278 



H K T 1 C U L T U E E 



April 3, 1920 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



1 



I have a letter from Mr. Robert S. 

 Sturtevant, of Wellesley, Secretary of 

 the American Iris Society, in which 

 he calls attention to an error in the 

 March issue, when reference was 

 made to the origin of the Iris Sherwin 

 Wright. Mr. Sturtevant says: 



"Iris Sherwin Wright was first listed 

 in 1915 or 1916, by Martin Kohankie 

 of Painesville, Ohio. It was found in 

 a bed of Hector as I remember it, and 

 the entire stock was sold to Henry A. 

 Dreer and first listed by that firm in 

 1917. It grows thriftily, is about 27 

 inches tall and though not the only 

 variety of its color, is an unusually 

 vivid yellow. According to report it 

 was originally named after two ladies, 

 Mrs. Wright and Mrs Sherwin, com- 

 bined as Mrs. Sherwin-Wright, which 

 has been well abbreviated by the 

 omission of the 'Mrs.' in more recent 

 catalogues. 



"The American Iris Society wishes, 

 whenever practical, to give proper 

 credit to the original introducers; 

 often this is impossible, but in this 

 case the origin is well-known." 



I am very glad to make the correc- 

 tion and to learn that the American 

 Iris Society is so keen in watching out 

 tor every mis-statement which appears 

 in regard to the flower for which it 

 stands sponsor. This sort o£ thing 

 helps to prevent any inaccuracies. 



scape Architects' Quarterly, I wish to 

 say a word about it now, because it is 

 a publication of great value to nursery- 

 men and all others who have to deal 

 with shrubby plants. This issue of 

 the quarterly is given over almost 

 wholly to a check list of the plants 

 mentioned in the Arnold Arboretum 

 Bulleiins, which is to say, the native 

 and foreign shrubs and trees which 

 are growing in the Arnold Arboretum. 

 It must have been a long and difficult 

 task which Mr. Charles Downing Lay 

 and Mr. Robert Wheelwright have 

 carried out, but with this list to work 

 from it is possible to learn the most 

 important points about any of the 

 hundreds of different plants, species 

 and varieties which have been dis- 

 cussed in years past in the Bulletins 

 of the Arboretum. In each case the 

 approximate size of the plaht, the time 

 of flowering and the habitat are given, 

 and in most instances more or less ex- 

 tended remarks are made. As a guide 

 to the contents of the Arboretum, as 

 well as a means of keeping track of 

 the newer introductions, this issue of 

 the Landscape Architects' Quarterly 

 is of the greatest value. 



If I have not already spoken about 

 the horticultural number of the Land- 



It was with great pleasure that I 

 learned of the plan to give away a 

 bulb of the Regal lily to the first hun- 

 dred people who got tickets each day 

 for the Orchid Show at Horticultural 

 Hall in Boston. In this way several 

 hundred of these wonderful lilies will 



be grown by people who probably 

 would not otherwise have them in 

 their gardens. In some instances 

 there seems to be a belief that the 

 lilies should not be planted except in 

 the fall. As a matter of fact, if the 

 bulbs are put in any time before the 

 last of April, they should bloom the 

 coming July, although perhaps being a 

 week later than those planted last 

 fall. I hope to see the time coming 

 when the Regal lily will be as common 

 as Lilium speciosum in all the gar- 

 dens of this country. 



After all, though, it was the value of 

 the lily as a pot plant which impressed 

 me most at the show. Those exhib- 

 ited by the Farquhar Co. made a splen- 

 did display and proved beyond a 

 doubt that the lily can easily be forced 

 for^ Easter and for the spring sales. 

 Hard forcing had taken a little of the 

 warm color from the throats of the 

 lilies, but otherwise they were in ex- 

 cellent shape. 



While the Japanese azaleas exhib- 

 ited by the Arnold Arboretum excited 

 a tremendous amount of interest, 

 which was thoroughly well deserved, 

 there were other azaleas at the show 

 not to be overlooked. Certainly the 

 display of azaleas staged by Walter 

 Hunnewell, of Wellesley, and named 

 Louisa Hunnewell in honor of the ex- 

 hibitor's daughter, were well worth 

 more than passing attention. These 

 magnificent, strong growing azaleas, 

 with their uniform yellow shade of 

 blooms, attracted no little attention, 

 and certainly reflected great credit on 

 Supt. Hatfield's skill as a grower 

 Considerable has been heard about 

 these azaleas in the past, and they 

 justified all that was expected of them. 

 Then, too, the specimens of forced 

 Azalea Kaempferi shown by R. & J. 

 Farquhar were notable for their ex- 

 cellence. This is a splendid azalea, 

 either outdoors or in, and the Arnold 

 Arboretum may well be proud of hav- 

 ing introduced it. 



The KrKal l.il.v as a l'"t IMmil 



In looking over the advertisement of 

 Bees Ltd. in one of the English papers, 

 I have been interested to' find that 

 the roses catalogued as being the best 

 for English gardens are very similar 

 to those which have proven of sur- 

 passing value in the gardens of Amer- 

 ica. Hybrid teas have the great pre- 

 ponderance, but numerous classes are 

 made, one of them being devoted to 

 "Town Roses." This list includes Car- 

 oline Testout, Frau Karl Druschkl, 

 George Dickson, J. B. Clark, Mme. E. 

 Herrlot. Mme. Ravary, Mrs. John 

 Lalng, Ulrich Brunner, and four others 

 not so well known, namely I>r. O'Donel 

 Browne, Gustave Grunerwald, La 

 Tosca and Mme. Isaac Perelre. 



