246 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 434. 



forms a neat little bush and seems to be entirely hardy. 

 The flowers are exceedingly small, but little more than 

 half an inch across when fully expanded. The color is 

 white or pinkish white. 



Campanula peksicifolia grandiflora. — The Peach-leaved 

 Bellflowers have been favorites in gardens for many 

 decades, especially the white forms. Mr. Backhouse has 

 recently introduced a specially fine form with extra-large 

 flowers of perfect purity of color. The plants are hardy 

 perennials. They are readily increased and bloom pro- 

 fusely at this season. This is one of the most attractive 

 recent introductions in hardy plants, and its neatness of 

 habit is by no means universal among hardy perennials. 



Cultural Department. 

 Flower Garden Notes. 



RECENT copious rains have been of great benefit to the 

 flower garden, and all bedding-plants as well as hardy 

 perennials are now growing luxuriantly. Seldom, at this sea- 

 son of the year, have lawns looked more fresh and flowering 

 plants been more thrifty. Tender plants are now becoming 

 well established, and the beds will require hoeing alter heavy 

 rains to loosen the surface. Dead trusses should be removed 

 from Geraniums, and Coleus, Alternanthera, Stevia, Achyran- 

 thes and other foliage plants be pinched once a week. During 

 dry weather we give our beds a thorough soaking once in four 

 days with a sprinkler, and continue this until the plants have 

 grown sufficiently to cover most of the space allotted to them. 

 Tuberous Begonias flourish in a moist shady location ; they 

 can scarcely be overwatered, and a mulching of fine rotten 

 manure is beneficial. Any bedding-plants left over should be 

 planted out, given away or thrown on the rubbish-pile. On 

 many places a few plants are seen dotted here and there in the 

 houbes or frames, a useless claim on space and labor. 



Perennial borders are at their best during the month of 

 June. Pjeonies. Papaver orientale, Aquilegias, Iris Hispanica 

 and I. Germanica, Pyrethrums, some of the Campanulas, 

 the double-flowered Lychnis viscaria, Heuchera sanguinea, 

 Anthericums, Hemerocallis, Dictamnus and Thalictrums are 

 now at their best. Biennials, including Canterbury Bells, 

 Sweet Williams and Rockets, are a mass of bloom. Antirrhi- 

 nums, wintered in a cold frame and planted out in April, are 

 just commencing to flower, and continue to do so most of the 

 summer ; they are among the most beautiful and useful plants 

 for the mixed border. Seeds sown in March yield nice flower- 

 ing plants by July and August. A good many of the later-grow- 

 ing perennials will now require staking ; if left unsupported 

 too long the plants are liable to break or the stems to be 

 twisted, when it is difficult to tie them up neatly. Delphiniums 

 which are now flowering should be securely staked, as winds 

 and heavy rains break them down badly. Weeds grow rap- 

 idly during weather such as we are now having, and many of 

 them will have to be removed by hand. 



Early Stocks are now in flower. A later batch has just been 

 planted out, and we usually sow the last lot about the end of 

 June, and this provides a succession of flowers until October. 

 We make several sowings of Asters during the season, using 

 Dwarf Chrysanthemum, Dwarf Victoria and the Pompone 

 varieties for the last sowing at the end of June. The earliest 

 lot of Queen of the Earlies and Comet, which commence to 

 flower about the middle of July, are now growing strongly. 

 Liquid-manure is applied when they commence to branch out. 

 Sweet Peas sown out-of-doors commenced to flower here the 

 first week in June. The trenches they are sown in are three or 

 four inches below the level of the ground, so that the plants 

 may be more thoroughly soaked with water during dry 

 weather ; we have recently mulched about the rows with spent 

 mushroom-manure, to keep the roots cool and moist. Hybrid 

 Perpetual Roses have commenced to bloom fully a week 

 earlier than usual, and will be at their best by the middle of 

 June. They have made extra growth this season, and have so 

 tar not been attacked by rose-bugs or any other pest. We 

 give our beds a dressing of green cow-manure early in May 

 and the sprinkler is allowed to run on the beds during dry 

 weather. Only by adopting such means can we obtain really 

 satisfactory blooms. Although the past winter was severe on 

 flowering shrubs and killed back Deutzias, Weigelias and some 

 of the Spireeas, Roses came through safely. The new Crimson 

 Rambler proved to be one of the hardiest, standing out almost 

 unprotected and being killed back but little. Our last planting 

 of Gladioli is not made until the first week of July. We thus 



have a succession of bloom from July until October. Those 

 planted last do not furnish as fine spikes nor mature as good 

 bulbs as the earlier ones, but Gladioli are so cheap and increase 

 so rapidly that this need be no drawback to late planting. We 

 find Gladioli specially useful for decorative purposes in Sep- 

 tember and October, when many other flowers have a rather 

 disheveled appearance. 



Carnations grown for summer flowering will soon require 

 staking to keep the flowers clean. Some of our plants are 

 already in bloom. The stock being grown for winter flower- 

 ing needs looking over once a week to insure necessary stop- 

 ping. The plants are growing unusually well this season, the 

 showery weather having suited them to a nicety. We use the 

 hoe or hand cultivator to free the soil after every rainfall. 

 Violets which were not planted out this year until toward the 

 end of May, owing to rainless weather, are now commencing 

 togrow nicely. A mulching of pulverized rotted manure will 

 be given these a little later. The hoe and cultivator must be 

 in frequent use at this season. Weeds and insect pests can only 

 be kept under by unceasing care and watchfulness. Weeds 

 exhaust nourishment from the soil needed by other plants 

 and are an eyesore. There are few places where thorough 

 cleanliness is observed, in some cases owing to lack of assist- 

 ants to do the work, or to the employment of men whose knowl- 

 edge of gardening is slight, but who work cheaply. But more 

 frequently those in charge are at fault in not planning their 

 work properly. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Choice Perennials. 



"yERBASCUM OLYMPICUM is the finest of all the Mulleins, 

 * and as it is perfectly hardy in this locality it ought to be 

 grown in every garden where there is a choice collection of 

 perennial plants. The plants grown here were raised from 

 seed two years ago and are flowering now for the first time, 

 and only the strongest plants have blossomed. This fine 

 Mullein is easily raised trom seed, and the seedlings make 

 large strong plants the first year, with vigorous long leaves. 

 In spring the leaves of the previous year are replaced by new 

 ones ; they are distinct and conspicuous and of a whitish color. 

 The leaves are revolute, broad lanceolate, acuminate and 

 woolly, measuring from twelve to eighteen inches. The flowers 

 are bright yellow and measure more than one inch in diame- 

 ter. The stout, erect flower-stems are from four to five feet 

 high and are branched from near the base like a candela- 

 brum. The plant is exceedingly showy and can be seen from 

 a considerable distance. It is grown in the border here in an 

 open position and in deep rich soil. I think it would make a 

 good rock-garden plant where large plants are needed in a 

 high open position. It is a native of the Levant and was intro- 

 duced from there in 1883. 



Another Mullein which I received last fall from Rae Broth- 

 ers, Norwood, Massachusetts, under the name of Verbascum 

 pannosum, is now in flower. Before the plants blossom they 

 can hardly be told from those of V. Olympicum, but as the 

 two species are in tlower at the same time they are easily com- 

 pared. The Olympian Mullein is by far the showier plant ; 

 nevertheless, V. pannosum is a distinct plant and makes a 

 good perennial. The sulphur-yellow flowers measure over 

 an inch in diameter and are produced in a stout, dense, erect 

 spike. 



A little more than a year ago I received seed of Pentstemon 

 glaucus, variety stenosepalus, and raised several dozen 

 plants. They were grown in the nursery-bed all last summer 

 and planted in their permanent places in the fall. It has proved 

 to be one of the most satisfactory Pentstemons we grow. Every 

 plant I set out in the fall lived through the winter and all are 

 blossoming freely now. Any species or variety in this genus 

 that proves hardy and grows satisfactorily is valuable, as so many 

 Pentstemons are not reliable in this climate. This plant grows 

 about fifteen inches high and its leaves are slightly glaucous. 

 The radical leaves are subovate and the cauline ones ovate- 

 lanceolate. The violet-purple flowers are produced in com- 

 pact panicles and the rlower-trusses last for several weeks. 

 P. glaucus is found in the mountains of Colorado and Utah. 



The Oriental Poppies, Papaver orientale, have made a 

 gorgeous display for the past two weeks, and many buds have 

 to open yet. My experience with seedlings of this handsome 

 Poppy is that they do not make much of a show until they are 

 three or four years old, because the plants are too small and 

 not able to produce enough blossoms to prolong the display 

 for more than a few days. The plants we depend on for our 

 display of this showy perennial measure more than a yard 

 across and produce a large number of blossoms. Although 

 the individual blossoms are short-lived, one good feature is 



