Talks About Flowers.

by Mrs. M. D. Wellcome

We do not know who is the author of this very interesting autobiography of an old and popular Coleus. The florist for whom it was named, M. Nuytans Verschaffelt, was the adopted son of the late Jean Verschaffelt, of whose nursery near Ghent, he was the manager, and to which he succeeded on the death of the proprietor. M. Nuytans was a very distinguished and highly esteemed horticulturist; he was an active member of the Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Ghent and Chevalier of the Order of Philip the Magnanimous. He died June, 1880, in the forty-fourth year of his age.

There has been a remarkable progress in the development of the Coleus since the introduction of Blumei, but the two past years have been more distinguished than any previous ones by the originating of many new and beautiful hybrids. Pre-eminent among these are "Dreer's Set of Tri-colored Coleus," fifteen varieties; "Queensland Set," fifteen varieties, and "Queensland Set of Dwarfs," ten varieties. Mr. Henry A. Dreer says of them: "These varieties which it is a pleasure to offer, have originated in our nursery grounds during the past summer, were selected from perhaps six thousand seedlings excelling in point of color, variety, habit and novelty, and we feel safe in predicting for them a future that leaves nothing wanting in this class of plants."

Mr. Dreer is sustained in his statement by the verdict of many of the leading florists who visited them, and the committees of the Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York Horticultural Societies, the summer and autumn before they were offered to the public.

In the February number of the Gardeners Monthly, a lady asks some of the correspondents who have tried the new Coleuses, to report thereon, whether as brilliant as their illustrated types, and if they retain their colors in bedding out. We will give the replies from the March number.

J. R. H., Richmond, Va., says: "In response to the query of Mrs. R. B. Edson about Dreer's New Hybrid Coleus, I take pleasure in giving my experience with regard to their hardiness in the summer sun. As the summers in our city are extremely dry and hot, I think it a very fair trial of them.

"When I received my box of Coleus from Mr. Dreer and opened it, the first thought was that I was swindled nicely, while I at once perceived that they were of an entirely new type of Coleus, but considered their colors very ugly indeed, and quite different from the colored sheet in his catalogue. However, I determined to give them a trial before expressing my opinion. I put them in the hottest place I could find, determined to get out of them all the 'come out,' should there be any, and to my utter surprise, their colors changed so rapidly and beautifully, that after a lapse of two weeks, I could scarcely believe they were the same plants. I so much liked them I determined they should have a prominent place in my garden, and accordingly planted them in my border where they did not miss the sun at all while it shone. They grew off at once with the old colors (as when received), which discouraged me again, when to my surprise, about the middle of June, they began to show their bright colors again, and in three weeks they were the brightest and prettiest Coleuses I have ever seen, and remained so with a continual growth until they were killed by the frost.

"I must confess I never saw plants resemble as much the colored plates of their likeness, as did my Coleus; just like the plate with the exception of the fine gloss, which of course I did not expect. It seemed that the hotter the atmosphere was the brighter they looked, and have stood the sun about twenty per cent better than the older varieties. They have given me more pleasure than any set of new plants I have ever received. I consider them the greatest acquisition I have known in the soft-wooded class of plants. While there is quite a similarity in the tri-colored set, it is not at all an objection. The only objections to any of them are that Amabilis and Mrs. E. B. Cooper, while very rank growers, are exceedingly ugly, and Superbissima entirely worthless. It will not grow, I don't care what I do with it. Some seedlings that I have raised from them are very richly colored, and I think them much prettier than their parents, though I have not had a chance to test their qualities in the summer."

We regret that the writer did not give the names of those Coleus he so much admired as well as those which are "exceedingly ugly" and "entirely worthless." We can report the same lack of success with Superbissima. It would not grow one bit, but remained stationary several months, and then died.

Mr. E. L. Koethens reports from a large collection: "For bedding these are the chosen ones, Gracilliana, Miss R. Kirkpatrick, Superbissima, and above all, Speciosa. But for inside culture, many of the new ones are unsurpassed for beauty in any class of decorative plants. Here again Speciosa and Miss R. Kirkpatrick of Dreer's set, lay claims to attention, and his Amabilis is attractive for its free blooming properties. Fairy is also conspicuous, and Beacon takes the place of Superbissima indoors, but Zephyr, in my opinion crowns them all as a foliage plant for indoor culture; a single head often measuring ten inches across, with a rich bronzy-brown color. The above are all valuable acquisitions and should be in every collection."

Mrs. M. D. Wellcome thus writes: "Mrs. R. B. Edson in her charming 'Garden Notes and Gossip,' asks that some of the correspondents who have tried the new Coleus, Dreer's and Henderson's new sets, report thereon. I have not tried Henderson's, and only six of Dreer's, so I am not prepared to report very fully. But I wish to make special mention of Miss Ritta Kirkpatrick, which looks like the picture only it is handsomer. It is the one represented by a large leaf, creamy white center, broad, green lobed margin. It was a wee plant when it came to me in early spring, but it very rapidly outgrew the other five, branching out finely, so that I began in June to take slips from it, and have continued to do this each month to the present time. I should think I had rooted full thirty cuttings, and the original plant, which has been beheaded on three of its branches, has now twenty-eight that would I think all make very nice plants, if treated as were the others. I rooted them all in sand, kept constantly wet, and exposed nearly all day to the rays of the sun. I never saw anything so quickly take root and so rapidly grow as did those cuttings. At one time I kept half a dozen about two months in the pure sand, till they were fine large plants, with a great mass of roots. They can be removed from the sand to pots of earth without retarding their growth. I always allow the particles which adhere to remain in transplanting. This Coleus is a special favorite with me. Fairy, foliage yellow and green, blotched with crimson-scarlet, and Charm, yellow, tinged with bronzy scarlet, stained with dark brown; green deeply serrated margin, were very beautiful in the open ground, and from these I rooted also in sand several very fine cuttings. But the original plants did not grow rapidly. I think the Coleus adds much to the attraction of the border, but it is for the winter window-garden they are specially valuable."