p 
HYBRID CAPE AND BEDDING PELARGONIUMS. 
133 
inconvenience. Wire baskets have been sometimes used, but these, if of iron, are soon liable to rust 
away in the damp atmosphere of an orchid house, or if of copper are expensive. 
“ Baskets” formed of terracotta, or of any other fine earthenware may be advantageously employed, 
and the annexed figures are given as suggestions of the kind of form they may take for plants of 
different habit, the more openly constructed being intended for such as the Stanhopeas, which push 
out their flowering stems downwards, through the medium in which they are planted ; the other for 
any kinds which throw their flowering stems erect, or above the surface of the soil. It will be obvious 
that the patterns may be varied to an indefinite extent. 
HYBRID CAPE AND BEDDING PELARGONIUMS. 
F LOWER gardening in this country is assuming quite a new character, and instead of the eternal 
beds of Verbenas and Scarlet Pelargoniums, enquiries are constantly being made for various coloured 
varieties that are suitable for that purpose. Three years back, our attention was directed to the sub¬ 
ject ; and the accompanying plate is the result of the progress we have' so far made. Some of the 
varieties are exquisitely beautiful, and perfectly dissimilar from anything in cultivation in the same 
way; while in the case of P. denticulatum superbum, it will be seen that we have made some little 
progress towards getting good flowers upon the lovely and Fern-like foliage of the radula and denti¬ 
culatum species. Beyond this, however, at present we cannot go, the young plants being quite sterile 
and mule-like. But time will moderate their luxuriance, and then possibly seed may be procured, 
though in some cases it is found almost impossible to get a plant to produce seed by the pollen of an¬ 
other variety, though it will bear freely by its own. This is more especially the case with some of the 
Cape species, which require great perseverance and patience to get them to bear seed. 
Another distinct and very remarkable variety is P. Sidonia variegatum, a kind which promises to 
become one of the most desirable acquisitions of the flower garden. The flowers, it will be seen, are 
almost identical with those of the parent, and are quite as profusely produced. At present it is not our 
intention to part with this variety, as we wish to make another step a-head before it goes out of our 
hands; but persons desirous to possess it may forward their orders, which will be executed in strict 
rotation—possibly in the autumn of 1853. P. quercifolium roseum is a seedling between radula and 
Unique or quercifolium superbum, raised by Mr. Kempster, gardener to E. Fellows, Esq., Blackheath 
Park. It is a pure hybrid, and so far quite barren, producing neither pollen itself, nor seed by the 
pollen of other kinds; but Time, that great ameliorator of all things, may change its nature, and pos¬ 
sibly induce fruitfulness; at least we hope so. Like the Uniques it is a very free-blooming kind, pro¬ 
ducing a truss of flowers at every joint, and a regular succession of them from March until October. 
It is of free growth, and the trusses are of good size, considerably too large to be represented full size. 
The foliage is particularly handsome, and much stronger (that is of greater substance) than any variety 
we know. For bouquets a truss and a leaf are quite sufficient. 
P. formosissimum carneum is a hybrid from P. formosissimum of Sweet’s Geraniaceae, with one of 
the fancy varieties, possibly Jenny Lind, and it will be seen that the flowers are considerably better 
formed and the foliage stronger than the parent plant, indeed, the foliage itself, without flowers, would 
make the plant attractive. The flowers are profusely produced, and are very attractive. This plant 
was also raised by Mr. Kempster, and was shown at Chiswick, in 1851, in the class for “ entirely dis¬ 
tinct crosses;” but, strange to say, it was not noticed by the censors, though a variety almost identical 
with it, but not so good, exhibited by Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son in June last, at the same 
place, was rewarded with a prize. So much for censorship ! Of the preceding varieties P. denticu¬ 
latum superbum, and the “Rose Unique” have both sweet foliage, and hence are very desirable on that 
account, but it is to the following variety, P. odoratissimum punctatum that the lover of sweet scents 
will rush with satisfaction. Most persons know the old Prince of Orange, or its variegated variety; 
this kind is quite as sweet, and is thus described by the National Floricultural Society, where it was 
§ 
