CHOICE HARDY BOEDER PLANTS. 



243 



is of dwarf and compact growth, bearing dense heads 

 of deep blue flowers ; it is a native of Poland. P. 

 latifolia has massive erect clusters of deep blue 

 flowers in early spring. P. saccharata is the Sugared 

 Lungwort- of Europe ; the flowers have been well 

 described as of a shot-silk colour. P. Siberica is the 

 Siberian Lungwort, with marbled foliage and deep 

 blue flowers. P. Yirginica is the Virginian Lung- 

 wort, and, like its predecessor, produces blue-coloured 

 blossoms. "We may say of all the forms of the 

 Lungwort mentioned that they are very vigorous 

 and hardy, thriving on any soil, and forming attrac- 

 tive clumps and beds in the spring garden. 



Rheum (Rhubarb). — Our cultivated Rhubarbs of 

 the present day may be regarded as improved 

 varieties obtained from E. rhaponticum, E. hybridum, 

 and others. But a few of the species are very fine 

 hardy ornamental plants for summer use in the 

 flower garden, and especially that portion known as 

 the sub-tropical garden. E. officinale is a stately 

 and very handsome ornamental foliage plant. E. 

 Emodi is the Red-veined Rhubarb of Hungary, a 

 noble herbaceous plant with very handsome foliage. 

 E. palmatum makes a fine-leaved hardy plant ; so 

 does E. podophyllum. But they are suitable only for 

 large gardens, their stately presence and handsome 

 foliage contrasting well with other plants of smaller 

 size and different character. They can be naturalised 

 with great advantage in semi-wild places. 



Saponaria [Soapwort) . — The generic name is 

 derived from sapo, " soap " ; as the leaves of S. offici- 

 nalis, the common British Soapwort, when bruised 

 in water, form a lather like soap, and will take out 

 grease-spots in a similar manner. The common name, 

 Soapwort, is easily understood. 



The genus comprises hardy herbaceous species 

 and hardy annuals. Prominent among the former 

 is Saponaria cmspitosa, a charming form from the 

 Pyrenean Alps, producing Thrift-like tufts, one and a 

 half to two inches high, bearing clusters of showy, 

 vivid pink flowers, large, and very handsome. It is 

 a plant that does well on the rockwork, planted in 

 loam, leaf-soil, and sand. S. Caucasica, the Caucasian 

 Soapwort, produces heads of pink flowers like a 

 Phlox; and a double form of this makes a capital 

 border plant. S. ocymoides is one of the best known 

 and most useful among the perennial types ; it is 

 called the Rock Soapwort, a beautiful trailing rock 

 plant, with prostrate stems, and an abundance of 

 rosy flowers, so densely produced as to completely 

 cover the cushions of leaves and branches. It is 

 easily raised from seed or from cuttings, thrives in 

 almost any soil, and is one of the most valuable 

 plants we have for clothing the most arid parts 



of rockwork, particularly in positions where a 

 drooping plant is desired, the shoots falling pro- 

 fusely over the face of the rocks, and becoming 

 masses of rosy bloom in early summer ; and also 

 excellent for planting on ruins and old walls, on 

 which the seed should be sown in mossy chinks, or 

 spots where a little soil has been gathered. It is 

 also a valuable border plant, forming roundish 

 spreading cushions, with masses of flowers, and 

 is well worthy of being naturalised in bare and 

 rocky places. It is a native of Southern and Central 

 Europe. The common Soapwort, 8. officinalis, is 

 a stout and showy perennial, and makes a good 

 border plant, producing flesh-coloured or rosy 

 flowers. 



Of the annual Soapworts, the best known are 

 S. Calabrica, from Calabria, and its white-margined 

 and rose-coloured varieties. The Calabrian Soap- 

 wort is one of the longest blooming of our hardy 

 annuals, producing masses of minute cross- shaped 

 rose-coloured blossoms on a light and graceful leaf 

 ground ; and if seeds be sown in July or August, it 

 makes a good spring-blooming plant. The pink 

 and white varieties are most effective grown in 

 groups, small beds, or lines — in contrast. Sown in 

 the autumn, they maybe had in bloom, on light soils 

 and in warm, cosy places, in April. Sown again in 

 the spring, they bloom in July, and will continue to 

 flower throughout the autumn, being far less fugi- 

 tive than most annuals. 8. pumila rosea, and S. 

 pumila alba, are dwarf, Alpine, hardy annuals ; very 

 pretty and distinct. 



Tradeseantia (Spiderwort). — This genus was 

 named after J. Tradescant, gardener to Charles I. , 

 and the common name Spiderwort is derived through 

 T. Yirginica being used in Jamaica as a remedy 

 against the bites of venomous spiders. The genus 

 includes hardy annuals and hardy herbaceous species, 

 and their varieties ; also green-house and stove her- 

 baceous plants ; but it is the second of these, the 

 hardy herbaceous, that we have to do with here. 



The one particularly worthy of notice is T. 

 Yirginica, the Virginian Spiderwort, introduced from 

 North America in 1629. T. Yirginica is a distinct and 

 valuable perennial, flowering in summer abundantly 

 and continuously ; the flowers deep violet-blue, with 

 yellow anthers, arranged in umbels on the tops of 

 the stem and branches. There are several varieties 

 of this — white, red, double red, rose, light blue, and 

 deep violet ; all of them form erect bushes eighteen 

 inches in height. It is a most useful and handsome 

 decorative plant, and very accommodating also, as it 

 succeeds in the wettest of clays, as well as in any 

 ordinary garden soil. T. Yirginica should find a 

 place in a selection of choice hardy plant- 



