Plates 803 , 804 . 
AZALEAS, CHARMER AND VIVID. 
Notwithstanding the formal method of training adopted by 
our great Azalea growers, there was nothing which excited more 
admiration amongst the foreign visitors to our Great Interna¬ 
tional Exhibition than the immense masses of bloom which our 
leading exhibitors, more especially Mr. Charles Turner, of 
Slough, and Mr. Veitch, of Chelsea, produced; for although other 
exhibitors did well, the collections of these gentlemen, espe¬ 
cially the former, threw all others into the shade. It was not 
merely that the plants were so thickly covered with bloom, but 
that the individual dowers were so excellent, and the whole 
appearance of the plant testified to such great care and skill. 
The present year has not been very productive in new sorts 
of Azaleas raised in England, none of any great merit having 
been raised here, or at any rate exhibited, and therefore the 
introduction from Belgium, whence so many of our best dowers 
have come, of two new varieties of great merit will be hailed as 
a great acquisition, and such we believe those now figured to 
be. In order to do them full justice we have given them in a 
double plate, and Mr. Andrews has admirably caught the cha¬ 
racter and colour of the dowers. 
Charmer and Vivid were purchased in Belgium by Mr. W. 
Bull, of King’s Road, Chelsea; the former was raised by M. 
Dominique Vervaene, and the latter by N. M. Joseph Vervaene 
et C ie , the entire stock of both being now in Mr. Bull’s hands. 
Charmer (Fig. I) is a remarkably coloured dower, and, we think 
w 7 e may say, hitherto unknown amongst Azaleas; there are 
several that approach it, but none of quite the same shade; the 
dowers are large, well formed, and of good substance; the upper 
petals are slightly spotted with a deep shade of the same ama- 
