THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 97 



ECKEORD'S VERBENAS. 



( With Coloured Illustration of six 2feio Varieti"s.) 



OR several years past Verbenas have not enjoyed a large 

 share of popularity among flower gardeners, yet in no 

 other period has the advance towards perfection in the 

 size, colour, and form of the flowers been so great as it 

 has been during the last four or five years. This im- 

 provement is, in the main, due to the labours of Mr. C. J. Perry, 

 Castle Bromwich, and of Mr. H. Eckford, the able head gardener to 

 the Earl of Radnor, Coleshill House. Notwithstanding the unpo- 

 pularity of this flower, these two earnest cultivators proceeded with 

 the work of improvement, but in different ways. Mr. Perry devoted 

 his energies to raising varieties with flowers of the finest form and 

 colour, without reference to habit, or their adaptability for flower 

 garden decoration. Mr. Eckford, on the other hand, has paid especial 

 attention to the habit and constitution, whilst, at the same time, 

 labouring hard to combine with a good constitution and habit, flowers 

 of fine form, and possessing colours that are not easily affected by 

 brilliant sunshine and other uncongenial weather. That he has been 

 eminently successful there can be no doubt, for many of the varieties 

 raised by him, and which have flowers of grand form, occupy a high 

 position amongst the best of the bedders yet sent out. 



As Mr. Eckford has contributed a short paper on the manage- 

 ment of Verbenas for flower-garden decoration, it is quite unneces- 

 sary to allude to the cultural details here, but we are bound to say 

 that the views expressed by Mr. Eckford with reference to the chief 

 causes of failure coincide entirely with our own experience ; at the 

 same time we are anxious to say that with a liberal course of manage- 

 ment, L'uch as that recommended by Mr. Eckford, failures would be 

 remarkably rare, and the Verbena would once more occupy the 

 high position in the flower garden to which it is now so thoroughly 

 entitled. 



The varieties here figured are a portion of a batch of fine 

 novelties, selected from the Coleshill seed bed, that are to be sent 

 out by Mr. John Keynes, Castle Street, Salisbury, on the first of 

 next month. "We have much pleasure in figuring these varieties, 

 because of their high excellence, and for the purpose of showing the 

 immense improvement that has been effected in these useful flowers 

 within the last three or four years. The names and colours of the 

 varieties here figured are aa follows : — 



1. Peter Williams.— Deep scarlet ; eye pure white, large, and 

 circular ; the pips large in size and of good form; the trusses large 

 and bold. One of the showiest and most valuable of the group, and 

 likely to prove a first-rate bedder. 



2. Blue Bell. — Well deserving of its name, for the colour is of a 

 peculiarly bright rich shade of cobalt blue ; pips large, stout in sub- 

 stance, very smooth, and of graud form, with large circular white 

 eye ; trusses large, globular, and well proportioned. A very beauti- 



VOL. VI. — NO. IT. 7 



