AMMOBIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ANDROSACE. 



43" 



me it has stood the cold, rain, and 

 gales far better than the variegated 

 Maize and big Solanums. The flower, 

 though bright, is not large enough to be 

 effective." 



AMMOBIUM (Winged Everlasting. 

 A. alatuni is a handsome Composite 

 from New Holland ijto 3 ft. high, bearing 

 white chaffy flowers with yellow discs 

 from May till September. In sandy soil 

 it is perennial, but on heavy and damp 

 soils must be grown as annual or biennial. 

 Seed. 



AMORPHA (Bastard Indigo}. Hardy 

 shrubs of the Pea order, thriving in ordin- 

 ary garden soil but requiring a sheltered 

 situation in bleak localities. Increased by 

 layers or cuttings in autumn, or from 

 suckers. A. canescens (the Lead Plant) 

 is a native of Missouri. It has clusters 

 of blue flowers and hoary leaves. A. 



Bastard Indigo. 



fniticosa (The False Indigo) comes from 

 California, and there are many forms of it, 

 differing but slightly, all having bluish 

 or dark purple flowers. 



Ampelopsis. See VITIS. 



ANAGALLIS (Pimpernel-). Usually 

 rather pretty and half-hardy annuals of 

 the Primrose family. The best-known is 

 the Italian Pimpernel (A. Monelli), with 

 large blossoms, deep blue shaded with 

 rose. There are several varieties rubra 

 grandiflora, Wilmoreana, bright blue 

 purple, yellow eye ; Phillipsi, deep blue, 

 rose-coloured centre ; Breweri, intense 

 blue ; linifolia, fine blue, very dwarf ; 

 Napoleon III., maroon ; and sanguined, 

 bright ruby all flowering from July to 

 September. The Indian Pimpernel 

 (A. indica] has small bright blue flowers. 

 It is a hardy annual, but the Italian 

 Pimpernel should be grown as a half- 

 hardy annual. The seed may be sown 

 any time from March till July, the later 



sowings to be made in pots and put into 

 a greenhouse or window in autumn. Pim- 

 pernels grow well in ordinary garden soil, 

 and are used with good effect in broad 

 masses in borders, or edgings to beds, 

 and make good pot plants. The pretty 

 little bog Pimpernel (A. tenelld] is a native 

 creeping plant, with slender stems and 

 myriads of tiny pink flowers. It is pretty 

 in suspended pots or pans, and may be 

 grown in the bog or a moist corner in the 

 rock-garden. 



ANCHUSA (Alkanef). Stout herbace- 

 ous and biennial plants of the Forget-me- 

 Not family ; some worth growing, amongst 

 the best being A. italica, which is vigorous, 

 3 to 4 ft. high, with beautiful blue blossoms. 

 A. hybrida is similar, about 2 ft. high with 

 flowers of rich violet. A. capensis is a 

 pretty plant with large bright blue flowers, 

 rather tender ; it should be planted in a 

 sheltered well-drained border. A. semper- 

 virens is a British perennial, \\ to 2 ft. 

 high, with blue flowers, worth a place in 

 the wild garden. Seeds or division. 



ANDROMEDA. Handsome dwart 

 hardy shrubs of the Heath family, thriving 

 in peaty soil. Various shrubs usually called 

 Andromedas in gardens, belong in reality 

 to several other genera, and there is only 

 one . true species of Andromeda known, 

 viz. : A. polifolia (Moor wort), a native 

 of Britain and N. Europe, growing from 

 about 6 to 1 8 inches high, and bearing 

 purplish-red flowers from May to Septem- 

 ber. It is best grouped in peat beds or in 

 the bog garden. For allied plants usually 

 known as Andromeda see Cassandra, 

 Cassiope, Leucothoc, Lyonia, Oxyden- 

 drum, Pieris, and Zenobia. 



ANDROSACE. Alpine plants, of very 

 small stature and great beauty, belonging 

 to the Primrose order. Other families, 

 like Primroses and Harebells, come down 

 to the hill-pastures, the sea-rocks, or 

 the sunny heaths, but these do not. They 

 are more alpine than even the Gen- 

 tians, which are as handsome in a hill- 

 meadow as on the highest slopes ; and 

 as they are, among flowering plants, the 

 most confined to the snowy region, so 

 they are the dwarfest of this class. 

 Growing at elevations where the snow 

 falls very early in autumn, they flower 

 as soon as it melts. Sometimes, like 

 some other alpine flowers, they frequent 

 high cliffs, vertical, or with portions of 

 the face receding here and there into 

 shallow recesses. Here they must en- 

 dure intense cold cold which would 

 destroy all shrub or tree life exposed 

 to it. And here in spring they flower. 

 Their small, often downy, evergreen 



