678 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 9,1896. 
flowers of Cochlioda noetzliana are very choice. A 
pretty cool-house Oncidium is O. olivaceum 
lawrenceanum with a richly-spotted lip, and olive 
sepals and petals. Choice and beautiful was the 
white-lipped Miltonia vexillaria leucoglossa, the rest 
of the flower being rosy. Masdevallias in bloom 
included M. ignea, M. Chelsoni, M. Lindeni, and M. 
harryana. 
-Other Flowering Plants. 
Those who desire to see how a conservatory may be 
rendered delightful with the various subjects now at 
the command of the cultivator might well examine 
the conservatory here where cool-house subjects are 
grown in great abundance. The first thing that 
strikes the visitor is the abundance and variety of 
flowers with all their varied colours and differences 
of habit and foliage. The second characteristic of 
the assemblage is the variety and power of the sweet 
odours pervading the atmosphere of the house. A 
cursory examination soon served to show that the 
various scents emanated from Lilium Harrisi, in 
quantity; Heliotrope Roi de Noir, with very dark 
flowers ; Boronia magastigma unnoticeable except 
for its powerful scent ; also from Intermediate 
Stocks, Mignonette, Cytisus racemosus, and others. 
The ordinary pink Hydrangea and the white Dr. 
Hogg were well-flowered and conspicuous. Indian 
Azaleas were abundant and attractive, as were the 
varieties of Azalea mollis. Guelder Roses or the 
form known as the Snowball-tree, Erica Cavendishi, 
E. persoluta alba, varieties of E. ventricosa and 
others added their quota of bloom, always very 
choice. Marguerites, Spiraea astilboides, the double 
scarlet Thorn, Acacia armata, Saxifraga Cotyledon 
pyramidalis and others served to make up a gorgeous 
display. 
The older strain of Streptocarpus, known as 
Veitch’s hybrids, is being grcwn in large quantities 
and though only partly in flower, a large number of 
very beautiful and decided colours may already be 
noted. Particularly fine are the deep purple, rich 
rose, and white varieties. All are marked with violet 
bands in the throat, but in the case of the white 
sorts, these bands are very conspicuous. In some 
instances the violet is replaced by purple. Other 
shades are soft blue, deep blue, red, and fiery red. 
The large solitary leaf of S. Wendlandi and its blue 
flowers on long scapes are very distinct, interesting, 
and even showy. 
The Gloxinias occupy a long, low, span-roofed 
house, and are in excellent condition though not yet 
at their best. The flowers are of large size, good 
form and substance, and display scarlet, crimson, 
rose, deep purple and violet-purple flowers. The 
banded or zoned varieties are also very beautiful, as 
are the spotted ones. That named Irma is scarlet 
with a white throat, and shows up splendidly under 
artificial light. The flower buds appear to be comiDg 
in hundreds on this variety, so numerous are they. 
Some of the darker sorts appear almost black as they 
first expand. One sort appears semi-double owing 
to the peculiar disposition of the segments in two 
distinct rows. Six and seven segments to a flower 
are common, in which cases they are as round and 
regular as the compass could make them. The 
variation in the shape, size and colour of the leaves 
would lead one to suppose that several species had 
taken part in their production. 
A fine houseful of show and decorative Pelargon¬ 
iums in 48-sized pots, shows what a great amount of 
bloom can be obtained from well-grown plants even 
in pots of the regular market size. For cool con¬ 
servatory work, few plants produce a bolder display. 
The varieties grown are very numerous. 
The rockery house for store plants as well as 
those that thrive in an intermediate temperature is 
gay with a variety of flowering subjects springing 
from amongst Ferns and Selaginellas. The group 
of hybrid Rhododendrons of the Javan type, is 
replete with a great variety of colours. The blue 
and white flowers, and red bracts of Tillandsia 
Lindeni tricolor are very engaging. The pure white 
drooping clusters of flowers of Glonera jasminiflora 
remind one of a Jasmine or Bouvardia in shape. 
They are scentless, but this deficiency is more than 
made good by the powerful odour of the Gardenia 
close by. The scarlet and dense umbels of starry 
flowers of Haemanthus Kalbreveri offer a bold and 
handsome contrast to either. The arching and fun¬ 
nel-shaped white flowers of Crinum yemense are 
notable for the great length of the tube. 
The Anthurium house is now a dazzling sight on 
account of the large numbers of A. scherzerianum 
that occupy it. Many of the plants are of large size 
and all are well-flowered so that the rich scarlet 
spathes and yellow spadices have a fine effect against 
the dark green of the leathery leaves. A. s. Wardii 
is still one of the best on account of the great size of 
its spathes. Here also are A. parisiense, with 
salmon pink spathes; A. duvivierianum, white, with 
yellow spadix ; and A rothschildianum, white and 
spotted with scarlet, like crushed strawberry. The 
Fern rockery close by this house is getting interesting 
and pretty because the Ferns are now throwing up 
their set of young fronds. In a week or two they 
will be even more attractive. 
- •*« - 
NARCISSI AND THEIR ARTISTIC 
USE.* 
While fair in form as any Orchid or Lily of the 
tropics, the Narcissus is as much at home in our 
climate as the Kingcups in the marsh and the 
Primroses in the wood. And when the wild 
Narcissus comes with these in the woods and 
orchards of Northern France and Southern England 
it has also for companions the Violet and the 
Cowslip, hardiest children of the north, blooming in 
and near the still leafless woods. 
And this clear fact should lead us to see that it is 
not only a garden flower we have here, but one 
which may give glorious beauty to our woods and 
fields and meadows as well as to the pleasure ground. 
Nothing can be more beautiful than Mr. Walker's 
way of growing Narcissi for market, or such 
handsome borders of them as Mr. Burbidge grows ; 
and they are beautiful in all ways, but in a great 
many cases it may not be well to have many of them 
in the flower garden, which we want to be full of 
summer and autumn flowers ; and, therefore, we 
have to think of other ways of arranging them. 
In our country in a great many places there is 
plenty of room to grow them in other ways than in 
the garden proper, and this not merely in country 
seats, but in farms and orchards and cool meadows. 
To chance growth in such places we owe it already 
that many Narcissi or Daffodils which were lost to 
gardens in the period when hardy plants were wholly 
set aside for bedding plants have been preserved to 
us, at first probably in many cases thrown out with 
the garden refuse. In many places in Ireland and 
the West of England Narcissi lost to the gardens 
have been found in old orchards and like places. If 
we plant groups of those kinds we have to spare in 
the grass, and any wave of fashion should, unhappily, 
affect the Narcissi in the garden, our descendants 
may find them faithful as native flowers in the grass 
long after the Barrs, and Burbidges, and Hartlands, 
and others, who have done so much for the flower in 
our'own day, have left their Narcissus grounds for, 
let us hope, the Elysian fields. 
There is scarcely a garden in the kingdom that is 
not disfigured by vain attempts to grow trees, shrubs 
and flowers that are not really hardy, and it would 
often be much wiser to devote attention to things 
that are absolutely hardy in our country, like most 
Narcissi to which the hardest winters make no 
difference, and, besides, we know from their distribu¬ 
tion in Nature how fearless they are in this respect. 
Three months after our native kind has flowered in 
the weald of Sussex and in woods or the orchards of 
Normandy, many of its allies are beneath the snow 
in the mountain valleys of Europe, waiting till the 
summer sun melts the deep snow. On a high plateau 
in Auvergne we saw many acres in full bloom on 
July i6tb, 1894, ®ud these high plateaux are much 
colder than our own country generally. Soils that 
are cool and stiff and not favourable to a great 
variety of plants suit Narcissi perfectly. On the 
cool mountain marshes and pastures, where the snow 
lies deep, the plant has abundance of moisture—one 
reason why it succeeds better in our cool soils. In 
any case it does so, and it is mostly on dry light soils 
that Narcissi fail to succeed. Light, sandy or chalky 
soils in the south of England are, we should say, 
useless, and Narcissus culture on a large scale should 
not be attempted on such soils. We must not court 
failure, and however freely in some soils Narcissi 
grow in turf, there is no law clearer than that all 
plants will not grow in any one soil, and it is a 
mercy, too, for if all soils were alike, we should find 
gardeas far more monoonous than they are now. 
* A paper read by Mr. William Robinson at the Daflodil 
Conference, Royal Botanic Society, on the 14th ult. 
Gardening is an art dealing with living things, and 
we cannot place these with as little thought as those 
who arrange shells, or coins, or plates. At the same 
time we may be mistaken as to failures which now 
and then arise from other causes than the soil. I 
planted years ago some Bayonne Daffodils on the 
northern slope of a cool field, and thought the plants 
had perished; so little was seen of them after the 
first year. Despairing of the slope it was planted 
with Alder, a tree that grows in any soil or water. 
Years afterwards, walking one day through the 
Alder, we found the Bayonne Daffodil in perfect 
bloom. The roots had doubtless been weak and 
taken time to recover. 
If the soil be right, all that need be done in plant¬ 
ing is to make two cuts with the spade, raising the 
sod, putting a few bulbs beneath it, again turning 
the sod down, firmly tramping it down, leaving them 
to take their own way ever afterwards. It will often 
be well to turn up all the sods at first so as to see the 
outline of the groups. 
Eight years ago I planted many thousands of 
Narcissi in the grass, never doubting that I should 
succeed with them, but not expecting I should 
succeed nearly so well. They have thriven admirably, 
bloomed well and regularly ; the flowers are large 
and handsome, and in most cases have not diminished 
in size. In open, rich, heavy bottoms, along hedge¬ 
rows, in quite open loamy fields, in every position 
they have been tried. They are delightful seen near 
at hand, and also effective in the picture. The 
leaves ripen, disappear before mowing time, and do 
not in any way interfere with the farming. The 
harrowing and rolling of the fields in the spring 
hurt the leaves a little, but the plants are free from 
this near wood walks, by grass walks and open copses 
and lawns which abound in so many English country 
places. The great group of forms of our large native 
Daffodils gave good results ; they thrive better and 
the flowers are handsomer than those of the wild 
plant. The little Tenby Daffodil is very sturdy, 
pretty, and never fails. 
A delightful feature of Narcissus meadow garden¬ 
ing is the way great groups follow each other in the 
fields. When the Star Narcissi begin to fade a little 
in their beauty, the Poet’s follow. 
As to the kinds we may naturalise with advantage, 
they are almost without limit, but generally it is 
better to take the great groups of the Star Narcissi, 
the Poet's, and the wild Daffodil, of which there are 
so many handsome varieties. We can be sure that 
these are hardy in our soils; and, moreover, as we 
have to do this kind of work in a bold and rather 
unsparing way, we must deal with kinds that are 
easiest to purchase. There is hardly any limit 
except the one of rarity, and we must for the most 
part put our rare kinds in good garden ground till 
they increase, though we have to count with the fact 
that in some cases Narcissi that will not thrive in 
the garden will do so in the grass of a meadow or 
orchard 1 
The fine distant effect of Narcissi in groups in the 
grass should not be forgotten. It is distinct from 
their effect in gardens, and it is most charming to 
see them reflect, as it were, the glory of the spring 
sun. It is not only their effect near at hand that 
charms us, but as we walk about we may see them in 
the distance in varying lights, sometimes through 
and beyond the leafless woods or copses. And 
there is nothing we have to fear in this charming 
work save the common sin-overdoing. To scatter 
Narcissi equally over the grass everywhere is to 
destroy all chance of repose, of relief, and of seeing 
them in the charming ways in which they often 
arrange themselves. It is almost as easy to plant in 
pretty ways as in ugly ways if we take the trouble to 
think of it. There are hints to be gathered in the 
way wild plants arrange themselves, and even in the 
sky. Often a small cloud passing in the sky will 
give a very good form for a group, and be instructive 
even in being closer and more solid towards its 
centre, as groups of Narcissi in the grass should 
often be. The regular garden way of setting things out 
is very necessary in the garden, but it will not do at 
all if we are to get the pictures we can get from 
Narcissi iu the turf. Whatever we do, it is always 
necessary to keep open turf here and there among 
the groups, and in dealing with a wide lawn or a 
meadow w e should leave a large breadth quite free of 
flowers. Bearing all these tnings iu mind, it may 
be said with coufidehce that no one who has not 
seen it well grown and happily placed in the wild 
garden knows what the Narcissus may do for our 
lawns and home landscapes. , 
