750 



PINGUICULA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



garden forms, and one with variegated leaves. 

 Japan. 



P. formosa. — A beautiful and tall evergreen 

 shrub, only hardy in the west and south oi 

 England, suffering injury at times even in the 

 Thames Valley. It bears dark green leathery 

 leaves, finely toothed at the edges, and droop- 

 ing clusters of white bells, 6 in. in length, 

 expanding in April and May. Nepaul. 



The increase of all these shrubs is slow, but 

 not difficult. Cuttings from forced plants root 

 most readily, those made from ripened shoots 



Flowers of Pieris. 



in August taking many months to start in a 

 greenhouse ; the same applies to layers, so that 

 these ways are seldom used, except to 

 increase fine seedlings. Seeds ripen freely, 

 and should be treated like those of Azaleas and 

 Rhododendrons. 



Other species of less importance from 

 a garden point of view are P. mariana, 

 N. America ; F. nitida, S. United States ; 

 F. ovaUfolia, Nepaul ; and F. phillyeafolia, 

 Florida. 



PINGUICULA {Butterwort).—i:\v&-,Q 

 interesting dwarf bog-plants are pretty in 

 the bog-garden or moist spots in the rock- 

 garden. There are about half-a-dozen 

 kinds, all resembling each other and, 

 except P. vallisncricr/olia, natives. P. 

 orandiflora{\n's\\ Butterwort) is the finest. 

 Its flowers are large and blue-purple, the 

 leaves broad, spreading flat upon the 

 rock or soil. It prefers the shady side of 

 a moist mossy rock, where the face is 

 steep and the narrow chinks are filled 

 with rich loam. If planted in earth 



alone, where the drainage is imperfect, it 

 usually perishes in winter. P. alpina 

 dififers from all other kinds in having 

 white flowers, marked more or less with 

 lemon-yellow on the lip, but sometimes 

 tinted with pale pink. It roots firmly, by 

 means of strong woody fibres, and prefers 

 peaty soil mingled with shale or rough 

 gravel, and shady humid positions, such 

 as are afforded by a high rock-garden with 

 a north aspect, or by the shelter of a north 

 wall. P. vulgaris grows freely in any 

 sunny position in rich moist peat or peaty- 

 loam. A small form, with leaves like 

 those of/", alpina^ both in form and colour^ 

 is found in alpine bogs in the north of Eng- 

 land. P. lusiianica, found on the west 

 coast of Scotland and in Ireland, is smaller 

 than any of the preceding, and has pale 

 yellow flowers. It grows in peaty bogs 

 exposed to the sun. P. vallisjieriafolia 

 from the mountains of Spain dififers from 

 others in its clustered habit of growth. 

 Its leaves are pale yellowish-green, and 

 sometimes almost transparent, becoming 

 4 or 5 in. long, and occasionally even 7 in. 

 towards the end of the season. The 

 flowers are large, soft lilac colour, with 

 conspicuous white or pale centres. Drip- 

 ping fissures and ledges of calcareous 

 rocks (frequently in tufa) suit the plant 

 perfectly, but it requires very free drain- 

 age, continuous moisture, and a humid 

 atmosphere. 



PINUS {Pine). -- Noble evergreen, 

 cone-bearing trees of northern and tem- 

 perate regions, of highest beauty and use, 

 some of them admirably suited for the 

 climate of the British Islands and giving 

 finest evergreen shelter. When the 

 Mexican and Californian Pines were first 

 introduced and much talked of, little care 

 was taken in discriminating between the 

 hardy and tender kinds, so that the Pines 

 of Mexico and Southern California got as 

 good a chance in our pleasure grounds as 

 the most precious of the hardy ones ; but 

 if we want to make the best use of the 

 Pines we must plant only the best of the 

 hardy ones and those likely to endure 

 and be useful and beautiful in our climate. 

 The Pines of subtropical countries which 

 live in Devonshire and the west country, 

 and around the coast of Scotland and 

 Ireland in sheltered places, are no proof 

 whatever of their value for the country 

 generally, or even of their surviving hard 

 winters in the places where they thrive 

 when young. Even in many of the places 

 where a show is made of these tender 

 conifers there is nothing so handsome as 

 a group of old Scotch or a grove of the 

 Corsican Pine. Nurserymen and others 



