276 



GARDENING. 



June 



been written about a good deal, because 

 of its bright red berries in fall and winter. 

 Its chief use is for planting in situations 

 where it can ramble at will over other 

 shrubs and trees. In such places it makes 

 a good display in early winter. There is 

 a foreign species of it, Celastrus puncta tus, 

 which flowers and fruits more freely than 

 ours does. 



Dolkhos japonicus is a Japanese vine 

 about which much has been written of 

 late, chiefly because of its being such a 

 rapid growing vine. But it is of a partly 

 herbaceous nature, the tops dying back 

 in winter to almost the color of the plant. 

 This, however, does not prevent its mak- 

 ing a wonderlul growth every season, 

 sometimes as much as fifty feet in a sea- 

 son, when the vine is old and strong. It 

 must be tied to what it has to cover, as 

 it does not cling of its own accord. It 

 bears rosy purple flowers, in small 

 racemes. 



Wistarias are well known, useful vines. 

 There are four good, distinct sorts, the 

 Chiuese, American, Japanese and tnag- 

 nil'ica. For situations where a rather 

 heavy vine is wanted, this is the one to 

 have, and the Chinese is the showiest. 

 The flowers are in drooping bunches, 

 much like huge bunches of grapes, and are 

 sweet scented. The Chinese flowers first, 

 closely followed by the Japanese, the oth- 

 ers coming two weeks later. They are 

 often used about porches, but unless 

 where the situation demands a large, 

 strong vine, with large woody shoots, 

 they are apt to look too heavy for the 

 place. Joseph Meehan. 



Philadelphia. 



The Flower Garden. 



THE PICKEREL FLflNT. 



One of the plants which adds much to 

 the beauty ot the inland lakes, so numer- 

 ous in the highlands of south-east Michi- 

 gan is the pickerel plant (Pontederia cor- 

 data). Usually it grows in water six 

 inches to one foot deep, in the shallow 

 borders of rivers and lakes. Many of 

 these plants, growing thickly together 

 form large masses not only ornamental 

 in appearance but an ideal resort forthat 

 small fish called the pickerel, hence the 

 name, pickerel plant, or, rather inappro- 

 priately, pickerel weed, for it is in no sense 

 to be called a weed. This plant grows 

 three or four feet high, bearing two or 

 three large, handsome, calla-like leaves 

 and at the summit of the stem a long 

 spike of handsome, oddly shaped blue 

 flowers, in perfection in July. Approach- 

 ing au inland lake or river in July, we see 

 in the distance, along the margins a bor- 

 der of deep green above which lies aline 

 of rich blue. It is a very useful plant in 

 water gardening. W. A. B. 



HBRBflGEOUS FLflNT NOTES. 



The month of May brings out a great 

 number of showy hardy flowers and the 

 borders are becoming more interesting 

 every day. Where mixed borders have 

 been planted judiciously, spring bloomers 

 evenly distributed among the summer and 

 fall flowering subjects, there will be no 

 lack of cheerful and lively effects from 

 now on. The early flowering material 

 to draw upon is so very large that any 

 soil, situation or exposure may be suited 

 by proper selection. High dry ground 

 can be made a success as well as the low 

 damp places, and between the two ex- 



tremes we ma}' plant almost anything 

 without discrimination, though some of 

 the plants will require the protecting 

 shade of their taller neighbors in mid- 

 summer, and therefore a knowledge of 

 their special requirements is indispensable, 

 for if we should place the helianthemums, 

 for instance, in a shady nook we could 

 not reasonably expect them to bloom 

 with the same profusion, nor would 

 their growth be so compact as when 

 planted in a fully exposed position. 



Among the many things in bloom at 

 present I may mention the grand Doroni- 

 cum plantagineumexcclsum withits large 

 well formed daisy-like yellow flowers; it 

 is a most profuse bloomer and lasts for a 

 long time, often maturing another fair 

 crop of flowers toward or late in the fall. 

 This is the tallest of the doronicums to 

 my knowledge; under favorable condi- 

 tions old clumps may attain a height of 

 three and a half to four and a half feet, 

 but in ordinarily good soil we seldom see 

 them more than three feet high. Daphne 

 cneorum is fully out with its numerous 

 bright pink flower heads, which arc deli- 

 cately fragrant; it does not really come 

 under the head of herbaceous plants, being 

 hard wooded and shrubby, but is in 

 general use in all borders of any preten- 

 sion. The plants spread out, but never 

 grow tall with age. Propagation is 

 effected by cuttings of the half ripe wood 

 or by layers; it is slow work at best 

 unless you have numerous large old stools 

 to work from. The plants furnish a full 

 crop of flowers regularly every spring and 

 early summer and then bloom off and on, 

 but more sparingly, up to late in autumn. 

 Viola cornuta has started to blossom 

 quite profusely. The blue varieties are 

 used in many sections in place of violets 

 when the latter are past, and though the 

 flowers of the horned violet are a trifle 

 larger than the best of our single large 

 flowering sorts, and more pansy-like in 

 shape, they answer admirably for the 

 purpose. When planted in slightly moist 

 ground and partly shaded from the hot- 

 test sun, we may pick flowers from them 

 continuously until fall, but in a dry and 

 very sunny exposure they will stop bloom- 

 ing during the hot weather in July and 

 August. The pure white variety is equally 

 desirable, and all are excellent plants for 

 the border when slight shade can be pro- 

 vided for them, otherwise they are only 

 effective in the early part of the summer 

 and again in autumn. 



The various kinds of trollius are very 

 conspicuous at present with their bold 

 globular yellow flowers. T. Buropscus is 

 pale yellow and the stems generally grow 

 about one andahalf feet high in ordinary 

 garden soil; the flowers are very lasting. 

 The plant is well worth growing for cut- 

 ting, as also is the deeper colored T. 

 Asiaticus, which in other respects resem- 

 bles the first named. A variety- which we 

 received from a European grower some 

 time ago under the name of T. giganteus 

 has larger flowers and is a vigorous 

 grower. The earliest lychnis with us is 

 the elegant L. alpina, only about six to 

 eight inches high, but well set with a 

 great numberof its many flowered bright 

 pink flower heads. This useful plant is 

 not met with very often, though easy to 

 grow in dry and sunny places, while 

 moisture and dense shade is detrimental 

 to its welfare. It forms a nice little com- 

 pact tuft of small narrow foliage and is 

 evergreen; the flowers will last well into 

 summer and the plant looks neat and 

 clean throughout the year. Linum 

 perenne is coming on fast; its lovely 

 blue saucer-shaped flowers are very 

 numerous every morning, but they close 



up after midday or when it rains, only to 

 reopen again in the same profusion the 

 following day. Its habit is graceful, light 

 and airy, stems thin and wiry with nar- 

 row short linear leaves; the flowers are 

 of no use forcutting, but no flower border 

 should be without a few of these plants; 

 they are always satisfactory and require 

 no special care, doing well in any position 

 if not too densely shaded, attaining a 

 height of about one foot. 



Slcllaria Holostca, with a profusion of 

 starry pure white flowers is conspicuous 

 on the rockery and in the border; its 

 densely matted growth hides the ground 

 at all times and the flowers are freely 

 produced in succession for about two 

 nuniths in spring. Armerias in a half 

 dozen varieties are out too, nfostly pink 

 shades, a few whites among them; we 

 can ill afford to do without any of them. 

 for all have distinct and desirable qualities 

 of their own. Iris pumila alba, with pure 

 white standards, and /. pumila aurea arc 

 somewhat later with us than the blue 

 varieties, but are well advanced now; 

 both are valuablein the border, especially 

 the last named, the color being a very 

 deep golden yellow and the flowers per- 

 fectly shaped; growing a little taller than 

 the early blue, they are used extensively 

 as cut flowers. Uvularia grandiflora 

 with its long pendulous pale yellow 

 flowers, which are kept in constant 

 motion by the slightest breeze, is an 

 interesting object when planted in large 

 clumps; young plants with two or three 

 stems are pretty, but do not create the 

 same effect. These flowers are borne on 

 the stout arching shoots and spring from 

 the leaf joints on the upper part of the 

 leafy young growth. Half shade is desir- 

 able for them, but open places will answer 

 for them if the soil is not excessively dry. 

 The rock roses (helianthemums) are just 

 now beginning to be attractive and will 

 be so throughout the season; every day 

 will bring a new crop of the small rose- 

 like blossoms, white, yellow or pink, in 

 various shades. The plantis shrubby, but 

 very dwarf in habit and can withstand 

 the dry heat in full exposure; the small 

 foliage is green in winter and helps to 

 keep up a cheerful appearance in the 

 border or on the rockery, wherever we 

 may happen to introduce them. They 

 are propagated by cuttings in August. 



The double white Ranunculus aconiti- 

 folius d. pi. is one of the most useful plants 

 of its genus for cutting, though the 

 double yellows are also very serviceable. 

 They are double to the very center and 

 bloom freely in May and June on long 

 branching stems, varying in height ac- 

 cording to soil or situation from ten 

 inches to two feet. The plants should 

 not be disturbed too often, old clumps in 

 fairly good soil giving a great mass of 

 bloom year after vear and growing to a 

 good height, the flower steins being 

 long, while newly divided plants are a 

 great deal shorter of stem. Fair maids 

 of France and white bachelor buttons, 

 they are called in different sections of the 

 country. Thedoublebuttercup or yellow 

 bachelor's button, R. acris /I. pi., is also 

 in flower; it grows usually about one 

 and a half feet high and is not so sensi- 

 tive when divided and transplanted. All 

 ranunculuses, of which there are quite 

 a number of species, do best in rather 

 moist soil, but an ordinary border will 

 answer quite well for them. 



J. B. Keller. 



An English paper reports a ca 

 sia bulbs forming new bulbs af 

 ing without producing any folil 



asc offrce- 

 fter plant- 

 iage. 



