Orchis Fusca
Brown Orchis; Nat. Ord. Orchidaceæ
A rare and noble British species, terrestrial, and having a tuberous root of moderate size; the specific name does not always apply, as this species varies considerably in the colour of its flowers—certainly all are not brown. According to Gray, the flowers are "large, greenish-brown, brownish-purple, or pale ash grey;" the specimen from which our illustration (Fig. 69) was drawn may be said to be "brownish-purple," from its great number of brown spots; it is also slightly tinged with green. According to Linnæus, it is synonymous with O. Militaris, the Soldier, or Brown Man Orchis. Of the native kinds of Orchis, many of which are now getting very scarce, it is desirable to know what's what. But, as a garden flower, the one now under consideration has many points of merit. The plant is bold and portly, and the foliage ample compared with many of the genus. The head of flowers is large, numerous, and well lifted up, while, far from their least good quality, is that of their fine aromatic perfume.
Fig. 69. Orchis Fusca.
(One-fourth natural size; 1 and 2, natural size of flower.)
The full size of a flower is shown in the drawing. The sepals are seen to be broad, converging, and pointed; the lip, which is rough, is three-parted; lobes, unequal and ragged; the side ones are long and narrow, the middle lobe is twice notched in an irregular manner; the spur is straight with the stem; bracts, short; the flowers are densely produced, forming a compact bunch 3in. to 4in. long, on a spike rather over a foot tall; they continue in perfection three weeks or a month. The leaves are 9in. or more in length, lance-shaped, and fully an inch broad in the middle; they are of a pale, shining, green colour, the root leaves resting on the ground.
I find this Orchid capable of withstanding very rough treatment, but it requires some time (two years) to get fairly established. Silky loam and leaf soil are suitable for it; a moist situation, but in no way of a stagnant character, should be given, and the position should also be carefully selected, so as to secure the brittle and top-heavy flower spikes from strong winds, otherwise it will suffer the fate of hundreds of tulips after a gale. It is propagated by root division after the foliage has died off.
Flowering period, end of May to end of June.
Origanum Pulchellum
Beautiful Marjoram; Nat. Ord. Labiatæ
This is indeed a well-named species or variety, whichever it may be; little seems to be known of its origin, but that it is distinct and beautiful is beyond doubt. It shines most as a rock plant; its long and bending stems, which are somewhat procumbent, have as much rigidity about them as to prevent their having a weak appearance; the tips, moreover, are erect, showing off to advantage the handsome imbricate bracts, bespangled as they are with numerous rosy-purple blossoms. The long and elegant panicles of bracteæ, together with the pleasing arrangement thereof, are the main features of this subject.
The rosy flowers are very small, and have the appearance of being packed between the bracteoles; still, their gaping forms are distinctly traceable, but the pretty lipped calyxes are quite hidden; the bract leaves are roundly-oval, acute, cupped, and touched with a nutty-brown tint on the outer sides; the spikes have many minor ones, being as fine as a thread, covered with short soft hairs, and of a brown colour; the leaves are ¾in. long, oval, entire, and downy. The plant or shrub grows 18in. high. As already hinted, the habit is procumbent, the older flower stems being woody; not only is it a bright object for rockwork, but it is in its finest form when most other flowers are past. The branches are useful in a cut state; the slender spikelets, with their pale green and brown tinted bracts, are very pretty by gas light, and they keep well for a long time in water.
The Marjorams are fond of a dry situation, and this is no exception to that rule. Rockwork or raised beds of sandy loam suits it to perfection, provided the aspect is sunny. It will, therefore, be seen that there is nothing special about its culture, neither is there in its propagation; cuttings may be taken in summer, or the rooted shoots may be divided at almost any time.
It flowers from September to the time of severe frosts, and is in its greatest beauty in October.
Orobus Vernus
Peaseling, or Spring Bitter Vetch; Nat. Ord. Leguminosæ
A hardy herbaceous perennial; it flowers in very early spring, and sometimes sooner, but it is in full beauty in April, its blooming period being very prolonged. Not only is this bright and handsome pea flower worth attention being a very old subject of English gardens, but also because of its intrinsic merit as a decorative plant. I say plant designedly, as its form is both sprightly and elegant, which, I fear, the illustration (Fig. 70) can hardly do justice to—more especially its spring tints and colours.
Fig. 70. Orobus Vernus.
(One-fourth natural size.)
Pretty nearly as soon as the growths are out of the earth the flowers begin to appear. The greatest height the plants attain rarely exceeds a foot; this commends it as a suitable border plant. Individually the flowers are not showy, but collectively they are pleasing and effective. When they first open they are a mixture of green, red, blue, and purple, the latter predominating. As they become older they merge into blue, so that a plant shows many flowers in various shades, none of which are quite an inch long, and being borne on slender drooping stalks, which issue from the leafy stems, somewhat below the leading growths, the bloom is set off to great advantage. The foliage in form resembles the common vetch, but is rather larger in the leaflets, and instead of being downy like the vetch, the leaves are smooth and bright. In a cut state, sprays are very useful, giving lightness to the stiffer spring flowers, such as tulips, narcissi, and hyacinths. Rockwork suits it admirably; it also does well in borders; but in any position it pays for liberal treatment in the form of heavy manuring. It seeds freely, and may be propagated by the seed or division of strong roots in the autumn. Whether rabbits can scent it a considerable distance off, I cannot say, but, certain it is, they find mine every year, and in one part of the garden eat it off bare.
Flowering period, March to May.
Ourisia Coccinea
Nat. Ord. Scrophulariaceæ
A hardy herbaceous perennial from South America, as yet rarely seen in English gardens, and more seldom in good form. As may be judged by the illustration (Fig. 71), it is a charming plant, but it has beauties which cannot be there depicted; its deep green and shining leaves constitute wavy masses of foliage, most pleasing to see, and the short-stemmed, lax clusters of dazzling scarlet flowers are thereby set off to great advantage. I have no fear of overpraising this plant, as one cannot well do that. I will, however, add that it is a decorative subject of the highest order, without a single coarse feature about it; seldom is it seen without a few solitary sprays of flowers, and it is never met with in a seedy or flabby state of foliage, but it remains plump throughout the autumn, when it sometimes shows a disposition to indulge in "autumnal tints." Though seldom encountered, this lovely plant is well known, as it is pretty sure to be, from notes made of it and published with other garden news; but it has the reputation of being a fickle plant, difficult to grow, and a shy bloomer. I trust this statement will not deter a single reader from introducing it into his garden; if I had found it manageable only with an unreasonable amount of care, I would not have introduced it here. It certainly requires special treatment, but all the conditions are so simple and practicable, in even the smallest garden, that it cannot be fairly termed difficult, as we shall shortly see.
The flowers are 1½in. long, in form intermediate between the pentstemon and snapdragon, but in size smaller, and the colour an unmixed deep scarlet: they are produced on stems 9in. high, round, hairy, and furnished with a pair of very small stem-clasping leaves, and where the panicle of flowers begins there is a small bract, and less perfectly developed ones are at every joint, whence spring the wiry flower stalks in fours, threes, and twos, of various lengths and a ruddy colour. The panicles are lax and bending; the flowers, too, are pendent; calyx, five-parted and sharply toothed; stamens, four, and long as petals; anthers, large and cream coloured, style long and protruding. The leaves are radical, and have long, hairy, bending stalks; the main ribs are also hairy; beneath, they are of a deep green colour, bald, shining, veined and wrinkled; their form is somewhat heart-shaped, sometimes oval, lobed, but not deeply, and unevenly notched; they grow in dense masses to the height of 6in.
Fig. 71. Ourisia Coccinea.
(Plant, one-fourth natural size; 1, blossom, one-half natural size.)
It is said to like a peaty soil, in which I have never tried it. In the management of this plant I have found position to be the main desideratum; the soil may be almost anything if it is kept moist and sweet by good drainage, but Ourisia coccinea will not endure exposure to hot sunshine; even if the soil is moist it will suffer. I have large patches of it, 3ft. in diameter, growing in a mixture of clay and ashes, formed into a bank 18in. high, sloping north and screened by a hedge nearly 6ft. high from the midday sun, and shaded by overhanging trees; and I may also add that during the three years my specimens have occupied this shady, moist, but well drained position they have grown and flowered freely, always best in the deepest shade. As before hinted, there is a sort of special treatment required by this plant, but it is, after all, very simple. It is a slow surface creeper, should be planted freely in frequented parts of the garden, if the needful conditions exist, and no more beautiful surfacing can be recommended; grown in such quantities it will be available for cutting purposes. As a cut flower it is remarkably distinct and fine; it so outshines most other flowers that it must either have well selected company or be used with only a few ferns or grasses.
It is readily increased by division of the creeping roots, which is best done in early spring. If such divisions are made in the autumn, according to my experience, the roots rot; they should therefore be taken off either in summer, when there is still time for the young stock to make roots, or be left in the parent clump until spring, when they will start into growth at once.
Flowering period, May to September.
Papaver Orientale
Oriental Poppy; Nat. Ord. Papaveraceæ
The Oriental Poppy is a bold and showy plant, very hardy and perennial. There are several colours, but the bright scarlet variety is the most effective. Specimens of it which have become well established have a brilliant appearance during June; they are 3ft. high and attract the eye from a distance. Among other large herbaceous plants, as lupines, pæonies, thalictrums, &c., or even mixed with dwarf shrubs, they are grandly effective; indeed, almost too much so, as by the size and deep colour of the flowers they dazzle the eye and throw into the shade the surrounding flowers of greater beauty. The kinds with brick-red and other shades are comparatively useless. Their flowers are not only smaller, but wind or a few drops of rain spot the petals. A night's dew has the same effect; the stems, too, are weak and bending, which makes them much wanting in boldness, and when the flowers are damaged and the stems down there is little left about the Oriental Poppies that is ornamental.
Fig. 72. Papaver Orientale (var. Bracteatum).
(Plant, one-fourth natural size.)
The flowers are 6in. to 8in. across when expanded, produced singly on stout round stems covered with stiff hairs flattened down, and also distantly furnished with small pinnate leaves. Only in some varieties is the leafy bract (Fig. 72) to be found. This variety is sometimes called P. bracteatum. The calyx is three-parted and very rough; the six petals (see engraving) are large, having well defined dark spots, about the size of a penny piece. The leaves are a foot or more in length, stiff but bending; they are thickly furnished with short hairs, pinnate and serrated.
This large poppy can be grown to an enormous size, and otherwise vastly improved by generous treatment; in a newly trenched and well manured plot a specimen has grown 3ft. high, and produced flowers 9in. across, the colour being fine; it will, however, do well in less favoured quarters—in fact, it may be used to fill up any odd vacancies in the shrubbery or borders. It is readily increased by division of the roots, and this may be done any time from autumn to February; it also ripens seed freely.
Flowering period, May to June.
Pentstemons
Nat. Ord. Scrophulariaceæ
Fig. 73. Pentstemon.
(Plant, one-fourth natural size.)
The hybrids, which constitute the numerous and beautiful class commonly grown as "florists' flowers," are the kinds now under notice. The plant, when a year old, has a half-shrubby appearance, and if I said that it was but half hardy I should probably be nearer the mark than if I pronounced it quite hardy. It may, therefore, appear odd that I should class it with hardy perennials; there are, however, good reasons for doing so, and as these extra fine border plants are great favourites and deserve all the care that flowers can be worth, I will indicate my mode of growing them; but first I will state why the hybrid Pentstemons are here classed as hardy. One reason is that some varieties really are so, but most are not, and more especially has that proved to be the case during recent severe winters—the old plants, which I never trouble to take in, are mostly killed. Another reason why I do not object to their being classed as hardy is that cuttings or shoots from the roots appear to winter outside, if taken in the summer or autumn and dibbled into sand or a raised bed (so that it be somewhat drier than beds of the ordinary level), where they will readily root. Such a bed of cuttings I have found to keep green all the winter, without any protection other than a little dry bracken. My plants are so propagated and wintered.
The Pentstemon has of late years been much improved by hybridising, so that now the flowers, which resemble foxgloves, are not only larger than those of the typical forms, but also brighter, and few subjects in our gardens can vie with them for effectiveness; moreover, they are produced for several months together on the same plants, and always have a remarkably fresh appearance.
The corolla, which can be well seen both inside and out, has the pleasing feature of clearly pronounced colour on the outside, and rich and harmonious shadings inside; such flowers, loosely arranged on stems about 2ft. high, more or less branched, and furnished with lance-shaped foliage of a bright glossy green, go to make this border plant one that is justly esteemed, and which certainly deserves the little extra care needful during winter.
It is grandly effective in rows, but if in a fully exposed position it flags during hot sunshine; it is, therefore, a suitable plant to put among shrubs, the cool shelter of which it seems to enjoy. The remarks I have already made respecting its hardiness sufficiently indicate the mode of propagation. Old plants should not be depended upon, for though they are thoroughly perennial, they are not so hardy as the younger and less woody stuff—besides, young plants are far more vigorous bloomers.
Flowering period, June to August.
Petasites Vulgaris
Syns. Tussilago Petasites and T. Fragrans; Winter Heliotrope and Common Butterbur; Nat. Ord. Compositæ
I must explain why this native weed, of rampant growth and perennial character, is here mentioned as a fit subject for the garden. It blooms in the depth of winter—in fact, all winter; the flowers are not showy at all, but they are deliciously scented, whence the specific name fragrans and the common one "Winter Heliotrope," as resembling the scent of heliotrope. In its wild state it does not flower so early as when under cultivation; the latter state is also more favourable to its holding some green foliage throughout the winter. It has been said that there are different forms—male and female, or minor and major.
Parkinson recognises two forms, and as his remarks are interesting and clearly point to the variety under notice, I will quote him from "The Theater of Plants," page 419: "The Butter burre is of two sorts, the one greater and the other lesser, differing also in the flowers, as you shall heare; but because they are so like one another, one description shall serve for them both. Each of them riseth up very early in the yeare, that is, in February, with a thicke stalke about a foote high, whereon are set a few small leaves, or rather peeces, and at the toppes a long spiked head of flowers, in the one which is the lesse and the more rare to finde, wholly white and of a better sent than the other (yet some say it hath no sent), in the greater, which is more common with us, of a blush or deepe red colour, according to the soile wherein it groweth, the clay ground bringing a paler colour somewhat weake, and before the stalke with the flowers have abidden a moneth above ground will be withered and gon, blowen away with the winde, and the leaves will beginne to spring, which when they are full growne are very large and broad, that they may very well serve to cover the whole body, or at the least the head like an umbello from the sunne and raine."
The flowers are produced on bare, fleshy scapes, springing from amongst the old foliage; the new leaves not appearing until much later. The bloom is small, of a pinky white colour; they are miniature forms, resembling the coltsfoot flowers, being arranged, however, in clusters. The leaves are large, cordate, downy, and soft to the touch, having long stout stems; they vary much in size, from 3in. to more than a foot across, according to the nature of the soil.
The usefulness of this plant consists entirely in its flowers as cut bloom, the least bit of which fills a large room with its most agreeable perfume. The plant, therefore, need not be grown in the more ornamental parts of the garden, and it should have a space exclusively allotted to it. It runs widely underground, and soon fills a large space. It enjoys moisture, but I have proved it to be more productive of bloom with leaves of half their usual size when planted in a rather dry situation with light but good soil. Usually a root does not produce flowers until two years after it has been planted. Poor as the flowers otherwise are, they are of great value in winter, when finely-scented kinds are scarce. They may be mixed with more beautiful forms and colours so as not to be seen, when, like violets in the hedgerow, they will exhale their grateful odour from a position of modest concealment.
Flowering period, November to February.
Phlox
Hybrid Tall Varieties; Sub-Sections, Suffruticosa and Decussata (Early and Late Flowering); Nat. Ord. Polemoniaceæ
These noble flowers are not only beautiful as individuals, but the cheerful appearance of our gardens during the autumn is much indebted to them; the great variety in colour and shade is as remarkable as it is effective. The finer sorts are known as "florists' flowers," being named. Whence they came (from which species) is not so clear, but in other respects than form and habit they are much in the way of P. paniculata. The Phlox family is a numerous one, and the species are not only numerous but extremely dissimilar, consisting of the dwarf woody trailers, or P. procumbens section, the oval-leafed section (P. ovata), the creeping or stolon-rooted (P. stolonifera) section, and the one now under notice, which differs so widely that many have seemed puzzled that these bold tall plants are so closely related to the prostrate, Whin-like species. The sub-divisions of the section under notice, viz., early and late flowering varieties, in all other respects except flowering period are similar, and any remarks of a cultural nature are alike applicable. This favourite part of the Phlox family is honoured with a specific name, viz., P. omniflora (all varieties of flowers), but notwithstanding that it is a most appropriate name it is seldom applied.
As the flowers must be familiar to the reader, they need hardly be described, and it is only necessary to mention the general features. They are produced on tall leafy stems in panicles of different forms, as pyramidal, rounded, or flattish; the clusters of bloom are sometimes 8in. in diameter in rich soil; the corolla of five petals is mostly flat, the latter are of a velvety substance, and coloured at their base, which in most varieties forms the "eye;" the tube is fine and bent, so as to allow the corolla to face upwards; the calyx, too, is tubular, the segments being deep and sharply cut; the buds abound in small clusters, and although the flowers are of a somewhat fugacious character, their place is quickly supplied with new blossoms (the succession being long maintained) which, moreover, have always a fresh appearance from the absence of the faded parts. The leaves, as indicated by the name suffruticosa, are arranged on half wood stems, and, as implied by the name decussata, are arranged in pairs, the alternate pairs being at right angles; these names are more in reference to the habit and form of the plants than the period of flowering, which, however, they are sometimes used to indicate; the leaves of some early kinds are leathery and shining, but for the most part they are herb-like and hairy, acutely lance-shaped, entire, and 2in. to 5in long.
Under ordinary conditions these hybrid forms of Phlox grow into neat bushy specimens of a willow-like appearance, 2ft. to 4ft. high, but in well-prepared richly-manured quarters they will not only grow a foot taller, but proportionally stouter, and also produce much finer panicles of bloom; no flower better repays liberal culture, and few there are that more deserve it. In the semi-shade of trees, the more open parts of the shrubbery, in borders, or when special plantings are made, it is always the same cheerful subject, sweet, fresh, and waving with the breeze; its scent is spicy, in the way of cinnamon. The whole genus enjoys loam, but these strong-growing hybrids have a mass of long hungry roots, and, as already hinted, if they are well fed with manure they pay back with interest.
As cut bloom, if taken in entire panicles, they are bouquets in themselves. All are effective, and many of the more delicate colours are exquisite, vieing with the much more cared-for bouvardias and tender primulas.
To grow these flowers well there is nothing special about their management, but a method of treatment may be mentioned which, from the improved form it imparts to the specimens, as well as the more prolonged period in which extra-sized blooms are produced, is well worthy of being adopted. When the stems are 12in. or 15in. grown, nip off the tops of all the outer ones, they will soon break into two or four shoots. These will not only serve to "feather" down the otherwise "leggy" specimens and render them more symmetrical, but they will produce a second crop of flowers, and, at the same time, allow the first to develope more strongly. When the taller stems have done flowering, or become shabby, the tops may be cut back to the height of the under part of the then-formed buds of the early pinched shoots, and the extra light will soon cause them to flower; they should then be tied to the old stems left in the middle; this will quite transform the specimen, not only making it more neat and dwarf, but otherwise benefiting it—the old worn stems will have gone, and a new set of beaming flowers will reward the operator. The tops pinched out in the early part of the season make the best possible plants for the following season's bloom. They root like willows in a shady place in sandy loam, and are ready for planting in the open by midsummer, so that they have ample time to become strong before winter. Another way to propagate these useful flower roots is to divide strong clumps in the autumn after they have ceased to bloom.
The very earliest kinds (some three or four) begin to flower early in August, and by the middle of the month many are in bloom; the late-flowering (decussata) section is a month later; all, however, are continued bloomers.