VERBENA. 



53* 



VERONICA. 



lowing management has been recommended 

 by P ver-v exoerienced gardener : 



" I have tried many different sizes of 

 pots and pans for verbenas. I have found 

 nothing so useful or successful as a score of 

 Cittinis in a 48-sized pot. The pots are 



VARIETIES OF THE VERBENA. 



filled one-third full of drainage, I inch of 

 rough leaf mould over it ; then till to within 

 I J inch of the top with equal parts of loam, 

 leaf mould, or peat and sand, finishing with 

 half an inch of sand ; insert the cuttings 

 in the usual manner, making sure that the 

 base of the cutting is made firm. Water 

 level a point of great moment in excluding 

 the air from the part where roots are to be 

 emitted, as well as in the future watering 

 of the cuttings and the work is finished. 

 Verbenas are also best left in the store or 

 cutting pots until February ; and, unlike 

 calceolarias, if enough are kept over the 

 winter for stock, spring-struck plants are 

 best both for growth and flower. This 

 last remark is equally applicable to pe- 

 tunias, ageratums, lobelias, &c. Verbenas 

 and other soft-wooded plants may also be 

 struck in water ; but I see no benefit what- 

 ever in the practice. I may also state, for 

 the very few who do not know how to make 

 a cutting, that the usual practice is to cut 

 part of a branch level across at the base of 

 a single leaf or pair of leaves, to remove 

 this leaf or leaves, and place this part, the 



bottom or thick end of the cutting, in the 

 soil, water, or damp moss, until it is 

 rooted." 



The vervains, such as Verbena hastata, 

 otherwise the Blue Vervain, or Wild Hyssop, 

 and V. ojficinalis, the Common Vervain, or 

 Holy Herb, rank among the Verbenas. 

 The garden varieties are numerous and 

 excellent for bedding purposes : the best of 

 them, perhaps, are Boule de Neige, white, 

 a scented verbena ; Crimson King, crimson 

 with white eye ; Lady Londesborough, 

 mauve with white stripe ; Lustrous, 

 vivid scarlet with large white eye ; Neme- 

 sis, veiy deep pink ; Purple King, purple. 

 These are given as types of most of the 

 different colours the garden plants present. 



Verge Cutter. See Edging Tools. 



Veronica, or Speedwell (not. 



ord, Scrophulari'nese). 

 The evergreen shrubs of this genus, 

 known as Veronicas or Speedwells, are, 

 when well grown, amongst the most valu- 

 ableof autumn-bloomingplants. Their hand- 

 some, purple, mauve, or white spikes of 

 flowers, which are produced in great pro- 



VERONICA. 



fusion and in succession for months, make 

 them invaluable for conservatory and sit- 

 ting-room decoration, and for prominent 

 positions out of doors, where, with a dry 

 sub-soil and somewhat sheltered situation, 

 the plants will generally stand the winter 



