iSg6. 



GARDENING. 



179 



lERANIUM H BUCHNER. 



manure. Everyone must know by this 

 time that Hydrangea paniculata grandi- 

 iJora is the ironclad bloomerforall north- 

 ern states. Honey-suckles, lilacs, spirjeas, 

 snowballs, common roses, barberries, 

 almonds, flowering currants, amelan- 

 chiers, Judas trees, common dogwoods, 

 Prunus triloba, olives (Elwagnus), 

 catalpas {speciosa), and mock oranges 

 all bloom freely with us and are perlectlj' 

 hardy . 



Oleanders, tender hydrangeas, mont- 

 bretias, agapanthus lilies, century plants, 

 figs, roses, cannas and plants of like 

 nature we winter in the cellar. ' Whirl- 

 wind anemone phlox, fraxinella, old gar- 

 den pink, achillea, garden heliotrope, 

 (Tussilago fragrans) gaillardia, and 

 larkspur, improve every year, only they 

 should be covered in the winter. 



Mrs. M. O. Bakkr. 



Eagle Grove, Iowa. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN GERANIUMS. 



The past few years has seen some 

 marked gains in the geranium family in 

 all the various classes; among the Bru- 

 ants improvement is especially notice- 

 able. Bruant (or Heteranthe) still holds 

 its place, but we have now advances in 

 size of truss and bloom, while the freedom 

 of flower is quite as great and they are 

 quite as able to withstand the sun as the 

 earliest of the race. But there is still no 

 white Bruant, though there are two or 

 three approaches in that direction. Many 

 of the double Bruants are distinguished 

 by the odd irregular outline of the florets, 

 some of them approaching a four sided 

 shaue, which is rather charming. 



Qiiite the opposite of the Bruant race 

 are the "round flowering English vari- 

 eties," which embraces our finest single 

 varieties; they combine enormous size 

 with circular form, the petals nearly 

 always overlapping, and the trusses are 

 of good size and fine finish. 



To the older set, Lily H. Cannell and 

 Rev. Harries, etc., have been added some 

 still better varieties. Snowdrop has pure 

 white flowers over two inches across with 

 deeply overlapping petals, the stem is 

 long and stifl" and the effect very telling. 

 .\mong pink flowered varieties there is 

 nothing finer than Gertrude Pearson, it 



is the largest of its color— soft, bright 

 rose pink, with white blotch. Florence 

 Farmer is a good advance in the way of 

 Mid-Summer, salmon and white marbled 

 together. This class is particularly rich 

 in bright and deep reds, like Dr. S. Grey, 

 Dr. Rawson, Dr. Rothera, Candace and 

 Enid, and theplantsare of stronggrowth 

 and good habit, as well as having blooms 

 of fine size, form and color. 



Very distinct from these is the new race 

 of Aureole or Corona type, mostly in 

 singles They nearly all combine an odd 

 intermingling of three shades of color, 

 white at the center, around this a wheel 

 of bluish shade mingling and deepening to 

 some shade of red. Mme Jules Chretien 

 was the forerunner, but it has been left 

 behind by such fine examples as Le Rhone, 

 a rosy scarlet with white eye and white 

 blotch on the upper petals the upper 

 part of the blotch shading into carmine 

 at its junction with the groundcolor; 

 then there is Mme. Bruant, which is 

 white, veined carmine, all the petals edged 

 with bright solferina. Marie Hoste, 

 crimson with white center, surrounded 

 by a shaded aureole of bluish heliotrope 

 There are thirteen of these Aureoles, and 

 all are good. 



The double varieties also show finenew 

 sorts; Comtesse Harcourt is an extra 

 good pure white, with large beautifully 

 formed flowers that bloom through the 

 long dry summer. Hedewig Buchner is 

 anothergrand double white, has irregular 

 shaped florets as in Mme. Ayme Chevra- 

 lierre and large trusses on long rigid foot- 

 stalks. The clean pink shades so very 

 much in demand are well represented by 

 Gambetta, bright rose; Gen'l. Boisdeffre, 

 rose with scarlet center; Lysiane, pink 

 bordered white, and Mme. A. Barine, 

 rosy pink with white border. 



Among the oddit'es is little L'Enfer, a 

 very low growing black geranium » ith 

 small scarlet flower, and the Crystal 

 Palace Gem family receives four addi- 

 tions. M. Givord, Princess Clementine, 

 Golden Bedder and .Arbutus, which last 

 has fair sized salmon flowers in pro- 

 fusion. 



The last two or three years has given 

 us some magnificent i vy geraniums, having 

 large, perfectly formed and full flowers of 



beautiful colors. Gen. Championnet, 

 scarlet, and Incomparable, rosy carmine, 

 are unmistakably fine. Since then the 

 J'rencli have given us Camille Doucct, 

 rosy salmon; Chas. Monselet, fiery red; 

 Jos! Maistre, amaranth; Jules Janin, 

 rosv violet, and La Foudre, orange scar- 

 let; while the best of the English sorts 

 hince Souv. Chas. Turner are Robt.Owen, 

 rose color; Ryecroft Surprise, rosy sal- 

 mon; Garden's Glory, bright scarlet; 

 Edith Owen, rose color, and Beauty of 

 Castle Hill, solt rose with dark blotch. 

 All of these are magnificent and cause us 

 to wonder if they possibly can be im- 

 l)roved upon in the future. 



The geranium is of the easiest culture, 

 and for this very reason is frequently 

 seen in poor condition; it is planted in 

 wretchedly poor soil and given a situa- 

 tion where no other plant would be ex- 

 pected to live; it rewards the grower with 

 some tiny leaves on the tips of gnarleJ 

 bare stems and an occasional imperfect 

 bloom; how different the result when 

 placed in the hands of ,an intelligent lover 

 of plants. Give it rich and well drained 

 soil, a sunny open spot, plenty of moist- 

 ure, and our favorite fairly ripples over, 

 with leaf upon leal until we have a pyra- 

 mid of beautiful foliage. Soon the long, 

 stiff flower stems rise into the air and we 

 have a specimen covered with bloom, one 

 of the most beautiful objects to be found 

 in greenhouse or garden. A tinj' gera- 

 nium blooming in a 2V'2-inch pot is no 

 more an example of its variety than is a 

 polbound chrysanthemum bloomingwith- 

 out disbudding an example of what may 

 be done with the latter by care and skill. 

 The ordinary florist makes a mistake 

 when he fails to show his customers what 

 a well grown geranium maybe like when 

 pushed rapidly along into a 6 Or 8-inch 

 pot. A comparison of the foliage and the 

 bloom of the tiny plant with those of the 

 matured specimen would furnish an ob- 

 ject lesson not soon to be forgotten. 



Richmond, Indiana. E. G. Hill. 



TULIFS-OLflDIOLUS. 



By the way, if any of your northern 

 readers have not tried abed of Gesneriana 

 tulips and want something perfectly 

 lovely and satisfactorv they should trv 

 them. I got of J. W." Elliott a hundred 

 bulbs in September, and planted them in 

 October in a bed of goo J rich soil, and 

 covered them first with leaves, then with 

 manure over a foot deep. In the spring I 

 had one hundred blooms as large as sau- 

 cers and all of the same height. They 

 were gorgeous and the longer they lastei 

 the more brilliant they became, red with 

 a purple blotch in center. Through the 

 cold spell we would think "well, the 

 tulips will go now," but in the morning 

 warmth they would straighten up and 

 fairly glow in the sunshine. Over two 

 weeks we enjoyed their beauty. I took 

 up the bulbs about the last of August and 

 kept them in the kitchen till time to 

 plant them again. Was that right?[ Ves. 

 But we would have lifted them as soon 

 as the leaves died down, and let them 

 remain out of the ground in a cool, dry, 

 airy, dark place in house or shed till 

 planting time. This fine tulip however, 

 is one of those that we have found to live 

 and bloom firstrate year after year in 

 clumps in the garden without being dis- 

 turbed at all in summer. — Ed.] They had 

 nearly doubled and I am afraid will not 

 be so large next spring. I have tried a 

 great variety of bulbs for winter grow- 

 ing but they never lived beyond two win- 

 ters. Last winter, having a good collec- 

 tion of hyacinths, 1 tried planting them 



