BLETlA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



BORONIA. 



367 



autumn. The flowers are of a greenish- 

 white colour, and are not so showy as 

 are the berries. The Tasmanian Apple- 

 berry is a charming shrub for a low 

 wall, or it may be grown in pots 

 plunged outside and trained on old 

 Bamboo stems, so as to be taken 

 indoors when the fruits are coloured. 

 It is readily increased either by cuttings 

 or layers, or by seeds sown as soon 

 as the berries shrivel on the stems. 

 B. cymosa is also in cultivation. 

 Australia. 



Blechnum. See LOMARIA. 



BLETIA. B. hyacintha is a beau- 

 tiful Chinese Orchid, with ribbed 

 leaves, and slender flower-stems i foot 

 or more high, bearing about half a 

 dozen showy flowers of a deep rosy 

 pink. It is hardy, and thrives in 

 sheltered and shaded situations in peat 

 borders in winter. In cold districts 

 it would be well to cover the roots. It 

 is very interesting for the bog garden 

 or a bed of hardy Orchids. 



Blitum. See CHENOPODIUM. 



BLUMENBACHIA. B. coronata is 

 an interesting annual flower, showy, 

 the foliage elegant, and the growth 

 dwarf, the structure of the flowers 

 singular. Its culture is that of a hardy 

 annual, but it is better sown in spring 

 than in autumn. S. America. 



BOCCONIA (Plume Poppy}. B. 

 cordata is a handsome and vigorous 

 perennial of the Poppy order, growing 

 in erect tufts 5 to over 8 feet high, with 

 numerous flowers in very large panicles. 

 It is best in the shrubbery in ordinary 

 garden soil, in bold groups. Seed. 



Boltonia. See ASTER. 



BOMAREA. Curious and handsome 

 plants of the Amaryllis order allied to 

 Alstrcemeria, requiring greenhouse tem- 

 perature so far as now known. Mr 

 Archer Hind, of Newton Abbot, has 

 B. edulis out of doors, and it has 

 flowered well after surviving a tem- 

 perature of 25 below freezing. Best 

 in free sandy or peaty soil. 



BONGARDIA. B. rauwolfi is a 

 plant of the Barberry order, though 

 remarkably unlike one, as it has a 

 Cyclamen-like root-stem, from the 

 apex of which spring the flower stems 

 6 inches high, bearing roundish golden 

 blossoms from f to i inch across, which 

 droop gracefully from slender stalks. 

 Though now rare, this beautiful plant 

 was among our earliest garden plants. 

 Found from the Greek Archipelago to 



Afghanistan, and hardy on dry soils. 

 Seed. Syn. Leontice. 



The Plume Poppy (Bacccnia cordata). 



BORAGO (Borage). B. orientalis is 

 a vigorous perennial, bearing pale blue 

 flowers early in spring, having very 

 large leaves through the summer. 

 Easily naturalised in any rough place, 

 but not worth a place in the garden 

 proper, being coarse and taking up 

 much space. The common Borage is 

 very pretty, naturalised in dry places 

 or banks, where it might often be 

 welcome for use as well as beauty. 

 There is a white variety. B. la xi flora 

 is . pretty, with pendent blue flowers ; 

 it grows very freely on sandy soils. 



Borkhausia. See CREPIS. 



BORONIA. These are usually 

 treated as greenhouse plants, but 

 succeed in the open in the south- 

 west, according to Mr Fitzherbert. 

 At Tregothnan, at the end of March, 

 two bushes of B. megastigma, planted 

 in front of a wall, the larger of which 

 was about '3 feet in height, were 



