HORTICULTURAL CURIOSITIES.
Mr. Hovey, editor of the magazine which bears his name, had occasion during the year 1844 to visit Europe, for professional objects; “not the least was that of giving some account of the condition of gardening in that country, from whose works, whose practice, and experience, our own cultivators have derived so much knowledge.”
We cull from the several numbers already published in his magazine, the most interesting facts.
Rhododendrons.—Speaking of the Liverpool botanical gardens, he says:
“The principal clumps were filled with rhododendrons of various kinds, which do remarkably well; the climate, from its humidity, seems to suit them, and most of the plants were clothed with branches from the base to the top. R. altaclerense we saw six feet high; how fine must be its numerous clusters of splendid rosy blossoms! From the time we entered this garden, where we first saw the rhododendrons in abundance, until we returned home, we were constantly impressed with the importance which this shrub is destined to hold in our gardens. Although a native of our woods and forests, it is scarcely known out of our native habitats; yet abroad we see it the first ornament of the garden. By hybridization, and the production of an immense number of seedlings, during the last fifteen years, it has been increased in splendor, until it now almost equals
its tender, but gorgeous eastern sisters. How long shall our gardens be deficient in this great ornament?”
Fuchsias, or Ladies’ Eardrop.—Nothing will be more surprising to those who have cultivated this beautiful plant, and thought it well grown if a foot high, and brilliant if a dozen blossoms showed at once, than the magnificent size and flowering of Fuchsias as seen in England.
At the Sheffield Botanical Gardens Mr. Hovey saw the Fuchsias globosa major, upwards of twenty feet high, the stem, at the base, being two inches through! Its drooping branches were clothed with thousands of flowers; another variety, “called Youngii grandiflora was also twenty feet high, and equally strong, with innumerable flowers: this plant was only seven years old. It is almost impossible for those who have never seen specimens more than four or five feet high, to imagine the great beauty of such gigantic plants; notwithstanding their size they were well grown, being of symmetrical shape, and with vigorous and healthy foliage; they were planted in very large tubs, about two feet deep and two feet in diameter.
“The splendid F. fulgens and corymbiflora we also saw here upward of ten feet high, and full of their showy flowers.”