74 
THE GARDENING WORLD , 
January 28, 1905. 
place to three or five dark purple veins, Some of the flowers 
show the colour dispersed along the hack of the segments in 
the form of mottled specks, as if the flowers were clouded. It 
was in bloom at the beginning of the year in some collections, 
and the other week we saw it in the Alpine House at Kew. 
Callicarpa purpurea. 
This old-fashioned plant, though seldom met with, is well 
worthy of cultivation where decorative plants are in demand. 
The flowers are immediately followed with berries, which, 
when coloured, are a beautiful mauve colour, which hang on 
for several months. After the plants have been cut back in 
the spring and started into growth, the young shoots should 
be taken off, selecting short-jointed cuttings, which should be 
put several in a 3-in. pot, using equal parts loam, leaf-mould, 
sifted, and silver sand. Place them in the propagating pit 
and keep close till rooted. When they are fit for potting off 
they should be put into 60-size pots in a good mixture of 
loam, leaf-soil, sifted horse-droppings, and a sprinkling of 
silver sand. When they are established they should be 
pinched. After the laterals have made several leaves they 
should be pinched again. Keep them in a temperature of 
from 60 deg. to 65 deg., and the beginning of August they 
should be put into 6-in. pots. They should have plenty of 
light and air, especially when they are in flower. They should 
be showy plants by November, when they will be -well berried. 
If large plants are needed, they should be cut back in Feb¬ 
ruary. Put them in a temperature of 60 deg. Keep them 
syringed to assist them to break, when they should be shaken 
out and their ball reduced and treated the same as here men¬ 
tioned. A. J. 
Hardy Cyclamens. 
Among the many beautiful hardy flowering plants which 
we have for the embellishment of our gardens, I think the 
charming little hardy Cyclamens are deserving of wider cul¬ 
tivation than is at the present time extended to them. 
Whether planted out in the rockery or on a border interspersed 
amongst Ferns, under the shade of trees, and undoubtedly it is 
in such situations they are found to thrive with most success, a 
colony of these little exquisite plants when once established, 
throwing up their delightfully coloured flowers at all seasons 
of the year, possesses a charm of its own amongst the many 
occupants of the garden. 
From seed sown in pans in early summer and allowed to 
germinate in a cold frame, plenty of young plants should soon 
be available for planting out into permanent quarters. Should 
the existing soil prove to be of a too retentive nature, it is 
advisable to incorporate with it a quantity of old mortar 
rubbish, peat, and leaf-soil, and providing they are at all times 
supplied with plenty of moisture, no difficulties whatever 
should occur with their successful management. 
Another good method of treating this interesting section of 
Cyclamen is to grow them in pans, affording the protection of 
a cold frame. When this method is adopted the pans should 
be well drained, and a rich, friable, open compost employed; 
if they are then removed from the frames early in the year 
and brought into a cool house, an abundance of cheeiy flowers 
will be the reward for the little extra attention devoted to 
them, and will never fail to be highly appreciated. As a result 
of the attention the hybridist has paid to these little gems of 
hardy plants, there are at the present time so many beautiful 
varieties that even the most fastidious should find no difficulty 
in making a selection. 
C. africanum may be characterised by its rather large, heart- 
shaped, silvery-zoned foliage, the flowers being rose colour and 
very fragrant. 
C. Coum and its varieties, album, roseum and lilacinum, are 
all delightful little plants, affording varied and delicately 
coloured flowers. 
C. europaeum is a veiy free and effective species, with bright 
rose flowers. 
C. Atkinsii produces rosy-red flowers. There is also a white 
form of this hybrid variety. C. neapolitanum (syn. hederae- 
folium), the Ivy-leaved Cyclamen, affords us a neat, compact 
plant, having beautifully marbled foliage and rosy-pink 
flowers. 
C. libanotioum is quite an acquisition and should be found 
a place in every collection. C- repandum has deep green 
foliage, and produces flowers of a bright crimson colour. 
T. G. F. 
Hardy Winter Flowers. 
Many lovers of a garden are under the impression there is 
no beauty in an open-air garden during the winter months, 
and comparatively nothing that gives colour to the garden 
during this time. This arises from lack of knowledge. During 
the whole year—unless it be in a severe frost—no garden need 
be without flowers, however small, except those near laige 
towns, where the atmosphere is charged with smoke, etc., if 
thought and attention are given to the things grown. 
Tne past autumn and the present winter have shown the 
value of late blooming and mid-winter hardy plants that give 
colour and help to brighten the dull season both in the open 
air and to cut from for filling glasses, etc. Everyone should 
strive to obtain tins from his garden. I am convinced if a 
large proportion of those having a garden would devote more 
attention to this end and less to many tender plants for the 
open in summer, they would derive far more pleasure and 
profit. 
In mentioning a few of the many useful kinds that are orna¬ 
mental at this season, I will refrain from naming evergreen 
kinds, and add those that have been in bloom in our garden 
during the last six or seven weeks. 
I never remember seeing the yellow naked-leaved Jasminum 
nudiflorum bloom so abundantly and having such large blooms 
that have not been damaged by frost as during these 
weeks. We can cut shoots upwards of 2 ft. long, a wreath of 
yellow. Where the plants are allowed a free growth, and this 
is where they are seen at their best, cut and mingled with 
hardy Ferns, etc., they are lovely for decoration. " 
Garrya elliptica can hardly be over-praised ; the long cat¬ 
kins are most ornamental. Grown as a bush, the plant is 
valuable, and may be kept small by pruning in spring. In 
veiy cold districts this makes a good wall plant. The female 
kind has no merit from a bloom point of view and is seldom 
grown. It may not be known that shoots with the long catkins 
last much longer in a cut state when they are aged. 
Chimonanthus fragrans (or Winter Sweet) should be grown 
in ever} 7 garden. Although it is not very ornamental, the 
scent is delicious. It is generally grown as a wall shrub, but 
is quite at home as a bush in sheltered situations. I have seen 
it bloom most abundantly on a wall by pinching the growth 
in summer, as with Plums, etc. 
Lonicera fragrantissima, as the name implies, is equally 
charming. The blooms are small and white. This blooms 
abundantly on a south wall with us on an aged plant, where 
the knife is not used too freely, all through the winter months. 
Laurustinus, I am aware, does not thrive in every garden. 
Many would succeed with this who do not now if they chose a 
sheltered spot, and induced the plant to ripen its wood by not 
growing too freely. In our garden it blooms more freely sur¬ 
rounded by big trees than when in the open, from the wood 
not being so large, and It does not suffer from frost, 
Christmas Roses have been lovely quite in the open. 
The Bath variety has large blooms and stems 8 in. to 10 in. 
long. By growing this and maximus, a long season may be 
had, and a little glass shelter is helpful in frost. 
Hardy hybrid Polyanthus and Primroses are quite full of 
bloom and present a wealth of colour. Violets also and our 
first Snowdrop were gathered on January 8th. Many other 
things could be named all helpful at this season. 
J, C. F. A. 
