146 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



the season, which will keep it regular 

 and dense in growth. Of the two, 

 C. tomentopum is the best. 



Artemisia glacialis and argentea. — 

 These silvery -leaved wormwoods are 

 of excellent habit and quite hardy. 

 They require poor sandy soil and a 

 dry position. 



Santolina rosmari?ufoliii7rt . — A 

 very beautiful glaucous-leaved plant, 

 of easy cultivation, quite hardy, and 

 delighting in chalk and sand. Every 

 etudent of colour effects should have 

 it, with a view to its extensive use 

 when occasions arise requiring a sil- 

 very plant of a decidedly shrubby 

 character easily kept and propagated. 



Stachys lanata. — A hardy woolly- 

 leaved plant, which will be useful to 

 those who want a plant of the habit 

 of Centaurea candidissima, but have 

 not the convenience for keeping stock 

 over winter. It spreads laterally in 

 tufts, forming dense masses of grey 

 foliage never more than six inches 

 high, requiring no nipping down. 

 Most easily propagated by division. 



Achillea clavenna is a neat silvery- 

 leaved plant, well adapted for edgings. 

 If its flowers were kept pinched back, 

 it would be very uniform and neat, 

 but the flowers are by no means ob- 

 jectionable, except in highly-coloured 

 and very formal parterres. 



A. Egyptiaca produces fine yellow 

 flowers, and is very distinct in its 

 grey leafage. 



Festuca glauca. — A most beautiful 

 glaucous-leaved grass, which will 

 grow finely in any rather dry posi- 

 tion. It does not make so good an 

 edging as it promises to when seen 

 in separate tufts, but, in some form 

 or other, it ought to be found in every 

 garden. 



Sedum glaucum. — This is a close- 

 growing species, which forms a per- 

 fectly close surface of neat glaucous 

 growth. It will be invaluable for hot 

 dry soils, where bedding-plants of 

 many kinds do not thrive well. It is 

 also a gem for rockwork. 



Variegated mint, which we sup- 

 pose everybody knows well enough. 

 Nevertheless it is often strangely con- 

 founded with variegated balm, varie- 

 gated arabis, and variegated dead- 

 nettle. The balm and the dead-nettle 



are of no use for bedding, but make 

 nice clumps on shady rockeries ; 

 whereas the mint, which may be 

 identified as easily by its odour as 

 any other way, will grow in any soil 

 or situation, and, when used in masses, 

 is one of the best plants of this class 

 that we possess. There are various 

 ways of turning it to account. As a 

 front row to Purple Nosegay Gera- 

 nium, or Eubens Geranium, or Tren- 

 tham Eose Geranium, it is best used 

 alone ; but as a front row to Perilla 

 Nankinensis it has a superb effect, if 

 intermixed with Lord .Raglan Ver- 

 bena. It scarcely matters how late 

 this mint is propagated, so that it has 

 just formed roots at the time of put- 

 ting out. When it is required to run 

 up six to nine inches, the plants 

 should be strong, in 60-sized pots, 

 from cuttings taken early in spring ; 

 but, if required very short and close, 

 April is quite early enough to strike 

 it. We have made bright solid edg- 

 ings by putting in cuttings in May, 

 while geraniums were hardening in 

 pits, and, when rooted, planting them 

 without any intermediate process of 

 potting. They take hold of the 

 ground in a few days, and, being a 

 free grower, it soon requires nipping 

 down, which makes it dense and 

 bushy. We would make a hundred 

 feet out of half-a-dozen plants in 48- 

 sized pots the first week in May, and 

 have them on the ground in a pass- 

 able state by the middle of June, by 

 which time the geraniums and ver- 

 benas would be showing good trusses. 

 But the best time generally to pro- 

 pagate it is March, when choice 

 should be made of shoots not en- 

 tirely white or nearly green, but fully 

 variegated, and with enough green 

 in them to insure vigorous health. 

 Wherever a green shoot appears, it 

 should be cut away to the root, or it 

 will soon war against the variegated 

 shoots by its superior vigour. Once 

 get possession of this useful plant, 

 and it need never be lost, and to keep 

 it true needs only ordinary watchful- 

 ness. It is a charming contrast to 

 blue, purple, or scarlet. There is a 

 golden-leaved variety equally beau- 

 tiful, but of less value for bedding,, 

 because the same colour can be so 



