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GARDENING. 



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GROUP OP SPECIMEN PLANTS AT THE BOSTON SHOW. 



violets. The variety alba has pure white 

 flowers. They make a nice edging plant 

 for the perennial border and are also 

 desirable as cut flowers for small vase 

 work. They are very easily raised from 

 seed if it is fresh. We always had the best 

 success when we sowed it as soon as it 

 was ripe. Strange to say we have bought 

 seed of this plant often but could scarcely 

 ever raise a plant, while our own saving 

 sown soon after being gathered, came up 

 like weeds. It begins to bloom about 

 May 6. 



Trollius Asiaticus is a beautiful plant 

 growing about a foot high, forming neat 

 bushy plants the foliage of which is finely 

 cut and bright green The flowers are 

 yellow, globular in shape, and borne well 

 above the foliage on long stems which 

 makes it desirable for cutting purposes. 

 This is a choice and good plant and will 

 grow most anywhere. It flowers about 

 May 6 and lasts through June. Cypri- 

 pediuw pubescens is one of the easiest of the 

 hardy orchids to grow; it likes a partially 

 shady place in which to grow, where the 

 ground is moist and cool. It is quite 

 showy and if largely grown is nice for 

 cutting. The flowers are yellow borne on 

 good stems. This is a good plant for 

 amateurs as it seldom fails to bloom by 

 May 10. 



Armeria maritima (cushion pink) is a 

 tufted plant with grass-like foliage, the 

 flowers ot which are purple arranged in 

 dense heads on long stems. It makes a 

 good edging plant and looks nice even 

 when the flowers are gone. May 10 is its 

 blooming time. Aquilegia chrysantha 

 alba was our first columbine to flower 

 and is one of the best, having pure white 

 flowers. Iris Borentina is the earliest of 

 the German sorts to flower, blooming 

 about May 12. The color is pure white, 

 it is also very sweet scented and one of 

 the best of the class. Linum perenne is a 

 free flowering plant with blue flowers. It 

 grows about two feet high and lasts 

 most of the summer if cut back a few 

 times throughout the season. It was one 



of the showiest border plants we had the 

 past season; May 12 is its blooming time. 



Lychnis viscaria is a choice plant for 

 the border, very showy and fine for cut- 

 ting and has red flowers, very double 

 which last a long time and make a fine 

 show if grown in a mass. No garden 

 should be without it. It came into bloom 

 May 12. Dicentra spectabilis is a well 

 known plant and a showy one for the 

 border, its long racemes of heart shaped 

 red and white flowers being very pretty. 

 It blooms about May 12. Tree pseonias 

 are very desirable plants to grow. They 

 are of very slow growth but when once 

 they get well established are sure to 

 bloom each year, flowering before the 

 herbaceous varieties, which makes them 

 valuable on this account. There are all 

 colors among them. They commence to 

 bloom about May 15. 



Aquilegia chrysantha, A. hybrida, A. 

 vulgaris and A. cserulea all came into 

 flower May 18; the first named one is a 

 beautiful yellow. Polemonium cxruleum 

 has showy tufted foliage and terminal 

 spikes of blue flowe' s. The variety alba 

 has white flowers which grow about two 

 feet high and commence to bloom about 

 May 20. Eremurus robustus is a noble 

 plant growing six to eight feet high; 

 though an old plant it is as yet quite rare 

 in our gardens, but all should grow it as 

 it is a grand acquisition. The oriental 

 poppies are always showy, their big open 

 flowers being very conpicuoiis in the gar 

 den and making a big display^ as long as 

 they last. They commence to bloom 

 May 20. 



This now brings us to May 20 when 

 the bulbs are beginning to pass away. 

 All the plants mentioned can be associated 

 with them and make a telling effect. The 

 list could be very much enlarged, as 1 

 have passed over many good things such 

 as Lychnis alpina, Linaria dalmatica, 

 Hesperis matronalis, agrostemmas, Dic- 

 tammts fraxinellaAapinus, Heuchera san- 

 guinea, etc. Grow a few of these plants 

 and associate some bulbs with them and 



you will have a lovely spring garden and 

 a long season to enjoy your flowers. Why 

 have a bare flowerless garden when it can 

 be made a place of beauty at little cost! 

 The majority of the plants mentioned can 

 be easily raised from seed, but if your 

 garden is small it would pay to buy them. 

 The dates of flowering are taken from my 

 diary of last spring at Mahwah, N. J., 

 thirty miles from New York. 

 Pittsburg, Pa. David Fraser. 



HERBACEOUS PLANT NOTES. 



In many sections of the country the un- 

 usual and long-continued drought during 

 summer and autumn was detrimental to 

 the welfare of most of our hardy plants, 

 but we must not be discouraged by one 

 extraordinary season; we may not have 

 another like experience in a lifetime and it 

 would not be reasonable to condemn 

 every plant which failed to flourish under 

 the adverse circumstances this year. I 

 have seen quite a number of places where 

 all the plants flowered and grew as 

 well as in ordinary seasons, but here we 

 could notice that frequent waterings had 

 been administered to the beds and bor- 

 ders, or else the ground was naturally 

 inclined to be moist and the surface was 

 kept open and loose. 



On a medium-sized place the extra labor 

 of watering during dry spells may not 

 take up very much time and much can be 

 accomplished with a little extra exertion, 

 but on larger grounds it is often found 

 almost impossible to water thoroughly 

 all the plants in the borders, even if hy- 

 drants and hose attachments have been 

 provided in the principal parts of the 

 place; here it would take up too much 

 time and cannot be done without consid- 

 erable expense, which the owner is not 

 always willing or able to stand. Hoeing 

 and keeping the surface loose and open is 

 the only available remedy in this instance 

 and it is really wonderful how much bet- 

 ter the plants will endure the drought 

 where this point is not neglected. 



