208 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 430. 



tings. We are on safer ground with native plants. Mertensia 

 Virginica takes care of itself, and is not likely to become 

 obtrusive. Its life above ground is short, being past, leaf-stem 

 and all, by midsummer. Its nodding panicles of incomparable 

 blue are always welcome. 



Phloxes of the subulata type are the most charming spring 

 flowers we have. Their color tones are most penetrating ; a 

 patch six by six feet, of the old variety atropurpurea, will catch 

 one's eye from a hillside half a mile away, while P. reptans, 

 an equally handsome kind with colored Mowers, will scarcely 

 be noticeable at that distance. P. reptans grows nearly one 

 foot high with us, and the stems are long enough to pick. 

 P. subulata Sadie is an American-raised sport from the com- 

 mon white Moss Pink. It is lavender-blue and unique among 

 the true subulata type. It is thrifty and early, always fresh and 

 green, whereas many of the imported varieties get winter- 

 burned. 



Rosa Wichuraiana, the so-called Memorial Rose, is badly 

 killed, but there are plenty of live shoots left to cover the 

 ground anew. Megasea purpurascens and M. cordifoha have 

 also suffered severely. They are naturally evergreen, and 

 when their wintercoatof leaves is lost new ones must be made 

 at the expense of the old root. Under such conditions the 

 Megaseas will be gone in a few years. Campanula garganica 

 looks fresher than ever. 



We have introduced strangers to our rock garden who ex- 

 pected to see statuary and fountains, and others who thought 

 we should arrange it in beds or tiers of pockets as more con- 

 venient to get at. The garden is wild and without labels, and 

 is as natural-looking as any other bit of bank. It is hard, how- 

 ever, to get the names grounded into one's memory, and fresh 

 additions every year increase the difficulty. Apart from the 

 rock garden proper we have a piece of wild garden along a 

 sheltered slope. It is in part shaded by sparsely planted Oaks, 

 and grassed over to be kept green, but not to the extent of a 

 trim lawn. Many beautiful plants can be introduced here. 

 Native plants and such as could be mown over with a scythe 

 without injury are desirable. There are enough to make a 

 lovely spring picture. Blood-root, Sanguinaria Canadensis, 

 Mertensia Virginica, all the Subulata Phloxes, Violas, Aqui- 

 legia Canadensis, Silene Pennsylvania, S. Virginica, Anemone 

 nemerosa, A. deltoidea, A. ranunculoides, Erythroniums, 

 Thalictrum anemonioides, Claytonia Virginica, Trilliums of 

 several kinds, Miliarias, Hypoxis, Bluels, Decentra Canaden- 

 sis and many others should be included. 



Wellesley, Mass. J- ■ +J ■ Hatfield. 



Notes from the Arnold Arboretum. 



PLANTS of Amelanchier oligocarpa which were obtained 

 from the mountains of New Hampshire are the earliest of 

 the Shad-bushes to flower here, and they are really among the 

 most pleasing of dwarf American shrubs. In its native habitat 

 this Amelanchier is rarely more than a foot high, and when 

 grown carefully on good soil it does not exceed two feet in 

 height. The young leaves as they open are tinted red, some- 

 thing like those of the large forms of A. Canadensis. The bark 

 when bruised has the peculiar odor of the Wild Cherry, which 

 I have not observed in any other species or variety of Amelan- 

 chier. Another fine Amelanchier is called, I believe, a variety 

 of A. Canadensis, and known as spicata, and sometimes ro- 

 tundifolia. If not a good botanical species, it is certainly a very 

 distinct plant for garden purposes. It comes into bloom late, 

 and is just now, May 12th, in its prime, when die others are all 

 past their bloom. As grown here it is a low dense shrub, 

 which produces snow-white flowers very freely. 



Nurserymen who are looking for new things would do well 

 to get a stock of these on their own roots, or if they would graft 

 them from two to four feet high on some good Thorns they 

 would set plants which would be genuine novelties for the 

 shrubbery. Some of the low-growing Prunuses, too, ought to 

 be looked after. P. pumila, which rarely in its native state 

 exceeds a foot high, although it becomes larger under culti- 

 vation, is a beautiful plant on its own roots, and so are P. 

 maritima and P. Alleghensis, but if they were grafted as 

 standards on P. Americana or P. Myrobalana they would 

 make neat, compact-headed plants, which certainly would 

 be novel, and, no doubt, useful in shrubberies. P. incana is 

 the most ungainly in habit of any plant in the whole family, 

 and yet, if it could lie in any way made into a shapely 

 plant, its pinkish purple blossoms, which come in clusters, 

 would be greatly admired. The first of the Apple-trees to come 

 into bloom are the varieties of Pyrus baccata, with blossoms 

 of all colors, from pure white to deep crimson. Among the 

 newer forms of P. spectabilis the variety Riversi is strikingly 

 beautiful this year. It is completely covered with its sweet- 



scented, double, rose-pink flowers. The habit of this specta- 

 bilis group may also be called fastigiate, as compared with the 

 generality of Apples, and they do not begin to flower as early 

 in age as some of the other kinds of Apples, but they make up 

 for this by persistent flowering afterward, for there is seldom 

 a year when they do not bloom profusely. 



Complaints are made that Daphne cneorum is doubtfully 

 hardy, and it is true its foliage often burns in exposed situa- 

 tions in winter-time, but if the plants in autumn are furnished 

 with a scanty covering of hay or dry leaves the foliage will 

 keep bright all winter and they will come into blossom in early 

 spring. The delicately scented pink flowers of this prostrate 

 plant have been abundant here for a week or more. The 

 Redbuds, as usual, opened with the flowering Dogwoods, and 

 it cannot be too often said what a fine forest border or back- 

 ground to a shrubbery these two trees make at this season. 

 One of our native Honeysuckles, Lonicera ccerulea, is just com- 

 ing into flower. It is a neat and pretty shrub, not only on 

 account of its lemon-colored flowers, but on account of its 

 good foliage and the bright blue berries which follow. Just 

 now the Rhodora is in its prime, and it is to be regretted that 

 so good a dwarf shrub should be so neglected in landscape 

 work. It certainly would fill an admirable place in connection 

 with the Andromedas and Leucothoes when planted near 

 the water. Perhaps it is youthful associations which make 

 these plants so pleasing, but every boy brought up in the 

 north where there was a peat meadow must know these flow- 

 ers, and his memory will be stirred by sight of them. 



Arnold Arboretum. Jackson Dawson. 



Flower Garden Notes. 



THIS is one of the most interesting parts of the year in the 

 garden, even with the extreme heat and dryness of this 

 particular season. April showers have this year been very 

 rare and are sadly needed. 



The show of Apple-blossoms at this time is the feature of 

 the country where apples are grown in quantity, and as a flower- 

 ing tree alone it has few equals. The flowering Crabs are, 

 perhaps, quite as pleasing, with more variation of coloring, 

 and for this reason are finding favor with planters. There is 

 a set of some ten kinds in flower here. They are beautiful 

 planted in a large crescent-shaped bed. the ground being cov- 

 ered with late-flowering Tulips, the Parrot, Gesneriana and 

 Darwin varieties mixed. The combination of Tulips is 

 extremely beautiful now, when the early border kinds are all 

 past. A little later the Oriental Poppies that are planted 

 between will come on and give a second display, and when 

 the Tulips are dying down Zinnias will be planted over them 

 for a late summer effect. We thus get four distinct displays 

 from the same bed with only the annual planting of the Zin- 

 nias. This plan is, perhaps, adapted only to beds of largesize, 

 so that there is a mass of color in its season. 



Lily-of-the-valley is now in full bloom, much earlier than 

 usual, owing to the heat, but the flowers are not so fine as in 

 some years, because of the lack of water. If care is taken to 

 thin them out every three years or so it is surprising how 

 much better they will grow than those forced under glass in 

 winter, provided the best variety of crowns are planted, such 

 as are used for culture under glass. 



Hardy Primroses are not esteemed very highly, and it is a 

 question if there are any species that are to be regarded as 

 proof against the severity of our winters. With a little protec- 

 tion some will prove very satisfactory at this season. A few 

 hundred of the garden Polyanthus, raised from seeds a year 

 ago and grown all last summer in shade under the Elm-trees, 

 are a beautiful show at present. All the gradations of color 

 in yellows and reds, mixed together with none that clash, make 

 a very pleasing effect in a shaded position. Last fall, just 

 before frost-time, a covering of straw about six inches thick 

 was placed over these plants and removed early this spring. 

 This is all the care taken, besides seeing that plenty of moisture 

 was provided during the growing period. Primula Sieboldii, 

 the Japan Primrose, is now at its best, treated in the same 

 way. We find this useful for cutting, the erect stiff stems 

 being better than those of the Polyanthus when grown under 

 the same conditions. It is deserving of much wider cultiva- 

 tion. I do not remember to have seen it elsewhere, and it is 

 usually regarded as a tender spring-flowering plant, but is 

 hardy enough to stand out over winter, with covering. The 

 typical P. Sieboldii is a rich, deep rosy purple color and is the 

 best variety to grow, though there are numerous other kinds, 

 some called white. But there is not the purity of color one 

 would expect, and the same remark applies to the many other 

 varieties of P. Sieboldii in commerce, the type being still in 



