8i 4 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



SILENE. 



but more delicate than the type, and 

 rarely succeeds in the open, but thrives 

 in a cool house or frame. Shady banks 



Sibthorpia eurupaua variegata (Moneywort). 



and ditches suit it. The flowers are 

 inconspicuous. 



SIDA. S. dioica and S. Napaea are 

 stout vigorous plants, suitable chiefly for 

 the wild garden and shrubbery borders. 



SILENE (Catchfly\k. large family con- 

 taining few showy plants ; but among the 

 perennials there are species of great 

 beauty. Southern and Central Europe is 

 the home of the Silene, though a few 

 species extend westward to America, a 

 few eastward to Siberia, and a sprinkling 

 of them will be found on the southern 

 shores of the Mediterranean and in Asia 

 Minor. The following dwarf kinds are 

 suitable chiefly for the rock-garden : 



S. acaulis (Cushion Pink]. A dwarf 

 alpine herb tufted into light green masses 

 like a wide-spreading Moss, but quite 

 firm. In summer it becomes a mass of 

 pink, rose, or crimson flowers barely peep- 

 ing above the leaves. Many places on the 

 mountains of Scotland, Northern Ireland, 

 North Wales, and of the Lake District of 

 England are sheeted over with its firm flat 

 tufts of verdure, often several feet in dia- 



meter. In cultivation it is as beautiful as 

 when wild, and grows freely in almost any 

 soil in the rock-garden, not shaded, or in 

 pots and pans. There are several varieties : 

 alba ; exscapa, with flower stems even less 

 developed than in the type ; and mus- 

 coides, dwarfer still ; but none of them 

 are far removed from the typical form or 

 are of greater importance for the garden. 



S. alpestris (Alpine Catc/ifly).~K very 

 dwarf and compact alpine plant, hardy, 

 and beautiful when in bloom. It succeeds 

 in any soil and is 4 to 6 in. high. Its 

 white flowers appear in May. It should 

 be used abundantly in every rock-garden. 

 Some forms are quite sticky with viscid 

 matter, while others are free from it. S. 

 quadridentata and quadrifida are similar. 

 All the alpine Silenes are propagated 

 either by division in spring or by seed. 



S. Elisabethse. A remarkably beautiful 

 alpine plant, the flowers looking more 

 like those of some handsome but diminu- 

 tive Clarkia than of the Silenes commonly 

 grown. They are very large, bright rose 

 with the claws or bases of the petals white. 

 One to seven flowers are borne on stems 3 

 to 4 in. high. It is considered difficult to 

 cultivate, but if strong plants are secured, 

 is as easy to manage as the Cushion Pink. 

 It is rare in a wild state, but occurs in the 

 Tyrol and Italy, amidst shattered frag- 

 ments of rock, and sometimes in flaky 

 rocks without any soil. It thrives freely in 

 a warm nook in the rock-garden, in a 

 mixture of about one-third good loam, 

 one-third peat, and one-third broken 

 stones, and should be planted where its 

 roots can penetrate 1 8 to 24 in. back, into 

 congenial soil. Flowers rather late in 

 summer. Seeds. 



S. maritima. The handsome double 

 variety (S. maritima fl.-pl.) of this British 

 plant is noteworthy, not only for its flowers, 

 but for its dense spreading sea-green carpet 

 of leaves, pleasing on the margins of raised 

 borders, the front edge of the mixed 

 border, or hanging over the faces of stones 

 in the rougher parts of the rock-garden. 

 The flowers appear in June, and those of 

 the double variety rarely rise more than a 

 couple of inches above the leaves, which 

 form a tuft about 2 in. deep. There is a 

 pretty rose-coloured variety, less rambling 

 than the type. 



S. pendula. There are several varieties 

 of this fine biennial, notably compacta, 

 compacta alba, Bonnetti, ruberrima, and 

 variegata, all improvements on the original. 

 The compacta varieties are mostly used for 

 spring-bedding, and form compact rounded 

 tufts about 4 in. high. The other forms are 

 6 to 12 in.high. To obtain the finest plants 



