666 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 19, 1886. 
gave promise of being a finely-coloured variety. Several 
plants of P. Schilleriana were growing on pieces of tree 
branches, apparently as much at home as if still in their 
native habitat, literally covering the blocks with fine 
fleshy roots. 
A fine batch of Ccelogyne ocellata in an adjoining 
house are growing freely, in nearly every case a flower 
spike appearing with a growth. Among the Aerides 
at present in flower are some fine spikes of the Foxbrush, 
A. Fieldingii, and the sweetly-scented A. maculosum, as 
as well as the dwarf-growing A. affine roseum, suspended 
in baskets on the roof; a number of the pretty Sacco- 
labium ampullaeeum are also flowering in the same 
house. Numerous other Orchids are also flowering in 
the various houses, but I cannot stop to enumerate them 
all. The above is only from mental notes, and can 
only give but a faint idea of what the plants named are 
really like. The stock of imported jflants is both large 
and varied ; fine masses of different varieties of Den- 
drobe not yet potted up were lying in one house, and 
among them were said to be some of the finest varieties 
of D. nobile yet introduced. — J. S. Brown. 
-- 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY'S LIVERPOOL SHOW. 
The great Provincial Show of this Society will be 
held in the Botanic Gardens and Wavertree Park, 
Liverpool, from June 29tli to July 5th, 1886, inclusive, 
the prices of admission being 5s. on June 29tli; 2s. 6rf. 
on June -30th ; and l.s. on July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. 
The show will be open to Fellowes of the Society at 12 
noon on June 29th, and to the public at 1 p.m., closing 
at 7 p.m. On other days the hours of opening and 
closing will be 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. respectively, except 
on Saturday, July 3rd, when the hour of closing will 
be extended to 8 p.m. 
Numerous varieties of plants, fruits, flowers, vege¬ 
tables, horticultural implements and appliances, will 
be exhibited, for which, under various classes, the sum 
of £1,200 will be awarded in prizes. These prizes are 
open to all competitors who reside in the Ignited 
Kingdom, but no exhibitor can obtain more than one 
prize in any class. Valuable awards, ranging from £1 
to £20, are offered for Orchids and other species of 
plants ; also for cut flowers, fruits and vegetables. 
Table decoration, bouquets, and grouped garden pro¬ 
duce will greatly augment the attractiveness of the 
show, as well as offer substantial benefits to successful 
competitors. Eminent firms of seedsmen have offered 
prizes forvarious kinds of vegetables which are, severally, 
among the specialities, and a most novel and interest¬ 
ing exhibition will be that of horticulture on board 
ship, for which medals will be awarded according to 
merit. 
On Saturday, July 3rd, and Monday, July 5th, there 
will be a Cottagers and Artizans’ Show. 
The exhibits of Horticultural and Botanical Liter¬ 
ature, Science, and Art, will be divided into three 
sections :— 
Section A—Home and foreign literature of gardening, 
embracing instruction (elementary and advanced), 
models, diagrams, apparatus, etc. 
Section B — Technical art, such as surveying, plan and 
architectural drawing. 
Section C—Botanical and decorative art, such as 
photographs, and drawings in water colours and oil, 
of flowers, fruits, trees, and garden landscapes. An 
incentive to amateurs is offered in a competition for a 
hand-painted china or terra cotta vase, tile, or plate, 
the subject being flowers, fruit, or foliage. The 
awards will be a silver-gilt, silver, and bronze medals. 
Applications for space for implements, garden struc¬ 
tures, tools, and appliances, have been numerous, 
including space for boilers entered for the Boiler Contest. 
All modes of heating, ornamenting, and ventilating 
conservatories, &c., meteorological instruments, wiie- 
woxk, tenting, &c., will be prominently shown. 
Certificates will be awarded for any special novelty, 
approved of by the judges, that may be brought under 
their notice ; also one or more gold medals for the 
most meritorious aggregate displays in any or all of 
the classes. 
There will be a Conference on the Nomenclature of 
Orchids on "Wednesday, June 30th, in which some of 
the most eminent men of the day -will participate. 
The whole exhibition will be one of great interest and 
value, not only to the general public, but also to 
scientists and practical gardeners ; and persons intend¬ 
ing to visit the International Exhibition of Navigation, 
Travelling, Commerce, and Manufacture, should make 
a point of doing so while the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Show is in operation. 
The main entrance to the show will be at the junction 
of Wavertree and Exhibition Toads, while another has 
been provided for at a point in the Exhibition Road 
opposite to the main entrance of the “ Shipperies,” so 
as to enable visitors to pass freely from one exhibition 
to the other. With the exception of the space occupied 
by one large tent, which will be filled with Roses, and 
one or two smaller ones, the whole of the Botanic 
Gardens, including the lawns, will be available to 
visitors as a promenade. 
-- 
HARDY PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
The great army of hardy flowering plants coming as 
they do at this season in such quick succession, and so 
profuse with their flowers, cannot but arrest the atten¬ 
tion of even those who do not care to speak in eugolistie, 
terms respecting them. This may be for a variety of 
reasons, but primarily, no doubt, it is owing to the fancy 
of the class to whom I have referred laying in another 
direction. Well is it that it should be so, as now we see 
all classes of plants, more or less, frequently grown 
according to the particular tastes of individuals. But 
no one will discard our choice hardy plants, I am sure, 
from arbitrary motives, especially in these days when 
cut flowers of all descriptions are eagerly sought, and 
more especially those that you can cut at and come 
again. Of these there are plenty, and while not 
confining my present remarks to them, I will include 
the best of what are in flower at the present time. 
The Yellow Tree Lupin. —One of the most 
pleasing of Lupins, both for delicacy of colour and for its 
unequalled fragrance, is the Yellow Tree Lupin, L. 
arboreus. This plant, with years, will attain to C ft. 
high and as much through ; here then is a noble 
example of the “cut and come again ” class of hardy 
plants, a dense bush, and as densely laden with spikes 
of soft light canary-coloured flowers. I will ask my 
readers to imagine a giant specimen, such as I have 
described, its spikes of flowers issuing from its small 
glistening glaucous leaders; imagine it, too, an impene¬ 
trable mass of flowers situate high on the rockery, and 
gracefully bending towards the observer, such then is 
the yellow’ tree Lupin, which lasts for weeks in perfec¬ 
tion, is among the very hardiest of plants, and may 
be used in spacious rockeries, in shrubberies, or in the 
open border ; and further, if you would give it the best 
of all chances, plant it in a deep rich soil in an isolated 
position on the lawn. The best proof of its hardiness, 
is that it has w’ithstood our past severe winter with 
impunity. Of other Lupins which are herbaceous in 
character, there are good forms of polypliyllus, apart 
from the type among which the wdiite is very good just 
now. 
Day Lilies. —Writing about yellow flowers, I am 
reminded of the bright golden, fragrant, trumpet 
flowers of Hemerocallis flava, so charming and good, so 
profuse too, but unhappily not so enduring as the 
majority of perennials, but which deficiency is fully 
met in the great profusion of its flowers, it is 2 ft. 6 ins. 
in height, and the flower stems rise from broad grassy 
tufts of leaves. A plant near akiu is H. thunbergia, 
rather dwarfer in habit, and of a deep golden hue. 
Onosma taurica. —Another yellow gem, and es¬ 
pecially so for the select border or rock garden, is the 
yellow-floivered Onosma taurica, a member of the 
Boraginaepe, which has no equal among the great host 
of alpines. Its flowers are arranged in pendant cymes, in 
colour they are light golden or canary, tubular in outline, 
and fragrant. It grows from 1 ft. to 15 ins. high, and 
forms slightly spreading tufts of leaves which bristle 
with short stiff hairs ; it prefers sandy loam and plenty 
of grit. 
The genus Lychnis gives us one or two highly 
coloured flow’ers, of which the best are L. diurna fl. pi., 
and L. viscaria splendens fl. pi. The former has compact 
tufts of obovate somewhat wooly leaves, and deep rose 
coloured flowers on stems 2 ft. high, and the latter forms 
tufts of linear-lanceolate leaves, grows about 15 ins. 
high, and has branching rather pyramidal spikes of rosy 
crimson flowers. This latter is one of the best flowering 
plants at the present time, the rich colouring of its 
flowers, its dwarf habit, and its enduring qualities 
being all that could be desired; and lastly any ordinary 
garden soil seems to suit it. 
The Double-flowered Rockets are still in their 
prime, and as old garden favourites need no words 
ol mine to recommend them, their massive spikes of 
purple and white, of that fragrance which is so eagerly 
sought, have long since made them popular : popular in 
the days of our forefathers, ere the Tom Thumb Pelar¬ 
gonium had its being, and popular now despite that 
infection “the scarlet fever,” which for many years 
spread so rapidly through our gardens, and which for 
the time being dealt such a fatal blow to so many of our 
best hardy plants ; happily, hotvever, these with others 
escaped, and who among us regret it to day ? 
The Double and Single-flowered Pyrethrums 
and German Irises are now grand, and will afford 
room for a special note, and of which I hope to be al¬ 
lowed to say a few words in some future issue, suffice 
it now to say that no two genera can compare with 
these at the present time, either for delicate colouring 
on the one hand, and the rich gaudy flowers on the 
other. Of 
Bulbous Plants in flower not many are to be seen 
just now ; some few Liliums, however, are very good, 
and all assist in giving variety, and adding beauty to 
the garden. In this group we find L. pyrenaicum 
flavum, growing 2 ft. to 3 ft. high, with powerful 
fragrant flowers. It is an excellent border kind, and 
very hardy : and then to peep at something out of 
season, we have in a very late planted batch of 
Anemone fulgens —that vivid scarlet glare which 
makes this so conspicuous when in flower. Here there 
is a lesson easily learnt, but none the less valuable for 
that : this batch of Anemone fulgens, numbering 
several hundred, were planted about the 20th day of 
March last—dry, shrivelled tubers, hardly worth the 
trouble, apparently, and which only those acquainted 
with their aptitude for retaining vitality for so length¬ 
ened a period would have anticipated ; but here they 
are, in less than three months from planting, a blaze 
of flower such as few could realise, and which will 
continue—judgiug by the numbers of flower buds 
issuing from the soil—for some time to come. The 
lesson here then, in brief, is, that by successional 
plantings from October to the end of March, a constant 
supply of flowers may be had from the earliest months 
of the year. 
The St. Bruno’s Lilies still continue to expand 
their glistening white flowers : miniature Lilies, as it 
were, these are very fine perennials, and cannot be too 
strongly recommended. Botanically, they are known 
as Anthericum liliastrum. This is an excellent plant, 
though hardly to be compared with the variety, A. 
liliastrum major—a bold, telling subject, quite unique, 
which grows from 18 in. to 2 ft. high, and should be 
found in all collections of hardy plants. These do not, 
by any means, exhaust the present list of good things 
■—far from it ; they are rather only as a drop of water 
in the sea, compared with the numbers which space 
forbids me to mention now. More anon !— J. 
-- 
DWARF RHODODENDRONS. 
Amongst the host of claimants to popular favour in 
the varieties of Rhododendrons ordinarily grown in 
British gardens, we are apt to lose sight of a very 
pretty though less conspicuous group of dwarf species 
that are quite hardy, not difficult to grow, and which. 
usually flower freely. In a few old gardens they may 
be found, but they are strangers in many where they 
would well deserve a place. One of these is R. ferru- 
guineum, an easily recognised plant, with elliptical 
leaves 3 in. long, covered on the under surface with 
small rusty brown dots to which the name applies, the 
flowers being funnel-shaped, of a pinkish purple colour, 
curiously dotted with grey on the outer part of the 
corolla, the stamens being hairy at the base. These 
characters will suffice to enable anyone to recognise 
this little shrub, which seldom exceeds 12 in. or IS in. 
in height, and bears its flowers freely in May and June. 
It is rather later than usual this season, as the flowers 
are still fresh on our plants in a border facing the room 
where I am writing, where it grows in company with 
the others I am about to mention. R. liirsutum is 
rather more compact growing than the foregoing, and 
where it thrives can be cut into a neat little hedge as a 
margin to large beds, especially in what are termed 
American gardens. The leaves have a number of short 
hairs on the surface, the flowers are more reddish than 
R. ferruguineum and quite as freely produced. The 
third species is R. anthopogon, which is about the same 
height as the two already mentioned, but is more 
