co:mmox gaedex flot^-ees. 



203 



indeed to fill the flower-beds during the autumn and 

 winter ; they furnish the beds with cheerful green 

 during the dull season, and make charming masses 

 of flower in spring. The Wallflower is very hardy, 

 and it is only very severe frost that harms the 

 plants, or sharp frost following upon excessive wet. 



A fine and distinct new yellow Wallflower was 

 recently shown at one of the meetings of the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Societ}-, and named Bedfont G-iant 

 Yellow; a rich golden, dwarf, compact and robust 

 variety, but with dark seeds. 



There are two old-fashioned double Wallflowers 

 that have been occupants of English gardens for 

 many years. One is dark, the other yellow-flowered. 

 One, if not both, was, it is beheved, imported from 

 the South of Europe. They do not seed, and can be 

 propagated only by means of cuttings, which can be 

 removed in spring and summer, and struck in pots 

 of light sandy soil. One sometimes meets with these 

 old double Wallflowers in cottage-gardens, growing 

 in borders, and flourishing. The sort of border that 

 suits the double Wallflowers best is one adjoining 

 the wall of a green-house, and the soil should consist 

 of equal parts of good sandy loam, and broken bricks 

 and old mortar, two feet in depth, resting on a dry 

 subsoil. In such a border the double Wallflowers 

 will live for many years, and become as large as 

 shrubs. Any aspect will suit them, but a border 

 facing south or west is best. 



There are in addition the double German Wall- 

 flowers. These are grown only by the German and 

 other Continental florists ; they are of strong growth, 

 throwing up a main stem bearing fine double flowers 

 much varied in character. The seed of these should 

 be sown in June, the plants pricked out to grow into 

 size, and then planted out in a prepared bed. Or if 

 there is any risk, they can be wintered in pots in a 

 cold frame, and planted out to flower in spring and 

 early summer. The double German Wallflowers 

 seed very sparingly indeed in this country, and 

 therefore we have to look for a supply from the 

 Continental florists. 



The best strains of Wallflowers are : — 



Covent Garden Blood-red. 

 Harbinger. 



Bedfont Giant Yellow. 

 Belvoir Castle Dwarf Tellow, 

 Carter's Yellow Tom Tiiumb. 



Snow- in- Summer. — The Snow-in- Summer, 

 Mouse-eared Chickweed, or Cerastium, belongs to the 

 natural order Caryophyllacefs, and several of th-m are 

 common weeds in different parts of Britain and the 

 more northern parts of Europe. Some are annuals ; 

 but those most deserving of cultivation are ever- 

 green perennials, varying in height from four inches 



to a foot or more, though the best and most popular 

 variety, C. tomentosum, seldom reaches to six inches. 

 The flowers of the whole family are pure white, and 

 they bloom from April to August. There are a good 

 many species or varieties of Snow-in-Summer, but 

 only three are really deserA*ing of general cultiva- 

 tion ; and possibly the other two are only larger 

 varieties of the hoary-leaved species, towcnfosum. or 

 common Woolly Cerastium. The leaves ca e so wiiite, 

 fine, and small, and soft to the touch, as to well de- 

 serve the descriptive appellation of woolly. The 

 flowers are small and round, of the purest white, 

 and are produced in such enormous quantities in 

 May, June, and July, as to completely hide the 

 spreading lea^-es and brancblets, and well merit its 

 common name in some localities of Snow-in-Summer. 

 The foliage, as already stated, is almost as white as 

 the flowers, and thus the ground is whitened or 

 snowed over twice. Those who have never seen, the 

 Cerastiums in mass, either as huge tufts or edg- 

 ings, can form no idea of their rich and striking 

 effects in flower-beds or borders, or in larger rougher 

 masses in the wild garden or shrubbery. So strik- 

 ingly effective are they when in mass, and so early 

 and profusely do they bloom, that it may often be said 

 of many gardens, that all the borders are brides long 

 before the other plants are ready to receive them. 

 Fortvmately, however, their bride-like purity re- 

 maros after the flowers fade, for, as already remarked, 

 the foliage of those here commended is almost as 

 white as their hosts of tiny cup-like bloom. So 

 much is this the case, that those who use the Ceras- 

 tiirm. most extensively for ground- works on which to 

 pincushion other plants, as di^'idiIlg lines to form 

 chaste patterns on beds or borders, or as pure white 

 edgings to last throughout the year, seldom allow it 

 to bloom, but clip all the flowers off in bud. By thus 

 husbanding the strength of the plant, and pre- 

 venting it alike from the exhaustion incident to 

 flowering and seed -bearing, the fohage becomes 

 more vigorous as well as whiter ; and no cheaper, 

 hardier, or more effective permanent edging or line 

 can be made and kept than that of the CeraMium 

 tomentosum. 



But even these are hardly so effective as largo 

 bold masses of the Snow-in-Summer by the side of 

 masses of Aubrietias, Forget-me-nots, Vicla lutea, 

 or other yellow and purple Pansies, red Daisies, 

 pink or yellow Primroses, purple Clarkias, or blue 

 Xemophilas. Cerastium Bieher-steinii has larger leaves 

 and flowers than the iomentosum, and when first intro- 

 duced from the Taurian mountains it was thought 

 highly of, and largely propagated to supersede the 

 older species. It was found, however, in practice to 

 be less hardy and scarcely so white in the mass 

 as the older and smaller species, and is now but 



