June 28, 1893. | 



Garden and Forest. 



277 



pots at once instead of repotting them during the time of 

 active growth, the roots being quite tender and easily injured 

 by repotting. A very good effect may be secured by planting 

 some of these plants in wire baskets in such a way that the en- 

 tire basket is ultimately covered by the growth, such speci- 

 mens becoming extremely showy when in full flower. 



The new hybrid Streptocarpi also form pretty little plants 

 when well grown. These are quite free-blooming, and include 

 some delicate shades of color, though many of the seedlings, 

 from presumably good European strains, produce flowers in 

 which the reddish violet shades predominate. But by discard- 

 ing those of objectionable color and collecting seeds only 

 from the best and purest colors, the strain may be much im- 

 proved. A light rich soil and partial shade are among the 

 requirements for the successful cultivation of Streptocarpus. 

 In potting them, in common with most other members of the 

 Gesneraceae, it is best not to press the soil too firmly in the pots, 

 and the drainage must be kept in good condition. 



Holmesburg, Pa. IV. H. Taplin. 



Spring Bulbs in 1893. — I. 



THE season of spring bulbs may be considered as over 

 when the late Tulips fade and the Spanish Irises begin to 

 show color. This year the weather has not been such as to 

 cause them to appear at their best, in this part of the country 

 at least, for the season was very late, and this delayed the 

 opening of the earlier kinds, and then came several very hot 

 days, which not only brought out early and late together, but 

 caused them to fade much more quickly than they usually do. 

 Nevertheless, there is so much beauty in these flowers that 

 even such untoward weather as we had this spring cannot en- 

 tirely destroy the pleasure which we expect from our gardens ; 

 the show was very brilliant, if not of long duration. 



The first to open with me this year was Erythronium albi- 

 dum, which came even before the Snowdrops, which gener- 

 ally lead the van. By the side of the latter, when they first 

 appear, springs up Calochortus splendens, the hardiest of the 

 genus with me and the first to start ; it is not yet in bloom, 

 however, and hardly belongs in the present paper. 



The Fritillarias are all very pretty, though many of them are 

 by no means showy. F. imperialis is well known, and so are 

 F. Meleagris and its lovely white variety, but all lovers of bulbs 

 should grow F. pallidiflora, which, when established, is a very 

 stately plant, growing two feet high, with large glaucous leaves, 

 and producing often as many as ten large pale yellow flowers 

 as large as small tulips, springing from the axils of the leaves. 

 F. tulipaefolia is also very fine ; its flowers are about the size 

 of those of F. Meleagris, and are deep purple inside and ashy 

 outside. Chionodoxa gigantea is much more showy than 

 C. Luciliae ; its color is softer and its flowers much larger. 



The species of Tulips are for the most part early-flowering. 

 They are as showy as the Dutch varieties and more interest- 

 ing. T. Greigi, in its varieties, is one of the first to open, and is 

 certainly a magnificent flora. It has not a very wide range of 

 color ; orange and yellow, with black blotches, are its only 

 hues, but these are so brilliant that "he who beholds it comes 

 and comes again." This species does not flourish everywhere, 

 but I am one of the fortunate ones for whom it does its best. 

 T. apula is one of the strongest growers of the genus, and is 

 very showy in bloom. Its bulbs are so large and round and 

 heavy that they could be picked out from among others in the 

 dark. A very singular fact is noted every year ; soon after 

 the flower expands a fungus attacks it about half-way up the 

 stalk and the tlower drops over. The brightness of tlie blos- 

 som is so great, however, that it is well worth cultivating. 

 T. sylvestris, with its graceful, yellow, violet-scented flowers, 

 is admired by every one who sees it. This kind is more in- 

 clined than most to produce " droppers," as they are called ; 

 that is, the bulb is not to be found where it was planted when 

 the plant dies down ; it has decayed, and from its remains a 

 root as large as a goose-quill runs down a few inches, bearing 

 another bulb at its end. The plant has several synonyms. 

 T. carinata is a kind which we do not so much admire at first ; 

 we dislike the green keel which runs from base to tip of the 

 segments of the flower, but a few days later, as we walk along 

 the rows and find it still bright and fresh when most of the 

 others have withered, we modify our former verdict. 



Tulipa vitellina is a new kind of great beauty, though its 

 color is not at all what the name denotes, but a very light yel- 

 low, almost cream color. The flower-stalk is about twenty 

 inches high, and the flowers, as far as I can judge from one 

 year's experience, extraordinarily lasting, for they retained 

 their beauty fully two weeks in spite of the trying weather. T. 

 Orphanidea is a very pleasingspecies of color between orange 

 and buff. T. cornuta, with its long slender petals, is interest- 



ing and quaint, but the king of the Tulips is unquestionably T. 

 Gesneriana, with its immense crimson blue-based cups. T. 

 macrospila and T. fulgens are kinds which no one should be 

 without. Yet, in spite of the beauty and interest of the forty or 

 fifty species which are obtainable, I doubt that any way of lay- 

 ing out a dollar will give more pleasure than the purchase of 

 a hundred mixed late single Tulips of the classes known as 

 by-blooms and bizarres. To walk up and down before a row 

 of these, comparing one with another, admiring the almost 

 infinite diversity of markings, is a pleasure equaled only by 

 the inspection of seedhng Gladioli of your own raising. In 

 looking this over I find that Tulips have taken up most of the 

 space ; the great variety of other genera must wait until an- 

 other occa'^ion. 



Canton, Mass. W. E. Endicott, 



Hardy Flower Garden. 



■pOPPIES, Paeonies, Spiraeas and a host of other less showy 

 •*• plants are now flowering profusely, and the garden is at its 

 best. The season has been most favorable for the growth of 

 plants, and their vigor this year is in many instances astonish- 

 ing, some plants having increased so much as to make divi- 

 sion necessary another season. Vincetoxicum acuminatum, 

 an Asclepiad commonly called the Mosquito-catcher, is now 

 very attractive. Its myriad of starry white flowers secrete a 

 viscid substance that attracts mosquitoes, and these insects are 

 oftentimes trapped by the flowers. It is a good garden-plant, 

 lasting in bloom many weeks, and can easily be increased by 

 division. Cuttings can be rooted, but they seldom make buds 

 below the soil, and usually perish in winter. Pyrethrums, 

 which deserve more general cultivadon, are most useful for 

 cutting, and last well. We find the double-named kinds less 

 vigorous than the seedhngs raised from seed of double kinds ; 

 these in their second season give a quandty of useful flowers 

 that cannot be overpraised. The plants die out somewhat in 

 winter, our annual loss being about ten per cent. But self- 

 sown seedlings are always plentiful in the borders to make 

 good these losses. Pyrethrums with us thrive equally well in 

 wet and dry soil. 



Scabiosa Caucasica, one of the choicest border-plants we 

 have, is coming into flower. Like the Pyrethrums, it has a 

 tendency to die out in winter. It is not of a biennial nature, as 

 I supposed, as our plants are now flowering for the third sea- 

 son. There has been a plentiful supply of seed every year to 

 make good all losses, and we always have a nice bed of it in 

 reserve to cut from. The color is a pleasing lavender-blue, 

 rare in the flowers of hardy plants. 



Of many varieties, our earliest Campanula to flower is C. 

 punctata. This is more beautiful than ever this season, and its 

 spreading habit produces a dense mat of green, from which 

 spring many stems covered with white flowers, spotted with 

 brown inside. It is a choice border-plant, growing about 

 eighteen inches high, much like C. Van Houttei, and there is 

 no trace of weediness, as in some of the taller and more robust 

 kinds of Campanula. I have raised seedlings of C. nobilis, 

 said to be a synonym of C. punctata, but the former is stronger- 

 growing, spreads rapidly, and is inclined to be weedy. From 

 a garden standpoint these are very different plants. 



During a recent visit to Mr. H. H. Hunnewell's gardens at 

 Wellesley, I was surprised to find a fine specimen of Eremu- 

 rus robustus in bloom. The spike was about six feet high 

 and had been beautiful for a long time, and I was assured that 

 no protection had been afforded in winter. This opens up a 

 new field for hardy-plant lovers, as the plant in question had 

 been but two years planted. There are several other species 

 of Eremurus, all beautiful and stately plants, natives of Asia. 

 These will be a welcome addition to our gardens should they 

 prove as hardy as E. robustus. I have found these plants to 

 be very impatient of root-disturbance, and when once planted 

 they should not be disturbed in any way. 



Thalictrums are not very ornamental' flowering plants, but 

 have finely cut foliage in all cases. This is especially true of 

 T. minus adiantifolium, which is as pretty in leaf as the com- 

 mon Maidenhair Fern. T. Fendleri, a species from Colorado, 

 is just now highly ornamental, more so than any other species 

 with which I am acquainted, though there is a Japanese plant 

 that resembles it somewhat. T. Fendleri does not grow more 

 than two feet high and thrives in almost any position. 



The Columbines are mostly past, and I am sorry to say that 

 many of the best species have disappeared entirely, and in 

 their places we have a nondescript lot of self-sown plants that 

 defy classification. Aquilegia ccLrulea, A. glandulosa. A. 

 Stuartii, and even A. chrysantha can scarcely be called peren- 

 nial, at least they are not always so with us. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet, 



