COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS. 



203 



indeed to fill the flower-beds during the autumn and 

 ■winter ; they furnish the beds with cheerful green 

 during the dull season, and make charming masses 

 of flower in spring. The Wallflower is very hardy, 

 .and it is onlj' very severe frost that harms the 

 plants, or sharp frost following upon excessive wet. 



A flne and distinct new yellow Wallflower was 

 recently shown at one of the meetings of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, and named Bedfont Giant 

 YeUow; a rich golden, dwarf, compact and robust 

 variety, but with dark seeds. 



There are two old-fashioned double Wallflowers 

 that have been occupants of English gardens for 

 many years. One is dark, the other yellow-flowered. 

 ■One, i£ not both, was, it is believed, imported from 

 the South of Europe. They do not seed, and can be 

 propagated only by means of cuttings, which can be 

 removed in spring and summer, and struck in pots 

 ■of light sandy soil. One sometimes meets with these 

 ■old double Wallflowers in cottage-gardens, growing 

 in borders, and flourishing. The sort of border that 

 . suits the double Wallflowers best is one adjoining, 

 the wall of a green-house, and the soil should consist 

 of equal parts of good sandy loam, and broken bricks 

 and old mortar, two feet in depth, resting on a dry 

 subsoil. In such a border the double Wallflowers 

 wiU live for many years, and become as large as 

 shrubs. Any aspect wiU suit them, but a border 

 facing south or west is best. 



There are in addition the double German Wall- 

 flowers. These are grown onlj- by the German and 

 •other Continental florists ; they axe of strong growth, 

 ■throwing up a main stem bearing fine double flowers 

 much varied in character. The seed of these should 

 "be sown in June, the plants pricked out to grow into 

 size, and then planted ;out in a prepared bed. Or if 

 ■there is any risk, they can be -wintered in pots in a 

 cold frame, and planted out to flower _ia spring and 

 early summer. The double German Wallflowers 

 seed very sparingly indeed in this country, and 

 therefore we have to look for a supply from the 

 Continental florists. 



The best strains of Wallflowers are : — 



Covent Gardeu Blood-red. 



Harbinger. 



Bedfont Giant Yellow. 



Belvoir Castle Dwarf TeUow. 



Carter's Yellow Tom Thumb. 



Efno-w-ln-Summer. — The. Snow-in- Summer, 

 Mouse-eared Chickweed, or Cerastium, belongs to the 

 natural order Caryophyllacea, and several of than are 

 common weeds in different parts of Britain and the 

 more northern parts of Europe. Some are annuals ; 

 but those most deserving of cultivation are ever- 

 green perennials, varying in height from four inches 



to a foot or more, though the best and most popular 

 variety, C. tomentoswm, seldom reaches to six inches. 

 The flowers of the whole family are pure white, and 

 they bloom from April to August. There are a good 

 many species or varieties of Snow-in-Summer, but 

 only three are really deserving of general cultiva- 

 tion; and possibly the other two are only largei 

 varieties of the hoary-leaved species, tomentosum, or 

 common WooUy Cerastium. The leaves are so white, 

 fine, and small, and soft to the touch, as to well de- 

 serve the descriptive appellation of woolly. The 

 flowers are small and round, of the purest white, 

 and are produced in such enormous quantities in 

 May, June, and July, as to completely hide the 

 spreading leaves and branchlets, and well merit its 

 common name in some localities of Snow-in-Summer. 

 The foliage, as already stated, is almost as white as 

 the flowers, and thus the ground is whitened or 

 snowed over twice. Those who have never seen, the 

 Cerastiums in mass, either as huge tufts or edg- 

 ings, can form no idea of their rich and striking 

 effects in flower-beds or borders, or in larger rougher 

 masses in the wild garden or shrubbery. So strik- 

 ingly effective are they when in mass, and so early 

 and profusely do they bloom, that it may often be said 

 of many gardens, that all the borders are brides long 

 before the other plants are ready to receive them. 

 Fortunately, however, their bride-like purity re- 

 mains after the flowers fade, for, as already remarked, 

 the foKage of those here commended is almost as 

 white as their hosts of tiny cup-like bloom. So 

 much is this the case, that those who use the Ceras- 

 tium most extensively for ground- works on which to 

 pincushion other plants, as di^riding lines to form 

 chaste patterns on beds or borders, or as pure white 

 edgings to last throughout the year, seldom allow it 

 to bloom, but clip all the flowers off in bud. By thus 

 husbanding the strength of the plant, and pre- 

 venting it alike from the exhaustion incident to 

 flowering and seed -bearing, the foliage becomes 

 more -vigorous as well as whiter ; and no cheaper, 

 hardier, or more effective permanent edging or line 

 can be made ' and kept than that of the Cerastium 

 tomentosum. 



But even these are hardly so effective as large 

 bold masses of the Snow-in-Summer by the side of 

 masses of Aubrietias, Forget-me-nots, Viola lutea, 

 or other yellow and purple Pansies, red Daisies, 

 pink or yellow Primroses, purple Clarkias, or blue 

 Nemophilas. Cerastium Biebersteinii has larger leaves 

 and flowers than the tomentosum, and when first intro- 

 duced from the Tauriau mountains it was thought 

 highly of, and largely propagated to supersede the 

 older species. It was found, however, in practice to 

 be less hardy and scarcely so white in the mass 

 as the older and smaller species, and is now but 



