464 



JGUKNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ December 14, 1871. 



The situation should be open. Shaded places answer for 

 Feres, but not for Heaths, and if there is a spot that is exposed 

 to every breeze, there have the Heathery. Heaths like air, 

 sun, and moisture, but will also live in shaded places, for 1 

 know several acres of Scotch Fir and Larch, where the ground 

 is covered with a close carpet of Heath, but in the sunny open 

 spots the bloom is best. 



The best time to plant is, perhaps, February, but from 

 October to March inclusive will answer. To give an immediate 

 effect plant thickly ; very little of the bare soil need be left, 

 whilst the greatest distance apart should be egual to the height 

 of each kind. 



The after-treatment is very simple ; all they want is to be 

 kept clear of weeds, and to be pruned occasionally to preserve 

 them in form, for however much irregularity of growth may 

 break the monotony of the effect in a wild state, in a culti- 

 vated one irregularity of one form is not admitted. Pruning is 

 best done jast before the plants commence growth. It it can 

 be afforded, top-dress with any grass-edging parings, thiu turf 

 reduced to soil, cocoa-nut refuse, old cow dung, or the short 

 grass of the lawn. Half an inch deep of any of these materials 

 applied in October will be sufficient for a year ; it is then that 

 they put out roots innumerable, and not only Heaths, but every 

 kind of American plant. From my observation of the state of 

 the roots, the end of September is the best time to remove this 

 class of plants, but if they have been grown in sheltered 

 positions, as they are in nurseries, with the view, no doubt, of 

 obtaining a saleable plant in the least time, they are best re- 

 moved in spring, when danger from sharp weather is past, and 

 they can establish themselves before the return of severe 

 weather. 



Hardy Heaths look best in an arrangement of beds on grass, 

 and may enter into geometrical or symmetrical combinations 

 along with summer bedding plants, for I do not know by what 

 law Heaths, and other profase-ilowering low shrubs, which 

 are as effective by their foliage as their flowers, should be ex- 

 cluded from flower-garden arrangements. A few good beds of 

 Heaths, if only for their light and elegant foliage, ought to be 

 acceptable, as taking away or toning down those glaring masses 

 of bloom for which our flower gardens are remarkable — or 

 were, for thanks to the introduction of fine-foliaged plants, this 

 dazzling brightness has been toned down considerably, and is 

 now tolerable, which is more than could be said a few years ago. 



The best arrangement of Heaths, is, perhaps, in the pic- 

 turesque style, and associated with other shrubs not necessarily 

 American, for they never look so well as with Faize (nothing 

 makes a finer mass than the Double-flowered Furze, a mass of 

 golden colour, and afterwards a mass of glaucous green, which 

 will set-off bedding flowers better than nine-tenths of the plants 

 used for the purpose), Andromeda, Cistus, and the like, and 

 even with others they are well adapted for the most refined 

 arrangements. 



I shall not propose any particular mode of arrangement, for 

 one cannot well be decided on without a knowledge of the 

 ground, and it is best left to individual taste. I will now give 

 a list of the best, freest, and most constant-flowering Heaths : — 



Erica vnlgaris alba, white. 



flore-pleno, pale purple, 

 tomentosa, pale red. 

 ai'genteo-variesata, wHte 



variegated leaves. 

 anreo-variegata, gold 



variegated leaves. 



Erica vulgaris coccinea, red. 

 Alportii, red. 

 rubra, reddish pnrple. 

 pallida, pale purple. 

 Hammondii, flesh, 

 sti'icta, reddisli purple, 

 tenella, pale red. 



These are all of very close stiff growth, and attain a height 

 of from 1 to 3 feet. They usually flower towards the end of 

 June, are a mass of bloom at the beginning of August, and the 

 flowering is continued until the end of September. The varie- 

 gated kinds are of lower growth, and form fine edgings to 

 clumps of the other kinds. E. vulgaris stricta is of erect 

 growth, and is suitable for dotting in the picturesque style. 



Erica cinerea, pale purple or grey, 

 alba, -white, 

 rubra, red. 

 carnea, flesh. 



Erica cinerea 



atro-purpurea, 

 purple, 

 rosea, rose. , 

 coccinea, bright red. 



These have all small flowers, and form a dense carpet about 

 a foot high. They commence flowering in June, and continue 

 in bloom up to September inclusive. 

 Erica Tetralix, pale flesh. I Erica Tetralix rubra, red. 



alba, white. I carnea, flesh. 



These are rather looie-growing plants, with graceful flowers 

 from the early part of June until the end of August. 



Erica vagans, pale red. 1 Erica vagans carnea, flesh, 



alba, white. | rubra, deep red. 



These are of rather straggling growth, but, nevertheless, form 

 good masses about 1 to IJ foot in height, flowering from July 

 to October. 



E . ciliaris, pale pnrple, of fine and neat habit, 1 foot high ; July to 

 September inclusive. 



E. mnltiflora alba, white, and multiflora rubra, red. These are 

 fine, and flower from July to November. 



E. stricta, pale purple, of stiff erect growth, flowering from August 

 to November ; height, 2 feet. 



E. Mackiana, reddish purple, flowering from June to September. 



The preceding are summer-flowering kinds ; they form very 

 effective small or large groups, and are very hardy, except 

 E. stricta, which is from South Europe, and in a moist soil 

 the growth sometimes suffers from frost. 



Erica carnea, flesh with purple, about 6 inches high, dense close 

 gi'owth, and covered with flowers from December to April. It is well 

 adapted for edgings, forms a fine group, and may be effectively em- 

 ployed for winter and spring flower-garden decoration. 



Erica herbacea, flesh, 

 alba, white, 

 carnea, deep flesh or pink. 



These flower from December to April, and are similar to the 

 preceding. The last-named does not flower until March. 



Erica arborea, white. February to May. It is of tall growth, 4 to 

 5 feet, and requires a sheltered spot, but open. 



Erica codonoides, pale rose, with larger flowers than E. arborea, of 

 more slender growth. It grows 6 feet high or more in sheltered places, 

 which it requires. February to April. 



Erica australis, pale purple. 



nana, pale purple and very dwarf, 

 rosea, rose. 



These are of very close growth, and attain from 9 inches to 

 a foot in height. They flower from March to June. 



Erica scoparia, tall and slender, sometimes attaining from 4 to 6 feet 

 in height. 

 nana, dwarf, about 1 foot to 1 foot 6 inches, 

 minima, attains to 2 or 3 feet. 

 All have greenish flowers in April and May. 



Erica mediterranea, purple, 3 to 4 feet, 

 glauca, foliage glaucous, 

 hibemica, erect stiff habit. 



nana, dwarf, but stiff habit. 

 Flower from February to May, and require sheltered plaeea. 



Menziesia polifolia, purplish red. 



alba, white. 



atro-purpurea, deep reddish purple, 

 pumda stricta alba, white. 

 The first three attain a height of IJ to 2 feet, and produce their 

 fine showy flowers in July and August, but the last attains a 

 leaf-growth of not more than 9 inches, seldom that, and sends 

 up very many spike-like flower-shoots 1 to 1} foot high, or more, 

 and on these are borne fine large white Lily-of-the- Valley-like 

 bells. The effect is good from July to November ; indeed 

 whilst I write (November 2nd), the plants are conspicuous by 

 their pure white flower-bells. It flowers more or less all the 

 year round, and a mass of it is fine. I have it in patches of 

 half a dozen, or a dozen, up to fifty, planted at about 2 feet 

 apart in ordinary loamy soil on the margin of Khododendron 

 beds, not in a line, but as a mass next the grass, where it serves 

 to break the outline of a plain figure of shrubs, and it has a 

 good effect. Sandy well-drained soil is most suitable. Where 

 common shrubs grow it will succeed, only it must have light to 

 flower. — G. Abbey. 



THE THIRTY-SIX BEST EOSES. 

 I HAVE given the names of what I consider the best twelve 

 Eoses ; I will now make the number thirty-six. I have left 

 out some beautiful Eoses because of their deficiency in growth 

 or hardihood, or both — such as Louis Van Houtte (Lacharme), 

 Marie Baumann, Marquise de Mortemart, Madame Furtado 

 (the best specimen of an exhibition Eose), and Madame Vidot 

 and Madame Eivere, the best Hybrid Perpetual light Eoses. 

 The above Eoses are suited only to amateurs, or rich people 

 who can afford to replace them from time to time. They are 

 a paradox ; they will win all hearts and break a good many. 

 Marie Baumann is a most beautiful and perfect Eose, but at 

 this place a miserable grower on the Manetti stock. I have for 

 three years had twenty plants of this variety, which have become 

 email by degrees and miserably less. Moreover, it has the 



