148 HARDY PERENNIALS AND 



situation. A bed of dwarf and moisture-loving subjects was 

 being planted, in which a bit of this Hutchinsia was dibbled, and 

 it found a home in the moist vegetable soil. For two or three 

 years I do not remember to have seen it, or the seedlings, with- 

 out flowers ; its pretty, dwarf, rue-like foliage grew so thickly 

 that it threatened to kill the edging of gentianella and such 

 things as Polemonium variegatum, the double cuckoo-flower, and 

 the little Armeria setacea ; it also filled the walks, and its long 

 wiry roots have been eradicated with difficulty. From this 

 it will be seen how much depends, with some plants, on the posi- 

 tion in which they are placed. 



Hydrangea Paniculata Grandiflora. 



LARGE-PANICLED HYDRANGEA; Nat. Ord. SAXIFRAGACE^;. 



THIS dwarf shrub is perfectly hardy and deciduous; it comes 

 from Japan, and is one of the best hardy^ things I have come 

 across for some time. It is quite a new introduction, and has 

 many fine qualities ; the fact of its producing immense clusters 

 of white flowers, 12in. long and 12in. in circumference, as 

 well-established plants, is enough to induce its extended cul- 

 tivation ; but when it is stated that its clusters are numerous 

 and durable, that the shrub begins to flower in summer and 

 continues in great beauty until damaged by frosts, it will doubt- 

 less be recorded on the lists of desiderata of those who do not 

 possess it. The usefulness of such a subject is notable not only 

 to the gardener who has a keen eye to artistic effect, but to the 

 lover of showy flowers (see Fig. 53). 



The flowers are male and female kinds, and, as is usual with the 

 genus, the fruitful ones are interspersed with unfruitful, being 

 shorter in the stalks and nearly covered over by the latter, 

 which are much larger ; in fact, they^ are not the true flowers 

 from a botanist's point of view, but with the florist it is exactly 

 the opposite; their colour is white, more or less tinted with 

 pink, which, if the autumn season proves fine and dry, becomes 

 purple. As the name denotes, the bloom is arranged in massive 

 panicles, pyramidal form, Gin. to 12in. long, and 4in. to 8in. in 

 diameter. They slightly bend with the great weight, but are 

 otherwise well supported by the woody stems. The latter are 

 somewhat short, seeing they carry such large clusters. The 

 leaves are oval, subcordate (varying), distinctly ribbed, and 

 finely toothed, also varying much in size. The habit of the 

 shrub is much branched, of strong growth, and very floriferpus. 

 The flowering shoots issue from the hard wood of the previous 

 season's growth. In the shrubbery it is very attractive, its 

 flowers out-numbering, out-measuring, and out-lasting most of its 

 neighbours. Kept dwarf, what a grand bedder it would make ! 

 Grown in pots it is a first-class indoor subject. It has that rare 



