Plate 286 . 
PELARGONIUM PELTATUM ELEGANS. 
While the efforts of the hybridizer have been devoted to 
every class of Geranium, with results of which we are now 
reaping such solid advantages in the vast improvement that 
has taken place in them all; the popular class, with ivy-leaved 
foliage, has not been altogether overlooked, and, in the variety 
now figured, Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son have obtained 
a very decided improvement. 
It is difficult to say where the improvements being made in 
the Geranium are likely to stop; the foliage has been in one 
direction so altered, the flowers so increased in size, shape, and 
brilliancy, and so many new tints are being obtained, that it 
would almost seem as if we might rely on the Geranium alone 
for the ornamentation of our gardens during the summer months; 
at any rate, there is no doubt that they are being, in many 
places, much substituted for the Verbena; their vigour of 
growth, and persistency of bloom, but little affected by wet or 
wind, giving them a precedence in these respects which, in our 
variable climate, is no slight recommendation. 
The Ivy-leaved Geraniums, from their trailing habit, have 
been generally used for vases and the edging of beds; but the 
insignificance of the flowers has greatly detracted from their 
value. It will be seen by our drawing that this has been, in 
a great measure, overcome, and that the flowers of this new 
variety, although not equalling those of the Zonale section, are 
attaining a far greater size than at one time was considered 
possible. Pelargonium 'peltatum elegans has very thick fleshy 
foliage, distinctly ivy-leaved, the leaves being marked with 
deep green at the edges, and with a dark spot in the centre; 
