Gardening for Amateurs 



395 



A packet of seeds of the mixed crossbred 

 sorts will furnish a fine range of colours, 

 including yellow, orange, crimson, and scar- 

 let. A selection of the best double named 

 varieties should include Arabella, dark red ; 

 Candidat, fiery orange ; Etna, scarlet ; 

 Golconde, crimson, suffused with gold ; 

 L' Acheron, velvety-red, edged with yellow ; 

 Le Vesuve, bright red, flushed with yellow ; 

 Louis Van Houtte, deep crimson ; Panorama, 

 yellow, striped with purple ; Purpurea plena, 

 deep crimson, suffused with yellow ; Romeo, 

 blood-red, edged with yellow ; Vase d'Or, 

 canary yellow ; Phoe- 

 bus, bright yellow ; 

 Victor Lemoine, ver- 

 milion, striped with 

 yellow ; William Rol- 

 lison, scarlet, shaded 

 with orange - yellow. 

 The undermentioned 

 species and varieties 

 are useful for the 

 front of a sunny 

 border : argyrophylla, 

 yellow; atrosan- 

 guinea Gibson's 

 Scarlet, blood red ; 

 h o p w o o d i a n a, sal- 

 mon-apricot ; Nepal- 

 ensis (formosa), cherry 

 red, very free ; Miss 

 Willmott or Willmot- 

 tiana, crimson-red. 



Ranunculus (But- 

 tercup). -Some kinds 

 of Ranunculus are 



delightful plants for a moist, shady border 

 and ordinary soil ; they will also grow and 

 flower freely in sunny positions when the 

 soil is not too dry and sandy. The 

 cultivator can overcome any difficulty in 

 this respect by digging in cow manure 

 previous to planting, mulching the plants 

 with decayed manure in May and water- 

 ing liberally during dry weather. This 

 may appear at first sight to be a lot of 

 trouble to take, but the resultant brilliant 

 display of flowers will soon set at rest any 

 regrets in this respect. The best time for 

 planting is October ; failing this, March ; 

 but as the Ranunculus flower in spring and 

 early summer, choose the former month if 



possible. An increased stock is obtained by 

 division of the roots, October being the best 

 time. R. aconitifolius plenus (Fair Maids of 

 France) is a freely branched plant, 1 to 2 

 feet high, bearing from May to July a pro- 

 fusion of rather small, pure white double 

 flowers, which are very useful for cutting. 

 R. acris plenus (Bachelor's Buttons), 2 feet 

 high, is a double-flowering variety of our 

 native Crowfoot ; the golden-yellow blooms 

 are very welcome in the borders in May 

 and June. R. amplexicaulis (Alpine Crow- 

 foot), 9 to 12 inches high, has glaucous 



Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium coeruleum), a pretty pale blue hardy flower. 



grey foliage and pure white flowers in April 

 and May ; it is valuable in the border, bog 

 garden, and rockery. R. gnmineus, 12 

 inches high (graminifolius), having grass- 

 like foliage, has single, buttercup-yellow 

 flowers in April and May. R. Lingua (Giant 

 Golden Spearwort) is one of the best Crow- 

 foots for the waterside ; it grows 3 to 4 feet 

 high, and from June to September produces 

 large golden-yellow flowers frody. Amateurs 

 living in the suburbs sometimes complain that 

 their garden is too damp and shady for 

 flowers. The Crowfoots revel in such con- 

 ditions. 



Romneya (California!! Bush Poppy). 

 Words cannot be found adequately to 



