SEQUOIA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SIBTHORPIA. 



plant. The pleasing orange-yellow flowers 

 are about the size of a shilling, and are 

 borne in terminal clusters 6 to 12 in. high, 

 A similar species is the Piedmont Ground- 

 sel (S. Balbisianus), from elevated districts 

 in Northern Italy, particularly Piedmont. 

 It is 3 to 9 in. high, and has hoary root- 

 leaves. The golden-yellow flowers, when 

 contrasted with the foliage, have a re- 

 markably bright appearance. S. spathulas- 

 folius and the Piedmont Groundsel flourish 

 in light rubbly soil and an exposed dry 

 situation in a well-drained rock-garden. 



SEQUOIA. Enormous cone-bearing 

 evergreen trees of the Pacific coast of 

 North America, just hardy enough to be 

 the object of numerous experiments in our 

 country, far from successful either from an 

 artistic or most other points of view. In 

 some of the books it is said that these great 

 trees are readily propagated by cuttings 

 inserted under glass in autumn, but we 

 would beg everybody never to plant any 

 tree of the kind except from seed. 



S. GIGANTEA (Big Tree]. A colossal tree 

 in its own country, inhabiting mostly, in scat- 

 tered groups or groves, the Californian Moun- 

 tains for a distance of over 250 miles in length, 

 existing trees being over 300 ft. high. No 

 tree ever introduced has excited so much 

 interest or been the subject of so much costly 

 experiment in this country. It succeeds well 

 in various districts, and even as far north as 

 Scotland, but after it grows up the growth is 

 very apt to be seared by harsh east winds. 

 The tree is not good in form, while in very 

 few cases it will ever attain the dignity of size 

 that it does in its native country, one of the 

 finest climates in the world. Even where 

 the tree does well, the effect is never good in 

 the home landscape. The variegated and 

 golden forms are rubbish. Syn. , Wellington!* 

 gigantea. 



S. SEMPERVIRENS (Red Wood], A noble 

 evergreen tree thriving somewhat better in 

 our country than the Big Tree, but planted as 

 it usually is by itself, it is often torn about by 

 sleet storms in our climate, which is so very 

 different to that of its native country. Still it 

 grows rapidly in good free soils, and is worth 

 trying grown in a wood or grove so that the 

 trees may shelter each other. Sheltering 

 groves or woods of it would give good timber 

 in quick time, as it is a very rapid grower. 

 The variegated forms are not worth planting. 

 Coast range of Northern America. Syn., 

 Taxodium sempervirens. 



SERAPIAS. Terrestrial Orchids from 

 S. Europe, worthy of a collection of hardy 

 Orchids, as the flowers are always singular 

 and in some kinds beautiful. The most 

 desirable are S. cordigera, with large 

 showy flowers, chiefly of a blood-red 

 colour ; S. lingua, with peculiar brownish- 

 purple flowers ; and S. longipetala, with 



large rosy-red flowers. These are all 9 

 to 12 in. high, and their flowers are 

 densely arranged on broad erect stems. 

 The plants succeed best in a soil composed 

 of two parts of peat, one of loam, and one 

 of sand and leaf-mould. The position 

 should be partially shaded, and well 

 I sheltered from cold winds. 



SESELI ( Gu7n Seseli}. S.gumimferum 

 I is a handsome plant, i^ to 3 ft. high, with 

 elegantly-divided leaves of a peculiarly 

 pleasing glaucous or almost silvery tone. 

 Though a biennial, it is so distinct that 

 some may like to grow it. The best 

 position for it is on dry and sunny banks,, 

 or in raised beds or borders. 



SHEFFIELDIA. S. repens is a hardy 

 little New Zealand creeper, with small 

 leaves, small slender stems, and tiny white 

 flowers which appear in summer. It is 

 interesting for the rock-garden, and grows 

 in any good well-drained soil. Primula 

 Order. 



SHOETIA. S. galacifolia is an in- 

 teresting and beautiful plant. It was first 

 discovered over a hundred years ago by 

 Michaux in the mountains of North 

 Carolina, and rediscovered in 1877. It 

 was found growing with Galax aphylla, 

 and forms runners like this plant, being 

 propagated by this means. The plant is 

 of tufted habit, the flowers reminding one 

 of those of a Soldanella, but large, with 

 cut edges to the segments, like a frill, so 

 to say, and pure white, passing to rose as 

 they get older. There is much beauty, 

 too, in the leaves, which are of rather oval 

 shape, deep green, tinged with brownish- 

 crimson, changing in winter to quite a 

 crimson, when it forms a bright bit of 

 colour in the rock-garden or border. A 

 correspondent writing in The Garden 

 says : " The cultural directions given in 

 catalogues to keep the plant in a shady 

 situation and grow it in Sphagnum and 

 peat, deprive us of its chief charm />., 

 the handsome-coloured leaves during the 

 winter and spring months. Instead of 

 choosing a shady spot I selected a fully 

 exposed one, and here two plants have 

 been for over a year, one in peat and the 

 other in sandy loam. Both are vigorous." 

 It succeeds well in various soils as de- 

 scribed, and is hardy. It is also a delight- 

 ful plant in a pot, as the flowers on their 

 crimson stems are pretty, and one gets also 

 the prettily tinted leaves. N. America. 



SIBTHORPIA (Moneywort}. S. euro- 

 peed is a little native creeper with slender 

 stems and small round leaves. In summer 

 it forms a dense carpet on moist soil, and 

 should always be grown in the bog- 

 garden. The variegated form is prettier 



