POPULAR GARDEN PLANTS. 



437 



Delphinium (fig. 540). — This really superb 

 hardy herbaceous perennial, which has long been 

 a favourite border flower, has been bred from D. 

 formosum and possibly I). Hendersoni and one or 

 two others. The blossoms of some of the single 

 and double varieties are of great size; the 



■4 





A 1 

























i 





Fig. 540.— Delphiniums. 



flowers are thickly set on the spikes, which 

 are generally of considerable length and very 

 symmetrical. The varieties, both single and 

 double, vary in height; some being compara- 

 tively dwarf, others attaining a height of 6 or 

 8 feet and even more when the plants are well 

 established. They are striking objects in the 

 back row of a mixed border, or in a bed on 

 a lawn. They flower vigorously in June and 

 July, but their season may be prolonged by 

 cutting out the flower-stems as soon as the 

 flowers are over, which induces them to push 

 up fresh spikes to flower in August and Sep- 

 tember. Seedling plants will flower even later. 

 There is every shade of blue in their flowers, 

 and some have white eye-like centres, some 

 black, others brown or bronze. In some of the 

 newer varieties there is a tinge of red. 



Cultivation. — The Delphinium needs a good 

 deep, rich, mellow, loamy soil, well manured ; and 

 in cases where it is planted out for permanent 

 service the roots should be lifted every two 

 years at least, about the month of November, 

 and replanted after the soil has been deeply 

 dug and well manured. The position should 



be a sunny and open one. The plants should 

 be mulched during summer, and be plentifully 

 watered during periods of drought. Slugs and 

 snails are often troublesome; they may be pre- 

 vented from doing much mischief in winter by 

 covering the clumps with coal-ashes. 



Propagation. — This is done by division and 

 seeds. The former method must be relied upon 

 when particular varieties have to be increased. 

 The best plan is to cut down the plants in July, 

 and when they commence to grow again the 

 young shoots should be cut off with a little root 

 attached. These should be potted singly in 

 small pots and placed in a cold frame, and by 

 the spring they will make good plants. The 

 seeds are often slow to germinate, 1 some of the 

 sorts lying in the ground a whole year before 

 growing. They should be sown as soon as ripe, 

 in shallow boxes in a cold frame, and when 

 large enough the seedlings may be planted out 

 on a warm border. Seeds from a good strain, 

 such as that of Messrs. Kelway of Langport, 

 yield a large proportion of good forms. There 



being 



are many named 

 added annually. 



varieties, new ones 



Dracaena. — The garden representatives of 

 this genus consist of four distinct groups, two of 

 which are not Dracaenas, but Cordylines. These 

 groups are typified by: (1) D. fragrans (Lin- 

 deni), an unbranched, sturdy plant with broad 

 recurved leaves; (2) D. Godseffiana (fig. 541), a 

 slender-stemmed, copiously-branched shrub with 

 ovate, spotted leaves, suggesting the common 

 Aucuba; (3) D. australis and gracilis, which are 

 Cordylines ; and (4) D. terminalis and its numer- 

 ous progeny, also Cordylines. The last of these 

 four groups is by far the most important in a 

 garden sense. The type, D. terminalis, was in- 

 troduced from the East over a century ago, and 

 since then numerous varieties of tropical origin 

 have been obtained from different parts of the 

 Old World. The most valuable additions, how- 

 ever, are due to the skill of the late Mr. Bause, 

 who, about thirty years ago, obtained a batch 

 of seedlings by crossing some of the most dis- 

 tinct of the varieties then in cultivation. He 

 also showed, by his clever cultivation, that they 

 might be grown into truly gorgeous specimens. 

 These plants are easily propagated from sections 

 of the woody stem laid in light soil and kept 

 hot and close, or they may be made to push 

 out lateral shoots by cutting off their tops and 

 keeping the plants dry for a few weeks. These 

 shoots soon root in a tropical propagating- 

 frame. To grow them into well-leaved speci- 



