128 



JOUllNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARBENEB. 



[ Angnst 20, 1868. 



■hotbed early in the spring, but I have seen as good a result as 

 'Could be desired from selfsown plants ; for where the ground 

 suits it, it perpetuates itself almost as well as Mignonette. — 



J. ROESON. 



THREE USEFUL HARDY HERBACEOUS 

 PLANTS. 



Seasons like the present are not likely to pass away without 

 some one noticing how certain plants appeared to withstand 

 the unusual heat and drought which prevailed throughout the 

 growing part of the summer, and it will be easily seen what 

 plants suffered or the contrary by the almost tropical heat they 

 have been subjected to. In making notices of this description 

 it is, of course, necessary to specify whether the plant has been 

 assisted by artificial watering or not, as when this is done the 

 plant ought no longer to be regarded as one capable of enduring 

 much heat and drought, unless the amount of such watering 

 has been very small. In the case of the three plants which I 

 shall mention no artificial watering whatever has been afforded, 

 and their appearance has been in every way satisfactory ; be- 

 sides which they have claims to attention beyond the mere fact 

 of withstanding hot dry weather. 



The failures in a trying season like the present will no denbt 

 lead many to condemn more plants than they ought to do, 

 whUe they may give a more than due importance to those 

 which withstand the sun well ; but tbo three plants to the 

 merits of which I seek to call attention have done as well with 

 me in damp seasons as in the present year, and consequently 

 no one need be afraid of trying them. They are not the un- 

 certain creatures of a hot season, but long-tried friends, dis- 

 playing their beauties alike in a hot season and in a wet one. 

 They all belong to those useful plants which are again fast 

 making their way into public favour — namely, hardy her- 

 baceous plants, and I have long regarded them as amongst the 

 most ornamental of that highly interesting class of plants. 

 Not one of them has any claim to rarity, and yet they are more 

 rarely met with than they ought to be, possibly from their 

 great beauty and their capabilities of withstanding heat not 

 being known, although so many Phloxes, Pentstemons, and 

 other plants have succumbed to the heat and lack of moisture. 



Taking the three plants in the order in which they flower, I 

 shall first begin with — 



Trachelium c.eeuleum. — This, although allied to the Cam- 

 panulas, does not much resemble any of the ornamental kinds 

 with which I am acquainted. Its flowers are individually small, 

 but are so numerous, and collected in such mathematical order 

 in umbels of from 2 or S to 4 or 5 inches in diameter, that 

 their heads look in the distance like florets. The flower stem 

 is much branched, each branchlet supporting its umbel of 

 flowers, which in ordinary seasons are pale blue, but this year 

 they have darkened into a good purple, being when in a body 

 and viewed at a distance of a darker and better purple than 

 Purple King Verbena. The flowers, too, are produced in great 

 abundance, and although the plant is from 2 to :! feet high they 

 require no tying-up, standing much better than Phloxes ; and 

 in consequence of the stem branching near the ground, flowers 

 are produced all the way up. The plant produces its exceed- 

 ingly small seeds freely, and these if sown in heat early in 

 spring afford plants which flower the same year. It may also 

 be propagated by cuttings taken off any time during the sum- 

 mer or autumn ; and it is advisable to strike some, as very 

 hard winters kill the plant. A row of it surrounding a bed of 

 shrubs has been one of the most ornamental we have had here, 

 a silver-edged Pelargonium being in front of it. It remained 

 in full flower throughout July. 



Statice latifolia. — This is also an herbaceous plant of great 

 beauty. Its broad overlapping foliage is scarcely less orna- 

 mental than some of the Lomarias or Scolopendriums ; and 

 the flower stem, much branched, is upwards of 2 feet high, and 

 is so rigid and its branchlets so wiry, that tying of any kind 

 would only injure it. The flowers when fully expanded are of a 

 pretty pale blue, hardly inferior to the exotic species Statice 

 Holfordi, while in point of habit the plant is much superior. 

 It produces its flowers in the greatest profusion, the stems 

 branching out and interlacing each other, so as to form a com- 

 pact head or bush of 3 or 4 feet in diameter in a full-grown 

 plant, and perhaps 2. J feet high or more. It is, however, for 

 the utihty of the flower spikes just before they are fully ex- 

 panded that I claim for it the greatest merit. At that time 

 the small but numerous flower buds present a shining mass of a 

 rich silvery grey tint, and if then cut and dried they retain 



th»ir colour, and the stiff wiry stems of the plant support them 

 in due order. Amongst dried flowers, therefore, this plant is 

 of the greatest importance. Its feathery appearance and dis- 

 tinctness from all others entitle it to a high place in such col- 

 lections, apart altogether from the display it makes in the 

 flower garden, where it continues in bloom a much longer 

 period than most other plants ; and even in its decay its stur- 

 diness of flower stem and the small petals of the individual 

 flowers preserve it from ever appearing rubbishy. The ever- 

 green character of its foliage also imparts an amount of beanty 

 to it which few plants possess. I believe the plant is met with 

 under other specific names, but that which I have adopted 

 seems applicable to it. It propagates much less freely than 

 the Trachelium, not seeding, so far as I am aware, in this 

 country, and furnishing but sparingly short tufty offsets or 

 cuttings much hke those of the double Chinese Primrose. 

 These cuttings in a cold pit, with no other care than shading 

 and watering, make plants in time. The plant, too, is in other 

 respects very hardy. 



AcoNiTUM viEGiNicuM is a useful and ornamental herbaceous 

 plant, more hardy than most of those which I know, and not 

 particular as to site. This season, to my surprise, it has 

 flowered well, although growing immediitely in front of shrubs 

 whose roots, I expect, intermix with its own, and on the other 

 side a strong hedge of Dielytra spectabilis has several weeks 

 the start of it every season, but this highly ornamental Monks- 

 hood invariably makes itself seen by the 1st of August, and 

 this season it was much before that time. The foliage and 

 flowers did not show that distress which might be expected 

 from the confined position of the plant, and the total absence 

 of rain for so long a period. It usually attains a height of 

 4 feet, produces a spike of blue and white flowers, and well 

 deserves a place in an herbaceous border, where something of a 

 lower growth can be placed in front of it. 



As a plant capable of withstanding heat I was agreeably sur- 

 prised with Aconitum virginicum this season, as it never ap- 

 peared to be suffering as some of the Delphiniums, Phloxes, and 

 similar plants did, for its foliage and flowers presented a fresh- 

 ness of aspect which was seen in few plants this season, con- 

 sequently its merits in this respect deserve to be known. It is 

 propagated with tolerable freedom by division of the root. In 

 very wet places I believe slugs are rather fond of it, but I have 

 always found it very hardy, capable of taking care of itself, 

 and furnishing plenty of flowers. — J. Eobson. 



ROSESJAND OTHER FLOWERS AT MR. 

 KEYNES'S NURSERY. 



I THOUGHT to have included my notice of Mr. Keynes's in 

 my last paper, in which I coupled it with Mr. Eadclyffe's 

 at Okeford Fitzpaine, but my space came to an end ; and so I 

 add this brief notice, first saying that I made one omission in 

 my list of Strawberries — viz., Frogmore Late Pine, which is a 

 great favourite with Mr. Radcljffe, and which I have more than 

 once spoken of from my personal experience as a fine variety. 

 It is of a good pine-like flavour, and comes in well after some 

 of the others have finished bearing, but we still want some late 

 sorts of this delicious fruit. If we could have a season as pro- 

 longed with good kinds as with the Fraisc dcs quatre saisojis it 

 would be a great result achieved. 



And now as to Mr. Keynes. His nursery is remarkable, not 

 so much for the general stock as for the manner in which a 

 few things are grown, especially Dahlias, Roses, and Vines. 

 For many a long year has John of Salisbury held his ground 

 as a grower of the first flower. Many have been the races that 

 he has run with Mr. Turner, of Slough ; varied their results, 

 but never, or rarely ever, has he ul lowed any other competitor 

 to snatch the laurels of victory from him— sometimes first 

 and at other times second, but descending no lower ; and now 

 that Mr. Turner has given up exhibiting he holds the first 

 place, probably doing more with new Dahlias on the exhibition 

 table and in the market than all other growers. It has been a 

 sore time for him this year ; notwithstanding that a fine river 

 runs at the bottom of his grounds, and of course an unlimited 

 supply of water, it has cost him a larger sum than people would 

 be inclined to beUeve to keep his plants going. At one time 

 they were completely covered with black fly, which all, however, 

 after giving a world of trouble, disappeared in one night. At 

 the period of my visit the plants looked well, and some pro- 

 mising seedlings were developing themselves ; but the Roses 

 were the chief attraction, although it was just between the two 



