58 VILLA GARDENING PART I 



Usually there are inequalities in the surface of dark green leaves 

 which cause jileasant flickers of light and shade to break forth, 

 bringing into iDrominence some hitherto overlooked feature. The 

 Rhododendron ponticum and its varieties are excellent evergreens 

 for planting in woods to form shelters and covers for game. The 

 severest frost never injures them, and rabbits, those pests in orna- 

 mental woods, never touch them. Do them justice in planting, 

 for whoever plants in badly -prepared ground does not deserve 

 success. 



The Hardy Azaleas are closely related to the Rhododendrons, 

 and will succeed under similar conditions. The common kinds make 

 fine masses in the open glades of the shrubbery or wild garden. The 

 common yellow-flowered kind (ponticum) in a mass is very beautiful, 

 and so sweet, filling the air in its neighbourhood with fragrance of 

 a most delightful kind. During the last twelve years or so a new 

 race of these hardy Azaleas has been introduced from Japan, 

 having larger flowers of a more perfect shape than the Ghent or 

 ponticum varieties. Though perfectly hardy, their early-flowering 

 liabit is against them in ovu- climate, as tlieir broad petals off"er so 

 much resistance to the wind, from winch, in our cold springs, they 

 are liable to suffer injury. But few things surpass them for forcing 

 for the conservatory, and they may be lifted from the border with 

 balls of fibry roots any time, and be planted out again after the 

 growth is completed. I append a short list of varieties of both 

 the Ghent and Japanese sections : — 



Ghent Varieties. — Admiral de Ruyter (scarlet), Altaclarense 

 (yellow), Augustissima (red and yellow). Beauty of Flanders 

 (sulphur and salmon), Carnea elegans (light pink), Decorata 

 (pink), Fulgidte (orange scarlet), Geant des Batailles (crimson), 

 Julius Caesar (scarlet and orange), Miniata floribunda (shaded 

 pink), Nancy AVaterer (yellow and salmon), Ne Plus Ultra 

 (orange scarlet), Narcissittora (primrose yellow), Nobilis (salmon 

 red), Princesse d'Orange (salmon pink). Rosea formosissima (blush 

 pink), Rubens (red and orange). Van Dyck (red). Van Houtte (red 

 and yellow), Splendens (orange scarlet). Versicolor (shaded pink). 



Japanese Varieties — Azalea mollis. — Alphonse Lavallee (orange 

 and scarlet), Baron Edward de Rothschild (red and yellow), 

 Charles rran§ois Luppis (rose and magenta), Comte de Gomer 

 (rose, orange spots), Comte de Quincey (yellow). Consul C^r^sole 

 (red, orange spots), Dr. Leon Vignes (white, shaded with yellow), 

 Ebenezer Pipe (salmon red), Isabella Van Houtte (yellow), M. 

 Jules Putzeys (red), M. Arthur de Warelles (salmon). Consul 

 P(^cher (rose). For forcing, the unnamed seedlings are very suit- 

 able, and much variation of colour is obtained. 



