378 



HORTICULTURE 



May 8, 1920 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



Apparently we shall have to revise 

 some of our remarks about the hardi- 

 ness ot Euonymus radicans vegetus. 

 Many large plants are seen to have 

 suffered very severely the past winter. 

 One or two large specimens in which 

 I have long taken delight are now 

 brown and apparently half dead. I 

 do not think, though, that the cold 

 weather was responsible so much as 

 the reflection of the sun on the snow 

 for weeks at a time. In other words, 

 the foliage seems to have been burned, 

 and it is quite probable that many 

 winters will elapse before the same 

 trouble will be experienced again, at 

 least to so great an extent. Probably 

 the plants might have been in good 

 shape by covering them with burlap 

 or in s.ome other way protecting them 

 from the sun's rays reflected nn the 

 snow. Plants which I have found 

 growing in sheltered places do not 

 seem to have experienced any injury. 



We are perfectly safe, I think, in still 

 maintaining that this Euonymus is 

 entirely hardy in New England. 



Seldom, it seems to me, have I 

 found wider interest in roses. Doubt- 

 less this is partly due to the efforts 

 of the American Rose Society, but so 

 much has been written of late about 

 roses, and especially the newer vari- 

 eties, that the public has become in- 

 terested in them more than ever be- 

 fore. I am sure that the garden clubs 

 and similar organizations which are 

 being formed all over the country 



lave something to do with the matter. 

 Dr. Mills of the Syracuse Rose Society, 

 is one man who has been responsible 

 for arousing the enthusiasm of flower 



>vers by the score, and other men 

 ho are continually writing and talk- 

 ing about roses keep them in the 

 public eye. It is sad to have a report 

 from Portland, Oregon, that the win- 



ter has played havoc with the roses 

 there. It is stated that the cold 

 weather has ruined most of the rose 

 trees, killed back a large proportion 

 of the climbing roses, and badly dam- 

 aged the rose hedges along the streets. 

 This will be a great disappointment to 

 Portland people, as it will naturally 

 interfere with the success of this sea^ 

 son's rose festival wliich it had been 

 planned to make rather more notable 

 than usual. It will be interesting to 

 have a report from the test garden 

 showing just how the newer roses have 

 gone through the cold weather. 



Apparently New England escaped 

 more lightly the past winter than 

 many other sections of the country 

 where the temperature is not sup- 

 posed to run quite so low. Compara- 

 tively little damage seems to have 

 been done to rhododendrons, azaleas 

 and coniferous evergreens. Certainly 

 the loss in the Arnold Arboretum was 

 very small, especially when compared 

 with that of two years ago. B^"om 

 other parts of the country, however, 

 come reports of heav.v losses. It ap- 

 pears that the gardens around Phila- 



,M;iBii.ilius III Him hi-slcr. N. V. 



