i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



291 



CRAMBB CORDIFOUA AT BGANDALE, JUNE 



star-flowered narcissus forms of N. In- 

 comparabilis and N. Stella do equally 

 well, the essential thing being to take 

 some good sort obtainable in quantity as 

 Stella, Cynosure, Golden Mary, Duchess of 

 Brabant, etc., and plant a bold informal 

 group of such distinctive kinds. The 

 poet's narcissus with its chaste white 

 flowers coming later as the grass grows 

 tall, flowering as freely as the great 

 daisies that now whiten the meadows. 

 Here is ample material for a wild garden 

 of any extent, as the groups may be pro- 

 portionate to the area that can be set 

 apart. 



When to plant may be dismissed in a 

 few words. At any convenient time 

 when the bulbs are dormant from July to 

 iNovember. Nor does the way to plant 

 involve a long dissertation on abstruse 

 details. The plantings should be in 

 groups of informal outline whether small 

 or large. Any garden conventionalities 

 in the way of squares or circles will look 

 hideous if perpetrated in grass. Holes for 

 the bulbs may be opened with a spade 

 by cutting three sides of a square, the 

 fourth or uncut side forming a hinge, 

 the sod being raised and turned back. 

 The bulbs are planted in the hole, from 3 

 to 5 of a narcissus, but double or treble 

 lliat number of the smaller bulbs and the 

 sod turned back in place and trodden 

 down. A rough and ready method some 



may say, but a million flowers prove its 

 efficiency in one wild garden alone I know, 

 and each succeeding j'ear adds to its 

 beauty. To avoid regularity it is advis- 

 able to have all the holes for one group 

 opened first and study the effect. If the 

 distances appear too uniform close some 

 up again, letting them be rather closely 

 massed about the center and more thinly 

 distributed in the outlying portions, sug- 

 gesting a few stragglers from the main 

 flock. Observation of natural groups of 

 wild flowers will materially assist one to 

 get the same expression and disposition 

 in the garden. A. Hkkrincton. 



Madison, N.J. 



CRflMBE CORDlFOLlfl. 

 This interesting member of the sea-kale 

 family, commonly known as the heart- 

 leaved cole-wort, has been more of a 

 puzzle to me than anvthing I've grown. 

 R jbinson in his "English Flower Garden" 

 speaks so highly of it that I concluded to 

 try it. Seeds were started in the spring 

 of 1893, producing in my trial grounds 

 ordinary looking coarse-leaved plants of 

 no ornamental value. The next year, 

 having two vacant spaces in my shrub- 

 bery of say three feet each in diameter I 

 planted a crambe in each open, and my 

 trouble soon commenced. They at once 

 proceeded to business, and threw out 



leaves of enormous size, which before the 

 summer was over measured over five feet 

 in width, crowding over everything. I 

 was in a predicament, as there were 

 choice plants in danger. So much for an 

 amateur's ignorance of the habits of a 

 plant. I saw at oneethatstanding alone 

 on the lawn it would produce a grand 

 effect, but where it was it was decidedly 

 out of place. That fall I chose a spot 

 near a large rock at the base of which 

 was a water-tap. I dug a hole two feet 

 deep, and as wide, made a basin of coarse 

 gravel at the water-tap to catch the drip, 

 and connected it by three-inch tile pipes 

 with the bottom of the hole, then 

 mounded up the soil some fifteen inches 

 above the ground level, banking up the 

 sides with sod, the object being to raise 

 up the plant so that its enormous leaves, 

 which I anticipated, would show off" to 

 advantage. One plant was put in and 

 protected for the winter. Early next 

 spring — 1895 — it showed itself, and before 

 the end of May it threw up four flower 

 spikes. Here was a quandary. No litera- 

 ture at my command mentioned any 

 especial features of its bloom. I imagined 

 that if I let it bloom it could not produce 

 its enormous leaves, and I started to cut 

 them. After one was cut I repented and 

 allowed three to remain, but my conject- 

 ure was right, as the leaves were under 

 two feet in diameter, but on June 10, 

 when photographed, it presented a mag- 

 nificent floral picture. My private photo- 

 grapher, who, in addition to promising 

 to "love, honor and obey" also promised 

 to take pictures for me, was east on a 

 visit, and I had to call in a professional 

 and have it taken when he was ready, 

 not when the atmospheric conditions 

 were favorable. As a consequence the 

 picture does it an injustice. Outdoor 

 photographs should betaken cloudy days 

 or just before sundown, or wh n the 

 object taken is in the shade, then the 

 shadows do not conflict and detail is 

 obtained. 



The bloom stalks were seven feet high 

 and branched over six feet in diameter. 

 The individual flowers are white, small, 

 numerous, and disposed in much-branched 

 panicles. The rock covered with the 

 Boston ivory, is seen to the left. After 

 blooming the stalks were cut and the 

 plant looked well the remainder of the 

 season, the leaves not growing any larger. 

 This spring the plant seemed to start all 

 right and I looked for even an improve- 

 ment on last year's grandeur, but in a 

 short time the leaves turned yellow and 

 drooped. Upon examination I found the 

 heart of the crown rotted, the decay 

 seeming to follow down the hollow 

 bloom stalk and reachingpart way down 

 the side roots. Just below this decay 

 new eyes were breaking out. These roots 

 were planted out elsewhere and some are 

 producing plants. A blooming plant I 

 gave to Lincoln Park acted the same 

 way. The roots are long and fleshy and 

 all broken ends left after removal" pro- 

 duce a plant. To sum up my experience 

 with this plant, it seems that the first 

 year from seed it assumes an ordinary 

 form, producing enormous leafage the 

 second and blooming the third, after 

 which it dies at thecrownand reproduces 

 itself from the old roots beyond the decay. 

 Plants from broken roots bloom the 

 second year. It has proved hardy even 

 without protection. W. C. Eca.n. 



Highland Park, 111. 



Mr GARDEN. 



Our house and lawn face the south, the 

 lawn sloping quite a little. I am very 

 fond of vines. We have honeysuckles 



