THP] 



eAUBEi^ aumE. 



March, 1863. 

 CULTURE OF THE HYDEANGEA. 



^^M ys^ TTEKTION cannot be claimed for a few instructions 

 y^r ^^ ^^^ culture of the hydrangea on the ground that 

 ^ it is a general favourite. There are many enthu- 

 siastic horticulturists who care yery little for it, and 





we have met with some whom we could not charge with a dis- 

 , taste for gardening who entertained for it a positive dislike. 

 I But it has its merits, and the writer is one of those who enter- 

 tain a very high opinion of its value for decorative purposes. 

 With us, indeed, it has long been a leading subject for the 

 }/°3/ formation of large garden groups, and for terrace and promenade 

 ^ ^embellishment, its cheerful and characteristic foliage being as 

 acceptable to the eye as its huge and long-enduring heads of rosy bloom. 

 Botanically considered, Hydrangea is not a particularly interesting genus. 

 It gives its name to the order Hydrangeacece, which is placed by Lindlej' 

 between Saxifragaceae and Cunoniacea? and near Philadelphacea3 and 

 Caprifoliacese. Thunberg classed it with Viburnum, to which it has 

 strong outward resemblances. The species of hydrangea are all inhabit- 

 ants of the temperate parts of Asia and America, about half of them 

 being natives of China and Japan. It will be easily understood, there- 

 fore, that many of the species are hardy, and that none require a stove 

 temperature ; this is a great advantage for those amateurs who admire 

 the noble proportions and cheerful colouring of fine specimens. The 

 hydrangea was first observed in the gardens of Canton by Loureiro, who, 

 mistaking it for a primrose, named it Primula mutabilis. Commerson, the 

 Erench traveller, afterwards met with it, and named it Hortensia, in com- 

 pliment to Madame Hortense Lepeaute. It was left to Smith to give its 

 present name, Hydrangea, and to preserve Commerson's appellation by 

 converting it into hortensis (of gardens), and thus we have Hydrangea 

 hortensis, the species in common cultivation, and to which reference is 

 always made when the hydrangea is named in a collective sense. 



Species and Yaeieties. — The noblest of the race is //. arhorescens, a 



VOL. VI. NO. in. D 



