i8 97 . 



' ' GARDENING. 



99 



tlte faded flowers, and cutting in a little 

 during the earlier part of summer, we 

 induce new growth and new flower heads. 

 Shrubs like Spireeea Van Houttei, or any 

 free flowering strong growing shrub, are 

 much improved by cutting out the old , 

 flowering canes, immediately after bloom- 

 ing. While the bush may look a little 

 ragged for a short time, this pruning lets 

 Bght into the center of the plants and 

 induces a vigorous growth of canes which 

 will bloom freely the following season. 

 W. C. Egan. 



SPIRAEA VAN HOUTE1. 



If lurther testimony is needed to insure 

 the planting of this shrub in every garden 

 its behavior this year should be recorded, 

 for hereabouts it has been a wonder. 

 Four plants, catalogued as "3 feet" and 

 set out in the spring of 1S96, were so 

 wreathed with bloom as to nearly hide 

 the foliage, and others noted flowered 

 quite as profusely. 



In an old garden filled with a greater 

 and better variety of plants than the 

 average garden this spircea was particu- 

 larly noticeable for its lack of pruning. 

 Old wood that should have been cut out 

 rears ago, not only failed from lack of 

 vitality to bloom well, but obstructed the 

 egress of light and air that would have 

 perfected the struggling younger growth 

 that should have been in its prime, so 

 that no part of the shrub was able to do 

 well, vet both old and new wood "did 

 what they could" to make the world 

 flowery and prove the excellent intentions 

 of this shrub of the people. 



If only one shrub is grown Spiraea Van 

 Hoiitei is a safe selection; and if a shrub- 

 bery plantation is to be made Spiraea 

 Van Houtei may well head the list. 



Fanny Copley Seayey. 



JESSAMINE, AKBB1A, VARIEGATED flONEY- 

 SUCKLE. 



In the last issue of Gardening Mr. Mee- 

 han made a digression fioin his article on 

 " Pruning Vines in the Fall " to advise his 

 readers always to plant Jasniinum nudi- 

 fiorum in northern exposures, as theearly 

 blooms are apt to be killed by the frosts. 

 How doctors will differ! I have mine 

 against a brick wall on the east side of 

 my house, and if Mr. Meehan could see it 

 sometimes in full bloom in December, Jan- 

 uary and February, he would almost wish 

 he lived in Rockingham, Va., so he could 

 have his bloom the same way. Of course 

 the open blooms are all killed when a hard 

 freeze comes, but the next warm spell it 

 will open new ones, and who wants to 

 wait until spring for its bloom when we 

 can enjoy it so much in the winter. Your 

 correspondent wrote from Philadelphia, 

 but the "Johnny Rebs" of the south en- 

 joy a good thing anywhere they find it. 

 Therefore Gardening has many close 

 readers among them. 



[Jasmimnn nudiflornm, although a very 

 beautiful shrub-vine, is not extra hardy. 

 We did not find it reliably hardy at Bos- 

 ton; nor in cold exposures was it happy 

 on Long Island; but in anything like 

 sheltered places it lormed.large, sprayed 

 clumps which usedto blossom quite freely, 

 sometimes in December, and if severe 

 weather set in early, not till February or 

 March, From New York northward give 

 it shelter. About Washington it is one of 

 the common shrubs of the garden.— Ed.] 



I am responsible for printing that severe 

 pruning late in spring would kill akebias, 

 and here, too, climate may make some 

 difference. Mine on my porch is trimmed 

 bv having the young shoots taken off any 

 time they are not pretty, but cut a two- 

 year-old vine after it begins to put out in 

 spring (which it does quite early), and it 



bleeds like a grapevine. I had one that 

 had grown on my garden fence for years. 

 When the fence needed renewing it was 

 cut down, thinking it would, like a honey- 

 suckle, soon cover it again, but, like a bad 

 child, it cried and shed tears all day and 

 night, keeping this up until the summer 

 was most gone. The vine had laid on the 

 ground and taken root splendidly in sev- 

 eial places. These I dug up and'gave to 

 my friends, but they all bled themselves 

 to death. This fence was made before 

 any gardening was done. So when the 

 editor of Gardening asked me to give him 

 any mistakes I had made I gave him this. 

 Late the next summer a tiny shoot came 

 up and has struggled into growth. 



There is another vine that is beautiful 

 when planted in the right exposure, the 

 variegated-leaved honeysuckle. The late 

 James Vick described it as a bush, when 

 mine was creeping in at the upstairs win- 

 dows. [True it is a vine, but you can 

 also make a pretty bush out of it in sun- 

 shine or shade. Get an old tree root- 

 stump, turn it upside down— root end up 

 —and close to ground; then plant the 

 variegated honeysuckle all about it to 

 grow over it, and it will make a real nice 

 variegated bush, and bloom prettily and 

 last long in foliage. And you can add 

 very much to the effect if you plant some 

 crocuses, snowdrops, grape hyacinths, 

 and early flowers of that kind in about 

 the bush to brighten it up in spring.— Ed.] 

 It is planted on the north porch, and so 

 shaded by other buildings as scarcely ever 

 to see the sun; there it grows and blooms 

 to perfection, and is lovely now, when 

 the late freezes have killed most other 

 things. 



There is a creeping, tender-looking 

 plant at its root whose name I havenever 

 known; I send you a sprig of it, and will 

 be glad if you tell me the name. [The 

 purple deadnettle {Lamium maculatum), 

 a hardy perennial, a native of the Old 

 World, and a common, old-fashioned 

 plant in country gardens. There is also 

 a white flowered form of it, and another 

 with yellowish leaves.— Ed.] This enjeys 

 its home, and looks fresh and green when- 

 ever not covered by snow, which often 

 drifts into this corner three or four feet 

 deep; but it and my evergreen ferns come 

 out from under it as bright and fresh as if 

 they had enjoyed their nap. This plant 

 has a small purple bloom in the spring: 

 nothing much. The leaves have a silver- 

 white blotch down the middle of each leaf. 

 This and the honeysuckle, like all other va- 

 riegated-leaved plants, must not have 

 rich soil or they lose their coloring. 



Lucy G. Chrisman. 



Rockingham Co., Va. 



BARRELS EMPLOYED AS PROTECTORS. 



VINES FOR A WALL. 



Although I have been a subscriber < f 

 your valuable paper but a short time yet 

 I feel that it has been of more benefit *o 

 me as an interesting educator than any 

 other source to which I have had access, 

 so that I purchased the four volumes, and 

 now begin to realize how little I know 

 about this subjectof thepropertreatment 

 of erounds. 



I take the liberty of sending you under 

 separate cover an amateur photograph 

 of the southern portion of my grounds, in 

 which you will note the bank wall run 

 ning from "A" to "B." This is of native 

 granite and has been in position about 

 30 years. It has a southern exposure, 

 fronting on one of the main streets of the 

 village. Can you give me the names of 

 some vines which I could use to coverthis 

 wall? 



The concrete walk at its base, when 

 laid, made a tight joint with the bottom 



