320 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 27 . 
0 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
{Continued from pciyc 301.) 
NEW VERBENAS. 
I have very lately had an opportunity of seeing 
several collections of new Verbenas in flower, and, as 
far as I can judge, they are great improvements upon 
the older varieties. In purples, 1 have seen none better 
than Purple King, mentioned in a former communication 
on this subject. I have seen several beds of it in 
various places, and I think it decidedly the best of its 
class. It bears the weather well, grows dwarf, and 
produces large trusses profusely. 
The others, which I shall now notice for the informa¬ 
tion of the readers of The Cottage Gardener, may 
be relied upon as good. 
King of Scarlets. —Fine habit, good truss, colour 
orange-scarlet, with a clear, distinct, lemon eye. A most 
beautiful variety, very striking; one of the brightest and 
finest Verbenas I ever met with. 
Iver Beauty. —Pure white, with bright scarlet eye; 
fine, and very attractive. 
Star. —Deep rose, with a large white eye, good form, 
close compact truss, a free bloomer, and very distinct. 
Delicata. —Pure white, with a pink eye ; a beautiful 
light flower, especially in a greenhouse. 
Unique. —Good purple, with a large white eye; a great 
improvement on Ormsby Beauty. 
Mrs. D. Tysson. —Blush-white, with large crimson 
eye ; pips large, flat, and smooth; full sized truss, and 
dwarf, compact habit; suitable for either pot-culture or 
bedding ; a very superior variety. 
Rouge et Noir. —Rich dark crimson, with a pure, 
distinct, white eye; a new combination of colours, 
shows well on a bed, and is suitable also for pot-culture. 
Mrs. Gerard Leigh. —A beautiful clear lilac-colour, 
with large white eye, compact truss, and blooms freely ; 
a lovely novel variety. 
Canary Bird. —Quite a novelty in colour, and is, I 
believe, the first step towards obtaining that desiderata, 
a yellow Verbena, the colour being a sulphur-yellow ; 
pips large; well-formed truss; even and smooth ; a very 
distinct aud desirable variety. 
Red Rover. —A clear, distinct red ; a shade very 
desirable for producing the shot-silk shades, so much 
j recommended by Mr. Beaton; very dwarf, for bedding 
or for edging other colours. 
Sir Charles Narier. —A decided improvement in 
the crimson or dark varieties; good truss, large pips, 
flat and smooth. 
The season has been, perhaps, the worst ever known 
for Verbenas and other bedding-plants. I have visited 
many gardens lately, and have found them generally, 
all where the bedding-out system is carried out largely, 
fully six weeks behind the usual average. The late 
frosts, succeeded by dry, parching winds, prevented the 
plants from growing, and now, in many places, the 
green fly is makiug sad havoc with Verbenas and other 
plants subject to their attacks. The fine rains that 
have fallen lately have been beneficial, aDd the plants 
are beginning to make some growth. They require 
now warm, sunny weather, which, however, seems as far 
off as ever, for whilst I am writing (July 15th), the 
thermometer indicates only 52°, and that in the middle 
of July. Without a sudden favourable change, there is 
but a poor prospect of a gay flower-garden during 
August and September. Let us hope for more kind 
weather, not only for our flowers, but for what is of 
immensely greater importance, a favourable and plentiful 
harvest. 
The rain, I find, has fallen more freely by far in the 
southern counties than in the north. Beyond Birming¬ 
ham very little rain had made its appearance up to the 
end of June. The gardens were almost dried up. I 
was told, in Chester, that there had only been one inch 
of rain during the entire months of March, April, and 
May; so wo may imagine how dry the ground must 
have beou. In Lancashire, about Manchester, such a 
season tlie oldest man cannot remember. 
Such seasons try the patience and exercise the skill 
and industry of the florist to the utmost. The great 
difficulty is, how to counteract the evil effect of such 
weather on flowering-plants in the open air. It is true, 
we can apply water with the garden pot, or, what is 
infinitely better, with gutta percha tubes, supplied from 
large reservoirs, but we cannot supply that warm, moist 
atmosphere so enriching and refreshing to our tender 
young flower-plants, at least, to any extent. Yet we 
must not despair, and sit down in listless apathy, as if 
we neither could nor ought to do anything to keep our 
plants alive and in tolerable health till the warm 
showers fall from the clouds t6 bring the flowering- 
plants to perfection. No; we must use all the means 
in our power; such as plentiful waterings, shading, &c., 
and, having left no means untried, then we may rest 
content, and wait patiently for the latter, if we are not 
blessed with the early, rain. 
Many years ago, 1 strongly recommended the use of 
flaky moss as a covering of the soil of flower-beds, and 
I am quite sure if that retaining-moisture-material had 
been more used during such a dry spring as we have 
had this year, the good effect of such an application 
would have been found greatly beneficial. 
T. Appleby. 
WREST PARK, 
The Seat of the Right Hon. Earl de Grey. 
1 visited this fine place with my friend, Mr. Fish, 
about the same time that we called at Nuneham, arid 
rather expected he would have noticed it before now; 
but as he has not, aud I took a few notes of some 
interesting matters, 1 will try to put them into shape 
for our Cottage Gardener readers. 
Whoever wishes to see a garden well kept in every 
department ought to visit Wrest Park; and I cannot 
refrain from paying this well deserved praise to Mr. 
Snow, the excellent gardener there. 
The mansion, a noble pile, is situated on a rising 
ground, with beautiful views from the grand front. 
There is a noble paved terrace in front, bounded by a 
bold balustrade with piers at equal distances, on which 
are placed some fine statuary. From this terrace you 
look down upon a flowor-garden laid out in the scroll 
style, each bed, or continuation of beds, is furnished 
with the usual bedding-out plants, beyond that there is 
a hold straight wall leading to a Grecian Temple. 
Noble forest trees, in avenues, give a bold character 
to the pleasure-ground which sucb ancient places only 
can possess. This is the park front. On the garden 
front there is a noble conservatory filled with large 
Orange and Camellias, and similar standard plants, 
intermixed with such things as Geraniums, Fuchsias, 
Calceolarias, &c. I was much struck with a fine white 
Banksian Rose on the roof. I may venturo to say there 
were hundreds of bunches of flowers upon it. In the 
front of this conservatory there is a large Italian flower- 
garden, with statues placed in the angles of the 
walks. Near to this garden I was delighted with a fine 
conservative wall covered with choice wall plants and 
creepers, intermixed with Roses. The fine Rose, Oloirc 
de Rosamene, was covered with its glowing, dark scarlet 
roses, aud a very beautiful one, named Belle Emilie , 
besides the Souvenir de Malmaison, and several others. 
A beautiful Honeysuckle, one of the trumpet-flowered 
species, named Caprifolium sempervirens, var., angusti- 
folia, was also in full flower. The blossoms are of a dark 
I 
