42 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[March, 
Each plant is potted in a 5-in., 6-in., or 7-in. 
pot; they are merely protected by the glass 
lights until the end of May, and the plants 
form a novel, interesting, and very beautiful 
feature in the greenhouse in June. 
Primula amosna and its numerous varieties 
merely require the shelter of a cold frame 
during winter and spring, and if space can be 
afforded them in April and May, they will re¬ 
pay the cultivator for any care he may have 
bestowed upon them. Ixias and Sparaxis are 
perhaps more useful to the owner of a green 
house than the Primula amcena, because they 
flower later, usually in June. I have been sur¬ 
prised this season to see the amount of frost 
they will stand with impunity. I had a 
score or more of pots, each containing from 
six to a dozen plants; these had grown 
two or three inches out of the soil before the 
severe frosts set in ; and there they were left, 
to prove how much they would endure ; every 
particle of soil was frozen as hard as stone 
again and again, and now the plants are growing 
quite freely, not being injured in the least. 
They can be grown in the frames, plenty of air 
being admitted to them, and then be taken into 
the greenhouse while in flower. Complaints 
are sometimes made of Ixias not flowering ; the 
reason of this is that they are taken into the 
greenhouse, and placed on stages too far from 
the glass, where they cannot get sufficient air. 
Getting out of the range of what may be 
termed “ Florists’ Flowers,” there are a number 
of herbaceous plants very beautiful indeed, 
that may be grown in the open borders under 
favourable conditions, but those conditions are 
seldom present, nor can they be created by the 
owners of suburban gardens. Of the Antheri- 
cum Liliastrum , the beautiful pure white St. 
Bruno’s Lily, if three good strong crowns are 
planted in a 6-in. or 7-in. pot in November or 
December, they will also give us their elegant 
spikes of delicate flowers in June. Quite 
of another character is the Meconop)sis 
nepalensis, which is beautiful in winter 
as a foliage plant, but more beautiful still 
with its erect stems furnished with its prim¬ 
rose-coloured poppy-shaped flowers. Trillium 
grandijlorum, too, should be grown in pots, to 
flower in the greenhouse in early summer, or it 
may be forced to flower in April. I have seen 
this plant, in conjunction with the large-flower¬ 
ing variety of Helleborus niger, grown to per¬ 
fection in Mr. Barlow’s garden at Stakehill 
House, near Manchester. Mr. Barlow is an 
ardent lover of spring-flowering hardy plants, 
and grows an immense number of them in pots, 
under very unfavourable circumstances, owing 
to the atmosphere being tainted with smoke 
and chemicals; but he triumphs over every 
difficulty, and has gained both the gold and 
silver medals of the Manchester Botanical 
Society with his plants. I merely allude to 
Mr. Barlow’s garden as exemplifying what can 
be done near a large city. 
Besides the few plants I have named, there 
are many more that may be grown and flowered 
perfectly, with very little trouble.—J. Douglas, 
Loxford Hall , Ilford , E. 
SOME NOVELTIES OF 1879. 
E continue from page 27 our brief 
notes on some of the more promi¬ 
nent of the novelties of last year :— 
Hardy Trees and Shrubs. 
Abies brachyphylla, A. homolepis, A. Mariesii, 
and A. saciialinexsis are all handsome Japanese 
coniferous trees, which may be expected to prove 
fine additions to the group of Silver Firs, hereto¬ 
fore called Piceas in this country—a name which 
the law of priority will prevent them from retain¬ 
ing. These all appear to be meritorious intro¬ 
ductions, which we shall estimate the more 
highly when they show more of their natural 
form and character. 
AEsculus rubicunda Briotii, an ornamental flower- 
tree, raised by M. Briot, of Versailles, having 
an attractive inflorescence of bright violet-tintecl 
red blossoms, each marked with an orange-red 
blotch on its upper lobe. 
Hibiscus syriacus ccelestis is one of the 'most 
charming of flowering shrubs, and should be 
planted in every shrubbery. The flowers arc of 
a soft celestial blue, with crimson eye. H. s. totus 
albus, also a good introduction, has the very 
abundant flowers pure white; both arc of Con¬ 
tinental origin. 
Syringa vulgaris alba graxdiflora. —A very fine 
pure white, far superior to the old sort. S. Mdlle. 
Marie Legraye, a splendid form with white 
flowers fully an inch across; these also are Con¬ 
tinental. 
Hardy Perennials. 
Conandron RAMONDioiBES: Mountains of Japan: 
Gesneraceao.—A dwarf, tuberous, herbaceous 
plant, with leafless scapes bearing forked cymes 
of pinkish flowers, with a subglobose, whitish 
tube, spotted inside with yellow; of remarkable 
botanical interest, being a regular-flowered, five- 
stamened Gesnera; and of horticultural interest, 
being probably hardy. 
Spirjea nivosa : Japan : Ilosacem.—A pretty plant, 
with bipinnate leaves, and showy panicles of 
abundant white flowers. 
Dracocepiialum Ruysciiiana japonicum : Japan : 
Labiatac.—A showy herb, with bright blue flowers 
in dense spike-like heads. 
