234 



PBAGTICAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



VIOLA 



by the end of September they will be 

 large and strong enough to transfer to 

 the positions in which they are required 

 to bloom the following spring. From a 

 packet of choice mixed seed, plants with 

 the most gorgeous flowers may be 

 obtained, and if there are any particularly 

 fine, it will be easy to perpetuate them 

 by means of cuttings. To obtain a good 

 supply of these, the plant may have its 

 branches pegged down, and as quickly as 

 the shoots are produced they may be 

 detached. 



Cuttings may also be inserted in July 

 and August, and by the first week in 

 October the plants wUl be ready for 

 their permanent positions. 



Provided the plants are grown in a rich 

 sandy loam, weU-manured, Pansies and 

 Violas are the easiest of plants to grow. 

 Some thousands of Pansies and Violas are 

 sold every spring in the London markets 

 neatly bound in hay enclosing a ball of 

 soil round the roots. The regular trade 

 done rather indicates that all — or at least 

 the majority — of the plants thus sold 

 perish during the year. The reason 

 probably is that Pansies and Violas do 

 not really care to be disturbed in spring, 

 just about the period when the flowers 

 are draining the plant of its reserve 

 material for the production of seeds. 

 The flowers trying to carry out the 

 natural laws of seeding, and the injured 

 roots trying to re-establish themselves, 

 the plant as a whole becomes more or 

 less exhausted, and naturally succumbs 

 in due course. 



Pansies and Violas for Spring Bed- 

 ding. — Too much importance can scarcely 

 be attached to these charming plants for 

 decorating flower-beds and borders during 

 the spring and early summer months, and 

 right up till the autumn even. If the 

 very best results are required Pansies and 

 Violas should be planted about the end of 

 September, or as soon as ever the beds 

 and borders have been cleared of the 

 usual stock of summer bedding plants. 

 The soil should be well dug and manured, 

 and if light or heavy should be improved 

 according to the recommendations given 

 at p. 63 m the chapter on Soils. \Vhole 

 beds may be planted with a variety of one 

 colour alone, or two or three distinct 

 varieties and colours may be used in an 

 agreeable combination. The best contrasts 

 are obtained by the juxtaposition of the 

 primary colours, such as reds, blues, and 



yellows, and when intermediate shades 

 are used care should be taken so that one 

 colour has an effect upon another. For 

 example, yellow looks colder with blue 

 than with red, but blue is more effective 

 with yellow than with white, and so on. 

 As a rule the section known as ' Violas ' or 

 ' Tufted Pansies ' are most effective for 

 bedding purposes, and the colours chosen 

 should always be clear and well defined, 

 not ' washy ' or indefinite, as if one colour 

 had run into another before it had got 

 dry. 



The following is a list of some of the 

 best Pansies and Violas arranged in 

 the three main shades of colour, but any 

 one can probably raise equally as good 

 from choice seeds. There are many 

 intermediate shades of colour, but as a 

 rule the varieties with clear and well- 

 defined self or uniform colours look best 

 for bedding purposes. 



WHITE-FLOWERED VIOLAS 



Accushla, Blanche, Covmtess of 

 Hopetoun, Countess of WharncUffe, Dr. 

 Sculthorpe, Marchioness, Mary Scott, 

 Mary Stuart, Niphetos, President, 

 Sylvia. 



YELLOW-FLOWERED VIOLAS 



A. J. Bowberry, Ardwell Gem, 

 Bullion, Duchess of Fife, Fanny 

 Emmeline, George Lord, Golden Bee, 

 Golden Boy, Goldfinch, Henry IV., 

 Kitty Hay, Kitty Whitworth, Lemon 

 Queen, Lord ElcJio, Molly Pope, Mrs. 

 Greenwood, Nellie M. Brown, Pembroke, 

 Renown, Sir Robert Peel, Wonder. 



BLUE ,iND PURPLE-FLOWERED VIOLAS 



Acme, Blue Gown, Border Witch, 

 Britannia, Commander, Councillor W. 

 Waters, Dorothy Tennant, Ethelinde, 

 J. B. Biding, John Shires, Magnificent, 

 Mrs. Grant, Mrs. H. Bellamy, Olivetia, 

 The Mearns, William Haig. 



V. variegata. — A native of Dahuria, 

 with rather hard subdivided roots. 

 Leioves heart-shaped-ovate or roundish, 

 violaceous beneath, obscurely green 

 above, white at the veins, and rather 

 hairy ; stipules lance-shaped, toothed. 

 Flowers in May and June, pale violet ; 

 spur cylindrical, straight, as long as the 

 sepals. 



Culture Sc. as above, p. 228. 



HYMENANTHERA.— A. genus con- 

 taining about 4 species of rigid shrubs on 



