ON BEGONIAS 27 



a great advantage when the plants are bedded out. The 

 leaves are thick and handsome, borne on fat, reddish or 

 brown stems. 



The florists have not given us a blue Begonia yet. 

 This colour baffles them almost as effectually in Begonias 

 as it does in Zonal Geraniums and Chrysanthemums. 

 We should be glad to have it, if it was a real blue, and 

 not a wishy-washy, lilac-cum-lavender-cum-purple, the 

 exact shade of which could not be found even in the 

 colour chart ; but we can do very well without it. 



The fact that the parentage of our best modern 

 Begonias is unknown will not worry the majority of 

 flower-gardeners ; it will be enough for them that we 

 have the varieties. Here is a table of good bedding 

 sorts : 



Singles are generally labelled to colour, and sold as 

 such for bedding without names. The best colours are 

 white, crimson, rose, scarlet, pink, and salmon. 



If the grower buys varieties under name he will have 

 to pay more for them than for unnamed sorts, and 

 further, he will feel himself under the obligation of label- 

 ling them, propagating them, and storing them separately. 

 As a set-off to the extra work he will have the advantage 

 of being able to arrange his colours exactly to his taste, 

 and the interest of comparing his varieties with those of 



