August  9,  1900, 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
131 
Hardy  Flower  Notes. 
A  HARDY  planteman  needs  to  be  a  cosmopolitan  in  his  gardening, 
and  must  welcome  a  flower  because  of  its  beauty,  whatever  part  of  the 
globe  may  have  given  it  birth.  The  subject  of  our  next  reference  comes 
from  that  great  land  with  whose  people  we  have  such  kinship — the 
United  States  of  America.  Galax  aphylla  is  not  of  noble  proportions, 
but  is  admired  because  of  its  modest  charms  of  flower  and  leaf.  One 
loves  to  look  at  it  nestling  at  the  foot  of  a  rockery  near  the  stones,  and 
partially  shaded  by  other  flowers,  though  fully  open  to  the  light.  Here 
it  is  very  charming,  with  its  fresh  green  leaves  and  its  spikes  of  pure 
white  flowers,  each  small,  but  forming  in  company  a  tapering  spirelet 
has,  however,  come  into  bloom,  and  now  that  it  has  fully  opened  one 
does  not  feel  disposed  to  regret  its  purchase,  inasmuch  as  it  is  really 
very  flne,  although  it  is  not  as  truly  double  as  the  old  white  C.  persici- 
folia  alba  plena.  It  is,  so  far  as  this  goes,  no  more  double  than  white 
and  lilac  forms,  which  have  been  here  for  several  years,  and  have  been 
known  as  “  semi-duplex.”  It  is  notwithstanding  a  very  beautiful  plant, 
with  dark  blue  glossy  flowers,  and  on  short  stems.  The  flowers  are 
very  large,  and  have  either  a  perfectly  formed  duplicate  of  the  outer 
petals  in  the  inside,  or  several  smaller.  It  is  an  acquisition  to  the 
beautiful  flowers  given  us  by  the  Peach-leaved  Campanula — flowers 
we  could  ill  spare  from  the  garden. 
Space  only  remains  for  another  new  plant,  but  this  time  one’s 
comments  must  be  of  an  unfavourable  character,  though  it  is  possible, 
but  hardly  probable,  that  future  years  may  make  one  like  it  better. 
Fig.  36.— the  WATER  LILY  HOUSE  AT  KEW. 
of  no  mean  beauty.  A  native  of  dry  woods  in  its  native  land,  it  is  not 
diflioult  to  lose  it  in  this  country,  as  we  are  apt  to  rush  from  the  one 
extreme  of  keeping  it  too  dry  to  the  other  of  keeping  it  too  wet,  in 
which  case  it  soon  departs  by  damping  off  gradually  at  the  neck.  I  find 
it  likes  to  have  about  half  an  inch  of  pure  sand  above  the  peaty  soil  in 
which  it  is  grown  here.  This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  one  has  come 
after  the  several  losses  caused  by  experimental  planting.  When  happy 
it  soon  sends  out  little  underground  runners,  and  thus  gives  one  the 
added  pleasure  of  seeing  it  increase. 
We  are  all  more  or  less  fond  of  novelty,  and  some  of  ns  desire  at 
least  to  see  what  the  new  flowers  are  like  in  our  own  gardens,  for  thus 
one  can  best  judge  of  their  qualities.  Even  new  varieties  of  old  plants 
are  often  worth  trying,  though  sometimes  they  are  no  improvement  on 
the  old.  Among  those  I  have  flowered  this  year  for  the  first  time  is  a 
new  variety  of  the  Peach-leaved  Bellfiower,  which  bears  the  lengthy 
name  of  Campanula  persicifolia  maxima  plena.  Although  it  came  to  me 
from  a  good  quarter,  I  have  had  some  doubt  about  it  being  good.  It 
The  plant  that  one  has  to  criticise  unfavourably  is  Achillea  Vandasi,  a 
fiower  whose  name  does  not  yet  appear  in  that  monumental  work  the 
“  Index  Kewensis.”  It  came  to  me  from  a  Continental  source, 
whence  one  sometimes  receives  good  new  plants.  In  this  instance  its 
probable  destination  will  be  the  rubbish  heap,  as  its  flowers  are  not 
very  attractive — less  so,  indeed,  one  thinks  than  those  of  our  native 
'  Achillea  millefolium.  It  has  flat  heads  of  a  dull  creamy  white,  and  is 
of  stiff  erect  habit.  It  cannot  be  considered  an  ornamental  plant  for 
the  garden. 
Disappointments  of  this  kind  are,  however,  incidental  to  the  garden 
of  hardy  flowers.  We  must  all  pay  for  our  experience,  and  we  have 
delights  enough  in  the  other  flowers  to  make  us  take  little  heed  of 
such  crosses.  As  we  look  at  the  colour  pictures  on  every  side  we  may 
readily  forget  this  Achillea,  and  feast  our  eyes  on  the  other  and  more 
beautiful  flowers.  There  are  golden  or  white  Qlnotheras,  single  and 
double  Pinks,  narrow  petalled  Erigerons,  spiny  Sea  Hollies,  golden 
Coronillas,  the  pretty  pink  and  white  Coronilla  varia,  the  pleasing 
