June 14, 1893. 



Garden and Forest. 



257 



Japan. It included samples of many kinds of wood, 

 seeds, paper, various articles of clothing-, jams, preserves, 

 and other kinds of food, all named, and, in some cases, the 

 process of manufacture described. ™. ^^ 



London. '^- yyaiSOn. 



Cultural Department. 



The Wild Garden. 



AT this time the wild garden is made beautiful by a large 

 number of early-flowering native plants. The first plant 

 that attracts attention at the entrance is a large clump of Geum 

 triflorum, with fine dark green, healthy foliage. Its blossoms 

 are produced in small umbels composed of three flowers. 

 The calyx is dark purple and the petals white, purplish red at 

 the extremities. The flowers never open outand are not showy ; 

 but this deficiency will be made up in a few more days by the 

 plumose fruits. On the left of the little path the eye catches a 

 beautiful combination of colors. A slight rise in the ground 

 is dotted over with plants of Polemonium reptans and Viola 

 cucullata alba. The nodding light blue flowers of the Pole- 

 monium make a pleasing contrast with the little white blos- 

 soms of the Violet. Further on the neat little Iris cristata is at 

 its best, a mass of light blue blossoms. A few years ago we 

 had only a few small plants, but they increased very rapidly, 

 and now they cover a space twenty feet long by four feet wide. 

 This Iris thrives best here in a moist, peaty soil and partially 

 shaded position. 



Near the Iris, and in the same damp, peaty soil, is a large 

 plant of Saxifraga peltata in bloom. The pale pink flowers 

 are produced on stalks from three to four feet long, and the 

 lower parts of the reddish stalks are covered with long whitish 

 conspicuous hairs. Later the peltate leaves, which rise from 

 a creeping rootstock, will be showy and effective, and will 

 attain a height of from three to four feet ; the single leaf when 

 fully developed measures about a foot across. The plant grows 

 luxuriantly here in a boggy situation. Although it is one of 

 the largest species of the genus, and one of the most vigorous 

 growers, yet it is very seldom seen in our gardens. The Rue 

 Anemone (Anemonella thalictrioides) is quite at home under 

 a small Sassafras. The little umbels of whitish Anemone-like 

 flowers are exceedingly pretty and last for some time in bloom. 

 A few yards away from the Anemonella is a large plant of 

 Camassia Fraseri, the Wild Hyacinth. Its pale blue racemes 

 of flowers are most attractive, and although it is not so showy 

 as Camassia esculenta, it is more hardy and stands the winter 

 here without protection. Camassia esculenta is also in bloom 

 and is a showy plant, thriving well in light sandy soil, but is 

 not quite hardy and needs to be protected with a good cover- 

 ing of leaves in the winter. 



Aquilegia Canadensis has taken possession of a rough, ir- 

 regular mound made up of large stones, roots of trees and 

 earth. It sows its seed in every direction on the mound, and 

 the sturdy little plants that have come up in every crevice are 

 loaded down with red and yellow flowers. Although this Col- 

 umbine has not as large flowers as some other species of Aqui- 

 legia, they are more plentiful, and it is among the best of the 

 Columbmes. 



On a dry bank fully exposed to the sun Waldsteinia fragra- 

 rioides is producing its yellow Strawberry-like flowers. In a 

 slightly shaded place Tiarella cordifolia is throwing up ra- 

 cemes of white flowers. In low moist soil, under the shade of 

 some White Pines, and close to someOsmundas, Cypripedium 

 pubescens is flowering freely. This Cypripedium is one of the 

 easiest to cultivate. Plants that I collected last year are bloom- 

 ing just as well as old-established ones. 



Near a small pond, and under the shade of some trees, 

 Houstonia ccerulea, with its pale blue flowers, is exceedingly 

 pretty. A large clump of Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris), 

 with its dark green foliage, seems quite at home in the mud 

 near the water's edge, and its rich yellow blossoms have been 

 very effective for some time past. 



Anemone Fennsylvanica is not a good border-plant, but there 

 is no better plant for the wild garden. It requires plenty of 

 room, as it soon spreads and covers a large piece of ground. 

 It grows about a foot high, and at this time is very showy with 

 its immense number of white flowers. It gives good satisfac- 

 tion here planted on a low mound of good soil, where it 

 gets plenty of light. 



Thaspium aureum is a plant about two feet high, and its 



umbels of deep yellow flowers are very effective when massed 



together. It does best in a partially open position, and grows 



freely in good rich soil. 



Cerastium arvense is a low-growing plant, now a sheet of 



sunny flowers, and well adapted for edging. Thermopsis mol- 

 lis, with bright yellow flowers on stems about three feet high, 

 makes a splendid border-plant, and is equally good for the 

 wild garden. 



Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium coeruleum), with flowers in 

 bright blue panicles on stems two feet long, makes a conspic- 

 uous object now, and so does Amsonia Tabernsemontana, a 

 plant about four feet high, with light blue flowers, one inch 

 across, and in large terminal panicles. 



On a dry bank the wild Crane's-bill (Geranium maculatum) 

 is growing beautifully, and its pale purple flowers are very 

 pretty. Although it is a very common plant, yet there are very 

 few plants that are more effective when it is seen in a right 



position. 



Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, Mass. 



Robert Cameron. 



Plants in Flower. 



THE Oriental Poppies, at present, with their vivid color, dull 

 all other flowers in the garden. Noble flowers these, and 

 with a foil of graceful foliage. Fortunately, their season is 

 brief. Otherwise they are such effective flowers that they 

 would fill a popular want for the big and bizarre and the land- 

 scape, or, at least, our gardens would blaze in fiery monotony. 

 These are flowers of which one can gain a surfeit in a moder- 

 ate time. The plants are perfectly hardy and readily grown 

 from seed, from which they show considerable variation both 

 in coloring and in markings or blotches. They die down after 

 flowering, and it is well to plant some strong-growing plant 

 near them to cover vacant space. In late summer stock is 

 readily increased by root-cuttings. 



The Roses are daily becoming more interesting. I noted 

 last year in Garden and Forest a so-called Rosa polyantha 

 remontant as having produced flowers in ninety days from 

 seed. The plants proved perfecfly hardy without protection 

 last winter, not even the tops being cut down in the least. 

 They are now strong bushes, two to three feet high, and full of 

 good foliage and numerous buds, many of which are ex- 

 panded. The flowers are single and double, and range from 

 white to deep pink or rose. The most forward plant is now 

 charming with numerous light rosy single flowers something 

 over an inch in diameter. As implied by the name, this Rose 

 gives successive crops during the season, and is well worth 

 the attention of cultivators who enjoy unconventional flowers. 

 The Burnet Rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia or R. spinosissima) 

 is a favorite of mine in or out of flower. It makes neat little 

 bushes, covered with dainty very dark green leaves, very dis- 

 tinct and effective at all seasons. At present it is showing its 

 fragrant cream-colored flowers, which are as handsome as fu- 

 gacious. I believe this is a very common British plant. Mine 

 are from seed gathered by a friend on the Tenby sands. 



Rosa multiflora is showing its racemes of small flowers 

 quite in contrast to Mr. Dawson's seedlings. One of these seed- 

 lings, Multiflora X Miss Hazzard, with pure white single flowers, 

 seems to me specially lovely, while the one named Dawson is a 

 charming picture at present, with its clusters of semi-double 

 pink flowers, the bush on a low fence making a cascade of 

 dainty color. 



Calochortus pulchellus is the strongest-growing and earliest- 

 flowering of the dozen northern California species which I 

 have tried. Its abundant clear yellow flowers are of striking 

 beauty, and among the most attractive flowers now in bloom. 

 These Mariposa Tulips are, I fear, more familiar to us as cat- 

 alogue illustrations than as realities in the garden. There 

 seems to be a general haziness about cultural directions and 

 their requirements here, and, as far as I can learn, they are 

 not usually culfivated successfully outside. In a dry border, 

 under the lee of the house, they were perfectly hardy and 

 were usually without even a snow-covering last winter. Under 

 this condition they apparently all lived and are in bud, but 

 with varying degrees of vigor. The future treatment will be 

 to allow the border to remain perfectly dry during the balance 

 of the season. These native bulbs are so handsome that 

 hints from those who have succeeded in their cultivation for 

 successive seasons would be very useful. 



The Spanish Irises are now in season, and are among the bright- 

 est of the family and not to be omitted from the smallest collec- 

 tion. The usual variefies are the light lavender, with orange 

 blotches on the falls, the self-yellow, I. Lusitanica, and those 

 with brown markings, I. sordida, and those with white stand- 

 ards. There is in the garden a form of I. Lusitanica, from Tan- 

 giers, I believe, which made six inches or more of leaf-growth 

 last fall, and which, later, was badly cut. It seems a strong 

 plant, but, like I. Tingitana, is evidently a shy bloomer. 



Hardy Gladioli, one of the most interesting flowers at this 

 moment, is one of Mr. Whittall's finds of last year, a hardv 



