703 PENTSTEMON. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



I V P:XT.STEMOX. 



they flower, which they will do by August 

 and September, any especially good 

 varieties should be marked to propagate 

 from. If the bed of seedlings be allowed 

 to stand for another season (and this is 

 often a good plan), the seed-stalks should 

 be cut away as soon as ripe, and the bed 

 cleaned, top-dressed with leaf-soil and 

 short manure in spring, and there will be 

 a plentiful harvest of flowers the following 

 summer. Seedlings should be protected 

 by a cold frame during winter, and planted 

 out in April in good soil in a sunny spot. 



P. heterophyllus. A dwarf sub- 

 shrubby kind, its showy flowers, singly 

 or in pairs in the axils of the upper 

 leaves, of a pinky lilac ; plants from seed 

 are very liable to vary. Though hardier 

 than many species, it succumbs to severe 

 winters; and plants should be kept in 

 frames. California. 



P. humilis. A very distinct alpine 

 species, rarely exceeding 8 in. in height, 

 forming compact tufts, its large blossoms 

 of a pleasing blue suffused with reddish- 

 purple : it should be planted in the rock- 

 garden in a fully exposed spot in gritty 

 loam and leaf-mould, and during summer 

 the plant should be copiously watered. It 

 blooms in early June, and is a native of 

 the Rocky Mountains, abundant about 

 Pike's Peak. 



P. Jeffreyanus. A showy kind, and the 

 best of the blue-flowered class, its glaucous 

 foliage contrasting finely with its clear 

 blue blossoms borne during the greater 

 part of the summer. It is a handsome 

 dwarf border plant, but not being a good 

 perennial, the stock should be kept up by 

 the aid of seedlings, which will bloom 

 much more vigorously than old plants. 

 North California. 



P. laetus is a close ally of P. azureus 

 and P. heterophyllus, and, like them, is of 

 dwarf branching habit, with blue flowers 

 in raceme-like panicles about \\ ft. high, 

 blooming in July and August. It is a 

 native of California, and is as hardy as 

 most of the species from that region. 



P. Murrayanus. A distinct plant, and 

 one of the most beautiful, 3 to 6 ft. high, 

 with tiers of brilliant scarlet flowers, and 

 broad glaucous leaves. It should be 

 raised from seed annually, and the seed- 

 lings should be grown well for flowering 

 the following summer, as few plants are 

 more worthy of care. It is a native 

 of Texas, and loves a warm sunny soil. 

 P. centranthifolius is similar but not so 

 handsome, though easier to grow, and 

 hardier. 



P. ovatus, also known as P. glaucus, is 

 a fine vigorous plant, 3 to 4 ft. high, the 



flowers small, but in dense masses, in 

 colour varying from intense ultramarine 

 to deep rosy-purple ; their brilliant colour, 

 and the handsome form of the plant com- 

 bine to give it a special value. It should 

 be considered a biennial, as it usually 

 flowers so vigorously in the second year as 

 to exhaust itself. Mountains of Columbia. 



P. Palmer!. A handsome species of 

 robust habit, in good soil 3 to 5 ft. high ; 

 the flowers in a many-flowered panicle 18 

 to 24 in. long, peach-coloured and streaked 

 with red, corolla with a gaping mouth. 

 The plant is quite hardy, succeeding in 

 almost any well-drained soil, and flower- 

 ing about midsummer. P. spectabilis is 

 similar. 



P. procerus is a beautiful little plant, 

 and about the hardiest of all the species, 

 as it takes care of itself in any soil. It is 

 of a creeping habit, sending up from the 

 tufted base numerous flowering stems 6 

 to 12 in. high. The small flowers are in 

 dense spikes, and, being of a lovely 

 amethyst-blue, they make it charming for 

 either the border or the rock-garden. It 

 seeds abundantly. It is the earliest to 

 blossom of all the Pentstemons. P. nitidus 

 and P. micranthus are synonymous with 

 P. procerus, and P. confertus is somewhat 

 similar. P. confertus has straggling 

 stems, and is a very distinct species, 

 though by no means showy. 



P. Scouleri is a small semi-shrubby 

 plant of twiggy growth. Its large flowers 

 are of a slaty bluish-purple, and are 

 arranged in short terminal racemes ; they 

 are not produced in great abundance, but, 

 combined with the dwarf and compact 

 growth of the plant, they have charms 

 sufficiently distinct to render it worthy of 

 cultivation. P. Scouleri may be readily 

 increased in spring by cuttings of the 

 young shoots, since such cuttings strike 

 freely in a little bottom-heat similar to 

 that used for ordinary bedding plants. 



P. speciosus, a remarkably handsome 

 kind, has stems 3 to 4 ft. in height, and 

 many-flowered clusters of flowers, which 

 are sky-blue, varying to a reddish hue. 

 P. glaber is nearly related to P. speciosus, 

 but is dwarfer. The flowers are of various 

 shades of purple, and early in summer are 

 borne in crowded spikes about I ft. in 

 length. On account of its dwarfness it is 

 better suited for the rock-garden than 

 most of the kinds. P. grandiflorus is 

 very handsome, and allied to P. speciosus 

 and P. glaber. It grows about 3 ft. 

 high, and from July to August produces 

 large flowers of a beautiful pink colour. 

 Another and similar species is P. secundi- 

 florus, which bears in one-sided racemes 



