THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



Wales, Luxonne, Belle de Chatenay, 

 White Czar, Lady Hume Campbell, Marie 

 Louise, Victoria Regina, Wellsiana, and 

 the perpetual blooming Violet well 

 known in France as La Violette des Quatre 

 Saisons. This differs slightly from the 

 Sweet Violet, but is valuable for its long 

 season ; it is the variety used by the 

 cultivators round Paris. . The double white, 

 or, as it becomes in the open air, the rosy- 

 white Belle de Chatenay, has a robust 



open, where the thick growth keeps the 

 flowers off the soil. Blandyana, another 

 double, is a free bloomer with dark flowers. 



V. pedata (BircCs-foot Violet}. -The most 

 beautiful of the American Violets, with hand- 

 some flowers I in. across, pale or deep lilac, 

 purple or blue, the two upper petals being 

 sometimes velvety and deep violet like the 

 petals of a Pansy. The variety bicolor is a 

 pretty form ; its flowers larger, and the petals 

 arranged like those of a Pansy, the two upper 



Viola pedata (Bird's-foot Violet). 



habit. Though not so pure as the old 

 double white kind, it blooms more freely, 

 and is neater. The Neapolitan kind, V. o. 

 pallida plena, is still a favourite, spite of 

 other and newer kinds, but it needs a 

 frame in winter. Marie Louise is a fine 

 kind, and a great advance upon the Nea- 

 politan ; its flowers are larger, deeper, and 

 more abundant. The old double blue 

 kind has neat full flowers, but its stems 

 are short. It is, however, very beautiful 

 when grown in frames, or in beds in the 



ones rich velvety purple, and the three lower 

 delicate blush. The parent plant grows freely 

 in a light rich soil in partial shade, but the 

 variety bicolor succeeds only in certain 

 localities, and is rare in its own land. It is 

 best adapted for the choice rock-garden, but 

 may also be grown in borders where the soil is 

 peaty, sandy, and moist. 



V. reniformis (New Holland Violet}. This 

 mantles the ground with a mass of small leaves 

 and slender creeping stems, and bears through- 

 out the summer blue and white flowers of 

 exquisite beauty, about 2 inches high. It is 



