122 Subtropical Gardening. 



The Imperial Dahlia has very large and graceful, much 

 divided leaves, and flowers of a pure and beautiful French 

 white, thrown up in a great cone-like mass, and resem- 

 bling such lilies as L. tigrinum Fortimei, which, instead 

 of merely developing a head of flowers, shoot up a great 

 candelabrum laden with them. The flowers of this dahlia 

 do not, like most of the flowers of composite plants, open 

 so wide as to stare at you with the brazen look of a sun- 

 flower, but, on the contrary, hang pendulous and half 

 open, with some of the modesty of the white lily. There 

 is little chance of this species producing its flowers in the 

 open air in this country, but it will, notwithstanding, be 

 of service both in the flower-garden and conservatory. 



Planted in rich soil, and placed in a warm, sheltered 

 position in the open air at the end of May, it grows well 

 with us in summer, and, in consequence of its large and 

 graceful leaves, is an ornament worthy of being used as a 

 "fine-foliaged" or "subtropical " plant. Just at the time 

 that it begins to gather together its flowering energies the 

 best of our season fails, and the plant must soon fail too, 

 if not immediately taken up and placed in a well-lighted 

 and warm greenhouse. If plunged out in a large pot or 

 tub during the summer, it may be taken up without injury, 

 and will in all probability flower under glass in the autumn, 

 and prove a magnificent ornament. We should have very 

 small hopes of its flowering well if planted out so that its 

 great roots must be mutilated when being taken up, and 

 therefore the safe way will be to pot it in a very large pot, 

 and plunge that in the ground. The roots would pro- 

 bably go through the pot and enter the ground, but the 

 main mass of them could be taken up without disturbance, 



