rS 97 . 



GARDENING. 



341 



WIRE STAKES 



WIRE STAKED P.EONY. 



the season is at all dry water freely. Be 

 sure that no roots from adjoining trees 

 are stealing the sustenance from the 

 plants. 



One essential feature about a paeony 

 bed is to have it neatly staked. Nearly 

 every one seems to use barrel hoops. 

 These are well enough around a keg, if 

 the beer is good, but the Lord never 

 intended them to hold anything that 

 wasn't fermented or pickled. The illus- 

 tration shows the supports I use, and 

 a'so a staked plant after blooming, which 

 will give an idea of how unobtrusive this 

 support is. Twenty feet away it cannot 

 be seen, while you see a barrel hoop even 

 in your dreams. They are made of gal- 

 vanized telegraph wire, twenty-three 

 inches in diameter. There are three legs 

 2 ] /a feet long made of %,-inch galvanized 

 wire. At the same time is shown some 

 flower supports made of the same wire 

 as the legs above described, the lengths 

 being respectively three and four feet, the 

 loops being one and two feet from the 

 top. They are to be put one foot deep in 

 the ground. While these cost something 

 at the start their lasting qualities and 

 the time saved in tying up the plants, 

 soon make up the expense. The loops in 

 them enable a string or bast to be run 

 through them readily, and prevent slip- 



ping - 

 About beautifying the space occupied, 



after the pasonies are done blooming. If 

 grown as I grow them this question does 

 not come up, but in beds it is a pertinent 

 one. I would suggest Callirhoe involu- 

 crata, the procumbent summer blooming 

 poppy-mallow. Some of its shoots will 

 find their way up among the preony 

 branches and bloom in unexpected places. 

 The Coronilla raria would carpet the 

 ground and give its rosy pea-shaped flow- 

 ers for a long time. .Vhile a spreading 

 grower I don't think it would injure the 

 paeonies. The dwarf variegated funkia 

 would do well under the shade the peo- 

 nies afford. Lilies such as superbum, 

 canadense, or candidum would do. 



A'osa Wichuraiana may be considered 

 hardy in the vicinity of Chicago when 



once established. In rich soils it grows 

 rapidly and some of the new wood may 

 be injured therefore it is best toprotect it. 

 It does not, however, in common with all 

 roses, like a covering that soaks in and 

 retains moisture that rests against the 

 wood during freezing and thawing 

 weather Where grown in beds and 

 allowed to run along the ground, throw 

 some small brush over it, and then some 

 strawy material, or just put sheets 

 of tar paper over it, with branches 

 underneath to hold the paper up, thus 

 admitting air. If grown to a post or 

 trellis, any wrapping will do, but it is 

 best to protect it in an upright position. 

 The canes are pliable and can be bent down 

 without injury and protected but if not 

 careful to make the covering water proof 

 immediately over that portion where 

 the bend is, it is apt to rot there if the 

 winter be similar to the last. 



It is a matter of individual choice 

 whether to grow it procumbent, or 

 trained to a pillar. Both ways produce a 

 fine effect. A circular bed ten feet in 

 diameter, raised a little at the center, 

 makes a fine mound. You can plant a 

 pillar rose in the center, say Paul's car- 

 mine pillar rose, Crimson Ramber, or 

 plant some of Manda's hybrids to the 

 post and the type in the bed. When 

 strong growth commences keep the points 

 turned towards the center. 



Manda's hybrids that the nurserymen 

 are now offering are great acquisitions 

 and while too recently introduced to 

 speak knowingly of them under trying 

 conditions they promise to be great gar-" 

 den favorites. I have bloomed them and 

 am much pleased with them. You should 

 try the hybrid sweet briars; they are fine 

 also. 



Wait until next spring and then cut 

 back your alth;ea to where desired, wax- 

 ing the cut ends if large; it will stand it. 

 W. C. Egan. 



popularly called "Butterfly Weed," ' Pleu- 

 risy Root," "White Root" and "Indian 

 Posy." 



Its many names bear witness to its 

 wide distribution and conspicuous beauty. 

 It is called "Butterfly weed" because its 

 showy trusses of bloom are a favorite 

 perch for butterflies during the hours of 

 sunshine. The name "Pleurisy Root" 

 would indicate atttributed medicinal 

 virtue. In some sections of this country 

 the plant is called "White Root" and the 

 fleshy, not unpleasant tasting roots are 

 dug up by boys and chewed for their 

 expectorant effect. 



This plant is a perennial. Late in the 

 spring it sends up a number of stems from 

 the crown of its stout root; each stem 

 usually bears widely forking branches at 

 the end and each branch has a bright 

 corymb of bloom made up of many 

 umbels. The color ranges from yellow to 

 deep orange red and the height from one 

 to three feet. It will thrive on the dryest 

 sand ridge and it used to flourish on the 

 prairie knolls of the interior of Illinois; 

 the only condition seems to be that it 

 must have good drainage. 



In the perennial border it has the good 

 quality that it may be relied on to stay- 

 where it is planted, as it does not spread 

 perceptibly by the root. The seeds are 

 contained in lance-pointed follicles with 

 long silky down like the seed of the milk- 

 weed. 



flSGLEPlflS TUBEROSfl. 



Replying to A. N , New York, the plant 

 sent for name is Asclepias tuberosa, 



LEMON VERBENA. 



Please advise as to the best time and 

 way to cut lemon verbena. It sometimes 

 lasts for days and again droops within 

 an hour. E. S. P. 



If lemon verbena is growing fast, as it 

 does out of doors when planted out, it 

 will quickly wilt. When first cut, even if 

 placed in water at once, it will wilt for an 

 hour or two. Many of our flowers and 

 foliage do this and that is why roses and 

 many other flowers should not be cut 

 and used at once. A spray of rose gera- 

 niums grown in doors in winter will hold 



