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Gardeners^ Monthly 



HORTICULTURIST. 



/Jfl'OrfZ? TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS, 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Volume XXV. 



SEPTEMBER. 1883. 



Number 297. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



A FEW RARE PLANTS AND SHRUBS. 

 BY MRS. M. D. WELLCOME, 



It is interesting to watch the growth and de- 

 velopment of new and rare plants, and every year 

 I add some of these to my collection. 



In an article published July 1882, I mentioned 

 two hardy shrubs that were valuable. They have 

 endured another winter and are both attractive — 

 each with its own individual beauty, which is in 

 striking contrast. Dimorphanthus is grand, and 

 though its enormous multifid leaves die wholly in 

 winter, in spring they start into growth with such 

 rapidity that in June they stand revealed a yard in 

 length, and nearly as broad. Hypericum is ex- 

 ceedingly graceful and when it is weighted with its 

 golden blossoms, which continue for several 

 months, it is beautiful. I have added to these 

 other hardy shrubs, from distant places, as I 

 cannot find them nearer home : Abelia rupestris, a 

 dwarf compact shrub, bearing pure white flowers 

 in long racemes, during summer and fall. Andro- 

 meda arborea, Sorrel Tree, described as a rare 

 American small tree, known in Europe as the 

 Lily of the Valley tree, from the resemblance of 

 its bloom to that lovely flower. 



Carpenteria Californica. This is an extremely 

 rare shrub, even in its native habitat. It is a 



handsome shrub, the flowers being large, pure 

 white, with yellow tipped stamens. The leaves are 

 broadly lance-shaped, of thick texture, with re- 

 curved margins; it grows from six to fifteen feet in 

 height and is very bushy. One of the most valu- 

 able shrubs which have been introduced for years. 

 Desmodium Japonicum — a pretty dwarf Japa- 

 nese shrub, quite hardy. Its drooping branches 

 are entirely hidden by millions of its white flowers, 

 which are freely produced from August to begin- 

 ning of winter. Idesia polycarpa — a very beau- 

 tiful new Japanese tree; the flowers are of a 

 yellowish green, and spring from the axils of the 

 upper leaves, in long gracefully drooping racemes. 

 They are deliciously fragrant, and are followed by 

 numerous orange berries about the size of a large 

 cherry. Phygelius capensis — this pretty Pent- 

 stemon-like plant I have found quite hardy, it 

 having passed several winters out doors without 

 protection. It grows from three to four feet high 

 and has numerous semi-herbaceous stems, each 

 terminated by a long branching raceme of brilliant 

 scarlet flowers. It is a most persistent bloomer, 

 beginning in May or June and continuing up to 

 frost. The London Garden says, "This is one 

 of the most ornamental hardy plants in cultiva- 

 tion." 



Of the new plants not hardy, I will specify a few 

 so recently received I am not able to report from 

 personal knowledge. Lasiandra macrantha flori. 



