ASIATIC FLOWERS.
Every bigger garden, or garden where peat is procura ble, should contain some of the newer Chinese rhododendrons, of which Mr. Wallace is one of the most successful growers: They have an attraction peCuliar to themselves and not Connected with the flowers. In some species and varieties the green leaf is brightly coloured with yellow, buff, or old gold ; and the effect of the bright sunshine of this year has been to illumine the bush almost as if it carried a light of its own. I do not know any other plant that gives quite the same sort Of sunshine impression. Our own white poplar is a good example of the scenic value of a bicoloured leaf, but the poplar is opaque and the rhododendron seems to have the double gift of being diaphanous • and of reflecting light. A flower that has flourished this year is the giant primula (Florinda) brought back recently from mid-Asia by Mr. Ward. It may perhaps deserve to be called a little vulgar, but its lustiness and vigour of flower and leaf are in themselves a pleasure and it would glorify any waterside. That much more lovely and original importation, the blue meconopsis Baileyi, introduced by Mr. Ward at the same date, is now proved to be a perennial and a hardy.
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