650 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 9, 1888. 
The Amateurs' Garden, 
"Window Boses. 
When planting out the general collection of bedding 
subjects, it will be well not to forget the retention of 
appropriate and suitable plants for the window sills and 
window boxes. Some of the better specimens even 
should be retained, as they are meant to occupy pro¬ 
minent positions, and the boxes should look furnished 
from the first. The taller specimens of Pelargoniums 
for the back of the boxes ought to be plants of some 
size, and may have to be supplied from the greenhouse ; 
or consist of specimens that were purposely saved when 
the plants were lifted from the beds last autumn. The 
front row in the box m ay consist of blue Lobelias, pro¬ 
vided there be no drooping or trailing plants, such as 
Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, behind to smother them. 
The other materials at hand are very varied, such as 
Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Petunias, Tom Thumb Nas¬ 
turtiums, Stocks, Asters, Mignonette, white and yellow 
Marguerites (or Paris Daisies as they are sometimes 
called), and an endless host of annuals, all of which 
may be used according to the taste or convenience of 
the grower. The most tasteful window boxes need not 
consist of an incongruous mass of strongly-contrasting 
colours ; and, indeed, the simplest arrangement that 
can be employed in those small areas are often the most 
satisfactory. 
Hants may also be grown in these boxes for training 
round the windows. For this purpose the Canary 
Creeper is one of the prettiest and most easily managed, 
requiring only to be planted at either end, and care¬ 
fully trained up as it grows, so as to interfere as little 
as possible with the other occupants of the box, or 
obstruct the light to the window. Tropseolum majus, 
or the Japan Hop, may also be used. If drooping or 
pendent plants are desirable, Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums 
are very effective, and for town gardens Creeping Jenny 
(Lysimachia nummularia) is not only pretty, but grows 
where many other things entirely fail. 
Pot Plants for "Window Sill. 
There are certain flowering plants that are more 
especially adapted for this purpose than others. They 
must be plants that will stand a great amount of 
sunshine, and yet grow and flower satisfactorily in such 
positions where the exposure of the pots makes it 
difficult to keep the small body of soil in them properly 
moist. Hardly any plants will give more satisfaction 
for ,this purpose than Pelargoniums and Lobelias, as 
far as continual and free flowering is concerned. 
Petunias also flower abundantly, but they must not get 
dry at the root. Sedum Sieboldi, its varieties, and S. 
spectabile make useful late-flowering subjects. "While 
bedding out is being done the best plants may be 
selected for pot work. Besides the ordinary scarlet, 
pink, and other varieties of zonal Pelargoniums, there 
are many beautiful variegated forms such as the cut¬ 
leaved Lady Plymouth, Mangle’s Silver, besides a host 
of bi-coloured varieties, bronzes and tricolors, that serve 
to give beautiful colours independently of the flowers. 
The Greenhouse. 
With the advent of fine weather many of the winter- 
flowering subjects, such as Heaths, Azaleas, Cytisus, 
Coronilla, and many of the Ferns may be stood out of 
doors to make room for summer-flowering kinds. 
With the removal of any bedding plants that may also 
have been wintered there the whole house may be 
re-arranged for the summer according to the taste of 
the grower, and the plants at command. There is no 
limit to the good things which an amateur may grow 
provided he has a taste for flowers, and will go to the 
trouble of getting a few different kinds of seeds which 
may be had cheap of any good seedsman. These may 
be sown in spring, pricked off in boxes, and while tho 
bulk of them are planted in the beds and borders a set 
of the best of them may be potted up and grown on for 
mixing amongst the other occupants on the green¬ 
house or conservatory stages. Amongst these may be 
mentioned Chrysanthemum carinatum, or some of its 
many grand and striking varieties, C. coronarium, 
Petunias, Rhodanthe Manglesii, Mignonette, Stocks 
(either Brompton, Intermediate, Queen, or Ten-week), 
together with Asters and many similar things. Besides 
Fuchsias and Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Heliotropes, 
Carnations, Hydrangeas, both the pink H. hortensis 
and the white H. paniculata, are all easily grown, 
and serve to keep the house gay at all times during 
the summer months. The common yellow bedding 
Calceolaria also looks well, and flowers very profusely 
provided it has neither been crowded nor starved for 
want of root room during the early period of its growth. 
A dozen-plants or so, according to accommodation, if 
potted up early and stood in a cold frame, will form 
fine masses and flower most profusely. 
Two Fine Bellflowers. 
These are the Chimney Bellflower and the Canterbury 
Bell. Seeds should be sown now for flowering next 
year. Both are biennials, but are perfectly hardy, and 
may be wintered out of doors. The Canterbury Bell 
would flower almost to a plant the following summer 
if it gets fair treatment ; but the Chimney Bellflower 
(Campanula pyramidalis) sometimes fails to flower the 
second year, unless it has attained considerable size. 
The best plants will undoubtedly be obtained by 
sowing at once if that has not already been done. Sow 
in pans filled with light rich soil, and place them in a 
greenhouse, cold frame or hand-light, as may be most 
convenient. "When fit to handle prick out in boxes, 
and return to the frame till they become re-established 
and attain some size. Plant out in the open ground 
when a suitable vacancy occurs, and water if necessary 
till they take hold of the soil. By lifting them out of 
the boxes with a ball of soil, and by planting out 
during a showery time, no watering whatever will be 
necessary. Long before winter they will form strong 
plants with large tufts of leaves. Next spring they 
may be put in good-sized pots, or as many of them as 
are required, and plunged in a bed of ashes, coco-nut 
fibre, or some similar material, till they throw up their 
flowering stems, when they may be transferred to the 
greenhouse or the drawing room, as may be most 
desired. 
Harrison’s Musk. 
To obtain good results with this favourite plant, it 
must not be allowed to occupy the same pot for more 
than a year at the most. The soil during this time 
not only becomes exhausted, but loses all its fibre, and 
is rendered too dense for the roots to ramble through 
it freely, or the soil may become sodden and sour 
through long-continued watering. There is more 
danger of this than is the case with most plants, on 
account of its shallow-rooting character. The old roots 
soon die, or are confined to the surface. A good 
compost suitable for this as well as the common Musk 
would consist of two parts lumpy fibrous loam, one of 
leaf-soil, and one of well-rotted cow-manure, with a 
quantity of sharp river sand to render the compost 
open. Young plants may be obtained by propagating 
from cuttings, which may be put in sandy soil under a 
frame or hand-light at the present time. It is rather 
late in the season to divide the old plants, but if they 
are not thriving satisfactorily, they may be potted on 
into fresh soil, removing as much as possible of the old 
without damaging the roots. Cuttings will make nice 
little plants to flower later on, thereby keeping up a 
succession. 
-- 
HARDY HERBACEOUS AND 
ALPINE PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
"Veronica gentianoides. 
A very old-fashioned garden plant, a native of the 
Caucasus, and introduced to cultivation about 1748. 
The flowers are produced upon elongated racemes, of a 
pleasing shade of light blue ; the radical leaves 
resemble those of Gentiana acaulis, and form a dense 
tuft or carpet of foliage from which the flower stems 
rise. "We find the best plants are those that have been 
carefully divided early in the preceding autumn. The 
variegated form of this plant is an effective object in 
the front border, but on heavy soils it reverts in the 
course of a few years to the green type. 
Aquilegia canadensis. 
This is a graceful species for the rock-garden, and 
should be planted in a bold group to see it at its best. 
The flowers are drooping, upon stems from 1 ft. to 18 
ins. in height, scarlet and yellow, with long straight 
spurs. A. alpina is also a capital plant for the rockery ; 
the stem is more leafy than A. canadensis, and the spur 
is incurved. A batch of seedlings has produced this 
season several shades of blue, one or two with nearly 
white centres. 
Iris Subiana. 
The generic name of this singular plant is rather a mis¬ 
nomer, for however much the term iris (a rainbow) 
applies to others of the same genus, it cannot be claimed 
on behalf of this plant, that it has colour enough to bo 
compared to a rainbow. Dark purple on a grey ground 
are the principal colours, quite a funereal arrangement 
of tints. Our plants are grown in light loam, in cold 
frames, and are flowering well in that position. On 
the London clay it is very difficult to get plants to 
tl irive well, so we have to resort to cold frame culture. 
A few flowers of this magnificent plant is, however, an 
ample reward for any little extra trouble taken in 
keeping a stock in frames. 
Orobus aurantius. 
A pleasing addition to the earlier flowering species of 
Orobus. The flowers are of a soft orange tint, upon 
short flower stems, with large oval leaflets. The flowers 
cannot be called showy, but are certainly attractive 
and choice. This species flowers well in a shady 
position.— J. }V. 0., Pinner. 
Myosotis Imperatrice Elizabeth. 
The habit of this plant is considerably different from 
that of M. azorica, one of the parents of this garden 
hybrid. In the latter case, the stems are more or less 
decumbent ; but here they are upright, and grow from 
6 ins. to 12 ins. in height, according to soil, situation, 
and moisture. M. alpestris is said to be the other 
parent, and the habit, together with the general appear¬ 
ance of the foliage, would point to an affinity with that 
species. The flowers are smaller than those of M. 
azorica, and of a brilliant deep blue, with a purple not 
a white eye, as in the latter. Its hybrid origin seems 
to hinder the production of seeds, and the plant 
requires to be propagated from young stems before it 
flowers, or from the barren shoots that are produced at 
the base of the plant towards autumn. These are by 
no means numerous, however, especially when grown 
in dry ground, as the plant almost or frequently 
flowers itself to death, and under those conditions 
requires to be carefully looked after to prevent its being 
lost. A bed or large clump of this plant is a beautiful 
object. 
Ep.INUS ALPINES ALBUS. 
The typical and purple-flowered form of this Alpine is 
a charming object, whether grown on the rockery or in 
pots ; but the white variety is exceedingly chaste, and 
as vigorous as its parent. It is densely tufted in habit, 
and does not exceed 6 ins. in height, although it is 
more frequently only half that altitude, and neat in all 
its parts. "When planted in the open air, it is liable to 
perish during severe winters ; but seed is regularly 
produced, and even should the old plant fail, numerous 
seedlings spring up on the site next spring from spon¬ 
taneous sowing, and flower during the course of summer. 
Those who do not already possess it would be charmed 
with its graceful character. 
The Siberian Oyster Plant. 
The beautiful glaucous foliage of this plant (the Mer- 
tensia sibirica of botanists), no less than the flowers, 
should be sufficient recommendation to ensure it a place 
in gardens. The stems attain a height of 12 ins. or 15 
ins., and are terminated by pairs of racemes of drooping 
flowers of a beautiful soft shade of sky-blue. "When 
they first expand, however, they are pink, and ulti¬ 
mately become white at the tips. There is a vigorous 
and healthy specimen on the rockery at Chiswick, in 
the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society. Pro¬ 
vided the soil does not get baked and dry, there is no 
difficulty whatever in growing it in the open ground. 
Euphorbia palustkis. 
As a rule, the hardy Euphorbias are anything but 
attractive in the herbaceous border, and those that 
possess any ornamental qualities owe it to the beauty 
of the foliage. This species, however, is always a 
conspicuous feature for several weeks during spring, 
and its lively pale yellow colour consists of the young 
leaves and the numerous bracts of the inflorescence. 
Some large bushes in the borders of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Garden, Chiswick, are at present 
about 3 ft. high, and very conspicuous, even from a 
distance. Curiously enough, this species produces a 
second growth as lateral branches from near the apex 
of the flowering stems, after the flowers die away, when 
the plant attains a height of 4 ft. or 5 ft. 
The Oriental Cojifrey. 
It is interesting to note the changes that most of the 
Borageworts undergo during the expansion of the 
flowers from the bud to the mature and fading corolla. 
In this case the buds are of a lively red, changing to 
sky-blue as they expand, and ultimately they change 
to white. All these colours are perfectly pleasing to 
the eye, and the plant, although a native of the Orient, 
is perfectly hardy in the open border. Neither is it 
difficult to restrain within due bounds, nor difficult to 
eradicate when once it has obtained possession of the 
soil, so that on the whole it ranks as a choice and 
showy border perennial that is by no means difficult of 
