590 



GERANIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN, 



GERARDIA. 



angustifolia, asckpiadaa, Pneumonanthe. 

 [Most of these seem of easy culture, but the 

 American kinds gradually perish on heavy, 

 compact soils.] 



Kinds thriving in leaf soil and sandy peat, 

 with broken bits of sandstone : G. alba, 

 Bigelo-wi, ciliata,frigida,Freymana,Fra'lichii, 

 Kurroo, Parryi, pmnila, Wallichiana, Wesch- 

 niakowi. 



Kinds of easy culture : G. brevidens, cru- 

 ciata, dahurtca, decutubens, Fetisowi, Kessel- 

 ringii, macrophylla, Glivieri, phlogifolia, 

 Przewaldskii, Saponaria, scabra, straminea, 

 tibetica, Tianschanica, Walujewi, Wesch- 

 niakowi. 



Annual kinds : G. amarella, campestris, 

 Germanica, nivalis, tenella. 



These groupings are, like so many 

 others, arbitrary if convenient. Many of 

 the rarer kinds of gentian come from 

 countries little known to us, and even if 

 we did know them the cultivation of 

 plants is often only learned through 

 experience, and it is common to see them 

 thriving in conditions wholly different from 

 those in which they grow naturally. 

 Certain things, however, are to be borne 

 in mind by those who aspire to cultivate 

 gentians, viz., that these are alpine or 

 high mountain plants, or plants of the 

 open breezy marsh, and that in such con- 

 ditions they rarely have to do with com- 

 pact heavy soils. Gritty, sandy, or peaty 

 soils therefore suit them best even marsh 

 land, though saturated, is free in texture. 



They grow also very often above the 

 tree and shrub line of life, and are there- 

 fore fully exposed to the sun, and any 

 planting of them on stuffy, half-shady 

 conditions common in many gardens is 

 against them, as also is the unfortunate 

 and common practice of putting rock- 

 gardens in hollow places instead of places 

 fully exposed to the sun. Lastly, any 

 association with ferns or taller or more 

 vigorous plants is a mistake ; and, above 

 all things, the printed lists or any other 

 lists must not be taken to mean that the 

 great beauty of some kinds is typical of 

 all, as not a few gentians are unworthy of 

 garden cultivation. I have grown them 

 in the most unlikely place of all, a 

 battered wall with earth behind, and they 

 flowered very well. The plan may be 

 worth trying in certain soils with G. 

 acaulis, where it fails to flower in 

 borders. 



GERANIUM (CraxesMO).Tbit hardy 

 Geraniums are usually stout perennials 

 and natives of the fields and woods of 

 Europe and Britain, though some are 

 dainty alpine flowers. The handsomest of 

 them is probably G. armenum. It is 



sometimes 3 ft. in height, flowering in 

 midsummer abundantly, and sometimes 

 till late in autumn to a less degree. Its 

 flowers are large and handsome. It re- 

 quires only ordinary garden soil, and is 

 well suited for the mixed border, or for 

 grouping with the finer perennials in beds 

 or on the margins of shrubberies. Some 

 other kinds are showy, and the best of 

 these are : the dwarf G. sanguineum ; its 

 beautiful Lancashire variety, with rose- 



A group of hardy Geraniums. 



coloured blossoms finely marked with dark 

 lines ; G. pratense, a tall kind, with large 

 purple flowers ; and its pure white variety. 

 There is also an intermediate form with 

 white and purple flowers. The Caucasian 

 species, G. gymnocanlon and G. ibericiim, 

 are beautiful, with their rich purple 

 blossoms, 2 in. across, delicately pen- 

 cilled with black. G. platypetahtm, 

 striatum, ibericum, and Lamberti are 

 suited for shrubbery borders, and most 

 of them are free and vigorous enough 

 for naturalisation. G. Endrcssi, with 

 light rose-coloured blossoms, is also 

 very attractive. All the above-mentioned 

 Geraniums are hardy, easily cultivated, 

 and grow in ordinary soil. The pretty 

 rock-garden kinds, G. cinereum and 

 G. argenteum are alpine plants, and, 

 unlike stout perennials, they must be 

 associated with very dwarf rock-plants. 

 All the Geraniums are increased by seed, 

 and with the exception perhaps of the 

 G. cinereum, and G. argenteum, all are 

 freely multiplied by division. 



GrERARDIA. I have never, either in 

 gardens, or in the wild land, or in the 

 Alpine mountains, where beauty of plant 

 life is at its highest, seen anything that 

 struck me more than a Gerardia I once 



