412 



JOUENAIi OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENES. 



[ November SO, 1871. 



mann third in the liet, only Marecbal Niel and Baroness 

 Eothpchild being named by everyone. However, I am only 

 anticipating matters, and hope to be able to publiBh tbe full 

 list nest week. — C. P. Peach. 



BEDDING PLANTS IN 1871.— No. 4. 



I MUST apologise to some of your readers for having delayed 

 so long in sending this communication on bedding plants, but 

 I have had my time so occupied with other matters that I have 

 not been able to find the opportunity of finishing my notes. 



I have not very much to alter or to add to what I said on the 

 Bronze and Gold section last year. I have had twenty-four 

 varieties or so on trial this year. At present I think those 

 raised bj Mr. Laing, of the firm of Downie, Laird, & Lainpr, in- 

 comparably the best. Of these Imperatrioe Eugenie, the finest 

 in point of colour, is of too tender a growth for many gardens, 

 but is worth all the care and attention that can be paid to it, 

 and is especially good as a pot plant. As a bedder, however, it 

 is not so good as Crown Prince. This has a much more 

 vigorous habit, and retains the golden yellow of its leaves longer 

 than any other I have as yet tried. It is glorious both in spring 

 and autumn, and d es not turn green as many others, such as 

 Beuuiy of Cuiderdale, Her Majesty, Beauty of Oulton, &o. It 

 is invaluable, too, as a pot plant for exhibition on account of 

 its good habit, but in order to make a good plant it should be 

 pinched-in from the first. 



Brilliancy, another of Mr. Laing'e, is also very fine in point 

 of colour ; in fact, at times in pots it excels even Crown Prince, 

 but it has not so good a constitution or habit. 



For those who require a golden bed with very little mark- 

 ing, I can recommend Mrs. Lewis Lloyd, very dwarf-growing, 

 witn a spreading habit ; and Sceptre d'Or, of a more upright 

 habit than the last, and making an almost self yellow bed, the 

 bronze zone not being very distinctly marked, and s.hading ofi 

 into the leaf, but the gold in the centre and outside of the leaf 

 being very good. 



Of the sorts which are by this time very fairly known, I think 

 the best are Duke of Edinburgh and E. G. Henderson, both 

 very much alike, Ebor, and Kentish Hero. These are of good 

 constitution and growth, and though not so fine in their gold 

 or bronze as Crown Prince, Imperatrioe Eugenie, and Bril- 

 liancy, still do not turn green. 



Other sorts well worth retaining are Mrs. Allan Lowndes, a 

 fine pot plant ; Prima Donna, Fairy Eing, Countess of Kellie, 

 and Princess of Wales. They all require good treatment, 

 especially in the winter, and ought to be planted in favourable 

 ground. Those which I discard are Black Knight, James 

 Eichards, and Black Douglas, all of which have their zones too 

 dark, and are apt to turn green ; also Beauty of Calderdale, 

 Beauty of Eibblesdale, Sybil, Princess Alice, Sse, Their name 

 at present seems legion, Mr. Bull a one sending out forty or 

 so last season, having separated them into three distinct classes, 

 as Bronzes grown for their foliage ; Bronzes remarkable for the 

 beauty of their flowers ; and, thirdly, those remarkable for pe- 

 culiarity of shades of colours. Amongst these forty it is pro- 

 bable that only two or three can be worth much, as all Mr. 

 Bull's strain have too much green in them to please me, and it 

 is more probable still, that strip them of their flowers Cand it 

 is to be borne in mind that they should be grown for their 

 foliage and not for their flowers), they would hardly be dis- 

 tinguisbed one from another. 



There are three other promising sorts which I have not 

 sufiieiently tested yet ; these are Eeine Victoria, Marquis of 

 Lome, and Earl of Eosslyn. I have also omitted one which I 

 think may be considered as a Variegated Bronze, called Colum- 

 bine, raised at Chiswick, and which has a lighter shade of green 

 running across both the bionze zone and the inner and outer 

 rings of colour, and which this year proved very bright and 

 effective. One reason which induces me especially to mention 

 this is once more to protest against the Bronzes being classi- 

 fied as variegated Geraniums, as they have no more claim to 

 the title than any of the old dark Zonal varieties, as Baron 

 Eicasoli, Symmetry, Baron Hugel, &a. They do not, in short, 

 variegate or sport from the seedling in the same way as 

 Tricolors or Silver-edged plants, and we may soon have a strain 

 of Variegated Bronzes. 



The next section I come to are the Tricolors ; their name 

 again is legion. A list sent me the other day by a grower in the 

 trade contained 113 sorts, and I think for all practical pur- 

 poses ten or twelve are sufficient. I have found none yet to 

 beat Lady CaUum, and next to it Sophia Dnmaresque. I have 



not yet tried Achievement, Mrs. Headley, Princess of Wales, 

 and some others of the high-priced kinds, as I have not hitherto 

 considered them worth their market price, though Mrs. Headley 

 is likely to be a step in advance even of Lady Galium.- Mr. 

 Pearson has also some fine varieties in Mr. Sanday, Mrs. Edge, 

 Countess of Manvers, and also Edith Pearson, which I have 

 tried and succeeded with. Queen of the Tricolors, which was 

 not good with me last year, was good this. Louisa Smith has 

 not sufficient zone, while Sophia Cusack and Lucy Grieve do 

 not grow. One of the very best I have tried is one of Messrs. 

 Bell & Thorpe's calltd Macbeth, very stout in the texture of the 

 leaf, good zone, and a strong grower. I have no doubt it will 

 ultimately prove a fine border plant. 



Of the Gold-leaved and Gold-edged section I have not much 

 to say. I still prefer Cloth of Gold to Crystal Palace Gem, and 

 where it can be made to grow the old Golden Chain is best of 

 all, but I do not intend for the future to grow any more. Golden 

 Feather Pyrethrum supplies the place of gold-leaved Geraniums 

 without trouble ; and where the Pyrethrum does not harmonise 

 there is gold variegated Arabis, the larger variegated Periwinkle, 

 and other hardy gold-variegated plants which do not take up 

 house room, and give comparatively no trouble. 



The Silver Tricolors have only proved with me useful as pot 

 plants, and I do not think any of the new ones I have seen 

 much superior to Iialia Unita, unless I except Lass o'Gowrie. 



Of White-edged Zonala I still prefer Flower of Spring, as 

 being the most compact in its habit, short-jointed, and full of 

 foliage, and if only sufficient use is made of the old plants there 

 is none superior. May Qireen (Turner's), and Pearl (Pear- 

 son's), are its two greatest rivals, but I confess I still prefer 

 Flower of Spring to either of them. Alma still keeps up its 

 superiority to Bijou, which, though very white in the leaf, is of 

 such bad habit and of so rough an outline as not to be worth 

 keeping. Miss Kingsbury is good, but not so good as I expected. 



To quit the subject of Pelargoniums, there are other bedding 

 plants that have bten invaluable this summer. First, I would 

 mention Little Gem Lobelia. This for the third year has proved 

 to be all that could be desired ; it is the only Lobelia I know 

 that with good growth clothes itself fully with green foliage 

 before it blooms. It is very compact in its habit, free-blooming, 

 short-jointed, but is a much better grower than the Pamila 

 section, in colour like Pastoni. We only want a dark blue of 

 the same habit to have all we require, and I am in hopes 

 another Lobelia I have tried this year. Indigo Blue, wiU be 

 nearly as good. The dark blue Lobelia, Pumila elegans, has 

 also done very well with me, and a white, or very nearly white 

 one, called Pearl. I may mention of Lobelia Little Gem, that 

 a row planted from a spent hotbed about the 18th of May was 

 in full beauty by the middle of July, and lasted in good bloom 

 till the end of September, and everyone who saw it said it was 

 the most perfect line of Lobelia ever seen. It began to bloom 

 about the first week in June, and the cuttings were all struok 

 in the spring — early in February. 



Ageratum Imperial Dwarf also proved a most valuable plant, 

 good both for rows and beds. Tom Thumb was too dwarf 

 with me, but would be very good for those who like pincushion 

 beds with succulents, as the Echeverias, Sempervivums, and 

 Alternantheras, but which I am obliged to own do not please 

 my taste, as there is too much floricultnral miUinery about 

 them, and they do not harmonise with other beds. Beds such 

 as that which Messrs. Veitch planted in the large tent at 

 Nottingham are interesting per se, and curious for the number 

 of plants that can be put into a very small space, but indi- 

 vidually they give me no pleasure after I have once seen them, 

 and ought when they are used to stand in a place by themselves. 



More use ought to be made, I think, of Petunias. One raised 

 by Messrs. Bell & Thorpe, called Single Beauty, has some of 

 the richest and most varied colours I ever saw in any Petunia, 

 and from its freedom of blooming and habit of growth it would 

 be sure of making a fine bed. 



In spite of all that has been said against Beet, because it is 

 esculent, I still think it by far the best of the dark-coloured- 

 foliaged plants ; my only trouble was with the sparrows, which 

 are too fond of it when young. I cannot see that it makes the 

 leaf a whit less beautiful because the root happens to be useful 

 as a kitchen-garden crop ; we might as well not grow the 

 Pyrethrum because it is a Chamomile, and puts one in mind of 

 Norton's pills. I have tried four sorts, but found three of 

 them identical — they are Dell's, Osborn's, and Carter's Crimson 

 Beet. Nutting's Dwarf Selected was different, but not so good. 

 Some seed which was kindly given me on trial by Mr. Suther- 

 land, of Castle Howard, and saved by him, was very good and 



