72 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Foreign Exchange Department 



DAFFODILS AS CUT FLOWERS.— As in the case of 

 other flowers, wliL-n there happens to be a profusion of 

 bloom, there is in that of the Daffodil also the same 

 danger of overcrowding taking place. Surely no better example 

 of the beautiful is needed tlian is provided in the natural growth 

 of these pleasing flowers, the foliage, in combination with the 

 blossoms, affording" an example of what to adopt when arranging 

 the cut blooms. \Vhcn growing and in flower the foliage and the 

 blossoms seem to be, as they really are, quite indispensable the 

 one to the other. Let this be imitated, then, as nearly as possible 

 when disposing of the cut blooms, and afterwards, if need be, 

 compare the natural style with the opposite or unnatural, of 

 massing the flowers something in the same manner as they are 

 sent to market in bunches, with which it is a rare occurrence 

 for any foliage to be included, much as it is needed. Each flower 

 should be so displayed as not to crowd upon that next to it ; it 

 is only in this way that the best possible effect can be had. Often- 

 times w-hen cutting Daffodils from home-grown plants there is a 

 danger of two mistakes being made; the one is that of gathering 

 too many sorts at once, and the other that of taking flowers which 

 have been expanded for some time. It is not, perhaps, generally 

 known that many who exhibit Daffodils in large numbers cut 

 them before they are really fully expanded. Afterwards they 

 continue to develop, but may not possibly reach quite to the size 

 of blossoms still upon the plant ; but invariably the color is 

 slightly better unless shading is adopted. 



Regarding the use of the foliage, it may be urged that to cut 

 it largely would weaken the bulbs, but it may be taken a leaf 

 here and a leaf there, so as not to make any perccptilile dift'er- 

 ence, or where a good stock of the common Daft'cxiil exists, its 

 foliage can be taken in preference. To mi.x the different types 

 is not desirable. — Gardening Illustrated. 



STEVIA PANICULATA.— This delightful Gypsophila-like 

 plant, sometimes known as Stevia serrata has been cultivated in 

 France for a great number of years, whilst in the U. S. A. it has 

 been an important florists' flower for more years than I can remem- 

 ber. 



Some day, perhaps, growers and gardeners generally will wake 

 up to the value of Stevia paniculata to follow Gypsophila panicu- 

 lata. Seed is easily obtainable, and by sowing early the plants 

 may be flowered in the open before frost occurs, or they may 

 be lifted and planted to flower in early Winter like Chrysanthe- 

 mums. 



The roots are perennial, and if stored like Dahlias may be re- 

 started the following season to flower very early. — The Gardeners' 

 Chronicle (British). 



PVRACAXTHA GIBBSII. (Award of Garden Merit, Novem- 

 ber 27, 1922) — Xo trees or .shrubs have more justified in 1922 their 

 inclusion among garden plants than the well-known coral red 

 Pyracantha coccinea (or Crataegus pyracantha, as it is still often 

 called) and its beautiful variety Lalandei, with larger, more orange 

 fruits, that come to us from Asia Minor and S'.nth Europe, but 

 China has much more recently yielded some beautiful shrubs ap- 

 parently nearly related to the Xapalese representative of the genus, 

 P. crenulata, but sufficiently distinct to warrant separate names, at 

 any rate in gardens. It is difficult to say which is the most beautiful 

 of these newcomers, and not all are yet widely known, but among 

 fhem P. Gibbsii will certainly hold its own. Quick-growing to 

 about 10 feet in height, with glossy dark evergreen foliage con- 

 siderably larger than that of P. coccinea, making a tall, rather 

 fastigiate bush, flowering abundantly just after the Hawthorn 

 ceases with dense bunches of white flowers, and never failing to 

 bear great bunches of brilliant scarlet fruits as large as peas and 

 contrasting beautifully with the foliage from October to Decem- 

 ber, this is a species worthy and capable of fdling a place in any 

 garden. The seeds grow freely, and may give rise to forms dif- 

 fering somewhat in the shape of the leaves, the exact shade of 

 the ripe fruits, and the precise time of ripening, but all alike 

 worth growing; and if it be desired to propagate any one of the 

 forms it may readily be done, either by cuttings or by layers. — 

 Gardening Jlluslraled. 



THE RUSSIAN VIRGIN'S BOWER (Clematis Tanghutica). 

 — This commands attention from all points of view, owing to the 

 profusion and rich color of its flowers. Like many other shrubs, 

 this alters its character after the first few- years, and instead of 

 the elegant, frail plant so beautiful and refined during that period, 

 it becomes a strong, rampant grower more suited to clothing 

 the sides of a pergola or large tree stmup where its long gar- 

 lands of flowers may droop to their full extent, displaying their 

 graceful charm in that beautiful loose manner so much admired 

 by all lovers of picturesque gardening. It is the most striking of 



all the yellow-flowered Clematises, and although occasionally re- 

 ferred to as a variety of the well-known C. orientalis, it is — 

 from a garden point of view — totally distinct and a vastly superior 

 plant in every way. It is a native of Central .Xsia and appears 

 to have been first introduced to Kew from St. Petersburg in 1898. 

 — Gardening Illustrated. 



A NEW BUDDLEIA.— Buddleia alternifolia is a widely 

 branched and vigorous shrub, producing during June quantities of 

 rich lilac-purple blossoms on the growths of the previous year, so 

 that one cannot prune it in March as is done with B. variabilis 

 \arieties. Inlroduced by the late Mr. Reginald I'arrer from Kansu, 

 the dainty yet luxuriant growth of this Buddleia is in marked con- 

 trast to the vigorous shoots of B. variabilis. — The Garden. 



DEPARTMENT OF BOOK REVIEWS 



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DEC0R.^TIVE Plants, Trees and Shrubs, by F. J. Fletcher, F. R. 

 H. S. Benn Brothers, Ltd., London. 



This concluding volume of the series of si.x volumes, coming, 

 as have the others, frotn the experience of an unusually successful 

 nurseryman, is, even more than the preceding five of these books, 

 justly entitled to the consideration of propagators of plants in 

 America. It is even delightful reading, for, more than the others, 

 it gives scope to the aesthetic ideals of its author. In the midst 

 of his enthusiastic appreciation of the beauties of plants grown 

 for ornament he is nevertheless consistently practical. At only 

 one point does his zeal carry him away ; in dwelling upon the 

 charms of the hv-brid lilacs he has forgotten to tell how to 

 propagate them. But in other matters, particularly those relating 

 to the propagation of plants the importation of which into the 

 United States has been nearly altogether cut off, the treatment 

 is such that every horticulturist would find at least useful sug- 

 gestions. The management of cuttings is set forth with all 

 necessary details the disregard of which makes our hurried Amer- 

 ican methods successful only in part. — F. B. M. 



Winter Botany, by William Trelease, Professor of Botany in 

 the University of Illinois. Published iby the author at Urbana, 

 Illinois. 



This is a companion to "Plant Materials of Decorative Garden- 

 ing," designed to aid in identifying the same woody plants, except 

 the conifers, in Winter. It is extraordinarily compact, composed 

 with precision, each subject beginning a new page and clearly 

 illustrated by an accurate drawing of the parts distinguishing 

 it most. In the use of the keys attention is called to an amazing 

 number of points of difference which lead to fine appreciation 

 of the structure of the plant under examination. Much more 

 than in the other work there are remarks concerning the history 

 of many of the plants and concerning their peculiar properties 

 of one kind or another. Some of these remarks are of a char- 

 acter to interest the horticulturist and the gardener. — F. B. M. 



Horticulture for School.s, by the late A. V. Stubenrauch, 

 Milo N. Wood and Charles J. Booth. The Macmillan Company, 

 New York. 



Although the actual composition of this latest addition to the 

 Rural Textbook Series is the work of two Californians it gives 

 unmistakable evidence throughout of liaving for its foundation 

 the material assembled by the deceased senior author, his method 

 and his point of view. His post-graduate studies were taken at 

 Cornell University and he served for a time at the L'niversity 

 of Illinois and in connection with the pomological wurk of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. It furthermore has 

 had the careful oversight of Professor Bailey, and among several 

 other coadjutors there has been one from the West, one from 

 the Central West and one from the Southwest. But it has not 

 been made too learned in the sense of being prolix, ponderous 

 or abstruse. On the contrary, it is, for contents, general arrange- 

 ment, method of presentation and completeness most admirably 

 adapted to the purpose for which it was designed, that of serving 

 as an elementary text-book in schools and in reading courses. 



The part devoted to the Use of Ornamenlal Plants was neces- 

 sarily ni.ide very summary; while the enumeratinn of ornamental 

 material is sketchy and is far from being an approach to com- 

 pleteness, the condensed statement of the principles of landscape 

 design is happily sound. The entire work is accurate and reliable, 

 with but few minor exceptions, such as failing to observe that it 

 is only Berberis vulgaris and its varieties and not the oriental 

 that are intermediary hosts of the common wheat rust and such 

 as referring to pepper plants as hardy. — F. B. M. 



I TENTH INTERNATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 

 I GRAND CENTRAL PALACE, NEW YORK, N. Y. 



MARCH 12-17, 1923 

 I Do not overlook this important horticultural event 



