Summer jflotoers. 139 



lavish floral displays. If you can not grow rho- 

 dodendrons, these are excellent substitutes in 

 limestone soil ; they are equally floriferous, equal- 

 ly large-flowered, and equally varied in coloring. 

 Earliest are the single dark crimson and the 

 double fennel-leaved P. tenuifolia. The petals 

 of the latter are a vivid scarlet-crimson, one of 

 the most distinct reds of the year, its feathery 

 foliage unlike that of any of its tribe. Roses 

 are scarcely finer than some of the fragrant 

 Chinese varieties, notably the pure white f es- 

 tiva, marked with carmine in the center, the 

 dark-crimson Louis Van Houtte, the clear rose 

 Humeii and Monsieur Boucharlat, and many 

 others. Nor should we forget the old-fashioned 

 red " piney," crimsoning in farmers' door-yards 

 at the pretty things the great blue-bearded fleur- 

 de-Us is telling her. The Pceonia may be said 

 to grow itself, and, unlike the rhododendron, is 

 perfectly hardy. Beautiful as a single specimen, 

 massed in rows or beds few plants can vie with 

 it for brilliancy. 



I always rejoice when the azalea blooms. In 

 it I find a charm presented by no other flower. 

 Its soft tints of buff, sulphur, and primrose, its 

 dazzling shades of apricot, salmon, orange, and 

 vermilion, are always a fresh revelation of color. 

 They have no parallel among flowers, and exist 



