.Nov. 29th, 18.84. 
199 
purpose. On the contrary, a garden—aye, even a 
small plot of but a few yards of ground—may be 
beautified by employing commonplace plants, which 
may be numbered amongst the oldest inhabitants of 
our gardens, and which are perfectly hardy, easily 
reproduced from seed, and easily increased by means 
of division or otherwise. 
One of the primary objects to be kept in view should 
be to carefully avoid all formality of arrangement, 
such as having straight lines, and the surfaces of the 
beds too flat, either of which are as much out of 
place as an undulating surface would be in a geomet¬ 
rical design. The easy curve is the true line of 
beauty, and should always be adopted if possible 
when designing beds or planting them. 
The nest point of importance to be observed is the 
selecting of such plants only as are calculated to meet 
the requirements of individual cases. Happily among 
hardy plants we have a vast number, admirably 
adapted for spring gardening, whose culture is of the 
easiest possible character, and it is with such as these 
that the best results are to be obtained. 
First to claim our attention is that old favourite 
the Christmas Bose, than which nothing is more 
welcome in mid-winter, so fine is its -white rose-tinted 
flowers; and from mid-winter till the end of March 
some members of the genus will produce flowers. I 
need hardly refer to the Snowdrop, since the merest 
child knows it and welcomes its arrival. The golden 
yellow winter Aconite is due next in order to flower, 
and while this still remains in bloom, the earliest 
Crocuses will be unfolding their cups of -white, purple, 
and gold. These are highly attractive, and where 
ingeniously employed produce an almost unique effect. 
Then we have a rich family of spring flowering plants 
in theWind-Flowers or Anemones, the earliest to bloom 
of which is Anemone blanda, which forms a lovely 
patch of blue in the waning days of February and 
onwards into the month of March. Soon other and 
fresh beauties of this family make their appearance, 
and are very telling. Most conspicuous indeed is the 
scarlet Wind-Flower, A. fulgens, which is possessed of 
remarkable vividness, and a few plants dotted here 
and there will produce a most telling effect. Then we 
have the Crown Wind-Flower, A. coronaria, a native of 
the sub-humid pastures of Southern Europe, but which 
has been among the most popular of our garden plants 
from remote times. Of this fine plant there are now 
numbers of varieties, single and double, and no plants 
that I am acquainted with are more ornamental in the 
spring garden. They may be planted at intervals 
from October to February, thereby securing a con¬ 
tinuity of its gorgeous blossoms, but the best results 
are realized from autumn planting. The varieties in 
this section are so readily increased by seed or divi¬ 
sion, are so diversified in colour, and possess such 
vigorous constitutions, that they stand almost unique 
among spring flowering plants. Anemone apennina 
comes into flower some three weeks later than 
A. blanda, making a good successional plant; 
A. ranunculoides may briefly be said to be an apennine 
or wood anemone done in gold, its glorious sheen of 
golden flowers defying description. One cannot either 
overlook the various ways in which the wood anemone, 
A. nemorosa, and its varieties may with advantage be 
employed either in the spring garden or for quiet 
shady nooks in the wild garden; while the last of the 
genus to which I shall draw attention is the Snowdrop 
anemone, A. sylvestris, so called from its drooping 
cups of silvery whiteness which are borne so profusely 
during the spring months. 
Flowering in company with Anemones, we find the 
various species of Primula, and though many a rare 
alpine gem may now be found in English gardens, few 
if any are more welcome than our own common Prim¬ 
rose, P. vulgaris, from which have sprung many forms 
of yellow, red, rose, lilac, purple, and white varieties, 
and which being so easily reproduced from seed, may 
readily be obtained in quantity. They are indeed so 
cheap and plentiful that there is no excuse whatever 
for borders and beds being so often found bare. Then 
we get another well-known group in the Daffodils, 
single and double, a few clumps of which are always 
welcome. Next come Wallflowers, with their fragrant 
spikes of bloom. The best dark Wallflower is Har¬ 
binger, and the best yellow Belvoir Castle Improved. 
Violas must by no means be omitted, but as a good 
list of these appeared in a recent issue, I will not here 
repeat it. Besides the plants already enumerated, 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
there is an almost endless number of other good things, 
such as Aubretias, Arabis, Tritelias, Mossy Saxifrages, 
and Sedums, all of which may be made to play their 
part, but -wherever employed the one great aim should 
be a pleasing combination of colour, rather than 
an overwhelming glare. Endeavour to follow the 
example set by nature of grouping the several subjects 
harmoniously together, and choose for the great mass 
of material the commoner and hardiest subjects, suit¬ 
able for town and country gardens alike, and which 
will grow in any ordinary soil.— E. J. 
NOTES ON GARDENS. 
Mr. Henry Little’s Garden.—Hillingdon Place, 
near Uxbridge, the home of a true amateur florist and 
plant-lover, is noted for the perfection to which all 
things there grown are brought, and for the many 
very fine improvements in florists’ flowers -which have 
resulted from Mr. Little’s skill in hybridization or 
cross-breeding. His single Primulas are notable 
instances of what can be obtained by careful seeding, 
the substance and form of his strain being perfect, 
and the brilliance of their vermilion and crimson 
tints superb. In show and fancy Pelargoniums, 
too, his new varieties are very fine and distinct, 
that lovely variety named Dresden China, raised by 
the Bev. A. Bawson, and which is always so much 
admired at exhibitions, having now several com¬ 
panions which are worthy to rank with it. 
The Orchids. —In this department the florists’ 
view's are well and consistently carried out, and 
with good effect, for handsome kinds only with 
perfect-shaped flowers are admitted, and consequently 
some very rare forms are here to be found. It is 
satisfactory to note that the w'hole of the collection 
under the care of Mr. Little’s present gardener, 
Mr. F. Hill, is in a better condition than ever, and 
all signs of shakiness in the specimens have given 
way to the frequent handling and constant attention 
they have received at his hands. The Cattleya-house 
is full of stout specimens. The specimens of C. 
Mendelli being specially selected plants, are very 
distinct in bulb and leaf, and those of them which 
have flowered have proved to be very gorgeous 
varieties. One was certificated at the Boyal Botanic 
Society last summer, and another, with Lfelia-like 
bulbs and strange-looking dark purple leaves, has 
pure white flowers, with purplish-crimson lip, and 
yellow throat, each petal being nearly 4 ins. in 
length and 3 ins. in breadth. The stout bulbed 
plants are well furnished with flower-sheaths, one 
fine piece of C. Trianre having as many as sixteen 
of them, and others ten or a dozen each, wdth the 
buds already showing up. A fine mass of the rare 
C. Eldorado Leeana, which has pure white flowers, 
with orange throat, and crimson edge'to the labellum, 
is in a promising condition for bloom. In flower in 
the Cattleya-house are some very strong plants of 
Vanda coerulea, some Odontoglossum vexillarum, 
which are wonderfully fine, many of them being 
furnished with four flower-spikes to a bulb. Odon¬ 
toglossum Boezlii also does well here, and is always 
in bloom. Calanthes Pilumnas, La;lia Perrinii, and 
various Cypripediums also brighten up the house 
just now. 
The East India house contains a most pleasing 
object in a grand mass of such a fine form of 
Saecolabium Blumei magus as deserves to become 
a pedigree plant. It has eleven long spikes of very 
brightly and distinctly marked wax-like flowers. 
Cypripedium Spicerianum, too, is profusely in flower 
(two being twin-flowered), and a perfectly-formed 
Phalsenopsis amabilis and some brightly-flowered 
Calanthe Veitchii are also very effective. In one of 
the vineries the Laslias, some of the Cattleyas, some 
wonderful masses of Dendrobium densiflorum, D. 
thyrsiflorum, and other resting plants are being kept 
quiet, and very contented they look. 
The Odontoglossum-house is a pleasure to behold 
with its stout sleek plants bristling with flower- 
spikes, many of them heavily branched. Some of 
the spotted varieties here are unique, and those in 
flower proclaim the general strain to be good. The 
plants are in a very cold, moist, but airy house, and 
chiefly in deep pans or half-pots, which they seem to 
like very well; certainly the air of vigour and solidity 
about leaves no room for doubting that they are on 
the right road. The house even at this season is 
bright with plenty of Odontoglossum Alexandra;, 
some grand forms of 0. Pescatorei, O. grande, 
Sophronitis grandiflora, Epidendrum vitellinum 
magus, Mesospinidium vulcanicum, a beautiful form 
of Oncidium maeranthum hastiferum, Masdevallia 
Tovarensis, and others. 
The Cyclamens, for the culture of which Hillingdon 
Place is noted, are now in grand order, their foliage as 
beautiful as the Begonia, and their crowns covered 
with buds, many of the plants having over one hundred 
of them visible, and that loveliest of all bright carmine 
varieties, Mrs. Henry Little, already has a stray 
flower or two up. Certainly the perfection to which 
these grand specimen Cyclamens in 16-size and 24 and 
32-size pots are brought is marvellous. The whole front 
of a long lean-to house is filled with them. The show 
Pelargoniums, too, are in a very sound condition and 
certain to give a good account of themselves at the 
next summer shows. 
The Zonal Pelargoniums are all aglow with bloom, 
and they receive simple but special treatment at 
Hillingdon, which might be imitated elsewhere with 
advantage. At bedding-out time the plants are 
plunged out in beds, there to bloom until the end of 
July or the beginning of August when they are lifted. 
Later in August they are shaken out and re-potted, 
and in September are put in the greenhouse, where 
they are now in bloom, and where they will continue 
to bloom all the winter, and as there is a fine named 
collection they will make a great and interesting show. 
When the plants are lifted the spare cuttings are taken 
off and struck and these are now in 48-sized pots to 
come in for spring and early summer blooming after 
the older ones are over. 
The Chrysanthemums fill to overflowing the large 
curvilinear lean-to conservatory by the house, and 
piresent a most delightful picture, arranged as they are 
for effect as regards the colours, a matter too often 
neglected. Many simple combinations are made in 
the arrangement at Hillingdon, one of the prettiest 
perhaps being the mingling of the flowers of the 
bronzy-crimson Julia Lagravere and the snow-white 
ones of Madame Domage. Both are old varieties, and as 
Mr.Little remarks, it is a noteworthy fact that especially 
among the perfectly-shaped and incurved varieties, the 
old ones are the best, and those early varieties of Salter, 
and even such as the old Chinese Yellow which Fortune 
introduced, are not yet surpassed in them classes. 
Mr. Little does not grow new ones only, but retains all 
the good old sorts and tolerates even the untidiest of 
Japanese, if they are distinct, the ladies being so fond 
of them for cutting. Taking an unbiassed view of 
the really fine collection in flower, without regard to 
newness or oldness of the variety, the following, as 
seen at Hillingdon, are of the first merit:—Source 
d’Or, a lovely yellow and bronze Japanese; James 
Salter, pink with plaited petals ; Striata perfeeta, 
rose and white tinged and striped and beautifully 
reflexed; Madame d’Audiguier, rose ; Isabella Bott, a 
grand white incurved ; Eve, pale primrose incurved ; 
Arlequin, buff-tipped crimson; Emily Dale, pale 
yellow incurved; B. Ballantine, purplish-crimson; 
Pink Perfection; Beaute de Toulouse, rose; Julia 
Lagravere, bronzy-crimson ; Madame Domage, pure 
white; La Frisure, a pink Japanese; and need 
it be said, the lovely Mrs. George Bundle, and the 
yellow sport from it named George Glenny. The 
pompon Soeur Meiaine is much grown, and as managed 
at Hillingdon, it is the purest white and one of the 
most lovely and prolific kinds for cutting imaginable. 
The Amaryllis, and the many other things for 
the good culture of which Mr. Little is noted, are in 
as good order as ever, and the garden, which is kept 
more as a pleasure-ground than a flower-garden, is 
neat and trim ; the shrubbery walk, which extends 
for three-quarters of a mile, looking now as inviting 
for a stroll as ever. 
Yriesla xiphostachys. — This plant has the 
usual habit of the Bromeliacefe; the narrow grass¬ 
like entire leaves are much recurved; the flattened 
flow T er-spike overtops the leaves ; the bracts are 
keeled, and compactly arranged in two imbricating 
rows, green or bright red towards the base of the 
spike ; the flowers are 3 ins. long, purplish-blue, 
with narrow convolute sepals. It is figured in the 
last number of The Gartenflora. 
