234 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



LOBELIA. [Lobeliaceae.] An extensive genus of very 

 showy plants, comprising stove, greenhouse, and hardy spe- 

 cies, and consisting principally of perennial herbs, with a 

 few annuals and biennials. Peat and loam in equal quan- 

 tities, with a sixth part sand, form a good compost for the 

 smaller and more delicate species. The strong-growing 

 perennial kinds flourish best in rich moist loam ; but they 

 must be wintered in a dry cold frame. The annuals should 

 be raised in a slight heat in March, and pricked off into 

 small pots, hardened, and planted out in May : they are 

 better for a liberal mixture of peat-earth. The shrubby and 

 sub-shrubby kinds are increased by cuttings, planted in 

 sand, and put in a hot-bed ; the perennials by division in early 

 spring, the shoots being first excited into growth in a mild 

 heat, and then separated into single pots of the smallest 

 size, and put in a warm frame until they are well established, 

 when they may be hardened to bear the open air. For 

 blooming in pots, the herbaceous kinds must be shifted into 

 larger pots progressively : a very rich loamy compost should 

 be used, with abundance of moisture. The more tender of 

 these are best kept nearly dry, under a greenhouse stage, 

 during winter, being very liable to rot from exposure to 

 damp. L. gracilis is a dwarf kind, bearing a profusion of 

 small blue flowers throughout the summer, if treated like a 

 half-hardy annual, and planted in the open ground in May. 

 Of the same habit are L. erinus and its varieties, grandtflora^ 

 compacta, and L. decumbcns, perennials employed for the 

 summer decoration of flower-gardens, all bearing blue flow- 

 ers in profusion, and suitable from their dwarf habit for 

 planting close by the edges of flower-beds and borders. The 

 perennial kinds are annually augmented by cross-bred varie- 

 ties, which are constantly giving place to new variations. 

 The New-Holland perennial species enumerated below are 



