September 17, 1904. 
The Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly.”— Wordsworth. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles, j 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World s 
will give a cash prize of Ten Shillings for \ 
THE BEST PARAGRAPH, Or SHORT ARTICLE, Sent 
by readers during the week. The Editor’s > 
judgment must be considered final, and he will \ 
be at liberty to use any of the contributions ^ 
sent in. The paragraph, or article, must not 'i 
exceed one column in length, but the value, 
' rather than the length, of the article wiil be 
( considered in making the award. Competitors v 
may send in items of news or comments on '■ 
news; hints of practical interest to gar- / 
deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers ; 
successful methods of propagating plants ^ 
usually considered difficult; or contributions ) 
ON ANT SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE 
of gardening proper. Letters should be ! 
addressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi¬ 
tion, ’’ ana posted not later than Friday night > 
to ensure insertion in the issue of next week. 
The following Coloured 
Plates have appeared in 
recent numbers :— 
July 4.— APHELANDRA AURANTIACA 
ROEZLII. 
August 1.— BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. 
September 12.— SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
October 3 — LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 
TYPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
Novembei 14.— ROSE MME. N. LEVA- 
VASSEUR. > 
January 2 — HYBRID TEA-SCENTED > 
ROSE IRENE. s 
s January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA > 
' COUNTESS OF WARWICK. 
;■ February 27. -A FINE STRAIN OF i 
; GLOXINIAS. < 
< April 2. — WISTARIA MULTIJUGA 
RUSSELLIANA. s 
May 7 —CACTUS DAHLIA DAINTY. 
June 4.— CACTUS DAHLIA SPITFIRE. 
July 16.— ROSE LADY BATTERSEA. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the ' 
publishers, price 2^d. post free. 
This week we present a Half-tone ,> 
Plate of 
ROSE BEN CANT. 
Next week we shall give a Half-tone \ 
Plate of 
ROSA NOISETTIANA. I 
■ The prize last week in the Readers’ 
Competition was awarded to “J. C.,” 
; for his article on “ Renovating the 
Rock Garden,” p. 729. 
Views and Reviews. 
Aldenham House Gardens. 
On August 27th we gave an account of 
some of the rare shrubs and tree® grown in 
the gardens and grounds of Lord Aldenham, 
Aldenham House, Elstree, Herts, but on 
this occasion we intend to deal with the 
herbaceous.border®, glasshouse®, and a fine 
series of climbers, trained on the walls around 
the grounds in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the mansion. 
On approaching ithe gardens from the gar¬ 
dener’s lodge, the visitor very soon come® 
in contact with the border's of Michaelmas 
Daisies, which are such a feature of Aldem- 
ham Houso during the autumn. About 150 
species and varieties are grown, including 
the mo®t valuable and ornamental, together 
with forty fine varieties, which have been 
raised by the gardener, Mr. E. Beckett, in 
the gardens here. What would most im¬ 
press the visitor is the amount, of care which 
is bestowed upon these: Michaelmas Daisies, 
and the well-attended appearance which they 
present. Only a. limited number of stems 
are allowed to grow in, each clump, and these 
are staked out separately so. as not to inter¬ 
fere with one another. Owing toi this special 
treatment, every stem has made a proper 
development, branching freely, and retaining 
it® foliage 'to the base. 
This is as perennial Aster’s or Michaelmas 
Daisies should be treated, and those who 
love this class of plant® could scarcely give 
them less treatment if they once tried it, and 
saw the different effect upon, the plants and 
their ornamental value. It is by far too 
common a. practice in gardens to drive: in a 
single stake and tie the whole clump or bush 
together in one wisp. Instead of 'that, the 
cultivator ivould do: well to remove the half, 
or even the greater number of the stems that 
come up naturally, and then give the re¬ 
mainder 'the proper attention which they de¬ 
serve. It: is work well done:, and the reward 
is sure in -the results that follow. Some time 
ago Mr. A. E. Thatcher, at present writing 
our calendar on the hardy herbaceous border, 
gave an account of the treatment he advised 
for Asters, and we find that his own instruc¬ 
tions have been carried out to: the letter at 
home. Twelve varieties of Michaelmas 
Daisies are grown in a long, narrow bed, con¬ 
sisting of a single line: of plants, and the 
method of training gives them the appear¬ 
ance of a low hedge of great beauty. 
Not less important was a long border in 
the kitchen garden devoted to Pentstem-ons. 
Only ai few varieties are grown, but those are 
certainly both select and choice, and the 
effect, when in full bloom, is something mar¬ 
vellous. They had been flowering for some 
time previous to our visit on August 19th, 
and 'had the appearance of continuing for 
weeks after that date. One of the best 
which we noted was Lord Aldenham, crimson 
with a white throat. Other choice and hand¬ 
some varieties were George: Home, scarlet 
red, with rose segments and a white throat; 
Lord Lister, with darker flowers, and a purer 
white throat than the previous one ; Rachael, 
white with a pink edging to the Segments. 
This latter is the best o-f the nearly whi. e 
Pentstemons. 
Several very fine varieties have been 
raised by Mr. Beckett, including Vicary 
Gibbs, crimson-purple with dark segments 
and lightly striped in the white throat; and 
the Hen. Edith Gibbs, with very dark purple- 
red flowers and white on the inside of the 
tube:. Another very pretty variety was 
Mrs. E. Beckett, with rosy pink tube and 
darker edges to the segments, the tube bein^ 
white inside'. All of these Pentstemons were 
allowed plenty -of space between one another, 
the-different varieties being planted in lines 
along thisi very long border by the side of a 
walk. The effect needs only to be: seen to be 
appreciated. On the other side of this walk 
early flowering Chrysanthemums were 
planted, inluding Piercy’s Seedling, white 
St. Cro-uts, the golden yellow Flora, and the 
pure white Mrs 1 . Cullingford. 
Elsewhere we came upon a beautiful Pent- 
si'tanon, named Crimson Gem, with crimson- 
red flowers and a maroon-crimson patch in 
the throat. The flowers are not so large as 
those of the varieties previously mentioned, 
but the odour is very striking. Very fine 
was Montbretia Rayon d’Or, with lorge 
orange-yellow flowers and a crimson zone in 
the centre. Lobelia Andrew Barlow 'has 
purple flowers and bronzy foliage. The 
Pink named Dianthus Dan'cici was notable 
for the large terminal fascicle of deep rose 
flowers which it carried. Several Phloxes 
are in cultivation with variegated leaves, and 
the finest we noted was Paul Kruger, with 
broad creamy white edges to the leaves, and 
salmon flowers with a crimson eye. The 
Cape Figwort (Phygelius mp-ensis) succeeds 
splendidly here. It commenced bloomino 1 
about 'the middle of July, and usually con¬ 
tinues till Christmas. The stem® usually 
die down or get killed back in winter. 
