r8 97 . 



GARDENING. 



259 



NEW AMARYLLISES. [SEE PAGE 262.1 



start, though perhaps more eyes have 

 been left to each piece. 



I remember that years ago there was 

 quite a demand for this plant, that many 

 have tried repeatedly to establish it with- 

 out success and after several discourag- 

 ing attempts, gave up further trials. In 

 most all these cases only small pieces, 

 which had no strong old roots attached 

 to them, and newly divided, too, could 

 be obtained to begin with; there was 

 very little hope for success with such a 

 weak starting, though under very favor- 

 able conditions, and where the young 

 plants received the bestof care for several 

 successive years, the planter was re- 

 warded for his trouble by the rare sight 

 of a well developed specimen of this deli- 

 cate but most beautiful variety, such as 

 we may meet at rare intervals in some of 

 the few older places. For the last few 

 seasons, inquiries for this variety 

 have been more frequent again and as 

 stronger plants are now usually furnished 

 by the trade, better success is insured 

 even with only ordinary care, so perhaps 

 we may look for a general run on an old 

 but deserving hardy plant. 



Rochester, N. Y. J. B. Keller. 



PERENNIALS TO PRECEDE BEDDING PLANTS. 



Last fall soon after the frost destroyed 

 the foliage beds in the grounds of one of 

 our patrons, we were asked to replant 

 these beds so as to present an attractive 

 appearance in early spring from April to 

 almost June l,or until coleuses and other 

 bedding plants could be planted out 

 safely. These beds had been planted 

 formerly with various hard}' spring flow- 

 ering bulbs but this time we suggested a 

 trial of early blooming hardy herbaceous 

 plants for some of the beds and the sug- 

 gestion was reluctantly accepted; fear 

 was entertained that no perfect bed could 



be produced with newly planted perenni- 

 als, yet they turned out to be highly sat- 

 isfactory, as we were particularly careful 

 in the selection of the plants as well as in 

 the digging and handling of them, retain- 

 ing a little ball of earth on each, and as 

 the ground in the beds was rather dry at 

 the time of planting, giving them a thor- 

 ough good watering after finishing. Of 

 course these were not plants like those 

 generally sold in commercial establish- 

 ments by the dozen or hundred, but good 

 and undivided healthy clumps as they 

 grew in the border and perhaps it would 

 be difficult to pack and ship such plants 

 safely by rail any great distance. 



Two narrow strips or borders cut in 

 the lawn each side of a. path, which in 

 summer are usually filled with alternan- 

 theras and echeverias, were thickly 

 planted with dwarf double daisies in dif- 

 ferent colors, hepaticas, Erysimum pul- 

 chellum and Lotus corniculatus, all low 

 and pretty things. In an oval bed of 

 rather large dimensions, Doronicum 

 plantagineum, Lupinus potyphyllus. Di- 

 centra spectabilis, Paeonia tenuifolia, 

 both the double and the single flowered 

 varieties, Alyssum saxatile compactum 

 and Polemonium reptans were effectively 

 used. Phlox subulata in several colors 

 and the pink P. amcena with Iris pumila 

 and Papaver nudicaule formed a decidedly 

 pretty little bed. The white Dicentra 

 spectabilis alba. Gladiolus communis, 

 Primula acaulis, P. officinalis and various 

 colored hybrids of primulas planted to- 

 gether in another, are a mass of bloom 

 just now, excepting the interspersed Glad- 

 iolus communis which will have come on 

 a little later. We could have planted all 

 the beds with various spring flowering 

 hardy plants without any difficulty but 

 we were not allowed to do so for a begin- 

 ning and bulbs had to go into the other 

 beds. 



One advantage of hardy plants over the 

 bulDS is their prolonged flowering season; 

 crocuses, scillas, snowdrops, hyacinths, 

 narcissuses, tulips, etc, only last a short 

 time in perfection, while most perennials 

 keep on sending up new flower stems for 

 weeks, and in some cases for months in 

 succession. These beds are expected to 

 present a decent appearance until the end 

 of May when bedding plants will take 

 their place. The perennials can safely be 

 removed at that time to an out of the 

 way place in the back garden, divided if 

 necessary and grown on with ordinary 

 care until fall, when they would be in 

 excellent condition again to be used in the 

 same beds for next spring. 



We are not necessarily obliged to use 

 the same plants in the same combina- 

 tions every year; even with this small 

 collection we could arrange the beds dif- 

 ferently each season, but there are a great 

 number of other early blooming desirable 

 plants, which may be used instead, such 

 as the arabis, Aubretia deltoidea in 

 variety, Alyssum alpestre, several of the 

 erysimums, pulmonarias, clumps of 

 Daphne cneorum, Mentensia virginica, 

 the beautiful Anemone nemoralis, Ranun- 

 culus asiaticus and R. europseus, the 

 highly ornamental broad leaved Saxifraga 

 cordifolia and varieties, Dicentra eximea 

 and D. formosa, Iberis sempervirens and 

 I. correafolia, Caltha palustris fl. pi., 

 dodecatheons, corydalis, a number of 

 irises, all the doronicums, Omphalodes 

 verna, the oriental poppies, the auriculas, 

 trilliums and many more. 



In most places the flower beds are left 

 entirely bare from October to May, the 

 greater part of the year. The beds are 

 perhaps cleaned and forked over nicely in 

 the fall to be left alone until the time for 

 summer planting arrives again — nearly 

 eight months of bareness. In early spring 

 everybody is anxious to plant the beds as 



