1 66 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 426. 



vided that they are established and have a covering of water, 

 if only a few inches over their crowns. 



A few of the species and varieties have been well tested 

 here for several years, being completely frozen in ice each 

 winter without injury. Last winter all the Pond Lilies were 

 left exposed in the shallow water of the tanks and were frozen 

 up for most of the season, and none were at all injured. It 

 seems that the rhizomes of these plants havingcomparatively 

 large air cells are not injured by the temperature of ice, and 

 this being formed around them is a protection from exces- 

 sively low temperature. We had, as usual, a temperature 

 under zero several times during the winter. 



As it is about time to prepare a water garden it may be well 

 to again call the attention of flower fanciers to this most 

 attractive, fascinating and still novel specialty of gardening. 

 Of course, if one has a natural pond the growing of Nymphseas 

 is too obvious a decoration and too simple an operation to talk 

 about, but in a common every-day dry yard the water garden 

 charms, if only with its unexpectedness, and the modest owner 

 of a few feet of water surface need not envy a broad expanse 

 where the muskrats would probably eat up his good tubers. 

 My first water garden, composed of three Nympheeas in three 

 sunken washtubs, backed and edged with subaquatic plants, 

 was much prettier in effect than anything possessed since in 

 more ambitious tanks which are more practical than aesthetic, 

 and I should advise any one to whom expense was an object 

 to commence the culture tentatively in the same way that I 

 did. Of course, this is a very modest beginning, and the plants 

 do not have much chance to expand, but it is sure to give sat- 

 isfaction to any one really fond of seeing things grow. It is only 

 with aquatics that one discovers the full effect of warmth and 

 moisture on plant life. Nymphasas are, of course, the first 

 choice for water gardens, and one should be careful not to 

 introduce other plants, especially in large gardens, unless they 

 are tender and will disappear in winter. Hardy aquatic 

 plants have a wonderful capacity for growth and increase, and 

 are very difficult to eradicate if once established. One finds 

 many curious life habits among the water plants, as the Water 

 Soldier, Stratiotes aloides, which will soon rise from the bot- 

 tom, and, floating at the surface, flower and sink, again to 

 form a colony of young plants spread around the parents in 

 the familiar "hen and chickens" style. There is another 

 plant, interesting to the botanist and biologist, Spirogyia, which 

 is often sent out by the florist with the Nymphasas. This is a 

 great pest in a pond, and new plants should be examined and 

 all traces removed. This appears in dark green threads, which 

 increase so quickly in warmth that it is difficult to eradicate 

 from among other plants. 



Elizabeth. N. J. /• N - Gerard. 



Can nas. 



THE freedom with which Cannas can be grown makes them 

 everybody's plants, and it is not uncommon to see them 

 growing thriftily in the backyards of crowded portions of the 

 city. They are effective in every stage of their growth, and a 

 mass of them in bloom is always pleasing. 



After a rest of a month our last season's plants were grad- 

 ually started and kept rather dry until active growth com- 

 menced. They began to bloom again in March, and after 

 resting for a couple of weeks during May, which can be 

 brought about partly by withholding water, they will be planted 

 out again and will bloom for the remainder of the season. 



Since the production of the Crozy type of Carina this has 

 been the standard by which others have been judged, and 

 nothing better, at least in form, was looked for, although new 

 colors have been expected. These we have had in abundance, 

 but as the type has always been so well defined it has been 

 easy to decide on the merits of a novelty, and no introducer of 

 any standing would risk his reputation by sending out inferior 

 varieties. Now we have a new type, said to be a hybrid be- 

 tween Canna flaccida and the Crozy strain, one of which, 

 Italia, has already been figured and described in Garden and 

 Forest, and another, Austria, has also been noticed as bear- 

 ing still larger flowers of similar form, pure yellow, with the 

 exception of scarlet pencilings on the centre petals. 



The introductions for the year of the Crozy type show an 

 advance principally in larger flowers ot symmetrical contour, 

 full, and turned out on all sides of the stem so as to show a 

 vertical face. Collectively, therefore, when best developed, they 

 form a pyramidal spike. In beauty of outline and in the regular 

 arrangement of its flowers, F. R. Pierson, a magnificent crim- 

 son with a golden throat, is the best of its type, and it is not 

 likely soon to be excelled. Flamingo approaches it, although 

 the short side spikes give the whole cluster a slightly more 

 rounded appearance. As an element of beauty a head made 



up in this way is not so attractive as one bold spike. For bed- 

 ding purposes it will be superior on account of the long time 

 one flower-stem will remain in good bloom. Trilby claims 

 favor as the Orchid Canna, and under glass it is exceedingly 

 beautiful. It is bright yellow, with clearly cut scarlet markings 

 in the centre, and the large flowers have more substance than 

 many of its color. 



Pierson's Black Beauty is a seedling from President Carnot. 

 This old variety is conceded by all who have grown it to be 

 the best of all the bronzy-leaved varieties which have also 

 attractive flowers. No doubt, J. D. Cabos and J. C. Vaughan, 

 bronzy- leaved varieties, with handsome salmon-colored 

 flowers, were both derived from this. Black Beauty eclipses 

 them all in the color of its foliage and is equally effective in 

 bloom. 



Among yellow-banded Cannas of the Crozy group, Queen 

 Charlotte, of last year, took a leading position. But the 

 specialist has been at work in the mean time, and will intro- 

 duce Little Billee as an improved seedling from Queen Char- 

 lotte. It is dwarfer and said to be superior for massing. Under 

 glass it certainly is a most attractive variety, and, compared 

 with Queen Charlotte, it is slightly deeper in tone. Madame 

 Alphonse Bouvier is another so-called Orchid Canna of singu- 

 lar beauty. The ground-color is scarlet, with an irregular 

 orange band continued into the throat. Souvenir Antonin 

 Crozy remains the best of all the true Crozy type, and it is 

 doubtful if any of this year's introductions will equal it in 

 beauty. Ami Pezeux competes with F. R. Pierson among 

 maroon shades. All through the flower are scattered dots of 

 a deeper hue in the same way as the so-called yellow Cannas 

 are spreckled with red. Madame Rozain is a deeply toned 

 Madame Crozy, with the addition to the characteristic yellow 

 band of a yellow throat, which rather increases its effective- 

 ness. Cote d'Or is described as strikingly effective for bedding, 

 with saffron-colored flowers. It is compact and dwarf. 



Among older varieties, Alphonse Bouvier stands at the 

 head. It is not of the ideal form ; the terminal spike per- 

 versely droops. While flowers continue to expand on this, 

 others take its place later, also spreading out. They continue 

 to open in large effective clusters for a long time. Its lustrous 

 maroon-colored flowers are unsurpassed by any variety known. 

 Another of exactly the same type is Helen Gould, and this is 

 bright amber. It was one of the most striking varieties in a 

 large group here last summer. Although introduced several 

 years ago, Paul Bruant is as yet little known. It is one of the 

 best of crimson-flowering Cannas for pot-culture. On a plant 

 in a ten-inch pot are three well-developed flower-stems carry- 

 ing good heads of bloom, which would make this an effective 

 decorative plant in any grouping. Florence Vaughan has 

 been a surprise this season as a pot-plant, being the earliest to 

 bloom and the most floriferous of any ot the so-called yellow- 

 flowered varieties. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Greenhouse Climbers. 

 \ 7IS1TING not long ago the greenhouses of the Massachu- 

 * setts Agricultural College, at Amherst, I was much 

 impressed wiih the luxuriant display which was made there 

 by well - grown specimens of common climbing plants. 

 They were in every case planted out in the borders, which is, 

 no doubt, the best way of treating climbers, which are, in most 

 cases, impatient of having their roots restricted. There are 

 two large octagonal houses, in addition to a number of others. 

 In one of these Asparagus plumosus is trained up the pillars 

 which support the roof, and is festooned from pillar to pillar 

 with particularly graceful effect. In the other octagonal house 

 a fine plant of Plumbago Capensis occupied one pillar and was 

 covered with its beautiful blue flowers. A handsome Cherokee 

 Rose, a plant often commended and described in Garden 

 and Forest, occupied a considerable portion of this house. 

 Growing with it as a companion plant was a very fine speci- 

 men of the climbing Perle des Jardins, which was carrying 

 great numbers of its lovely yellow flowers. Another pillar was 

 occupied by that excellent climber, Jasminum revolutum, with 

 its compound corymbs of bright yellow flowers and dark 

 green pinnate leaves. This is one of the few vines which 

 insect pests do not take to readily. In another house was a 

 large plant of Passiflora princeps, with pendulous racemes of 

 red flowers. P. quadrangularis, var. acubifolia, was also grow- 

 ing in the same house, and, in my opinion, this is the best of 

 all die Passion flowers. The stem, as its name indicates, is 

 four-angled ; the alternate leaves are cordate, six to eight inches 

 long and four to five inches wide and mottled with yellow, 

 resembling the Acuba leaves very closely. The flowers are 

 white outside, and of a dull reddish color within, and very 



