3oo 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



Often only a few feet high with many 

 slender branches, it varies a good deal 

 in habit, at times reaching 10 feet, with 

 stems an inch thick. It is a pretty plant 

 with thick oval leaves of grey-green and 

 bright goldenflowers i to 3 inches across 

 — a little like an Iceland Poppy with a 

 bunch of orange stamens in the centre. 

 The flowers are on short stems and the 

 leaves are nearly stalkless, while in habit 

 and size of flower there is much varia- 

 tion. In this country it is only safe in 

 the sheltered gardens of mild districts, 

 in rich sandy soil, either at the foot of a 

 warm wall or against a projecting boulder 

 in the rock-garden, and it is all the safer 

 if on a gentle slope. It should be planted 

 very firmly and without manure. The 

 first flowers appear at the end of May 

 and continue for a long season when the 

 weather is bright and warm, but in bad 

 years it does not do so well and in many 

 gardens will not thrive in the open even 

 if uninjured by frost. In such cases it 

 might be grown in a cool greenhouse, 

 as when the first plant flowered in the 

 alpine house at Kew. Plants may be 

 raised from cuttings, but though free 

 in flower these are quickly exhausted; 

 seeds are slow to grow but are best in 

 the end. There are two or three local 

 forms of the Yellow Tree-Poppy found 

 upon islands of the Californian coast; 

 those known as D. Harfordii and D. 

 flexile are of drooping and graceful habit, 

 with larger, ovate, and more glaucous 

 leaves. 



Another Californian Poppy, but ex- 

 ceedingly rare even in that country, is 

 Arctomecon californicum. Only two or 

 three plants of it have been found, so 



that it has never been grown in gardens. 

 It is a low hairy perennial with large 

 white flowers. 



WILD AND SINGLE 

 CAMELLIAS. 

 Our country, especially the south of 



: England and Ireland, and other parts 

 near the sea, suits the Camellia so well 

 that lovers of rare and beautiful hardy 

 shrubs may even think of the charm of 

 kinds other than the common one. The 

 single kinds of the common Camellia 

 are the most beautiful of all and the 

 easiest to get, and these will be charm 

 enough for most people ; but it will, 

 perhaps, take years to give them their 

 true place in our gardens. Yet it ought 

 not to be difficult for nurserymen in 

 favoured districts to grow them well 

 from seeds and pick out the finest single 

 forms ; and, in fact, our nurserymen are 

 already offering some of the best. Even 

 where there is doubt as to their flower- 

 ing they are lovely as evergreens. When 

 we think of the number of other wild 

 kinds it is clear what a beautiful feature 

 these would be, added to many of our 

 gardens, their grace and fragrance being 

 remarkable. The best collection we ever 

 saw was in a garden near Angers, where 

 the climate much resembles that of Bri- 

 tain. Even should severe cold occur in 

 flower time there is a curious quality 

 among Camellias of the branches open- 

 ing better in water in the house than on 

 the bush. It is not easy to get these rarer 

 kinds, as they are not found in theordi- 



; nary nursery ; but in establishing them 

 perhaps the safest way would be not to 

 take the open garden as the best posi- 

 tion, but to take advantage of the half- 



