June 30, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
697 
with sandy soil, and place these under hand-lights or 
in cold frames for the winter. Dew them over 
occasionally till the roots are emitted. By next 
summer they will have made nice plants for shifting 
on, to be eventually planted out. 
Ivies in Window Boxes.— K. B .: A well selected 
batch of Ivies, to include the larger leaved climbing 
sorts, such as Hedera Helix dentata or H. H. grandi- 
folia, for the side walls, and trailing kinds for the 
edge, also dwarf gold and silver variegated varieties, 
and these all well arranged would furnish your box 
handsomely. 
■ - 
TWO USEFUL DRACAENAS. 
As a handsome and useful plant for table decoration 
in the hall of a nobleman or in the cottage we would 
recommend Dracaena Eeckhautei, more correctly 
or botanically named Cordyline australis var. Eeck¬ 
hautei. Whatever name is used the beauty and use¬ 
fulness of the plant will remain the same. The 
lanceolate-linear leaves are of a rich green and 
vary, from 15-in. to 20-in. in length. They are thinly 
arranged along the stem, and droop gracefully on all 
sides of the plant giving this an elegant contour. A 
special feature of the plant is that the leaves are 
retained from top to bottom even when the stem has 
gained a height of 2 ft. to 3 ft. Plants of the largest 
size permissible for table and similar decorations can 
therefore be used without presenting a naked and 
leggy appearance as in the case of many otherwise 
highly desirable forms in cultivation. The accom¬ 
panying illustration of it placed at our disposal by 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd., Chelsea, will 
give a good idea of a characteristic plant. Speci¬ 
mens we have noted at Chelsea exactly coincide 
with the figure in all respects. It may be placed 
on the dinner table without appearing heavy or 
obstructing the view on the opposite side. 
It is, of course, equally suitable for cool conser¬ 
vatories or greenhouses; and being a form of D. 
australis its hardiness is guaranteed, as well as its 
capacity for withstanding bad usage in dry and 
heated rooms. It is truly an acquisition, and an 
improvement upon D. rubra so well known in 
gardens and so largely grown for market purposes. 
The qualities of the plant may be summed up by 
saying that it is hardy, graceful, stately, elegant, 
and capable of withstanding the wear and bad 
usage attendant upon house decoration. It received 
an Award of Merit from the R.H.S. on October nth, 
1898. 
The other plant we refer to is D. The Queen, quite 
of another type, and belonging to that strain which 
is highly popular for table decoration, the leaves 
being narrow, not more than, but generally under 
| in. in width, about 12 in. long, and drawn out to a 
slender point. They arch gracefully on every side. 
The surface is of a deep olive-green, overlaid with a 
bronzy, metallic lustre, and edged with carmine, 
tinted with orange. An Award of Merit was 
accorded it by the Royal Horticultural Society on 
November 21st of last year, at which time we des¬ 
cribed it as a decorative subject of the first water, 
the clearly defined colours being all in its favour. 
The accompanying illustration of it (p. 694) was also 
lent us by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
When in their nursery recently we noted a fine 
batch of seedlings of the yellow Richardia elliottiana 
with dark green leaves blotched all over with white. 
Though yet quite dwarf many of them were flower¬ 
ing. In the cool conservatory Hydrangea Mariesii 
was flowering freely. The outer flowers of the 
corymb have very broad sepals of a rich rose. 
The plant itself is dwarf and sturdy. Hydrangea 
stellata rosea would no doubt take the fancy of many 
growers on account of its flowers all having the 
enlarged sepals, which are round, serrated, and of a 
bright rose, but sometimes blue or blue pink. A 
whole houseful of Authuriums was quite gay with 
the rich scarlet spathes of A. scherzerianum and A. 
s. Wardii. The spathes of the latter are very broad, 
roundly oval, and carried well above the large and 
vigorous leaves. This variety would take a lot of 
beating. Fine forms of the hybrid A. rotbschild- 
ianum were also plentiful, their creamy-white spathes 
being richly spotted and marbled with scarlet. 
In the Nepenthes house were some magnificent 
pitchers of the rare N. sanguinea, the deep red 
pitchers being 12^ in. long, by 3J in in width. The 
thinly fringed wings were well developed. There 
was also a promising hybrid between N. mixta and 
N. dicksoniana. The pitcher was about 12 in. long, 
cylindrical, but proportionately wide, and blotched 
and marbled with chocolate-red on a light green 
ground. No name has yet been given it, though that 
will follow in due course when the plant has attained 
its full development and shows its true character. 
Evidently it must be classed amongst the large or 
gigantic-pitchered forms. 
THE HERBACEOUS BORDER. 
The borders during June are rich in bloom of tender 
tints, and also shades of colour seemingly 
in proportionate splendour with the brightness of 
the midsummer sunlight. The garden in June bears 
its happiest characteristics. It has not quite lost the 
charm of spring, for the remnant of Primroses and 
spring flowering plants just pass away when June 
is young. The thousand shades and forms of trees 
and bushes in their first flush of the year’s growth, 
blaze everywhere, and before the month has passed 
away, these trees and bushes have begun to swell 
their tribute of fruits. Life is young in every place. 
Young plants, young birds, fresh swarms of newly- 
hatched butterflies and moths, while in the fields 
the lambs bleat behind their strange mothers, newly 
shorn. The borders with the garden plants are 
ri«h to luxuriance, with golden Day Lilies, sky-blue 
Lupines, Geums, the colour of the setting sun, and 
foamy sheets of Saxifragas and Silenes. The old- 
fashioned Aquilegias, which are among the finest of 
hardy garden plants, and ever will be, have been 
flourishing for a week or two, even on a dry and 
sterile soil. But they love a sunny slope. Sunshine, 
good soil, and perfect freedom to shake their heads 
without collision with their neighbours, is what 
they most prefer. The common Columbine, Aqui- 
legia vulgaris, is a useful old subject, and to me it 
seems as good yet as many of the supposed im¬ 
proved new types. Of course it does not compare 
Eeckhautei. 
with the dwarfer and handsomer A. glandulosa, 
which has the tips of the petals white to contrast 
with the dark blue sepals. Then another of the 
finest species is A. chrysantha, more or less yellow ; 
A. grandiflora alba, white, A. canadensis, which is 
very conspicuous with crimson and yellow sheaths 
of flower heads. From these of course have been 
raised such fine strains as Cannell’s selected Cock- 
spur Aquilegias, which are of moderate height, very 
vigorous and floriferous, besides having a wide 
range of colours. The red and yellow shades pre¬ 
dominate. They may be raised from seeds by 
anyone who possessed a small greenhouse or even a 
Dracaena 
