528 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 29, 1890. 



Hardy Autumn Flowers.— Amongst the best of these in 

 bloom now— in the second week of October — are the follow- 

 ing: Belladonna 'Lily — a border rilled with this plant, under 

 the lea of a warm-house wall facing south, is covered with the 

 tall spikes of Mowers of this beautiful Cape bulb. The color 

 varies from white, tinged with rose, to a rich rose-red ; the 

 trumpets are numerous and durable as well as beautiful ; one 

 does not hesitate to declare that this plant has no equal among 

 hardy autumn-flowering bulbs. The Belladonna Lily requires 

 a warm wall and it must not be disturbed when once planted, 

 unless the bulbs become crowded. 



In the same border with the Belladonnas is a large group of 

 the rich colored Cape Irid, Schizostylis coccinea, with Ixia- 

 shaped Mowers. From the middle of September until the 

 middle of November they will be beautiful, unless there is a 

 very sharp frost ; they are not affected by a degree or two, 

 merely close their cups until the sun comes to warm them 

 into expanding again. An edging of the autumn Daffodil, 

 Sternbergia lutea, one of the brightest of yellow Mowers, is 

 beautiful in itself, and harmonizes with the rich crimson of the 

 Schizostylis. A bed of the new Anomatheca grandiflora is an 

 attraction of more than ordinary interest. Evidently, this 

 plant will prove as useful for autumn effect as the Shizostylis, 

 for its large rich crimson and maroon Mowers come at the 



same time and are almost as effective. 



Kew. 



W. Watson. 



Cultural Department. 

 Tuberous Begonias. 



IN the absence of frost hybrid tuberous Begonias still make 

 a brave show out-of-doors, though they have about 

 ceased to grow and few new Mowers are expanding. The 

 exact value of these plants for bedding in this latitude is yet 

 to be determined. Last summer with much wet weather and 

 inclination to coolness beds of Begonias were very attractive 

 and successful with little care. This season they do not appear 

 to have done so well unless carefully watched and tended. 

 My plants, at least, seemed to halt in their growth, were not 

 nearly so Moriferous and were attacked by black rust. The 

 claim often made that tuberous Begonias are the coming 

 bedding plants is hardly likely to prove true. In the first 

 place they require, from the nature of their growth, more care 

 than most people, not professional, are willing to give bedding 

 plants, and they need selected situations with a certain amount 

 of natural shading. Even when carefully hardened they are 

 often burned by a fierce summer sun, and in some conditions 

 of climate are quickly attacked by rust. But with a careful 

 selection of varieties of dwarf growth and stiff peduncles, 

 beautiful bedding effects may be made with these plants, and 

 they are well worth the necessary care. 



Probably no Mowers suffer less from continued drenchings 

 and no blooms are more showy. An unpleasing color is sel- 

 dom or never seen among them. The improvement of the 

 hybrid Begonias has not yet ceased. Growers are now giving 

 their attention to strains of dwarf growth, and, with rigid pedun- 

 cles, carrying Mowers well above the foliage. As greenhouse 

 Mowers tuberous Begonias leave little to be desired, brighten- 

 ing up the house from early July to late in the year ; in fact, 

 some of the Socotrana hybrids carry the season through the 

 winter. In the greenhouse they require all possible air and 

 judicious shading. Hitherto we have had no fragrant tuber- 

 ous Begonias, but a species has been collected in South Amer- 

 ica whose Mowers have a distinct and agreeable fragrance. 

 This Begonia, known as B. Baumanni, will probably enable 

 hybridizers to give us a race of hybrids in which perfume will 

 give a perfect charm to the admirable blooms. 



Besides the hybrids with great showy blooms, some of the 

 smaller blooming species are now specially attractive. B. 

 geranioides, from a low cluster of round leaves, throws up 

 numerous racemes of dainty Mowers, whose pure white is 

 accented by a dot of golden stamens. The plant has a curious 

 resemblance to a Pelargonium, and is from Natal, as is also B. 

 Natalensis, which has been before noted in these columns as 

 a very pleasing and distinct variety with small dark orange 

 flowers and metallic green foliage. B. Martiana grandiflora, 

 racemiflora and diver sifolia are three varieties of B. gracilis 

 which can be recommended to all lovers of dainty beauty 

 in plants. From the tubers are thrown numerous gradually 

 lengthening stems, on which expand a succession of pink 

 Mowers, producing an effect as unique as it is pleasing. B. 

 Martiana is an old introduction from our south-west border or 

 northern Mexico, I believe, but is even yet apparently not well 

 distributed. 



Elizabeth, N.J. /• -tv. C. 



The Newer Gladioli. 



T AST year much was said in the papers about a strain of 

 - 1 — ' Gladioli which had been produced in California, but I am 

 sorry to say that these sorts, of which I had formed such high 

 expectations, are not what we consider very good flowers in 

 the vicinity of Boston. None of them withstand the sun better 

 than our ordinary kinds ; none of them have flowers above 

 the ordinary size ; none of the flowers have colors or shadings 

 which would cause particular notice. Shasta is the best 

 one, and is of that type of which there are so many — white, 

 marked with rose. 



The new strain raised by Lemoine, of Nancy, France, is a 

 noble addition to our resources. He calls them the Nancei- 

 anus strain, and says they are raised from the ordinary Ganda- 

 vensis sorts, fertilized with G. Saundersi, and their appearance 

 confirms it, for they have much of the peculiar shape and 

 marking of that species. I tried the same cross some years 

 ago and got insignificant and inferior flowers, which shows 

 that some hybridizers are more expert than others. These 

 flowers are very large, surpassing, in fact, the promised size 

 of the California strain. The largest is President Carnot, some 

 of whose flowers I found to have a breadth of six inches. 

 None of them can be said to be very good in color, but not 

 only that, but the size of spike will be greatly improved now 

 that the break has once been made. 



I wish also to advocate the claims of some of the hardy Gladi- 

 oli. Last fall I planted several hundred of these, which I 

 covered with leaves and corn-stalks. As far as I could judge 

 every one came up and bloomed to my complete satisfaction, 

 beginning about June 15th and continuing to come forward in 

 the several sorts up to the end of July. The earliest was G. 

 Segetum, a species attaining a height of two feet, and producing 

 rosy purple flowers of good size, adorned with white central 

 stripes on the lower petals. Next came G. communis, with colors 

 like the last, but with Mowers of different shape and of longer 

 duration. Then G. Colvillei, and G. Colvillei albus, or Bride, 

 the first purple and straw, the other a beautiful white, opening 

 with a creamy tint in the centre, which soon bleaches as white 

 as snow. Many varieties of G. ramosus (a hybrid, as is also 

 G. Colvillei) were conspicuous, theircolors being the most vivid 

 scarlet, crimson and rose, generally with white markings. My 

 favorites, however, among the hardy kinds are what are called 

 Nanus varieties, which have been produced by Dutch bulb 

 growers by crossing many dwarf species. These only attain 

 a height of ten or twelve inches, but their Mowers are most 

 delicate and exquisitely soft and tender in tint. They deserve 

 to be largely grown for bouquets, for which their size and 

 lovely colors so well adapt them.— IV. E. Endicott, in Popular 

 Gardening. 



Cypripedium Morganiae. 



A S far as raising artificial hybrids among Lady-slipper 

 ■**- Orchids is concerned, the culminating point of the hybrid- 

 ist's art may for the present be looked upon as embodied in 

 Cypripedium Morganice. This magnificent addition to the 

 Moral world appeared ten years ago in Messrs. Veitch's 

 nursery, Chelsea, through the agency of their foreman, Mr. 

 Seden, who in his time has contributed many other beautiful 

 hybrids to our Orchid-houses. The plant was raised by fer- 

 tilizing the stigma of C. superbiens (otherwise known as C. 

 Veitckianum) with the pollen of the distinct and robust-grow- 

 ing C. Stonei, and was named in compliment to the late Mrs. 

 Morgan, of New York, who took much interest in the great 

 Orchid family. The parents of C. Morgania are by no means 

 of a delicate constitution, but their offspring may be said to be 

 as vigorous as both of them put together, if I may be pardoned 

 for using a phrase tainted with Hibernian proclivities. Indeed, 

 C. Morganice may be considered as one of the very strongest 

 growing Cypripediums in cultivation, and this fact, in connec- 

 tion with its large and handsome Mowers — which (with the ex- 

 ception of C. Stonei platytcenium perhaps) are the largest in the 

 genus — has led to its extensive propagation, so that one fre- 

 quently sees it. Perhaps the finest specimen of Mrs. Morgan's 

 Cypripedium is at present in the equally fine collection of 

 Baron Schroder, near Staines. At a meeting of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society in August last spikes were exhibited from 

 this plant bearing as many as four and five large Mowers, a 

 number hitherto unsurpassed in its history as far as I am 

 aware. The broad, strap-shaped leaves are a foot or more 

 long, bright green, with darker green transverse narrow bars. 

 The large upper sepal is creamy white, Mushed with delicate 

 rose at the sides, and longitudinally traversed by seven or 

 eight broad, deep purple lines. The lower sepal is somewhat 



