SYRINGA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



TAGETES. 



741 



is often caught by late frosts. There- 

 fore, in addition to warm soil, we should 

 try and secure positions not too low 

 down and somewhat sheltered. Com- 

 ing from a warmer and sunnier land 

 than our own Transylvania and the 

 regions near very cold soils and situa- 

 tions are against success. 



Lilacs grow freely from seed if sown 

 as soon as ripe. Cuttings are best 

 made from the young wood in early 

 summer, struck in sand on a hotbed, 

 where they root in six to eight weeks. 

 Layering should be done in early 

 autumn, or suckers may be taken in 

 spring and root readily. When once 

 we have the Lilac on its own roots, 

 increase from suckers is easy. 



Though some of the old varieties 

 were beautiful even the common 

 Lilac when well grown to have a 

 good Lilac-time it is essential to have 

 the newer varieties raised in France, 

 and remarkable for their full range of 

 colour. The best are : 



SINGLES. White Marie Legraye, 

 Princess Alexandra, Fr?u Dammann, 

 Madame Moser, alba pyramidalis. 

 Pink Dr Regel, Eckenholm, Fiirst 

 Lichtenstein, Schermerhornii, Jacques 

 Callot, and Lovanensis. Dark flowers 

 Dr Lindley, Ludwig Spath, Aline 

 Mocqueris, Toussaint L'Ouverture, 

 Volcan, Philemon, President Massart. 



DOUBLES. White Madame Le- 

 moine, Madame Casimir Perier, 

 Obelisque, Madame Abel Chatenay. 

 Lavender and blue Alphonse Lav- 

 allee, President Grevy, Lamarck, Leon 

 Simon, Monument Carnot, Condorcet, 

 Doyen Keteleer, Guizot, Marc Micheli. 



These double kinds have denser 

 flower-clusters, and usually last longer 

 than the single varieties, but they are 

 not so pretty as the single kinds. An 

 indispensable Lilac is the small Persian 

 (S. persica], which, being dwarf and 

 erect, is well suited for the outskirts of 

 a group of Lilacs. Its small flower- 

 clusters are a pale lilac, or nearly white. 

 The pretty variety, with deeply-cut 

 leaves (laciniata], must not be over- 

 looked. The Rouen or Chinese Lilac 

 (S. chinensis), also known as S. dubia 

 and S. rothomagensis, is intermediate 

 between the common Lilac and the 

 Persian Lilac, and well worth growing. 

 The large 5" Emodi, from the Hima- 

 layas, is coarse in growth, and not 

 remarkable for its pale purple flowers, 

 which come later than the common 

 Lilac. The Hungarian Lilac (S. 

 Josikcea] is a pretty shrub differing 

 from other Lilacs. It reaches a height 



of nearly 6 feet, and bears erect spikes 

 of small pale mauve flowers. S. japo- 

 nica bears in summer large dense 

 clusters of creamy-white flowers, which 

 somewhat resemble those of the 

 Japanese Privet. Other kinds that 

 have come to us recently from the Far 

 East are 5. villosa from Japan, which 

 also attains a large size with abundant 

 purple flowers about the middle of 

 June. 5. oblata, from China, is the 

 first of all Lilacs to bloom, with loose 

 clusters of purple or white flowers, and 

 large heart-shaped leaves of glossy 

 green which turn a wine-red colour 

 in autumn. 5. pekinensis, from the' 

 mountains of N. China, belong to the 

 Privet-like group represented by 5. 

 japonica, and is of graceful form, 

 though not quite so large a tree. It 

 is very hardy and keeps its handsome 

 foliage till late in autumn, but does 

 not flower freely in a young state. 

 There is a pretty variety of this, with 

 pendulous slender branches. Inter- 

 esting as these species are from a 

 botanical point of view, little is yet 

 known of their beauty in our country, 

 and such of them as have been tried 

 have less beauty than the finer forms 

 of the old hybrid Lilac. 



TAGETES. The French and Afri- 

 j can Marigolds have long been favourite 

 garden flowers. There are also peren- 

 nial kinds, but they are too tender for 

 out of doors, though one or two, such 

 as T. lucida and T. Parryi, are desir- 

 able. The annual kinds are from 

 Mexico, and the best are : 



T. ERECTA (African M.). Known by its 



stiff, erect habit, and massive double 



yellow blooms. A peculiarity of it is that 



one-third of the seeds saved from the finest 



double flowers always produce single ones, 



while the rest are invariably double. The 



deep orange and pale yellow forms are 



| pretty planted together. Sow seed under 



j glass in April, for then, even without 



; bottom-heat, they will start freely. When 



! the young plants are 3 inches in height, 



j dibble them out again either into a frame 



I or under handlights to keep away slugs. 



| When large flowers are desired the soil 



must be rich, and the buds thinned out. 



T. PATULA (French M.). A summer 

 annual of varied colour, striped, mottled, 

 and coloured with yellow, orange, chest- 

 nut, and other hues. Sometimes one 

 plant has striped blooms, and at other 

 times self-yellow or maroon flowers. 

 Their unpleasant odour unfits them for 

 cutting. There are now compact named 

 forms of the French Marigold, not exceed- 

 ing 9 inches in height, and free in their 

 brilliant single or double flowers, 



