124 



PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



No English cold seems to affect tliese plants : and yet their beauty is usually impaired when in 

 flower, by the coldness of our nights. An obvious remedy for this is to protect their blossoms with 

 glass screens ; but the same result may be had if they are grown under north walls, so as to retard 

 their flowering and to lower their excitability. It will also be found that the gradual thaw which 

 tak s place when the vernal sun has no access is a powerful safeguard against the consequences of 

 being frozen ; while, on the contrary, the rapid elevation of temperature which occurs in a sunny 

 border is invariably productive of bad consequences. 



The Chinese and Japanese are said to reckon their varieties of Moutans by hundreds, as we do 

 our Roses. It is not improbable, now that the single and very slightly double kinds are beginning 

 to establish themselves in Europe, that we too shall have the same dominion over them as over 

 Camellias and Chrysanthemums. The double varieties sometimes seed; there is nothing- what- 

 ever to prevent the single kinds from doing so ; and it is only necessary for the imported plants to 

 becnne common to secure abundance of seed, out of which a new European race is sure to arise. 

 The largest collection of these plants yet brought to Europe is that of Dr. V. Siebold, who im- 

 ported them from Japan in 1844. They are said to have been obtained from the Imperial Gardens 

 of Yecldo and Mijako, and include all the finest sorts known in that empire. They are distin- 

 guished by the form and colour of the petals, and of the disk, styles, and stamens. None of them 

 are completely double ; most are single ; some only semi-double; and hence very likely to have 

 seeds. The blossoms are described as being very large, and in some cases very sweet-scented. 



The following list of these Japanese Tree Pteonies has been circulated by Dr. V. Siebold, 

 who has cultivated them all, as well as others, in his nursery at Leyden. 



Heine Victoria. Petals white. Disk purple. 



Heine des Beiges. Petals white, greenish on the outside, with a pale rose-coloured spot at the base. Disk white. 

 Flora. Petals white, with a straw-coloured tinge, and a pale lilac spot at the base. Disk whitish green. 

 Duchesse a" Orleans. Petals white, with a straw-coloured tint, the outer streaked with green. Disk white. 

 Nymphcea. Petals pure white. Disk white. 



Madame De Cock. Petals white (before expansion greenish straw-colour) dotted with dark lilac at their base. Disk 

 yellowish. 



Ida. Petals pale rose (streaked with straw-colour and tinged with green before expansion). Disk pink. 

 Helena. Petals pink (clear rose-colour before expansion). Disk purple. 

 Reinwardt. Petals dark rose, dtreaked with purple and carmine. Disk dark purple. 

 De Vriese. Petals dark rose, streaked with purple and carmine. Disk white. 

 Princesse Charlotte. Petals pale rose with darker streaks. Disk white. 



Von Siebold. Flowers semi-double. Petals carmine red streaked with purple. Disk deep red. 



Comte de Flandrc. Flowers semi-double. Petals carmine streaked with purple. Disk crimson. 



Van Hullhem. Petals purple red . Disk purple. 



Dug de Devonshire. Petals carmine red. Disk dark purple. 



Due de Brabant. Petals pink with a lilac tint. Disk white. 



Roi des Beiges. Petals dark crimson with a purple tinge. Disk carmine. 



AlexandreVerschaffelt. Petals purple red, variegated, dotted with white and lilac. Disk purple. 



Prince Albert. Petals dark brown red, the outer ones sometimes variegated with white and green. Disk purple. 



The Wild Tree Pceony. On this are worked the varieties obtained by cultivation. It deserves attention as well for the 

 colour and sweet scent of its flowers as in a horticultural point of view, for its easy propagation by the division of its 

 root and its hardiness, it having borne several winters in the open air without any shelter. Its colour is bright 

 scarlet ; each petal has a black spot at its base, and the stamens are surmounted with golden yellow anthers. 



