June 5, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



225 



shrub ought to be better known, and every one who has a 

 northern garden should plant one of these Lilacs. The 

 other comparatively rare and little-known early-flowering 

 Lilac, Syringa pubescens (see Garden and Forest, vol. i., 

 p. 415, and vol. vi., p. 266), has also bloomed this year as 

 it has never bloomed before in American gardens, the slen- 

 der stems being often bent to the ground under the weight 

 of the flower-clusters. This species flowers with the Chi- 

 nese and Persian Lilacs and with the latest of the varieties 

 of the common Lilac, Syringa vulgaris. By some people 

 this is considered the most beautiful of the whole race. 

 The flower-clusters and the individual flowers are smaller 

 than those of other Lilacs, but they excel them all in fra- 

 grance, and there is a grace and charm about this plant, 

 which is also a native of northern China, to which none of 

 its more robust relatives can lay claim. 



The Lilac season, which twenty years ago lasted a week 

 or ten days, can now be prolonged through six or eight 

 weeks by means of the new introductions which have 

 come to us through the agency of the Arnold Arboretum, 

 and no good northern garden will be complete without 

 representatives of all the species, to say nothing of the new 

 varieties of the old-fashioned Syringa vulgaris which 

 French and German gardeners are turning out every year, 

 and which are plants of surprising beauty and the greatest 

 value. The northern United States, of all parts of the 

 world, is best suitetl to develop the greatest beauty of the 

 deciduous-leaved trees and shrubs of northern countries, 

 and among them all none are more at home or give greater 

 satisfaction than the Lilacs. 



The action of cold or of drought, followed by cold, on 

 plants in certain years is not yet well understood. Corre- 

 spondents in Boston write us, for example, that the com- 

 mon Barberry, which has become entirely naturalized in 

 eastern New England, has suffered severely during the 

 past winter, old-established plants in fields and gardens 

 being often killed to the ground, while the Laburnum, 

 which is always rather tender, and does not flower well in 

 that latitude one year in five, is now everywhere covered 

 with flower-buds. Native shrubs near Boston have gener- 

 ally suffered as much as exotics, and the dead branches which 

 may be seen in the roadside shrubberies testify to a re- 

 markable combination of circumstances adverse to plant- 

 life. 



Crat^gus punctata. — So many of our native Thorns are 

 desirable trees that it is difficult to select any one of them 

 for special commendation. There are, at least, half a dozen 

 species which ought to be in every collection of any size, 

 each of them having a character of its own, and an indi- 

 vidual expression which is marked throughout the season. 

 We select Crataegus punctata, sometimes known as the Dotted 

 Thorn, because, as it was seen last week in Prospect Park, 

 Brooklyn, it was, perhaps, the most interesting small tree 

 there. Its widespreading branches stand out mainly at right 

 angles from the trunk so that the deep shadows between the 

 different strata of foliage are generally horizontal, and the 

 head of the tree is often flat-topped. Farther north in Canada 

 these branches sometimes have a spread of forty feet and the 

 trunks are more than three feet in circumference. The best 

 trees in Prospect Park are twenty feet high and broader 

 than they are tall, and just now the corymbs of white flow- 

 ers borne on the upper side of the level branches give the 

 tree a singularly beautiful effect. Of course, these flowers 

 are abundant, but the clusters do not seem so dense as they 

 are on some other species, nor are they quite as abundant, 

 but the tree is all the more interesting than it would be if 

 the proportion of white to green were greater. This tree 

 is beautiful also in autumn, when its branches are covered 

 with showy fruit, while the foliage turns to a bright orange 

 and scarlet and adds to its attractiveness. 



Primula cortusoides Sieboldi. — At this time there is no 

 hardy herbaceous plant that excels this Primrose in the 

 brightness of its flowers. It grows vigorously, and with 

 good treatment increases in size and produces an abun- 



dance of flowers each year. It does best in a sheltered sit- 

 uation where it will be shaded from the sun during the 

 hottest part of the day. Mr. Cameron, writing of this flower 

 from the Cambridge Botanical Garden, says that it grows 

 there in a strong, rich, loose loam of a rather damp nature. 

 The flowers are produced on stems eight to twelve inches 

 high, and a single flower measures almost two inches in 

 diameter. The beauty of this plant is lost when only seen 

 with one or two flower-stems. At Cambridge a large clump, 

 measuring half a yard across and bearing fifty or sixty stout 

 stems with large umbels of flowers, shows how effective it 

 can be. It is a strictly herbaceous perennial; the coarsely 

 toothed, ovate leaves die down in the fall and come up 

 again in the spring. The flower is very variable, and a 

 large number of forms have been raised since it was intro- 

 duced from Japan thirty years ago. One named grandi- 

 flora is in flower now, and it is a magnificent plant. Al- 

 though its habit is the same as that of the type, the flowers 

 are quite distinct, being much brighter and slightly larger. 

 In the fall this Primrose should be covered with dry leaves 

 and a few pieces of board to keep them from being blown 

 away. In spring, whenever there are signs of growth, the 

 covering is removed. 



Stellaria holostea. — This is now the best white-flowered 

 plant in the front row of the herbaceous border. When its 

 flowering season is over it looks rather weedy, and it grows 

 so freely that if not kept in subjection it very soon destroys 

 the other low plants growing near it. Nevertheless, it is a 

 good perennial and deserves a place in the choicest bor- 

 ders. The white, star-like flowers measure three-fourths of 

 an inch in diameter and grow in cymes on the stems. The 

 flowers are produced very plentifully and the plants are 

 completely covered with white flowers. When massed 

 together this plant is very effective, and Mr. Cameron sug- 

 gests that it can be used for a spring bedding-plant when 

 white flowers are scarce. 



A New Iris. — We have received from Mr. Gerard flowers 

 of a new Iris, the production of Professor M. Forster, a 

 cross between I. paradoxa and I. variegata. We are not 

 aware that it has been named, but, according to Professor 

 Forster's usual nomenclature, this would be I. Parvar. The 

 plant is especially interesting as a cross between an On- 

 cocyclus Iris and one of the ordinary bearded Irises, with 

 a quite different habit. I. paradoxa, which is rare in culti- 

 vation, is one of the dwarfest of Oncocyclus Irises, with 

 narrow rhizomes and quaint purple flov^^ers with a very 

 marked disproportion between the standards and the falls, 

 even for this section, where the falls are ahvays smaller 

 than the standards. I. variegata is the common Iris with 

 large rhizomes. The type has yellow standards and mad- 

 der-brown or reddish brown falls. The new Iris has a 

 rhizome — short, creeping and thick. The leaves are a foot 

 long, falcate, light green and slightly glaucous. The stems 

 are about a foot and a half tall, and bear two long, flat, 

 oval scapes, the terminal being double-flowered, the lateral 

 having a single one. The standards are only slightly 

 larger than the falls, have beautifully crimped edges, and 

 are of a rich vinous-purple, with a median vein of darker 

 color and white linings on the inner base. The oblong 

 falls, not much recurved, have a deep rich reddish brown 

 lip, and are lined on the edges in the same color on a white 

 ground. The beard is formed of fine hairs of a lighter hue. 

 The fall is covered with very fine hairs, giving it an effect 

 of velvet. The styles are light reddish brown. Altogether 

 it is a flower of rich color and striking beauty. This has 

 been grown by M-k. Gerard two years, and as it has proved 

 to be of vigorous growth and perfect hardiness, it is a wel- 

 come addition to the garden. It is not a deciduous variet}'-, 

 and requires none of the special treatment in the way of 

 dryness which the Oncocyclus Irises need. 



Heuchera sanguinea. — This handsome plant of the Saxi- 

 frage family is now well known as one of the best small 

 hardy plants introduced in recent years, and much testi- 

 mony as to the esteem in which it is held has been pub- 

 lished in Garden and Forest, especially since it has been 



