474 



Garden and Forest, 



fOcTOHER 2, 1889. 



among the best varieties, but there are many decidedly bad 

 sorts obtained from seed, being- poor in color and small in 

 bloom. Some clever people have hyljridized the pure 

 white Alba with the red, tlie progeny being a mongrel race, 

 neither white nor red. The white still maintains a high price 

 in nurseries, chiefly because its propagation and growth are not 

 rapid, and the fhiest form of it is always in great\lemarid. The 

 climate of an English green-house seems to suit the Lapa- 

 gcria to perfection, due probably to the almost perpetual 

 moisture, for the plant abhors strong heat, dryness and strong 

 simlight. It is not too much to say that the Lapageria is the 

 most popular and most valuable green-house plant"introduced 

 during the present century, and it is doubtful if the X'eitchian 

 trax-elers will ever send home a rival to it. 



Orchid-houses, so long almost Hovverless, are now bright 

 with several early autumn flowers, and none is more beauti- 

 ful than the Blue Indian Vanda {V. ccErulea). I saw some 

 magnificent plants of it this week in full flower in an ordinary 

 green-house, where the plants have plenty of ventilation and 

 not too much heat, and this is the secret of growing this Orchid 

 well. Many stiHe it, with other Vandas from the hot tropics, 

 the result being that the Blue Vanda always looks sicklv and 

 rarely llowers well. There are many forms of this Vanda, 

 and there is a wide difference between the finest and the poor 

 forms, the latter having small ffowers, almost white, while the 

 best variety has flowers four inches across, of a deep Tyrian 

 purple, tessellated with white veins, and this form, which is a 

 gem among Orchids, I know, exists in one of your famous 

 American collections^that of Mr. Corning, near Albany. 

 Other Orchids in flower and worth notice, would, of course, 

 include the handsome old Odontoglossuni grande, still the 

 noblest of the genus, and a plant which can be grown to yjer- 

 fection without the aid of a specially constructed Orchid- 

 house ; indeed, the l>est specimens I have seen lately were 

 growing in a green-house with other kinds of plants! The 

 new Vanda Sanderiana is not heard so much about now, and 

 there is no disguising the fact that, as a rule, it is a difficult 

 plant to manage successfully. At Kew, where there is a good 

 specimen in tiovver just now, it is growing admirably in com- 

 pany with other eastern tropical Orchids. There is something 

 very fascinating about the large flat flowers, with their strange 

 combination of color, rose-pink and olive-brown, though they 

 do not captivate visitors so much as the splendid Cattleya 

 Dowiajta aurea, which for the past week or more has been 

 perfection. It is not often that this Orchid is seen with four 

 flowers on a spike, and the fact is worthy of note, as it shows 

 how finely the plant is grown at Kew. Another very remark- 

 able Orchid in flower at Kew is an exceptionally fine variety of 

 Miltonia Moreliatta, which is far finer than the rare Atroru- 

 bens. The flowers are three inches across, the sepals a deep 

 claret-purple, the broad labellum rosy-crimson, reticulated 

 with darker and paler veins. It is known as the Kew variety, 

 and is the envy of all Orchid-fanciers who have seen it during 

 the past month and in former years. Orchid sales are for the 

 moment quiet, but I notice that the wonderfully fine col- 

 lection of Mr. Partington, at Cheshunt, is to come under 

 the hammer next month. It is well known that some of the 

 finest Phaleenopsis in the country are in this collection; 

 and it will be a good opportunity for Americans to secure 

 grand plants. Mr. Watson gave you a description of them 

 recently, and they astonish almost all who see them for their 

 large size and extraordinary vigor. 



The cool conservatories at Kew contain numerous out-of- 

 the-way plants in flower that deserve to be more popular, and 

 one of these is a Cape bulb, Cyrtanthus hybridus, which, I 

 believe, was raised some years ago in Sir Trevor Lawrence's 

 garden. To describe it, it'must be compared with the beau- 

 tiful old Vallota purpurea, or Scarborough Lily, but its flowers 

 are smaller, more funnel-shaped, and more blossoms are 

 borne on the dwarfed spikes. The color is somewhat differ- 

 ent, being of a softer scarlet. As it flowers at various seasons 

 of the year it is more valuable as a garden-plant than the Val- 

 lota, which only flowers in autumn. Another beautiful Cape 

 bulb is a new variety of the well-known Tritonia aurea, which 

 has been introduced by Mr. J. O'Brien. It differs from the 

 original in having the petals marked with a large crimson 

 blotch, which, on the bright orange ground, is very effective. 

 There is, also, at Kew, a very robust variety of Tritonia, hav- 

 ing spikes from three to four feet high, carrying flowers three 

 inches or more across of a richer color than the ordinary sort. 

 It is an invaluable plant for the green-house in summer, 

 and, as it has already found its way into various gardens, it 

 will probably supplant the old form in course of time. 



The Neilgherry Lily {Lilium Neilgherrense) is one of the 

 leading features at Kew, for, in one of the green-houses, there 



are man_\- plants in flower — more than I have seen together 

 before. It is ti noble and beautiful Lily, a good deal like L. 

 loni^ifloruin in growth and flower, the latter being about eight 

 inches long and of a soft, creamy-white color, which, to ar- 

 tistic souls, is more enjoyable than what they call the cold 

 white of the Lilium longlfloruin. The Neilgherry Lily has 

 always been considered difficult to grow and flower well, but 

 at Kew they seem to have hit upon its peculiar requirements, 

 as, indeed, they have with every other kind of Lily during the 

 past year or two, as every kind is grown here now better than 

 I have seen them anywhere, although, a few years ago, it was 

 said by Lily expert^ that it would be hopeless to expect Lilies to 

 thrive on tlie dry, gravelly soil at Kew. The success achieved 

 proves what ma\' be done by ignoring empirical practice and 

 striking out a new line,_as the directors have done liere in Lily 

 culture. The other green-house Lilies in flower now are 

 chiefly forms of L. speciosum or L. lancifolium, though 

 they are quite hardy, and grand masses of them are in flower in 

 tlie open air. Besides the large, dark-flowered varieties, like 

 Hovey's Melpomene, there are some beautiful effects obtained 

 with the white Knx'tzeri, and a group of it, intermingled with 

 the blue African Lily, Agapanthus umbellatus, produces one of 

 the most beautiful and striking combinations in the green- 

 house — a mixture well worth imitating. Kroetzer's white is so 

 much superior to the ordinary white that it is superseding it. 

 The old form is almost always suffused with pink, but the 

 other is pure, and may be readily recognized by the greenish- 

 white ribs on the petals. 



Picking out the good things in flower in the stoves at Kew, 

 this week, I should note Passiflora kermesina as one of the 

 very best small stoVe climbers in cultivation. It has for some 

 time past been crowded with its lovely cherry-crimson flow- 

 ers, while its growth is always elegant, and it is of the simplest 

 culture. Pleroma inacranthum, also known as Lasiandra ma- 

 crantha, is also a very beautiful and reliable green-house 

 plant for covering a wall, pillar or roof. It now carries a pro- 

 fusion of large flowers of the richest purple imaginable. A 

 new composite from Mexico is likely to prove a good green- 

 house plant. It is herbaceous, with a tuft of deeply-cut 

 leaves, from which arises the tall, slender flower-stalks, with 

 flowers three or four inches across, of the brightest orange- 

 scarlet. The flowers have a single row of florets, ver\' long 

 and narrow, and these reflex prettily, as in the beautiful Mu- 

 tisia decicrretis, from South America, which grows and flowers 

 against an open-air wall here. The new plant is named Ger- 

 bera Janiesoni, and I notice that the chief nurseries are work- 

 ing up stocks of it. It is a cool-house plant, of easy culture, 

 and its flowering season extends over a long period. I know 

 no other composite of exactly the same bright color. 



London. W. Goldring. 



Cultural Department. 



Autumn in the Garden. 



A LL things considered, the past season has been extremely 

 -^*- favorable for hardy flowers, having spared us that most 

 arduous of tasks — persistent watering to supply a deficiency 

 of moisture dining the heated term. Every one who has a 

 garden, whether he work in it himself or not, knows the disas- 

 trous effect of an extended drought, when, one by one, the 

 flowers begin to flag, unless constantly revived by the garden- 

 hose and frequeiit stirring of the soil. To neglect this at such 

 a time, whatever the cost of labor, is simply to mar the appear- 

 ance of the garden for the remainder of the season. The 

 plants may partially revive with the coming rain, but they 

 will have lost that freshness which care might have preserved. 

 The effect of a generous rainfall the past summer has been 

 apparent in an earlier and more profuse blossoming, together 

 with a stronger growth of stalk and foliage in the case of the 

 majority of flowers. In no plant is this more visible than in 

 the Japanese Anemones, now a carnival of rose and white 

 florescence. For one season, at least, the Japanese Anemone 

 has drunk its fill of moisture; and, wherever placed, this 

 graceful plant is a cynosure and a delight. Charming when 

 dotted amid the shrubbery and borders, it should be far 

 more genei'ally utilized in beds and masses, especially the 

 white variety. The white Phlox, when well grown, approaches 

 but does not equal it, though it is earlier to appear. One of 

 the numerous charms of the Japanese Anemone is its late- 

 flowering habit ; the chill autumn equinox comes and goes, 

 but the Anemone still blossoms on. The rose-purple variety, 

 or rather the type, is not so pleasing on first unfolding, but its 

 color improves as its flowering advances and becomes, later 

 on, a distinct and exquisitely beautiful shade which is supplied 



