March 28, 1908 



HORTICULTURE. 



401 



Echinops — Globe Thistle 



My first acquaintance with the 

 globe thistles was made some twenty 

 years ago, while assistant in the 

 Botanical Gardens of the Univer- 

 sity of Liepzig, in Germany. Of 

 the different varieties in cultivation 

 there it was especially Echinops ritro, 

 with its deep, steel blue, ball-shaped 

 flowers, whicli called forth my ad- 

 miration. The decidedly ornamental 

 foliage of this hardy perennial adds 

 much to its showiness, and I have 

 often wondered why, so attractive a 

 plant species so generally escapes 

 the notice of the landscape gardener 

 and horticulturist, for the instances 

 where I have seen Ecliinops em- 

 l^loyed to its full advantage are 

 indeed rare. 



Globe tliistles should nc\'er be 

 scattered singly over a herbaceous 

 plantation, but should invariably be massed in groups. 

 A clump of them will always make a good showing, 

 ■especially on the mixed shrub and perennial flower bor- 

 der, the dark colors, such as Echinops ritro and E. 

 sphaerocephalns, to my ta.ste being the most pref- 

 erable. Both varietier, to Avhich, as a third form, we 

 may add E. tenuifolius are free branching, reach- 

 ing a height of fi-om .3 to 3 1-2 feet. Echinops sphaero- 

 <?ephalu5 albiis of the same habit of growth bears white 



balls, while the tall growing form, E. giganteus grows 

 lip to the stately hv^ight of from 5 to 6 feet. 



It is only recently that I have occasionally noticed 

 globe thistles used as they should be, noteworthily in 

 some Bar Harbor gardens. Plant lovers among the 

 society classes are ever alert in recognizing the real or- 

 namental qualities of perennials and Echuiops, as our 

 illustration shows, posse'^ses those qualities. 



-^djdUxAxi-^<r&UJ 



Notes From the Arnold Arboretum 



Though we have had a touch of real spring these last 

 <lays and in sunny spots crocuses and snowdrops begin 

 to flower, the trees and shrubs show not yet any percep- 

 tible sign of life except one shrub which had been in 

 full bloom outdoors in the Arnold Arboretum since the 

 end of January and has stood clothed in a mass of 

 golden blossoms often surrounded by ice and snow and 

 •even braving the fierce east winds without damage to its 

 flowers. This remarkable shrub is the Japanese Witch 

 Hazel, Ilaiiicwielis japonica and particularly its va- 

 riety //. japonica var. arhorea, in its general appear- 

 ance very much like our native Witch Hazel, but 

 instead of flowering in autumn the flowers appear in 

 the latter part of the winter or in very early spring and 

 are much more showy on account of their brighter color. 

 The four slender, usually somewhat crumpled petals are 

 bright golden yellow and the small cup-shaped calyx is 

 of a deep claret color inside while outside it is covered 

 with a dull brown tomentum. The leaves hardly diflier 

 from those of the native Witch Hazel except that they 

 are somewliat broader and less distinctly toothed. 



The typical Ha Wiflmefe japonica, also sometimes called 

 H. japonica var. Zuccariniana, has petals of a paler 

 color and the calyx pale purple or only yellowish inside 

 and is of shrubby habit with more upright brandies, 

 while //. japonica var. arhorea has bright golden yellow 

 petals and a deep purple calyx; its branches are of 

 slightly darker color and somewhat more spreading and 

 it grows into a small tree up to 20 or 30 feet in lieight. 



Both forms are perfectly hardy here and only in very 

 severe ^\•inters have the flower buds been known to be 

 injured, particularly when a spell of mild weather was 

 followed in the latter part of the winter by very severe 

 frost. It is, however, astonishing how much frost the 

 delicate looking flowers can stand. This year, for in- 

 stance, a few warm days in January were sufficient to 

 induce the buds to burst and to expose the petals, each 

 \^armer spell caused them to come out a little further, 

 and there was no sign that the intervening cold waves, 

 even down to zero weather, had any noticeable injurious 

 effect except perhaps that the petals remained a little 

 more crumj^led. 



Branches cut in midwinter form a very pretty dis- 

 tinctly Japanese-looking decoration for vases ; about two 

 days in a warm room suffice to bring out the flowers 

 which exhale a peculiar but faint odor. 



It seems strange that such a handsome and interest- 

 ing hardy shrub, really the only winter-blooming shrubs 

 in our northern latitudes, should be so little known and 

 bO rare in our gardens, though it had been introduced 

 into cultivation as far back as 1862 by Siebold. One 

 rgason for its rarity may be sought in its slow growth 

 and in its rather difficult propagation which must be 

 effected by grafting in spring on potted stock of the 

 common Witch Hazel in the greenhouse. 



