AUGUST. 203 



THE LADIES' PAGE. 



The system of filling a whole bed with plants of one sort, which is 

 now so much practised, has had the effect of withdrawing attention, 

 in a great measure, from that very interesting class of flowers de- 

 signated '* hardy herbaceous plants ; " and yet upon these the beauty 

 of our flower-gardens mainly depended only a few years ago. Some 

 of the kinds which bloom first in spring have already been noticed in 

 the Ladies' Page, and we shall now mention a few other desirable 

 species, with the view of recalling them to the recollection of the 

 readers of this part of the Florist. It may be premised that the 

 plants in the following list are unsuitable for planting in masses; 

 their proper place is in those beds of mixed flowers which are still 

 occasionally seen bordering the principal walks, or placed here and 

 there in conspicuous situations, in some pleasure-grounds. 



One advantage attached to this class of plants is, the small 

 amount of skill or of labour required in their cultivation. Once 

 planted in suitable soil, that is, common garden-ground, moderately 

 enriched with manure, many of them will grow and bloom for years, 

 with little care beyond the thinning and tying of the stems spoken 

 of in a former Number, and an occasional reduction of size when the 

 root-stock has become over-grown. But there are some species 

 which demand a little more attention in return for the gratification 

 they give us, and one of these is Lychnis fulgens, the roots of which 

 frequently perish when exposed to wet and cold during winter ; it is 

 therefore necessary to raise young plants from seed every spring, 

 when this species is treated as an ordinary herbaceous plant ; but its 

 splendid scarlet colour entities it to be cultivated in pots, in the same 

 way as the better-known L. coronata. 



In height it seldom exceeds one and a half or two feet, and as it 

 does produce numerous flower- stems, a better eff'ect would be ob- 

 tained by setting three or four plants in a patch. The double- 

 flowered variety of the common scarlet Lychnis (L. cJialcedonica) 

 is now seldom seen, although very handsome ; so likewise is the 

 double clammy Lychnis (L. viscarid), and the double Cuckoo-flower 

 {L. Floscuculi). 



The genus Delphinium {Larkspur) contains many showy species, 

 among which Azureum (light blue), Mesoleucum (dark blue, with 

 white centre), and Elatum (dark blue), are suitable for the middle of 

 large clumps or the back part of borders, as they all grow five to six 

 feet high. Of the shorter species, Grandiflorum is one of the hand- 

 somest, and when propagated from seed, several varieties may be ob- 

 tained, varying in colour between dark blue and white ; and occasion- 

 ally a plant having double blossoms will appear among the seedlings. 

 The beautiful double kind commonly known as Grandiflorum appears 

 to belong to a different species. Another taller-growing double sort 

 is called Barlowii, and this also is very handsome. All these are 

 usually in bloom about midsummer. 



Several of the herbaceous Ranunculuses have varieties with 



