tS 97 . 



GARDENING. 



277 



CLEMATIS MME EDODARD ANDRE. 



more inside of a j'ear and produce many 

 hundreds of its bright golden yellow little 

 flower heads. The greyish foliage remains 

 fresh during the winter months when the 

 plants are in a dry and open position; in 

 other situations or when surrounded by 

 taller plants, the foliage is damaged 

 occasionally by too much moisture; a dry 

 place is decidedly more suitable for it. 



The double yellow calthas make quite a 

 show with their large globose flowers 

 and their luxuriant young foliage at this 

 time of the year; they must have a moist 

 place, however, otherwise the first hot 

 spell will stop their blooming. The same 

 may be said of the trolliuses, one a light 

 and the other a deep dark yellow globular 

 flower on long erect stems; if they are in 

 a dry border their flowering time is soon 

 over, while in moisture r. taining ground 

 they will continue to send up their flower- 

 stems until August or even later. Asperula. 

 odorata is covered with a mass of white 

 flowers for a month or more. The blue 

 Centaurea montana and its white and the 

 rose-colored variety make quite a display 

 in the border. A mass of Ariswma tri- 

 phylla is very ornamental when closely 

 planted; the luxuriant shiny foliage and 

 speckcled stems alone are enough to 

 attract our attention even if the curiously 

 shaped large and delicately colored flow- 

 ers were entirely absent, but they bloom 

 and grow quite freely in a somewhat 

 moist and partially shaded situation. 



Among the violas there is none which 

 flower more profusely or show to better 



advantage in the bed or border than V. 

 palmata rar. cucullata; the flowers are 

 produced so abundantly as to cover the 

 whole plant, the stems erect and stiff, 

 holding the flowers well above the foliage, 

 while in most all other species, they are 

 hit'den more or less among the leaves. 

 Blue is a very desirable color at this time 

 of the year when we have so much yellow 

 among the hardy plants. No other vio- 

 let has proved more satisfactory as a bor- 

 der plant, excepting, perhaps, the double 

 flowering "German Empress" of the odo- 

 rata section, which with us is the very 

 earliest of all in the open ground, the 

 flowers appearing all over the clumps 

 before the foliage had time to develop its 

 size; it is a very dwarf variety and never 

 has very long stems, but the dark blue 

 flowers are very double and literally cover 

 the plant. The common Lychnis ffos- 

 cuculi plena with its rosy red pretty 

 flowers borne on loosely branched pani- 

 cles, should not be neglected; it is a most 

 desirable color at present in the mixed 

 border and well worth the little attention 

 it requires in annual fall dividing, else the 

 plants might become unsightly, for they 

 are apt to decay in the center if they are 

 left alone for several years. 



In early spring all are anxious to have 

 flowers in the garden, and bulbs are not 

 always satisfactory because when planted 

 alone in a bed the ground is left bare after 

 their short flowering period is over. Com- 

 bined with hardy herbaceous plants, 

 tr.anv of them can be used to better ad- 



vantage, and a succession of bloom may 

 easily be kept up for any length of time if 

 the proper selection is made. Any or all 

 the plants mentioned can successfully be 

 used in combination with bulbs, which 

 would materially improve the appearance 

 of spring flower beds. 



For cut flower purposes among herba- 

 ceous plants during the first half of May 

 we may mention the arabis, Alyssum 

 saxatile. Anemone sylvestris, the doroni- 

 cums, calthas, ranunculuses, candytufts, 

 Paeonia tenuifolia double and single, 

 Lychnis flos-cuculi pi., trolliuses, Primula 

 eliator, P. officinalis and P. variabilis in 

 variety. In more favored localities other 

 hardy plants may be in full bloom, which 

 with us are a week or two later. 



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



flNTS-DflFFODILS— MULCHING. 



1. Please tell me how to drive away 

 or kill black ants that have covered a 

 flower bed and the grass walk in front 

 of it, with their holes. The flower-strip 

 is sown with Shirley poppies and I would 

 like to put something on the ants that 

 will not hurt the plants nor the grass. I 

 have tried kerosene, gasoline, alum, red 

 pepper and white hellebore, all in large 

 quantities, but they have all failed. 



2. Is it better for the flowering of the 

 daffodils next spring, that I cutoff the old 

 blossoms now? 



3. After setting a hemlock hedge, in 

 good soil, not very rich, should a mulch 

 of fresh manure or old compost be spread 

 on top of the ground? There was no 

 manure put in the soil in which the trees 

 were set. Subscriber. 



1. The Horticulturist's Rule Book gives 

 the following for killing ants: "A table- 

 spoon of bisulphid of carhon poured into 

 holes six inches deep and afoot apart, the 

 holes being immediately filled up." 



2. Yes, cutting away faded flowers 

 from any plants and thus saving the 

 strength that would go towards matur- 

 ing seed, is of benefit to them. 



3. A mulch of old compost is the best, 

 the main object being to retain the moist- 

 ure and keep the ground cool. Newly 

 planted trees or shrubs do not need fresh 

 manure over the soil the first year. 



flOW THINGS WINTERED AT BGflNDflLE. 



More plants were injured at Egandale 

 (near Chicago) during the winter that 

 has just passed than at any other similar 

 season. The winter had as a rule been 

 an open one until about the 24th of Jan- 

 uary, when suddenly the thermometer 

 dropped to 25° below zero, and for sev- 

 eral days refused to get higher than 18° 

 below. After that the weather was more 

 open than usual and rather moist. All 

 the deutzias, except Pride of Rochester, 

 were killed to the ground, although well 

 wrapped, and the one named was badlv 

 injured. The same may be said of Kerria 

 Japonica, Hypericum Moserianum and 

 the Ayrshire roses. The latter were large 

 bushes that have been carried over suc- 

 cessfully for seven winters. Lilium Kra- 

 meri, L. Wallachianum superbum, Linum 

 austriacum, Geum coccineum, died, while 

 Heuchera sanguinea suffered considera- 

 bly, although protected with evergreen 

 boughs. 



Nearly all the flowering buds of Prunus 

 Pissardi, P. triloba, the Japanese weep- 

 ing cherry, in fact of about all the Tapan- 

 ese flowering crabs, cherries and plums, 

 were injured. Forsythias, both sus- 

 pensa and Fortune! were injured, as well 

 as Spirsea prunifolia and S. canescens. 

 Catalpa Bungei was badly hurt. Prunus 



