144 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Sweet-Scented Flowers 



FLORUM AMATOR 



WE are accustomed to speak of llowers as pretty, 

 dainty, beautiful, handsome, and sweet-scented. 

 While the application of the other adjectives is 

 somewhat a matter of taste there are in fact compara- 

 tively few flowers to which the word sweet-scented can 

 be fittingly applied. 



SVVEET-SCENTED ANNUALS 



Of the fragrant annual flowers which we raise from 

 Spring planted seeds. Sweet Peas are deliciously sweet- 

 scented even beyond the degree which the simple word 

 "sweet" conveys to us. Some varieties seem to give forth 

 a healthier and more agreeable perfume than others. If we 

 plant the varieties separately and label each, 'it is indeed 

 interesting to compare the fragrance of the flowers when 

 freshlv picked, and to note wliich exhales the most agree- 

 able and which the heaviest perfume, and again to make 

 the same comparison after the flowers are several hours 

 old. The Sweet Pea is one of the flowers in which 

 unusual beauty of form and color and a delightful odor 

 are combined. 



Mignonette has a peculiar fragrance which is pleas- 

 ing to manv, but which has always seemed to us to be 

 too highly praised. The old time variety, odorata, has 

 a more pronounced and pleasanter fragrance than many 

 of the modern larger flowered varieties, though some 

 of them are quite sweet and their flowers much larger 

 and prettier than those of odorata: in this class are such 

 varieties as Machet and Goliath. We may note here 

 that the Latin word, odorata, meaning sweet-scented, is 

 used as the specific name of many kinds of flov\ers, for ex- 

 ample the Sweet Pea is Lathy nis odorata; the Mignonette, 

 Reseda odorata; the Pond Lily, Nyiiipluc odorata. 

 Were it not for its fragrance we are inclined to Ihink 

 that Mignonette would be a little noticed flower, but 

 because of this quality it is an old favorite. Tennyson 

 who in his poems mentions more flowers than any other 

 English speaking poet, except Shakespeare, says in 

 "The Miller's Daughter" : 



"For yon rcinciiiln-r you liad .set, 

 That morning, on the- casement's edge 

 A long green box nf mignonette, 

 .\nd you were leaning from the ledge 

 And when I raised my eyes above 

 They met with two so full and bright. 

 Such eyes ! I swear to you, my love, 

 That these have never lost their light." 



Stocks are an annual easily raised from seeds. These 

 produce long spikes of flowers, some double and rose- 

 shaped, others single in several i)leasing colors, and 

 having a delightful clover-scented perfume. Stocks 

 produce their best flowers in the cool Spring or Au- 

 tumn days, not in Summer's scorching heat. There is, 

 we think, no f)ther flower which combines stateliness. 

 beauty of color in the rose, jiink and purjilc shades, and 

 entrancing sweetness in a greater degree. 



The Heliotrope, a flower whose well-known and e\- 

 c^uisite i)erfume needs no defining, as the meaning of 

 its name indicates, unlike stocks, loves the long, hot 

 Summer days and luxuriates in the full light of the sun. 

 This flower with its varying shades of pur])le is a 

 favorite not only with mankind, Init we have often no- 

 ticed when walking in our flower garden, has for lovers 

 the bees, butterflies and bumming birds as well. Strictly 

 classed, the Heliotrope is a tender perenni.il. l>nt |il:mts 

 from seeds will bloom the first season. 



The perfume of Wallflowers, though not as jjro- 



nounced as that uf Slocks, is uniciue and so pleasant 

 that it has made that flower both an old-time and pres- 

 ent-day favorite not only in England but also in the 

 United States. Wallflowers resemble single-flowered 

 Stocks in form but not in color, but like Stocks are at 

 their best in Spring and Autumn. The botanical name 

 of Wallflower is Clieirantlins Clieiri. Strictly speaking". 

 Wallflowers are perennials but early Winter-sown seeds 

 will give plants which will bloom the following Christmas 

 under glass. The botanical name of Stocks is Matthiola 

 incana, variety annua, hut Stocks and Wallflowers are 

 closely related. 



In flower from mid-Spring till the snows of Novem- 

 ber whiten the ground. .-J/y.winn maritimuin, because of 

 its delicate and delightful fragrance well deserves its 

 common name. Sweet Alyssum. The white flowers oi 

 this Alyssum are indeed small but very abundant. For 

 liordering flower beds, for window and porch boxes, and 

 hanging baskets. Sweet Alyssum is excellent. 



Sweet Sultans. Centaurea imperlalis, have several quali- 

 ties recommending them strongly to the favor of flower 

 lovers besides their delightful fragrance. The exquis- 

 itely fringed flowers in lilac, pure white, rose-color, and 

 purple are carried high above the foliage on long, stiff 

 stems and if cut when partly open, will last longer than 

 almost any other flower in water, not infrequently from 

 eight to ten days. Sweet Sultans too, like Stocks and 

 Wallflowers, give us their finest blooms in the cool days of 

 Spring and .\utumn, and we should sow the seeds either 

 very early indoors to produce plants for setting out in 

 the garden early for .Spring flowering or sow in mid- 

 Summer for jilants for Autumn flowering or both. 



No one of our annual flowers, perhaps, has been more 

 improved in its range of colors than that old-fashioned 

 flower. Sweet Scabious, Scabiosa ma.viina plena. One of 

 its old-time common names was Alourning llride given 

 to it obviously for the reason that its flowers were then 

 of one color mostly, and that color such an intense, deep 

 crimson as to look almost black. The modern Sweet 

 Scabious, however, is not confined in color to a nearly 

 "melancholy black," but bears blooms of white, light-blue, 

 cerise and golden-yellow. Sweet Scabious has a fragrance 

 which is not only ]ileasing. but also "that is dift'erent" 

 and like Sweet S'ullan carries its flowers on long stems, 

 which makes it valuable for cutting. 



When a rather large bushy plant reaching a height of 

 two or three feet can be used to advantage in our garden 

 Ijeds or borders, among those whose flowers have a i^ro- 

 nounced I)ut pleasing smell, Xieotiana affinis is a candidate 

 for the jiosiiion. Xieotiana is a ])rofuse bloonu'r through- 

 out Summer and Autunm. The species, affinis. bears 

 white flowers, but the hybrids of affinis give us blooms in 

 shades of purple, red. violet and ])ink as well as white. 

 The common name of .Xieotiana is "{•'"lowering Tobacco." 



.Miniiiliis inoseliatos is llii' .Musk l'l;inl. Miniitliis is 

 really a half-hardy perennial rather than annual, but will 

 bloom the iirst year from seeds sown early. This plant 

 prefers a moist, shady situation, as can be dearly seen 

 from where f)ur native species, Miniiilns rini:^ens, is found 

 growing. The nuisk-like .scent of Miiniilits moscliatos 

 lies in its foliage rather than in its small yellow flowers. 

 This is an excellent plant for banging baskets. 



Marguerite Carnations, like the "I'erpetual-nowering" 

 Carnations so nuich grown mider glass, have a remark- 

 able range nf be.iiuiful sli;ides of Cdlnr and of variegations 



