THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 14.-, 



does better than Berberis thungbergii. Thin shrub is to them as tha 

 spirea Van Houtii is to us. The viburnums, such as dendatum, lentago. 

 lantana, and apulus are splendid slirubs tliere and tliey are becoming to 

 be the best ones here. Spirea Van Houtii does not amount to much there 

 but douglasii and salicifolia are fine. The loniceras are no better there 

 than ours but the hydrangeas are great, especially hydrangea arborescens 

 grandiflora.. California is the best of the privets and is extensively used 

 as it does not winter kill there very often. The lilacs are not to be com- 

 pared with ours and here is one of the things that we excel them in 

 although the bedding plants at the farm looked better to me than those 

 of the garden. Lindera benzoin, Deutzias, fringe tree, matrimony vine 

 and sumach do fine at the garden although the sumachs are very subject 

 to the ravages of smoke. 



The perennials of the garden are about on a par perhaps a little better 

 than ours. I was told that they had not been mulched but the new fore- 

 man told me that they would be in the future. Here again we come to an 

 instance where we excel them and that is in hollyhocks. Their specimens 

 are shameful alongside of ours. The collection of peonies is large and it 

 is one confusion of varieties as all collections of peonies are. Crinuniir;, 

 golden glows, campanulas, sunflowers and sedums are among the best 

 of the perennials at the garden. 



To me the water plants were the most interesting as I had never seen 

 them here and then I wondered why I had not. There are two groups of 

 aquatics; the hardy and the tender ones. The tender ones are grown in 

 the cemenl basins and include ^^ucii phnts as Nymphaeas, Victorias, 

 Acorus, Pistia, Eichornia, Thallia, Euralye, and Cyperi. The Nymphaeas 

 are most beautiful in flower while the Victorias, Eurayles, Pistias and the 

 Acorus are beautiful for their foliage. Pistia, which is water lettuce, looks 

 much like lettuce and it makes a compact low growth. The grandest of 

 all water plants is the Victoria regia. The leaves of this plant attain the 

 size of 4 to 5 feet within a week and one of them is capable of supporting 

 350 pounds. The flower is white the first day, red the second and a purple 

 red the last day. Eurayle also has large leaves but they do not turn up 

 at the edges as Victorias and they are covered with large warts or horns. 



Among the hardy A\ater plants, Nslumbrium lutea is the best. I could 

 do no better than describe the hardy pond at the garden that I v/ould so 

 like to see imitated or attempted at the farm. The surface of the water 

 was covered with Marsilia, a little clover-leafed fern, and with Potomuge- 

 tans fluitans whose leaves resemble Nymphaeas but are much smaller, at 

 one side above the water. In mid-summer this group also exhibited a glory 

 show of gorgeous yellow fiowers. Around the edges were tall growing 

 water plants such as cattails, Scripus, Thallia, Acorus and Sagitaria. 

 These tall aquatics flanked the sides and formed a frame for the picture. 

 All of these plants are native to North America and are perfectly hardy. 

 Why would they not do here? 



In conclusion, I think that a Nebraska botanical garden would be of as 

 great a value to Nebraska as the Missouri botanical garden is to Missouri. 



