TROP.'EOLUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PROP^OLUM. 



899 



6 to 10 ft. high, with greenish-red flowers. 

 It will cover pillars, walls, chains, bowers, and 

 revels in sunshine, succeeding well on the 

 south wall of a greenhouse or in any warm 

 aspect. It does best in light and warm loams 

 or calcareous soils. Division or seed. Chili. 

 T. polyphyllum. —One of the most valuable 

 hardy plants ever introduced. While its 

 foliage may form a dense carpet on a bank, its 

 wreaths of yellow flowers usually throw them- 

 selves into irregular windings and groupings. 

 Its leaves are glaucous and cut into fine leaflets. 

 In a warm rock-garden the stems creep about, 

 snake-like, through the neighbouring vegeta- 

 tion, sometimes extending 3 or 4 ft. The 

 plant is tuberous-rooted, and quite hardy in 

 dry situations, but should not be disturbed. 

 It springs up early, and dies down at the end 

 of summer. Chilian Cordilleras. 



T. Smithi. — A beautiful plant from a great 

 elevation in the Andes of north-western South 

 America. It is a twiner of free, robust haljit, 

 bearing smooth glossy leaves deeply cut into 

 five broad lobes. The flowers are large and 

 funnel-shaped, ending in a long green-tipped 

 spur ; the calyx is rich ruby red with finely 

 fringed and lobed petals of orange veined with 

 bright red. A very handsome plant flowering 

 in Jure and July, which may be raised from 

 seed and treated as a hardy annual during 

 summer. 



T. speciosum [Flame Nasturtitini). — A splen- 

 did creeper, with long and elegant annual 

 shoots, gracefully clothed with leaves from the 

 axils of which spring such brilliant vermilion 

 flowers, that a long shoot is startlingly effective, 

 especially if seen against verdure of any kind. 

 It has been long introduced from S. America, 

 but spite of its beauty and hardiness, is little 

 known, especially in the south of England. 

 No plant is more worthy of a position where 

 its shoots may fall over or climb up the face of 

 some high rock or bank in the rock-garden ; 

 while it is suited for an open spot in the hardy 

 fernery, or for any other position where its 

 peculiar beauty may be well seen. It makes 

 its way through evergreen shrubs, and enjoys 

 a deep, rich, and rather moist soil, in cool 

 places, or near the sea, where no pains should 

 be spared to establish it. 



A correspondent writes to The Garden : This 

 beautiful climber dislikes hot sun and a dry 

 atmosphere, and this accounts for many feilures 

 in growing it. Several years ago a friend who 

 knew nothing of the plant received some roots 

 from the fine old specimens at Lismore Castle. 

 By my advice some were planted against a 

 west wall, in front of which grew some good- 

 sized Nut-bushes and Apple trees, so that in 

 the hot summer weather the sun could only 

 reach the plants for a couple of hours daily. 

 The remaining roots were planted against a 

 north wall with scarcely any sun, and at the 

 west end of the dwelling-house, where the full 

 force of the afternoon sun was felt. In all 

 these cases the soil was alike. The plants 

 behind the Nut-bushes and Apple trees grew 

 remarkably well and bloomed as freely as 



could be expected in the first year of planting. 

 On the north wall the growth was good, but 

 the flowers were not so numerous ; but in the 

 sunny position, although the roots made a 

 little growth, this withered away as soon as the 

 sun made itself felt. There could be no better 

 proof that success with the Flame-flower is a 

 matter of position, and that, even in the 

 southern counties, there are probably few 

 gardens where its requirements cannot be met. 

 When a position is selected, the soil should 

 lie made light, deep, and free by leaf-mould, 



Tropaeolum speciosum in Scotland. 



peat, fibry loam, and sand, according to the 

 nature of the ground. Mulch in summer with 

 an inch or two of leaf-mould or manure to 

 prevent excessive evaporation ; and whatever 

 manure is used, it must be well decayed. The 

 young plants should be planted in spring, the 

 roots being inserted 6 or S in. in the soil and 

 well watered. The Flame Nasturtium is best 

 where the shoots may ramble among the spray 

 of shrubs. Ferns, or trailers, but as it must be 

 placed on a cleared spot, it is well to put a few 

 branchlets over the roots for the young shoots 

 to crawl over. It is much better to let them 

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