882 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



bottom-heat, they will start freely. When 

 the young plants are 3 in. in height, dibble 

 them out again either into a frame or 

 under hand-lights to keep away slugs. 

 Where large flowers are desired, the soil 

 must be rich, and the buds thinned out. 



T. patula (French Marigold) is a 

 charming summer annual of more varied 

 colour, there being many varieties striped, 

 mottled, and coloured with yellow, orange, 

 chestnut, and other hues. The older 

 forms are coarse, and in good soil make 

 huge plants, with scores of flowers of 

 medium size, and if good, are double, 

 rounded, sometimes partly reflexed, and 

 invariably pretty. The striped forms can 

 be kept true only by growing them apart, 

 but even in the best strains the flowers 

 vary. Sometimes one plant has striped 

 blooms, and at other times self-yellow or 

 maroon flowers. The unpleasant odour 

 unfits them for cutting. There are now 

 compact named forms of the French Mari- 

 gold, not exceeding 9 in. in height, and 

 remarkably free in their brilliant single 

 or double flowers. These make effective 

 masses and pretty edgings for groups of 

 the taller kinds. Any good seed list will 

 give the names of the good strains. Well 

 harden the seedlings before planting, and 

 plant them singly, not in clumps. 



T. signata is allied to the French 

 Marigold, but has much smaller flowers, 

 either double or single. It was formerly 

 largely used for summer bedding, its 

 elegantly-cut leaves being perhaps its 

 most pleasing feature. As it needs a 

 little starving to induce it to bloom freely 

 in beds and masses, the soil must be 

 rather poor. Like all other Marigolds, it 

 stands drought well. T. s. pumila is a 

 dwarf form. 



TAMARIX (Tamarisk). Graceful 

 hardy shrubs, remarkably distinct in their 

 feathery growth and pale pink flowers, 

 produced in succession by the various 

 kinds from May to October. No other 

 woody plants we can grow in the open air 

 give the same fine effect, yet they are 

 often neglected owing to our way of mix- 

 ing things together without regard to soil, 

 exposure, and position. Lost in the jumble 

 of the shrubbery they never give good 

 effect, and often perish outright from the 

 encroachments of hungry neighbours, 

 whereas grouped apart with free air and 

 space, they are among the most charming 

 of shrubs. For the seashore they have no 

 equal, thriving in pure sand and shingle, 

 their fine branches splitting up the wind 

 and the heath-like foliage indifferent to 

 the salt spray. But they are fully as beau- 

 tiful inland, used with effect beside water, 



where their roots serve to hold the soil, 

 or on dry exposed banks where their 

 feathery plumes toss in the wind. They are 

 readily increased from soft cuttings rooted 

 under glass, ripened cuttings which root 

 ; in the open air, and even thick branches 

 which often root like a willow if planted 

 deeply while quite fresh. Seed is seldom 

 used for increase, though it germinates 

 readily in a cold frame and is freely pro- 

 duced by some kinds at least in the 

 south of Europe. We are richer in names 

 than in distinct kinds, for the same shrubs 

 in slightly differing forms have been 

 named over and over again in nurseries, 

 and some of the species run so closely 

 together that even botanists are puzzled. 

 The following kinds are distinct : 



T. chinensis is a recent introduction, and 

 has been distributed from some nurseries as 

 T. japonica plumosa. It is not quite so hardy 

 as our native kind, though like it in many 

 respects. It has very plumose branches, and 

 is a most graceful shrub with pink flowers. 



T. gallica (French Tamarisk}. Is found 

 wild on the south-west coast of England, in 

 France, and North Africa. It is a shrub 5 ft. 

 to 10 ft. high, or in North Africa a tree 30 ft. 

 high or more. The flowers are pale pink, and 

 borne on short cylindrical spikes in summer. 

 T. anglica is one of the forms of this species, 

 which varies much in different parts of its area. 

 T. africana and T. algeriensis are names that 

 have been given to the African forms of this 

 species. 



T. hispida (Kashgar 71). This species is 

 from Central Asia, and is distinct, the foliage 

 being of a bluish-green colour. ' ' The leaves 

 are very small and imbricated on the stem, and 

 its inflorescences are of a rosy carmine, 

 brighter than in other species in cultivation " 

 (Lemoine). It flowers in autumn. Syn., T. 

 kaschgarica. A seedling form of this, ccstivalis, 

 differs widely again from the parent, being 

 taller and more vigorous in growth, with flowers 

 from July, or a full two months earlier. It is 

 also of easier increase and very desirable 

 because of its season of flower. 



T. Odessana is another new kind, with soft 

 grey-green foliage and handsome spikes of 

 large rosy- white flowers. South-east of Europe 

 and Asia Minor. Syn., T. Pallassii. 



T. tetrandra is very like T. gallica in general 

 appearance, but, as the name implies, it is 

 distinguished by having four instead of five 

 anthers. It is quite hardy, growing and 

 flowering freely near London. The flowers 

 are pinkish-white. Caucasus. 



Myricaria germanica is very nearly allied 

 to Tamarix, and often figures in nursery 

 catalogues under the latter name. It differs in 

 having ten stamens to each flower. The 

 branches are erect, rather sturdier than in the 

 true Tamarisks, and the leaves are of a pale 

 glaucous hue, the flowers white or rosy in June. 

 It is a native of various parts of Europe and 

 Asia. W. J. B. 



