HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 263 



blues and purples which then preponderate. The orange 

 lily, too, is very effective at that season. On the other 

 hand, yellows are superabundant in autumn, and there- 

 fore i-^ds and blues should then be sought for. 



Besides mere vividness of color and elegance of form, 

 there are other qualities which render plants desirable 

 in the flower garden. Whoever has visited a botanic 

 garden, must have been sensible of an interest excited 

 by tlie curious structure of some plants, or by their 

 rarity. Even quaintness of form is deserving of atten- 

 tion; and on this principle. Allium fistulosum (the com- 

 mon Welsh onion) may be allowed to figure in a flower 

 border. At the same time, it must be admitted that 

 such expedients should be employed with reserve. No 

 handsome plant should be rejected because it is common, 

 nor any ill-favored one introduced merely because it is 

 scarce. The flower-gardener should have a small nur- 

 sery frame for the propagation of the finer plants, so 

 as to have at hand a stock, to be transferred into the 

 borders as often as required. 



Numerous specimens of such showy plants as Verbena 

 Brillii, atro-sanguinea, and Mont Blanc, Phlox Drum- 

 mondii, with Scarlet Geraniums, Petunias, Salvias, and 

 Fuchsias, may easily be kept oyer winter, in a green- 

 house or vinery, in the very small pots called " thumbs," 

 ready to be plunged in the open borders in May ; where 

 they uniformly bloom with much greater vigor and 

 brilliancy than under glass. 



We shall here enumerate merely the names of a few 

 of the most ornamental flowers, adapted to the British 

 flower garden.* 



* It must be borne in mind by the American floricultiirist 

 that the times and seasons here referred to are those of Ensland, 



