open or spreading habit, by which means the flowers are as it 
were distributed, and rendered very effective when grown as a 
mass. The colours vary through all the shades of pink, rose, 
lilac, blue, and purple; some being self-coloured, some with 
the centres white and the margin coloured, and some, as in 
those we have figured, very elegantly striped. All are, how¬ 
ever, beautiful, and there are enough shades and variations of 
colour to meet every one’s taste. 
Perhaps of all the annual flowers which are commonly and 
extensively grown, the Aster is the most gorgeous; it has in¬ 
deed been wonderfully perfected, and in favourable seasons 
(which the past was not) adds very greatly to the attractiveness 
of the flower-garden in the autumnal months. The plants 
themselves, of the finer strains, are in every way deserving of 
pot culture; and let us hope that the managers of public exhi¬ 
bitions will not forget to encourage competition in this depart¬ 
ment of floriculture. They are at least equally worthy with 
the Balsam of pot culture for conservatory decoration; and 
thus cultivated, their beauties would not be entirely dependent 
on the fickle seasons as they are when grown out in beds. 
It is as a plant for the flower-garden, however, that the Aster 
must claim its highest position. There, under liberal culture 
and in favourable seasons, it is indeed a gorgeous flower. 
