272 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Gypsophylla. — No mention of hardy flowers would be com- 

 plete that did not include Gypsophylla paniculata, and certainly 

 the cultivation of no single plant has increased to such an 

 extent in a given time as this. It has evidently come to stay, 

 quite as much from its graceful appearance in the garden as 

 for its immense value in a cut form. Is it quite hardy ? I 

 ask because several neighbours testify to its total loss in the 

 February of 1895, and I was unable to say if this was altogether 

 the result of frost, having mulched my crowns heavily early in 

 the winter. 



There are several other families, possibly quite as worthy to 

 be mentioned in a paper of this kind as those already enume- 

 rated, notably paeonies, irises, and spiraeas ; but their endurance 

 from a flowering standpoint is not so great, and they are there- 

 fore not so well adapted for the particular part of the flower 

 garden under consideration. 



Before closing this paper I should like to express the hope 

 that all who have to do in one way or the other with cottage 

 shows, gardens, and allotments may give an occasional sugges- 

 tion as to the increased cultivation of these hardy flowers, with a 

 hint in the matter of planting, so as to secure a long display of 

 bloom. So far as my own experience is concerned I have found 

 that when once the cottager realises this latter point he is only 

 very anxious to substitute a judicious selection of hardy plants 

 for the odds and ends of bedding plants he may have been able 

 to acquire. And how well many of the hardy flowers thrive in 

 those old cottage gardens ! I remember in the course of one or two 

 rambles along the Surrey lanes looking enviously at occasional 

 magnificent clumps of fritillarias, day and plantain lilies, 

 and the like, and later at the really marvellous growth of the 

 tall autumnal flowers. 



Discussion. 



Mr. Douglas said ho was once in the neighbourhood of 

 Manchester, and a friend pointed out a phlox which he said had 

 grown in the same position for twenty years. A phlox that re- 

 mained that length of time in one place would not suit him — nor 

 yet four years. A common way to propagate phloxes was by 

 division, but this was rather a rough and ready method. He was 



