out again either into a frame

I or under handlights to keep away slugs.

| When large flowers are desired the soil

must be rich, and the buds thinned out.

T. PATULA (French M.). — A summer
annual of varied colour, striped, mottled,
and coloured with yellow, orange, chest-
nut, and other hues. Sometimes one
plant has striped blooms, and at other
times self-yellow or maroon flowers.
Their unpleasant odour unfits them for
cutting. There are now compact named
forms of the French Marigold, not exceed-
ing 9 inches in height, and free in their
brilliant single or double flowers,

742

TAMARIX.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TAXODIUM.

T. SIGNATA. — Allied to the French
Marigold, but has much smaller flowers,
either double or single. As it needs a
little starving to induce it to bloom freely
in beds and masses, the soil must be rather
poor. Like all other Marigolds, it stands
drought well.

TAMARIX (Tamarisk). — Graceful
hardy shrubs, remarkably distinct in
their feathery growth and pale pink
flowers, produced in succession by the
various kinds from May to October.
No other woody plants we can grow
in the open air give the same fine
effect, yet they are often neglected
owing to our way of mixing things
together without regard to soil, expo-
sure, and position. Lost in the jumble
of the shrubbery they never give good
effect, and often perish outright from
the encroachments of hungry neigh-
bours, but grouped apart with free
air and space they are among the
most graceful of shrubs. For the
seashore they have no equal, thriving
in pure sand and shingle, their fine
branches splitting up the wind and
the heath-like foliage indifferent to
the salt spray. They are readily
increased from soft cuttings rooted
under glass, ripened cuttings which
root in the open air, and even thick
branches, which often root like a
Willow if planted deeply while quite
fresh. We are richer in names than
in distinct kinds, for the same shrubs
in slightly differing forms have been
named over and over again in nur-
series, and some of the species run so
closely together that even botanists are
puzzled. The following kinds are dis-
tinct : —

T. CHINENSIS. — A recent introduction.
It is not quite so hardy as our native kind,
though like it in many respects. It has
very plumose branches, and is a most
graceful shrub with pink flowers.

T. GALLICA (French Tamarisk). — Is
found wild on the south-west coast of
England, in France, and N. Africa. It is
a shrub 5 to 10 feet high, or in N. Africa
a tree 30 feet high or more. The flowers
are pale pink, and borne on short cylin-
drical spikes in summer. T. anglica is
one of the forms of this species, which
varies much in different parts of its area.

T. HISPIDA (Kashgar T.). — This species
is from C. Asia, and is distinct, the foliage
being of a bluish-green colour. It flowers
in autumn. A seedling form of this,
(sstivalis, differs widely again from the
parent, being taller and more vigorous in
growth, with flowers from July, or a full
two months earlier. It is also of easier

increase, and very desirable because of its
season of flower.

T. ODESSANA. — A new kind, with soft
grey-green foliage and handsome spikes of
large rosy- white flowers. South-east of
Europe and Asia Minor.

T. TETRANDRA. — Very like T. gallica in
general appearance, but distinguished by
having four instead of five anthers. It is
quite hardy, growing and flowering freely
near London. The flowers are pinkish-
white. Caucasus.

MYRICARIA GERMANICA. — Nearly allied
to Tamarix, and often figures in nursery
catalogues under the latter name. It
differs in having ten stamens to each
flower. The branches are erect, rather
sturdier than in the true Tamarisks, and
the leaves are of a pale glaucous hue, the
flowers white or rosy in June. It is a
native of various parts of Europe and
Asia.— W. J. B.

TANACETUM (Tansy).— An elegant
variety of the common Tansy, T. vitl-
gare, and much dwarfer in stature than
it, is the var. crispum. Its emerald
green leaves are smaller, and have a
crisped appearance.

T. HERDERI. — A pretty plant for the
rock garden, with silvery leaves on thick
forked stems, which rise a few inches from
the surface. The bright yellow flowers
have a good effect on the silvery foil.
Similar in height and effect is T. argenteum,
which makes a shrubby mass of silver
rosettes and golden flowers. Division.

TANAKEA RADICANS.— A Japan-
ese alpine of dwarf carpeting and
creeping habit, this is a recent intro-
duction from Japan. The plant is
evergreen, and forms masses of firm
leathery leaves from which issue
dainty feathery plumes of creamy-
white flowers late in spring. Not more
than 6 inches in height, it is of easy
culture, and growing freely in peat and
loam. A good rock garden subject for
cool situations.

TAXODIUM (Summer - leafing
Cypress). — T. distichum is a beautiful
and stately tree, attaining in its own
country a height of 150 feet. In our
country it is of proved hardiness,
though neglected since the advent of
Californian and other half-hardy coni-
fers. A native of marshy places, it is
best planted in like situations in our
country. From the roots of old trees
its curious excrescences arise in the
shape of great bald knobs 3 or 4 feet
high. A tree of such beauty should
be grouped wherever water enters intx)

TAXUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TECOMA.

743

the home landscape, the fresh green of
the leaves being a welcome gain.
There is a pendulous form, but any
other so-called varieties are better
let alone. Secure healthy young plants
from seed only.

TAXUS (Yew).— This, one of the
most beautiful of evergreen trees, has
long been used in our flower gardens,
clipped and distorted in what is called
" topiary " work. Evelyn is said to
have introduced the practice with the
Yew, but probably it originated with
very old gardens, in which the Yew
tree stood by the door. In such a
case clipping was necessary, but in
modern gardens clipping of a less
profitable kind is often resorted to,
so that the Yew is seldom seen in its
stately grace. Its misuse is evident
in many of the great gardens of the
world, such as Versailles, where nothing
is more ugly than the Yews cut hard
against the skyline, many of them
distorted, diseased, and ugly from
constant clipping for years. The best
reason for Yew in gardens is its shel-
tering value. To put this vigorous
forest tree into beds in a flower garden,
and then clip it into various shapes,
all ugly, is folly as to design and bad
gardening, too. But with our modern
stores of evergreens from many lands,
the Yew is not our only garden shelter,
and when we use it, let it be as far from
our flowers as may be, for it is a vora-
cious feeder, and a never-ending
struggle with the roots has to go on.
The effect of a background counts
with some, and rightly ; but in our
days other fine evergreens give us
good backgrounds, if we use them
well — the Laurel, best of evergreens
(miscalled in our land the Bay), the
finest hardy Rhododendrons on their
own roots (i.e., from layers always), the
graceful American trees like the Mon-
terey and other Cypresses that require
no clipping, and are far more lovely
without the garden barber's attentions,
and, best of all, our native Holly, the
queen of evergreens. In previous
editions of this book I included a
number of varieties of the common
Yew — a large number in some nur-
series— which I have left out of the
present edition, having never in my
life seen any among those varieties at
all comparable, for vigour, or grace, or
any good quality, with our native
Cedar.

The Golden and variegated Yews
form striking groups of colour, but are

better held together in bold picturesque
groups than dotted at regular intervals
— a practice fatal to artistic effect.
The Irish Yew, a plant of striking form,
has been over-used by those who do
not consider the effect of things on the
landscape. I have seen houses with
Irish Yews in all directions destroying
the good effect of other and far more
beautiful trees, and the variety that
should exist in every English garden.

TCHIHATCHEWIA. — A beautiful
alpine plant, T. isatidea, native of
Asia Minor, it is hardy and thrives on

Tchihatchewia isatidea.

the rock garden. From a tuft of
spathulate oblong leaves, formed in
the first year, appear the flowers in
the second season ; the leaves are
dark green, thickly covered with shin-
ing silky hairs, amongst which rise the
flower-stalks, showing Syringa-like
bright rosy-lilac flowers, fragrant like
vanilla.

TECOMA ( Trumpet Creeper] . —
Handsome and distinct climbing shrub
of much beauty of habit as well as of
flower. They are not so often seen
in our country as abroad, although
well fitted for the southern and warmer
parts, and in the case of one species
and its varieties, hardy, and flowering

744 TECOPHYL^EA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. TEUCRIUM.

well against walls far north of London.
Syn., Bignonia.

T. GRANDIFLORA. — A Chinese plant,
not so hardy as the American Trumpet
Creeper, but more showy, with drooping
orange-scarlet flowers in large clusters.
Its foliage, too, is larger, but to show
its vigour and beauty the plant must
have light soil and a warm wall.
The following are varieties : — Aurantia,
which forms a rounded bush if let alone,
has fine foliage of a deep, shining green,
with ribs covered with down. The
flowers are orange-yellow and small for
T. grandiflora, the lobes narrower and less
open. In Mme. Galen, the handsomest
of the race, the flowers are large, of a fine
salmon-red, orange-red outside. Rubra,
flowers a fine deep red, leaves hairy on
the lower side, a distinct and pretty
variety.

Tccoma grandiflora.

T. RADICANS.: — Native of N. America,
and an old garden favourite. Its long,
wiry stems send out roots like Ivy, which
cling to walls or any support. There is a
variety named major, with larger flowers
of a paler tint and more robust foliage.
A strong plant will run up a wall 40 feet
high. It is useful also for covering
arbours and pergolas. It is also hardy,
and has several varieties, viz., Flava
speciosa, flowers long, orange-red ; leaves
distinct by their small, much indented
folioles, with long narrow points. This
form is dwarfer than the type and can be
grown as a shrub. Grandiflora atro-pur-
purea, flowers deep red-purple and large.
A vigorous shrub, requiring space to flower
well. Princei coccinea comes between
these, and is perhaps a hybrid. The
flowers are large, of a fine cochineal-red,
and in large panicles. T. hybrida, this
form, a cross between T. grandiflora and
T. radicans, has small, hairy leaves and
handsome orange flowers in panicles.

TECOPHYL2EA. — T. cyanocrocus is
a beautiful spring-flowering bulbous
plant from Chili, of dwarf growth, and
bearing large open deep blue flowers.
The variety Leichtlini has a white
centre and a sweet perfume. This
variety is not thoroughly hardy, except

in very mild localities, but it succeeds
well under frame - culture. About
August bulbs of flowering size should
be planted 3 inches deep, in rich soil
in a frame. If potted, a depth of
2. inches is sufficient, and plunge the
pots. They should be kept cool, and
have as much air as possible. The
lights must be taken off in February
and March, when the weather becomes
warm, and the pots should remain
exposed until the flowers begin to
expand, when they may be trans-
ferred to the greenhouse.

TELLIMA.— Perennials of the Saxi-
frage order, from N. America, re-
sembling Heucheras. T. grandiflora
has leaves prettily coloured and veined
like Heuchera Richardsoni, and spikes
of small yellowish bell - like flowers,
thriving in any soil. Division.

TEUCRIUM (Germander}. — A group
of low shrubs or perennial herbs of
variable habit, with neat dwarf growth
and lipped flowers of varied colour.
Not many are of any garden value.
T. Cham&drys (Wall Germander) is 6
to 10 inches high, with shining leaves
and reddish-purple flowers in summer.
It is found throughout Europe on
walls and rocks, in any light soil,
whilst as an edging plant it is useful.

T. FRUTICANS. — A shrub from the south
of Europe, with white stems clothed with
green leaves silvery with down upon the
under side, and pale blue flowers. It is
hardy in the warmer parts of Britain,
thriving in light dry soils in a sunny expo-
sure and shelter from cold winds. Planted
against a wall or in good soil near the
sea, it grows several feet high. Cuttings.

T. MARUM (Cat Thyme). — Has some of
the habit of the common Thyme, with
bright red flowers in summer. Coming
from Spain, it is likely to prove hardy only
in the southern parts of these islands ;
then only on ruins, old walls, or in dry
chinks in chalk or gravel pits. Cuttings.

T. MONTANUM. — A free-flowering rock
plant, with numerous pale yellow blossoms
on dwarf dense carpets of leaves that
cling closely to the stones. This little
shrub grows without trouble in a dry place,
in rather poor soil.

T. POLIUM (Poly Germander). — A curi-
ous dwarf whitish herb, 3 to 5 inches high,
with small pale yellow flowers densely
covered with short yellow down in June
and July. It is suited for sunny spots in
the rock garden, and for light free soil,
but is only hardy in southern gardens.
Seed, cuttings, and division.

T. PYRENAICUM (Pyrenean Germander).
— A dwarf hardy perennial, with trailing
stems 3 to 7 inches high, and purplish and

THALIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

THALICTRUM.

745

white flowers in dense terminal clusters.
The leaves, branches, and stem are thickly
covered with soft silvery down. It is
suitable for the rock garden and for
borders.

T. PURPUREUM. — A quaint, rigid, ever-
green dwarf bush, 6 to 9 inches high, its
erect twigs, studded with bright rosy-
purple flowers, giving a bit of good colour
late in the season. Seed, cuttings, or
division. T. hyrcanicum, T. lusitanicum,
T. orientale, and T. multiflorum are also
noteworthy.

partial shade. The double varieties
may be preferred to the type, and
there is also a pretty form with pale
j rosy sepals. N. America. T. minus
forms compact slightly glaucous sym-
metrical tufts, 12 to 1 8 inches high.
May be grown in any soil, but the
slender flower-stems, which appear in
May and June, should be pinched off.
This bushy little tuft resembles the
Maiden-hair Fern, and its leaves are
just as pretty for mixing with cut

THALIA.— T. dealbata is one
of the most stately of water-side
plants. Its glaucous foliage and
elegant panicles of purple flowers
are welcome along the margins
of shallow ponds or streams, and
it is hardy in sheltered places.
It is best grown in pots or tubs
pierced with holes, in a mixture
of stiff peat and clayey soil, and
river mud and sand. The plant
thrives only in warm places in
the southern counties S. Carolina.
Division.

THALICTRUM (Meadow Rue).
— Perennial herbs with elegant
foliage, but not showy flowers.
A few of the smaller species rival
in delicacy of form and colour
some of the charming Maiden-
hair Ferns, and may be associ-
ated with flowering plants, or those
of fine foliage. T. anemonoides (Rue
Anemone) is usually only a few inches
high, its white flowers* being nearly
i inch in diameter, and open in April
and May. It is best suited for the
rock garden in deep moist soil and

Thcilictrum aquilegifoliuin .

flowers, and last much longer. The
plants also look well isolated, in large
tufts in borders or as an edging.
Division. T. adiantifolium is similar.
T. tuber o sum is about 9 inches high,
with graceful foliage, and abundance
of yellowish cream - coloured flowers.

746

THERMOPSIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. THUNBERGIA.

It is hardy in a deep peat soil. S.
Europe. Beside these dwarf kinds
there are about two dozen other species,
ranging from 3 to 6 feet in height.
There is a great sameness among them,
as all have finely-cut foliage. A good
kind with fern - like foliage is T.
aquilegifolium, which is about 4 feet
high, and grows vigorously in any soil.
There are two or three varieties of it,
one (atro-purpureum) with dark pur-
plish stems and leaves, and a second
in which they are golden.

Kinds less well known but quite
worth growing are T. Chelidonii, of
doubtful hardiness, from the Hima-
layas, with charming pale lilac flowers
and greyish-green foliage. T. Delavayi,
of weak constitution, comes near this,
with larger flowers of a rosy-violet
colour and a very dwarf habit. Much
the best and most ornamental of the
violet-coloured Meadow Rues is T.
dipterocarpum, from W. China. The
plant reaches 6 feet or more high, and
in July its elegant sprays sparkle with
the violet-blue-white anthered flowers.
A most charming plant. Happiest in
loam, leaf-mould, and peat where
moisture is not absent during the grow-
ing season. Easily raised from seeds.
T. petaloideum is a dwarf-growing kind
with white flowers. The taller sorts
are in general less desirable, but two
good ones are T. glaucum, from S.
Europe, growing 6 feet high in moist
rich" soil, with grey- green finely-cut
leaves and feathery heads of pale yellow
flowers ; and T. polygamum, from the
W. United States, which grows even
taller in damp places, with fine spread-
ing clusters of white flowers in July.
There is a prettily variegated garden
form of the first named.

T. DIPTEROCARPUM (Lilac Meadow Rue) .
— A distinct and graceful plant, one of the
best hardy flowers introduced for many
years. Tall, of fine foliage and habit,
with very beautiful flowers of lilac hue.
Flowers in midsummer and is quite hardy,
and a charming addition to the open-air
flower garden. We are not sure as to its
permanence, so it is well to add a stock of
young plants. China.

All the Thalictrums do well natura-
lised, and are readily increased from
seed or careful division in early spring.

THERMOPSIS.— Perennials, 2 to 6
feet high, slender in growth, and with
long terminal spikes of attractive
yellow Lupine-like flowers. T. mon-
tana is of graceful growth, and as it
flowers at the same time it may be

associated with the perennial Lupins
and other border plants of the season.
It grows best in good soil in an open
border, and is a native of western N.
America. T. rhombifolia is dwarfer
and with rounded leaflets, growing
well even in the driest places. T.
fabacea comes very near T. montana,
and has been confused with it, but
it comes from the north of Asia ; it
is of fine habit and very free-bloom-
ing. A scarce but good kind is T.
caroliniana, which grows 6 feet high
in rich moist soil and blooms in July
and August when all the rest have
done. For the back of the border, or
for massing in moist places, this is a
truly handsome plant. T. barbata is
a beautiful Himalayan species with
purple flowers. Some of these plants
spread freely at the root, and may be
increased by division or seeds.

THLADIANTHA.— T. dubia is a
handsome creeping perennial of the
Gourd family, from N. China and
India, with long climbing stems bear-
ing many bright yellow bell-shaped
flowers.

All the flowers on a plant are either
male or female, so that unless both
sexes are planted no fruit is produced.
When the female flowers are hand-
fertilised they set freely, and the egg-
shaped fruits 2 1 inches long are exceed-
ingly handsome, green at first, changing
to a bright scarlet. The pale green
foliage is handsome and the stems run
to a length of many feet from a tuberous
root, which can be lifted in the autumn
after the plant has died down. In the
Cambridge Botanic Garden these plants
fruit freely every season on an east
wall.

T. OLIVIERI. — A new kind from N.
China, hardy and vigorous, making shoots
30 feet long in the season. The rounded
leaves are about 8 inches across, carried
on long stalks. Clusters of yellow bell-
shaped flowers appear from the leaf-axils
from July to September. A handsome
climber for warm walls or banks.

THLASPI. — Annual or perennial
herbs of slight garden value. T. lati-
folium is a dwarf vigorous perennial
from the Caucasus, 6 to 12 inches high,
with large root-leaves, and flowers
something like those of Arabis albida,
but larger. Suitable for borders, the
spring garden, and naturalising with
the dwarfer flowers of spring. Division
and seed.

THUNBERGIA. — T. alata is a beau-
tiful half-hardy annual, and an elegant

THUYA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. TIARELLA. 747

dwarf climber of the easiest culture,
and in summer valuable for draping
dwarf trellises. The flowers vary in
colour : alba is pure white with a
dark eye ; aurantiaca, bright orange ;
Fryeri, orange with a white eye ;
Doddsi has variegated foliage ; and
there are others with yellow and sul-
phur flowers. The plants grow 4 to
5 feet high, and from July till October
their slender stems are covered with
bloom. Seeds should be sown in heat
in early spring, and the seedlings
potted separately when large enough.
Raised in heat in May, plant them out
in good light soil, but only fitted for
warm gardens in the south.

THUYA (Arbor-vita). — Evergreen
cone-bearing trees, some of much
beauty, but the group is represented
in gardens by numbers of worthless
shrubs and mean trees ; happily, the
species are not so numerous as they
seem from the many names that have
been given to their mostly ugly
varieties.

T. DOLOBRATA (Japanese Arbor- vitae) . —
A distinct and beautiful evergreen tree,
perhaps the most graceful of the group,
fine in colour and very hardy. Fortun-
ately it seems less ready than most
to sport into the worthless dwarf and
variegated forms. It is said to attain
its finest stature in mountain woods in
Japan, and to grow well under other
trees, and it should be worth trying in
like circumstances in our country. It
comes very freely from layers, in fact,
the lower branches of the trees root
themselves freely, and these over-facile
ways of increase make it all the more
necessary that we should get healthy
seedling trees, as suckers take bushy
rather than tree form. Syn., Thuyopsis.

T. GIGANTEA (Giant Arbor-vitae). — A tall
and noble tree, fine in stature and form,
hardy and healthy in our country, thriving
in ordinary soils, and a free and rapid
grower, attaining in its own country a
maximum height of 150 feet, and its wood
is fine-grained and very useful. N.W.
America ; finest on the Columbia River.
Syns., T. Lobbi, T. Craigiana, T. menziesii.

T. JAPONICA (Standish's Arbor- vitas) . —
A graceful evergreen tree of medium size,
attaining a height of over 50 feet, with
branches of a slender pendulous charac-
ter of a fresh green colour. A native of
the mountains of C. Japan, it was intro-
duced by Fortune, and sent out by the
late John Standish of Ascot, but has
not yet been much grown. The form
usually seen is said not to be the true
wild tree — a reason for getting seed from
Japanese sources. Happily this has not
yet, l|ke so many others, sported jntp

a mass of varieties. Syn., Thuyopsis
Standishi.

T. OCCIDENTALS (Western Arbor-vitas).
— A poor hardy evergreen tree which
has varied much in colour and foliage and
form. Ponderous Latin names have been
applied to worthless varieties, of which
over twenty are given in some catalogues.
It is used to get shelter fences and hedges
rapidly, though by no means so good for
that purpose as our own native shrubs
like the Yew, Box and Holly, and it would
be no great loss to omit it from the garden
altogether ; all the more so, perhaps, as
it is one of the cheap evergreens used in
the muddle mixture of the common
shrubbery.

T. ORIENTALIS (Chinese Arbor-vitae). —
A tree with little of the beauty of the
Pine or Cypress, and which has, unfor-
tunately, given rise to a crowd of varieties,
variegated, silvery, golden, and other
dense, monstrous,- and pendulous shapes,
mystified by Latin names. Not only
are they poor in themselves, but they
keep the mind away from the central
fact of the beauty, dignity, and great
value of the Pine race. These varieties
have again synonyms, and some of them
get into cultivation under the wrong name
of Retinospora.

THYMELffiA NIVALIS.— A little
evergreen shrub, native of the Pyrenees,
and closely allied to the Daphnes.

THYMUS ( Thyme) . — Creeping plants
suited for arid parts of the rock garden,
spreading quickly into dense cushions,
and not to be placed near minute
alpine plants. Nothing can be more
charming than a sunny bank covered
with the common wild Thyme (T.
serpyllum) and its white variety. T.
lanuginosus is a woolly form of our
wild Thyme, forming wide cushions in
any soil. The Golden Thyme is
9 inches high, dense and compact,
and used for edging. Other varieties
of the Common Thyme are grandiflorus,
with larger flowers of the same colour,
splendens and coccineus, in which they
are bright crimson, and excellent for
bright patches of colour ; micans, with
rosy-purple flowers ; and rotundi-
folius, very dwarf and profuse in
flower. The minute creeping and
Peppermint-scented T. corsicus, with
flowers so small as to be almost invis-
ible, should be planted in every rock
garden. Other kinds in cultivation
are T. azoricus, T. azureus, T. brac-
teosus, T. Zygis, T. thuriferus, and
T. Chamczdrys.

TIARELLA (Foam Flower). — A
small group of slender perennial herbs,
flourishing in almost any soil or

748

TIGRIDIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TILJA.

position, but in partial shade and a
moist soil. T. cordifolia bears little
starry creamy-white flowers, the buds
delicately tinged with pink, a well-
flowered mass seen a few yards off
having a close likeness to a wreath of
foam. The young leaves are tender
green, spotted and veined with deep
red, while the older ones at the base
of the plant are of a rich red-bronze.
T. unifoliata, with white flowers and
rosy stamens, is also good.

'J'iarclla cordifolia,

TIGRIDIA (Tiger Flower}.— Bulbous
plants with very showy flowers, not
hardy generally, requiring similar
treatment to Gladiolus, though in some
of our most southerly counties they
would be safe in light soil and a warm
position. Annual lifting, storing, and
spring planting are needed, and the
bulbs are better freed from the bulblets
of the previous season. In warm gar-
dens, where the bulbs are left in the
ground all the winter, they should be
well protected with ashes. Choose the
sunniest spot in the garden. A sandy
loam lightened by leaf-mould is the
best to ensure a strong and rapid
growth. From about midsummer on-
wards till September, or even later,
the plants will be in bloom. In Octo-

ber the foliage turns yellow as the
bulbs ripen ; lift by November, bunch
them, and hang in an airy shed till
dry.

The best known species is T. Pavonia
from Mexico, a plant of many forms
and garden varieties, differing in shape
or colour from the parent, with its
large flowers 5 inches across, glowing
in scarlet and orange. Among the
most distinct varieties are : —

T. PAVONIA var. ALBA. — Flowers
nearly 6 inches across, with sepals and
petals of ivory whiteness, heavily
blotched at the bases with carmine-red.
T. P. A. IMMACULATA. — This is a sport
from alba, its name having reference to the
uniform snowy whiteness of the flowers,
which are without the conspicuous spots
of other varieties. Though normally pure
white, the flowers are sometimes tinted
with pale green or creamy-j^ellow.

T. P. AUREA. — A hybrid raised many
years ago between T. Pavonia and T.
conchiflora, and uniting the robust vigour .
of the first with the refinement and fine
colour of the second parent. The shade
of yellow inclines to orange, and the
small central basin of the flower is mottled
with red, reddish - purple, or chocolate.
The flowers are freely produced, and the
plant is easy to grow and increases
rapidly. It is better known on the
continent than with us, and often under
the name T. Watkinsoni. Other varieties
are flava, with pale yellow flowers and a
red-spotted centre ; canariensis, a pale
yellow form ; lutea immaculata, soft
yellow without spots ; and carminea, a
new and pretty shade.

T. P. CONCHIFLORA. — Flowers with outer
segments yellow, heavily blotched with
red at the bases, and with inner segments
similarly variegated. The names canari-
ensis or conchiflora grandiflora probably
represent a form differing slightly as
regards brilliancy of colour, but it is un-
doubtedly a seedling form of the original
T. conchiflora. Though the small flowers
of this kind are refined and beautiful, the
plant is rather weakly, increases slowly,
and is apt to perish.

T. P. GRANDIFLORA. — Flowers larger
and brighter in colour, with fuller and
more rounded petals. Under this name
I would also include the names speciosa,
splendens, coccinea, and Wheeleri.

T. P. LILACEA. — Flowers with rosy car-
mine sepals and petals, the bases varie-
gated with white, a cross between T.
Pavonia and T. Pavonia alba.

T. P. ROSE A. — Flowers with rose-
coloured sepals and petals, the bases
variegated with yellow, a cross between
T. Pavonia and conchiflora.

TILIA (Lime; Linden). — Mostly
summer-leafing trees of northern and

TlLIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

Till A.

temperate regions, often cut into ugly
shapes in continental gardens. By far
the best effect of the tree is when it is
allowed to take its natural shape, and
its fragrance is often welcome on the
lawn. The " pleached " alleys of old
English gardens were often made of
this tree, but these are much easier got
now from various trees of better colour
and leaf, such as the fine-leaved
Acacias or graceful fruit trees like the
Japanese and other crabs, which,
while giving us the shade we seek, give
flowers in season. Some of the Limes
are very handsome trees, hardy, fine
in form and leaf, and good on the lawn
or in grove, but, as few places have
space enough to represent all the trees
of this genus, the best way is to make
a selection of the stateliest and best.
There is some talk now of hybridising
forest trees, which, considering the
beautiful ones we already have, seems
no very necessary mode of research ;
also, variegated and mean types of the
tree should be avoided, and especially
grafted trees. Some of the rarer kinds
are grafted on the common one.

T. AMERICANA (Basswood). — A vigorous
round-headed tree covered with ruddy
bark, the leaves larger, more pointed, and
of darker green than in the Common Lime,
while the flower bracts are also larger and
come about ten days later, giving place
to yellow pea-like fruits. The tree is
spreading and needs space, and it bears
drought better than the Limes of Europe.

T. ARGENTEA (White Lime). — A stately
tree sometimes 80 feet high, but mostly
about half that height, with heart-shaped
leaves of a fine silvery colour underneath,
and lasting fresh much longer than on the
Common Lime. This is a precious tree
for grouping where its fine colour can tell
in open park-land or upon the fringes of
woodland, for which seedlings can be used,
but not grafted trees.

T. DASYSTYLA (Crimean Lime). — A
handsome tree from S. Russia, with lus-
trous dark-green leaves on bright-green
twigs, lasting fresh longer than on the
Common Lime. The young growths give
pretty tints of red and yellow, and the
pale flowers come early in August.

T. PETIOLARIS (Weeping White L.). —
Though the silvery effect of this tree is
fully as beautiful as that of the White
Lime, it is very different in habit, every
shoot drooping gracefully, while the leaf-
stalks are fully twice as long as in T.
argentea. It is a strong grower even on
poor soils, reaching a height of 60 feet or
more, and resisting drought ; the flowers
large, in July. The leaves are large,
rounded, and so twisted as to show the
hoary underside even in repose. S.
Russia.

T. PLATYPHYLLOS (Broad-leaved L.). —
A variable tree, attaining at maturity a
height of 90 feet, with dense ample leaves,
sometimes downy on both sides and always
underneath. It is the first of the Limes
to bloom, the flowers coming in June and
followed by hairy thick-celled capsules.
The effect of this stately tree is marred
by its early loss of leaf, especially in a
dry season. There are many varieties,

Tigridia Pavonia alba imniaculata.

including pyramidalis, of erect habit ;
rubra and aurea, with red or yellow bark ;
asplenifolia and laciniata, dwarf trees
with cut leaves ; and vitifolia, in which
they are lobed like a Vine.

T. VULGARIS (Common L.). — Not a
native of Britain, though freely natura-
lised. The Lime seldom sows itself in
this country, but no tree is more easily
increased by layers.

Two or three new Limes have come
from E. Asia, and are coming into cultiva-
tion. These are T. mandschurica, which,
in its own land, makes a spreading tree of
50 to 60 feet, of pendulous habit. From
nearly the same region conies T. mon-
golica, a slender low-growing tree of grace-
ful appearance, with very small rounded
or three-lobed leaves. Perhaps the finest
of the entire genus is T. miqueliana, from
the forests of Japan, where it reaches a
height of 100 feet. There are also an

750 TowfcsENbiA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. TRAPA.

increasing number of hybrid Limes, some
of which promise to be of value.

TOWNSENDIA (Rocky Mountain
Daisy) . — A group of low - stemmed
annual or perennial herbs with large
Aster-like flowers, from the mountains
of N.W. America. In some kinds
the flowers are large and handsome, but
only three are as yet in cultivation.
T. grandiflora is a dwarf plant with
grey foliage and large white flowers ;
T. sericea makes stemless rosettes of
silvery leaves with a stemless flower
i to 2 inches across in the centre of
each, the rays of which are pure white
or tipped with purple. This plant
flowers so early as to have earned the
name of Easter Daisy with the
colonists. T. Wilcoxiana is a pretty
little alpine plant of creeping habit,
with rosy Aster-like flowers in May
and June. All the kinds need a shel-
tered sunny place in light dry soil,
and their degree of hardiness is not
fully known.

TRACHELIUM (Blue Throatwort).—
T. cceruleum is a much-branched peren-
nial, i to 2 feet high, bearing in summer
broad clusters of small blossoms, blue
in the type and white and lilac in the
varieties. It can be grown only in
the warmest situations in dry borders,
rocky banks, and old ruins or walls.
It is an elegant plant for vases, etc.
Mediterranean. Seed or cuttings. T.
rumelianum is a much dwarfer plant
from Greece, requiring similar treat-
ment and bearing pale violet flowers.

TR A CHELO SPERMUM ( Chinese
Jasmine) . — Climbing shrubs with ever-
green leaves and fragrant white
flowers, hardy upon warm walls in
favoured places. T. jasminoides (once
known as Rhynchospermum) was for-
merly much grown under glass, but
has done well in the open air in the
south and south-west of England and
Ireland. Even in the north of Wales
there is a sheltered house-front near
the sea completely covered with it.
The plant flowers well at Gravetye
against a west wall without protection.
T. crocostemon is even hardier, growing
and flowering on a wall at Kew, with

Erotection in severe weather. Until
itely this plant passed as a narrow-
leaved variety (angustifolia) of the
older one, but when it bloomed freely
in 1903 the flowers proved to be dis-
tinct— creamy-white with an orange
centre. T. angustifolia is also quite
hardy on a wall facing east. These
shrubs are neatly attractive, of rather

slow growth, and the flowers useful for
cutting. A light or peaty soil and a
sheltered wall are the best conditions,
with protection at the root during
frost. They will grow well in partial
shade. Increase by half-ripe cuttings
of the young shoots, rooted in heat.
Japan. Syn., Rhynchospermum.

Trachycarpus. See CHAM^ROPS.

TRACHYSTEMON.— Two species of
hardy perennials belonging to the
Borage family. T. orientalis is a
dwarf border plant blooming in early
spring. Its broad hairy leaves are a
pretty bronze or purple colour while
young, and the hairy stems of 9 to
12 inches carry long-stemmed rosy-

Eurple buds opening as blue and white
owers. Thrives in any soil, and is
readily increased by seeds or division.
Asia Minor.

TRADESCANTIA (Virginian Spider-
wort). -- Perennials, some of them
quite hardy, of which T. virgin ica
with its varieties is the best. It is
12 to 30 inches high, and has showy
purple flowers in summer. There are
varieties with white, mauve, rosy-blue,
and deep red flowers, and there are
also double-flowered forms of most of
these, as well as of the parent plant.
They thrive in moist soil, and arc
useful for the mixed border. Division.

TRAPA (Water Chestnut). — Water
plants with nut-like seeds used as food
in the countries where they grow. T.
natans is an annual kind from the south
of Europe, which makes floating tufts
of triangular bronzed leaves buoyed
up in the water by their inflated
stems. The submerged leaves are a
different shape, finely divided and
serve partly as roots. The pretty
white and purple flowers float about
among the leaves, and are followed by
peculiar fruits, with a hard shell and
sweet white kernels, which have the
flavour of a Spanish chestnut, and are

fDod to eat either raw or cooked,
hough it will grow out of doors in
summer, the plant seldom comes to
perfection with us, unless in water
warmed by overflow from a hothouse
tank or other means. A depth of
about 2 feet is sufficient, and as they
ripen in October the fruits reserved
for seed sink to the bottom, whence
they rise of themselves on starting into
growth in spring. The seed is difficult
to preserve in any other way, and
unless quite fresh is seldom good.

TRICUSPIDARIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GAkDEti. TRILLIUM. 75!

Trichonema. See ROMULEA.

TRICUSPIDARIA.— T. lanceolata is
a lovely flowering shrub from Chili,
which has flowered in the open air at
Castlewellan and in other sheltered
seaside gardens for several years past.
At Castlewellan it is planted in a shady
border near a large Yew hedge, in peat,
leaf soil, and loam in equal proportions.
It flowers twice a year, in the spring
and in autumn, the colour of the
flowers being a rich crimson. Being
near the sea there is very little frost in
ordinary winters, and the plant requires
no protection, but in a less favoured
place it would be well to pot it and
winter it in a cool greenhouse. Syn.,
Crinodendron Hookerianum.

There has recently come into culti-
vation a second species named T.
dependens, and the fact that this name
has for many years been used for the
older plant has given rise to much
confusion. T. dependens bears white
bell-shaped flowers fringed around the
mouth, drooping gracefully from the
under side of the branches of an elegant
evergreen shrub, which thrives in the
open air in our warmest coast gardens.
Like the older kind, it comes from
Chili, and has already reached a height
of 7 or 8 feet at Car clew in Cornwall.

TRICYRTIS. — T. hirta is an inter-
esting Japanese perennial, about 3 feet
high, with slender erect stems ter-
minated by a few curiously - shaped
pinkish blossoms, spotted with pur-
plish-black. It is perfectly hardy, but
flowers so late that it is invariably
damaged by frosts. The variety nigra
flowers three weeks earlier, and is
therefore better, whilst the flowers are
more attractive Other garden forms
of this species are grandiflora, its white
flowers spotted with purple ; and varie-
gata, with finely marked foliage of
charming effect in a moist shady spot.
T. pilosa is dwarfer and rarer than
T. hirta, but is otherwise a similar
plant. T. macropodum bears yellow
and black flowers, and blooms much
earlier than the other species. They
all thrive in a moist peat border, par-
tially shaded, and if somewhat pro-
tected so much the better.

TRIENTALIS (Star - flower) . — T.
europaa is a delicate and graceful
plant found over Europe, Asia, and
America, in shady, woody, and mossy
places. It has erect, slender stems,
rarely more than 6 inches high, bear-
ing one to four flower-stems, each with
a white or pink -tipped star -shaped

flower in early summer. Healthy well-
rooted plants are not difficult to estab-
lish among dwarf shrubs in some half-
shady part of the rock garden, in peat
soil. Flowers in early summer. Divi-
sion.

TRIFOLIUM (Trefoil).— Among the
few garden varieties are some dwarf
creeping kinds, the best being T. uni-
florum from Syria, a neat trailing plant
with pink and white flowers, borne

Tricuspidaria lanceolata. From a photograph sent
by Lord Annesley.

singly, and studded profusely over the
plant. It delights in an exposed posi-
tion on the rock garden, with an open
space on which to creep. T. alpinum
is a stout spreading kind, 3 to 6 inches
high, bearing large, but not brilliant,
flowers in summer, the upper petal
fleshr coloured and streaked with
purple. T. rubens is a stout peren-
nial, about i foot high, with large
dense heads of carmine flowers in early
summer. It grows almost anywhere,
but prefers dry, calcareous soils.
T. pannonicum, with creamy-white
flowers, is ornamental. " Calvary
Clover ' ' is the common name of a
pretty variety of the white Dutch
Clover, in which the leaves are almost
entirely of a deep bronze-purple colour ;
it quickly spreads into a dark carpet
of singular effect. Division or seed.

TRILLIUM (Wood Lily), — Peren-
nials of low growth, which inhabit the
woods of N. America. The finest is

TRlTELElA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TROLLIUS.

.T. grandiflorum (White Wood Lily),
one of the most beautiful hardy plants,
6 to 12 inches high, with on each stem
a lovely white three-petalled flower,
fairer than the white Lily, and almost
as large. It is a free-growing plant of
goodly size in a shady peaty border in
open air ; but in a sunny or exposed
position its large soft green leaves do
not develop. Depressed shady nooks
in the rock garden or the hardy fernery
suit it admirably. In the rosy variety
the rosy hue is most pronounced in
the young stage, and the leaf -stalks
and the foliage are of a more bronzy
shade of green. Other distinct varie-
ties are maximum, with stems very
stout and twice the usual height, while

bloom. It does well in pots, revels in
chalky loams, and even in an unfavour-
able position in clay. There are
several forms, which differ in the shade
of their flowers. Associated with the
best Scillas, Leucojum vernum, Iris
reticulata, dwarf Daffodils, and the like,
T. uniflora is delightful, and is equally
useful for the rock garden, borders, or
edgings. S. America. T. (Leucocoryne)
alliacea is nearly allied, less pretty, and
thrives under similar circumstances.
For other species see BRODIJEA.

Tritoma. See KNIPHOFIA.
Tritonia. See MONTBRETIA.

TROCHODENDRON. — The only
species is T. aralioides, a rare evergreen

Trillium grandijlorum (White Wood l.ily).

the flowers are 4 to 6 inches across ;
and palustris, a form specially adapted
for wet ground, and nearly equal
in vigour to that just described.
Thus is the kind found by far the best
in shade. Its rivale is a dwarf kind,
well spoken of for the rock garden, but
I have not seen it.

TRITELEIA (Spring Star-flower). —
T. uniflora is a delicately-coloured,
free-flowering, hardy, bulbous plant,
4 to 6 inches high ; the flowers white,
with bluish reflections, and marked on
the outside through the middle of the
divisions with a violet streak, which is
continued down the tube. They open
at sunrise, and are conspicuously beau-
tiful on bright days, but close in dull
and sunless weather. The plant comes
into flower with or before Scilla sibirica,
and during April remains in effective

shrub from moist mountain woods of
Japan, hardy in our southern gardens.
It is of somewhat straggling habit,
with loosely - clustered pale green
leathery leaves and handsome greenish
flowers three - quarters of an inch
across, clustered together at the tips
of the shoots as in Ivy and Aralia. In
Japan the flowers are followed by
fleshy fruits.

TROLLIUS ( Globe-flower) . — Hand-
some stout perennials of erect habit,
needing no support. They may be
grown in borders or by streams, and in
moist loam, where they give delightful
effects. They are of dense growth,
foliage and flowers rising from an
underground crown with deep-search-
ing roots. The flowers vary from a
pale yellow to a deep gold. The Globe-
flowers are at their best in May and

TROLLIUS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. TROP^EOLUM. 753

June, though old-established plants
may 'develop a lew flowers in Septem-
ber and October. Division in Sep-
tember ; also easily raised from seeds.
T. ACAULIS. — A native of the Himalayan
Mountains, and one of the most charming
dwarf bog plants, 4 to 6 inches in height,
its bright yellow flowers, 2 inches across,
suffused with purple-brown on the outside.
It is hardy, and will be found most useful
for the low or moist spots in the rock
garden.

T. ASIATICUS (Orange Globe-flower),
which also includes chinensis, Fortunei,
and other forms, has rich orange-yellow
flowers and bright orange-red anthers, is
hardy even in the most exposed positions,
and differs from the European Globe-
flowers chiefly in its less globular flowers,
small finely-divided foliage, and taller
growth. China and Japan.

T. EUROPJEUS (Globe-flower). — Grows
about 15 inches high, has lemon-yellow
flowers, and is an extremely variable
plant, so much so that almost every
locality has its particular form. Raised
from seed it also gives much variety in
habit, flowers, and foliage, two of the
choicest forms being albus, with creamy-
white flowers, and superbus, with large
flowers of soft pale yellow. T. europesus
has various forms. A few of these are
distinct, dauricus being noted for its large
bloom and large much-divided leaves on
long olive-green foot-stalks. There is
also T. albiflorus, with white flowers, found
on the mountain tops in Colorado.

T. LEDEBOURI. — A valuable late-flower-
ing species with rich orange flowers and
conspicuously protruding stamens. Very
desirable, too, is T. pumilis yunnanensis ,
from China, with handsome glossy foliage
and large, almost salver-shaped, clear
yellow flowers.

T. PATULUS (Bees' var.). — A pleasant
surprise — the handsomest hardy flower
since the coming of the Pontic Kingcup —
of the richest, softest yellow. It makes
me regret my neglect of the Globe-flowers,
and resolve to plant a big group of them,
with this Kingcup, in a good place.

More distinct and valuable than the
many wild forms running one into the
other are the hybrids and garden seed-
lings, of which there is an increasing
number. Even in these the differences
are mainly in habit and form of flower,
there being little variation in colour.
Orange Globe and Prince of Orange
give rich well-formed flowers of intense
colour ; Gibsoni and T. S. Ware are
also good in this shade. Golden Globe
and Newry Giant are fine yellow
varieties, the latter especially tall and
vigorous ; while Yellow Globe and
Lemon Queen bear soft pale yellow

flowers, the last being considerably
the taller of the two.

TROP2EOLUM ( Nasturtium] . — Plants
of the mountain region from New
Granada to Chili, seldom descending
into the plains, and therefore not
requiring great heat. This, indeed, is
against them ; on the other hand,
the first frost cuts most of them to
the ground. They love a half -shaded
situation in the open air during sum-
mer. There are annual and perennial
species, and the perennials may be
divided into groups, with fibrous and
with tuberous roots. The rapid
growth of the annuals, T. majus and

T. minus, is proverbial, and their
hardiness in a temperature above
freezing-point, as well as their indiffer-
ence to soil, makes them useful where
anything unsightly is to be hidden.
The following are the most fitted for
the open air : —

T. ADUNCUM (Canary Creeper). — A
favourite, and almost unrivalled for ele-
gance among native creepers. Its home
is uncertain. It occurs all over the west
of S. America, from Mexico to Chili, but
it has doubtless spread from the Andes.
It thrives in sun or shade, but is best in a
north aspect, festooning trellises, arbours,
shrubs, etc., and rarely fails even in town
gardens. Seeds should be sown in April
in the open ground in sandy loam. Syn.,
T. canariense.

T. HEYNEANUM. — A beautiful perennial
climber with flowers akin to those of the
common Canary Creeper, but rather
smaller and of an orange colour ; they are
distinct also in shape, the lower petals
being nearly as large as the upper, with
a straight spur instead of a hooked claw.
Peru. Easily raised from imported seed.

T. LOBBIANUM. — This fine annual
climber is easily known from the old
T. majus by its hairy foliage, though the
flowers are in similar shades of yellow,
scarlet, and crimson. The plant will
clothe unsightly spots, seeds being sown
about the middle of April. The plant has
a pleasing effect sown here and there
amongst shrubs. As the plants grow
they attach themselves to the bushes,
and climbing over or through them, throw
out wreaths of lovely blossoms, which
retain their beauty until frost.

T. MAJUS (Large Indian Cress). — A
showy annual, coming into flower more
quickly, and few bloom longer. In poor
soil the compactum forms bloom best.
Their rich colours are superb in masses,
and they are never without flowers from
first to last. All who love rich masses of
colour will find these dwarf Nasturtiums
worth a place in some of the many fine
sorts now obtainable.

754

TROPJBOLUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. TROPJEOLUM.

T. PENTAPHYLLUM. — A rapid-growing
climber, 6 to 10 feet high, with greenish-
red flowers. It will cover pillars, walls,
chains, bowers, and revels in sunshine,
succeeding well on the south wall of a
greenhouse or in any warm aspect. It
does best in light and warm loams or
calcareous soils. Division or seed. Chili.

T. POLYPHYLLUM. — One of the most
beautiful trailers introduced. While its
foliage may form a dense carpet on a
bank, its wreaths of yellow flowers follow in
windings and groupings, its leaves glaucous
and cut into fine leaflets. In a warm rock

Tropcpolum polyphyllum.

garden the stems creep about, snake-like,
through the neighbouring vegetation,
sometimes extending 3 or 4 feet. The root
is tuberous, and increases in the earth
borders. It springs up early, and dies
down too soon after flowering — its only
fault. It is hardy in my garden, and
thrives in various positions. Chilian
Cordilleras.

T. SMITHI. — A beautiful plant from a
great elevation in the Andes of north-
western S. America. It is a twiner of free,
robust habit, bearing smooth glossy leaves
deeply cut into five broad lobes. The
flowers are large and funnel-shaped, ending
in a long green-tipped spur ; the calyx
is rich ruby red, with finely fringed and
lobed petals of orange veined with bright
red. Flowers in June and July, and may
be raised from seed and treated as a
hardy annual during summer.

T. SPECIOSUM (Flame Nasturtium). — A
splendid creeper, with long and elegant
annual shoots, clothed with leaves from
the axils of which spring brilliant ver-
milion flowers. Quite a free grower in

Scotland ; in the south it is best among
shrubs and in half-shady spots, also often
thrives in hedgerows. It makes its way
through evergreen shrubs, and enjoys a
deep, rich, and rather moist soil, in cool
places, or near the sea, where no pains
should be spared to establish it. At
North Walsham (5 miles from Cromer),
the curtains of growth, flower, and fruit
against the high walls are among the
features of these well-known gardens.

A correspondent wrote to The Garden :
" This beautiful climber dislikes hot sun
and a dry atmosphere, and this accounts
for many failures in growing it. Several
years ago a friend who knew nothing of

I the plant received some roots from the
fine old plant at Lismore Castle. By
my advice some were planted against a
west wall, in front of which grew some

! good - sized Nut - bushes and Apple - trees,
so that in the hot summer weather the
sun could only reach the plants for a
couple of hours daily. The remaining
roots were planted against a north wall
with scarcely any sun, and at the west end
of the dwelling-house, where the full force
of the afternoon sun was felt. In all
these cases the soil was alike. The plants
behind the Nut-bushes and Apple-trees
grew remarkably well, and bloomed as
freely as could be expected in the first
year of planting. On'the north wall the
growth was good, though the flowers were
not so numerous ; but in the sunny
position, although the roots made a little
growth, they withered away as soon as
the sun made itself felt. There could be
no better proof that success with the
Flame-flower is a matter of position, and
that, even in the southern counties, there
are probably few gardens where its require-
ments cannot be met.

" When a position is selected, the soil
should be made light, deep, and free by
leaf-mould, peat, fibry loam, and sand,
according to the nature of the ground.
Mulch in summer with an inch or two of
leaf-mould or manure to prevent excessive
evaporation ; and whatever manure is
used, it must be well decayed. The young
plants should be planted in spring, the
roots being inserted 6 or 8 inches in the
soil and well watered." Division and
seed.

T. TUBEROSUM. — A distinct and beau-
tiful tuberous-rooted climber from Peru,
with slender stems 10 to 12 feet high, and
a profusion <5f showy scarlet and yellow
flowers on slender stalks. It flowers late,
so as to be often spoiled by frost, but in
sheltered places and a mild autumn will
bloom into November. It should be
grown in open spots in the poorest of soils,
with its branches supported or allowed to
trail along the ground. As it is not hardy
in all soils, lift the tubers in autumn, and
store in a dry place till spring.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TULIPA.

755

TSUGA (Hemlock Spruce).— A dis-
tinct and graceful group of evergreen
cone-bearing trees, remarkable for
their fine form of leaf and graceful toss
of branchlet, and also, in their own
country at least, for picturesque and
stately form. The one best known in
Britain is the Canadian Hemlock
Spruce, a tree of proved hardiness in
our country, but rarely showing the dig-
nity of form it does in its own, probably
from the use of cutting plants. No
tree of the Pine race should be planted
except as healthy seedlings. The
splendid forms of these trees, so pro-
mising for our country, coming as they
do from moist, cool regions, will be
best secured in that way.

The Japanese and Indian species of
this family, T. Sieboldi, Brunoniana,
and diversifolia are not proved to be
of such distinct value as the American
kinds. Syn. Abies.

T. CANADENSIS (Hemlock Spruce). — A
forest tree sometimes over 100 feet high,
with a diameter of 4 feet in the trunk,'
inhabiting very cold northern regions
from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and south-
wards along the mountains. It has been
much planted in England, but it has not
so far seemed to attain the stature and
form that it shows in Canada. Its rather
numerous varieties are of slight value. In
my own planting of the Hemlock Spruce
near water, while the growth is free, con-
stant, and unharmed by any winter, I am
vexed to see every tree breaking from the
bottom into half a dozen or more stems,
splitting up the energies of the tree. I
have seen a very pretty hedge of the Hem-
lock Spruce near Philadelphia. It would
prove, I think, a good evergreen hedge
plant where the dangerous poison of our
own Yew makes its use impossible in any
place to which horses or cattle have access.

T. CAROLINIANA (Caroline H.S.). — A
forest tree attaining a height of 70 to 80 feet,
4 feet in diameter, graceful and beautiful
in a mature state. As yet it is little
planted in our country, and in my planting
proved a tender tree. Alleghany Moun-
tains. Syn., Abies Caroliniana.

T. MERTENSIANA (Western H.S.). — A
noble tree of fine and picturesque habit,
allied to the Eastern Hemlock but larger —
sometimes 200 feet high, with a trunk dia-
meter of 10 to 12 feet. Coming from such
fog-moistened regions as Puget Sound,
British Columbia, and the coast region of
N. California, we look for a tree hardy
enough for our island climate, and in this
noble Hemlock we have it. The f oliage, as
graceful as a Fern, is of a deep, lustrous
green, and silvery white beneath. Though
hardy in this country, it is best in shel-
tered places in deep moist soil. Syns.,
Abies mertensiana and Albertiana.

T. PATTONIANA (Alpine H. S.) . — Abeauti-
ful and stately tree 100 to 150 feet high,
and from 6 to 10 feet in diameter of trunk,
with dark green foliage on slender branches
that sway in the slightest wind. Alpine
and sub-alpine forests in the Sierras of
N. California, the Cascades and northern
Rocky Mountains, often at great eleva-
tions. Hardy and at home in Britain.

r. Tropa-olnin spcciosutn in Scotland.

T. TSUGA (Japanese H.S.). — This tree
known also as T. Sieboldi, is as graceful in
growth as the Canadian Hemlock Spruce
and fully as hardy. It takes more of the
character of a large and dense spreading
bush than of a tree, and is useful for
grouping with other conifers.

TULIPA (Tulip).— Among the most
beautiful of hardy bulbous flowers, the
finest self Tulips being unsurpassed for
brilliant colour. We need to plant the
best kinds in quantity, for exquisite as
the striped or flaked Tulip may be, it
is the self-colours that give the best
effect. Tulips have been so long
grown and are so variable in character

756

TULIPA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

that there is considerable confusion
with regard to them. The popular
garden forms may, broadly speaking,
be separated into two classes, early and
late flowering. T. suaveolens, from
S. Russia, is now regarded as the type
of the numerous early-flowering varie-
ties, of which Due van Thol is a
familiar example ; but these, though

flowers, bizarres, bybloemens, and roses.
When a seedling flowers for the first
time it is usually a self, and in a few
years (but occasionally not until thirty
years) it will break into the flamed
or feathered state. A feathered Tulip
has the colour finely pencilled round
the margin of the petals, the base of
the flower being pure, and in a flamed

Old garden Tulips.

commonly planted, are of less value
for the garden than the later forms
which open in May. These have all
come from T. Gesneriana, and whilst
possessing infinite variety of colour,
all have the fine form and stately
character of the parent. These late
Tulips, following the Daffodils, are
precious garden flowers of easy cul-
ture, still less grown than they should
be. For about three centuries they
have been grown by florists, who
have raised numerous varieties, which
form an enormous class divided into
four sections — viz., breeders or self-

flower stripes of colour descend from
the top of the petals towards the base.
In the bizarres the colours are red,
brownish-red, chestnut, and maroon,
the base being clear yellow ; in the
bybloemens the colours are black and
various shades of purple, the base being
white ; and in the roses, rose of
various shades and also deep red or
scarlet, the base being white again.
Of these classes the late-flowering
self-coloured " breeders " are the best
of all for effect. The Parrot Tulips,
with curiously cut and fringed petals,
are often strangely splashed and

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TULIfA.

757

veined in various colours, and are
valuable for their bright display.

Tulips are easily grown in the rich
soil of old gardens, but where the land
is cold and stiff or not well worked
they have a tendency to die out.
They may be planted from October to
the middle of November, and the old
Tulip growers used to put a little
sand at the base of each bulb, but
this is not essential. It is well to lift
the bulbs every two or three years, or
they become crowded and give small
flowers. When the old flower - stems
are turning yellow the bulbs may be
taken up, dried, and stored till planting
time or replanted at once if convenient,
as nothing is gained by keeping them
out of the ground. Most kinds in-
crease by offsets, but some species
rarely or never increase in this way,
and recourse must be had to seed,
sown when ripe to germinate the follow-
ing spring, but the bulbs do not
attain their full size for six or seven
years.

Among the wild Tulips there are
beautiful kinds distinct from the
garden varieties ; the larger kinds,
noble flowers for free planting, and the
smaller sorts gems of beauty for the
rock garden or in beds and borders
of choice bulbs.

T. ACUMINATA. — Curious, but its petals
are too long and thin to create a display.

T. ALBERTI. — Rather low-growing, with
undulated leaves of a glaucous green
colour trailing on the ground ; the flowers
red, somewhat resembling those of T.
Greigi in shape, but the petals are marked
at the base with a blotch of yellow mar-
gined with black. Turkestan.

T. AUSTRALIS. — Variable in colour, but
always pleasing, allied to T. sylvestris but
less robust, whilst the flower is more
funnel-shaped and flushed on the outside
with red. Syn., T. Celsiana.

T. BATALINI. — A small kind seldom
exceeding 4 inches in height, with trailing
leaves and rather large flowers (nearly
3 inches in length) of a pale yellow colour.

T. BIFLORA. — A species known long ago,
and not very striking with its small pale
yellow flowers, which, however, are borne
in a cluster of three or four at the top of
the flower-stem instead of being solitary,
as in most other Tulips. Caucasus.

T. CLUSIANA. — The dainty Lady Tulip
came from the Mediterranean region as
long ago as 1636, has small flowers, and
is not more than i foot or so in height.
The flowers are white, with a flush of
rose on the outer surface, and purplish-
black at the base. T. stellata is a near
ally. It requires a deep vegetable soil
and warm sheltered position.

T. CONCINNA. — A dainty late-flowering
species from Cilicia, with rich red flowers
2 inches across, marked with bold black
spots outlined in yellow, at the base of
each segment.

T. DASYTEMON. — A fine new species,
very distinct in habit and flower. In
height it grows about 6 inches, with from
four to seven flowers on a stem ; in colour
these are yellow edged white.

T. DIDIERI. — May flowering kind from
the Alps, grows tall, and has large bright
red flowers with black blotches inside
at the base. A yellow variety named
Billetiana is equally handsome.

T. EICHLERI. — Is another fine species
with large leaves and broad flowers of an
intense scarlet-red colour, the petals
roundish in shape, having at the base a
black blotch margined with yellow.
Georgia.

T. ELEGANS. — Graceful bright-coloured
kind, opens late in April, the flowers bright
red with yellow eye, the petals long,
tapering to a point.

T. FLAVA. — With bright yellow petals,
rather spoiled by a bar of green down the
centre ; its flowers, however, continue
quite a fortnight after those of all other
Tulips are past.

T. GALATICA. — -A dwarf Tulip, rarely
reaching 9 inches high, and quite unlike
other kinds in its very broad leaves and
large cone-shaped flowers of pale yellow,
flaked with green at the base on the inside,
and touched with olive-green on the out-
side of each petal.

T. GESNERIANA.— This is the noblest of
all Tulips, the parent of the large late-
flowering race, and should be in every
garden, planted in bold groups or broad
masses. In Sussex I have seen charming
effects secured by planting in quantity.
In another instance the bulbs had been
planted in a solid, but irregular line, on
a dry, warm hedge-bank of turfy loam, and
just through and above the great crimson
blooms the common Quince had thrust
its soft leafy branches, thickly set with
small white or delicate rose-flushed
flowers. It has an immense bright-red
flower borne on a tall stem, sweetly
scented, with a black zone inside at the
base. The flowers last admirably when
cut, and by artificial light they open as
widely as by day. The finest form is that
called spathulata. E. Europe and Asia.
The so-called " Darwin " Tulips are self-
coloured forms of this species.

T. GREIGI. — Introduced about the year
1871, it has not yet received all the atten-
tion it deserves. It is low-growing, the
flower-stem seldom exceeding 8 inches in
height, the leaves marked with purplish
blotches and the large-sized flowers from
over 3 to nearly 4 inches in length, of
a dazzling vermilion-red colour faintly
marked at the base with a dark spot. It
is hardy, comes into flower about the

75*

TULIPA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TULIPA.

middle of April, and few things can equal
it for brilliant display.

T. HAGERI. — Bears glowing flowers in
dark red, yellow, and black. In a good
new form, nitens, they are orange-scarlet
shaded with bronze on the outside, and
opening in May. This is a neat grower of
about a foot in height, very free and of
vivid colour if given a warm place.

T. KAUFMANNIANA. — One of the finest
kinds, hardy, flowering in April. It grows
from 8 to 12 inches high, with broad, flat
leaves, flowers very large (nearly 4 inches
in length), generally white, or pale creamy-
yellow tinged with pink on the outside, the
petals marked with a broad orange blotch.
A fine early-flowering form of this, aurea,
bears flowers that are pure yellow or
orange. Yellow inside, and shaded with
red on the outside. Turkestan.

T. KOLPAKOWSKYANA. — A brilliant
species, not exceeding i foot in height ;
the large flowers (3 inches or more in
length) are a lively red, sometimes yellow
with minute blotches or spots at the base.
The variety splendens differs from this in
its deep yellow flowers, suffused with
scarlet on the outside. Turkestan.

T. LEICHTLINI. — Grows i£ feet high,
with a flower always erect, the three outer
petals bright purple, with a broad white
margin, the inner ones yellowish-white,
much shorter than the outer, and with
rounded tips. Kashmer.

T. LINIFOLIA. — Has glaucous leaves
deeply undulated and flowers of a dazzling
red colour, with small black spots at the
base. T. Dammanniana, from Syria,
comes near this, but is more sensitive to
cold.

T. LOWNEI. — Bears delicate Crocus-
shaped flowers, opening in April to a star
shape, on stems of about 6 inches. Their
colour is a tender rose or rosy-lilac, with
a yellow base.

T. MACROSPEILA. — Closely allied to Ges-
neriana, flowers late in May ; it has large
bright crimson flowers, with a distinct
black yellow-bordered blotch at the base
of each petal, and stamens, also black,
about one-third the length of the flower.
T. MACULATA. — A well-marked form with
a hairy stem and bright red flowers, hav-
ing a black blotch at the base, flowering
towards the latter end of May.

T. MICHELIANA. — Allied to T. Greigi,
and like it in its variegated leaves, only
that here the brown colour is in streaks
instead of in spots. It grows somewhat
taller, and the flowers are a darker crimson
shaded with purple. Turkestan.

T. MONTANA. — Distributed over a con-
siderable area in Armenia, Persia, and
Afghanistan. A species seldom exceeding
6 inches in height, with flowers resembling
those of T. Oculus- solis of the south of
France, usually red, but sometimes yellow.
T. NITIDA. — A slender kind from C.
Asia, the home of so many Tulips. It

comes near T. Gesneriana, and is a dwarf
plant with narrow grey leaves and bright
scarlet flowers spotted with black at the
base on the inside, the outer petals being
a paler orange - red colour. It flowers
towards the end of April.

T. OCULUS-SOLIS. — Very distinct, its
flowers brilliant scarlet, with an eye-like
blotch at the base of each petal, of a
shining black colour, bordered with yellow.
T. prcBcox is apparently an early form of
this, but more robust in growth.

T. ORPHANIDEA. — A fine species, is
closely allied to T. sylvestris, and has large
yellow flowers, tinged with red on the
outside. Greece.

T. OSTROWSKYANA. — One of the newer
species from Turkestan, is allied to T.
Oculus-solis, and has bright red flowers
with black blotches at the base.

T. PERSICA. — A charming dwarf kind,
best for edgings, narrow borders, or use
in the rock garden, where its fragrant
flowers unfold in twos or threes during
May. They are a bright yellow, shaded
with bronze on the outside.

T. PRJESTANS. — A very distinct plant,
in which there are sometimes only one
and sometimes as many as three, six, or
even ten flowers on a single stem. The
orange-red buds appear early, opening to
a pretty pale scarlet, and the finest
flowers measuring 6 inches across. The
plant varies in height from a few inches
to 1 8 or more, with stems and leaves
thickly covered in soft white hairs.

T. PRIMULINA. — Another fragrant
species, coming near sylvestris and bloom-
ing in April and May. The creamy-white
flowers are edged and occasionally flushed
with pink on the outside, and pale yellow
within. N. Africa.

T. PULCHELLA. — From the alpine regions
of the Taurus. It has purplish-red flowers
with black and yellow markings.

T. RETROFLEXA. — Probably a cross
between aciiminata and Gesneriana, is a
truly beautiful kind, growing 2 feet in
height, with recurved flowers of a pure
soft yellow, striking, distinct, and one of
the easiest to grow.

T. SAXATILIS. — A fine species, growing-
from 12 to 1 6 inches high, with flowers a
peculiar mauve tint, passing to yellow at
the base. Crete.

T. SPRENGERI. — The last of the Tulips to
open, this fine new species bears large
scarlet flowers 5 inches across, which last
well and are excellent in every way for
cutting.

T. SYLVESTRIS. — A British species every-
body ought to grow. It is pale yellow,
with casual edgings of red, and frequently
the scapes carry two flowers, but the most
valuable property of all is its fragrance.
There is a large flowered garden form
distinguished as major.

T. TRIPHYLLA. — A rare and choice kind
from Asia, with tapering flowers in varying

TULIPA,

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

TUNICA.

759

shades of grey, pale yellow, and orange.
It blooms in April, and besides having a
warm place, the bulbs must be lifted if
they are to ripen completely.

T. TUBERGENIANA. — One of the largest
in size of bulb, leaf, and flower, with tall
hairy stems, very glaucous hairy leaves,
and immense cup-shaped flowers in which
the petals are much reflexed . Their colour
is intense orange-scarlet, with a bold dark
blotch at the base. Mountains of Bok-
hara. T. ingens, from the same region,
comes near it, but is of dwarfer growth,
and bears deeper-coloured flowers, and is
less satisfactory in cultivation.

T. UNDULATIFOLIA. — Native of Asia
Minor, 10 inches in height, has glaucous
leaves deeply undulated at the margin,
and flowers of a brilliant crimson-red,
with black blotches margined with yellow
at the base. Flowers in May, and is
closely allied to T. ciliatula.

T. VIOLACEA. — A recent introduction ; is
also one of the first kinds to flower. It is
a deep self-red colour and welcome for its
earliness.

T. VITELLINA. — Has large finely-shaped
flowers of lovely delicate yellow, and opens
with the earliest of the Gesneriana section.
It is a splendid Tulip, its dwarf sturdy
habit fitting it to withstand heavy rains
and winds.

T. WILSONIANA. — Allied to T. Batalini
and T. linifolia, with the same narrow
leaves and distinct bulb-coating. Flower
of medium size, finely rounded, and of a
peculiarly brilliant red. Turkestan.

The following kinds are in perfection
about the middle of May, and may
be relied on to make a garden gay :
Bridesmaid, rose flaked white ; Buena-
ventura, orange and gold ; Cloth of
Gold, yellow often flushed red ; Dainty
Maid, white and pale rose ; Elegans,
a fine scarlet, with Elegans lutea,
a pale yellow ; Firefly, crimson ; Gala
Beauty (Columbus), yellow and scarlet ;
Gesneriana aurantiaca, orange-crim-
son ; Golden Goblet ; Gold Flake, red
and yellow ; Inglescombe Scarlet,
brilliant scarlet and very large ; Isa-
bella, creamy- white flaked rose ;
Ixioides, yellow and dark chocolate ;
La Candeur, white flushed rose ; La
Merveille, terra-cotta and orange-red ;
Leghorn Bonnet, sulphur yellow, with
a distinct shape ; Macrospeila, a fine
shade of crimson and very fragrant ;
Maculata grandiflora, another fine
crimson ; Mars, blood-red ; Mrs Noon,
yellow ; Nigrette, chocolate-purple ;
Parisian, white ; Parisian, yellow ;
Picotee, white with pink edges ; Sun-
set, gold and orange-red ; The Moor,
deep crimson.

SELF-COLOURED DARWIN TULIPS. —
This new race of " breeders," selected
from the older mother Tulips, yields
brilliant flowers in many fine shades of
colour, their centres clear and well
defined, with in many cases a ring of
white, gold, or blue, dividing the petal
colour from the dark base. They grow
2 to 3 feet high, with flowers so massive
and weather-resisting as to yield pre-
cious effect in the garden during May,
and so vigorous where the soil suits
them that the grass of meadows or
woodland cannot choke them, even
when left to themselves. Good kinds
are Negro and Sultan, in dark shades
of chocolate-black ; Harry Veitch,
crimson-purple and black ; Dorothy,
rose and white ; Europe, salmon-
scarlet ; Flambeau, scarlet ; Hecla,
crimson-maroon ; Loveliness, soft car-

Tunica sctxifraga.

mine ; Queen of Roses, rose and blush ;
May Queen, rose and white ; Mr Farn-
combe Sanders, rosy-crimson ; Salmon
King, cerise with white centre ; Glow,
vermilion touched with white ; Clara
Butt, salmon-pink ; and Zephyr, soft
rosy-lilac and white.

PARROT TULIPS. — Good kinds are
Admiral Constantinople, in shades of
orange and scarlet ; Cramoisi, brilliant,
in deep crimson with blue-black mark-
ings ; Lutea major, pure yellow ;
Markgraaf, gold, orange, and scarlet ;
and Perfecta, golden with a scarlet
stripe.

TUNICA (Sand Pink}.— T, saxifmga
is a small plant with a profusion of
wiry stems that bear numerous elegant

766

TYl>HA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEti. UMBELLuLARlA.

little rosy flowers. It forms tufts a
few inches high, does best on poor
soils, and thrives without particular
care. It is a native of arid stony
places on the Pyrenees and the Alps,
but often descends into the lowlands,
and is found on the tops of walls. A
neat plant for the rock garden and
fringes of borders, and thrives like a
weed between the stones in a rough
stone wall. Seed.

TYPHA (Reed Mace). — Graceful
water-plants, hardy, easily grown, and
very ornamental whether at the water-
side or cut for decoration. T. latifolia
is a native plant, growing in tufts of
two-rowed flat leaves, 18 to 24 inches
long and i or i£ inches wide. From
the centre of each tuft springs a stem
6 or 7 feet high, terminated in the
flowering season by a close cylindrical
spike 9 inches long, which is of dark
olive, but changes to brownish-black
as it ripens. T. angustifolia is like it
except in the size of the narrower
leaves and spike, and of the two is
perhaps the more graceful. T. minor
is a smaller form of it. T. minima is
the smallest of the hardy kinds, 12
inches to 18 inches in height, with
slender rush-like leaves and dense or
globose heads, those of the other kinds
being much longer than they are
broad. Other kinds found in water
gardens are T. stenophylla, with narrow
leaves turned in a spiral and short
thick spikes ; and T. Shuttleworthii,
like lattfolia as to general appearance,
but with leaves of a showy golden-
green.

ULEX (Furze).— The native Furze
is so beautiful and is so well suited for
clothing dry banks and the like that it
should be included among flowering
shrubs. Where the common Furze
grows wild the double variety is well
worth planting, as it is more effective
and lasts longer than the single kind.
A dwarf sort, nanus, deserves a place,
as it flowers at midsummer, when its
commoner relative has done. It also
is a native, and where it flourishes it
makes a dense prickly bush 2 feet high.

U. STRICTUS (Irish Furze) is an uncom-
mon variety of europ&us. As all the kinds
of Furze are difficult to transplant when
large, the best plan is to get small plants
of the double and of the dwarf kinds and
to sow seed of the common single kind.
In most nurseries the double Furze is kept
in pots, and can be planted at any time.
There are few finer sights than a bank of
double Furze in full bloom, and this can

be enjoyed in every garden. Vigorous
pruning when the plants become straggling
is all the attention needed. In severe
winters all these plants are liable to be
cut to the ground, but they start again
little the worse.

ULMUS (Elm). — Summer-leafing
forest trees of northern and temperate
regions, and of importance in plant-
ing, though the dangerous habit of
the common Elm, of suddenly drop-
ping heavy branches, should make us
cautious about planting it near houses.
Kinds that may be of interest in
botanical collections are not worth a
place in private grounds, where only
the most distinct and stately kinds
should be planted. The practice com-
mon in many districts of forming
avenues of Elms only might well be
modified in favour of other trees of
proved value, as the loss caused to
Elm-planted villages and roadsides by
storms is deplorable.

U. AMERICANA (Water E.). — A large and
handsome tree inhabiting moist soil and
banks of streams in N. America ; quite
hardy, and useful in Britain. There is a
weeping variety.

U. CAMPESTRIS (Common E.). — This
tree is naturalised in our river valleys, and
often blown down by storms in numbers.
If we wish to shade our road or walks
with trees we certainly should take the
trouble to find those which anchor them-
selves securely, and this does not. There
are many varieties, the Cornish, a pendu-
lous one, and the usual variegated ones,
always more attractive in the nursery state
than they are when they get older.

U. MONTANA (Mountain or Wych E.). —
A fine tree, distinct and handsome as a
shade and lawn tree, and not so dangerous
as the common Elm. There are numerous
varieties, pyramidal upright growers, and,
best of all, a weeping variety, a beautiful
hardy and distinct tree thriving almost
anywhere.

The best trees in this important
group are the English Elm and the
American Elm. What we should
avoid are some hybrids and varieties
of these. They have many names,
and some of them I have never noticed
as making good trees. Here, again, it
is best to avoid hybrids and varieties,
and choose rather the noble types.

UMBELLULARIA CALIFORNICA

( Calif ornian Laurel) . — A handsome
evergreen tree, seldom planted, though
hardy in our southern gardens and
suited to walls where too tender for
the open. It might pass as a narrow-
leaved form of the Common Bay, the
resemblance in the shape of leaves and

ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. VACCINIUM. 76!

their texture being emphasised by a
like fragrance being emitted when they
are bruised. This is due to a volatile
oil present in such quantity that the
fresh - cut brushwood burns readily,
while from the leaves " Bay water "
is distilled. The fragrance becomes
oppressive and even dangerous in a
confined space, causing sneezing, head-
ache, and a kind of temporary paralysis
in extreme cases. In its own land it
makes a noble evergreen tree 90 to
100 feet high, with a trunk diameter
of 4, 6, or even 8 feet in rare instances
where the trees have endured for
centuries. It flourishes upon the foot-
hills and along the banks of water-
courses, growing in dense groves which
sometimes extend for miles, as beside
the Eel River in Humboldt County.
It is perhaps the most valuable timber
tree of the North Pacific Coast, where
its wood is in great demand for
furniture and house decoration. The
small greenish-yellow flowers appear
as dense clusters, followed by fruits
at first like a green Walnut in size
and appearance, turning purple when
fully ripe and hanging for many
months. Imported seed germinates
without difficulty. There are few
better seaside trees, the foliage being
dense and very resistant and its colour
distinct and good. It grows freely in
a dry porous soil, and in default of
seed may be increased by cuttings
taken in early summer ; but seed is in
every way best. Syn., Oreodaphne
calif ornica.

UNGNADIA (Spanish Buckeye}.—
U. speciosa is a slender summer-leafing
shrub or small tree from Texas, allied
to the Horse Chestnut, with glossy
leaves, divided like those of a Hickory,
and rosy flowers an inch across appear-
ing with the leaves in spring. The
fruits ripen in October, and are like
a smooth - skinned Chestnut - pod with
three lobes. Though a pretty little
tree, it is only suited to gardens in the
warmest parts of Britain.

UNIOLA.— U. latifolia is a handsome
perennial grass from N. America,
2 to 3 feet high, with a large loose
panicle bearing large flattened spike-
lets. A clump placed in rich garden
soil gathers strength from year to
year, and when well established is a
beautiful object. U. paniculata is a
taller kind which grows well upon the
sand of the seashore, with Oat-like
clusters which are very ornamental
when dried.

UROSPERMUM. — U. Dalechampii
is a rather handsome composite from
S. Europe, of dwarf tufted growth, with
large heads of lemon-yellow blossoms.
It thrives in an open position in any
light soil, growing about 18 inches
high, and is hardy.

UVUL ARIA ( Bellwort] . — Graceful
perennials allied to Solomon's Seal,
bearing yellow blossoms. There are
four cultivated species, chinensis,
grandiflora, perfoliata, and sessilifolia.
Of these grandiflora is the finest, and
the only one worth growing generally.
It attains a height of i to 2 feet, and
its numerous slender stems form a
compact tuft, with flowers long and
yellow, drooping gracefully, and pretty
in early summer. It is a good peat
border plant, thriving best in a moist
peaty soil and in shade. N. America,
except chinensis. Division.

VACCINIUM (Whortleberry}.— K
group of evergreen and summer-leafing
shrubs allied to the Heath family,
often beautiful in bloom, in fruit, and
in autumn colour, yet neglected in
gardens. The smaller kinds may be
planted as edgings to beds of Rhodo-
dendrons and other peat-loving shrubs
or as groups in the rock garden. They
will not grow in lime soils, and are
averse to removal, but are otherwise
of easy culture, and increased by
suckers, cuttings, or seed. Unless
from a good nursery where they have
been frequently transplanted, they
must be well cut in after removal.
Most kinds are best in partial shade
and in moist or boggy soil, though
some do well in drier and sunny places.
Many kinds bear good fruit of agreeable
acid flavour, known under various
popular names and valued for tarts
and preserves. Though now often
classed apart under the name Oxy-
coccus, the true Cranberries are in-
cluded here. The following are the
best of the hardy kinds : —

V. ARCTOSTAPHYLOS (Bear's Grape). — A
fine summer-leafing shrub of 6 to 8 feet,
from the wooded mountains bordering the
Black Sea. It bears blush- white flowers
tinged with purple and reddish-purple
berries, and likes a damp shady place.

V. BUXIFOLIA (Box-leaved Whortle-
berry) . — A pretty evergreen shrub from the
hills of Virginia, 6 to 8 inches high, and
useful for edgings in a shady place.

V. CANADENSE (Velvet-leaf). — A low
shrub of i to 2 feet, with white flowers
tinged with green and red, coming just
before the leaves, which are soft and

VACCINluM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. VALLOTA.

downy. The abundant blue berries are
covered with bloom and very sour,
ripening late. The plants grow in well-
drained but moist peaty soil, and give fine
autumn colour.

V. CORYMBOSUM (American Blueberry).
— A spreading shrub of 8 to 10 feet, charm-
ing with its small pink flowers in spring and
vivid leaf-tints in autumn. The fruits
are good and improve with cultivation,
the less common white and pink varieties
giving pretty colour effects. There are
several forms — amcenum, with bright green
downy leaves ; and pallidum, in which
they are pale and glaucous.

V. HIRSUTUM (Hairy Huckleberry). — A
beautiful little shrub about a foot high,
with long racemes of large greenish-white
flowers, and dark blue hairy fruits of
refined flavour. In autumn the leaves
turn a showy brick - red colour, which
endures for several weeks. The plant
needs sun and a moist peaty soil.

V. MACROCARPUM (American Cranberry) .
— A dwarf evergreen trailing shrub with
its long loose stems covered with oval
grey-green leaves, giving reddish-purple,
bronze, and crimson tints in autumn.
The rosy flowers appear in June, and the
ripe fruit in September or October. There
are many varieties, valued for their fruit.
Thrives best in wet peat bogs.

V. MYRSENITES. — A cheerful evergreen
shrub of i to 2 feet, with neat glossy-green
leaves, clusters of bell - shaped white
flowers touched with pink, and red berries,
ripening to blue or black. Firm sandy
peat, well-drained.

V. MYRTILLUS (Bilberry). — Native shrub
growing on our moors and in shady
woods. Its rigid stems, often only a
few inches high, rise from a creeping root-
stock, bearing neat leaves (red while
young), small rosy flowers, and juicy blue
berries of excellent flavour.

V. OVATUM. — An evergreen shrub of
3 to 8 feet, from the Pacific coast of North
America, with thick glossy leaves, bright
pink flowers, and handsome red fruits,
ripening black and of good flavour. This
makes a choice hedge plant, and is one
of the most useful kinds of the genus,

V. OXYCOCCUS (Cranberry). — Trailing
evergreen shrub found in our peat bogs
from Sussex to Shetland. It has downy
stems, scattered leaves, tiny red flowers,
and dark red acid fruits.

V. PENNSYLVANICUM (Pennsylvania
Blueberry). — A low shrub with oblong
shining leaves, white or rosy flowers,
and sweet bluish-black fruits, ripening
early and much esteemed. The plant
grows well in drier places than most
Whortleberries, and the foliage is very
effective in late autumn.

V. STAMINEUM (Deerberry). — A dense
shrub of 2 feet, growing in dry woods of
New England, with grey - green leaves,

showy greenish- white or purple flowers,
and pale green, round, or pear-shaped
fruits of no value. It is a graceful garden
shrub, thriving in shady places and easily
grown. The flowers are peculiar in having
no bud stage, coming wide open from the
first.

V. ULIGINOSUM (Great Bilberry). — A
native trailing shrub, found in mountain
bogs and woody places of Scotland and
the north of England. The flowers are
small, pale pink, and the berries dark blue.
A useful rock plant for cold wet soils.

V. VACILLANS (Pale Blueberry). — An
erect-growing little shrub well adapted
for dry and sandy places, with showy
bell - shaped flowers contracted at the
mouth, and borne in loose clusters ; large
blue berries, with a dense bloom and good
flavour, ripening after the first earlies.
A pretty plant, and worth growing for
its fruit alone.

V. VITIS-ID^A (Cowberry). — A native
evergreen shrub with trailing stems,
growing in the west from Devon and S.
Wales, into Scotland, but absent from the
S.E. of Britain. The box-like leaves are
dark and shining, and the pretty pink
flowers give place to crimson berries the
size of red currants and equally useful,
but only abundant on well-grown plants.

VALERIANA ( Valerian) . — Hardy
perennial and mountain plants, of
which the only one worth cultivating
in a general way is the golden-leaved
variety of V. Phu — an effective plant
in spring, when its foliage is young ;
it is of neat tufted habit, and grows
freely in any soil. A few dwarf alpine
Valerians are sometimes grown, but
they are not attractive. The flowers,
too, are unpleasantly scented. Some
of the larger species are pretty in
rough places in moist land. V. sam-
bucifolia, with flowers white and borne
in large umbelliferous heads in July, is
among the more effective things for
grouping in the mixed border, rising
nearly 6 feet high and being consider-
ably more than that across. It is one
of the most vigorous of perennials, and
may be turned to good account in
many ways, e.g., the shrubbery border
and the more open approaches to the
woodland.

VALLOTA (Scarborough Lily}.— V.
purpurea is a handsome Amaryllis-like
plant, with bright crimson - scarlet
flowers, hardy in mild spots. It
requires a warm situation in light soil,
such as the foot of a south wall, and
in such positions it often thrives
better than in pots under glass ; but
the bulbs must be protected during

VANCOUVERIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. VERBASCUM. 763

severe frosts. The outdoor culture of
this plant deserves more attention
than it has hitherto had. Cape of
Good Hope. There is a beautiful
variety in which the flowers are white.
S. Africa.

VANCOUVERIA.— V. hexandm is a
most graceful and distinct plant, 10 to
1 8 inches high, with light fern-like
leaves and slender spikes of pale
flowers, and is a charming plant for
the fernery and rock garden, best in
peaty soil. It is apt to perish in some
heavy soils, and thrives best in peaty
ones. Vancouver. Division.

VENIDIUM. — V. calendulaceum is a
beautiful half-hardy plant of dwarf
spreading growth, with in summer
showy yellow Marigold-like blossoms,
2 inches across and good for cutting.
A good effect is gained by putting out
several plants on a warm sunny border,
or even on the top of a wall or a raised
stone edging. Cuttings inserted in
August root freely, and may be win-
tered in the greenhouse if kept fairly
dry, otherwise they will damp off.
Seeds germinate freely in a hot-bed
in early spring. S. Africa.

VERATRUM (White Hellebore] — V.
album is a handsome erect pyramidal
perennial, 3^ to 5 feet high, with large
plaited leaves and yellowish-white
flowers in dense spikes on the top of the
stem, forming a large panicle. The
root is exceedingly poisonous. V.
nigrum has more slender stems, nar-
rower leaves, and blackish-purple
flowers. V. viride resembles V. album,
except that its flowers are green. 5.
californicum has stout stems of 5 to
7 feet, with branched and tapering
spikes of greenish-white bell-shaped
flowers, followed by ornamental fruits.
Division. These plants do best in
moist half-shady places in the wild
garden, rarely attaining their full
beauty in dry sun-scorched soils.
France.

VERBASCUM (Mullein}.— These are
stately plants, mostly of biennial dura-
tion, but the best are so handsome and
long flowering as to be welcome in the
garden, where in many cases once
introduced they come year after year.
The finer kinds merit good treatment
and planting in bold groups.

V. CHAIXI (Nettle-leaved M.). — A peren-
nial species, 10 feet in height and very
imposing when well grown. The bright
green leaves come up early ; the flowers
are large, yellow, with purple filaments,

and last a long time. There is also a
handsome variety with white flowers. It
is a native of Europe.

V. CUPREUM. — A beautiful cross between
V. phceniceum and V. ov all folium, coming
near the first-named in habit, hardy, a
true perennial, with slender spikes 2 to
3 feet high of copper-coloured flowers from
May to August. Other hybrids related to
it are V. hybridium, Daisy Hill, a cross
between V. phceniceum and V. cupreum,
with short spikes of bright copper and
orange-coloured flowers ; and Lewanika,
from the same cross, a taller plant with
flowers of a peculiar shade of bronze-
purple, produced during a long season.

V. NIGRUM. — Native of Britain, a true
perennial with yellow flowers, but rarely
more than 3 feet high. A handsome form
of it, now grown in gardens, with pure
white flowers, is a good plant. S. Europe.

V. OLYMPICUM.— One of the grandest
of the family, strong flower-stems attain-
ing 6 to 10 feet in height, the flowers rich
yellow, and woolly leaves forming bold
rosettes. A biennial from the Orient.
V. phceniceum (Purple-leaved Mullein), one
of the best perennials for borders in small
gardens, is very variable, there being
white, violet, lilac, rose, and purple-
flowered varieties, flowering from May to
August. S. Europe.

V. PHLOMOIDES. — Best of all Mulleins,
5 to 9 feet high according to the richness
of soil, its yellow flowers continue nearly
the whole season through. It will grow
in almost any soil, and should be grouped
boldly among shrubs and the larger hardy

Elants, or naturalised in chalk}' or sandy
anks. France and S. Europe.

764 VERBENA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEtf.

VERONICA.

V. PYRAMIDATUM (Pyramidal M.). — Has
candelabrum-like branches of bright yellow
flowers, is a good plant, perennial on warm
rich soils, and effective with its towering
stems and huge rosettes of crisped leaves.
Siberia.

Other Verbascums of interest are
macrurum, longifolium, virgatum, Blat-
taria, niveum, Boerhavi, sinuatum,
orientate, and Caledonia.

Verbascuin phloinoides.

VERBENA.— Beautiful half-hardy
trailing plants, which of late have not
been popular in gardens, probably on
account of the vermin that attacks
them. Verbenas bloom profusely till
late in the autumn, and if temporarily
disfigured a burst of sunshine quickly
restores their beauty. There are many
fine varieties, English and foreign, and
a pretty bed may be gained by mixing
some of these together. Put out the
plants about the end of May, and as
they grow peg the shoots securely over
the bed, keeping them well thinned.
The best way of ensuring good cuttings
for spring propagation is to put out
a few reserve plants in spring, dis-
courage flowering for a time, and root

batches of cuttings in August and
September. Give them a shift then
into larger pots of rich soil. Soon
afterwards set these store plants in a
cool house or a pit from which frost is
excluded.

Of late years Verbenas have been
most successfully raised from seed
sown about the middle of January in
light soil in a warm frame or pit.
Wintering the plants is a troublesome
matter, but with seedlings it can be
avoided, and they have vigour to
resist the disease. Their wonderful
diversity and brilliancy of colour and
their many flowers combine to make
them most effective plants. Seed is
sold in colours which come remarkably
true — scarlet, blue, white, carnation,
flaked, and other forms. The scarlet
kind is from the old Defiance, and its
growth and freedom are marvellous.

V. VENOSA. — A perennial kind, 12 to 18
inches high, with purple-violet blossoms,
is hardier than ordinary Verbenas, less
apt to mildew, and cheerful even in
drenching rains. It is easily wintered,
its fleshy roots being stored thickly in
boxes, and the young shoots rooted in
spring. When the roots are lifted in
autumn place them at once in boxes,
which should be stored in a cool place
until required for propagation. In bor-
ders they will remain for years if protected
through the winter. Argentine.

VERBESINA. — F. encelioides is a
half-hardy annual, i to 2 feet high,
with broad clusters of golden-yellow
blossoms. California, Texas, and
Mexico. V. gigantea, from Jamaica,
is about 6| feet high, and very pleasing,
with its round green stems covered
with large, winged, glistening, green
leaves. It is suitable for beds or
groups, and should be planted out
early in June. F. pinnatifida is a
rough half-shrubby species, with larger
leaves. Both these require heat in
winter. Cuttings root easily in spring,
and grow fast when put out in a shel-
tered position and rich light soil.

VERNONIA (Ironweed) . — Coarse
N. American composites, of which
some half - dozen are in cultivation.
They bloom so late as to be scarcely
worth growing, but F. prcealta is a
stately plant for the wild garden.
Even if its flowers are injured or escape
us, it may be grown in a ditch or open
spot in a wood. Division.

VERONICA (Speedwell}. — A large
family very variable in structure and
appearance. Many arc trailing or

VERONICA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VERONICA.

765

carpet plants, with flowers mostly of
a blue shade, but sometimes rose or
dull white ; others are vigorous peren-
nials with rigid flower-spikes of similar
colours ; while a third group, mainly
from New Zealand, are evergreen
shrubs ranging in height from a few
inches to many feet, and most variable
in character. It happens that in all
these classes plants of the same species
differ so much that their correct naming
is difficult. Forming two such wholly
distinct groups, we shall describe the
shrubby New Zealand kinds and the
herbaceous perennials in classes apart.

With the exception of two or three
kinds these are all from New Zealand,
where they form a large part of the
vegetation, completely covering the
hillsides in many places. Few shrubs
are more easily increased and grown
than many of these shrubby Speed-
wells, and hence their wide use in our
gardens, in spite of the fact that few are
fully hardy inland, and that with every
hard winter thousands perish. But it
is so easy to hold cuttings in reserve,
and young plants so quickly repair
these losses, that occasional destruction
is less serious than it would be with
many other plants. The smaller kinds,
drawn from greater elevations, are less
tender than the leafy shrubs of the
coast region ; they carry small tough
leaves, often Box-like, and, being
hardy in all save the coldest winters,
are for their distinct colour and neat
growth valuable in the rock garden.
They are somewhat more particular as
to soil and position than the larger-
leaved kinds, preferring ground that
is open and well drained. These kinds
merge into an alpine group found
at a considerable elevation, at which
likeness to their fellows is largely lost,
the tiny trees (for such they are)
appearing like Heaths, Conifers, or
mosses. Though beautiful and of
great interest, these little plants
seldom thrive inland, though they
flourish in seaside gardens.

At the seaside few plants are more
useful than the large shrubby Veroni-
cas, which fear neither winds nor salt
spray. Cuttings of the young shoots
root easily at almost any season, while
many kinds seed freely and sow them-
selves in the border. The mountain
kinds mostly flower in early summer,
and are then attractive, but many of
the larger kinds bloom best in autumn
and winter, proving of value for cutting
and for greenhouse decoration at a
dull season, the colours of the newer

I named varieties being a great advance
| on the mauves and purples of past
' days.

The following are the most distinct
of the shrubby kinds : —

V. AMPLEXICAULIS. — A low, ej:ect, or
semi - trailing shrub, its stout branches
densely set with grey stem-clasping leaves.
The white flowers appear as short dense
spikes studded with blue anthers.

Verbas,

V. ANDERSONI. — Stout leafy shrub
raised as a hybrid, and most useful near
the sea, though tender even there in hard
winters. The hills round Queenstown
Harbour were once covered with this
shrub — plants 8 feet high and 20 feet in
diameter — yet all perished in one cold
season. There are several varieties with
flowers in shades of blue, lilac, and crimson,
and one with variegated leaves.

V. BIDWILLII. — A little creeping shrub,
spreading carpet-like beside the mountain
streams of its own land, and changing
into sheets of pink, white, or pale violet
flowers in July. It is best in the upper
part of the rock garden, where its neat
leaves are attractive the year through,
and unhurt in any ordinary winter.

766

VERONICA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VERONICA.

V. CATARRACT^E. — A slender, much-
branched shrub of i to 2 feet, with long,
narrow, pointed leaves, evenly serrate at
the edges, and large white flowers in July.

V. CHATHAMICA. — Makes dense trailing
cushions of glossy-green glaucous leaves,
with close cone-shaped flower clusters of
pale mauve or rosy-purple fading to white.
There is a distinct form called minor.
Chatham Islands.

Shrubby Speedwell.

V. COLENSOI. — A variable little shrub
running into several other kinds by inter-
mediate forms. It is one of the best for
the rock garden, hardy, with narrow
stemless leaves, tapering towards the base,
and dense clusters of pure white flowers
from every leaf axil during June and July.

V. CUPRESSOIDES. — One of the strangest
of the alpine kinds resembling Conifers.
This is like a little Cypress, with slender,
bright green branches rising erect from
2 to 4 feet, bearing pale violet flowers in
small clusters at the tips of the shoots.
It is fully hardy and grows best on light
gritty soils of fair depth, overlaid with
flat stones to retain moisture.

V. DIOSMAEFOLIA. — A dainty little shrub,
but tender. The leaves are borne in

pretty flatly-spreading sprays, and taper
sharply to each end ; the flowers are
white with pink anthers, opening in June.
It is useful under glass in winter, and
bears gentle forcing.

V. ELLIPTICA. • — - The only tree - like
species, growing 30 feet high in parts of
South America and New Zealand. In the
mildest parts of Britain (Scilly Isles and
Isle of Man) it also reaches a large size,
flowering almost continuously even in
winter. The leaves are narrow, closely
set, and bright green ; the flowers white,
rather large, and fragrant.

V. EPACRIDEA. — A pretty little shrub,
tender, not easily grown, and shy in
flower, yet charming where it thrives.
The rigid much-branched shoots are very
like those of an Epacris, with leaves dark,
glossy, and curving upwards. Though
small, the flowers last a long while, and
once established on the rock garden few
shrubs are more interesting.

V. GLAUCO-C^ERULEA. — A choice hardy
plant about a foot high, with neat oblong
leaves barely half an inch long, bluish-grey
with purple edges, and borne on dark
purple stems. The bright blue flowers
are beautiful, and it is one of the most
charming of hardy shrubs for the rock
garden. V. canterburiensis is like this,
save in its lively shining green colour and
its white flowers with blue anthers.

V. HECTORI. — Belongs to the alpine
group from the mountain tops. Its stems
are like green and polished whipcord, upon
which the leaves appear as tiny scales.
It is of slow growth, standing only a few
inches high, while the white or rosy
flowers are seldom seen even in its own
land. It does best in gritty soil, and,
though hardy, needs care as to soil and
position. Cuttings of this kind root
slowly and with difficulty.

V. HULKEANA. — One of the most charm-
ing of Veronicas, tender save in the milder
parts of Britain and in warm nooks near
the sea, and even then best against walls
where shelter can be given from late
frosts. A light soil and partial shade are
the best conditions, resulting in a free
growth several feet in height, with oval
notched leaves and many spikes of pale
lilac flowers in May.

V. KIRKII. — A tall, handsome shrub,
fairly hardy near the sea, with fresh green
leaves, narrowly lance - shaped, set on
dark polished stems. The graceful spikes
of white or pale mauve flowers, 4 to 8
inches long, appear only on large plants
during early summer, and are highly
useful for cutting.

V. LAVAUDIANA. — A small prostrate
shrub about 8 inches high, with stout
trailing branches set with glossy pink-
edged leaves, and bearing large white,
rosy, or purple flowers in May. It is
charming in the rock garden, of rather

VERONICA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VERONICA.

767

slow growth, and perishes in a hard
winter.

V. LOGANIOIDES. — Belongs to the class of
alpine conifer-like Veronicas, though the
tiny leaves hug the stems less closely
than in other kinds, and the clustered
white flowers are so abundant in a good
season as to hide all else.

V. LYALLI.- — A slender trailing shrub of
dense habit, less than a foot high, and
rooting where the stems touch the soil.
These are closely set with firm leathery
leaves, variable as to shape and size,
with serrate edges and more or less pointed.
The flower-stalks start from every leaf-
axil, bearing lax sprays of rather large pale
mauve flowers, prettily veined. It is one
of the most constant in flower, and ripens
seed freely.

V. LYCOPODIOIDES. — A tiny creeping
shrub hardly rising above the ground, its
angular stems sheeted in dark green
scale-like leaves, and like a club moss.
It fails in the south, but is a pretty rock
plant for N. Britain, flowering freely in
a good year.

V. MACRANTHA. — Bears the largest
flowers, and is one of the most beautiful
of the group, covering large tracts of its
native mountains at an elevation of 3000
to 6000 feet. It is a rigid little shrub
about 2 feet high, with bright green leaves
toothed at the edges and many pure white
flowers an inch across.

V. PINGUIFOLIA. — Of dense growth, it
nestles happily amongst rock garden
plants, its intense glaucous colour effec-
tive. The white flowers with purple
stamens are borne in crowded spikes, and
never fail to appear in early summer.
This kind and its immediate allies are
among the hardiest of shrubby Veronicas.
V. decumbens comes near this, and is of
prostrate habit with black polished stems,
bright green instead of glaucous leaves,
and larger flowers with rosy anthers.

V. SALICIFOLIA. — A fast-growing shrub
of graceful habit, with narrow glossy leaves
2 to 6 inches long, and bluish-purple or
white flowers in slender tapering spikes.
It is not only most variable as a species,
with many wild forms, but has been
crossed freely with other kinds. Vs.
macrocarpa and parviflora come so near
this as to seem only extreme forms of it.
The variety with pure white flowers is
the best, and one of the most charming
of seaside shrubs, tender inland.

V. SPECIOSA. — The best known of
shrubby Veronicas, of rapid growth, with
leafy stems, a freely branching habit, and
showy mauve or purple flowers fading to
white. The early forms, with their crude
colours, are now replaced by named
varieties due to crossing and selection,
and among the most beautiful and easily
grown of flowering shrubs for autumn
and winter.

V. TRAVERSI. — One of the hardiest of
the group, often resisting for years even
in cold midland gardens. Its regular
leaves and rounded outline are not
graceful, but as a town shrub and one
that thrives well on chalk it has some
merits, and is useful for cutting in winter,
but never quite liking the shrub I got rid
of it.

Veronica pinguifolia.

NAMED HYBRIDS. — All these have
come from three or four kinds — Salici-
folia, elliptica, speciosa — crossed, re-
crossed, and selected, until the precise
parentage has been lost. V. Ander-
soni was one of the earliest, and other
old kinds are Blue Gem, an old
favourite of compact growth and
nearly always in bloom ; Celestial,
light blue ; Imperial, crimson-purple ;
Jardin Fleuri, deep carmine ; Mme.
Chretien Merveille, purple ; Marie
Antoinette, pink ; Purple Queen, rich
purple, the flowers slightly fragrant ;
Reine des Bleues, deep blue ; and Ville
de Hyeres, a very hardy kind with
crimson flowers. There are other kinds
with variegated foliage, beside the
yellow-leaved form of V. Andersoni,
the best being Arc-en-ciel, with striped
foliage and deep red flowers ; and
Silver Star, a neat dwarf shrub in
which the leaves pass from yellow to

768 VERONICA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN,

VERONICA.

silvery-white, effective as an edging in
warm soils. The newer kinds are
Autumn Glory, a bushy plant with
small purplish leaves and violet-blue
flowers in autumn and winter ; Bolide,
with red flowers and a good habit ;
Conquete, white and mauve ; Coquette,
very long pale lilac spikes ; Daimant,
crimson-purple ; Evaline, soft pink
with prominent white anthers ; Fleur
de Roses, white ; Gauntletti, with very
long spikes of salmon-pink ; La Seduis-
ante, dark magenta-purple with white
anthers ; Le Merveilleux, bright
mauve ; Meldensis, light purple ;
Mont Blanc, pure white ; Mont Rosa,
rosy-pink ; Newryensis, rosy-grey
flowers in spring ; Queen of Whites,
white tinged mauve ; Redruth, rich
red ; Snowflake, long spikes of pure
white ; Valiere, bright violet with
white anthers ; and Vulcan, rich
claret-red with reddish-green foliage.

Among dwarfer kinds, V. verbenacea,
V. fruticulosa, V. alpina, V. aphylla,
V. nummularia, V. Guthrieana, V.
austriaca, V. ineisa, V. bellidioides,
and V. Dabneyi are suited for a rock
garden. The pink variety of V. offi-
cinalis forms dense patches of pink
blossoms, sometimes raised 3 inches
above the ground. These mentioned
are so hardy that they may be divided
or moved at all seasons. Such kinds
as V. longifolia need frequent division
to prevent crowding. Most kinds
ripen and sow their own seed, and the
seedlings vary in colour and form.

V. CHAM^DRYS (Germander Speedwell).
— Used for covering beds where late-flower-
ing bulbs are grown. A curious variety,
named pedunculata, is quite distinct, and
a neat plant with white flowers.

V. GENTIANOIDES. — One of the earliest of
the Speedwells, and flowers in May. Three
forms are common — the type with grey
flowers, a variety with white flowers and
bright glossy leaves like the Gentianella,
and another with handsome variegated
leaves. All are worth growing.

V. INCANA. — Also called V. Candida, is a
dwarf plant with silvery leaves, and dark
rich purple flowers. It is used with good
effect in bedding, its grey leaves being
a contrast to most other foliage. A form
of this named elatior has spikes of twice the
normal length. V. neglecta is similar but
inferior. Division.

V. PECTINATA. — A pretty trailing kind,
with serrated downy leaves and blue or
rosy flowers. It is well suited for dry
spots in the rock garden, the margins of
borders, and other places.

V. PROSTRATA. — A very dwarf plant,
which is really a form of V. Teucrium, but
commonly known under this name or as

V. rupestris. There afe varieties with
rose-coloured and white flowers, which
appear in early summer, the type being
deep blue, hardy and pretty, blooming
so freely that the spreading tufts 4 inches
high are often quite obscured by the
flowers. C. and S. Europe ; on stony
hills and dry grassy places.

V. REPENS. — Clothes the soil with a soft
carpet of bright green foliage, covered in
spring with pale bluish flowers. It thrives
well on moderately dry soil, but delights
in moist corners of the rock garden.
There is a variety with white flowers.

V. SATUREIOIDES. — One of the best of the
Speedwells, though somewhat rare, with
flowers about the size of those of V.
saxatilis, of the same intense blue, and
in abundant upright racemes.

V. SAXATILIS. — A native of alpine rocks
in various parts of Europe, and also a
few places in Scotland. It forms neat
trailing tufts 6 or 8 inches high, the
flowers little more than £ inch across, of
a pretty blue, striped with violet, and with
a narrow but decided ring of crimson near
the bottom of the cup, the base of which
is pure white.

V. SPICATA. — A dwarf native plant, not
more than 5 or 6 inches high, useful for
bare corners of rock gardens, but seldom
flowering before the end of July. V.
corymbosa is a name given to varieties
of two or three species, but the best
seems to be a form of V. spicata, with
deep blue flowers. It is one of the best
plants for rock gardens, being profuse
and continuous in bloom. V. hybrida is
generally classed as a variety of it, but
seems quite distinct, since it is far more
robust, and its flowers vary in colour from
dark purple to lavender and light rose.
It grows wild in profusion on mountain
limestone hills near Llandudno and in
other of the north-western counties.

V. SPURIA. — Is 12 to 1 8 inches high, but
should be cut down in autumn, as it trails
untidily. In June it produces many
terminal racemes of bluish-purple blos-
soms. Syn., V. amethystina.

V. SUBSESSILIS. — Best of the hardy
Veronicas, and flourishes in spite of spring
frosts and cold summers. Its large dense
spikes of deep purple-blue flowers are
effective, and it should always have a
position among the choicest hardy flowers
in a good deep loamy soil and open situa-
tion. Japan. Readily increased by cut-
tings in spring.

V. TAURICA. — A dwarf, wiry, and almost
woody species from Tauria, forming neat
dark green tufts, under 3 inches high ;
its fine Gentian-blue flowers borne abun-
dantly. It is, perhaps, the neatest kind
for forming spreading tufts, in level
spots of the rock garden, or drooping
from chinks, and for association with
the dwarfest alpine plants. Division or

VESICARIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. VIBURNUM.

cuttings. Syn., V. orientalis var. tenui-
folia.

V. TEUCRIUM. — A Continental plant,
which forms spreading masses from 8 to
12 inches high, covered in early summer
with flowers of an intense blue, at first
in dense racemes which lengthen pro-
gressively. It is excellent for the rock
garden or borders, and grows freely in
any soil. Seeds or division.

Though a very great genus in the
world flora Veronicas have not nearly
so much importance for the garden.
Many of the New Zealand kinds are
tender, and of the European or
northern kinds rather a few have
much beauty, except, perhaps, the
silvery ones, which come well into the
flower garden.

VESICARIA (Bladder Pea}.— Hardy
evergreen perennials, of which V.
grcBca is the handsomest, and bears
a strong resemblance to the better-
known V . utriculata, long cultivated
in gardens. The bright yellow flowers
open in succession for a length of
several inches on each stem. Rocky
places in South Europe. Cuttings or
seed. Both kinds flourish in dryish
soil, on dry sunny parts of the rock
garden.

VIBURNUM (Guelder Rose}.— Hand-
some and vigorous shrubs of northern
regions, beautiful in berry as well as
flower, and, with few exceptions, of the
easiest cultivation. They simply need
a fair soil and plenty of moisture.
Increase by cuttings and layers or
seed — the best way. Some kinds are
not worth growing, being either too
much like others or tender and delicate
with us. Those admitted here are
distinct and of value, and it is best to
limit ourselves to them.

V. ACERIFOLIUM. — A shrub of 4 to 6
feet, from the mountains of New England,
and distinct in its broad and glossy three-
lobed leaves. The flowers are not showy,
but give place to oval red berries, blackish-
purple when ripe. The leaves turn a fine
crimson-purple in autumn, and the plant
will grow in dry rocky soils.

V. CARLESII. — A charming Japanese
shrub of rather loose habit, with roundish
leaves, silvery on the underside and
greyish-green above from their coating
of fine . hairs. The flowers expand as
rounded clusters of good size in the latter
part of April, though the buds are formed
early the previous autumn. They are
pink in bud, opening white and retaining
a flush on the outside ; they are finely
fragrant and last a long time. Though
uninjured at Kew during recent winters,
the plant is still on trial as to its hardiness

in this country, and might possibly lose
its buds in a severe winter. Cuttings.

V. CASSINOIDES. — Of the American
Viburnums, one of the best, growing
some 6 feet high, with thick leathery
leaves, 3 to 4 inches long, and yel-
lowish white flowers, during the early
part of June, in flat cymes 4 to 5
inches across, and handsome fruit, the
berries changing first to rose colour and
finally to bluish-black. As they do not
ripen simultaneously, fruits of both these
colours, as well as green ones, occur on
a cluster at the same time. N. and Arctic
America.

C. COTINIFOLIUM. — A spreading shrub
or low tree of 20 feet, found high on the
Himalayas, yet so tender as to need shelter
or a place on a warm wall during our
winters. Its young leaves are downy
but wear smooth, remaining grey and
woolly beneath, ovate in shape, and
4^ inches long by -2\ wide. The flower-
clusters appear in May and June upon
short woolly stalks, the small white flowers
flushed with pink, and succeeded by bright
scarlet berries. A beautiful shrub for
warm districts.

V. DAHURICUM. — A spreading shrub of
5 to 8 feet, with grey stems and small
woolly leaves. It is spread from Dahuria
to W. China, and is hardy, thriving in
light moist humus, and covered during
early summer with white funnel-shaped
flowers in small clusters, followed by
fragrant oval berries, at first red, but
black and sweet when ripe.

V. DAVIDII. — Of little flower beauty,
this distinct species is valuable for its
evergreen character, hardiness, and the
mound-like cushions formed by its hand-
some leathery foliage. It is I to 2 feet
high, and often the same across, attributes
which fit it well for certain positions in
the rock garden. Its dull white flowers
are in stiff terminal heads ; the fruits
blue. W. China.

V. DENTATUM. — A bushy shrub of 15
feet, with ovate leaves on slender stems
and abundant white flowers in June and
July, when the shrub is at its best. These
give place to small rounded berries of a
bright dark blue, covered with a fine
bloom. There are two varieties, one with
finely variegated leaves, and Icsvigatum,
which flowers later and is larger in leaf.
They are handsome shrubs for damp
ground. N. America.

V. DILATATUM. — A shapely shrub of
erect growth, brought long ago from the
East and fully hardy, yet almost unknown
in our gardens. Its bright green leaves
resemble those of the common Hazel,
and its showy heads of pure white flowers,
appearing in May and June, sometimes
measure 6 inches across. These give place
to scarlet berries, hanging for many weeks,
and making this one of the most handsome
of hardy shrubs. •

776

VIBURNUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. VIBURNUM.

V. FURCATUM. — A handsome species, a
native of N. Japan at low levels, and of
the mountains of the more southern por-
tions, and one of the finest of shrubs for
autumn colour. The large and broad
leaves turn brilliant scarlet and reddish-
purple before they fall, and it grows 12 to
15 feet in height. Japan.

V. HENRYI. — A lax-habited hardy ever-
green shrub from C. China, attaining to
10 feet or so high. It is both distinct and
choice, and of high fruit ornament in
autumn, when the pretty panicles of coral-
red and black fruits are coloured. The
smooth lanceolate leaves are shining
green ; flowers white.

V. LANTANA (Wayfaring Tree). — One of
the two kinds native of Britain, and fre-
quent in hedgerows and copses, especially
in chalk or limestone soils. At its best
it is almost a small tree, 12 feet to 15 feet
high. The flowers are white during May
and June, on flat clusters at the ends of
the branches. The fruit is red at first,
ultimately black, and the leaves often
die off a rich red. There is a variegated
form of no particular value.

V. LANTANOIDES (Hobble Bush or Moose-
wood). — A N. American kind, a large
shrub, the leaves are almost round,
and whilst averaging 3 to 4 inches
across are sometimes over 6 inches. The
truss has its outer flowers sterile, and they
are i inch or more in diameter ; both they
and the smaller ones that fill the centre
are white. The fruit is at first coral-red,
afterwards dark purple or almost black,
and the foliage dies off a rich claret.

V. LENTAGO. — A large bush or low
tree of 30 feet, common throughout N.
America in moist woods. Its broadly-
oval pointed leaves are of deep shining
green, changing in autumn to varied tints
of purple, red, and yellow. The white
flowers appear in stemless clusters during
May and June, followed by large black
berries, bluish with a delicate bloom,
pleasant to the taste, and hanging for
several months. It is sometimes grown
as a standard with good effect. A variety
in which the flower-heads have short
stems is known as subpedunculatum.
Allied to this is V. prunifolium, which
also attains large size in dry stony places.
Its leaves are Plum-like and shining,
with saw-like edges, and the flowers pure
white, fragrant, with prominent yellow-
tipped stamens. The berries are bluish-
black with a grey bloom.

V. MACROCEPHALUM (Great Snowball
Bush). — A Chinese species, not very hardy,
with enormous flower clusters. In some
places it thrives against a wall, and in
the south as a bush. Fortune saw it
20 feet high in Chusan. The wild plant
from which it has been derived is in culti-
vation, and is known as V. Keteleen. This
has the centre of the truss (which is much
lluttcr than in V. macrocephalum] filled

with fertile flowers, the outer ones only-
being sterile.

V. ODORATISSIMUM. — As a rule, when
grown out of doors this is given a place
on a wall, as it is not hardy in all winters.
It is evergreen, foliage is handsome, each
leaf 3 to 6 inches long, leathery, and of a
lustrous dark green. The flowers are in
corymbs, and although small and dull
white, are charming for their fragrance.
China. Syn., V. Awafuhi.

V. OPULUS (Guelder Rose). — A hand-
some and often rather tall native bush,
frequent in the underwoods of many dis-
tricts. In the wild form the outer flowers
only of the cyme are sterile, and these are
about three-quarters of an inch across ;
the centre is filled with small perfect
flowers. In autumn this plant is valued
for its clusters of fine red fruits and the
colour of its leaves. Of its best known
varieties is the var. Sterile (Common
Guelder Rose) . This has few or no perfect
flowers, the whole truss consisting of the
more showy barren ones, which makes it
much more rounded, and, together with
the pure whiteness of the flowers, has led
to its being popularly known as the Snow-
ball Tree. A yellow-fruited kind differs
from the type in the fruits being yellow
instead of red when ripe.

V. PLICATUM (Japanese Guelder Rose). —
A very sturdy, robust, flowering shrub. I
have seen young, newly - rooted plants
injured the first year after being put out,
but when once established it will stand
any frost up to 30° without lasting injury.
It is a shrub of neat yet graceful habit,
well clothed with dark green, rather
plaited leaves. It bears its fine trusses,
3 inches or more across, on short branches
springing from the whole length of the
previous year's growth, thus forming fine
sprays of pure white blossom. Syn., V.
Tomentosum Var.

V. RHYTIDOPHYLLUM. — Perhaps the
most distinguished and ornamental ever-
green of the whole race. The leaves,

VICIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDBN.

VlNCA.

771

which are broadly lanceolate, are about
9 inches in length and 2j inches broad,
dark green above, and felted with dim-
coloured tomentum below. The vigorous
growths are terminated by corymbs of
yellowish-white flowers, which in Sep-
tember give place to huge clusters of
fruits, at first red and finally glossy black.
It attains 8 to 10 feet, and as much
through, and is handsome in isolation.
C. and W. China.

V. SIEBOLDI. — A handsome and distinct
evergreen bush, with large glossy leaves
and large heads of white flowers, in May
and June in Southern England. A pro-
mising kind, at least for districts where
our evergreens usually escape the effects
of hard winters.

V. TINUS (Laurustinus).— A beautiful
and fragrant evergreen, thriving over a
large area of Great Britain and Ireland,
especially near the sea and on warm and
gravelly soil, though now and then injured
by severe winters even in the country
south of London. In sunny positions it
usually flowers freely, but not in shade,
commencing to bloom in December, it
will continue till the end of March.
Although all its flowers are perfect, it
does not ripen fruit regularly, but fruits
occasionally occur, the colour being a
dark blue. There are several varieties
of the Laurustinus, one of which, the var.
lucidum, has fine large leaves, shining and
almost smooth on both sides, and the
flowers and flower-trusses also are larger.
It is possibly not quite so hardy as some
forms of Laurustinus, and should have a
sheltered sunny spot. Other varieties are
hirtum, distinguished by the hairiness of
the leaves and branches, and purpureum,
which has the leaves suffused with a dull
purple tinge. Laurustinus can be struck
from cuttings.

V. WRIGHTII. — An erect shrub from the
mountains of N. Japan, and hardy in
Britain, though as yet hardly known. Of
spreading habit, the leaves are large,
thick, and rounded, coarsely toothed, and
finely tinted with scarlet and ruddy-purple
on fading, and its large fruits are brilliant
in their early stages. It promises to be
one of the best for autumn effect.

VICIA ( Vetch) . — Perennial and
annual herbs, several of which are
native, and worthy of more care than
they often get. They grow freely in
almost any soil, and are raised from
seed and increased by careful division.
The following are the most useful
species : —

V. ARGENTEA (Silvery Vetch). — Has
silvery leaves and prostrate habit, is
without tendrils, about 8 inches high,
spreading freely in light soil ; the rather
large whitish flowers are veined with violet
in the upper, and spotted with purple in
the lower, part. It is not a brilliant plant

in flower, but the foliage makes it worthy
of a place in the rock garden. Pyrenees.
Division or seed.

V. CRACCA (Purple Vetch). — A pretty
native plant common in many districts,
wreathing hedgerows and bushy tufts with
its graceful shoots and bluish-purple
flowers. In many districts it plants itself
so prettily that there is no need to culti-
vate it. It is perennial, and should be
kept in the rougher parts of the garden.

V. ONOBRYCHUS. — A lovely Vetch bear-
ing long and handsome racemes of flower
during summer, when it brightens the
Alps of France and Italy, giving an effect
like that of some of the purple Australian
Pea-flowers. It is best grouped in the
rock garden or on a grassy bank.

V. PYRENAICA. — A graceful perennial of
dwarf habit, with abundant rich purple
flowers of large size from April to June. It
is one of the prettiest of Pea-flowered
rock plants, its soft green, finely-cut leaves
making a cheerful groundwork, drooping
from rocky shelves or draping old walls.
It spreads freely by underground runners,
but is easily kept in bounds and not at all
troublesome. Pyrenees.

V. SYLVATICA (Wood Vetch) . — This
pretty native plant, with trailing stems
of 5 or 6 feet, threads its way through
shrubs and hedges, displaying abundant
creamy-white flowers streaked with blue
or purple, and bright pea-green leaves.
Where unknown as a wild plant, it is well
worth a place in the woodland garden, and
is easily raised from seed.

Vieusseuxia. See MOR.EA.

VILLARSIA (Yellow Buckbean).—
V. nymphcBoides is a pretty British
water plant, with leaves like a Water
Lily, but smaller, and floating. Its
yellow flowers are borne singly, and
last through the summer. Division.

The following two kinds I have at
Gravetye, but am not sure if they are
as hardy as the common wild kind : —

V. RENIFORMIS. — A graceful water
pla.nt, a welcome addition for fountain
basins and pools without rush of water.
It may even be useful in open water, like
our native Villarsia.

V. OVATA. — Quite distinct from V. reni-
formis, has the same beautifully-fringed
flowers, and is most welcome for fountain
basins.

V I N C A (Periwinkle). — Perennial
trailers, hardy and vigorous anywhere.
The well-known V. major (common
Periwinkle) is useful for banks or
masses of rootwork, and also for rocky
places or by wood walks. The lesser
Periwinkle ( V. minor) is much smaller
and useful for the same positions ; it
also has several varieties worth grow-

77*

VIOLA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VIOLA.

ing : a white-flowered one ( V. m.
alba], a reddish one, and one or two
double and variegated forms. V. her-
bacea is less frequently seen than our
common Periwinkles, but is more
worthy of culture on rocks, as it is not
rampant in habit. It is a native of
Hungary, flowers in spring and early
summer, and its stems die down every
year. V. acutiloba is a distinct kind
bearing its delicate mauve blossoms in
autumn and thriving on sunny banks
and warm borders.

VIOLA (Violet}. — In nature it is a
very large family, some kinds being
among the most ornamental plants
that bedeck the alpine turf. Even the
common Violet may also be claimed
as an alpine plant, for it wanders along
hedgerow and hillside, along copses
and thin woods, all the way to Sweden.
From the Violet our world of wild
flowers derives wondrous beauty and
delicate fragrance ; no family has
given us anything more precious than
the garden Pansies and the various
kinds of large, showy, sweet-scented
Violets. Far above the faint blue
carpets of the various scentless wild
Violets in our woods and heaths, our
thickets and bogs — above the miniature
Pansies that find their home among our
lowland field-weeds ; far above the
larger Pansy-like Violas (varieties of
V. lutea) which flower so richly in the
mountain pastures of Northern England
and even on the tops of stone walls ;
and above the large, free-growing
Violets of the American heaths and
thickets, we have true alpine Violets,
such as the yellow two-flowered Violet
( V. biflora], and large blue Violets such
as V. calcarata and V. cornnta. They
grow in a turf of high alpine plants not
more than an inch or so in height.
The leaves do not show above the
densely-matted turf, but the flowers
start up, waving everywhere thousands
of little banners. Violets are of the
easiest culture ; even the highest alpine
kinds thrive with little care, and V.
cornuta and V. calcarata, of the Alps
and Pyrenees, thrive even more freely
than in their native uplands, the foliage
and the stems being stronger. Slow-
growing compact kinds, like the Ameri-
can Bird's-foot Violet, enjoy, from
their stature and their slowness of
growth, a position in the rock garden,
or in the choice border, and they are
of easy culture in moist sandy soil.
Violets of all kinds are easily increased
by cuttings from stout short runners.

The following are among the best
kinds : —

V. BIFLORA (Two-flowered Yellow V.). —
This bright little Violet is a lovely orna-
ment on the Alps, where it carpets chinks
between the moist rocks. It even crawls
under great boulders and rocks, and lines
shallow caves with its fresh verdure and
its little golden stars, and is useful in
rock gardens where rude steps of stone
give winding pathways. It will run
through every chink between the steps.
Europe, N. Asia, and America.

V. CALCARATA (Spurred V.). — A pretty
plant of the Alps, usually found in high
situations, amidst dwarf flowers, and is so
plentiful that its large purple flowers make
sheets of colour. It is as charming in the
rock garden as in its native wilds, but not
so free as the Horned Pansy. There are
white, pale lilac, and yellow varieties, the
last (flava) being the same as V. Zoysi.

V. CORNUTA (Horned Pansy). — A moun-
tain Pansy, with sweet-scented pale blue
or mauve flowers of great beauty. For
a while superseded by the many charming
tufted Pansies, the turn of the Horned
Pansy has come again, and of late years
named varieties with some finely shaded
flowers have been raised, the colours pass-
ing through blue and purple to rosy-lilac
and white. Pyrenees. Division, cut-
tings, or seeds.

V. GRACILIS.— A remarkably pretty
dwarf species, never failing to produce in
spring an abundance of deep purple
blossoms in dense tufts. It is hardy in
light soil. Mount Olympus. A pretty
form of this, V. gracilis valderia, comes
from the Tyrol ; its violet-blue flowers are
flecked with darker and with paler spots.

V. LUTEA (Mountain V.). — The yellow
form of this Violet is very neat and com-
pact, 2 to 6 inches high. From April
onwards it yields abundant flowers of a
rich and handsome yellow, the three lower
petals being striped with thin black lines.
A large flowered garden form is named
Gem.

V. MUNBYANA. — One of the prettiest of
Violets, abundant in flower, robust in
growth, and hardy. It begins to bloom
about the end of February, attaining its
greatest beauty in May. The deep purple-
blue flowers resemble those of V. cornuta ;
and there is also a yellow variety. Spain
and Algeria.

"V. ODORATA (Sweet V.). — This well-
known plant is widely spread over Europe
and Russian Asia, including Britain, while
it is grown in almost every garden, and
flowers of it in enormous quantities are
sold in our cities. Its fragrance distin-
guishes it from other Violets. It may be
grown as carpets for open groves or the
fringes of woods, hedges, or banks. In-
stead of being confined to a bed it should
fringe rock gardens or ferneries. In such

VIOLA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VIOLA.

773

positions it requires little care. It will
grow in almost any soil, but best on free
sandy loam. It is well to naturalise the
plant on sunny banks, fringes of woods,
and the warmer sides of bushy places to
encourage early bloom.

In the open Sweet Violets thrive
on moderately heavy rich soil ;
should the soil be light and gravelly,
some stiff material and plenty of
manure must be added to it ; poor
and hard clay will gain by adding

spring, and afford a partial shade in
summer. When the soil is deep and
rich, however, Violets will bear sun-
shine, and it is well to have a few
plants in different positions to ensure
a long season of bloom. On south
borders Violets dwindle, but a few
roots on sunny banks will give some
early pickings.

The insects that trouble the Violet
most are green-fly and red-spider. The
first is generally the result of a close

'iola pcdata (Bird's-foot Violet)

sharp gritty matter and abundance of
rotten manure. Violets require shel-
ter, but not that of a wall, and in
enclosed gardens they are seldom
healthy. Their natural shelter is a
hedgerow, allowing such currents of
pure air as are essential for keeping
down red -spider and for healthy
foliage. They grow well on the shady
side of a Hornbeam hedge, if somewhat
naked at bottom, so as to allow the
sun to shine on their leaves early in

unhealthy atmosphere, and is easily
got rid of by gentle smokings. Red-
spider is induced by strong sun and by
dry soil ; hand-dusting with sulphur
is the best remedy, but it is easy to
prevent its occurrence by free sprink-
ling.

The varieties of the Violet are very
numerous. We have the single white
and the single rose, the double white,
the Czar (a very large and sweet
variety), the Queen of Violets, Admiral

774

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THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VIOLA.

Avellan, La Grosse Bleue, La France,
California, Princess of Wales, Luxonne,
Belle de Chatenay, White Czar, Lady
Hume Campbell, Marie Louise, Victoria
Regina, Wellsiana, and the perpetual
blooming Violet — well known in France
as La Violette des Quatre Saisons.
This differs slightly from the Sweet
Violet, but is valuable for its long
season ; it is the variety used by the
cultivators round Paris. The double
white, or, as it becomes in the open
air, the rosy-white Belle de Chatenay,
has a robust habit. Though not so
pure as the old double white kind, it
blooms more freely, and is neater.
The Neapolitan Violet is tender and
needs protection.

V. FED ATA (Bird's-foot V.). — The most
beautiful of the American Violets, with
handsome flowers i inch across, pale or
deep lilac, purple or blue, the two upper
petals being sometimes velvety and deep
violet like the petals of a Pansy. The
variety bicolor is a pretty form, its flowers
larger, and the petals arranged like those
of a Pansy, the two upper ones rich velvety
purple, and the three lower delicate blush.

•-. "^.^Wss^KHMF* ?""»'"»
Viola reniformis (New Holland Violet).

V. RENIFORMIS (New Holland V.). —
This mantles the ground with a mass of
small leaves and slender, creeping stems,
and bears throughout the summer blue
and white flowers of exquisite beauty,
about 2 inches high. It is pretty for a
bed of peat or very light earth, where
taller plants are put out in a scattered
way for a time; but, being small and
delicate, it should not be used with coarse
plants. It must be treated like a tender
bedding plant — taken up or propagated
in autumn, and put out in May or June.
Australia. Division. Syn., Erpetion.

V. ROTHOMAGENSIS (ROUCII V.). A

handsome plant, dwarf, and with low,
creeping stems, which bear in spring
numerous purple and white blossoms. It
is a free grower, but, being a native of
Sicily, is not so hardy as some Violets,
and should be grown in a light soil and
a warm border.

V. TRICOLOR (Heart's-ease). — The Pansy
is usually classed under the head of V.
tricolor, though it is probably descended
from F.' altaica — to which many Pansies
seem nearly allied. But our Pansies are
so numerous, so varied, and, withal, so
distinct from any wild Violet, that little
can be traced of their origin. Of one
thing we may be certain — the parents of
this precious race were mountaineers.
Only alpine plants could give rise to such
rich colour and such wealth of bloom. It
may be treated as an annual, a biennial, or
a perennial, according to climate, position,
and soil. One of the commonest of weeds
in Scotland, the wild V. lutea may be
grown in the south of England if sheltered
from the midday sun.

The fancy Pansies are remarkable
for the strange variety of their colours
and the unusual size of the blooms.
The seed should be sown in July or
August, in pans of light, leafy soil, such
as sand, leaf-mould, and mould from
rotted turf, and placed in a cool, shady
place.

As it is rarely convenient to plant
the seedlings at once where they are
to bloom, they should be placed in
pots plunged in a cool place in the
open ground, and put out in time to
get established before winter. They
stand the winter well, and the only
danger lies in heavy rain or sleet suc-
ceeded by sharp frosts.

Self-coloured Pansies, which I call
tufted Pansies, are among the most
beautiful things one can cultivate in a
cool rainy country like ours. In the
north, among mountains and hills,
they are at their best ; in the south,
with care, they are lovely, and when
other flowers may be beaten to pieces
by storm, they are better than ever,
only one must take care to change the
ground now and then, because certain
worms are fond of the plants and get
into it. One often loses them also in
a hot summer, so that it is always best
to renew the stock from some cool
northern nursery and increase them
as much as possible from autumn
cuttings. If we have any young
plants we should plant in autumn or
in spring when the trade stocks are
mostly to be had. Plants of this
" tufted" habit are often a mass of

VIOLA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VISCARIA.

775

delicate rootlets even above the ground,
so that they are easily increased ;
hence when older Pansies die after
flowering, those crossed with the alpine
species remain, like true perennials,
and are easily increased. The term
Pansies is a good one in all ways.
Without an English name, we shall
always have confusion with the Latin
name for wild species. To all of these
belongs the old Latin name of the
genus Viola. It is now agreed by
botanists that all cross-bred garden
plants — including tufted Pansies —
should have popular English and not
Latin names.

These are the flowers hitherto gener-
ally known as Violas and bedding
Pansies, and Dr Stuart, who has raised
some of the best of them, says :
" Botanically, Violets, Pansies, and
Heart 's-ease are all the same. Tufted
Pansies are crosses from the garden
Pansy and Viola cornuta, the latter
being the seed - bearer. Pollen from
V. cornuta applied to the Pansy
produces a common enough form of
bedding Pansy — never the tufty root-
growth obtained when the cross is the
other way. I have proved this by
actual hand-crossing. Most strains of
tufted Pansies are bred the wrong-
way, and lack the tufty root which
makes the Violetta strain perennial."

Although we like the colours simple
and pure, there are other pretty ones
of a different kind, such as Accushla,
Blue Cloud, Columbine, Countess of
Kintore, Duchess of Fife, Hector
Macdonald, and Skylark. In the
south, however, they are uncertain,
liable to vary in colour, and not so
good as the selfs. Some kinds, like
Violetta, are white, running off to
delicate bluish or lilac hues. These
delightful plants are so easily raised
and crossed that each garden might
raise its own kinds, so as to have as
much variety as possible. They love
a light and cool soil. In northern
districts they are more at home than
in the south, where special treatment
is necessary to bring them to perfection.

For early spring flowering the cut-
tings should be rooted in July or
August and planted out in October.
They commence blooming early in
April. In heavy soils liable to crack
with drought use abundance of leaf-
soil, burnt ashes from the rubbish
fires, and the like, to bring them into
order. Also select a dry time for
digging, working in the above with
plenty of short manure from an old

Mushroom bed, and scattering an inch
or so on the surface for the roots at
planting time. Cuttings are better
than divisions, particularly if they
are made of the young shoots stripped
from the old stool with a heel attached.
To yield a supply of these cuttings a
reserve batch of plants is necessary.
About the second week in June cut
them back to within 2 inches of the
soil. A month afterwards they]£will

A Tufted Pansy.

be bristling with young shoots. When
3 inches long, scatter some fine soil and
leaf-mould among the young growths,
and keep well watered for a fortnight,
by which time the majority will be
making roots freely. A fortnight later
they will be ready for planting in
nursery-beds in a shady spot and in
good soil. As growth is renewed,
pinch out the top of each to encourage
the quicker formation of shoots at the
base. By October there will be some
grand plants for putting into their
permanent quarters, full of youth and
vigour that will produce masses of
flowers in due season.

VISCARIA. — V. oculata, a showy
and beautiful hardy annual from South
Europe, is well suited for a border.
Seed should be sown in spring or
autumn, and the seedlings thinned
out when large enough. The plant
is 6 or 8 inches high, and bears a
profusion of rose - coloured blossoms
with a dark centre. The varieties
cardinalis (bright crimson - purple),
ccerulea (bluish), alba (white), Dunnetti
(rose), splendens (scarlet), picta elegans
(crimson - purple, edged with white),

776

VISCUM.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VITIS.

and a dwarf variety, nana, about 9
inches high, are desirable.

VISCUM ALBUM (Mistletoe).— This |
on trees is often welcome in the pleasure j
ground or orchard, and is not without
beauty of colour, but where abundant ;
it is injurious, being a true parasite
which thrives at the expense of its
victim. It grows on many trees, both
evergreen and summer-leafing — or- ;
chard trees, Limes, Poplars, Elms,
Willows, Hornbeam, Beech, Acacia,
Horse-chestnut, Firs — rarely on the
Oak in Britain. Where the plant is
wild the thrushes spread it about by
wiping the seeds off their bills on the
bark, and where plentiful it is very
injurious to fruit trees and timber.
As to the best way of increasing this
plant, Mr F. W. Burbidge wrote :—

" I find growth of the seeds certain
if they are placed on clean, fresh,
smooth bark in April or May, and then
covered with one thickness of black
muslin or lawn, so that birds do not
peck them away, as they do if unpro-
tected. Many make the mistake of
putting on the seeds at or about
Christmas - time before they have
ripened enough to grow. Do not cut
slits in the bark ; the best way is
simply to apply it to the clean bark
only."

VITEX (Chaste Tree). — V. Agnus-
castus is a graceful shrub, with divided
leaves, and in late summer clusters of
small pale lilac flowers. It grows 6 to
10 feet high against a wall, but even
thus protected is liable to be killed
during a severe winter. I have never
seen it flower well except in Austria
and Italy. S. Europe.

VITIS ( Vine) . — Woody climbing
shrubs of much interest and garden
value, owing to their grace and hand-
some foliage, which affords the richest
of colours — yellows, purples, and crim-
sons. Whilst some are valuable for
the walls of houses, others may be used
for covering arbours, pergolas, the
pillars of verandahs, old tree stumps,
or sloping banks. In the case of the
stronger, taller- growing species they
may be made to clamber over living
trees. Where space is limited they
can be kept small by pruning, but the
best effects are obtained where they
can ramble without hindrance. Most
kinds can be increased by cuttings or
by single "eyes" treated as in the
Grape Vine, though some can only be
raised by seeds. Those that refuse to

root from cuttings can sometimes be
layered. Graftings should be a last
resource. It is worth noting that some
of the early kinds of European Vine
ripen well in some of our warm valleys,
all the more so if pruned and trained
as in France, but even without that
they sometimes fruit very well. Vines
of the north of France, such as Le
Chasselas, de Fontainebleau and La
Madeleine, may be tried for this with
any others.

In the following list Ampelopsis and
Cissus are merged in Vitis.

V. ^STIVALIS (Summer Grape). — The
leaves are 4 to 6 inches across, a deep
green colour when old, but in a young
state covered on the lower surface with
a reddish down. The berries are small —
about the size of black currants — acid
but edible. New England to Florida
and westwards.

V. ARMATA. — Noble Vine from C.
China, with large heart-shaped or nearly
triangular bronze-green leaves set upon
spiny stems, by means of which the plant
climbs. In autumn the foliage assumes
fine tints of crimson-purple and yellow,
and it reaches a height of 10 or more feet
in three years from the seed.

V. CALIFORNICA (Californian V.). — This
is the best of the American Grape Vines
(excluding the Ampelopsis section) for
colour in autumn, and it is one of the
strongest growers, climbing over lofty
trees. Its leaves, which turn a deep
crimson in autumn, are rounded and
covered with down.

V. COIGNETI.E (Crimson Glory V.).—
A noble hardy Vine from the mountain
forests of the Island of Yezzo, N. Japan,
where it covers the trees from base to
summit with a gorgeous mantle in
autumn. It comes near V. Labrusca
in general appearance, but is more
vigorous, growing at a great pace when
fairly established, and displaying a pro-
fusion of leathery dark-green leaves with
several lobe - like points, and coated
beneath with a thick felt-like down which
varies in colour from rusty-brown to
yellow or nearly white. Their autumn
tinting is beautiful, especially in a dry
season and when the plant is not overfed.
Increase by seed or layers.

V. CORDIFOLIA (Frost Grape). — A vigor-
ous Vine with thin, three-lobed leaves,
measuring 3 to 6 inches in diameter, the
lobes ending in a long, fine point. The
berries are black and only eatable after
frost. A moisture-loving Vine, affecting
in a wild state the banks of streams. New
England to Nebraska and southwards.

V. FLEXUOSA. — A variable species from
China and Japan, with small rounded
leaves, toothed at the edges, and a velvet
surface, remaining fresh till late in

VITIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VITIS.

777

November. Among its many forms is
major, with much larger dark green
leaves, either simple or three-lobed. The
early leaves and shoots are a pretty pale
crimson, and before falling in autumn the
foliage turns purple and blood-red.

V. HENRYANA. — Discovered in China by
Dr Henry, and one of the most beautiful of
Vines. The deep green leaves are cut
into five leaflets, threaded by silvery ribs
and veins, the effect being particularly
rich in autumn when they turn a deep
crimson - purple. Though^ less vigorous

V. INCONSTANS. — As with so many of
the Vines, this shows great variety in the
shape of the leaves, and this tendency
shows itself also in the colours put on in
autumn. In the best forms the leaves
assume rich tints of purplish- red and
crimson. There is also a form with foliage
a bronzy hue more or less throughout the
season, but especially when young. Cut-
tings. Japan. Syns., Ampelopsis Veitchi
and A . tricuspidata.

V. LABRUSCA (Northern Fox G.). — Its
leaves are amongst the largest, they

Vine growing on a gazeebo. From a photograph by Miss Willmott.

than most wild Vines, it is one of the most
graceful and distinct of the group, and its
stems cling to the wall without nailing.

V. HETEROPHYLLA (Hop-leaved V.). A

variety of this, known as humulifolia, is
the most beautiful of the forms of this
species, and in autumn bears pretty
turquoise - blue berries. It requires in
most places a position on a wall in order
to induce it to fruit with freedom, and
succeeds better in dry, poor soil. A varie-
gated form is pretty, the foliage being
mottled with white or faint pink. A shel-
tered sunny position is necessary to bring
it to perfection. China, Japan, and Corea.

and the young branchlets being covered
on the under surface with a rusty-coloured
or sometimes whitish down. In a wild
state the fruit has a musky flavour, but
by cultivation it has been much improved,
and numerous varieties are grown in the
United States. It often ascends high
trees in its own country, and may be
planted in ours with this end in view.
New England to Minnesota and south-
wards.

V. MEGAPHYLLA. — A remarkable Chinese
Vine with large cleft leaves, more like a
shrubby Aralia than a Vine. They are
cut into many widely - spread leaflets,

7/8

VITIS.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

VITIS.

measure 18 by 12 inches at the base,
their upper surface a dark green changing
to grey-green on the under side. This
handsome plant is of very strong growth,
quite young plants making shoots of 10
feet or more in a season.

V. MURALIS (Wall V.). — A name cur-
rent in this country and on the Continent.
Known in America as Vitis Englemanni.
It is a distinct form of the Virginian
Creeper, possessing leaves of the same
shape, only smaller and developing equally,
or even more, brilliant autumnal colours.

V. SINENSIS. — Allied to V. avmata, but
differs from it in its variable leaves, which,
at first simple, pass gradually to the
compound form as the shoots lengthen.
It is a tall vigorous climber of massive
effect, with foliage thickly clustered.

SPINOVITIS DAVIDI. — Nearly allied to
V. Romaneti, having the same bristly or
even prickly character. Both this and
F. Romaneti assume purplish-red autumn
tints.

V. THOMSONI. — A pretty and neat-grow-
ing species climbing by its tendrils, and

Vitis heteropkylla variegata.

It is self-supporting, and will attach itself
firmly and climb to the tops of high walls —
a useful quality.

V. QUINQUEFOLIA (Virginian Creeper).—
Better known as Ampelopsis quinquefolia,
its foliage changes in the fall of the year
to various shades of crimson, scarlet, and
purple. For covering arbours, walls,
verandahs, or old tree stumps there is no
climber which produces so brilliant an
effect in so short a time. Several varieties
are in cultivation, viz., Major, incisa,
hirsuta.

V. ROMANETI. — Has large leaves,
differing from all the Vines in cultivation
(except Spinovitis Davidi) in having the
branches and petioles covered with bristles
or stout hairs.

of graceful effect upon pillars and pergolas.
The leaves are deeply cleft into five lobes,
and are of a reddish - green, rich purple
on the under side. This turns to a uniform
crimson - purple in the autumn, but a
tendency to curl up rather spoils their
effect at this season.

V. THUNBERGI. — Though near V. Coig-
neticB, is a little less exuberant in its
growth ; it may be used near the house,
whereas Coignetice, in its almost unruly
luxuriance, is best among trees. The dark
green leaves often measure a foot or more
in each sense, and in autumn they take
the richest shades of yellow, brown, crim-
son, and scarlet. Their greater brilliance,
as well as their greater size, at this season
help to distinguish the plant from Coignet's

WAHLENBERGIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. WAHLENBERGIA. 779

Vine. It is fully hardy, and thrives in
any good soil, but should not be overfed
with rich manure.

V. VINIFERA (Common Grape V.). — Of
the numerous varieties of the common
Grape Vine the following may be named
for use for walls or pergolas in gardens :
Purpurea. — This is one of the deepest
purple-foliaged Vines we possess. Al-
though the colour becomes most intense
in autumn, the leaves have a bronzy-
purple tinge from the first. Var apiifolia
is the Parsley-leaved Vine. Its leaves are
very deeply-cut, frequently into several
leaflets, which are again deeply lobed.
Besides these there are the Miller's Grape,
with smallish leaves covered with white
down, and the " Teinturier " Grape, the
leaves of which are a beautiful claret
colour before they fall, and among the
large number of Vines grown in wine-
making countries there are many worth
growing for the beauty of their leaves.

V. VULPINA (Southern Fox G.). — A
distinct Vine, the leaves are small (2 to
3 inches across), rounded, smooth, shining
on both surfaces, and bright green. The
sweet Mignonette-like perfume of the
flowers of many American Vines is in this
species especially noticeable. The variety
palmata has the branchlets and frequently
the petioles red. Nova Scotia to Manitoba
and southwards. Syn., V. riparia. Other
American Grape Vines worth growing,
but possessing no particular value above
those already described, are V. rupestris
(the Sand Grape), arizonica, and cinerea
(the Downy Grape). — W. J. B.

WAHLENBERGIA (Tufted Hair-
bell}. — A charming group of alpine
plants allied to the Hairbells, and
mostly inhabiting the mountains of
Dalmatia and Asia Minor. They are
useful, free-flowering, and hardy, form-
ing tufts with large heads of pretty,
bell-shaped, upright flowers, of various
shades of purple. The chief points
in their culture are full exposure, plenty
of sunshine, a free gritty soil, and a
raised position free from stagnant
moisture. All the species are true
perennials, easily cultivated, vigorous,
and free-flowering. They are difficult
to increase by division on account of
the long roots they make, but they
ripen seed freely, which if sown at
once rarely fails. Syn., Edraianthus.

W. DALMATICA. — Native of the moun-
tains of Dalmatia, is a tufted species with
narrow grass-like leaves, 2 to 4 inches in
length, and flower-stems at first drooping,
afterwards erect, 4 to 6 inches high, with
large flowers of a violet-blue colour, in
clusters which appear in July and August.

W. GRACILIS. — This is a variable species
from New Zealand, with square, hairy,

much-branched stems, the leaves opposite,
narrow toothed, and hairy, the flowers
terminal, erect, but nodding while in bud,
blue, large, and attractive, flowering all
through the summer.

W. GRAMINIFOLIA. — The commonest and
easiest to manage, forming tufts of long
grass-like leaves, and bunches of large
purple flowers. It ripens seed freely, and
that scattered about in the rock garden
usually germinates readily.

Claret-coloured Vine.

W. HEDERACEA (Ivy-leaved Hairbell). —
A native plant closely allied to Campanula.
It has creeping thread-like branches,
which bear small leaves and light blue
flowers. There is about it an interest and
grace not found in other more robust
members of the family, especially when it
is seen interlaced with the pink Bog Pim-
pernel on British bogs. Worthy of a place
for a moist spot in the rock or bog garden,
and easily increased by division. It is
abundant in Ireland and the south and
west of England.

W. PUMILIO. — Forms a dwarf tuft of
narrow, needle-like leaves of a bluish tint,
half an inch or more in length, and has
large flowers of a reddish-lilac or bluish
colour, bell-shaped, numerous, and borne

780

WAITZIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

WEIGELA.

erect on short stems, coming in succession
on the tuft for more than two months in
May and June.

W. PUMILIORUM. — The rarest form, and
although little different from W. Pumilio,
it gives us another shade of colour, smaller
and narrower leaves, a more straggling
habit, and longer-tubed flowers. It is an
excellent hardy plant for the rock garden,
where on raised mounds of free gritty soil
it grows and flowers vigorously.

W. SAXICOLA. — A beautiful species from
the mountains of New Zealand, with leaves
in close tufts and pretty flowers which
first appear in June and keep coming in
succession till November. It is easily
raised from seed, and varies greatly from
white to deep blue. The best forms can
be increased by division.

W. TENUIFOLIA. — A dwarf compact
growing species, with hairy stems, short
slender leaves and small flowers, six to
ten in a head, violet-blue or whitish-purple.

WAITZIA. — Half-hardy annuals
from Australia. The four kinds in
cultivation are all valuable for their
pretty flowers grown for winter
bouquets. W. acuminata has a variety
with purple flowers, and another with
yellow flowers. W. aurea has bright
yellow flowers. W. corymbosa has
white and purple flowers, and the
flowers of W. grandiflora are like those
of W. aurea, but finer. All grow about
i foot high, and should be treated like
other tender annuals, such as Rho-
danthe. They succeed best in an open
position in sandy peat. Seeds. The
seedlings should be potted before
planting out in May. They flower in
August and September.

WALDSTEINIA (Barren Straw-
berry}.— Dwarf rosaceous plants, three
of which, W. geoides, W. fragarioides,
and W. trifolia are in cultivation. The
last is the best, but not one is orna-
mental enough for border culture, but
only for banks and dry walls.

WATSONIA (Bugle Lily}.— Beau-
tiful bulbous plants of the Iris family.
In the southern counties some of them
succeed in open borders, but elsewhere
they are tender. There are about a
dozen species and about as many
varieties, half of which are variations
from W. Meriana. All are from S.
Africa, their headquarters being the
Cape. There is much variety of colour,
and " mixed " selections are offered
by the growers. The commonest
species seem to be W. Meriana,
W. coccinea, W. iridifolia, W. rosea
alba, W. humilis, W. angusta (also
known as W.fulgida), and W, aletroides.

Choice kinds with pure white flowers
are W. Ardernei, where they are borne
on long branched stems, and W. iridi-
folia O'Brieni, which is like W. rosea
except in colour. These are true
Watsonias, and have finer flowers than
the other sections of the genus. The
white Watsonia (W. alba] is a lovely
plant, flowering in early summer.
Treatment similar to that recom-
mended for the early Gladioli will
suit them.

WEIGELA (Bush Honeysuckle}.—
Graceful and hardy flowering shrubs,
summer-leafing, with showy clusters
of bloom ranging from pure white to

dark crimson. They have long been
deservedly popular, being elegant,
quick in growth, and beautiful in
bloom. A multitude of varieties have
sprung from W. floribunda, W. grandi-
flora (known also as W. amabilis],
W. rosea, and W. hortensis. These,
natives of China and Japan, have been
introduced within the last fifty years,
and so much hybridised that they are
rarely found pure. The most valuable
sorts have come from W. grandiflora,
which has the largest flowers, while the
smaller, but more numerously-flowered
kinds, have originated from W. rosea
and W. floribunda. The varieties have
been raised chiefly on the Continent,
as may be inferred from their names.

WHITLAVIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. WISTARIA. 781

The best of the older kinds are : Abel
Carriere, numerous large flowers of
soft pink ; Isolinse, large flowers of
white or pale rose with yellow mark-
ings ; Van Houttei, large and showy
white and red flowers ; Lemoinei,
numerous small deep crimson -red
flowers ; Groenewegenei, one of the
best, the flowers being large, of pink
or pale rose, with a yellow blotch ;
striata, a pretty sort, having flowers
striped with red and white ; Stelzneri,
with numerous deep red flowers ;
LavalUi, with numerous crimson-red
flowers ; hortensis nivea, more spread-
ing than that of others, with larger
and paler foliage, and large pure white
flowers ; and Candida. Good new
kinds are Conquete, deep rose, with
the largest flowers yet seen in these
plants ; Dame Blanche, large creamy-
white flowers with a yellow throat ;
Descartes, crimson-purple ; Diderot,
deep bright red ; Emile Galle, deep
red ; Eva Rathkie, one of the best,
deep rich crimson ; floreal, pink, and
very early ; Gloire des Bosquets, very
free in its deep rosy flowers ; Heroine,
rosy-white, with fine foliage ; hortensis
nivea, pure white ; Perle, creamy-white
edged with rose ; Montesquieu, wine-
purple ; Mt. Blanc, the best white ;
Othello, bright rose ; Pascal, blood-
red ; Pavilion blanc, blush-white ; and
Saturne, rosy - carmine. The new
Japanese species, D. prcecox, bears
large pink flowers with a yellow throat,
opening nearly a month earlier than
other kinds. Its influence as a parent
is already seen in a race of early-
flowering" hybrids. All sorts are of
free habit if planted in good soil in an
open position. They should never be
crowded, but grown as isolated groups
on lawns, or placed on the margins
of shrubberies. Weigelas make large
bushes, 6 to 10 feet high and as much
in diameter, and their graceful drooping
branches are ornamental, even when
leafless in winter. They should be
top-dressed annually with good rich
soil, and pruned, leaving the vigorous
stems and the branches that yield the
finest bloom.

WHITLAVIA. — W. grandiflora is a
beautiful herb about a foot high, allied
to the Nemophila, with an abundance
of showy bell-shaped blossoms of a
rich deep blue. There is a white
variety, and also one called gloxinioides,
with white and blue flowers. These
are hardy annuals, and may be sown
either in autumn or in spring in the

open border, in good friable soil.
California.

WIGANDIA.— Fine-leaved plants of
the tropics, which succeed in the open
air in summer in a few warm southern
gardens. The best is W. Caracas ana,
from the mountainous regions of New
Granada ; but even this will only
succeed in the warmest and best shel-
tered spots. The stems of W. macro-
phylla, from Mexico, are covered with
short stinging hairs, bearing brownish
viscid drops, which adhere to the hand
like oil. But the truth is, they are of
slight value for our gardens, in view
of the far more beautiful hardy plants
we have.

WISTARIA (Glycine).—The noblest
of all woody climbers introduced to
Europe. Besides giving a beautiful
covering for houses, pergolas, etc.,
the Wistaria is of great value in
other ways, and can be grown on
trees. In Mr Waterer's nursery at
Knap Hill it has been trained up
Laburnum trees. In the end, no
doubt, the Laburnums will get the
worst of it, but meanwhile the two
flower together, and the pale blue-
purple racemes of the Wistaria and
the golden ones of the Laburnum make
a fine contrast. An old Oak that has
seen its best days would be a suitable
support for it. In getting this or any
other climber to grow on living trees,
the difficulty is at the start, chiefly
because of the living roots of the tree
on which it is to grow, and then the
Wistaria should be planted well away
from the trunk where sun and rain
can reach it.

It now and then makes very graceful
standards at least in the good situations
in the south, and bowers and most
beautiful lace-work for summer-houses
may be formed with this climber alone.
A strong framework of tent shape
might easily be covered with it. The
timbers or irons of the roof might be
close enough for the foliage of the
Wistaria to cast a slight shade over
the interior, and the motive would be
the grace and beauty of the shrub
when in flower, garlanding it, and
forming a temple of graceful bloom.

W. BRACHYBOTRYS. — Although many
years since a Wistaria under this name
was brought to Europe from Japan by
Siebold, but little can be said of it.
Judging by published figures, it appears
to be a dwarf variety of W. chinensis, with
racemes of the same blue-purple flowers,
only shorter, as the specific name suggests.

Wistaria multijuga on a tr<

WOODSIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. XEROPHYLLUM. 783

Var. alba has been spoken highly of in
the United States, but I have never seen
it.

W. CHINENSIS. — The oldest kind intro-
duced, and the most beautiful. Its single
and double white forms are beautiful,
although neither of them have the freedom
of the true plant. The double variety is
a poor thing.

In the VAR. MACROBOTRYS. — Flowers a
paler shade of blue-purple, and the racemes
longer, the flowers being farther apart. A
variegated form is not worth a place.

W. FRUTESCENS. — The only species
found wild in the New World. It is a
climber, but not a strong grower, the
flowers pale blue-purple, arranged densely
in racemes 3 to 8 inches long in June.
There are two varieties in cultivation, one,
magnifica, has racemes over i foot in
length ; the second is a white form.

W. MULTIJUGA (Japanese Glycine). — A
very beautiful plant with racemes often
between 2 and 3 feet long, flowering a
fortnight later than the Chinese Glycine,
the blossoms much less closely packed on
the spikes. The colour varies in different
plants, but it is always a variation of
delicate lilac and white. The variety
alba has flowers wholly white, and there
are two forms of the plant in cultivation,
one with shorter racemes. The newest
form is one called rosea, with flowers of
a delicate shade of rosy-lilac. Variety
Russelliana has dark flowers with a pale
central blotch. — W. J. B.

WOODSIA. — These pretty deciduous
hardy Ferns are admirably suited for
a northern position in the alpine or
rock garden. They are impatient of
sunshine, and drainage should receive
special attention. They should have a
mixture of fibry peat and loam, which
has some broken-up sandstone mixed
with it. It is a good plan to place
Woodsias between little blocks of
sandstone which just peep out of the
soil. These blocks of stone could be
covered with Sedums and other flower-
ing rock plants. The best hardy
species are W. ilvensis and W. alpina ;
there is also a very beautiful N.
American kind named W. obtusa.

WOODWARDIA. — Noble ferns, of
which a few are hardy. All are hand-
some, with broad beautifully arching
fronds, which are especially ornamental
if seen a little above the level of the
eye. Woodwardias thrive under the
ordinary conditions of the hardy
fernery, and succeed in a shady position
if they have a light peaty soil that is
moist in summer. The principal hardy
kinds are W. areolata (angustifolid) and
W, virginica, both from N. America;

W '. japonica and W. orientalis, from
Japan ; and W. radicans from Madeira.
W. radicans is the tenderest, and
requires a sheltered position, and
perhaps protection in severe cold.

WULFENIA. — W. carinthiaca is a
dwarf, almost stemless evergreen herb,
bearing in summer showy spikes, 12 to
1 8 inches high, of drooping purplish-
blue flowers. Found only on one or
two mountains in Carinthia. W.
Amherstiana, from the Himalayas,
similar but more showy, is rare. For
rock gardens, in ordinary soil.

XANTHOCERAS (Chinese Chestnut}.
— X. sorbifolia is a beautiful dwarf
hardy tree, but not a rapid grower ;
its leaves are elegant, and its flowers
white marked with red, borne in erect
clusters. After having been for many
years a rare plant in English gardens it
is becoming more widely known and
cultivated, and among the gardens
where it succeeds well is that at
Omngton, Worthing, where it has
ripened its fruits, which recall in form
and size the fruits of the Horse Chest-
nut. The seedlings raised from
English ripened fruits may give us
fine varieties, as seedlings vary greatly
in size and colour of flower. China.

XERANTHEMUM.— X. annuum^ is
a hardy annual, one of the prettiest
of everlasting flowers, growing about
2 feet high, with abundant white,
purple, and yellow double, single, and
semi-double blossoms. A packet of
mixed seed sown in any ordinary gar-
den soil in March will give a variety
of colours. The principal kinds are- —
Album, white ; imperiale, dark violet-
purple ; plenissimum, dark purple,
double ; superbissimum, double, globe-
flowered ; and Tom Thumb, a compact
dwarf variety. The flowers are excel-
lent for cutting, and if dried are use-
ful for winter decoration. S. Europe.
Compositae.

XEROPHYLLUM (Turkey's Beard).
— X. asphodeloides is a beautiful
tuberous-rooted plant with the aspect
of an Asphodel, forming a spreading
tuft of grassy leaves, its tall flower-
stem terminated by a raceme of
numerous white blossoms. It grows
well in a moist, sandy, peaty border,
and in the drier parts of boggy ground.
Pine barrens in N. America.

X. TENAX. — This very beautiful species
is found wild in various parts of N.
America, especially in Pine barrens on
the west side of the Continent. The

7§4

YUCCA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ZANTHOXYLUM.

flower-stems 2 to 5 feet high, the raceme
varying from i to 2 feet long, the flowers
crowded and attractive, the segments
white with a violet centre. Division or
seed.

YUCCA ( Adam's Needle). — Very dis-
tinct evergreen plants of fine form and
of the highest value where effect is
sought. They are hardy for the most
part, and all of the kinds mentioned
are vigorous and well suited for the
flower garden. The free-flowering
kinds, Y. filamentosa and Y. flaccida,
may be associated with any of our
nobler autumn-flowering plants. Even
species that do not flower so often, like
y. pendula and Y. gloriosa, are magni-
ficent if grown in the full sun and in
good soil. Division of the stem and
the rhizome.

Y. ANGUSTIFOLIA. — The smallest of all
the Yuccas. When in flower it is not
more than 3 feet high. Its long strips of
leaves are nearly i£ feet in length, but
are not more than £ inch in width. They
are thick and rigid, of a pale sea-green
colour, and fringed with white filaments.
The plant bears a simple raceme of white
flowers slightly tinged with yellow. Till
it is more plentiful it should be grown in
warm borders, in well-drained sandy loam.
N. America.

Y. CANALICULATA. — The leaves are
entire — i.e., neither toothed nor filamen-
tose at the margin, and form a dense
rosette on a stem i or 2 feet high. Each
leaf is 20 to 24 inches long, and 2 to
2i inches broad at the middle, strong,
rigid, and deeply concave. The flowers
are creamy white and borne in a large
panicle 4 or 5 feet high. It is well suited
for isolation or groups, but till more
plentiful should be encouraged in favour-
able positions and on warm soils. Mexico.

Y. FILAMENTOSA. — Has apple-green
leaves and a much-branched panicle, 4 to
6 fe^t high. It varies very much when
raised from seed. One variety (concava)
has short, strong, broad leaves, which are
more concave than those of the type ;
another variety (maxima) has narrow
leaves which, though nearly 2 feet long,
are only 2^ inches broad. N. America.

Y. FLACCIDA. — A stemless species, some-
-what resembling the last but smaller, with
a downy branching panicle, 3 or 4 feet
high, and close rosettes of leaves 18 to
24 inches long, and about i£ inches broad
at the middle. They are often fringed
with filaments, the young ones nearly
erect, and the old ones so abruptly reflexed
in the middle as to appear almost broken.
N. America.

Y. GLAUCESCENS. — A free-flowering
kind, with a panicle 3 or 4 feet high, and
sea-green leaves, about 18 inches long,
with a few filaments on the margins. The

flowers are greenish-yellow, when in bud
tinged with pink, which gives the whole
inflorescence a peculiarly pleasing tone.
It is very useful for groups, borders, isola-
tion, or for placing among low shrubs.
There is a pretty form with a broad band
of pale yellow down the .middle of the
leaf. N. America.

Y. GLORIOSA. — A large and imposing
Yucca of distinct habit and somewhat
rigid aspect. Its flower-stem is over 7 feet
high, much branched, and bears an
immense pyramidal panicle of large almost
white flowers. Its numerous leaves are
stiff and pointed. It is one of the noblest
plants in our gardens, suitable for almost
any position. In many gardens of proved
hardiness. N. America.

Y. PENDULA. — The leaves of this, at
first erect and of a sea-green colour, after-
wards become reflexed and deep green.
Old established plants standing alone on
the grass are pictures of grace and sym-
metry, from the lower leaves which sweep
the ground to the central ones that point
up as straight as a needle. There is no
plant more suited for grouping near
flower-beds or for associating with them.
N. America. Syn., Y. vecuvva.

Y. TRECULEANA. — This species is one of
the most remarkable, both from its habit
and from the dimensions of its leaves.
Like many Yuccas of its family, young
specimens of y. Treculeana differ con-
siderably from those which have reached
maturity. Thus, while the leaves of
young specimens are bent, and generally
inflected, those of mature specimens are
erect, rigid, long, and straight. The stem
of the plant is about 10 inches in diameter,
and furnished on all sides with leaves
about 4 feet long, straight, thick, and
deeply channelled, very finely toothed on
the edges, ending in a stiff, sharp point.
If placed singly it is excellent for banks
and knolls, and is also suitable for the
boldest groups. Texas.

ZANTHORIZA APIIFOLIA (Yellow
Root). — A curious dwarf shrub, native
of the eastern States of America, and so
modest in flower that it has never been
popular in gardens. In autumn the
leaves turn a deep rich colour, and the
effect is very good when grouped. It
will grow in any poor soil, and is usually
not more than 2 feet high and quite
hardy.

ZANTHOXYLUM (Toothache Tree).—
A large family of trees and shrubs, in
the main too tender for this country,
the few hardy kinds coming mostly
from China and Japan, with one of
minor interest from N. America.
In appearance they are unlike other
shrubs, often with handsome leaves
cut into leaflets, and small white or

ZAPANIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ZENOBIA.

7*5

greenish flowers followed in some kinds
by ornamental fruits. The best in
this way is Z. piperitum, or Japan
Pepper, in which the glossy black
berries are so abundant as to be
exceedingly attractive. Z. planis-
pinum is an interesting shrub of dense
growth, with glossy evergreen leaves
and branches covered with stout com-
pressed spines. Z. Bungeanum also
bears evergreen leaves of a cheerful
green, and more finely divided than
in planispinum. The finest kind, Z.
ailanthoides, a tree of 60 feet, is said
to be one of the most beautiful trees
of Japan. Increase by seeds, suckers,
or root- cuttings.

ZAPANIA (Creeping Vervain). — Z.
nodiflora is a pretty, spreading trailer,
with prostrate stems 2 or 3 feet in
length, which late in summer bear
small round heads of little purplish
flowers. Suitable for the rougher
parts of the rock garden, for borders
or edgings in free warm soil. Asia
and America. Syn., Lippia nodiflora.

ZAUSCHNERIA (California^ Fuch-
sia}.— Z. calif ornica is a bright peren-
nial, hardy in warm soils in sheltered
places, growing 12 to 18 inches high,
and yielding an abundance of grace-
fully drooping bright vermilion flowers
during summer and autumn. It flour-
ishes in sandy loam in the rock garden,
and grows capitally on an old wall.
Z. mexicana is sometimes classed as a
variety, but in my garden is distinct,
flowering later. Both grow well on dry
walls. California. Division.

ZEA (Indian Corn). — Z. Mays is
one of the noblest of the grasses that
thrive in our climate, almost indis-
pensable to our gardens, with its fine
appearance either isolated or associ-
ated with other fine-leaved plants.
Cuzko and Caragua are the largest of
the green varieties, and gracillima the
smallest and most graceful. The seeds
should be sown on a gentle hot-bed in
April, although they will occasionally
succeed out of doors. Gradually har-
den off the plants before they have
made many leaves, keeping them in a
cool frame near the glass, so as to keep
them sturdy, finally exposing them by
taking off the lights.

ZELKOWA (Zelkowa Tree).— Hand-
some summer-leafing trees, hardy,
distinct in appearance, and yielding
valuable timber, yet seldom planted.

They grow best in moist alluvial soils,
and are well adapted for avenues
and roadsides. They do not appear
to bear seed in this country, and for
this reason are commonly increased by
grafting on the Common Elm, though
such means can never give the best
results in growth and beauty. The
fine individual trees in various parts
of Britain show the Zelkowa to be
well suited to our climate, and we
could wish that it was more used by
planters, especially for wet soils, being
remarkably free from insects and
disease. There are four kinds, as
follows : —

Z. ACUMINATA (Japanese Z.). — A useful
and handsome tree of about 100 feet,
with a straight stem and a broad round
top. The leaves vary much in size even
on the same twig, being 3 to 5 inches long,
tapering to a point, i£ to 2^ inches wide,
slightly hairy on both sides, and edged
with coarse sharp teeth. The longer
points, sharper teeth, more numerous
nerves and leathery texture, together with
the fact that they hang longer, may enable
any one to tell the leaf of the Japan
Zelkowa from that of the better-known
Z. crenata. The timber is hard, durable,
and fine-grained, taking a high polish, and
valued for its many industrial uses.
Japan.

Z. CRENATA (Common Z.). — A quick-
growing, handsome tree of marked char-
acteristics, the main branches rising erect
from one point, and spreading so slightly
as to give an easily recognised form, each
branch a tiny tree in miniature. Mature
trees are 80 to 100 feet high, with a fine
columnar stem covered at first with smooth
bark like Beech or Hornbeam, though in
old trees it becomes furrowed and falls
away as in the Plane. The leaf is often
like that of the Elm, only smoother, more
glossy, and with more rounded teeth ; but
this character is so variable that leaves
like Elm, Beech, and Hornbeam may often
be found on the same branch. Asia Minor
and Caucasus. Syn., Planeva Richardi.

ZENOBIA. — Z. speciosa is one of the
most beautiful shrubs in the Heath
family, about a yard high, with small
roundish leaves of a pale green. In
the variety pulverulenta the leaves are
almost white and covered with a mealy
glaucescence ; flowers, white and wax-
like in form, like those of Lily of the
Valley, come in summer in beautiful
loose drooping clusters. A well-flow-
ered plant is charming, and lasts for
some weeks in beauty, thriving in a
peaty soil. It conies from the
southern United States, and is there-
fore not absolutely hardy. In nur-

3 D

786 ZEPHYRANTHES. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN.

ZINNIA.

series it is known as Andromeda
cassiniafolia and A. speciosa, and its
variety Z. pulverulenta as A. dealbata
and A. pulverulenta.

ZEPHYRANTHES ( Zephyr -flower] .
— This beautiful flower has been termed
the Crocus of America. There are
about fourteen species — low-growing
bulbous plants, with grassy leaves,
which appear in spring with or before
the Crocus-like flowers, which are white
or rosy - pink, large and handsome.
Zephyranthes require rest during win-
ter, and at that season are best kept
dry. In spring they should be planted
out in the full sun in sandy soil. They
do well in the greenhouse, four or six
being planted in a pot. Offsets. The
valuable species are : —

Z. ATAMASCO (Atamasco Lily). — A
native of N. America, where it is a con-
spicuous ornament of damp places in
woods and fields. Its glossy leaves appear
at the same time as the blossoms, and
slightly exceed them in height. The
white flowers are striped with rose, are
about 3 inches long, and borne singly upon
a scape 6 inches high. Flowers from May
to July, and is very beautiful where it
succeeds, but it is seldom really happy
with us in the open air, even in light soils
and in the warmest gardens.

Z. CANDIDA (Swamp Zephyr flower). —
The hardiest and best of the group, mak-
ing tufts of evergreen Rush-like leaves,
and glistening white flowers with golden
stamens, opening flat in the sunshine
from August to October. The buds are
prettily shaded with rose on the outside.
In warm sandy soils the bulbs do well,
planted like the Belladonna Lily in narrow
borders against a greenhouse or any place
— even a gravel walk — where they get
a thorough baking and plenty of moisture
from time to time. Cool and heavy soils
do not suit the plant at all, nor does
it seem to do so well in the west as
in the drier climate of E. and S.E.
Britain, often failing to flower when it
does not die out. In the light soils of
Surrey and at Kew it is charming, ripening
seeds which germinate and grow readily,
spreading into groups of beautiful effect
as an edging to warm borders, or even as
a carpet plant. Z. citrina is a scarcer
kind allied to Candida, but distinct in
form and in its golden flowers. A cross
between these two species has given Z.
Ajax, which is like Candida in character
and time of bloom, but quite new in its
soft yellow flowers, over 2 inches across,
prettily flushed with rose on the outside.

Z. CARINATA. — This lovely plant has
narrow leaves, and its flower-stem, which
is about 6 inches high, bears a delicate
rosy flower, 2 or 3 inches long. It blos-
soms freely in the open border if kept

dry in winter, and should be grown in
light sandy loam. S. America.

Z. MACROSIPHON.— A scarcer plant coin-
ing near carinata, the flowers a little smaller
but more abundant, and sometimes re-
newed in autumn. Easily grown and
seeds freely, but unless amply protected
the bulbs should be lifted in the autumn.

Z. ROSEA. — A beautiful species, with
flowers of a bright rose, is a native of the
mountains of Cuba.

Z. TREATISE. — Resembles Z. Atamasco,
but is found in damper places and blooms
somewhat later — April to June. The
leaves are weak and narrow, and the
bulbs so small that the large white flowers,
3 inches long, flushed with red while in
bud and delicately fragrant, come as some-
thing of a surprise. If grown in the open
air it should be in a warm border like that
recommended for Z. Candida, with a good
layer of ashes to protect the roots in
winter. Florida.

Z. TUBISPATHA. — A handsome plant,
bearing a white, slightly fragrant flower,
2 or 3 inches long. Native of Antigua,
and of the 'Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
Though a stove plant, it will thrive and
flower well in mild localities, if well pro-
tected in winter. A pretty pink hybrid
between this species and Z. carinata is
sometimes met with under the name of
Z. Spofforthiana.

ZIETENIA (Z. lavandul&folia}. —
Dwarf, creeping, half-shrubby peren-
nial of a greyish hue, 6 to 12 inches
high, with purple flowers in summer,
borne in whorls, forming a spike about
6 inches long, with a slender downy
stalk. Suitable for the margins of
borders and the rougher parts of the
rock garden, but, I fear, not quite
hardy. Division. Caucasus.

ZINNIA. — Half-hardy annual plants
of splendid colour and thriving best
in our country on good warm soils.
Among the most effective of summer-
blooming plants, they flower well until
autumn, their blooms not easily injured
by inclement weather, but retaining
freshness and gay colour when many
flowers present but a sorry appear-
ance. In mixed borders, and in
beds among sub-tropical plants, well-
grown Zinnias are always attrac-
tive, but require a deep loamy soil and
a warm open situation. Seed should
be sown in gentle warmth. Nothing
is gained by sowing before the middle
or end of March, as, if the young plants
have to stand before being planted,
they become root-bound and seldom
fully recover. If the tissues once
harden so much as to bring the young
plants to a standstill, there will be

ZIZANIA.

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. ZYGADENUS.

787

little chance of rapid progress when
finally set out. It is not advisable to
plant them out much before the second
week in June, as they are sensitive to
atmospheric changes, and are com-
pletely ruined by a few degrees of
frost. Zinnias have been a total
failure with me, not showing a trace
of their fine beauty as one sees it in
Austria and Italy, and therefore I have
thought it not worth the place that
might be given to better things. They
are plants that wet weather disfigured
very soon. In valleys and sheltered
gardens it may do better.

ZIZANIA (Wild Rice}. — A small
group of hardy grasses, excellent for
planting in water, or in wet ground at
the waterside. Z. aquatica is remark-
able for the fine effect of its Oat-like
stems, 8 to 10 feet high, with broad
vivid-green leaves and graceful bronzed
plumes of nearly a yard long, the seeds
of which are greedily sought by fish
and water -fowl. The plants thrive
only in water with a soft mud bottom,
and though they will often sow them-
selves, the seeds are so tempting that

the safer way is to keep a store of
them in a bottle of water through the
winter, planting the seedlings in shal-
low water during June. The plant is
of annual duration, and the seeds
perish if kept dry. N. America.

Z. latifolia, from Japan, is a peren-
nial kind, shorter and of more drooping
habit. It makes spreading tufts of a
good size, but does not bear its purplish
plumes freely in this country.

ZYGADENUS.— Plants of the Lily
family, not very ornamental for their
flowers, which are all greenish-yellow,
but their distinct growth makes them
worth cultivating in a botanical or a
full collection. They are slender bul-
bous plants with narrow grassy leaves,
and tall branching flower-stems, i to
4 feet high. Z. Fremonti (also known
as Z. glaberrimus, Z. chloranthus, and
Z. Douglasi) is the largest flowered
species. The other kinds are Z.
Nuttali and Z. paniculatus. Zygadeni
thrive best in a wet peaty border in a
shady position protected from cold
winds. California.

3D*

INDEX.

ILLUSTRATIONS IN ITALICS.

ABELIA, 322

Abies (Silver Fir), 322

Abies magnified (Castle-

wellan), 323

Abronia (Sand Verbena), 324
Abuse of Yew hedges, 243
Abutilon, 325
Acacia ( Tassel Tree), 325
Acama, 325
Acantholimon(P«r% Thrift),

325
Acantholimon glumaceum,

325

Acanthopanax, 326
Acanthus (Bear's-breech), 326,

326

Acer (Maple), 326
Achillea (Milfoil, Yarrow), 327
Aciphylla (Bayonet Plant), 328
Aconitum (Monkshood), 328
Acorus (Sweet Flag), 328
Acroclinium, 328
Actsea (Baneberry), 328
ActineUa, 328
Actinidia, 328

Adenocarpus decorticans, 329
Adenophora ( Grand Bell flower),

329
Adiantum (Maidenhair Fern),

329
Adlumia (Climbing Fumitory),

329

Adonis (Pheasant's Eye), 329
#3gle sepiaria ( Hardy Orange),

329

OKohu (Buckle), 930
-ffithionema, 330
ffithiopappus pulcherrimus,

330
Agapanthus ( African Lily),

330

Agathsea ( Blue Daisy), 331
Agave, 331

Ageratum (Floss Flower), 331
Agrostemma (Rose Campion),

331

Agrostis (Cloud Grass),331
Ailanthus, young tree with

Cannas, 332
Aira ( Hair Grass), 332
AiugSi( Bugle), 332
Akebia, 332
Akebia quinata, 83
Algerian Iris, 162
Alisma (Water Plantain), 332

Allium (Garlic, Onion), 333

Allosorus (Parsley Fern), 333

A.lnus( Alder), 333

Alonsoa (Mask-floicer),333

Aloysia (Sweet Verbena), 333

Alpine and Rock Plants for
British Gardens, 94

Alpine plants grouped, 9.1

Alstromeria (Peruvian Lili/),
333

Alternanthera ( Joy-Weed), 334

Attfyg*(HoUyhock),334

Alyssum (Ma'dwort), 335
Atyssum montanum, 335

Amaranthus (Prince's Feather,
Love-lies-bleeding), 336

Amaryllis, 336

Amelanchier(iSnouiyMespilus),
337

Amellus, 337

Amicia, 337

Ammobium (Winged Everlast-
ing), 337

Amorpha ( Bastard Indigo),
337

Amphicome, 337

Anagallis (Pimpernel), 338

Andromeda 338

Androsace, 338

Androsace sarmentosa, 338
A ndrosace. Chaddlewood,
Plympton, 93

Andryala, 341

Anemone ( Wind flower), 341
The Blue Apennine Wind-
flower, 342

Anemone and Ranunculus, 47

Annual and Biennial Plants,
52

Annual climbers, 76

Annuals, autumn-sown, 58

Anomatheca (Flowering Grass),
344

Anopterus glandulosa ( Tas-
manian Laurel), 344

Antennaria (Cat's-ear), 345

Anthemis (Rock Camomile),

345
Anthemis Macedonica, 345

Anthericum (Si Bruno's Lily),
345

Antholyza, 345

Anthyllis (Silver Bush), 345

Antirrhinum (Snapdragon), 345

Apios tuberosa ( Ground Nut),
346

Aponogeton ( Cape Pond-
flower), 346

Aquilegia (Columbine), 346
788

Arabis ( Kock Crew), 3 IS

Aralia.348

Aralia spinosa, 348

Araucaria (.l/»^Av//- PuzJe),
349

Araujia sericofera, 3 1!)

Arbutus, 234

Arbutus (Strawberry Tree), 349

Architect in the Garden, 310

Architect's true work, 313

Arctostaphylos ( Bear - berry),
349

Arctotis, 349

Arctotis arborescens, •>'/•'>

Arenaria (Sandwort), 350
Mountain Sandwort ( Aren-
aria montana), 350

Arethusa, 350

Argemone(P//fA-/y Poppy), 350

Aristolochia (Dutchman's
Pipe), 351

Aristotelia, 351

Armeria ( Thrift), 351

Arnebia (Prophet-flower), 351

Arnica (Lamb's-skin), 351

Aronia, 352

Arrowheads, 176

Artemisia (Wormwood), 352

Artificial mounds, 291

Arum (Cuckoo Pint), 353
AEUNDEL, 17
Arundo (Great Reed), 353
Asarum (Asarabacca), 353
Asclepias (Milk-weed, Silk-
weed), 353
Asimina ( Virginian Papaw),

353

Asparagus, 354

Asperula (Sweet Woodruff), 354
Asphodeline, 354
Asphodelus (Asphodel), 354
Aspidium (SIrield or Wood

Fern), 354

Asplenium (Spleemvort), 354
Aster (Starwort, Michaelmas

Daisy), 355

Aster elegans (Lilac Star-
wort), 356

Astilbe (Goat's Beard), 355
Astragalus (Milk Fetch), 355
Astrantia (Master-wort), 356
Athrotaxis, 356
Athyrium (Lady Fern), 356
Atraphaxis (Goat Wheat), 356
Attaching climbers to walls,

286
Aubrietia (Purple Eock Cress),

356, 357

Aucuba (Himalayan Laurel),
357

Illustrations in Italics.

INDEX.

789

Autumn Crocus, 156

Azalea (Swamp Honeysuckle),

357

Azara, 358
Azolla, 358

B

BABIANA (Baboon-root), 358

Baccharis, 359

Bamboo plantation, 282

Bamboos at Kew, 150

Bambusa ( Bamboo), 359

Banksia, 361

Baptisia( False Indigo), 361

Barbarea, 362

Beauty of Form in the Flower

Garden, 140

Bed of Italian Narcissus, 49
Begonia (Elephant's Ear), 362
Belladonna Lily and Zephyr-

anthes, Kew. 157
Bellis (Daisy), 362
Bellium, 363
Berberidopsis (Coral Barberry),

363

Berberis (Barberry), 363
Berberis iaponica, 363
Berchemia, 364
Beschorneria, 365
Beta ( Cilian Beet), 365
Betula ( Birch), 366

Weeping Birch, 365
Biennial plants, 57
Bigelovia(P/wro«J Golden Rod),

366
Billiardiera Longiflora (Purple

Apple-berry), 366
Birches, 306

Bletia (B. hyacintha), 367
Blumenbacbia, 367
Boathouses, 261
Bocconia (Plume Poppy), 367,

367

Bog Garden, 177, 180
Bomarea, 367
Bongardia, 367
Book plans, 199
Border at Sidbury Manor, 30
Border of hardy flowers on open

margin of lawn, 32
Borders by grass walks in

shade or sun, 29
Borago (Borage), 367
Boronia, 367
Boussingaultia (Madeira Vine),

368

Bowkeria, 368
Box, 213
Brachycome (Swan River

Daisy), 368

Brachyglottis repanda, 368
Brassica, 368
Bravoa (Scarlet Twinflower),

368

Breadth and repose, 302
Brevoortia (Crimson Ha tin -

flower), 368
Bridges, 256

Briza (Quaking Grass), 368
Brodiaea ( Calif ornian Hya-
cinth), 368

Bromus ( Brome Grass), 369
Broussonetia papyrifera (Paper

Mulberry), 369

Browallia, 369

Bruckenthalia spiculifolia, 369
Bryanthus, 369
Buddleia (Orange Ball Tree),

369

Bulbinella Hookeri, 370
Bulbocodium (Spring Meadow

Saffron), 370
Buphthalmum, 370
Bursaria spinosa, 370
Butomus ( Flowering Rush),

370
Bvxas(Box), 370

CACCINIA GLAUCA, 371

Cactus, 371

Caesalpinia iaponica, 371

Calandrinia (Rock Purslane),

371
Calceolaria (Slipper Flower),

371

Call* (Bog Arum), 373
Callirhoe (Poppy Mallow), 373
Callistemon salignus, 373
Callistephus ( China Aster), 373
Calochortus (Mariposa Lily),

Calophaca, 373

Calopogon, 375

Caltha (Marsh Marigold), 376

Calycanthus (Allspice Tree),

376

Calypso, 376

Camassia (Quamash), 376
Camellia, 376

Campanula ( Hairbell), 377
Alpine Hairbell in Rock

Garden, 377

Campanula carpatica, 378
Campanula pyramid-alls, 379
Camptosorus (Walking Leaf),

380

Canna (Indian Shot), 380
Cannabis sativa ( Hemp Plant),

380
Caragana (Siberian Pea-tree),

380

Carbenia (Blessed Thistle), 380
Cardamine ( Cuckoo-flower or

Lady's Smock), 380
Carduncellus pinnatus, 381
Carex (Sedge), 381
Carnations and Roses at Grave-

tye, 129

Carpentaria calif ornica, 381
Carpet bedding, 6
Carp inns ( Hornbeam), 381
Carrierea calycina, 382
Carya ( Hickory), 382
Caryopteris, 382
Cassia (Wild Senna), 382
Cassinia fulvida ( Golden Bush),

382
Cassiope ( Himalayan Heather),

383

Castanea (Chestnut), 383
Castanea pumila, 383
Castanopsis chrysophylla (Gold-

den Chestnut), 383
Cast-iron labels, 294
Catalpa, 383
Catananche (Blue Cupidone),

383
CAW DOR. 7

Ceanothus (Mountain Sweet),

384

Cedar of Lebanon, 237
Cedrela, 384

Cedrela sinensis, 385
Cedronella (Balm of Gilead),

384
Cedrus(CWar), 385

Cedar of Lebanon, 386
Celastrus (Staff Fine), 386
Celmisia, 386"
Ce\osi&( Cock-comb), 387
Celsia ( Cretan Mullein), 387
Celsia cretica ( Cretan

Mullein), 387
Celtis ( Nettle-tree), 387
Centaurea ( Knapweed), 387
Mountain Knapweed, 388
Centauridium, 388
Centranthus, 388
Cerastium (Mouse-ear Chick-
weed), 389

Ceratostigma polhilli, 389
Cercidyphylmm, 389
Cercis ( Judas Tree), 389
Cerinthe ( Honeywort), 389
Ceterach (Stone Fern), 389
Chsenostoma, 389
Chamsebatia (Tarweed), 389
Chamaepeuce (Fish - bone

Thistle), 389
Chamserops, 390
Chelone ( Turtle-head), 391
Chenopodium (Goosefoot), 391
Cherry Laurel, 308
Chilopsis linearis (Flowering

Willow), 391

Chimaphila (Pipsissewa), 391
Chimney Campanula, Staunton

Court, 230
Chimonanthus (Winter Siveet),

392
Chionanthus (Fringe Tree),

392
Chionodoxa (Snow Glory), 392

Chionodoxa sardcnsis, 392
Choisya ternata (Mexican

Orange- flower), 393
Christmas Rose, 161
Chrysanthemum, 393

Paris Daisy (C. frutescens),

393
Chrysanthemum Mine. Des-

grange, 394

Cichormm (Chicory), 395
Cider orchards, 266
Cimicifuga (Bugbane), 395
Cineraria maritima, 395
Cinnamomum camphora (Cam-
phor Laurel), 395
Cissus, 396

Cistus (Rock Rose), 396
Cistus formosus, 397
Cistus ladanifems, 398
Cladium, 397
Cladrastis, 397
Clarkia, 398
Claytonia, 399
Clematis in the flower garden,

82

Clematis ( Virgin's Bower), 399

Clematis lanuginosa alba

growing through Azara,

400

Clematis Lady Caroline

Neville, 401
Clerodendron, 403

790

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. Illustrations in Italics.

Clethra (Sweet Pepper Bush),

403

Clianthus (Glory Pea), 404
Climber-covered alleys, 248
Climbers and their Artistic Use,

69

Climbers on orchard trees, 275
Climbers on trees, 70
Climbing and Bush Tea Roses

in Garden, July, 123
Climbing Roses, 74, 124
Clipped evergreen shrubs, 244
Clipping evergreen and other

trees, 241

Cnicus benedictus, 404
Cobaea ( Cups and Saucers), 404
Codonopsis, 404
Colchicum (Meadow Saffron),

404

Colchicum in Grass, 405
Coleus, 405
Colletia, 405

Colletia cruciata, 405
Collinsia, 405
Collomia, 406
Colour, 246
Colour in the Flower Garden,

190

Colutea (Bladder Senna), 406
Commelina (Blue Spiderwort),

406

Comptonia, 406
Conandron, 406
Concrete and asphalt walks,

210

Contrasts in colour, 193
Convallaria majalis (Lily-of-

the- Valley), 406
Convolvulus (Bindweed), 407
Coprosma, 407
Coptis, 408

Cordyline (Club Palm), 408
Cordyline australis, Bosa-

chan, Cornwall, 409
Corema (Plymouth Crowberry),

410

Coreopsis (TicJcseed), 410
Coriaria, 410
Coris, 411
Cornus (Dogweed : Cornel),

411

Cornus florida rubra, 412
Corokia, 413
Coronilla, 413
Corydalis (Fumitory), 413
Corylopsis, 414
Cory\us(Hazel-nut),4U
Cosmos, 414

Cotoneaster ( Rockspray), 414
Cotyledon, 415
Covered way, 260
Covered ways of fruit trees, 78
Crambe, 416
Crataego mespilus, 416
Cratsegus ( Thorns), 416

Cratcvgus Ellwangeiiana, 417
Crepis ( Hawk's-beard), 418
Crinum,418
Crocus, 45
Crocus, 419

C. biflorus pusillus, C. balan-
sae, C. etruscus, C. leucor-
hynchus, C. reticulatus, 421
Cryptomeria, 423

Cultivation of plants in oran-
geries, 135

Cunninghamia sinensis, 423

Cuphea, 423

Cupressus ( Cypress), 424

Cut flowers for house, 60

Cyananthus, 425

Cyathea (Silver Tree-fern), 425

Cycas, 425

Cyclamen (Sowbread), 425

Cydonia (Quince), 426

Cynara (Artichoke), 428

Cyperus (Galingale), 428

Cypripedium (Lady's Slipper),
428

Cyrilla racemiflora (Leather-
wood), 429

Cystopteris (Bladder Fern), 430

Cytisus( Broom), 430

DABCECIA, 431
Dacrydium ( Huon Pine), 431
Dactylis (Cocksfoot), 431
Dahlia, 431

Daphne (Garland Flower), 434
Garland Flower (Daphne

Cnearum), 435
Daphniphyllum, 436
Darlingtonia ( Calif ornian

Pitcher-plant), 436
Datisca (Bastard Hemp), 436
Datura (Thorn Apple), 436
Brugmansia Knighti, 437
Davidia involucrata (Bract

Tree), 438
Day, African and Cape Lilies,

47

Deadly Yew, 315
Decaisnea, 438
Decumaria, 438
Deinanthe ccerulea, 438
Delphinium (Larkspur), 438,

439
Dendromecon rigidum (Shrubby

Poppy), 441
Dentaria, 441
Desfontainea, 441
Design in Planting, 301
Desmodium (Tick Trefoil), 441
Deutzia, 441

Deutzia parviflora, 443
Dianthus (Pink), 442

Dianthus alpinus, 444
Diapensia, 449
Diascia, 449

Dicentra (Bleeding Heart), 449
Dicksonia, 450
Dictamnus (Fraxinella), 450
Didiscus, 450
Dielytra, 450
Dierama, 450
Diervilla, 450
Dietes, 450

Digitalis (Foxglove), 450
Digraphis ( Ribbon Grass), 451
Dimorphanthus, 451
Dimorphotheca (Cape Mari-
gold), 451

Diospyros (Persimmon), 451
Diostea juncea, 451
Diotis (Sea Cotton-weed), 451
Dipelta floribunda, 451
Diphylleia cymosa, 451
Diplacus glutinosus (Shrubby
Mimulus), 451

Diplopappus, 451

Dipsacus ( Teasel), 451

Dipteronia sinensis, 451
I Dirca palustris, 451

Disanthus cercidifolius, 452

Discaria(IFiW Irishman), 452

Disfigurement of forest trees,
245

Distylium, 452

Dodecatheon (American Cow-
slip), 452

Dondia,452

Doronicum (Leopard's Bane).

452
I Double cropping of beds, 38

Downingia, 453

Draba (Whitlow Grass), 453

Dracaena, 453

Dracocephalum (Dragon' s-
head), 453

Drainage, 279

Drimys, 453

Drosera (Sundew), 453

Dryas (Mountain Avens), 453

E

EARTH-BANK BRIDGES,

257

Eccremocarpus, 454
Echeveria, 454
Echinacea, 454
Echinocactus, 454
Echinocereus, 454
Echinops (Globe Thistle), 454
Echium ( Viper's Bugloss), 455
Edging of Foam Flower, 212
Edgings, 296

Edgings, live and dead, 211
Edraianthus, 455
Edwardsia, 455
Elaeagnus (Oleaster), 455
Elliottia racemosa, 456
Elshotzia stauntonii, 456
Elymus ( Lyme Grass), 456, 456
Embothrium ( Fire Bush), 456
Empetrum (Crowberry), 457
Enemies of Water-Lilies, 173
English names, vi.
Enkianthus, 457
Eomecon (Cyclamen Poppy),

457
Ephedra (Shrubby Horsetail),

457

Epigsea (Mayflower), 457
Epilobium (French Willow),

457

Epimedium (Barren-wort), 458
Epipactis (Marsh E.), 458
Equisetum (Giant Horse-tail),

458

Eragrostis (Love Grass), 458
Eranthis (Winter Aconite), 458
Eremurus, 458
Erianthus, 459
Erinacea pungens, 462
Erinus, 462
Eriobotrya, 462
Eriogonum, 462
Eriophorum ( Cotton Grass),

462

Eritrichium (Fairy Forget-me-
not), 462

Erodium (Stork' s-bill), 462
Erpetion, 463

Illustrations in Italics.

INDEX.

791

Eryngium (Sea Holly), 463
Amethyst Sea Holly (E.

amethystinum), 464
Eryngium Oliverianum, 465
Erysimum, 464
Erythrsea (Centaury), 465
Erythrina ( Coral Tree), 465
Erythronium (Dog's-tooth Vio-

let), 465
Escallonia, 466
Eschscholtzia (Calif ornian

Poppy), 466
x Ga

Essex Garden, with border of

Tea and Monthly Roses.

125

Eucalyptus (Gum Tree), 466
Eucharidium, 466
Eucnide, 466
Eucomis, 467
Eucryphia (The Brush Bush),

467
Eulalia, 467

Eulalia japonica, 468
Euonymus (Spindle Tree), 467
Eupatorium (Thorough-wort),

469

Euphorbia (Spurge), 469
Euptelea, 469
Euscaphis, 469
Eutoca, 469
Evaporation, 285
Evergreen borders of hardy

flowers, 33

Evergreen hardy Ferns, 186
Evergreens as climbers, 78
Evergreen trees in natural forms

(Cedars: Gunnersbury),

233

Evergreen weeds, 235
Everlastings, 53
Evodia hupehensis, 469
Exochorda (Pearl Bush), 469
Exogonium ( Jalap Plant), 469
Exotic hardy Ferns, 185, 189
Extravagant Flower Garden-

ing in the London Parks,

317

F

FABIANA (False Heath), 470

Facts of natural beauty the
source of good design, 15

Fagus (Beech), 470

Fallen leaves, 283

Fallugia paradoxa, 470

Farfugium, 470

Fences and dividing lines, 258

Fencing the orchard, 268

Fendlera rupicola, 470

Fenzlia dianthiflora, 471

Ferns in the flower garden, 188

Ferula (Giant Fennel), 471

Festuca (Fescue Grass), 471

Ficaria (Pilewort), 471

Fitzroya Patagonica (Fitzroy's
Cypress), 471

Flower borders against walls
and houses, 29

Flower borders fringing shrub-
beries, 28

Flower borders in the fruit
garden, 30

Flower Garden in the House,
223 ;

Flower Garden in Winter, 158

Flower garden plan at Grave-

tye, 229

Flowering Shrubs and Trees
and their Artistic Use, 59
Flowers beneath trees, 103
Flowers of fruit trees, 270
Flower vases simple in form,

225
Foliage of Evergreen hardy

plant (Epimedium), 228
Fontanesia, 472
Formal gardens made in out-
own day, 10

Formation of bog garden, 179
Formation of good turf, 251
j Forming Rose beds, 124
! Forming the water garden, 168

Forsythia (Golden Bell), 471
I Fothergilla Gardeni, 472
I Fountains in gardens, 262
; Fragaria (Strawberry), 473

Fragrance, 195
! Francoa (Maiden's Wreath),

473
Frankenia Isevis (Sea Heath),

473

Fraxinus (Ash), 473
Fremontia, 473
Fritillaria (Fritillary), 473
Fuchsia, 475
Funkia (Plantain Lily), 475,

476
Furze, 164

G

GAILLARDIA (Blanket

Flower), 477, 477
Galanthus (Snowdrop), 478
Galax (Wand Plant), 479
Galega (Goat's Rue), 479
Galtonia (Cape Hyacinth), 480
Garden at Uffington, 200
Garden Houses, Bridges, Gates,

Seats and Fences, 255
Gardening and Botany, yii.
Garden near Loch Kishorn,

Ross, 131
Garden seats, 259
Garrya, 480, 480
Gaultheria (Partridge Berry),

480

Gaura, 480

Gaylussacia ( Huckleberry), 480
Gazania ( Treasure Flower), 480

Gazania nivea, 481
Genista (Rock Broom), 481
Gentiana (Gentian), 481

Gentiana affinis, 482

Gentiana verna, 483
Geranium (Cranesbill), 483
Gerardia, 484

Gerbera ( Transvaal Daisy), 484
Geum, 485
Giant Asphodel, 48
Gillenia, 485
Ginko, 485

Gladiolus (Sword Lily), 485
Glass-houses, 289
Globularia (Globe Daisy), 487
Good fences, 67
Goodyera (Rattlesnake Plan-
tain), 487
Gordonia, 487
Grafting, 267
Grammanthes, 487

Grass, heath, and moss walks,
209

Gravel walks, 208

Greater Partridge Berry, 308

Great Reed, Westwick House
Gardens, Norfolk, 260

Grevillea, 487

Griselinia, 488

Group of Giant Indian Lilies,
&3

Group of Yuccas at Abbots-
bury, 149

Guevina avellana (Chilian
Nut), 488

Gunnera and Bamboo, 150

Gunnera (Prickly Rhubarb).
488

Gynerium (Pampas Grass). 489

Gypsophila, 489

HABENARIA (Rein Orchis),

490

Haberlea, 490
Habranthus, 490
H ADDON, 21
Halesia (Snowdrop Tree), 490
Half-hardy plants as annuals,

56
Halimondendron (Salt Tree),

491

Hamamelis (Witch Hazel), 491
Hardy Azaleas, 61
Hardy Border Flowers, 35
Hardy Bulbous Flowers, 41
Hardy bulbs for cut flowers, 49
Hardy Fern Garden, 184
Hardy Heaths, 62, 164
Hardy Palm in the open, Corn-
wall, 141

Hardy trees in tubs, 312
Harmony rather than con-
trast, 191
Hawley, 202

Hawley flower garden, 205
Hazel Catkins, 165
Hebenstretia, 491
Hedera (Ivy), 491

Pyramid of Ivy, 492
Hedychium, 493
Hedysarum (French Honey-
suckle), 493

Helenium (Sneeze-weed), 493
Helianthemum (Sun Rose), 493
Helianthus (Sunflower), 493

Double Sunflower, 494
Helichrysum (Everlasting

Flower), 494
Heliophila, 495

Heliotropium ( Cherry Pie), 495
Helipterum, 495
Helleborus (Christmas Rose),

495, 496

Helonias (Stud Flower), 497
Heloniopsis, 498
Hemerocallis (Day Lily), 498,

498

Hemiphragma, 499
Hemlock Spruce, 307
Heracleum (Giant Parsnip),

499

Herniaria, 499
Heavens (Rocket), 499
Hesperochiron, 500

792

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. Illustrations in Italics.

Heteromeles arbuttfolia, 500

Heuchera (Alum Root), 500

Hibiscus ( Row MaOov>), 501

Hidalgoa wercklei (Climbing
Dahlia), 501

Hieracium ( Hawkweed), 501

Hippocrepis comosa ( Horse-
shoe Vetch), 501

Hippophse (Sea Buckthorn),
502

Hoheria populuea (Sew Zea-
land Ribbon-wood), 502

Holbcellia, 502

Holly, 232

Homeria collina, 502

Hordeum, 502

Horminum pyrenaicum, 502

Hoteia, 502

Hottonia ( Water Violet), 502

Houstonia ( Bluets), 503, 503

Houttuynia cordata, 503

Humea, 503

Humulus (Common Hop), 503

Hunneraannia, 503

Hutchinsia, 503

Hyacinthus (Hyacinth), 503

Hydrangea, 504

Plumed Hydrangea, 505

HydTOCOtyle '(Pennywort), 506

Hymenanthera, 506

Hymenophyllum, 506

Hypericum (St John's Wort),
506

Hypolepis ( Xew Zealand Brac-
ken), 507

Hypoxis, 507

Hyssopus officinalis ( Hyssop),
507

IBERIS (Candytuft), 501

Idesia, 508

Ilex, 239

Eex (Holly), 508

Illicium (Anise Tree), 509

Impatiens (Balsam), 509

Imperata sacchariflora, 509

Incarvillea (Perennial Trum-
pet Flowers), 509

Indigofera, 510

Inula, 510

Inula glandulosa, 510

lonopsidium (Violet Cress),
510

Ipomsea (Morning Glory), 511

Ipomopsis, 511

Iresine, 511

Iris, 44

Iris (Flag), 511

7. asintwa, I. cristata, I.
fcetidissima, I. iberica, I.
ochroleuca, I. pallida, I.
paradoxa, I. persica, I.
reticulata, I. susiana, Spa-
nish Iris, 512-5 7.9

Isatis, 519

Isopyrum, 520

Isotoma, 520

Itea, 520
Ivies, 70
Ivy edging. 214

Ixia,520

Ixiolirion (Ixia Lily), 520

JABOROSA, 521
Jamesia, 521
Jankaea, 521, 521
Japanese Lilies, 155
Jasione (Sheep's Scabious), 521
Jasminum (Jasmine), 521
Jeffersonia ( Twin-leaf), 522
Jubaea ( J. spectabilis), 522
Juglans(W7a//mO, 522
Juncus ( Rush), 523
Juniper showing natural

growth, 240
Juniperus, 523

Juniperus drupacea, 523
Jussisea natans, 52 4

KADSURA JAPONICA, 524

Kalmia (Mountain Laurel),

524

Keraera saxatilis, 524
Kerria ( Jew's Mallow), 524
Keteleerea fortune!, 524
Kirengeshoma palmata, 524
Kitaibelia vitifolia, 525
Klokwitzia amabilis, 528
Kniphofia ( Torch Lily), 525
Kniphofia grand-is, 525
Kniphofiu 'Obelisk, 527
Kochia ( Belvedere), 527
Koelreuteria, 528
Korolkowia sewerzowi, 528

LABELS, 293

Labours for Good or Evil :
Draining : Rotation : Mo-
notony : Glass : Moving
Earth, 276

Laburnum ( Golden Eain), 528
Lactuca ( Klue Thistle.), 528
Lagurus ( Harems-tail Grass),

528

Lamarckia, 528
Lamium (Dead Nettle), 528
Landscape gardening, 14
Landscape painting and gar-
dens, 8
Lantana, 528
Lapageria, 529
Lardizabala, 529
Larix ( Larch), 529
Lasthenia, 530
Lathy r us (Everlasting Pea),

530

White Everlasting Pea, 530
Laurelia aromatica, 532
Lauras ( Poet's Laurel), 532
Lavandula ( Lavender), 532
Lavatera (Tree Mallow), 533
Lawns and Playgrounds, 248
Ledum ( Labrador Tea), 533
Leiophyllum (Sand Myrtl*.),

533
Leitneria floridana, 533

Lenten Roses, February, 226
Leontopodium (Edelweiss). 5;^,

633

Leaamrm(Lion'f-tail), 534
Leptosiphon, 534
Leptospermum (South Sea

Myrtle), 534
Leptosyne, 534
Lespedeza ( Hush Clover), r>:v>
Leucanthemum ( Alpha-

jnr). r>35

Leucojum (8nowjlake): 53 ">
Leucothoe, 535
Lewisia (Spathon), 535
Leycesteria (Flowering T»/-

utea), 536

Liatris (Mn-akeroot), 536
Libertia, 536
Librocedrus (Incense Cedar),

536

Ligularia, 536
Ligustrum (Privet), 536
Lilacs, 64
Lilies, 41
Lilium ( Lily), 537

L. Bakerianum, L. candi-

dum, L. giganteum, L.

Humboldti, L. longifio-

rum Harrisi, White Mar-

tagon Lilies, L. monadel-

phum, var. Szovitzianum ,

L. Parry i, L. testaceuw,

540-548
Limnanthemum (Fringed

Buckbean), 548
Limnanthes, 548
Linaria ( Toadflax), 549
L. antirrhinifolia, 549
Linnaea (Twin Flower), 519
Liimm(Flax), 550
Lippia, 550
Liquidambar, 306
Liquidambar (Sweet Gum), 550
Liriodendron (Tulip Tree), 550
Lithospermum (Gromwell), 551

L. prostratum, 551
Living supports, 261
Loasa, 551
Lobelia, 551

Scarlet Lobelia, 552
Locust Tree, 553
Loiseleuria, 553
Lomaria, 554
Lomatia, 554
LONGLEAT,23
Lonicera ( Honeysuckle), 55 1

L. Periclymenum, 556
Lophospermum, 555
I^oss of form, 246
Loss of the Clematisin iranlciis

79

Loss of tree form, 310
JMQ»(Bird't-fooi Trefoil), 55(5
Lupinus (Lupine), 557
L. poly phallus, 558
Lychnis ( Campion), 557

Double Ragged Robin, 559
Lyci\ua(Box Thorn), 559
Lycopodium (Ground J'im-).

559
Lygodium (Climbing /•'/•/•».),

559

Lyonia, 559

Lysimachia (Loosestrife), 559
Lythrum (/'///•/'/'' Loosestrife),

560

Illustrations in Italics.

INDEX.

793

MAACHIA AMURENSIS, 560

Madura (Osage Orange), 560
Macrotimia Echioides (Prophet

Flower), 560

Magnolia (Lily Tree), 560
Magnolias, 64
Maianthemum ( Twin-leaved

Lily-of-the- Valley), 562
Malcolmia (Virginian Stock),

562

Mallotus japonicus, 563
Malope, 563
Malva (Mallow), 563
Malvastrum (Rock Mallow),

563

Mandragora (Mandrake), 563
Margyricarpus (Pearl Berry),

563
Marble slab seat with lattice

cover, 259
Martynia, 564
Matricaria (Mayweed), 564
Matthiola (Stock), 564
Maurandia, 565
Maze, 247
Mazus, 565
Meconppsis (Indian Poppy),

565

M. Wallichi, 567
Medicago (Medick), 566
Megarrhiza californica (Cali-

fornian Big Root), 566
Melanoselinum decipiens, 566
Melanthium triquetnim, 566
Melianthus (Cape Honey

Flower), 567
Meliosma cuneifolia, 567
Melissa (Common Balm), 567
Melittis (Bastard Balm), 567
Menispermum ( Canadian

Moonseed), 568
Mentha (Mint), 568
Mentzelia, 568
Menyanthes (Buckbean), 568
Menziesia, 568
Merendera, 568
Mertensia, 568

M. virginica, 569
Mesembryanthemum (Ice

Plant), 569

Mespilus (Medlar), 569
Meum (Spignel), 570
Mexican Orange-flower, 227
Michauxia (Michaux's Bell-
flower), 570
M. campanuloides , 570
Michelia, 570
Microlepia, 570
Micromeria (Pepper Nettle).

570

Mikania (German Ivy), 570
Milium (Millet Grass), 570
Milla, 570

Miraulus (Monkey- flower), 570
Mina, 571

Mirabilis (Marvel of Peru), 571
Misplaced artificial rock, 91
Misuse of water, 311
Mitchella (Deer Berry), 571
Mitraria (Mitre-flower), 571
Mixed borders, 30
Mocassin-flower, 178
Molopospermum, 571
M. cicutarium, 571

Moluccella, 572

Monarda (Bee Balm), 572

Monotony, 286

Montagnaea heracleifolia, 572

Montbretia, 572

Moraea glaucopis (Peacock

Iris), 573

Morina ( Whorl-flower), 573
Morisia, 573
Morus (Mulberry), 573
Motion, 246
Moving earth, 290
Mrs Earle on plants in tubs,

137

Muhlenbeckia, 574
Mulgedium, 574
Musa (Banana), 574
Mutisia, 575, 575
My Flower-garden in Hose and

Pink time, 27
Myosotidium (Antarctic Forget-

me-Not), 575
Myosotis (Forget-me-Not), 575

M. alpestris, 576
Myrica (Sweet Gale), 576
Myricaria (German Tamarisk),

576

My Rose garden, 122
Myrrhis (Sweet Cicely), 576

M. odorata, 577
Myrsine africana, 577
Myrtles and Oleanders, 138
Myrtus (Myrtle), 577

NANDINA (Heavenly Bamboo),

577

Narcissi in the wild garden, 97
Narcissus, 42
Narcissus (Daffodil), 577

N. calathinus, N. Sir Wat-
kin, N. Emperor, Hybrid
N. Snowdrop, 578-583
Narcissus in turf at Warleii

Place, 99

Nardostachys (Spikenard), 585
Native bog plants, 178
Native evergreens, 231
Native Ivy, 232
Natural bog garden, 183
Natural grouping of water-
side plants, 170
Neillia ( Nine Bark), 585
Nelumbium (Yellow Sacred

Bean), 585
Nemesia, 585

Nemophila (Calif ornian Blue-
bell), 586

Nepeta ( Cat Mint), 586
Nephrodium, 586
Nertera (Fruiting Duckweed),

586
Neviusia alabamensis (Snow

Wreath), 586

New floiver garden in front of
house at Shrubland Park,
203

Nicandra, 586
Nicotiana (Tobacco), 587
Nierembergia, 587

N. rivularis, 587
Nigella (Fennel Flower), 587
N. damascena, 587

Nobler evergreen flowerin»

shrubs, 236
Noccaea, 588
Nolana (Chilian Bellflower),

588

No standards, 122
Nothofagus (Southern Beeches)

588
Notospartium (Pink Broom of

New Zealand), 588
Nuphar (Yellow Water- LU-u),

589

Nurserymen and garden de-
sign, 302

Nuttallia (Osoberry), 589
Nycterinia, 589
Nymphsea (Water- Lily), 589
American Water- Lily, 589
Bud of hybrid Water- Lily

gathered from open water,

590
Nyssa (Tupelo Tree), 595

OAKS, 306

(Enothera (Evening Primrose),

595

Olearia (Daisy Trees), 596
Omphalodes (Navelwort), 598
Onoclea (Sensitive Fern). 598
Ononis (Rest Harrow), 598
Onopordon (Cotton Thistle),

598
Onosma (Golden Drop), 599

0. taurica, 599
Onychium, 599
Ophioglossum (Adder' s-tongue),

Ophiopogon (Snake's - beard),
599

Ophrys, 599

Opuntia (Prickly Fig), 600

Orangery, Holm Lacey, Here-
ford, 136

Orange trees in tubs, 133

Orchard Beautiful, 264

Orchard bloom, 269

Orchard wild garden, 274

Orchis, 601

Oreocome candollei, 602

Origanum (Dittany), 602

Orixa japonica, 602

Ornithogalum (Star of Bethle-
hem), 602

Orobus (Bitter Vetch), 602

Orontium (Golden Club), 602

Osmanthus, 603

Osmunda (Royal Fern), 603

Osteomeles anthylidifolia, 604

Ostrowskya (Great Oriental

Bellflower), 604
O. magnifica, 604

Ostrya (Hop Hornbeam), 604

Othonnopsis (Barbary Rag-
wort), 604

Ourisia, 604

Oxalis ( Wood Sorrel), 604

0. Acetosella, 605
Oxydendrum (Sorrel Tree), 605
Oxytropis, 605
Ozothamnus, 606

794

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. Illustrations in Italics.

PACHYSANDRA (Mountain
Spurge), 606

Pachystima, 606

Pseonia (Pceony), 606

Palmate Bamboo, 307
Palmate Bamboo, near water-
side, 360

Pampas Grass in a Sussex
garden, 143

Paiiax sessiliflorum, 608

Pancratium, 608

Panicum, 609

Pansy on brick wall, 92

Papaver (Poppy), 609
Opium Poppies, 611

Parnassia (Grass of Parnassus),

611
P. palustris, 612

Parochetus (Shamrock Pea),
611

Parrotia (Iron Tree), 611

Parrya, 612

Parterre gardening, 312

Passiflora (Passion-flower), 612
P. Constance Elliot, 613

Pattern plans, 26

Patterns of flowers and carpet-
beds things of our own
time, 11

Paulownia, 612

Pear orchards for beauty, 271

Pelargonium (Stork's Bill), 612

Pennisetum, 615

Pentstemon (Beard Tongue),
615

Peraphyllum ramosissimum,
617

Pergola in Mrs Eden's garden
at Venice, 77

Pergola in the Riviera, 73

Pergola with White Japanese
Wistaria, 71

Pergolas, 75, 249, 312

Perilla, 617

Periploca (Silk Vine), 617

Pernettya (Prickly Heath), 617

Perowskia atriplictfolia, 618

Petalostemon (Prairie Clover),
618

Petasites (Winter Heliotrope),
618, 618

Petrocallis (Rock Beauty), 619
P. pyrenaica, 619

Petteria ramentacea (Dalma-
tian Laburnum), 619

Petunia, 619

Phacelia, 619

Phalaris (Ribbon Grass), 620

Phellodendron (Eastern Cork
Tree), 620

Philadelphia (Mock Orange),

620
P. microphyllus, 621

Philesia (Pepino), 622

Phillyraea (Jasmine Box), 622

Phlomis (Jerusalem Sage), 623

Phlox, 624

Phormium ( New Zealand
Flax), 626

Photinia, 626

Phragmites (Great Reed), 626

Phuopsis (Grosswort), 626

Phygelius (Cape Figwort), 627

Phyllodoce, 627

Physalis (Winter Cherry), 627
Physostegia, 627
Phyteuma (Rampion), 627

P. cornosum, 628
Phytolacca (Virginian Poke),

628
Picea (Spruce Fir), 628

P. Morinda, 629
Pieris, flowers of, 630
Pines, 239
Pines in groups and masses,

202

Pinguicula (Buttenvort), 630
Pinus (Pine), 630
Corsican Pine, 633
Old tree, Scotch Fir, 634
Piptanthus ( Nepaul Labur-
num), 635

Pistacia (Mastic Trees), 635
Pittosporum, 635
Plagianthus, 635
Planera (Water Elm), 635
Planting near the sea, 238
Plants for the Wild Garden,

104
Plants in Vases and Tubs in

the Open Air, 132
Plashed alley, 78, 250
Platanus (Plane), 635

P. Orientalis, 636
Platycodon (Great Bell-floiver),

636
Platystemon, 636

P. californicus, 637
Plumbago (Leadwort), 637
Poa, 637
Podocarpus, 637
Podophyllum (May Apple),

637

Poet's Laurel, 195
Poet's Laurel in tubs, 134
Poet's Narcissus in the grass at

Belmont, 95
Pohlia platensis, 638
Poinciana, 638
Polemonium ( Greek Valerian),

638

Polianthes(.T%6m>se),638
Polygala (Milkwort), 638
Polygonatum (Solomon's Seal),

639

P. multiflorum, 639
Polygomua(Knottveed), 640
P. sachalinense, 640
P. vaccinifolium, 641
Polypodium (Polypody), 641
Polystichum, 641
Pontederia (Pi-ckerel Weed),

641

Poplars, 305
Populus (Poplar), 642
Portulaca (Purslane), 642
Position for tree label, 293
Potentilla ( Cinquefoil), 642
Poterium, 643
Pratia, 644

P. angulata, 644
Primrose garden, 38
Primrose garden in Surrey, 39
Primula (Primrose), 644

P. farinosa, P. pubescens

alba, P. rosea, P. Sieboldi,

An Alpine Primrose,

P. Munstead Early White,

"Bunch" Primroses, 648-

655
Protecting Hollies, 281

Protecting young orchards, 282
Prumnopitys elegans, 656
Prunella (Self-heal), 656
Prunus (PZwrn, Almond, Peach,

Apricot, Cherry, Bird

Cherry, Cherry - Laurel),

656
Cerasus Water eri, P. Danid-

iana, P. Japonica, 657-

659

Pteris (Brake), 661
Pterocarya (Winged Nut), 661
Pterocephalus, 661
P. Parnassi, 661
Pterostyrax, 661
Pueraria (Kudsu), 661
Pulmonaria (Lungwort), 661
Punica (Pomegranate), 662
Purple Rock Cresses, 106
Puschkinia (Striped Squill),

662

P. scilloides, 662
Pyrethrum, 662
Pyrola (Winter-green), 663
Pyrus (Pear and Apple), 663
Pyxidanthera (Pine Barren

Beauty), 664

QUAMOCLIT, 664
Quercus (Oak), 664

An Evergreen Oak, 666

RAMONDIA (Rosette Mullein),

668
R. pyrenaica, 668

Ranunculus (Crowfoot Butter-
cup), 669
R. aconitifolius fl.-pl, 669

Reserve garde? i, 206

Rhexia (Meadow Beauty), 672

Rhodanthe (Everlasting), 672

Rhododendron (Rose Tree),

672

R. Falconeri, 673
Tree Rhododendron, 678

Rhododendrons, 61

Rhodora (Canadian Rhodora),
681

Rhodothamnus, 681

Rhodotypos (White Jew's Mal-
low), 681

Rhus (Sumach), 681
R. typhina, 683
Venetian Sumach, 682

Rites (Currant), GS3

Richardia (Calla), 683

Ricinus (Castor-oil Plant), 684

Riverside plants in front of an
old manor — Levens, 169

Robinia (False Acacia), 684

Rock and alpine plants, 106

Rock and sun-loving Ferns,
188

Rocky border with edging of
dwarf plants in groups, 222

Rodgersia, 685

Romneya (Bush Poppy), 685
R. Coulteri, 686

Romulea, 686

Illustrations in Italics.

INDEX.

Root pruning in the orchard,
266

Rosa (Rose), 687

R. Celeste, Buds of Tea Rose,
Anna Oliver, R. Gloire
Lyonnaise, R. Harrisoni,
The A ustrian Copper
Brier, Sweet Brier, 688-
694

Rose Bay, 308

Rose garden, 298

Rose in a Japanese bronze
basin, 224

Roses and Manure, 121

Rosmarinus (Rosemary), 695

Rotation in the flower garden,
280

Rubus (Brambles), 695

R. deliciosus, R. nutkanus,
695-696

Rumex (Dock), 697

Ruscus (Butcher's Broom), 697

Rate (Rue), 697

S

SABBATIA (American Cen-
taur y), 697

Saccharum, 697

Sagina (Pearlwort), 698

Sagittaria (Arrowhead), 698

Salisburia (Maiden-hair Tree),
698

Sa.l\x (Willow), Q99

The Weeping Willow, 700

Salpiglossis, 701
S. sinuata, 701

Salvia (Sage), 701
AS1, patens, 702

Sambucus (Elder), 703

Samolus, 704

Sanguinaria (Bloodroot), 704
S. canadensis, 703

Santolina (Lavender Cotton),
704

Sanvitalia, 704

Saponaria (Soapwort), 704

Sarcococca, 704

Sarracenia (Huntsman's Horn),
705

Sassafras (Ague Tree), 705

Saxegothcea conspicua (Prince
Albert's Yew), 705

Saxifraga (Rockfoil), 705
S. pyramidalis, Group of
Silvery Rock foils, S. Wal-
lacei, S. sarmentosa, 707-
712

Scabiosa (Scabious), 712

Sch in us, 713

Schistostega (Iridescent Moss),
713

Schizandra, 713

Schizanthus (Fringe-flower),
713

Schizocodon (Japanese Moon-
wort), 714

Schizopetalon, 714

Schizophragma ( Climbing Hy-
drangea), 714

Schizostylis (Kaffir Lily), 714

Sciadopitys verticillata (Um-
brella Pine), 715

Scffla, 715

S. hispanica, 716

Scillas and their allies, 46
Scirpus ( Bulrush), 717
Scolopendrium ( Hart's-tongue),

717

Scutellaria (Skullcap), 717
Scyphanthus ( Cup-flower), 111
Sedum (Stonecrop), 111

The Japanese Stonecrop,

S. kamtschaticuw, 718-719
Selaginella, 719
Sempervivum ( flouseleek), 719
Senecio (Groundsel), 720
Sequoia, 722
Serapias, 722

Serratula atriplicifolia, 722
SQSeli(GumSeseli),122
Shamrock, 722
Sheffieldia* 723
Shelter and wind screens, 238
Shepherdia, 723
Shortia, 723
Shrubland Park, 204
Shrubs and trees in the winter

garden, 162
Siberian Dogwood, 308
Sibthorpia (Moneywort), 723
Sida, 723
Sidalcea (Greek Mallow), 723

Silphium ( Rosin Plant), 725
Silvery-leaved plants, 193
Silybum (Milk Thistle), 725
Simplest label for trees, 293
Simplocus, 725
Sitka Spruce, 307
Snowdrop and Snowflake, 46
Snowdrops in grass, Straffan,

Kildare, 101

Snowdrops naturalised, 100
Soft water best, 279
Solarium Wendlandi, 729
SoWanella (Moon- wort), 729
Solidago (Golden Rod), 730
Sollya (Blue-bell Creeper), 730
Sophora, 730

S. japonica, 730
Sparaxis, 731

S. pulcherrima, 731
Spartina polystachya, 731
Spartium (Spanish Broom),

731
Specularia (Venus' s Looking-

glass), 731
Sphenpgyne, 732
Spigelia ( Worm Grass), 732
Spiraea, 732

S. Aruncus, S. discolor, S.
japonica, S. Bumalda, S,
Lindleyana, 732-736
Spraguea, 735
Spring Gardens, 105
Stachys ( Woundwort), 735
Stachyurus proacox, 736
Staphylea (Bladder Nut), 736
Staking orchard trees, 273
Staking trees, 288
Standard Rose, 119
Starved orchards, 267
Starworts, 154
Statice (Sea Lavender), 736
Statues in gardens, 311
Stauntonia, 736
Steironema, 736
Stenanthium, 737
Stephanandra, 737
Sterabergia ( Lily-of -the- Field),
737

Stipa (Feather Grass), 738

Stokesia, 738

Stone bench (Dropmore), 255

Stone edging, 211

Stone walks in small gardens,

208

Stranvoesia, 738
Stratiotes (Water Soldier), 738
Struthiopteris (Ostrich Fern),

738

Stewartia, 738
Stylophorum, 739
Styrax, 739
Summer Garden Beautiful,

128

Summer-house, 257
Summer-leafing Cypress, 307
Sunk fences ani retaining

walls, 258
Swamp Bay, 308
Sweet ALlers, 308
Swertia (Marsh Swcrtia), 739
Sycopsis sinensis, 739
Symplocos crataegoides, 739
Symphoricarpus (Snowberry).

740

Symphyandra, 740
Symphytum ( Comfrey), 740
Synthyris, 740

), 740

TAGETES, 741

Tall Arundo : Golden Field,

147

Tamarix ( Tamarisk), 742
Tanacetum ( Tansy), 742

Tanakea radicans. 742
Taxodium (Summer - leafing
Cypress), 742

Tchihatchewia, 743

Tea and Monthly Roses, 153
Tecoma (Trumpet Creeper),

743

T. grandiflora, 744
Tecophylaea, 744
Tellima, 744
Terraced gardens, 22
Terracing level ground, 311
Teucrium (Germander), 744
Thalia, 745

Thalictrum ( Meadow Rue), 745
Thermopsis, 746
Things destructive of repose,

303

Thladiantha, 746
Thlaspi, 746
Thunbergia, 746
Thuya ( Arbor-vita;). 747
Thymelsea Nivalis, 747
Thymus ( Thyme), 747
Tiarella (Foam Flower), 747

T. cordifolia, 748
Tigridia (Tiger Flower), 748

T. Pavonia alba, 749
TQia,(Lime), 748
Topiarian Follies, 314
Topiary work, 310
Town Garden, The Broadway,

Worcestershire, 5
Townsendia (Rocky Mountain

Daisy), 750

796

THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. Illustrations in Italics.

Trachelium ( Blue Throativort),

750
Trachelospermum ( Chinese

Jasmine), 750
Trachystemon, 750
Tradescantia ( Virginian

Spidencort), 750
Trapa (Water Chestnut), 750
Treatment of old lawns, 253
Trees for climbers, 76
Trees to take their natural

forms, 265

Trellising to endure, 35
Trials of Edging Plants in my

Garden, 217
Tricuspidaria, 751

T. lanceolata, 751
Tricyrtis, 751

Trientalis (Star-flower), 751
Trifolium ( Trefoil), 751
Trillium (Wood Lily), 751
Triteleia (Spring Star- flower],

752

Tritoma, 752
Tritonia, 752
Trochodendron, 752
Trollius (Globe-flower'), 752
Tropseolum (Nasturtium), 753
T. polyphyllum, T. specio-

sum, 754-755
True and false " art," 3
True test of a flower garden, 14
Tsuga (Hemlock Spruce), 755
Tufted Pansies, 223

Old garden Tulips, 756
Tulips, 45

Tunica (Sand Pink), 759
Tupelo tree, 306
Twha.(Reed Mace), 760

VLEX (Furze), 160
Warns (Elm), 760
Umbellularia californica ( Cali-

fornian Laurel), 760
Ungnadia (Spanish Buckeye),

761

Uniola, 761
Upper part of my Water Garden,

Urospermum, 761

, 761

VACCINIUM (Whortleberry),
761

Valeriana ( Valerian), 762
Vallota (Scarborough Lily), 762
Vancouveria, 763
Variety the true source of

beauty in gardens, 16 .
" Vegetable sculpture," 243
Venidium, 763
Veratrum (White Hellebore),

763

Verbascum (Mullein), 763
V. olympicum, V. phlom-

oides, V . phoeniceum, 763-

765

Verbena, 764
Verbesina, 764
Vernonia (Ironweed), 764
Veronica (Speedwell), 764
Shrubby Speedwell, V. pin-

guifolia, 766-767
Vesicaria ( Bladder Pea), 769
Viburnum (Guelder Rose), 769

V. plicatum, 770
Viburnums, 308
Vicia (Vetch), 771
Villarsia (Yellow Buckbean),

111

Vinca (Periwinkle), 771
Vines for their beauty of form,

74

Vine-shaded boicer, 262
Viola (Violet), 772

V. pedata, V. reniformis,
A Tufted Pansy, 773-775
Viscaria, 775

Viscum album (Mistletoe), 776
Vitex (Chaste Tree), 776
Vitis ( Vine), 776

Vine growing on a gazeebo,
V. heterophylla, Claret-
coloured Vine, 777-779

W

WAHLENBERGIA (Tufted

Hairbell), 779
Waitzia, 780

Waldsteinia ( Barren Straw-
berry), 780

Walks and edgings, 207
Wall gardens, 92
Waste of labour, 315
Water-Lilies at Gravetye, 172
Water plants, 168
Waterside plants, 168
! Waterside trees, 174

Watsonia ( Bugle Lily), 780
I Weeds and rubbish heaps, 280
Weigela (Bush Honeysuckle),

780
W. grandiflora, 780

White Foxglove, 55

White Indian Azalea (A.

Indica) in a Wood, 63
White Pink edging, 216
Whitlavia, 781
Wigandia, 781
Wild and single Roses, 124
Wild Garden^ 95
Wild Pears, 273
Wild Roses, 64
Willows, 305
Windflowers, 107
Winter Sweet, shoots gathered

at Gravetye, New Year's

Day, 1895, 163
Wistaria (Glycine), 781

W. multijuga on a tree, 782
Witch Hazel, 308
Woodsia, 783
Woodwardia, 783
Wulfenia, 783

XANTHOCERAS (Chinese

Chestnut), 783
Xeranthemum, 783
Xerophyllum (Turkey's Beard),

783

YEW, 307

Yucca (Adam's Needle), 784

ZANTHORIZA APHFOLIA

(Yellow Root), 784
Zanthoxylum (Toothache Tree),

784
Zapania (Creeping Vervain),

785
Zauschneria ( Calif ornian

Fuchsia), 785
Zea (Indian Corn), 785
Zelkowa ( Zelkowa Tree), 785
Zenobia, 785
Zephyranthes ( Zephyr-flower),

786

Zietenia, 786
Zinnia, 786

Ziz&niSi (Wild Rice), 787
Zygadenus, 787

OVERDUE.

LD21-lOOm-7,'40(69368)|

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY