682 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 25, 1887. 
broad reddish salmon border ; it is perfectly orbicular, 
and of medium size. Another new variety is a seedling 
with the variegated foliage of Pearcei, and French- 
white flowers, suffused with yellow. Yarious other 
forms of this type are characterised by shades of buff, 
orange, yellow and bronze, that seem to find numerous 
admirers. Torey Laing is one of this type, with richly- 
coloured foliage resembling Anthurium crystallinum ; 
and an orange-salmon-flowered variety, with erect 
flowers, is also noticeable. "What we should like to see 
improved and perpetuated are several seedlings with 
a decided fragrance of Violets or Roses. A dwarf form, 
with blackish maroon flowers, is comparable to the 
colour of Dell’s Crimson Beet. 
Peculiap. Fop.ms. 
A striking feature of some varieties is the close 
resemblance they bear to the flowers of other genera, 
such as double Camellias, Carnations, Hollyhocks and 
Pseonies. Marie Mallet bears a close resemblance to 
the double-flowered Narcissus poeticus ; and Pavillion 
Jaune, having double white flowers with a deep yellow 
centre, forcibly reminds one of the Eggs and Bacon 
variety of N. incomparabilis ; the most remarkable of 
all is a double variety named Viridiflora. The whole is 
a strange and incongruous mass of partly petaloid 
bracts, sepals and leaves. Many of what should 
ordinarily be coloured in a double flower have developed 
into small green leaves cut at the margin like the true 
leaves. Another form has the female flowers double, 
consisting of a mass of petaloid sepals, multifid stigmas 
and numerous ovules on exposed placentas. 
-- 
LATH-FLOWERING INDIAN 
AZALEAS. 
Sometimes a good plant of a late-flowering Azalea is 
very useful for the summer exhibitions, and any variety 
that will keep its buds dormant till June, and then 
flower, may be considered useful for this purpose. I 
find that the following varieties will do so, and, 
although grown early along with the general stock, if 
kept cool during winter, show no tendency to come 
into flower along with the general collection, which 
flowers during April and May. 
Early-flowering Azaleas are extremely useful, as 
they may be induced to flower at a season when flowers 
are scarce, and also much more sought after than what 
flowers are in the present month of June. Your 
readers may think me a little presumptuous in calling 
attention to these varieties, that may be of interest 
to only a few—persons who would want such plants for 
exhibition purposes—as the bulk of Azaleas will be 
now over, and houses will be filled with Pelargoniums 
and kindred plants. There are but three varieties to 
which I wish to call special attention, being all distinct 
in colour, and may be relied on for June flowering. I 
attach name and description. 
Fanny Ivery .—Good habit, flowers of a large size, 
colour salmon-red, richly spotted with purple. 
Madame Gloner .—Flowers pure white, broadly cam- 
panulate, arranged in dense clusters, very free, habit 
of plant good ; extra fine variety. 
Heine Marie Hcnriette .—Soft salmon colour, white 
edge, upper petals marked with deep carmine spots, 
very large and fine ; habit of plant close.— W. G. 
[Oar esteemed correspondent sends us some sprays of 
Azalea, which, considering the lateness of the season, 
are very fine both in respect of size and substance. 
Madame Gloner is a very pure white, with the exception 
of a pale yellow tint at the base of the upper segment, 
and it shows a slight tendency to become double. 
Another variety is of a milk-white, but larger and of 
greater substance ; the name of this has apparently not 
been sent. Madame Marie Henriette is something in 
the way of the old Criterion, with the same spotting, 
but a larger flower and shaded with a much deeper pink 
colour. Fanny Ivery is of a peculiar shade of red, with 
a purple blotch, contrasting strongly with all the 
foregoing.—E d.] 
Snowdrop Windflower.— Amongst the medium¬ 
sized species, Anemone sylvestris deserves to be 
grown in a broad patch or mass, for the fine effect 
produced by its large slightly nodding satiny white 
flowers. Internally the white is purer, and the broad 
cup-shaped blossom measures about 1£ ins. in diameter 
and is fragrant. Owing to the somewhat rambling 
nature of its underground stems, it should not be 
cramped for space, but allowed to develop freely. 
Flowering plants may be seen on the rockery in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick. 
HERBACEOUS AND ALPINE 
PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
Houstonia ccerulea alba. —Those who are fond of 
English names have a choice of adopting either “Bluets,” 
“Blue Bonnets,” or “ Quaker Girls.” These names, 
however, are most appropriately applied to the normal 
blue form. The white variety, for some reason or 
other, is, however, the most common in British 
gardens, and flowers continuously, or almost so, 
throughout the summer. A fine lot of it is to be seen 
at Sir W. Bowman’s seat, Joldwynds, Dorking. 
Saxifraga aretioides. — Until recently the Prim- 
rose-coloured variety, S. a. primulina, seemed most 
common in gardens, but the bright yellow-flowered 
typical form may be seen on the Saxifrage rockery at 
Kew, keeping company with the paler form. The 
flowers are produced in a dense corymb on peduncles 
only about 2 ins. in height, and the linear leaves are 
densely aggregated on very short stems. 
Gentiana verna.— Fine patches of this brilliant 
blue Gentian may now be seen in many gardens. 
The best conception that can be obtained of the 
peculiar intense blue occurring in many members of 
this genus, is to see a mass of it when the sun is 
sufficiently warm to open the flowers fully. In dull 
or sunless weather they close. 
Viola biflora. —This pretty little Violet is a native 
of the Alps of Europe, and was introduced to British 
soil in 1752. The flowers are small, bright yellow and 
produced in pairs (suggesting the specific name), on 
stems about 3 ins. high. It is flowering freely in the 
herbaceous border at Pendell Court, Bletchingley, and 
has reniform leaves similar to those of our native Wood 
Violet, but paler green. 
European Globe-flower. —It is almost unneces¬ 
sary to add the botanical name, Trollius europaeus, but 
such is the name of a showy and useful herbaceous 
plant that enlivens the upland moors of some parts of 
this country with its large, globular, soft yellow 
flowers. Under cultivation it appears to vary, giving 
rise to slight differences that are noticeable yet difficult 
to distinguish. Several forms arc to be seen in the 
borders at Pendell Court, Bletchingley. 
Pbonia mollis. —While rather difficult to dis¬ 
tinguish from P. officinalis and P. peregrina by 
botanical characters, its general appearance in a grow¬ 
ing state is very distinct. The broad much cut leaves 
are glaucous, very hairy, or villous, and densely 
arranged on short stems that terminate in a solitary 
rose-coloured flower. It is single, and not to be con¬ 
founded with double-flowered forms of P. officinalis 
and P. albiflora, all growing at Merton Lodge, 
Chiswick. 
Greenweed. — Amongst the various species of 
Genista probably no one is dwarfer or more suitable as 
a subject for carpeting a bank or fringing the stones in 
the rock garden so as partly to hide them than G. 
pilosa. A fine spreading patch about 1 yd. in diameter 
in vigorous healthy condition is now covered with a 
profusion of its yellow Pea-like blossom, and closely 
hugs the ridge of a mound at Joldwynds, Surrey. It 
is a British plant, but by no means common. 
Scarlet Geum. —That which is figured in the 
Botanical Register, and which is usually seen in 
gardens under the name of G. coccineum, is really 
G. chiloense, a native of Chiloe on the south-west 
coast of South America. The true G. coccineum is a 
native of Greece and Asia Minor. The inflorescence is 
panicled, bearing scarlet flowers, and the leaves, which 
are mostly radical, are interruptedly pinnate. There 
is a double form pretty frequent in gardens, and both 
flower throughout the summer if kept growing ; they 
are amongst the best ornaments of the herbaceous 
borders. 
Gilia micrantha. —Although only an annual, this 
Californian plant might with propriety be introduced 
in patches in the rock garden, where, if not too thickly 
crowded, it would keep up a fine show during a great 
part of the summer. In the typical form the flowers 
are rose-coloured, but it varies with a great profusion 
of tints, and a fine golden form is named G. m. aurea. 
Leptosiphon is the commonest name in gardens, and 
the golden yellow variety is generally treated as a 
distinct species. The usual range in stature is 6 ins. 
to 9 ins., but is often dwarfer and very floriferous. 
The Bavarian Gentian. —Few plants have a more 
dazzling effect in fine sunny weather than the blue 
Gentians, and the present one, Gentiana bavarica, is 
one of the best, comparable in habit and size to G. 
verna. The stems do not exceed a height of 3 ins., 
and bear a solitary intense blue flower of ten segments, 
the five alternate ones being smaller. It is by no 
means plentiful in this country, although originally 
introduced as early as 1775 from the mountains of 
Central Europe. 
Saxifraga calyciflora —Lovers of choice rock- 
plants will derive great satisfaction from this Pyrenean 
Saxifrage, even if a little extra attention is necessary to 
see that it does not fare badly by the encroachments of 
its more rampantly-growing neighbours. The leaves 
are in firm dense rosettes, and the short stems in the 
upper part are purple, together with the calyx and 
corolla. Increase is slow, but the plant produces perfect 
seeds in this country, from which seedlings may be 
raised and grown into beautiful compact little specimens 
with a small amount of care. 
The Indian Strawberry. —In Fragaria indica, 
we have a plant combining within itself characters of a 
diversified kind. The trailing runners bearing here 
and there solitary yellow flowers, resemble a Potentilla ; 
the fleshy receptacle is that of a Strawberry ; and the 
achenes, or seed-like fruits, are generally more or less 
distinctly fleshy, resembling those of a Raspberry. 
Planted on a dry bank it outlives all but our severest 
winters, and proves very ornamental all through the 
summer from the novel appearance of its trailing stems, 
yellow flowers and deep red fruit 
-- 
ARDEN1NG fflSCELLANY. 
Stocks for Bunching. — A neighbouring 
market-gardener grows every year large breadths of 
Stocks—crimson and white mainly, and a few purple 
—for bunching. Generally the seeds are sown in frames, 
and then transplanted to the open ground. This 
course was adopted in 1886 ; but dry weather set in 
almost immediately after the little plants had been 
put out into the open ground, and hundreds of them 
perished. This was so disappointing that my neigh¬ 
bour thought he would sow the seeds in the autumn, 
and this he did in the open ground. By November he 
had a long bed of Stocks in three colours—nice stocky 
stuff, that I am sure he must have looked upon many 
a time with pride and satisfaction. Then followed 
snow and hard frost, with cruel nipping winds, and 
every plant was destroyed by March—not one survived. 
My neighbour was no worse off than many others, for 
there was a sad destruction of Stocks everywhere, and 
from all parts of the country I have heard the same 
account. My neighbour again sowed in the spring on 
the open ground, and at the present time he has a fine 
growth of Stock plants that I presume he will plant 
out to take the place of Lettuces which he is now 
sending to market. But he will doubtless wait until 
“ dripping ” or showery weather sets in, and then they 
will grow with all despatch. They will be late it is 
true, but I have no doubt that at any season of the 
year bunched Stocks will command a ready sale.— R. D. 
Guelder Roses. —These are to be seen in the ' 
markets in large bunches of snowball-like flowers, and 
they command a ready sale. They are known in the 
trade as “Snowballs,” and though the sprays of 
blossoms are plucked from the trees in a very rough 
fashion, I am told that it does them no harm in the 
direction of affecting the production of flowers another 
yeai. Fresh growths are quickly formed, and flowering 
shoots are formed which will yield a harvest of bloom 
in May and June following.— R. D. 
Judging at Flower Shows. —Your leader of 
last week on flower show elements, leads me to address 
you on the subject of judging at flower shows, with the 
idea of arriving at some right conclusion of what to 
show and how to show it. Would it not be possible to 
have some general canons laid down as to what prizes 
should be adjudged for. At some shows everything is 
given for quantity not quality; and at others, for 
quality not quantity. I am an amateur, and have 
successfully competed — especially with tuberovs 
Begonias—at Bath and Cheltenham, besides local 
shows. Last year I took some exquisite plants of the 
latest novel kinds to Bath, and was given second to 
some larger plants of old-fashioned varieties, which I 
had discarded years before, and which consisted of but 
