



O^ 



THE 



GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEl/OTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Volume XXV. 



AUGUST, 1883. 



Number 296. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



TROPiEOLUM CANARIENSIS. 

 BY MRS. M. D. WELLCO.ME. 



Your contributor who writes so interestingly 

 "Among the Flowers," refers to the above plant, 

 better known as the Canary Bird flower. I am 

 surprised to find him saying, " I have not seen one 

 of them in thirty-five years." 



I wish I could show him mine, and he would 

 not talk of them as being "three and four feet 

 high, clover-like." It has for several years been a 

 favorite climber with me, and I would not be at all 

 satisfied if I did not have at least eight or ten of 

 them. They grow from ten to eighteen feet in one 

 season from seed sown in May. I have them 

 trained on strings around a very tall cherry tree, 

 which does not have low nor large branches. 

 When they have climbed to the boughs they run 

 out on them in every direction, and with their 

 handsome light green laciniated foliage and lemon- 

 colored bird-like flowers, borne in great profusion, 

 they are a charming sight. Last summer I planted 

 a Coboea scandens with them, and the inter- 

 mingling of the yellow blossoms with the green 

 and purple bells was "just lovely." So pleased 

 was I with the effect that I have the same arrange- 

 ment this season. They begin to bloom in June 

 and continue until sharp frosts. 



A writer in Vick's Magazine, 1879, writes enthu- 

 siastically of a sight he had of them when on a 

 visit to Alnwick Castle, in the north of England. 

 "The first thing that struck me on entering the 

 town was a bay window most charmingly draped 

 with beautiful hght green climbers and literally 

 covered with bright lemon-yellow flowers. Now 

 this appeared so strange to me — for the chilly 

 night air had already affected the geranium and 

 other tender outdoor plants — that I had to cross 

 the street, take the Yankee liberty to open the gate, 

 go inside and examine the thrifty beauty. I con- 

 fess I was not only surprised but greatly interested 

 to find it was only the Canary flower, Tropaeolum 

 peregrinum, a member of the Nasturtium family, 

 and I concluded at once that there should be one 

 cottage in America next summer worth coming 

 miles to see on account of its climbing plants of 

 light green foliage and rich yellow masses of 

 Canary bird flower. This beautiful plant is an 

 annual, and in some of the seed farms near London 

 whole acres of it are raised for seed ; the plants 

 are trained on long trellises, and in the blooming 

 season the display is simply gorgeous." 



In the various periodicals to which I contribute 

 flower articles, I have called attention to this 

 charming climber and urged its cultivation, and 

 although too late for this season we do hope you 

 will make a note of it and include a packet in 

 your seed order next spring. 



