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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



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I Vol. XXVII 



FEBRUAKY, 1923 



No. 2 



Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



WILLIAM N. CRAIG 



WE have been accustomed for a number ol years 

 to consider China as the plant collector's paradise, 

 and that it is such no one will Cjuestion, as the 

 many tine thinj^s introduced from there in recent years by 

 Reginald Farer, William Purdon, F. Kingdon Ward, 

 and Frnest H. Wilson will testify. After listening, how- 

 ever, to an address in Boston by Adolph jMiiller of Nor- 

 ristown. Pa., on a recent trip to the great glacier section 

 of Alaska, it is very evident that we have within our own 

 possessions many wonderful floral treasures, growing 

 there in great nun.ibers which ecpial anything that China 

 has given to us. The absence of Ericas in a state of 

 nature in the United States has often been remarked, but 

 in Alaska, Mr. Miiller tells us, there are numerous varie- 

 ties growing in profusion. There are also Callunas 

 (Scotch heathers), silenes, Epilobiums, gentianas, saxi- 

 fragas, lupines, genistas, pines, spruces, Avillows, and 

 many other plants, most of them entirely unknown in this 

 country. 



* H: * 



Mr. Miiller brought an interesting and lovely little 

 specimen of Lonicera nitida with him ; this should make 

 a fine rock plant. He also gathered some two thousand 

 sj>ecimens which he will distribute to various societies for 

 their herbariums. He considers this little known north- 

 land a country of such promise for plant collectors that 

 he hopes the government will organize an expedition to 

 explore its as yet almost unknown horticultural treasures. 

 Incidentally Air. Miiller states that in Alaska one has a 

 most voracious appetite, that in August frosts occurred 

 nightly, and thai: on Augxist 26 and 27 his tent was buried 

 in three feet of snow, from which it will be assumed that 

 ordinar\' Summer cTuiping outfits will hardly suffice there. 



* ^: ^ 



Now that rock gardens are becoming increasingly pop- 

 ular, surely we should be able to obtain many useful plants, 

 in addition to herbs, from Alaska which might succeed 

 in such gardens, where in addition to willows, pines, and 

 spruces, there are currants, gooseberries, huckleberries, 

 and other interesting plants. Now that the powers that be 

 make it more and more difficult to bring new plants in 

 from abroad, surely an earnest effort should be made to 

 get what we can in the way of new and useful plant ma- 

 terial from our own possessions. 



5(t :}c ^ 



Not many years ago, women in horticulture were looked 

 upon as jokes, and there are still not a few men who put 



them into that category. Women gardeners and tiorists 

 were increasing in number before the war, and we all 

 know that during that colossal struggle, they performed 

 yeoman service horticulturally. But for their service 

 manv private estates as well as commercial plants could 

 not have kept going. The passing of the war has some- 

 what changed conditions, and both here and abroad, the 

 nmuber of women actively engaged in horticulture has 

 undoubtedly decreased. However, it is cheering to know 

 that a good many quite successful garden advisers, land- 

 scape gardeners, florists, fruit growers, gardeners, and 

 retail floral store operators are women. This is as it 

 should be: there certainly could be no more interesting 

 or finer calling for them. Women, we know, have their 

 physical limitations, but when it comes to color arrange- 

 ments in the garden, creating a simple and pleasing rest- 

 ful effect, or using flowers to the best advantage indoors, 

 they can usually give points to mere man. 



Both in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts we are for- 

 tunate in having schools of landscay)e architecture for 

 women, and each of these institutions has turned out 

 students who are doing at least as w^ell as men. It may 

 be charged tliat women's ideas are impractical, but in my 

 experience, they are no more so than men's. The average 

 landscape architect should be fundamentally an artist, his 

 •or her ])rofession is really architectural rather than 

 horticultural, and it is on this account that so many of 

 them fail dismall}', when they essay to use plant material 

 of which they have a rather imperfect knowledge. Many 

 of them plan architecturally very well, but they would 

 in many cases have been well advised had they acquired 

 the services of a first class professional gardener or 

 nurseryanan to overlook their planting. If this were done, 

 estate owners would not be constantly pulling to pieces 

 and changing the work of landscape architects. 

 =f^ =i^ * 



But to refer once more to women landscape architects 

 and their training schools. At Lowthorpe, Groton, Massa- 

 chusetts, is one of these schools, charmingly located some' 

 thirty-six miles from Boston. Here are to be found well 

 planted rock gardens, a rose garden, iris garden, a sunken 

 garden, annual garden, and perennial nursery; here also 

 are fruit trees in quantity, vegetables, and greenhouse 

 plants. This school has a most efficient corps of instructors 

 and has turned out some very good material. It is this 

 season trying the experiment of a special course for ama- 

 teurs, covering all types of gardening, roses, iris, peonies, 



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