1896. 



GARDENING. 



Ill 



Crotons. — Good specimens of these 

 plants, finely colored, have a grand effect. 

 They love heat, sunshine and moisture. 



Marantas.— In this family we have 

 many with beautifully marked foliage; 

 like crotons they love heat and moisture, 

 but only moderate sunshine. 



Washington, D. C. John Saul. 



THE CONSERVftTORY IN SUMMER. 



Many of our readers have visited the 

 raagn ficent gardens of Mr. H. H. Hunnc- 

 well, at Wclk-sley, ,1 tew miles from Bos- 

 ton, and l)ecn cliarnieil willuhcrichfloral 

 display niaititaiiicd a Isuniiner in the con- 

 servatory attached to the mansion house. 

 The conservatory is a roomy glass struct- 

 ure in two compartments, for the finer 

 and more tender plants, and adjoining it 

 is an annex covered by an awning and 

 containing a fairyland of bloom. In the 

 following, Mr. Ha ris, Mr. Hunnewell's 

 veteran gardener, tells us what he uses in 

 this decoration. 



"The conservatory annexed to Mr. 

 Hunnewell's residence we usually fill 

 about the 20th of April, and in it besides 

 the usual display of palms, dracaenas,etc. 

 we concentrate all the orchids we may 

 have in bloom at a time, say some four or 

 five hundred plants. About the 15th of 

 May. season permitting, the annex, 

 which you are aware is covered with an 

 awning, the building itself 50x20 leet, we 

 usually fill with azaleas, rhododendrons 

 and deciduous shrubs in bloom, such as 

 deutzias, viburnums, roses and hydran- 

 geas; in addition to these of course we re- 

 c|uire ornamental foliage plants for effect. 

 When June comes, these are somewhat 

 changed to give place to specimen plants 

 of geraniums, pelargoniums, calceolarias 

 and various varieties of lilies, and as the 

 season advances large specimen plants of 

 rhyncospermums, clerodendrons, fuchsias, 

 etc. and sundry other plants. We grow 

 ((uite a lot of Canterbury bells, foxgloves, 

 snapdragons, achiraenes and gloxinias 

 for effect. .\11 the above give us usually 

 a good show until alter the middle of 

 July. You will thus see it is not rare or 

 expensive plants we require but things 

 that will make a show. During the 

 remainder of the season till about the 15th 

 of September the structure s filled with 

 fine foliage plants such as palms, dra- 

 ca;nas, crotons, ficus, ferns and euryas, 

 with some fine araucarias, etc. 



Wellesley, Mass. F. L. Hakkis. 



Watering sticcuLENTS in si'.mmer.— E. 

 0. N., asks: "Should Agave, Aloe. Ha- 

 worthea and Crassifolia be watered or 

 not in summer?" Ans. Crass;7b/;a being 

 a specific and not a generic name we can- 

 not tell what plants you refer to under 

 that name, but shall assume that you 

 mean Crassula, which also is a genus of 

 succulents. In these fourgenera we have 

 in a general way, two distinct classes of 

 plants, namely the agaves are mostly 

 American, and the other three South 

 African. American plants as a rule grow 

 in summer and are comparatively inact- 

 ive in winter; South African plants grow 

 in winter and spring and are compara- 

 tively inactive in late summer and fall, 

 but of course our cultural conditions 

 modify their inclinations considerably. 

 .\gaves enjoy full sunshine at all times, 

 the others like a little shade from hot 

 sunshine, but we have them all growing 

 in the open. When growing them either 

 in pots or planted out we would never let 

 them get extra dry in summer, but even 

 in winter we wouldn't keep them dust 

 dry at the root, but we would keep them 



quite dry overhead. Aloes are in best 

 bloom in February and March, hence 

 should get a fair amount of water then, 

 for they start to grow fi-eely about that 

 time. 



Aquatics. 



WflTBR LILIES. 



There isn't a morecharming spot in the 

 garden than the water lilv pond, in it we 

 have flowers every day of the summer 

 and everj' night also. The size, form, and 

 color of the blossoms of the different nym- 

 pha;as themselves would give us variety 

 enough, but they are not alone, we have 

 uelumbiums, and a host of other little 

 plants all a-bloom,such as water poppies, 

 floating hearts, Indian snowflakes. and 

 arrow leaf. 



HARDV NYMPH.*:aS. 



,\mong the finest are 



iV. alba, pure white, free blooming. 



N. alba var. candidissima, the largest 

 of the white flowered sorts. 



N. odorata, our fragrant wild one. 



N. odorata var. exquisita, a darker 

 colored flower than that of A', odorata 

 rosea. 



N. odoratavar.Caroliniana, flesh color, 

 ver_v fine flower, and a profuse bloomer. 

 For best results th; roots should be dis- 

 turbed as little as possible. 



N odorata var. sulphitrea, lemon yel- 

 low, the flowers are borne on long stems 

 held well up out ol the water, it is very 

 f ee blooming, and a mo>t desirable sort. 



N. Mailiacea Cbromatella still holdsits 

 own as the best of the yellow flowered 

 nymphjeas, and the blos»onis are large 

 and borne profusely. 



N. Marliacea carnea. a fine light pink 

 flower of good size, but in small collec- 

 tions if you get the next one you can 

 afford to omit this one, which is only a 

 pale colored form of the other. 



N. Marliacea var. rosea, the best deep 

 pink flowered lily we have and very pro- 

 i'use. 



.V. Marliacea var. albida is a good 

 white flower of large size. 



N. tuberosa var. rosea, is a new and 

 extra fine variety. The blossom is large 

 and stands up out of the water some 

 inches, and the sepals being reflexed gives 

 the flowers a very distinct appearance. 

 The color of the blooms is flesh pink, and 

 the variety is very free blooming. 



N. Mexicana, 3'ellow flower, should be 

 in every collection. It is quite hardy at 

 Washington but its roots should be con- 

 fined to a restricted space in the pond, as 

 they send out long runners ending with 

 a new crown, so that very soon a clump 

 would spread over a large area. 



N. Laydekeri rosea still holds its own 

 as one of the best, most distinct and pro- 

 fiise of lilies, still one good clump of it is 

 enough. 



iV. Helviola must not be omitted, for it 

 is the freest bloomer we have, and a little 

 beauty too. 



Theroots of hardy nymphasas should 

 be left undisturbed as much as possible, 

 don't divide them till they begin to 

 crowd or bunch up, that is still the leaves 

 begin to crowd up so much about the 

 center of the plant, rising up out of the 

 water; where the plant reaches this stage 

 it should be divided, else many ol the 

 blossoms will be hidden out of sight 

 among the leaves. Where they are grown 

 in half barrels they should be separated 

 every second year. But wherever practi- 

 cable, all hardy lilies should be planted 

 out in a pond or tank when we get a 



thriftier growth and larger blossoms 

 than from tubs. But one must be sure 

 not to plant out such varieties as N. 

 Mexicana, N. flava, and N. tuberosa un- 

 restricted or they'll run over everything, 

 they are so far and quick spreading. 



NKM'MDIUMS. 



Are also hardy with us in Washington. 

 We have several kinds of them but the 

 best of all is a seedling raised here and 

 which was awarded a first-class certifi- 

 cate by the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society at Boston, last fall. The color of 

 the flower is a deep rose, and the color 

 deepens with age instead of gets lighter, 

 as is the case wi th N. speciosum, and it is 

 equally as free flowering as is the latter. 



TENDER NVMPH.1:aS. 



Of course b5' tender I mean those whose 

 roots we have to bring indoors and keejj 

 in warmish quarters in winter, but all are 

 planted or set out of doors in summer, 

 treatment they enjoy very much. Nyni- 

 phwa O'Marana is by fair the best of the 

 night blooming ones and exceedingly free 

 flowering, the blooms are 9 to 12 inches 

 across, of a beautiful rosy pink when it 

 first opens, changing darker with age. It 

 might be called a pink dentata, but the 

 flower having more substance than that 

 of the latter stands better when cut. [And 

 it is the best and most reliable winter 

 blooming nymphaja of any sort we have 

 ever grown.— Kd.] 



A', dentata is still the best white of the 

 night bloomers. 



N. Devoniensis, deep pink, should be in 

 every collection for its splendid flowers 

 and free blooming nature. 



AT. Kewensis is good where an extensive 

 collection is kept, but for the small pond 

 or tank we may omit it. The color of its 

 flowers, as trown here, is verv pale pinU 

 with a decided purple tint in it. 



Passing to the day-blooming tender 

 varieties 



N. Zanzibarensis still holds sway as the 

 best dark blue. 



N. Zanzibarensis var. azurea — There are 

 some fine forms of this in cultivation now: 

 we have several of them here of a fine 

 azure blue, but unless we propagate them 

 from the root w shall get back to the 

 Hght colored forms of Zanzibarensis seed- 

 lings. 



Of A'. Zanzibarensis var. rosea w ■ have 

 a beautiful dark colored variety, quite as 

 dark as A'. Devoniensis and unlike any of 

 the former dark varieties of Zanzibarensis 

 rosea. 



X. palcberrima. commonly called the 

 blue^racj7/s is a very desirable lily. We 

 have it here ranging from the blue of A'. 

 gigantea to the dark blue ot .V. Zanzi- 

 barensis, and the flowers rise up out of 

 the water 12 to 15 inches and on stifl" 

 stems. The distinctive features of this 

 lily are its long stiff flower stems, pointed 

 petals, and great profusion. 



A', gracilis you want for its 12-incli 

 flower stems if for nothing else. Among 

 our hardy lilies we have better white 

 lilies that bloom in the day time than 

 this is, but none that is borne on long 

 stifl' stems like those of gracilis. 



■^- gigantea as a blue-flowered water 

 lily is still unmatched, its flowers are of 

 the most beautiful satiny blue color, with 

 yellow silk-like stamens that givea charm 

 to this nvmph.-ea that is possessed bv no 

 other. [By far the loveliest of all blue- 

 flowered pond lilies, big flowered but 

 refinei. and elegant, and the plant is easy 

 to grow and of extravagant profusion. 

 —Ed.] Peter Bissett. 



Twin Oaks, Washington, D. C, August 

 0, 1896. 



