168 HARDY PERENNIALS AND 



seen by the engraving, the flowers much resemble some of our 

 native orchids in form, the lip being most characteristic. The 

 leaves are broadly lancet-shaped, serrated, and sessile. The habit 

 of the plant is erect, and almost rigid. The flowers are of the 

 most attractive kind for borders, and, as cut bloom, can hardly 

 be excelled. 



The only drawback which attaches to it in this climate is that 

 it is not perfectly hardy ; in other words, it dies in winter when 

 planted in certain soils and positions. But I can, from an ex- 

 perience extending over three trying winters, confidently state 

 that, if it is planted in spring, in deep rich loam, fully exposed to 

 the sun, it will both flower well and live through the winter. 

 Only let the reader remember that it is a native of North 

 America, and he may then judge that it can be no stranger to a 

 cold climate. The advantages of the above method are, that the 

 plant becomes well established during summer, its long cord-like 

 roots get deep down to the moisture it loves so well, and from 

 full exposure it withers seasonably and the crowns become fully- 

 ripened by the time the strongest frosts occur, so that they do it 

 no harm. The reader may take it for what it is worth, that by 

 leaving the dried stalks on, the plants are benefited ; at any rate, 

 I leave them on, for the following reasons : In a dry state they 

 are very hollow, and when cut I have found them conductors of 

 rain into the midst of the younger roots and dormant crowns, 

 causing them to rot, and when the remaining part of the stalk 

 has come away from rottenness too, it has been seen that a cavity 

 of corruption had formed where it joined. When I have left the 

 withered stalks untrimmed until the following growing season, 

 no such decay has been seen. So that, after all, it is perhaps not 

 less hardy than many other plants about which little doubt 

 exists, but which may have been a little more fortunate as regards 

 other conditions than cold. 



To those who prefer to dig up their stock of L. cardinalis and 

 winter it away from frost, I may say that it is only needful to 

 pack the roots in sand, which should be kept moist, not wet. 

 Propagation may be effected by division of the crowns in 

 spring. 



Flowering period, August to first frosts. 



Lychnis Chalcedonica. 



CHALCEDONIAN LYCHNIS, or SCARLET LYCHNIS; 



Nat. Ord. SILENACEJE. 



THIS hardy herbaceous perennial (see Fig. 61) came from Russia 

 so long ago as 1596. It is a well-known and favourite flower, 

 and, of course, a very "old-fashioned" one; it is commonly 

 called the Scarlet Lychnis, but there are other forms of it with 

 white flowers, both double and single, and there is also a double 



