592 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



September i q , I 8 9 g < 



produced, a fine effect is made, for the large yellow, orange-tinted 

 flowers are most effective, and borne well above the foliage on wiry 

 stems. In shape and colour the flowers are much like those of 

 Eschseholtzia californica, but they also remind one of poppies, indeed, 

 the genus belongs to the order Papaveracens, and is closely allied to the 

 Meconopsis. When cut, the blooms of Hunnemannia fumariatfolia are 

 eminently suitable for vases, table decoration, &c, as they are not in any 

 way heavy ; they are elegant without being flimsy, bright without being 

 gaudy, and they last a long time, both in water and on the plant. As 

 a general rule the Hunnemania grows from two to three feet high ; it 

 has not been grown much of late years, owing doubtless to its failure 

 as a hardy plant, but now that it has been brought before the public at a 

 recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, its cultivation will be 

 again freely attempted by those who have room in frames and pits to 

 protect it from our damp, cold winters. Our illustration was made from 

 flowers supplied by Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, Chelsea, and which 

 induced the R.H.S. to grant the plant an award of merit. 



The Return of the Hollyhock. 



The hollyhock has been coming back for some time, partly, some say, 

 by favour of the hollyhock fungus (Puccinia malvacearum), which has 

 ravaged and scourged the hollyhock for the last quarter of a century. 

 Like other more or less inscrutable diseases of similar sort, this has its 

 resting and active spells. Now ravaging and destroying its victims in 

 the most wholesale way, and anon touching them gently or not at all, 

 as if nursing them for future destruction. Some assert that we have 

 lately been passing through a resting period of unusual duration in the 

 history of this virulent pest. What is certain is that hollyhocks are in 

 better health, and that their culture is advancing by leaps and bounds to 

 the ennobling and enriching of our gardens. No one who has had time 

 to look in at the Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, this year, can for a 

 moment doubt the immense advance made in hollyhock culture in the 

 last decade. About that period back it had perhaps reached its lowest 

 ebb. Now we see them constantly cropping up in the most unexpected 

 quarters. But in Regent's Park we see them in their hundreds and 

 thousands, mostly singles, it is true, and perhaps all the safer in the 

 future, and the more striking and stately beautiful in the present on that 

 account. 



I have a theory that cultivators, through running too exclusively on 

 doubling lines, brought much, perhaps the major portion, of the fungoid 

 pest on themselves. Anyhow, doubling does little or nothing to help 

 hollyhocks, or any other plants, out of fungoid or other pests or diseases. 

 How much it may have done to predispose them to such maladies we 

 shall probably never know. What we do see, and fully know to-day, is 

 this : that the majority of single hollyhocks that come under our notice 

 are pictures of robust health and models of picturesque beauty. By 

 massing these single hollyhocks in scores, fifties, hundreds, we 

 enormously raise their place and power in the park or landscape. So much 

 is this the case that I have no hesitation in stating that among all the 

 masses of charming flowers and foliage marshalled in the park this 

 August, nothing excels nor matches in stately dignity or glowing colour 

 the bold masses of single hollyhocks. They also seem pictures of health 

 and free from disease. 



How far this hieing back to single forms should be credited with this 

 return to better health and new vigour might be a disputed point ; for 

 I am quite willing to admit that double flowering hollyhocks, free from 

 disease, are becoming less rare day by day. Still, single hollyhocks seem 

 cleaner, have more vigour, and are taller in stature than double ones. 

 Artists also prefer them for picturesque effect, and here, I admit, I agree 

 with the artist. Neither am I sure that the double hollyhocks give the 

 most colour in a landscape. For much of their colour is hid in them- 

 selves and each neighbouring double bloom, whereas single blooms, from 

 their peculiar shape and colour, give light, that is colour, to all within 

 sight or range of the landscape they at once ennoble and adorn. They 

 also give rich and striking colouring at a height from the ground that 

 few other plants could reach. This was especially manifest in the 

 Regent's Park. With the single exception of a magnificent group of 

 standard fuschias many years old, smothered in bloom, the single holly- 

 hocks towered high above the other flowering plants, and furnished a 

 novel sky-line with new grandeur and beauty. Their unique and striking 

 height, giving brightness at an elevation above the ground where monotony 

 and dullness too often prevail, ensures a large place in our gardens and 

 landscapes of the future for single hollyhocks. D. T. Fish. 



An Isle of Wig 



Gar 



One of the most popular and best kept gardens in the Isle of Wight is that 

 beloncinc to Sir Barrinpton Simeon, Bart., M.P., Swainston, Newport. The 



wooded with trees of remarkable size, whilst the 



of Mr. J. Gash. At the time of my 

 s*v* them from the virulent disease. 



which is very 



lifting 



bad in this part of the island. The variety was Windsor Castle, and 



good indeed, considering the season. With the exception of apples, 



is considerably below average here. The borders on each side of a 



wide grass path, which runs the whole length through the middle of an extensive 



kitchen garden, are gay with salpiglossis, calliopsis, godetias, mignonette, asters, 

 stocks, maripolas, <fcc. r 



There is one of the best crops of onions in these gardens that I have had 

 tne pleasure of seeing this season. Mr. Gash, who is a prominent and successful 

 nW? US * xhlblt0 . r of ch fysanthe mU ms, has a collection of about three hundred 



t K Pr ° miS t 5™ for futur * success. Since my last visit most of the 

 te in* Ind f ? ** contain *t present a miscellaneous assortment of 



m? fc£ b2X^3t5 Md g'^ouse^lants, * g°° d cro P of indude 

 5d^ r l M {SS2 ° f Ale * a ndria, ^ melons and cucumbers. The 



garaens speak well of the abilities of the genial gardener, Mr. J. Gash. 



S. H EATON . 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



WARM ORCHIDS. 



Dendrobidms of the following kinds will now be fact ^^t^z . 

 growth: D. Finlayanum, D. Cybele, D. C ! nobiiiul n P ? D |-^ r sea «« , « 

 £ several vars., D. nobile and its van, and seedEs of t^tf™™^'^ 

 a small state. When they have fully mad e up their growfh shoul°7L UnIcss in 

 from the dendrobium house to quarters about five degrees cooL nSr^ rem ° Ved 

 into their annual resting quarters. Gradually decrease the 1 S l^TV 

 gradually increase the supply of air taking every care that this Ifo^A^ 

 does not come in direct contact with the plants, which would be a grSt che ckl 

 would certainly have a great tendency to encourage the propagation of tZ Jt d 

 which baffles many growers— black spot— and which oft™ £t?u T .u 6 enem y 

 the whole plant, "ifvery effort should be exerdsed to preTen tTai eaS^ 

 gaining a foothold, for generally the best varieties are akctS no dol^u* 

 they are coddled somewhat. Odontoglossum citrosmum that has been dvenint/, 

 mediate treatment has perhaps m many cases not grown satisfactorily owing to £ 

 weather we have had ; it is as well to examine the plants, and if not crowing well 

 remove them to a house a few degrees warmer in order to give them time to Zkl 

 up a good bulb so that they can obtain a good rest. 



Sobralia macrantha and its variety alba, Sobralia Kienastiana, S. Veitchi S 



a are all showy orchids ; manv 

 growers are m the habit of giving them stove treatment, which is, I think a $?reat 

 mistake. I always find the intermediate house the best, and have erown 

 them in it for a long period. The new roots will be commencing to crow 

 so that if a larger pot is required it would be a good time to afford it now A 

 good compost for sobrahas is a mixture of rough peat and some good loam with a 

 little leaf mould and silver sand ; pot them moderately firm (not hard) and keep 



away. Lattleya Hardyana 



will now be flowering, and is a grand orchid, though found rather difficult to 

 manage by many growers. The worst time for it appears to be after the flowering 

 season ; in many cases it is given too much shade, others allow too much water 

 It is best to keep it rather dry while in flower and for a considerable time after- 

 wards, in fact until next spring, and if a spot, however small, is noticed less water 

 still should be given, at the same time allowing plenty of light and plenty of fresh 

 air. If the leaves are slightly yellowish, such is not a bad sign unless an unreason- 

 able yellow tint is seen, for the greeny yellow hue is natural to the plant. This 

 orchid thrives well in baskets suspended from the roof at the warm end of tht 

 cattleya house. Laelia (Brassavola) Digbyana will have finished flowering and 

 must be allowed plenty of light and given a thorough rest ; place as close as con- 

 venient to the glass and keep dry, but not so as to shrivel the pseudo bulbs. 



The present condition of the weather will allow good atmospheric conditions 

 inside the house ; the roller blinds will not be required except when the sun is 

 very strong, as plenty of light on all occasions must be afforded ; give air freely 

 but carefully, and afford less water at the roots all round. Quiet nights must be 

 chosen for fumigating, and the heating apparatus must be kept well in hand.— 

 T. Stafford, Tyntes field Gardens. 



STOVE PLANTS. 



As the days are now shortening and the sun losing power, less shade will be 

 necessary, so that the plants may receive the benefit of sun and light to thoroughly 

 mature their growths before the winter comes upon us. Where permanent shading 

 is used, such as summer cloud, lime and milk, &c, it will be necessary to wa»h 

 off part of it, the remainder to be removed in the course of a week ; choose a 

 dull day for the operation, it being easier to remove on such a day, and the plants 

 likely to suffer less. In the case of blinds it will only be necessary to lower them 

 during the middle part of very hot days. In structures where creepers are ex- 

 tensively grown on the roof, these should be freely thinned, not at the same time 

 that the shading is reduced, but during the course of a few days. Allamandas will 

 continue to flower for some time yet, and must receive aid In the way of stimu- 

 lants. Gradually bring stephanotis to a state of rest by reducing the water 

 supply, and when possible, removing the plants to a cooler house. Stand plants 

 • f vinca wht re they receive the maximum amount of light to mature their growths. 

 M the speci nen caladiums pass their best encourage them to go to rest, reduce 

 ihj supply of water to the roots, and eventually lay the pots on their sides in the 

 bed of the stove. Clerodendrons that are still growing should be fed, affording 

 the shoots all the light possible, as next season's success with these and similar 

 subjects depends upon the thorough maturation of the present season's shoots, 

 and in keeping the foliage healthy and clean until it naturally ripens and falls 

 away. Euphorbia jacquinreflora may now be introduced into the stove, keeping 

 the plants to the front of the house where the shoots may be looped to the wires, 

 as in such a position they will do far better than if dotted promiscuously amongst 

 the plants In the body of the house. 



It will be necessary to remove poinsettias from the cold frames, placing them 

 in a house where they can be afforded artificial heat and plenty of light. Dispose 

 the plants thinly. Be careful, when moving them, that they are not bent or 

 inured in any way. When they have become used to their new quarters, artora 

 each plant a topdressing of loam, leaf-soil, and sand, amongst which is mixed a 

 little of some good fertilizer ; before applying the topdressing, see that each Dan 

 of soil is thoroughly moist. Afford them a good syringing twice a day, ana a 

 temperature of 60 to 65 degrees by day and 55 to 60 degrees at night. It space 

 will admit, the bulk of winter- flowering begonias may be stood in the same house, 

 and any of the latter which have not yet been placed in their flowering-pots 

 should be potted without delay. Eranthemums and serlcographis also should dc 

 removed from cold frames to a warmer structure, but on no account remove any 

 plants directly from cold frames to the stove. Shrubby clerodendrons, such bs 

 fallax and C. fragrans, that are flowering now, will repay for liberal tr<*tmem, 

 ^d will need constant attention to keep them free from mealy-bug and I sen* 



mese are growing, it will be necessary to sponge them over occasiona iy y k 

 vent them becoming infested. Plants of plumeria that have co mplctcd JJ 

 growth should be afforded a very light position, but rather less watff "JJ 

 hitherto. Continue, however, to afford liquid manure at every other watering w 

 a week or two yet. In lean-to houses attend regularly to turning the Jdc 

 unless this is done frequently, the leaves all incline towards the light on ™ e * 

 making the plants useless fr£n a decorative point of view. In the palm hou£ 

 one good syringing a day will now be sufficient. Admit air freely on all to 

 able occasions to have th* fr^, ^r^npH to rass well through tne wm 



should 



THE FLOWER GARDEN. ^ 



propagation of the various bedding subjects required foi ; nex 

 oushed forward as far as the supply of cuttings can be obtained. 



