|je Gardening World, March 13 , 1909 . 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ Before a leaf bud has burst, its whole life 
cts; in the full blown flower there is no 
nore; in the leafless root there is no less.” 
-Emerson. 
CONTENTS. 
Amateur's Letter to Amateurs, An 169 
Aspidistra, The Propagation of 
(illus.) . 174 
Jellflower, Rainer’s (illus.) . 171 
leans (Broad), Notes on . 176 
Competition Awards . 170 
Competition, Prize Letter . 172 
Inquire Within •.. 180 
•lower Garden, The (illus.) . 177 
7 ruit Garden, The (illus.) . 178 
Geraniums (Zonal), Wintering . 176 
Gladiolus Brenchleyensis, Culture of 175 
Greenhouse, The Amateur’s . 178 
Hydrangea, The Propagation of the 
Common (illus.) . 176 
Kitchen Garden, The (illus.) . 178 
Orchids' for Amateurs . 1 79 
Peas (Garden), Sowing (illus.) . 173 
Rhubarb, The Culture of . 173 
Scabious, The Caucasian (illus.) ... 171 
Sweet Pea Mrs. Charles Masters 
(illus.) . 175 
Vine Borders, Renovating . 17° 
White Flowers for Cut Blooms . 17° 
Work of the Week . >77 
Suass aud Rosas. 
I looked where the roses ivere blowing, — - 
They stood among grasses and reeds ; 
I said, ‘ Where such beauties are growing, 
Why suffer these paltry weeds ? ” 
Weeping, the poor things faltered, 
“We have neither beauty nor bloom, 
We are grass in the Roses’ garden— 
But our Master gives us this room. 
"We have fed His humblest creatures, 
We have served Him truly and long; 
He gave no grace to our features — 
We have neither colour nor song. 
“Yet He who has made the Roses 
Placed us on the self-same sod ; 
He knows our reason for being — 
We are grass in the garden of God.'’ 
—James Freeman Clarke. 
It is an interesting phase of gardening 
to make a collection of the varieties that 
belong to a family. Take the hard} 
Primulas for instance, a charming sprmg- 
flowering family that can become a ver) 
interesting feature of the garden. Then, 
again, the Campanulas—these will be for 
summer flowering, and always make a 
good display where suitably placed, The 
present is an excellent time to consider 
this matter, either to purchase plants or 
to obtain the seed and rear them in this 
manner. Primroses, Auriculas, Pol)an- 
thuses — all of these familiar plants are of 
the Primulaceae family with many more 
charming varieties. Some corner of the 
rock garden, perhaps, we may devote to 
them, and seeds may be sown now under 
glass, or a little later without its aid, for 
often the seeds germinate all the better 
for cool conditions. I always think the 
spirit of place should be realised in our 
flowers ; it adds much to their interest to 
know their native haunt. Thus we have 
in P. capitata (a very late flowering 
variety), P. mollis, P. rosea and P. sik- 
kimensis, four varieties that have come 
to us from India from the Himalayan 
Mountains, and also the more familiar 
P. denticulata. We have alpine species 
in P. marginata and P. Auricula alpina, 
and varieties from Japan in P. japonica 
and P. Sieboldii. If I wished for a small 
selection I know that my choice would be 
P. marginata, a very choice and beautiful 
type, P. calycina, P. spectabilis, P. Sie¬ 
boldii and P. sikkimensis; these first, 
and then P. denticulata. P. japonica and 
P. rosea. We must not omit the old- 
fashioned double Primroses, which can¬ 
not, however, be raised from seed, and I 
am especially pleased with a fine strain 
of what was sent to me as Primrose Poly¬ 
anthus ; the strain is yellow and surpris¬ 
ingly long flowering. The Primulas 
should not be in too sunny a position : 
some seem to like a raised position as 
P. denticulata; others much moister con¬ 
ditions, P. japonica, for instance, revel¬ 
ling in deep moist soil. I must confess 
that in growing from seed I much prefer 
sowing the seeds in pots even if the pots 
are to stand out of doors, rather than in 
the ground. The blue Primrose is worthy 
a place in some cool border, and quite 
easy to rear from seed. It should be 
given a position that gets very little sun¬ 
shine. as then its colour is richer and 
more lasting than in sun-baked spots. 
A Garden of Campanulas. 
Where there is a cool border looking 
north or east there I should be inclined 
to make a charming little garden of 
Campanulas. There is never any need to 
lament the possession of a sunless border 
as a northern border must be, but rather 
to covet it. Do not let us be satisfied 
with one or two of the commonest and the 
inferior varieties, but let us choose the 
choicest and the most beautiful Campa¬ 
nulas we can grow. So readily can we 
work up a stock from a single plant that 
-it will, if we desire it, be sufficient to 
buy only a plant or two of each kind. 
In one year I have raised over thirty good 
plants from a single specimen of C. 
persicifolia, because I wanted a long line 
of it. 
C. persicifolia grandiflora Backhousei 
perhaps touches the high-water mark of 
perfection. It is beautiful under favour¬ 
able conditions. C. Fergusoni is a new 
garden hybrid and worthy of a place, yes, 
even in close proximity to the previous 
variety. As particularly blue in colour, 
a pleasing blue, I must mention C. azurea 
and C. amabilis. To my mind the good 
old C. grandis, or C. latiloba, as it is 
sometimes called, is an excellent peren¬ 
nial, and it flowers well in drier and sun¬ 
nier situations than the majority of Cam¬ 
panulas care for. 
Among the dwarfer forms C. carpatica 
is one of the best dwarf in habit, the 
flowers are large in proportion and borne 
in a conspicuous and striking manner. 
This plant I have found very useful as 
an edging for a large bold border that 
is somewhat cold, and shaded, and the 
soil moist. Several improved forms of 
this fine variety have been introduced. 
White Star, and Riverslea (blue), are ex¬ 
cellent in every way. I remember once 
seeing an edging of the tiny white Hare¬ 
bell, C. pumila alba, encircling a round 
Rose bed ; the edging was a mass of the 
delicate white bells and very beautiful. 
A Pink Canterbury Bell. 
It always seems to me desirable to 
make a point of growing some pink Can- 
terbury Bells. The colour range of the 
Campanulas is curiously narrow and re¬ 
stricted, white and bluish-mauve for the 
most part, now and then a bluer blue, 
but with C. Medium, or Canterbury Bell, 
we may strike another note—we get pink, 
and a well grown pink Canterbury Bell 
has wonderful beauty. 
Illy readers who, perhaps, for years 
have grown their Campanulas on sunny 
borders, will question the wisdom of 
placing them in borders facing north or 
east, but let them make the experiment; 
at any rate, with a few plants, particu¬ 
larly those that are due to flower durng 
the first half of July, and it^vill be found 
that they remain in bloom almost twice 
the length of time, and that is why I have 
emphasised this point. A wet season does 
not make so much difference, but if it is 
a dry one, then the fact is surprisingly 
marked; and if the dead blooms of C. 
persicifolia and its varieties be picked off 
the stem, the second blooms will be as 
lasting as the earlier ones. 
If the plants are to be raised from 
seeds, good reliable seeds should be ob¬ 
tained, for there is but little satisfaction 
in growing poor inferior strains, and the 
worst of it is people do not always know 
how inferior their plants are. 
F. Norfolk. 
