June 18, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



299 



Giant," a white variety of A. vulgaris, is a very attractive 

 border plant, and being of robust constitution is not so likely 

 to die out as some of the more delicate kinds. Another bold 

 kind is A. Olympica, with Mowers of a lovely violet-blue. 



Moutan Pasonies and German Iris, and later, herbaceous 

 Pa^onies follow. Any one wanting a gorgeous effect lasting 

 through June can have nothing better than these with Sweet 

 Williams mixed in. Pceonia tenuifolia, single and double, are 

 striking and distinct, ami very early. All the single varieties 

 are handsome. They are easily obtained by sowing seed 

 saved from the ordinary double varieties, about half of which 

 come single or semi-double from seed. A friend tells me ger- 

 mination is assisted by soaking the seeds two weeks before 

 sowing. 



After these come Foxgloves. They are strikingly beautiful. 

 We formerly protected them during the winter, but this season 



Novelties in Hardy Plants. 



THE new Carnation, Paul Engelheart, is without question 

 ■*■ the best border Carnation of the Clove section yet intro- 

 duced. The color is the same as in the old Crimson Clove, 

 but the flowers are almost twice the size, and, if possible, more 

 fragrant than those of that good old garden plant. The great 

 advantage claimed for Paul Engelheart is that the stems are 

 stout and well able to support the large flowers, and this is so 

 even when cultivated under glass. I am not positive that this 

 Carnation is thoroughly hardy, but there is every reason to 

 believe it will prove to be as hardy as all others of its class — 

 that is, with a little dry litter placed round the plants in fall. 

 With this treatment the Scotch Pinks generally winter nicely 

 even in exposed situations, and furnish an abundance of beau- 

 tiful, fragrant flowers in June. 



Parterres in the Park of Saint Germain.— See 



^294. 



they have taken care of themselves in the shrubbery border, 

 where they appear to be at home. The yellow-flowered 

 species, Digitalis ambigua, is a distinct and attractive plant, 

 and seems to be hardier than D. purpurea, the common kind. 

 The month finishes with Sweet Williams and Delphiniums 

 at their best. Selection does considerable with these peren- 

 nial Larkspurs. We have now some very fine double ones. 

 I saved seeds from a lovely sky-blue flowered variety named 

 Belladonna, which I am told never produces seed, and if so my 

 plant must have been wrongly named, though trusting to 

 memory I should say it was true enough. By hybridizing this 

 with the old D.formosum I have some very fine distinct kinds 

 and a few very double ones. No other plants furnish so wide 

 a range of blue, from the palest to the most intense, as do 

 these perennial Larkspurs. If they are cut back as the flowers 

 fade, another crop of bloom wifl appear, so that they will 

 brighten the border until autumn. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H. 



Of the two scarlet Delphiniums, D. cardinale and D. nttrfi- 

 caule, the latter is the best plant, being a better perennial than 

 the former, but both are desirable owing to the quality of 

 flowers they produce, the brilliance of their scarlet color, 

 a color by no means common among hardy perennials, and 

 the neat dwarf habit of the plants and their branching habit, 

 which make them desirable for the front rows of flower-borders. 

 Among recent novelties is an orange-colored variety of D. 

 nudicaule, called Aurantiacum. This is fully as good a plant 

 as the type, and differs from it only in the color of the (lowers, 

 which are of the brightest orange. These scarlet Larkspurs 

 are often accused of being tender and only biennial in dura- 

 tion, but it is easy to raise them from seed, for the seeds ger- 

 minate as readily as those of the old D. Chinetisis, and it is 

 surprising what an amount of satisfaction one derives from 

 the fact of doing a plant well when it has a reputation for be- 

 ing hard to grow, especially when the subjects have a special 

 beauty of their own as is the case with these scarlet Larkspurs. 



