June 10, 1893. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
647 
fjARDENING fflSCELLANY. 
DRAC/ENAS IN THE WEST AND AT SCILLY. 
It is owing to the climatic conditions of the county 
of Cornwall, and especially the western portion, that 
it becomes possible to freely grow in the open such 
exotics as are elsewhere seen only in greenhouses. 
These include the American Aloe, Acacias and the like, 
which attain to great perfection. But even the west 
of Cornwall cannot compare with the wonderful 
power of growth which the near neighbouring Isles 
of Scilly possess. Everybody has heard of the far- 
famed Tresco Abbey Gardens, but their beauty, it is 
said by experts, never excelled that of the present 
time. This, however, has been an exceptionally 
favourable year, especially for the growth of 
Dracaenas, including D. indivisa, and D. australis, 
which have far and beyond eclipsed all previous 
years for blooming. There are some hundreds of 
them in full flower, and redolent with aroma, their 
appearance perfectly baffling all description, their 
entire foliage being hidden by the huge masses of 
flowers. For several years the ripened seeds from 
these plants have been very carefully preserved by 
the representative of the King of the Isles, J. 
Dorrien Smith, Esq. It need be no matter of sur¬ 
prise to learn that the Dracaena is being now culti¬ 
vated by growers on other islands than Tresco.— Z. 
THE PEACH-LEAVED CAMPANULAS. 
On looking over a long border of hardy herbaceous 
perennials a few days since, I could but admire 
those grand old herbaceous plants in their full 
beauty, and no garden should be without them, as 
their erect habit, profuse blooming, and their clear 
colour make them so desirable as garden decorative 
plants and for cutting. The single and double white, 
also the blue, are so telling in mixed borders and 
continue in bloom for a good period, and they are 
also so perfectly hardy and easily propagated by 
division.— W.D. 
PANSIES AND VIOLAS FROM HAWICK. 
Some flowers of the three leading types of these 
popular flowers have reached us from Mr. John 
Forbes, Buccleuch Nurseries, Hawick, N.B. Two 
yellow ground show varieties were very attractive, 
especially that named Mrs. John Harper, banded 
with intense purple, almost black. Mrs. Wm. Oliver 
was banded with velvety brownish purple. Both 
varieties are inclined to be laced with yellow on the 
lower petals, otherwise they are perfect. The fancy 
varieties measured from 2J in. to 2§ in. across. 
Joseph Oliver is a yellow ground with velvety 
maroon blotches ; Rev. James Robertson had vio'et 
purple blotches and creamy yellow edges; Miss 
Jessie Campbell had blackish maroon blotches and 
purple edges ; the blotches of Maggie Forbes were 
intense violet purple with pale purple edges; 
Buccleuch Beauty is a dark purple Viola in the way 
of Mrs. Turner, but more shaded with violet round 
the eye. It is of medium size and very neat. In 
the matter of striped Violas, Perfect Gem seems an 
improved York and Lancaster, darker in colour and 
densely flaked and striped with maroon purple on a 
paler purple ground. All of the above were seed¬ 
lings raised by Mr. Forbes, and, with exception of 
Miss Jessie Campbell and Maggie Forbes, are not 
yet in commerce. 
DIANTHUS CALLIZONUS. 
It seems strange that so little has been made of the 
wealth of Pinks at the cultivator’s hand, v^e mean 
species of Dianthus other than D. plumarius and D. 
Caryophyllus. There are several with large, showy 
flowers, such as D. alpinus, D. neglectus, D. mon- 
spessulanus, D. csesius, and several others that might 
be taken in hand and improved. That under notice 
has flowers as large as those of D. alpinus, but the 
plant is of more robust habit and seems as if it would 
take kindly to cultivation. The scape is 3 in. to 4 in. 
high and one-flowered. The petals are obovate, 
shallowly toothed at the apex, and so broad that 
they touch one another. They are bright rose, with 
a deep purple, thinly bearded blotch at the base of 
each, and this blotch is beautifully spotted with 
white. The leaves are subulate, slightly glaucous, 
and form a dense cushion from which the flowers 
rise in great abundance. It may be seen on the 
rockery at Kew. It is a native of Transylvania. 
SARRACENIA PURPUREA. 
When this plant flowers out of doors the colours of 
the flowers are much more intense, and altogether 
more interesting than when grown under glass. The 
sepals and petals are of a deep crimson-red, the 
latter fading to yellow at the base, and the whole of 
them shine with a metallic lustre. The large 
umbrella-like stigma is pale yellow, shaded with red. 
The flower stalks attain a length of 12 in., and the 
blooms appear quite as large as they would be under 
glass. The leaves are green, more or less heavily 
stained with brownish-purple, and although they 
cannot be described as effective or showy, they are 
certainly very interesting and unique in their way 
for outdoor work. The edge of the bog garden is 
the most suitable place for it, if the situation is 
sheltered, as may be seen in the rockery at Kew, 
where it is now flowering finely in one of the recesses 
through which a tiny but constant stream is 
flowing. 
STRAWBERRY ROYAL SOVEREIGN. 
A box of fruits of this new Strawberry has been sent 
us by Mr. Thomas Laxton, Bedford, by whose 
kindness we are now enabled to figure it. The 
variety was honoured with a First-class Certificate 
from the Royal Horticultural Society last year, and 
another at Earls Court on the 18th ult., on both of 
which occasions we noticed the variety in our 
columns. Last year the forced fruits were conical, 
as represented by the illustration, which was pre- 
Strawberry Royal Sovereign. 
pared from a fruit grown under glass. In the open 
ground last year, Mr. Laxton tells us about half of 
the fruits were flattened or cockscomb-shaped, and 
this year the greater part of them have behaved in 
this way. Mr; Laxton attributes this to the fact 
that many of the blooms were cut up by the frost in 
spring, thus thinning the crop in his grounds. The 
skin is bright scarlet and the seeds set almost evenly 
on the surface. Well ripened fruits have a con¬ 
siderable amount of flavour with a pleasant acidity, 
in fact more of these qualities than one would expect 
in so large a fruit. It has already given great 
satisfaction as a variety for forcing on account of the 
large size and fine appearance of the fruit, as well as 
its quality and the vigorous constitution of the 
plant. 
SOLLYA PARVIFLORA. 
There are only two species of Sollya with several 
varieties, natives of Australia. All have bell-shaped, 
nodding and bright blue flowers that have a pretty 
effect on the slender, twiggy stems. That under 
notice is also known in gardens under the name of 
S. Drummondi, and has much smaller leaves than 
S. heterophylla the other species. They are linear, 
dark green and not sufficiently numerous to hide the 
stems nor flowers, so that on the whole the character 
of the plant is one of gracefulness. From one to 
three flowers are produced together at the tips of 
the most slender side shoots. It belongs to the 
class known as New Holland plants and is very 
nearly hardy, but to give satisfaction must be grown 
in a greenhouse or cool conservatory as it is grown 
at Falkland Park, South Norwood Hill, the residence 
of John Me Meekin, Esq., where it is now flowering 
freely in one of the cool houses devoted to that class 
of plants. July is considered its usual month for 
flowering. 
PHCENOCOMA PROLIFERA. 
At one time this was a favourite plant for exhibition 
purposes, but has long since become neglected, even 
although the species of Aphlexis are still received 
with favour, and are grown by those who still continue 
to exhibit specimen greenhouse plants. The stems 
and leaves of Phoenocoma, independently of the 
flower heads, render the plant a more interesting 
object than Aphlexis. The plant is easily grown 
under suitable conditions, and, all things considered, 
we cannot see why it should suffer the present neg¬ 
lect into which it has fallen. The stems are white 
and cottony, while the small leaves are densely 
crowded like little buds along the branches. The 
outer bracts of the head are closely adpressed, while 
the inner ones are long, spreading, and deep rosy red. 
The name Phoenocoma was given to it by Don, be¬ 
cause the central florets of the head were male only. 
By others it is the Helichrysum proliferum. We 
noted a plant of it in full bloom at Falkland Park. 
NEW WHITE SWEET PEAS. 
The "boom” on white Sweet Peas in the land of 
the stars and stripes has naturally called forth new 
varieties, and as I have grown three of them side by 
side with each other, I thought a note taken on the 
spot might be interesting. The varieties are Queen 
of England, Mrs. Sankey, and a new one from 
America named Emily Henderson. To begin with, 
all three are good. Mrs. Sankey is a pure paper 
white ; Queen of England is more of a milky or 
creamy white, and the individual blooms are larger ; 
Emily Henderson is, to all intents and purposes, 
Queen of England—in Sweet Peas. They resemble 
each other so closely that it would puzzle the pro¬ 
verbial Dutchman to separate them if a bunch of 
each were mixed together. Mrs. Sankey is quite 
distinct apart from the shade of white, for while the 
pedicels of Mrs. Sankey are reddish and dark, the 
pedicels of Emily Henderson and Queen of England 
are a greenish cream colour. It is a pity, perhaps, 
to put it into the head of any seedsman that he 
might substitute sweet Emily for the Queen, or 
rather, the other way about, for the Queen is 
cheapest, but if he did, few would find it out. I 
don’.t see how they could. Caveat emptor — Devoniensis. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
Cattleya labiata Sanderiana. 
A magnificent flower of this Cattleya has been 
sent us by Mr. Malcolm McIntyre, gardener to Sir 
Charles Tennant, Bart., The Glen, Innerleithen, 
N.B. It was one of four on the same raceme, a 
fact which speaks well for the cultural treatment it 
must have received. The bloom measured 10 in. 
across when spread out, and the great length of the 
sepals and petals deprived them of their apparent 
width. Each was 5 in. long, the sepals were close 
upon in. wide, and the petals 2f in. They were 
of a warm rose colour, the petals being some shades 
darker with a rich netting of darker veins. The 
tube of the lip was intensified to crimson purple 
near the top externally, and the huge lamina was of 
a rich crimson purple fading to a paler hue at the 
wavy margins ; the lamina measured 3 in. across. 
A large white blotch on either side of the throat 
shaded with yellow served to give character to the 
flower. On the whole we consider it a very fine 
form of the variety, both as to intensity of colour 
and the size of the flower. The latter may be due 
in part to cultivation. 
Cattleya Annoldiana. 
This magnificent hybrid of Mr. Sander's, the 
deepest, richest coloured of all the genus, is now in 
bloom in the rich collection of George Hardy, Esq , 
at Pickering Lodge, Timperley. The plant \vhich 
Mr. Holmes has in grand health carries a spike of 
three large blooms which are simply lovely to 
behold. The sepals and petals are of an intense 
shade of rosy purple, and the well-formed lip deep 
regal purple. It must be seen to be appreciated, for 
one cannot adequately describe it. 
Cyrtopodium Aliciae. 
There are numerous species of Cyrtopodium. all con¬ 
fined to Tropical America, but hitherto only repre¬ 
sented in European collection by two species. Most 
of them require a considerable amount of space for 
