i88t.] decorative GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 325 



genitors that the cultivated Carrot or Cauliflower does to the wild 

 type of their class. 



All hardy plants, or nearly all, may be cultivated with great ease 

 in pots either in the border or in the frame or the greenhouse, and the 

 least assistance in the way of protection brings them into flower long 

 before they would flower in the open border, — hence they form an ex- 

 cellent adjunct for conservatory decoration. Iris reticulata, for ex- 

 ample, displays its beautiful flowers in mid-winter or earlier in a cold 

 pit ; and numbers of other varieties come in proportionately early. 

 The mere protection of a hand-light or a cloclie will cause many spring 

 flowers to bloom long before their time ; and if they are in pots, they 

 may be lifted and placed in either the greenhouse or the window. In 

 short, spring flowers bloom, when protected, in winter ; summer flowers 

 in spring; and autumn ones in summer. Without exception, one of 

 the finest window-plants we ever saw was an Anemone japonica alba, 

 — a large plant that stood on a stand by itself in the bay-window of a 

 drawing-room, where it had grown, and flowered in July. The foliage 

 was as large and green as that of the Vine indoors, and quite spread 

 over and hid the pot, and the flowers were larger and purer than they 

 are even seen outdoors. The plant stood in the window of a mansion 

 on the promenade of a seaside town, and numbers of people stopped 

 to look and admire the fine specimen, wondering at the same time 

 what it was, and many going away no doubt in the belief that it was 

 some rare and little-known plant. It is noticeable now, however, that 

 hardy plants in pots are a greater feature of the market-growers' stalls 

 than they used to be. Anemones and Primroses are common, and the 

 pretty Iberis corifolia is becoming a favourite, being of a compact 

 habit of growth, and a great improvement on the old variety. 



NOTES ON DECORATIVE GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 



IMANTOPHYLLUM MINTATUM. 



The above is a plant that no collection, however small, should be with- 

 out one or more of ; it is one of the most serviceable greenhouse plants 

 we have, either for house, table, or conservatory decoration, and a well- 

 flowered specimen is unsurpassed as an exhibition plant. With proper 

 management it can be had in flower at almost any time of the year, 

 and with relays of plants, forced on at sufficient intervals, or retarded, 

 as the case may be, they may be had in flower all the year round. 

 Though it stands forcing well, and, indeed, is often grown in the stove, 

 it is in reality a cool greenhouse plant. It belongs to the order Ama- 

 rallidaceae ; but, like the Vallota purpurata, is evergreen. The leaves 

 are of a deep green, broad and stout at the base, and slightly tapering 



