A YEAR'S GARDENING 



kind, attaining a height of about i foot and bearing flowers of 

 white with yeUow throats, while N. versicolor has blossoms of blue, 

 yellow and white. There is also a dwarf kind, named Nana Com- 

 pacta Grandiflora, which is excellent. 



NEMOPHILA. One of the hardiest of annuals and of much 

 value for edgings or small beds by reason of its compact growth. 

 Seed may be sown either in August, for spring flowering, or in April, 

 and in the place where the plants are intended to bloom, though 

 they will bear transplanting if it be carefully done. A light soil is 

 desirable, in order that the seed may germinate freely and the plants 

 be restricted from rank growth. N. insignis is an excellent species 

 with sky-blue flowers and varieties of white, purple and striped; 

 N. atomaria has white flowers touched with blue, and has varieties 

 of sky-blue and black, and white and black; N. discoidalis has flowers 

 of dark purple and of dark red, both edged with white; while N. 

 maculaia has particularly large flowers of both white and mauve. 



NERTERA-DEPRESSA. A pretty little creeping plant covered 

 with tiny scarlet berries and small round leaves, suited for level 

 surfaces in the Rock Garden, but only hardy in the warm climates of 

 our country. It is often used as a greenhouse pot-plant and may be 

 propagated by division or by seed. 



NICOTIANA {Tobacco Plant). A stately half-hardy annual, 

 useful as a foliage plant in the greenhouse or for planting out in warm 

 borders. Seed should be sown early in the year in a warm frame, 

 and the seedlings pricked off into pots and placed in a temperature 

 of about 60°, when about the end of May they ought to be well 

 grown and ready for putting out. N. affinis is the most popular 

 variety because of its fragrance, while N. Sanderee, though not 

 growing so tall, has many fine colours and is easy of culture. 



NIEREMBERGIA. The varieties usually offered in catalogues 

 are N. frutescens and N. gracilis, both graceful plants with elegant 

 drooping branches and pretty white flowers touched with purple, 

 but rather tender for our climate. The hardy variety is N. rivularis, 

 with beautiful trafling foliage and large cup-like white flowers which 

 continue in bloom throughout the summer and well into autumn. 

 All may be raised from seed or propagated by cuttings in heat. 



NIGELLA. A hai^dy annual which is attractive not only for its 

 flowers but for its peculiar feathery and thorn-like growth, as indi- 

 cated by its colloquial names of Love-in-a-Mist and Devil-in-a-Bush. 



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