A JULY BOUQUET. 



125 



pyromkum, a Lipwort, with tall spikes of flowers, of the deepest and richest blue. It flowers for a 

 considerable part of the summer, and being quite hardy in any dry soil, it is singular this fine plant 

 should be so rarely seen. The old Anuria cephalotes, though generally in flower early m June, 

 has this season prolonged its bloom into the present month. Most of our readers are acquainted 

 with this beautiful plant, which may be briefly described as a gigantic Thrift; it is quite hardy, and 

 easily raised from seed, but unfortunately this is seldom ripened, at least with us ; we have examined 

 many heads in succession, without finding a single perfect seed. It is doubtless to this that the 

 scarcity of the plant is owing, for it cannot be increased by division ; cuttings we have never tried. 

 The gay little Ouphea strigillosa may fairly be said to have taken its place among our hardiest 

 perennials, for here it is covered with its scarlet and yellow flowers, and our specimen is by no means 

 an exceptional one, as we learn that it has proved equally hardy in soils of a much moister character. 

 And what is even more surprising, several self-sown seedlings are springing up around our plant ! 

 The Bouvardia friphylla has frequently been exposed with slight protection, but after the past severe 

 and peculiar winter, we were certainly quite unprepared to see a plant, which had been by accident 

 left out, springing up vigorously at the beginning of June; it is now about to unfold its brilliant 

 tubular' scarlet blossoms. We are afraid the result might not have been the same in any but light 

 sandy soil, but it is something to know that it will endure severe frost, in even the driest locality, 

 unprotected. The Braeocephaltm argwneme, one of the finest of the Dragon' s-heads, is very 

 attractive from its large bright blue flowers; this hardy genus is well deserving the attention 

 of the amateurs of herbaceous plants, and we hope next month to notice them more fully. 

 This trailing bush, with light blue flowers, should have been a Draeocephalum, which genus it some- 

 what resembles, but unfortunately for the reputation of the Seedsman, it would turn out to he a 

 Hyssop (Eyssopus officinalis). We dare say many of our readers have been the victims of similar 

 mistakes though, we believe, they are more the result of ignorance than of intentional deception. 



In an early number of the present volume, we expressed our fears that the very pretty Azorian 

 Forget-me-not (Myosotis azorica) could not endure full exposure to our winters; we are, therefore, 

 both gratified and surprised to find that it proves quite hardy, and it is by no means the least attrac- 

 tive of our July flowers. Belonging to the same Order we have the rare and interesting Mertensia 

 daiurka, a dwarf plant, with drooping panicles of bright blue tubular blossoms. It is the Pulmo- 

 naria davurica of some authors, and the Lithospermtm davuricmn of others. The double white 

 Campion we have noticed elsewhere, it will be found very useful as a cut-flower. The Flax family 

 presents us, in addition to the species in flower last month, with the Linmn maritimum, a pretty 

 dwarf plant, with erect leaves applied closely to the stems, and terminal clusters of orange-yellow 

 flowers. And the curious and showy Portuguese Toad-flax (Linaria triornithophora) is very con- 

 spicuous for its large violet flowers, with a yellow-veined mouth and long spur. It blossoms freely 

 throughout the early summer months, and does best in dry soils, where it is quite hardy, but may 

 be readily increased by seeds. This species and the dwarf L. alpina, which blooms in May, should 

 be grown by every body. 



The Pentstemon cawpanulalum and its variety, atro-purpureum, are both pretty hardy plants, 

 now in bloom. The latter is generally reputed tender, but with us is quite hardy ; its roots at least 

 have always survived frost. The P. larbata alba (better known as Chelone, though it is in fact a true 

 Tmtstmnm) is rarely seen, but it is a much better white, and, altogether, a more desirable plant 

 than the so-called P. gentianoides alba, or any other which has yet come under our observation. 

 The P. digitalis flowering this month, is however almost equal to it, and perhaps rather hardier ; 

 both are highly ornamental plants of easy attainment. The Salvias contribute some of the most 

 ornamental of all our July flowers. There is the magnificent patens, with its large blue blossoms ; 

 the well-known ftdgens, with long spikes of a bright scarlet; the -S'. Canadensis; the S.lusitanica, 



