THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 103 



For a final seai'ch Ave \vill glance through the list of hardy 

 herbaceous plants published bj Messrs. E. Gr. Henderson and Son. 

 Here we fiud the following : — Arundinaria falcata, one of the 

 grandest of the hardy bamboos ; a quite subliine phint for a sheltered 

 spot in a choice garden. Cramlie cordifol'ui^ a gigantic species of 

 sea-kale, the young shoots of which may be cooked in the same 

 manner as sea-kale ; give it a good position, and it will tell with 

 great effect if in rich soil. Gunnera scabra, a very curious and 

 handsome plant, which, in northern districts, requires shelter in 

 winter, but is quite hardy near London. Gh/nerium argenteum is the 

 well-known pampas grass. Phoj^mium tenax is the well-known 

 " New Zealand Flax." Helianthus decapitatus we consider the best 

 of the perennial sunflowers. Phytolacca decandra, this is the " Vir- 

 ginian Poke," a fine herbaceous plant, growing six feet high, and 

 producing club-like spikes of fruit, which remotely resemble black- 

 berries. Veratrum. album, a fine plant, worth growing in pot in the 

 conservatory ; it has a very tropical appearance. 



Now in the whole of this rather large selection there is not a 

 plant recommended but is cheap to begin with, easy to grow, and 

 most eftective for stateliness, richness, or beauty. None of the 

 Ploeal AVoeld gardens need be tame, therefore, with such a choice 

 of noble subjects at command. S. H. 



THE VERBENA AS A BEDDING PLANT. 



IT is not a mere matter of taste in selecting varieties, but 

 a matter of careful and skilful cultivation also, to 

 secure a good display of verbenas ; and we promise the 

 careless amateur who plants verbenas every season in 

 beds that are never refreshed with manure, or properly 

 tilled during winter, that his display will always disappoint those 

 who know what verbenas are and should be. To do justice to 

 verbenas, a rich, well-pulverized loam is essential ; an open, sunny 

 position is also essential ; and it is well to manage the planting so 

 that the plants receive the slightest possible check. The beds in 

 which verbenas are to be planted ought to be twice stirred during 

 winter, and at the second stirring to be liberally enriched with rotten 

 dung. In the case of beds of black garden mould, in which flowers 

 have been grown for perhaps half a century or longer, no manuring 

 or winter tilling will insure a good bloom, for the verbena is really 

 fastidious about the sweetness of the soil it grows in ; and where 

 verbenas have been found to fail from this cause, a portion of the 

 old soil should be removed, and its place be supplied by the intro- 

 duction of fresh turfy loam which has never before been subjected 

 to the operations of the gardener. There is nothing so good for 

 verbena beds as the top spit of a loamy meadow that has lain up all 

 winter, so as to rot the grass and cause the loam to pulverize. This, 

 however, is often full of wireworm, and alter the beds have been 

 improved by it, the good accomplished thereby may be neutralized 



