474 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 241. 



Violets are called in England, is thoroughly at home. 

 The beds are filled with either one distinct variety or just 

 enough to secure contrast in color. A collection of Tufted 

 Pansies from such growers as Messrs. Dobbie & Co., of 

 Rothsay, Scotland, entirely fills some of the beds. These 

 plants are one sheet of color, varying from pure white to 

 the profound purple of the great market kind, Archie Grant, 

 one of the best self-colored varieties in cultivation. The 

 flowers are of superb depth, bold, and borne with great 

 freedom. This, with Bluebell, a variety of a paler, 

 brighter shade, are the chief Tufted Pansies used in the 

 border parks, where they form edgings or a groundwork to 

 taller plants. 



A fine effect is gained by a single bed of the variety 

 Plenus maximus of Helianthus multiflorus. It is the finest 

 of the late-blooming Sunflowers, the stems rising five or 

 six feet in height, the leafage abundant, and the bold yellow 

 flowers of great depth and substance. The best method of 

 planting is to permit it to stand alone, with nothing for 

 contrast, although, of course, careful use must be made of 

 such bold, not to say garish, plants. We often crovs'd too 

 much yellow into our gardens in the autumn. 



At Chiswick, Messrs. Cannell & Sons, of Svvanley, who 

 grow the Tuberous Begonia largely for bedding, have sev- 

 eral varieties for trial, and the flowers, especially of the 

 crimson kinds, are intensely brilliant. Messrs. Vilmorin & 

 Cie., Paris, and Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading, are rep- 

 resented by varieties of Begonia semperflorens. They are 

 delightful bedders, dwarf, compact and smothered with 

 bloom. The best of these is Vernon's variety (rubrum), 

 which appears to be the same as the Crimson Gem of 

 Messrs. Sutton & Sons. The plant is about nine inches or 

 a foot in height, the leaves deep green, in which there is a 

 suspicion of chocolate, and the flowers are rich crimson, 

 making a fine contrast. A bed of it would be very effective, 

 and so would an edging of it if it bordered a mass of plants 

 which properly harmonized or contrasted with the distinct 

 quality of its foliage and flowers. Princess Beatrice is a 

 little gem ; the leaves are small, and the flowers pink and 

 white, so profusely borne as to hide the foliage. We have 

 few more useful edging-plants, and, like the ordinary 

 tuberous types, it succeeds well even in unfavorable sum- 

 mers. Afterglow is a good kind with crimson flowers. A 

 variety of B. erecta, from Vilmorin, named Nain Rouge Foin, 

 is remarkable for its compactness and splendid crimson flow- 

 ers that glow like fire. A very interesting group from the 

 same Parisian firm comprises a number of double varieties 

 with small flowers, the centre like a little rosette set in 

 broad segments. Their freedom in flow^ering is extraor- 

 dinary. 



Early this year a note appeared about Fuchsia Dunrobin 

 Bedder in Garden and Forest. Its behavior this year justi- 

 fies all that was said in its praise. It is a charming dwarf 

 hybrid, very free, and two beds of it here are not the least 

 interesting of the various arrangements. 



One of the principal flowers this year at Chiswick is the 

 herbaceous Phlox, and collections have come from such 

 well-known growers as Messrs. Paul & Son, of Cheshunt ; 

 Monsieur Lemoine, of France, and Mr. Forbes, of Hawick. 

 It is worth while to name a fevv' of the best, these having 

 an excellent habit, dwarf, compact and bushy, and bold 

 spikes of finely formed flowers of decided colors. A small 

 revolution is taking place in regard to the perennial Phlox. 

 Little is now seen of the tall, ungainly, scraggy types once 

 so common, and, although there is no merit in meredwarf- 

 ness, the flower does not suffer from being shorn of much 

 of its height. The case is different with the Antirrhinum, 

 and the present practice of dwarfing it deprives the plant 

 of its natural gracefulness and charm. I will give the 

 names of a few of the best varieties that now provide the 

 gayest masses of color : Iris, mauve-purple, dwarf ; Henri 

 Murger, a bold large flower, white with crimson eye ; 

 Eugene Schott, pink, white centre, the plant but a few 

 inches high ; Monsieur Henri Jacotot, white, crimson cen- 



tre ; Faure, ver}' dwarf and compact, the leaves of a deep 

 green color, and the flower large, white, with pink eye; 

 Le Naine Blanche, white, yellow eye ; Eugene Daugan- 

 villiers, pinkish ; Boule de Feu, brilliant crimson, remarka- 

 bly effective ; Jeanne d'Arc, a very beautiful white variety, 

 not growing more than about two and a half feet in height; 

 La Ville de I'Air, white, crimson eye ; Bayard, purple ; 

 Pluton, crimson ; Croix de Sud, white, with purplish rose 

 centre ; Jenny Greive, splendid truss, the flowers white, 

 with a purple-rose centre ; Delicata, white, rose-purple eye; 

 Eclaireur, white, with centre of similar shade ; William 

 Robinson, salmon-rose ; Hain Bebe, purple-rose, very 

 dwarf; Neptune, almost white, the leaves very dark 

 green ; Massenet, fine truss, rose, the centre deep crimson; 

 Longchamps, white, purple-lilac centre ; Paul Bert, lilac- 

 purple, shaded with white ; Pluto, crimson-purple, fine 

 truss, the leafage very dark green ; Avalanche, white and 

 flambeau scarlet. Many of these have been given awards 

 by the Royal Horticultural Society, and, as will be seen by 

 the names, are mostly of French origin. j 



Beds of Tea Roses, the glorious Japanese Anemone in 

 variety, very charming the white against the rose, and 

 African Marigolds will interest the visitor. The French 

 and African Marigolds are placed in a narrow border, skirt- 

 ing the fine old wall that divides the splendidly kept lawn 

 facing the old council room from the plant-house. And 

 when one sees this type of Marigold, after being allowed 

 to develop its beautiful leafage and fine bold flowers, one 

 is compelled to contrast its appearance here with its ap- 

 pearance on exhibition boards. Like the Aster, the Holly- 

 hock and other things one could name, the blooms are 

 often cut with a short stem and are stuck on the boards 

 without a single leaf. Fortunately this barbarous practice 

 is passing away. One of the most pleasing beds we have 

 seen this season was composed of the variety Lemon 

 Queen, the flowers of a soft shade of yellow and large, 

 in the centre, with an outer ring of a deep orange 

 color. 



Zinnias give their share of color, and the yellow flowers 

 of a bed of Cassia corymbosa show well against the abun- 

 dant green leafage. The Bouvardias Humboldti and Alfred 

 Neuner, planted out when all fear of frost is over, bloom 

 profusely throughout the summer. The flowers of Hum- 

 boldti are white, sweetly scented, and those of the other 

 kind white and perfectly double, like a little rosette. Hedy- 

 chium Gardnerianum, with its spikes of bright yellow and 

 fragrant flowers and rich musa-like leaves, is an excellent 

 summer plant and gives an attractive variety. The use of , 

 such garden-plants as we have mentioned is a grateful re- |1 

 lief from the round of Pelargoniums and carpet-plants year ' 

 after year, and furnish pleasant pictures from the time the 

 spring bulbs are over until the Michaelmas Daisies have 

 faded. The collection of Sunflowers, which is large and 

 comprises the best kinds, ought not to be passed without 

 notice. 



The rockery is not one of the least important of the many 

 fine rock-gardens that abound in England, and its interest 

 will be increased by the handsome gift from the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, of two hundred plants of the rarer kinds. 

 But it cannot, of course, compare with such picturesque 

 rockeries as that of Kew, a veritable treasure-house of rare 

 things, splendidly grown, or of the famous rock-garden of 

 the Messrs. Backhouse at York. Space fails to make men- ^ 

 tion of the collection of Figs grown in the house once given |B 

 up to Palms and foliage plants, and of the vinery, one of ^T 

 the most extensive in England. In spring Chiswick is a 

 garden of blossoms from the numerous Apple and Pear 

 trees, of which there is an extensive collection. Altogether, 

 Chiswick, though small, surrounded by residences and 

 shorn of much of its former glory, is a charming spot, 

 beautiful for its flowers and of the greatest interest to the 

 practical horticulturist from its careful trials of fruits and 

 vegetables and garden-plants, the most common kinds of 

 which are not neglected. 



London. ' • ^. 



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