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GARDENING. 



May 15, 



soon as clanger of frost is over, but in our 

 climate it is never safe to do any of this 

 work before the end of May and we 

 really lose the best and most enjoyable 

 part of the season. In every place, no 

 matter how small it may be, if only one 

 flower bed is maintained, room can be 

 found lor a reserve bed to grow enough 

 hardy plants such as were mentioned 

 above to fill the bed in autumn. 

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



LOBELIA GHERARD1-0XAL1S. 



Do you consider Lobelia Gherardi a 

 good perennial? 



Can you tell me how to get the common 

 Oxalis alba and 0. rosea. When I send 

 to the florists for these they send me 0. 

 hirta, 0. Bowei, etc. The sorts I want 

 make a profusion of light green foliage 



species but forms roundish fleshy crowns 

 (Vito % inches in diameter) above the 

 ground and may be propagated quite 

 rapidly by taking off the side growths as 

 they appear on the main or older crown; 

 they root easily in sand without any heat 

 if kept shaded for a while. As a pot 

 plant it certainly looks very graceful 

 when well grown; several crowns should 

 be planted in a rather flat and wide pot; 

 they do not require any season of rest, 

 keep green all the year round and bloom 

 profusely. A few of our florists here in 

 Rochester still grow a limited number ot 

 both varieties. 



Wood ashes are considered a very valu- 

 able manure for beds or anywhere else in 

 the flower garden. They contain various 

 potash compounds and mineral sub- 

 stances which can readily be absorbed by 

 most growing plants, yet generous appli- 



form plants for early flowering, but for 

 planting out purposes those started a 

 month or more later did very well. Then 

 his plants were well fed from the start, 

 and given plenty of room to grow. The 

 fuchsia is a plant which quickly resents 

 insufficient food and space. 



This recalls to mind the fine fuchsias 

 grown by Edwin Lonsdale in the early 

 days of his florist's career, in Philadel- 

 phia. His plants were the best seen there 

 for many a day, and were the talk of the 

 place. And the secret of his success was, 

 he used to say, that he never permitted 

 them to want for space, but shifted them 

 from pot to pot as soon as the roots 

 touched the sides of the pots. 



I am sure from what I have experienced 

 and what I have seen that a bed of 

 fuchsias on a north or eastern side of a 

 building, or anywhere where but little 

 sun will reach the plants, is entirely prac- 

 ticable. Make the soil good; light loam 

 and manure will do, and give plenty of 

 water, and overhead syringing at night, 

 and I am sure that entire satisfaction 

 would result. Joseph Meehan. 



Philadelphia. 



A BEECH TREE OVER 700 YEARS OLD. 



with small white or pink flowers. I like 

 them in my plant rocm in the winter, but 

 somehow I have lost them and try in 

 vain to get them again. Half a dozen 

 pots overflowing with the lovely light 

 green foliage make a charming addition 

 to a little room full of narcissi and 

 pretty winter things. 



Is it always useful to put wood ashes 

 on the beds, or only under certain circum- 

 stances, and what are they? A. I). P. 



I am not able to say anything about 

 the desirability of Lobelia Gherardi, for 

 we have never tried it in our borders. If 

 A. D. P. succeeds in keeping them un- 

 harmed through next winter, no doubt 

 many of your readers would be thankful 

 for a report in this matter. 



As to the common Oxalis rosea I must 

 say that these plants are not grown to 

 any extent now in commercial establish- 

 ments, but some old florists still stick to 

 them. Formerly these plants were used 

 quite largelyin spring for hanging baskets 

 and small vases, but they are not as prof- 

 itable as some other things of quicker 

 growth. The white variety is a stronger 

 grower and taller than the pink one; 

 both naturally are spring and early sum- 

 mer bloomers, but by generous and 

 proper treatment may be made to flower 

 nearly all the year round. I have 

 known them originally under the name of 

 Oxalis floribunda, which afterwards was 

 changed to rosea. It is not a bulbous 



cations year after year in succession to 

 the same beds would perhaps not be 

 advisable; a change in manures now and 

 then will be found beneficial to the soil as 

 well as to the shrubs or plants in it. K. 



FUCHSIAS IN SUMMER. 



The fuchsia give so much pleasure when 

 it is in bloom that many persons regret 

 that they do not see it flowering out of 

 doors here in summer as it does in Eng- 

 land. I have thought a few hints on its 

 summer cultivation would be of service 

 to many readers. As may be supposed, 

 the reason why it fails planted in the 

 ordinary way here, is that there is too 

 much sun and too dry a heat for it. It 

 wants a cooler place than the usual gar- 

 den site affords. 



Some few years ago. Mr. Emory, who 

 was at that time gardener for Chas Dis- 

 sel, Wynnewood, snowed me some of the 

 nicest fuchsias I had seen for a long time. 

 It was midsummer, yet the plants were 

 as full of flowers as they could be. They 

 were planted in a border not far from the 

 proprietor's dwelling, and according to 

 my recollection but little or no sun could 

 reach them, being on the northeastern 

 side of the house. I have not forgotten 

 the instructive lesson, for though know- 

 ing well enough what sort of a situation 

 the plant should have, it takes an object 

 lesson occasionally to keep the matter 

 well in mind. Mr. Emory rooted his 

 fuchsia cuttings soon after New Years, to 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 

 Forsythia Fortunei. — For the part 

 two or three weeks this has been the 

 most attractive of all flowering plants. I 

 have it trained to a single stem ior about 

 ten feet high until it got to the top of the 

 trellis when it was allowed to branch 

 and has covered a space of six feet over- 

 head. The stem of the plant was kept 

 spurred back so that it is a long line of 

 beautiful yellow flowers, while overhead 

 the branches are literally covered with 

 bloom. Generally it is grown as a bush 

 and with proper attention in pruning 

 and pinching it makes a fine shrub. The 

 little attention required to make it a 

 climber is amply repaid in the beauty of 

 its flowers in early spring. My plant is 

 simply magnificent and I look upon it as 

 one of the finest of all climbers. It is 

 perfectly hardy in central and western 

 New York, its flower buds never getting 

 winter killed, while F. viridissima, con- 

 trary to the experience of Mr. Joseph 

 Meehan, at Philadelphia, almost invaria- 

 bly comes out of the winter with the 

 flower buds all killed. With an experi- 

 ence of more than 30 years both on the 

 east bank of Seneca lake and at Geneva, 

 getting full blooms only once in six or 

 eight years, I felt obliged to discard it, 

 but its loss is fully made up by Fortunei, 

 which is fully as good and always relia- 

 ble in blooming in the early spring. 



Gloire de Dijon Rose.— At different 

 times during the past thirty years I have 

 procured this fine rose, but although 

 occasionally makinga fairgrowth, event- 

 ually it has been winter killed. I know 

 of three plants in my immediate neighbor- 

 hood which have stood out, perfectly 

 hardv, entirely unprotected for many 

 years. These plants are all budded on 

 the Manetti stock. Is this rose on its 

 own roots, defective in root growth and 

 hence more hardy- if budded. Can any of 

 the readers of Gardening give any light 

 on the subject. 



Countess Marniesse is being pushed 

 with quite a flourish of praise. If it is the 

 old rose grown under this name twenty 

 or more years ago, it cannot be praised 

 too highly. The description seems to be 

 the same, except that as I used to know 

 it, it was a much more vigorous grower, 

 attaining some five or six feet in height. 



Clematis. — The classified list in Gar- 

 dening is very satisfactory. A few addi- 

 tions, however, will be required and 

 probably will be made now that the 



