October 29 



1898- 



GARDENERS' 



MAGAZINE. 



699 



Hybrid Montbretias. 



The flowers commonly known as hybrid montbretias, which would more 

 correctly be called hybrid tritonias, have lately been the subject of a good 

 many notes in gardening papers. They were most of them raised by 

 Messrs. Lemoine, of Nancy, from a cross between Crocosmia aurea and 

 Tritonia Pottsi. He now offers upwards of thirty varieties. That they 

 may be very ornamental when well grown seems to be generally agreed, 

 but there is one statement about them concerning which a timely warning 

 should be attended to— the statement that they are perfectly hardy in the 

 open border. The cultivation of these bulbs is in most gardens com- 

 paratively recent, and gardeners speak of their experience of the last 

 three or four unusually mild winters. Besides this, the term " hardy " 

 should always be qualified by defining the county or soil of which it is 

 spoken, otherwise it may be very misleading. I began the cultivation of 

 these hybrid tritonias more than ten years ago, having had a longer ex- 

 perience of both the parents, neither of which I have ever found quite 

 hardy in severe winters without protection. When I first dealt with Mr. 

 Lemoine I asked him his experience of the hardiness of these hybrids. 

 He told me that none of the hybrids, and neither of the parents, were 

 hardy in the open ground at Nancy without a thick coat of litter on the 

 surface during the winter. The winter of Nancy is, it is true, more 

 severe than that of England ; but most of us who grew these bulbs 

 before the beginning of 1892 know that all of them that were left in the 

 open ground unprotected were killed outright by that winter, except in 

 warm and favoured situations ; and they will always be killed by three 

 weeks of continuous frost where the ground is frozen hard to the depth 

 at which the bulbs are growing. 



But hybrid tritonias are so very easily dealt with in such a way as to 

 exclude danger of losing them by frost, that it is not worth while to run 

 any risk in the matter. Even when winter spares them, many of the kinds, 

 especially the type T. Pottsi and T. crocosmiaeflora, increase so rapidly, 

 that if left to themselves for more than two years they exhaust the soil and 

 strangle one another, and produce a dense forest of leaves with little or 

 no flowers. Some amateurs to whom I have given them have been so 

 alarmed at their rate of spreading as to dig them all up and consign 

 them to the rubbish heap. But there are several ways of dealing with 

 them by which the increase may be checked, and the flowers made very 

 ornamental in the mixed flower border. 



It is the habit at Edge at any time before the ground is frozen deep, 

 say about the middle of November, to get together a hundred five-inch 

 or six-inch pots, and, digging up the clumps, to put three or lour bulbs in 

 each pot, which may be filled with any refuse soil, and well watered. 

 Then they may be put away under the trees in any shrubbery or waste 

 ground, and covered two feet deep with any light litter which will neither 

 heat nor blow away. They should have all the rain the sky gives them, 

 for it may be noted that they cannot stand drought, either when growing 

 or at rest, as they belong by nature to rather wet ground. Any attempt, 

 therefore, to store them dry during winter like the corms of gladiolus, 

 will end in their certain death. As for the large number of surplus bulbs, 

 it is well to reckon for how many bunches room can be found ; if 

 more are wanted than the number of pots filled, it is very easy to save 

 the surplus by burying them in any waste corner, and littering them over 

 to exclude frost. None should have the tops cut until replanted in 

 March. At the end of that month they are safe from damage by frost. 

 Those in pots are then planted in rich soil which does not dry up, about 

 six or eight inches deep. The buried clumps may then be divided, so 

 that each new clump has not more than eight or ten growing points. It 

 is better, however, to throw away thousands than to plant or leave any 

 crowded clumps. Treated in this way, they begin to flower early in 

 July, and continue until late in October. 



It will often be found, some varieties being far worse than others in 

 this respect, that whole clumps turn brown and wither prematurely before 

 all the flowers are open. I cannot assign this to any preventable cause- 

 either soil or situation, or too much or too little water— but I conclude 

 that these bulbs will not ripen well for next year, and throw them all 

 away. The best soil is rich, open loam, and the best situation sunny, but 

 partly overgrown by dwarf shrubs, so that the surface of the soil does 

 n°t get burnt. If grown entirely in the shade, though they make 

 luxuriant leaves, they do not flower ; and, however fine these bulbs look 

 when dug up, they require a season's growth in sunshine before they 

 consent to flower again. 



As for the varieties, upwards of thirty in number, most of which I 

 obtained from the raisers soon after they were first offered, the commonest, 

 next to the type Tritonia Pottsi, is called crocosmireflora. These 



ruhh^vf S ° rap ' d ^y as t0 ^mpt the grower to consign them all to the 

 ^bbish h ea P> but there are great improvements on both these being of the 

 same colours, and moderate growers. For the first of them, Etoile 



mod CU ' ^ aS ^ e same scarl et flowers of larger size, and increases very 

 n erate ty> and has a very good constitution, seldom withering pre- 

 a fi l* Instead of the °ther, I should recommend Bouquet Parfait, 

 a d ne t shaded orange, and equal in constitution to any of the set. For 

 tu y e ^°w, I find Aurore possesses the same desirable qualiti 



♦k ft , ' — v,t j * miu nurore possesses mc aouic ucsirauic qualities as 



'jrw° rlf re commended, and Pluie d'Or, as a lighter yellow, equally 



*'ood. 



The palest in colour is Solfaterre. 



most H' • 1 '** vviu ux uuuu lWi v. These five represent the 



There ,1StmCt contras ts of colour, and make a very good selection. 

 • ls a small flowered variety exactly like T. Pottsi in size, but 



hav 



U dof insi de of the flower bright yellow and the outside scarlet 



u nsuitlvii 10t Spread llke its namesake. It is called Pottsi grandiflora, an 



ble na nie, as the flower is smaller than any other of the hybrids. 



without speaking of two very fine flowers of which the treatment is 

 nearly the same, and which are generally associated in catalogues with 

 so-called hybrid montbretias. They are named Crocosmia imperialis, 

 and C. maculata, and are both, I believe, varieties of the old C. aurea, 

 which has for long been in cultivation as Tritonia aurea. Their flowers 

 are twice as large as any of those described above ; they are produced 

 rather later, and the bulbs are perhaps rather less hardy. They increase 

 more sparingly, making flowering stalks at the end of stolons a foot or 

 more long, so that if left in the soil they do not make a compact bunch. 

 For this reason it is more difficult to protect them against frost unless 

 they are taken up and potted, a plan I generally adopt. They are 

 excellent for greenhouse ornaments in September and October. In lift- 

 ing them to pot great care must be taken not to break off the long 

 shoots, of which there are seldom more than two or three to each bulb. 

 They are very fragile, and, if broken, no fresh growth is sent out, and 

 the bulb is useless. In potting, the points of sorn^ of the shoots should 



be brought to the centre of the pot, and not all be left to grow up against 

 the rim. 



Hall, MalA 



WOl 



In ' ? S the flower is smaller than an y other of the h y b r ld t s - W J rgl v " n d of beauty, and a joy for a generation, if not for ever, for 



from '7 0mme nding the above treatment and varieties, I speak entirely or P ien ^ * Sweetness and beauty the vine cannot help giving, but 



diti 0n ^ y ° Wn ex P er ience. Other cultivators, where the soil and con- 

 they th ^ . dlfferent > may perhaps have a different story to tell. Here 



lve ln retentive, rich, well-worked soil. I must not conclude 



Vine Culture in the Open. 



" R. D." does well to call attention to this matter. Vines are mostly 

 worth growing on houses, walls, and up trees, both as foliage and flower- 

 ing plants. For fragrance, fineness, and, in many cases, colour of foliage, 

 we have few equals and no rivals to grape vines Several of our grapes, 

 such as Alicante, West St. Peter's, Barbarossa, Madresfield Court, Lady 

 D ownes, &c, colour their foliage, though they may not ripen their fruit 

 in the open air. Then two of the hardiest vines and grapes for the open 

 air— and these will ripen freely in the south and east of England without 

 the help of walls— are Miller's Burgundy (or the Dusty Miller) and the 

 Claret, the leaves as well as the fruit of the latter being dyed a deep 

 purple. These are two of the best and hardiest vines, and grown in the 

 open like raspberry canes, in rows a yard apart, or as dwarf standards or 

 cordons about eighteen inches or more from plant to plant, alternate 

 rows of these two varieties give vivid pictures of purple interleaved with 

 silver. Among hardy vines these two grapes are also good wine makers. 

 The Dusty Miller takes its name from the mealiness of the leaves, rather 

 than the bloom of the grape, though the latter is supposed also to add 

 to the piquancy of the grapes and their resulting juic* Though the 

 leaves are so densely covered with down as to be always white during 

 most of their growth, the gnipes finish off a deep dark colour, dis- 

 tinguished not only by the depth and density of their bloom, but the 

 excellency of the small berries for eating, and the rich bouquet of their 

 wine. 



The Black Cluster is not seldom confounded with the Dusty Miller, 

 though readily distinguished from it by the absence of mealiness on the 

 leaves, and the larger bunches of berries. It is, however, an equally 

 hardy and good grape for the open air, on walls, and is! perhaps the most 

 popular vine on the Moselle or the Rhine as laying the foundation of the 

 finest brands of burgundy or champagne wines. The Claret may be best 

 described as purple all over, and therefore it is recommended in the open, 

 and on walls, alternately with Dusty Miller and Black Cluster, and, as a 

 contrast to both, the Parsley-leaved Muscadine. This vine is about as 

 deeply laciniated in the leaves as is the Cut-leaved Bramble {Rubus 

 laciniatns\ while the variety is as hairy as the common White Muscadine 

 or Sweetwater. There is also a Black Sweetwater and Black July. The 

 Espiran is the largest and perhaps most certain of all our hardy grapes 

 for walls. The Cambridge liotanic Garden is another hardy black grape, 

 which forms an excellent companion to the Espiran on warm walls. 

 The Black July bears small grapes, full of refreshing juice, fit for eating 

 or the press. The Purple Fontainbleau, as well as Black Prince, Black 

 Hamburgh, and Black Sweetwater, will also often ripen in sheltered 

 gardens on warm walls. 



Among white grapes, the delicate, sparkling Chasselas M usque, 

 Chasseias Vibert, also the Frontignans, white, black, and grizzly, have 

 been perfectly ripened on warm walls. There is one very noticeable and 

 encouraging feature that has distinguished most, if not all, the attempts 

 made to grow Frontignan grapes in the open air on our walls. Under 

 cool treatment the grapes have neither shanked nor shrivelled, and the 

 flavour has equalled, or excelled, those grown in heat. The Early 

 Saumer Frontignan, as its name implies, ripens earlier than any of the 

 others but the Grizzly, alike out of doors as in, is the highest flavoured. 

 Other' white hardy grapes well worth growing are the Scotch White 

 Cluster Stillward's Sweetwater, perhaps the hardiest and freest setter of 

 all the Sweetwaters ; The Early Smyrna, and the Early Malvasia. These 

 and others may yet be met with in various parts of the country. 



Our hardy vines are however, greatly in need of rigid selection as well 

 as improved culture. Some years since there was a considerable run on 

 hardy American vines, as well as for bigger blackberries, and with little 

 more successful results. If County Council's would use their influence to 

 brine these out-door grape vines under the notice and management, 

 for a vear or two, of their horticultural lecturers, the character of 

 the erapes and the quality and quantity of the wine produced might 

 sDeedily be enormously improved. Improved varieties would do much, 

 but rational treatment and youthful vigour might do more in both 

 directions for with a few rare and notable exceptions, which only prove the 

 ru'e the worst treated plant in all the garden or orchard is the grapevine. 

 Too generally it is a mere crush of fruit, foliage and shoots, allowed to run 

 -uUf fn waste instead of being planted, trained and cultivated into a thing 



uaiy iu waovv ^ 4 ^ A „ fat m — :r fu*. ^e 



the 



ent,re n7nf "pleasure and profit it will yield to its possessor depends upon 

 t^Tcare, the skill, and the love of the cultivator. D. T. Fish. 



