304 HARDY HERBACEOUS FLOWERS. 



There is a very dwarf, spring blooming Phlox, called by 

 botanists Phlox Suhulata, and known by the common name of 

 Moss Pink. It never grows more than a few inches in height, 

 and produces varieties with flowers of pink, purple, and white, 

 and some that are eyed. A bed of these is very pretty in May, 

 easily grown, requiring only to be divided and planted in a new 

 bed once in two or three years. 



Spirea. — The Meadow Sweet. — These are all perfectly hardy 

 plants, enduring our most severe and changeable winters without 

 injury. They thrive best in a loamy soil, deep, rich, and well 

 drained. In such situations they grow finely and flower most 

 abundantly. There are several very pretty and desirable species 

 which are well worthy of a place in the most choice flower gar- 

 den. They are aU of easy culture and increased by divisions of 

 the roots. 



Filipendula. — The double flowered variety is very pretty. 

 The flowers are white, very double, resembling the beautiful 

 Spirea PrunifoUa, which is described among the shrubs. It 

 grows about eighteen inches high and blossoms in June and July. 



Japonica. — This is now advertised, sometimes as Hoteia Jajpon- 

 ica, sometimes as Astilhe Japonica. But by whatever name it 

 may be called, it is one of the most graceful and beautiful little 

 things with which one can ornament a garden. The foliage alone 

 is very pretty, but when this is crowned with its neat spikes of 

 white feather-like flowers, it is charming. If taken up in the 

 autumn, carefully potted and set away in the cellar \mtil 'February, 

 then brought into a warm room, it wiU blossom beautifully and 

 make a most elegant window plant. 



There is a variety the foliage of which is handsomely varie- 

 gated with bright yellow, especially in the early part of the 

 season, but in nothing else differing from the preceding. 



Ulmaria. — The double-flowered variety of this species is by 

 far the most desirable. The flowers are produced in large 

 corymbs, of a snowy whiteness. The species is a native of 



