rSps- 



GARDENIXC. 



149 



THE JAPANESE BENTHAMIA 



3. Ifyoti kf ep the ground well unfast- 

 ened on tile surface in summer or mulched 

 between the plants with lawn mowings 

 carnations should grow and bloom well 

 enough there. If you dig the ground 

 deep and fine, dwarf nasturtiums should 

 do well in it; sow them early, thev will 

 last all summer. 



4. Heliotrope should do well with you. 

 Prepare the ground deep and fine; set out 

 the plants about the end of May, mulch 

 the ground with short manure or mow- 



others up till September. Callosuw, tes- 

 taceuw, and other tall stemmed sorts are 

 seldom grown in pots. 



LILIES IN FOTS FOR SUMMER USB. 



A subscriber asks for a list of these and 

 how to grow them. 



All lilies that can be grown in the open 

 garden can be grown in pots, and several 

 of them with better success than out of 

 doors. Those generally cultivated are L. 

 tenuifolium, scarlet, early, longHlorum 

 and all of its varieties, white, trumpet; 

 speciosum and its varieties, white, or red 

 tinted; and auratuw, the large gold 

 banded lily. Use clean pots, 6 inches or 

 over in diameter, drain them thoroughly, 

 and pot the bulbs in rich, well broken up 

 turfy loam without any fresh manure in 

 it. Put one, two, or three bidbs into a 

 pot, burying them one to two inches 

 under the soil. Do thisat once if you can 

 get the bulbs. Then set the pots in a cel- 

 lar, frame, shed or anywhere else conven- 

 ient covering them with leaves, ashes, 

 or other material deep enough to keep the 

 soil moist and exclude frost. Let the 

 bulbs root slowly. When well rooted 

 bring the plants to light and warmth, 

 either in the house or greenhouse or in a 

 frame. Don't hurr^' them against their 

 will. Keep them moderately moist when 

 they are growing, and it necessarj- have a 

 neat stout stake in each pot to tie the 

 stems to. Beginning with tenuUolium in 

 June, you can have a succession of the 



WflEN TO ORDER PLANTS. 



Tower Hill, 111., writes: I have no hes- 

 itancy in following stricth' your advice 

 as to the treatment of my flowers. 1 

 have several other flower papers, but all 

 others must bow in humility to Garden- 

 ing. 1. Can you furnish flowers to the 

 readers of your paper? 2. When shall I 

 order the following flowers: palms, chrys- 

 anthemums, cyclamens, amaryllis and 

 Otaksa hvdrangeas? 



1. No, we do not sell plants, flowers 

 or seeds. But we do cultivate an enor- 

 mous vanety of them; and, frankly, for 

 the asking and without the least reserva- 

 tion, we give the readers of Gardening 

 the benefit of our experience. 



2. Order them anj- time before April, 

 asking the florist not to send the plants 

 while there is any danger to them from 

 frost in shipping. Palms and hydrangeas 

 are in good shipping order now, so are 

 dormant amaryllis bulbs; but chrysan- 

 themums are likely to be in better condi- 

 tion in March. Cyclamen are apt to be 

 in full leaf and bloom at this time; they 

 can be shipped handier in two or three 

 months from now. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



T«B JflFflNESE BENTflflHIfl. 



(Corims Kousa.) 



We are all acquainted with the lovelj- 



flowering dogwood (Cornus fJoridn) 



which is so abundant in the woods and 



by-ways of our eastern and southern 



states; in spring its floral beauty is gen- 

 erous and lovely; in summer its scarlet 

 fruit is ver3' attractive, and in early fall 

 its leaves are among the first to assume 

 a crimson hue. In the Pacific region 

 Cornus Nuttallii takes the place of our 

 flowering dogwood. 



The Japanese Bentharaia is a small tree 

 not at all unlike our own flowering dog- 

 wood in general appearance. But our 

 dogwood comes into blossom before the 

 leaves appear and lasts in beauty till the 

 foliage begins to expand; the Benthamia 

 on the other hand does not begin to blos- 

 som till the leaves are out, and it lasts in 

 floral beauty well through June. The 

 floral bracts are quite aslarge as those of 

 our dogwood, perfectin form and pointed, 

 and of a creamy white color. Our illus- 

 tration is engraved from a photograph of 

 a spray which we cut off of a plant here 

 in the third week of June last, and pinned 

 against a fence to have its picture taken. 

 It will show you clearer than words can 

 describe what sort of a flowering shrub 

 the Benthamia is. You will even see 

 where the rose bugs have been at work 

 upon the "blossoms." Besides being per- 

 fectly hardy at Dosoris, and growing 

 vigorously and blooming as you see in 

 the picture, it also fruits freely with us; 

 but the fruits are not Ukc those of our 

 dogwood, they resemble red strawberries 

 hanging singly on stems like cherries. 

 And as soon as they get ripe the birds 

 pick them off'. While not unpleasant to 

 the taste they are soft and insipid and 

 nothing one would crave for. 



.-Mthough the Japanese Benthamia 

 thrives so well here we do not recommend 

 it for general cultivation much north of 

 here, nor in very dry ground or exposed 

 situations anywhere: In fall the leaves 

 assume a crimson or bronzy crimson 

 color, but much later than those of the 

 flowering dogwood, and the leaves hang 

 on to the trees till quite late in fall. 



