164 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^June, 



doorsteps, would soon people every tasteful 

 homestead with these tasteful Weigelas. 



Their need of some brighter tinted word-paint- 

 ing takes form, when a leading catalogue sets 

 down the Wdijela nana variegata, the dwarf 

 striped Weigola, iiutly as "a variety with varie- 

 gated leaves and pink flowers," and the larger old 

 variegated with still tamer and more stingy note. 

 These tintless words but faintly present the maid- 

 enly grace and purity which robe this Weigela 

 nana at the season of its bloom. Then its leaf- 

 lets daintily changed in white and bronze aid 

 green, from out whose bosom lift gently bln.shing 

 florets of an airy, evanescent pink, gives it sem- 

 blance to such a divinely chaste bouquet as might 

 have fallen from out the garden of the sky. On 

 leaf, in gentle tint of green, and in its dainty, 

 rosy bloom, it rivals those limpid, lingering lines 

 that faintly tinge the far off tloating clouds of 

 morn or eve. It is cruel to slight such a plant 

 with word-tinting, either terse or tame. 



Again, the Weigela Desboisi, one of our fore- 

 most catalogues merely notes, as a " deep rose 

 colored variety." Another of high standing 

 only tells us of its "immense numbers of very 

 dark rose colored flowers." Such dim portraiture 

 brings out but faint likeness of one of the most 

 brilliant of flowering things. In lavish, lasting, 

 radiant bloom, it rivals every hardy shrub. 

 Deep reddish, rosy bells robe its whole spray and 

 load it into graceful droop. It is a glory in the 

 noontide radiance. In tlie rich hues of parting 

 day, it seems ablaze with absorbed brilliancy. 



For many years a plant posted well to the front 

 of my grounds, has won more lingering gaze and 

 question from flower lovers than any other 

 bloom. And in those grounds there stands 

 pretty much every hardy blossoming thing. Yet 

 this Weigela Desboisi carries ofT the palm. It 

 counts as warm admirers not only those who 

 cherish a few choice plants, but those whose 

 conservatories store the wealth of the floral 

 world. Such eager look and quest following 

 this lovely variety, more than hints that a 

 brighter word-pencilling of the plant might 

 have made many purchasers of those who thus 

 admiringly inquire its name and nature. 



I shall note only one other of the slighted and 

 rare visitors of this tribe— the Weigela versicolor. 

 I find no description of this plant anywhere, 

 nor its name in any but the Flushing catalogues. 

 Doubtless, our leading nurserymen know it well, 

 but that they give no more note or place to a 

 plant so wonderfully endowed, " passeth all un- ' 



derstanding." This Latin name, " Weigela ver- 

 sicolor," bespeaks almost to the eye of any, aa 

 in translation, a plant " of chaut/pful hue." 



A cluster of its flowers is of itself a bouquet of 

 divers tinted blos-soms. A branch glories in 

 blooms of every varying shade, from white to 

 deep red, and crimson darkening to maroon. Till 

 tlic flower drops, its tint is ever changing ; a 

 white to-day, to-morrow shows a pink, or salmon. 

 A flower blooming out a pink, day by day, deep- 

 ens into dark crimson. Thus, onward through 

 an endless maze and interchange of color, cov- 

 ering pretty much the whole spectrum. A plant 

 so robed in a coat " of many colors," wearing 

 flowers of such changeful hue, surely deserves 

 wide and special note, as one of the wonders of 

 vegetation. 



The aptness of the Weigela to take up on itfl 

 seedlings a new and better style of growth and 

 bloom, promises most happy results from judi- 

 cious crosses, that varieties of such rich tints on 

 leaf and flower, so diverse therein, and in their 

 style of growth, have descended from parent* 

 without such traits, marks a wonderful floral 

 evolution. It is only rivalled by that tireless 

 flow^ of rich and lovely blooms, which owe their 

 parentage to only a few species of the Gladioli. 

 The Weigelas have already shown floral possi- 

 bilities, promising a rich future. Some bloom 

 but once, some twice, some thrice, and some, 

 like varieties of the rose, are hardly ever without 

 a show of blossoms. A plant, holding on its 

 roll such wide-apart colors as the deep, dark 

 crimson of the floribunda, the white of the 

 alba, the clear, full belled pink of the amabilis, 

 the change from white to many shades of pink 

 as the isoline, and with a quiver full of assorted 

 tints, like the versicolor, added to the clear yel- 

 low of the old Diervilla, betokens the likely ad- 

 vent of still more notable excellence, to come 

 out of judicious crosses. 



I look upon these commingled hues of bloom, 

 before long to glow^ in endless interchange of 

 complexion, from tie big, bell-shaped flowers of 

 their descendants. Fiery scarlet throats sweep- 

 ing into golden rims ; borders of maroon looking 

 down into throats of yellow and crimson chenay ; 

 then, as to the promise of their foliage out of the 

 nana and others of such divers tinted leaves, 

 shall come zonales and all the ceaseless round 

 of variety which skilful florists learn so surely to 

 evolve. I look to see this journal yet record 

 double flowered Weigelas of every shade and 

 commixture of colors; to send out cromoliths of 



