April 6, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



279 



Primulas also tend to grow 

 ground and form stems ; 



these also 



should be earthed up to the base of the 

 leaves. 



Early in the spring all dead plants should 

 be removed and the blank spaces filled up 

 by others, taking advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity to change the soil in the various 

 pockets where the plants have died. AVith 

 the heavy rains during the winter the sur- 

 face of the soil becomes caked, and so should 



now be carefully gone over with a hand fork 

 to break it up in order to alloAv it to sweeten. 

 Care should be taken not to disturb the 

 roots by digging too deeply. Weeds at this 

 time of 3'ear are coming on apace^ and will 

 require constant attention. W. I. 



out of the purple and mauve; Lilacina, lavender, 



with violet and blue ; Blanche Fleur, "white, 

 shading to blush; Delicatesse, white and 

 crimson; Electra, pale blue; and King of 

 the Blues, deep blue. Those groups that 

 are so placed as to be reflected in water 

 should always contain plenty of yellow or 

 ^vhite, because blue and purples, though 

 splendidly rich in hue, have a gloomy effect 

 if over-massed without any relief. Against 

 thickets of golden privet, however, golden 

 elder, or silver-leaved trees or shrubs, they 

 are admirable alone. 



BULBS AND IRISES BY THE 



WATERSIDE. 



The study of reflections in water is a 



special branch of the painter's art. There 



are laws governing the shapes and colours 



of reflections, intricate and bewildering 



laws truly, since they are different for 

 morning, afternoon, and evening, being 



varied by the position of the sun, the 

 amount of cloud, the sky tints, and even 

 the hues of neighbouring objects. 



Gardeners may congratulate themselves 

 that they can create fair water reflections 

 without any of the perils that threaten the 

 artist who works on canvas, and none of 

 the other floral effects of the pleasure 

 grounds possess quite the same charm. 

 Perhaps the Japanese iris stands out pre- 

 em-inently as the loveliest waterside plant, 

 but safer and less expensive displays can 

 be made with German and English irises, 

 which should always be closely associated 

 in order that a succession of blossom may 

 be gained. It should be remembered that 

 German irises will floiirish in almost any 

 soil, high up upon banks, flanking bank- 

 s:des, or occupying low, marshy levels. 



There are numerous iris lovers still who 

 regard the German section as coarse, but 

 this would not be the case if the named 

 varieties were grown. They are a trifle less 

 free-blooming than the familiar violet, but 

 even this reproach cannot be applied to 

 clumps that are well established, and have 

 been suitably fed. A few barrow-loads of 

 old manure and leaf -mould, wheeled round 

 in late autumn and cast down among the 

 ir:s plantations, will ensure a noble blos- 

 sommg the following May. 



The following may be taken as a fairlv 

 lepresentative list of German irises, which 

 cost from 6s. to 12s. a dozen : Maori Kino:, 

 yellow and crimson ; Poiteau purple and 

 ^vhite; Sir Walter Scott, bronzv-gold and 

 terra-cotta; Aigle d^Or, lilac, striped with 

 violet; Cordelia, peach-mauve and purple- 

 crimson; Celeste, lavender, with orancie 

 beard; Victorine, white, l)lotche(l witli 

 »>hie; Faune d'Or, gold, streaked witli 

 f^imison; Harcourt Thorse brown , st reiked 

 \v»th violet; John Fraser, gold and white; 

 '^annry Bird, yellow; Bridesmaid, lavender 

 and white; Gem, straw-yellow and violet; 

 J Inmeri, cop]>er-red ; and Victor Hugo, 



and red. Earlv autumn plantin.^r is 

 advisable, and care sliould be taken only 

 to lightly cover tlio rhizomes with soil, as 

 yeep planting retards development, 

 d It does not actuallv destroy the plant. 



^amed English irises, to clnselv accom- 

 pany the German irises, can fortuiiatelv be 

 Planted at the same time; so colour 

 eomlxnations are easily accomplished. Ex- 

 cellent representative varieties are: mite 

 Uueen, ivhite, shaded with lavender; 

 »Maron, claret, Avith purple-crimson ami 

 A\Hito; Miss Barclav, white, flaked with 

 ^^agenta and violet; Bosa Bonheur. ivhite. 

 '^se. and crimson; Viceroy, peach, witli 



even 



Camassias are grand plants by lakes or 

 ponds, also on river margins, and flower in 

 July, after the irises. TTie best are 

 Camassia Leichtlini, though rare, is inex- 

 pensive, and hybrids often prove of exceed- 

 ing value for yielding light tints ; then the 

 indigo-violet of C. esculenta Royal Purple 

 is meritorious, if kept far from the ordinary 

 blue C. esculenta. Few gardeners make 

 sufficient use of Camassia Cusicki, a large 

 plant with handsome foliage and spikes of 

 lavender bloom. 



With camassias nothing can tone better 

 than the montbretias, gold and vermilion, 

 and the latter will thrive even when planted 

 in sedgy margins, so that their bells over- 

 hang the water, and cast spent petals of 

 orange upon its surface. In full sunshine 

 the florescence and the reflection of mont- 

 bretias should glow like firelight when seen 

 from a little distance. 



Warm colour in September and October, 

 upon shady banks and stretches either of 

 soil or turf^ niay be spread out lavishly by 

 the use of Colchicum bvzantinum, a fr 



S.OW rietv of Meadow Saffron ; 



a few group? will not make much effect, 

 of coarse, bnt when a coiiple of hundred 

 bulbs have been planted there will be a fine 

 reward. The ruby-crimson Colchicum spe- 

 ciosum rubrum can be used to give a deeper 

 shade. November crimson can be gained 

 from a sufficiently generous use of Schizo- 

 is cocciiiea. For white or pale rose 

 flowers, produced in trusses, or umbels, on 

 thi*ee-foot stems,, out of a forest of deep 

 green^ Crinum capense cannot be rivalled, 

 but the position must be snniiy and fairly 

 sheltered from cold winds : given such places 

 the deeper pink Crinum Powelli should also 

 be tried. Hyacinthus candicans is another 

 of the numerous stately bulbous plants that 

 are marvellously economical and safe to use 

 for furnishing river and lake sides. 



It is not always the largest plant^ how- 

 ever, that produces the finest effect by 

 water ; as an example of this I may men- 

 tion a garden in which heaps of rough 

 rockery were thrown down against the ends 

 of a rustic bridge, spanning a ^>tream, and 

 thoiwighly planted with Geissorhiza rochen- 

 sis. This unfamiliar South African bulb 

 produces during June flowers of a vivid 

 blue, blotched with crimson. M. H. 



Clerodendron f allax.— As a bright 



autumn-flowering planl tin's is uiisurpa^ntried 

 and au early star) slicuid be made to raise 

 thi^ reciuirecl number so that strong plants 

 are built up liy the summer. Those raised 

 from seed sown now, and given bottom heat, 

 make good s{>ecimen.s the first year. The 

 old plants should be placed in strong heat 

 for the production of cuttings, and these 

 f^hould be taken ofF with a heel when two or 

 three imhes h>ng, inserted in sandy soil, and 

 )>]aced in the i)ro])aoaling frame. Put them 

 into small pots when rooted, and grow on a 

 shelf near the light. Shift on into larger 

 pots as thought necessary, n-ing a compost 

 consisting of two jiarts loam to one part 

 each of peat, leaf-soil, anl dvivd cow or 

 sheep manure, adding suffiricnt slun p sand 

 ami w<iod a>1ies 1o cn.sure poro.-ity. 11 i- a 

 nii^ako to nvcr]>ot these plant-; whon wvW 

 grown, seven-inch pots are large enough to 

 flower them in.— H. T, Martin, 



PRIMULA^MARGINED RILLS* 



A most delightful way of utilising the 

 moisture-loving primulas is in the embel- 

 lishment of tiny rills and streamlets. The 

 picturesque effects evolved by the free use 

 of these j)rimulas along the margins of 

 little waterways entirely justifies an adop- 

 tion of the idea in gardens where at pre- 

 sent they do not exist. The overflow from 

 the lily pools, or a small regular flow of 

 pure water from any given source, could 

 be converted into a streamlet fit for the 

 reception of the bog primulas. 



In good loamy soils, moistened by the 

 water, the primulas will grow grandly, and 

 if, when planting, a little rough sand and 

 a small quantity of decayed manure is 

 added to the soil, the plants will derive 

 greater l>enefit. Heavy shade must be 

 avoided in the culture of these primulas. 

 Though partial shade, if not too dense, is 

 helpful to s<:)me species, particularly such 

 forms as P. Sikkimensis and P. algida. 



Of all the primulas available for the pur- 

 pose in view none are better known, or 

 more widely utilised, than the favourite 

 P. japonica. Certainly this glorious spe- 

 cies, and its many varieties, are exception- 

 ally good for this work of margining the 

 rills/' The range of colour is fairly ex- 

 tensive, for, in addition to the crimson- 

 purple of tlie type, one gets such diverse 

 hues as white, lilac, rose, carmine, salmon, 

 blood-red, and various blotched and ocu- 

 lata forms, which, in planting, can be 

 blended, or else kept in separate groupings. 

 The popular P. rosea is well adapted for 

 moist positions, and its profuse habit of 

 blossoming and its pleasing rosy -carmine 

 colouring, entitle it to a place in every 

 garden. Its varii^ties grandiflora, an im- 

 proved form of the i\p(\ and fiplendens, 

 a ricli-hued gem, a]:>])roaching to scarlet 

 in colouring, are both worthy of notice. 



P. Sikkimensis, the delightful Himalayan 

 cowslip, is worthy of a good place; 'the 

 dainty habit and exquisite fragrance of this 

 soft yelloAv species combine to make it of 

 the utmost valnt\ The rarer P. Poissoni, 

 with its vigorous habit and its fine 

 whorl ed spikes of purple flowers, is near to 

 P. japonica in habit, but it is grander and 

 nobler even than that free-growing species. 

 In favoured localities, perhaps the splen- 

 did Javan species, P. imperialis, would 

 ]>rove sufficientlv hardv. Certainlv it 

 woukl be well worth trying, particularly in 

 the south-western counties. It makes good 

 rosettes of foliage, and the flower spikes 

 s:)mewliat resemble those of P. japonica, 

 luit the flowers -aw of a pleasing yellow 

 colour. P. gramlis should do well at the 

 waterside. It is a good bold-habited spe- 

 cies and the large umbels of small yellow 

 i)l()ss(nnv, a r(» distinctly ])h^a^ing. 



Oth(M- ^ood ni:)istui'r-!! vin-i pi'imidas in- 

 chidc 1\ algida . with i"t'<hlisli-purph:^ blos- 

 sooK and i^hihroiis h'a^■es : 1*. (-apitata, a 

 pretty Himalayan species with violet- 

 coloured blossoms; P. denticulata, and its 

 many ]>retty vai'ieties, which love a moist 

 soil, luir mu^t not bo p hinted too low against 

 the wator ; P. involucrata, a charm- 

 ing white-tlo\\ 01 cd Himalayan kind, and 

 its pretty vaiiety Munroi, suffused with 

 pale blue; and P. luteola. a handsome yel- 

 low species, good growth and appearance. 

 Am;ther useful subject .should be found in 

 the recently-introduced P. decorum, a free- 

 throwing crimson-purple sp( cies f rom the 

 river banks of Servia and Bulgaria. 



The range of moisture-lovers is certainly 

 extensive enough for all planters, and a 

 streamlet or narrow pool fringed during 

 late spring and throughout the su miner 

 wit It I li< -o exquisite ])i ininla^ will form 

 a jirottv loatnre of tho garden. 



P. S. Hayw.^rd, 



