/or August, 1920 



285 



ill many of the varieties in the shape, color and size of the 

 flowers. 



A. ituditiora is a bush 7 feet to 9 feet high at its best, but 

 often dwarfer. The tiowers are usually pink, not strongly scented, 

 the corolla-tube long and rather slender, and the petals narrow. 

 The e.xpanded flowers are each about 1^ inches across, and si-x 

 to nine or more are borne in each cluster. It is a native of 

 Eastern North .America. Varieties with pale or deep pink flowers 

 often bear a distinct resemblance to this species. 



A. calcndulacca is also a native of Eastern North .\merica. 

 It is very similar in height to the last-named, and is distin- 

 guished by its bright, fiame-colored flowers, which are brilliant 

 shades of red and orange. The corolla-tube is shorter and 

 broader than in A. niididora, whilst the petals are also broader 

 The flowers are not very fragrant, although many of the reds and 

 orange-scarlets, which suggest this parentage, have fragrant 

 blossoms, due to the influence of another species. In America it 

 is known as the Flame Flower on account of its giving the 

 mountain sides, at the time when it is in bloom, the eft'ect of 

 being a mass of flames. 



A. poitica (altered by botanists to RhododendroM flavuiii to 

 distinguish it from the evergreen R. poiiticum) is a native of 

 Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and other places. It forms a large 

 bush up to 10 feet high and bears rather large and very fragrant, 

 bright yellow flowers. It is from this species that many of the 

 garden forms inherit their delightful perfume. Its influence may 

 also be seen in many of the varieties with fragrant orange or 

 yellow flowers. 



A. occidi-^italls. — This is a \\'estern North .\merican bush 6 

 feet to 9 feet high, with fragrant white, yellow-blotched flowers 

 produced during Jime or early July. Crossed with various 

 garden varieties, a number of very beautiful forms, usually with 

 white or pink, yellow-blotched flowers, has appeared. These are 

 later than other garden .\zaleas and usually begin to flower as 

 the others fade. 



A. mollis. — This is a Japanese species with larger and more 

 formal-shaped flowers than those previously described. It forms 

 a spreading bush 4 feet to 8 feet high, bearing flowers with 

 great freedom. The blossoms vary a good deal in color, and 

 may be red. rose, salmon, yellow of various shades, or almost 

 white. It is .closely related to A. sinensis, which differs in its 

 shorter and more rounded petals, and the hairiness of the leaves. 

 It is more distinctly a native of China than A. mollis, which is a 

 doubtful Chinese shrub. The two species have been intercrossed 

 and have resulted in many free-flowering hybrids, which are 

 characterized by their peculiarly pleasing colors and large, 

 shapely flowers. The flowers have, however, little or no scent. 

 The mollis group flowers earlier than the kinds derived from 

 the American and Eastern European species, and is less suitable 

 for cold districts. They are, however, invaluable for forcing, 

 while they give excellent results in many gardens. 



Other species that have received less attention from the hy- 

 bridist are : 



.4. iflicvi, a shrub up to 12 feet high, native of the mountains 

 of Carolina, bearing pale pink or almost white flowers freely 

 during late .\pril and early May. 



A. arborcscciis, a shrub attaining a height of 20 feet in East- 

 ern North .\merica. Its white or pinkish flow^ers are fragrant 

 and borne during late June or early July. It is of erect habit, 

 with shining, dark green leaves. 



A. z-iscosa. the Swamp Honeysuckle, is a rather dense bush 6 

 feet to 8 feet high, which produces white or pink flowers freely 

 in July. The flowers are deliciously fragrant, liut are rather 

 disagreeable to handle, as they are covered with viscid hairs. 



In addition to these there are several species from China which 

 bear reddish-purple flowers, such as rlwmbica and dilatata (R. 

 rlwmbicum and R. dilatalum), which bloom in .\pril and are 

 suitable for gardens where Spring frosts are not experienced. 

 There is also the A. indica group, of which many very attractive 

 hardy forms have recently been introduced from Japan, and we 

 have also the beautiful free-flowering A. Ktcmpfrri and .-). 

 am'riui. Of ./. Ktrmpfcri there are forms with salmon, lirick- 

 red, and reddish-purple flowers. In addition to being such 

 beautiful flowering shrubs, the .Azaleas have a further period of 

 beauty, for the leaves turn to brilliant shades of red, orange and 

 bronze in .Autumn, a condition retained over a period of three or 

 four weeks. 



When purchasing plants for beds or informal masses it is not 

 necessarv to obtain named kinds, for quite as brilliant effects 

 tan he secured by planting imnamed seedlings. Provided special 

 colors -ire desired, however, a visit should be paid to a nursery 

 where these plants are grown in quantity during the time they 

 are hi flower. Plants can then be selected for .Autumn delivery. 

 When special varieties are required they are usually dearer and 

 the advantage lies in procuring reliable plants for single color 

 eflfects. 



.Azaleas require moist soil moderately free from hmc. It may 



be either loam or peat, but when loam is the prevailing soil it is 

 advisable to incorporate a little peat with it at planting time. 

 This is much better than excavating beds 2 feet deep and filling 

 them entirely with peat. Light loam with a little peat added to 

 the top 12 inches forms an ideal soil for this class of plants. 

 Shallow planting must be encouraged, care being taken to give 

 the surface roots every possible chance of spreading. To assist 

 in this, carpet the ground beneath the bushes with half-decayed 

 leaves, and in Autumn rake newly-fallen leaves beneath the 

 l.iishes, keeping them in place with brush wood until the process 

 ( f decay is far enough advanced to prevent them being disturbed 

 by wind. 



In some places Azaleas are planted as an undergrowth to thin 

 Pine woods, and very beautiful eflfects are produced by this 

 method of cultivation. Large numbers of plants may be grown 

 for this purpose by sowing seeds collected indiscriminately from 

 mixed plants. They may be sown in boxes and the young plants 

 pricked out in a cold-frame to be placed later in nursery borders 

 for a couple of years previous to placing in permanent quarters. 

 .Although the colors of the flowers of different plants are so 

 varied they rarely clash, and there is no good reason for sepa- 

 rating the colors. .Any variety of special value may be con- 

 \-eniently propagated by layering the branches into sandy soil in 

 Spring. — Gardening Illustrated. 



The best of all the Kurume Azaleas is R. Hinamayo, a plant 

 as yet little known, but now grown in quantity by Van Des of 

 Borkoep. It is a superb little gem, much hardier than Hinodegiri, 

 which is common in gardens, and has given me a wonderful 

 display eight years in succession, the whole of the plants being 

 co\ered with their bright satin pink flowers about May 10. 



Speaking of the hardiness of the Kurume Azaleas, the writer 

 of the article you quote concludes his remarks with "as to their 

 suitability for outdoor gardens, there is every reason to believe 

 that they will thrive wherever Azalea ania:na has proved per- 

 fectly hardy in the open." Now this is entirely incorrect, and 

 the gardener "who is so foolish as to attempt to grow any except 

 the few I have named as fairly hardy will meet with much 

 disappointment. 



The cultivation of these Azaleas is an important point. They 

 require a very loose, but good rooting medium. Peat and sand 

 are best, since the plants resent any loam that cakes, the roots 

 being so fine and delicate. Shelter from wind and hot morning 

 sun is also essential and semi-shade. Planted in bold groups as 

 front edge decoration to large Rhododendrons, they will, where 

 they succeed, afford the greatest pleasure to lovers of good 

 things. — The Garden. 



The Rock Gardens. — The great international show at Chelsea 

 of a few years ago witnessed the inauguration of these on a 

 scale quite w'ithout precedent, and if the scale has diminished of 

 necessit>' during recent years — has been for the moment in com- 

 liarative abeyance — it has, as a phase, lost nothing of popularity. 

 Today it is a more alive thing than ever before, fascinating 

 thousands by its charms, while impelling admiration from many 

 thousands of others — professional gardeners and laymen alike — 

 who see in them a pleasure affording health-giving pastime of the 

 best. Apart from these things they are a means to an end, 

 showing the way to the betterinent of alpine gardening as a 

 whole, and, while giving many of the plants just the help and the 

 positions they need, afford the observer an opportunity of in- 

 dulging them to advantage. All this and inuch besides have been 

 demonstrated in these Chelsea rock gardens again and again, and 

 the end is not yet. Great as has been their help in assisting plant 

 lovers to appreciate alpine gardening, they have been immeasur- 

 ably greater in the true landscape and artistic sense, since they 

 have brought into being a true conception of the right use of 

 stone geologically, have caused all workers in the field to seek 

 out the best, most Nature-adorned classes of rock, and brought 

 about their use in the only true and realistic way. Here, indeed, 

 was one transported again and again to mountain pasture, tor- 

 rent, or trickling stream, to rock, fern-decked cave, steep de- 

 clivity, or strong escarpment, each in its way more or less com- 

 plete. No wonder they fill us with so much delight, or cause us 

 to admire the measure of enterprise — plus skill — which have made 

 such things possible. Nor are they all of one kind, as though but 

 one line of thought governed or pervaded all. Rather do they, 

 by variety and diversity, give expression to its most varying 

 phases: the whole of them "carefully linked up much of the best 

 which Nature in the past has largely retained for her own, or 

 permitted the mountain climber or student to see now and again. 

 Hence, these rock gardening efforts are not a display merely, 

 not something of today to pass into obscurity tomorrow, but 

 something real, something above all else of an educative and 

 instructi\-e turn, a welcome development in horticulture of the 

 best. — Gardening Illustrated. 



