214 



GARDENING. 



April /, 



a lawn. The flowers, which are either 

 white or rosy purplish red in color, come 

 out in long panicles during June and July. 

 This plant is a good subject for small 

 lawns where larger plants would be out 

 of proportion; 2 to 2Va feet is its usual 

 height. 



Another fine plant for medium sized 

 lawns is the dense and compact growing 

 Polygonum cuspidatum, with oblong 

 cordate leaves, glossy dark bronzy green, 

 from the axils of which, numerous feath- 

 ery little creamy white panicles, 5 or 6 

 inches long are produced in late summer 

 and autumn. A generous clump of it is 

 very ornamental and it succeeds just as 

 well in a dry situation, but here its height 

 would be reduced considerably and the 

 stems are shorter jointed, though flowers 

 are produced abundantly. In an ordi- 

 nary moist place it attains a height of 4 

 to 6 feet and sometimes over. 



on the plants and still be fresh at the end 

 of a month. The cut bloom also has un- 

 excelled keeping qualities; flowers can 

 be kept in a room for two weeks with 

 no extra pn caution. The dark purple 

 disk, which is characteristic in nearly all 

 the varieties, combines admirably well 

 with the broad and well shaped yellow 

 ray florets and this prettj- combination 

 is not found in any other flower of the 

 same size and substance. Some of them 

 have stiff and stout stems, crowned by 

 rigid, spreading flowers, the rays of 

 which are hardly movable by the strong- 

 est wind, others with slender and grace- 

 ful stems and long and wavy florets bend 

 and flutter in a slight breeze, but whether 

 rigid or slender, all are useful in a cut 

 state 



The earliest to bloom is the well known 

 R. birta. Its flowers are produced in June 

 and they will last to the end of August. 



RUDBECKIAS IN THE BORDER. 



Various other plants may be used to 

 advantage in a lawn. Wehaveemployed 

 the different eulalias, of which I should 

 prefer E. gravillima on account of its ex- 

 ceedingly graceful appearance, the large 

 leaved Funkias subeordata and grandi- 

 flora, yuccas, Ligularia macrophylla. 

 Oynerium argenteum and Aralia califor- 

 nica, a herbaceous stemmed variety with 

 very attractive leaves and pale yellow 

 flowers in August; if I remember right it 

 grows to a height of about 3 to 4 feet, 

 and succeeds most anywhere without 

 much extra attention. J. B. Keller. 



Rochester, N. Y. 



RUDBECKIAS. 



From the beginning of June until Octo- 

 ber the rudbeckias in different varieties 

 will furnish us with most desirable and 

 very lasting cut flowers. The older 

 plants of R. hirtamake the beginningand 

 R. grandiflora and colunmaris are the 

 last ones to bloom, while other varieties 

 will produce their bloom during the inter- 

 vening months. All of these flowers pos- 

 sess advantages which are seldom found 

 in a summer blooming plant, the raj 

 florets adhering to the cone-shaped disk 

 with a tenacity unequalled by any other 

 class; the flowers last in perfection for 

 many weeks without signs of decay, and 

 if it is not desirable to cut them soon alter 

 fully opening out, they may safely be left 



The disk is purplish brown and is, as in 

 all rudbeckias, conical or elongated; the 

 deep bright yellow rays are closely set 

 and overlapping each other in the best 

 forms at the base. The plant is branchy 

 from below and the flower stems are 

 therefore long, the foliage narrow and 

 pointed, covered with a rough pubescence. 

 Older plants are more floriferous and 

 form round-headed specimens from Wt to 

 2 feet in height. 



R. Newmanii, sometimes called R. 

 speciosa, is considered one of the best of 

 the family. The flowers are larger than 

 those of the foregoing and under good 

 generous cultivation are four inches 

 across, of a very bright dark yellow with 

 a deep purple dish. The lower leaves 

 of the plants are broad and roughly 

 serrated the upper ones narrow and 

 pointed; it has the same branchy habit as 

 the first mentioned but is usually about a 

 foot taller and blooms in July, lasting 

 until September. 



R. maxima is a stately plant and to my 

 knowledge the tallest one in the family. 

 I have had it in rather moist borders 

 attaining a height of over 8 feet, yet these 

 plants would not require any support 

 and were a mass of bloom from the 1st of 

 August until late in September; but under 

 ordinary treatment in a border where 

 plants are crowded, their height will be 

 only about 4 or 5 feet. The flowers are 

 pure bright yellow, 4 to 5 inches across 



and the disk is shiny deep purple. The 

 leaves are oblong, slightly toothed along 

 the edges and about 10 inches long. 



R. grandiflora is the same plant we 

 used to know fort}- years ago under the 

 name of Centrocarpa or Centrocarpha 

 grandiflora, and I am not sure which of 

 the three is right, but it looks like a rud- 

 beckia to me, although I may be wrong. 

 The size and color of the flower compares 

 favorably with those of R. maxima and 

 the disk is dark purple, not so much 

 elongated as in the others The leaves 

 are broad at the base of the plant and 

 thoseon the lower partof the stemsgrow 

 gradually narrower and more pointed. 

 It is the latest one to come in flower and 

 will last until the frost destroys it in 

 October. The plant isof erect and branch- 

 ing habit and its height is about 4 feet. 



R. pinnata also goes under the name of 

 Lepachys pinnata. It is an exceedingly 

 graceful grower with slender, wiry stems 

 rising 3 feet or more above the ground 

 and branching out more near the top, 

 producing a succession of flowers from 

 those branchlets. The disk is narrow and 

 unusually long and tapering, the ray 

 florets long, broad and wavy, drooping 

 downwards when the flower opens out 

 full. This is a most desirableand elegant 

 variety, surpassed by none and begins to 

 bloom in July. The leaves are pinnate 

 with 3, 5 or 7 broadly lanceolate leaflets 

 arranged along the common leafstalk. 

 The plant forms a most elegant subject as 

 an isolated specimen or in any other 

 place and its light yellow flowers when 

 gathered in long, branchy sprays, present 

 a distinctly light and graceful appearance. 

 R. fulgida I have not seen in many 

 years, but remember well its dark yellow 

 flowers; perhaps the deepest shade found 

 in the genus and it should not be omitted 

 in this list. The plant is of intermediate 

 height, not over three feet. The leaves 

 are covered with a rough pubescence. Its 

 flowering time extends from Julv to the 

 end of August. 



I should here also mention the class 

 which we usually call echinaceas, though 

 they are known in many places under the 

 common name of rudbeckia. The best 

 known is R. or Ech. purpurea, with red- 

 dish purple rays fading towards the tips 

 to a peculiar grey and the extreme end 

 tipped with green. A good sized flower, 

 4 inches, and desirable, but new planta- 

 tions will seldom produce perfect flowers 

 until the plants are well established. 

 The flowerheads are produced singly at 

 the ends of stout stems, which attain a 

 height of between three and four feet. 

 August and September is their time to 

 flower. 



R. or Ech. purp. serotina, may in many 

 respects be considered an improved pur- 

 purea, is more decided in its color and 

 the rays are broader and have not the 

 tendency to curl up theedges as frequently 

 seen in new plantings of R. purpurea; 

 otherwise the plant resembles the type 

 but the foliage is more hairy. 



R. pallida or Ech. angustitolia, is light 

 rosy purple, shaded with darker splash- 

 ings; the rays are very long, often 2Vi 

 inches; the whole plant is hairy and hasa 

 more compact habit than the other two. 

 R. laciniata flore pleno, of which Mr. 

 W. C. Egan, Highland Park, 111., recently 

 gave us such favorable reports, I am not 

 in a position to say anything about for 

 we have not tried it here, but as this 

 gentleman is a close and careful observer, 

 we can hardly entertain any doubt about 

 its superior merits; moreover his photo- 

 graph of a specimen less than six months 

 old and necessarily not fully established, 

 shows such remarkab'e vigor and a great 



