1877.] 
THE SAPONARIAS. 
155 
RAISED BEDS FOR FLOWERS OBJECTIONABLE. 
8 ^HE practice of heaping up soil like an oven-bottom cake, and planting it 
0 with gaudy plants, so as to show a glare from some vantage-ground, which 
one sometimes sees adopted, will, on near approach, always be found 
^ faulty, and is objectionable for weighty reasons. If a tall clump is wanted, 
why not have one ? Roses, Dahlias, and Hollyhocks are to be had in plenty, and 
Jackman’s Clematises will rise to any reasonable height. By this I mean that, in 
my opinion, if the plants require elevating or propping up at the base, they are 
too low for the situation. 
I recollect some few years ago seeing an elaborate summer bed in Kew Gardens. 
It had few, if any rivals in the kingdom, and must have cost much skill and 
labour to constmct it; but it was, after all, but a trial of what could be done with 
small herbaceous bedding plants, and one felt disappointed to see that so much 
botanical skill produced no bolder display. An immense number of succulents 
were used, but like the Fig-tree of Holy Writ, they had leaves only, which, 
however neat, were but leaves after all.—A. Forsyth, Salford. 
THE SAPONARIAS. 
0 the natural order Caryophyllacece, or Cloveworts, our herbaceous and rock- 
gardens owe no inconsiderable debt of gratitude for their beautification, 
f and to this order belongs the genus Saponaria., popularly known by the 
title of Soapworts, which genus I take as a text for a few remarks, which 
I trust may be of use to some of your readers. 
There are few gardens wherein the old typical species, Saponaria oficinaiis, 
the plant from which originates its English title, Soapwort, may not be found. 
Its strong, vigorous growth, and its root-rambling propensities, render it, if 
associated with the more delicate denizens of the rock-garden, rather a nuisance 
than otherwise ; but if given an out-of-the-way corner to itself in a wild part of 
the garden—and what garden, may I ask, is there without such corners ?—it will 
soon be found that it has a .value. Rambling amongst a group of old roots, and 
associated with the common and variegated Vinca major —both beautiful plants 
in their way—our old Soapwort will be quite at home, and as it is an autumn 
bloomer, it comes in most d propos., with its pink flowers rising well above the 
surrounding foliage. Singularly enough, the variety commonly met with is the 
double one, decidedly the most desirable for cultivation, as the blooms are not 
only more showy, but also more enduring than the single. The latter I obtained, 
after many years’ seeking, quite by accident in a cottage-garden in the north of 
Yorkshire. 
S. caucasica.j though usually dignified by a specific title, is nothing more than 
a very dark rosy form of the old species, also double-blossomed, and flowering a 
little later than the typical species, of which undoubtedly it is but a variety, and 
a very desirable one too. 
