388 



CENTAUREA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CENTRANTHUS. 



picked off, as they detract from the beauty 

 of the plant. 



C. CYANUS (Blue Cornflower). A beau- 

 tiful native annual of easy culture, often 

 sowing itself. The young plants stand 

 our hardest winters, and flower better 

 grown thus than if sown in spring. It is 

 best sown in September, either where it is 

 to flower, or in beds to be transplanted. 

 Self-sown plants, too, may be trans- 

 planted, or allowed to remain where they 

 come up, as they are often the finest 

 plants. The many garden varieties range 

 through white, rose, sky-blue, striped, to 

 dark purple, the delicate tints of which 

 are most attractive. 



C. DEALBATA. A hardy perennial, with 

 graceful and somewhat silvery leaves, 15 

 to 1 8 inches high, flowering in summer ; 

 rose - coloured. Borders. Divisions. 

 Caucasus. 



Mountain Knapweed. 



C. GYMNOCARPA. A half-shrubby plant 

 from the south of Europe, nearly 2 feet 

 high, with hard, branching, bushy stems, 

 and elegantly cut leaves, covered with 

 short whitish-satiny down. Useful as it 

 is for edging or bedding, it is when grown 

 in fine single specimens that its beauty is 

 most seen. 



C. MACROCEPHALA (Great Golden Knap- 

 weed). A strong plant from 4 to 5 feet 

 high, with a great golden head of bloom. 

 In the back part of a herbaceous border, 

 or where herbaceous plants must compete 

 with +*"* roots of trees and shrubs, this 

 robust plant deserves a place. Armenia. 



C. MONTANA (Mountain Knapweed). 

 A handsome border plant, i to 2| feet 

 high, with slightly cottony leaves, and 

 flowers resembling those of the Cornflower. 



There is a white and a red variety, all 

 thriving in borders, margins of shrub- 

 beries, or the wild garden in any soil. 

 Division. 



C. MOSCHATA (Sweet Sultan). A fra- 

 grant annual, of which there are two 

 shades delicate purple and creamy white, 

 the first giving the finest flowers ; but 

 both are valuable. Aphides are very 

 partial to the young seedlings, and unless 

 the pests are quickly cleared off the plants 

 soon dwindle away. The first essential 

 is a calcareous soil, and any soil deficient 

 in lime should have lime rubble worked 

 into it. The best time to sow is about the 

 middle of April, in an open and sunny 

 place, sowing the seed where the plants 

 are to remain, as they do not move well. 

 Valuable, too, for pot culture, and sown, 

 in autumn may be had quite early. Syn. 

 Amberboa moschata. 



C. RAGUSINA. A showy silvery-leaved 

 plant, tender, but of rapid growth out of 

 doors in summer, and valued for the sum- 

 mer garden. Cuttings should not be cut 

 away, but pulled off with a " heel," so as 

 to have a firm base ; small firm shoots 

 should be preferred ; in taking them the 

 knife should be used very little, and each 

 cutting put singly into a small 2^-inch pot 

 filled with a mixture of loam and leaf 

 mould. A cold frame from which frost 

 can be excluded is their best winter quar- 

 ters ; the leaves should be kept dry, as 

 they are rather liable to damp during the 

 short days. They also winter well in an 

 airy vinery or greenhouse. 



C. SUAVEOLENS (Yellow-sweet Sultan). 

 A pretty citron -yellow hardy annual 

 and favourite border flower, thriving best 

 in light dry soil. Sow in beds in April, 

 raising one batch in frames and sowing 

 another in the open air in light rich earth 

 where it is to remain. 



CENTAURIDIUM. A showy, half- 

 hardy annual from Texas, C. Drum- 

 mondi being from i\ to 3 feet high, 

 and flowering from July to September. 

 It should be sown in a frame on slight 

 heat in April, and planted out in May. 

 It has large citron-yellow flowers, much 

 resembling those of Centaurea. 



CENTRANTHUS. C. macrosiphon, 

 a hardy Spanish annual of the Val- 

 erian order, with pretty rose-coloured 

 flowers, is useful for the rock garden 

 or flower border. It may be sown in 

 September and pricked off into pots 

 for winter for transplanting in spring, 

 or again in the open ground in March 

 and April, the seedlings being thinned 

 out about i foot apart. There are 

 several varieties white, red, and two- 

 coloured, and a dwarf form. 



