666 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[December 8, 1888. 



though equally good forms, may serve to exhibit 

 their diversity of colour. 



New Varieties. — Sir Joseph Terry, rich black- violet 

 self; a very free and continuous bloomer; Ethel 

 Baxter, bright rosy-peuce, with darker veins, the 

 upper petals shaded lilac, also an excellent variety ; 

 Mrs. Baxter, rich rosy-purple, shaded with lilac and 

 lavender : a fine bedder ; Merchistoa Castle, rich 

 crimson, shaded with violet, and margined with 

 white — a most distinct shade ; Spotted Gem, a rosy- 

 purple flower, flushed with white — very free and 

 distinct. 



The following are among the best of the older 

 varieties : — Whites : Countess of Hopetoun, Jaffray- 

 anum, Pilrig Park, Champion, and Mrs. Smith, the 

 first being decidedly the best white Viola yet raised. 

 Yellows : Ardwell Gem, Bullion, Golden Prince 

 Improved, and Golden Queen of Spring. Lavender 

 or mauve shades : elegans and Duchess of Albany 

 are the best. Then we have excellent kinds in 

 Bronze Queen, True Blue, Cliveden Purple compacta, 

 Queen of Lilacs, and Queen of Purples, all of which 

 enjoy descriptive names and are first-rate bedders. 

 Archie Grant is a bold, handsome kind, with rich, 

 violet, purple-blue flowers ; while Countess of Kin- 

 tore, a most popular market variety, has purple, 

 slate-blue and white flowers, an excellent bedder in 

 every respect. There are many other good kinds, 

 but the above will be ample to select from, while 

 those who select from them may have the satisfac- 

 tion that they are all excellent bedders, free 

 bloomers, and possessed of sound, vigorous consti- 

 tution, Viola. 



HARDY FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



THE AURICULA. 



December is the resting period for these plants, 

 but whether it is so will greatly depend upon the 

 weather. It was cold enough in October, but from 

 the middle to the end of November the weather has 

 been exceptionally mild, and the appearance of the 

 plants is more like spring than November. I like 

 my plants to put on their best dress in April, not in 

 November and December. No plant known to me 

 likes less to be excited at unseasonable times ; and 

 they seldom afford first-class trusses of bloom in 

 April unless they have a season of perfect rest in 

 December and January, and this resting period can 

 only be obtained if the weather be cold. All we can 

 do at present is to remove the lights from the frames 

 entirely when possible, admitting air freely when the 

 lights cannot be removed. It is favourable weather 

 for seedlings and small offsets ; these are looking 

 very well, and none of them have died off from damp. 

 I am of course careful to remove all dead and decay- 

 ing leaves, alike from the old and the young plants. 

 I have so often urged the importance of destroying 

 all the aphis tribe, that nothing further need be said 

 on that head. Of one thing I am more and 

 more convinced as the years go on, that grave 

 errors are committed by standing the pots on, or 

 plunging them in, ashes or cocoa-fibre refuse. 

 I have only just heard of an amateur who 

 has lost some of his plants, and had others 

 injured, by merely standing the pots containing 

 the plants on ashes which must have contained 

 deleterious substances. Some years ago I placed a 

 frame full of plants on cocoa fibre refuse, and about 

 an equal number on trellis-work in the frame, the 

 trellis being of wood — the plants did best on the 

 wooden trellis. Mr. Horner grows his best plants 

 on a wooden trellis all the year round ; so also does 

 Mr. Simonite, of Sheffield. All our plants have 

 this year been grown in a similar manner. I merely 

 mention this as one of the details of the work, worth 

 the notice of amateurs. It may be a small matter, 

 but attention to the smallest details of our work 

 brings success in the long run. Out-of-doors, plants 

 look remarkably well, and, in my own case, have for 

 some time been almost smothered with decayed 

 leaves blown into them from Lime and other trees 

 near. As long as the leaves are dry there would be 



no danger of the plants being injured, but if a long- 

 continued period of rainy weather set in, decay of 

 the main stems may be engendered, and the plants 

 might die. It is better, therefore, to clear off all 

 these leaves together with the decaying leaves of 

 the plants and leave the latter without this protec- 

 tion. Pot plants should not be allowed to suffer 

 from excessive drought, although quite the minimum 

 of water is required in December and January. 



Carnations and Picotees. 



At p. 446 of the present volume I made some 

 comments upon taking off the layers for potting or 

 planting-out. At that time many growers were com- 

 plaining about the layers being badly rooted and the 

 weather being very cold ; the prospect of getting the 

 plants well established before the winter was not very 

 promising, but November has been much better than 

 October for the plants, and if they have been well 

 cared for they will now be in a good condition to 

 pass through the winter. All my pot plants are well 

 established, and at present they look very promising. 

 The whole collection has been thoroughly cleaned, 

 and the surface soil stirred up, removing weeds, and 

 killing any insects found on the leaves. Where the 

 plants are well established, the lights are removed 

 entirely from the frames to allow the air to play 

 freely around them. I have a number not so well 

 established, and these have been placed in a small 

 frame by themselves where they can be kept closer ; 

 the plants always keep more plump, and produce 

 roots more freely in a close frame. 



Out-of-doors plants are looking very well, the 

 seedlings better than one could expect, after the way 

 they were deluged with rain, in some cases being 

 under water for two days, about August 1. The 

 ground became excessively hard afterwards, but since 

 it has been stirred up the plants have become well 

 established, and are now quite vigorous, although of 

 small size. 



Tree or Perpetual Flowering Carnations. 



These plants require a night temperature of 55°, 

 less or more, to develope the flowers perfectly. The 

 plants are not so strong this season as usual, and 

 the best is the yellow fringed variety, Andalusia. 

 This has always flowered freely with me at this time 

 of the year. Besides the perpetual flowering varieties 

 we potted up a number of plants of the ordinary 

 kind of Carnations, and included a few of the ordi- 

 nary Picotees. These were plants that spindled for 

 bloom soon after layering. We have been able to 

 cut blooms out-of-doors during the last week in 

 November in sheltered places, so mild has been the 

 weather. I saw in Messrs. Paul's nursery at Cheshunt 

 some very dwarf varieties flowering most freely ; they 

 had been dug up from the open ground and potted 

 some time in October. The plants were about 1 foot 

 high and a mass of bloom. The best of them were 

 Albertine Carle, blush; Alegatiere, scarlet; Jtan 

 Sisley, buff, scarlet stripes ; Madame Carle, pure 

 white. J. Douglas. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



NOTES FROM COOMBE WOOD. 

 Daphne Mezereon autcmnalis. — A fortnight 

 ago, on a visit to the Coombe Wood nurseries of 

 Messrs. Veitch, we noticed a number of plants of 

 this handsome Mezereon in full bloom. Scarcely 

 a fully expanded flower was to be found on any of 

 the plants of the typical species, and in addition 

 to its precocity in the matter of flowering, the 

 individual blossoms were decidedly larger, and of a 

 deeper shade of colour, than those of the old- 

 fashioned but deservedly popular Daphne Mezereon. 

 We were informed that the variety whose name 

 figures at the beginning of this note had already been 

 in flower a week or two previous to our visit. Does 

 any reader of these columns know the history and 

 origin of this fine variety ? If so, he would doubt- 

 less confer a favour on many readers by publishing 

 the facts, 



Ligustrum Massalonghianum. 

 In vol. xvi., p. 149, of the Gardeners' Chronicle is 

 given a figure of this handsome Privet, which we 

 recently saw flowering freely in pots. Although not 

 as hardy as many of the Privets, it is a plant well 

 worth growing for the beauty of its compact panicles 

 of white flowers with reddish-brown anthers. Its 

 floriferousness, compact habit, and the peculiar 

 aspect of its long narrow leaves, make it a very de- 

 sirable plant for corridor or cool conservatory decora- 

 tion. It is a native of the IChasia Hills. 



Hvmenanthera crassifolia. 



One of the most remarkable of hardy shrubs now 

 to be seen in the nursery is the plant figured in the 

 Gardeners'' Chronicle for 1875, vol. iii., p. 237. Messrs. 

 Veitch's finest specimen is a dense bush, nearly 

 5 feet high, and as much through, laden with small 

 white berries. It is a native of New Zealand, and is 

 remarkable as being the only member of the Violet 

 family (of a shrubby nature) which is hardy in the 

 climate of Britain. 



Cydonia japonica Moerloosei. 



Among the numerous forms of the old Japan 

 Quince this is perhaps the most continuous flowerer. 

 At any rate it is the only one in the nursery which 

 exhibited quite a profusion of scarlet flowers. It is 

 said to be almost always in flower, and the effect it 

 produced on a dull November day can be readily ima- 

 gined. Evidently there are two plants — quite distinct 

 from each other — cultivated under the name given at 

 the head of this note in different nurseries ; for on 

 consulting the descriptive catalogue of one of the 

 principal German establishments, Cydonia japonica 

 Moerloosei, we found, was credited with having 

 white flowers washed with carmine. Whatever may 

 be the right name of the Coombe Wood plant, it is a 

 good thing. 



Magnolia grandiflora. 



Without a doubt this is truly a very fine shrub, 

 and its white, sweet-scented, cup-shaped, very fra- 

 grant flowers of large size never fail to elicit admira- 

 tion, whether viewed on the plant, or when cut. 

 Unfortunately as cut flowers they are of short dura- 

 tion. In a fair-sized room two flowers are suffi- 

 cient to scent it, and any more would be less 

 pleasant. The blooms are not very much inferior 

 to those of the Victoria Regia, to which, at first 

 sight, they bear a considerable resemblance. It is 

 somewhat strange that although the plant has been 

 in this country for over 150 years, yet fine specimens 

 are rather the exception than the rule in gardens — 

 a fact which may be due to its being too tender 

 to do well in the colder and rougher parts of the 

 kingdom. At all events, as a flowering shrub, or 

 half tree in the open, but with the protection of a 

 wall, in a warm position, it will grow vigorously and 

 flower freely, attaining large dimensions. Good 

 examples of the plant on a wall may be seen in the 

 Earl of Ashburnham's gardens at Ashburnham 

 Place, Battle, Sussex, where, amongst others, two 

 large plants of the Exmouth variety have been in 

 Bplendid flower this past season. The plants cover 

 a great expanse of a wall, which is about 20 feet 

 high, and not a few of the blooms were nearly a foot 

 across. Mr. Holmes, the gardener, informed me that 

 these specimens were more or less in flower for the 

 greater part of the year, and that the variety is much 

 superior to the ordinary form of M. grandiflora in 

 the quantity and quality of its flowers. F. Boss. 



Plants and Their Culture. 



Aspidistra ldrida. — There are few plants can so 

 well withstand the adverse conditions to which they 

 are exposed in house decoration ; but it is of much 

 importance that the leaves be kept free from dust 

 by frequently sponging them. Notwithstanding its 

 enduring qualities it is desirable to occasionally 

 renew a portion of the stock; and this, owing 

 to the comparatively slow rate at which it can 

 be propagated, is possibly a great drawback. Seeds 



