GROUPS OF GARDEN FLOWERS 19 



kind ; it is really an improvement upon it. Many of the forms are very 

 handsome, say a pure white bloom richly blotched inside with chocolate, 

 dabs of dark colour on a snowy ground. 



Hollyhocks. Hollyhocks are noble garden hardy flowers, and 

 grouped freely make picturesque features in the border or arranged 

 against perhaps an oaken fence or grey stone wall. All the garden 

 forms have been derived from Althaea rosea, and remember that good 

 living keeps the Hollyhock disease in check. The plants need very rich 

 soil, plenty of manure, and when the spikes are rising liquid manure 

 occasionally will be helpful. Stake the stems securely, and try and get 

 varieties of a good colour. In Wood and Garden, p. 105, it is mentioned : 

 " Hollyhocks have been fine in spite of the disease, which may be partly 

 checked by very liberal treatment. By far the most beautiful is one of 

 a pure pink colour, with a wide outer frill. It came first from a cottage 

 garden, and has always since been treasured. I call it Pink Beauty. 

 The wide outer petal (a heresy to the florist) makes the flower infinitely 

 more beautiful than the all-over full-double form that alone is esteemed 

 upon the show table. I shall hope in time to come upon the same shape 

 of flower in white, sulphur, rose-colour, and deep blood-crimson, the 

 colours most worth having in Hollyhocks." There are several ways of 

 increasing Hollyhocks. A very simple one is by seed, but unfortunately 

 one cannot be quite sure that the seedlings will reproduce the likeness 

 of the parent. Frequently single flowers occur, which though showy 

 and beautiful, are quickly past their best, and a dingy magenta or purple 

 is common too, a flower harsh, unpleasant, and unnatural. Seedlings 

 are less likely to perpetuate the disease than cuttings, eyes, or root 

 division, but when named varieties are desired, and there are still some 

 of the old kinds in existence before the visitation of disease, by cuttings 

 eyes or roots is the way to proceed. The time to sow seed is early 

 autumn or in February. Sow it in a cold frame and in a shallow pan 

 filled with ordinary soil. Pot off and transplant in the usual way, and 

 when increasing by division let this be done in spring when new growth 

 is commencing. We do not advise the amateur to raise Hollyhocks by 

 either eyes or cuttings. The following remedy for Hollyhock disease is 

 recommended by Messrs. Webb & Brand, the well-known Hollyhock 

 specialists. Slake one bushel of lime, and, when cool, add one bushel of 

 soot, 4 Ibs. flowers of sulphur, and 2 oz. sulphate of copper, finely 

 powdered. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and dust the plants 

 well over with it three or four times during the growing season and 

 when the leaves are wet with dew. 



Irises. There are two groups of Iris, one bulbous, and the other 

 rhizomatous ; the former is dealt with in the list of bulbous flowers 

 (p. 109). The Flag or Bearded Iris (/. germanica) has many forms, 

 which make noble groups in the garden during the early summer, suc- 

 ceeding almost everywhere, even upon a hot sunny dry bank, when 

 the soil underneath is fairly rich. The best time to plant is immediately 

 after flowering, but they may be moved at almost any time. Many 

 a half-shady spot receives its beauty in summer from the massing 



