i8 9 7. 



GARDENING. 



20I 



VINES FOR VERANDA DECORATION. 



from their presence. In this picture of the 

 C. Bammula the blooms of the thun- 

 bergia may be plainly seen. 



When fall comes all the clematis are cut 

 to within a foot of the ground and an 

 inverted V shaped wooden trough 

 parallel to the porch placed over them, 

 and a good coating of manure put 

 over the bed, troughs and all. This pro- 

 tection of wood is to prevent the snow 

 swept from the porch from freezing and 

 injuring the vines. W. C. Egan. 



SPECIMEN PLANTS ON TUB LAWN. 



Single specimen or dot plants on the 

 lawn, in beds or among a large patch of 

 low growing plants in the border, must 

 necessarily possess some striking charac- 

 teristics, either a bold habit in growth or 

 foliage, graceful outlines, or some other 

 pleasing and interesting or remarkable 

 feature in their development. They should 

 be clean and healthy in foliage and should 

 retain a vigorous appearance throughout 

 the season until late in autumn without 

 showing any sign of decay in leaves or 

 stems. In our hot and usually dry sum- 

 mers these plants are very apt to show the 

 effect of drought if planted without extra 

 preparation. 



In a border where plants are massed to- 

 gether the defects in growth of the indi- 

 vidual plants are hidden by the foliage 

 and branches of their neighbois, but in 

 the case of an isolated specimen every 

 part of the plant is visible and therefore 

 it should be as near perfection as possible. 

 With a little extra care we can counter- 

 act the detrimental influence of our dry 

 atmosphere to some extent by thorough 



preparation of the ground and if necessary 

 also by liberal waterings, but a good 

 foundation of rich and open soil will 

 nearly always produce the desired results 

 without resorting to daily applications 

 of water. 



If a certain specimen plant is to be 

 introduced in any part of the lawn an 

 excavation of at least 2^ feet deep and 3 

 feet wide should be made, the bottom soil 

 must be loosened and all the old soil 

 carted away, filling up the hole again 

 with the best of compost available, then 

 we may reasonably expect success with 

 the plant selected. Among the most 

 effective plants used in Europe on lawns 

 are the gunneras, which, however, are 

 seldom seen here in the same perfection, 

 owing principally to the lack of moisture 

 and proper nourishment in the soil; on 

 moist and rich ground, especially when 

 partially shaded, they attain the same 

 grand proportion here as there. 



Gunneras have immense leaves 3 to 5 

 feet in diameter when well developed; the 

 leafstalks are very stout and stiff and in 

 G. scabra are 3 feet or over in length and 

 spiny. This grand plant grows about 4 

 feet high and a well developed specimen 

 will often cover a circle 20 feet through. 

 G. manicata attains even larger propor- 

 tions under favorable conditions, as its 

 leaves and leaf stalks both show a ten- 

 dency to grow to a greater size than 

 those of the first mentioned. It is only 

 on very large lawns we can use these 

 giant plants and piobably for this reason 

 we seldom meet with them; no doubt if 

 they were better known more of them 

 would be introduced for they are reallv 



magnificent foliage plants. In oar climate 

 it is best to protect the roots in winter 

 with a thick layer of leaves; what we call 

 an open winter is hurtful to them, more 

 so than seveie cold with a good covering 

 of snow. They should be planted in a 

 sheltered position, where they are pro- 

 tected from strong winds, because the 

 large leaves are liable to damage from 

 this cause. 



Winter protection is also advisable for 

 ,the ferulas, else their roots might suffer 

 in the same way; they are most elegant 

 subjects for the lawn but should be planted 

 in rather moist places; their finely divided 

 large leaves are decidedly graceful in out- 

 line and are produced very abundantly; 

 the flower stems should be removed as 

 soon as they appear above the foliage. 

 The plants grow freely when once fairly 

 established and shouid not be disturbed 

 for 3 ears. F. communis is perhaps the 

 largest of the genus and produces a dense 

 mass of large leaves which are divided 

 and subdivided into narrow segments. 

 Its height, exclusive of flower stems, is 

 about 3 to 3i ■< feet, and it will cover 

 a space of 12 to 16 feet square. F. 

 glauca also is a noble plant, somewhat 

 less in dimensions, but a good tree grower; 

 the foliage has a distinct glaucous tint on 

 the under side; its height is about 2% feet 

 when flower stems are removed. F. 

 asparagifolia has the leaves and leaflets 

 divided into still narrower segments and 

 is a smaller plant than either of those 

 mentioned before. 



Heraeleum giganteum, the giant cow 

 parsnip, is a grand plant when seen from 

 a distance, but rather coarse on closer 

 examination. Its large-sized pinnatifid 

 foliage is roughly and deeply serrated at 

 the edges; it may not possess much 

 beauty generally speaking, yet from a 

 distance its outlines are surprisingly 

 effective, and for a large lawn I consider 

 it a very ornamental plant, whuh more- 

 over requires very little attention. Height 

 about 8 to 10 feet when full grown, inclu- 

 sive of the many-branched flower-stems, 

 the foliage attaining about half this 

 height. 



Centaurea macrocephala is a desirable 

 hardy plant about 3 or 3t 2 feet high with 

 oblong entire leaves 15 to 20 inches long; 

 the edges are undulated and wavy; the 

 flower- stems are furnished with closely 

 set leaves of same shape, but smaller in 

 size; flower-heads are deep yellow and 

 large; it blooms during July a'nd August. 

 A robust growing species, worthy of a 

 prominent place on the lawn, but may 

 also be used in the border or as a dot 

 plant in beds. 



Of the acanthus family, A. mollis is 

 perhaps the most ornamental species. 

 Its broad leaves are roughly and deeply 

 serrated, 10 to 12 inches wide'and W-.to2 

 feet long; the leaves are not spiny as in 

 .4. longifolius and A. spinosus. Its flower 

 spikes rise IS to 24- inches above the mass 

 of foliage in June and July. The plant 

 should have the full benefit of sun and air, 

 also an occasional dose of manure water 

 in its earlier stages of growth. The 

 flower stems of this bold looking plant 

 should be removed, after flowering; its 

 height is about 4- feet. There is a variety 

 of it with broader and larger foliage, of 

 taller growth, called .4. latifolius, not 

 quite so hardy and its habit not so com- 

 pact, but nevertheless a vigorous grower 

 and decidedly ornamental. In planting 

 isolated specimens of acanthus, 2 or 3 

 good crowns should be placed close to- 

 gether, to produce thedesired effect in the 

 first year. 



Some additional notes on this subject 

 will follosv for a later issue. J. B. K. 



