GARDENING. 



July ^5, 



destroy it. If you wotild know how woe- 

 fully deficient our books on injurious in- 

 sects are look for mention of this aphis in 

 one of them, an insect that is and has 

 been for many 3'ears abundant over th.: 

 face of the earth, and a pronounced gar- 

 den pest everywhere. 



SflflDY CORNERS. 



How unhajjpy many people are over 

 the shady spots under trees where the 

 grass will not grow, and how much time 

 Hnd money they expend in trying to keep 

 out plants that enjoy such places, and in 

 trying to keep in grass that cannot be 

 made to succeed. These shady places can 

 be made more interesting with less care 

 than almost any other part of the grounds 

 if the conditions areonce maderight. To 

 learn what is right one may study to 

 good advantage similar localities in the 

 edge of woods or in fields that are not 

 too closely browsed by cattle or sheep. 

 Vou will find a fringing of shrubs under 

 the ends of the branches of the trees that 

 almost completely hides the wild and leafy 

 mould from the more finished hay field or 

 pasture outside of the group. Under the 

 trees is a covering of rich loose leaf mould, 

 and in this leaf mould there are growing, 

 or there can be made to grow, many of 

 our most beautiful native flowers, such as 

 the trilliums, bloodroots, hepaticdS, 

 anemones, lady's slippers, Solomon's seal, 

 bane berry, cohosh, rue anemone, violets, 

 twin leaf, pyrolas, wintergreens, and no 

 less than thirty kinds of fenis. Nothing 

 can give a lover of nature more pleasure 

 than to personally superintend the mak- 

 ing and filling of such a wild garden, and 

 if he be a traveling man he will have an 

 opportunity of picking up many choice 

 mementoes in the way of plants. 



Warren H. Manning. 



Brooklinc, Mass. 



the flower garden by "carpet-bedding"; 

 but when it was introduced it quickly be- 

 came popular and infused new life into 

 the plant trade. That discovei-y was ex- 

 actly what man is ever looking for, 

 namely, a change and every available 

 plant suitable for this purpose was 

 brought into requisition, and many 

 which had never been looked upon as 

 decorative before proved to be the very 

 things needed for this purpose.. 



Undoubtedly this style of bedding has 

 seen its most popular days, but it has 

 given pleasure to millions, and won over 

 thousands to decorate their home sur- 

 roundings who had never done so before. 

 Of late, however, there has been a spirit 

 of unrest on this subject arising from its 

 having been used too extensively and 

 for so long, and until all novel plans were 

 exhausted, and from being so peculiarly 

 striking it has become tiresome, instead 

 of pleasing. 



Many are enthusiastically advocating 

 the use of hardy herbaceous plants, and 

 say that a fine, and highly decorative 

 effect may be attained by their use only, 

 but I have never seen the bed or border, 

 or system of beds or borders of hardy 

 herbaceous perennials alone which 

 throughout the season was caijable of 

 exciting the admiration of the masses, as 

 carpet bedding has done. Carpet bedding 

 as a garden decoration s when used to a 

 moderate extent desirable. But to 

 enhance one's pleasure from his garden 

 one ought to have also a good collection 

 of hardy herbaceous plants and shrub- 

 bery, and all distinctly named. 



CARPET BEDDING. 



[Condon.d from a puper t ead by Mr. Jamn 

 Gilt ney bcfoi e Ihr Garden Improvnncnt Club of the 

 Missouri Botanical Garden.l 



Carpet bedding consists of the tasteful 

 arrangement of many diminutive, rosette, 

 and other garden plants, that could not 

 by themselves be easily used to good ad- 

 vantage in the ordinarj' way of planting 

 flower beds or borders. The use of the 

 term "carpet bedding," does not by any 

 means imply that we must have a bed of 

 plants of different colors, with the surface 

 of all kept flat as may be often seen, but 

 it does suggest to my mind a circle or 

 oval cut in the grass, and a system of 

 small beds arranged in the prettiest way 

 the mind can devise within these lines, 

 not forgetting the proper blending of 

 colors, and taking care that each plant 

 shall have as suitable and complete deco- 

 ration of its own, as though a separate 

 bed was appropriated to its use, and after 

 a whole system of these little beds has 

 been arranged, place a suitable ground 

 work of plants between the whole, and 

 have a complete bordering of some suit- 

 able plant. As no two faces are alike out 

 of the thousands we see daily, so in like 

 manner, no two persons' tastes are alike, 

 were it otherwise we should all dress alike, 

 the bonnets would all be trimmed alike, 

 and the gardens all planted alike. But 

 every person has his own likes and dislikes, 

 even in his own garden arrangements. 

 Both style of planting and arrangement 

 of colors have have to conform to one's 

 tasl,e, otherwise we shall be discontented, 

 and disappointed. Fashion influences our 

 tastes, our likes, and dislikes, and most 

 of us are slaves to it. In my early life I 

 do not remember any attempt to decorate 



and holding its own among the wild 

 plants,even overshadowing the indigenous 

 black-eyed Susan. Thunberg's day lily is 

 a good border plant growing three feet 

 high and bearing flowers of a rich lemon 

 color not unlike those of Hemerocallis 

 /lava, but they arenot sweet-scented. Us 

 late blooming habit makes it desirable. 



Lilium umhellatiim is another robust 

 flower that is at home in the wild garden 

 and thrives in the shade. This year the 

 late frosts destroyed the bloom buds in 

 open beds but not in the ravines. The 

 Madonna lily, L.camlidiim, proves hardy 

 with a good mulching and where water 

 will not stand in winter. Besides those 

 wanted for cut flowers, plant a group of 

 it in front of some dark shrubbery, and 

 when it is in bloom view them across a 

 green lawn, and if 3 ou do not love them 

 the fault is yours. 



The fox-giove pentstemon (P. Digitalis) 

 with its white flowers all along a stem two 

 feet high, and the perenniul yellow fox- 

 glove are suitable outskirt companions 

 for the well known biennials P. barba- 

 tus var. Torreyi is a tall-growing species 

 having light red flowers along the stalk; 

 if well grown and neatly staked it makes 

 a striking plant. 



The common everlasting pea [Lathyriis 

 latifolius) presents a fine sight scrambling 

 over some brush arranged at the base of 



FLOWERS AT EOflNDflLE, ILLINOIS, JULY 4. 



Among the climbers in bloom is the 

 Texas scarlet clematis (Clematis Vioriia, 

 var. coccinea) which is perfectly hardy 

 with ordinary mulching. Being strictly 

 herbaceous, it dies down to the ground in 

 the fall. Its peculiar fleshy, campanulate 

 flowers are quite freely produced the 

 greater part of the summer. Books give 

 its height at four to six feet; with me it 

 grows twelve to fifteen. 



Clematis kermesina, a. form of C. Viti- 

 cella. bear an open flower of a peculiar 

 claret shade. The earlier blooms often 

 have the petals tipped with green, or an 

 entire petal may be of that color. It is 

 not a continuous bloomer,but well worthy 

 of cultivation. With me, this and the pre- 

 ceding are from disease. 



C.Jackmanni, and several other large 

 flowering varieties, alwaj'S welcome, are 

 in bloom, and lucky is the person having 

 one free from disease. A gem in its waj' 

 is the re ent French introduction, 

 Madame Edouard Andre, of the Jack- 

 manni type, and blooming on the new 

 wood very freely. Its flowers are of a 

 medium size, and a beautiful velvety red 

 color. 



The Grecian silk vine, Periploca gneca, 

 displays its brown star-shaped flowers in 

 a modest way. It stood last winter in a 

 trying situation unprotected. 



The climbing rose Prairie Queen is past 

 its best It is unquestionably hardy, but 

 the difterence between plants that were 

 protected and others left unprotected, in 

 foliage and flowers, plainly sav "give me 

 some shelter from the winter blasts." 



The Crimson Rambler is in its prime. 

 The new climbing rose, introduced this 

 year under the name of Empress of China, 

 has started off well, small plants bloom- 

 ing (juite freely; flowers are medium-sized 

 and of a pleasing shade of pink. 



The tawny day \\\y,Hemerocallis fulva, 

 is unworthy of a place in the border, but 

 set in the wild garden on the shady banks 

 of a ravine it is stately and handsome, 



an old vine-covered 



The white 



form is the handsomest, and although 

 scentless it is fine for cutting. It grows 

 three to four feet high and dislikes re- 

 moval. 



Anthemis tinctoria var A'chvayi. is an 

 improved form of the "Hairy Golden 

 Marguerite" with lemon-colored floweis 

 on long stems. Its habit of drooping its 

 petals at sundown is rather against it. 



The narrow-leaved purple cone flower 

 (Echinacea angustifolia) with its rose- 

 colored manjf pointed star-shaped flowers 

 held two or more feet above the ground 

 belongs in the shrubbery rather than in 

 the border, as it is suggestive of sylvan 

 scenes. Its congener, E. purpurea, not 

 yet in bloom, is more showy. 



Euphorbia corollata, the white flower- 

 ing spurge, grows wild along the railroad 

 tracks. Brought into the garden and 

 given ordinarj^ cultivation it furnishes 

 graceful open umbelliform inflorescence of 

 small white flower bracts very useful in 

 bouquets. 



Frazer's evening primrose (CEnothcra 

 Frazeri) contradicts its popular title by 

 its flowers being open all day and closing 

 in the evening. It is very free flowering, 

 hasclear soft yellow flowers and is dwarf 

 and compact. It is desirable for giving 

 color in the shrubbery. 



The Pennsylvania wind flower (Ane- 

 mone Pennsylvanica) is effective in wild- 

 gardening or as.anundcr-shrub. It grows 

 about two feet high, is bushy and com- 

 pact, bearing sparingly white flowers an 

 inch in diameter 



The homed poppy (Glaucium Fischeri) 

 is ornamental in the shrubbery where a 

 glaucous cut-leaved foliage is desired. It 

 grows about two feet high and flowers 

 freely, producing a reddish-orange bloom 

 that is uninteresting and fleeting. 



The curious witch's thimble (Silene 

 maritima) is useful lor a low border. It 

 forms dense turf-like massesof a very pale 

 green some four inches high, with numer- 

 ous small white flowers. 



The Alleghany dicentra (D. eximia) 

 makes a charming edging where taller 

 plants are grown behind it. It grows 

 about one foot high, and bears small 

 coral-colored flowers nearly all summer, 

 which are not attractive, except in the 

 bud, and especially in the spring, whea 



