476 



Garden and Forest. 



[OCTOHKR 2, 1889. 



SO free Howeriiic:, to vary the inonotony of General Grant, 

 whicli so often figures as the centre-piece — sometimes even of 

 a clam or o\'Stor balce — upon tlie lawn. 



The first of October rinds the large Phloxes mostly past. The 

 trade catalogues abound with so many long lists of varieties 

 that it may l)e well to specify a few that have been tried and 

 not found wanting". Brilliant and handsome as are the big 

 Decussata Phlo.xes, they are not without objectionable colors, 

 particularly the rose and rose-purples, while of two varieties, 

 almost similar in the color of their Howers, one may be a 

 much less vigorous grower or have much smaller trusses than 

 the other. Of the whites, Vierge Marie and Queen of the 

 Whites are among the best, the former the tallest and more 

 robust grower and the latest to Hower. Of the light reds, Reve 

 d'Or, Gambetta, I'Avenir and Lothair are distinctand beautiful, 

 the latter one of the most brilliant of its class, and among the 

 most brilliant of hardy Howers. Isabey, a variety recently 

 sent, much resembles it, and appears to l)e equally vigorous. 

 Parrai, a new variety, is the rinest of the rose-colored kinds, 

 both in truss and color. Intermediate between white and 

 rose, two old varieties, Richard Wallace and Premier Ministre, 

 are une.xcelled, while Oberon still remains the most gorgeous 

 deep red. 



Just now the perennial and annual Asters appear, to contri- 

 bute a "needed color — purple and its various shades — a con"i- 

 pliment to the hardy Sunflower's gold. Even the common 

 Aster of the fields and road-sides is well worth growing amid 

 the shrubbery and the w-ild garden, while the China Aster, in 

 its more varied hues, lends an almost spring-time gayety to 

 the garden during late September and October. It is, n"ioreover, 

 very desirable for cut-ffowers. Usually, the mistaice is n"iade 

 of too "early sowing. Sown the latter part of June in shade, in 

 the open ground, the annual Starwort will come into bloom 

 at a time when it is really required. A touch of white frost 

 only accentuates its colors, and, weeded of its objectionable 

 shades, it is among the most desirable of garden annuals. 

 Neither should tlie old-fashioned Dahlia be overlooked by any 

 who have an appreciation for color ; it helps to woo the slant- 

 ing sunbeam and lengthen the shortening October day. 



The Angelica-tree, or Japanese Aralia, is at present a trop- 

 ical-looking shrub on the lawn, with its large tripinnate leaves, 

 spiny stems and grand crown of white blossoms. Unfortu- 

 nately, this is rather tender, requiring protection during win- 

 ter. The gay flowers of the Roses of Siiaron, too, an occasional 

 second flowering Bee-larkspur, and purple Clematis, and the 

 colored fruits of many of the ornamental shrubs are now con- 

 spicuous and contribute their quota of color. * 



But the beauty and pleasure of the garden at this season will 

 depend largely upon the care it receives, and no little work is 

 called for in cutting out the withered branches and removing 

 the withered leaves, as well as keeping walks and borders free 

 frorn weeds, and the sward properly shaven. We weed and 

 hoe, and stake and "edge" in summer — we neglect the gar- 

 den in autumn, when, with proper care and judicious plant- 

 ing, it may present an aspect of almost equal beauty. Can all 

 the golden days of summer create a flower more chastely fair 

 than these lovely, nodding Wind-flowers of October, with their 

 spotless petals surrounding the pale-green stigma and feathery- 

 golden stamens ; and shall I let this sweetest tribute of the lat- 

 ter year rear its lieauty aniid neglected surrovrndings ! 



While referring to autumnal flowers the question of spring, 

 versus fall planting may be briefly considered. As a general 

 rule, fall planting is to be commended, provided it be done 

 early, the plants thus being enabled to take hold of .the soil 

 before winter sets in and obtain a start for the following year. 

 Of course, there are not a few plants which are set out to dis- 

 advantage in autumn, though this will depend somewhat on 

 whether the winter prove severe, or whether the plants re- 

 ceive winter protection. So, also, will successful spring plant- 

 ing be deterniined largely by the weather, as all successful 

 planting will depend upon the condition of the plants when 

 set out. Plants poorly packed and sent from long distances 

 are expensive to experiment with at any season and at any 

 price. Late-flowering plants, like the Wind-flowers and Monks- 

 hoods must be set out in spring ; the hardy Coreopsis and 

 most of the Helianthece, also, do best when transplanted at 

 that season. Hellebores should be moved early in the autumn, 

 and Pyrethrums, Ranunculus, Iris, Bee-Larkspiu"s, Pseonias, 

 the large Oriental Poppies, the Decussata Phloxes, and most 

 of the Campanulas are best transplanted in early fall. Besides 

 being a suitable time for the moving of most perennials, early 

 autumn transplanting has the advantage of seeing the plants 

 established, of more intelligent placing in the borders, and, 

 finally, of a fact accomplished when the first garden Snow- 

 drop proclaims the spring returned. George H. Elhvanger. 



Rochester, N. Y. 



Stove Plants in Flower at Kevv. 



Ixora Diacrothyrsa. — This is a most superb plant for the 

 stove. It.is unlike all other garden Ixoras in the size of its 

 flower-heads, strong plants producing heads fully nine inches 

 across and as full as a Hawthorn blossom. The color is 

 bright, glowing crimson. A plant at Kew has been in flower 

 three weeks, and its blooms are still as perfect as when they 

 flrst opened. For large stoves no Ixora equals this one. The 

 treatment of most of tlie plants of this genus includes severe 

 pruning every spring and the stopping of the most vigorous 

 slioots, with a view to obtaining compact plants with nun"ier- 

 ous short iM-anches, each of which will bear a cluster of 

 ifowers. But /. macrothyrsa must not be treated in this fash- 

 ion. The branches must be allowed to grow unchecked, and, 

 with liberal treatment, they should become three or four feet 

 long. The longer and stouter the branches, the larger the 

 heads of flowers will be. After flowering, the strongest 

 branches should be cut back hard, and when they have 

 broken again they must be repotted and treated liberally. As 

 a rule, the shoots do not become strong enough to flower 

 until they are about two years old. The garden name for this 

 plant is /. Diiffii. 



Gustavia gracillinia. — Although introduced and flowered 

 by Mr. Bull for the first time in 1875, yet this plant appears to 

 have flowered only very rarely. It flowered at Kew in 1883, 

 and is again in bloom in one of the stoves there. It is about 

 four feet high, erect, unbranched, with linear, bright green 

 leaves, and even when not in flower is ornamental. The 

 flo"wers are developed in clusters on the ripened part of the 

 stem, and they have scarcely any stalk ; they are about four 

 inches .across,, and composed of eight broad, overlapping 

 petals, surrounding a broad disc-like cluster of yellow, pur- 

 ple-tipped anthers. Several other species of Gustavia are cul-' 

 tivated at Kew, and have flowered on rare occasions. A con- 

 siderable number of the section of Myrtaceae, to which Gus- 

 tavia belongs, have flowers of large size and exceptional 

 beauty, l)ut they do not flower under cultivation here. Such 

 are the Cannon-ball tree (Couroupita), Barringtonia, Lecythis, 

 etc., plants which are easy to grow but fail to flower, prob- 

 ably through lack of intense sunlight. G. gracillima is a native 

 of the United States of Colombia. 



Ataccia cristata. — The very remarkable and ornamental 

 plant grown in gardens under this name belongs to a small, 

 natural order nearly related to the Amaryllids. When well 

 managed it flowers freely and presents a picture of more than 

 ordinary attractiveness. It has dark, purplish-green, ovate, 

 thin leaves a foot or so long, with a petiole about four 

 inches long. The flower-scape is erect, about one and 

 a half feet high, stout, a'ngled, purplish, and bearing on the 

 apex four large bracts, two of which are parallel, erect, five 

 inches long, and suggestive of the large dorsal sepal of 

 Cyprip^edium Lawrenciatiwn : the other two, which are placed 

 beneath the flowers, are boat-shaped. The flowers are pur- 

 ple, one inch across, and composed of six reflexed calyx-lobes, 

 no petals, a ring round the mouth of the shallow tube, and a 

 short, thick, six-furrowed stigma. In addition to the perfect 

 flowers there are also numerous whitish filaments, six inches 

 long, springing from the base of the bracts, and these fila- 

 ments are really abortive flowers. It is difficult to describe 

 the plant so as to convey an idea of its ornamental character. 

 It should be grown in a moist stove, and potted in fibrous 

 peat and sphagnum with a sprinkling of sand and charcoal. 

 It likes abundance of water all summer, and less in winter. 

 Plants three feet through and bearing thirty flower-scapes 

 have been grown by means of this treatment. 

 Kew. W. Watson. 



Notes From a Northern Garden. 



Grapes have matured much earlier and more fully this 

 year than usual. We are apt to forget about the seasons, but 

 for Grapes I think this is the earliest here since 1870. Our 

 standard for a warm season is the perfect maturity of the Con- 

 cord, which is quite rare. 



Moore's Early, or, as I find it sold in Boston streets, the 

 "Early Concord," ripens fairly here, though it is less early 

 than Champion. The season of Moore's Early, Salem, Dela- 

 ware, Israella and Eumelan are so close together that it is 

 impossible to give either the precedence. In a season that is 

 steadily warm from May to October, the Brighton is very 

 early — even earlier than any above named ; but in a summer 

 with "cold spells," like this and last year, it does not even 

 color. 



The Champion Grape I have always regarded as the earliest 

 and the poorest of all cultivated sorts — unfit for any but culi- 



