LINARIAS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19802, 29 May 1926, Page 3

LINARIAS.

One of the least rampant of the trailing Toadflaxes is Linaria (Chaenorrhinum) origanifolium, u trailing alpine from the Pyrenees. It makes a neat little mat of dull green foliage which is adorned the summer through with purple blooms. In a free, warm soil L. origanifolium will prove quite permanent, _ but it is a sun lover, and in certain districts may be the better for some protection from excessive rain and soil splash. It is an admirable subject for a dry moraine. L. alpina is generally accorded the place of honour in this genus, and well it deserves it, for in all its forms it is a singularly charming plant. Unfortunately, however, it is by no means perennial in many gardens, the plants even though self-sown gradually disappearing through no apparent cause. It has been stated that fresh soil will restore L. alpina as basic slag will bring clover into a lawn, and there is doubtless something in the assertion. A., hepaticaefolia, the smallest in leaf and flower of the creeping species, is a beautiful little plant, hugging the soil or the rocks as closely as Arenaria balearica and all the season through its pretty foliage i? beset with the little purple flowers. But delightful as it is, even this dainty thing is not one to risk among the choicer inhabitants of the rock garden. I use it about steps and flagged walks, where it can safely be left to ramp as much as it will and for such a purpose it is an ideal subject. Many of the annual Linarias are very lovely, with their slender, flax-like stems and terminal spikes of many-hued flowers. Few annuals are more easily grown, the seed being sown thinly in spring where the plants are to flower. L. reticulata, with purple flowers, and its varieties in rosylilac, orange and other tints, is one of the best of these. L. marocoana. which gives us violet, blue, pink, rcse-carmine and other shades, should also be noted. Then there is L. multi-punctnta, only about 6in tall, with velvety black flowers speckled with gold, and various useful hybrids. All of the above, save L. multi-punctata, are about Ift in height. They should be sown in generous patches to be effective.—J., in the Gardeners’ Chronicle.