July 9, 188?. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
709 
HERBACEOUS AND ALPINE 
PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
Scotch Rocket. —This name is frequently applied 
to a double white and very fine form of the common 
Dame’s Violet, Hesperis matronalis, of which there are 
numerous forms in cultivation, single, double, white, 
pink, and purple. That under notice, however, is 
the best for garden decorative purposes, and is very 
fragrant, especially in the cool of the evening after the 
sun has gone down. The flowers are fully double, pure 
white, and produced in masses very much resembling a 
double stock. Of course the blooms are perfectly 
barren, but the plant is easily propagated by cuttings 
of the short radical shoots, generally freely produced 
after flowering is over. Mr. Wright grows the true 
form on the rockery at Devonhurst; a somewhat shady 
position is best for it in the southern counties. 
Spiraea aruncus. — There are two forms of this 
noble herbaceous plant, male and female. The former 
is by far the showiest and most ornamental form ; and 
the individual flowers, if not more densely arranged, are 
far more conspicuhus than the pistillate flowers, on 
account of the numerous white stamens. In a rich 
moist border the stems attain a height of 4 ft. to 5 ft., 
but are frequently seen only 3 ft. high. For massive 
clumps in the pleasure grounds this might receive more 
attention than it does at present. The dwarf form, 
S. a. astilboides, more recently introduced from Japan, 
is a very choice plant either for the flower-garden or 
growing in pots. The typical form may be seen at 
Chiswick in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. 
Terra-Cotta Pea. —Amongst Everlasting Peas, 
L. rotundifolius is a very desirable species on account 
of the uncommon colours of the flowers, which may be 
described as terra-cotta or brick-red. Of rose, purple 
and white flowers in this class there are plenty, 
including the garden forms of L. odoratus ; but prolific 
as the latter species is in variety, a brick-red does not 
seem to occur. When once established, L. rotundifolius 
is a long-lived plant, producing annually a great 
profusion of flowers, which, like those of L. grandiflorus, 
are in season some weeks before those of L. sylvestris 
and L. latifolius, thus producing a succession for cut 
flower and other purposes. It commenced flowering 
several weeks ago in the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
garden at Chiswick. 
Nepeta tenePvIFOlia. —In many good old-fashioned 
gardens this free-flowering herbaceous plant is used 
with excellent effect, either as an edging to large beds, 
shrubbery borders, or planted in beds in the pleasure 
grounds. It is so used at Gunnersbury Park, Acton, 
and appears a perfect sheet of blue even at some 
considerable distance away. The stems attain a length 
of 12 or 18 ins , but do not appear more than half 
that height owing to the graceful, arching habit. 
The individual flowers are much smaller than those of 
N. macrantha, but in the mass are capable of producing 
a striking effect. Propagation is easily managed by 
dividing the root-stock. 
Campanula rhomboidalis. — The habit of this 
hardy European species is very similar to that of the 
leafy varieties of C. rotundifolia, but is more conspicu¬ 
ous and consequently ornamental from a garden point 
of view. In some villa gardens where this has been 
recognised, a beautiful effect is produced by planting it 
in lines bordering walks. The deep blue pendent 
flowers thickly stud the slender leafy stems, that 
under good cultivation and in wet seasons attain a 
height of 18 ins. to 24 ins. ; but ordinarily and what is 
more desirable they do not much exceed 15 ins. or may 
even be dwarfer. This species does not increase very 
fast, but is easily propagated by cuttings and division. 
Moltkia petra:a. — This is generally considered 
somewhat tender for our climate, and most suitable for 
greenhouse culture; but in the southern parts of 
England, at least, it may be considered as hardy, 
seeing that it has withstood the severity of several 
winters past on the rockery at Kew, where it is now 
flowering profusely. Like those of many of the Borage- 
worts, the flowers are at first purplish ; but become 
deep violet-blue when fully expanded. The plant is of 
sub-shrubby habit, 8 to 12 ins. high, producing its 
flowers in terminal one-sided racemes in June and July. 
It is frequently grown under the name of Lithospermum 
petneum ; but is widely distinct from all others seen in 
cultivation. 
Feather Grass.— Both in a fresh and a dried state 
Stipa pennata is a very ornamental grass, of ancient 
cultivation in British gardens, and has sometimes been 
described as native, although this is very doubtful. 
The leaves are long, slender, and wiry, calling for no 
particular comment, and the whole plant would be un¬ 
interesting but for the long beard-like awns, which are 
feathered in the upper part. A line of it along the 
front of a border at Gunnersbury House, Acton, makes 
itself conspicuous by its graceful plumes ; and although 
about 15 ins. to 18 ins. high, does not, in any way, 
conceal the plants behind it or look too obtrusive. If 
desired for house decoration in the way of everlastings, 
the stems should be cut before the seeds become 
matured. __ 
THE FEATHER HYACINTH. 
Under this name we figure a monstrous, and by no 
means too common, form of Muscari comosum—namely, 
M. c. monstrosum, an exceedingly ornamental form of 
a plant that, in its typical or wild state, is very far 
from handsome. As the name implies, it is furnished 
with a tuft of conspicuous barren flowers at the apex 
of a raceme of fertile ones, which are of a dingy 
amethystine-olive colour. The sterile ones, on the 
other hand, are of a bright blue, which is the case with 
all the flowers of the form under consideration. Hot 
only so, but they are developed into numerous slender 
filamentous branches or ramifications, suggesting the 
very appropriate appellation of the Feather Hyacinth. 
The species of the genus are generally known as the 
Grape Hyacinths, and are frequently included under 
Hyacinthus. The Feather Hyacinth is easily cultivated 
in any ordinarily good garden soil, and may be increased 
readily from off-sets, which are produced freely from 
good-sized bulbs. Owing to the perfectly sterile 
condition of the flowers, propagation cannot be effected 
by means of seed. It grows to the height of 12 ins. or 
18 ins. under favourable conditions, and the flowers 
themselves cover from 4 ins. to 6 ins. The species is a 
native of South Europe, and was introduced in 1596, 
record having it that the monstrous form reached us 
as early. Its infrequency in gardens is therefore re¬ 
markable, considering its utility for garden, table, and 
other decorations. 
-o-X<-- 
ON TULIPS. 
( Continued from p. 693 ). 
The late Tulips (also called fancy Tulips—Tulipes 
d’amateurs) is the class which has created the greatest 
and most important sensation during the period that 
Tulips have been introduced into the floricultural world, 
and it is this class which has had, ever since its intro¬ 
duction, most of the ambition and love of florists and 
fanciers. This class has received for more than 200 
years all the care and attention that could possibly be 
bestowed upon a plant, not only by the Dutch florists, 
but by every skilled gardener throughout the civilized 
world. 
The Tulipa Gesneriana, brilliant scarlet with black 
centre, is probably the mother Tulip, from which all 
the many hundreds of different varieties have originated 
in almost every shade of colour, from pure white to 
the darkest crimson. This sort is an importation from 
Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Calabrie and Central Italy. 
Mr. Conrad Gesner, a Swiss naturalist, in whose 
honour it was named, mentioned this Tulip first and 
published a description of the same, accompanied by a 
drawing, in 1559. This gentleman obtained it first at 
a garden in Augsburg, where it had been grown from 
seed brought there from Constantinople. It was first 
flowered in England by Mr. James Garret, an apothe¬ 
cary, in 1577. 
Of this class of single late Tulips there is almost an 
endless variety, and to select from a list so large with 
a view of pleasure or of securing the most desirable 
would be to play a game of chance. I must also 
mention that the amateurs and Tulip fanciers in 
England have also contributed largely during the last 
eighty years to the very great improvements among the 
fancy Tulips, by adding several great beauties to the 
existing varieties. Notwithstanding the mania of 
former days (of which I wish to speak later on) has 
safely passed over, the writer at present still keeps over 
1,800 varieties of this splendid flower. When I was a 
young man, nineteen to twenty years old, I was 
apprenticed with the late Mr. Henry Groom, at that 
time a nurseryman in Walworth, and who used 
to keep a most beautiful collection of Tulips of English 
raising, of which he was in the habit of opening a 
private exhibition every year at the blooming season, 
to which the nobilit) 7 and gentry residing in or about 
London were invited by private cards, and many 
thousands of ladies and gentlemen came to see and 
admire this collection. 
The character of a good Tulip consists in the novelty 
of the sort and in its peculiar marking of colours, either 
feathered or blotched, with a pureness at its interior 
base. The ground colour should be clear and distinct, 
whether white or yellow. The petals should be of a 
firm substance, not withering soon by the action of the 
sun, but keeping their true colouring unwithered for at 
least ten to fourteen days. These late or fancy Tulips, 
which have been so much admired by many generations, 
have been grown from seed by thousands, and the 
result of this has been the acquisition of many superb 
varieties, at first in Holland and Belgium and later on 
also in England. There is a singularity in Tulips 
which belongs to no other flower, and which, as ex¬ 
perience shows, produces an extraordinary inducement 
to lovers of flowers for their cultivation and improve¬ 
ment. 
The seedlings generally, when they first bloom, pro¬ 
duce flowers without any stripes or markings, but with 
a yellow base, the upright portion of the petals being 
self-coloured brown, red, purple, scarlet or rose. In 
this state, when they have been grown for years without 
variation, they are called breeders or mother Tulips. 
These are planted every year until they break into 
stripes, when, if the markings are fine or different from 
any one known, they receive names, and are taken up 
in the existing collections. It is often so many years 
before they break, and the multiplication in the breeder 
state is so rapid, that the border soon becomes filled 
with this self-coloured variety. 
Each Tulip grower who has broken seedlings claims, 
and has a perfect right, to give it a name ; but some 
confusion is naturally brought on, because of the fact 
that different names have been given to those that have 
broken almost exactly alike. In a bed of a hundred 
seedlings it is not probable that any two will be very 
nearly alike in their markings, which uncertainty adds 
greatly to the charm of Tulip cultivation. The hope 
of obtaining something new in the markings and pen¬ 
cilling is a sufficient stimulant for the enthusiast to 
persevere in his labour of love until he has found one 
quite worthy of a name. Another singular feature in 
the Tulip is that after it breaks it ever remains the 
same, and never returns to its self-colour again. 
The show or fancy Tulips are divided into three 
classes : 1st, Bybloemen or violets, such as have a 
white ground variegated with, purple or violet, the 
edges well feathered, the leaflets erect, and the whole 
forming a perfect cup ; 2nd, Bizarres having a yellow 
ground variegated with rose, scarlet, purple, or violet ; 
3rd, Roses with white ground colour variegated with 
rosy red, pink, or soft rose. 
The properties of a good Tulip flower are as follows : — 
1 st.—The cup should form, when quite expanded, 
from half to a third of a round ball. To do this the 
petals must be six in number, broad at the ends, 
smooth at the edges, and the divisions between the 
petals must scarcely show an indenture. 
2nd.—The three inner petals should set closely to 
the three outer ones, and the whole should be broad 
