CHEIRANTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



CHENOPODIUM. 



and .can be bought in the seed trade under 

 the designations of Harbinger and Covent 

 Garden Blood-red and Golden Yellow, all 

 good strains. The Belvoir Castle Yellow 

 is a close compact kind, with bright yellow 

 flowers, and suitable for spring bedding. 

 The Golden Yellow is as robust and tall 

 as the crimson kinds, and bears masses of 

 rich orange-yellow bloom. 



The double perennials familiar to us 

 are the yellow, dark crimson, red, and 

 dwarf yellow. The yellow is most 

 common, and a beautiful clear-coloured 

 kind it is, a great favourite with cottagers, 

 who propagate it by putting in slips about 

 the time the plants are in flower. It can 

 be propagated freely by means of slips put 

 in under hand-lights in sharp sandy soil, 

 and the plants will flower the next spring. 

 The old dark crimson is now almost 

 extinct ; in colour the flowers are almost 

 black, and very striking ; the dwarf yellow 

 has flowers of a dull, almost buff tint ; the 

 Raby Castle variety is valuable and sturdy. 



INCREASE AND CULTURE. Many 

 persons sow seed too late in June and 

 July, instead of April and May. If dry 

 weather follows close on the sowing, or 

 after the plants have grown 2 or 3 in., 

 they receive a check, and, instead of 

 being dwarf, vigorous, and bushy, they 

 are thin and poor. The winter will some- 

 times injure the Wallflower severely, 

 especially when very severe frost follows 

 close on heavy rains, and the stronger 

 and better rooted the plants are, the 

 more likely are they to stand the weather. 

 The plants used for filling beds should 

 have been once transplanted at least, 

 because the moving induces them to 

 throw out fibry roots near the surface, 

 and they can be lifted with soil adhering 

 to them. When the Wallflower is allowed 

 to grow where it is sown, a strong tap- 

 root is formed, which strikes deep into 

 the soil, and but few surface roots are 

 put forth. In transplanting from the 

 seed-beds, it is well to pinch off the tap- 

 root, and thereby induce fibry roots. 



In London market-gardens, where the 

 Wallflower is well cultivated, seed is sown 

 in the open ground early in February ; 

 the young plants are put out into their 

 permanent quarters in May, and by 

 Christmas, if the winter be mild, they 

 bloom, and are so large that they could 

 not be covered by a bushel basket. Some 

 market-growers sow seed late in summer, 

 allow the young plants to remain in the 

 seed-bed all the winter, plant out in 

 March, and, if the season be favourable, 

 reap a good crop of flowers all through 

 the next winter. 



Save seeds from plants with the best 

 branching habit and the darkest blossoms. 

 When the plants are in flower, place a 

 stake by each possessing those qualities, so 

 as to mark it. Allow the plants to remain 

 undisturbed until the seed is ripe ; they 

 may then be pulled up, roots and all, and 

 housed in a dry place until a convenient 

 season for threshing out the seed. Cut- 

 tings of the double kinds may be put 

 in as soon as they can be got after the 

 plants go out of bloom. Put them in firm 

 sandy soil under a hand-light, and, when 

 struck, plant them out. Cuttings put in 

 in August, September, or October strike 

 freely without any protection, in a shady 

 border, or in pots or boxes of sandy soil/ 



Besides the Wallflower there are several 

 perennial species of doubtful hardiness, 

 such as C. arbiiscula and mutabilis, 

 natives of the Canary Islands, which 

 therefore, though pretty pot plants, cannot 

 be recommended for general open-air 

 culture. Besides- these there are vari- 

 ous hybrids, such as Marshal '//', the 

 finest of the hybrid kinds, from 9 in. to 



1 ft. high, with many bright orange-scented 

 blossoms, and is a brilliant border plant, 

 and good for groups in spring. 



All these perennials prefer dry soil 

 during winter, or a place on rough stone 

 walls. Propagation is by cuttings, and 

 top dressing with fine soil often induces 

 the summer wood to root freely, and by 

 autumn a good stock can be had. 



CHELONE ( Turtle - head}. North 

 American plants nearly allied to Pentste- 

 mon, the species in cultivation are hand- 

 some border plants, flowering in late sum- 

 mer and in autumn. C. Lyoni grows from 



2 to 3 ft. high, forms a dense mass 

 of stems, with deep-green foliage, from 

 July to September bearing dense clusters 

 of showy pink blossoms. C. obliqua is 

 taller and more slender, but the colour of 

 the typical form is a richer pink, and 

 there is a white-flowered variety. Both 

 are of easy culture, thriving in open 

 borders of good deep soil, and increased 

 by seeds, cuttings, or division of the 

 roots. These plants, though bearing 

 pretty flowers, and free in growth, are 

 not of high garden value. 



CHENOPODIUM (Goose foot). Few of 

 these plants of the Spinach order are of 

 much garden value, except C. Atriplicis, 

 a vigorous Chinese annual, with erect 

 reddish stem, slightly branched, over 



3 ft. in height, and with its young 

 shoots and leaves covered with a rosy- 

 violet powder, pretty in foliage, in any soil. 

 C. scoparium (Belvedere) is a curious and 

 graceful annual plant, like a miniature 



