March 30, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



421 



Plants with Beautiful Foliage 



How delight- 

 ful it is some- 

 times to turn 

 from the bril- 

 liant yet some- 

 times garish 

 color display in 

 the flower garden 

 made by masses 

 of begonias, ge- 

 raniums, calce- 

 olarias or other 

 summer flowers 

 and to rest the 

 eye on the cool 

 grey leafage of 

 plants that are 

 valuable on ac- 

 count of their 

 foliage alone. 

 Such- a bed as 

 this is shown 

 in the accom- 

 panying illustration. On 

 summer time flowers of 



are apt to pall and one turns with relief to 

 the garden of .-sub-tropical foliage plants or, in a 

 smaller garden, to the small bed that is filled with 

 the soft greys and cool greens of leaf alone. In a par- 

 tially shaded spot a mass of color against a background 

 of shrubs is in perfect harmony and delights the eye 

 but in an open sunny spot the colors lose their bril- 

 liancy and distract rather than soothe, while in a sim- 

 ilar spot a bed planted as shown in the illustration 

 would have exactly the opposite effect. In planting a 

 bed of this sort the aim should be to fill it chiefly with 

 plants whose leaves are of quiet coloring, although it is 

 made more effective perhaps by the inclusion of a few 

 plants of richer leaf tones which serve the purpose of 

 showing the others to the best advantage. Among 

 plants suitable for such a bed are Cineraria maritime, 

 Cerastium tomeutosunt, antennaria, Stachys lanata, 

 alternanthera, lavender and rosemary. Some of the 



a hot scorching day in 

 rich and gaudy coloring 



dark-red leaved 

 coleus, the va- 

 riegated abuti- 

 lon and gerani- 

 um, may be used 

 to impart a lit- 

 tle brighter 

 color. Even the 

 purple -flowered 

 Verbena venosa 

 and heliotrope 

 may be used, for 

 their soft tints 

 associate well 

 with the leafage 

 of the plants 

 above named. 



A beautiful 

 half-hardy sil- 

 very-leaved con- 

 ifer, Pinus ca- 

 nariensis, was 

 used last year 

 plants in 

 an excel- 

 the bed 

 in which 



foliage 



in beds filled with ornamental 

 the Royal Gardens, Kew, and produced 

 lent effect. The final appearance of 

 will depend a good deal tipon the way 

 it is planted. If the plant= are dotted about here 

 and there in twos and threes then the effect ivill be 

 paltry and unsatisfactory. If, however, they are ar- 

 ranged in carefully disposed groups, as clearly shown in 

 the photograph, then the result will be all that can be 

 desiiied — masses of soft coloring, distinct in themselves, 

 yet forming part of a harmoniotts whole. Most of these 

 plants bear clippkig well and, while they certainly must 

 not be clipped to such an extent as to give the bed a 

 formal appearance, a little cutting back must be done 

 carefully now and then so as to prevent the stronger 

 growing plants overrunning the weaker. 



/fnyUVt.^ fr- /A.Cr-9^-^M. f 



A New Race of Hibiscus 



Some thirty years ago Thomas Meehan predicted that 

 if a cross could be made between our native mallows, 

 and the tropical hibiscus, that would combine the hardi- 

 ness of one with the gorgeous blooms of the other, the 

 result would lie a great perennial achievement. Many 

 liave niade attempts to get such a result, and yet it has 

 only been a reality for the past three years. 



Ernest Hemming, employed by Thomas Meehan & 

 Sons, Inc., started about eight years ago to experiment 

 on the proposition. He selected good, strong plants of 

 our native hibiscus and the tropical one — coccinea — and 

 worked on them for four years. At the close of the 

 fourth year his labors w^ere rewarded with a new type 

 that produced blooms much larger than the parent 

 plants and of more vigorous habit of growth. It was 

 a result above expectations. A member of the Waterer 

 firm (the famous English horticulturists) on seeing this 

 new race of plants, pronounced it to be the most not- 

 able acliievement for many decades. 



Their growth is most luxuriant, it being not unusual 



for them to grow eight and nine feet high. The foliage 

 varies from' a finely divided leaf to a broad type resem- 

 bling the common moscheutos. The flowers measure 

 from six to eight inches in diameter, and are obtainable 

 in almost any shade from a pure white with a red eye, to 

 a deep rich crimson. 



These new plants will be invaluable for perennial 

 border planting, in shrubbery borders or in beds by 

 themselves. 



The original plants from which the stock has been 

 produced have been standing on the grounds for four 

 vears, proving conclusively that this new race is per- 

 fectly hardy. An exhibition of them is planned for the 

 coming autumn at Jamestown, Va. 



