The Twelve Best Annual and Perennial 

 Flowering Plants. 



A pa2ier read befove the Society, by Mrs. Thomas L. Nelson, March 1th, 



A. D. 1878. 



I have no intention of taking up your time in reading an elaborate 

 essay on the subject before us to-da}'. With the limited experience I 

 have had I do not feel competent to read a paper before this Society, but 

 I have been invited to do it, and, with the hope of inspiring courage in 

 the hearts of our ladies, shall proceed to enumerate a few plants which I 

 have cultivated more or less, and tell what I know (or think 1 Jtnow) 

 about them. I am well aware of one fact, however, — no two persons in 

 this hall would, if called upon, name the s'ame flowers as best. Each 

 person has his or her own idea, and this meeting is, if I understand it 

 aright, for the purpose of, in a measure, comparing notes. 



Foremost among hardy plants I place the Rose ; no garden is complete 

 without it. The chief difliculty seems to be insects, and with care they 

 may be kept in subjection. 



The finest among June roses are Mad. Hardy, Mad. Plantier, the Dam- 

 ask, and the mosses. I also take in the old white roSe, which to me is 

 the sweetest rose grown, but either through neglect or because it is not 

 as much of a favorite with others as with myself, we rarely find it in 

 gardens at the present day. Then the hybrid jierpetuals in every shade 

 from white to darkest crimson, they surely must have a place. What if 

 they do bloom sparingly after the first general bloom is past V Are not a 

 few scattering roses more precious because of their scarcity ? Of course 

 all the climbing roses are desirable, and we have only to choose which 

 we will have. And branching from my subject, the ro.ses we call tender, 

 the ever-blooming class, Tea, Bourbon, Noisette, and Bengal, are almost 

 as hardy as the hybrid perpetuals. I wintered successfully more than a 

 dozen last winter. I should as soon think of wintering tender roses in 

 the ground, as hybrid perpetuals If either are not strong, healthy 

 plants, the prob;ibility is they will die. 



Next to the rose is the Lily. In almost every garden we find the white 

 lily (Funkia Alba,) with beautiful light green leaves, thriving in almost 

 any location, producing its pure and exquisitely fragrant blossoms da}' 



