468 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 24, 1890. 



and useful of hardy plants. They should be potted as soon 

 as received and. placed in a cellar until spring, when they 

 may be set in their permanent positions out-of-doors and 

 become established so as to take care of themselves in future. 

 It is not safe to trust newly imported plants of Alstrcemerias to 

 the severity of a New England winter, and the same may be 

 said of the Hellebores which are thrust upon us at this season. 

 These would speedily die if planted out when received. They 

 must be protected in frames or in pots, and planted in spring. 

 Afterward they can take care of themselves if a little mulch- 

 ing or covering of straw is placed about them. 



The first frost will kill the tops of herbaceous Pseonies, and 

 after that is the best time to lift and divide them or to procure 

 new ones, remembering that Paeonies are, or should be, 

 planted to stay, and the richer the soil is made the better the 

 results will be in years to come. No garden should be with- 

 out a few of the better named kinds, and those of French 

 origin appear to be the best as a rule. Those who enjoy really 

 good border flowers for cutting should try the Trollius. There 

 are several species in commerce; the best of which are T. 

 Eitropcrus, 71 Asiaticits and T. Japonicus. All three are dis- 

 tinct, and valuable for cutting. The Mowers resemble huge 

 Buttercups of a globular outline, which gives them their 

 common name of Globe-flowers. They need a rich, moist 

 soil. 



I have found Anemone Ape?mina perfectly hardy, and it pro- 

 duces a charming blue flower, which opens early in April; but 

 it takes two years to become well established. A. blanda is 

 highly spoken of. It much resembles the Apennine Wind- 

 flower, but blooms much earlier. A.fulgens I have known to 

 live out all winter and Mower gorgeously in spring. It is per- 

 fectly hardy in a cold frame, and is also fine for pot culture. 

 These three Anemones are tuberous-rooted species, and may 

 be procured now, as may the English and Spanish Iris, both 

 of which are of the bulbous section known as Xiphion. These 

 are rather fickle out-door plants, and ought to be wintered in 

 pots in cold frames, and they will then Mower beautifully in 

 the border in May and June. In sheltered situations and more 

 favored localities, both the Anemones and Xiphions would be 

 fine garden plants. 



If one has a corner of the garden where Grass or other 

 things refuse to grow, Lily-of-the-Valley will thrive and is a 

 good investment. If the bed is well and liberally prepared, 

 they speedily take hold and thrive, and spread amazingly, 

 where most other things fail. And, finally, every one should 

 try the lovely native Cypripediums, and this is a good time to 

 begin. Good, well-ripened crowns can be easily obtained 

 and should be planted in a moist, shady place in rich 

 mould. These Lady's Slippers also succeed well under pot-cul- 

 ture, and will do so year after year. C. pubesce?is, C. parvi- 

 florum and C. spectabile, with the lovely western C. montannm, 

 with its raceme of sweet-scented Mowers, are the showiest 

 and best to grow. C. candidum and C. arietinum are both 

 small, and C. acanle generally difficult to manage where it is 

 not possible to imitate the natural conditions under which it 



grows. 



South Lancaster, Mass. 



o. o. 



Notes on Shrubs. 



Gordonia Altamaha (G. pnbescens) is fiovvering in the Ar- 

 boretum, the first blossoms opening about September 8th. 

 The plant here requires covering in winter, but it is in a too 

 exposed and rather unsuitable position for one of its kind. 

 There are doubtless many sheltered gardens and nooks in the 

 city of Boston and vicinity where it would survive our winters 

 without protection and eventually become a good sized shrub. 

 We are unable to grow the great evergreen or Laurel Mag- 

 nolia of the south, but this Gordonia, or Franklinia, as it is 

 often called, seems of a hardier nature, and is well worth a 

 trial in favorable places. Our seasons are so short that the 

 later Mower-buds do not develop into blossoms unless pro- 

 tected frqm early autumn frosts ; but, in any case, enough 

 Mowers are produced to fully repay the little care given to it 

 and the space it occupies. The beautiful, pure white, deli- 

 cately fragrant, single Camellia-like blossoms expand three 

 inches across, and the cluster of stamens within is bright 

 yellow. The corollas do not persist long, however, and 

 usually become detached and fall thirty-six or forty-eight hours 

 after expansion. 



Clerodendroti trichoto?num is another shrub which in this 

 latitude would be worth growing in sheltered situations, and 

 would well repay any care given to it. This is a Japanese 

 plant belonging to the Verbena family, and although it is a 

 good many years since it was introduced into Europe it is still 

 very rare in this country. In this climate the stems are 



often so severely injured in winter as to seriously affect the 

 blossoming. Last winter being less severe than usual, the 

 branches were but slightly injured, and they now bear numer- 

 ous cymes of sweetly fragrant Mowers. This Clerodendron in 

 its native habitat is a large shrub or sometimes a small tree. 

 The branches are round, smooth and stout. The leaves are 

 usually large, ovate, or sometimes cordate, pointed and more 

 or less pubescent on both surfaces. When bruised they ex- 

 hale a heavy and rather disagreeable odor. At a little distance 

 the foliage resembles that of a small-leaved Catalpa more than 

 any other familiar plant. The Mowers are borne in large, much 

 branched cymes on the ends of the branches. The blossom 

 is white or sometimes slightly rosy colored, and expands about 

 an inch across, and it bears four stamens and a slender pistil, 

 which protrude about an inch from the mouth. The narrow, 

 very slender tube of the corolla is about an inch in length, all 

 the lower portion being enclosed in a loose, five-angled, pur- 

 plish red calyx, which adds much to the showy eft'ect of the 

 flower, and which is conspicuous when enclosing the unopened 

 buds as well as after the coralla has fallen. The flowers of a 

 cyme open here in gradual succession, beginning about the 

 first week of September. It is said that in Japan this plant 

 grows high up on the mountains, and in rich soils produces 

 panicles of flowers eighteen inches or more in length. It is 

 possible that by getting seed from the extreme northern limits 

 or the highest altitudes where this species grows, we may 

 secure a race better able to withstand the severity of New 

 England winters. Besides propagation by seeds, which will 

 hardly have time to ripen in this latitude, this Cleroden- 

 dron may be increased by cuttings from the shoots or 

 roots. 



An interesting plant for gardens is a Clethra from the south- 

 ern states, to which Lamarck, in his "Botanical Dictionary," 

 gave the name of the Cottony Clethra, or Clethra tomentosa, a 

 name which was preserved by De Candolle in his " Prodro- 

 mus" and kept up by Loudon and other early writers, al- 

 though reduced to the rank of a variety of C. alnifolia by 

 Micbaux. It is a hundred years since it became known in Euro- 

 pean gardens. Later botanists, however, seem to consider it as 

 but a mere form of the common Sweet Pepperbush (C. alni- 

 folia), and we look in vain for any reference to it, either by 

 name or description, in the last edition of Gray's " Manual." 

 In some of the earlier editions of the "Manual," how- 

 ever, it is stated that "in the southern states are varieties 

 with the leaves rather scabrous and pubescent or white- 

 downy beneath." 



Although the pubescent variety, which the earlier botanists 

 knew as C. tomentosa, may not be entitled to specific rank in 

 the botanical classification of to-day, it is, nevertheless, suffi- 

 ciently distinct in the estimation of the horticulturist to merit 

 some name which would indicate a difference from the ordi- 

 nary typical C. alnifolia. In cultivated specimens in the Arbo- 

 retum the leaves are larger than those of C. alnifolia. They 

 are rugose above and densely covered with a grayish white 

 tomentum beneath. In typical C. alnifolia the leaves are more 

 smooth above and smooth and light green in color beneath, 

 being quite destitute of any pubescence or hairs. The indi- 

 vidual Mowers as a rule are nearly twice the size of those 

 of C. alnifolia, and they differ also in that the petals as- 

 sume more of a bell shape and do not spread out so widely. 

 The slender, pointed, terminal racemes of Mowers average 

 considerably larger, and many of them are supplemented by 

 three or four well developed, but smaller, racemes, which, 

 springing from the side near the base of the central one, come 

 into bloom later than it does. To the horticulturist, however, 

 the most important character lies in the time of flowering 

 of the plants. Growing side by side in cultivation and under 

 exactly similar conditions, the first blossoms of C. alnifolia 

 open in the last days of July (July 22d in 1889 and 31st in 1890), 

 while the first of those of what we may call C. tomentosa do 

 not appear until three weeks later (August 12th in 1889 and 

 19th in 1890), by which time C. alnifolia is past its best flower- 

 ing, although in woods and other cool places it is found much 

 later. The latest buds of the tomentose variety are not ex- 

 panded by the middle of October, so that they are usually 

 destroyed by frost, and fruit is never matured. As this tomen- 

 tose Clethra is only recorded from Virginia, Carolina, Alabama 

 and other southern states, it is naturally not so hardy as our 

 northern one. The flowers are quite as fragrant as those of 

 C. alnifolia. On account of its extreme lateness in blossom- 

 ing, this southern variety, or form, as it may be, seems likely 

 yet to become recognized and valued by gardeners at least, 

 and to find a place in every garden where shrubs of this class 

 are prized. - 



Arnold Arboretum. J- G. Jack. 



