TUFTED TANS IKS. 



151 



TUFTED PANSIES. 

 By D. B. Ceane. 



" These are hybrids of pansies and alpine violets. The term 1 tufted ' has 

 been very properly used to distinguish plants of a spreading habit — like 

 pinks, aubrietias, and alpine violets — from plants with single erect stems 

 like, say the stock, lupin, and aster. Sometimes the two forms of habit 

 occur in the same family ; for instance, there are violas that are tufted 

 and violas that are not — the German, French, and other pansies in our 

 gardens do not spread at the root as tufted pansies do. Plants of this 

 ' tufted ' habit are often a mass of delicate rootlets even above the 

 ground, so that they are easily increased. Hence, when older pansies die 

 after flowering, those crossed with the alpine species remain like true 

 perennials. The term ' pansies ' is a good one in all ways. Without an 

 English name, we should always have confusion with the Latin name for 

 the wild species. It is now agreed by botanists that all cross-bred garden 

 plants — including tufted pansies, of course — should have popular English, 

 not Latin names. ' Bedding Violas ' is a vulgar compound of bad 

 English and bad Latin ; whereas ' tufted pansies ' is a good English name 

 with a clear meaning." — The Garden, January 16, 1892. 



Few subjects in the long list of beautiful garden flowers can show the 

 improvement to be seen in the tufted pansy (Viola) to-day ; and much of 

 this advance has been achieved within the last two decades. Indeed, 

 within the last fifteen years, developments of a remarkable character have 

 taken place. Varieties that were popular in the eighties are seldom met 

 with to-day, the few exceptions being plants that possess some very 

 marked trait in their character, and they are very limited in numbers. 

 'Bullion,' rich yellow, and 1 Ardwell Gem,' sulphur-yellow, are two varieties 

 which may be taken as instances. The former is valued because of its 

 earliness and its free- flowering propensity, and the latter owing to its pro- 

 cumbent habit and persistent blossoming. 1 Ardwell Gem,' too, is the 

 parent of two or three excellent varieties, each of which has a beauty of its 

 own. This variety gave us ' Duchess of Fife,' 1 Goldfinch,' and ' White 

 Duchess s — a family quite distinct from all others. Generally speaking, 

 however, the newer introductions in many instances completely eclipse 

 the older kinds — colour, form, habit and constitution each exhibiting 

 improvement. The free-flowering propensity that has always charac- 

 terised the Viola is well maintained in the newer productions, and one 

 only needs to see them planted on a larger scale and the plants grouped 

 in masses to appreciate them. Beauty in many respects may be seen in 

 varieties of more recent introduction ; instead of the selection of colours 

 being almost exclusively confined to yellow, white, and blue, as was the 

 case in earlier days, the range of colours is now considerably enlarged. 

 There are shades of yellow, varying from the palest primrose to the 

 richest orange-yellow; white, from the purest snow-white to rich cream; 



