:{s 



THE GARDENER'S MONTH I. Y 



\^Fehruary, 



HJi al)i)vi'. Aiiil thoii look at tho enormous loss 

 to Uic tax-piiyi>rs hy Ioakaj:;e of ^ms in this way. 

 The wliole report shows tho advantage of hav- 

 ing practical men of known character at the head 

 of a public work of this charai-ter. Notwith- 

 staiuhng the idea that everything done by public 

 bodies, and especially the Government of Wash- 

 ington, costs much more than it costs individuals, 

 the shade trees of Washington under the direc- 

 tion of these gentlemen, have costalmost nothing 

 in comparison to some others ; and in any com- 

 parison, we think is the cheapest and best city 

 planting in the Union. 



TnK Pkriwisklks. — The hardy Periwinkles 

 are invaluable in American gardening, on ac- 

 count of their growing in deep shady places, 

 where few other things will. We have three 

 species under culture. Vinca herbacea, which 

 flowers very prettily every Spring — but as the 

 long trailing branches do not root, they all die 

 back in the Fall, and the plant is really a peren- 

 nial. Vinca minor, the " Myrtle" of the ceme- 

 tery people. It i.s a popular plant for covering 

 graves, and is invaluable for growing under the 

 shade of Pine trees, or in other shady places. It 

 makes a thick evergreen mass. Scarcely a " car- 

 l)et," but the next best thing to it. Then we 

 have Vinca major — the greater Periwinkle. It is 

 hirdly as hardy with us as the other two — is 

 more rampant, and makes less show in out-door 

 gardening. It is best known by its variegated 

 and golden veined varieties, which are so useful 

 in various forms of greenhouse and parlor gar- 

 dening. There is a fourth species that we ought 

 to introduce, if not already. The Garden thus 

 refers to it : 



" The Mauve Periwinkle (Vinca acutiloba). — 

 This distinct and elegant Periwinkle is now in 

 flower in the herbaceous border in Messrs. Back- 

 house's Nurseries at York. It is valuable from 

 flowering late in the autumn and in winter, and 

 also from the delicate mauve color of the blos- 

 soms. It is not a variety of either of the old and 

 long-cultivated Vincas, but a newly-introduced 

 species from the South of Europe. It is particu- 

 larly suitable for the embellishment of sunny 

 banks and slopes, and for warm borders." 



^EW PLANTS. 



PoLEMOXiUM coNFERTUM.— This One of the most 

 beautiful of the Alpine flowers of the Rocky 

 Mountains, has been made the subject of a col- 



ored plate in a recent number of iho (iardnu It 

 grows about si.x inches high, and ha.s rather large 

 blue flowers. 



Si>iR.ic.\ PALMATA. — A beautiful colored plate 

 of this appears in the lirhjian HorticuUural Review. 

 It is a native of Japan, and very nearly ap- 

 proaches our Spirioa lobata, which is alsf) worth 

 more notice than it receives from cultivators. 

 S. lobata is of a pale rose — by the plate this is a 

 deep rich rose — and the heads seem larger and 

 more dense. 



PuRi'LE-LEAVED GuAPE ViXE. — The Gardener's 

 Chronicle says : — " We may here mention another 

 very beautiful vine, seldom seen in gardens, but 

 one deserving our strongest recommendation. 

 It is the form known in gardens as the Purple 

 Vine, which has the advantage that its leaves are 

 throughout the whole summer (and not in late 

 autumn merely) of a rioh claret color. The plant 

 is admirably adapted for walls, rockwork, or 

 rookeries." 



Is this a grape vine, and does any reader know 

 whether it is in America? By the way, if any one 

 has a cutting of the old sweet scented (male) 

 grape we should be obliged. We fancy it has 

 gone out of cultivation. 



The California^ Chestnut. — This beautiful 

 tree— the Castanopsis chrysophylla — will need a 

 little protection north of the Potomac. A cor- 

 respondent of the Rural Press thus speaks of its 

 appearance in its native haunts: — 



" The title of golden-leaved chestnut — as the 

 suggestive name implies— is derived from the ob- 

 servation that when stirred by the breeze, the 

 otherwise dark, glossy-green, laurel-like leaves 

 turn their under siu-face to the sun, reflecting 

 a softened sheen of gold, lighting up its face with 

 a cheerful smile against the somewhat somber 

 background of green ; also the young and tender 

 twigs, with their vernal foliage clad in yellow 

 velvet, hold the attention effectually and steadily 

 to its true ideal characteristic feature. This latter 

 quality, seen from a distance in the Spring sea- 

 son of the year, awakens a charming illusion as 

 if the beholder were viewing a magnificent ever- 

 green tree clad in golden bloom. 



AcoNiTUM jAPONicuM. — Most of our Monks- 

 hoods flower in early Spring or Summer. A Ja- 

 pan species has been recently introduced into 

 Engli.sh gardens, of which the Gai-dener gives the 

 following account: — "This Monkshood ranks as 

 one of our very best late-blooming, herbaceous 

 I plants, and it should be extensively grown in all 



