294 



GARDENING. 



June is, 



reserve grounds, set far apart to allow 

 room for development. Those taking fine 

 symmetrical forms can be taken up and 

 potted for house decoration, and the bal- 

 ance used for cut flowers. If the faded 

 flowers are cut the plant will continue 

 blooming for a month. 



The foxglove digitalis) can also be 

 moved as easily. Sow the seeds about 

 July 1, or perhaps for your climate say 

 June 15. Large plants, that is those 

 sown in the spring, are not as easy to 

 carry over winter. Should any plant not 

 bloom the first season it is useless to 

 carry it over the second winter. 



have bloomed. Even though they wither 

 after transplanting they retain growth 

 enough to save the roots and the flowers 

 will come up smiling the ensuing spring. 

 I have had trilliums, lungwort, ox-eye 

 daisy, wild ginger, goat's beard (from 

 seed) and many others do nicely the sec- 

 ond year after being taken up when in 

 flower. 



Moving quite young plants, or old 

 plants wheii the soil can be retained on 

 the roots, needs no special skill. It should 

 hardly be necessary to say that a plant 

 should never be pulled from the soil in 

 transplanting as by doing so all the living 



WILD CRANESBILL ((Uranium ma, ulalum.) 



WILD CRflNESBlLL. 



{Geranium waculatum.) 

 This fine plant has longbeen recognized 

 as one of the best of the native flora. Wood 

 says it is "a fine species worthy a place 

 among the parlor 'geraniums.' " 



In the woods it grows slender and 

 straggling, but in cultivation it becomes 

 a dense mound of foliage, as shown in the 

 illustration, surmounted by many umbels 

 of graceful pale purple flowers. This 

 geranium is an early bloomer and hence 

 all the more valuable in the hardy border. 

 H. 



CHOICE WILD FLOWERS. 



As I judge that many of the readers of 

 Gardening belong to that intelligent class 

 of plant-lovers who prize the modest 

 beauties of the wild wood quite as much 

 as the most pampered exotics, I will give 

 a few suggestions in relation to the best 

 method of obtaining some of our most 

 desirable wild flowers direct from nature's 

 conservatory. 



Many of these plants can sometimes be 

 ordered from dealers, but besides the 

 diminished chance of growing after under- 

 going the perils and delays of a long 

 shipment, you will always feel more 

 interest in plants which you have, with 

 your own hand, taken from their natural 

 home. 



The first problem for an amateur plant 

 collector is how to recognize the plants 

 before it is too late to transplant them 

 safely. With many of the prettiest per- 

 ennials it will do to take them after they 



root fibers are injured. If plant roots 

 must be freed from soil, as where they 

 have to be sent by mail, it should be done 

 with the greatest care to save the root- 

 lets. It is well to roll each plant in damp 

 paper, then pack closely in a light box. 

 When these plants are received by the 

 consignee theyshould be at once unpacked 

 and, if not too tall, inverted in a shallow 

 box or tray, then sift some fine black 

 mold on the roots and wet thoroughly 

 and let stand for sufficient time to allow 

 the rootlets to take hold again on the 

 soil. There are now (June 1st) in bloom 

 in the hardy bordtr in Lincoln Park, Chi- 

 cago, two groups of hairy water-leaf 

 which were received by mail, packed as 

 described, a little over a month ago! 



Among the plants native in this region, 

 suitable for the garden border not one is 

 more generally admired than the Ameri- 

 can cowslip, Dodecatheon Meadia, called 

 also Shooting Star. It prefers moist 

 meadows whereits rich leaves and stately 

 scape of beautiful cyclamen-like flowers 

 always attract admiration. About a 

 century ago, when it was first brought 

 to England, plant-lovers pronounced it 

 the most beautiful flower that had ever 

 been brought from America. 



There are now in bloom in the perennial 

 border in Lincoln Park two groups of 

 this plant (see illustration) which are of 

 exceptional vigor and beauty. They are 

 of the stock native in this locality. Two 

 years ago this spring I got the plants on 

 the prairie west of this city. This is their 

 third flowering, growing larger each year. 



Now some of the scapes lack but a frac- 

 tion of thirty inches high and nearly half 

 an inch thick and have forty to fifty flow- 

 ers each. A group of Dodecatheon Jeffrey- 

 ana planted in the same border three or 

 four years ago has made no progress and 

 most of the plants are dead. 



After the foliage of the dodecatheon 

 has withered down, which it does early 

 in summer, care should be taken not to 

 disturb the roots as they are preparing 

 growth for the next spring. It is well to 

 have some late, light-growing annual to 

 occupy the space and thus prevent an 

 unseemly void in the border. 



The trilliums are always much admired 

 in cultivation because they come into 

 bloom early when flowers are tew. They 

 recall to many a reminiscent picture ot 

 woodland glades and childhood's happy 

 hours. Trillium grandifforum, with great 

 white flowers; T. cernuum, with smaller 

 flowers modestly turned under the leaves; 

 and T.recurva turn are the most available 

 forms. They can be found in rich shady 

 woods and may be taken up after flower- 

 ing if you cannot find them earlier. Plant 

 the thick root stocks where they are to 

 grow, moderately deep; a little in the 

 shade of trees or shrubbery will be best. 

 A shady situation will also do well for 

 the bellwort (Cvulariagrandifiora) which 

 eventually produces a very pretty bunch 

 of bronze green foliage festooned with 

 graceful twisted, golden tassel-like flow- 

 ers. 



The dicentras are dainty little plants 

 that should not be omitted from the 

 hardy border. They have dissected 

 leaves and two-spurred flowers like their 

 more sturdy relative the "Bleeding 

 Heart." The little tubers are larger than 

 a pea. Take up whenever you find them 

 and plant in the shade. 



The button-like tubers of the "Spring 

 Beauty" (Claytonia rirginiea) may be 

 treated in the same way. 



The wood-phlox (Phlox divaricata) has 

 no superior for freedom of growth and 

 blooming. It has two distinct forms of 

 leaf. After blooming it develops stolons 

 with broad thick leathery leaves almost 

 like winter-green. These leaves are pur- 

 ple underneath and persistent during the 

 winter. In the spring the flowering 

 stems are produced from these stolons 

 and have narrow downy leaves like many 

 of the other phloxes, and the winter 

 leaves disappear. This phlox spreads 

 rapidly and can be transplanted easily at 

 any time by shading from the light for a 

 few days. 



In sandy locations the sand-phlox 

 (Phlox bifida) which is abundant on 

 dry ridges along the lake shore does very 

 nicely. It does not multiplj-. 



The smooth lungwort (Mertensia vir- 

 ginica ) is generall} 1, admire I for its pretty 

 bell-shaped flowers varying through all 

 shades of lilac blue and purple according 

 to the age of the flower. By many they 

 are called "Bluebells." Here the lung- 

 wort seems to prefer bottom soil along 

 streams and rivers; in the interior of this 

 state it grows along the southern slope 

 of bluffs. It can be transplanted after 

 blooming and will make a good growth 

 the next spring. 



As I can not possibly name all the de- 

 sirable plants, 1 will close this already 

 too long list here. Some of these plants 

 are rapidly disappearing and on the way 

 to be obliterated from our flora as the 

 march of progress year by year circum- 

 scribes the areas where they found the con- 

 ditions needful for their existence. 

 Chicago. J, HlGGINS, 



