1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



131 



RENEWING LOST LEADERS. 



BY W. H. COLEMAN, GENEVA, N. Y. 



Your suggestion in the February number 

 ubout protecting a tender evergreen leader by 

 fastening to it a slender stick, reminds me of the 

 method l)y which I renewed the leader of a Cor- 

 sicau Pine several years ago. As this tree is 

 very open in growth, the breaking of a shoot 

 leaves quite a gap. I tied a pretty stout stick 

 to the main stem, letting it project about a foot 

 .above the point where the leader was broken 

 off. Then I bent up the nearest small limb as 

 far as I dared and tied it to a stick. In a few 

 days I tightened the string and so gradually 

 brought the limb up close to the stick where it 

 remained the rest of the year. Next Spring the 

 stick was removed, the limb remained upright 

 with only a slight crook in its lower part. 



PENTSTEMONS. 



BY W. C. L. DREW, ELDORADO, CAL. 



This genus of plants is so well known that 

 any remarks would be useless; there are, how- 

 ever some of the handsomest members that 

 have been but very sparingly, if at all, in- 

 troduced to cultivators. These are natives of 

 California, where, in their wild state, they fill 

 the valleys and cover the hill-sides with the gay- 

 est of blooms from May to October. 



Within California and vicinity there are found 

 some twenty odd varieties, all of which are fine 

 blooming plants, but to describe which would 

 take up a whole number of the Monthly, 

 therefore I shall only speak of a few of the 

 finest, and which I deem most worthy of culti- 

 vation. 



Pentstemon spectahilis. One of the handsomest 

 species, growing two to four feet high. This vari- 

 ety is found on dry hill sides, blooms continually 

 from May to October, — the dryer and more sterile 

 the place the finer bloom; I have seen it in 

 bloom where the ground was as hard and dry as 

 a brick. The flowers are borne in long panicles, 

 often two feet long, loosely many flowered ; co- 

 rolla nearly an inch and a half long, the short 

 tube suddenly expanding into a wide ventricose 

 tliroat. In color, the throat and tube are a rich 

 purple, while the lobes are a clean blue. 



P. Richardsonii. Grows two to three feet 

 high, makes a very branchy and well shaped 

 plant. Flowers in loose, irregular panicles; 

 corolla with an ample inflated throat, the upper 

 and lower lips widely spreading. Color, a clear 

 violet throushout. 



P. centranthifolius. Our most showy species, 

 grows two to three feet high, panicles one to two 

 feet long. Flower with a narrow tubular corolla 

 over an inch long. Color, a bright scarlet red. 

 Very dry grounds. 



P. Menziesii. A fine variety, making well 

 branched plants a foot high. Flowers with a 

 gradually expanding tubular corolla three-quar- 

 ters of an inch long. Color, from light to deep 

 pink. Flowers in short panicles. Grows in 

 high dry situations, where it blossoms finely. 



P. antirhinoides. A handsome variety, grow- 

 ing from one to three feet high. Corolla with 

 a very short tube and wide open mouth, the 

 upper lip of which is arched and lower recurved. 

 Flowers borne on single peduncles, terminating 

 leafy panicles. Color, pure yellow, for which it 

 is remarkable. There is a very near species of 

 the above known as P. breviflorus, reported 

 with a flesh colored corolla streaked with pink. 

 Height, shape of corolla, etc., not known. 



P. cordifolius. A peculiar variety, scram- 

 bling over bush with long sarmentose branches, 

 from three to four feet long. Flowers in leafy 

 panicles, corolla with a long narrow tube an inch 

 and a half long, the upper lip erect, and quite 

 half an inch long. Color bright scarlet. 



P. glaber. This is the most common species 

 reported from Oregon and eastward of the 

 Rocky Mountains, grows one to three feet high. 

 Flowers in narrow panicles a foot long; corolla 

 from three-quarters to an inch long, tube nar- 

 row, opening into an oblong funnel-foi-m throat. 

 Color blue to violet purple. 



P. Roezli. Grows from one-half to a foot 

 high, flowers in compound panicles. Corolla 

 half an inch long, funnel form, above the nar- 

 row tube. Color light violet blue. 



YUCCA CLORIOSA IN TEXAS. 



BY G. ONDERDONK, JILSSION VALLEY, TEXAS. 



I wish I could show you here a full-grown 

 I specimen of the Yucca gloriosa. It is quite 

 common in this region, and is one of the first 

 objects in the Texas vegetable world that at- 

 tracts the attention of the new comer from the 

 more Northern States. The wood resembles 

 that of the palm tree ; in fact we regard it as a 

 species of Palm. The two very striking pe- 

 culiarities of this Yucca are the leaves and its 

 enormous bloom. The leaves are about two or 

 two and a half inches broad at the base, and 

 from a foot to three feet long, according to 



