340 



GARDENING. 



Aug. /, 



bedded this fall near the derrick for con- 

 venience of soaking and the Lychnis 

 Haageana is to edge them. They make 

 a splendid show when properly watered. 



Tulips I use for edgings everj'where, 

 planting them 3 wide even in the rose 

 bed. The Spanish iris we value highlyfor 

 cutting and find it more hardy than the 

 English one, which here has to be win- 

 tered under a foot of leaves in a cold 

 frame, but it is worth the trouble even 

 when the buds had to be picked to open 

 in the house, because of a small black bug. 

 The yellow day lily — Hemerocallis — three 

 varieties, is valued so highly that we 

 plant it near various shelters to prolong 

 the bloom. What could be more beauti- 

 ful for house and church decoration? The 

 white perennial pea is a prime favorite, 

 it seems to defy drouth. The various 

 spirjeas and campanulas are simply indis- 

 pensable, though the\' must be watered. 

 I have a coreopsis with very fine foliage 

 and smaller flowers than lanceolata, and 

 most beauti ul. 



What is it? [C. rert/t/7/ata, probably. 

 Ed.] also a superb blue and white aconi- 

 turn, a July bloomer. With me desmodiurrt 

 is ven,' distinct and desirable. Anemone 

 Japonica does best for me north of some 

 building. Every one of my plants died 

 last winter and the blister beetles contend 

 with me for the new planting. Canter- 

 bury bells are planted from the seed pans 

 into permanent beds, and enclosed in a 

 frame, what a satisfaction they are; but 

 fox gloves are very uncertain even with 

 this treatment. What does ail Delphin- 

 ium formosumnowadays? [Raise it afresh 

 from seed every year.— Ed.] it seems to be 

 impossible to get a thrifty plant. 



My chiel success is a long bed of native 

 asters, that we have gathered from miles 

 around. This is one border of the drive 

 to the bam, and theyconstantlyiraprove 

 in beauty and usefulness. 



(Mrs.) F. Norton Biggs. 



FLOWERS AT EGflNDflLE, ILL., JULY 20. 



Most of those mentioned July 4 are still 

 in good form. Since then have appeared 

 Heliopsis Pitcheriana, a recent valuable 

 addition to the cut flower list. Chicago 

 florists say it sells like hot cakes. It grows 

 about three feet high, producing on long 

 stems single sunflowers over two inches 

 in diameter, of a deep golden yellow. It 

 requires plenty of water. 



The ten-petalled sunflower, Helianthus 

 decapetalas, suitable for large clumps at 

 the back of the shrubbery, grows four to 

 five feet high, and bears soUtary bright 

 yellow flowers over two inches across, 

 its supposed garden hybrid, the dahlia 

 sunflower, catalogued as Helianthus mul- 

 tidorus plenus, is indispensable in the 

 smallest collection. It forms a bushy 

 plant four to five feet high, well clothed 

 with foliage and flowers to the ground, 

 enabling it to be grown in groups, or well 

 in front of a border. The flowers are 

 double, plump, andfull,aclearyellow and 

 three or more inches across. It will bloom 

 more or less until September. Grow a 

 few reserve plants, and cut them back to 

 within a foot of the ground early in July, 

 andthus extend theseason of plenty. Hel- 

 ianthus Iwtitlorus, var. semi-plenus has 

 semi double flowers inferior to the above. 



Monarda didyma is known as horse 

 mint, bee-balm, mountain mint, and 

 Oswego tea. (I include the first common 

 name for the benefit of your Oconomo woe 

 "Novice" who asked for barn-yard 

 names.) It is very effective when seen in 

 masses at a distance, but its brilliant 

 scarlet color must be used with care 

 among other plants. It grows two feet 

 high, is very bushy, and when not crowd- 



ed by other plants is well leaved and 

 flowered to the ground. The flowers are 

 in close heads or whorls, surrounded by 

 bracts tinted with red. 



Monarda hstulosa, a taller growing 

 species with lilac-colored flowers is like 

 the other an indigenous plant, and it im- 

 proves with cultivation. A form of this 

 bearing magenta-colored flowers is a good 

 addition. It blooms a few days later 

 than M. didyma. 



The tree celandine (Bocconia cordata), 

 also known as the plumed poppj', is a 

 handsome, vigorous growing plant, suit- 

 able for isolated positions, standing strong 

 winds well. When planted in a bed its 

 roots should be confined by a bottomless 

 and headless box, as it spreads greatly. 

 It grows six to eight feet high, bearing 

 large panicles of small creamy white 

 flowers. Its main charm is in its hand- 

 some, large, deeply cut foliage, glaucous 

 underneath. 



Acanthus mollis, the stately bear's- 

 breech, is attractive mainly in its shining 

 broad cut-leaved foliage, and is interest- 

 ing on account of the leaf of the genus 

 bemg copied by the ancient Grecians on 

 the columns of their ptiblic buildings. 

 The flower spikes rise up two or more 

 feet bearing fox-glove-like flowers more 

 peculiar in their form than showy. It 

 requires wintering in a cold frame. 



The blue-flowered cupid's dart, Catan- 

 anche coerulea, in a sunny situation is 

 blooming quite freely, bearing showy, 

 deep blue flowers on slender stems ten 

 inches long, fine for cutting. The ancient 

 Greek women used this flower in their 

 love potions, hence its popular name. 



Saint Bernard's lily, AntAer/cumL/V/'ago, 

 makes a rather neat grassy-like clump of 

 foliage, out of which springs numerous 

 stems over a foot long clothed with small 

 white star-like flowers that close up in 

 the evening. 



Tunica Saxifraga, in liiht, well drained 

 soil, makes an interesting border plant, 

 growing but a few inches high, producing 

 numerous light pink flowers in great 

 abundance. 



The sea hollies (Eryngium gigantemn 

 and E. amivthystinum) are good ex- 

 amples of the odd ties of nature. When 

 in bloom, the stems, bracts and flower 

 heads have a peculiar metallic lustre that 

 one of an imaginative turn of mind could 

 easily presume them to be choice speci- 

 mens of metal work. They grow three 

 to four feet high with spiny tufted leaves 

 and tall many branched flower stems. 

 The flowers, in shape and size, resemble 

 somewhat a clover blossom and are of a 

 steel-blue color. 



The blood colored alum root, Heuchera 

 sanguinea, is one of the choicest plants 

 recently introduced, and seems to be per- 

 fectly hardy and satisfied with ordinary 

 cultivation. It forms low tufted ever- 

 green foHage of a pleasing green, and for 

 three months continues to throw up num- 

 erous long, wiry stems crowded with 

 rather small bell-shaped, bright crimson 

 flowers ,that last well when cut. It is a 

 native of Northern Mexico and Colorado. 



Haage's lamp flower. Lychnis hilgens 

 var. Haageana, is a brilliant mass of color 



in many shades of 



and ora 



"ge. 



and is well suited for the front of 

 border. It ^rows about eighteen inches 

 high, producing single, flat, open, flowers 

 two inches across. 



Coreopsis lanceolata is so well known 

 that it needs no description. With me it 

 so over-flowers itself that the individual 

 blooms are small and imperfect. In the 

 wild garden it does better. C. grandi- 

 flora does well, growing about three 

 feet high and producing, on long stiff 



stems, deep yellow open flowers two or 

 more inches across. C. delphiniflora 

 grows about the same height producing 

 yellow flowers with adark center. 



Vucca^/amentosa, the Spanish bayonet, 

 is in its prime, and in the twilight is very 

 effective. Being a native of a more sunny 

 clime, each plant cannot be depended 

 upon to bloom every year, but in a 

 group of a dozen plants seven to eight 

 magnificent spikes of bloom may be 

 looked for. The foliage is sword-like, 

 some two feet high, evergreen and 

 bordered more or less with thread-like 

 filaments. The flower spikes reach a 

 height of six feet, branched from the top 

 of the leaves and thickly covered with 

 pendent creamy white cup-shaped flowers. 

 It thus produces a flower spike four 

 feet long and eighteen inches in diameter. 

 It requires deeply dug, light, well drained 

 soil. 



The wild senna. Cassia Marylandica, 

 belongs in theshruljbery, where its acacia- 

 foliage is very handsome. It grows 

 about four feet high, forming in time quite 

 a bushy plant. Its yellow flowers add to 

 the charm of its foliage. 



Gypsophila paniculata is the best mem- 

 ber of the chalk plant family. When staked 

 early in the season to prevent spreading 

 out from the center it forms a charming 

 cushion two feet high and three or more 

 broad completely covered with small 

 whitish flowers that are excellent for cut- 

 ting. It requires an open situation. 



The plantainlily (FunAriaovafa) is now 

 in bloom; it has deep lilac flowers. The 

 best of the family, F. subcordata, the 

 Corfu lily, will not bloom until August. 

 All are planted in shady situations where 

 the sun does not bum their foliage. Old 

 plants, particularly of subcordata, will 

 form handsome mounds gf overlapping 

 foliage, eighteen inches high and three or 

 more feet in diameter, that is very attrac- 

 tive. The flower stems rise above this 

 mound; bearing the blossoms in racemes. 



The variegated lemon thyme. Thymus 

 citriodorus var. aureus should be in every 

 garden frecjuented by the gentler sex. It 

 is grown only for its highly aromatic, 

 evergreen foliage of green and gold, and 

 makes an attractive border about eight 

 inches high. A few sprays placed in the 

 after dinner finger bowl give a pleasant 

 fragrance. Each spring the plants should 

 be lifted and replanted in a deep, narrow 

 trench, the whole plant, except a few 

 inches of its top being buried. When 

 complete the line of exposed foliage should 

 not be over two inches wide. By mid- 

 summer it will be ten to twelve inches 

 wide. W. C. Egan. 



FLOWER OflRDEN QUESTIONS. 



J. r. T., Randolph Co,, W. Va., asks: 

 1. Hardy TRAILING plants for a rockery 

 in a sunny, dry situation? 



Ans. There are ver\' few indeed that 

 will thrive there without some special 

 preparation for them. Among the most 

 promising are moss pink, bear berry, 

 portulacca, wildcactus,stonecrop, peren- 

 nial dianthuses, golden alyssum, and 

 white rock cress. But if 30U dig out 

 some deep wide holes in it, or blast them 

 out if it is rock and fill up with good soil, 

 and there plant someshrubs. as bayberry 

 bush, American creeping cuon\-mus, bear 

 berry, prostrate junipers, ink berry, fra- 

 grant sumach, and the like, to give a little 

 shelter, make some surface compost, and 

 arrest water, lesser plants could be spread 

 among and about them. Of course many 

 plants will come up in spring and look 

 well even in poor soil; but it is apt to 

 look rather burned up in August. We 

 have lots of nice traihng plants, as vinca, 



