JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
518 
make rapid growth, and by the end of the season good flowering 
crowns will be ensured, which should be potted in the autumn 
with the exception of those required for stock the following year, 
and the pots plunged in ashes or fibre, when they can be removed 
into heat as they are required ; otherwise, perhaps, when fresh 
batches are wanted it will be difficult to raise them from the 
borders owing to sharp frosts. They are also easily raised from 
seed ; sow in a cold frame as soon as ripe, and prick off and plant 
out the young plants as they require attention in a similar position. 
Such plants make very free growth and come fairly true from 
seed, especially amcena ; but there will be some variations, and it 
is impossible to reckon upon constancy when the seed from the 
hybrid forms are sown, but for the purpose of supplying cut 
flowers this might be immaterial if good blooms were obtained. 
The typical form, P. cortusoides, has evidently been known in 
this country for many years. About the year 1790 it was a rare 
plant, and cultivated by Messrs. Lee & Kennedy, nurserymen, at 
Hammersmith, of whom Mr. Curtis obtained a plant, and in 1798 
a good figure of it appeared in the “ Botanical Magazine ” (plate 
399). It is very free-growing with hairy Cortusa-like leaves and 
irmbels of rosy purple flowers on stalks 6 to 9 inches high, varying 
both in size and colour. It is a charming little plant for borders, 
rockeries, masses in woods and wild places where it would become 
naturalised. It is easily forced, and can be readily raised in 
quantity from seed, but as a decorative plant it will not bear com¬ 
parison with any of the varieties described below. 
P. amcena is a vigorous-growing variety with short stout flower 
stalks, supporting large umbels of well-formed flowers of a clear 
magenta colour and good substance ; the individual flowers are 
very fine, P. amoena grandiflora has a habit similar to the last, 
but with larger flowers, drooping, blush white inside, externally 
deep rose ; a most distinct and effective variety. P. a. grandi¬ 
flora alba, similar in habit to the two last; flowers not quite so 
large, pure white, and more erect; a most valuable variety for 
cutting, very free in growth and flowering. Boadicea, habit good 
and free ; trusses large, with well-formed large flowers of a deli¬ 
cate lavender colour, with white centre ; very elegant. Cordelia, 
a grand variety, very robust, with short spikes of very large 
flowers measuring fully 2 inches across in a good truss, blush 
white inside, externally pale lavender ; a most showy kind. Fas¬ 
cination, a form with a vigorous habit ; flowers large and droop¬ 
ing on taller spikes, white inside, pale purple outside, with the 
margins of the corollas deeply and finely fringed. Intermedia 
alba, a variety suitable for growing with cortusoides ; it is very 
floriferous, with flowers about the same size as those of that kin 1, 
white striped with green. Lilacina, a very distinct variety, with 
stout stalks and large sub-pendulous flowers of a deep lilac colour 
with finely fimbriated margins. Peach Blossom, a very robust 
grower, with large umbels of flowers, bright pink with white 
centres and sparingly fringed edges ; a most showy kind, the 
colour very distinct. Purple Queen, very free and sturdy ; umbels 
crowded with large well-formed flowers of a deep purple colour 
and good substance ; a most desirable kind. Eosea, a strong- 
growing kind, with good trusses of large flowers measuring nearly 
2 inches across, and a clear rose colour and full-edged. Eubra 
laciniata, trusses full; flowers large, white inside, marked with 
rose, externally rosy red, with the margins deeply fringed ; very 
free and showy. Vivid, habit good and free ; flowers in compact 
umbels, rather larger than those of the typical form, bright magenta 
rose ; the most distinct colour of the group, and a very valuable 
variety for the supply of flowers. Violacea maxima, very strong 
grower, with large umbels ; flowers inch across, deep violet 
purple, with the edges deeply cut and slightly fringed. There are 
several others, notably the varieties sent out last season by Victor 
Lemoine, which were remarkably good, and it is to that enthusi¬ 
astic florist that we are indebted for our best varieties in these as 
well in many other favourite florists’ flowers.—N. 
THE COMPARATIVE HARDINESS OF HARDWOODED 
PLANTS. 
Colonel H. M. Drummond Hay read a very instructive 
paper upon the above subject before the Dundee Horticultural 
Association in March last, detailing the observations made at 
Seggieden, Perthshire, during the three preceding winters. This 
has now been issued in pamphlet form by the Association, and 
the information it contains will render it extremely useful and 
interesting to gardeners and amateurs generally. A large number 
of plants have been noted, and these are arranged in four sections 
according to the degree of injury the plants have sustained, the 
first including all those that were proved to be perfectly hardy. 
The experiments are especially valuable, as those plants which 
have survived in that district will probably be equally hardy in 
[ June 22, 1882. 
the greater portion of Britain, and thus convey to cultivators an 
idea respecting the plants suitable for their own districts. 
As an example of the method adopted we quote the following 
from the first section :— 
“Acer atro-purpureum. —A. atro-purpureum, from Japan, is tho¬ 
roughly hardy, and much to be recommended for the beauty of its 
foliage, especially with the sun shining through its leaves. There 
are now more than a dozen varieties of these beautiful-foliaged 
plants from Japan to be had of every shade. I have not yet tried 
them, but if they prove as hardy as atro-purpureum they will be 
the greatest acquisitions in landscape gardening we have had intro¬ 
duced for some years. Of the variegated pseudo-platanus varieties— 
of which I have tried several, and which are quite to be depended 
upon—the tricoloured Leopoldi carries off the palm, and is most 
desirable in any shrubbery, having the appearance more of some of 
the newer variegated Geraniums, contrasting well with darker-foliaged 
plants, of which now there are many, such as the purple Nut and 
the larger-leaved purple Beech. 
The author concludes his treatise with some apt remarks upon 
the desirability of extending the collections of hardy exotic plants, 
which we extract. 
“ It has often struck me as somewhat strange in these days, that 
among other things the taste for hardy exotic hardwooded plants— 
I do not allude now to Conifers, but more especially to flowering 
shrubs and fine-foliaged evergreens—should be so little cultivated. 
We often see this in many of our public parks and private domains. 
There may be masses of bedding plants, good collections of herba¬ 
ceous and rock plants, and ferneries, together with pinetums, and 
perhaps beds of Rhododendrons and Azaleas ; but what is the shrub¬ 
bery like? We turn down a side walk, and there we find a few 
common Laurels, Lilacs, Snowberries, and other common plants, with 
Hollies stuck about, and perhaps some Box trees, an Aucuba or a 
common Rhododendron or two, and this merely to hide the stable 
or some other objectionable object. But seldom is it we see collec¬ 
tions of the choicest hardy exotic shrubs brought together and artis¬ 
tically grouped, in masses of fine foliage and flower, on some well- 
selected site, and I confess I know of no class of plants which will 
afford more satisfaction in that respect. Nor is there any out-of- 
door class to be found in which a more continued display of beauty 
can he maintained for nearly the whole year round. Where could 
there be anything more beautiful than masses of Rhododendron atro- 
virens, Nobleanum, and prsecox, together with Mezereum album, Jas- 
minum nudiflorum, and the early Heath ‘ herbacea,’ and its varieties 
alba and carnea, all in flower at the same time, vying with the Crocus 
and the Snowdrop in earliest spring. Following these come in quick 
succession other precocious kinds of Rhododendrons, early Andro- 
rnedas, Spiraeas, Forsythias, Loniceras, early Genistas, and a host of 
others, till in June and July a perfect blaze of flower is presented, 
this continuing with fresh successions through the whole summer 
and autumn till met by the Christmas Rose in early winter. In 
short, there is not a month passes in which the shrubbery may not 
be made to yield something to afford pleasure, which cannot, that I 
am aware of, be said of any other description of plants growing in 
this climate out of doors. It has always occurred to me that the 
beauty and merit of hardy exotic flowering shrubs, both deciduous 
and evergreen, has never been sufficiently brought forward in our 
botanical and horticultural magazines and papers, or even in our 
exhibitions, to create any particular interest in the public mind ; so 
much so, that I know there are nurseries where some of the finest 
plants have had to be thrown out to make room for those that are 
more common to meet with a readier sale, and under the circum¬ 
stances it is almost surprising that our nurserymen grow so large a 
number of hardy rarities little inquired for as they do. Of stove 
plants and rare Orchids we have plenty of information, consequently 
we see glass structures of various kinds rising in every direction. 
Not so with the shrubbery, though I am glad to say the tide seems 
to be turning a little in that direction ; and now that the difficulties 
of transit from every part of the world have almost vanished it is not 
too much to hope, were once the popular interest aroused, that we 
may see still larger additions swelling the no small stock of hardy 
valuable shrubs already existing in most of our large nurseries, and 
a more intimate knowledge attained than we have at present of their 
constitutional merits as to temperature and climate suitable for their 
respective requirements in all parts of the country.” 
FOXGLOVES. 
To those who have positions in their gardens where tall spikes 
of flowers may be considered effective amongst trees or shrubs, or 
at the back of broad borders of mixed flowering plants, let me 
recommend Foxgloves. Those who admire Hollyhocks should 
compare their favourites with a good well-cultivated strain of Fox¬ 
gloves. For every spike the Hollyhocks can produce in a given 
space Foxgloves will produce two or three, and they need not the 
coddling, trouble, manure, or even soil demanded by Hollyhocks. 
As for disease, who ever heard of diseased Foxgloves ? Then, as 
for expense, a sixpence worth of seed will produce hundreds of 
plants, but the much better display is the main recommendation. 
