A YEAR'S GARDENING 



the following may be quoted: S. aretioides, with stems about i inch 

 high, bearing, in April, flowers of a beautiful golden yellow, and 

 requiring a moist but well-drained soil, with protection from the 

 intrusion of any coarser growth; S. burseriana, of moss-like habit, 

 with elegantly-frUled white blossoms borne on slender red stalks, 

 and blooming freely as early as January or February; S. ciliaia, 

 with broad, hairy leaves, and stems some 6 inches high on which are 

 borne large flowers of pinkish hue, a handsome and very noticeable 

 plant, but too tender to be grown in the open except in the warm 

 districts of our country, and even then requiring a sheltered position; 

 and S. muscoides, of which there are several kinds, one of the best being 

 atropurpurea, with blossoms of beautiful reddish-purple borne in 

 dense masses on stems only a few inches high. Among the larger 

 species of Saxifraga may be mentioned S. cotyledon and its fine 

 variety S. pyramidalis, Avith its pyramids of sUvery-white flowers 

 on stems growing from 12 to 20 inches high; it makes a fine pot 

 plant and is quite hardy. S. longifolia is another beautiful species, 

 with leaves of grey-green spotted with white, and bearing fine 

 columns of white flowers; it is quite hardy and blooms in early 

 summer. Last, but by no means least graceful, is S. umbrosa, the 

 common London Pride, too well known to need any description here; 

 a most useful plant for border edgings and making beautiful compact 

 masses in the Wild Garden when grown in natural clumps. 



SCABIOSA [Scabious). Although the Scabious, in most of its 

 varieties, is either biennial or perennial, it is usually, and more con- 

 veniently, treated as a hardy annual. S. atropurpurea, the Sweet 

 Scabious, is one of the most useful kinds, and may be had in all shades 

 of purplish-red and yeUow, and in white. When sown in the open in 

 May it wiU bloom in the following year, or if sown early in April or 

 towards the end of March it will flower in the late summer of the same 

 year. S. caucasica is a handsome kind, a perennial, though failing 

 to endure the winter on cool soUs. It grows in dense tufts and sends 

 out long stalks bearing large heads of blue or white flowers, very use- 

 ful for cutting. Many other strains, with both double and single 

 flowers, and in numerous shades of colour, may be selected by con- 

 sulting a seedsman's catalogue. 



SCHIZANTHUS. An annual of elegant growth and beautifully- 

 coloured fairy-like blossoms bearing some fancied resemblance 

 to a butterfly. S. pinnatus, growing from i to 2 feet high, with 

 purple and yellow blossoms, is one of the haidy kinds, and it has 



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