Plate 243. 
HYBRID PHLOXES. 
The stately herbaceous Phlox of our gardens, of which we have now so many handsome 
and desirable varieties, appears to have been the result of hybridising Phlox decussata , P. 
paniculata , P. suffruticosa and possibly other species; a result not difficult to obtain, since, as 
Dr. Asa Gray informs us, hybrids not unfrequently occur in a wild state in their native 
American habitats, and some charming cross-bred seedlings of the dwarf or vernal section, of 
which the delicate little P. Nelsoni is the type, have been raised by the Rev. Mr. Nelson, of 
Aldborough Rectory. The tall growing herbaceous kinds are so floriferous and grow so 
luxuriantly in any deep well-enriched earth that they deserve a place in every garden 
where stately, hardy flowers are appreciated. The three varieties we now figure have been 
raised by Messrs. Downie and Laird, of the Pinkhill Nurseries, Corstorphine, near Edinburgh 
who make Phloxes, Pentstemons, Hollyhocks, Dahlias, and other florists’ flowers, a speciality 
in their establishment. The variety named “Miss P. Hope” (a graceful compliment to Miss 
Hope, of Wardie Lodge, Edinburgh) has a well-developed spike of white flowers, the effect 
of these being heightened by a clear carmine eye. The other two varieties shown on our 
plate, namely “David Croal” rosy-lilac, and “ John Anderson ” rosy-crimson, have flowers 
of good substance and are welcome additions to a now popular race of hardy flowers. 
Plate 244. 
DAHLIA “ARTIST” (Turner). 
The Dahlia is deservedly held in high estimation not only by florists, but by all lovers of 
brightly-coloured, stately-habited, half-hardy decorative plants, and their value in autumn 
flower-garden arrangements was never better illustrated than in the grounds of the Crystal 
Palace Company during the past year. Among the species of Dahlia worth a place in all 
good gardens there are two as distinct from each other as they are beautiful, namely, the large 
eight-rayed, pure white Lily-like 1). Imperialis, and the scarlet-rayed D. coccinea. Both 
these are single flowered kinds, and it may be possible for a skilful hybridist to produce a 
race of varieties from these two plants as parents. D. Imperialis , when grown upon its own 
roots in the normal manner, frequently attains a height of ten to twelve feet before its flowers 
expand; and to remedy the inconvenience of this somewhat too stately habit, the late Mr. James 
Salter, of Chrysanthemum memory, used to graft it in the spring on the tubers of the dwarf 
growing or Pompone varieties of the ordinary Dahlia of the florists, and, so treated, it forms 
a bushy plant, and flowers when five or six feet in height. The particular variety we now 
figure is one of Mr. Charles Turner’s novelties, and well deserves culture as being most 
shapely and distinct in colour; and as a show variety these good qualities are certain to 
render it popular among Dahlia growers for exhibition. Another good quality possessed 
by this variety is a peculiar stoutness of texture in the florets, which enables them to 
continue in full beauty several days after they are removed from the plant, a quality of great 
importance in the case of all flowers exhibited in a cut state. 
