JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER. 189 



whose health demanded outdoor exercise in a warm, 

 sunny climate ; * these flowers measure four or five 

 inches across and possess exceedingly delicate and bril- 

 liant hues. Another beautiful petimia is called Green 

 Margin. It is supposed that a green flower does not 

 exist ; but I have raised in my garden specimens of 

 this variety showing a broad corolla eighty 

 per cent of which was bright green ; the 

 rest was magenta veined with ultramarine. 

 Molucca Balm is another green flower 

 sometimes seen in old gardens. The pe- 

 tunia is strong in purple-reds and steel- 

 blues, colors which are not sufiiciently ap- 

 preciated for their sober beauty. There ° """^^ ^ ""' 

 are several paintings by that most spiritual artist, 

 Edward Burne-Jones, in which it is evident he has 

 imitated the petunia's colors. I might instance the 

 one entitled " The Baleful Head," where the armor 

 of Perseus is exactly the steel-blue-purple color of the 

 outside of a magenta petunia. Kermesina splendens 

 is a lovely variety with flowers of a rich crimson- 



* This magnificent strain of petunias was discovered among 

 Mr. W. Atlee Burpie's Defiance petunias (another strain of splen- 

 did color and form) by Mrs. T. Gould, of Ventura, Cal. The 

 Giants of California, which I have cultivated with great success, 

 were raised from seed obtained from Peter Henderson & Co., New 

 York. The varieties were named Aurora, Midnight, Titania, and 

 Rainbow. 



