March 20, 1915 



HORTICULTURE 



375 



HARDY HERBACEUOS PLANTS. 

 W. A. Manda. of South Orange, N. J., 

 delivered a very instructive lecture on 

 the above topic before a large audience 

 at Horticultural Hall, Boston, on Sat- 

 urday, March 13. We shall have room 

 for only a portion of the lecture which 

 was well worthy of a complete presen- 

 tation as were also the replies by Mr. 

 Manda to the numerous questions pro- 

 pounded by interested people in the 

 audience at the close of the lecture 

 proper. 



"Under the heading of 'Hardy Her- 

 baceous or Perennials Plants' we can 

 group such plants as are strictly her- 

 baceous — that is, after they have made 

 their growth, flowered and seeded, 

 they die down to the ground, where 

 they rest perfectly dormant, until 

 awakened again in the early spring, 

 when they put forth new growth, with 

 double vigor, after having had such a 

 long and complete rest. Good ex- 

 amples of the herbaceous group are 

 the peony, phlox, and plants of that 

 description. 



There are, however, a ^eat many 

 plants which are not strictly herba- 

 ceous, but which the term "perennial" 

 will cover well, although both of these 

 designations' ramify in different direc- 

 tions. 



As examples of perennial plants 

 which are not herbaceous, we can site 

 such plants as the old-fashioned Scotch 

 pinks, dianthus plumarius, the sea 

 pink or armeria maritima, and a vast 

 number of other plants which keep 

 their green foliage and growth sum- 

 mer and winter, and when the early 

 spring time comes, they simply con- 

 tinue their growth, and put fortli their 

 flowering stems. 



However, in my short address, I do 

 not want to stick strictly to the plants 

 which would answer either or both of 

 these technical definitions, but to in- 

 clude all such plants as can be grown 

 for similar purposes, and such plants 

 as are generally termed the old-fash- 

 ioned hardy garden plants which were 

 cultivated in our grandmothers' gar- 

 dens, and which include even bulbs 

 and some semi-shrubby plants which 

 can be used for the adornment of the 

 garden. With plants of this kind, we 

 can ornament every nook and corner 

 of every place, whether small or ex- 

 tensive, and it is only a matter of se- 

 lecting the proper kinds for the pur- 

 poses for which they are wanted. 



These plants come from various 

 parts of the temperate zone of our 

 globe, and even this country has been 

 blessed with a wealth of such vegeta- 

 tion, so that we need not go outside of 

 our native plants in order to ornament 

 our homes, whether on large or modest 

 scale. 



Of course of late years the hybrid- 

 izer has added numerous new forms 

 and varieties, by carefully hybridizing 

 and patiently raising and selecting the 

 best off-springs, so that there are indi- 

 vidual plants now which have been de- 

 veloped into hundreds and even thou- 

 sands of varieties. These are general- 

 ly termed as "Florists' (larden Plants." 

 Under this heading could be classed 

 such plants as the hybrid Pyrethrums, 



A FIELD OF DAHLIAS IN BLOOM. 



Dahlias are an important crop in 

 eastern Massachusetts. The accom- 

 panying picture of a field of cactus 

 dahlias at the Dahlia Gardens of J. K. 

 Alexander, East Bridgewater, gives 

 some idea of how the dahlia takes to 

 the climate and soil of this section. 

 Mr. Alexander has issued a folder with 



full instructions on dahlia culture cov- 

 ering the subject very thoroughly in 

 every detail. While intended primarily 

 for amateur instruction yet it is writ- 

 ten by a specialist and contains much 

 of practical value even to the commer- 

 cial grower and anyone wishing a copy 

 can have it for the asking. 



Hollyhocks, Larkspurs, Phloxes, Gail- 

 lardias, German Iris, Japan Iris, I^im- 

 roses, and other plants which are be- 

 ing developed and improved by culti- 

 vation. 



There is one plant which, to my 

 mind, has not been improved by the 

 hybridizer, and that is the columbine, 

 or aquilegia. It is my opinion and 

 that of the majority of hardy plant 

 growers tliat there is nothing as pretty 

 as the pure species. The garden-grown 

 seed, where several varieties are grown 

 in a limited area, is hard to get pure, 

 as they are so easily hybridized and 

 cross-fertilized by the agency of in- 

 sects, so where in the collection a 

 species wants to be perpetuated it is 

 always safer to have them covered 

 with fine muslin, to keep insects away. 



As to the purposes for which these 

 plants are being used, we can divide 

 them as follows: Plants used for bor- 

 ders, rock or Alpine plants, water and 

 bog plants, and plants used for mass- 

 ing amongst or in front of shrubbery 

 or for wild garden purposes." 

 (To be continued) 



EASTER AT COLLEGE POINT. 



A. Schultheis has this year the most 

 tempting display of Easter plants we 

 have ever seen there, on our annual 

 visit. This is particularly true of the 

 roses, of which there are several large 

 houses full. The so-called Baby Ram- 

 blers have to some extent usurped the 

 place in the popular favor formerly en- 

 joyed by the large growing Ramblers, 

 partly because of their more con- 

 venient size and correspondingly lower 

 price, and the majority of the varieties 

 seen this year are of that class. Ellen 

 Poulssen is a gem, with flowers of the 

 Baby Tausendschoen type but not 

 equal to the latter in perfume. Erna 

 Teschondorff is an improvement on the 

 original Baby Rambler, color much 



more vivid and the flowers strikingly 

 regular in form. Others are Baby 

 Van Nes. Peach Blossom, Marie, Frau 

 Ada Rehfeldt and Baby Abel Chatenay 

 which in their great variety make a 

 sparkling show all together. These 

 are seen not only in small bush form 

 but in a variety of basket shapes, half- 

 standards, etc. 



The azaleas are glorious as ever but 

 their attractiveness is greatly aug- 

 mented by the addition in recent years 

 of a number of soft salmon pink va- 

 rieties of much beauty, such as Blush- 

 ing Bride, Daybreak, Elso Roelker and 

 Lady Roosevelt. 



The ericas, for which this place is 

 known far and wide are superb this 

 year and a number of new ones of the 

 tubular flowered class are deservedly 

 admired. These include President 

 Faure, King Edward VII. and several 

 others. The best Easter seller is the 

 lovely E. cupressina, with its peculiar- 

 ly soft green foliage and myriads of 

 pink bells. Other favorites are cylin- 

 drica, ventricosa, persoluta alba, 

 codonodes Veitchii, etc. 



The French hydrangeas, which we 

 described quite fully last year are rap- 

 idly fulfilling our prediction that they 

 were destined to supersede the old 

 Otaksa for spring forcing. They are 

 more easily handled and more reliable 

 and prolific bloomers, the blue and 

 pink varieties having the largest sale. 

 Lilacs, rhododendrons, genistas and 

 hybrid roses all contribute to the bril- 

 liant display now to be seen and the 

 air is laden with fragrance. 



A SIGN OF SPRING. 



Our advertising columns this week 

 announce the opening of the plant auc- 

 tion season in New York with a desir- 

 able lot of seasonable planting materi- 

 al, by William J. Elliott. Mr. Elliott 

 promises that the stock will be of the 

 usual high quality which, in past sea- 

 sons, has brought the critical buyers 

 to this pioneer house. 



