POPULAR GARDEN PLANTS. 



481 



places they grow freely, the colour of the 

 blossoms becoming more intense, and the 

 plants remaining a longer time in flower. 

 They display their beauty either in the fronts 

 of large shrubberies and plantations or on the 

 sides of a carriage-approach to a mansion, and 

 when distant effect is required, no plant so 



admirably answers that end, as their size and 

 the brilliancy of their colours render them 

 visible at a greater distance than any other 

 flowers. They are also most imposing in large 

 beds. Narcissus may be planted with good 

 effect amongst them to give early flowers in 

 spring, and Gladiolus also do well amongst 



Fig. 589.— Tree Paeony. 



them to give bloom in the late summer months ; 

 as centre plants in small beds they make grand 

 objects also. They are invaluable for cut- 

 bloom, and if gathered in a young state, when 

 only a few petals show, they keep for a week 

 in water. The plants are perfectly hardy, and 

 it is difficult to kill them; they withstand any 

 amount of cold or heat, and no vermin, insect, 

 slug, blight, or mildew attacks them; they 

 grow in any soil, but they well repay for 

 deep trenching of the land and manuring 

 highly, and watering in dry weather. Mr. 

 William Kelway, about twenty -five years 

 since, got together all the known species, and 

 hybridized them with great success, raising 

 scores of new kinds, both double- and single- 

 flowered, some of them being scented with 

 Violet or Rose-like perfumes. The leaves are 

 useful in autumn for decoration. The young- 

 shoots in spring are coloured rich reddish- 

 brown, changing as they mature to bright green, 

 again assuming rose-red or purple-brown tints 

 in autumn. 

 Vol. I. 



The best double varieties of the herbaceous 

 section are : — 



Admiral Dewey, Cyclops, Dr. Bonavia, Duchess of 

 Somerset, Duke of Devonshire, Ella Christine Kehvay, 

 Emperor of Russia, Galtee More, Geraldine, Glory of 

 Somerset, Lady Bramwell, Lady Carrington, Langport 

 Queen, Limosel, Lord Beresford, Maria Kelway, Mrs. 

 Chamberlain, Mrs. Gwyn Lewis, Peter the Great, Prince 

 Henry of Battenberg, Prince of Wales, Waterloo. 



The best single varieties are: — 



Alton Locke, Calliphon, Cherry Ripe, Countess of 

 Warwick, Diadem, Dorothy, Duchess of Sutherland, 

 Emily, Hesperus, Lady Wimborne, Meteor. Millais. Mrs. 

 J. Gundry, Queen of May, Sirdar, Stanley, The Czar. 

 Tinted Venus, Viscount Cross. 



[W. H. K.] 



Pelargoniums. — The origin of the garden 

 races of Pelargoniums (including what are 

 popularly known as Geraniums) appears to be 

 largely due to accident rather than design. 

 The four sections, viz. Show, Fancy, Zonal, 

 and Ivy-leaved, each containing large numbers 

 of varieties, are the result of cultivation and 



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