66 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 8, 1857. 
furnish extensive flower gardens prove that the public 
are more anxious for a generally good display than they 
are for an extensive collection. In fact, selection has 
been carried so far that the really “select” number 
but very few; and though I confess to being one of the 
fastidious class I am far from certain that my “ favourites” 
are the same as those of others, as we all have our own 
peculiar tastes and whims; but, as the pages of The 
Cottage Gardener form an excellent medium for dis¬ 
cussing such matters, I venture an opinion of what I 
consider to be the best plants for general purposes in 
the flower-garden way, taking into consideration the 
various points of neatness of habit, easy culture, and 
long-continued display, as well as the qualification of 
adapting themselves to the various changes they have to 
endure in respect to dry or wet seasons, cold or warm 
situations, and other points of interest, adding a few 
notes to each variety of the treatment it ought to have 
to show itself to the best advantage. 
Geranium (Mangles’Variegated). —Notwithstanding 
the many varieties we have been favoured with since 
this first appeared amongst us it is certainly the best one 
yet. Being of a free growth it speedily occupies a bed, 
and looks well immediately it is planted, the foliage 
looking as well without the blooms as with them. It 
also suffers less from the dry weather that frequently 
succeeds the planting season than many other plants, 
and it is also an excellent plant to form an edging with, 
more especially on a bed on turf. It is also, as I have 
in another place observed, a useful plant for vases, win¬ 
dow boxes, or other places of that kind; but as a potted 
plant its habit is not so good as Flower of the Day, 
Brilliant, and some others. But all parties having a 
number of beds on grass ought to plant this extensively, 
as neither hot weather nor heavy rains detract from its 
beauty, which is not the case with many things. It 
seeds sparingly, but strikes freely from cuttings put in 
some sunny place in August. 
Geranium (Flower oe the Day). —This is not so free 
a grower as the last named, but is more upright, and the 
flower truss larger, and not a bad scarlet. When in 
jierfection it looks well, but I confess liking Mangles ; 
but as Flower of the Day is so liable to sport and return 
to the plain green condition of the original, and then 
look coarse, it is not at ■all adapted for an edging, but 
makes an excellent plant for a row in a rainbow border, 
or an inner ring in ribbon bedding. It seeds freely, and 
strikes and keeps through the ^winter as well as Tom 
'Thumb or any other scarlet. 
Geraniums (other Variegated Kinds). —The above 
are the best I have, but an Oak-leaved variety, strongly 
scented, is also good, while an Ivy-leaved one has in¬ 
variably looked shabby after the beginning of September. 
Brilliant I have not sufficiently tried to determine on, 
but I never could make much of Golden Chain, and, 
though I have seen it extensively used elsewhere, it very 
often, in my opinion, marred rather than improved the 
effect, as, in spite of the most skilful treatment, it is a 
dwarf, shy grower, allowing almost everything to overtop 
it, and consequently destroying that uniformity which 
ought to prevail here. Dandy is also unfitted for any¬ 
thing except an occasional “ dot ” in the front of a mixed 
border. Peat soil suits both better than loam. 
Geraniums of Tom Thumb and Scarlet Horseshoe¬ 
leaved Breeds. —There is a considerable variety of 
them, the best I grow being a very strong grower called 
Smith'8 Emperor, or Mrs . Mangles, for the centre of 
beds. It is not horseshoe-marked; but Mrs. Ricketts, the 
next in point of size, has that marking, and a brilliant 
scarlet truss of bloom, with a white eye. These with 
Tom Thumb are sufficient in a general way. Baron 
Jluyel has a deeper leaf-marking than Mrs. Richetts, 
but I have not tried it yet sufficiently to prove its utility. 
Scarlet Geraniums seem indispensable in every garden, 
and they generally do well, this year in particular flower¬ 
ing abundantly. Our dry and not over deep soil seems 
to°suit them well, and they do good service. They are 
also indispensable as plants suited to the rainbow or 
ribbon style of planting. 
Geraniums of the latter Kind, with. Rose, Pink, 
and Whtte Flowers. —Of the first of these Trentliam 
Rose is better than Cerise Unique or Judy, and Lady 
Holmes dale or Princess Alice is better than Lucia rosea 
or Pink Nosegay in the pink way. Of whites I have 
only two, and Boulede Neige is the best of these ; but I 
do not admire it much, as it is but a dull dingy white 
at best, and the pink varieties make more wood than 
flower; in fact, Trentliam Rose for beds and Cerise 
Unique for pot culture are the best in this class. 
Verbenas. —This extensive class presents as much 
difference in habit as in colour, and not the least useful 
one with me being the old Pulcheila or a variety of it, as 
it makes an excellent edging, and covers a bed well. 
Dnperatrice Elizabeth is equal to it in habit, but does 
not look so well in the distance. Of the scarlets Miss 
Trotter as a dwarf, and Mrs. Woodroffe as a strong 
grower, are both good. Blue Bonnet is also good in 
its colour, and upright rather than creeping in its habit, 
and for that purpose is good for the ribbon beds. Old 
varieties need not necessarily be discarded, as 1 regard 
the old Emperor of China as one of the best crimson 
yet; habit dwarf and good. The Duke of Cambridge, 
purple with white eyes, is also good in its way, and 
there is no lack of pink, lilac, mixtures, and all the 
intermediate colours. Suffice it to say that the present 
season Verbenas have done well here notwithstanding 
the drought, and I shall be induced to plant them more 
extensively another season in consequence, as they are 
very convenient things to keep in order. One of the 
prettiest beds I have seen this season was at Knowsley, 
the princely seat of Lord Derby, in Lancashire. It was 
an irregular scroll-shaped bed, with a dark blue or pur¬ 
ple in the centre and a white one outside ; the latter con¬ 
trasting so well with the grass plot on which the bed 
was formed, delineated its shape to a nicety, the white 
Verbena being an upright growing one of compact habit. 
I forget the name which Mr. Jennings, the able gardener, 
then gave it. Verbenas for beds ought to be distinct 
colours. The fancy shaded ones, however pretty in an 
exhibition stand, seldom look well in a bed unless they 
flower very abundantly and the colour be useful as one 
of the intermediate class, but a tolerably good effect is 
produced at times with Verbenas alone. I planted a 
small geometric garden, of about thirty beds, with as 
many dissimilar kinds as I could, and they looked much 
better than another garden of like size that was all Cal¬ 
ceolarias. A good yellow is w'anted in Verbeiias. The 
old Sulphurea seems to be lost, otherwise something 
useful might, perhaps, have been raised from it. The 
present season seems to have been very prolific of seed, 
which, of Verbenas, seems to grow nearly as freely as 
weeds, plants coming up on beds that had been Ver¬ 
benas the preceding season, and flowering in due time. 
Scarlet Geraniums are equally self-producing, only they < 
never flower that season; but Petunias and Cupheas ' 
frequently do when allowed to remain. 
Petunias. —These have been very good this season, 
but somehow the kinds most recommended by florists 1 
are not the best for general display in beds. A clear, 
distinct-coloured flower that stands sun and rain well is I 
the one for effect, not the delicately-pencilled kinds, or 
flimsy, fine-coloured ones. Although I have several 
named kinds I do not like any of them so well as a seed- j 
ling of no pretensions in a florist’s eye, but which seems 
to stand all weathers without injury. A good white ; 
seems wanting, for I have not seen one yet that perfectly 
deserves that name. As a class Petunias have done 
better this season than usual. I 
