630 PINGUICULA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PINUS. 



ters of white bells, 6 inches in length, 

 expanding in April and May. Nepaul. 



P. JAPONICA. A beautiful evergreen 

 shrub with long drooping clusters of white 

 flowers, giving almost a lace-like effect 

 to freely flowered plants. It is hardy, 

 and grows much larger than floribunda, 

 but is slow and poor on cold or loamy 

 soils, and only luxuriant in peaty or leaf 

 beds that are well drained and free from 

 lime. It will grow in shade and in full 

 sun, but a moist half-shaded place is what 

 it likes best. The flowers open from 

 January to March, according to season, 

 and last a long time, whether cut or in 



Flowers of Pieris. 



the open air. There are some dwarf 

 garden forms, and one with variegated 

 leaves. Japan. 



The increase of all these shrubs is slow, 

 but not difficult. Cuttings from forced 

 plants root most readily, those made from 

 ripened shoots in August taking many 

 months to start in a greenhouse ; the 

 same applies to layers, so that these ways 

 are seldom used, except to increase fine 

 seedlings. Seeds ripen freely, and should 

 be treated like those of Azaleas and 

 Rhododendrons. 



PINGUICULA (Butterworf). These 

 interesting dwarf bog-plants are pretty 

 in the bog garden or moist spots in 

 the rock garden. There are about 

 half-a-dozen kinds, all resembling each 

 other and, except P. vallisnerics folia, 

 natives. P. grandiflora (Irish Butter- 

 wort) is the finest. Its flowers are 



large and blue - purple, the leaves 

 broad, spreading fiat upon the rock 

 or soil. It prefers the shady side of 

 a moist mossy rock, where the face is 

 steep and the narrow chinks are filled 

 with rich loam. If planted in earth 

 alone, where the drainage is imperfect, 

 it usually perishes in winter. P. alpina 

 differs from all other kinds in having 

 white flowers, marked more or less 

 with lemon - yellow on the lip, but 

 sometimes tinted with pale pink. It 

 roots firmly, by means of strong woody 

 fibres, and prefers peaty soil mingled 

 with shale or rough gravel, and shady 

 humid positions, such as are afforded 

 by a high rock garden with a north 

 aspect, or by the shelter of a north 

 wall. P. vulgaris grows freely in any 

 sunny position in rich moist peat or 

 peaty loam. A small form, with leaves 

 like those of P. alpina, both in form 

 and colour, is found in alpine bogs in 

 the north of England. P. htsitanica, 

 found on the west coast of Scotland 

 and in Ireland, is smaller than any 

 of the preceding, and has pale yellow 

 flowers. It grows in peaty bogs ex- 

 posed to the sun. P. vallisnericefolia 

 from the mountains of Spain differs 

 from others in its clustered habit of 

 growth. Its leaves are pale yellowish- 

 green, and sometimes almost trans- 

 parent, becoming 4 or 5 inches long, 

 and occasionally even 7 inches towards 

 the end of the season. The flowers 

 are large, soft lilac colour, with con- 

 spicuous white or pale centres. 



PINUS (Pine) . Noble evergreen, 

 cone -bearing trees of northern and 

 temperate regions, of highest beauty 

 and use, some of them admirably 

 suited for the climate of the British 

 Islands and giving finest evergreen 

 shelter. When the Mexican and 

 Californian Pines were first introduced 

 and much talked of, little care was 

 taken in discriminating between the 

 hardy and tender kinds, so that the 

 Pines of Mexico and S. California 

 got as good a chance in our pleasure 

 grounds as the most precious of 

 the hardy ones ; but if we want 

 to make the best use of the Pines 

 we must plant only the best of the 

 hardy ones and those likely to endure 

 and be useful and beautiful in our 

 climate. Nurserymen seldom take the 

 trouble to see these trees in their 

 native beauty on their native moun- 

 tains, and, assuming that the nursery 

 or infant state of the tree is the 

 natural form, make ceaseless efforts 



