170 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 1869. 



tiful enough, no doubt, but which require so much 

 trouble and expense to keep through the winter, or 

 to raise in the spring, as to be almost out of the 

 reach of people who cannot afford to keep a gar- 

 dener, that I am trying to induce some of my fellow- 

 readers and correspondents to adopt my hobby, and 

 to try if they cannot raise and introduce some new 

 plants, that shall have as good an effect as many of 

 our tender exotics, and yet be so perfectly hardy 

 that in many cases they will be green and pretty 

 even in winter, and the only cultivation required 

 will be to weed them, and to pull up the superabun- 

 dant growth. I do not suppose that we can ever 

 obtain scarlets like the Geranium, or vivid crimson 

 like Crimson Plax from any of our wild flowers — 

 and for these colours we must always depend upon 

 exotics — but we have plenty of good blues, yellows, 

 and pinks to work upon, and from these some very 

 pretty effects may be obtained. I see no reason 

 why we should not get a strain of Prunella vulgaris, 

 for instance, that shall have every floret three- 

 quarters of an inch long, instead of one-third that 

 size ; that shall flower densely for three or four 

 months in succession ; and shall vary to purple, 

 lavender, mauve, pink, and white. I think such a 

 flower as this would be considered an acquisition 

 as an edging plant. Then what a sea of gold could 

 be produced from large masses of Lotus comiculatus, 

 if the flower were enlarged, and the plant made less 

 straggling in its growth. No doubt most of my 

 readers have noticed that the buds of this flower 

 are tipped with crimson before they expand, and 

 that they sometimes change to an orange-colour 

 before they acquire their permanent yellow hue. I 

 have seen a few plants which retain this orange, or 

 rather cupreous, tint in the flowers until they fade. 

 I am now trying to propagate such a plant/and I 

 hope to obtain after a while a flower which will 

 have all the effect of the very pretty Mimulus 

 cupreus. 



Viola lutea is a lovely little yellow Pansy, quite 

 common in many mountainous districts, which has 

 already been introduced, within the last few years, 

 and now may be bought from most seedsmen. It 

 is very plentiful on the hills which join Cheshire 

 and Derbyshire, and I find that it varies much in 

 the colour, shape, and size of its flowers. Some are 

 primrose, others golden-yellow. Some have strong 

 black lines in the lower petal, others are but faintly 

 pencilled, so that this plant is evidently capable of 

 considerable change, and a good strain would be 

 readily obtained. It is a charming bedding] plant, 

 and would make a beautiful edge to a central clump 

 of the blue Viola cormita. On the banks of the 

 Tync, in Northumberland, I have seen it varying 

 to purple ; and I rather fancy this variety is more 

 robust than the yellow ; the two would mix with 

 good effect. 



Sometimes our wild plants produce seedlings with 



prettily variegated foliage. There is a variegated 

 Meadow-sweet occasionally seen in gardens, which is 

 remarkably good, and which makes a handsome plant 

 for the front of a shrubbery border. Every leaflet has 

 a centre of yellow, which is reproduced on every part 

 of the plant with great regularity. The variegated 

 form of Mentha rotundifolia has long been a favour- 

 ite in gardens ; and there are others which with some 

 pains being taken might be made more useful. The 

 year before last, I found a plant of Veronica Chamce- 

 drys, of which one solitary spray had sported, and 

 bore cream-coloured leaves. 1 struck this branch 

 and obtained a plant, which in a short time threw 

 out several beautifully variegated sprays amongst the 

 green ones. These were again struck, and I obtained 

 a great many plants which were variegated ; but all 

 my plants when left to grow large reverted in a 

 great measure to the original green colour. Last 

 year was so dry that I could not very well go on 

 with the education of my plants, but this year I 

 have been very successful, and I fiud that in each 

 successive generation the tendency to revert to 

 green is diminished. These variegated Speedwells 

 are remarkably pretty, and the contrast between 

 the blue flowers and the gilded leaves is very good. 

 No doubt seedlings from these plants would be of a 

 still more permanent character. 



In one of the later numbers of Science-Gossip 

 Mr. Britten mentioned having found a green-and- 

 white striped Plantain. It was very pretty, and I 

 hoped to have been able to propagate it, but an un- 

 fortunate hen scratched it up this spring (the order 

 Basores is one of the troubles of my life), and it 

 was dried up before 1 found out the mischief. 



One of the prettiest and most successful bedding 

 plants I have tried is Geranium lucidum. It has a 

 great many advantages. It is an annual, and sows 

 itself, so that the young plants come up in the 

 autumn, where they may either be left till spring, 

 or pricked out where they are to grow, and as they 

 remain green through the winter, the bed always 

 looks cheerful. They should be planted five or six 

 inches apart. It begins to flower about the end of 

 April, and very soon forms a mass of brilliant, 

 glossy, but pale green foliage, dotted over with 

 bright pink flowers. Its great advantage is that it 

 willjgrow in the densest shade, where it is very diffi- 

 cult to find anything else that will thrive. I have 

 now a bed of it under a thick purple Beech, which 

 is still (June 25th) in perfection, though this year 

 it came out a week earlier than usual. It is as solid 

 and compact as Saponaria calabrica, and the foliage 

 is far handsomer. It will be over, as far as beauty 

 goes, by the middle of July, when in open situa- 

 tions there would be ample time to put in a few 

 Scarlet Geraniums, or Stocks, or "Wallflowers for 

 next spring. It bears moving well, and may even 

 be transplanted when in full flower. So little 

 trouble is required to grow it well, that my bed has 



