686 MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



may spread themselves out, carrying a long 

 succession of turquoise-blue flowers, it is 

 a plant that we may expect to see year 

 after year. It is a coveted morsel of slugs, 

 and is best on an open part of the rock- 

 garden. 



M. oblongifolia is another dwarf 

 species. The stems are 6 to 9 in. high, 

 and they bear handsome clustered heads 

 of brilliant blue flowers, and deep green 

 fleshy leaves. 



M. sibirica, a plant of much beauty 

 of colour and grace of habit, grows and 

 flowers for a long period in ordinary 

 soil. The small bell-shaped flowers 

 are borne in loose drooping clusters, 

 gracefully terminating in arching stems. 

 The colour varies from a delicate pale 

 purple-blue to a rosy-pink in the young 

 flowers. A hardy perennial growing best 

 in a peaty bog. Division. 



M. virginica i^Virginiati Cowslip). — 

 The handsomest, bearing in early spring 

 drooping clusters of lovely purple-blue 



blossoms on stems i to \\ ft. high, 

 the leaves large and of bluish-grey. In 

 many gardens it never makes the slightest 

 progress ; but a sheltered, moist, peaty 

 nook is the best place for it. The finest 

 specimens are grown in moist, sandy peat 

 or rich free soil, with shelter near. It is a 

 charming old garden plant, and one which 

 unfortunately has never become common ; 

 in the southern country it is grown too 

 dry. 



MESEMBRYANTHEMUM(/^/:^il/«n-- 

 gold). — Dwarf or trailing succulent plants, 

 of which there are several grown in the open 

 air, though none are hardy. The Common 

 Ice Plant (M. crystallinum) is grown for 



garnishing in most large gardens and is 

 also used as a pot-plant ; but it is most 

 effective when planted out in the rock- 

 garden or on an old wall. In a sunny 

 situation, however, it will grow in any 

 good soil. It will grow from 3 to 4 ft. in a 

 season, and on warm days has a refresh- 

 ing look. Its flowers, unimportant com- 

 pared with the stems and foliage, are 

 bespangled with crystal. Seeds should be 

 sown in heat in March, and the seedlings 

 planted out 6 to 8 in. apart. There are 

 two varieties — one red and the other 

 white. M. cordifolium is a perennial, the 

 variegated form of which is used in carpet- 

 gardening. M. Pomeridianum is a strong 

 species with broad foliage and large 

 purple and rose flowers. It is not so com- 

 mon as the last, but it deserves a place on a 

 south border. M. /; icolor is the most showy 

 of the annual Mesembryanthemums. It is 

 a neat plant with cylindrical foliage, grow- 

 ing in neat tufts 4 to 6 in. in height ; its 

 abundant flowers, of purple rose or white, 

 afford good contrast. It should be sown 

 in sandy soil in the open garden about the 

 end of April ; it dislikes transplantation, 

 and lasts longer in the ground than in a 

 pot. Those who possess a collection of 

 Ice Plants in pots should turn the whole 

 out on banks or the rock-garden and 

 leave them there, taking cuttings off" them 

 yearly. Out-of-doors they attain beauty 

 never seen in pots. Their foliage is singu- 

 lar and diversified, and the brilliant lustre 

 of their flowers — white, orange, rose, 

 pink, crimson — is unequalled. They are 

 children of the sun, and a rock-garden de- 

 voted to a collection in an open sunny 

 spot is worth seeing. A soil consisting 

 of little besides sand and gravel suits 

 them perfectly. 



MESPILUS {Medlar).— M. germanica 

 is a beautiful small tree or bush with large 

 and handsome flowers, and a wide-spread- 

 ing head and is beautiful in early summer 

 when studded with great white flowers 

 among its large pale green leaves. The 

 only other species in gardens is M. grandi- 

 flora, also called M. Smithi. It is a per- 

 fect lawn tree, as its great rounded head 

 droops gracefully. It flowers about the 

 middle of May, and is then beautiful, with 

 its numerous white flowers. In some 

 nurseries (especially on the Continent) it 

 is called Cratregus lobata. 



MEUM {Spignel). — M. athainanticum 

 is a graceful fine-leaved perennial, dwarf 

 in habit, 6 to 12 in. high, free in ordinary 

 soils, and hardy. In dry seasons it might 

 wither too soon for association with 

 autumn-flowering plants, but it is pretty 

 for the rock-garden, borders, or for mixed 



