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JODENAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



t Febroary 18, 1869. 



enjoyment, a good amount of honest but coaBtantly-diminishing 

 ignorance is jast the thing to whet oar appetites, and give 

 pi<laancy to our researches. I have often thought, and that 

 not in the spirit of the fox in the fable, that it must be rather 

 wearisome than otherwise for an accomplished botanist to pass 

 on by moor, and field, and wood, and among all their plant- 

 treasures to see no face he does not know, for he knows them 

 (lU, and all about them : he has conquered them all daring 

 inany a pleasant summer campaign, and we might fancy him 

 feeling a touch of Alexander's sorrow at having nothing more 

 to conquer. Fortunately this cause of grief is reserved for only 

 a very few. — Aykshihe Gakdener. 



;j:, a plea for annuals. 



f-l-.toiNUALS now occupy, as garden decorative plants, a com- 

 pMatively inferior position. They are subordinate in estimation 

 to many of their floral compeers, yet they are " stars of earth " 

 ^-stars, it may be, not of the first or second, but of the fifth or 

 sixth magnitude, but their beauty could not be dispensed with. 

 I am aware that to the modern style of geometric and artistic 

 gardens, annuals, as a rule, are not adapted ; they neither give 

 the continuous mass of colour nor the rigid and strictly de- 

 nned outline which is found in other summer-flowering plants, 

 'but these are not sufficient reasons for their being banished 

 altogether. A space in the gardens of most proprietors can be 

 affordeJ for these chaste and graceful (lowers. In mixed beds 

 and borders they are most at home, and give a charm which 

 only annuals can impart ; in suburban plots they are most ap- 

 propriate and always show to advantage, and this quiet style of 

 garden embellishment without, is suggestive of, and leads to 

 quiet comfort within. 



No annuals, according to my taste, are seen to better advan- 

 tage than those sown in autumn, and which are in their gayest 

 attire on the very eve of summer. Although there are annuals 

 in plenty sufficiently hardy to withstand our ordinary winters, 

 the choice is very limited of those which bloom sufficiently 

 ■early to be removed, without destroying their beauty, in time 

 ■for the planting of our ordinary bedding plants. Now, how- 

 ever, that the taste for adapting for the decoration of our gar- 

 ■' dens plants indigenous to more tropical countries, is becoming 

 ' diffused, more time will be given for many annuals to develope 

 'their beauty, inasmuch as sub-tropical plants cannot, in ex- 



■ posed gardens, be put out with safety for a month after Pelar- 



■ goniums, Calceolarias, &c. Vacant beds and borders in winter 

 ' look dead enough, but bare black soil in April and May appears 

 "far more dismally barren by contrast with the unfolding beauties 

 ' of nature, which are then seen on every side. 



■' It would be unseasonable, perhaps, to dwell longer just now 



on autumn-sown annuals ; but even now there is just lime to 



secure a crop of flowers on beds and borders which in exposed 



' 'gardens it is proposed to furnish with sub-tropical plants for 



' «nmmer and autumn decoration. I may for a moment digress 



■' 'and say how suitable and effective are Anemones and Eannn- 



;'' culuses, which can be bought so cheaply in quantity. I just 



''name these as suggestive of other suitable bulbous plants, 



' and pass on to the simpler, cheaper, but not less effective 



' ' annuals, which, if sown at once, at the very first opportunity 



'■' of the soil being in workable condition, will bloom and make 



enjoyable space that is to be occupied by tender stove subjects, 



■] • and that might otherwise be for two months blank and bare. 



Nemophilas of the discoidalis, insiguis, and maculata varieties 

 '■' will, if sown now and guarded from slugs, make a charming 

 " late spring display, either in separate lines or beds, or iu 

 '■'mixture; in themselves they possess a sufficient variety of 

 ' -colours to make a border very attractive and interesting. Vir- 

 ginian Stocks, the two colours, pink and white, make especially 

 beautiful lines and lively beds, and come quickly into bloom. 

 Veronica glauca and syriaca, blue and white, very quickly come 

 into beauty, and are compact, profuse-flowering, and effective. 

 There are other early-blooming annuals nearly if not quite as 

 early as these. Seed of all those mentioned is remarkably 

 cheap. For early-blooming, sow thickly and grow thickly, 

 when, in a month or six weeks, flowers may be had well worth 

 the money expended in seed. 



But not solely as mere "fill-gaps," annuals are to be grown. 

 In mixed borders and other suitable places no class of plants 

 will better repay generous treatment. To insure their proper 

 and natural development they must be cared for, and, above 

 all, thinned-out well and in good time ; but bow seldom they 

 receive this attention. The careless manner in which they are 



in many instances sown and left to themselves to struggle out 

 their existence, has more than anything else contributed to 

 their disrepute. Better, far better, let them alone than treat 

 them thus. Annuals in their nature are transient, but if thinned- 

 out properly and early enough the duration of their period of 

 beauty is thrice that of those which are sown and left to them- 

 selves, and which receive the reproaches of growers who might 

 with more justice reproach themselves for having primarily 

 contributed to such a state of things. 



Annuals if required in patches in mixed beds and borders 

 can be sown where intended to bloom, but I have always found 

 this plan entail much trouble in protecting them from the 

 ravages of slugs. The preferable plan is, on a perfectly hard 

 bottom, to place a few inches of rough leaf mould and well- 

 decayed manure, and on this an inch or two of sifted soil to 

 sow the seed in. Sow in drills, and when the young plants 

 have become strong remove them in patches in dull weather. 

 By this mode of raising them they are under the eye and com- 

 mand in their infant state, when they are chiefly susceptible 

 of injury, and almost every kind will remove with but little 

 check, and will bloom, if not all the season, at any rate quite 

 long enough to make room for the rapidly advancing growth of 

 their associates. 



It will be unnecessary to enumerate a general list, but I will 

 describe a few of last year's novelties, all of which are quoted 

 cheap enough in this year's catalogues : — Tropieolum Lilli 

 Schmidt, compact in habit, profuse in blooming, and good in 

 colour, flourished well in the hot weather of last summer. 

 Tropffiolum pyramidale, gay, but not so distinct in habit as 

 its name would imply. Tropocolum cajruleum roseum, very 

 distinct and effective, but not so vigorous as the preceding ; poor 

 soil which is suitable to most of this class is not so necessary 

 for this variety. Clarkia pulchella marginata, chaste, lively, 

 and well worth growing. Clarkia integripetala carnea, dwarf, 

 distinct, and effective. Escbscholtzia crocea striata, pretty 

 when close to the eye, but for general effect no improvement on 

 the older varieties. Nemophila discoidalis nigra, the flowers 

 when opening are like black velvet, bnd on this account it is 

 curious and will be grown by many, but it does not throw its 

 flowers sufficiently above its foUage. Viscaria cardinalis and 

 Viscaria elegans piota, two charming varieties of this beautifal 

 family, which should be included in even the smallest col- 

 lections. Whitlavia gloxinioides, elegant and pleasing ; a de- 

 cided advance on the older varieties. Whitlavias should be 

 sown where thay are intended to bloom, as they cannot be 

 removed so safely as most annuals, neither are they to be de- 

 pended on for autumn sowing, as is sometimes recommended ; 

 they do not survive the winter well. — J. W. 



THE VERBENA. 



Need I ask, what object in a flower garden can possibly be 

 more attractive or interesting than a mixed bed of Verbenas ? 

 In such a bed we have endless variety of form and colour, a 

 freshness and beauty of appearance, and a wealth of floral 

 loveliness, equalled by hardly any other denizen of the par- 

 terre. 



The only drawback in connection with the culture of this 

 (with me) favourite class of plants, is that they are hardly 

 lasting enough to be included in a strictly geometrical garden, 

 where the occurrence of any blank would seriously affect the 

 appearance of the whole design. It is in this respect, and only 

 in this, that such kinds as venosa, pulchella, and Melindres 

 splendens are at all superior, for in a comparison of form and 

 colour those kinds which arc known under the popular desig- 

 nation of " florists' flowers," will certainly bear away the palm. 



I have frequently thought if a few independent beds (by this 

 term", I mean beds that are not included in the principal 

 pattern of the garden), could be introduced so as to aSoid space 

 for such gems as Verbenas, Portulacas, and the like, they 

 would not only add very much to the interest of the garden, 

 but would also tend materially to relieve the monotony of the 

 never-ending Pelargonium. 



No two Verbenas can be better adapted for bedding purposes 

 than Crimson King and Purple King, and they are both too 

 excellent and too well known to need one word to recommend 

 them, although probably Crimson King is too young a monarch 

 to have achieved such world-wide renown as its venerable 

 brother king. And this biings to mind how short-lived mcst 

 Verbenas are ; but very lew varieties possess sufficient merit 

 to cause them to be cared for alter a year or two's trial. How 



