August 8, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
783 
In all of the above arrangements the Fuchsias vary 
from iSins. to 3 ft. in height, and are allowed to 
assume the natural habit, which is generally 
pyramidal, and horizontal or drooping, but some¬ 
times ascending. An equally attractive use is made 
of larger specimens, planted singly, or in informal 
groups upon the grass. Particularly attractive is a 
broadly conical habited and extremely floriferous 
variety named Annetti ; the calyx is red and 
spreading, while the corolla is shortly and widely 
funnel-shaped, and of a soft-rosy violet. Annie 
Earle is something in the way of Mrs, Marshall, 
Henry Brooks is a slender and graceful kind, about 
4 ft. high, with dark flowers. Several specimens of 
Madame Corneilisson are 4 ft, to 5 ft. high, and the 
elegant F. gracilis is 4 ft. in height. The Earl of 
Beaconsfield has long flowers, with a soft, red tube 
and sepals and carmine petals. F. Rundell, a similar 
but paler kind, stands about3 ft. high. 
MR. LAKIN’S GARDEN 
AT OXFORD. 
This garden is situated at Temple Cowley, near 
Oxford, a pleasant suburb of this learned city, and 
occupying a somewhat rising eminence in a north¬ 
easterly direction. The proprietor is that worthy 
florist, Joseph Lakin. He is a true florist in the 
sense of his enthusiastic devotion to florist’s flowers 
and their culture, and on every subject he takes in 
hand, he leaves the impress of his ability to develop. 
He is a trading florist in the sense that he raises and 
sends out new things ; and also sells his surplus 
stock, in this respect following the practice of other 
amateurs. But he publishes no list, and cannot be 
classed with the traders who do. He also grows a 
considerable number of hardy flowers, which are cut 
and sold to some who have stalls in the Oxford 
market. 
Carnations and Picotees are the great hobby of 
our friend. He has some 700 plants in pots, and on 
the occasion of a visit at the end of June, I was sorry 
to see a few plants were dying, and in a somewhat 
vexing manner, for they had made a good start, and 
then gradually dwindled away. An examination of 
the stem showed that a kind of rot had set in just at 
the soil level, hence the decline and death of the 
plant. But, as other collections have suffered in the 
same way, I have no doubt that it is one of the results 
of the trying winter weather. It could not be traceable 
to over-potting as Mr. Lakin pots in smaller pots 
than is usual, placing one or two plants—generally 
two—in a 6, 7 or 8-sized pot. I may add that he 
grows only the best sorts of Carnations and 
Picotees. 
As a raiser he has already made his mark, and 
and his new heavy red-edged Picotee, Isabel Lakin, 
which was placed at the head of its class at the 
Exhibition of the National Carnation and Picotee 
Show at Westminster this year, is a first-rate variety. 
It is a flower of high quality. Elizabeth, a light- 
edged purple, is of great purity, and the petals 
are finely formed and regularly edged. I need not 
dwell upon his fine white seifs, Annie and Emma 
Lakin, or his charming rose-flake, Lovely Mary. It 
is a peculiarity of Mr. Lakin that he prefers to name 
all his best new flowers after members of his own 
family, and he has enough unnamed seedlings of high 
quality to exhaust the names of all his grandchildren 
likely to be born in the next quarter of a century. 
White Pink Mrs. Lakin deserves a word of praise. I 
saw in his garden beds of this and his two new 
white Cloves planted in October last, which had 
stood all through the winter with very few losses 
indeed ; thus testifying to their thorough hardiness of 
character. There was also a bed of seifs and fancies. 
Among the flowers Mr. Lakin grows for cutting 
may be mentioned Pyrethrum (double) Princess 
Metternich, a fine white ; a single flowered seedling 
of a deep magenta colour, fine for cutting; Pericles 
(single), blush ray-florets and yellow centre ; Melton 
(double), very fine crimson ; Wiga (double), rose, 
tinted with gold; J. N. Tweedy (double), deep 
crimson, very fine ; Aphrodite (double), white, very 
good indeed but a little tall-growing ; and Pan, a 
very useful single white. 
I must not fcrget three beds of florists’ Tulips, just 
ripening off nicely, and soon to be ready for lifting. 
Mr. Lakin appears deteimined to do his share 
towards creatirg a renewed interest in the Tulip in 
tho touth ; and to that end he has secured a number 
of new varieties raised by Storer and others, as well 
as a collection of the best of the named Lancashire 
varieties, which are seen at the Tulip Shows. 
Pinks are always acceptable in the market, and Mr. 
Lakin grows for bunching Mr. Sinkins and several 
seedlings he has raised from it ; also his new white, 
Mrs. Lakin. The Pink is one of our sweetest 
scented flowers. 
Pansies and Violas in bunches are much esteemed 
for floral decorations and as posies. Of the former, 
Mr. Lloyd, a very fine deep yellow self; George 
Rudd, yellow self; some good dark and blue seifs, fine 
strains of show and fancy Pansies ; and the follow¬ 
ing Violas: Archie Grant, a good formed violet- 
blue self that stands up well; Blue Cloud, a pretty 
blue-edged variety in the way of Skylark, much 
liked in the market ; The Mearns and Mrs. Baxter, 
in the way of Countess of Kintore, but preferred to 
it. 
Of hardy plants for bunching, it is found spikes of 
Delphiniums sell well, and they come in just at the 
Oxford Commemoration time when flowers are in 
great demand ; Tradescantias sell well ; also the blue, 
white, and mauve-coloured forms of T. Virginica; 
Papaver Orientale, very rich in colour ; Thalictrum 
aquilegifolium, very pretty; Daffodils, such as 
Emperor, Empress, and Horsfieldi—three fine 
varieties of N. bicolor always in demand when they 
can be had ; Liliums candidum ; Pyrenaicum, or the 
Yellow Turk’s Cap ; Testaceum speciosum in variety, 
Chalcedonicum, &c. ; Rosa rugosa, of which Mr. 
Lakin has a large bed ; Iris Siberica, very pretty 
and free ; and seme of the varieties of I. Germanica, 
such as Victoria, purple and white ; and Darius, 
chrome-yeXcw and purple ; amongst others, the blue 
S alvia Tencri ; Papaver Orientale bracteatum, and 
its pale-rose variety Rosy Queen ; the beautiful 
violet-blue Geranium Armenium ; Trollius europseus, 
much liked in the markets; Lindefolia spectabile ; 
Lathyrus Sibthorpii ; Iris Lusitanica, purple and 
orange; Verbascum phcenicum ; Mertensia Sibirica, 
pale-blue ; Dianthus Marie Parc, double white ; the 
Austrian briar-rose ; Inula glandulosa, Anthericum 
Liliastrum; Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, fine 
for cutting ; Senecio Doronicum, capital for cutting ; 
CEnothera Youngii, deep golden yellow; Potentilla 
Louis Van Houtte, very showy; and Alfred Salter, 
orange and crimson ; Achillea mongolica, pure white, 
larger in blossom than A. ptarmica; Doronicum 
Harper Crewe, &c. 
I have not exhausted everything, but I have 
named enough to show what an immense amount of 
interest there is attaching to this Oxfordshire garden. 
I asked friend Lakin as to the order in which he 
marketed his flowers. He said he began with 
Narcissus about the end of April, and in May the 
yellow Primula Auricula, of which he has a large 
bed, and Pansies ; then followed Doronicum Harper 
Crewe, and the double white Narciss. Trollius, 
Lupinus polyphyllus, blue and white (there are good 
beds of each) ; Iris Germanica, single and double 
Pasonies, Pyrethrums, Cornflowers, Papaver Orientale 
and its varieties, Anthericum, Roses, Pinks, 
Delphiniums, herbaceous Phloxes, and finishes up 
with Roses. He grows a good quantity and variety 
of tea-scented varieties, and they keep up the supply 
until the middle of October.— R. D. 
THE EDELWEISS. 
Notwithstanding repeated attempts to establish 
or acclimatise the Edelweiss or Lion’s Foot (Ledntopc- 
dium alpinum) in this country, the success is rather 
partial, and by no means so satisfactory as could be 
desired. The difficulty cannot be on the score of 
hardiness, for it inhabits the Alps of Switzerland, 
where it is largely collected by the natives. In rich 
moist soil the plant grows strongly enough in the 
Southern counties of England, but is liable to die out 
in winter. Another point worthy of consideration is 
that the woolly white leaves get bespattered with mud 
during heavy showers of rain when planted in loose 
soil. Its powers to resist our winter are greatly in¬ 
creased when planted in well-drained soil in fully- 
exposed positions, and on elevated mounds amongst 
stones or on properly-constructed rockeries. Here 
it will ripen a few seeds in moderately dry summers, 
and by this means a stcck of plants can generally be 
kept up. The continued popularity of the plant will, 
however, ensure fresh importations of plants or seeds 
mom time tp time It wag originally introduced as 
long ago 113 177G ' 
(Hardening Miscellany, 
THE ARTICHOKE CENTAURY. 
The botanically accepted name of this plant is 
Centaurea cynarioides, but it is often grown in gardens 
under the sectional name of Rhaponticum cynarioides. 
The heads are so large, and borne singly at the apex 
of the stems, that the plant bears a strong 
resemblance to the Globe Artichoke. The florets 
are purple, in this case also making the resemblance 
more striking. The deception may be declared 
complete when we add the long, deeply pinnatifid 
leaves, which are grey above and white with tomen- 
tum beneath. The plant would have been a fine 
subject for the subtropical flower garden, or even 
the picturesque garden, had the flower stems been 
tall and stately. Instead of this they are only about 
18 ins. high. More might however be made of the 
species for the sake of its beautiful foliage. Beds or 
large clumps of it in the pleasure ground or promi¬ 
nent places elsewhere would not be without effect. 
Only six species of this type of Centaurea are known, 
but probably only two of them are in cultivation and 
neither are common. They would make bold clumps 
on the margins of shrubberies, and particularly 
recommend themselves to the keepers of public parks 
for that purpose. 
CALENDULA PLUVIALIS. 
In rich soil the flower heads of this Cape Marigold 
attain a fine size, and might do service for Marguer¬ 
ites or Paris Daisies, than which they are much 
larger, but liable to close up during cloudy weather. 
The outer surface of the ray florets is of a bronzy- 
violet-purple, but internally pure white with exception 
of a narrow zone at the very base, which is violet. 
There is a variety of this plant in gardens known as 
C. p. aurea, but it only differs from the type in the 
colours of the under surface of the rays giving place 
to a pale yellow. The upper surface is pure white 
as in the type. The species has numerous names ( 
another one very common in this country being 
Dimorphothecapluvialis, and in Harvey and Sowder's 
Flora Capensis the accepted name is Dimorphotheca 
annua. It is a common weed in sandy soil at the 
Cape, and varies greatly in size according to the 
conditions under which it is found. 
THE SWEET WILLIAM CATCHFLY. 
This name is net inaptly applied to Silene Armeria, 
for in habit, affinity, and in the flat corymbose panicle 
of flowers it approaches more nearly to the Sweet 
William than to the Armeria from which it borrows 
its name. The only relation it can have to Armeria 
or Thrift lies in the colour of the flowers, which are 
of a beautiful bright pink, or sometimes white as in 
the variety S. A. alba. Both are useful annuals for 
border decoration, and flower all the better and for a 
longer period if properly thinned out in spring. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM SIBTHORPII. 
A yellow-flowered annual species of Chrysanthe¬ 
mum is now finding its way into many gardens, and may 
be received with much favour as a bedding plant 
from the fact that it is not a native weed. In habit, 
it closely resembles C. segetum of our cornfields, and 
which proves a veritable pest to many a farmer, not 
only amongst his corn but also in the Turnip and 
Mangle Wurzel fields. In wet seasons the ordinary 
means of destroying it, with implements drawn by 
horses, is utterly inadequate for the task, as the plants 
take fresh root and flower again. Sometimes the 
flower beds in villa gardens are filled with seedlings 
brought directly from the cornfield, and no one can 
say but that they look pretty. The new comer (C. 
Sibthorpii), competing with our native weed, has also 
bright yellow flower heads and oblong deeply, toothed 
leaves. The latter are however green, and do not 
present the glaucous or sea-green hue of those of its 
congener, and they as well as the stems and branches 
are hairy, while those of C. segetum are smooth. 
Both species are now competing with one another for 
recognition in different parts of the country. The 
flower heads of C. segetum grandiflorum are as yet 
larger than those of the wild form, or of C. Sibthorpii. 
The latter may, however, be improved by selecting 
dwarf varieties having larger flowers. The species 
niay be seen in the gardens of the Royal Horlicij^ 
iural Society at Chiswick. 
