HARDY ORCHIDS 205 



Cutbush & Son, Highgate, who have displayed splendid specimens 

 in big pans at the Temple Show, in London, in May. 



In the South- Western Counties and in Ireland this species 

 grows and flowers beautifully, often rising two and a half feet high, 

 and carrying a pair of its large, white, carmine-flushed flowers on 

 each stem in the Summer. The lip is very much inflated, and 

 often an inch and a half long. Semi-shade and a moist position 

 suit this species, and, if a natural boggy position is not available, 

 a bed of peat and leaf mould, with rough sandstone nodules added, 

 will provide a good rooting medium, but it must be placed over a 

 moist, but not stagnant, base. Put the tubers six inches deep and 

 mulch with leaf mould in early Summer, as the tubers are 

 more liable to sufi^er from heat than from cold. C. spectabile 

 (C Reg'ince is probably the correct name), is the Mocassin Flower 

 of North America. 



Orchis foliosa. — No other hardy Orchid is such a success 

 under cultivation as this Madeiran species. It needs a cool, shady 

 position and plenty of moisture, and is found to do best in a com- 

 post of equal parts of fibrous loam and rough leaf mould. A bed 

 of this material about a foot deep should be prepared for the 

 reception of the tuberous roots, and October is certainly the best 

 time for planting ; deep planting will defeat the end in view, and 

 if the crown of the tuber is about an inch below the surface of the 

 soil after planting, that will be found quite deep enough. To 

 secure fine spikes two to three feet high, and with about eight 

 inches clothed with charming lilac-purple flowers in June and July, 

 it is advisable to lift and replant this Orchid at the end of each 

 second year, separating the newly-formed tubers and planting them 

 at once. Probably no one grows this beautiful Orchid so well as 

 Mr G. D. Davidson does, at Westwick, Norwich. 



