290 



GARDENING. 



June 75, 



Among lilacs Syringa villosa is now 

 displaying its pinkish purple flowers, and 

 S. Josiksea purplish, scentless ones. S. 

 Japonica and S. amurensis have not yet 

 opened. 



Lonicera Alhertiiis a useful bush honey- 

 suckle, with small, narrow foliage, pen- 

 dulous branches and rosy lilac flowers. 

 It has just passed out ol bloom. The 

 wild scarlet trumpet honeysuckle (L. 

 sempervitens), the yellow one (L. Hava), 

 the European ones L. Periclymenan],huti, 

 and L. Capritolium luteuw, yellow; L- 

 Canadensis, yellowish white; h. grata, 

 pink purple, 'and L. Douglasii, orange, 

 are now in bloom. 



False indigo (Amorpha iruticosa) is 

 in bloom, and the bladder senna (Co/utea 

 arhorescens) has been showing its yellow 

 pea flowers for the past five or six days. 

 The sun rose {Helianthewum vulgare) 

 makes a bright show every morning, but 



large flowered white mock orange \PhU- 

 adelphus grandiOorus) is now very beau- 

 tiful, and the common fragrant one (P. 

 coronarius), in several varieties, will be 

 at its best in a day or two. 



The matrimony vine {Lycium bar- 

 bariim) has commenced to show a few 

 violet purple flowers, and the silk vine 

 ( Periploca gr.t-ca ) is opening its brownish 

 purple wheel shaped ones. 



The early fragrant bush honeysuckle 

 (Lonicera fragrantissima) is now dis- 

 playing its reddish fruit. J. Diniiak. 



Rochester, N. Y., June 7, 1895. 



TREES AND SflRUBS IN BLOOM AT ROCflES- 

 TER. N. y. 



Sharp Irosts were experienced here on 

 the 21st and 22d of May, doing great 

 damage to grape vines and strawberries 

 and blackening the foliage of many trees, 

 shrubs and vines; for instance cucumber 

 trees, catalpas, mulberries, smooth, stag- 

 horn, Chinese and Japanese sumachs, 

 chaste shrubs (Vitex), Uutchmaji's pipe, 

 Virginia creeper and actinidia. A hot 

 speil of weather lasting several days set 

 in on the 25th of Mav, with day temper- 

 atures frequentlv over 90° in the shade, 

 wilting the foliage and flowers ot trees 

 and shrubs. 



Spiraeas Van Houttei, Cantonensis and 

 cbawxdrifoliawcre in finebloom between 

 the 22d and 31st ult; crenata and ulwi- 

 tolia are about past, a few flowers still 



linger on rnpestr/s rotundifolia alba ^ ^_^ ^^^ 



is in good bloom, and opuhtoha and its « . ^,^^ afternoon, 



golden leaved variety have been ,n flower [^ Pfl^^^^ed white mock orange 

 lor four or five days. 



A few flowers still linger on the rose 

 acacia {Rohinia hispida). A beautiful 

 varietv of it from Germany, named Ca- 

 nuiseti, has large clusters of pinkish red 

 flowers. The clammy locust (Robinia 

 viscosa) is in good bloom. 



The yellow wood (Cladrastis lutea) is 

 in full flower. Its large panicles of creamy 

 white flowers are very handsome. The 

 same trees were in full flower last year, 

 notwithstanding a belief that they only 

 flower on alternate years. 



The Spanish furze (Ulex Hispanica) is 

 about past blooming. It is a diminutive 

 shrub xvith pretty yellow flowers, and 

 much resembles the common whin (T'/ex 

 Europeea). It winters well here with an 

 evergreen branch laid over it. V. Europxa 

 under a heavy covering gets killed to the 

 ground but starts from there again in 

 spring. 



The American wistaria (trutescens) is 

 ill good bloom. 



The common snowball {Viburnum Op- 

 ulis sterilis) is past, but the Japanese one 

 ( V. plicatum) is in good bloom. 1'. Len- 

 tago was in full flower May 30. 1'. cas- 

 sinoides is passing out of bloom, and V. 

 dentatutn and V. Isevigatum are coming 

 into flower. 



The alternate leaved dogwood (Cornus 

 alternifolia) is past blooming, the round 

 leaved one (C. circinata) is in full flower, 

 and the silky dogwood ( C. sericea ) will 

 be in blooni'in a few days. 



The Chinese fringe tree (Chionanthus 

 retusus) was in fine bloom on May 29. 

 It does well here. The American white 

 fringe (C. Virginica) was in lull flower 

 two or three days later. 



Fontanesia Fortunei was at its best on 

 the 3d inst. This Chinese shrub grows 

 herewith remarkable vig r. Its branches 

 have a graceful pendulous habit, its foli- 

 age of a deep glossy green color and its 

 flowers are dull creamy white, in axillary 

 and terminal racemes. The tips of the 

 branches were slightly injured last win- 

 ter. F. phillyrieoides grows slowly and 

 has never flowered here. It gets killed 

 back more in winter than the former. 



The diervillas have been very gay for 

 the past week, and some of the early 

 flowering varieties are about past. Out 

 of thirty-five or forty varieties here the 

 following are a few 'of the best: Abel 

 Carriere, Hortensis nivea, Hortensis 

 rubra, Othello, Stelznerii, Svmondsii, 

 Madame Tellier, President Duchartre, 

 Candida and Pecheur Fils. 



Deutzia gracilis in exposed places was 

 badly hurt with the late frosts. Where 

 it escaped it was in full bloom about tbe 

 28th of last month. 



XflNTHOCERflS SORBIFOLIfl FROM SEED. 



I will tell vou about my Xantlioccras 

 sorhifolia raised from seed which you 

 sent me in November, 1893, and which 

 safely wintered in a cold frame. I planted 

 it out in early April; on May 11 this year 

 it bloomed and continued in bloom until 

 May 31. It is strong and vigorous and 

 21 inches high. Only one of the seed sent 

 me in November last has germinated, but 

 probably more will, as they are late in 

 gerniinatiog with me. 



John J Donaldson. 



Millbrook, N. Y., June 3, '95. 



We are glad to know it. So far as our 

 supply of seeds went we sent them to 

 friend's interested in flowers and garden- 

 ing who asked for them. Some have re- 

 ported success, others complained that 

 the seeds failed to germinate with them. 

 But President Donaldson's experience is 

 especially valuable, as it shows us that 

 in eighteen months from time of sowing 

 his plant came into bloom. This was a 

 vear ahead of our experience. 



The Flower Garden. 



flfllP WRRDY TRITOMflS. 



F. H. J., Lancaster, N. Y. writes: "I 

 see in German catalogues halt hardy 

 tritoraas for sale. I grow T. Uvaria with- 

 out any trouble. How shall I grow the 

 half hardy ones?" 



While we do not regard any tritoma as 

 being perfectly hardv, Uvaria (or properly 

 Kniphofia aloides) is generally catalogued 

 as being hardy, and in a sheltered place 

 and under a winter mulch it lives out- 

 doors with us. Some of the other species 

 as MacOweni. triangularis, carnosa, 

 Rooperi, and Burchelli arc given as half 

 hardy, or plainly tender, and so they arc. 

 But we mav succeed with any of them by 

 lifting the s'tools in the fall, and heeling 

 them in in the cellar iuatemperatvr<;su<;h 



as you would keep for apples or potatoes 

 or in a cold pit kept nearly frost proof in 

 winter. When we lift them we cut their 

 leaves three-quarters back, then crowd 

 the stools close together on an earthen 

 floor and pack sandy soil between and 

 over them, in other words heel them in 

 there but not to bury the leaves. Keep 

 the tops dry, but the roots moderately 

 moist all winter, and merely exclude frost 

 from them. As soon as the ground is dry 

 and mellow enough in spring for planting 

 bring out the plants, divide them if you 

 want more stock, and plant in their sum- 

 mer quarters. At that time too we plant 

 a row of gladiolus bulbs between the tri- 

 tomas, and about the middle of June when 

 the leaves of the tritomas have grown 

 enough to reach out upon the gladioli we 

 cut them back a little This does the tri- 

 tomas no harm, and it gives the gladioli 

 a chance to get their leaves and sca()es 

 well up above the dense leafage before 

 anv harm is done to them. Besides, the 

 coinbination adds to the beauty of the 

 mass. 



PRIMROSES flflRDY? 



Inquirer asks: "Which of the following 

 primulas are hardy: Cashmeriana, cortu- 

 soides, denticulaia, Forbesi, farinosa, 

 Japonica?" 



Under ordinary conditions none of them 

 will make itself at home out of doors. 

 Cortusoides, denticulata and Japonica, 

 we have had fine under special conditions 

 out of doors, the last named especially. 

 But all (except Forfeesi, which we have 

 n t tested in frames) will thrive admira- 

 bly in an east facing cold frame. It isn't 

 altogether a question of hardiness with 

 these primroses, for farinosa is hardy 

 enough, but it seems to dislike our con- 

 ditions. Take Primula Mistassinica. a 

 lovely native species for instance: Our 

 friend James Goldie of Ontario grows it 

 beautifully planted out in his garden, but 

 it would die within a year if so treated at 

 Dosoris, in a cool cold" frame facing north 

 or east, we could get along with it. We 

 grow the denticulata and its variety 

 Cashmeriana in a frame along with poly- 

 anthuses and find ti ey do very vvell. But 

 it is with them as we find it with poly- 

 anthuses, a fresh stock should be raised 

 from from seed every year. 



flflRDY flERBflCEOUS SFIRflEflS. 



We have several fine kinds in the gar- 

 den. The commonest is the dropwort 

 (S. lilipendula) with large heads ol fleecy 

 white flowers, but whiter and prettier by 

 far is the double flowered form of it. They 

 are in bloom now. S. lobata (commonly 

 called venusta), a tall native plant with 

 pinkish blossoms is very pretty; palmata 

 belongs to the same class and has much 

 deeper colored flowers, but it doesn't 

 always maintain its vigor— it often 

 "wears out." We have three forms of 

 the meadow sweet (S. VImaria), namely, 

 the type, a variegated leaved one, and a 

 double flowered one, and all are hardy, 

 easy to grow and worth growing. They 

 bloom a little later. 



The Kamschatka spira-a [S. vestita) is 

 not unlike a tall gigantic meadow sweet. 

 While hardy and a good perennial it has 

 a somewhat coarse appearance. 



The goat's beard (S. Aruncus), quite 

 difl'erent in general appearance from those 

 already named, is a big, bold, handsome 

 perennial, with ample panicles of small 

 whitish flowers that rise well above the 

 foliage. It will thrive in the open light or 

 in partial shade. Nearly related to the 

 goat's beard, but smaller in all its parts 

 and more refined in appearance is the 



