12o 



NOVELTIES AMONG BEDDING PLANTS. 



Of course the month of May brought 

 with it heaps of catalogues, and in 

 these catalogues heaps of " novel- 

 ties," all of them far surpass- 

 ing whatever of their respective 

 classes had been seen before. There 

 may be people who buy all the novel- 

 ties annually, to ta'-:e their risk of 

 good, bud, and indifferent ; and the 

 advantage of such a course will be to 

 keep those who follow it a few seasons 

 in advance of other people in the 

 plentiful use of the best of bedding 

 plants, because by obtaining early 

 possession of novelties, those which 

 prove really good can be propagated 

 at once, and be used freely the next 

 season, when other folks are just 

 hearing of them for the first time. 

 But there are not many people who 

 indulge in novelties to such an extent 

 as that, yet all true gardeners like to 

 know about a irood thing as early as 

 possible, and some notes on novelties 

 that are specially interesting may be 

 as useful this season as similar notes 

 have been in seasons past. And I 

 can have no difficulty in indicating 

 what to buy, beg, or avoid, for there 

 is not a subject of any importance in 

 the hands of any of the trade but I 

 have seen again and again, and in 

 many instances in its original condi- 

 tion while in the raiser's hands, and 

 when showing its true character prior 

 to being chopped up for the propa- 

 gators. I shall endeavour, therefore, 

 to advise you of the best of the new 

 varieties of a few of the most popular 

 classes of bedding plants. 



It seems proper to begin with 

 geraniums, and of course Mr. William 

 Paul's set, which may be looked upon 

 as the floral remains of the late 

 Donald Beaton, claim first attention. 

 The best of these are Amy Hogg, a 

 fine nosegay new in colour; Indian 

 Yellow, the nearest approach to v el- 

 low yet obtained in geraniums ; Black 

 Dwarf, a superb dwarf bedding nose- 

 gay, with crimson scarlet • flowers, 

 which has been well proved at the 

 Crystal Palace ; Donald Denton, 

 orange- scarlet, the flowers of im- 

 mense size ; and Mrs. William Paul, 



a true florist's flower, the form per- 

 fect, and the colour a delicate and 

 pleasing tone of rosy peach. Gloiv- 

 worni is a true bedder, with two 

 colours in the flower, the top petals 

 being fiery scarlet, the lower petals 

 flushed with purple ; the result is 

 a peculiar glow, which will be very 

 telling in beds. There are four 

 others in the set, namelv, Duchess, 

 Magenta Queen, Orange Nosegay, and 

 Scarlet Gem, which are all good, bat 

 the six first named are the gems of 

 this collection, and none who have 

 any taste for this class of plants will 

 regret the purchase of them. 



Messrs. James Carter and Co. 

 are also in possession of varieties 

 raised by Mr. Beaton ; the best of 

 their varieties are Premier, a fine 

 grower, with blooms intermediate in 

 colour between Lady Colum and 

 Lord Palmerston, or in other words, 

 a clear, warm, reddish pink ; this 

 will be a charming variety for ribbon 

 lines ; Wild Charlie, thi3 will be 

 valuable because it is a thorough 

 good bedder, of a class in which true 

 bedders are few, namely, the class 

 with salmon coloured flowers. One 

 of the good points in Wild Charlie's 

 character is, that it keeps in bloom 

 till quite the end of the season, when 

 many other varieties are quite past 

 their best. There are three others 

 in this list, namely, Beatoris Per- 

 fection, which may be described 

 as a strong growing Lady Colum; 

 Forester, a scarlet of robust growth ; 

 and Sunrise, a beautiful tricolour. 

 The first named two are strongly 

 recommended, the other three are of 

 much less importance as novelties. 



In Messrs. E. G. Henderson's list 

 occur nine new variegated geraniums. 

 Of these the following are undoubted 

 acquisitions: — Silver Star, a free 

 growing, creamy edged variegate, 

 showing a slight rosy tint within the 

 zone of olive-brown. It is one of the 

 finest in the silver leaved section. 

 Twilight, a silver leaved variegate, in 

 the style of Fairy, the leafage very 

 bright and distinct, the flowers warm 

 salmon rose, and most abundantly 



