May 19, 1900 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
601 
Zonal Pelargoniums for Winter Flowering.— 
Young plants for flowering next winter should be 
petted on now into 4-in. pots. They like a good, 
substantial soil and firm potting. Grow them in a 
greenhouse in the meantime on shelves not far from 
the glass. Next month they may be placed in 
frames, and as the weather becomes warmer they 
will do well grown out in the open air altogether. 
Place them on one of your garden paths, where they 
will receive plenty of sunlight and air. Syringe 
them early in the morning and again about four or 
five in the afternoon. Keep them pinched to form 
bushy plants. Remove any flower buds until about 
the end of August. Their pots will then be well 
filled with roots, and they should be nourished with 
liquid manure. Take them indoors about September, 
allowing them a nice, airy, light house. Maintain a 
temperature of from 55 0 to 6o°, with a slight amount 
of air even on dull, chilly, autumn days. 
Planting Yegetable Marrows.— S. K. : To start 
with the pure manure would probably be too rich : 
later on, when the plants are strong and growing 
vigorously, nothing is too stimulative. Make an 
opening and fill it with good, loamy compost. Plant 
the young Marrows in this loam, and leave them 
there. They will want no further care. Marrows 
also do well on the top of a leaf mould heap, the 
opener to the sun the better. 
Balsams.— T Romily. : Your plants should be 
potted on and grown close to the glass in a pit or 
house having a mild heat Never permit them to 
become pot-bound. A moist air and a plenteous 
supply to the roots should be given. 
Planting Irises.—The present is late enough if 
you expect a good return of flowers this year. If 
you are careful in the planting they will do well 
enough. Water them regularly till they become 
established. The Iris laevigata and varieties may be 
planted in a semi-aquatic position free and open to 
theiun, but sheltered to the north acd east. 
May Sweet Peas be Sown?— L. : S*eet Peas 
may be sown up till the end of this month. For 
those which you mean to sow, put into the trench a 
good bottom layer of manure, covering this with 
two or, three inches of soil. The Peas may be 
si«n three inches deep. Tread the surface of the 
drill, or, at least, firm it with the back of a rake. 
Earth up and stake your earliest rows. 
Lettuces in the Open.— Quiz. : Hardy young 
Cabbage-Lettuces will succeed perfectly well in the 
open ground after this time of year. Batches have 
been growing for some time now, and, to help these, 
hoeing between the drills should be practised. 
Lettuces may be grown in Celery trenches. 
Forced Strawberries in Pots.— J. Knox. : As a 
matter of fact, many gardeners do take the trouble 
to plant out their earliest forced Strawberries, and 
by so doing, they secure a second crop from them. 
This second crop succeeds the later crop from those 
which have been established out of doors for, per¬ 
haps, a year or more. Before planting them out, 
have them nicely hardened off, and prepare the 
ground to the best advantage. Water the plants if 
need be alter placing them out. 
Selection of Pyrethrum Varieties.— H. F.: On 
medium or heavy soils Pyrethrums do best. They 
are gorgeous flowering plants, and you exbib t splen¬ 
did taste in desiring a good selection of the beautiful 
single varieties. The following are gcod doubles :— 
Captain Nares, bright crimson; Aphrodite, pure 
white; Alfred HendersoD, large deep purple; King 
Oscar, crimson-scarlet; Celia, very bright pink; 
Melton, deep crimson ; Pericles, yellow ; Beauty of 
Laeken, crimson ; Brilliant, rosy-purple ; Dr. Living¬ 
stone, flesh; Perfection, rosy-lilac; and Snowball, 
white. Singles :—Psyche, cherry ; Warrior, deep 
carmine-purple; Goring, rosy-purple; Ayrshire, 
crimson; Albicans, white; Maud, soft rose; Nep¬ 
tune, maroon; and Turco, purple. 
Begonia Gloire de Lorraine.— D. Waite. : So soon 
as rooted, put the leaves into the smailest size pots. 
Use the following compost'Two paits mellow, 
fibrous loam, one part finely sifted beech-leaf mould, 
and one part sharp sand. Keep the crown level with 
the surface. Water with tepid water, and place the 
plants on an ash-bottom shelf in a moderately moist 
shaded house, having a temperature of 6o° to 65°. 
WATER PLANTS IN GREENWICH 
PARK. 
" Fancy planting some of the choicest and most 
expensive kinds of Water Lilies io the smoke in¬ 
fested park at Greenwich ” was the remark made by a 
well known horticulturist when I ordered a number 
of these and other aquatic plants exactly three years 
ago. But care and perseverence have won the day, 
and it is questionable whether in the whole London 
district there is a more interesting and pretty little 
sheet of water than this quiet lake in the Royal 
Park at Greenwich. The accompanying illustration 
speaks for itself, the masses of pink flowered Water 
Lily to the left showing that this rare and prettiest 
of water plants has become quite established, and 
will increase in vigour from >ear to year. 
It might be mentioned in passing that a much 
finer form has just been planted in the pond, in 
which the well expanded flowers are of a rich 
crimson hue. 
The Pigmy Water Lily has also become quite es¬ 
tablished, the neat little leaves and tiny star-shaped 
flowers, about the size of a lady’s watch, offering a 
strange contrast to those of the larger forms. A 
pretty yellow flowering variety has likewise been 
added. 
But the Water Lilies do not form the only feature 
of the Greenwich pond, for the beautiful and sweet 
scented Cape Pond Weed (Aponegeton) may be seen 
by the dozen, and if not seen readily detected by the 
hawthorn-like fragrance for which the plant is 
justly remarkable. The Bog Bean from the Welsh 
hills here too finds a home, in company with the 
Water Ranunculus, the Frog-bit Water Plantain, 
and hosts of other native plants. Two olher inter¬ 
esting native plants, though local in distribution, are 
the great and lesser Reedmace or Cat’s-tail (typha), 
both of which occur in the pond, the former send¬ 
ing its dense cylindrical, velvety flower spike to a 
height of from 5 ft. to 6 ft. The Bur-reed 
(Sparganium) occurs in plenty, and is interesting on 
account of the curiously pleasant aroma emitted by 
the bruis;d plant. 
Of the Iris several ornamental foliaged kinds may 
be seen, such as the silver and golden striped, and 
the typical British species. Several of these plants 
have no doubt been introduced by the water fowl— 
the moor-hen, lesser grebe, &c.; for certainly three 
years ago at least four of the native species were not 
known on the pond, and have not been brought by 
human agency, as far as I am aware. But the 
American weed (Elodea), unless well kept in bounds 
is to be the pest of our water, for already nearly one 
hundred cart loads have been removed from the 
pond. Throughout the country it spreads with 
terrible rapidity, and though only introduced a few 
years ago has already cost the country thousands of 
pounds in keeping the lakes and canals open for 
navigation. Its introduction is thought to be due to 
the scientific zeal of the Cambridge Professor of 
Botany, acd after whom it was nick-named Babing- 
tonia damnabilis.— A. D. Webster. 
-•*—-- 
MAY IN EAST DEVON. 
Tins is a most delightful month in the country. 
Neither too hot nor too cold, and the majority of 
trees and bushes daily unfolding more of their 
flowers or foliage, and in many instances both, 
which all tends or adds to the beautiful scenery 
around. What better picture can we hope for than 
the many tints of leafage the host of deciduous trees 
present us with at this time of year ? unless it is in 
autumn when the country is aglow with crimson and 
gold, a sure guide that winter is fast approaching. 
Of this, opinions differ, but give me the early sum¬ 
mer when all is full of life and vigour, the trees as 
before mentioned putting on their summer suit as it 
were, the hedges decked with flowers of almost 
every hue, and the delicate new fronds of many 
varieties of Fern, for which Devonshire lanes have 
long been noted. The wealth of blossom, the 
numerous orchards in this cider producing county 
are just now presenting us with would more than 
startle many a toiler in our big cities who perchance 
never get outside its boundary from one year's end 
to another. Nor must we forget the beautiful 
singing and warbliDg of the birds from about 4 a m. 
up to 8.30 p.m., which fill the air as it were with 
their melodies, especially so when the locality is well 
wooded as here. With such an earthly paradise one 
cannot help wondering why so many of our rural 
population at an early age flock away to the already 
densely crowded towns in preference to country 
life. 
We can but hope that the new code the Education 
Department is about to introduce into our elementary 
schools, such as gardening, farming, &c., may have 
the effect of retarding this wholesale immigration, 
and help men and women alike to look more to the 
land for a living than to the factory and warehouse 
as heretofore. But I must apologise for dwelling so 
long on this subject and will at once turn to the 
heading of these notes. 
The meadows will soon be a mass of gold (glitter) 
with the Butter-cups ; Primroses, so modest, are on 
the wane, and being succeeded by the blue Violet, 
unfortunately scentless in Devon. But the array of 
Wallflowers in our gardens of rich and poor make 
up for this deficiency, doubly so after a shower, or 
The Pink Water Lily in Greenwich Park. 
