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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) «..: 



NEW -. UKK 



Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture HOTA.vic.AL 



OAkDt:N 



I Vol. XXiV 



SEPTEMBER, 1920 



No. 9 I 



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Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



MONTAGUE FREE 



WHEX travelling around the countryside in New 

 England and New York during August the pre- 

 vailing note of color amongst the wild flowers 

 seems to be rose or purple, with a hint of yellow to come 

 occasioned by the blooming of precocious goldenrods. 

 The rose color of course is given by the "Hardback" or 

 Steeple Bush, Spircva tomentosa. One wonders why 

 this beautiful shrub has not been taken in hand by the 

 plant breeder and improved for garden purposes. Many 

 no doubt will say, with truth, that it is already sufficient- 

 ly beautiful to be worthy of admission to the garden, but 

 there is room for improvement, as in most of our garden 

 flowers, by way of greater purity of color and size of 

 flower truss. There is considerable color variation to 

 be seen in the flowers of those growing wild and also in 

 the size of the inflorescence, and probably simple selec- 

 tion of seed from desirable plants without recourse to 

 hybridization would result in an improved product from 

 a garden standpoint. The "Hardback" grows naturally 

 in moist ground and it is in such situations that it flour- 

 ishes best when brought under cultivation. Unlike most 

 flowers the buds at the top of the inflorescence open first. 

 The flowers as they fade lose their rosy color and become 

 a greyish white which gives a harmonious gradation 

 down the spike to the unopened flower buds at the base 

 which are of a delicate buft' color. 



The most showy of the wild flowers occurring at this 

 season is, undoubtedly, the "Fireweed," Epilohium au- 

 gnstifoUiim. This when seen in large patches is a won- 

 derful and gorgeous sight. And its display is not fin- 

 ished when the flowers fall as these are succeeded by 

 the o|)cning seed pods which exhibit the seeds clothed 

 with tluffy, silvery, fibres which give the plant an entirely 

 different appearance. In spite of its beauty it is only 

 with reservations the "Fireweed" can be recommended 

 as a garden plant. It is extremely aggressive, spreading 

 by means of seeds and underground runners and is diffi- 

 cult to control once it has become established. .An ex- 

 ample of its tenacity of life and also of the daring color 

 combinations sometimes affected in Nature was witnessed 

 recently on a farm in the Catskills. .V piece of ground 

 had been plowed and for some reason or other left un- 

 planted. Practically the only survivors on this plot were 

 the "Fireweed" and the Orange Hawkweed, Hieracium 

 auranhacum, another beautiful, but pestiferous, weed. 

 Few gardeners would dare to combine such colors as 

 the red-orange of the Hawkweed with the purple, almost 



one might say magenta, of the "Fireweed" and yet when 

 seen growing wild massed together the result was har- 

 monious. Such a combination reminds one of another of 

 Nature's bizarre color schemes in the blue-purple and 

 orange of the Bird-of-Paradise Flower, one of the most 

 arresting of our greenhouse plants when in bloom. 



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About this time last year the writer was one of a party 

 engaged in collecting alpine plants from the summit of 

 j\It. Washington — permission being granted by the For- 

 est Service to obtain a limited number of each species. 

 The object of the expedition as far as the writer was 

 concerned was to add to the collection of rock and alpine 

 plants at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with the hope of 

 discovering the species amenable to cultivation and worth 

 while from a gardening standpoint. The work of col- 

 lecting had its discomforts and compensations. One day, 

 for instance, it was bitterly cold, raining hard, with a 

 howling gale and a fog so thick that it was impossible 

 to see anything that was more than about fifty feet 

 away. Imagine what it would feel like to be sweating 

 and panting up the trail in weather of this description 

 with a sack of heavy, soggy, plants on your back, with 

 -soil in your ears, and cold water trickling down your 

 neck ! But the compensation came with a wash, a change 

 of clothes, a pipe of tobacco, a seat in front of a log 

 fire at the Summit House and the knowledge that a good 

 haul of specimens had been made. And then the follow- 

 ing day of glorious sunshine when one could see the 

 grandeur of the bleak desolateness where these alpine 

 plants have their home caused all discomforts to be for- 

 gotten. 



The growing season at this time (September 1st), was 

 practically over so far as the plants above timber line 

 were concerned and they were just about ready for their 

 \\'inter's rest. This brought about a serious cultural 

 difficulty, as, on their removal to New York they experi- 

 enced a warm .spell with temperatures up to 90° and in 

 consequence many started to push out new growth which 

 was quite unfitted to stand the U'inter that was so shortly 

 to descend upon them. However, quite a number pulled 

 through satisfactorily. This unseasonable growth could 

 jirobably be prevented h\ ]ilacing alpines collected in the 

 I'all in pots or flats and keei>ing- them in cold storage 

 until the following March when they could be planted 

 out-of-doors. 



About thirty species were collected some of which are 

 only of scientific interest. It is too early to say def- 



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