io6 HARDY PERENNIALS 
Ceratostigma plumbaginioides. — Here we have a 
ponderous name, but a plant of unique and valuable 
character. Blue of clear decisive shade is never 
over-common among flowers. In Spring we have 
several good blue flowers, the Forget-me-nots, the 
Gentians, the Bluebells. In Summer Delphiniums, 
Aconites, Campanulas, and Lupins serve us in 
good stead, but it is in Autumn, when most flowers 
seem to adopt red and gold and true blues become 
very scarce, that Ceratostigma plumbaginioides 
throws up from among its red stems and shining 
green leaves its clusters of plumbago-like flowers 
of a clean bright cobalt shade of blue. 
The plant delights in a spongy or peaty soil, 
where during Summer moisture is well held, and 
during \\'inter the surplus runs away from a sloping 
surface. Rocky slopes or warm banks afford con- 
genial quarters, and if young growths are thinned 
out during Spring and Summer and used as cuttings 
the old plants will grow more vigorously and young 
stock will be easily produced. A former name 
for this plant was Plumbago larpentae, but botanists 
decree that the more formidable name should be used. 
Cheiranthus. — ^The Wallflower of our childhood's 
gardens requires neither introduction nor description, 
but the genus contains a few interesting species 
which are worthy of note, and which would be 
more freely planted if they were more widely knowTi. 
C. Allionii is a remarkably showy little plant of 
biennial character, but easily maintained by sowing 
