September 11.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
375 
! drenching with water was all we could afford them, hut that 
was not sufficient; flowers were formed exceedingly tardily, 
and individually were very small; and though at the present 
i time (the first of September) there is a little display, and 
I a promise of better things, yet they do not look anything 
I like so well as those beds planted with young plants in May. 
I Single plants, standing in mixed borders, have done some¬ 
what better; but even they, after the first crop of flowers 
was over, relaxed their efforts very much. 
These facts will teach me a lesson for another year, 
and, I trust, may likewise be of service to some of your 
| readers. Continuing this subject, I may say, that what 
Fuchsia stems were not cut down in autumn, stood the winter 
j with only the loss of the extreme points. Unfortunately, 
i most of those left were in rather a shaded border, and 
I absolutely did not come into flower until after those which 
were cut down the usual way; one or two standing more 
exposed did not flower any earlier, so that I am half led to 
believe that nothing is gained by the Fuchsias standing the 
winter; hut my experiments that way are scarcely satis¬ 
factory. I would rather like to hear what conclusions others 
have arrived at in that way. The Cuphea strigulosa stood, 
of course, besides shedding its seeds, which grow in gravel 
walks, and everywhere. The season also favoured the more 
shrubby plants, as Cgtisus and Coronilla, both of which 
stood unhurt, as also did Diplacus puniceus , and some others, 
Plumbago Larpentm for instance, which, however, does not 
promise to flower a whit the sooner for the favours shown it. 
Apart from the subject of flower gardening, yet bearing on 
the mildness of the season, I may remark that the Conifer, 
Gryptomeria Japonica (which promises to become a useful 
timber tree), put on its usual dull yellow garb last winter, 
and retained it quite as long as usual, proving it to be a 
natural change the plant is undergoing, rather than the 
severity of our winters, to which some have attributed its 
unsightly appearance for so many months. 
Having detailed such incidents relating to the winter and 
spring, in their effects on flowering plants, I now proceed to 
the summer; and as it is more important to know the result 
of certain processes likely to be repeated, I will first relate 
what I consider to have been failures in my bedding-out affairs. 
First, then, and I may say for the first time in many 
years, the blue Anagallis has been almost a complete failure; 
what with its tardy growth, and frequently plants dying off, 
my beds of it do not look well, and will never do so this 
season. I guess the kind I have has been too long in 
cultivation, and wants to be renewed by seed.- The blue 
Isotorna axillaris is also exceedingly late. Not having had 
much experience in this plant—pray does it require a damp 
place; mine was, perhaps, too dry ? The plants all grew and 
flowered, but so very slowly as almost to make their progress 
imperceptible. (It is tender.) The season has been too 
dry for that pretty Calceolaria, Kentish Hero, which, flowering 
abundantly when first planted out, nearly ceased, doing 
so some time afterwards; in fact, this Calceolaria almost 
flowers itself to death, and the very long time its flowers retain 
their beauty will ever make it a favourite ; only one thing, 
the plants turned out early in May are even now scarcely 
double the size they were then, although they seem healthy, 
and are growing under different circumstances. Another 
disadvantage it labours under is, that its flowers, instead of 
being elevated above the foliage, are more often prostrate on 
the ground, detracting much from its merits when it forms, 
or ought to form, a feature in a given set of beds. I should 
like to know how it has succeeded elsewhere. The little 
pretty Cuphea platgcentra has this season displeased me; its 
flowers, never very conspicuous at a distance, have certainly, 
this season, been fewer than usual; and when a glare of colour 
is wanted, I fear this plant -will seldom give satisfaction. 
Another sturdy, useful hedder, or for borders, has flowered 
more sparingly than usual—the Scarlet Pentstemon ; so 
much so, that I have almost threatened to dispense with its 
services in that capacity. A very promising bed of plants 
that had stood over the winter have not flowered to my 
mind, although they seemed healthy and otherwise all right. 
I may say the same of Antirrhinums; the fancy kinds of 
: these are so capricious that no dependence can be put on 
I any of them, except the self-coloured ones, and these, I 
I would say, only deserve a place in the mixed border. Of 
j the (Knot her a I never was very fond, and this season has 
not improved their position. The new one, proslrata, may be 
better than the older fleshy-rooted kinds, and a bed of it, I 
mixed with the Linum Jlavum, may, perhaps, prolong the j 
season of blooming, the Linum coming in first; but I have I 
not tried them so, only I think of doing so another season. ! 
It is a pity hut the Ageratum could be got to bloom earlier. ! 
It is rare that one sees any quantity of bloom before the 
middle of August, and this season is no exception; the 
colour is an acquisition, otherwise I should like to discard 
them from the beds. Another plant I have rather lost 
conceit in, only I fear I shall be accounted seditious, but I 
venture it—the Heliotrope. Assuredly, this plant blooms 
more sparingly than formerly, and, latterly, I have been in 
the habit of mixing something with it,—last season, a Ver¬ 
bena, which helped it out; this season I have planted the 
dwarf-bedding Dahlia , called, I believe, Zelincla. It is a 
purple, not good as a show flower, but very dwarf and showy, 
and blooming freely at twelve inches high. Its colour is 
not the one contrasting best with the Heliotrope, but, as it 
is, it much improves it, while the Heliotrope threatens to 
overcome it, and presents but few flowers. As no flower- 
garden of any extent can be well complete without this 
favourite, I suppose it must be retained; but its disgrace 
shall not be prevented by me. Of the late additions to our 
flora, likely to be serviceable to the flower-garden, I am not 
acquainted with any likely to prove good bedders ; Dielytra 
spectabilis is quite unsuited for that purpose, and all annuals, 
both new and old, I hold to be equally out of place there, 
unless it he a single bed of Mignonette, which retains its 
good properties to the last. The Lobelia ramosa which, I 
believe, continues in bloom as long as most annuals, dies 
away when its place cannot be well supplied by anything 
else. But some plant them as auxiliaries to the plants 
forming the perennial beds; in that case, they may be 
useful, yet none but the very early flowering ones meet my 
taste. However, this is diverging from my subject, which 
was the unsuccessful bedding plants of the present season ; 
and if to the list of those given, I add the Lotus Jacobea , 
which grows too strong, and does not show its flowers well, 
except on close inspection, and the double purple Senecio, 
S. elegans, which dies very often in September, and this 
season in August, I think I must conclude my lists of unfor¬ 
tunates, leaving to another week the more pleasing duty of 
noticing those which, in my opinion, come near to the 
standard of what a bedding plant ought to be. In being 
thus fastidious, I have the example of the florists in my 
favour; only in our different pursuits the object sought to 
be obtained may differ, yet the mode of expelling all but 
the really good bears some resemblance in both. S. N.V. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Heaths : six to flower each Month {For a Correspondent ).— 
January: Colorans, white; Coccinea, scarlet ; Pusserina, white; Ver- 
nix coccinea, red and orange; Persoluta alba, white ; Cubica, pink. 
February: Willmoreana, white and red; Cost at a, red ; Holosericea, 
white ; Gracilis, red ; Onata, red ; Praicox, light. March : Banksia, 
straw; Boureana, white; Erubescent, white ; Ignescens, scarlet; Pater- 
sonii, yellow ; Sebans lutea, yellow. April: Propendens, blush ; Pri- 
muloides, red and white ; Perspicua nuna, white ; Mutabilis, red ; Sin- 
dryana, red and white ; Fastigiata lutescens, yellow. May : Suaveolens, 
light ; Ventricosa mperba, blush ; Vestita alba, white ; Aristata major, 
orange and crimson; Mirabilis, cream ; Hybrida, red. June: Cavendishii, 
yellow; Tricolor elegans, red and green ; Ventricosa grandiflora, blush; 
Florida, white ; Shamoni, white and red ; Wilsonii, white and red. July: 
Massonii, red and green ; Retorta major, rose ; Jasminiflora, white ; 
Infundibuliforrnis, rose and white ; Parmentien rosea, rose ; Depressu, 
yellow. August: Hulicacaba, white; Ampullacea, white; Gemmiferu, 
orange and green ; Oblata, red and white ; Juliana, red ; Princeps, rose. 
September: Vestita coccinea, red ; Do Cliffordii, blush ; Lambertiana 
rosea, rose ; Rupestris, white ; Cerinthoides, scarlet ; Carminata, white. 
October : Solandri, red ; Taxifolia, blush ; Grandiflora, yellow ; 
Grandinusa, white; Hartnelli, red; Russelliana, red. November: 
Regerminans, light; Ackeriana, red; Decora, light; Discolor, blush; 
Gracilis, red ; Transparens, blush. December : Exsurgens, orange 
and red; Hyemalis, white; Lanuginosa, brown; Mammosa, purple; 
Nitida, white ; Linneana, purple and white. 
Henfreya scandens (F. tV. T.).—This stove climber is not so diffi¬ 
cult to manage as you have read of it; but, of course, all stove plants are 
much benefited at first by bottom-heat. It is not, by any means, a first-rate 
plant, since we have a much better one in the same way—the Stephanotis 
florihunda. Turfy loam, with a third of sandy peat, and a little leaf- 
mould, suits it best. Strong moist heat while it is growing fast; less 
water, and cooler towards winter, and to be kept rather dry in the winter 
months, is the best treatment. A young plant should be cut down to a 
foot or so from the pot in the spring when it begins to grow. 
Rhododendron Gibsonii {Ibid). —This is a beautiful thing, and the 
treatment you propose is the right way to manage it. Begonia cinna- 
barina is also beautiful, not at all bad to keep in winter, the roots only 
