732 PELARGONIUM. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PENTSTEMON. 



Sophie Dumaresque, and William 

 Sandy. 



The drawback with the silver tricolor 

 sorts, when planted out in the open air, 

 is that the green portion of the leaves 

 often expands faster than the white or 

 coloured margins, so that the centres of the 

 leaves become somewhat puckered. The 

 following are among the best for this 

 purpose : Dolly Varden, Empress of 

 India, Eva Fish, Lady Dorothy Neville, 

 Lass o' Cowrie, Miss Farren, Mrs. Glut- 

 ton, Mrs. Miller, and Proteus. 



Among silver-margined zoneless sorts, 

 Mangle's Variegated, a very old variety, 

 is still useful, together with Boule de 

 Neige, Brilliantissimum, Dandy, Flower 



Pelargonium "Pretty Polly." 



of Spring, Mrs. J. C. Mappin, and Sir 

 John Holder. Madame Salleroi and 

 Silver Crown are very neat dwarf kinds 

 for edgings, and Lady Plymouth and 

 variegated Prince of Orange are with 

 scented leaves. 



Of the Ivy-leaved sorts, and their hybrid 

 varieties, the following are useful as bed- 

 ding plants for their double flowers of fine 

 colour : Achievement, Col. Baden-Powell, 

 Calilee, Her Majesty the Queen, Madame 

 Crousse, Mrs. Hawley, Souvenir de Chas. 

 Turner. Bridal Wreath and Dolly Varden 

 are older single-flowered kinds, and Duke 

 of Edinburgh and Aureum marginatum 

 varieties with variegated leaves. There 

 is now coming out a new series of hybrids 

 combining the fine glossy foliage and 

 bright flowers of the ivy-leaved kinds 

 with the sturdy erect habit and often the 



distinct leaf-marking of the zonal sec- 

 tion. The plants are as yet too untried 

 for us to say much as to their garden 

 value, but such kinds as Chingford 

 Beauty, belonging to this class, seem to 

 promise well for the future. 



Comparatively few of the Cape species 

 or of their hybrid varieties are of much 

 use as bedding plants : a few, however, 

 are sometimes used with effect. Some 

 of these are Diadematum, Lady Mary 

 Fox, Lady Plymouth, Pretty Polly, 

 Prince of Orange, * Rollison's Unique, 

 Crimson Unique. A new and pretty 

 cross (between P. quercifolinni] in this 

 section, and one of the tender large- 

 flowered Cape varieties) is named Clo- 

 rinda, with fine foliage and large rosy 

 flowers. It is, however, more adapted 

 for the greenhouse than the open air. 

 Most of the sweet-scented sorts, when 

 planted out-of-doors during the summer, 

 yield an abundance of fragrant flower- 

 ing shoots for cutting for the house. 



PENNISETUM. P. longistylum is 

 one of the most elegant of Grasses, i to 

 ift. high; the flower-spikes, borne on 

 slender stems, are from 4 to 6 in. long, 

 of singular twisted form, and enveloped in 

 a purplish feathery down. It is useful for 

 cutting, as it lasts a long time, is perennial 

 and hardy, growing in free garden soil. 

 Easily raised from seed, or root division 

 in early spring. P. jimbriatum is a 

 similar species, equally desirable. P. ja- 

 ponicum is a taller kind with long narrow 

 leaves and a dense rounded spike. P. 

 macrourum, like a miniature Pampas 

 Grass, is a tall perennial from the moun- 

 tains of S. Africa, with spikes of flower 

 a foot long. P. latifolium from S. America 

 is a noble plant in the summer-garden, 

 but will not stand our winters in the 

 open. 



PENTSTEMON (Beard Tongue}. 

 Varied in colour, profuse in flower and of 

 graceful habit, Pentstemons have a value 

 for our flower-beds and rock-gardens that 

 i few other plants possess, especially as 

 their beauty covers five months, com- 

 mencing in June with the charming 

 blue P. procerus, and finishing with the 

 endless varieties of P. Hariivegi in 

 shades of rose, scarlet, and crimson, whose 

 beauty holds its own even in November, 

 after more fragile plants have perished. 

 W T ithin recent years much has been done 

 to improve the Pentstemon by selection of 

 varieties of P. Hartwegi and P. gentian- 

 aides^ which, however, with all their wide 

 range of colour, lack the beautiful clear 

 blue of some of the species, and have a 

 somewhat monotonous effect. These 



