66 



THE ELOWEB GABDEN. 



equally easy culture, which bears bunches of blossoms of 

 remarkable purity. These two varieties combined are 

 useful to supply the living drapery of leaves and flowers, 

 required to clothe the columns of a verandah, the inter- 

 stices of a trellis, or the walls of an arbour. Under 

 favourable conditions, they will run up to six or eight 

 feet. Propagate by root- division. As a general rule, 

 the Everlasting Peas are shy bearers of seed, and like a 

 deep, well-drained hazel loam. 



Of the annual species, the common Sweet Pea, L. 

 odoratus, in its varieties of pink, white, and purplish blue, 

 is everywhere petted, both as a border plant and a pot- 

 flower. The seed, which is abundantly produced, has 

 only to be sown in small patches on their site, and the 

 plants sticked when two or three inches high. To have 

 an earlier display, Sweet Peas started in pots, in a frame, 

 or in the parlour- window, may be turned out in May with 

 their balls of earth entire. There are besides, the Tan- 

 gier Pea, L. Tingitanus, with large, dark, purplish-red 

 flowers ; and the Abyssinian Pea, L. Ahyssinicus, with 

 angular and trailing stems, narrow leaves, and bright 

 azure-blue flowers. These need only to be sown in the 

 open ground in February or March. 



JBceony. — The genus Pceonia is made up of two very 

 distinct divisions ; namely, the herbaceous species, which 

 die down to the root every autumn, natives of Great 

 Britain, and of the European and Asiatic continents ; 

 and the Moutan, or Tree Pseonies, P. Moutan and its 

 varieties, natives of China and Japan, whence they were 

 brought some sixty years back, where they are highly 

 esteemed as ornamental plants, attaining the height of 

 ten or eleven feet, with a shrubby stem. The herbaceous 

 kinds are all quite hardy, suitable for borders or bedding 

 in masses, producing single, semi-double, and double 

 flowers, in shades passing from pure white, through pink, 

 and bright red, to deep crimson. Although the single 

 flowers are more fleeting than the double, as well as less 

 magnificent, a few single-flowered plants should be re- 

 tained in the garden, not only for the cheerful character 



