246 



GARDENING. 



May /, 



Cannas Italia and Austria have not 

 been overdrawn; they are a mass of 

 bloom here with flowers 6 to 7 inches 

 across and have been in continuous 

 bloom since December. They are getting 

 finer and richer daily. I do dislike to 

 divide and spoil them, but will have to in 

 order to increase my stock. In the morn- 

 ing the house they are planted in is a per- 

 fect Eden, the flowers are up to the 



roof. A.NTOINE WiNTZER. 



SPRING FLOWERING BULBS. 



The warm weather of April has brought 

 the spring flowers along very early this 

 season and we now have a very fine show 

 of them. Crocuses opened their first flow- 

 ers the 31st of March, and at this writing 

 they are about their best. Amongst the 

 finest of them are Czar Peter, a fiiiC light 

 blue; Mont Blanc, a good white and a 

 very large flower; David tRizzio, purple; 

 Ne Plus Ultra, purple, tipped white; Sir 

 Walter Scott, a large, striped flower and 

 Mrs Beecher Stowe, a fine large white 

 variety. The spring snowflakes ( Leuco- 

 jum vernuin) opened its first flowers on 

 the 8th inst; they do not last long. But 

 while they are in flower they are little 

 beauties. Scilla Sibirica, with itscarpetof 

 rich blue, opened its flowers the 15tb inst. 

 what a pretty little thing it is, especially 

 wheregrown in amass. It is also agood 

 thingfor anedgingto otherspring flower- 

 ingbulbs. Thegrapehyacinth alsoopened 

 on the same day as the Siberian squill; this 

 has to be grown in a thick mass before it 

 makes an effective a ppearance but it is well 

 worth growing as it lasts so long in bloom. 

 Muscari azureuni, which is nearly related 

 to the grape hyacinth, has a lighter blue 

 flower, and is real pretty, it opened on the 

 13th too. The variety Album is a lovely 

 pure white flower and it makes quite a 

 contrast when planted with the blue one. 

 7ns reticulata came into flower on the 

 15th, this pretty iris is the earliest one we 

 have in this garden and it looks rather odd 

 as its flowers appear before the leaves 

 come up. 



Piischkinia Libanotica cotnpacta is a 

 little gem, its white flowers are striped 

 with blue. In habit and growth it looks 

 like the scillas but is much more pretty. 



Erytbronium dens-canis (the dog's 

 tooth violet), opened its first flowers on 

 the 17th; we have got the large flowering 

 ones, and I must say they are grand: they 

 are of all colors from purple to the purest 

 white. Where planted in masses as we 

 have them here they make a nice show, 

 and are well worth growing. The native 

 one (Awericanum) is in flower all over 

 our woods here. Chionodoxa (glory of 

 the snow) came in flower on the 17th It 

 looks like Scilla Sibirica, but to my like- 

 ing is much prettier. Where only a few 

 bulbs of it are grown they make a poor 

 show, to see them at their best one must 

 have a mass of it. The narcissi are com- 

 ing along very fast and promiseto befine; 

 we have already got some very fine ones 

 in flower. The first one to open was N. 

 minor, a dwarf variety with a true yellow 

 flower. N /mmmus is another dwarf one 

 but much better than minor; it has a 

 larger flower and is of a deeper yellow 

 color. It opened on the 14th. N. Oueen 

 Bess is a lovely daffodil, it came into 

 flower on the 17th It is one of the best 

 of the white varieties and has a lovely 

 yellow cup. N. Leedsii opened its flowers 

 on the 18th. It does well. It is a lovely 

 white, and seems to be one of the easiest 

 of varieties to grow. We have a fine 

 clump of it. N. cernuus opened on the 

 18th and is another lovely flower; its 

 perianth and trumpet are of the same 

 length and of the purest white. .V. Wm. 



GoIdring(theswan'sneck daffodil) a very 

 large flower with a snow white perianth 

 and light yellow trampet. N. Sir Watkin 

 opened on the 18th, it is a large flowered 

 variety and one of the best of yellow 

 flowers and it is doing very well in the 

 garden. In another week or ten days, if 

 the weather keeps good, we will have a 

 fine show of narcissus, they are promis- 

 ing well and showing plenty of flowers. 



Amongst the rarer tulips, Kaufman- 

 niana is in nice flower, it is of dwarf 

 growth with rose white flowers and is 

 very pretty. Our other tulips are not yet 

 in flower. 



Amongest the hardy herbaceous peren- 

 nials Anemone Pulsatilla, (the Pasque 

 flower) is making a nice showing with 

 its deeply cut leaves and rich purple blos- 

 soms it is a very good plant and comesin 

 so earlj'. Adonis vernalis ( spring adonis ) 

 has pretty tufts of cut leaves and bright 

 yellow anemone like flowers. Grow it in 

 a mass. Forget-me nots that were win- 

 tered over in a cold frame are in fine 

 flower now. Victoria I think is the best 

 one of all, it does not run to seed so quick 

 as palustris. The Bellis perennis ( English 

 daisy) is in full flower; wintered over in a 

 frame they are nice for spring bedding. 



In the greenhouses there is not much to 

 speak of, the show pelargoniums are 

 coming fast into flower and promise to be 

 good. What a nice forcing plant Lychnis 

 Flos cuculi tl. pi. isl We have it now in 

 fine flower in 6 inch pots, the only thing 

 I have against it is that it is bad for red 

 spider and hard to keep clean from it. 

 David Eraser. 



Mountain Side Farm, Maliwah, N. J., 

 April 20, 1890. 



FLflNTINO FLOWER BEDS. 



I have two flower beds, one 44 feet bv 

 4 feet, the other 31 by 4. I wish to 

 fill tbem with bedding plants that will 

 be handsome and effective and easily 

 taken care of. 



For the bed 44 by 4 I Ihink I shall 

 have silver edge geraniums for outer edge, 

 bright colored geraniums for next row, 

 and castor beans or cannas for center; 

 in all five rows, would there be room for 

 as many? 



What is the market price for geraniums 

 for bedding by the hundred? 



For bed 31x4, lobelia or forget-me nots 

 for outer edge, coleus for next row, and 

 hollyhocks in center. Can I get holly- 

 hock plants ready for bedding?. 



Hudson, Mass. G. P. K. 



We would suggest that for the long bed 

 you use the silver edged geranium for the 

 outside line all round, then divide the 

 middle part into several panels, each one 

 to contain a different kind of geranium, 

 and some of them to be interplanted with 

 gladiolus, Hyacintbus candicans or other 

 taller material to give lightness and 

 break the monotonj-. The white or red- 

 eyed vinca would also make a nice panel 

 and bloom from June till frost. Holly- 

 hocks would be rather large for your 

 other bed, besides as soon as they would 

 be done blooming you would have to cut 

 them down, and this would leave 3'our 

 bed almost empty again. An edging of 

 blue, then panels of coleus with Gaum 

 Lindbeimeri blossoms hovering over 

 them, and maybe an extra large panel of 

 dwarf scarlet salvia in the middle would 

 be neater if not more pleasing. Address 

 a few postal cards to the florists of your 

 town, or other places, asking what price 

 they charge for geraniums. Some, but 

 not all, florists keep hollyhocks in stock, 

 potted and ready for blooming this year, 

 but probably late. 



The matter of filling the flower beds 

 depends largely upon their position and 

 exposure in your grounds, your own 

 taste as legards plants and what plants 

 you already have got ready for planting 

 or are willing to get. The width (4 feet) 

 of both beds is decidedly narrow for any- 

 thing other than a border eftect, and the 

 ribbon line arrangement of planting is 

 not considered very good taste. A 

 bordering of silver-edged geraniums all 

 around one of the beds would be pretty 

 enough, but inside of this border you 

 would have only a space of 2V> feet wide 

 left, and two rows of scarlet geraniums 

 would fill that; castor bean plants 

 shouldn't be considered, for one row of 

 them alone would more than fill the bed, 

 and it looks bad in summer to have a big 

 plant spread over and smother another. 

 One row of dwarf cannas might be all 

 right. In the other bed, while both the 

 forget-me-not and lobelia would be very 

 pretty before midsummer, after that time 

 their period of beauty would be past and 

 you would have to replace them with 

 something else. Blue ageratum (Cope's 

 Pet I would answer the same purpose and 

 last longer. 



SWEET WILLIAMS. 



I have discarded tuberous rooted bego- 

 nias as bedding plants, and where I used 

 to have them have made a raised bed of 

 light soil in a place shaded after noon 

 time, and have been wondering if Dian- 

 thus barbatus (sweet williams) would 

 do well there. I have fifty plants of a 

 magnificent dwarf crimson variety, kept 

 along from slips obtained from the 

 World's Fair. Turning to the catalogue 

 of F. R. Horsford, Chariotte, Vt., I find 

 he says "If large flowers are desired it is 

 necessary to prepare a bed for them; it 

 should be raised above the common level, 

 etc." This has met my case. What say 

 you about them? " W. C. Egan. 



The sweet wiUiam is an old-fashioned 

 flower that was as beautiful in ourgrand- 

 mother's garden as in our own of to-day, 

 and we love it. We treat it as a biennial, 

 that is, sow the seed in spring this 3'ear 

 to give us plants that will bloom in sum- 

 mer next year. It likes 1 ich earth, plenty 

 room, and to be grown on ground raised 

 high enough above the common level that 

 water shall never lodge at the necks of 

 the plants. It is very impatient of hot, 

 dry weather, and unless in moist slightly 

 shaded places it is apt to die out in sum- 

 mer after flowering, to be succeeded by a 

 sward of self-sown seedlings. Of course 

 old plants can be preserved by grownng 

 them in extra genial places, and increased 

 by division, but from seed is the common- 

 est way. We find it isn't very hardy, and 

 that a mulching of dry leaves, sedge, old 

 fern or evergreen branches spread over it 

 in winter is a great help in saving it; 

 indeed where the climate is severe or 

 changeable and the snow in winter is not 

 to be depended on, a cold frame is the best 

 place for sweet williams. Naturalized 

 among the bushes, however, it proves far 

 hardier than when carefully cultivated in 

 the open border. 



LILIES. 



H. M., Lebanon, Ky., writes: 



1. "I planted a bulb of L//yi/m Krameri 

 about March 1 in a pot in sandy soil 

 with good drainage; it came up about 

 two weeks ago, and is now an inch high 

 and showing flower buds, but it does not 

 look well, and its leaves are dropping. 

 What is the cause of this?" 



