HARDY HERBACEOUS FLOWERS. 293 



blue flowers in July and August. May be propagated by sowing 

 the seed or dividing the roots. 



CoNVALLARiA. — Majolis. — Tlic Lily of tJie Valley. — The 

 delicate b^^auty and grace of this modest flower, combined with 

 an exquisite sweetness of perfume, have made it an universal 

 favorite, welcomed alike in lordly hall, or peasant's hut. From 

 its crown of broad and bright green leaves rises a single stalk 

 bearing a nximber of pretty bell-shaped flowers, the edges neatly 

 turned back. It is perfectly hardy, thrives well in any 

 thoroughly drained soil, preferring a shady spot, and spreading 

 rapidly enough by its delicate creeping roots. There are two 

 varieties, one with pure white flowers, the other, with rose-tinted 

 blossoms. 



Delphinium. — The Larkspur. — ^The herbaceous varieties are 

 very desirable showy plants, some of them very tall, running up 

 to flve and six feet in height, and producing a fine effect when 

 planted among shrubbery; others, more dwarf in their habit, 

 growing about two feet high, and requiring a place in the border. 

 They flourish in any good garden soil and are perfectly hardy. 

 Choice and perfectly double varieties are multiplied by dividing 

 the roots; by sowing the seed of those that produce seed a 

 variety of shades of color will be produced, some very closely 

 resembling the parent, and possibly one or two in a hundred 

 better than it. 



Formosum. — A tall-growing variety, blooming very fifeely 

 throughout July and August. The flowers are large, deep azuie, 

 with white centre, and veined with a reddish purple. There are 

 many seedlings from this, varying in shade of color. 



Chrandiflorum. — ^Yery showy, growing from two to three 

 feet high, and comprising many hues of blue, and purple, and 

 white. In bloom all summer, and perfectly hardy. 



These are named as samples of the tall and the short-growing 

 sections ; beyond this there is only an endless confusion and 

 co mmin gling of varieties once thought to be distinct, but now so 

 completely lost in each other by cross-fertilization, that they have 



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