3o8 



GARDENING. 



July 



In the spring of 1894 while edmiring 

 the beautiful collection of retinosporas at 

 the nurseries of Thos. Meehan & Sons, 

 Ciermantown, Penn., I mentioned my one 

 specimen, and they proposed sending me 

 for trial as to hardiness a set ot ten 

 varieties. At my suggestion they sent m 

 duplicate, one lot to receive inexpensive 

 winter protection, the other to take care 

 of themselves. Bothlotswere planted m 

 clay loam in a situation somewhat 

 sheltered from winds and where the rays 

 of the winter's sun were scattered by the 

 branches of interveningtrees. The follow- 

 ing varieties were sent: A', erkoides, 

 tilifera, leptoclada, obtusa, obtiisa com- 

 pacta, plumosa and its variety aiirea, 

 squarrosa Veitchi, pisifera and Sieboldi. 

 The winter of 1894-5 was of unusual 

 prolonged severity, while that of last 

 season was quite favorable to all plants. 

 Some ofthe smaller plants of one group 

 had inverted boxes placed over them, and 

 the others in the same group were 

 wrapped with straw. The first winter 

 all of the protected ones came out in fair 

 form and apparently did well the follow- 

 ing summer. This spring all of the pro- 

 tected plants are in fair form except 

 Sieboldii, which did not survive. 



Of the unprotected lot Sieboldii and 

 ericoitles. both died the first winter, 

 but the balance stood both seasons. 



With the unprotected lot were larger 

 specimens of plumosa and its golden 



mprot 



of ph 



nd silver forms, which are all right 

 right. One plumosa aurea which I 

 wintered in a cellar, and planted out 

 quite early is showing its new growth 

 soonei; than those wintered outside. 

 Some of the unprotected showed a little 

 Ijrown at the tips, especially squarrosa, 

 but the cutting back they naturally 

 should receive removed it all. I am 

 satisfied that even in this climate, if 

 sheltered positions be chosen, a more ex- 

 tended use of these handsome dwarf ever- 

 greens, and especially the plumosa form, 

 can be made. Some, while not actually 

 dwarf, can be grown as such for many 

 years as they bear pruning well. 



Picked specimens of plumosa aurea are 

 well worth the care and attention given 

 any plant that is grown in a tub and 

 wintered in a cool cellar by those who 

 fear the severitv of their winters. 



W. C. Er.AN. 



RflODODENDRONS. 



1 have much pleasure in sending you 

 lists of rhododendrons. The first in order 

 contains varieties that I have grown here 

 for a great many years and which can be 

 relied upon as hardy with ordinary care. 

 They suffer with dry weather, and I 

 water them two or three times during the 

 summer. 



l(II()l)ODi;NI)K(iNS TH,VT ARK PER1-KCTI,V 

 HAKDV IN NKW ENGL.\ND. 



Album Orandiflorum, blush, fine truss 

 and foliage. 



Alexander Dancer, bright rose, lighter 

 center, one ofthe finest. 



Archimedes, ros}' crimson, lighter center. 



Bacchus, crimson, enormous truss, fine 

 habit. 



Bluebell, blush, light purplish margin. 



Caractacus, rich purplish crimson, 

 splendid truss, foliage and habit. 



Charles Bagley, cherry red, fine truss 

 and habit. 



Charles Dickens, dark scarlet, fine habit 

 and foliage. 



Delieatum, blush, changing to white 

 with a distinct brown spot. 



Kverestianuin, rosy lilac, spotted and 

 fringed; free blooming. 



Cigaiitcum. bright rose, large truss. 



Guido, deepcrimson. 



Hamlet, purple, richly spotted. 



H. W. Sargent, crimson, enormous 

 truss. 



Charles Sargent. 



James Bateman, clear rosy scarlet. 



Kettledrum, rich purplish crimson: a 

 fine hardy and free blooming sort. 



King ofthe Purples, distinct in color. 



Lady Armstrong, pale rose, much 

 spotted. 



Lady Clermont, rosy scariet, intensely 

 blotched. 



Lady Francis Crossley, rosy pink or 

 salmon. 



Mrs. Harry IngersoU, deep rosv lilac, 

 greenish center. 



Mrs. Charles S. Sargent. 



Mrs. Milner, rich crimson. 



Old Port, rich plum color, distinct. 



Kosabell, pale rose. 



Roseum elegans, rose color. 



Sir Thomas Sebright, rich purijle with 

 bronze blotch. 



HALF HARDY VARIETIES. 



The following are not quite reliably 

 hardy but with extra care will only occa- 

 sionally get injured. 



E S. Rand. 



F. D. Godman, crimson, fine blotch. 



Francis Dickson, scarlet, late. 



George Paul, crimson, finely spotted. 



J. M. Brooks. 



Minnie, blush white, spotted with 

 chocolate. 



St. Simon, rich purplish crimson, 

 spotted. 



The yueen, blush, changing to white. 



Vauban, mauve, with rich yellow 

 blotch. 



James Mcintosh, rosy scarlet. 



Mrs. Arthur Hunnewell, pink, primrose 

 center. 



Mrs. John Glutton, the most beautiful 

 hardy white rhododendron in cultivation. 



RHODODENDRONS THAT ARE WINTERED IN 



CELLARS BUT PLANTED OUT OF DOORS 



IN SUMMER. 



The following list is of varieties that I 

 have not tested altogether out of doors, 

 but remo\re them to the cellar overwin- 

 ter, it is verv- probable, however, that 

 manv of them would succeed with you as 

 the climate must be much milder at Pitts- 

 burg than here. A good supply of water 

 is indispensable for entire success in their 

 cultivation. 



Baroness Rothschild, crimson, deep 

 margin. 



Broughtoni. 



Anguste van Geert, rosy purple. 



Concessum, clear rose, light center. 



Countess Normanton. 



Cynthia, rosy crimson. 



Duchess of " Sutherland, rosy lilac, 

 deeper margin. 



Frederic Waterer, crimson, very showy. 



Helen Waterer, center white, edged with 



James Mason, light center, deeper edg- 

 ing. 



Joseph Whitworth, rich dark lake, 

 spotted. 



Kate Waterer, rose, yellow center. 



Lucidum, purplish lilac, brown spots. 



Marchioness of Lansdowne, pale rose 

 with intense black spot, very distinct. 



Michael Waterer, crimson, spotted. 



Marie Stuart, blush, maroon spot. 



Mrs. Charles Thorold, bright pink, yel- 

 low center. 



Mrs. Shuttleworth; scarlet, lighter cen- 

 ter, much spotted. 



Mrs. S. Simpson, white, spotted. 



Mrs. J. P. Lade, French grey, deejicr 

 center. 



Miianduni, light rose, si)ottcd. 



Mrs. Mendel, pink, rayed white, yellow 

 center. 



Mrs. John Walter, light center, edged 

 pink. 



I'rincess of Wales. 



Princess Mary of Cambridge, light 

 blush, deeper edging. 



Sappho, white, blotched with maroon. 



Scipio, rose, with deep colored spot. 



W. E. Gladstone, pink, fine truss. 



Wm. Cowper. 



The above rhododendrons can be all 

 seen in the most healthy condition any- 

 time by visiting Wellesley [near Boston. 

 —Ed.]" H. H. Hunnewell. 



Having decided that a rhododendron 

 garden must become one of the features 

 of Schenley Park, and with the view of 

 making a proper selection of these lovely 

 shrubs, we wrote to Mr. H. H. Hunne- 

 well of Wellesley, Mass, asking if he 

 would kindly aid us. The above notes 

 are from his reply, we giving Anthony 

 Waterer's description of the varieties, and 

 he has most courteously allowed us to 

 use them in Gardening." But many of 

 our readers may ask, "Who is Mr. Hunne- 

 well?" He is the owner of the most 

 extensive and beautiful private garden in 

 New England, if not the handsomest ia 

 the country, and it contains the finest 

 collection of rhododendrons hardy, half- 

 hardy, and tender we know of in any 

 garden. It is 22 years since we first 

 visited this garden and we have been a 

 frecjuent visitor to it ever since, it was an 

 old garden then, and thefinest in America, 

 and its annual displays of rhododendrons 

 were so marked a feature that at that 

 time the garden was opened to the public 

 that all might see them. The finer hardy 

 rhododendrons are planted out in vast 

 number, those that are barely hardy are 

 favored a little with sheltered positions, 

 and the tender ones are planted outside 

 in April, and lift d from the open ground, 

 preserving their ball of roots intact, and 

 heeled in in a very large stone cellar built 

 a purpose, and well lighted and venti- 

 lated, and where ft-ost is just excluded 

 from it inside. Rhododendrons stand this 

 double planting every year with remark- 

 able success. The above lists are exceed- 

 ingly valuable, they are the opinion, 

 gained by half a hundred years' extensive 

 practice of the one who knows most 

 about these plants in a garden sense in 

 the country. 



THE CftPITOL GROUNDS, WflSftlNGTON, D. C. 



No bedding plants are used in the V. S. 

 C.-ipitol grounds, but it is a very inter- 

 esting place for a lover of plants to ramble 

 through. Curiously enough the appro- 

 priations for the keeping of the grounds 

 are always so small that little more can 

 be done than the cutting ofthe grass and 

 sometimes that is large enough for hay 

 before it is cut, the pruning of trees when 

 the wind plays havoc with them, and the 

 sweeping of the walks. A natural look- 

 ing border surrounds three sides of the 

 huge building; in it the shrubs, after 

 Ijcing planted, are left to take care of 

 themselves, and tire intervening spaces 

 are thickly carpeted with low growi'-g 

 shrubs and hundreds of the old fashioned 

 herbaceous plants. On the southern and 

 western borders there are plants thriving 

 beautifully which one would hesitate to 

 plant in any other part of the city, the 

 ground is afl artificially made and slopes 

 gradually toward the sun, and this, with 

 the protection afforded by the massive 

 building, enables some plants to stand 

 the winter which in other places would 

 siuciimb. In one corner there is a flourish- 



