June 28,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
511 
A lmost ere we know it June is nearly past, and the flowers 
of summer have attained the zenith of their beauty. The 
rosarians are having, and will have, the full enjoyment of the 
queenly Rose, whose charms are well known ; but if some lovers 
of hardy garden flowers have to content themselves with a few 
Roses they have compensation in the brightness of the garden 
yielded by other flowers. The Dianthus, the “ divine ” flower, 
is in full beauty, ranging from the tiny alpine forms and “ Maiden ” 
Pinks to the odorous garden Pinks. The Lily, “Lady of the 
flowering field,” as Spenser calls it, has come to delight us with 
its waxen petals. The Pyrethrum, too, which tells us once again 
how much has been done for our gardens by the florist, yields 
us its beautiful Aster-like flowers. The Delphiniums, with their 
tall spikes of blue, inspire us with feelings of admiration, and 
a host of other flowers of a lesser or of greater worth present 
themselves. To speak now of even a tithe of these would trans¬ 
gress one’s limits, and I am thus, perforce, compelled to cull 
from the riches of the month a few flowers, which are for various 
reasons likely to be worthy of particular mention. 
In the profusion of Irises of some notice is I. tectorum or 
tomiolopha, now in flower on the top of one of my rockeries. 
Very pretty it is, and distinct from most others of its size by 
reason of the crest which adorns its flowers. These are bright 
lilac, with a deeply cut lilac and white crest, and, like most other 
Irises, so beautifully marked and coloured that it is impossible to 
describe them perfectly^ These flowers remind one from their 
flatfish form of those of the splendid Iris Ksempferi. I. tectorum 
is not often seen, and I fancy many persons who would like to grow 
it are deterred by the statement in some of the catalogues that 
it grows on the roofs of Chinese and Japanese houses, where it 
has a good roasting in summer. This led me to decline buying 
it for some years, although it was passed by with regret. More 
than two years ago I purchased a small plant, and planted it in 
light sandy peat on the top of one of my rockeries which faces 
almost full south, and is protected from the north by a wall. 
No special protection was afforded it, and this year it came beauti¬ 
fully into flower at the end of May. The only injury it received 
since planted was in one of its stems being broken off at the 
base by a severe gale, the severity of the two last winters 
having caused no damage to it. I am quite satisfied of its 
hardiness in my own garden, and to test its powers of en¬ 
durance have planted a small piece on the roof of a low 
outhouse, which I have been converting into a “ roof garden ” 
for Sempervivums and other succulent plants. Here I hope this 
“Roof Iris” may succeed, my only fear being that the winds 
in this exposed position may break the plant at the rhizomes. 
I. tectorum is about ^ foot high, and appears to increase rapidly. 
It is said to have been introduced from China and Japan in 1872 
or 1874, and to be figured in the “Botanical Magazine ” t. 6118. 
Most authorities, including Mr. Baker, consider I. tectorum 
synonymous with I. tomiolopha, but Dr. Wallace of Colchester 
seems to say these two are not the same. I observe the two 
quoted separately in a continental catalogue recently received- 
Should this meet the eye of Dr. Wallace I hope he will kindly 
tell us the difference between I. tectorum and I. tomiolopha. 
The Poppies, or some of them at least, are favourites of mine, 
No. 731.— VoL. XXVIII., Third Series. 
and few flowers are more effective in June than the great orange- 
scarlet blossoms of Papaver orientale, the Eastern Poppy. Not 
nearly so fine, but still attractive in its way, is P. pilosum, with 
orange flowers, which are flat and of comparatively poor form. 
The plant is, however, of good habit, growing about 2 feet in 
height, and the stems being many-flowered the blooms are pro¬ 
duced for a long time in succession. The specific name is derived 
from the stems and leaves being covered with long, soft hairs. 
The flowers are rather fleeting, and it is to be hoped that raising 
seedlings may give us flowers of better form, and not so fugacious 
in their beauty. P. pilosum is a true perennial, and comes from 
Bithynia. 
The Round-leaved Rest Harrow (Ononis rotundifolia) is not 
often seen in gardens, but is very pleasing with its neat habit and 
pea-shaped rose flowers. The leaves are in reality trifoliate, but 
the leaflets are roundish, and are of a pretty fresh green colour. 
O. rotundifolia grows from 12 to 18 inches high, the latter being 
the height it attains in the sandy peat of my garden near the front 
of a border. Whatever may be the cause, it is not a long liver in 
some gardens, and in such it may be well to preserve it by 
raising seedlings. These are particular favourites of slugs, which 
will soon destroy the young plants if not protected. A figure of 
this Rest Harrow will be found in the “ Botanical Magazine,” 
t. 335. Maund also figures it in “ The Botanic Garden,” plate liv. 
of vol. ii. of the edition of 1878, but as only a small portion of 
the plant is shown its neat, bushy habit is not apparent. The date 
of introduction of O. rotundifolia is given as 1570, and its habitats 
are variously given as S. Europe and Switzerland. 0. rotundifolia 
appears to have received a botanical certificate at the show of the 
Royal Botanical Society on May 30th last year. 
Looking at Primula sikkimensis as growing in my garden I am 
constrained to ask if much of the failure to succeed with this 
beautiful species is not due to endeavouring to imitate its natural 
conditions in its native habitat, and’ keeping it too wet especially 
in the winter. It is quite a success with me, and is sowing itself 
and coming up at the edge of one of the gravel paths, and one 
seedling which made its appearance last year on one of the terraces 
of a rather dry part of the rockery is now growing strongly. I 
have a plant growing in a low position at the base of a rockery and 
below the level of the path, so that it receives all the superfluous 
water it can possibly obtain. Not only is this the case, but it 
receives regular waterings and occasional floodings. Another plant 
in a much drier position was planted at the same time four or five 
years ago. This only receives waterings in summer, and if for¬ 
gotten I have seen the leaves hanging limp and the flower stems 
almost prostrate. The latter'plant, however, grows and flowers 
much more freely, coming into bloom considerably earlier also. 
It has, as I write, some twenty-two flower spikes in full bloom, 
and presenting a beautiful sight; while the other has only six. 
Seedlings from the latter, but growing in the edge of the path, are 
also more vigorous than their parent. I hope it may not be sup¬ 
posed that I am stating that rather a dry position would be the 
best for all gardens. There are few plants of which it can be said 
that only one treatment will succeed in every garden. To hold 
this is empiricism and not gardening, and one can only give their 
experience in the hope that others may be enabled to profit by it. 
I hope to increase this Sikkim Cowslip largely by seed and division, 
as it is not difficult to conceive how beautiful would be a hundred 
or more spikes of these pretty soft yellow drooping flowers. Last 
winter I purposely left the upper portion of the roots of my largest 
plant fully exposed to the weather, and no harm has resulted. 
It is one of the duties of persons writing in the Journal of 
Horticulture to tell not only of meritorious plants, but also to 
speak of those which cannot be recommended to the admirer of 
flowers. In many cases it may be want of hardiness which leads 
one to disparage a plant. In some, however, lack of beauty is the 
cause. The mention of the beautiful Sikkim Cowslip leads me to 
No. 2387.—VoL. XC., Old Series. 
