June io, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



237 



which are crowned with fair-sized flowers of a pale blue color. 

 A white-flowered variety in bloom seems to be more robust 

 than the typical plant, and is very attractive. 



Thermopsis mollis is not often seen in gardens. Although 

 it comes from the mountains of south Virginia and North 

 Carolina, it is quite hardy here, and gives perfect satisfaction. 

 Its habit is almost perfect. When well established it makes 

 compact bushy specimens a yard high. The flowers are yel- 

 low and produced in long, nearly erect racemes, and they last 

 in good condition for two or three weeks. In a slightly damp 

 soil and away from the shade of trees it grows freely if not too 

 often disturbed. 



The best early Salvia is S. pratense, a handsome European 

 plant, which grows as freely as our commonest weeds. It is 

 about two and a half feet high, and the flowers are produced 

 in whorls of four to six flowers in spikes from twelve to 

 eighteen inches long. The corolla is bright blue and measures 

 one inch in length, the upper lip being much arched and the 

 lower one broad. There is also a white form of this plant in 

 bloom which is showy, making a good companion for the blue 

 one. This, too, is a thrifty plant, growing well in any common 

 garden soil. 



The Japanese Primula Sieboldii is one of the most satisfac- 

 tory and one of the most decorative of Primroses. It grows 

 best in a warm sheltered position, where it is covered with 

 leaves in the winter. The flowers last much longer in a place 

 where the sun does not strike them during the hottest part of 

 the day. There are some large clumps of this Primrose now 

 at their best, and much admired by visitors. Since it was intro- 

 duced from Japan in 1865 many varieties have been raised. 

 The flowers measure more than an inch across and are pro- 

 duced in umbels on stout stems from nine to twelve inches 

 high. Each variety has a different shade of color, and those 

 grown here are of different shades of rose. The roots creep 

 just below the surface of the soil, and they form buds, thus 

 giving an easy means of increasing the plants, and if it is pro- 

 vided with a good situation and proper soil this Primrose 

 grows rapidly. 



Botanic Garden, Harvard Univers : ty. Robert Cameron. 



Flower Garden Notes. 



'THE recent showers have made a great improvement in the 

 -^ borders and made it possible to plant out annuals to be 

 added at this time for effects later in summer, when most of 

 the perennials are past. This arrangement has, in past sea- 

 sons, proved desirable for the best results during the entire 

 season. Mixed borders are superseding herbaceous borders 

 and include bulbs for the early spring. A border made up in 

 this way will be interesting from April until November frosts. 



The best feature of the garden now is the set of the more 

 recent Japan Tree Pseonies. We have added twenty of these, 

 and they are a great advance over the older ones, which are 

 mostly shades of pink, and I suspect are in many instances 

 nothing more than the stock used by the Japanese for graft- 

 ing. The newer varieties are of all colors, from pure white to 

 deep rose, and some are single, beautiful, large cup-shaped 

 blossoms of purest coloring. They are a decided acquisition in 

 the garden at this time, and, no doubt, will prove as hardy as 

 the older varieties. It will, however, be safer to draw the 

 earth about the stems in the fall for the first year or two, to 

 avoid loss, before they are well established. I find that all of 

 these plants are grafted, cleverly as usual by the Japanese gar- 

 deners, but they do not seem to have been wise in the selection of 

 the stock ; it shows decided tendencies to sprout from the roots. 

 These sprouts would soon choke out the better scion if allowed 

 to grow, and planters must use care that this does not occur. 

 This is the only thing that can be said against these plants, and 

 it may be remedied in later importations by the use of some 

 stock that is not so apt to send forth shoots from adventitious 

 root-buds. 



The hardy native Orchids are mostly intractable under cul- 

 tivation, beautiful as they are when growing wild. They all 

 need special care in the selection of positions in the garden if 

 any success is to be had. Two of the Cypripediums are quite 

 reliable, or at least we have found them so for the past five 

 years, planted on the shady side of the Rhododendron beds. 

 C. pubescens is now beautiful, and C. spectabile will follow 

 later. The latter is the most lovely native Orchid, and few 

 exotics of this genus can compare with it. It is all the more 

 satisfactory to know that it can be cultivated in gardens in 

 moist black soil, such as Rhododendrons delight in. 



Baptisia exaltata is now fine. It is not a common plant, 

 though B. australis is often seen in gardens. B. exaltata is 

 much taller, with larger flower-spikes, and is altogether the 



better plant. It is a good companion to the Lupins that are 

 now at their best. Lupinus polyphyllus gives a great variety in 

 itself, the white form being in pleasing contrast with the 

 various shades of'blue and purple. I find it is necessary to 

 save seeds of the best varieties and sow them. The parent 

 plants seed freely, and these seeds germinate in the borders, 

 but the self-sown plants deteriorate and the better varieties 

 are soon lost in this way. 



Many of the earlier-flowering plants are dying down now, 

 and it is a good opportunity to plant near these such annuals 

 as are desired to cover the space tor the balance of the sum- 

 mer. The frequent showers will enable them soon to take 

 root, and little care will then be needed in the borders, except 

 to keep down weeds. 



South Lancaster, Mass. -£• O. Orpet. 



Herb Robert. 



COMPARATIVELY few flowering plants mingle well with 

 Ferns on rock-work or in the wild garden. Of these our 

 native Herb Robert has no superior. Its dainty pink blossoms 

 peeping out here and there among cool green fronds add just 

 the warmth of color needed. The chief beauty of the plant is 

 in the delicate design and varying color of its much-divided 

 leaves, which are pale green in early summer, deepening into 

 richer tones as the season advances, but always fresh-looking. 

 Leaves with rich autumn colors are to be found at all sea- 

 sons, and they often tempt the botanist to a hard climb for an 

 unknown blaze of color just out of reach. For indoor culture 

 the plant has considerable merit. In -December a few young 

 plants which had been frozen stiff were taken indoors ; none of 

 them wilted and nearly all proceeded to grow with more or less 

 enthusiasm. One of them on a platter with Mosses and Ferns, 

 and left pretty much to itself, was a great success, and its branch- 

 ing stems attained a spread of forty inches with no care save 

 an occasional sprinkling and clipping of seed-pods before they 

 matured. Herb Robert attracts us to-day by its delicate 

 beauty, but the old naturalist valued it chiefly because of its 

 supposed medicinal " vertu " in the disease known as "Sir 

 Robert's Plague," from which it is said to have derived its 

 name, Geranium Robertianum. The significance of Cranes- 

 bill is obvious. The Scotch Highlanders are responsible for 

 the uncouth title of " Red Shanks," given in relerence to the 

 lovely red stems which support the leaves. Another name of 

 grave significance for this shy wilding is Death-come-quickly, 

 and in Northumberland lore to uproot or find a plant uprooted 

 is considered a forerunner of fate. 



Pittsford Mills, Vt. &■ -''■ IVoOlSOn. 



Correspondence. 



Notes from West Virginia. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Our Japanese Weeping Cherry has been flowering ever 

 since its proper blooming time in April, and is in blossom in 

 June, when our sweet cherries are ripe. In April the lower 

 limbs hung out a few half-blighted blossoms, while the upper 

 part of the tree showed no signs of life. It was badly injured 

 by the cold of last winter, but has been gradually recovering 

 and opening its flower-buds from the lower limbs upward, 

 until now only the top of the tree is bare. The blossoms are 

 a sickly pinkish white, and open a few at a time as the tree 

 recovers strength. Thunberg's Spiraea failed to bloom from 

 the same cause, but the Double-flowering Peaches were very 

 fine. Hard-shelled Almonds bloomed, and so did Nectarines, 

 while Apricots of the same age. and in the same enclosure, 

 did not have a flower. Magnolia Kobus and M. Soulangeana 

 were full of bloom at the usual time, showing their great 

 power of enduring cold. Paulownias seldom flower with us, 

 and only after an unusually mild winter. This year only a few 

 of the flower-buds matured, a cluster of buds displaying but 

 one perfect flower, the rest shriveling up without opening. 



In spite of the vagaries of the weather, it has been a good 

 season for gardening purposes, and the Roses are unusually 

 beautiful and profuse. A group of Penzance Sweetbriers 

 planted this spring and last year is making rapid growth. 

 These hybrid Sweetbriers are not as fragrant as the type, 

 the flowers must be beautiful, indeed, il they an- really an im- 

 provement on the Eglantine. The latter is now sprinkled with 

 its dainty pink cups, to be succeeded later by showy pips, 

 which give it a new beauty even when winter shall have 

 robbed it of its last fragrant leaf. 



Sweet Williams are making the flower borders bright and 

 gay. There are almost too main magentas and dull crimsons 

 among them, but the light and the bright pinks ami the deep 



