June 7, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



249 



The Columbian Exposition. 



Azaleas. 



DURING the tliird and fourth weeks of May, Azaleas have 

 excited more attention from visitors than any other por- 

 tions of the tioricuitural exhibits. The number of varieties 

 shown, both indoors and in the open, is very large, and the 

 Hames of color have quite eclipsed the less showy plants. 

 Azaleas have never won wide popularity in America, especially 

 the Ghent varieties which are adapted to outdoor cultivation. 

 This scarcity of Azaleas in lawn-planting is commonly at- 

 tributed to the severity of our climate, and it is true that many 

 of the imported varieties are not adapted to our circumstances ; 

 but this very lack of adaptation is, no doubt, due to ,the almost 

 indiscriminate importations of foreign kinds. Among all the 

 Azaleas now upon exhibition at Jackson Park only one lot is 

 American-grown. This is from the Parsons' nurseries on 

 Long Island. If greater attention were given to the propaga- 

 tion of hardy kinds by our own nurserymen, the time could 

 not be far distant when sufficient varieties for all purposes 

 should be obtained. If one may judge from the almost unani- 

 mous surprise and interest which the beds of Ghent Azaleas 

 have elicited from the thousands of visitors at the World's 

 Fair, the market for successful varieties could be easily 

 extended. 



The Azalea exhibits fall readily into two categories, the In- 

 dian or evergreen kinds, and the deciduous or Ghent varieties. 

 The former are adapted only for cultivation indoors or for tem- 

 porary bedding out. A good temporary display is now to be 

 seen upon the wooded island, filling a large bed, in which the 

 Royal Botanic Garden of Berlin has planted a collection of 

 alpine plants. This bed is an admirable example of the use to 

 which the Indian Azaleas can be put in outside beds which are 

 later to be filled with other plants. It is customary to refer all 

 these Indian, or house Azaleas, to Azalea Indica, but it is prob- 

 able that A. amoena sometimes occurs among them. There 

 are two large competitive exhibits of Indian Azaleas in the 

 north wing of the Horticultural Building. These are from Otto 

 Olberg, Dresden, and Ch. Vuylsteke, Loochristi, near Ghent. 

 The plants are massed in a small space, so that they present 

 an almost continuous surface of mixed and almost dazzling 

 color. The one distinguishing feature of the collections is the 

 great variety in color, markings, size and texture of the flowers. 

 The plants are uniformly well grown, although they are not 

 superior in this respect to specimens which may be seen in any 

 good American collection. An idea of the great variety of the 

 display can be had from the fact that Mr. Olberg shows one 

 hundred and seventy-eight, and Mr. Vuylsteke seventy-eight 

 named kinds. It is impossible, save on the simple score of 

 the number of varietiesshown, to pronounce upon the relative 

 merits of these two great collections. Mr. Ludwig Schiller, 

 who has charge of the German horticultural exhibits, considers 

 the following to be the most meritorious of Mr. Olberg's varie- 

 ties : Ernst Papenberg ; Generalpostmeister von Stephan.very 

 brilliant amaranth-red; Kaiser Wilhelm, double pink; Alba 

 fimbriata plena, clear double white ; AlpenRose, double rose ; 

 Anna Klein, double white, striped with red ; ApoUon (of Crys- 

 sen), white, with red stripes ; Baronne de Vrifere, white, red- 

 striped ; Bernhard Andreas alba, double white ; Bignoniaefiora 

 plena, double rose ; Ceres, white, rose-striped ; Deutsche 

 Perle, large double white ; Doctor Wilhelm Neubert, rose ; 

 Eborina plena, double white ; Empereur du Bresil, double, 

 delicate rose, with white border; Frau Hermann Seidel, double 

 white; Frau Oberbiirgermeister Cassian, white, striped red; 

 Helene Thelemann, double rose ; Hermosa, double rose ; 

 Kronprinzess Victoria, double rose. 



Among the varieties shown by Mr. Vuylsteke, I was most 

 attracted by La Reine des Blancs, a very large single white ; 

 Etendard de Flandre, single white, penciled with red ; Madame 

 Paul de Schryven, double bright rose pink ; Memoir Louis 

 van Houtte, double, very large, bright rose ; Comte de Cham- 

 bord, blush, dark spotted above; Grossherzog Ludwig von 

 Hesser, salmon pink, very double ; Bernhard Andreae alba ; 

 Comtesse de Beaufort, large single, bright pink, blotched 

 above ; Due de Nassau, bright rose, very large ; Arlequin, 

 double, pink splashed with deep red and white ; Mrs. Turner, 

 delicate blush, spotted above, single or semi-double ; Othello, 

 brick-red, double ; Hermoine, bright pink, double ; Theodor 

 Reimers, large and double, pink-purple ; Doctor Mezger, very 

 bright pink-rose, double. 



Among the Ghent Azaleas, the largest collection is one of 116 

 varieties, by the Boskoop Holland Nursery Association, repre- 

 sented by C. H. Joosten, of New York. This occupies a con- 

 spicuous position on the island, and as several varieties are 

 freely duplicated it makes a most remarkable blaze of color. 



which is conspicuous from many points beyond the lagoon. 

 The term Ghent should properly be restricted to tiiose varie- 

 ties which bloom with the appearance of the leaves. The 

 varieties which bloom before the leaves appear are not true 

 Ghent Azaleas, and they remain a shorter time in bloom and 

 give a narrower range of color than the genuine Ghent varie- 

 ties. The colors are very striking, however, because of the 

 absence of leaves. These early varieties are the ones more 

 properly referred to Azalea mollis. In this account, how- 

 ever, all the hardy deciduous Azaleas are discussed together. 

 There are very many excellent varieties in the collection, but 

 those which strike one most forcibly at this writing, the last of 

 May, are Pallas, light copper-pink, with dull orange above ; 

 Rosea rotundifolia ; Wilhelin III., copper-yellow, with mark- 

 ings of red ; Cardoniana, bright salmon-pink ; Nancy Waterer, 

 orange yellow ; Professor Rosier, bright dark pink ; Ebenezer 

 Pycke, rich pink-salmon ; Madame Caroline Legrelles d'Ha- 

 nis, light pink, with slight tint of salmon ; W. E. Guaibleton, 

 bright dark yellow ; Comte de Kerchove. 



Other collections of Ghent Azaleas in the open ground are 

 those of Ch. Vuylsteke, Belgium, fifteen varieties ; about a 

 dozen varieties from J. C. Vaughan, Chicago ; a small collec- 

 tion from EUwanger & Barry ; thirteen varieties from Moser, 

 of Versailles, near the Women's Building, and the American- 

 grown plants from Parsons, comprising twenty-five varieties. 

 These last are not yet in flower, but they promise well. 



The most unique, and in many respects the most valuable 

 exhibit, of deciduous Azaleas is a display of seedlings made 

 by Anthony Waterer, of Knap Hill, near London. These plants 

 are seedlings of Azalea mollis, A. Sinensis and A. occiden- 

 talis, and they are remarkable for the great variety and bril- 

 liancy of color and free habit of growth. It is expected that 

 these Azaleas will prove hardy in the northern states. Men- 

 tion must also be made of a good collection of Ghent Azaleas 

 from Mr. Vuylsteke, which were forced into bloom in the Hor- 

 ticultural Building early in May. These were very effective. 

 The varieties which were used for this purpose are Comte de 

 Gomer, Madame Caroline Legrelles d'Hanis, Milton, Comte 

 Papadopli, Freya, Ch. Francois Lupis, Ernest Bach, Hora, 

 Aida, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Phebe, Virgile, Velas- 

 quez, Praxitele, Byron, W. E. Gumbleton, Norma, Murillo, 

 Titun, Alphonse Lavall(!e, Mr. Desbois, Consul Pgcher, Ribera' 

 Charles Kekul and Phidias. Good standard Ghenis are shown 

 by Mr. Vuylsteke, both indoors and out, and by Moser, near 

 the Women's Building. 



The Japanese show some interesting Azaleas. The most 

 striking ones are large and free-growing bushes, three to 

 four feet high, of dull pink-red, single-flowered Azalea Indica, 

 These are used along the walks in the Japanese garden in the 

 Horticultural Building, and again in the Japanese garden on 

 the island. On the island a white-flowered bushy Azalea is grow- 

 ing, which is a free-grovvingform of A. Indica. Very diminutive, 

 small-leaved and small-flowered Azaleas are freely used in the' 

 garden indoors for borders in mucht he way in which we might 

 use Box. These Azaleas are said to be A. Indica. Their flowers 

 are usually single and self-colored. One variety attracts atten- 

 tion from its very small greenish white flowers. It is called 

 Mitsusomekuruma. About twenty named kinds of these 

 diminutive Azaleas are shown. Several varieties of the Ghent 

 type are also on exhibition. There are two exceedingly curious 

 forms, in which the corolla is reduced to five separate and 

 long strap-shaped divisions. In one instance, of the mollis 

 type, the petals are red and spotted and the stamens are want- 

 ing. In another, of the Indica type, the petals are dull pink- 

 reJ, and tiie long red filaments are entirely barren of anthers, 

 giving the flower a strange, spidery look. The Japanese know 

 the deciduous Azaleas as Tsutsuji, and the Indian type as 

 Satsuki and Kirishima, the former name denoting a late, and 

 the latter an early class, 

 ciiicago. III. L. H. Bailey. 



Notes. 



Just now the shrub-like Manchurian form of the Tartarian 

 Maple, sometimes known as Acer Ginnala, is covered with 

 its small but deliciously fragrant flowers. This is a small 

 spreading tree, and it is particularly beautiful for the color of 

 the young leaves at the end of its branches. The leaves also 

 turn to beautiful colors in the autumn, although they fall 

 early. 



The Snowdrop-tree as the Halesia tetraptcra is sometimes 

 called, has flowered with unusual beauty this year in Central 

 Park. One of the finest specimens we know stands on the 

 Peacock Lawn in the Ramble. It breaks into several large 

 branches only two or three feet above the ground, but below 



