HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS 97 



BEAUTIFUL DOUBLE HERBACEOUS PAEONIES. 



Francois Ortigat^ crimson. 

 Mikado, rose. 



Beauty, rose. 

 Captain^ white. 



Novelty, cream. 

 Prince Prosper, purple. 



BEAUTIFUL TREE PAEONIES. 



General Baden Powell, red. 

 James Kelway, carmine. 



Princess May, cream. 

 Sir Henry Irving, pink. 



Lady Sarah Wilson, blush. 

 Snowflake, white. 



Pansies. Considering that it is a lowly plant, incapable of 

 yielding those bold masses of colour which the modern flower 

 gardener loves so much, and that it is scarcely compact enough 

 in growth, or sufficiently free in bloom, to form good carpets and 

 edgings (purposes for which its cousin the Viola is so admirably 

 adapted), the Pansy holds its own remarkably well. If it is not 

 quite in the front rank of hardy plants, it remains a decided 

 favourite, especially in Scotland, whose sturdy florists raise beautiful 

 new varieties every year, and exhibit them in such exquisite form 

 that every beholder is filled with admiration. Perhaps the Pansy 

 would be most accurately described as a florist's flower which is 

 specialised by a certain number of trade growers and expert 

 amateurs, like the Rose, the Chrysanthemum, the Carnation, the 

 Sweet Pea, and the Dahlia. In the case of all such flowers there 

 is a steady demand for new varieties every year a demand which 

 varies in extent with the different flowers, but which can be relied 

 upon to make a trade in novelties lucrative. The Pansy has not 

 so large a constituency as the flowers named, but it nevertheless 

 enjoys a very fair one. 



Southern growers who, on being worsted by the Scottish florists 

 in a bout of Pansy-growing, declare that there is something in 

 the humid climate of Scotland which particularly suits the plant, 

 are probably right ; but they go too far when they assert, as they 

 sometimes do, that it cannot be grown successfully in the south. 

 Provided that care is taken to give it a rich, cool bed, it will thrive 

 and give good flowers. It ought not to be expected to succeed 



