464 CLIANTHUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



COLCHICUM 



C. TOMENTOSA. Closely allied to C. 

 alnifolia, and from the same region. The 

 flowers, in large terminal and axillary 

 panicles, are white and fragrant, and at 

 their best in September. 



CLIANTHUS (Glory Pea) .Brilliant 

 shrubs seldom seen out of doors in the 

 London district or home counties, but 

 one kind is quite free as a wall plant 

 in Irish and west country gardens, 

 and should be more frequently planted 

 in seashore and warm places. It is 

 C. puniceus, a native of New Zealand, 

 and as handsome a shrub when in 

 bloom as one could wish to see, its 

 splendid crimson blooms borne in large 

 bunches during summer. Cuttings. 



Clintonia. See DOWINGIA. 

 Cnicus benedictus. See GARDENIA. 



COB2EA ( Cups and Saucers] . In 

 favourable localities in the southern 

 and western counties C. scandens, a 

 well-known greenhouse plant, thrives 

 against an outside wall, and will cover 

 a considerable space of trellis-work 

 during summer. It should be planted 

 in light rich soil, and if watered 

 liberally during the growing season 

 will soon cover a large space and 

 flower freely. With some protection 

 it will survive an ordinary winter. 



CODONOPSIS. The members of 

 this small genus of the Bellflower order 

 are remarkable rather for a quaint, 

 distinctive beauty of their own, not 

 half of which is disclosed externally. 

 Of drooping, bell-shaped outline, the 

 flowers contain their greater beauty 

 within the corolla, and which, more- 

 over, is not all seen at a glance. At 

 the present time greater interest 

 attaches to the group than was for- 

 merly the case, by reason of several 

 new additions from China, some of 

 these surpassing in their quaint mark- 

 ings .the earlier-known members of the 

 race. A possible weak point, one not 

 favouring their general cultivation 

 perhaps, is that of lacking complete 

 hardiness, and in northern districts 

 winter protection had better be afforded 

 the roots. In other respects they are 

 not difficult of cultivation, preferring 

 always well-drained sandy loams and 

 a warm exposure. So far as position 

 is concerned, it were better, I think, 

 because of the greater beauty of the 

 flowers internally, that the plants be 

 raised on moderately high shelving 

 rocks, where the root-run is deep and 

 good, and where complete drainage, 

 and possibly, also, a certain immunity 



from the attacks of slugs which have 

 a fondness for the young shoots of the 

 plant would, to some extent, be 

 assured. Such a position, too, would 

 exactly suit the trailing habit of some. 

 The plants may be raised from seeds 

 and from cuttings. The following are 

 the more important : 



C. BULLEYI. A trailing species found 

 by Mr Forrest when plant-hunting in 

 China. The soft, lavender-blue flowers 

 are drooping, distinctly contracted about 

 the middle, and openly bell-shaped at the 

 mouth. A pretty free-flowering novelty. 



C. CLEMATIDEA. A climbing or twining 

 species of 2 or 3 feet high ; flowers creamy- 

 white spotted with purple and tinged with 

 blue. 



C. MELEAGRIS. This remarkable Chinese 

 species has for a year or two past been 

 one of the more conspicuous hardy plant 

 novelties in- Messrs Bees' exhibits at the 

 Holland House Show. As there shown, 

 the well-flowered examples were nearly a 

 foot high, the roundly, bell-shaped, droop- 

 ing flowers of rare beauty. The ground 

 colour is a very pale porcelain-blue, the 

 heavy markings, so striking a feature of 

 the species, rich chocolate to purple, the 

 base or centre of the flowers internally 

 green. 



C. OVATA. The flowers, two or more 

 on a stem, are drooping, bell-shaped, pale 

 greyish-blue in colour, with purple reticu- 

 lations and orange and white base inter- 

 nally. The greater beauty is within the 

 nodding bells. The plant is 18 inches or 

 2 feet high, with small, ovate, soft, greyish 

 and somewhat downy leaves and flowers 

 from June onwards. W. Himalayas. 

 E. H. J. 



COLCHICUM (Meadow Saffron}. 

 Hardy bulbs, some handsome in 

 autumn. The individual flowers do 

 not, as a rule, last long, but, as they 

 come in succession, there is a long 

 season of bloom. The flowers are 

 often destroyed through being grown 

 in bare beds of soil, where the splashing 

 of the soil in heavy rains impairs their 

 beauty. In the rock garden among 

 dwarf plants Colchicums thrive, and 

 make a pretty show in autumn, when 

 rock gardens are often flowerless. 

 They look better in grassy places or 

 in the wild garden than in beds or 

 borders. Their naked flowers want 

 the relief and grace of grass and foliage, 

 There are about thirty kinds, though 

 only about half of them are in cultiva- 

 tion, and among these the differences 

 are often slight. 



C. AUTUMNALE, commonly called the 

 autumn Crocus. The flowers appear 

 before the leaves, rosy-purple, in clusters 



