THE SUMMER GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



(continued'}. 

 CHAPTER XV. 



CARNATION, LILY, IRIS, AND THE NOBLER SUMMER FLOWERS. 



THE flowers of our own latitudes, when they are beautiful, are 

 entitled to the first place in our gardens, and among these flowers, 

 after the Rose, should come the Carnation, in all its brilliancy of 

 colour, where the soil and climate are fitted for it, as is the case over 

 a large area of our sea-girt land. 



Our flower-gardens have to a great extent been void of beautiful 

 flowers and plants ; but instead, acres of mean little sub- tropical weeds 

 that happen to possess a coloured leaf Coleus, Alternanthera, Perilla, 

 &c. occupy much of the ground which ought to be true flower- 

 gardens, but which is too often set out with plants without fragrance, 

 beauty of form, or good colour. 



It is not enough that the laced, flaked, and other varieties of 

 D. Caryophyllus should be grown in frames or otherwise ; we should 

 show the flower in all its force of colour in our flower-gardens, and 

 this is an entirely distinct question from the growth of kinds hitherto 

 known as " florists' flowers." Many who have not the skill, or the 

 time, for the growth of the " florists' " flowers, would yet find the 

 brilliant "self" Carnations delightful in their gardens in summer and 

 autumn, and even in winter, for the Carnation, where it does well, has 

 a fine colour-value of foliage in winter, which makes it most useful 

 to all who care for colour in their gardens, adorning the garden 

 throughout the winter and spring, and full of promise for the summer 

 and autumn. 



What Carnations are the best for the open air ? The kinds of 

 Carnations popular up to the present day are well known by what is 

 seen at the Carnation shows, and in the florists' periodicals, like the 

 Floral Magazine, Harrison's Cabinet, and, indeed, all similar period- 



