128 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
only be grown in pots in frames, for if the snails find them the 
owner will lose them. The most distinct are F. grandijlora r 
leaves pale green, flowers white; F. ovata , broad egg-shaped 
leaves, and lilac-bine flowers; F. Sieboldiana , large ovate 
glaucous leaves, and pale lilac flowers ; F. subcordata (syn. 
Japonica) variegata , an extremely beautiful plant, with pale 
amber or cream-coloured leaves and white flowers. 
Gentiana (Gentian).—This is commonly regarded as a 
troublesome genus, requiring some magical method of culti¬ 
vation to insure a fair production of its notable deep blue 
flowers. The magic consists for the most part in planting 
properly in the first instance, and then leaving the plants 
undisturbed for any length of time. We make a pilgrimage 
occasionally to see a few great sheets of gentians bearing' 
thousands of flowers—a wonderful sight. The plants have 
stood untouched for twenty years, and have travelled from 
the border to the gravel walk, and compelled their owner 
to make a new walk, to provide a way round them, this 
being preferable to disturbing or destroying a single leaf or 
root. It must be confessed, however, that the strictly 
alpine species are fastidious and comparatively unmanageable, 
and cannot be properly regarded as border plants. We shall 
have nothing to say about the mountain gentians, and proceed 
at once to say that G. acaulis , the Stemless Gentian, will grow 
freely and flower finely in a deep, firm, moist, stony soil which 
is neither clay nor sand. If a position is made for it, take out 
at least a square yard of soil, one foot deep, and fill up with a 
mixture of mellow turfy loam and large stones, and tread it 
firm and plant. In the cottage gardens, where we occasionally 
see it thriving gloriously, its well-doing is usually to be attri¬ 
buted to its having obtained a soil to its liking, and having 
been left alone to enjoy it. G. asclepiadea grows a foot and a 
half high, has purplish flowers, and thrives on a deep rich 
loam. There is a white variety : both are good border plants. 
G. cruciata , with deep blue cross-shaped flowers, the plant 
scarcely a foot high, will thrive in any good border. G. lutea , 
the source of the druggist’s u gentian root,” is a handsome 
plant, three feet high, with yellow flowers ; it grows freely in a 
deep rich moist loam. G. saponaria will thrive in any good 
border ; the plant rises a foot and a half, the flowers are blue 
and barrel-shaped. G. verna is such a gem, that though really 
fastidious, we must not omit it from this universal selection. 
