M Ylobi^p (g-apd^Q arid I^alor). ^ 



HARDY PERENNIALS.— III. 



(Continued from page 108.) 



During the last few years there has 

 been a great increase in the number of 

 yellow perennial composites offered for 

 sale, most of them wild flowers from 

 Western America. While some of them 

 are too coarse in habit to be desirable 

 additions to the garden border, many of 

 them are most effective and showy, and 

 valuable as a source of cut flowers. 

 Among them are several rudbeckias, of 

 which R Newmanni is the best ; several 

 heleniums, including H. Autumneli, our 

 common wild species, many sunflowers 

 besides the one already noted. The 

 following have proved most satisfactory 

 with me. 



Gaillardia Aristata — Blanket flower. 

 — The original wild form from the 

 Western Prairies, though a handsome 

 flower of 2 to 3 inches diameter, has 

 been immensely improved in size and 

 color by cultivation, and is now one of 

 our showest and most beautiful border 

 plants. Some of the new varieties are 

 5 inches and over across, a few are all 

 yellow, but most of them have the outer 

 end of the rays yellow and the rest red, 

 ranging from scarlet to the deepest 

 marron. The best known form is G. 

 Aristata grandiflora, the one generally 



grown and the only one offered in Cana- 

 dian plant catalogues. Some United 

 States dealers offer 7 or 8 sorts, but 

 though an American flower, it is in 

 Great Britain that its beauty is best 

 appreciated. Messrs. Connell & Sons', 

 Kent, catalogue, no less than 34 dis- 

 tinct named varieties, among which J. 

 Kelway, Vivian Grey, Lorenzo and Wm. 

 Kelway are most highly recommended. 

 The named sorts are propagated by 

 division of the roots, but a fine collec- 

 tion may be grown at small expense 

 from the best seed, be careful and get 

 seed of the perennial sorts, generally 

 sold in mixture under the name of 

 Gaillardia hybride maxima or G. hybrida 

 grandiflora, some seedsmen list seed of 

 the annual kinds as Ci. grandiflora. 



Seed sown in May makes fine plants 

 for transplanting the following spring. 

 Plant out in clumps, it does not grow 

 robust enough to make a good show in 

 single plants. The flowers are on long 

 naked stalk, and last a long time on the 

 plant and after cutting. In continuous 

 bloom last summer from June 21 to 

 Oct. II. Thrives best n a dry, sandy 

 soil and sunny location. 



147 



