MISCELLANEOUS. HELIOTROPE AMONG ROSES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2231, 3 December 1896, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS. HELIOTROPE AMONG ROSES.

There are probably many readers who have beds in their gardens devoted entirely to the culture of standard roses, and there are, perhaps, not a few who have often thought they would like to hide those bare ai.d by no means ornamental stem?. Heliotrope is the identical subject, and cannot very well be beat n, for it produces fine green foliage which will hide quite enough of the stock, and will bear flowers whoso fragrance will render tbe air delicious. At Hampton Court Gardens durit g one season several beds of standard roses were treated in tbis manner with heliotrope Lady Molesworth. The plants were placed close together so that a splendid mars of fragrant flowers formed a kind of carpet under the rests, and the two combined made a really imposing sight, and quite maintained the floral reputation of these wellknowß public gardens. — F. T. S., in Amateur Gardening. ; THE OLD CABBAGE ROSE. This is Rosa centifoiia, the hundred-leaved rose of Pliny, and was introduced from the Orient in 1596 ; it was will known in Italy long previous to introduction to Great Britain. This sweet-acented old favourite is not' grown so freely as it deserves. Not only should it meet with more respect as being the parent of numerous grand varieties, but it is one of our best for town gardens, and succeeds fairly well beneath trees. SPRING PHLOXFS. Few hardy spring flowers burpass in beauty the dwarf and creeping phloxes. They are mostly easy to grow, and, although usually seen with other alpioes in the rock garden, may be used in pretty and varied ways in the flower garden, especially as edgings or in broad masses on the margins of beds and borders. A bright, spring picture we once saw was the result of planting a poor, dry, stony slope that would hardly grow grass with Phlox amceoa, which covered many square yards of ground, and was a sheet of colour. It mak>-B little close cushions of growth, and the flowers — of a bright rose colour—^come in wonderful profusion, and last several weeks. P. eanadeneis is a lovely kind of a spreading habit, and at the present time is a perfect mass of blue flowers, -ou taller stems tbau those of the preceding kind. If; is a charming kiud, yet we. rarely see it in gardens. P. verna, or reptans, creeps ov.r the g-ound and throws up erect flower stalks, terminated by clusters of large, deep, rose flowers. It is a free, distinct, and graceful kind, although it does not make quite such dense masses of colour. P. setacea, with rosy flowers, is the type of a most useful race of garden forms, all of mossy, tufted growth, and most profuse and gay in bloom. The best of these are tbe bride, white with rosy carmine eye ; nivalis, pure white ; Nelsoni, snow white ; model, deep rose ; grandiflora, rosy mauve; fairy, white with deep coloured eye ; and pallida, pale lilac. — Field. VALUABLE PLANTS FREE. "The numbers of plants and seeds given away to railway men alone by tbe nobility, gentry, and lovers of gardening generally in Britain have been estimated to amount in their aggregate to many thousands of pounds annually, but the public has no conception of what the grand total of benefactions to all classes amounts to," said & great authority on floriculture. " Immense quantities of surplus plants and seeds, such as are always at the disposal of very rich peopla who keep gardeners, are given away to public and private institutions which possess grounds, and I could name at once at least three noblemen whose gifts in this way every year are of the value of from £2000 to £4000 each, this representing a prodigious number of plants. Only recently a Lancashire lady died who, though by no means supposed to be very rich, gave away nearly £1000 worth of gardening material every year to railway men, public parks, and various institutions. Ib is a form of gift little known to most people, but for the purposes of cottage gardening alona ' there are presented to the tenants of some estates, and to those with patches of ground in the vicinity of some towns, vast quantities, ef material, and of late yesrs come of (he more wealth; floriculturists occupy

a large portion of the time of their men in growing such plants as will be appreciated by cottage gardening enthusiasts: These gifts are increasing amazingly." PRETTY GROUP PLANTS. Very recently I was asktd to mention any plants easily ra ; sed from seed that were specially suitable for plant group decoration. I observed the other day in Mes-rs Sutton and Sons' nursery at Reading Amaranthus salicifolius, a Very perfect and most beautiful strain of plants »bout 24in in height, foliage long, narrow, elegantly droo{ir>g, aud of rich though varied colours. Tbis should make a ain,gular.y beautiful pon plant or for putting oun into flower beds or dense carpets. Then brilliantly coloured orange and red was Amaranthus tricolour spondees. This bas long but broader leafage, that is most richly marked, and forms a sirgulsriy, e.'egant plant. One other, full of grace and beauty, in plants 20in in height, having single gtout steins, was Oo3mt s biimiuata. This bas beautifully and very finely-cut di\ oping leafage. Each plant is, as geen ab Reading, as perfect in form »s could well be conceived, and could hardly be excelled for lightness and elegance. The foliage v green. All these things were raised f j om seed, sown under glass early in the spring, aud they were panted out into the opei! ground in June. That fact shows their adaptability for bedding. Tbe stock hero seems to be sturdier tfcun is that oi the common Cosmos. Double balsams, too, often grown in pots like scraggy scarecrows, are hero planted out ; supevb buuhcß, and if placed more thinly on carpets, would during the summer have a fine effect. The straiu, wbich includes many coliHir.l and grand double flowers, tbe plants dense and bloorairg pr< f us ly, is indeed a fine ore. Why cam o-j a.B good pUnts be seen in pots and under g'ass aa are here growing so finely outdoors ? — A. D., in the Journal of Horticulture. „______ _________