258 



HOKTICULTUEB 



February 21, 1914 



Statice 



The name Statice will bring back 

 into the memory of those of my 

 readers whose European training 

 took place from 20 to 25 years ago, 

 drying rows of bundles of tiny blue 

 and lavender blossoms, used for the 

 customary funeral design work of 

 immortelles in vogue at that time. 

 Fashions and material have changed 

 and most of us have nearly forgot- 

 ten the "Sea Lavender" with its 

 tufts of long, smooth, leathery foli- 

 age and its graceful panicles. Con- 

 fronted anew with this old-time gar- 

 d e n perennial, we realize the 

 thoughtlessness of discarding plant 

 species as soon as they give less 

 promise for wholesale cash returns. 

 Certainly, there seems to be little 

 call for dried statice at present, but 

 when I beheld the handsome speci- 

 men of Statice latifolia in the rock- 

 ery of Henry A. Dreer at Riverton, 

 depicted in our illustration, the con- 

 viction dawned upon me that it is 

 time to give the sea lavenders our renewed attention. 

 The number of midsummer-flowering rock garden in- 

 mates is not overabundant. Statice intelligently em- 

 ployed can be easily made one of the most effective July 

 and August features, particularly as all are known to 

 do very well in an open sunny exposure and rarely suffer 

 seriously by occasional drought. 



All the varieties in cultivation are natives of eastern 

 Europe and Asia. Statice eximia produces panicles of 

 decidedly handsome pale lilac blossoms. Statice Gmelini 

 is distinguished by violet blue flowers of marked orna- 

 mentality. The stateliest species of the sea lavenders, 



Statice latifolia. 



the well known Statice latifolia, also adapted for the 

 herbaceous border, shows freely branching heads in deep 

 blue ; while Statice tartarica, syn. S. ineana, as the low- 

 est growing garden Variety, adorns itself with purplish 

 pink panicles. All sea lavenders require a well-manured 

 and deeply dug sandy loam and may be raised from 

 seed or propagated by root cuttings and division. Their 

 value for cutting is self-evident. 



-5EjuduOJui-^</tLa 



Riverton, N. J. 



Cattleya Percivalliana 



(See Cover Illustration) 



This is a very good species of the ever-popular 

 cattleya and no collection would be complete without 

 at least a few specimens of it. Wliile the flowers are not 

 as large as those of the other cattleyas of the labiata 

 group, they are of better color than most of the larger 

 llowering species. The sepals and petals are usually 

 deep rose; the front lobe of the lip is a lovely shade of 

 deep crimson, paJer toward the margin and becoming a 

 rich carmine at the entrance to the throat which latter 

 is deep orange penciled with crimson toward the base. 

 The flowers on the plant illustrated measure 4 inches 

 across (not ftretched out) ; the petals are 2f in. long 

 and If in. wide ; which is not a very small flower at that. 

 Cattleya Percivalliana will succeed under the same treat- 

 ment given to other cattleyas of the labiata section. For 

 my part 1 prefer to grow them in baskets or pans, sus- 



pended from the roof of the cattleya house where they 

 can get all the available light and wliere the temperature 

 is usually a few degres higher than it is on the bench or 

 stage. As a compost I use a good grade of osmunda 

 fibre, ushig the same very sparingly in order to keep it 

 from getting sour. After the bulbs are made up in the 

 fall very little water will be needed until new growth 

 starts again. 



For tlie commercial florist this cattleya is especially 

 useful as it flowers at a time when other cattleyas are 

 scarce. As a rule it is at its best during the latter part 

 of IsTovember and December, thus filling in the gap 

 between C. labiata and C. Trianoe. 



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