72 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
these never develop in the spring; in fact, it has not ex- 
panded flowers for the past ten years. Several attempts to 
establish special varieties of Cornus, collected from the sur- 
rounding country, have also failed. 
PERENNIALS 
In recent years elaborate attempts have been made to 
establish the showy hybrid larkspurs, columbines, ete. Various 
experiments have been carried out in the specially prepared 
beds of the test garden west of the administration building. 
Several years ago a special collection of the finest hybrids 
from England was planted, but none of them survived, 
although this was partly due to the poor condition in which 
many of them arrived. Further tests were continued, this 
time with selected English seeds. These were sown in early 
fall in a cool greenhouse and after germination were grown 
on in the same house. By this method plants in four-inch 
pots were established by spring and these were planted out in 
the test garden just as soon as possible. The plants showed 
fairly satisfactory growth and flower spikes but at least 
75 per cent of the clumps were gradually lost due to unfavor- 
able conditions. To maintain a permanent display of peren- 
nials the Garden, and likewise the Park Department, has 
learned by experience that plants left outside throughout 
the winter cannot be relied upon, but the more tender kinds, 
such as larkspur (Delphinium), eolumbine (Aquilegia), 
Platycodon, hollyhock (Althea), Pyrethrum, Gaillardia, 
Coreopsis, Plumbago, and the biennials, such as fox-glove 
(Digitalis) and sweet-william (Dianthus), must be treated 
as annuals. <A test of columbines was carried on in 1923 
in the wild-flower garden with both the native long-spurred 
hybrids and Aquilegia californica. The latter produced a 
splendid bed, growing to a height of four to five feet and 
flowering profusely. The outlook for establishing this 
variety in the Garden seemed very promising, but the next 
spring the entire bed had died out. 
Not only perennials but all plants, including trees, are 
killed back to a much greater extent in the city, the damage 
gradually diminishing the farther one travels into the 
