152 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May. 



The Elders for Ornamental Planting. 



Quite likely the Common Elder Sambu- 

 ciis CuiuKtcnsis would be classed among 

 the most ornamental of hardy shrubs were 

 it not for its commonness in a wild state 

 over a large part of our country. That it is 

 a bush of pleasing spreading form, possess- 

 ed of handsome glossy compound leaves 

 and bearing in midsummer a profusion of 

 white sweet flowers in large flat clusters, 

 no one will deny. Its useful blui.sh-black 

 fruit ripening in September is also not 

 without attractiveness. Let it be planted 

 along the shore of any stream or body of 

 fresh water, or in a dampish spot in the 

 wild garden where it is not unduly crowded 

 and it is quite sure to develop into an at- 

 tractive object. 



But if the common Elder does not rank 

 highly for ornamental 

 planting because of its 

 commonness, the same 

 charge cannot be raised 

 against numerous vari- 

 eties now classed among 

 desirable ornamental 

 growths but which are 

 rarely met in our 

 gardens. It is the main 

 object of the present 

 article to speak of and 

 to illustrate some varie- 

 ties of this shrub, which 

 the writer has for years 

 had in cultivation on 

 his lawn, and which are 

 to be heartily recom- 

 mended to all planters 

 of hardy embellishing 

 materials. 



Of four varieties illus- 

 trated, the chief attrac- 

 tions of which, in all, 

 is found in the character 

 of the foliage, the one 

 to the extreme left is 

 the Fern-leaved Elder 

 {Samhucus Nigra hctcr- 

 ophyUa).^This is a vari- 

 ety of moderate growth, 

 always healthy and 

 shapely in form, the foliage of which is 

 deeply and curiously cut. It is a shrub that 

 because of its oddity, would attract atten- 

 tion in any collection of plants. 



Next to the foregoing is shown a leaf of 

 the Variegated Elder (var. varicfiata), a 

 peculiarity of which is that the foliage is 

 edged with a line of yellow and white, in 

 nearly all its parts. The bush is of stronger 

 growth than the flrst-named sort, and is 

 equally healthy in character. It is well 

 suited for use in contrast with shrubs of 

 dark foliage like the Euonymuses, Privets, 

 Calycanthus, Forsythia, etc. Well develop- 

 ed ones attain a height of six or more feet. 



Third in the group is shown the Cut- 

 leaved Elder (var. lachiciita). This is one of 

 the handsomest of cut-leaved shrubs, and 

 such as would be sure to prove an ornament 

 in any garden. The foliage is dark green, 

 glossy and delicately and regularly cut, in 

 which respects it difl'ers from the Fern- 

 leaved variety the leaves of which are a 

 lighter green and irregularly cut. It is 

 suitable for planting either singly or in 

 clumps on the lawn, or for intermixing 

 with other shrubs in the border. Owing to 

 its elegant appearance there is not the least 

 objection to bringing it prominently near 

 the edge of a shrub mass. 



The leaf shown to the extreme right is 

 that of the Golden Elder, a variety of much 

 value for enlivening shrubberies, and gar- 

 dens. The foliage of this is more or less 

 difl:used with golden yellow while some of 

 its parts are of pure yellow giving the plant 

 altogether a distinct and bright appearance. 

 The season when this variety comes in with 



flne effect is In midsummer and later after 

 the shrubbery has lost much of its floral 

 attractiveness. At that time this bright 

 shrub, enlivened by sunlight and standing 

 among the green of other shrubs or in a 

 clump upon the green lawn, is sure to at- 

 tract every eye within its range. Where 

 there is a tendency in it to run too much to 

 green this should be discouraged by cut- 

 ting back the greener growth. 



The Red-berried Elder (S. /w/jchs) is a dis- 

 tinct native species that is not widely 

 known. Its habitat is from the Alleghany 

 Mountains southward, although found 

 sparsely as far north as Niagara Falls. 

 Some persons esteem this as the most orna- 

 mental species of the family. 



The choicer Elders can be obtained at a 

 moderate price of all the leading nursery- 



Fern-leaved. 



Variegated. Cut-leaved. 



LEAVES OF VARIOUS ELDERS. 



men who make a specialty of ornamental 

 shrubs and trees. 



Some Experience with Wild Flowers 

 and Trees. 



T. L. B., COOK CO,, ILL. 



In a small way I have had some success 

 and satisfaction in growing wild things. 

 Several years ago I decided to see what 

 might be done with our common wild 

 orange-red Prairie Lilies, Philadelphicum 

 which bears its blossom upright and ordin- 

 arily only one on a stem, and Canadense 

 which has nodding blossoms and from 

 three to five on a stem, rarely more. In 

 summer when they were in full bloom I 

 marked a number of the finest plants. 

 These I dug up in the fall, getting bulbs 

 in no case larger than Hickory nuts, 

 and many of them much smaller. These 

 bulbs 1 planted in a rich spot in my garden 

 and they bloomed the next summer about 

 the same as in their wild state, but after 

 that they increased in size, vigor and 

 beauty, and one stem of the Canadense 

 came with nine blossoms. This variety, by 

 the way, seems to take more kindly to cul- 

 tivation than the other, though both do well. 



After three years I had to move them all, 

 and was surprised to find that they had 

 multiplied greatly, and also that the bulbs 

 had increased in size most wonderfully, 

 being, many of them, larger than hens' 

 eggs. Last summer, the first after trans- 

 planting, they went on blooming as it noth- 

 ing had happened, and are now a permanent 

 and much admired feature in my garden. 



Hepaticas, if given a cool, shady place 



(mine are close against the house on the 

 north side) do very well, and are as charm- 

 ing in their varied tints and fresh wide-eyed 

 beauty, as when found among the dead 

 leaves in March in their native abode. 



Dicentra does well also, and I have Dog- 

 tooth Violets which lived through last sum- 

 mer safely, and give promise of a good 

 showing thisi'spring. 



I have seen, too, though not in my own 

 yard, the flne purple Cypripedium Spec- 

 tabile which was as much at home in a 

 clump of shrubbery having an east ex- 

 posure, as if it had originated there. 



Another feature which has proved very 

 satisfactory was the transplanting of a lot 

 of Wood Ferns, Adiantum, and several 

 other varieties, and a number of different 

 kinds of Mosses, of which I made a little 

 mound with stones in 

 an angle having a north 

 and east exposure. 



These all did wonder- 

 fully well and Violets 

 transplanted in the 

 Moss, though not seen 

 at first, asserted their 

 rights, and grew as if 

 they had been specially 

 requested to show them- 

 selves at their very best. 

 The shrubs and trees, 

 too, though most of 

 them can be bought 

 from the nurserymen, 

 may be had at first 

 hands and at much less 

 cost, leaving out of the 

 account the difference 

 in the amount of satis- 

 faction one feels at 

 having started some- 

 thing lor himself over 

 that felt when some one 

 else is paid to start it. 

 One year in March, 

 when the frost had just 

 gone out of the ground, 

 I went to the woods 

 and found the soil so 

 soft and mellow that I 

 pulled up by the roots, a number of small 

 White Thorn and wild Crab Apple trees. 

 On replanting at home, these all lived 

 and grew with but one exception, and 

 the best one of the Thorns I now value 

 more highly than any tree on the place. Its 

 flne show of bloom in spring, its foliage 

 which is always flne, and its quaint and 

 picturesque habit of growth make it a thing 

 always to be admired. 



Golden. 



Home and Village Improvements. 



L. F. ABBOT, AKDROSCOGGIN CO., ME. 



When the idea of the utility of beauty in 

 home surroundings shall have become more 

 tiniversal among the rural and village 

 population, then we shall hope for an im- 

 provement in the home surroundings of 

 that class commonly styled the "average 

 farmer," and for a tidier and thriftier ap- 

 pearance manifest in our numerous villages 

 and hamlets. Aside from any sentiment or 

 taste in the matter, there is a utility in 

 beauty, both in home and town. There is 

 a money value in improved appearance of 

 streets, highways, villages or towns, which 

 farmers and real estate owners living there 

 should not fail to appreciate. 



It is beyond question that the character 

 of the home and its surroundings has much 

 to do in shaping the course of men and 

 women in after lite. A beautiful home is 

 one of the best moral agencies in existence. 

 It appeals alike to young and old. It 

 shapes the disposition and thoughts of the 

 child, and so creates an evergreen old age. 



Whatever may be said in favor of improv- 

 ing the individual home is easily applicable 



