GARDENING FOR CITIES. 2T2 GARDENING FOR CITIES. 



will bear a little frost. Scarlet geraniums 

 de very well. The Ageratum Mexicanum 

 does very well. I put in cuttings in 

 October, which I manage to keep through 

 the winter. You may also put in cuttings 

 of this in the spring, which will flower 

 very early. Verbenas flower well all the 

 summer, but are difficult to keep through 

 the winter, as they damp off in December 

 and January for want of better air. The 

 dark clove-carnation is very hardy and 

 flowers beautifully. These I propagate 

 by hundreds in the autumn, potting some 

 in cold frames, and letting others remain 

 out of doors. The sweet will Jam, lupinus, 

 polyphyllus, scabiosa, antirrhinum, poly- 

 anthus, foxglove, and lily of the valley do 

 remarkably well. The fuchsia, if planted 

 in a cold shady place in summer, flowers 

 tolerably well, but must be attended to in 

 watering, or the flower drops before 

 opening. Plant them in leaf-mould, 

 rotten dung, and yellow loam. If the 

 weather is very hot and dry, cover the 

 .surface with a little rough rotten dung. 

 The mimulus is a famous town flower, but 

 requires plenty of water. Some of the 

 hardy phloxes do pretty well. The double 

 rocket flowers freely, and if the first bloom 

 is taken off when faded, the plant will 

 bloom again as freely as ever ; but it re- 

 quires a great deal of water. I would 

 recommend nearly all the common hardy 

 annuals, especially branching larkspur, the 

 Phlox Drummondii, lupinus, coreopsis, &c. 

 Balsams do very well if the seed is sown in 

 a little hotbed, supposing you have the 

 convenience to make one ; it will also 

 answer for china-asters, and when ready 

 to be planted, mix plenty of leaf mould 

 and rotten dung in the borders for them, 

 as they do not bloom freely without a rich 

 compost, and being abundantly supplied 

 vith water. Have nothing to do with 

 tender annuals : they are poor, sickly- 

 looking plants for town gardening. The 



common pinks do exceedingly well. The 

 willow-herb (Epilobium angustifolium) is 

 a very showy common flower, and will 

 grow anywhere. Mignonette does well. 

 Sow it for early blooming in January, in 

 a little heat in 48-pots, in light mould to 

 turn out. There are numbers of herbaceous 

 plants that do very well, such as the 

 Michaelmas daisy (aster), double sun- 

 flower, Achillea lingulata, Dracocephalum 

 speciosum, sea-lavender (Statice latifolia), 

 and all hardy plants of this class. The 

 common English ferns thrive very well in 

 shady parts, by watering every day in hot, 

 dry weather. Plant them in leaf mould, 

 loam, and common sand, and mix with 

 them a few plants of periwinkle and some 

 rock -work ; but be careful not to disturb 

 them while forking up the borders. Holly- 

 hocks do very indifferently, and are not 

 worth trying. Dahlias do exceedingly 

 well if well supplied with water, and 

 carefully thinned as they advance in size. 

 They ought to be planted very early in the 

 spring to get an early bloom ; as they are 

 not required in September, the chrysan- 

 themum taking their place, I generally- 

 cut them down this month. Last year 

 I pegged them down all the season, and 

 kept them close to the ground by pruning, 

 and they bloomed well. You ought to be 

 particular in your selection not to purchase 

 hard-eyed ones, as the ground becomes so 

 hot and dry at the close of the summer, 

 that they never bloom fully out. 



" Respecting shrubs and deciduous 

 plants,' continues Mr. Broome, " few of 

 these do any good. The lilac blooms 

 very scantily, but does well for a screen, 

 as it shows a little green in the summer. 

 The Aucuba Japonica answers in sheltered 

 places. The euonymus does very well in 

 smoke, and retains its foliage ; but this 

 year (1860) the severe winter has nearly 

 destroyed it. This shows it is not so hardy 

 as many other shrubs, and requires to be 



