70 



GARDENING. 



Nov. 75, 



golden rods, asters, and the like. Get a 

 florist's catalogue o! hardy perennials 

 and it will give you a good idea of the 

 season of the flower. 



COMING GflNNflS. 



I paid $2 a piece forCrozy'snewcannas 

 for 1896, and among them all I have not 

 found one that is go d enough to increase 

 for further use. But the fool and his 

 money soon part, and year after year we 

 pour our hard earned pennies into the 

 bottomless pockets of European florists. 

 Among the American raised new varieties 

 to be sent out next year we believe you 

 will find something worthgrowing. The 

 best are as follows: 



Duchess of Marlborough. — Foliage 3 

 feet by 1, flowers large, pink, trusses 12 

 inches long, many flowers. 



Duke of Marlborough. — Semi-dwarf, 

 fine truss, of a very dark color among 

 cannas, a crimson maroon. 



Maiden's Blush —A delicate rosy flesh 

 with deeper color towards center of 

 flower. 



Lorraine. — A surprise, flowers pink, 

 broadly edged with sulphur yellow shad- 

 ing white; it is fine. 



Sunset. — Center of flower brilliant scar- 

 let flaming and shading into yellow. 



Brilliant. — Three upper segments of 

 flower are a pure canary yellow without 

 a spot; the lower segment and stamen 

 are bright scarlet. 



Gloriosa. — Like Queen Charlotte, but 

 has larger trusses and brighter color; is 

 never over, IS inches in height, of very 

 uniform growth. 



California. — Orange gold; the largest 

 flower, largest spike of that color. 



Triumph. — Puie orange scarlet overlaid 

 with gold immense compact truss and 

 large flowers. 



Champion. — Bright crimson, the larg- 

 est flower next to Austria and a robust 

 grower. Philadelphia. 



NOTES ON NEW FLOWERS. 



Dwarf striped French Marigold, 

 Electric Light — This is one of the best 

 of the French marigolds, the plants being 

 dwarf and compact, the light yellow 

 stripes on a maroon ground making a 

 striking contrast. 



Aster, Giant Comet, The Bride — 

 This is perhaps the finest of the Comet 

 asters. The flowers are very large, white 

 at first becoming tinted with rose as they 

 fade The centers are usually filled with 

 a mass of long curved tubular florets. 



Giant Combt Aster, Sulphur yellow. 

 — The flowers of this are good, but the 

 color is a light straw instead of yellow. 



Aster Surprise. — This variety was 

 evidently sent out too soon and needs 

 further selection. Not more than one in 

 filtv comes true to the description. 



Aster, Princess Rosalind. — Flowers 

 very double and imbricated to the center, 

 of a fine rose color and one of the best 

 varieties of the small flowered classes, the 

 plants having the same free flowering 

 habit as the White Princess or Snowball. 



Japanese Asters. — No flowers of any 

 variety of aster surpass these in size except 

 Semple's or Vick's Branching. The petals 

 are very long and tubular reminding one 

 of some of the Japanese chrvsanthemums 

 of the Lilian Bird type. 



Aster, p.eony Perfection, vermilion 

 scarlet. — This is the brightest colored 

 variety I have ever seen, a brilliant crim- 

 son. 



Aster, Dwarf Chrysanthemum, 

 terra cotta. — An entirely new colo in 

 aster, a terra cotta brown and a desira- 

 ble addition on this account. 



Cosmos, yellow.— This ought to prove 



one of the be s t of annuals for a bed of 

 yellow. The foliage is very finely divided 

 the plants from seed sown in April were a 

 mass of bloom from July to October. It 

 grows about ISinches tall, of good habit, 

 and flowers, which are about one and 

 one-half inches across, are a good bright 

 clear yellow. Sun, wind and rain have no 

 bad effect on it. [Don't you mean Bidens 

 and not cosmos? You know they got 

 very much mixed up last year. — Ed.] 



Physalis Francheti — This new orna- 

 mental plant from Japan promises to be 

 of considerable value for decorative pur- 

 poses. Introduced by way of England 

 England it will probably be generally 

 catalogued by American seedsmen the 

 coming season. Plants from seeds sown 

 early in March, madea rapid growthand 

 many branches 15 to 20 inches in length, 

 and form many curious inflated calyces 

 two to three inches in diameter enclosing 

 fruits the size of large cherries These 

 calyces are at first green but during the 

 last of August turn to a brilliant orange- 

 scarlet, the enclosed fruits also turning to 

 the same color. The calyces are quite 

 tough and keep their color well when 

 dried and will be very useful for winter 

 decoration. The foliage stands a hard 

 frost without injury and the roots are 

 said to be hardy in England. II grown in 

 pots it would make a fine winter plant. 



Pansy Park, Mass. L. W, Goodell. 



flOW WE GROW LILIES. 



We grow many hundreds of lilies in 

 great variety, and find that it pays us to 

 be carelul in planting and in giving them 

 the best soil obtainable. October and 

 November are the best months in which 

 to plant them (excepting (L. candidum) 

 which should be planted in August) 

 although thev can be planted any time 

 through the winter, till April if the 

 ground is open and dry. We grow all of 

 our lilies in clumps, say ten to twenty 

 bulbs in a clump, and in this way they 

 are seen at their best. We dig out the 

 hole large enough to hold all the bulbs, a. 

 foot deep, if the soil is poor we cart it 

 away and fill in with old rotted sods; in 

 the bottom of the hole we put some very 

 old manure and dig it having the hole 

 about six inches deep when finished, athin 

 layer of sand is thm put in and the bulbs 

 are set on this, each bulb is then covered 

 with sand and the hole filled in. The 

 bulbs seem to like this coating of sand as 

 they start away nicely in it; another 

 thing they are not so liable to decay as 

 the sand keips any decayed matter that 

 may be in the soil away from the bulbs, 

 and one of the most important points to 

 observe in lily culture is not to have the 

 bulbs rest on any manure when planting 

 as it is apt to rot them. 



In planting the bulls they should be 

 put far enough apart so that they will 

 not need lifting in four to six years. They 

 increase very fast. Some of the speciosum 

 lilies here that were planted four years 

 ago, three bulbs to a clump, have 30 to 

 35 strong flowering canes now, and 

 are growing stronger every year. Lilies 

 like plenty of water in their growing sea- 

 son and this should be seen to. When 

 you see the leaves at the bottom of the 

 cane turni g yellow, you may be sure the 

 plants are dry at the roots We always 

 keep a mulching of old manure on them 

 all summer, this helps to retain the moist- 

 ure as wtll as to feed them. The mulch- 

 ing is put on in the fall and left on, we do 

 not take it off in the spring. 



Lilies can be planted in a great many 

 places where other plants would not 

 thrive and they take up very little room 

 when once planted; for planting amongst 



early summer blooming plants nothing is 

 better. If the H. P. roses are planted in 

 an exposed part of the garden a few lilies 

 would help to keep the spot gay after the 

 roses were past flowering, the same can 

 be said of the rhododendron bed. We 

 have had all of our Japan iris lifted and 

 divided up and when we reset them we 

 planted a lot of avratum and Speciosum 

 Melpomene lilies amongst them, this will 

 keep the garden gay after the irises are 

 past and will do them no harm. Lilies 

 can also be grown in pots very success- 

 fully and will well repay any little extra 

 trouble that may be given them. At this 

 season of the year they may be potted up 

 and plunged in a frame or pit the largest 

 bulbs should be put in a!) to a 12-inch pot 

 3 bulbs to a pot and thesmaller onesinto 

 smaller pots. They are easily managed 

 in this way and when in flower you can 

 arrange them in any part of the garden 

 you want to or use them for house decor- 

 ation. They can be brought out of the 

 frame in early spring and started in a 

 cool greenhouse if wanted early, or left in 

 the frame to start; they will be a few 

 weeks earlier than the ones planted in the 

 garden. Tney will take plenty of liquid 

 manure when growing and after they are 

 through flowering they can be plunged 

 out in the garden to ripen the bulbs and 

 then be repotted In the fall again. 



Insects do not trouble lilies but the lily 

 disease is sometimes troublesome, the 

 lilies most affected with it are candidum 

 and excelsum. After trying several 

 remedies we at last found one that was a 

 preventive of the disease. Carbonate of 

 copper one ounce; ammonia (one'halt to 

 one quart ) enough to dissolve it, for use 

 dilute with nine gallons of water; this 

 may be kept in corked bottles and used 

 as needed. We tried thisremedv the past 

 summer and found it very effective. Can- 

 didum lilies left unsprayed had the disease 

 very bad while the ones that were 

 sprayed were quite clean. Lilies when 

 received should be planted as soon as 

 possible as they soon shrivel up it 

 exposed to the air too long. Some ot 

 the easiest to sow, and showiest in 

 flower are auratum in variety, speciosum 

 in variety, Brownii, candidum, elegans in 

 variety, Hansom, Martagon, superbum, 

 Wallace and Triginum in variety. 



Mahwah, X. J. David Fraser, 



PflLOXES-TO HIDE TflEIR STEMS. 



Wanted, a good, shining green, that 

 could be planted in frond of the hardy 

 perennial phloxes as a shield to the lower 

 part, the effect would be much improved. 

 Can you suggest some such perennial, 

 which would probably be in bloom and 

 attractive when the phlox is not? 



Nova Scotia. A. R. C. 



The late blooming phloxes vary so much 

 in tj'pe, that is in barrenness or fullness of 

 foliage, shortness or tallness of habit, 

 and branchiness or scimpiness of stem, 

 that we generally arrange to plant the 

 taller ones and scimpy ones in the middle 

 and the shorter ami leafier ones on the 

 outside. But j'ou want a plant which in 

 freshness and fullness shall make a good 

 border to a bed of phloxes in general, and 

 hide their naked stems, and at the same 

 time always be good looking itself. We 

 haven't many fitted for this work. Sedum 

 spectabile, Funkia ovata and F. grandi- 

 tiora, Hemerocallis Dumortieri and H. 

 graminifolia, Asclepias tuberosa, fraxi- 

 nella, and some such plants might 

 answer. And in the way of shrubs a 

 border of tree ivy or Spiraea bumald.t 

 might be available; or Pennisetum longist- 

 ylum as a tender or annual grass. 



