212 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t March 18, 1875. 



But perhaps a dividing row of lower growth may be pre- 

 ferred, and this may be provided by Larkspurs. A mixed row 

 of the dwarf varieties has an effect all its own, and, if not of 

 long duration, it is worth space for its attractive beanty during 

 the month of July. A row of the branching varieties is taller 

 and less dense, but will continue in bloom much longer than 

 the former — indeed, if the seed spikes are clipped off, which is 

 nice employment for a lady, the plants will grow and flower 

 throughout the season. Early sowing and deep good ground 

 are essentials of success, while late sowing and poor boU will 

 lead to certain disappointment. Sow the seed in drills pre- 

 cisely as Onion seed is sown, and expect a reward. 



Now for a few bed and border annuals. It must be eon- 

 ceded that if masses of bloom are required from June to 

 October very few annuals will give them ; but, what is some- 

 times forgotten, neither will all the bedding plants, as they 

 are not established until July. But even for tilling beds, a few 

 annuals can be found which possess lasting qualities and a 

 decision of colour which bedding plants cannot surpass. 



Do you ask for a scarlet annual suitable for a bed which in 

 colour is equal to a Geranium and nearly or quite as lasting, 

 and we name Nasturtium Tom Thumb Scarlet ; and one of 

 which the flowers are more brilliant still by contrast with 

 the bluish-green fohage, is King of Tom Thumbs. The seed 

 should be sown to 2 to 3 inches deep about the middle or 

 towards the end of March. Snails or slugs will not eat Nas- 

 turtiums, which is a great advantage. Severe spring frost 

 will sometimes injure them, but if sown deeply the young 

 plants will be safe by not appearing above ground until the 

 weather is genial. 



The scarlet being duly provided, what shall we have for a 

 bed of rich blue? For this Convolvulus minor is named, 

 selecting for the variety C. tricolor eplendens. That is sur- 

 passingly rich in colour when had true, and makes a glorious 

 bed, which will continue in beanty until destroyed by frost — 

 that is, having deep soil and soakings — not sprinklings — of 

 water if needed. It is beautiful for cut bloom, and the flowers 

 last well in water. This is also a plant which slags will not 

 eat or a few degrees of frost injure. Sow the seed fully an 

 inch deep, and thin-out the plants by degrees to a foot apart. 

 As a long list of names commonly perplexes and bewilders more 

 than benefits those requiring only a few distinct flowers, the 

 aim is to be concise in selection ; but we may name one other 

 blue annual for bedding as adapted to wet localities, and that 

 is the lovely Nemophila insignis. Where the summer rainfall 

 is heavy there is no better bedding plant than this well-known 

 annual. It is a rainy-season plant par excellence, and the 

 deluge of 1872 in the wettest localities in Britain proved its 

 worth. In hot seasons and dry localities it is short-lived, but 

 in rainy districts it will grow and bloom for five or six months 

 — a fact perhaps not generally known. 



Passing on to a pink bedding annual, Saponaria calabrica 

 has no rival. This plant possesses every quality of a good 

 bedding plant — viz., dense habit, distinct colour, and continu- 

 ous and free-flowering properties. With good soil-preparation 

 and reasonable cultural attention this simple flower makes a 

 perfect and charming bed. 



We must now look for a white bed, which is not so easy to 

 find amongst the hardy annuals. White-flowering annuals are 

 to be found in plenty, but as a rule they are not lasting. The 

 white variety of the foregoing and the old Sweet Alyssum, 

 A. maritimum, are amongst the most suitable, and with high 

 culture will last nearly all through the season. Clarkia and 

 Candytuft may be, perhaps, more telling, bat they are also 

 more transient. 



Of yellow bedding annuals there is no lack. The best are 

 the Yellow Tom Thumb Nasturtium and Sanvitalia procum- 

 bens ; there is a double variety of Sanvitalia, but the seed 

 is much less certain to germinate freely than the single form, 

 and for a bed the latter is recommended. A yellow annual 

 with bolder flowers, also lasting if thinned and proper atten- 

 tion given, is the old Eschscholtzia. 



The above are the principal colours which are required for 

 bedding, but a crimson may be required. Linum grandiflorum 

 makes a glowing bed, and is more lasting when the seed is 

 Bown in the bed at the end of March than when it is sown, as 

 is frequently the case, on a prepared bed, and the seedlings are 

 transplanted. To that is added the old Malope grandiflora. 

 Seed of this sown in rich soil in March, the plants duly thinned 

 out and eventually pegged down, culminates in a mass of 

 extreme richness. 



We have now found annuals suitable for bedding comprising 



white, scarlet, blue, pink, yellow, and crimson. They are all 

 hardy, or may be treated as such, and are of free and easy 

 growth. As to their lasting qualities this depends on the 

 cultivator carrying out the hints of guidance above narrated. 

 Annuals for mixed borders are set aside by the exigencies of 

 space. Half-hardy annuals, as Stocks, Asters, &c., can all be 

 grown admirably by the " glassless amateur," especially if 

 seed is not sown until something more is heard from — A 



SUKBEY GaKDENEE. 



THE HOSE GARDEN IN WINTER. 



" There's never anything about Koses now," I sighed this 

 morning as with eager fingers I cut open the pages of our 

 Journal. " I wonder why no one says a word about them week 

 after week?" " Well, dear, you should write something your- 

 self," said the lady who usually stands expectant at my elbow 

 as the welcome pages are hastily run through in search of 

 articles of interest, and inquires, " Anything in the Journal 

 to-day?" The lady's "anything" has reference chiefly to 

 Ro=es and fowls. 



I remember that when first I began to ride my two hobby- 

 horses I had great difficulty in inducing a certain person who 



shall be nameless to mount behind me. But now Well, 



I'm not quite sure that I haven't to ride behind myself! On 

 one of the hobbies, at all events, my proper place appears to 

 be the seat nearest the tail. How times do change ! But how 

 happy am I even in that position compared with those the 

 comfort of whose ride is being continually spoiled by feminine 

 attempts to drag them from the saddle. However, being 

 mounted and incited (from behind on this occasion) to " go 

 'long," let us see where our " Bosinante " will carry us. 



First of all let us congratulate ourselves and all growers of 

 Roses on the glorious weather we are having at present. For 

 nearly fourteen days frost and snow, and hail and sleet, casters 

 and north-easters, with occasionally the pure breath of the 

 northern king, have been doing their best to keep our too 

 bumptious pets in their proper places. There is a proper 

 time for everything, as the wise man remarks ; and certainly 

 with Eoses there's a time to grow and a time to refrain from 

 growing. Having had their early ardour quenched, let us 

 hope that this season they will chooEe the latter better and 

 more appropriate part for the next six weeks to come. Our 

 prospects here are good ; for though the too warm February 

 sun in the early part of the month coaxed out a few little 

 tender leaves on the points of the shoots, the latter half of 

 the month has effectually compensated for this mistaken in- 

 dulgence. Oh, north-east wind ! I love jou in February and 

 March, but I dread you in May. 



Certainly the rosery affords one great pleasure even in winter. 

 How nice it is to walk round and " take stock " — to cotmt 

 over this row of Marie Baumanu, to reckon up that line of 

 Madame Rothschild ! How often in imagination one clothes 

 the leafless plants with glorious summer foliage and still more 

 glorious flowers ! How tenderly one bends over that puny re- 

 presentative of a new, and possibly a famous, name in time to 

 come ! Here is the batch of dwarfs on Manetti transplanted 

 last November put-in in capital time, just before the heavy 

 rain set in. How comfortable they look, carefully staked and 

 liberally mulched. Observe, too, that the wood, which shri- 

 velled slightly at first, is now fresh and plump to the very tips. 

 Walk down the rows, how well they have moved ! There is 

 not a dead or sickly one among them. Now we come to the 

 batch of dwarfs on seedling Briar stocks, strangers from Ox- 

 ford ; and well indeed they look, everyone apparently a man 

 (or Rose) of might, ready to do, but I hope not to die. 



Here are the standards : these have not been moved this 

 season, and consequently look a little leafy at the end of the 

 shoots, but nothing to hurt. Boreas has put that all to rights for 

 ns. Dr. Andry, Charles Lefebvre, Abel Grand, Alfred Colomb, 

 La France — oh ! as I read your names what visions rise before 

 me ! Bat now we will have a look at the stocks budded last 

 summer. 



The Briars, I grieve to say, did not take well, and display 

 several blanks in the rows. The weather was very scorching 

 when the buds were put in, and the ground dry. Seedling 

 Briars better than I expected, but still not quite even. The 

 buds remain quite dormant as yet. Dwarfs on Manetti a good 

 take, hardly a bud failed. But— and there is a " but" — look 

 down the rows, how many of the buJs have begun already to 

 shoo ! Well, one cannot have everything. It is a good stock, 

 easy to propagate, easy to bud, easy to cultivate when budded, 



