352 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GAEDEXING. 



K. latifolia myrtifolia. 

 L. latifolium. 

 Pernettya mucronata. 

 Eetinospora ericoides. 

 "R. obtusa. 

 E. flliffera. 



R. argeiitta. 

 E. plumosa. 

 K. aurea. 



Skiminia japonica. 

 Thuja aurea. 

 Veronica Traversii. 



The following is a list of plants which are suitable 

 for edgings to hardy plants, borders, and beds : — 



Achillea segyptica. 

 A. tomentosa. 

 Ajuga reptans variegata. 

 Alyssum saxatile variega- 



tum. 

 Antenuaria dioica. 

 A. tomentosa. 

 Arabis albida variegata. 

 A. lucida variegata. 

 Arenaria balearica. 

 A. montana. 

 Campanula ccespitosa. 

 C. carpatica. 

 C. alba. 



Cerastium alpinum. 

 C. Biebersteini. 

 C. tomentosum. 

 Coronilla moutana. 

 Dactylis glomerata varie- 



eata. 

 Festuca glauca. 

 Funkia subcordata. 

 F. ovata variegat i. 

 F. Sieboldii variegata. 

 Gentiana acaulis. 



G. verna. 



Hypericum nummularium. 

 Lamium maculatum album. 

 Lithosperuium prostratum. 

 Lysimachia Nummularia. 

 L. N. aurea. 

 Phlox reptans. 

 P. subulata. 

 P. alba. 



San toll n a incana. 

 Saponaria ocymoides. 

 Saxifraga hirta. 

 S. rosularis (and many 



others). 

 Sedum acre elegans. 

 S. corsicum. 

 S. glaucum. 



S. Lydium (and many 



others). 

 Thymus citriodorus. 

 T. aureus. 

 T. languinosus. 

 T. Serpyllum alba. 

 Veronica alpina. 

 V. Candida. 

 V. rupestris. 



Many other kinds of plants might be mentioned 

 that would perhaps do equally well for the purposes 

 named as those given ; but the lists are ample for 

 all practical purposes. As to variety of summer 

 bedding plants which are suitable for herbaceous 

 borders, we would simply say, any kinds and any 

 quantity that are to spare, so long as the general 

 arrangement is not marred by placing them in uni- 

 form order over the border. 



ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS. 

 Annuals are usually divided into three groups 

 or sections, viz., hardy, half-hardy, and tender. 

 The latter group, being only suitable for gTeenhouse 

 culture, does not come within the scope of these 

 papers 



The Hardy section are those that withstand 

 the winter in the open ground, and are mainl}^ used 

 for the decoration of the flower-beds in early spring, 

 and for intermixing with herbaceous perennials in 

 the hardy plant-borders. The half-hardy section 

 are mainly used in conjunction with summer bedding 

 plants, for which nearly all of them are well adapted. 

 Both the sections contain many kinds of plants that 

 are infinitely superior for flower garden purposes to 

 many kinds of bedding plants, and one can only 

 attribute their neglect of culture to the fact that 

 people do not properly estimate their value, or try 

 to do them justice by giving them a similar amotmt 

 of attention that ordinary flower-garden plants 



receive. Granted that their season of flowering is 

 of short duration, yet when desirable it can, with 

 foresight as to successional sowing, thinning, and 

 pinching, be prolonged throughout spring, summer, 

 and autumn. Such prolongation of flowering hinges 

 principally on 



The Time to Sow. — Hardy kinds that are in- 

 tended to flower in April and May should be sown in 

 September, successional sowings being made under 

 hand-lights in January and February, and again in 

 April, iMay, and June, these last three sowings, as 

 also those in September, being made in the open 

 ground. For the September sowing, seicct a warm 

 sunny border, dress with vegetable mould or well- 

 rotted horse-droppings, and dig deeply ; then di-aw 

 shallow drills a foot apart, sow thinly, and cover in 

 the seed by hand. Soon as up, thin out the plants 

 an inch or two apart, such early thinning being an 

 important point in the seedlings growing up sturdily, 

 as also for transplanting to their flowering positions 

 without serious check from the roots ha\dng got 

 matted together wdth other plants. Soon as large 

 enough for transplantation, they may be done at any 

 time, or be left thinly m the seed-bed till February. 

 The successional sowings ad^'ised to be made in 

 January and February should either be under the 

 protection of a frame or hand-light ; in other respects 

 they may be treated as those sown in autumn. 

 Spring and summer so^\^Lngs may either be sown in 

 exactly the same way, or, where they are to flower ; 

 this latter is a plan not to be commended, unless 

 ample time can be afforded to look after slugs, which 

 are most destructive to annuals till they get an inch 

 or two high, when their attacks cease, either through 

 the plants being distasteful or too tough. 



Persons who have practised this most general way 

 of raising annual flower-seeds, and failed oftener 

 than succeeded, would do well to give up the prac- 

 tice, and raise the plants either in frames or on a 

 warm border, and when transplanting give them 

 good space. They may then expect to be rewarded 

 by large robust plants that ^\-ill not only keep in a 

 flowering state for a longer period, but the flowers 

 will be very much finer. If, however, there is not 

 convenience for sowing in other places than where 

 the plants are to flower, early thinning should be 

 insisted on, and the first flowers and points of shoots 

 be pinched off to induce the plants to branch ; and 

 tall kinds that need stakes should be tied before they 

 get out of the perpendicular or get injured by vdnd 

 or heavy rains. 



The list of hardy kinds is a large one, but 

 there are numbers of but little ser\'ice other than 

 from a botanical point of view. Obviously, there- 

 fore, for flower-garden purposes these axe of no 



