THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



105 



ture for conservatories and flower- 

 snows, except that it may be bought 

 for sixpence, and will grow in any 

 good garden soil, and take care of 

 itself entirely for a hundred years ? 

 Procure plenty of plants at once, turn 

 them out without injury, and do not 

 touch them for three years, and you 

 will have huge stools and a glorious 

 show from the end of April to the 

 end of July. The common Valerian, 

 Centranthus macrosiphon, is very 

 showy, colour pinkish-red, plant fond 

 of chalk and a dry position ; suit its 

 whim3 if you can. Snap-dragons 

 produce a hundred shades of colour, 

 from the deepest crimson to pure 

 white. Have them good in the first 

 instance, and they will sow them- 

 selves ; they like a dry, sunny posi- 

 tion, and have no objection to old 

 mortar and brick-bats. For the front 

 line there are Belgian daisies, very 

 cheap and exquisitely beautiful ; 

 Geranium sanguinea, and Laneastri- 

 ense, two very charming rock plants 

 that thrive also in any border. 



Yellows are plentiful and good ; 

 the finest yellow flowering herbaceous 

 plant we have is Oenothera Fraseri, 

 and the next best is Lysimachia thyr- 

 siflora, a very hardy plant, which 

 forms close crowns in the autumn, 

 and may be divided every spring. It 

 will grow anywhere, in shade or sun, 

 on a bank or in a wet border. The 

 Hudbeckias are noble orange and 

 yellow flowering plants, apt to die in 

 winter, so take them up and pot them 

 in October, and plant out again 

 in April. Cheiranthus Marshall!, a 

 lovely orange flowered wallflower, is 

 largely used as a bedder, is generally 

 described as a biennial ; we have 

 stools of it ten years old, so if you 

 like to leave it alone you may, and it 

 will pay a liberal rent. Fscholtzia 

 Californica is a true perennial, and 

 having sown it as an annual leave it 

 alone, and it will become a perennial 

 with the most gaudy of all flowers. 

 The Helianthemum is a truly grand 

 herbaceous plant, but you nmst not 

 call it the " everlasting sun-flower," 

 or it may be despised by people who 

 play at being fashionable. Hemero- 

 callis, the Day Lily, is fit for the 

 finest mixed border ever planted, and 



would grow as well in that dust-hole 

 of a place, the area round St. Paul's, 

 as in the most open garden in the 

 country. It is a reaL good town 

 flower. CEaothera frutico3a and 

 corymbosa are the best of the evening 

 primroses for mixed borders, and very 

 beautiful they are with their immense 

 heads of clear yellow flo vers. They 

 like shade and moisture, but are not 

 particular. 



Now for a few Whites. The pe- 

 rennial candytuft is the most useful 

 of all the hardy border white flowers, 

 and it forms a low spreading bush, 

 capital for the front line along with 

 white Arabis, which blooms at the 

 same time. Campanula rotundifolia 

 alba is exquisitely beautiful, and the 

 whole summer long produces bells 

 enough on a single clump for all the 

 fairies in the world to ring their mid- 

 night peals upon. Geranium aconiti- 

 folium is a useful white of tall growth, 

 very pretty but soon over ; and that 

 reminds me of the double blue gera- 

 nium, which ought to have had a 

 place in the first list ; it is a real gem. 

 Iberis buxifolia is exquisitely beauti- 

 ful, large white blossoms in dense 

 trusses, and the foliage lovely all the 

 winter through. For those who can- 

 not grow ferns there is Solomon's 

 Seal ; it loves a shady bank, and to be 

 left alone ; and is it not a graceful 

 thing from the end of March to the 

 end of July ? White Arabis is the 

 best of all spring flowers. Lilies do 

 not belong to the strictly herbaceous 

 list, but the common white lily ought 

 to have a place in a border containing 

 such plants as the foregoing, and as 

 any soil suits it, and shade is better 

 than sun, why should it be left out ? 

 Grand in its stately purity is Lilium 

 candidum, and with poeonies, holly- 

 hocks, phloxes, pansies, sweet Wil- 

 liams, and a sprinkle of annuals, would 

 make up a border which the most fas- 

 tidious could not dare to scorn. With 

 the exception of a very few, the whole 

 of the above may be raised from seed 

 sown in May or June, but it is slow 

 work to wait for bloom by that pro- 

 cess, and plants can be had so cheap 

 that it is scarcely worth the while of 

 any to take trouble with seed. 



Fido Fides. 



