i8 7 o.] CULTIVATION OF THE HOLLYHOCK. 75 



bery-border planted principally with Laurels, and in front some nice 

 bushes of Berberis aquifolium, which face the flower-beds in the 

 large grass-plot here. It is 126 feet in length and 5 feet in width, 

 and I plant it as a ribbon-border in the following manner : At the 

 back Hollyhocks planted 4 feet apart, the colour arranged so as to 

 secure the best effect when seen from any part of the garden. In 

 front of the Hollyhocks a line of the yellow blooming Calceolaria 

 viscosissima ; then a line of Tom Thumb Scarlet Pelargonium ; then 

 a row of Purple King Verbena, and an edging of Cerastium tomen- 

 tosum. As this border is of semicircular shape, it is not too much to say 

 that I secure a kind of enduring floral rainbow ; and the effect is ex- 

 tremely good, and the arrangement praised by all who have seen it. 



1 have also here two very large circular beds, and the centre of each 

 of these I fill with Hollyhocks, selecting and arranging the colours. 

 These I plant the first week in March, using old plants that were 

 potted up in the autumn. By putting the strongest plants in the 

 centre of the bed, I get the tallest spikes there ; and I allow each plant 

 to carry three of the strongest shoots, which reach a height of from 

 6 to 7 feet. Pound these I place a band of weaker plants, which 

 grow about 5 feet. Each of these also carries three shoots. As soon 

 as the shoots are 1 foot in height, they are secured to a stake about 



2 feet out of the ground when firmly driven into it ; and this I find 

 quite tall enough to keep the plants from being injured by the wind, 

 and the stakes do not show themselves amid the flower-spikes. In 

 one of the beds I place round the Hollyhocks Crystal Palace Scarlet 

 Bedding Dahlia, and for an edging the Purple Zelinda Bedding 

 Dahlia, which being of rather dwarfer growth, makes a good edging, 

 as well as affords a good contrast to the former. In the other bed I 

 plant bedding Dahlia Alba multiflora instead of the Crystal Palace 

 Scarlet, and edge as before with the Purple Zelinda. I cannot dis- 

 pense with the last named, as, while it is singularly free of bloom, it 

 gives a fine crimson-purple hue, much needed in the flower-garden. 

 I have an impression that in small gardens even single plants of the 

 Hollyhock placed here and there can be introduced with good effect. 

 They serve to relieve the frequent flat appearance of these gardens, 

 and they remain in bloom a considerable time. 



Last summer I received an invitation from a brother amateur 

 Hollyhock cultivator to call on him and see his Hollyhocks. These 

 he had planted in a single row, and they were from G to 7 feet in 

 height, with noble spikes of bloom, each plant having a single stem ; 

 and being of various hues of colour, they had been planted so as to 

 secure as much harmony of colours as possible. In front of the 

 Hollyhocks were two rows of the finest hybrids of Gladiolus Ganda- 



