THE GARDENING WORLD. 
543 
August 17, 1907. 
The White German Catchtly (Lychnis Viscaria alba). Maclaren and Sons. 
'he White . . . 
German Catchfly 
(Lychnis Viscaria alba). 
The ordinary form of the German 
llatchfly with rose coloured flowers is a 
.ative of various parts of Europe, besides 
>eing a rare plant in this country, for 
nany years past gardeners have been de- 
ighted with the double form known as 
V. splendens, which is undoubtedly the 
inest garden plant of the lot. The white 
■ariety under notice is, however, a lovely 
hing when compared with the others, 
■ither single or double. White varie- 
ies are usually somewhat inferior to the 
ypes, but when planted in contiguity with 
hem they seem under the best conditions 
iy means of contrast. This then, we 
.onsider, is the proper way of using a 
vhite variety, by placing it alongside of 
iome of the dark forms whether single 
ir double. Another way of showing it 
ip to advantage is to plant a clump, 
jroup, or bed of it so as to form a mass. 
The accompanying illustration shows a 
ilant photographed in the Alpine House 
it Kew during the last week of May, and 
jives a good idea of the floriferous char- 
\cter of a small plant. Not only were 
he flowers pure white, but the calyx was 
creamy w T hite, showing it to be truly an 
albino. 
As a garden plant it is most at home 
on the rockery, both on account of its 
dwarf habit and the fact that the leaves 
are very short and liable to get injured 
when digging if planted in the ordinary" 
herbaceous border. The stems only 7 
grow 9 in. to 12 in. high, and coming as 
it does in May and the beginning of June, 
the plant may be regarded as a spring 
bloomer. On the rockery a well drained 
soil is almost guaranteed, and the plant 
will be happy in this respect during the 
winter. In the matter of soil, if a com¬ 
post has to be made up, it may 7 consist 
of two parts of loam, one part of leaf 
mould, and one part of sand. The com¬ 
post should, of course, be in direct con¬ 
tact with the ordinary soil of which the 
rockery is composed, and that should be 
of a porous nature if possible. The plant 
is perfectly hardy, although liable to 
suffer during winter in the neighbourhood 
of smoky towns owing to the filthy de¬ 
posit on’the foliage, which forms a dense 
mass, and holds the wet and filth brought 
down by the rain. 
Propagation may be effected by seeds 
or division. Only a certain percentage 
of the seedlings will be likely to have 
pure white flowers like the parent. A 
careful plantsman can, hoWe\ 7 er, get as 
many plants as he wishes by lifting the 
whole clump and separating each crown 
with a few roots if possible. In any 7 case, 
if a small portion of the rootstock is re¬ 
moved with the leaves this can be put 
in small pots of sandy soil and rooted as 
a cutting. In most cases, however, each 
crown would have a few roots attached 
if carefully separated by the hand and a 
knife occasionally to make sure of 
separating the crowns without breaking 
them. 
These young pieces, if potted up in 
spring, or after the plant has ceased 
flowering, can be put separately into 
thumb pots and potted on into larger 
ones as soon as they are rooted to en¬ 
courage the crowns to ramify and make 
nice flowering clumps for neixt year. 
Very small plants should be wintered in a 
cold frame to prevent slugs from destroy¬ 
ing them before growth commences in 
spring. 
-- 
Staging Carnations for Exhibition. 
Describing the fine show of the Carna¬ 
tion Society, held at Westminster on July 
24th, the f Pall Mall Gazette-'’ remarks: 
“Taste will have no hesitation in con¬ 
demning the practice of fixing the severed 
heads of Carnations in a white frame of 
cardboard, like Chinese malefactors in 
the cangue, and flattening them out wide 
in that helpless situation ; but then again 
it is very convenient.” 
