These plants are subject to a variety of diseases, such as always appear among plants grown in large numbers together. The leading genera, such as the Lilium, the Iris, the Gladiolus, or the Hyacinth, are all affected, and although many remedies have been tried it is difficult to find a cure. I find Veltha gives good results, but where the disease cannot be exterminated by such means it is better to destroy all affected plants, and to give the others fresh soil. A surface dressing of new soil with a little kainit added is beneficial.
Aconitums--Alliums--Alstroemerias--Anemones
Although the effective Aconitums or Monkshoods of our gardens are usually classed with ordinary herbaceous plants, the best of those with tuberous roots can hardly be omitted from this work. They are of much service in the mixed border or the wild garden, and it is only the poisonous properties of these plants which make one view them with suspicion. They should not be planted where any danger can result to children or to animals. Their nomenclature is very confused but the names below are authoritative. The following are some of the best:--Cammarum, four feet, purple; flaccidum, six feet, violet; heterophyllum, two feet, yellow and blue; japonicum, six feet, flesh; Lycoctonum, a pretty yellow species, four to six feet high; Napellus, very poisonous, in several varieties, four to six feet; paniculatum, three feet; and variegatum, three to six feet, blue, white, or blue and white. All of these grow in any soil and can be planted in spring or autumn.
The Alliums can hardly be classed as among the choicest of bulbous plants; but although not among the _élite_ of our garden flowers, there are, however, among them some pleasing and useful flowers, and a few remarks upon some of those most easily obtainable may be of service. It may be premised that the Alliums are most suitable for naturalising in grass or in wild gardens, as many of them are so prolific that they are apt to become troublesome in the border. They usually seed very freely and some produce offsets in great numbers, while others, again, form little bulbils on their heads which eventually form separate individuals. Almost all are of easy cultivation, although some of the Central Asian and Californian species need a little protection in winter.