iSgs. 



GARDENING. 



35 



high. Since then they have made ram- 

 pant growth. The leaves are opposite, 

 long and narrow and a deep leathery 

 green, not at all bad, but the fault of the 

 ])lant is that the distance between the 

 ])airs of leaves is so great that it is not 

 worth much for shade, and unless it has 

 constant pinching back it will run up 20 

 or .'!l) feet witlioul liranching. It is now 

 tlu- IL'th of SriiiiinlKi ninl my vines have 

 liad but I wo llow , 1 s. ill li(,ugh some are 

 in ]iarti.-il ^Ii.l.U ninl -^ciiic in the sun. 

 The riowcr Is s.ii.ill .iii.l .up-shaped, white 

 tingc<l witli piuli, but not at all showy 

 and vvortli nothing for cut flowers. The 

 milk whicli exudes when the plant is 

 l)ruisc(! or lirokcn may as well be kept 

 a way from the eyes and mouth, although 

 I do not know whether it is poisonous or 

 not. (This plant is not hardy. It does 

 not blossom much the first year from 

 seed, but two or three year old plants 

 often blossom abundantly and are quite 

 showv when in bloom.— Ed.] 



Bergen Point, .\. J. L. C.L.J. 



FtOWERS IN BLOOM DURING THE LATTER 

 FflRT OF SEPTEMBER ftT EOflNDflLB. 



The closing scene of Flora's march is 

 now upon us, and ere long the whitened 

 mantle of the "King of the North" will 

 l)e spread with kindly intent over all our 

 summer friends. Have they repaid our 

 loving care? Have thev given us the 

 promised wealth ot their bloom? Yes, 

 three-fold. Each in its turn has added 

 its glory lo the scene. Their cycle of 

 l))oom is ncarlj' completed, yet a walk 

 around my grounds to-day shows the 

 l)looms of over fifty perennial species still 

 on hand, exemplifying that mystery of 

 exquisite coloring that lies beyond the 

 artist's touch— that emanates only from 

 the laboratory of mother earth. Let us 

 not forget them in tlieir time of rest. 

 They will be but recuperating from their 

 labor of love, and will again awaken and 

 with renewed vigor gladden OHr hearts 

 once more. Protect them well from the 

 winters' blasts and await with eager 

 interest the first floral harbinger of spring. 

 Some membeis of the procession that 

 earlier in the season were prominent in 

 their brightness have, like wanton boys, 

 slipped out after passing the grand stand 

 and again entered into line with their 

 second crop, and once more we enjoy the 

 delphiniums, platycodons, clematis, achil- 

 lea and others. One correspondent of 

 Gardening has lately stated that with him 

 the platycodon blooms but once. I have 

 but two strong plants of P. ^and//?oru7n, 

 and I do not think there has been any 

 time since they first bloomed except 

 ))crhaps a gap of eight or ten days, 

 l)ut that there were some blooms on 

 them. On one plant to-day I noticed two 

 unopened buds, three faded flowers and 

 two Iresh ones. These plants are in a 

 rather shaded situation, and from them, 

 as with all others, the faded flowers are 

 picked each day. The golden rods and 

 the asters thrive in such profusion a'l 

 around us that with the exception of in 

 my wild garden I do not cultivate them. 

 The new comers since my last list are few, 

 yet welcome. 



Heliantlws orgyalis, the fountain sun- 

 flower, a native of our southwestern 

 states, is one of the most decorative 

 autumnal flowering plants we have. It 

 can hardly be used in landscape work on 

 account of the difliculty in keeping it 

 erect against the high winds. It grows 

 eight to ten feet high, throwing up 

 numerous long slender main stalks, 

 thickly clothed with narrow lanceolate 

 leaves. Flowers a bright golden yellow, 

 t'vo inches in diameter, with .-i dark 



center, so freely produced on short lateral 

 stems as to form a large panicle. It is 

 perfectly hardy and very eflective when 

 the sun shines u]ion it. 



Uclmiitlius Maximiliani, Maximilian's 

 sunflower, is about the latest perennial 

 we have to flower, and in a sheltered 

 position is quite eflective. It grows fully 

 eight feet high, producingnumerous large 

 clear yellow flowers. 



Tricyrtis hirta, var. nigra, the odd 

 looking Japanese toad lily, must have 

 been evolved in one of nature's hunnrous 

 moods. It is certainly a very curious and 

 interesting plant when in bloom, but it 

 would recpiire a more facile pen than 

 mine to describe it, and even then the 

 reader would not know as much about it 

 as he did before. The plant grows about 

 eighteen inches high and bears numerous 

 odd looking orchid-like flowers of a 

 peculiar brown color. 



The Japanese anemone (A.Japonica) is 

 a very valuable addition to our fall 

 blooming plants, giving colors not easily 

 attainable at this season. The type bears 

 flowers of a rosy red, but by far the finest 

 form is the white one (Honorine Jobert 

 or alba) and its varieties. Whirlwind and 

 Lady Ardilaun. The Honorine Jobert is 

 pure white, two to three inches in diame- 

 ter, borne on long footstalks springing 

 out from a tufted mass of leaves. Lady 

 Ardilaun is similarin habit, with broader 

 petals, while Whirlwind is semi-double, 

 and a very welcome visitor. 



Gaura Lindheimeri, a perennial from 

 Texas, has be.n blooming nearly all 

 summer. It is a semi-decumbent plant 

 with woody main stems bearing slender 

 spikes of small curiously shaped rosy 

 white flowers in constant succession. It 

 seems hardy with ordinary winter pro- 

 tection. [And easily raised from seed 

 sown in spring it blooms from mid-sum- 

 mer till frost.— Ed.] 



Ipomcca pandurata, the man-of-the- 

 earth creeper, and one lately sent out as 

 I. Mexicana, what is it?— [/. ijaniculata. 

 —Ed.] arc at their prime, and will con- 

 tinue to bloom until frost. The former is 

 decidedly the best in color, being white 

 with a purple throat, while the latter is a 

 dull purplish red. They are not rampant 

 vines and are at their best when climbing 

 over low-headed trees. On young 

 hickories they look well, as they generally 

 are long in "bloom after the hickory has 

 lost its leaves. I. pandurata is hardy 

 under good protection [The tubers ol 

 old plants bury themselves so deep into 

 the earth as to be perfectly hardy even 

 at Chicago —Ed.] while the' other 'is best 

 wintered in the cellar. 



The hardy ornamental grasses are now 

 throwing up their tall flower spikes 

 which will soon feather out and rival the 

 pampas grass in their beauty. Erian- 

 thus Ravennie and the three forms of 

 Eulalia Japonica as well as gracilliwa are 

 perfectly hardy here. 



In perusing the list of perennials men- 

 tioned in these articles as having been in 

 bloom at various times since fuly 1 it 

 must be borne in mind that there are a 

 host of others whose time of bloom ante- 

 dates that period whose blooms would 

 carry us far back into the spring months, 

 when bedding plants and tender annuals 

 were still in swaddling clothes. It has 

 been truh- said that there is as much 

 pleasure in anticipation as in realization. 

 What a mine of pleasure a good collec- 

 tion of perennials is! From early spring 

 until the autumn months there are always 

 some plants to bloom, some anticipated 

 pleasure always before us, some swelling 

 buds .-dways .-icting as a magnet to draw 



floral treasux-y. The very permanency of 

 this class of plants should alone recom- 

 mend them. It may almost be said of 

 them that once planted always planted. 

 W.'C. Egan. 



CflNNfl ROOTS, «0W TO WINTER T«EM. 



Cannas are tender plants and frost in- 

 jures them, that is a slight frost will 

 blacken their leaves as it will those of the 

 dahlia, but on account of the great mass 

 of stems and foliage they bear it takes 

 ((uite a sharp frost to get down into the 

 ground to injure their roots. We note 

 this to show that it is needless to hurry 

 and cut down the tops and dig up the 

 roots and store them awav the day after 

 we have the first slight frost, say about 

 the end of September or first of O.tober. 

 In fact the longer we can leave them in 

 the ground with perfect safety the better 

 for the roots, as it serves to render them 

 more dormant and less likely to start 

 into fresh growth as soon as stored. 

 This is important, .^t the base of every 

 cut down stem are one, two or more 

 dormant eyes, much the same as in 

 asparagus; as soon as the stem is cut 

 down, the canna being an evergreen or 

 continuous growing plant, one or more 

 of these dormant eyes at each cut stem, 

 conditions being favorable, will start into 

 growth. At the base of these growths 

 other latent eyes form, but on account of 

 the spindled or enfeebled growths the new 

 eyes too must be correspondingly weak; 

 we should therefore discourage winter 

 growth in the case of stored roots, and 

 this is done by keeping the roots cool, 

 but always above freezing, and moder- 

 ately dry, but never quite dr\'. 



After a sharp frost cut the cannas down 

 close to the ground, then lift the clumps 

 of roots, keeping each variety by itself; 

 as the roots are apt to lift with heavv 

 balls of earth to them, lift the clump up "a 

 foot or two with your hands and then 

 let it fall with a thud on the hard ground, 

 to remove part of the superfluous earth 

 sticking to it. But don't by any means 

 remove all of the earth. Now take the 

 clumps to the cellar, each one being 

 securely named, and lay them one deep, 

 and close together, on the cold earthen or 

 cement floor, and where they will be dry 

 overhead, away from draughts, and cool 

 but never frozen. There should be earth 

 enough to each ball so that you don't 

 need to use any other sand or" earth to 

 work in between the clumps; indeed, wx 

 find it isn't necessary to fill up these 

 chinks at all, but a 'little earth run up 

 against the outside of the roots to keep 

 them from drying out too fast is bene- 

 ficial to them. Throw apiece of old 

 matting or carpet over them to keep 

 them equably cool and moist. 



If you cannot store them on the floor 

 get one or more wide shallow boxes— 

 you can get lots of old empty packing 

 boxes at the grocei-y store "that will 

 answer nicely— and pack them close to- 

 gether and one deep into these, and set 

 the boxes in any safe convenient place 

 you can spare. 



If you have a cool greenhouse, when 

 j-ou lift the clumps place them close to- 

 gether on the floor under the bench of the 

 greenhouse, but away from the hot water 

 pipes; they won't need earth, sand, or 

 anything else drawn up to or worked in 

 among them; enough dirt should have 

 stuck to the clumps to answer every pur- 

 pose. A warm greenhouse is a bad place 

 for the canna roots, as they start to grow 

 in it and become enervated. 



We winter them well in a frost-proof 

 C"I<1 frame uji against the greenhouse 



