e one now under notice has
the merit of being of an unusual and beautiful colour, viz., purplish
crimson. It is, in fact, a new plant in English gardens, and has been
justly described as one of the finest imports of recent years; it has
only to be seen in order to commend itself to all lovers of hardy
flowers (see Fig. 96). It is a robust grower, ranking with the more
noble subjects suitable for the borders. Its hardiness is doubted by
many, and a few have suspected its perennial quality; but
notwithstanding the warm climate of South America (whence it hails), it
has proved both hardy and perennial in this country. Excessive moisture
is its greatest enemy.

Its bright purplish-crimson flowers are daisy-shaped and large, the
centre being a fine golden yellow--on strong young plants the flowers
will be 3in. across. Moreover, they are numerously produced on stems
3ft. high, in branching cymes, and last a long time in perfection; with
favourable weather an individual bloom will stand above a week, and the
plant provides itself with abundance of buds for succession. I never yet
saw a specimen that developed half its buds, but this brings me to
notice one of its faults (for it has more than one), viz., it is too
late in blooming; at any rate, in Yorkshire we rarely get more than
three weeks' enjoyment of its flowers, when, but for severe frosts, it
appears capable of blooming for two months. To some extent this may be
remedied, as will be shown when I refer to its culture. The radical
leaves are over a foot long, stem leaves much smaller, very dark holly
green of leather-like substance, the edges very unevenly shaped, the
general form of the leaf being something like the cos lettuce.

The cut blooms are indeed fine and cannot well be inappropriately used.
This brings me to fault No. 2. The flower stems are very hollow and dry,
nearly as much so as the hemlock or kex, and I have found that when
flowers have been cut, either from the moisture collecting in the stem,
or some such cause, rot sets in lower down, and soon the branches of
bloom head over. I tried cutting to a joint where the cavity was
stopped, but the pith when so exposed soon gave way, so that latterly I
have ceased to cut the flowers, unless the occasion was worth the risk.
A specimen not cut from did not suffer from stem rot. I, therefore,
blamed the cutting. There may, however, be other causes; at any rate,
there is the fact of fine flowers in their prime fall