74 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Novembeb 8. 
THE FLO WEB-GARDEN. 
About the end of June and at the close of October, 
I annually make notes of all the best plants for 
flower-beds as they appear at those seasons, those 
months being the boundaries, as it were, of our 
flower-gardening for the season. Having had a few 
leisure days, in the absence of the family, between 
the 20th and 27th of last October, I made my memo¬ 
randa for this autumn during that period, and, in all 
probability, some of my notes and observations on 
them will be of use to others, and thus I shall kill 
two birds with one stone—a harmless sport. The 
frost up to the close of my notes on the 27tli ult. 
had only blackened a few of the leaves of the Helio¬ 
tropes, with hardly any damage to their flowers, but 
the heavy rains which fell at the beginning of the 
month hastened the destruction of some of the flower¬ 
beds sooner than is generally the case, for when we 
escape the early frosts, as we generally do on this 
dry and high situation, the flower-gardens look nearly 
as well in October as at any other season, and arouse 
much more interest then than earlier, when country 
drives and rides are more enjoyable. I shall have 
no room to-day to explain the meaning of such 
names as I may have to mention, but 1 shall do so 
some other time. The book names, however, are 
the only ones which are safe to use in ordering the 
plants or the seeds from the nurseries. 
The best and gayest bed now is furnished by an 
annual with small orange-yellow flowers, related to 
the marigolds, and called Tagetes tenuifolia or pinnata. 
I had it also from Germany and from Russia by the 
name of signata. It is one of those few plants which 
grow as regularly on all sides as to look as if just 
turned out of a mould. It grows to nearly two feet 
high, and does best in poor soil, and will transplant 
easily at any stage of its growth; therefore, it may 
be sown in the reserve ground any time in April, to 
be transplanted into the flower-bed early in June, 
after a bed of Glarkia, or other annual, and comes 
into bloom about the beginning of July, and is the 
last to yield to the frost. Every one who possesses 
three flower-beds should grow this annual; a good- 
sized bed may be had of it from three pennyworth of 
seeds. I never before saw the Heliotropes so fine at 
this late period of the year; they, of all other plants, 
make the best neutral beds, that is, plants without 
any decided colour, and which, if placed near others, 
will neither add to nor mar their effects. Isotoma 
axillaris is all in good bloom. It is the next best 
neutral colour we have for beds; the tint is neither 
blue, gray, nor slate colour, but a shade between the 
three. It seeds freely, and, if sown in March in a 
slight liot-bed, will flower the same season; but it 
flowers better from cuttings made in August, as in 
rich or damp soils seedlings grow too much into leaf. 
Chccnostoma polyantha is still in bloom, but is only a 
trumpery low weed, with flowers not unlike those of 
the Virginian stock, and it only blooms by fits and 
starts; one week you would take it to be a gay little 
thing, and next week you will not see a bloom on a 
whole bed of it. It makes a variety, however, in the 
front of a mixed border, where we do not expect to 
see every plant in bloom at the same time. Cupheas 
are now, and have been since the middle of July, in 
full blossom, and although they are not very striking 
for brilliancy, their elegant manner of growth, and 
the long time they keep in bloom, render them useful 
in the flower-garden. Cuphea strigilosa and miniata 
planted in equal quantities, and edged with G. platy- 
centra, is the most effective way of using them, but 
each of them would form a nice bed. Of all the 
plants I know, G. strigilosa is the best to plant near 
bees. A bed of it is alive from morning to night 
with several species of bees and with wasps, working 
so industriously as to leave no time for quarrelling— 
a good example, which ought to be followed by writers 
on gardening and other matters. The Dahlias are 
now splendid, the fancy ones particularly. Since 
they have done growing, the stripes, and spots, and 
shades, are better defined than earlier in the season. 
This class ought certainly to be grown in lighter and 
poorer soil than the old tribe. The very dwarf ones 
among them will also form beautiful flower-beds if 
planted in circles or rows of one sort or colour, and 
so that the next blends with it in colour. Mr. W. 
Savage (p. 64) wishes to hear my opinion on leaving 
these dahlias in the ground during the winter, pro¬ 
bably before he saw what I said on the subject in 
the previous number. I have seen the plan turn 
out as I stated, but it might answer better on poorer 
soil, or every alternate season, and so do away with 
renewing the soil for them so often. At any rate, 
one thing I am sure of, and that is, that the readers 
of these pages will agree with me in wishing to hear 
more of his experiments, and those of others like 
him who think for themselves. Sanvitalia procutn- 
bens is generally as late as the tagetes, but the heavy 
rains at the beginning of the mouth finished it be¬ 
fore its time. Daisy-shaped flowers, like this sanvi¬ 
talia, are always more injured by rains than others. 
The sanvitalia is as useful as the tagetes, and, like 
it, is always in neat trim. It is also yellow, with a 
dark centre to the flower, and rises to a foot or so, 
and may be treated in all respects like the tagetes. 
Saponaria calabrica is always a lovely thing, a great 
favourite with the ladies, who say “ it looks so much 
like lace-work;” it also lasts till the end of October, 
and, visit it when you will, you shall never find a leaf 
or flower of it out of place, but a perfect model of 
symmetry in all its parts; and the whole surface is 
so studded with little starry pink flowers, that you 
can hardly see the leaves. It is an annual, and rises 
about eighteen inches high, looks best in circular 
beds not more than four feet across. It should be 
sown on a warm sunny border about the middle of 
March, and will transplant without a murmur any 
time before the May annuals are over; and if I had 
to make a choice bed for a bride, this is the very 
plant I would make use of. 
There is another annual now in full trim, not so 
gay as those already mentioned, but one of the most 
useful things a gardener can lay his hands on, as it 
will transplant any day throughout the season with¬ 
out flagging a leaf; and a bed in full blossom may 
be made up with it while the family are at breakfast. 
It is a Dwarf yellow single marigold, raised a few 
years since on the continent; and another recom¬ 
mendation of it is that it does not emit that disagree¬ 
able scent peculiar to the common marigolds. It 
barely reaches a foot high, and they call it fragrant, 
or sweet-scented—an absurd name; but as they say 
a good horse is never of a bad colour, we may put up 
with silly names for useful plants; but the worst of 
it is the difficulty of asking for it at the seed shops; 
the book name of all the marigolds is Tagetes, and 
this one is Tagetes fragrans; but I have known three 
blunders made last season about the name, therefore 
I would advise that the “ dw r arf scentless marigold or 
fragrans” should be asked for. Zauchsneria Galifor- 
nica looks as if it would flower on till Christmas. It 
is one of the most useful new bedding plants we have 
had for years, and yet it is not so gay as I expected 
