256 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In planting lay the root in slanting and have the bud about two 

 inches below the surface. If planted straight up and down the earth 

 might settle and leave the bud exposed. 



The common sort is called Spectabilis. 



Exima is rose colored with soft fern like foliage which keeps fresh 

 all summer. It will bloom until frost comes. 



Formosa is another form which gives bright red flowers in May. 



"We had the Exima for years and while flowers and foliage were beau- 

 tiful the roots were so delicately fragile it was almost impossible to handle 

 them, and they would be so bruised and drop to pieces so badly in 

 shipping and handling we gave them up in disgust. 



Campanulas ( Bell Flower.s ) . 



Named from Campana, a bell. There is a very large family of them, 

 some 200 varieties, including annuals, biennials and perennials. Annuals 

 must of course be sown every spring. Biennials, like hollyhocks, come up 

 one year and bloom the next and then die. The perennial like the iris, 

 phlox and peonies live from year to year. 



The cup and saucer varieties are very large and striking flowers. 

 These are biennials. They are about as conspicuous as any in the flower 

 garden. They are so large and delicate they should have some shelter 

 from the winds. 



The Carpathica, blue and white varieties, are perennials. They have 

 fine blooms and are conspicious for their delicacy. They are low creeping 

 plants and are not of special merit save to adorn rock work. The blue are 

 fine bloomers growing on stems two feet tall. They flower gloriously in 

 Minnesota. I hardly knew them when I saw them blooming there. They 

 are very hardy, reproducing themselves from root divisions and from 

 seeds as they fall and come up whether the season is wet or dry. They 

 are exceedingly hardy and a fine flower for the North, especially. 



PROPAGATION. 



Sow the- seeds early in the spring. Don't expect the biennials to be 

 perennials. The cup and saucer sorts need some protection in the winter 

 but when they bloom you will find it pays for they will give you surprises 

 of loveliness. 



All varieties like rich sandy soil with good drainage. Full blown 

 specimens of the Canterbury bells can be transplanted to pots for house 

 decoration by soaking the soil about them with water and lifting with a 

 ball of earth. 



DiCTAMNUS, OR GaS PLANT. 



This has been long in cultivation in England, but it is somewhat rare 

 with us. A single one has been known to outlive father, son and grand- 

 son. All attempts to propagate from root division failing utterly. It 

 grows about two and a half feet tall. The leaves are fragrant and the 



