MENTZELIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



MERTENSIA. 



685 



MENTZELIA. Lovely Californian 

 plants, mostly of biennial duration, and re- 

 quiring more care than most half-hardy 

 plants. A successful cultivator of them 

 writes toT/te Garden : " I find it necessary 

 to sow the seed as early in the season as pos- 

 sible, and to grow the seedlings on in a 

 frame, giving liberal shifts, and using a 

 compost of fibry loam and a small quantity 

 of leaf-mould and sand. After the final shift 

 they should be plunged in a sunny border 

 until autumn, and then removed to a frame 

 for wintering. In the spring they should 

 again be plunged in the open air, and by ! 

 occasionally assisting them with weak 

 manure water, strong and healthy flowering 

 specimens will be produced. When begin- 

 ning to show flower they should be removed 

 to a cool greenhouse or frame, as excessive 

 humidity at this stage is injurious to 

 them. They may indeed be grown en- 

 tirely in the open air if the weather be 

 favourable, but in our climate the former 

 mode is by far the most satisfactory." 

 The following is a selection of the prettiest 

 kinds : M. (Bartonia) aurea I. A showy 

 golden-flowered hardy annual, i to 2 ft. 

 high. Should be sown in April in groups 

 or patches where it is to remain in light 

 soil and warm situations, the plants being 

 thinned to about i ft. apart. As the seed 

 is very small, care should be taken not 

 to bury it too deep. When well grown 

 it might be used as a bold group, relieved 

 here and there by tall plants. Chili. 

 M. laevicaulis is a good kind, with 

 whitish stem, i to 3 ft. high, both stems 

 and leaves covered with short and stout 

 bristles, the rich yellow flowers opening 

 only in bright sunshine. M. nuda is 2 to 

 4 ft. high, with flowers resembling the last. 

 M. oligosperma is a perennial, i to 3 ft. 

 high, with bright yellow flowers 3 in. across, 

 opening in sunshine. M. ornata is a 

 biennial, 2 to 4 ft. in height, with creamy- 

 white fragrant flowers 2^ to 4 in. across. 

 It belongs to the vespertine section, that 

 is, to those in which the flowers expand 

 towards evening. Syn., Bartonia. 



MENYANTHES (Buckbeari).M. tri- 

 foliata is a beautiful and fragrant native of 

 Britain, found in shallow streams or pools, 

 in very wet marshy ground, and in bogs; its 

 strong creeping, rooting stems often float- 

 ing in deeper water. The flowers are 

 borne on stout stalks, which vary in length 

 with the depth of the water, and are beauti- 

 fully fringed and suffused with pink. M. 

 trifoliata is easy to establish by introducing 

 pieces of stems, and securing them till, by 

 the emission of roots, they have secured 

 themselves. In some moist soils it thrives 

 in the ordinary border. 



MENZIESIA. Dwarf shrubs, resemb- 

 ling Heaths, and, like them, admirably 

 suited for large rock-gardens or wherever 

 there is a moist peat soil. They are all of 

 neat growth, and bear pretty flowers. 



M. ccerulea is a tiny alpine shrub, 

 native of Scotch mountains and of northern 

 European mountains. A pretty bush for 

 the rock-garden or for choice beds of 

 dwarf plants, 4 to 6 in. high, with pinkish- 

 lilac flowers, flowering rather late in 

 summer and in autumn. Europe. 



M. empetriformis. A dwarf Heath - 

 like bush, seldom more than 6 in. high, 

 with clusters of rosy-purple bells in 

 summer. Though not common in gardens, 

 it is one of the brightest gems for the 

 choice rock-garden, and thrives in exposed 

 positions in moist sandy peat soil, and 

 should be associated with the dwarfest 

 rock plants. N.America. Syn., Bryanthus. 



M. ferruginea is a rarer kind with pale 

 brown flowers. For the beautiful Irish 

 Heath and its forms often included in this 

 genus, see Erica. 



MERENDERA.- M. bulbocodium is 

 very much like Bulbocodium vernum, but 

 flowers in autumn, having large handsome 

 blooms of a pale pinkish-lilac. Suitable 

 for the rock-garden and the bulb-garden 

 till plentiful enough for borders. In- 

 creased by separation of the new bulbs 

 and by seed. S. Europe. 



MERTENSIA-BeautifulBorageworts, 

 often known as Pulmonaria. There is 

 something about them beautiful in form 

 of foliage and stem, and in the graceful 

 way in which they rise in panicles of blue. 



M. alpina is a beautiful dwarf kind, 

 and should only be associated with the 

 choicest alpine plants. The leaves are 

 bluish-green ; the stem 6 to 10 in. high, 

 bearing in early summer one to three 

 drooping terminal clusters of light blue 

 flowers. 



M. dahurica, although very slender and 

 liable to be broken by high winds, is 

 hardy. It is 6 to 12 in. high, has erect 

 branching stems, and bears in June 

 panicles of handsome drooping azure- 

 blue flowers. It is very pretty, and suited / 

 for the rock-garden or borders, and should r 

 be planted in a sheltered nook in a mix- ' 

 ture of peat and loam. Division or seed. 

 Syn., Pulmonaria dahurica. 



M. maritima (Oysfer Plant}. Though 

 one of our British sea-coast plants, I find 

 that it is very little known in gardens, and 

 though a seaside plant and usually found 

 growing in sea sand, it is amenable to 

 garden culture. Given a light sandy soil 

 of good depth, and a sunny position 

 where its long and succulent flower-stems 



