244 



• • GARDENING. 



May 



trus {articulatus). The common elder, 

 the swamp rose mallow (not a shrub, 

 but grows up like one) and some others 

 also do fairly well. At least these plants 

 here have their roots covered by overflow 

 tides two or three times a year without 

 injury. But weigelias, spirieas and some 

 others have been killed here when grown 

 in beds that get overflown once or oftener 

 a year by overflow tides. A salt water 

 soaking for one or two tides does not 

 kill a susceptible plant at once, the injury 

 is apparent gradually. 



TREES AND SflRUBS. 



Last summer ( '9-t) was unusually warm 

 and dry, the past winter l';^>4-'9r)) was 

 long and cold, and this month of April 

 (it is the 25th now) has been cold at 

 night and exceptionally dry. Young trees 

 and shrubs of precarious hardiness have 

 sufiered greatly by the winter and vege- 

 tation is late. Deciduous trees and shrubs 

 are leafless still, and although the injury 

 done to Styrax Japonica, Hovenia diilcis, 

 corylopsis and several others is visible 

 enough to the trained eye, the full extent 

 of the mischief done by last winter can 

 not be seen before the plants are in full 

 growth. Evergreens also have suffered. 

 Abies wagniUca, hemlocks from the north- 

 west, Dovestone, upright and English 

 yews, Cephalotaxus, and retinosporas of 

 the iilifera type, and rhododendrons have 

 suffered verj' visiblj'. Berberis steno- 

 phylla, if not killed outright, has been cut 

 down to its roots; the "hardy" orange 

 isn't hardy at all, it is killed down to the 

 mulching, the same with Indigofera 

 Dosua, and both in yen.' sheltered places. 

 There i^n't a spear of any kind of bamboo 

 alive above the ground, but the roots of 

 all seem healthy enough. Heaths of all 

 sorts have been injured a good deal. 

 Rhododendrons have suffered more than 

 in many years; even Azalea amcena that 

 has been uninjured for over a dozen years 

 has its outer and upper branchlets killed; 

 the inner part, however, seems to be all 

 right. Wherever evergreens, even hardy 

 kinds, have been exposed to cold sweeping 

 winds in winter they have been sadly, 

 damaged. We have some marked in- 

 stances of the advantage of shelter to 

 evergreens. Some species when exposed 

 have been much marred b}' the frosty 

 winds, whereasothersof the same species, 

 only a few feet away, but sheltered by 

 other bushes, are unhurt. 



In Flower. — Magnolia conspiciia is in 

 full bloom. Every j'car when it is in 

 bloom we have a rain storm, but so far 

 not a drop this time, although we are 

 suffering for the want of it. Hall's star 

 magnolia and Thurber's [Kobus) mag- 

 nolia are also in bloom. Fragrant bush 

 honeysuckle perfumes the atmosphere. 

 Forsythias are beginning to open. 

 Daphnes are in good bloom. Leather- 

 wood, spice bush and Cornelian cherry 

 are and have been quite gay in their tjuiet 

 way, and both Corylopsis spicata and 

 pavciflora are full of golden drops. The 

 last named, however, was injured a good 

 deal last winter. The red maples, at their 

 best, have a glowing and telling effect in 

 the landscape. Some of the earliest peach 

 trees in front of the buildings have a few 

 oi)cn flowers, but not a blossom has ex- 

 panded in the orchard yet. A few 

 prunuses have a few open flowers, but 

 not one of them is in full floral glory yet. 

 The pink and white Mume of Japan are 

 among the prettiest. 



Go AHEAi) PLANTING.— Because it is the 

 first of May is no reason whj' the plant- 

 ing .season should stop; on the contrary, 

 keep it up till the trees begin to grow and 

 burst their wood buds. And after you 



have finished with the deciduous you can 

 keep on planting evergreens for another 

 fortnight. 



DflPflNE ODORft HflRDY ftT WflSfllNGTON. 



We have some plants of the Chinese 

 sweet daphne that have been planted out 

 in the open garden for the past four years, 

 where they are exposed to the full sweep 

 of the northwest winds, and in no way 

 protected except by a mulching of forest 

 tree leaves over their roots, and they 

 seem to be perfectly hardy- They are 

 now (April 15) in full bloom, and I send 

 you some sprays of the blossoms to show 

 you what a beautiful hardy shrub (for 

 here anyway I it is. I mentioned the fact 

 of its being hardy to Mr. John Saul the 

 other day, and he was surprised to hear 

 it. We grow both the green leaved and 

 the variegated leaved ones, and the one 

 seems to be as hardy as the other. True, 

 some of the leaves have been scorched 

 considerably this past winter, but the 

 plants seem to be all right and are full of 

 flowers. [The deliciously fragrant flow- 

 ers came safely to hand, and we were 

 glad to see them, and know of the be- 

 havior of the plant at Washington. Still 

 we don't think it would be hardy at Do- 

 soris. It isn't the intense cold of a night 

 or two that kills half hardy plants so 

 much as continuous cold weather. Our 

 readers will find a splendid illustration of 

 this daphne asgrown in atub and treated 

 as a window plant in Gardening, page 

 211, March 15, '95.— Ed.] P. B. 



Twin Oaks, Washington. 



HftRDY TREES AND SHRUBS IN BLOOM. 



The spring here has been unusually cold 

 and late, and the early blooming trees 

 and shrubs are much behind their usual 

 time of flowering. The silver maple came 

 into flower about the llthof this month, 

 over a month later than it was last year. 

 The red maple is now coming into flower 

 and is quite conspicuous. The common 

 hoar3' alder (Alnus incana) came into 

 bloom about April 12. The Japanese 

 witch hazel was in flower on the 26th of 

 March, It does well here, and seems to 

 be perfectly hardy. The flowers are pret- 

 tier than those of the American species. 



Erica carnea, a dwarf heath with pale 

 red flowers, is a gem. It came into bloom 

 on the 9th inst., and will be quite showv 

 for four or five weeks It is the only heath 

 that does well here. E. vagans does fairly 

 vieW, hut E. vulgaris does not thrive at 

 all with us; it gets burned out in summer. 



The hazels have all been in flower for a 

 week. The mezereum, one of the pretti- 

 est of spring flowering shrubs, came into 

 flower three days ago. Daphne lilagay- 

 ana is just now opening its blooms. Itis 

 a pretty little thing, but makes slow 

 progress. It has been in the open ground 

 now for three winters, under a covering 

 of leaves. 



The leather wood (Dirca) has been 

 showing its small 3'ellow flowers forthree 

 or four days. Those of the spice bush are 

 beginning to open, and the buffalo berry 

 is in full flower. The buffalo berry (Shep- 

 berdia Canadensis), nov; in bloom, grows 

 plentifully hereabout on the banks of the 

 Genesee River. In July and August, when 

 it is covered with its bright yellow ber- 

 ries, it is quite showy. The sweet gale is 

 now in flower; although it grows wild in 

 wet or swampy ground, it flourishes 

 remarkably well here in cultivation, on a 

 dry stony knoll 



The naked flowered jessamine (/. niidi- 

 tlorum), a somewhat tender species from 

 China, has come into Dloom; we had it 

 covered with barrels filled with leaves 



during the winter, and even under this 

 protection the flower buds at the ends of 

 the branches are all killed. ]. Dunbar. 

 Rochester, N. Y., April 24. 



Roses. 



ROSES. 



This a capital rose countrj', and we 

 have them in bloom every day in the 

 summer from the middle of May till sharp 

 frost comes in fall. Roses love deeply 

 worked, well drained, good loamy soil. In 

 the case of roses in beds don't let them 

 stay many years in the same bed; we get 

 better growth and blossoms when we 

 transplant our stock to fresh soil every 

 few years. But we cannot do this with 

 climbing roses or bush-like roses as 

 rugosa, that are planted for permanent 

 effect, and happily, they are constituted 

 so strongly they don't seem to mind the 

 fixed position. 



Good Hardy Roses.— In southern New 

 Jersey, around Philadelphia and in this 

 section of the country generally the fol- 

 lowing hardy hybrid perpetual roses, or 

 as they are now often termed, hybrid 

 remontant ones, give excellent satisfac- 

 tion: 



Alfred Colomb— cherry red, large, sweet. 



Anna de Diesbach — carmine, large, full 

 fragrant. 



Baron de Bonstettin— very dark red, 

 large, full, fragrant. 



Baroness Rothschild — satin v pink, beau- 

 tiful. 



Boule de Niege — Pure white, medium 



Captain Christy— deep flesh color, 

 large, full flower, and vigorous grower. 



Duke of Edinburgh — scarlet crimson, 

 large. 



Fisher Holmes — velvet\' crimson, fine. 



General Jacqueminot — scarlet crimson. 



Gloire de Margottin— brilliant scarlet, 

 large, full, vigorous. 



Madame Gabriel Luizet — satiny rose, 

 large and full. 



Magna Charta— pink suffused carmine, 

 large, vigorous. 



Mrs. John Laing — soft delicate pink. 

 One of the finest of all roses. 



Paul Neyron — deep rose. The largest of 

 all roses. 



Prince Camille de Rohan— velvety 

 crimson maroon. 



Queen of Queens — pink. Blossoms all 

 summer. 



Ulrich Brunner — Cerise red, large, full. 



White Baroness— pure white; a fine rose. 



Climbing Roses.— Here in southern 

 New Jersey we can grow a few fine climb- 

 ing roses, the splendid Reine Marie Henri- 

 ette (in mammoth clusters of large rich 

 cherry crimson roses) for instance. But 

 really, even here we haven't a great 

 variety of perfectly hardy true climbing 

 roses. How different this is in the sunny 

 south, where Devoniensis, Cloth of Gold, 

 Marechal Niel, Gloire de Dijon, and hosts 

 of others are their common every day 

 stock! 



Baltimore Belle, blush; Gem of the 

 Prairies, rose; Prairie Queen, deep rose; 

 Tennessee Belle, blush; and Seven Sisters, 

 light rose, changing to white are among 

 the most reliable climbers we have. True 

 we have got "climbing" forms of some of 

 the hybrid perpetual roses, and in shel- 

 tered places in good deep loamy soil, tied 

 up to stakes they grow and bloom beau- 

 tifully, but they are not rampant enough 

 with us for use as "climbers." 



Tea Roses.— For planting out in the 

 garden in summer some of the tea 



