132 



GARDENING. 



Jan. is, 



plants in these borders and by observa- 

 tion have gained a fair knowledge of the 

 aetion of drouth on a great variety of 

 plants and it is astonishing in some cases 

 how well some of our so called moisture 

 loving plants will endure under these ad- 

 verse surroundings. 



Take for instance the Monarda didyma 

 or M. tistulosa, both of these should be 

 grown along the water's edge or in moist 

 places, but here in stiff hard-baked soil 

 they bloom freely nearly all summer, the 

 only perceivable difference being the 

 shorter and compact growth and closer 

 set leaves along the stems, yet I should 

 hesitate to recommend them for the very 

 driest situations where the many species 

 of sedums and sempervivums would only 

 flourish. Close to or intermixed with the 

 sedums we can safelv introduce Linaria 



height than 10 inches, are in bloom all 

 summer and autumn; in shape the flowers 

 resemble a small wild rose and their color 

 varies from a light yellow or white to a 

 dark carmine pink. 



Yuccas of several varieties will be found 

 to succeed admirably well and Galtonia 

 candicans may be planted anywhere and 

 it will produce its tall flowerspikes in dis- 

 places as w ell as in any other quarters, 

 neithtr have I ever noticed any ill effects 

 on the foliage caused by drouth. Carlina 

 acaulis is a most interesting dwarf plant; 

 it has small thistle like foliage of a deep 

 glossy green color, the leaves lav rather 

 close to the ground; the almost stemless 

 flower springs from the heart of i he 

 rosette formed by the leaves and is really 

 a curiosity; I have one before me now, a 

 dried up specimen, but pretty still, picked 



RHYNCOSPBRMDM JASMINOIDES 



trionithophora, a pretty purple species 

 blooming all summer, or L. dalmatica, a 

 large yellow flowering sort, bearing very 

 loose, long panicles and the most robust 

 and tallest (3 feet) grower I know of. L. 

 purpurea is also a fine one, with light 

 bluish purple flowers, produced in pro- 

 fusion from June to September, height 

 about 2 feet. 



All the perennial linarias may be used 

 to advantage, as they bloom for several 

 months in midsummer and require but 

 very little moisture. Antennaria tomen- 

 tosa, and A. margaritilera, the former 

 a very dwarf and compact growing sub- 

 ject with silver}' white little leaves, it 

 never grows higher than 2 inches and 

 lorms a dense cushion over the ground. I 

 have not seen this plant for many years 

 and do not know of its existence here in 

 our country. The other is a taller grower 

 with white corymbose flowerheads and 

 leaves covered with a white tomentum, 

 narrow and oblong; a good sized patch 

 of it shows to advantage in the border. 

 Helianthemums of the vulgare varieties, 

 single or double, when once fairly estab- 

 lished will grow and flower in the driest 

 situations; they are lovely little evergreen 

 plants, not strictly herbaceous but 

 shrubby and seldom attain a greater 



outdoors in November; it is a very large 

 flower for such a small plant; around the 

 disk, which measures 2 inches in diameter, 

 there is a row of closely set ray florets, 

 silvery white, shiny and of a papery text- 

 ure; the size of the whole flower is not less 

 than 5 inches in diameter. This plant is 

 not difficult to establish and may remain 

 in the same position for manv years, 

 spreading out slowly but forming more 

 rosettes of leaves every year; it usually 

 blooms in the summer months, but some- 

 times a few flowers will come out in the 

 late fall as was the cas<" this past season. 

 Stachys lanata, in a dry place has 

 smaller and more cottony white foliage 

 and is a good plant to intermix with 

 early dwarf iris, which succeed wonder- 

 fully well under these conditions, as also 

 do the German iris, for they all flower be- 

 fore the real hot and dry weather sets in. 

 For a low creeping plant with yellow and 

 brown-red flowers during the earlier part 

 of the season Lotus corniculatusmay suc- 

 cessfully be introduced; it forms close fine 

 carpets over a considerable space in course 

 of a year, and Astragalus hvpoglottishas 

 the same low creeping habit, but larger 

 sized flowers, pale purple or white in 

 color. That grand and rare plant, the 

 .■Ethiotixma grandiSorun/, of which I 



spoke lately, does as well here as any- 

 where, and there is no danger whatever 

 of losing it by excessive dryness after the 

 plants once take hold in the soil. 



The creeping phloxes, subulata.amoena, 

 etc., all do well here and letain their 

 bright green foliage in the burning mid- 

 summer sun without the application of 

 water. Callirhoe inrolucrata will send 

 its taproot away down in search of 

 moisture and keep on blooming and grow- 

 in? all summer, yet, to make a show of 

 them, the plants require age, young stock 

 always looks spindly in dry places for 

 several years. Asclepias incarnata seems 

 to be able to live without water entirely; 

 even on knolls under trees where rain sel- 

 dom reaches them, they will form good 

 specimens and flower profusely every 

 year. The large flowering Inula grandu- 

 losa and also thelowerand morebranchy 

 /. hirta are both good subjects for dry 

 banks and borders and their deep yellow 

 flowers are so bright that they can be 

 seen from a great distance. Another 

 good yellow flower is the almost contin- 

 uously blooming Heliopsis Pitclieriaiw, 

 they never wilt in the severest drouth 

 and the individual flowers last for a long 

 time. H. laevis, a lighter yellow, is also 

 good. 



Platycodon (Wahlertbergia) grandiflo- 

 i urn will probably not always do as well 

 the first or even the second season; the 

 large blue or white flowers woidd fade 

 and shrivel up too soon after opening, 

 much sooner than those in more favora- 

 ble situations, but time will remedy this 

 defect if we leave them alone, as the thick 

 and fleshy roots increase in size and reach 

 the cooler subsoil, then hardly a difference 

 can be noticed between those in either 

 border. Oenothera Youngii and O. Fra- 

 serii, the lovely, large, bright yellow 

 blooming evening primroses, of dwarf 

 and compact growth, may be planted 

 there together with the white flowering 

 sorts O. speciosa and O. taraxaci folia. 

 Anthemis tinctoria and .4. tinetoria Kel- 

 wayii will only show the want of moist- 

 ure in their more coniDact growth and 

 probably somewhat shorter flower stems. 



Heuchera sanguinea we have had for 

 years in a very light and dry soil, but it 

 does not suffer in the least here; the flower 

 stems are just as long and full of little 

 bells as those on the plants grown under 

 other conditions, but the petioles of the 

 foliage are shorter. Ceniaureamontana, 

 C. montana alba and C. montana rosea 

 make a fine growth in the early part of 

 the season and begin to bloom earlier in 

 the dry ground and keep up a succession 

 better than in a moister situation; the 

 growth is more compact and loses the 

 weedy appearance which it sometimes 

 assumes in rather rich and moist borders. 

 The tall Cassia marylandica mav not find 

 favor with everybody, yet I say it is very 

 graceful and ornamental if introduced in 

 the right way; it seems to subsist on 

 nothing, for the stems are 5 to 6 feet high 

 in the driest place of the patch; the tops 

 are ornamented for a foot or more by 

 pretty yellow flowers forming an attract- 

 ive panicle. Centranthus ruber and its 

 white variety do admirably well and 

 never show signs of wilting; they are in 

 bloom so long and require very little care 

 aside from an occasional removing of the 

 old decayed flowers. Even some of the 

 asters like A. corymbosus and .4. amellus 

 bessarabicus will not succumb to the dry 

 and perhaps to them unnatural surround- 

 ings. 



Hut I must come to a close, for when 1 

 sat down to write this article I had no 

 intention of making it very long; as it is 

 now before vou I am afraid that some of 



