568 MENISPERMUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. MERTENSIA. 



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or a rock garden suit it ; it grows 

 readily among shrubs, and in the mixed 

 border. It is found in a few places in 

 England, and widely over Europe and 

 Asia. Seed or division. 



MENISPERMUM (Canadian Moon- 

 seed}. M. canadense is a hardy climber 

 of rapid growth, having slender, twin- 

 ing, large roundish leaves, in summer 

 bearing long feathery clusters of yel- 

 lowish flowers. It is useful for cover- 

 ing a wall quickly for summer effect or 

 for arbours, trellises, and pergolas, and 

 thrives in almost any soil in shade or 

 sun. 



MENTHA (Mint}. Marsh herbs or 

 rock plants of which the variegated 

 form of M. rotundifolia is common, and 

 useful for edgings or for clothing any 

 dry spots. Another is M. gibraltarica, 

 a variety of the native M. Pulegium, 

 used in summer for flat geometrical 

 beds on account of its compact growth. 

 In its growth it hugs the soil, 

 and throws out roots at every joint, 

 and all that is necessary is to keep 

 cutting off little plants and potting 

 them, or planting them in shallow 

 boxes, and in a very short time 

 they will in their turn bear cutting 

 up in like manner. A native of S. 

 Europe, it is somewhat tender, and is 

 generally killed in winter. 



M. REQUIENI. A minute creeping plant 

 with a strong odour of Peppermint, and 

 trails about among the tiniest plants in 

 the rock garden. I use it often for cover- 

 ing the ground beneath Tea Roses, and it 

 spreads and grows everywhere. It is the 

 smallest flowering plant grown in gardens, 

 and for chinks in paved pathways one of 

 the most charming. 



MENTZELIA. Lovely Californian 

 plants, mostly of biennial duration, 

 and requiring more care than most 

 half-hardy plants. The following is a 

 selection of the prettiest kinds : M. 

 (Bartonia) aurea I. A showy golden- 

 flowered hardy annual, i to 2 feet high. 

 Should be sown in April in groups or 

 patches where it is to remain in light 

 soil and warm situations, the plants 

 being thinned to about i foot apart. 

 As the seed is very small, care should 

 be taken not to bury it too deep. 

 When well grown it might be used as 

 a bold group, relieved here and there 

 by tall plants. Chili. M. Icevicaulis is 

 a good kind, with whitish stem, i to 

 3 feet high, both stems and leaves 

 covered with short and stout bristles, 

 the rich yellow flowers opening only in 

 bright sunshine. M. nuda is 2 to 4 feet 



high, with flowers resembling the last 

 M. oligosperma is a perennial, i to 3 

 feet high, with bright yellow flowers 

 3 inches across, opening in sunshine. 

 M. ornata is a biennial, 2 to 4 feet in 

 height, with creamy-white fragrant 

 flowers 2 1 to 4 inches across. It 

 belongs to the vespertine section, that 

 is, to those in which the flowers expand 

 towards evening. Syn. Bartonia. 



MENYANTHES ( Buckbean] . M. 

 trifoliata is a beautiful and fragrant 

 native of Britain, found in shallow 

 streams or pools, in very wet marshy 

 ground, and in bogs ; its strong creep- 

 ing, rooting stems often floating in 

 deeper water. The flowers are borne 

 on stout stalks, which vary in length 

 with the depth of the water, and are 

 beautifully fringed and suffused with 

 pink. M. trifoliata is easy to establish 

 by introducing pieces of stems, and 

 securing them till, by the emission of 

 roots, they have secured themselves. 

 In some moist soils it thrives in the 

 ordinary border. 



MENZIESIA. Dwarf shrubs re- 

 sembling Heaths, and, like them, ad- 

 mirably suited for large rock gardens 

 or wherever there is a moist peat soil. 

 They are all of neat growth, and bear 

 pretty flowers. 



M. CCERULEA. A tiny alpine shrub, 

 native of Scotch mountains and of nor- 

 thern European mountains. A pretty 

 bush for the rock garden or for choice beds 

 of dwarf plants, 4 to 6 inches high, with 

 pinkish-lilac flowers, flowering rather late 

 in summer and in autumn. Europe. 



M. EMPETRIFORMIS. A dwarf Heath- 

 like bush, seldom more than 6 inches high, 

 with clusters of rosy-purple bells in sum- 

 mer. Though not common in gardens, it 

 is one of the brightest gems for the choice 

 rock garden, and thrives in exposed posi- 

 tions in moist sandy peat soil, and should 

 be associated with the dwarfest rock 

 plants. N. America. 



MERENDERA. M. bulbocodium is 

 very much like Bulbocodium vernum, 

 but flowers in autumn, having large 

 handsome blooms of a pale pinkish- 

 lilac. Suitable for the rock garden 

 and the bulb garden till plentiful 

 .enough for borders. Increased by 

 separation of the new bulbs and by 

 seed. S. Europe. 



MERTENSIA. Borage-worts, beau- 

 tiful in form of foliage and stem, and 

 in the graceful way in which they rise 

 in panicles of blue. 



