May 15. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
105 
house plant, from Western Australia, caled Hedaroma 
tulipifera alias Qenetyllis ; but, as we were told in the 
lecture, “ Hedaroma is, probably, more correct.” The 
leaves of this fine plant look like those of Pimelia 
decussata, but are not so thickly set. The growth is 
very like that of an Epacris, and the tulip-shaped flowers 
hang down, and are of the same size as the flowers of 
the common Fritillaria “ inverted Tulips,” in fact, and 
as gay as any Tulip you ever saw. The colours are a 
snow-white ground, three-parts covered with the richest 
crimson and scarlet, in flakes and streaks of delicate 
tracery, not deeply blotched, as you see common Tulips. 
The plant is not at all scarce. Mr. Low, of Clapton, 
sent it out, all over the country, from Drummond’s 
seeds’; and Mr. Backhouse, I believe, gathered seed of it 
himself in Australia. Messrs. Garaway and Co., of 
Bristol, sent a plant of it to the last meeting at 
Chiswick, but by strong forcing to get the flowers open 
in time the colours where bleached out. I have heard, 
however, that it is now as gay at Bristol as we had it in 
Regent Street. Every one who grows an Epacris ought 
to have it, and to give it much about the treatment of 
the best Epacris, but never to force it on any account 
whatever. Hedaroma tulipifera was as much admired 
as any new plant I ever saw under such ordeal, and 
what everybody says must be true. 
GERANIUMS, OR LARGE PELARGONIUMS. 
There were two collections of these from Mr. Turner, 
of Slough, and Mr. Dobson, of Islew r orth, two of the 
most celebrated growers of them in the world; but they 
did not come into competition this time, Mr. Dobson’s 
, plants being in No. 10 pots, while those from Mr. Turner 
were only in small 32’s, making up the most astonishing 
feat yet accomplished in growing Geraniums. The plants 
in these small pots produced each from twenty to thirty 
trusses of large flowers; the leaves hung over the pots, 
and the growth was as strong as is usual for the kinds, 
which run as follows;— Governor General , the brightest 
and best scarlet of this lot; Petruchio, a darker sort, 
which was all but new last year, and of which it was 
then predicted that it would follow Magnet to Covent 
Garden market; Rosamond, Lucy, Pandora, very dark 
at the back; and Mcdora, all well-known sorts of first- 
rate merit as show plants. Mr. Dobson had Delicatum, 
his best white; Harriet and Arethusa, twin sisters; 
Eugenie, a scarlet, which rolls back the petals too much; 
Rosamond, very gay; and Vulcan, the same, all very 
large plants, and as full of bloom as if it were a month 
later. 
FANCY GERANIUMS. 
There were two collections of them, but not of the 
best kinds. One from J. Allnutt, Esq., of Clapham 
Common, consisting of Fairy Queen and Brule, the two 
brightest in this collection; Queen of tlie Gipsies and 
Cleopatra, inclining to the Jeliu breed; and Richard 
Cobden, with Darling, falling more into the strain of the 
Hero of Surrey; but nothing “goes down” now in 
fancies but pure white, clear scarlet, and purple-crimson. 
The second collection was from Mr. Todman, gardener 
to Mrs. Buckmaster; beginning with the brightest of 
them, Delight, Perfection, and Triumph ; then Richard 
Cobden, Defiance, and Cleopatra ; all of them well grown 
and bloomed. 
Mr. Dennis, of the King’s Road, Chelsea, sent six 
plants of a new forcing seedling Geranium, called Alma, 
for which I predict the same “ run” as Alba multifiora, 
on the very first acquaintance. Although I shall never 
be a good florist, 1 shall not yield to auy one in my 
estimation of bedding and forcing Geraniums. I never 
saw Mr. Dennis, that I am aware of, but the moment he 
announced his Lady Mary Fox, I sent for a half-dozen 
of it; and if I was now in harness, I would recommend 
another half-dozen of Alma, and would have them, too, 
to put them into forcing by next Christmas, and to try 
in a bed in the flower-garden tiro following summer. It 
is of the same strain as Rouge et Noir, but larger in all 
the parts, or with the size and constitution of the Queen 
of Roses. Touchstone and Rouge et Noir are the only 
two we have of that strain for beds, and both are barren 
Perhaps Dennis’s Alma is a breeder, and if so, the gate 
is opened again for breeders in this class. 
AZALEAS. 
Mr. Grix, gardener to- A. Palmer, Esq., Cheam Park, j 
sent four magnificent specimen plants of Chinese 
Azaleas; one of which, a clear white, called Bianca, 
was one sheet of bloom, without a leaf being seen. We 1 
none of ns ever saw finer bloomed Azaleas; and Mr. 
Veitch sent two match plants of the white Azaleaindiea, 
six feet high, equally good, and the best shaped plants 
ever exhibited, the shape being a blunt pyramid. 
Mr. Frost, of the Dropmore Gardens, sent half-a-dozen 
new and very superior seedlings of his own. The names 
are, Beauty of Dropmore, a large, crimson flower, richly 
spotted with black on the upper petals; Miltonii, a 
fine, round-shaped flower of a pink colour, well dotted 
on the upper petal; Duke of Cambridge, orange-red, 
and well spotted; Prince of Wales, light rose, large, and 
spotted; Alba magnifica, a superb white, and Kistellii, 
a double, pink flower. 
Messrs. Standish and Noble sent a fine specimen 
of the Azalea, amcena, with a clear stem a foot long, and 
a head nearly a yard across, covered with hundreds 
“hose in hose” like blossoms of a bright rosy-purple. 
This gem will be found in my spring reports three years 
since as one of the first water. It is now proved to be 
quite hardy, and ouatfit to be in every collection ; half- 
a-crown or three shillings would buy a nice plant of it; 
also Bealii, which might be called the Chinaman’s Va- 
riegata, and Narcissiflora, a clear white flower, with a 
double row of petals of equal length. 
The Messrs. Rollison, of Tooting, sent a collection 
of three Azaleas, Alba superba, pallida, and magnifica. 
pleno, in full bloom ; and Mr. Todman sent a similar lot, 
Perryana, Iveryana, and Extranea, all good, and well- 
bloomed. 
HOVEA CELSII. 
There was another example of getting over a great 
difficulty, a large, old bush, and a very bushy plant, of 
ILovea Celsii, from J. Allnutt, Esq ; it stood four feet 
high, and was more than three feet through. This 
plant was cut down to near the surface of the p>ot many 
times, and the root-stock put one in mind of such knobs 
in old coral plants, Erythrina Oresta-galli. Mrs. Law¬ 
rence had also a good, young specimen of this Hovea, 
which tries one’s temper as much as any of the pea¬ 
flowering plants. 
The secret seems to be, to cut down the plant just 
as it is going out of flower, as soon as it begins to get 
straggly, or bare at the bottom, and to repeat the 
close-cutting as often as the plant gets bare below, or 
oftener; : the Erythrina, out against a wall, is so cut 
every year, and is much improved by it; and who 
can assert that the Hovea Celsii vvoidd not do equally 
well by a yearly cutting down. If I had the chance 
now, I would certainly try the experiment. 
. 
SOCIETY’S PLANTS. 
From the garden of the Society were Rhododendron i 
Edgeu'ortldana, a large, clear white, sweet-scented flower, j 
from the Sikkim Himalayas. Berberis Wallichii, with i 
longer leaves and stouter growth than Darwinii, and I 
with flowers much in the way of Darwins’ Berbery. A 
