256 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



September, 



Wild Flowers of Illinois. 



G. L, B., COOK CO., UX. 



Much as I. love my home garden, I still 

 hold my love for the wild things of nature 

 in the woods, meadows and prairies: all the 

 changing aspects which they take on in the 

 procession of the seasons, from the yellow- 

 ing of the Willow's twigs and the reddening 

 of the Dogwoods in February and March, 

 through the budding, leafing, blossoming, 

 fruiting and withering, down to the last of 

 the Asters, Golden Rods and Blue Gentians 

 that hardly leave us before the snow is on 

 the ground. And loving these things as 1 

 do, it seemed to 

 me that some 

 other readers of 

 this paper would 

 be glad to hear of 

 some of the plants 

 that grow on the 

 Illinois prairies. 

 In going to and 

 from the city every 

 day by train, we 

 go for several 

 miles through vir- 

 gin prairie, and at 

 this season, early 

 August, it is a 

 blaze of flowers: 

 mostly composites 

 of various sorts. 

 And while it is not 

 yet late enough 

 for the wild As- 

 ters and Golden 

 Rods, we stUl have 

 a great showing. 



The big yellow 

 blossoms of the 

 Rosin Weeds, two 

 varieties, stand 

 high above all, and 

 face the sun a- 

 round in its half 

 circuit, while their 

 broad, stiff leaves 

 in one variety, in 

 the other almost 

 entire, divided 

 almost to the mid 

 rib, stand erect, 

 with their faces 

 almost true east 

 and west, their 

 edges north and 

 south, from which 

 is derived their 

 other common 

 name, Compass 

 Plant. 



The "Blazing 

 Star" (Liatris), in 

 several varieties, 

 comes next, and 

 holds up its tall, 

 lilac -purple, club- 



and fruit, make the prairies and waysides 

 a source of great delight to me. 



A pretty thing I noticed from the train 

 one morning recently was a new wo ven wire 

 fence, extending along parallel with the 

 track across a broad meadow. It was no 

 sooner up than the wild Convolvulus 

 (hitherto content to spread along the bank 

 of a ditch ) found in the fence the opportunity 

 of a lifetime, and straightway converted 

 itself into pickets: pointed, slender, green 

 pickets, with pink waving flowers flung out 

 from either side. It made a fence pretty 

 enough to enclose a section of fairy land. 



DAFFODIL STELLA, 



Shaped spikes as high as it can, and makes 

 a good record in height to the "Rosin 

 Weed." Some of the tall spikes noticed to- 

 day as just opening, stood almost six feet. 



Below these leaders are a host of smaller 

 ones. Yellow " Composites" in many varie- 

 ties of the Sunflower tj-pe, white ones with 

 a yellow centre (Erlgeron), which the little 

 folks call "Daisies." And then lower still, 

 not more than a foot or fifteen inches from 

 the ground, a perfect carpet is seen of the 

 little globes of the white and pink blossoms 

 of the Wild Onion. 



And we must not forget to mention the 

 "Button Snake Root " (Kryngium Yucca- 

 folium), standing from three to live feet 

 high, with its whitish stem and Yucca-like 

 leaves, and roimd button balls of tiny white 

 blossoms, standing up so stiffly and yet so 

 gracefully. All these things, with the 

 grasses, rushes and sedges.now in full bloom 



As Sketched on the Pupular Gardening Grr/unds. 



and yet it only served to keep the cows off 

 from the railroad track. 



About Two Narcissuses— The 

 " Flower of the Poets." 



Of the two varieties of Dafliodils shown in 

 the annexed engravings, the first, Stella, has 

 proven to be well adapted to naturalization 

 in the wild garden at the Popular Gar- 

 DEXING Grounds: the other has not yet been 

 tested in our grounds. The variety Stella 

 belongs to the medium Trumpet or Eucharis- 

 flowered section of Daffodils, and is one of 

 loveliest of easily grown plants. The color 

 of the outer whorl is creamy white — the cup 

 lemon yellow. The entire flower and form 

 of growth is marked by extreme beauty and 

 delicacy, hence it is not strange that it is 

 one of the most popular forcing and cutting 

 varieties for the flower market. 



The fact that this fine variety succeeds so 

 readily without garden culture as has here 

 been exemplified, is a strong mark in its 

 favor. Late in the season two years ago we 

 were in the store of a Buffalo dealer in 

 bulbs when he offered some surplus 

 bulbs of this and several other varieties of 

 Narcissus at a figure which induced us to 

 purchase several dozen of each as a start 

 towards stocking our wild garden. The 

 season (far into November) was late for 

 planting such bulbs, but nevertheless the 

 planting was done on a sloping bank where 

 second growth trees about one-half shade 

 the surface, and 

 here they were left 

 to thrive as they 

 would. Of the 

 several varieties 

 thus set out the 

 line here figured 

 has done the best 

 by long odds, hav- 

 ing the past season 

 rewarded us with 

 a profuse crop of 

 bloom. 



The Stella is 

 therefore a varie- 

 ty of the hand- 

 somer single Nar- 

 cissus that we take 

 especial pleasure 

 in recommending 

 to our readers. 

 The bulbs may 

 now be bought at 

 a low price of all 

 leading dealers in 

 Dutch bulbs. Suc- 

 ceeding as the var- 

 iety so readily does 

 in the wild garden 

 it should do even 

 better under culti- 

 vation, pro^^ded 

 the planting be 

 done in a compar- 

 atively dry .spot, as 

 on well-drained 

 soil or on a gentle 

 slope. 



The Queen 

 Ann's Double 

 IlaffodU (Narcis- 

 sus Capex pleno) 

 is now being quo- 

 ted in the cata- 

 logues of some 

 leading Bulb deal- 

 ers. It is one of 

 the rarest and 

 handsomest vari- 

 eties of Double 

 Narcissus ui culti- 

 vation. Although 

 it is scarely famil- 

 iar to the average 

 I cultivator, yet it seems to have been known 

 to Parkinson in the reign of Queen Anne. It 

 belongs to the trumpet section of the family, 

 a fact hardly to be suspected by the engrav- 

 ing annexed, for it is so full in respect to 

 multiplication of parts that the normal form 

 is quite disguised. The size and peculiarity 

 of its form is emphasized by its name Cai)cx 

 plcno, which indicates a capacious double 

 flower. 



The blooms have the remarkable star 

 shape sho^vn in the engraving, the sections 

 of the perianth being arranged in regular 

 layers of sis parts. The color is an exquisite 

 pale lemon yellow and the plant is dwarf. 

 In common with all the smaller growing 

 Daffodils this variety prefers a rich dry 

 loam abounding in sand, but no rank 

 manure of any sort. The position should 

 be fairly sunny: the bulbs should be set not 

 too deeply. It is an exquisite variety for 



