LIRIODEXDROX. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LOBELIA. 



645 



have not proved so useful for our country 

 as the wild tree. 



LIRIODENDBON (Tulip Tree\L. 

 tulipiferum is one of the noblest of flower- 

 ing trees. It is only when the tree has 

 reached maturity that it bears its beauti- 



iodendron tulipiferum. 



ful Tulip-like flowers of pale green and 

 yellow. Young Tulip trees should be 

 planted on lawns in free or ordinary soils, 

 as the flowers are very pretty in a cut 

 state for the house and the tree a beauti- 

 ful one at all times. N. America. 



LITHOSPERMUM (Gromwelt). A 

 few of these Borage-worts are pretty and 

 worth growing. One of the finest is L. 

 prostratum, a spreading little evergreen 

 having flowers of a lovely blue, with faint 

 reddish-violet stripes, in great profusion 

 when the plant is well grown. It is 

 hardy, and valuable as a rock-plant from 

 its prostrate habit and the fine blue of its 

 flowers a blue scarcely surpassed by 

 that of the Gentians. Its shoots may be 

 allowed to fall down the sunny face of a 

 rocky nook, or to spread into flat tufts on 

 level parts of the rock-garden. On dry 

 sandy soils it forms an excellent border- 

 plant, and becomes, if the soil be deep 

 and good, a round spreading mass, i ft. 

 or more high. In such soils, it is suited 

 for the margins of beds of choice and 

 dwarf shrubs, either as a single plant or 

 in groups. In heavy or wet soil it should 

 be in the rock-garden, or on banks, and 

 in sandy earth. It is sometimes grown 

 as L. fruticosum, but the true L. fruticosum 

 is a little bush, and not prostrate. Easily 

 propagated by cuttings. S. Europe. 



L. petraeum (Rock Cromwell). A neat, 

 dressy, dwarf shrub, something like a 

 small Lavender bush, with small grayish 

 leaves like those of the Lavender. Late 

 in May, or early in June, all the little gray 

 shoots bear small oblong purplish heads, 

 and early in July the plant is in full blossom, 

 the full-blown flowers being a beautiful 

 violet-blue. The best position for it is in 

 the rock-garden somewhere near or on a 



level with the eye, on a well-drained, 

 deep, rather dry sandy soil on the sunny 

 side. Native of dry rocky places in 

 Dalmatia and Southern Europe. Pro- 

 pagated by cuttings, or seeds if they can 

 be obtained. 



L. purpureum-cceruleum, a British plant, 

 L. Gastoni, L. canescens, L. gramini- 

 folium, L. tinctorium, and L. rosmarini- 

 folium, are very pretty plants, but coming 



Lithospermum prostratum 



from sunnier lands than ours are not really 

 at home in our climate, and for the most 

 part they can only be grown well on dry 

 ledges of the rock-garden in the most 

 favourable districts. 



LLOYDIA (Mountain Spider-wort}. 

 L serotina is a small bulbous Liliaceous 

 plant, suitable for the cool parts of the 

 rock-garden, and not of the showy order of 

 beauty. It is one of the first flowers the 

 early visitor to the Alps sees by the 

 pathway over the high mountains. 



LOA8A. Curious prickly annuals 

 with singular flowers and stinging foliage. 

 L. hispida is pretty, growing about 18 in. 

 high, with deeply-cut foliage and short 

 stinging hairs, the flowers I in. across, of 

 a bright lemon-yellow, the centre prettily 

 marked with green and white. It blos- 

 soms several weeks in succession during 

 August and September. The other kinds 

 in cultivation are the beautiful L. vul- 

 canica, with its pure white flowers and 

 red-and- white striped centres ; L. lateritia, 

 a twining species, with orange-red flowers ; 

 and L. triloba. All are natives of the 

 cool regions of Peru and Brazil, and can 

 be grown in the open air during summer. 

 Treated as half-hardy annuals, and grown 

 in a light fertile soil, they are interesting 

 for open borders ; the climbing species, 

 such as lateritia, require branches to 

 twine among. All may be freely raised 

 from seed. 



LOBELIA. Distinct and much varied 

 perennials and annuals, some of high 

 value for the flower garden. The peren- 



