106 



THE FLOWEB GARDEN. 



aspect. There are also greenhouse herbaceous species. 

 Veronicas speciosa, Andersoni, salicifolia, and Lindley- 

 ana, from New Holland, requiring sandy loam and 

 heath-mould, stand the winter outdoors in such climates 

 as that of Cornwall in England, and Brittany in France, 

 where they make handsome low-growing evergreen shrubs. 

 As they strike from cuttings without difficulty, it is easy 

 to keep up a succession of young plants in pots, in which 

 character they will render service by flowering during 

 the dead months of the year. 



Violet — Viola odorata. — White, dull-red, and deep- 

 blue sweet-scented varieties grow wild ; there are also 

 double white, red, and dark-blue garden sorts. The 

 Parma Violet has very light-blue double flowers, exceed- 

 ingly pleasing, but hardly so highly scented as the for- 

 mer ; will flower under a frame from October till spring. 

 The Bruneau Violet has double flowers, with the outer 

 petals dark blue, the inner ones mottled with white, red, 

 and blue. Some Violets have a greater tendency than 

 others to commence flowering in autumn, and to conti- 

 nue, under favourable circumstances, throughout the 

 winter. Such are the Russian and the Neapolitan Vio- 

 lets, amongst the singles ; and the double red, and the 

 Chainplatreux double white or Pour-Seasons Violet. 

 Advantage is taken of these hybernal bloomers by plant- 

 ing them in frames like cucumber-frames, on a bed of 

 soil composed of leaf-mould, calcareous earth, and allu- 

 vial loam. Continued crops of violets, for bouquets, are 

 thus obtained, and they form a profitable branch of mar- 

 ket-gardening in Prance. Violets are increased fast by % 

 runners and root-division. The double kinds are some- 

 times used as edgings, but they come into bloom some- 

 what later than singles. The Tree Violet is regarded as 

 a woody-stemmed species, from the Canaries ; but it 

 may be questioned whether its erect character be not as 

 much an artificial circumstance as the shrub-like shape 

 of Tree Mignonnette, which is nothing but the result of 

 training an upright stem to a stick, and pinching off the 

 lower shoots. Besides the Sweet Violet and the Heart's 



