790 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
August 14, 1897. 
AQUATICS AT HOOLE HALL, 
CHESTER. 
Once famous was the above for its fine and choice 
collection of Orchids. The late enthusiastic owner 
once told me it took no more room and time to grow 
the best of everything than the commonest ; and his 
collection was rich in many choice varieties which 
could not be duplicated. After the death of Mr. 
Potts the collection was presented to a nobleman, 
where they are flourishing well. Mr. John Taylor, 
who has had entire charge for many years, is fond 
of tit-bits. He missed his Orchids very much, but 
converted the he uses for other purposes for which 
they are suitable; for instance, the Aquatic House 
is now most interesting. It is a span-roofed house, 
41 ft. by 14 ft., and has a tank in the middle, the 
walls of which are very ornamental, being converted 
into rockwork, where such plants as Achimines, 
Impatiens, Torenias, mixed with Ferns and Palms 
are planted and doing well. 
The tank just now is a picture. Many good 
Nymphaeas are flowering grandly ; N. devoniensis, 
N. caerulea, N. alba are flowering most freely. 
Nelumbium speciosium (the Lotus), Pontederia 
crassipes, and Pistia Stratiotes are all growing well 
and flowering most profusely, forming a gay and 
interesting feature. The side stages are formed of 
tufa, making a splendid natural rockwork, where 
Palms and Ferns and other foliage plants, intermixed 
with many flowering plants, add considerably to the 
scere. Their edges are draped to hide the hot water 
pipes. Panicum variegatum has for its companion 
Ficus repens, and the two are good useful plants for 
the purpose. The roof is well adorned with climbers 
and Allamanda loaded with flowers, all adding to the 
picturesque scene. 
Years ago a grand collection of Auriculas and 
Carnations were grown, and, when exhibited, always 
found their way in the foremost ranks.— A. Outram, 
F.R.H.S. 
--- 
ZONAL PELARGONIUMS AT SWANLEY. 
Several of tbe popular types of Pelargonium are 
grown in the nurseries of Messrs. H. Cannell & 
Sons, SwaDley, Kent. Show and regal varieties are 
peculiar to spring and early summer, but the Z onals 
are always in season from January to December, 
judging from what ve have seen of them. All the 
leading varieties up-to-date are grown. 
Double Varieties. 
The old or original double forms of Zonal Pelar¬ 
goniums bave totally disappeared. Their flowers 
formed small densely compacted knobs like small 
buttons, consisting of a great number of petals. 
The modern race has very large flowers, with rela¬ 
tively few petals, but of great breadth and well ex¬ 
panded. The same transformation has taken place 
in tuberous Begonias and Delphiniums. The number 
of varieties is very great, but we shall only touch 
upon a few of the finer flowers and distinct colours. 
There is a house of them, 100 ft. long. 
Golden Gate is a beautiful, bright orange-scarlet 
flower. Cousin Bell is a charming salmon variety ; 
but Madame Jouis is what is termed a mottled 
salmon variety; that also has huge flowers and a 
dwarf habit to recommend it. Of its colour together 
with its other qualities, the variety is certainly one of 
the finrst. Many white sorts have been raised at one 
time or other, but Hermine is certainly choice. The 
red flowers of Ville de Poitiers may be described as 
semi-double, but of great size and borne upon trusses 
of great dimensions. If anything, it is beaten, how¬ 
ever, by Madame Charlotte, for the individual pips 
measure 2J in. across, and the trusses 6 in to 8 in. 
Size goes a long way with cultivators, but surely this 
is large enough. The double Henry Jacoby also 
finds a place here, and differs from the type merely 
in being double, for the flowers are very dark crim¬ 
son. 
Blue and yellow colours are still desiderata amongst 
Pelargoniums, but there are some very plausible sub¬ 
stitutes for either There are single dark purple sorts 
in cultivation, and now Madame de la Rue is a val¬ 
uable double, bearing large trusses of bloom. Choice 
and delicately coloured varieties jostle the darker 
colours in every part of the house, making 
beautiful contrasts. Aime Henriot is of a charming 
peach-pink, and supports huge trusses of bloom. 
Remarkably distinct is Jeanne d’ Arc, which is of a 
soft flesh colour and finely spotted with purple at the 
base of the petals. Practically a new race might be 
developed from this variety. Beaute Poitevine is 
considered synonymous with King of Denmark, and 
has bright salmon flowers tinted with pink. The 
trusses are large. Joyful is rightly named, being very 
cheerful The blooms are white with a charming, 
bright salmon-orange zone in the centre. Distinct 
also is Rafael Garetta with crimson-red flowers, freely 
produced. 
Single Varieties. 
Even if cot always so durable as the double sorts, 
there are, and probably always will be, many cultiva¬ 
tors who will prefer them on account of their brighter 
and more cheerful aspect, because the colours never 
clash owing to any accidental twisting of the petals ; 
or it may be because the arrangement or disposition 
of colours is fully displayed in each bloom. 
The flowers of Cassiope are orange-salmon and 
very pleasing. Perfectly distinct from it is Duchess 
of Marlborough, with soft salmon flowers and white 
edges. For cut flower purposes we should consider 
Virginia one of tbe best, for tbe peduncles are at 
least : ft. long, and bear large trusses of pure white, 
flat flowers. A very singular and pretty variety is Belle 
Alliance, for the soft flesh coloured flowers are densely 
spotted with dark carmine. In thus being spotted it 
is closely allied to the double Jeanne d’ Arc above 
mentioned. The plant under notice is of dwarf and 
compact habit. 
One of the darkest cf the bright colours is Dr. 
MacDonald, having large trusses of glowing crimson 
flowers. Eleanor is bright orange, getting towards 
yellow, and indispensable on that account in every 
good collection. Lady Newton is of the same 
crushed-strawberry type as Souvenir de Mirande, 
but has much broader petals and large trusses of 
flowers. Madame Bruant is very distinctly shaded 
and streaked with rich carmine on a white ground. 
A charming light-coloured variety is Gertrude 
Pearson, the rich pink flowers of which have a white 
eye-spot at the base of the two top petals. The plant 
is dwarf, compact and serviceable. Like Madame 
Jouis amongst the doubles, A. F. Wootton takes a 
similar position here with its huge flowers and 
trusses of mottled salmon. Softly pink and pretty 
are the flowers of Delicata. 
The best single purple is Royal Purple, the hue of 
which is very intense ; there are crimson blotches 
on the base of the two upper petals. The Rev. 
Bartram is a huge, bright scarlet flower with a small 
white eye. The huge white flowers of Valkyrie are 
distinguished by a regular and dark salmon eye. 
The rosy-scarlet Kitty is equally large in flower and 
truss. Princess Alice, on the other hand, is rosy- 
salmon and very distinct. M. Calvat is a bold 
crimson flower, with a white eye. A pleasing 
flower is Duchess of Portland, with rich pink flowers 
and a white blotch at the base of the two upper 
petals. Both flowers and trusses are of the first 
size. 
One of the secrets of growing these Pelargoniums 
is to keep them in a well-ventilated but not draughty 
house, with a very moderately high temperature 
both summer and winter. The plants are kept near 
the glass owing to the benches of the low, span- 
roofed houses being near the roof, summer and win¬ 
ter. Under these conditions the plants grow slowly, 
with short-jointed wood, and the flowers attain a 
large size and last well. Light is a leading requisite 
of these sunny South African flowers. 
-- 
CALLAS. 
These Arum Lilies are indispensable for decorative 
purposes,and the cut blooms are largely used for Eas¬ 
ter decorations When their blooming season is past 
many growers plant them out in trenches. We gave 
that plan a trial two years ago ; the plants made fine 
growth, but when we potted them up we found they 
had made such a quantity of roots that it was im¬ 
possible to get them into 24 and 16 size pots without 
a lot of root mutilation. The plants were stood in a 
shady position outdoors until they made a start, 
when they were given a more open window. 
When housing time arrived they were removed to 
a cool and light airy greenhouse ; but during the 
winter we found a quantity of the largest leaves rot 
off as though the growth was too strong and succu¬ 
lent to withstand it. As we were not satisfied with 
the result of the "planting out " method, the next 
season we reverted to our old plan of standing the 
plants in a partially shaded position when they were 
removed from the conservatory. They received 
water for a week or two, to let them gradually finish 
their growth, and then the pots were laid on their 
sides to enable them to ripen off. 
About the middle of the present month they were 
shaken out and re-potted, using gritty loam, and 
well-decayed manure, and potting rather firmly. 
When potted they were stood outdoors in a,sunny 
position, as they were not too advanced in growth to 
be affected by sunshine. The growth they made 
was stout and strong ; they wintered without any of 
the foliage damping off, and when they flowered the 
blooms were larger and the foliage finer than in the 
previous season. The plants were healthier and 
stronger, and free from green fly, a pest they are so 
liable to if at all sickly. I was looking at our stock 
the other day : the old foliage has all ripened off and 
the young growths are just on the move, so the 
sooner they are taken in hand the better. We shall 
not again try the planting-out system, being quite 
satisfied that the other plan is the best Callas like 
abundance of water, hence they should not be potted 
too full, and when in bloom in the conservatory they 
should stand in pans .—George Potts, August 2 nd. 
- - —c— — 
Tlie Orcljlfl Brower’s Calendar. 
Cool House. —Where there is any quantity of Odon- 
toglossum crispum to be re-potted, it is necessary to 
make a start with the most forward of them, or by 
the time they are all finished the season will be far 
advanced. 
The weather certainly up to a few days ago has 
been all against meddling with any kind of Orchid ; 
but we have at last had some rain and the tempera¬ 
ture has in consequence gone down considerably. 
The initial business then should be to get as much 
peat and moss ready for use as possible, so that when 
the start is made the operator will not have to stand 
still for want of material. Convenient sized pots too 
should be got ready, not forgetting the crocks for 
drainage In the meantime the grower will be 
letting his plants get moderately dry before bringing 
them on to the potting bench. This is, I think, a most 
important point in the culture of Orchids ; a point, 
however, which I think is often overlooked. No 
man that understands his work would think of pot¬ 
ting a soft-wooded, or hard-wooded plant for the 
matter of that, when it is in a soddened condition. 
When the plants are doing well and have plenty of 
good healthy roots they will not require much of the 
old material taken away, but will be benefited by 
being put into a pot, one, or perhaps two, sizes larger, 
whilst others that may not be doing so well will, with 
a little picking out of the old material, go back into 
the same size pot. Even the mere addition of a bit 
of fresh moss has a beneficial effect. 
Instead of peat we are using for Odontoglossums 
•‘polypodium.’’ It takes a good long time to get 
ready unless you are not particular about the 
rhizomes (of which there is a great quantity) grow¬ 
ing. I, myself, very much object to F'erns and 
Orchids growing together in one pot, and therefore 
have it carefully picked over. Being of a more 
spongy nature thau is the best peat, it should not be 
pressed in quits so firmly, or the water will not pass 
away freely, and in consequence it becomes in time 
coated with a kind of lichen ; especially so is this the 
case where the moisture is excessive. In time it 
covers the whole, preventing the water passing 
through the compost and the air getting at the 
roots. 
After the potting is done—should the weather 
keep bright—it will be necessary to shade the newly- 
potted plants somewhat heavily, or they may lose 
some of their old leaves. We never mind Diants 
losing three-year-old leaves as this shows the bulbs 
have carried out their proper functions, rather than 
to any mismanagement. Grown under conditions 
of much shade they retain their foliage longer ; 
but this with Odontoglossums is certainly not evi¬ 
dence of good culture ; the spikes from such plants 
are puny and the flowers small.— C. 
* 
Lettuce.— Advantage must be taken of tbe present 
damp weather to plant out large breadths of Lettuce 
