Yellow Heath

YELLOW HEATH, Erica Carendishian

ERICA Carendishiana derives its name from having been formerly known as the "Duke of Devonshire's golden heath." Its history is involved in some obscurity. It came into being anterior to the days of illustrated horticultural periodicals, and therefore obtained less attention than such a fine plant would have attracted at the present day on first appearing as a novelty. It was raised by the Messrs. Rollison and Sons, of the celebrated Tooting Nurseries, by fertilising the flowers of Erica depressa with the pollen of E. Patersoni. Both these have yellow flowers, and the Cavendish hybrid is a finer plant than either of them, and particularly well adapted for specimen cultivation. In the times that are spoken of as the "palmy days of Chiswick," the Cavendish heath was eminently fashionable, and Mr. Fairbairn, of Clapham, used to exhibit enormous specimens in a wondrous state of health and beauty. But even in these degenerate days we occasionally see it in perfect trim as a specimen plant, among the most successful cultivators of recent years being Mr. Thomas Baines, formerly of Bowdon, and Messrs. Cole, of Withington. At the present time among the ablest men in handling the plant are Mr. Cypher, of Cheltenham, and Mr. Tudgey, of Waltham.

Between the growing of gigantic specimens, and the neat little plants that suit an amateur's greenhouse, there is considerable difference. A collection of heaths may be formed and kept at little expense, and to speak the truth about them, they are very easy to grow, and also very easy to kill; and the failures that occur usually represent a waste of delicate attentions. When housed with bedding plants and kept warm and close all the winter, and liberally and frequently watered, they die and do not come to life again. They belong to the more breezy and bracing climates of the Cape, and in cultivation require free ventilation, very moderate allowances of water, abundance of light, and to be guarded against all extremes of heat, cold, drought, and humidity. The men who succeed best with heaths group them in airy spacious houses with other plants of like character, such as hedaromas and epacrises, and other "hard-wooded plants." But a considerable proportion of the Cape heaths are so nearly hardy that, with ordinary care, a brick pit without any fire-heat will suffice for their safe wintering. The great point is to protect them from damp, towards effecting which perfect cleanliness and systematic ventilation will contribute in the most direct manner.

Wallflower

THE WALLFLOWER, Cheiranthus Cheir

THE wallflower is a prominent member of the cheerful family of "old-fashioned" flowers, and obviously takes its name from the circumstance that it thrives on walls, which, indeed, it often adorns in a most extravagant and delightful manner, making them mountains of perfume and beacons of fire. I was much struck with the glow of an old bastion at Amiens in April last, as the sun-shine streamed through its ruddy bloom of wallflower, and I very gladly remembered, in connection with the charming spectacle, the lines of Bernard Barton, in reference to the wallflowers of Leiston Abbey--

"And where my favourite abbey rears on high

Iris

THE IRIS, Iris Germanic

IRIS was the daughter of Thaumas and Electra, and her office was that of messenger to Juno. Therefore it is that in the "Iliad" and the "AEneid" this "lady of colour" has important business to transact, and, as a matter of course, her traffic between heaven and earth is facilitated by that prehistoric railroad and aerial bridge, the "bow bent in the sky," resplendent with in-numerable tints. The hues of the rainbow are seen in the human eye, for in truth the bow is there--

"Bespeaking our fears, dissolving in tears,

Tacsonia

TACSONIA, Tacsonia Van Volxem

PASSION-FLOWERS and tacsonias are so nearly related, that it is for botanical rather than horticultural purposes that they are separated, as will be shown in the Synopsis, where technical matters admit of treatment more conveniently than here. It may be stated at once that the plant represented by the accompanying plate is the finest climber known to cultivation for a spacious conservatory or cool plant-house. A temperature not lower than 40 degree will keep it safely through the winter, and from May to November the natural temperature suffices; or, in other words, it needs no aid from artificial heat except during the four or five winter months, and then only sufficient to keep it safe from frost. It is of no use to plant this rampant grower in a small house; and to attempt to grow it in a pot is about as unreasonable as to attempt to raise eagles in canary cages.

There are times when "comparisons are odious;" in the present case they might be ridiculous, for there is no plant at our command that could be put before, or even beside, this magnificent beauty; for even the lapageria, lovely as it is, becomes nothing when we have seen Tacsonia Van Volxemi in a thorough state of prosperity in a great conservatory, where it is quite at home.

Hawthorn

THE HAWTHORN, Cratoegus oxyacanth

IF the "milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale" had, as a literary subject, been "unattempted yet in prose or rhyme," the temptation would at this moment be too strong to be resisted. But turn to the books, dear reader, and see that whoever could say or sing something in its praise has made the most of his advantage. The history of the thorn has in consequence grown to vast proportions. We may therefore devote the small space at our disposal to a new essay on the place of the thorn in the garden; and we begin by saying that the double variety here figured represents a very important and splendid section of thorns that, in the most proper sense of the term, may be described as pictorial and garden trees.

It may be said of the thorns that they are more accommodating than any equally handsome class of hardy deciduous trees. Go to Lincoln's Inn Fields in June, and there you shall see, flowering freely, a fine collection of varieties of Cratoegus oxyacantha in a most thriving state in the very heart of smoky London, where earth and air have been poisoned by coal-smoke for centuries. Go to Troutbeck in July, and walk up the Vale to Kirkstone Pass, and you may see thousands of hawthorns blooming gaily, and you may note by the herbage and the colour of the soil that they are all located on a basis of starvation, where oaks and elms would no more grow than they would on a cheeseplate. And you may go to Cobham Park, and see huge "creeping" thorns thriving in a good soil that produces the finest timber; and after this, wherever you meet with thorns, you will probably note that they are almost careless of conditions, as though endowed with a special power of adapting themselves to any circumstances short of being made into faggots and put upon the fire. And they adapt themselves to that fairly well, for thornwood is capital fuel, but the adaptation is of quite a temporary nature.

Globe Flower

GLOBE FLOWER, Trollius Europaeu

GLOBE flowers and marsh marigolds may be described as the finest of all the buttercups that adorn moist meadows and riverside wastes. They may be seen flowering together in the same fields, but generally speaking the marsh marigold, or caltha, has finished its course with joy and settled down to quiet rest ere the globe flower furnishes its golden cups to make the meadow gay. The British globe flower has been honourably associated with the custom of decorating churches with garlands, but is now not much sought for that purpose. But we have seen it plentifully used in the well dressings in the Peak country, making a beautiful fringe to the inscription wrought out in other flowers, "Water is the gift of God," or "Health and temperance are good old friends." It is one of the palest coloured and least polished of the yellow flowers of the ranunculus family, but it is a truly beautiful flower, with some fine points for the observant artist, and will serve as a lesson for the observant amateur in its love of a deep rich moist soil, for this is a special peculiarity of a majority of its kindred.

The several species of Trollius are good garden plants, compact in growth, and not given to rambling; deep rooting and well able to take care of themselves in a suitable, well-drained soil; liking moisture indeed, but requiring to be protected against stagnant water near the surface. They are proper border plants, of little use for grouping, but showing well in large clumps. They may be propagated from seeds and by divisions of the root. It is only when a large stock is required that seeds should be sown, although to raise them is a very simple matter. It is best always to sow in pans or boxes as soon as ripe, and shut up in an old frame; or, lacking the accommodation, the seed may be sown on a sheltered border, and the spot should be marked with a tally, to prevent disturbance and insure timely removal of weeds as fast as they appear. The seeds will not germinate until the following spring, and if the plants are pricked out when large enough to handle, a nice bed of light soil being selected for the purpose, one year's growing will make flowering specimens of them, although for fine clumps we must wait four or five years. When a few plants only are wanted, the roots should be divided in August or September, and the divisions at once planted where they are to remain. To divide into many small pieces will be to risk loss of all in the winter, therefore it is true economy to be content with cutting a strong root into two or three parts, as, though it may appear an easy matter to cut it into a dozen or more, the expert propagator alone is to be trusted to cut the roots of such plants to so great an extent.

Sweet Pea

THE SWEET PEA, Lathyrus odoratu

IT is a singular circumstance that the sweet pea has been commonly regarded as a half-hardy annual, whereas it is as hardy as any pea in cultivation, and the seed may not only be sown in February in the open ground, but in November, and if the mice do not eat it the winter will not kill it, and in due time the plants will appear with the sunshine of the early spring. But this fine plant deserves extra care, and should never be grown in a careless manner. It is the custom with many gardeners to sow the seed in pots and nurse the young plants in frames, but we prefer to sow them where they are to remain, and to defer doing this until the middle of March, for if the plants come up with a flush of warm weather before the frosts are over, they are apt to be nipped, and transplanting puts them back, so that to raise them in pots for the purpose is decidedly objectionable. Thus we simplify the ordinary cultivation, but we must urge that what is done should be done well. A piece of mellow soil in an open situation should be prepared, by being well dug and rather liberally manured, in autumn or winter, and when the seed is sown this should be dug over again and the lumps broken to make a nice seed-bed; then sow in a neat drill an inch and a half deep, and very soon after the plants appear put to them stakes of brushwood about four feet high, selecting for this purpose the neatest and most feathery pea-sticks you can find. Peas that are grown to eat may be supported roughly, but peas that are grown to be admired for their beauty should be supported in the neatest manner possible; therefore wire trellises and "rissels" made for the purpose may with advantages be employed, especially when the peas occupy a prominent situation in the garden.

In the event of dry hot weather occurring early in the summer, sweet peas should be liberally watered two or three times a week, and if the natural soil is sandy or chalky it may be advisable to mulch the rows with half-rotten stable dung, which, if needful, can be concealed with a sprinkling of earth. To keep them flowering freely to the end of the season, all the pods should be removed upon becoming visible, and the plants, being thus relieved of the tax upon their energies the swelling of the seed would entail, will maintain their vigour more completely, and flower the more freely in consequence.