| Description | Moonlight - single flower form, very free, with good white flowers and handsome dark foliage. The Floral Magazine, new ser. v. 7 (1878) Moonlight - This represents a very free-flowering variety, raised by Colonel Trevor Clarke, of Welton Park, Daventry; it is a garden hybrid obtained, it is supposed, from a cross made between B. Weltoniensis (which, as its name implies, originated also at Welton Park) and one of the small-flowered varieties. This new form has pure white flowers, which are produced with great freedom; in its habit of growth it greatly resembles B. Weltoniensis, and it is a charming companion to the last-named. Colonel Clarke, very generously presented the stock of B. Moonlight to the Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society, and by this means it is becoming widely distributed. As a decorative plant it bids fair to take high rank, not only because it is so free of bloom, but also because it is in flower for a considerable part of the year; and, indeed, by careful management it might always be gay in a warm greenhouse. B. Weltoniensis is one of those useful things that might be denominated ''everybody's plant,'' and we have reason to believe the same measure of popular success will be meted out to Moonlight when it becomes more widely known. The plant from which our illustration was taken was kindly forwarded by Mr. A. F. Barron, from the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens, at Chiswick, where it flowered continuously during the past summer.; The Garden, v. 58, (1900) B. Moonlight: This beautiful hybrid, which was raised by the late Colonel Clark, of Daventry, has been nearly lost, and I may here mention that Gloire de Lorraine nearly suffered the same fate, for it was not until several years after its introduction that its value became recognized, many growers having tried it and either lost or discarded it. Since, however, its requirements were understood, it has become the most popular Begonia ever raised, and I believe ‘Moonlight’ under similar treatment may prove equally valuable. If I remember rightly, it was raised from a cross between B. dregei and B. pearcei (a dwarf-growing tuberous kind, with dark green velvety leaves and yellow flowers). It received a first-class certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society on September 20, 1876, and at that time it was grown extensively in the Chiswick gardens. The illustration, which is from a photograph of a plant grown by Mr. H. J. Jones, of Lewisham, will give a good idea of the habit of the plant, the creamy white flowers are well set off by the deep green marbled leaves. The plant is from a cutting struck early in April, and at the time of taking the photograph (August 21) measured 18 inches high, and about the same in diameter. The stock was obtained from a very sickly little plant which was found after making many enquiries. After nursing the plant up for a time, it started into vigorous growth, and has given quite a good stock of cuttings, which, under the same treatment as Gloire de Lorraine, have done equally well. I may mention that female flowers are more plentiful than upon B. Gloire de Lorraine, but I have never succeeded in raising seedlings, and as far as I know it has always proved abortive. I am particularly fond of looking up old friends, and fully believe that there is more merit in many of the older introductions that have been neglected and forgotten than in many of the so-called recent novelties. - A. Hemsley. |
