THE BIENNIAL BORDER PLANTS.
It is only necessary to mention a few of these, as the curious in
floriculture will always make their own selection, the following will
therefore suffice.--
The SPEEDWELL-LEAVED HEDGE HYSSOP, Gratiola veronicifolia, Bhoomee,
sooél chumnee, seldom cultivated, though deserving to be so, has a
small blue flower.
The SIMPLE-STALKED LOBELIA, Lobelia simplex, introduced from the Cape,
yields a pretty blue flower.
The EVENING PRIMROSE, Oenothera mutabilis, a pretty white flower that
blossoms in the evening, its petals becoming pink by morning.
The FLAX-LEAVED PIMPERNEL, Anagallis linifolia, a rare plant, giving a
blue flower in the rains; introduced from Portugal.
The BROWALLIA, of two lauds, both pretty and interesting plants;
originally from South America.
The Spreading Browallia, B. demissa is the smallest of these, and
blossoms in single flowers of bright blue, at the beginning of the cold
weather.
The Upright Browallia, B. alata, gives bloom in groups, of a bright
blue; there is also a white variety, both growing to the height of
nearly two feet.
The SMALL-FLOWERED TURNSOLE, Heliotropium parviflorum, B'hoo roodee,
differs from the rest of this family which are mostly perennials; it
yields groups of white flowers, which are fragrant.
The FLAX-LEAVED CANDYTUFT, Iberis linifolia, with its purple blossoms,
is very rare, but it has been sometimes grown with, success.
The STOCK, Mathiola, is a very popular plant, and deserves more
extensive cultivation in this country.
The Great Sea Stock, M sinuata, is rare and somewhat difficult to
bring into bloom, it possesses some fragrance and its violet colored
groups of flowers have rather a handsome appearance about May.
The Ten weeks' Stock, M annua, is also a pleasing flower about the
same time. In England this is an annual, but here it is not found to
bloom freely until the second year, its color is scarlet, and it has
some fragrance.
The Purple Gilly flower, M incana, is a pretty flower of purple color,
and fragrant. There are some varieties of it such as the Double,
multiplex, the Brompton, coccinea, and the White, alba, varying in
color and blossoming in April.
The STARWORT, Aster, is a hardy flowering plant not very attractive,
except as it yields blossoms at all seasons, if the foot stalks are cut
off as soon as the flower has faded, there are very numerous varieties
of this plant which is, in Europe a perennial, but it is preferable to
treat it here as only biennial, otherwise it degenerates.
The Bushy Starwort, A dumosus, is a free blossoming plant in the
rains, with white flowers.
The Silky leaved Starwort, A. sericeus, is Indigenous in the hills,
putting forth its blue blossoms during the rains.
The Hairy Starwort, A pilosus, is of very pale blue, and may, with
care, be made to blossom throughout the year.
The Chinese Starwort, A chinensis, is of dark purple and very prolific
of blossoms at all times.
The BEAUTIFUL JUSTICIA, J speciosa, although, described by Roxburgh as a
perennial, degenerates very much after the second year, it affords
bright carmine colored flowers at the end of the cold weather.
The COMMON MARVEL OF PERU, Mirabilis Jalapa Gul abas, krushna kelee,
is vulgarly called the Four o'clock from its blossoms expanding in the
afternoon. There are several varieties distinguished only by difference
of color, lilac, red, yellow, orange, and white, which hybridize
naturally, and may easily be obliged to do so artificially, if any
particular shades are desired.
The HAIRY INDIGO, Indigofera hirsuta, yields an ornamental flower with
abundance of purple blossoms.
The HIBISCUS This class numbers many ornamental plants, the blossoms of
which all maintain the same character of having a darkened spot at the
base of each petal.
The Althaea frutex, H syriacus, Gurhul, yields a handsome purple
flower in the latter part of the rains, there are also a white, and a
red variety.
The Stinging Hibiscus H pruriens, has a yellow flower at the same
season.
The Hemp leaved Hibiscus, H cannabinus, Anbaree, is much the same as
the last.
The Bladder Ketmia, H trionum, is a dwarf species, yellow, with a
brown spot at the base of the petal.
The African Hibiscus H africanus, is a very handsome flower growing to
a considerable height, expanding to the diameter of six to seven inches,
of a bright canary color, the dark blown spots at the base of the petals
very distinctly marked, the seeds were considered a great acquisition
when first obtained from Hobarton, but the plant has since been seen in
great perfection growing wild in the Turaee at the foot of the
Darjeeling range of hills, blooming in great perfection at the close of
the rains.
The Chinese Hibiscus, H rosa sinensis, Jooua, jasoon, jupa,
although, really a perennial flower, is in greatest perfection if kept
as a biennial, it flowers during the greater part of the season a dark
red flower with a darker hued spot, there are also some other varieties
of different colors yellow, scarlet, and purple.
The TREE MALLOW, Lavatera arborea, has of late years been introduced
from Europe, and may now be found in many gardens in India yielding
handsome purple flowers in the latter part of the rains.
But it is unnecessary to continue such a mere catalogue, the character
and general cultivation of which require no distinct rules, but may all
be resolved into one general method, of which the following is a sketch.
Propagation--They are all raised from seed, but the finest double
varieties require to be continued by cuttings. The seed should be sown
as soon as it can after opening, but if this occur during the rains, the
beds, or pots, perhaps better, must be sheltered, removing the plants
when they are few inches high to the spot where they are to remain, care
being at the same time taken in removing those that have tap roots, such
as Hollyhock, Lavatera, &c not to injure them, as it will check their
flowering strongly, the best mode is to sow those in pots and transplant
them, with balls of earth entire, into the borders, at the close of the
rains. Cuttings of such as are multiplied by that method, are taken
either from the flower stalks, or root-shoots, early in the rains, and
rooted either in pots, under shelter, or in beds, protected from the
heavy showers.
Culture--Cultivation after the plants are put into the borders, is the
same as for perennial plants. But the duration and beauty of the flowers
is greatly improved by cutting off the buds that shew the earliest, so
as to retard the bloom--and for the same reason the footstalk should be
cut off when the flowers fade, for as soon as the plant begins to form
seed, the blossoms deteriorate.
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