JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 17, 1882. ] 
145 
Vicomtesse Glentworth are the only two certificated seedlings that 
are not likely to bloom. One of the showiest beds I have com¬ 
prises some of the hardier tall-growing Fuchsias, such as Lye’s, 
obtained from Mr. Cannell, Swanley Nurseries, two years since, 
and left out last year. Not one was lost by cold. I should have 
previously mentioned two of my favourites, to which I have devoted 
considerable space—Pyrethrums and Dahlias. Except for variety 
I am not sufficiently aesthetic to prefer single to double Pyrethrums. 
Once grown I cannot imagine any flower lover to be without the 
latter. I have a selection of show, fancy, single, bouquet, and 
the better kinds of double Dahlias, for the next three months I 
expect much satisfaction from seventy varieties of these. Next 
comes a whole bed of the white Japan Anemone—I say a “whole” 
bed, and this is the best way of growing it. It will “ kill ” any 
edging or other flower; but who that knows it but will say it 
deserves every space and attention ? The first bloom opened 
recently; the last will come next November. I do not eschew 
zonals, for one of my most interesting beds is fifty seedlings, seem¬ 
ingly all different. Passing over others, lastly come three beds 
of my especial favourites, Tuberous Begonias in variety. Br efly 
I may say I grow them much as I would Potatoes, and they need 
very little more care in winter, except that in future for bedding 
I intend to start them earlier in a mild hotbed in February to have 
blooms in May. When I with limited means, limited facilities, 
and multifarious other duties to attend to can have flowers in this 
way for such a large portion of the year, what excuse is there 
for others to complain of growing weeds or rubbish who have no 
such difficulties ?—W. J. M., Clonmel. 
THE BOG GARDEN. 
A well-hade bog garden is an inseparable adjunct to the rock 
garden ; no well-arranged garden where hardy plants are made a 
speciality should be without one. Where natural conditions do 
not admit, some special arrangements should be made. It too 
often has been my experience to see moisture-loving plants grown 
indiscriminately amongst alpines ; no worse mistake can be made, 
for some of the best plants are thus never seen to advantage. It 
is unadvisable to be hasty in discarding plants until given a 
thorough trial and their right place be found, except in ca‘ e s 
where they are really worthless. I have seen such plants as 
Cardamine trifoliata grown amongst alpines generally, but never 
so luxuriantly as in the more elevated parts of the bog, where, 
though not saturated, there is always an understratum of mois¬ 
ture. Astrantias, which seldom give satisfaction in the ordinary 
border under conditions such as those just mentioned, will be seen 
in their true character and be more acceptable. Some of the 
miniature Daisies (Belliums) planted amongst other alpines dry 
up, so to speak, on the first short season of drought. They are 
generally looked upon as biennials, but in the drier parts of the 
bog become perennial. Bryanthus erectus and Epigaea repens, 
two of the best American under-shrubs, never do well planted 
amongst ordinary alpines. Special preparation may be made for 
them, giving peaty soil; but that will not furnish them with the 
indispensable understratum of moisture. Some of the moisture- 
loving Saxifragas—S. Fortunei, S. repanda, S. Hirculus—and a 
great many more could be mentioned to show the necessity of 
making special provision for moisture-loving plants. 
It has already been said the alpine and bog garden are insepa¬ 
rable, and they are better made together and planned to harmonise. 
If, however, as is very often the case, an alpine garden already 
exists, whatever be its qualities or defects, it must be taken into 
consideration—its contour studied. Simplicity is the order, and 
let nothing elaborate be attempted. 
A bog garden may consist of a small irregular bed at the base 
of the alpine garden, or a more extensive one at a lower end in 
connection with a pond or miniature lake. In the latter case it 
should be irregular and have an undulating surface. If a natural 
stream of water can be turned so as to take a winding course, so 
much the better. I have, as I write, in my memory a piece of 
water for genuine aquatics and a bog in connection, through 
which a natural stream runs. It is an interesting corner, and a 
place to which I direct my steps almost daily to watch the pro¬ 
gress of or attend in some way to the plants there growing. It 
matters little what the subsoil consists of in places where plenty 
of water is at hand. I have made bog gardens on a most reten¬ 
tive clay and also upon gravel, and have always found the desired 
condition as to moisture can be obtained with a little manipulation. 
In the case of a deficiency of water a clayey subsoil would be 
essential, and if a bog garden consists of a small irregular bed 
some artificial means ought to be adopted for flooding it in dry 
weather. I have seen this done by a small leaden pipe carried 
underground. By elevating the surface in places you are enabled 
to grow a greater variety of plants. A slope from comparatively 
dry ground, say where that part of the rock garden terminates 
on the general level to a basin-like hollow irregular in shape, if 
the subsoil be retentive, you can here grow swamp plants, such as 
Menyanthes trifoliata, Comarum palustre, Hottonia palustris, and 
many others. I have seen handsome specimens of Primula 
japonica growing in such places, also Helonias bullata and Pin- 
guicula grandiflora. By adopting an irregular curve and a slope 
you will be enabled to find all conditions of moisture and even 
partial shade.—M. J. 
EUTOGA VISCIDA. 
Several of those attractive little hardy allies of the Nemo- 
philas, the Eutocas, are grown in gardens, the best being E. vis- 
cida, E. Franklini, and E. multiflora, hardy North American 
annuals. All these are pretty, but being of dwarf growth they 
are chiefly adapted for small beds or near the margins of borders, 
as otherwise they appear to little advantage crowded with the 
taller stronger-growing perennials. They are not particular as to 
soil, any moderately light ordinary garden soil suiting them, and 
perhaps the best way to obtain them in good condition is to sow 
the seeds in the borders in autumn. Some may also be sown in 
early spring, however, and the plants so obtained will form a 
succession to the others. 
The species represented in the woodcut (fig. 25)—E. viscida— 
is one of the prettiest and best known. The flowers have very 
deep rich blue five-lobed corollas, with a circular red blotch in 
the centre, and they are borne in curved racemes, several blooms 
being open at one time. The leaves are somewhat heart-shaped, 
but irregularly cut at the margin, and the surface of the plant 
