72 



JODENAL OF HOBTIOULTDEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ July 23, 1874. 



is a pretty new species, and one of the smallest. It is a native 

 of central Europe. The leaves are produced in a tuft, from 

 wliicli rise the flower-stems, each bearing a few erect flowers ; 

 the corolla is light blue, tubular, narrowing to the top, and 

 has small teeth that incline slightly inwards, and have on the 

 inner surface numerous fine hairs, closing the mouth and evi- 

 dently preventing the free ingress of insects. It is free-flower- 

 ing and quite distinct, and should be added to every collection. 

 Echinopsis Eyriesii, which is hardy in the south of England, 

 has a fine flower about 7 inches long and about 4 in diameter. 



In the Orchid house in flower are two plants of Oneidium 

 Lanceanum, one of which has an extremely fine spite. The 

 flowers are richly coloured with a lip nearly white. Two of 

 the flowers at the top are united by their ovaries, and the 

 union continues along the centre of the back of two of the 

 sepals for about three-quarters of their length. There is 

 otherwise no deviation from the structure. Ccelogyne epeciosa 

 is interesting from its curious brown lip, and is nearly always 

 in flower. Cypripedium Stonei is very attractive. Broughtonia 

 nanguiuea is of a crimson colour rarely found among Orchids. 

 It lasts in bloom a considerable time. Some cultivators have 

 found it difficult to grow ; a high temperature with plenty of 

 moisture is what it seems to require. Sobralia maorantha is 

 flowering on stems about 18 inches high. Oneidium Went- 

 worthianum has a fine spike more than 7 feet long ; 0. Schiller- 

 ianum has a long and slender tortuous spike with numerous 

 small flowers. Odontoglossum Lindleyanum is scarcely worth 

 cultivation. The bulbs are much like those of 0. Alexandrse, 

 for which it has been imported. 0. Schlieperianum is also 

 in flower. 



In the Temperate house Passiflora cinnabarina has been in 

 flower for a considerable time. It only requires an increase of 

 breadth in the petals to be a valuable climber, and might 

 repay the attention of hybridisers. It is of free growth, with 

 large dark green leaves, producing the red flowers freely. If 

 to the other qualifications could be added a well-formed flower 

 of the same colour it would be a decided acquisition for the 

 greenhouse. It is a native of Australia, and is figured in the 

 " Botanical Magazine " of 1871. SoUya linearifolia is a deli- 

 cate climber, with wiry stems, small leaves, and deep bine 

 campanulate flowers. Desfontainea spinosa is a Peruvian 

 shrub much resembling a Holly, and when in flower is very 

 beautiful. The flowers are tubular, bright scarlet, with a 

 yellow limb, and are freely produced. It is nearly hardy, and 

 will stand out of doors in favourable situations. Fuchsia 

 fulgeus is very handsome planted out and in pots. F. corym- 

 biBora ii equally handsome, though quite different in style. 



By the riverside two forms of (Jolutea arborescens, the 

 Bladder- Senna, are very ornamental and attractive. The one 

 has light-coloured flowers and pods, and the other dark. They 

 are flowering freely, and have a large number of the curious 

 bladder-like pods. Though a common shrub it is worth a con- 

 spicuous position ; it is one in which few would fail to be in- 

 terested. It may be increased by means of cuttings or seeds ; 

 the latter are freely produced. The leaves are recommended 

 as answering all the purposes of Senna. " It is a native of 

 the middle and south of Europe in hedges and bushy places, 

 on Mount Vesuvius, even in the ascent to the crater, where 

 hardly any other vegetable is to be found."' 



On the wall of the Herbaceous ground the interesting Eubus 

 biflorus is bearing fruit, for which it might be cultivated. The 

 Btrong white stems are very ornamental. It requires the same 

 cutting-away of the old canes as the Easpberry. It has been 

 distributed as E. leucodermis, a name it well deserves, but 

 which it cannot hold, as a North American plant has prior 

 claim. Among the Lilies, the white-flowered L. longiflorum 

 and L. longiflorum var. eximium are very handsome and are 

 deliciously scented. The latter is a form with large flowers 

 and is the better of the two. Gaillardia Amblyodon is a new 

 and very desirable species from Texas. The flower-heads are 

 2 inches in diameter, with ray florets of a rich cinnabar red. 

 It was figured in the "Botanical Magazine " for February of 

 this year. 



In the Succulent house several Fonrcroyas are throwing-up 

 flower-stems — a large plant of F. gigantea, two plants of 

 P. Selloa, and F. Commelyni, which has not yet been figured. 



Cebcis Siliqcastbum. — Your correspondent, Mr. A. M. C. 

 Jougkindt Coninck, on page 59, refers to three grand specimens 

 of this curious yet beautiful plant, all of which he states are 

 growing against walls in the Botanic Gardens at Leyden. 



There is a specimen of this "plant," or, as I should call it, 

 " tree," in this ancient borough (Guildford) growing quite in 

 the open, which I have lately measured, and find that its 

 height is 27 feet C inches, and the spread of the boughs 3G feet. 

 The main stem is forked just above the ground, and each 

 limb at 3 feet from the ground is 3 feet 6 inches in circum- 

 ference. Frost does not appear to affect this tree. — X. 



FLOWER GARDENS IN WINTER AND SPRING. 



No. 3. 



To Leucojum vernum, the Spring Snowflake, is assigned 

 in this paper the prominent position of which its great, and, 

 I regret to say, not-very-well-known merit, renders it worthy. 

 It puts forth its abundant, pretty, and very sweet-scented 

 white fiowers in March, each one drooping singly from stems 

 that are not more than C inches high. Like most other plants 

 of this class, it thrives best in a light sandy soil that is well 

 drained, as does Puschkinia scilloides, which is another dwarf 

 and exceedingly lovely plant, but very little known, although 

 it was introduced into this country from southern Eussia up- 

 wards of fifty years ago. Its flowers are of a delicate bluish 

 white colour, and it is nearly uniform in height with the 

 Snowflake. The Itahan Wiudflower, Anemone apennina, is 

 another very valuable plant. It is perfectly hardy and most 

 accommodating in its habit, thriving alike in shade or sun- 

 shine, its large flowers expanding with the earliest Snowdrops. 

 Although each flower is borne singly on its stem, yet the dense- 

 growing plants yield them in such rich profusion as to form 

 perfect sheets of the deepest blue. Once planted it quickly 

 becomes established, requiring no further care or special atten- 

 tion at our hands, and it is certainly most worthy of a pro- 

 minent place amongst those plants which we regard as worthy 

 of being permanent occupants of our gardens. 



Turning now to what have come to be recognised as the 

 legitimate bedding plants of spring, a perfect mine of floral 

 wealth lays open before us. Most of the species included 

 under this heading have several varieties, and as the number 

 of these is constantly increasing, the work of selection assumes 

 a proportionately difficult aspect to the beginner. Blossom is 

 decidedly in the majority here, the number of plants that are 

 valuable for their foliage alone being comparatively limited. 

 The foliage of the Golden Pyrethrum assumes a deeper richer 

 shade of yellow than it does in summer ; it is certainly the 

 most effective plant of its colour for an edging or front row in 

 beds or ribbon borders. Golden Thyme, though mt so bright, 

 makes a neat and pretty edging. But it is in Arabis Jucida 

 variegata that we have the most charming combination of 

 neatness and elegance ; it is just one of those plants which 

 one cannot have too much of. Conceive the effect of an edging 

 of it C inches wide, with a similar band of the lovely little 

 rich blue Siberian S cilia behind it; follow this with the 

 sprightly pink Saponaria calabrica, then let there be a row of 

 the soft grey Santolina Chamieoyparissus, composed of plants 

 about half-grown — not with growth blended together, but with 

 the rounded forms just touching each other ; and what combi- 

 nation of any plants in any season could equal or at all ap- 

 proach this ? I have never had enough of the peerless lucida 

 in my hands to plant it in this way, but I am fully aware how 

 exceedingly fine it would be. The more robust Arabis albida 

 variegata, with apaleyellow variegation, so pale that it is often 

 termed white, is a very neat useful plant, far better known 

 than lucida. Cuttings taken in October strike well in cold 

 frames during winter. The handsome foliage of the golden- 

 variegated Vinca major, borne in pairs npon the long, trailing, 

 flexible growth, as well as the deeper green and rich yellow of 

 the rigid erect-growing Euonymus ovatus aureus, are equally 

 desirable for groups or beds of bolder type. Euonymus 

 radicans variegatus makes a good silvery edging, but it re- 

 quires some little time to become thoroughly compact. It 

 may be propagated in spring in heat if cuttings are taken 

 from pot plants growing under glass, or in summer under bell- 

 glasses on open borders. Ajuga reptans, the common Creeping 

 Bugle, is much valued for its dark-coloured foliage, which is 

 very effective for geometrical designs or for edgings. Those 

 who are unacquainted with this plant must not expect to find 

 the refinement or richness of a Coleus in it. I need hardly 

 allude to this, however, for it must be patent to all that the 

 texture of the foliage of plants which are so hardy as to with- 

 stand the severity of our hardest winters must of necessity be 

 proportionately stout, and with a harsh and rugged surface. 

 Of other flne-foliaged plants, Antennaria tomentosa is inter- 



