THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 81 



They may, in fact, be put out at any time from April to August, and it 

 is only necessary to plant them thick to secure instantaneous effect. 

 The companion species, C. Biehersteimi, is more white and woolly, 

 and of coarser growth, and by many will be preferred to our old 

 friend, C. tomentosa. 



The other of the two referred to is Stacliys Janata, a plant with. 

 leaves an inch or less in width, and three inches long, which are 

 covered with a dense clothing of grey hairs. Strictly speaking, it is 

 a grey and not a silvery plant, and it is the least chaste and classical 

 of all the edgings known. But for all that, it is of great importance 

 as a first-rate poor man's bedding-plant, for one tuft may be divided 

 and divided until there is enough to plant a park, and such a feat as 

 that could be accomplished in less than a lifetime. But for a few 

 hundred feet of it the trouble of propagating would be next to 

 nothing, for it grows and spreads fast, and when the season is over 

 may be left where it is ; for it requires no shelter, and is as hardy as 

 chickweed. Stachys lanata has been used for years past at Kew, as 

 the best edging for scarlet geraniums ; but it is not the best, and is 

 here recommended for its hardiness, distinctness, cheapness, rapid 

 growth, and interesting character, without attempting to compare it 

 with more refined and more expensive subjects. 



Many other plants are adapted for permanent edgings, and it 

 may be useful to the amateur if we name a few, and give such brief 

 hints as to their characters and uses as will convey an idea of their 

 suitability to various purposes. Festuca ovina glauca, a pretty fine- 

 leaved grass, with a distinct glaucous colour, makes a neat and rather 

 unique edging, but is better adapted for edging a garden filled with 

 curiosities than for a gay display of flowers. The common Festuca 

 ovina, with green leaves, is also well adapted. Both these do best 

 in poor sandy soil, but are really not particular. The first can only 

 be obtained by dividing the plants ; the second can be had from seed, 

 which should be sown on a spare plot of ground, and the little tufts 

 may be transplanted thence to their places close together in the line 

 of the intended edging. 



Lonicera hracliypoda a urea, the variegated Japanese honeysuckle, 

 makes a fine edging, if pegged and trained, and it might be planted 

 fully a yard apart. Saxifraga hi/pnoides and S. Icelajidica are beau- 

 tiful edging plants, forming a close cushion-like spreading growth, of 

 the most lively green, and usually preserving their lively colour all 

 the winter. The variegated-leaved coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara varie- 

 gata, may be adopted in a similar manner, and iu chalky and sandy 

 soils will winter as safely as any hardy plant known; but in damp 

 loams there would be many losses in winter. As it is the most 

 remarkable of all hardy variegated plants, it is well worth adoption, 

 for it will compensate for losses by tlie rapid increase of the plants 

 which survive the winter. Here, however, we are getting away from 

 the idea of permanent edgings, which we are supposing to require 

 very little attention beyond being properly planted in the first in- 

 stance. Vinca major elegantissima, and Vinca minor fol. var. aurea 

 and argentea, are three quite hardy plants, with the beauty of varie- 

 gated geraniums, and a free, robust habit, which adapts them to the 



YOL. III. — NO. IIL 6 



