662 



PUNIC A. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PYRETHRUM. 



blue flowers. P. arvernense, with deep 

 blue flowers, is of refined habit, and 

 well suited to the rock-garden. There 

 is a white-flowered form of it. Chiefly 

 natives of Europe. P. dahurica is 

 sometimes called Mertensia dahurica. 



P. AZUREA. Flower stems about 8 

 inches high, flowers a full, perfect blue in 

 bunchy heads, what botanists call a "twin 

 capitale " raceme. Some flowers in the 

 head stand up and some slightly droop. 

 Leaves dark green, no spots, broad, lance- 

 shaped, 8 to 10 inches long, stand up in a 

 prosperous-looking tuft after the flowers 

 are over. It is very near the rare native 

 P. angustifolia, but a good bit better as a 

 garden plant. Flowers in May, and a 

 really good plant. 



PUNICA (Pomegranate). Like the 

 Myrtle, the Pomegranate, P. granatum, 

 is grown as a wall shrub, the walls of 

 some old houses being covered with it, 

 and it makes a very beautiful covering 

 with its dense mass of tender green 

 foliage. The type has single flowers of 

 a brilliant scarlet, but the best is the 

 double-flowered sort (flore-pleno] , which 

 is also scarlet, and is that most com- 

 monly seen. There is also a yellow- 

 flowered sort and a white or almost 

 white kind (albescens) with single and 

 double forms, but these are rare. The 

 flowers are borne freely on the young 

 slender shoots of the previous year's 

 growth, and in pruning these must be 

 left untouched. Increase by cuttings 

 of dormant wood, rooted under glass 

 with some heat. 



Puschkinia scilloides. 



PUSCHKINIA (Striped Squill}. P. 

 scilloides is one of the most beautiful of 

 spring bulbous flowers. In its growth 

 it is like some of the Scillas, but its 

 flowers are delicate blue, each petal 

 being marked through the centre with 



a darker colour. The flower spikes are 

 4 or 5 inches high. There are two 

 forms of the plant the ordinary one 

 and P. compacta. Compacta is so 

 called from its denser and more num- 

 erous flowers, and is therefore the hand- 

 somer of the two. The soil should be 

 light and friable, and about i foot in 

 depth ; and the bulbs planted about 4 

 inches deep. P. libanotica is a taller 

 and more vigorous plant of easy 

 culture and hardy. Shady situations 

 in sub-alpine districts of Asia Minor. 



PYRETHRUM. Vigorous perennial 

 or rock - plants, by far the most 

 important of which is the Caucasian 

 P. roseum, which has yielded the in- 

 numerable varieties, both single and 

 double, that have now become such 

 popular border flowers. They are 

 showy, hardy, and easy to grow, little 

 affected by sun or rain, and valuable 

 as cut flowers. The blossoms are con- 

 tinually becoming more varied in 

 colour and more refined in shape. 

 Though Pyrethrums are in their fullest 

 beauty in June, they are seldom alto- 

 gether nowerless throughout the sum- 

 mer ; and a succession can easily be kept 

 up by judicious stopping and thinning. 

 They are valuable for autumn decora- 

 tion, for if cut down after flowering 

 in June, they flower again in autumn. 

 Division, March or April and in July 

 after flowering. Seed. Take the 

 plants up, shake off all soil, pull 

 them to pieces, put them in small pots, 

 and place them in a cold frame for a 

 few weeks until established, but not 

 too close, as they are apt to damp. 

 When established, they may be planted 

 out. A good rich loam suits them 

 best, though they will grow and 

 flower freely in any good garden soil, 

 and the more we incorporate well- 

 rotted manure with the soil the better 

 they grow and flower. Mulching, 

 especially in dry soil, keeps the ground 

 moist and cool. The varieties are 

 so numerous that it is difficult to make 

 a selection, and as they vary from 

 year to year it is best to take them 

 from the catalogues of the day. 



P. PARTHENIUM (Feverfew}. The gol- 

 den-leaved variety of this plant (P. 

 aureum or Golden Feather) is now common. 

 Of this there are several forms. One is 

 called laciniatum, and is very distinct 

 from the older kind. These have their 

 uses in geometrical borders, where they 

 have a bright effect. Their culture 

 is of the simplest. Seed is sown in heat 

 in spring, and the seedlings are pricked 



