Oclobei 22, 1868. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAOE GAKDENEE. 



295 



MERITS AND DEMERITS OF SOME BEDDING 

 PELARGONIUMS. 



1 OR some time I have been intending to record 

 in your Journal the result of two years' trial 

 of ordinary bedding Pelargoniums, but have 

 hitherto been prevented by not having been 

 able to iind sufficient time to devote to the 

 subject, and I am afraid the notes I now send 

 you must necessarily be imperfect. 



I shall, of course, be obliged to tread over 

 ground that has already been gone over by 

 many of your correspondents on the subject ; for as the 

 Pelargonium is certainly the most useful and easily culti- 

 vated of all plants for bedding purposes, it is, if I may use 

 the expression, everybody's plant, and every lover of a 

 flower or of a garden is interested in recording his own 

 experience with regard to it. 



Our last two seasons, one exceptionally wet and cold, 

 the other even stUl more remarkable for its extreme heat 

 and drought, have been crucial tests for the constitutional 

 vigour and general utility of the dift'erent kinds of Pelar- 

 goniums, and those that liave been good in both of the last 

 two seasons may, I think, be safely relied on, and recom- 

 mended for ordinary bedding purposes. I will not enter 

 into detail about lw(i7, but will only refer to it from time to 

 time in my notes on the Pelargonium in 18li«. 



I will begin by stating that, in order to give Pelargoniums 

 as nearly as possible the same conditions of trial, I planted 

 some diamond-shaped beds in a long border, which sur- 

 rounds my garden, with tliirty different kinds of plain- 

 leaved and zonal Pelargoniums, not variegated, each bed 

 being edged with variegated Ai-abis albida. Each bed held 

 sixteen plants, whicli were all, with but few exceptions, 

 struck and potted oif at the same time of the year. The 

 list of those I tried in this way is as follows : — 



NosEiiAYS. — Stella, Lord Palmerston, Cybister, Black 

 Dwarf, Minimum, Waltham Seedling, Rival Nosegay, 

 Duchess, Indian Yellow, Orange Nosegay, Amy Hogg, 

 Violet Hill. 



OnoiNARY ZoxAi.s. — Victor Emmanuel, Brookfield Pink, 

 Trentham Rose, Merrimac (Lemoine), Rose Rendatler, 

 Dr. Lindley, Glorious, Vivid, Eclipse, IMadame Vaucher, 

 White Tom Thumb. Madame Werle, Fram.ois Desbois, 

 Madame Rudersdorft', Gloire de France, Christine, Comte 

 de Morny. 



Besides these in the thirty beds, I also tried in some 

 larger mixod beds in the garden Picbecca, Princess Lich- 

 tenstein, Louisa. Excellent, Alexandra, Roi d'ltaUe, Pink 

 Stella, Mrs. W. Paul, Rose Perfection, Ratazzi, &c. 



I have not classed the varieties in any order, but will 

 endeavour to do so now. 



NOSEGAY PELARGONIUMS. 



1. M'dlthiim Sccillint/. — Dark rich crimson. This has been 

 decidedly the best of the dark-coloured Pelargoniums with 

 me this year, and it also stood the wet of last year well, 

 though not blooming so freely, as, in fact, no Pelargonium 

 did last year. One of its great merits is its short, stiff, 

 flower stalk, which tlirows the bloom just the right height 



No. S93.— Vol. XV., New Series, 



above the plant, and it is not dashed down with wind and 

 rain like some. 



2. Blade i>M»rtr/'.— Next in point of colour, but the flower 

 stalks are not still' enough, and the flowers are constantly 

 draggling on the ground. 



,-{. Sldlii.—Stnivery good. The flower stalk too long, and 

 habit too straggling. 



■1. nUal Mosiydy.—Yerj good, but not quite free flower- 

 ing enough. For those who prefer a pure green leaf this 

 is a desirable variety. 



5. Lord Pdhiierston.— 'Lighter crimson. There is no Pe- 

 largonium of this colour better, and it is on the whole the 

 most constant and free blooming of any, producing a greater 

 succession of flower buds than any other kind I know. Its 

 fault, again, is that the flower stem is not strong enough 

 for the mass of bloom it has open at once ; and here I 

 think Duchess of Sutherland, a slightly lighter shade of 

 colour, may surpass it. 



(i. il/tHiH(H«i.— Dwarf, of the same colour as the last ; 

 smaller heads of bloom, but very free ; would do to edge a 

 large bed of Lord Palmerston. 



7. Cijbistcr.— The best scarlet either in the Nosegay or 

 Zonal section. Rather too straggling a habit, and in this 

 respect Lady Constance Grosvenor will, very probably, be 

 superior, but it cannot surpass it for freeness or constancy 

 of bloom. 



8. Duchess— Hich cerise ; fine truss. Rather too strong 

 a grower, and not so free in wet weather. 



'J. Vioht Jlill.— Cerise. A beautiful, free-bloommg, dwarf 

 plant, and, in my opinion, the best of its colour, especially 

 in good rich soU. In poor laud it would be too dwarf. 



10. Ami/ Ho//(/.— Cerise, shaded with magenta. Very 

 free blooming, and an interesting variety of colour, but the 

 flower stalk is too long to stand wet weather. 



11. /;((/(((;( iVZtoit'.— Light cerise. One of the very best ; 

 a constant bloomer, and stands dry weather better than 

 any variety. 



12. Orange Nosegay.— 'Rich orange. Rather too free a 

 grower, and the heads of bloom not quite large enough, but 

 otherwise a very desii-able variety. 



This brings me to the end of those Nosegays I tried in 

 separate beds. jVmong the mixed sorts, of which I had 

 not quite enough, or wliich I have liitherto only had in 

 pots, are Rebecca, very good ; Lady Constance Grosvenor : 

 Duchess of Sutherland ; International, sent out by Mr. 

 C. Turner, very promising ; Mrs. Laing ; and Iving of the 

 Nosegays, also very good. We want, if it could be obtained, 

 a white Nosegay, and a light salmon-coloured one of the 

 Madame Rudersdortf shade ; and any person who could 

 raise a white Nosegay as good as Waltham Seedling or 

 Violet Hill would be a great benefactor to those who do- 

 light in bedding-out gardens. 



ORDINARY ZON.\L PELAEGONIUMS. 



On these my remarks wOl be much shorter, as I am 

 convinced that the Nosegays are destined in the end to 

 surpass all others for bedding purposes, thek gi-eater con- 

 stitutional vigour and hardiness enabling them to stand 

 the changes of the weather so much better ; for I find, 

 as a general rule, that those which grow and flower well 



No. 1017.— Vol. XL., Old Szbiib. 



