218 



HARDY PLANTS FOR THE 



When -well grown the leaves are 

 longj and present a vivid and 



Fig. 79. 



Centaurea babylonica. 



kept over the winter in pots. 



often more than a yard 

 most striking coloration. 

 Their midribs reach 

 four inches or more 

 across^ and vary from a 

 dark deep waxy orange 

 to vivid polished crim- 

 son. The splendid hue 

 of the lower part of the 

 leaf stalks flows on to- 

 wards the point,, and 

 spreads in smaller 

 streams through the 

 main veins and ramifi- 

 cations of the great soft 

 blades of the leaf, often 

 a foot and even fifteen 

 inches in diameter^ if 

 the plant be in rich 

 ground. The under 

 sides of the leaves are 

 the most richly colour- 

 ed^ and the habit such 

 that these sides are well 

 ^ seen. It requires the 

 treatment of an annual 

 — to be raised in a 

 gently heated framCj 

 and afterwards planted 

 out in very rich ground, 

 though it may also be 

 It varies a good deal from 



seed^ and the most striking individuals should be selected 

 before the plants are put out. Used sparingly, its eflPect 

 would perhaps be more telling than if in quantity^ and it is 

 well suited for isolation — that is to say^ placing singly on the 

 grass near a clump of shrubs. Everybody who values a 

 really distinct object in the flower garden should have it. 

 During the past season it attained splendid dimensions and 



