'i8g6. 



' ' GARDENING. 



357 



A COUNTRY ROAD IN THE NORTH CAROLINA MOUNTAINS. 



soon be past. Sweet alyssum was fine 

 earlier in the season, but the recent heavy 

 rains rotted it where it was thick. The 

 perpetual early blooming carnations are 

 giving us some fine flowers now; the 

 double border ones are also beginning to 

 bloom, and so is the early scarlet Grena- 

 din. All were raised from seed. But for 

 a show there is nothingto equal the Mar- 

 guerite carnations for cut flowers, and 

 thev bloom so freely. Get a bunch of 

 them with a few sprays of rose geranium 

 around them and see what a pretty bou- 

 quet they will make. The profuse little 

 leptosiphons were very beautiful, but they 

 are past now. Mignonette hasn't done 

 as well with us as usual, and we miss it 

 very much. 



PERENNIALS. 



The hybrid delphiniums from seed this 

 spring are blooming now; Lemoine's 

 double flowered ones are very fine. Be- 

 cause of the rain and good ground some 

 of our sunflowers are 12 to 14 feet high. 

 Agrostemma Flos-Joris, although a per- 

 ennial blooms well the first year from 

 seed, and is in good bloom now. The 

 giant ox-eye daisy, Pyrethrum vliginosum 

 is a mass of bloom 3 to 4 feet high; just 

 opening, and will last into September. It 

 ie fine for cutting. Easily raised from 

 seed and blooms the second year from 

 sowing. TheChinese blackberry lily (Par- 

 danthus Sinensis) with its red and brown 

 spotted flowers, and later, blackberry- 

 like heads of seed, is a pretty plant and 

 easy to grow. Among white flowers w e 

 much appreciate the summer hyacinth 

 (H. candicans); in masses it is very eflfect- 

 ive. The showy pink sedum (S. specta- 

 bile) is beginning to bloom. One of the 

 easiest of all plants to grow. 



The perennial phloxes arc still in their 

 glory, so are the platycodons, and the 

 perennial peas (Lat/yru-s latifoliiis), the 

 latter very useful for cutting. The white 

 day lily (Punkia grandi/Jora)\ii beginning 

 to open; what a splendid plant it is, and 

 it thrives well in a thinly shaded spot. 

 The plants of the double 'Achillea Ptar- 

 tnica are lairl}- hidden with white flowers, 

 and it is fine for cutting. The hardy 

 asters are now coming into bloom, and 

 thev will last with us till frost comes. 



We grow a great many kinds of them both 

 for cut flowers and to plant out in wild 

 and unkempt places, and we have raised 

 thousands of them from seed this spring 

 for this purpose. Of the globe thistles 

 (Echinops) Rutheniciis is the handsomest 

 we have; its flowers are blue, in globular 

 heads; sphxrocephaliis has pale blue 

 heads. What a splendid vine is Clematis 

 Flammula! It is a vigorous healthy 

 grower, and has myriads of fleecy white, 

 fragrant flowers. It is a good arbor 

 plant and fine for covering stumps of 

 trees. 



Our gladiolus are making a fine show; 

 some of the Childsii varieties are superb. 



In the way of lilies we have a fine dis- 

 play of single and double tiger lilies, they 

 are planted in large masses and just now 

 you could cut thousands of blossoms 

 from them. Lilium Wallacei does well 

 with us, but the rabbits are so fond of it 

 that they have nibbled ofl^most all of the 

 flower spikes. L. Leiclnlini is flowering 

 \\e\\ with us. what a pretty lily it is; L. 

 superbuw is about past, but auratum is 

 in fine bloom still. By growing a few 

 varieties of auratum one can prolong its 

 season considerably. The spec/osura lilies 

 are ready to open and we expect a great 

 show from them for we grow them in 

 great quantity. Da,vid Fraser. 



Mountain Side Farm, Mahwdh, N. J., 

 August 10. 1S96. 



FLOWER GARDEN NOTES. 



Heliopsis Pitcheriana. For a lazy 

 man, a busy man, or a man infected with 

 the bicycle microbe, whose devotion to 

 the wheel does not allow him much time 

 for the delights of the garden, this would 

 appear to be an ideal plant. Indiflisrent 

 as to soil, and withstanding drouth well, 

 it seems to require no attention but to be 

 tied to a tall stake. It grows about four 

 feet high, and its profusion of large yellow 

 flowers, produced nearly all summer, arc 

 very showy. The individual flowers last 

 for weeks. I'nlike the Helianthus family, 

 which is badly infested with worms, mil- 

 dew and black aphis, the heliopsis ap- 

 pears to be free from insects, and its foli- 

 age is at all times clean and healthy. It 

 is perfectly hardy. 



KosTELETZKiA ViRGiNicA. Another 

 idol shattered! This plant was intro- 

 duced a few years ago with a blare oi 

 trumpets, and is still posing as a novelty 

 in some catalogues. I planted six large 

 field-grown roots last April in a show 

 bed, expecting from the description some- 

 thing exceptionally fine, and right here is 

 the exasperating part of the failure of the 

 catalogues to tell the full truth about 

 plants. Thu kostelctzkia grows about 

 three feet or so high, but has no beauty 

 whatever as regards foliage. As a bloomer 

 —well! The flower is nothing but a 

 diminutive hibiscus, of a light pink. My 

 plants are full of buds, yet there is never 

 more than one flower open at a time, and 

 like all hibiscuses, it remains open only 

 part of the day, and that is the end of it. 

 Having no stem it is of course of no value 

 for cutting. And this is thefamous "Pink 

 Beauty." [In Gardening, March 1, '95, 

 page 178. we told you it was a wild 

 plant, and that "as a cultivated plant we 

 know nothing about it." If it had the 

 merits of Trillium grandiflorum. Hibiscus 

 moscheatos or Lobelia cardinalis vou 

 might have rested assured that Garden- 

 ing would have tried it long before.— Ed.] 



Crotolaria Retusa. This is a prettv 

 low growing plant, bearing yellow pea- 

 shaped flowers If planted in masses I 

 should imagine the effect would be quite 

 brilliant. I do not know whether or not 

 it would flower the first year from seed, 

 as I procured well started plants in May, 

 and they havejust commenced to bloom. 

 It does not seem to be particular about 

 soil, and thrives well with the care 

 usually given to ordinary annuals. The 

 foliage is clean and healthy. 



Japanese Morning Glories. On re- 

 ceiving last year from the Editor of Gar- 

 DENi.NG the box of beautifully variegated 

 leaves T made up my mind to have this 

 year fully as handsome a show. In 

 this I have been much disappointed. 

 Seeds were procured from the seedsman 

 recommended by Gardening. Planted 

 out in the open ground in May they ger- 

 minated readily and are now about eight 

 or ten feet high. I have many plants, 

 with all kinds of exposure and soil, and 

 yet with the exception that some are 



