THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



COLCHICUM. 



505 



gardens, especially near the sea, it grows 



5 ft. high and is handsome for the several 

 weeks it is in bloom. The other species is 

 less common, and is a free-growing shrub, 



6 ft. high or more, bearing large loose 

 clusters of flowers, the corollas white, 

 the calyces a deep brownish-red, blooming 

 in September. 



CLETHRA {Sweet Pepper Bush).— 

 Shrubs and 

 small trees of 

 the Heath 

 Order, the 

 hardy species 

 natives of 

 North Ameri- 

 ca. The Alder- 

 leaved Clethra 

 (C. ahii folia) 

 in the wet 

 copses of Vir- 

 ginia reaches 

 a height of 10 

 ft. or more. 

 With us it 

 grows from 3 to 5 ft., makes a dense 

 bush, bearing in summer white sweet- 

 scented flowers in feathery spikes. C. 

 acuminata has more pointed leaves, and 

 it also has spikes of white scented flowers ; 

 it is quite a small tree in the woods of 

 the Alleghanies. Both are valuable 

 shrubs for moist peaty places. 



C. arborea. — Is the handsome Lily-of- 

 the- Valley tree. It bears panicles of white, 

 bell-shaped flowers in the summer, at 

 which time it is quite a feature at Tresco. 

 It thrives out-of-doors in the south, and 

 may be worth trying in the warmer parts 

 of S. Ireland, but usually in our country 

 is a shrub for the greenhouse. Madeira. 

 CLIANTHUS {Glory Z'^.z).— Brilliant 

 shrubs seldom seen out-of-doors in the 

 London district or home counties, but one 



Clethra alnifilia. 



kind is quite free as a wall plant in Irish 

 and west-country gardens, and should be 

 more frequently planted in sea-shore and 

 warm places. It is C.puniceus a native 

 of New Zealand, and as handsome a 

 shrub when in bloom as one could wish 

 to see, its splendid crimson blooms 

 borne in large bunches during summer. 

 Cuttings. 



Clintonia. See Dowingia. 



Cnicus benedictus. See Carbenia. 



COB^A {dps and Saucers). — In 

 favourable localities in the southern and 

 western counties C. jm^c/dV/j, a well-known 

 greenhouse plant, thrives against an 

 outside wall, and will cover a con- 

 siderable space of trellis-work during 

 summer. It should be planted in light 

 rich soil, and if watered liberally during 

 the growing season will soon cover a large 

 space and flower freely. With some 

 protection it will survive an ordinary 

 winter. 



CODONOPSIS.— Interesting and some- 

 times pretty plants of the Bellflower 

 Order, easy to cultivate in light and warm 

 soils, C. ovata being a fine bushy plant. 

 They are suited for warm borders. Some 

 are annuals, but most are hardy pe- 

 rennial flowers from the mountains of 



COLCHICUM {Meado7u Saffro?i).— 

 Hardy bulbs, some handsome in autumn. 

 The individual flowers do not, as a rule, 

 last long, but, as they come in succession, 



Clianthus puniceus. 



Colchicum in 



there is a long season of bloom. The 

 flowers are often destroyed through 



