THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 231 



plant them carefully and keep them under glass, moderately dry 

 and with as much air as possible, according to the state of the 

 weather. 



THE PENTSTEMON AND THE PHLOX. 



IIHESE are true florists' flowers, and real, good, useful, 

 long-living and lovely flowers for the common border. 

 Shall I ever again see them well-grown and in great 

 plenty, forming proud bosses of pure white, vivid crimson, 

 purple, scarlet, and vermilion, as I have seen them in 

 days when bedding-plants were not imitating the dragons as they do 

 now; when, in fact, the geranium and verbena had not begun to 

 swallow other flowers as the serpent of Moses swallowed the serpents 

 of the Egyptians ? Perhaps I may ; and if I obey our good Editor's 

 request to do some justice to these glorious herbaceous plants, it 

 may be my happy lot to assist in the work of restoring them to their 

 proper place in English gardens, to be loved and honoured for their 

 beauty, and valued much because of the ease with which they may 

 be grown to perfection. I class them together solely because they 

 do so well together, and under the same course of treatment. As 

 for their beauty, nothing can surpass the phlox for perfection of 

 form, for the flowers approach nearly to the true circle, about which 

 florists make so much, and certainly too much fuss. Take a single 

 flower, and you may say you have a work of art, though you know 

 it to be a work of nature. Take a fine truss, and you may say that 

 you are now only in the infancy of your experiences in the enjoy- 

 ment of beauty, for if you were beyond infancy you would esteem 

 the plant more than you do, and would not need that I should urge 

 you to a new fit of admiration. As for the pentstemons, it is suffi- 

 cient to say that gloxinias are prized as choicest among choice 

 subjects, and these may be called the gloxinias of the border, 

 gloxinias that require no stoves, no, nor even gardeners to grow 

 them, nothing but a bit of nice loam, and a moderate amount of 

 sunshine. We have them in all colours and styles ; vivid crimson 

 and rich purple occurring frequently, and among the newer kinds, 

 especially those sent out by Mr. Bull, the painting of the throat 

 and lip is exquisite. 



Well, to grow these things, let us say a few words on that point. 

 They will grow and flower freely in any soil, however poor, provided 

 they have a reasonable amount of moisture, and are fully exposed 

 to the sunshine. But they will bear a moderate amount of shade, 

 and in truth my collections of both (good collections, too) are in the 

 shade of trees, and get only the morning sun for a few hours. But 

 to do them well requires a nice deep loam of a mellow texture, and 

 rather liberally manured. In such a soil they make large leaves, 

 stout stems, stout and splendid flowers, and keep gay till the frost 

 puts a stop to their rejoicing. It is needful in planting to arrange 



