276 



GARDENING. 



June 



and a lover of half swampy places. In 

 such situations in Delaware I have seen it 

 thriving wonderfully well. The fronds of 

 spinulosam are finely divided so that 

 though a tall grower, it does not display 

 such a mass of green as any of the others. 

 Nevertheless it is a most useful fern, and a 

 lady friend of mine is proud of a large bed 

 of this kind, which certainly adds interest 

 to her charming grounds. 



Among aspleniums there are two, 

 thelypteroides and Felix-focmina, of good 

 size. They are tall growing but of less 

 robust growth than the aspidiums. But 



For a quiet wet place the sensitive fern, 

 Onoclea sensibilis, is not to be despised. 

 Its peculiar pale green fronds, differing 

 from all other ferns, render it desirable in 

 collections. It too, has its fertile and 

 barren fronds separate. 



In company with many others I think 

 ferns most interesting plants. Besides 

 their uses in the way described, their 

 study is pleasing, and their identification 

 is soon determined by examining the fruit- 

 ing portion o( their fronds. 



Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



CLEMATIS INTEGRIFOLIA VAR. DURANDJ. 



because of the contrast they should be 

 added to collections. The under sides of 

 the fruitful fronds of the thelypteroides 

 are oi a pretty silvery color, and from 

 this comes its common name, "Silvery 

 Spleenwort." 



Hardly enough can be said in favor of 

 osmundas. There are three, regalis, cin- 

 namomea and Claytoniana. The former 

 is the king fern. Cinnamomea is called cin- 

 namon fern, owing to the color of its 

 fertile fronds, which when ripe look like 

 sticks of cinnamon. This is equal to any 

 flowering plant in early spring when its 

 fertile fronds are displayed. In my own 

 possession is one which at this writing 

 has eighteen of these fertile fronds dis- 

 played, and being visible from the street, 

 the plant attracts great attention. Ml 

 three reach grand proportions. Some 

 time ago, travelling through the woods 

 near Clemonton, New Jersey, I saw 

 evidences of fronds of cinnamomea which 

 must have been six feet in height. In their 

 wild state regalis occupies partly swampy 

 places, cinnamomea the medium sitna- 

 tion, while Claytoniana, though in damp 

 grouud, is usually on a more elevated 

 site. 



The Ostrich fern, Struthiopteris Ger- 

 manica is another one bearing its fertile 

 frond apart from the other. It is one of 

 the best of the tall growing, erect kinds. 

 The shape of the frond has much the 

 appearance of an ostrich's plume. It is 

 just the fern to plant where a clump is 

 wanted, as it quickly spreads by putting 

 out underground stolons, so to speak. A 

 good strong plant set one year will show 

 perhaps three the next and so it goes on 

 increasing, more rapidly as it gains 

 strength. 



CLEMATISES. 



It has always been a wonder to me 

 why Clematis integrifolia var. Durandi 

 is not more grown than it is. I first saw 

 it at the World's Fair, in the Holland 

 collection on the Wooded Island, where it 

 attracted considerable attention. 



The type, C. integrifolia, is a non- 

 climbing herbaceous hardy perennial from 

 eastern Europe and has been known since 

 1596. It grows only two feet high and 

 bears nodding, rather small blue flowers. 

 The variety Durandi is a hybrid between 

 C. integrifolia and some large flowered 

 variety, and while partaking of the habit 

 of integrifolia, inasmuch that it is non- 

 climbing, it grows some three or more 

 feet high, and produces a multitude of 

 flowers often as large as a Jackmanni, and 

 of a dark rich blue. If the seed pods are 

 not allowed to form it will bloom all 

 summer. It requires support, and tying. 

 In the bud, its flowers resemble some- 

 what its parent, C. integrifolia, in that 

 they are somewhat drooping, but they 

 eventually flatten out and become almost 

 erect. Ordinarily there are but four 

 petals, but the crown flowers often have 

 five. The photograph of the plant (the 

 one originally on the Wooded Island) 

 was taken last June. This plant seems 

 entirely free from the clematis disease. 



Another recently introduced clematis 

 that so far has had immunity from this 

 disease is Madame Edouard Andre, also 

 a debutante at the World's Fair, belong- 

 ing to the Jackmanni type, but not so ro- 

 bust a grower by any means as Jack- 

 manni proper; nor is it as profuse a 

 bloomer. My plant, although several 

 years old, seldom reaches a height of over 

 five feet and rarely has over twenty 



flowers open at a time, still it remains in 

 flower a long time. The peculiar shade 

 ofredinits flower is quite a departure 

 from the blues and whites so often seen. 

 W. C. Egan. 



HERBACEOUS PLANT NOTES. 



There is no lack of color and variety in 

 a well arranged herbaceous border dur- 

 ing the first half of May. Besides those 

 plants mentioned in my last, which are 

 most all in excellent shape yet, we now 

 have the doronicums, rounded, well 

 shaped bushes studded with a mass of 

 bright yellow flowers. The several varie- 

 ties differ somewhat in height; some of 

 them, like D. austriacum and D. caucasi- 

 cum do not grow much over a foot in 

 height while others grow up to 2% to 3 

 feet or more. Special mention should be 

 made of the robust and stately A planta- 

 gineum excelsum, which continues in 

 flower for months; its flowers are of very 

 large size, 3 inches across, and the plant 

 grows over 3 feet high when once well 

 established. 



Dicentra eximea is now well out with 

 both foliage and flowers and will last 

 until late summer; compact clean and 

 low growth, together with its unrivaled 

 lasting quality make this one of our most 

 desirable border plants. Its arching little 

 flower spikes are not exactly oi the bright- 

 est color, yet they are very pretty and if 

 a bright yellow or a white flowering 

 plant is introduced as an immediate 

 neighbor or intermixed in the patch, a 

 most striking effect ma)- be produced. D. 

 furmosa is of a much brighter color and 

 resembles the first mentioned, only the 

 plant is much smaller in dimensions, but 

 the flowers are rather broader. D.specta- 

 bilis and spectablis alba are in excellent 

 shape now and D. canadensis, a native 

 white flowered pretty little thing with 

 glaucous finely divided foliage, blooms 

 freely. 



The dwarf Phlox subulatais coming on 

 fast now, forming dense carpets of white 

 or pink over the ground; these pretty- 

 plants are not as extensively used as they 

 deserve; there is no other class of plants 

 from which we may expect so much pleas- 

 ure and satisfaction with the least possi- 

 ble care; they provide our beds with a 

 profusion of bloom, soon after the open- 

 ing of spring, and after they are past 

 flowering their densely matted growth 

 covers the ground effectually with green 

 for the rest of the season; even in mid- 

 winter the mossy carpet is there and no 

 cold, howerer severe, can hurt it. Among 

 the white varieties P. s. Nelsonii is proba- 

 bly superior to nivalis when closely 

 examined for size of flowers, etc. In the 

 pink sorts none are as bright to my 

 knowledge as the P. s. Vivid and it is 

 really a great improvement over the older 

 varieties. P. amoena does not lay so close 

 to the ground as the former, being 6 to 8 

 inches in height, but is a most profuse 

 bloomer, lasting, in perfection much 

 longer than the subulata varieties. 



Another low and compact free flower- 

 ing plant for early blooming is the Erysi- 

 mum pulchellum, which is just now 

 attracting everybody's attention. The 

 flowers are pale yellow, profusely pro- 

 duced in short elongated little clustered 

 heads; they are rather small individually 

 and would hardly be noticed if there was 

 not such a mass of them distributed all 

 over the little plant. The well known 

 Alyssum saxatile compactum is fully out 

 in sheltered and dry positions, while in 

 more moist and shady places they are 

 only showing color and will not be in 

 bloom for a week yet. Single plants will 

 easily cover a square foot of ground or 



