LAVATERA 59 



LAVATERA 



" Mallow " 



Where there is room for a free-branching Hardy Annual, 

 3 feet high, the Lavateras {Malvacece) should be a first selec- 

 tion, because they last long in perfection and produce their 

 large, beautiful flowers with great freedom. L. trimestris 

 is the species, and it will do well sown in the Autumn and 

 thinned to 2 feet apart. It may be raised in gentle heat 

 in Spring, but it has a very bad habit of damping off when 

 transferred from the seed-bed to pots or boxes. Failing an 

 Autumn sowing, sow where the plants are to flower, in March 

 or April. The type has pale, silvery-rose flowers, and there 

 is a lovely white variety, but each of these has been 

 improved upon, and the best are those catalogued as 

 L. splendens alba and L. splendens rosea. In these the flowers 

 are larger and the habit of growth more compact than in 

 the true species. 



LEPTOSYNE 



Closely alhed to the Coreopsis, and very like Coreopsis in 

 general appearance, the Leptosynes {CompositcE) bear their 

 flower heads on long stems and are fine for cutting. L. 

 Douglasizy I foot, yellow, must be raised in gentle heat in Spring 

 and planted out in May ; E. callwpsidea, i| foot, yellow, flowers 

 in Autumn. L. Stillmannii is of recent introduction ; it grows 

 \\ foot high, and has golden-yellow flower heads, \\ inch 

 across, and comes into bloom five or six weeks from the time 

 of sowing in April in a sunny position, in good garden soil. 



