SOME GOOD HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS. 



in the border, or such a variety of shades. 

 One Enghsh house catalogues 145 varie- 

 ties, ranging from white through all 

 shades of pink, to dark red, and from 

 the palest violet to dark purple. There 

 the season of bloom is from July till fall, 

 some varieties flowering earlier than 

 others. The first clusters are the laigest 

 and finest but if the tops are cut off 

 some of the shoots as soon as the buds 

 form, they branch out and produce firm 

 heads of flowers late in the season. A 

 good half dozen varieties are, The Pearl, 

 white ; Sir Richard Wallace, large white 

 with violet eye ; La Soleil, lilac rose ; 

 Isabay, orange salmon ; August Riviere, 

 fiery-red shaded violet ; Frau Von 

 Spiemen ; salmon pink, a very fine 

 sort, flowers i^ inch across slightly 

 curled inwards at the edge. 



Dictamiius Fraxinella, or Gas Plant, 

 is a very showy and interesting plant that 

 should be more widely known. While 

 far from being a novelty, it increases 

 so slowly, often growing for years with- 

 out any apparent increase in size, that it 

 has not been very widely disseminated, 

 very few gardens being so fortunate as 

 to possess a good specimen. It grows 

 about two feet high, a well established 

 plant being about as much in diameter, 

 each stalk terminated by a spike of rosy 

 flowers eight or ten inches long, at their 



best for a month after May 20th. The 

 leaves resemble those of the ash, and if 

 gently pressed emit a perfume like lemon 

 peel, but if bruised the odour is balsamic 

 and somewhat strong for most tastes. 

 The volatile oil that produces this odour 

 is secreted so freely, that if a match is 

 applied to a newly opened flower on a 

 hot day a slight e.xplosion ensues. D. F. 

 alba is a very handsome variety with 

 pure white flowers. 



Lysimachia inummidaria. — If you 

 have any place too much shaded by house 

 or trees for any of the ordinary flowering 

 plants — or even grass — to grow, but 

 which you would like to have covered, 

 try Lysimachia mummularia, — money- 

 wort or creeping jenny, by far the best 

 creeping perennial we have for that pur- 

 pose. It spreads rapidly, rooting at the 

 joints, and throwing out lots of side 

 branches ; but as it does not produce 

 underground shoots it is easily kept with- 

 in bounds. The leaves are oval in 

 shape, about \]A inches long, of a rich 

 dark green color, and are produced so 

 freely as to completely cover the ground. 

 The flowers, bright yellow, cup shaped, 

 about 3/^ of an inch across, are in great 

 abundance during June and July. 



Ottawa. R. B. Whyte. 



(To be Continued.) 



Keeping Roses jn Bloom — As soon 

 as they have found their first flowers in 

 the open ground, pinch off" the end of 

 the first shoot, and as soon as the rose 

 is fully opened, pick it off. No rose 

 should be left to fade upon the bush, as 

 when so left it exhausts the plant in the 

 formation of seed. As the plants grow, 

 pinch back the ends of the shoots when 

 they have grown six inches, and rub out 

 all puny shoots, thus keeping the plants 

 in a rounded open bush form. If strong 



shoots alone are left to grow, they will 

 soon control the strength of the plant 

 and the flowers will be few and often of 

 imperfect form. Should the season be 

 hot and dry, a mulch of fine fresh grass 

 or sawdust, or moss from the woods, 

 should be placed all over the soil, three 

 inches deep, and at night watered 

 thoroughly, not sprinkled, but ivct like a 

 days' rain. 



.A. H. Cameron. 

 Tiverton, Ont., 



70 



