flowers

A native of Virginia, Maryland, and Pensylvania, has a perennial root, is hardy, and will thrive in almost any soil or situation, may be increased by parting its roots in autumn.
Our plant is the picta of Miller, and the versicolor of Miller is, we believe, the sibirica of Linnaeus.
This species has, for the most part, a stalk unusually crooked or elbowed, by which it is particularly distinguished. It flowers in June, as do most of this beautiful tribe.

Is an annual, and grows wild among the corn in the southern parts of Europe, varies with white and blue flowers, both single and double.
May be propagated by sowing their seeds upon a bed of light earth, where they are to remain (for they seldom succeed well if transplanted), therefore, in order to have them intermixed among other annual flowers in the borders of the Flower Garden, the seeds should be sown in patches at proper distances and when the plants come up, they must be thinned where they grow too close, leaving but three or four of them in each patch, observing also to keep them clear from weeds, which is all the culture they require. In July they will produce their flowers, and their seeds will ripen in August.
The season for sowing these seeds is in March, but if you sow some of them in August, soon after they are ripe, upon a dry soil and in a warm situation, they will abide through the winter, and flower strong the succeeding year, by sowing of the seeds at different times, they may be continued in beauty most parts of the summer. Millers Gard. Dict. ed. 6. 4to.

The present plant is a native of Peru, and is said by Linnaeus to have been first brought into Europe in the year 1684, it is certainly one of the greatest ornaments the Flower Garden can boast it varies in colour, and is also found in the Nurseries with double flowers. The former, as is well known, is propagated by seed, the latter by cuttings, which should be struck on a hot bed. To have these plants early, they should be raised with other tender annuals, they usually begin to flower in July, and continue blossoming till the approach of winter the stalks require to be supported, for if left to themselves they trail on the ground, overspread, and destroy the neighbouring plants.
Elizabeth Christina, one of the daughters of Linnaeus, is said to have perceived the flowers to emit spontaneously, at certain intervals, sparks like those of electricity, visible only in the dusk of the evening, and which ceased when total darkness came on.
The flowers have the taste of water cress, with a degree of sweetness, which that plant does not possess, more particularly resident in the spur of the calyx or nectary, hence are sometimes used in sallads, and hence the plant acquires its name of Nasturtium.

Grows spontaneously in Italy and Siberia, Linnaeus informs us that the blossom is naturally white, with red in the middle.
The single Rose Campion has been long an inhabitant of the English gardens, where, by its seeds having scattered, it is become a kind of weed. There are three varieties of this plant, one with deep red, another with flesh coloured, and a third with white flowers, but these are of small esteem, for the double Rose Campion being a finer flower, has turned the others out of most fine gardens. The single sorts propagate fast enough by the seeds, the sort with double flowers never produces any, so is only propagated by parting of the roots, the best time for this is in autumn, after their flowers are past, in doing of this, every head which can be slipped off with roots should be parted, these should be planted in a border of fresh undunged earth, at the distance of six inches, observing to water them gently until they have taken root, after which they will require no more, for much wet is injurious to them, as is also dung. After the heads are well rooted, they should be planted into the borders of the Flower Garden, where they will be very ornamental during the times of their flowering, which is in July and August. Millers Gard. Dict. ed. 6. 4to.
Miller, by mistake, calls this plant Caelirosa.

This species, unknown to the older botanists, is a native of China, hence its name of China Pink, but, in the nurseries, it is in general better known by the name of Indian Pink.
Though it cannot boast the agreeable scent of many of its congeners, it eclipses most of them in the brilliancy of its colours, there are few flowers indeed which can boast that richness and variety found among the most improved varieties of this species, and as these are easily obtained from seed, so they are found in most collections, both single and double.
It is little better than an annual, but will sometimes continue two years in a dry soil, which it affects.
Attempts have been made to force it, but, as far as we have learned, with no great success.

This very singular plant is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, where it grows and flourishes on the rocks with the Stapelia hirsuta.
If these plants be kept in a very moderate stove in winter, and in summer placed in an airy glass case where they may enjoy much free air, but screened from wet and cold, they will thrive and flower very well, for although they will live in the open air in summer, and may be kept through the winter in a good green house, yet these plants will not flower so well as those managed in the other way. They must have little water given them, especially in winter.
It is very seldom that the variegata produces seed vessels in this country, Miller observes, in upwards of forty years that he cultivated it, he never saw it produce its pods but three times, and then on such plants only as were plunged into the tan bed in the stove.
This plant may be propagated without seeds, as it grows fast enough from slips, treatment the same as that of the Creeping Cereus, which see.
It takes its name of Stapelia from Stapel, a Dutchman, author of some botanical works, particularly a Description of Theophrastuss plants.

This species has usually been called Convolvulus minor by gardeners, by way of distinguishing it from the Convolvulus purpureus, to which they have given the name of major. It is a very pretty annual, a native of Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, and very commonly cultivated in gardens.
The most usual colours of its blossoms are blue, white, and yellow, whence its name of tricolor, but there is a variety of it with white, and another with striped blossoms.
The whole plant with us is in general hairy, hence it does not well accord with Linnaeuss description. It is propagated by seeds, which should be sown on the flower borders in the spring, where the plants are to remain they require no other care than to be thinned and weeded.

The Passion Flower first introduced into this country was the incarnata of Linnaeus, a native of Virginia, and figured by Parkinson in his Paradisus Terrestris, who there styles it the surpassing delight of all flowers the present species, which, from its great beauty and superior hardiness, is now by far the most common, is of more modern introduction, and, though a native of the Brasils, seldom suffers from the severity of our climate, flowering plentifully during most of the summer months, if trained to a wall with a southern aspect, and, in such situations, frequently producing ripe fruit, of the size and form of a large olive, of a pale orange colour.
This most elegant plant may be propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings, foreign seeds are most to be depended on, they are to be sown in the spring, on a moderate hot bed, and when the plants are grown to the height of two or three inches, they are to be carefully taken up, and each planted in a separate small pot, filled with good loam, then plunged into a moderate hot bed, to forward their taking new root, after which they should be gradually inured to the common air the younger the plants the more shelter they require, and if ever so old or strong, they are in danger from severe frosts. The layers and cuttings are to be treated in the common way, but seedling plants, if they can be obtained, are on many accounts to be preferred.

Mignonette grows naturally in Egypt, it was unknown to the older Botanists, Miller says he received the seeds of it from Dr. Adrian Van Royen, Professor of Botany at Leyden, so that it is rather a modern inhabitant of our gardens.
The luxury of the pleasure garden is greatly heightened by the delightful odour which this plant diffuses, and as it is most readily cultivated in pots, its fragrance may be conveyed to the parlour of the recluse, or the chamber of the valetudinarian, its perfume, though not so refreshing perhaps as that of the Sweet Briar, is not apt to offend on continuance the most delicate olfactories.
Being an annual it requires to be raised yearly from seed, when once introduced on a warm dry border it will continue to sow itself, and grow very luxuriantly, flowering from June to the commencement of winter, but as it is desirable to have it as early as possible in the spring, the best way is either to sow the seed in pots in autumn, securing them through the winter in frames, or in a greenhouse, or to raise the seeds early on a gentle hot bed, thinning the plants if they require it, so as to have only two or three in a pot.

This species is best known in the nurseries by the name of the Scarlet Martagon, but as it is not the Martagon of Linnaeus, to avoid confusion it will be most proper to adhere to the name which Linnaeus has given it.
It is a native not only of Persia, but of Hungary, Professor Jacquin, who has figured it in his most excellent Flora Austriaca, describes it as growing betwixt Carniola and Carinthia, and other parts of Hungary, but always on the tops of the largest mountains.
It varies in the number of its flowers, from one to six, and the colour in some is found of a blood red.
Authors differ in their ideas of its smell Jacquin describing it as disagreeble, while Scopoli compares it to that of an orange.
It flowers in June and July, and is propagated by offsets, which it produces pretty freely, and which will grow in almost any soil or situation.
The best time for removing the roots is soon after the leaves are decayed, before they have begun to shoot.