294 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



nurseries of the United States Plant and Seed Introduc- 

 tion Station at Chapman Field. Planted out from 4-inch 

 pots last May they are now 10-12 feet high and loaded 

 with their delicious fruits. These are but a few of the 

 many plants descril^ed as growing with a reckless aban- 

 don in Southern Florida, which makes it the greatest 

 tropical paradise in the United States. It must be very 

 pleasant to live amid such surroundings but methinks if 

 I were located there for any lengthy period that the sight 

 of a bed of our northern bulbs or perennials in Spring, 

 or even a plant or two in bloom of Scotch heather, Eng- 

 lish primrose or any one of many North American native 

 plants would to quote Harry Lauder " warm the cockles 

 of ma hairt" as no tropical flowers could (In. 



* * * 



Already the seed catalogues are coming to hand, and 

 now that the nights are long and we must perforce, for 

 various reasons, spend more time at home than has been 

 our wont, is an admirable time to "read, mark, learn, and 

 inwardlv digest" them. There is a good deal of satis- 

 faction to be derived from the careful study of a well 

 arranged catalogue. We may know that the fulsome de- 

 scriptions are often overdrawn, and are very willing to 

 accept them "cum grano salis," especially when we re- 

 member that the bulk of catalogue writers are not prac- 

 tical men outside their own sphere, viz.. the seed business. 

 It is true that many novelties offered are not even the 

 equal of existing standard varieties, but there are always 

 some improvements to be foinid and anyone with even a 

 small garden should be progressive enough to try two or 

 three novelties each season. They may not all come up to 

 our expectations, but if we get one really fine new thing 

 we are well rewarded, and naturally feel doubly proud if 

 our neighbors do not have it. 



4(1 4(i ^ 



Among the very desirable yellow flowering annuals are 

 the Leptosynes. Nearly all are natives of California and 

 are closely allied to Coreopsis. The foliage more nearly 

 resembles Cosmos than Coreopsis. We do not see very 

 manv of these annuals in our gardens, less than their 

 merits would seem to warrant. W'hile they may be sown 

 outdoors like many of our most easily grown annuals. 

 they will flower much better and earlier if started in a 

 frame or greenhouse. I grew L. niaritima for many years 

 in pots for spring flowering. It carries its flowers on 

 very long stems and the flowers are large and of a very 

 pleasing soft vellow color. It is a very desirable annual 

 for the greenhouse. L stillmani is an improved variety 

 introduced 25 years ago by lienary, the well known Ger- 

 man seed firm. Both varieties make excellent pot jahuits, 

 and outdoors they seem to thrive especially well in damp 

 soil, although this is by no means necessary for their suc- 

 cessful culture. 



* * * 



Those of us who had horticultural training in Euroiic 

 will easily remember the beds of the common musk which 

 were grown for the delicious fragrance of its 

 foliage. It would seem as though in even the most hum- 

 ble cottage there was always to be found a 

 pot of Musk, along with Geraniums, fancy or show 

 Pelargoniums. Fuchsias, Calceolarias and blue Lobelias. 

 The strange thing about this modest unassuming jilant 

 is its entire loss of fragrance in late years. The reason for 

 this no one seems able to account for, and after making 

 many inquiries from friends aliroad, I have not received 

 an encouraging reply from anyone; all admit that the one 

 time odor has vanished mysteriously. Can it be brought 

 back and retained by any process? When we think of 

 the old musk, we instinctively associate fragrance with 

 it, and without it the plant has but little horticultural value. 

 For several years plants came up freely below the benches 



of a greenhouse with me in Brookline, Mass., but none of 

 them had any fragrance. Would artificial culture contin- 

 ued over a period of years be likely to rob this or other 

 plants of fragrance ? It seems uncertain when the odor 

 vanished, and we are unlikely to get much desired in- 

 formatidii on this score. 



Speaking of the common musk, I very well remember 

 how popular the large flowered form Minudus moschatus 

 harrisoni was about 40 years ago and no doubt it is still 

 in commerce. We used many thousands of it in carpet 

 bedding in those days, a time when William Robinson, 

 J. Simpson of Wortley Hall and other hardy plant advo- 

 cates were hurling scorn and ridicule at carpet bedding 

 and when they had but few agree with them. For bed- 

 ding purposes in the north of Britain, Harrison's musk 

 was amazingly popular, and it certainly was a great 

 bloomer. There is another member of the Mimulus fam- 

 ily, native also of California which years ago was prized 

 as a cool greenhouse flowering plant, viz., M. glutinosus, 

 called formerly Diplacus glutinosus. Once in a while I 

 run across a few of these plants in old greenhouses. The 

 flowers are buff' or orange colored, and quite attractive, 

 and there would seem to be a place today foi this plant 

 in cool greenhouses. It is shrubby habited and tne foliage 

 as its name would indicate is very sticky. 



* * * 



At C!n-istmas, berried plants are always very popular. 

 Amongst (hese are the scarlet and yellow fruited Sola- 

 nums, or Jerusalem cherries, which are of very easy cul- 

 ture. Then there are the so called Christmas cherries, a 

 variety of pepper, and the very pretty Ardisias which are 

 of much slower growth and must in consequence com- 

 mand a fairly high price. In addition an increased num- 

 ber of the handsome dwarf Otaheite oranges are grown, 

 but in these northern states we now miss the beautifully 

 berried English hollies. Skimmias, and Aucubas. once 

 freely imported but now debarred. As we cannot success- 

 fully and profitably grow these debarred plants heie, what 

 is there we can grow which will give us brightly Ijerried 

 plants of moderate size and be of comparatively easy cul- 

 ture. Would it not be possible to grow plants of some 

 of the Berberis in pots plunged outdoors through the 

 Summer which would make acceptable holiday plants? 

 Some of the newer Chinese varieties fruit while very 

 small and their fruits are handsome and of a brilliant 

 color, I presume the thorns would be the main objection 

 to the use of Berberis. but the foliage of holly is very 

 prickly, and it should be remembered that some of the 

 finest new Berberis are virtually evergreen. 



* * * 



The growing of large single stem chrysanthennnn 

 blooms has declined very much in America in late years 

 and the pompons, anemones, and singles have advanced 

 in favor tremendously. In France and Great Britain, on 

 the other hand, the tendency would almost seem to have 

 lieen the other way, judging by the reports of the great 

 numbers of big blooms staged at the numerous exhibi- 

 tif)ns recently. The small flowered types are by no means 

 ignored but their importance at shows and in the flower 

 markets seems much smaller than here ; this may be in 

 some measure due to the fact that our Fun-fipean friends 

 have a much longer season for the small flowered types 

 outdoors than we do. They start to bloom nnich earlier 

 there than here and the mild Winters make it easily posi- 

 i)le to have outdoor flowers for three to four months. In 

 looking over lists of the best early outdoor bloomers there, 

 1 am struck by the fact that the hulk of these do not 

 succeed well here. Probably no two lists of hardy chrys- 

 anthrnuiins here would agree, what would do well in 

 {Continued on paf^c 297) 



