248 



GARDENING. 



May /, 



the almost white and the blue shades are 

 all so pretty, the flowers spring up so 

 profusely from every crown, however 

 small it may be, forming a thick, dense 

 mass of bloom, everybody must admire 

 them. The double varieties are of course 

 more expensive than the singles, but they 

 are really desirable things for the spring 

 garden; the long stemmed flowers cannot 

 tail to attract our attention when they 

 are surrounded by their shiny, bronzy, 

 young tri-lobed leaves. Most of the 

 doubles are also larger in size than the 

 single flowers, and many shades in pink, 

 red and blue are offered in catalogues, one 

 firm in Europe offering 64 distinct varie- 

 ties. As a plant for edgings few can equal 

 it; the low and compact growth and the 

 almost evergreen foliage make it espe- 

 cially well adapted for this purpose. The 

 plants should not be divided very often; 

 leave them alone for six or eight years — 

 the older they get the more flowers will 

 be produced, and a broad mass of them 

 is far more desirable and ornamental 

 than a thinly planted row. 



Quite a lot of primulas were out in full 

 bloom, especially the hybrids of the 

 acaulis section in an endless variety of 

 colors. A patch of these which had been 

 slightly mulched over with long manure 

 last fall is decidedly ahead of other plant- 

 ings which have been left bare, though 

 none of the latter have died out or suf- 

 fered in anj r wa3 r during our rather snow- 

 less winter; only the plants are behind 

 the others, only showing a few flowers 

 scattered over the bed. A light open soil 

 is best suited for them and partial shade 

 is beneficial. Mertensia virginica (Pul- 

 monaria virg.) is a charming free flower- 

 ing plant, lasting in perfection for quite a 

 while. Though a native of our country 

 it is well worth a place in the border and 

 should be planted freely; its pretty blue 

 flowers are exceedingly ornamental and 

 showy in early spring, and if we take the 

 precaution to plant some taller, later 

 flowering subjects between them the 

 ground will not be bare or barren of 

 bloom after they cease flowering and their 

 foliage dies down. Pulmonaria maculata 

 is also in flower and its remarkable sil- 

 very dotted foliage is very attractive, 

 not only while its many purple flowers 

 are in perfection, but also afterwards for 

 the remainder of the season, as it retains 

 its characteristics until fall. Even the 

 ordinary old P. officinalis has its charms 

 as an early spring flower, perhaps to a 

 majority only because of its earliness and 

 we would not think much of it later in 

 the season; a patch of it, intermixed with 

 single trumpet narcissus, is a grand sight 

 at present and worth seeing. All pul- 

 monarias, and the allied mertensia too 

 are better off in a little shade and should 

 have a rather moist situation, although 

 they will succeed fairly well in an open 

 border. 



Arabis alpina is almost fully in bloom 

 in a southern exposure, the large white 

 umbels covering the foliage completely. 

 It is one of the most desirable and very 

 easily managed early spring flowers, not 

 requiring any special soil or care, does 

 well in any situation and is particularly 

 adapted for planting in dry and sunnv 

 situations on the rockery. Aubretia 

 deltoidea is also in bloom. They carpet 

 the ground with their purple, blue orlilac 

 flowers. What was said of theeasy man- 

 agement of the arabis holds good with 

 the aubretias; any soil or situation will 

 answer for them; they continue to bloom 

 until the end of May, and then the little 

 compact rosettes of leaves will neatly and 

 effectually carpet the ground over for the 

 rest of the year, though I would advocate 



interspersing some loose, taller growing 

 plants over them. A number of named 

 varieties of this charming little plant are 

 in commerce, among them Leichtlini, 

 Byrei, grseca and olympica in various 

 shades of purple, except A. d. Leichtlini, 

 which is rosy crimson. 



Waldsteinia tri folia has a dense mass of 

 yellow, strawberry-like blossoms and 

 looks fine and showy so early in the year; 

 the foliage also resembles that of the 

 strawberry and looks bright and dark 

 all through the season; it grows about 6 

 or 8 inches high and forms a compact 

 mass of leaves. Wherever we plant them 

 they will succeed; any soil will answer 

 for them. The large leaved Saxifraga 

 (Megasea) cordifolia and several others, 

 with their bright pink curved spikes of 

 flowers appear early and last over a 

 month or six weeks; the broad, glossy 

 and leathery foliage is evergreen and 

 highly ornamental either in the border or 

 in the rockery. The pretty little S. 

 Camposii, with its delicate large white 

 flowers and deeply cleft or sometimes 

 divided leaves, is fully out now and will 

 last to the end of May; it is a small low- 

 growing plant from 4 to 6 inches high 

 and will succeed in any ordinary border 

 or in the rockery. 



The plants mentioned above are among 

 the very earliest of spring flowers and 

 will be found to flourish and grow under 

 all circumstances in common garden soil 

 of any description with the least possible 

 care. Later in the season we may have 

 larger and more gorgeously colored flow- 

 ers, but in the early spring days when 

 most all places are yet devoid of color 

 we appreciate these small flowers so 

 much more because they are the first 

 signs of renewed life in the flower garden, 

 coming on weeks before any of the shrubs 

 or trees show an inclination to push their 

 flower buds through the protecting scales 

 in which they were safely encased since 

 the cold of last autumn caused the leaves 

 to relax their firm hold and drop to the 

 ground. 



Another week will give us opportunity 

 to observe a far greater variety of hardy 

 plants in bloom, many of which are ap- 

 parently entirely dormant at the time of 

 this writing. J. B. Keller. 



Rochester, N. Y. 



Mrs. Yilliers Lister, Sir Garnet Wolseley, 

 Standishii, Stella, The Queen, Vesta. 



FLORIDA TYPE. 



Climbing large-flowered summer-bloom- 

 ers, flowering from the old or ripened 

 wood. The following varieties all bear 

 double flowers and bloom in June and 

 July: Barillet Deschamps, Belleof Woking, 

 Countess of Lovelace, Duchess of Edin- 

 burgh, Fortune!, John Gould Veitch, 

 Lucie Lemoine. 



LANUGINOSA TYPE. 



Climbing large- flowered summer and 

 autumn-bloomers, flowering succession- 

 ally on short lateral summer shoots, the 

 flowers dispersed. Bloom Julv to Octo- 

 ber. Includes Beauty of Worcester, Blue 

 Gem, Duke of Norfolk, Enchantress, Ex- 

 celsior, Fairy Queen, Gem, Grand Duchess, 

 Henryi, Jeanne d'Arc, Lady Caroline 

 Neville, La France, lanuginosa Candida, 

 Lawsoniana, lilacina Borabunda, Lord 

 Neville, Louis Van Houtte, Mrs. Hope, 

 Otto Froebel, paniculata (small flowered), 

 Princess of Wales, purpurea elegans, Rob- 

 ert Hanbury, Sensation, Venus Victrix, 

 William Kennett. 



YITICELLA TYPE. 



Climbing large-flowered summer and 

 autumn-bloomers, flowering succession- 

 ally in profuse masses on summer shoots 

 (less continuously than the Jackmanni 

 type), July to October. Includes .4scot/- 

 ensis, Hendersoni, Lady Bovill, Marmo- 

 rata, Viticella rubra grandiflora, Viti- 

 cella renosa, Viticella alba. 



JACKMANNI TYPE. 



Climbing, mostly large-flowered, sum- 

 mer and autumn-bloomers, flowering suc- 

 cessionallv in profuse continuous masses 

 on summer shoots, July to October. In- 

 cludes Alexandra, flammula, flammula 

 rosea purpurea, Gipsy Queen, Guiding 

 Star, Jackmanni, Jackmanni alba, Jack- 

 manni superba, Mme. Edouard Andre, 

 Mme. Grange, magniiica, Mrs. Baron 

 Veillard, Prince of Wales, Rubella, rubro- 

 violacea, Snow White Jackmanni, Star of 

 India, Tunbridgensis, velutina purpurea. 



TYPES OP CLEMATIS. 



In the cutting back and general treat- 

 ment of the clematis it is well to know to 

 what section or type any specimen we 

 may possess belongs. In order to have 

 in the volumes of Gardening a means of 

 identification in this line, we publish here- 

 with a classified list of those now being 

 grown here and in Europe. This list in- 

 cludes the hybrids mainly. It is well to 

 mention the fact that C. montana, which 

 blooms on the old wood, is more of a fail- 

 ure in cold climates than the patens and 

 florida types, as it is more difficult to 

 save its old wood over winter. ' 



MONTANA TYPE. 



Climbing, winter and spring-bloomers, 

 with medium sized flowers, in aggregated 

 axillary clusters on the old or ripened 

 wood, blooming in May. This includes 

 C. montana only. 



PATENS TYPE. 



Climbing large-flowered spring-bloom- 

 ers, flowering from the old or ripened 

 wood, in May and June. Includes the 

 varieties Albert Victor, Edith Jackmann, 

 Fair Rosamond, Lady Londesborough, 

 Lord Derby, Lord Londesborough, Miss 

 Bateman, Miss Crawshay, Mrs. Geo. 

 Jackmann, Mrs. Quilter, Mrs. S. C.Baker, 



VIOLETS. 



Many amateurs have an ambition to 

 grow violets in winter in a cold frame, 

 but it is seldom we see it done with suc- 

 cess in localities where the thermometer 

 drops to 10° or 20° below zero. To have 

 any success at all the frames have to be 

 banked around with hot manure and a 

 heavy covering put over the glass at 

 night, the manure to be renewed when 

 cold. This is rather too much work for 

 most amateurs considering the small 

 returns. But we can have violets in early 

 spring and lots of them. Our frames have 

 been giving us plenty of flowers since the 

 1st of March and will keep on doing so 

 for some time to come. Cuttings for next 

 spring's flowering have already been put 

 in the cutting bench, but many runners 

 were already rooted and only needed to 

 be potted or put in a box. They will be 

 planted out in the garden about the 1st 

 of May. The runners will be kept off all 

 summer, except a few, and when we lift 

 them in September the runners will be cut 

 off of these too. but they will be nicely 

 rooted little plants, and will bloom well 

 the following spring if planted in a frame, 

 in fact they always give larger flowers 

 than the old plants, but not so many of 

 them. 



Violets need plenty of water and air and 

 this should be seen to. The soil in the 

 frame should be well enriched with 

 decayed manure and the plants set so 

 they nearly meet. The frame should be 



