Jaly 24, I860. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



57 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



BEDDING PELARGONIUMS. 



fm 



VALUABLE hints on the re- 

 quirements of the present day 

 have again heen thrown out 

 by Mr. Robson, and although 

 there is at the present time 

 an endless variety of bedding 

 Pelargoniums, he has very justly said that they do not 

 come up to the desired standard. Many of those raised by 

 our late friend Mr. Donald Beaton, although novel in 

 colour, do not possess that neat habit so neoessary in the 

 bedding Pelargonium. His great triumph in that class, I 

 consider, is Stella, although there are several others of 

 groat merit ; for instance, Cybister, Spread Eagle, and 

 Black Dwarf. The last, I think, will prove to be one of 

 the very best of his last batch of seedlings. The varieties 

 which are the most novel in colour are also, unfortunately, | 

 too strong in habit and much too rampant to be retained 

 as bedding plants. We possess, however, in the varieties 

 named beneath some magnificent shades of colour, and 

 having obtained these, as Sir. Robson very justly remarks, 

 the habit can easily be secured. 



In Alexandra we have a beautiful reddish claret ; in | 

 Glowworm, a rich shade of crimson : whilst Black Dwarf 

 presents a tine mass of dark velvety crimson. The trusses 

 of this variety are very large and compact, producing a 

 very dazzling effect when placed in juxtaposition with other 

 suitable colours. Amy Hogg is also of a very pretty shade 

 of colour, and is a most useful variety for pot-culture and 

 conservatory decoration, presenting to the eye immense 

 trusses of rose-coloured flowers of fine form and substance, j 

 Amy Hogg is certainly a gem of the first water under 

 glass, where it may be said to reign supreme ; but in the 

 open ground it will not bear the variations of temperature. 

 There the magnificent trusses of bloom become smaller 

 and less in number as the plant gams vigour, and the 

 foliage increases both in size and quantity, until at last 

 the fair Amy, if she were permitted to stray from her regal 

 palace, would disdain to own her more unfortunate sister 

 who has to bear the inclemency of the weather in the 

 open ground. In the variety called Indian Yellow we have 

 another rich and valuable shade, although the yellow is at 

 present invisible. It is, nevertheless, an invaluable acqui- 

 sition for conservatory decoration ; but when planted out in 

 the open ground, like the preceding it grows too freely, 

 and the proportion of foliage is too great for the quantity of 

 bloom ; its habit is also bad, but when the roots are con- 

 lined in pots it forms a fine object when trained against 

 a pillar or wall in a conservatory. Orange Noseguv is 

 another variety valuable on account of its colour, but. like 

 the foregoing, too rampant in its habit. I have obtained 

 from tliis some varieties of fine habit by crossing it with 

 No. 278.— Vol. XL, New Series. 



P. bybridum and a variety which I raised about three or 

 four years ago, and which I had the pleasure of naming 

 Robert Fish. These plants arc very dwarf in habit, and 

 produce very large trusses of bloom on straight upright 

 footstalks well above the foliage, which is deep green, 

 smooth, and glossy. In colour the flowers, too, are several 

 shades brighter than Orange Nosegay, and the trusses are 

 larger and more compact than those of that kind. Certain 

 of these seedlings will. I think, satisfy some of Mr. Rob- 

 son's wants, and stand the ordeal of criticism. 



I think that I have also anticipated Mr. Robson's wishes 

 by producing various shades of magenta by crossing some 

 of my best seedling Nosegays with the Zonale section. 

 One seedling which I have this season is remarkably good ; 

 it is in colour a beautiful cerise-shaded magenta, with a 

 truss the very counterpart of Amy Hogg, from which it 

 was raised. The individual flowers are also of fine shape 

 and substance, and the habit of the plant is all that could 

 be desired ; it has also neat, light green foliage, and by 

 its flowering in a very young state, I have little doubt but 

 that it will be a very profuse bloomer. This, with hundreds 

 of other seedlings, is now showing bloom in great profusion, 

 although the seeds were only sown in the second week in 

 January of the present year. They have all had their 

 tops taken off and struck, and it is the plants thus pro- 

 pagated that are principally flowering first. Many of the 

 most promising have been beheaded the second time, and 

 are now nice plants showing bloom-buds freely. I have 

 also this season what I shall call a liliputian race of bed- 

 ding Pelargoniums ; these are all very close and compact 

 in habit, and bear large trusses of finely-shaped flowers. 

 They belong to another section obtained by crossing the 

 double varieties with the Zonale kinds, and promise to he 

 great acquisitions. The foliage is of great substance, and 

 the flowers exhibit a great advance in size and form. 



I now come to the Tricolor and Bronze-foliaged section. 

 Here the double varieties sent out last year have done me 

 good service ; for plants so remarkable for the beauty of 

 their foliage I have never seen. I have also little doubt 

 that many of them will produce double flowers as well. 

 These have not yet flowered. By crossing the Tricolor 

 section with the pollen of the double varieties more sub- 

 stance has been thrown into the foliage, and the markings 

 are, consequently, more definite. Besides, the foliage being 

 so much thicker the plants will be enabled to withstand the 

 frequent variations of temperature to which we are so often 

 subjected ; there is also a greater proportion of green in the 

 centre of the leaf, which sets it off to much greater advan- 

 tage, and enables it to stand the hot rays of the sun with- 

 out, injury. 



The varieties produced by the double kinds, fertilised 

 with the pollen taken from tho Bronze section, are also 

 remarkable for the beauty of their foliage, which is very 

 large hi tho case of some of the plants. These, for distant 

 effect, will be very fine ; I can conceive nothing more 

 beautiful than large plants of these dotted about here and 

 there in suitable positions amongst subtropical plants. 

 The magnificent tints of colour exhibited by their foliage 

 would produce a charming effect along with other plants 

 No. 980.— Vol. XXXVI., Old Series. 



