THE 



GARDENER 



OCTOBER 1879. 



FLOWER - GARDENING OF THE SEASON. 



LOWER - GARDENING has been, for the season which 

 may be said to be now gone, gardening without the 

 flowers. The spring gardening was only a partial success, 

 or almost a failure, from the havoc the severe winter 

 made among things of a herbaceous and annual character, bulbs 

 being also late, and the whole effect patchy and unsatisfactory. The 

 summer bedding has throughout had to struggle for existence. Tender 

 foliage plants, both dwarf and tall, have been starved out ; exotic suc- 

 culents have been rotted out ; and the flowers of Geraniums, Calceo- 

 larias, Violets, &c, have been washed out. Such is the tale which has 

 generally to be told, especially on retentive soils. In situations where 

 the soil is light and porous, a fair display of flowers is to be found, 

 though of a beaten and imperfect aspect. Flowering plants of the bed- 

 ding section, on the whole, have had but a draggled time of it. 



If anything has been more satisfactory than another, it is plants of 

 the hardy herbaceous class, whether of the low carpeting character, as 

 the Saxifragas, Sedums, and Antennarias, or of the Funkias, Bamboos, 

 Bocconias, and suchlike. Even the flowering herbaceous plants have 

 all done well, especially those of any sturdiness and substance, such as the 

 Delphiniums, Campanulas, Alstroemerias, and now even the Phloxes 

 and Dahlias. The Spiraeas, among flowering shrubs, are making at the 

 present time a fine show, with a great variety in habit of growth and 

 colour of flowers. These, with their herbaceous relations, are really in- 

 dispensable, and destined to be much more largely planted. A lesson is 

 to be learned from all this in the consideration that our flower-garden- 

 ing is entirely dependent on the state of the weather, and that since 



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