18S1. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
Ill 
mas Cards, inaugurated by Messrs. Ilildes- 
lieimer and Faulkner, is to take place in 
August next, at the Gallery of the Society of 
British Artists, in Suffolk Street. The prizes, which 
range from £200 to £50, are to be awarded by W. 
P. Frith, R.A., J. E. Millais, It.A., and Marcus 
Stowe, A.It.A. The designs may include Land¬ 
scapes, Animals, Birds, Flowers, &c., adapted for 
“children of all ages.” 
— JFrom some experiments we have made 
with the Florvita, we can bear testimony to its 
being a good and safe manure. We liave 
applied it to Auriculas of the Alpine type growing 
in pots, and find it to produce in them vigorous and 
, healthy growth, and the abundant development of 
flowers. We have also tried it on Verbenas and 
similar bedding plants, with the same beneficial 
results. 
— Messrs. Richardson and Co. an¬ 
nounce the Parisian Chain Blinds for shading 
Horticultural buildings. They are made of 
thin wood laths, connected by galvanised iron 
chains, and are intended to be fixed on the outside of 
the roof, being rolled up when not required by a 
siugle cord running over a pulley. They also afford 
protection against frost in winter. Such blinds 
should be neat, durable, and efficient. 
— SSCall-fruits are sometimes attacked 
by Slugs. Mrs. E. Stephens suggests that in 
order to prevent these molluscs or any creeping 
insects from touching the fruit, it is a good plan 
to first wash the wall about a foot high, and also the 
trees [?], with gas tar, and then to rough-cast the 
surface v r ith clippings of either furze or horsehair. 
No Creature will pass over it. 
— %, new Fern, Davallia elegans poly- 
dactyla, has lately been introduced by Messrs. 
Veitch and Sons, of Chelsea. It was raised in 
their establishment, from spores of D. elegans, by 
Mr. Schneider, and was exhibited at a recent meet¬ 
ing of the Royal Horticultural Society, when it re¬ 
ceived the unanimous award of a First-class Certi¬ 
ficate. The whole contour of the plant is extremely 
ornamental, and in its general aspect resembles its 
typal form. There are the stoutish brown-scaled 
rhizome, the smooth brown stipites, the triangular 
quadripinnate frond, the coriaceous texture, the 
glossy surface, and the dark-green colour; but in¬ 
stead of the apex of the frond itself and the apices 
of the pinnae and pinnules each running out to and 
terminating in a narrow point, these points become 
dilated and split down into several divisions, each of 
which is again multifidly divided, so that the apices 
all become crested, or rather, perhaps fingered, the 
divisions being spread out flat, and not curled into 
a crest. The other parts of the frond are normal, 
and tlm indusium is of the half cup-shaped form 
peculiar to the species, with usually a lobe or tooth 
of the outer margin projecting beyond it like a horn. 
It will be a good, useful decorative fern. 
— 2The Double Clematis is not so much 
appreciated as it deserves to be as a pillar plant 
for the conservatory. There are several very 
good varieties in cultivation, notably C. Fortunei, 
which lias creamy-white sweet-scented flowers; 
Lucie Lemoine, and Duchess of Edinburgh, both 
white, very full and pure, and deliciously scented ; 
Mrs. G. lunes, pale-lavender blue ; and Countess of 
Lovelace, bluish-lilac, very fine and sweet. These 
all belong to the florida group, and bloom from the 
old or ripened wood. The flowers in their young 
state have the sepals more or less incurved over the 
silky tails of the ovaries, but they gradually unfold, 
and the full-blown flowers are large and striking, and 
remain in perfection for a considerable time. All of 
them are hardy, and do well against a south-west 
wall, though sometimes they do not flower so freely 
as might be desired, or get injured by frost. In the 
conservatory, however, these Clematises flourish, 
and there, if planted in good soil, and trained up the 
pillars and rafters, they furnish a fine succession of 
flow r ers. 
— Sale “ gem of gems ” amongst Odonto- 
glots is said to be the Odontoglossum priono- 
petalon, recently bloomed in Sir Trevor 
Lawrence’s cool Odontoglossum-house, in which, 
though well furnished with innumerable flower- 
spikes of the best varieties of 0. Alexandras, 0. 
triumphans, &c., the eye immediately singled out 
this Odontoglossum prionopetalon as the gem of the 
w'hole group. This plant bore a spike about 2 ft. in 
length, bearing sixteen flowers, each nearly 4 in. 
across, in shape like a fine, broad-petalled O. Alex¬ 
andra?, in colour intermediate between 0. Alexandras 
and 0. triumphans. The flat form, the saw-like 
edge to the petals, and the wax-like appearance of 
the flowers, distinguish it from any other Odontoglot 
at present in cultivation. 
— According to the Garden , the new 
double-flowered Tropaiolum Hermine Grass- 
hoff is one of the most attractive of plants. 
It is of dwarf growth, with the flowers perfectly 
double, the petals being arranged in a flat head 
quite three inches in diameter. The colour is a 
brilliant scarlet, which the deep green of the foliage 
seems to intensify. It promises to become a valu¬ 
able plant both for ordinary pot decoration and for 
cutting purposes, as the flowers last a long time. 
It was exhibited by Messrs. Cannell and Sons, 
Swanley. 
— Kn reference to the Hardiness of 
Japanese Evergreens, Mr. W. Thomson, of the 
Tweed Vineyard, Galashiels, writing to the Scots¬ 
man, observes that “ no frost has been so destructive 
to vegetable life for 150 years as that of this and last 
winter. There are many holly, yew, and other trees 
killed that must have stood nearly 200 years. One 
matter worthy of remark is that while I have seen 
nearly all sorts of hollies, yews, laurels, and even 
rhododendrons killed, I have not seen a single 
Japanese evergreen even injured.” 
— ^here are few places in the kingdom, 
writes “ A. D.,” in the Gardeners' Chronicle , 
where Camellias are more largely grown in 
the open air thau at Glen Eyre, Southampton. “ I 
called in February purposely to note how far the 
many plants growing there in very exposed posi¬ 
tions had suffered, and found that the only injury 
done was the browning of a flower-bud here and 
there, or a leaf had been storm-beaten, but in no 
case were the plants more injured than Laurels or 
Rhododendrons. The Camellia makes its season’s 
growth quite early, and therefore it is very hard and 
ripened before the winter comes on. The complaint 
that wind and rain will damage the bloom is ridi- 
