73 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. —November 4, 1856. 
CLAPTON NURSERY. 
{Continuedfrom page 6.) 
BEDDING AND OTHER GERANIUMS. —TllO Oulv white, 01’ 
nearly white, bedding Geraniums that I could see here 
were the Countess, Duchess of Sutherland, Glaucum grandi- 
Jlorum and virgirieum ; all mixed-borcler kinds, however, 
the Duchess being the nearest to a regular bedder. As 
we have not a single good white bedding Geranium yet 
of this class, I mention those as the best to cross from, 
and Countess to be the mother in every instance. Vir- 
giiteum will cross-cut the new section, which is repre¬ 
sented by Countess, and give us large-leaved seedlings. 
Pity it should be so; but thoro is no help for it. The 
llowers will be first rate, however. Picturatum, which is 
the best of them for cut flowers, and for a mixed border. 
Nutans, one of the very best of the Quercifoliums, and 
well suited to match Quercifolium superhum, or coccineum, 
or eximium. Pretty Polly, a good mixed-border plant, 
which is-never out of bloom the whole season of the 
scarlet breed. The host of the more recent kinds were 
Coomb Bank Rival, a rich, dark scarlet; Lady Smythe, 
a shaded scarlet, with large truss and large flower. 
These two, with General Pelissier, Defiance, two good 
scarlets; Mrs. Lawton, cherry colour; Rubens, pinky; 
and Triomphe de Mont Rouge, the best of the blush- 
white ones, are all admirably suited for large pot speci¬ 
mens; while the new strain from Baron Hugel gives 
us an endless variety of dwarf plants with scarlet 
flowers and white eyes. Bishupstowe and Dazzle were 
the best two of this strain here, though not, perhaps, the 
best of that strain. Another dwarf kind, Countess of 
Bective, from the Wellington Road Nursery, must be 
crossed with the breed of Baron Hugel to give us by 
far the best bedders of the race. They will grow in the 
richest soil, or in the dampest situations, without “ run¬ 
ning into leaf,” which is the greatest fault of the old 
kinds. Neither at Clapton nor at the Wellington Road 
Nursery does this last Countess grow stronger than 
Baron Hugel, and the flowers are like those of Kings 
bury Pet. This Pet, like Countess of Bective, the Baron 
Hugel, and Frogmore Seedling, a light rosy cross from 
Princess Royal, alias Baron Hugel, in ITer Majesty’s 
garden three years since, are my own three favourite 
dwarf pot-plants. Get them and Tidicorth Seedling, with 
Dazzle and BishopstOive Scarlet, and cross the whole in 
any way you choose, and my word for it, you will not 
have a had seedling out of a score; and that is just one 
hundred times more than can be said of any other equal 
number of all the Geraniums in the world. The Baron 
gives no pollen, and Countess of Bective is shy that way; 
but the delicate,dear little Frogmore Seedling is prodigal 
in pollen, and seeds like a Groundsel ; nothing in the 
way of pollen comes amiss to it or to the Baron. 
Among a large number of Pentstemons I noted 
Magnijica as the best dark crimson one I had yet seen; 
it is of the so-called GentianoiJ.es strain. Lysimachia 
Leschenaultia flowers till the frost puts a stop to it; is 
quite hardy, rather new, and looks iu the borders much 
like Daphne cneorum both in growth and flower. Bou- 
vardia angustifoHa and Jeiantha seemed to me to be the 
brightest of that tribe for beds. Leiantha was then the 
very best. Bouvardia I had never seen planted out of 
doors. Next to them, but for mixed borders in sum¬ 
mer, a collection of Stylidium put me in mind of how 
many of the good old half-greenhouse, half out-of-door 
plants we neglect for gold and silver leaves, and for 
anything to “ bed.” The “ ruling powers,” like the 
ruling passion, must have their way, whether they he in 
parliaments or petticoats, and so botanicals have to give 
place to bedders; but beds are no “bedding” unless 
some mixed borders are not far off. I shall turn 
London inside out this winter if I am spared, to see 
what we really possess for winter decoration, and for 
mixed beds and borders, because it is of little use to 
hammer at such things in the sight of beds and blazing 
flowers during the summer months. 1 would have every 
Stylidium in the country in my sanctum border for 
mixed plants, and I would pot them off with the bedders 
in the autumn, and keep them over the winter in cold 
frames. Salvia porpliyrantha is another choice bit for 
the same border, and Mr. Low grows loads of it, and is 
obliged to do so, because some people forget to take it up 
in time, and lose it by frost, while others make it into beds 
—as was stated lately in The Cottage Gardener —on 
the authority of The Botanical Magazine, and, finding it 
will not do, they pull it up at the wrong time, and so 
lose it that way; but, once seen in a good patch, they 
must all of them have it back again ; therefore, till 
wisdom is learned through the purse, nurserymen must 
keep a stock of this pretty little Salvia. Sprengelia in- 
carnata, the oldest plant in Europe when I was a hoy— 
and a better plant for a mixed border has not been in¬ 
troduced since—is as hardy as a Cowslip, and takes 
up no more room. 1 have not seen it for years in such 
quantities and perfection. Nierembergia intermedia ns 
good and as numerous, and although it is said to be 
“ iwffy” it never “ sulks,” only takes a long time to rest, 
and during that time it will not be pushed. It is one 
of the best of the good old family gems and jewels. 
Silene acaulis alba, Sechnn grandijlorum and hybridum, 
Lychnis Bungedna, Linum flavum, Epimedium violaceum, 
grandijlorum, and carneum, Jeffersonia diphylla , Liatris 
pumila, Statice Wildenovii, miniata, and Tatarica, Pri¬ 
mula viscosa and involucrata, Galax aphylla, with lots of 
Daphne cneorum and Erica carnea, two sorts that ought 
to be as common on first-rate borders as Tom Thumbs 
are in the beds. 
But of nl! the mixed-border plants in this nur¬ 
sery, and of all the Phloxes I had hitherto seen, a 
new lot here, which were sent over from France this 
last spring pleased me the most. T must also say of 
them that, out of all the tribes, Mr. Low, sen , took most 
pride in showing me his new Phloxes. He said that he 
spent heaps of money on Phloxes every year for a long 
time, and never had a real good assortment of them till 
now. The hatch of seedlings is a “collection of eighteen 
new varieties of fine dwarf, robust habit, raised by M. 
Lierval, of Paris;” and the following is thp cream of 
them:— Libianus, lavender ground colour, with a bold, 
white eye. Sambe, alias Jean Baptiste, light rose, and 
uot more than nine inches high; Eusche, rose, with 
deep carmine eye, and good stiff habit. Lavinia, a good 
dwarf white, better than Omnijiora, the best white of 
the older kinds. Leo Baron, in the way of Countess 
of Holme, but a larger truss and flower. Volery, a 
very rich shaded rose. Rigolette, a very distinct 
kind, rose and blush variegated in the same truss. 
Marshal St. Arnaud, a self, very rich pink. L'Abbe 
Beranger, between peach and French white, with 
a starry eye. Madame Villard, blush white, very 
large truss. Madame Thaumond, deep, rich, reddish 
purple ; fine. Marquis Gouvion de St. Gyr, a most beau¬ 
tiful large kind, rich salmon colour. M. Rical, a good 
peach colour. Madame Lacroix, fine light purple, 
shaded and variegated in the same truss. Madame 
Cambaceres, lavender, and lighter eye, one of the most 
lady like flowers of them all, except St. Gyr. Out of all 
the old ones, a John-Bull-like name, Purpurea superba 
—double adjective again—was really all that the extra¬ 
vagant name implies. Now, all these, and all above 
them this day, would suit the south and south-west 
borders under a low terrace wall, for which a mixture of 
fine flowers was asked the other day. 
Immense quantities of the new-fruited Eugenia Ugni 
are here. My Hus bullata, from New Zealand, would 
give one a good idea of the brown tint so prevalent 
in plants from that quarter. Pleroma elegans, in great 
