March 13, 1915 



HORTICULTUBE 



335 



Callirhoe 



Tlie reason for selecting Callirhoe, the Poppy Mallow, 

 as subject of today's note is the everpresent assertion of 

 the utter impossibility of maintaining a rich floral dis- 

 play in herbaceoiis gardens during the midsummer 

 months. I am well aware of the difficulties in this 

 direction; in fact I admit that without the mixing in 

 of some annuals we cannot succeed in keeping up the 

 gorgeous spectacle witnessed during May and June. If 

 we, however, in most cases exhaust the list of mid- 

 summer flowering perennials before resorting to annuals, 

 that is another question. The usual absence of the 

 poppy mallows in our gardens is evidence of our aptness 

 to overlook. Granted that Callirhoe can hardly be 

 classed as more than a filler, it proves a valuable one, 

 for it remains in bloom from late in June until the 

 beginning of fall. Producing saucer-shaped flowers two 

 ijiches across in lasting profusion this slightly trailing 

 plant, attaining a height of from 13 to 18 inches, with 

 its finely divided foliage can be easily made an elegant 

 border subject. WTien partly overrunning big rocks on 

 sloping ground it strikes us as being decidedly beautiful. 



Belonging to the order Malvaceae, poppy mallows are 

 natives of our hemisphere. One of its handsomest species 

 — Callirhoe involucrata, syn. Malva involucrata — distin- 



guished by purplish violet flowers of a bright silky 

 lustre, hails from Texas. Callirhoe lineariloba, the sub- 

 ject of our illustration, on account of its compact habit 

 of growth is in my opinion the best for border and 

 garden planting. The flowers appear in vivid purple 

 and those of the vai-iety alba in pure white. 



Poppy mallows can be easily raised from seed sown 

 during February and March. On their permanent place 

 they prefer a light sandy soil, and as their thick roots 

 go down deep the ground should be dug and manured 

 to a depth of not less than two feet. The open sunny 

 exposure is best. According to my experience poppy 

 mallows are extremely useful in maintaining abundance 

 and variety in the floral aspect of borders during our 

 trying hot midsununer seasons. If it is our ambition to- 

 make the American garden the richest treasury of beauty 

 and thus help to increase the enjoyment of home-life 

 we must be able to master the material. Success within 

 the modern hardy flower gartlen is only possible by 

 paying attention to both big and little things. The 

 occasional employment of poppy mallows of course ranks 

 among the latter. 



Glenside, Pa. 



-^6cyiciyLd-SSc/C£c/ 



OBITUARY. 

 Herman Asher. 

 Herman Asher, a violet grower of 

 Rhinebeck, N. Y., died at his home 

 there, Monday, Marcli 8th. He was an 

 estimable man and held in the higliest 

 regard by a host of friends. 



trade. She leaves besides her son 

 Robert one daughter. The funeral 

 took place Thursday from her late 

 residence. Interment was in Calvary 

 cemetery. Friends in the trade at- 

 tended and extended their sympathy 

 in many beautiful floral offerings. 



James Conlon, 

 James Conlon, a retired florist and 

 a resident of Brooklyn for fifty years, 

 died at his residence, 62 Dean street, 

 Brooklyn, N. Y., on Monday, March 1. 

 leaving a wife, a son, and five daugh- 

 ters. 



William M. Mills. 

 Wm. M. Mills died in Philadelphia 

 on March 5, aged 68 years. The fu- 

 neral was held on Monday, March 8, 

 from the home of his brother Mark P. 

 Mills of the W. K. Harris Co., of which 

 concern W. M. Mills was an employee. 



David Monteith. 

 David Monteith, one of the old-time 

 noted Boston gardeners, died on March 

 4 at Hyde Park, Vermont. Mr. 

 Monteith, who was a native of the 

 south of Scotland was for many years 

 gardener on the Nickerson estate at 

 Dedham, Mass., and was a conspicu- 

 ous exhibitor and prize winner at the 

 exhibitions of the Mass. Horticultural 

 Society on stove plants and hot-house 

 grapes being a sharp competitor of 

 David Allan, George McWilliam and 

 other noted grape growers. He re- 

 tired about twelve years ago and took 

 up farming on a small scale in Ver- 

 mont. His age was about 70 years. 



S. Swan. 



Word has been received of the 

 death of S. Swan at Johnson City, 

 Tenn., on the 27th of February. .Mr. 

 Swan was at one time a partner with 

 Johnson & Chronis, Chicago and later 

 was in the employ of J. Mangel, leav- 

 ing Chicago about five years ago to 

 make his home in the south. 



William Roe. 

 William Roe, florist and civil war 

 veteran, died on February 22, aged 8."> 

 years. He was born in Leicestershire. 

 England. He came to this country when 

 25 years of age and located in Lock- 

 port, N. Y., where he resided up lo the 

 time of his death, spending forty 

 years of his life in the florist business. 



Mary M. Scott, 

 Mrs. Mary .\T. Scott, head of the 

 firm of Mary M. Scott & Sons, of St. 

 Louis, Mo., died on Tuesday, March 2, 

 after a short illness of pneumonia, at 

 the age of 79. Mrs. Scott and her son 

 grew Asparagus plumosus for the local 



TO BLOOM SOBRALIA MACRAN- 

 THA, 



Editor HORTICULTURE: 



As a reader of your valuable paper each 

 week I would like to ask you about two 

 quite fair-sized plants of Sobralia macran- 

 tha which have not produced a bloom in 

 over two years to my knowledge. They are 

 iu 14-iuch pots, crammed full of roots, 

 making growths from G to 8 feet long and 

 look as healthy as could be. If you could 

 suggest anything that would throw them 

 into bloom I would esteem it a great favor. 

 Yours truly, SEJEKER. 



Sobralia macrantha grows best in a 

 temperature of from 56 to 58 degrees 

 at night during winter and with plenty 

 of light and fresh air at all times. If 

 grown too warm and in too much 

 shade it will make plenty of long, 

 strong growths but few if any flowers. 

 Sobralias are coarse feeders and should 

 be potted in a mixture of good turfy 

 loam two parts, osmunda fibre one part, 

 and a little well rotted cow manure. 

 Some coarse sand or finely broken 

 crocks should be added to this to keep 

 the compost open. Fill the pots about 

 one-third with broken potsherds to 

 give ample drainage, for they require 

 a good supply of water at the roots at 

 all times, and after a plant becomes 

 potbound a weekly application of weak 

 liquid manure will be of great benefit 

 to it. M. J. Poi'E. 



Naugatuck, Conn. 



Sri!Kl'lllS(jI.i;.\ J.V.MK.SO.Ml 



STREPTOSOLEN JAMESONII. 



This old favorite greenhouse shrub 

 is well known to the majority of our 

 readers. It is sometimes known as 

 Hrowallia Jamesonii. Its gracefully 

 drooping branches with their termi- 

 nal racemes of bright ^orange flowers 

 are a familiar adornment of most 

 plant conservatories. Grown in stand- 

 ard form as shown in the picture it 

 makes a very attractive subject. The 

 plant shown was grown by W. N. 

 Craig of Brookline, Mass., and we are 

 indebted to R. & J. Farquhar & Co., 

 for the photograph. 



