354 



TEE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS FOR OCTOBER. 



BY MR. W. FALCONER. 



Now, October 4th, beyond Compositae we can- 

 not boast of a great variety of seasonable hardy 

 perennials. Anemone japonica is perhaps the 

 best, growing, as it does, two to three feet high, 

 with branched stems of large, purplish-red flow- 

 ers ; the variety known as A. Honorine Jobert 

 is pure white, free, equally hardy, and very 

 beautiful. Next comes Sedum spectabile, an 

 excellent Japanese plant 12 to 15 inches high, 

 with dense, rose-colored flower-heads, often six 

 inches across. Amongst composites Asters yield 

 us our chief supply, and just now they are de- 

 cidedly fine, but again their commonness greatly 

 detracts from their appreciation, as they are 

 mostly natives, and abundant everywhere — dif- 

 ferent species in different places. The best of 

 them, however, make fine garden plants, re- 

 quiring but little care beyond cleanlinessj occa- 

 sional transplanting, once in two or three years, 

 and timely staking. Prettiest amongst them at 

 present are A. cordifolius, two to three feet, with 

 numerous small whitish blooms crowded into 

 racemes on the spreading branches; Novse-An- 

 glse roseus, a reddish-colored variety of the com- 

 mon New England Aster, showy, and a distinct 

 color amongst asters; and Isevis, four to six 

 feet, with showy mauve flowers. Besides these 

 we have in best condition adscendans, incisus, 

 prenanthoides, oblongifolius, patens, spectabilis, 

 macrophyllus, corymbosus, Tradescanti, turbi- 

 nellus, anomalus, Drummondii, cameus, seri- 

 ceus, tardiflorus, and multiflorus. Nearly allied 

 to and very like the Asters too, are in bloom the 

 Boltonias, of which B. glastifolia, five to seven 

 feet, with loosely panicled heads of pretty whitish 

 flowers, and B. latisquama, four to five feet, with 

 showy pinkish blooms, are the best. The Gala- 

 tellas are also Aster-like plants with bluish flow- 

 ers, and now in season. Of the Vernonias or 

 Iron-weeds that decorate every swamp and 

 moist pasture in the Middle States, we have two 

 good representatives in fasciculata, now nearly 

 past, and Arkansana, five to seven feet high, 

 with rosy purple flowers, approaching its best. 

 Golden Rods are about over, but many species 

 of Sunflowers still maintain their standing. 

 Pyrethrum-uliginosum, four to five feet, with 

 arge, white, ox-eye, daisy-like flowers, is one of 



r most noble perennials for Fall blooming, 



hardy as a butter-cup, and requiring an open 

 exposure and free, moist soil. Lobelia cardinalis 

 is still in bloom, and Delphiniums, Campanu- 

 las, Lychinses, Tradescantias Virginica, pilosa 

 and erecta, Centranthus ruber. Antirrhinums,, 

 and a few others yield us some straggling flow- 

 ers. Tricyrtis hirta is a very hardy plant, but 

 here it blooms so late that its stems are often 

 frost-killed before the flowers expand; hence we lift 

 and pot several and let them bloom indoors. 

 Aconitum uncinatum, native of the Middle and 

 Southern States, three to five feet high, and with 

 loose panicles of blue flowers, is in bloom, and 

 quite handsome ; and with us, amongst hardy 

 shrubs, or rather shrubby plants, full flowers, 

 Hydrangea paniculata is alone, still not so as a 

 decorative plant, as many shrubs like Snowber- 

 ries, Berberries, Crataegus, Euonymus are very 

 showy in Fall, when laden with fruits. 



THE SIBERIAN PEA TREE. 



BY GEN. W. H. NOBLE. 



This tribe of hardy yellow blossoming plant* 

 deserves a place in every shrubbery. They are 

 as hardy as oaks. In early spring they are cov- 

 ered with a shower of goMen yellow pea blos- 

 soms. 



I have two varieties, tke Arbofescens and the 

 Chamlaga. I much prefer the latter, both for 

 its miniature tree form and its richer and pro- 

 fuser bloom. As a dwarf tree, either in leaf or 

 flower, I know of no plant which so exactly 

 takes on this tiny form, of not above four to five 

 feet high. Our public grounds should not fail to 

 present these shrubs to the study of our people. 



The Chamlaga grafted on the Arborcscens is 

 said to make a very pretty weeper. I have 

 never seen it ; but I doubt not, like many plants, 

 it would gain by the stature and force of the 

 more vigorous relative. This saves time, and the 

 torment of having every plant bobbed to the 

 flat-topped style, in which the average gardener 

 delights. 



AILANTHUS GLANDULOSA. 



BY MR. A. VEITCH, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



The Allan thus, instead of being assigned its 

 proper place in the shrubbery or on the lawn, is 

 rarely to be met with but under circumstances 

 which show it to be one of the most neglected of 

 trees. This may arise in some measure from the 

 fact that its flowers exhale a disagreeable odor, 

 and one which, as some think, is hurtful to the 

 health of those who may reside in its neighbor- 



