742 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 24, 1886. 
Earl of Beaeonsfield, scarlet, striped with crimson, is a 
grand flower, a strong grower, and later than most of 
the others. "Walter "Ware belongs to the yellow ground 
section, and is splashed with scarlet; it sports occasion¬ 
ally into a pure yellow form, and is pretty either way. 
Peacock, new, has a huff ground, striped and flaked 
with scarlet and purple ; and Goldfinder is yellow, 
edged with dark rose. 
Scarlet Bizarres : The best bedding varieties in this 
section, as seen here, are Guardsman, Duke of Grafton, 
Titiana, George, John Hine, and Prince Albert. 
Crimson Bizarres : Among these, we noted specially 
A. D. Southgate, Shirley Hibberd, H. K. Mayor, 
Winsome Winnie, one of Mr. Dodwell’s fine seedlings, 
Alderman, and J. D. Hextall. Of pink and purple 
Bizarres: James Taylor, William Skirving, Sarah 
Payne, and Princess Beatrice take the lead ; and in 
scarlet flakes ; John Ball, Jupiter, Dan Godfrey, Scarlet 
Keat, Mrs. Allen, and Mrs. Tomes, are not to be easily 
beaten. The best purple flakes include Ada, Ajax, 
James Douglas, Florence Nightingale, Captain Jinks, 
Miss Mills, and Juno ; and in rose flakes : John Keat, 
Jessica, Lord Chelmsford, Lovely Anne, Rose of Staple- 
ford, James Merryweather, and Lady Florence, are 
indispensable in any collection. 
The chastely beautiful Picotees are by many ladies 
preferred to the more showy carnations, and certainly 
the broad white petals and bright well-defined lacing 
render the flowers extremely captivating. In heavy 
crimson edged blooms, Dr. Epps, Picturata, Grostein, 
Hilda, Jewess, J. B. Bryant, Lord Valencia, and 
Lotliair, deserve a place in every collection. Of those 
with light or “wire ” crimson edges, the leading sorts 
are Mrs. Dodwell, Mrs. Keynes, Mrs. Bowers, Rev. F. 
D. Horner, and Thomas Williams, are all first-rate. 
The best of the heavy rose-edged flowers, are Mrs. 
Webb, Louisa, Miss Gibbs, Lady Boston, Mrs. Wood 
Ingram, Miss Polly, and Rev. H. Matthews ; and of 
light rose edges, Dorothy, Field Marshal, and Lady 
Carrington, comprise the best. Heavy purple, edges 
include Admiration, Mrs. Chancellor, Princess Dagmar, 
and Red Braes (a grand bedder) ; and in wire edges, 
Alice, Clara Penson, Beauty of Cheltenham, Ba*roness 
Burdett Coutts, Edith (new), Her Majesty, Mary, and 
Mrs. Henry Hooper, give a selection of rare quality. 
-- 
WADDON HOUSE, CROYDON. 
The visitor to Waddon House, the residence of 
Philip Crowley, Esq., comes immediately on his en¬ 
trance to a very fine example of the gardener’s art. 
In the centre of the garden fronting the Ivy-covered 
house is a huge bed of sub-tropical plants, forming 
with their massive foliage a beautiful object. The 
middle is made up with the large-leaved Ferdinandia 
eminens ; then a broad belt of the green and red 
varieties of Ricinus, outside which are Cannas, and 
the whole edged with the silvery-leaved Stachys lanata, 
and forming, perhaps, the best example of the kind in 
the country. Passing round the house, we see from 
its verandah, along which are grouped some showy 
flowers in pots, a pretty prospect presented by the 
fine expanse of well-kept grass (the virtue of which 
many a tennis player can tell of) level in the fore¬ 
ground, and then declining precipitately beyond the 
well-arranged shrubberies and pretty little flower gar¬ 
dens for bedding plants, which are wisely enough 
allotted their comers where they may brighten the 
scene without encroaching on the main portion of the 
smooth turf. 
On one side, among the cool shrubberies fragrant 
with the flowers of the Mock Oranges, stands the aviary 
of great weird-looking eagle-owls of Norway. In 
another portion is arranged a very fine Fern rockery, 
containing many superb and rare specimens, among 
which may be noted a great patch of Ophioglossum 
(Adder’s-tongue) 1) ft. across, Oak and Beech Ferns in 
3 ft. patches, Onoclea sensibilis equally fine, and so 
forth. This extensive rockery forms a very quiet and 
pleasant retreat, where the wonderfully diverse foliages 
are as pleasing as the gay flowers of the herbaceous 
garden near at hand, which contains some rare things, 
such as the Edelweiss, as well as quantities of the 
showier plants more usually met with, such as Del¬ 
phiniums, Gaillardias, Potentillas, Pyrethrums, and, 
of course, Roses, which are planted everywhere, as 
well as having a set garden to themselves, which they 
now make very gay with their rich and fragrant 
flowers. Among the best of hardy flowers, Agro- 
stemma atrosanguinea is grown like a hedge of violet- 
crimson flowers, and the favourite Sweet Peas are ex¬ 
quisite in their rows, and very serviceable for cutting. 
The Specimen Plants. Ferns. 
The glasshouses are numerous, and the plants con¬ 
tained in them worth going a long distance to see, for 
plants are wanted at Waddon House not merely for the 
sake of having them, but in order to be qualified for 
the cntre, they must be capable of being grown into 
specimens either for flower or foliage, and once they are 
admitted the rest follows, for Mr. Walter King, the gar¬ 
dener is a great plant grower and exhibitor. As examples 
of the plant wealth at Waddon, we noted among them 
a few which will serve to give an idea of the perfection 
to which plants are brought there. Among the Ferns, 
in whose house the back wall is rendered very lovely by 
the covering of Ficus repens, Maidenhair, and the 
metallic-lustred Selaginella caesia arborea are Microlepia 
hirta cristata, 9 ft. across, with its lovely soft green 
fronds, tasselled in a very charming manner at the 
points ; Davallia Mooreana, 7 ft. ; Adiantum cardi- 
oehlaena, 6 ft. ; Davallia Fijiense, 6 ft. ; Trichomanes 
radicans, 4 ft.; Hymenophyllum demissum, 3 ft. ; and 
many fine plants of Adiantum Farleyense, and others 
well worthy to keep them company. 
In the same house also is the best culture of Mosses 
we have seen, the plants being formed into uniform 
round heads by growing them in large pans, the soil 
being raised and shaped before planting in the manner 
it is intended the plants should arrange themselves. In 
this way a lovely collection is grown of which one, 
and all are beautiful to look upon, so even, neat,, and 
densely packed are their slender growths. Selaginella 
Kraussiana aurea is an excellent yellow tinted variety ; 
S. Mertensii variegata, white and green ; S. serpens, 
green, changing to silver ; S. caulescens, green, tinged 
with pink ; and S. apoda, S. stolonifera, lovely shades 
of green ; and S. W ildenovii, like a delicate fronded 
Fern ; and S. cresia, almost blue in tint; when grown 
as these are the mosses are very handsome. 
Fine Foliaged Plants. 
The foliage plants are equal to the Ferns, and 
comprise so many extraordinary specimens that only 
a few can be particularized, and the handsomest is a 
grand leafy plant, some 7 ft. across, of the massive 
foliaged white and green Alocasia macrorhiza variegata, 
a superbly grown piece. Equally good are the silver- 
veined Anthurium crystallinum, 6 ft. over, A. 
Warocqueanum, the same size ; grandly coloured 
Crotons, 5 ft. to 6 ft. across ; Phoenix sylvestris, 12 ft. ; 
Thinax elegans, 10 ft. ; a lovely feathery Asparagus 
plumosus, with compact head, some 5 ft. across ; a 
still finer A. tenuissimus, over 6 ft., and perhaps the 
best iu Europe ; and many other wonderful things. 
Those who so often admire plants at flower shows, 
where the surroundings of canvas, &c., are unavoidably 
the reverse of effective, can easily understand how 
great a treat it is to see them at home as at Waddon 
House. 
Flowering Plants. 
The specimen flowering plants just now eclipse in 
beauty all the others. When looking at them in winter, 
when they are inactive, it is difficult to realize that in a 
few months such a flood of colour and beauty of form 
should come over them as they now present. There 
are Allamandas, with scores of large yellow blooms 
Lasiandra macrantha, with hundreds of violet salver¬ 
shaped flowers, Bougainvillea glabra, laden with their 
mauve inflorescense, Ixoras, which although only 3 ft. 
across, have thirty to forty large heads of orange-red 
flowers each ; and Dipladenias, with over a hundred 
carmine flowers, each as large as ordinary saucers, and 
so on. Enough has been said to show that Mr. King 
grows his plants well, and it might be of use if we give 
his answer to our query as to how he managed it. His 
reply was, “ I grow my plants well, and do not starve 
them while they are about it, and after they have done 
what I want in the way of growth, I let them keep 
quiet until I want them again.” This seems fair and 
equitable, and decidedly preferable to the all-the-year- 
round attempt at growing which so commonly pre¬ 
vails in small places by always keeping the plants in 
the same houses, and the houses at a close moist 
temperature continually. 
Among the other flowering plants cultivated here we 
noted some fine specimens of the scarlet Impatiens Sul- 
tani, the fine old blue Agapanthus, prettily bloomed 
little Oleanders, the pink Crinum Mooreanum, Boronia 
elatior covered with rosy blooms, Erica Cavendishiana, 
yellow, and a very fine collection of Gloxinias and 
Achimenes, the showiest of which among the latter 
appear to be Harry "Williams, carmine ; Dazzle, bright 
scarlet; Longiflora major, large blue ; Longiflora alba, 
white ; Edmond Boissier, white, with mauve dots. 
The Tuberoses in the same house are very good, and on 
the roof the climbing Lilies, Gloriosa Plantii and G. 
superba, have many of then- orange-scarlet blooms. In 
other houses some rare climbers are to be found, notably 
the handsome large Hoya imperialis, with large bunches 
of flowers, and Aristolochia ornithoeephala, with 
hundreds of curious flowers like great unfledged birds ; 
Mr. Bull’s lovely new A elegans, which is one of the 
most wonderful pieces of colour in flowers, is also 
represented by a smaller plant. 
The Orchids. 
The Orchids are equally well grown with the rest of 
the plants, and especially the many specimens of 
Ccelogyne cristata, which bear from twenty to fifty 
spikes each in their seasons. In flower are some very 
good Cattleyas, Odontoglossum citrosmum, and others ; 
Dendrobium Dearei, D. Devonianum, Epidendrum 
vitellinum majus, Saccolabium Blumei, Oncidium 
Lanceanum, Cypripediums, Masdevallias, and several 
very fine examples of Peristeria elata (Dove Plant) in 
small pots, but with two to three spikes of flower each. 
In one ofthe houses appears a most remarkable specimen, 
of our old friend Dendrobium moschatum, with stems 
about 8 ft. long, which are trained over the roof, and 
in their season produce about one hundred fine sprays 
of large buff and crimson flowers of sufficient beauty 
to be considered equal to anything as a flowering plant. 
The Conservatory. 
This is a pleasant structure well furnished with 
climbers on the roof, among which the Lapagerias alone 
are computed to have borne some 5,000 flowers, and 
the planted-out rockery is still more beautiful, its floor 
as well as sides being made to imitate natural rock, an 
arrangement which is much more effective than having 
it of tile, which has always an incongruous appearance 
in such a place. The Ferns are beautiful in then- 
wild luxuriance, and especially the Nephrolepsis tube- 
rosa, Adiantums, Pteris umbrosa, Lastrea Standishii, 
and Lomaria fluviatilis. The foliage Begonias are fine, 
and the great head of flowers on the Bougainvilleas 
very effective, as also those on the Begonia fuchsioides 
planted here and there. 
The Orchard-house, Fig-house, Vineries, &c., are 
each providing their share, and the kitchen garden, 
round which runs some 800 specimens of Chrysan¬ 
themums in about 300 varieties, is all that could be 
desired for cleanliness and good cropping. 
-- 
LORD IDDESLEIGH ON WINDOW 
GARDENING-. 
At the tenth annual exhibition in connection with 
the Aldenham Street, Somers Town, Sunday School, 
held iu the St. Pancras Vestry Hall, recently, Lord 
Iddesleigh said that he rejoiced that there were persons 
trying to interest the masses of this city in the works 
of nature, and the cultivation of flowers. A great deal 
was to be learnt by the cultivation of flowers. It was 
a great loss to those who inhabited crowded cities that 
they were cut off from many of the opportunities which 
their brethren in the country enjoyed of coming into 
contact with the beauties of Nature. Much, however, 
had been done, and was now being done, to enable the 
dwellers in cities to acquaint themselves with the 
beauties of flowers. He remembered the time when it 
was thought hardly the right thing to introduce flowers 
into the "West-end parks, instead of having them wild 
and waste, and covered with gorse and heather. It 
was said that the people would not appreciate flowers 
and would spoil them ; but all experience had shown, 
not that the people had done any harm to the flowers, 
but that the flowers had done good to the people. It 
was a good thing to introduce the pleasures of flower 
producing into the severer education of the young, and 
such pleasures as were to be derived from gardening 
were open to almost everybody ; much pleasure was to 
be derived from the cultivation of flowers, even though 
the cultivators of them might not be able to produce 
such beautiful specimens as many of those shown at 
this exhibition, and the home was rendered more 
attractive by having a living thing, if only a flower, 
depending on personal attention. It was a good thing 
to have any object which called out the spirit of love. 
