1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



wintered in a common (greenhouse, they should 

 be kept rather dr}', and not be encouraged much 

 to grow, or they may rot away. 



COMMUNICA riONS. 



NEW HYBRID COLEUS. 



BY PETER IIENDEKSON, JERSEY CITY 

 HEIGHTS, N. J. 



I herewitli enclose you specimens of leaves of 

 two dozen of the new Hybrid Coleus which have 

 been originated last Summer from seeds, the 

 product of Chameleon crossed with Multicolor 

 and Pictus. If a'Ou will place them on a white sur- 

 face, I think you will say tliat hardly ever has 

 any plant made such a decided advance as these 

 coleusus have made in one season. The cut rep- 

 resents one of the most distinct, which we have 



NEW HYBRID COLEUS. 



named Spotted Gem ; the markings on the orange 

 yellow surface, run through all the shades of ! plain, 

 pink, crimson, violet maroon, almost to black. 

 The next in value we think is Glory of Autumn, 



der in the open air, which is not likely to be the 

 case with many of these new hybrids \ but even 

 if they fail in that, as plants for greenhouse and 

 window garden culture, the wonderful beauty 

 and variety of their leaf markings well entitles 

 them to a place there. 



We have this time completely beaten our Eu- 

 ropean cotemporaries, for the new varieties we 

 have received from England this season are per- 

 fectly worthless compared with our American 

 varieties. 



It is a singular circumstance that these fine 

 varieties of Hybrid Coleus, should have origin- 

 ated from four different sources, and nearly all of 

 the same strain at one time, for we find them to 

 have been originated at Philadelphia, Ridge- 

 wood, N. J., IBaltimore, Md., and Worcester, 

 Mass.— all in 1879. It is hard to account for such 

 coincidences which occasionally occur in new 

 varieties of plants. Although we had been grow- 

 ing tens of thousands of plants annually for nearly 

 ten years of the well known carmine colored Bou- 

 vardia elegans, it was only in 1870, 1 think, that the 

 two white varieties, B. Vreelandii and David- 

 sonii appeared, almost simultaneously in the 

 greenhouses of the gentlemen whose names they 

 bear. 



[These were very beautiful and in great vari- 

 ety.— Ed. G. M.] 



WINTER CLIMBERS. 



BY MRS. MARY STUART SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF 

 VIRGINIA. 



The two divisions under which these interest- 

 ing plants naturally group themselves, when 

 considered for practical purposes, are the hardy 

 and the tender ; in other words, such as grow out 

 of doors and lend to the attractions of Summer, 

 or such as need protection in the Winter months 

 and serve to adorn our parlors and green houses 

 during that inclement season. At this time of 

 year the latter class are invested with a livelier 

 interest, for more and more is it becoming im- 

 perative upon all persons of refined taste, to 

 make the apartments in which they live reflec- 

 tors in some sort of the spirit which animates 

 their possessors. Nothing can add a greater 

 charm to a room than a few well-tended vines 

 and flowers, be its furniture otherwise ever so 



The newest and most beautiful climber we 

 have seen in use as a window plant is the climb- 



whose shades give nearly all the tints of a forest j ing fern; the only objection to its culture being 

 in October. Thi> proved to be an excellent bed- ' a rather delicate habit of growth, necessitating 



