16 



The Florists^ Review 





Septbmbeb 16, 1915. 



to its development; it lives, but 

 does not thrive; in the south it 

 flourishes apace." It is necessary 

 to consider, not only the latitude, but 

 also the longitude and altitude and a 

 multitude of local peculiarities of soil 

 and eccentricities of climate. So each 

 prospective grower of E. radicans must 

 be governed by his own knowledge and 

 by the testimony of local nurserymen 

 or other well informed neighbors. 



Rash statements as to its evergreen 

 character might also lead to trouble. A 

 trustworthy Illinois nurseryman says 

 ID is evergreen except in the extreme 

 north. Just what he means by "ex- 

 treme north," he might hesitate to 

 tell; he probably did not feel justified 

 in using a less elastic phrase. 



Its Propagation. 



E. radicans can be readily propagated 

 by cuttings of half-ripened wood, either 

 in the fall and winter or in early Au- 

 gust. One of The Review's correspond- 

 ents has recently expressed a strong 

 preference for the summer cuttings, as 

 they root much more quickly than the 

 winter ones if kept in a cloise frame, 

 shaded and freely syringed. If only 

 small quantities are propagated, the 

 correspondent states, flats are prefer- 

 able to frames, because they can be 

 moved about. A flat 12x24 inches and 

 four inches deep, he says, will hold 

 200 to 250 cuttings and not one per 

 cent will fail to root, provided the cut- 

 tings, when taken off, are plunged in 

 fresh water and are not allowed to 

 dry at any time. Use sandy loam in 

 the flats, placing some coal ashes or 

 other material underneath for drain- 

 age. These flats, if kept freely 

 syringed and properly cared for, will 

 be a mat of roots in eight weeks, when 

 they can be stood outdoors until cold 

 weather. Then they can be packed 

 away in a coldframe, under a bed of 

 dry leaves, for the winter. Or the 

 little plants can be potted up if re- 

 quired for early spring sales. 



Varieties of Badlcans. 



Among the varieties or subvarieties 

 of E. radicans, the form most favor- 

 ably spoken of is E. vegeta, or E. radi- 

 cans vegeta. Some authorities, includ- 

 ing E. H. Wilson, of the Arnold Arbor- 

 etum, even declare that vegeta is su- 

 perior to the type. In a recent issue 

 of the Garden Magazine, Mr. Wilson 

 says: "The type has narrowly ovate, 

 pointed to lance-shaped leaves; the va- 

 riety vegeta has obovate to broadly 

 oval leaves, rounded at the apex, dark 

 green and glossy, especially in winter. 

 This variety, which is a better garden 

 plant than the type, was raised in the 

 Arnold Arboretum from seeds received 

 from Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 1876." 

 l\o definite information seems to be 

 available, however, as to how tall E. 

 vegeta will grow. Hence growers who 

 wish to be certain about the height, or 

 about other qualities which require 

 long testing, may still prefer E, radi- 

 cans. 



There are also several forms of radi- 

 cans with variegated leaves, but it is 

 presumed that in this case, as in most 

 others, the green-leaved plants are 

 more vigorous anu reliable than the 

 variegated sorts. 



THE HAEDY FLOWER GARDEN. 



Blue-flowering Plants. 



A pleasing change from the heavy, 

 prevailing tone of yellow comes in the 

 eryngiums, or sea hollies. Of these 

 E. planum and E. amethystinum, with 

 their round steel-blue heads of blooms, 

 growing three to four feet in height, 

 are now flowering. The echinops, or 

 globe thistles, are of similar hue and 

 are still attractive. Of these sphsero- 

 cephalus, Ritro and Bannaticus are all 

 well worth growing. 



We have some other attractive blue 

 flowers now, and among these are 

 Plumbago Larpent«, six inches high, 

 with deep blue flowers; Salvia azurea 



grandiflora, pale blue; S. pratensis, in- 

 tense dark blue; Lobelia syphilitica, 

 three feet in height, Ifeht blue; Clema- 

 tis Davidiana, the blw shrubby clem- 

 atis, and C. integryplia, of similar 

 color, but dwarfer in-, habit. Caryop- 

 teris Mastacanthus is commonly classed 

 as a perennial, although it is really 

 a deciduous shrub. It makes a good 

 show at this season. We have still 

 fuHher additions in the fine second 

 crop of delphiniums; the present sea- 

 son seedlings of D. Chinensis, the Chi- 

 nese larkspurs, make a notable display 

 of their intense deep blue flowers. 



Other I<ate-flowering Perennials. 



Some other perennials now flowering 

 are: Epilobium angustifolium, the wil- 

 low herb; Conoclinium coelestinum, the 

 blue mist flower; Chelone Lyoni, deep 

 red; Dicentra eximia formosa, the per- 

 petual-flowering bleeding heart; the 

 tall, showy hibiscus, or mallow, in- 

 cluding Crimson Eye, white, red cen- 

 ter; H. militaris, pink, and H. Mos- 

 cheutos, rose. While these latter do 

 well at the back of any border, they 

 are especially good near water. Stat- 

 ice latifolia and S. incana, the sea lav- 

 enders, and Stokesia cyanea, the beau- 

 tiful lavender blue cornflower aster, 

 should be in every hardy border. The 

 various forms of the Carpathian bell- 

 flower, or Campanula Carpatica, are still 

 full of flower, and the tall and stately 

 C. pyramidalis in sequestered spots is 

 fine. 



Geum coccineum Mrs. Bradshaw still 

 produces its brilliant scarlet double 

 flowers; so do the several heucheras, 

 especially H. sanguinea. In purple 

 flowers we have the Kansas gay 

 feather, Liatris scariosa, and I*, spicata, 

 over four feet in height. The bril- 

 liant Lobelia cardinalis, or cardinal 

 flower, prefers moist ground, but flowers 

 well under drier conditions. The torch 

 lilies, or tritomas, are now making a 

 notable showing, especially T. Pfitzeri, 

 Torchlight, Express, Leichtlinii and 

 Lemon Queen. This by no means com- 

 pletes the list of early September pe- 

 rennials and we have the lilies and 

 montbretias now in abundance to help 

 in making the borders attractive. 



INJURES NEXT YEAR'S CROP. 



Will you kindly tell us whether cut- 

 ting off the foliage of tulips and nar- 

 cissi, grown outdoors in beds, is in- 

 jurious to the next, year's crop of 

 blooms? We like them to bloom well 

 and have long stems. Some say that 

 pulling up ,the foliage with the flower 

 does not hurt the bulb for the next 

 year. Is this sof We have a 200-foot 

 bed, three feet wide, in a conspicuous 

 place on our grounds, in which we 

 wish to set tulips and narcissi this fall. 

 If it is injurious to pull or cut the 

 foliage, can you tell vb of some inex- 

 pensive annual which we could grow 

 in this clayey loam from seed, for com- 

 mercial purposes, and what time should 

 this seed be sown in the latitude of 

 western New York? E. H. J. — N. Y. 



Euonymus Radlcani Climbtng on a Shingled Wall. 



Removing the foliage with any bulb- 

 ous flower will most assuredly cripple 

 the flowering qualities for the next 

 season. Anyone who |^ells you other- 

 wise is talking contrwy to all facts 

 and reason. The more foliage left on 

 bulbs of any kind, the better they 

 will flower for yoij another season. 



Why not dig up your tulips and nar- 



^ 



