NYMPH/EA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NYMPH^A. 707 



bright days they mostly fold away about 

 four in the afternoon, on dark days they 

 sometimes keep open until evening. But 

 it is, perhaps, after a sharp shower, when 

 leaves and flower-cups are thickly set 

 with diamond drops, that the water-gar- 

 den is at its best. If the fading flowers 

 and damaged leaves can be removed 

 from day to day (by the help of a flower- 

 cutter and 'long-handled rake), the flower 

 season will be longer, but this cannot well 

 be done save in small tanks. As soon as 

 they open, the flowers may be arranged 

 very prettily in shallow bowls, lasting 



germinating, and the seedlings are so 

 liable to degenerate that this way of in- 

 crease is not much followed. The flowers 

 sink upon the third day, and, ripening 

 under water, open half-way when mature 

 to allow the seeds to escape. They are at 

 first held together by a mass of jelly-like 

 matter and float for several hours, and 

 during this time may be skimmed from 

 the surface and sown at once in pans of 

 mud. Care must be taken not to disturb 

 the soil when adding water, and if placed 

 in a warm and sunny corner the seedlings 

 are not long in starting. 



Bud of hybrid Water-lily, N. Marliacea carnea (natural size), gathered from open water at Gravetye, 

 Sussex, at the end of October. 



fresh for several days and fragrant. If 

 care is taken to bend back the sepals 

 when the flowers are cut, the blooms 

 remain open until they wither. 



Though some of the finer 

 Increase, hybrids make few side 



crowns and thus increase 

 slowly, others may be freely divided, the 

 offsets being cut away with a bit of the 

 old stem attached. Some kinds mostly 

 of the odorata and tuberosa sections are 

 easily increased from seed, but many 

 kinds are sterile, in others seed is slow in 



Weeds must be kept under, 

 Pests, such things as the Water Star- 

 wort and Floating Pond Weed 

 giving trouble, the last pest with its brittle 

 roots being especially difficult to get out. 

 In early summer the grubs of the caddis- 

 fly gnaw the young leaves and stems, and 

 water snails so load them with eggs as to 

 cause curling and distortion, but as a rule 

 the plants outgrow these troubles with 

 the warmer days, and have more to fear 

 from rats and water-fowl when in full 

 bloom. In small ponds these may be 

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