68 



Commercial Gardening 



Fig. 221. Lupinus polyphyllus 



5 ft. high, are particularly fine. There are now several good hybrids in 

 cultivation. For greenhouse and bedding Lobelias see p. 182. 



Lupinus. The Lupines are showy Leguminous plants, all perfectly 

 hardy and easily grown in any ordinary garden soil. They are very orna- 

 mental in leaf and blossom, and a fair trade 

 is done in spring in plants of the perennial 

 L. polyphyllus and of seed-raised plants of 

 the annual L. mutabilis. The latter is a fine 

 Colombian annual, 3-4 ft. high, with tall 

 spikes of Pea-like flowers from June to 

 August, the colours being blue, white, rose, 

 purple, &c., according to variety. L. poly- 

 phyllus (fig. 221), 3-6 ft. high, having blue, 

 white, and blue-and-white varieties, is the 

 best of the perennials, but there are others. 

 L. nanus, 1 ft. or more, is a dwarf annual, 

 having blue-and-lilac, white, and white-and- 

 rose varieties; L. tricolor elegans (or Dun- 



netti) is another annual with deep -violet and white flowers. There are 



about eighty other species, but most of them of no great value commercially. 



Lychnis chalcedonica (fig. 222). This is the best-known species, 2-3 ft. 



high, having dense heads of scarlet flowers in summer. It is easily raised 



by seeds and by division in autumn or spring, 

 and grows in any good garden soil. The trade 

 is chiefly done in " roots" in spring, but it also 

 sells as cut to a certain extent in summer. There 

 is a white-flowered form and a double-flowered 

 scarlet form. 



L. Coeli-rosa (also known as Agrostemma) is 

 popularly known as the Rose of Heaven. It is 

 a biennial species about 1 ft. high, from the 

 Levant, and has deep rosy-purple flowers in 

 summer. The seeds should be sown in April 

 and May each year to produce good plants for 

 selling the following spring. 



L. coronaria (A grostemma) grows 2-3 ft. 

 high, and has crimson -red flowers and leaves 



covered with a whitish woolly down. It may be raised in the same way 

 as the Rose of Heaven. 



L. Haageana, 1-2 ft., is a fine hybrid with bright-scarlet flowers 2 in. 

 or more across; and L. oculata, or Viscaria oculata, is a lovely Algerian 

 annual, 1-2 ft. high, having slender erect stems, narrow flax-like leaves, 

 and a great profusion of pinkish-purple flowers in summer. There are 

 several fine varieties like cardinalis, bright crimson purple; ccerulea, 

 bluish, like the Common Flax; alba, white; Dunnetti, rose; and others 

 all useful for bedding in early summer. 



Fig. 222. Lychnis chalcedonica 



