Part 34 (2/2)
Flowering period, May to September.
Papaver Orientale.
ORIENTAL POPPY; _Nat. Ord._ PAPAVERACEae.
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, paeonies, 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 72. PAPAVER ORIENTALE (_var._ BRACTEATUM).
(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._ SCROPHULARIACEae.
The hybrids, which const.i.tute the numerous and beautiful cla.s.s 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 p.r.o.nounced it quite hardy. It may, therefore, appear odd that I should cla.s.s 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 cla.s.sed 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 cla.s.sed 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 p.r.o.nounced 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 73. PENTSTEMON.
(One-fourth natural size.)]
It is grandly effective in rows, but if in a fully exposed position it flags during hot suns.h.i.+ne; 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.
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