A native evergreen creeper. This plant has many synonymous names in old books. It is now, however, well known by the above Latin name. Let me at once say that it is a matchless gem. Its flowers are such as to attract the notice of any but a blind person. It is said to be rare now in this country, still, I think it is far from being extinct in its wild state. Be that as it may, it is fortunate that it can be easily cultivated, and nothing in a garden can give more pleasure. Its flowers are blue—but such a blue! the most intense, with a large and sharply defined white eye, and though only ½in. across, one on each stem, and 3in. high, they are grandly effective. It has a tubular, angled calyx; corolla five-cut. The leaves are oval, nearly 1in. long, and half as broad; dark shining green and of leathery substance. The radical leaves are crowded into a nearly rosette form.
By many this Gentian is considered difficult to grow, but if a proper beginning is made it proves to be of the easiest management. Very suitable places may be found for it in, not on, rockwork, where good fat loam forms the staple soil; little corners, not above the ground level, but on, or better still, below the ground level, are sure to meet its requirements; on the edge of a border, too, where moisture collects in the small gutter, has proved a suitable position for it. But, perhaps, the most successful way of growing it is in pots, for, as with Trientalis Europa and other root creepers, when so treated more compact specimens are obtained. It is important to begin with properly-rooted plants, the crowns of which are often 2in. to 3in. below the surface; from these spring the numerous, bare, yellow, wiry stems, too often taken for roots, whereas the main roots are still deeper, very long for so small a plant, and furnished with silky feeders. Good crowns potted in rich fibrous loam and plunged in sand, fully exposed, with an unstinted supply of water, is the substance of the simple treatment my plants receive the year round; they are still in the 3in. and 4in. pots in which they were placed three years ago, and during spring they are covered with flowers. When a pot is lifted out of the sand in which it is plunged, the fine long silky roots are seen to have made their way through the hole. Spring is the best time to plant.
Flowering period, April to June.
Geranium Argenteum.
Silvery Crane's-bill: Nat. Ord. Geraniaceæ.
Fig. 44. Geranium Argenteum.
(One-half natural size.)
A hardy perennial alpine from the South of Europe, introduced in 1699. It is, therefore, an old plant in this country, and is one of the gems of the rock garden; very dwarf, but effective, as may be seen by the illustration (Fig. 44). The foliage is of a distinct and somewhat conglomerate character, besides being of a silvery-grey colour. Well-grown specimens of this charming Crane's-bill look remarkably well against dark stones. Its flowers are large for so small a plant, and wherever it finds a suitable home it cannot fail to win admiration. In borders of rich soil it is grown to the height of about six inches, but in drier situations, as on the upper parts of rockwork, it is more dwarf.
The flowers are fully an inch in diameter when open, cup-shaped, and striped in two shades of rose colour; the unopened flowers are bell-shaped and drooping; they are borne on long naked pedicels, bent and wiry, oftentimes two on a stem; calyx five-cleft, segments concave; petals five, equal and evenly arranged. The leaves are produced on long, bent, wiry stalks, the outline is circular, but they are divided into five or seven lobes, which are sub-divided and irregular, both in size and arrangement; they have a silky appearance, from being furnished with numerous fine hairs or down. The plant continues to flower for many weeks, but, as may be judged, it is, otherwise than when in flower, highly attractive. To lovers of ornamental bedding this must prove a first-rate plant. As an edging to beds or borders of choice things it would be pleasingly appropriate, and, indeed, anywhere amongst other dwarf flowers it could not be other than decorative.