4G0 
TBE COTTAGE G AUDEN EE. 
Maucii 25. 
the 14th of IMarch, which is ahont tlie average time; 
hut last year this plant did not bloom, in Surbiton, 
till the 2nd of April, showing that trees and herbaceous 
plants, at least, some trees, and some herbaceous plants, 
have an opposite way of telling the seasons. 
East April, I was told that in a lady’s garden here, was 
ill flower the best and showiest plant for a spring bed that 
ever was seen, but that no body knew the name of it. 
Knowing that a plant without a name must ho a very 
rare thing indeed, I desired to see a flower of the 
stranger, and with the flowers came three or four leaves 
“ plucked off” with the flowers, in such a way as in¬ 
sured me the plant which flowered on the 14th instant, 
and this will give the lady the first notion that any of 
her neighbours possess it; but she “plucked off” the 
leaves herself, and I could not resist the temptation of 
trying to root them, which I did. The plant is not rare, 
nor without a name, and it has a very common look; 
but of all the composites, or compound, or daisy-flowered 
plants, they are the most numerous of all the sections 
into which the vegetable kingdom is at present divided. 
I say, this Surbiton plant is the best spring-bedding 
plant of all of them, and it ought to be grown in a bed 
by itself, where it would flower from the middle of 
March to the second week in May, sometimes earlier 
and sometimes later. The trade name is Doronioum 
Columnare, alias Columnoi, and that is the best name to 
ask for it by from the nurseries; but the true name is 
Doronicum Austriaciim, given it by Wildenow, but it was 
figured by Jaquin. No plant is easier to manage, and 
no spring garden should be without it, common as it 
looks. I should like to give the name of the lady in 
whose garden it does so well at Surbiton; but, then, 
our degree of civilisation prevents me; as out of the 
thousands who read this some would not think it rude¬ 
ness to break on her privacy and write letters to her 
about it as if she were their own sister, as they did to 
Mr. Walton about his Propagating Case. 
I never saw the plant in a nursery, or in a nursery 
catalogue, nor met a gardener who could tell which is 
Doronicum Golumim, a bedding plant. The plant which 
goes by that name is a rough, tall shrubbery plant, and 
not at all suitable to mass together; but 1 cannot find 
a reference to a figure of it any where, and i suspect 
the name is sjmrious. Can any reader of this put me 
on a better scent? Doronicum Austriacum, one I 
recommend, is a dense patch, and only from si.v to ten 
inches liigh while in flow'er. It will remove in May, 
after flowering, and can, even as late as that, be divided 
into little bits, which may be nursed any where out of 
sight till next autumn, when, or very early in the spring, 
it should be removed into a bed to flower for the spring, 
just as w’e recommend for a bed of Polyanthuses. ]\Iy 
plant is but a morsel yet, else I would send it to Mr. 
Jackson to he propagated for the trade. Any nursery¬ 
man who may possess it ought to advertise it at once, as 
we are so short of real massing plants late in the spring. 
Speaking of massing ]ilants, how many hardy kinds 
can we furnish to hcl|) out Calceol.arias and other pot 
plants? One of the best is (J'inoihcra maerocarpa, at 
six or eight shillings the dozen. 11 might be planted 
out of pots now, to flower next summer and autumn. 
Eiight inches ajiart every way is the proper distance for 
it, but one might try a first bed of it at a foot apai t, 
and after that increase it from cuttings, and double the 
number of plants in a bed easy enough, when si.x inches 
would not he too close after all. IMay is the projicr 
lime to increase it by cuttings, lioforc the young shoots 
come to a flowering age. It does not come from seeds, 
and the roots are no better than Dahlia roots; they will 
not make plants unless they have buds or hidden eyes, 
while (KnoOiera pjrostratd, alias vipuria, will root and 
grow from any morsel of a root or stem. Old ])larits of 
this kind make the best beds, but young ones will do; 
they are fond of it at the Crystal Palace, w'hcre two of 
their largest beds are full of it, and w’here it lives out 
the winter; but in many places it is apt to go oft’, more 
from damp, I believe, than from frost; still, we can 
number it among hardy bedders. 
Then w'e have four hardy kinds of bedding Campanulas: 
tw'O of them for beds, and two for edgings; the blue and 
white Carpatica, which ought to he taken up and divided 
by the end of March, or early in April, and they will 
bloom to the middle of September. The blue aud white 
Campanula pumila are only fit for edging a bed ; but if 
they are divided at the same time as the Carpaticas, 
they will continue in bloom quite as long; but to leave 
them, from year to year, on the same spot, and without 
dividing, they are not worth looking at, as compared to 
the showy edgings I have seen and made of them. The 
white one, planted two or three inches apart, would 
make a capital edging to a bed of (Enothera prostrata; 
but there ought to be sufficient room left for three rows 
of it round the bed to make a decided edging. We 
ought to bear in mind, that a bed looks much better 
without an edging of a plant in contrast, if you have not 
enough of that plant to make the contrast decided or 
telling; and yet the size or breadth of an edging is 
never, and need not be, in proportion to the size of the 
bed. A bed four feet across must have an edging just 
as wide, and no wider, than a bed forty feet across. I 
do not know two plants so thoroughly in unison, and yet 
so full contrast, as a band, six or eight inches wide, of 
this little white Canpanula round that little jn-ostrate 
(Enotliera. If a wet season should “ throw” the 
tliera too much to leaf, as is often the case, the white 
band seems to make the best of the yellow, as it were, 
and make it look more decidedly yellow than it really is, 
when too many shoots and young leaves threaten to 
drown it, as we say. 
The next best and most permanent beds are from 
hardy seeds—the 8a)ivitalirt 2 ^>'ocumhens and Saponaria 
Calabrica. These two beds give less trouble than any 
of the rest, as all one has to do is to dig the beds in 
winter, and sow the seeds in March or April, and gather 
enough of it in the autumn to serve auotlier year. I 
sowed a bed of each at the very beginning of March this 
season; but the first of April usually is time enough for 
them. Or, you might sow them in pots or pans, or in 
an out-of-the-way place, if the beds for them are now full 
of bulbs or annuals, or any spring flowers, and trans¬ 
plant the seedlings when such things were removed 
towards the end of May, or later. Both of them would 
flower earlier by being raised in heat, and nursed in 
shelter till the frost is over in IMay ; but neither of them 
is improved by such heat or tender care. On some soils 
the Saponaria runs too much to growth before it comes 
into bloom, and dies off sooner than it ought, in conse- 
(pieiice. Therefore, if you have experienced this, your 
best plan will be either to sow the seeds now, or before 
the middle of April, on an open border in the kitclien- 
gaiden, and transplant the seedlings early in June, put¬ 
ting them in patches six or eight inches apart every 
way. This checks the growth, and makes this, of all 
others, the most beautiful flower-bed in the garden. It 
will not do well anywhere between Surbiton and T.ondon 
without being thus transplanted; but towards Epsom, 
and in all the chalky districts in the country, it will do 
equally well cither way; but without chalk, I cannot 
flower it here as I did at Shrubland Park, when it was 
“ brought out;” neither can I flower the 2'atjetes sitjnata, 
another hardy bedding-plant, from seeds, as I used to 
do on the chalk formation ; and the reason seems to be, 
that the seedlings want to be twice transplanted on 
moist or rich land before they are finally planted in tlic 
flower-bed to bloom. Still, if I had no glass, or but veiy 
little of it, and was looking out for bardy plants to bed 
out, I should not pass over this Tapetes. 
