Polyanthus.
Nat. Ord. Primulaceæ.
This, with its numerous varieties, comes under Primula veris, or the common Cowslip. The improved varieties which have sprung from this native beauty of our meadows and hedgerows are innumerable, and include the rich "gold-laced" kinds—which are cared for like children and are annually placed on the exhibition tables—as well as the homely kinds, which grow in the open borders by the hundred. The Polyanthus is eminently a flower for English gardens; and this country is noted for the fine sorts here raised, our humid climate suiting the plant in every way; its flowers offer a variety of colour, an odour of the sweetest kind, full and rich, reminding us not only of spring time, but of youthful rambles and holidays.
As an "old-fashioned" flower for garden decoration it is effective and useful, from the great quantity of bloom it sends forth and the length of its flowering season; from its love of partial shade it may be planted almost anywhere. Its neat habit, too, fits it for scores of positions in which we should scarcely think of introducing less modest kinds; such nooks and corners of our gardens should be made to beam with these and kindred flowers, of which we never have too many. Plant them amongst bulbs, whose leaves die off early, and whose flowers will look all the happier for their company in spring; plant them under all sorts of trees, amongst the fruit bushes, and where only weeds have appeared, perhaps, for years; dig and plant the Polyanthus, and make the wilderness like Eden.
Flowering period, February to June.
Polygonum Brunonis.
Knotweed; Nat. Ord. Polygonaceæ.
This is a dwarf species from India, but quite hardy. It is pretty, interesting, and useful. The flowers are produced on erect stems a foot high, and formed in spikes 3in. to 5in. long, which are as soft as down and smell like heather. The colour is a soft rose. These flowers spring from a dense mass of rich foliage; the leaves in summer and early autumn are of a pleasing apple-green colour, smooth, oblong, and nearly spoon-shaped from the narrowing of the lower part; the midrib is prominent and nearly white; the leaf has rolled edges, and is somewhat reflexed at the point. Let the reader closely examine the leaves of this species while in their green state, holding them up to a strong light, and he will then behold the beauty and finish of Nature to a more than ordinary degree. This subject is one having the finest and most lasting of "autumnal tints," the dense bed of leaves turn to a rich brick-red, and, being persistent, they form a winter ornament in the border or on rockwork. The habit of the plant is creeping, rooting as it goes. It is a rampant grower, and sure to kill any dwarf subject that may be in its way.
It may be grown in any kind of soil, and almost in any position, but it loves sunshine. If its fine lambtail-shaped flowers are desired, it should be grown on the flat, but, for its grand red autumnal leaf tints, it should be on the upper parts of rockwork. It is self-propagating, as already hinted.