SANTOLINA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SAPONARIA. 



but its fleshy stems must not be kept long 

 out of the ground. Poppy family. Nova 

 Scotia, Canada, and westwards and south- 

 wards on the mountains. There are two 

 varieties of this little plant — iiuiior, with 



S-incjiun-xrii canidensis 



large flowers, and plena, in which there 

 are extra petals. 



SANTOLINA {Lavender Cotton). — 

 Dwarf half-shrubby plants, of neat habit 

 and pretty hoary foliage. One of the most 

 distinct and useful of them is S . incana, 

 a small grey shrub, with close habit and 

 narrow leaves covered with dense white 

 down. The pale greenish-yellow flowers 

 are small, not showy, but the plant is 

 useful from its form and silvery hue, for 

 groups and edgings, growing readily in 

 ordinary soil on the level border, or on 

 slopes of the rock-garden. It is con- 

 sidered a variety of the better-known 

 .S". Chainacyparissus (Lavender Cotton), 

 which is pretty for banks and rock-gar- 

 dens, forming silvery bushes 2 ft. high, 

 but it is not suited for association with 

 very dwarf alpine plants. Other species 

 of Santolina suited for rock-gardens are 

 6". pecti7iata and .S". viruiis, which form 

 bushes something like the Lavender 

 Cotton. S. alpina is of more alpine 

 habit, forming dense tufts close to the 

 ground, from these arising slender stems 

 bearing yellow button-like flowers. It 

 grows in any soil, and may be used in 

 the less important parts of the rock- 

 garden. Division. Cuttings of the 

 shrubby species strike readily in spring or 

 autumn. 



SANVITALIA.— ^. procumbens is a 

 hardy annual from Mexico, with trailing 

 branches and bright yellow flowers. In the 

 single-flowered kind the blossoms have a 

 dark purple centre, but in the double {S. 

 procumbens fl.-pL), which is by far the 



showier, they are a bright yellow. S. 

 procunibens flowers from July till late in 

 September, and owing to its dwarf com- 

 pact growth it is useful for masses in 

 beds or for the front rows of borders, or 

 in suspended baskets, as 

 the slender branches 

 droop gracefully over. 

 It may be sown in any 

 ordinary garden soil — in 

 autumn for spring flow- 

 ering, or in March and 

 April for summer flower- 

 s' APON ARIA (^-^.r^- 

 7c'ort). — Perennial herbs 

 and alpine plants or an- 

 nuals of the pink family. 

 S. csespitosa is a neat 

 little alpine perennial, 

 good in the higher re- 

 gions of the Central and 

 Eastern Pyrenees, flow- 

 ering in August, but in 

 the lowlands its beauti- 

 ful rose-coloured blossoms appear to- 

 wards the end of June. It forms ro- 

 settes of linear leaves, thick, glabrous ; 

 the flowers, forming a thick cluster, are 

 supported by short stout stems. This 

 graceful little plant is valuable for the 

 rock-garden. A sandy soil suits it best, 

 and it endures our winters. A little plant 

 known as .V. Boissieri is a cross between 

 this kind and S. ocyjnoides, intermediate 

 in character, making spreading tufts 

 covered with bright pink flowers. 



S. calabrica is a pretty prostrate hardy 

 annual, 6 to 9 in. high, its slender stems 

 covered with small pink blossoms all the 

 summer. There is a white variety. It is 

 much used for beds and edgings. Seeds 

 may be sown in the open border in April, 

 or earlier in heat if bloom is required early 

 in the season, in rich sandy loam. 



S. lutea is a pretty little rock-plant 

 from Savoy and Piedmont, 3 to 6 in. high, 

 with narrow leaves like those of the Alpine 

 Catchfly, and a neat tufted habit. The 

 pale yellow flowers come as close woolly 

 heads in early summer. 



S, ocymoides is a beautiful trailing- 

 rock-plant, with prostrate stems, its rosy 

 flowers completely covering its leaves and 

 branches in early summer. It is most 

 valuable for clothing arid parts of the 

 rock-garden, where a drooping plant is 

 desired, as the shoots fall over the face of 

 the rocks and become masses of rosy 

 bloom. It is also excellent for old walls, 

 and the seed should be sown in mossy 

 chinks where a little soil has gathered. 

 It thrives in ordinary soil, and is often a 



