210 HARDY PERENNIALS 
readers to allot some space in their gardens, however 
small those gardens may be for these small but 
bewitchingly beautiful members of the Viola tribe. 
V. cornuta, which claims to be one of the parents 
of the popular bedding race, is itself a charming 
plant, with a curled horn at the back of each blue 
blossom. A number of named varieties now in 
cultivation offer interesting and pleasing variety 
and the plants are free growing, free flowering and 
admirably adapted for bedding or for edges to 
borders. V. gracilis too has been taken in hand 
by the plant breeder, and in addition to the small- 
fiowered type which often does duty as a substitute 
for Violets in posies we may have larger, richer- 
hued flowers of select named varieties. V. pedata, 
hailing from America, has flowers of Pansy shape 
which measure about an inch across and may be 
of any shade between a rosy lilac and a dark blue- 
purple. Quite a number of other Viola species 
exist, several of which are more particularly suited 
to the crevices and nooks of a rock garden, but 
those mentioned are among the best for semi-shaded 
beds or patches in the border. 
To propagate any is a simple matter if the old 
stems are cut back after flowering and young shoots 
from the centre of the plant are carefully removed, 
with a young root or two at the base if possible, and 
dibbled into a pan of sifted leaf-mould and sand, 
to strike in a shaded frame. 
Vitis. — Among climbing plants the ornamental 
