THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



81 



fine silvery foliaj^e and huge yellow I 

 flowers. I must name one more i 

 favourite in tliis catetrory, and that 

 is Eellis perennls aucubiajfolia, that 

 is, the variegated-leaved daisy, of 

 ■which I have now a fine stock fit 

 for a front line, and there is not a 

 lovelier plant in any garden. You 

 may part and plant, part and plant, 

 at any time, but best in autumn. 

 and, if the soil is poor, every leaf 

 will come true, a rich gold ground 

 colour netted all over with green 

 veins. 



New Bedders. — The lead among 

 the novelties tiiia season will be taken 

 by Lobelia speciosa Paxtoniana, which 

 made such a figure last year at the 

 Crystal Palace. This is marked with 

 pale blue on a creamv-white ground, 

 and has extra large flowei-a. When 

 ■well done, it is most brilliant, and 

 makes a fine bluish-gray edging to 

 any bed of strong colours. The next 

 most popular novelty will be Carter's 

 rosy purple Lobelia speciosa Kerrae- 

 sina, which is a tremendous bloomer, 

 and of the beat habit for growth of 

 any Lobelia yet introduced to our 

 gardens. IN'either of these are to be 

 had from seeds, and, being seminal 

 varieties, might never come true from 

 seed again, but that remains to be 

 seen. But who will do justice to the 

 species and varieties of Arctotis ? 

 Here certainlv is a new and untried 

 material for front lines of silver and 

 gay flowers combined ; just the thing 

 ■we have been wanting all through 

 this progress in bedding and edging 

 and composite colouring. Let our 

 readers be up to the mark in time, 

 and plant out at the end of May in 

 a reserve plot all the kinds of Arc- 

 totis that can be got, and in June 

 sow as many as can be had from seeds, 

 and make a fair trial of them with a 

 view to future propagation. 



Bedding Annuals. — I found it 

 quite a mistake last year to do with- 

 out my masses of crimson and purple 

 candytuft, and so have sown largely 

 of seed from Carter, Barr and Sugden, 

 and E. G. Henderson, expecting, of 

 course, that all the varieties bearing 

 the same name from each house, will 

 be the same when in flower. I shall 

 get an early bloom by getting them 



forward in pans, then pushed out into 

 boxes, and, finally, planted singly 

 four inches apart, and that ■will be 

 very close for such plants as mine are 

 in the generous way I treat them. 

 Then the moment their glory begins 

 to wane away they will all go to the 

 muck pit and be succeeded bv bal- 

 sams, asters, acroclinium, and I hope 

 some good masses of the new and 

 beautiful Ehodanthe maculata, the 

 best of all the everlastings, and worth 

 as goDd culture as can be bestowed 

 upon it. But there is no end of good 

 annuals for a constant succession to 

 the very end of the season, and to 

 keep the garden gay by such means 

 will be good practice — better in 

 most cases than with the ordinary 

 round of bedders, because there must 

 be successive sowings, prickings out, 

 planting, destroying, and so forth, so 

 that those who go in this track will 

 never lack work. Pour years ago the 

 FiiOSAL WoELD recommended a 

 dwarf form of Marigold, which was 

 much used at Kew. There were 

 yellow, sulphur, brown, and crimson 

 varieties ; but their general fault was 

 a tendency to run up too high. Now 

 this is overcome, and we have a race 

 that may be relied upon to keep 

 dwarf to the end, and to make my- 

 riads of blooms in a sunny position. 

 This is Tagetes signata pumila, for a 

 picture of which we are indebted to 

 Messrs. Henderson and Son, of St. 

 John's Wood. 



What shall we say of Portulaccas, 

 or Schizanthuses, or Clintonia pul- 

 chella, or Dianthus Heddewegii, or 

 Eucharidium grandiflorum, or the 

 new double blue Jacobea, ■which 

 comes true from seed; or the Tom 

 Thumb nasturtiums, which are sent 

 out now in half a dozen distinct 

 varieties — creamy white, orange scar- 

 let, yellow, crimson, etc. — except that 

 they off'er cheap materials for gor- 

 geous colouring to people who cannot 

 keep large stocks of geraniums and 

 verbenas, and who cannot afford to 

 buy all they want to fill their capa- 

 cious beds, and who, therefore, must 

 bear ■with dinginess, unless they take 

 to annuals in earnest or go back to 

 the good old style of Lupins, Sweet 

 Williams, herbaceous Veronicas, and 



