Septembeu 4, 1913. 



The Florists' Review 



17 



Rescuing the Victims of the Tonka Bay Pier Collapse.— Photo by H. B. Dorner, Urbana, 111. 



which goes to show that nine-tenths of 

 our hardy lilies are planted far too shal- 

 low, L. Batmanniae, of a rich apricot 

 color, is a beautiful variety, recently in 

 flower. It grows three to five feet high, 

 and six or more flowers are carried to 

 a stem. 



Speaking of lilies for the garden also 

 reminds me of the fact that it is at 

 this season that L. candidum, the an- 

 nunciation lily, should be planted. Get 

 the bulbs into the ground as soon as 

 possible after arrival. Plant so as to 

 cover the bulbs four inches, and lay 

 some sand above and below them. If 

 they are rolled in sulphur before plant- 

 ing and laid on their sides, they will 

 be cleaner than if planted in the regu- 

 lation way. 



Aconitum or Monkshood. 



Aconitums were lately in their full 

 beauty. Some people fail with them 

 through planting in thin, dry soil, which 

 is not at all to their liking. In deep, 

 well manured land, which holds the 

 moisture well, they make remarkable 

 growth, five or six feet high, some- 

 times even higher. When well grown, 

 there is no more beautiful or striking 

 hardy border plant. There is a wide 

 color range, varying from the deepest 

 blue to white. A. Napellus, with dark 

 blue flowers, is the best known species. 

 There are several sub-varieties of this, 

 of other shades. A. autumnale does 

 particularly well in shade; it, also, is 

 dark blue. The new A. Wilsoni, a Chi- 

 nese variety, is a vigorous pale blue 

 sort, and a late bloomer. A pretty 

 dwarf variety is A. Fischeri, also pale 

 blue. For those who like bicolored 

 flowers, A. Napellus bicolor, blue and 

 white, is pretty. 



Perennial Phloxes. 



Hardy borders would miss phloxes 

 more than any other plants from July 

 to September, were they taken away. 

 They certainly provide a long succes- 

 sion of bloom, and with their wide range 

 of colors are invaluable for dotting in 

 beds, massing or growing in nursery 

 rows for cutting. It does not pay to 

 leave phloxes too long without replant- 

 ing them, as the trusses will be crowded 

 and poor and the plants will suffer 

 more in periods of drought than stock 

 planted in well trenched and manured 

 ground. Phloxes are propagated by 

 seed, cuttings and division of the roots. 



About every grower will find quantities 

 of seedlings coming up each year, and 

 some really fine sorts are easily raised 

 in this way. Divided clumps do toler- 

 aljly well, but the best way to propa- 

 gate is from soft-wood cuttings in the 

 spring. The cuttings give one large 

 truss the first year, and make fine plants 

 to set out or sell in the fall. These 

 plants will produce wonderfully fine 

 trusses if in good soil, and if in periods 

 of drought some water can be given 

 them. 



Probably no two lists of the best 

 twelve phloxes would be alike. The 

 following, however, are all varieties of 

 l)roven excellence: Le Cygne and F. G. 

 Von Lassburg, splendid whites; Coquel- 

 icot, scarlet; Pantheon, carmine rose; 

 Elizabeth Campbell, salmon, changing 

 to pink, a fine shade; Eclaireur, rich 

 magenta, shaded with a light halo; R. 

 P. Struthers, rose carmine, crimson eye; 

 Henry Murger, white, rose eye; Beran- 

 ger, white, suffused pink, red eye; So- 

 leil, fine pink; Esperance, splendid 

 mauve, and Le Mahdi, dark blue. The 

 last named looks well on cloudy days; 

 under clear sunshine it is not effective. 

 The early flowering suffruticosa variety. 

 Miss Lingard, coming in several weeks 

 ahead of the paniculata section, is prob- 

 ably the beat of all phloxes and should 

 be included in every hardy flower bor- 

 der. The color is a pure white, with 

 a delicate pink eye. This variety is 

 also splendid for indoor culture. Cut- 

 tings rooted last spring, and planted 

 out, can be lifted in October or Xovem- 

 ber, placed in boxes and brought into 

 heat in January for spring flowering. 



Budbeckias or Coneflowers. 



Fall gives us an almost too great 

 l)redominance of yellow flowers in the 

 hardy borders. The various heleniums, 

 helianthus, heliopsis and rudbeckias 

 alone give us a large number of this 

 ^olor. Nearly all are robust growers, 

 and the majority should have locations 

 at the back of the flower borders or 

 mixed among shrubs. Rudbeckia la- 

 ciniata and its double variety, Golden 

 Glow, are known everywhere. This 

 grows like a weed. It is a beautiful 

 subject for massing, but has been over- 

 planted, and the question with many 

 now is how best to get rid of it, rather 

 than how to increase their stock. R. 

 Newmani, golden yellow with maroon 

 cone, growing two to three feet high, 



and R. purpurea, rosy purple, of sim- 

 ilar height, are neat border plants which 

 do not spread too fast. R. superba sub- 

 tomentosa, pale yellow with purple 

 cones, three feet in height, is another 

 desirable variety. * 



Campanulas or Bellflowers. 



In late Angust, some of the campanu- 

 las were still effective. The dwarf 

 Carpatica was blooming freely. The 

 peach-leaved oellflowers, C. persici- 

 folia, were giving a second crop, and C. 

 glomerata, the clustered bellflower, was 

 still flowering well. The platycodons, 

 which are often included as campanulas, 

 make their finest show in August. Their 

 large blue or white, cup-shaped flowers 

 are produced with great freedom over 

 quite a long period. Good varieties are 

 P. grandiflora and its white form, grow- 

 ing three to three and one-half feet 

 high, and Mariesi and Mariesi alba, 

 later flowering and dwarfer in "habit. 

 The platycodons are late in starting 

 to grow in spring, but make rapid head- 

 way when once they start. 



Helianthus or Sunflower. 



The helianthus, or hardy sunflower, 

 is conspicuous in late summer in the 

 perennial garden. H. multiflorus plenus 

 is a useful florists' variety, not hardy 

 in some latitudes and needing cold- 

 frame protection pver winter. It is 

 fine for cutting and does not run wild 

 in the borders like some others. The 

 various forms of H. rigidus, such as 

 Miss Melliah and Miss Wilmott, are 

 among the best of the single varieties. 

 There is also a semi-double variety. 

 All these must be kept within bounds, 

 or they will soon smother out every- 

 thing around them. H. mollis, with sil- 

 very leaves and pale yellow single flow- 

 ers, is a good variety. H. orgyalis, the 

 willow-leaved, hardy sunflower, is 

 among the latest bloomers; so, also, is 

 H. Maximiliani. 



Closely allien to the helianthus are 

 the heleniums. Those useful varieties, 

 H. autumnale superbum and autumnale 

 rubrum, the latter with reddish brown 

 flowers, are now in bloom. They are 

 splendid for massing at the backs of 

 borders or for individual clumps. For 

 cutting they are excellent. H. pumi- 

 lum magnificum has been flowering 

 for over two months and still persists. 

 A first-class variety also is Riverton 

 [Concluded on paire 87.] 



