Ootober 19, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



341 



The border in front of the cottage to which I refer, and in 

 whioh I once lived, is made up to a considerable depth with 

 stones to act as drainage to the cottage, and the soil on the 

 top of these contains a portion of old lime rubbish, and the 

 plant grows there with greater luxuriance than any Canary 

 plant I have ever seen. 



I am trying to establish the plant here from those, and I 

 have been successful so far, but it will take years to establish 

 itself in any place like what "A Ramblek " saw of it at Ken- 

 more toll-house. It has been there now, to my knowledge, for 

 nearly ten years, and it was established there before I saw it ; 

 and to see it there now in full flower is a sight not readily to 

 be forgotten.— Jas. Fairweatheb. 



GREEN CARPET PLANTS. 



Since that easily grown and extremely accommodating plant 

 Tagetes signata pumila was planted in the beds at the Crystal 

 Palace, the necessity for employing green in carpet-bedding 

 designs has become firmly established. The introduction of 

 green into beds of coloured foliage was a bold innovation, for 

 until then the grass surrounding the beds had been considered 

 sufficient of that neutral colour. That the judicious employ- 

 ment of dwarf plants with green foliage is not only per- 

 missible but advantageous for associating with such plants as 

 Golden Feather, crimson Alternantheras, &c, many of the 

 best beds both in the public parks and private gardens testify. 

 The green divisional bands separating the brighter panels have 

 added greatly to the finished effect of the beds, and green 

 carpet plants at once became popular. 



As was to be expected, other dwarf-growing green carpet 

 plants than the Tagetes were sought for, and the result is that 

 some of them have proved extremely suitable for carpet bed- 

 ding. With the undoubted advantages of the Tagetes — its 

 ready growth from seed and its elegantly cut and bright green 

 foliage — must be considered the disadvantage that to keep it 

 sufficiently dwarf and constantly green continued pinchinga 

 must be resorted to. That not only involves considerable 

 labour, but the result, especially towards the end of the season, 

 is not always, satisfactory. After the pinching has been over 

 and over again repeated the plants become stubby, and instead 

 of the feathery-green surface which is so pleasing, the plants 

 show the pinched stems which destroy at once the softness and 

 smoothness whioh render the lines so attractive. 



In order to obviate the labour of pinching, and as seeking to 

 produce a low smooth carpet of green, Cerastium arvense was 

 la9t year introduced into the carpet beds in Battersea Park. 

 At the first sight this plant was considered a success, but as 

 the season advanced its popularity decreased, its colour being 

 too dull to be permanently satisfying, and it has only been 

 employed to a limited extent during the present season. 

 Taking, therefore, the two plants, Tagetes and green Ceras- 

 tium, the former i3 still the most generally useful, although the 

 latter is not to be despised, especially as it needs no pinching. 



Other substitutes for the Tagetes have this year been sought 

 for at the Crystal Palace, and in the excellent beds there some 

 of the dwarf Saxifrages have been employed, such as Saxifraga 

 hypnoides, S. Gmelini, and others ; also the green Mesembry- 

 anthemum cordifolium. The latter plant, which grows more 

 vigorously than M. cordifolium variegatum, is too robust for the 

 chaste designs of small beds; and the Saxifrages, while being 

 both dwarf and green, have a more or less tufty appearance, 

 and cannot be considered as perfect green carpet plants, and 

 so far as these plants are concerned the Tagetes is still not 

 superseded. 



But there are other plants remaining to be noticed, and 

 these we find in a private garden the fame of which has 

 become widely spread. In Mr. Ralli's garden at Cleveland 

 House, Clapham Park, are two green carpet plants which may 

 be fairly considered to take the foremost place in carpet-bed- 

 ding arrangements, and which cannot fail to be largely used 

 where this style of flower-garden decoration is adopted. Both 

 theBe plants are hardy, both are of a bright refreshing green, 

 and both are dwarf requiring no pinching. Mr. Legg, besides 

 haying the honour of producing the most perfect carpet beds 

 whioh have yet been seen, has the credit of introducing into 

 this mode of decoration the two perfect green cushion plants, 

 Sedum Lydium and Mentha Pulegium gibraltarica. Hundreds 

 of people have by the kindness of Mr. Ralli seen these plants 

 during the present season, and in all probability not one has 

 been able to find fault with them. That in these days cf 

 criticism is high praise. 



It is certain that these plants will spread largely and will 

 be planted in many gardens next year. Both are extremely 

 effective, and they serve two distinct purposes in carpet 

 bedding. For narrow lines, chains, and connecting links 

 the Mentha is pre-eminently suitable. For this purpose no 

 other green oushion plant can approach it. At Cleve- 

 land House it is planted in a series of loops, like the links 

 in a chain, down the centre of a long bed, the spaces be- 

 tween the links and the angles of the bed being filled with 

 very dwarf plants of Golden Feather. It is an extremely 

 simple arrangement ; but few, if any, beds outBide the same 

 garden can be found which are equally striking. In all proba- 

 bility the ground on which the Mentha chain is laid has been 

 slightly raised above the general level of the bed. At any rata 

 the Mentha shows clearly and distinctly above the golden 

 ground of the Pyrethrum. Anything in its way more effective 

 than this combination of green and gold can scarcely be 

 imagined. 



But while the Mentha is specially adapted for lines of say 

 G inches in width, Sedum Lydium for forming a broad ex- 

 panse of green as a groundwork, for a pattern wrought out in 

 brighter colours, is particularly suitable. In the flower garden 

 referred to this Sedum is employed in both ways — that is, it 

 is made to form green divisional lines 5 or 6 inches wide sepa- 

 rating brighter colours, and it is also employed in a broader ex- 

 panse and forms the groundwork for a coloured deBign. In 

 the former case it is effective, but in the latter it is especially 

 charming, and it is possibly the finest of all dwarf bedding 

 plants for producing a broad groundwork of the brightest 

 green. In order, however, that it may continue really green 

 and refreshing it must be planted in good soil and be kept 

 regularly supplied with water. If planted in poor soil, cr 

 allowed to become very dry, the foliage is apt to turn brown, 

 which considerably mars its beauty. It is free-growing, attain- 

 ing a height of 3 or 4 inches, producing a cushion-like surface 

 at" once close and elegant. 



Both this Sedum and the Mentha, as before remarked, are 

 perfectly hardy, which renderB them the more valuable. They 

 are sure to be much sought after by those who " go in " for 

 carpet bedding, and no small credit is due to Mr. Legg for 

 showing the great decorative qualities of two Buch useful 

 plants. 



The Mentha, it may be useful to add, is a Pennyroyal — the 

 Gibraltar Pennyroyal, and apparently differing from the 

 English type in the more erect growth of the former. Possibly 

 there will be those who will now try our old garden herb as a 

 green carpet-bedding plant, which may, perhaps, be elevated 

 from an obscure corner in the kitohen garden to a prominent 

 place on the terrace ; in the flower garden it may yet becomo 

 popular, especially if it is known by its name o£ Mentha 

 Pulegium ; " Pennyroyal " would scarcely do near the drawing- 

 room windows. The fame of its Spanish oongener is already 

 established as the foremost of green cushion plants for artistic 

 gardening. — A Paek Gardener. 



[The Mentha alluded to is probably the M. Pulegium erecta 

 of Miller. Miller states that he grew seventeen species or 

 varieties oi Pennyroyal, and the one in question he had from 

 Gibraltar. It speedily became popular in this country as a 

 market herb, its taller growth rendering it better capable of 

 being cut and tied in bunches than the English Pennyroyal. 

 Apparently the same plant is mentioned by Don under the 

 name of M. Palegium tomentosa, which name is appropriate, 

 for the stems and leaves of the plants are downy, although 

 this is not perceptible unless it is closely examined, its general 

 appearanc3 being bright green and shining. By Wildenow it 

 is named M. Pulegium gibraltarica, and it is simply noticed as 

 a variety of the common Pennyroyal. — Eds.] 



CKAWEOBD'S EABLT PEACH. 



Nine years ago in renewing the trees on a south Peach wall 

 at another residence belonging to my employer I, amongst 

 others, had two trees of the above variety planted. These, 

 which were subjected to ordinary treatment, have done well, 

 and produced in common with the others good crops of regu- 

 lar-sized fruit of average quality. I was so much Btruck with 

 the appearance of the fiuit on these trees that I determined to 

 introduce the variety into the gardens here, which I did in 

 the spring of 1872, where under my personal management it 

 has fully sustained its good character, and I have been rewarded 

 with some examples of fruit which have surpassed even such 



