34o 



GARDENING. 



Aug. /, 



lections, taking "up too much space in 

 small gardens, and that, therefore, their 

 general employment would be most suited 

 for extensive grounds or parks. There is 

 very little in this argument. That we 

 see them fade with regret and turn with 

 zest to the season of flowering of the next 

 favorite, forms, to my judgment, their 

 chief claim to attention. 



Then there is the foliage, so attractive 

 in its varied forms and colors. I find also 

 that the artistic delight in color is grow- 

 ing with the public so that there is a real 

 source of enjoyment in the study of the 

 endless scale of greens. At least one very 

 clever gardener assured me that he took 

 almost as much pleasure in comparing 

 the varying shades of the foliage as he 

 did in the flowers. I think, myself, that 

 the renewed interest taken in herbaceous 

 plants is partly owing to too much car- 

 pet bedding and ribbon planting with 

 which we have been dosed so heavily 

 during the past twenty years; and really, 

 in many cases, artificial plants would 

 answer just as well as natural ones in 

 the formal arrangements where the indi- 

 vidual characteristics of the flowers are 

 lost and only the cplor effects shown, 

 which could also be more easily and just 

 as satisfactorily secured by painting the 

 various forms on the sod with colored 

 calcimine. We turn with relief to our 

 herbaceous plants after this exhibition of 

 floral fireworks. No other system is so 

 effective in displaying the beauties ot her- 

 baceous plants as that of grouping each 

 kind in masses, without definite form. 

 Always avoid circles, squares and rows, 

 and by keeping this in mind when plant- 

 ing collections you will produce the effect 

 of the plants growing and spreading nat- 

 urally. The various kinds can be culti- 

 vated just as conveniently by the com- 

 mercial grower in irregular masses and 

 systematically labeled and dug for pack- 

 ing and shipping in the selling season as 

 if they were grown in straight rows. In 

 this way they also are shown in the most 

 attractive manner to acustomer, and the 

 most suggestive for his or her own plant- 

 ing. 



A proper selection of the different spe- 

 cies will give us flowers from earliest 

 spring to latest fall, forming a constant 

 source of pleasure and gratification to 

 the grower, so that starting with the 

 earliest flowering dwarf irises, pansies, 

 forget-me-nots, the sprightly daisy, Phlox 

 subulata, the graceful racemes of the 

 bleeding heart, and many others, we have 

 nearly two months of flowers before it is 

 safe to plant out such greenhouse stock 

 as coleuses, geraniums, etc. Besides the 

 renewed interest now shown in well 

 known varieties of herbaceous plants, 

 there is also a general awakening to the 

 fact that many of our native wild flowers 

 are exceedingly beautiful and deserving 

 of a place in our gardens. The hardy 

 trillium is eagerly sought after and brings 

 high prices in Europe, also the dog's 

 tooth violet, hepaticas, lady slippers and 

 many other native plants that heretofore 

 received but slight attention are now col- 

 lected and grown with zeal and care. 

 This popularizing of the neglected herba- 

 ceous plants will be productive of good. 

 New varieties will be produced at a rapid 

 rate, and as an example we may note the 

 endless varieties of the columbine and 

 poppy now in cultivation. We cannot 

 yet estimate the value of herbaceous 

 plants. In order to do this accurately 

 we must consider their hardiness, the 



small amount of care required alterplant- 

 ing, their adaptability to any situation, 



thriving in poor as well as rich soils, 



sandy or clay. Then thereis the question 



of expense, their lowcostand permanence 

 often rendering them preferable in com- 

 parison with our bedding plants which 

 require renewal every season. In herba- 

 ceous plants we do not lack for contrasts 

 in growth, for in size we find in the 

 plants, from the dwarf phlox to the 

 gigantic polygonums, every variety of 

 color and form of bloom and foliage. In 

 this assortment we find plants suitable 

 for any location, small beds and borders 

 in the contracted city lot as well as large 

 plantations on big estates and public 

 parks. 



It would be impossible in the limits ot 

 this paper to fitly describe the beauties 

 and characteristics of each plant, or even 

 to mention without description the 

 numerous varieties. The subject is entirely 

 too large to be treated in one evening as 

 there is an abundance of interesting mat- 

 ter to make a paper on herbaceous plants 



CANTERBURY BELLS 



situations suitable for them; as for 

 instance, the tnone3 r wort on rockeries, 

 margins or borders, the moss pinks on 

 hillocks, etc. The rule most generally 

 followed in planting early flowering spe- 

 cies and varieties is to put them in the 

 most conspicuous point of observation, 

 such as by the gateway or in the border 

 by the pathway leading to the residence. 

 This desire may be explained by stating 

 that there is almost an anxiety on the 

 part of everyone to show early flowers, 

 and after the long dreary days of winter 

 it is a positive pleasure to see the first 

 flowers of spring. Tall growing plants 

 are usually placed in the back of the bor- 

 der next the buildings, trees or fences or 

 in the center of large groups, as the case 

 may be. Where the grounds are large 

 enough to permit it, the grouping of 

 thirty or forty plants of one species to- 

 gether makes a fine effect; a large bed of 

 p.-eonies, for example, produces a very 

 fine effect in themselves. A bed of holly- 

 hocks with Bocconia cordata in the cen- 

 ter, then a broad circle of pa;onies, next 

 irises or campanulas, then Achillea aurea 

 or Spiraea filipendula, finished off with an 

 edge of cerastium always commands 

 admiration. Of course, other and better 

 combinations may De made, but it is 

 always best not to observe uniformity. 



alone fir every meeting of the society. The 

 flowering season of these plants, in many 

 cases, can be prolonged by cutting back 

 the old flower stems, which will have the 

 effect of throwing out new flower spikes 

 later on. This is true notably of phlox 

 and larkspurs. It is not necessary to 

 mention soils most favorable for their 

 growth, for as I said before, the majority 

 of them will grow anywhere, though like 

 everything else they rejoice in a rich clean 

 soil and in all other good conditions of 

 it. Nor have I much to say regarding 

 their oropagation, as they grow so freely 

 fjom division that it is not necessary to 

 go to the trouble of raising them from 

 seeds. There is no special call for art or 

 skill in their planting or proper disposi- 

 tion. In such a case the purchaser of 

 plants would be required to learn the 

 habit and nature of each so as to plant 

 the creeping or dwarf growing plants in 



CANTERBURY BELLS. 



The Canterbury bell (Campanula Medi- 

 um) is a very common but extremely 

 showy border plant. I very well remember 

 the first time I saw it, and my impression 

 then was that there could be nothing 

 more beautiful; but since I have made 

 gardening my life's work, I have some- 

 times thought Canterbury bells a trifle 

 coarse. But like the chrysanthemum, 

 their season of bloom is short, so that we 

 do not have time to become satiated. 



We make a sowing of seeds in the open 

 border early in June. Our plants are 

 now ready to be transplanted into nur- 

 sery beds one foot apart. By the autumn 

 they make large plants, with a central 

 and frequently a circle of secondary 

 crowns. About three dozen of these are 

 put into 9-inch pots, to be held over in 

 cold frames. They are brought along 

 slowly in the spring time for piazza deco- 

 ration during June. A neighbor of mine 

 forces a dozen or so every year, getting 

 some of them into bloom by Easter. To 

 accomplish this he places his plants in a 

 carnation house during January. A 

 peculiar result of early forcing is that a 

 small percentage refuse to start, indicat- 

 ing the need of a longer resting season. 

 Such as come to a standstill in this way 

 always hold over until another season. 



The bulk of our plants are intended for 

 border decoration and are especially use- 

 ful for filling vacant spots in the borders. 

 They are not taken up until spring. The 

 lifted plants have never flowered so well 

 as the surplus left in the nursery. From 

 this I conclude that better results would 

 come from planting the seedlings directly 

 into the borders where they will remain 

 to bloom. I do not consider the calycan- 

 thema or double varieties superior from 

 a decorative point of view. I have 

 always grown Dean's single hybrids; 

 they are quite hardy, though a little pro- 

 tection will save more of the foliage. 



T. D. Hatfieli>. 



C0D0N0FS1S CLEMflTlDEfl. 



It is surprising that this deserving plant 

 has not found its way long ago into cot 

 lections ot hardy plants. It is very rarely 

 mentioned in catalogues and little has 



