MAY. 
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floribunda, is said to be good and dwarf, but I forbear passing an 
opinion, for unless you see and grow, how useless is it. There was 
King of Sardinia, which was to be no end of a flower ; you ask this 
year where it is : “ Oh! it’s so cankery, we have put it out of our list!” 
The crimson varieties are also worth growing. The old Sultan was 
very handsome, but so easily knocked about as to be valueless in wet 
weather, a time that damages Calceolarias especially. Others have 
now perhaps beaten it out of the field—Camden Hero is said to be one 
of its successful competitors. Everyone has seen with what effect the 
yellow Calceolaria is used at the Crystal Palace, and a hint may be 
taken from thence, either for the large or small garden. 
Phloxes (the Drummondi varieties) are also useful to us little people 
—none more so than that very striking flower Radetzki. In a nosegay 
it is sure to attract attention ; the striping or starring of the flower is so 
very decided, and the colour so brilliant, that it cannot fail to please the 
eye, especially of ladies ; it is, too, an abundant bloomer, and both 
early and late, as it survives up to the frosts of early winter ; it is 
lanky in its growth, and in windy places apt to get broken. I found, 
last year, that planting the little Verbena lmperatrice Elizabeth 
between it was a very good plan, for it formed quite a mat on which 
the Phlox rested, and I had very few casualties in the way of broken 
limbs ; it also does well against a low wall—such as the front wall of 
a greenhouse, and perhaps Mignonette sown in front would hide its 
long legs. 
Everyone knows the difficulty of getting blue flowers, either for beds 
or a nosegay. I find nothing to equal the Delphiniums, especially some 
of the newer kinds ; Nemophila is too small; the same may be said 
of the Lobelias ; while Salvia patens is so flimsy as to be quite useless 
except in very sheltered situations ; but the Delphiniums are striking, 
hardy, and flower a long time. Hendersoni, magnificum and formosum 
I have found to be the best; some will not desert the old favourite 
Barlowi, but the brightness of the blue in the others quite makes them 
its superiors. By the bye, the love of snails and^slugs for these plants 
is extraordinary—like that of rabbits for Pinks—if one of the “ varmint” 
is to be found, it will surely be in the just peeping crowns of Del¬ 
phinium, and you will find, after a few days, the said crowns cut off as 
closely as with a knife. My plan is to take them up in the autumn, 
and not plant them out until they have grown three or four inches, out 
of the way of the snails. 
For edgings, or intermixture with other plants, I have used either 
Alyssum variegatum or Lobelia Erinus speciosa. I found, last year, 
that if you put the former in amongst Flower of the Day, or any other 
variegated Geranium, you must peg it down, as it overpowers other 
plants; and in the same way some care is necessary in planting beds 
of Verbenas, viz., to be careful not to put small-growing and rampant 
ones in the same bed. I have, moreover, found that they do better if 
planted somewhat more widely than is usual, i.e., the strong-growing 
kinds may be a foot apart; you have a better and more continuous 
bloom than if placed closer. 
These few “jottings” on the subject of bedding plants for a small 
