CHAPTER XXVI 



SECOND WEEK IN JULY 



THE great family of the mallows (malvaceae) contributes 

 many beautiful flowers to our gardens, and the 

 newcomer, Abutilon vitifolium, is worthy of the 

 rest. Its pure white blossoms, although they are very much 

 like those of the ordinary greenhouse abutilon when in the 

 bud, open out broadly each bloom being 2j inches in 

 diameter and as they are produced in sprays they are 

 remarkably graceful for cutting. The plant (A. vitifolium) 

 is a hardy shrub, growing to the height of about 5 feet 

 before it flowers ; it is easily raised from seed, but the 

 young plants need protection under glass for the first winter 

 (or longer, possibly, in a severe climate), after which they 

 can be planted in a sunny glass porch, or in a sheltered sunny 

 border in the open air, or against s a south wall, but they 

 do not produce their blossoms for several years. The 

 foliage is distinct, being light green in tint, silver-lined, and 

 vine-like in shape. This abutilon will probably be largely 

 grown for wreaths when better known, as its paper-like 

 flowers are of the purest white, even the stamens being 

 white also. Ordinary garden soil suits it, but, like the rest 

 of its kind, it is a hungry plant, requiring a mulch of rich 

 soil yearly in the spring. It is certainly one of the best 

 additions to our gardens during the last few years. 



The beautiful white alstrcemeria (Pelegrina alba, the lily 

 of the Incas) is in full bloom. Alstroemerias are most 

 useful flowers for cutting, and the more hardy varieties 

 (chilensis, aurantiaca, &c.) do well in the garden in the 

 south of England ; but this, the loveliest of all, should be 



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