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Swallow-Wort Gentian

Gentiana asclepiadea.

GENTIANS speak of the mountains more emphatically than any flowers of the garden; and because they do so, the amateur gardener is apt to conclude too hastily that he cannot hope to cultivate them, and thenceforward may be haunted with a dreamy disappointment. They are not well adapted for town gardens, but the one before us is an exception to the rule, for it will grow almost anywhere in a deep sandy soil, in a somewhat open situation, shaded from the mid-day sun and favoured with constant moisture. It is, without a doubt, the easiest of all the gentians to cultivate, and particularly well adapted to plant in the front of a rhododendron bed, or in the coolest part of a good rockery, in a soil of sand, loam, or gritty peat. It is difficult to raise from seeds, but seeds that are scattered naturally by the plant usually germinate and prosper.

A large proportion of the gentians are peculiar in their requirements, and can only be successfully cultivated in a pure air. A cold situation suits them perfectly if it is moist, and a peaty soil containing many stones, or even heaps of stones, resting on a peat bed, to coax the roots downwards in search of what they require. In any case, a deep soil is a first requisite of success; and therefore, when gentians are planted in what are called "pockets," containing but a few handfuls of earth, they soon die. The swallow-wort gentian now before us, and the gentianella (G. acaulis), are best of all the family for a beginner in gentian culture. Of the gentianella, with its great urnshaped flowers of the finest royal blue, and glossy leathery leaves, we are accustomed to see in country gardens extensive belts and plantations that may be regarded as "surprise packets" of the loveliest vegetation. The ease and certainty of production account for the frequency of the plants in all such cases. They produce an abundance of seeds, and these are sown as soon as possible after they become ripe. The seed-bed consists of large pans or shallow boxes, filled with sandy loam or peat. On this the seed is scattered thinly, and then a dusting of fine soil is added to cover them. The pans or boxes are kept in a cold pit or frame, and the seedling plants soon appear, and need very little care. In all cases of raising small seeds, one of the difficulties of a beginner is experienced in the watering. The first operation probably washes all the seeds away or very seriously reduces the quantity; and after this vexatious experience, the amateur resorts to various contrivances. To save our friends, so far as may be, from having to learn de novo how to water seed-pans, we will say, do not water them at all with a water-pot. In the first place, take care that the soil is reasonably moist when the seed is sown. In the next place, provide a moist spot for the seed-pans, and keep it moist, and let the pans be covered with sheets of paper or loose damp moss, which, of course, must be removed when the seedling plants begin to appear. Finally, if the soil in the pans will get dry in spite of all your precautions, take a large vessel, such as a pail or tub, and fill it with water, and into this dip the pans or boxes. By standing them on empty pots in the water, to the depth of two or three inches, they will, in the course of half an hour, absorb enough to carry them on for a week or more, and this without disturbing one grain of sand or seed on the surface. It matters little how close and dark the seed-pans are kept; in fact, damp and darkness are favourable to the germinating process, especially of the seeds of Alpine plants, which naturally fall amongst mossy herbage, where there is an almost perpetual humidity. But instantly on the little plants appearing, light and air must be admitted, and as they make progress they will need light and air more and more, but must be guarded against all extreme conditions, such as powerful sunshine, driving winds, and drenching rains. To nurse them on with protection enough, and yet to treat them as hardy plants, is not a difficult matter, and indeed a little buffeting of the elements will do them no harm. And it will be equally easy to plant them, as soon as large enough, in a bed made up for the purpose in a frame, and there nurse them again until they are large enough to be planted out.

Amongst the many gentians in cultivation, the following are the most deserving of attention as rockery and garden plants: gentianella (G. acaulis), deep blue flowers, the plant a very model of neatness; swallow-wort gentian (G. asclepiadea), the stems swollen at the joints, the flowers purplish-blue, dotted within the tube; the closed gentian (G. Andrewsi), a peculiar plant, erect, the flowers in fine clusters, closed at the top, deep blue; Bavarian gentian (G. Bavarica), extremely beautiful, the leaves box-like, the flowers large, numerous, of a fine blue colour, a semiaquatic plant, and therefore quite unfit for a dry situation; and the vernal gentian (G. verna), probably the loveliest of all, the flowers solitary, salver-shaped, the colour pure blue. The Alpine botanist will not soon forget the day when he first met with this jewel of the mountains, nor will he forget that he found it only in spots well watered, where it seemed to riot on a diet of cold water and hard stones. The gentian takes its name from Gentius, King of Illyria, who discovered in these plants some wondrous virtues.