LAVATERA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LEONTOPODIUM. 533 



position, in light soil. The white- 

 flowered variety is as sweet as the blue, 

 and flowers at the same time. Though 

 a bush, the Lavender has been for 

 centuries associated with our old 

 garden flowers. For low hedges, as 

 dividing lines in or around ground 

 devoted to nursery beds of hardy 

 flowers, and many other purposes, it 

 is admirable, and for dry banks and 

 warm slopes. The forms of Lavender 

 in cultivation in our islands are varie- 

 ties of the wild kinds. The dwarf 

 forms are very pretty and useful for 

 edgings. One is sometimes called the 

 Dutch Lavender. Lavenders want 

 little care beyond occasional replant- 

 ing after several years' growth. 



LAVATERA ( Tree Mallow] .For 

 the most part vigorous and some- 

 what coarse annuals, biennials, and 

 perennials, few of great value in the 

 garden. The most useful is L. trimes- 

 tris, a beautiful S. European annual, 

 from 2 to 3 feet high, bearing in summer 

 large pale rose or white blossoms, 

 thriving in rich and light soil. It 

 may be sown in the open border in 

 autumn or early spring. Among the 

 taller kinds the best is L. arbor ea, 

 which has the look of a small tree, in 

 the southern counties sometimes 10 

 feet high. The stem branches into a 

 broad, compact, roundish, and very 

 leafy head. In rich well-drained beds 

 it would be a worthy companion for 

 the Ricinus and the Cannas. It is 

 most at home on dry soils, but during 

 the summer months it does on all kinds 

 of soil. A biennial, it should be raised 

 from seed annually. L. cashmeriana, 

 unguiculata, thuringiaca, sylvestris, 

 and others of a similar character are 

 not worth growing except in the wild 

 garden, or naturalised. 



LEDUM (Labrador Tea}. Dwarf 

 hardy shrubs, of which the best of the 

 few species grown in gardens is L. lati- 

 folium, which represents the genus 

 well. Its usual height is under 2 feet, 

 but sometimes it reaches 3 feet ; it is 

 dense and compact, and has small 

 leaves, of a rusty brown beneath. 

 During the latter part of May it bears 

 clusters of white flowers. It is a very 

 old garden plant, and was brought 

 from N. America more than a century 

 ago. The Canadian form of it (cana- 

 dsnse) is found in some gardens, but 

 does not differ materially from the 

 type. A form called globosum is finer, 

 as the flower-clusters are larger and 

 rnora globular. L. palustre is com- 



moner than L. latifolium, but being 

 smaller in every part is not so good ; 

 it is dwarf and spreading, and its 

 flowers are white. N. Europe and 

 America. 



LEIOPHYLLUM (Sand Myrtle). L. 

 buxifolium is a neat, pretty, and tiny 

 shrub, forming compact bushes 4 to 

 6 inches high, with evergreen leaves 

 resembling those of the Box. The 

 small white flowers are borne in dense 

 clusters in early summer, the unopened 

 buds being of a delicate pink hue, and 

 it is suited for grouping with diminu- 

 tive shrubs, such as the Partridge 

 Berry, Daphne Cneorum, the small 

 Andromedas. A native of sandy " pine 

 barrens " in New Jersey. 



LEITNERIA FLORIDANA (Cork- 

 wood) . A small tree, native of southern 

 United States. A swamp-plant, and 

 said to thrive as far north as Boston, 

 United States. 



LEONTOPODIUM ( Edelweiss) . A 

 pretty and hoary-leaved alpine plant, 

 L. alpinum, having small yellow 

 flowers surrounded by star-like heads 



Leontopo.lium alpinum (Edelweiss). 



of leaves clothed with a dense white 

 woolly substance. Some people are 

 so pleased at seeing this plant in culti- 

 vation that they send letters to the 

 Times to announce the fact ; but its 

 culture is not difficult on sandy soils, 

 or even as a border plant, and it grows, 

 too, luxuriantly in moist rich soils. 

 To keep a good stock of flowering 



