i8g6. 



• GARDENING. 



341 



JUDGE MELLONS HOME, NEGLEY AVENUE. PITTSBURG 



Hydrangea arhorescens glaiica with 

 large flattish corymbs of fertile flowers 

 and a few sterile ones around the outside, 

 has been in bloom for some time. H. 

 urticifolia with distinctly nettle-like foli- 

 age and with all fertile flowerg is also in 

 good bloom. H. Thunhergii, with cymes 

 of rose-blue flowers, fertile ones in the 

 centre and steri'e ones on an outer band 

 is also coming into bloom. 



Rose of Sharon {Hibiscus Syriacus) 

 is displaying its floral abundance. Its 

 different varieties run into red, purple 

 and white. The variety totus albus is 

 single and pure white and the best of all. 



All the forms are free growing and free- 

 flowering shrubs, and as they bloom at a 

 time when flowering shrubs are scarce, 

 they are very desirable. We alwa3's cut 

 them hard back as we would a hydrangea 

 in winter or early spring, and this pro- 

 duces finer flowers. 



Jaswinuw officinale has been producing 

 its small white flowers for the past 

 month. Trumpet vine ( Tecoma radi- 

 cans) has been flowering profusely for 

 some time. T. grandiHora with a broad, 

 open corolla, and verv- handsome flowers 

 is also in good bloom; it stood the sever- 

 ity of the past winter here in the open 

 ground fairly well. Calycanthusocciden- 

 tnlis with large red scentless blooms is in 

 flower and a few flowers are still to be 

 found on Calycantbiis ffnridus. 



The Cornish heath (Erica vagans) is 

 blooming very sparingly. The flowers 

 are pale red, and would be showy if only 

 produced more abundantly. 



The late blooming spiraeas are now on 

 the wane. The following are sho ing a 

 few scattering blooms: ,S. liiiwalda. S. 

 revirescens. S. covspicim, S. tenuissima. 

 S. Douglasii, S. salicifolia, S. callosa alba 

 and S. Lcnneana. If the decayed flowers 

 are cut off, S. liumalda, when it has pro- 

 duced its first crop (indeed they should be 



cut off' of all the late flowering spiraeas) it 

 will give a good second crop. 



Kerriajaponica is giving us a second 

 crop of blossoms. Rosa Caroliniana (the 

 swamp rose) is in full flower in the 

 swamps. /?. ru^osa continues to give a 

 few scattering blooms, and the large 

 bright red heps are now attractive. 

 Pavia macrostachya has passed ■ ut of 

 bloom, and so has Yucca filawentosa; for 

 some reason or other the yucca flowered 

 verv sparingly this year. 



The Ginnala maple looks pretty loaded 

 with its brownish red key fruits. Hhiis 

 semi-alata, with showy white panicles, is 

 in full bloom, and the dwarf sumach R. 

 copallina. with large bunches of yellow 

 flowers is now conspicuously in flower. 

 The smooth sumach. R. glabra, with its 

 plumes of downy crimson fruit, although 

 familiar to our eyes everywhere, is none 

 the less pretty just now. 



We don't remember to have seen Wis- 

 taria Sinensis give such an abundant sec- 

 ond crop of flowers as it has done this 

 summer, and the rosa acacia (Robinia 

 hispida) is giving a good crop of bloom 

 just now. Indigofera Dosua, a small pea 

 flowering shrub from India, with purplish 

 red flowers, has been in bloom since two 

 weeks. It kills back a little in winter. 



The European honeysuckle (Lonicera 

 Periclymenurn)is again in bloom, L. sem- 

 pervirens is still blooniingquitc freely and 

 L Halleana is in good bloom. The dif- 

 ferent forms of the bush honeysuckles, L 

 bella and L. Tartarica are quite hand- 

 some, with their red and yellow fruit. 

 L Orientalis, a bushy species whose flow- 

 ers are very inconspicuous, is now show- 

 ing black fruit, but not in any way 

 attractive. 



The pepper bush, Clethra alnitolia, 

 with racemes of pretty white fragrant 

 flowers is very showy. This is an excel- 

 lent shrub for amateurs to grow, as it 

 nev r fails to flower freelv, and it does 



not appear to be capricious as regards 

 soil or location. 



The snowberry bush (Symphoricarpus 

 racemosus) is commencing to show its 

 white fruit; S. mollis has been in bloom 

 sincetwo weeks, S. vulgaris (coral berry) 

 is coming into bloom. Buddleia curvi- 

 ilora having purplish spikes of flowers 

 but no particular merit in its faver, has 

 been blooming since three weeks. 



Callicarpa purpurea with small insig- 

 nificant flowers is now in bloom. The 

 violet colored berries which follow are 

 very pretty, but they hardly ever get a 

 chan e to develop with us here. We saw 

 the fruit in remarkably good condition in 

 Washington last year. The button bush 

 (Cephalanthus occidentalis) a common 

 native of the swamps, with globular 

 heads of white flowers, has been in bloom 

 since two weeks. It surprises a good 

 many people to see it growing with us on 

 the top of a dryish k oil with remarkable 

 vigor. 



Hypericum elatuni and H. hircinum 

 have been in bloom since three weeks and 

 are now about past. H densiHorum H. 

 proliticum, H. aureum and H. Kalmianum 

 in different stagesof floweringare all no* 

 in bloom. 



The Cornelian cherry ( Coraus Mascula) 

 with its red, handsome large fruit is be- 

 ginning to look showy. The round- 

 leaved dogwood (C. circinata) and the 

 alternate leaved dogwood (C. alternifo- 

 lius) with bluish fruit are ripening, and 

 Viburnum Lantana, with fruit first red 

 and afterwards black, is now quite con- 

 spicuous. The high bush cranberry (W- 

 hurnum Opu/us) with bunches of red fruit 

 is showy. V. dentatum with round black 

 fruit, and V. Lentago with oval shaped 

 berries which have hardly yet commenced 

 to turn black will add to the general dis- 

 play of shrubs with show\' fruit. V.lan- 

 tanoides has fruit somewhat like V. Lan- 

 tana, that i-i first reddish and afterwards 



