256 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 383 



Australian plant, introduced into England in 1854. It is a slen- 

 der, gracefully Ijranched plant, and its rose-colored flowers 

 are borne singly on the ends of the slender branches. The 

 flowers are "everlasting." There is also a white-flowered 

 variety in bloom now. It is like the type in habit and size, but 

 its flowers are white. Acrocliniunis grow well in a rich loamy 

 soil, with plenty of sunlight. 



Downingia pulchella is a pretty dwarf native plant. It is about 

 six inches high and has showy rich blue Lobelia-like flowers. 

 Its dwarf compact habit, with its freeness in flowering, makes it 

 a useful plant, and it is used for edging beds where larger plants 

 are grown. We are told that it grows on wet banks in Califor- 

 nia, and is also found in the borders of north Nevada and 

 Oregon. We grow it here in an open position and in a light 

 rich soil, and it gives good satisfaction. This plant is also 

 known in gardens under the generic name Centonia. There 

 are several varieties of this Downingia in cultivation, the only 

 difference being in the color of the flowers. The two best 

 sorts are Atropurpurea, which has slightly larger flowers than 

 the type and of a dark purple color, and Alba, a form with 

 white flowers. 



Asperula orientalis is a showy annual, well worth growing. 

 It is a foot high and has beautiful sky-blue flowers, produced 

 plentifully in terminal heads, and they are useful for cutting. Its 

 leaves are lanceolate and in whorls on the stems. In a slightly 

 shaded position and a light open soil it produces its flowers 

 for several weeks. This plant is found in gardens sometimes 

 under the name Asperula azurea setosa. 



Pentachaeta aurea is a charmmg dwarf Californian annual 

 about six inches high. Its stems are well clothed with fili- 

 form, linear, alternate leaves, and they are diffusely branched. 

 Its flower-heads are very showy, of a bright golden color, and 

 abundant. The flowers are about one inch in diameter and of 

 an exceptionally bright yellow color, which makes them at- 

 tractive at this time. P. aurea thrives in a light soil, and the 

 flowers have a brighter color when the plants have sunshine 

 all day. 



Another pleasing Californian plant in bloom now is Las- 

 thenia glabrata. It has slightly pubescent branched stems 

 with linear leaves. The yellow flower-heads, which terminate 

 the stems, are an inch in diameter, and are produced in large 

 numbers, so that the plant is showy and attractive. It is found 

 in a wild state in moist grounds in west California. 



Perhaps no annual in the garden is so much admired at this 

 time as Mesembryanthemum pomeridianiim. The plants are 

 about eight inches high, and they have stout hau-y branched 

 stems with broad, lanceolate, flat, smooth leaves. The flowers 

 are about two inches across and of a light yellow color ; they 

 are showy, and are produced singly on'long hairy peduncles. 

 If seeds are sown in March in the greenhouse and the plants 

 o-rown along they will flower almost as soon as they are 

 planted out in the garden in May. A sunny position and 

 light soil are necessary. 



A bed of the native Collinsia verna, two feet wide by four 

 feet long, is now making a beautiful display. This is an erect 

 slightly ijranched plant with lanceolate leaves, and grows 

 about eight inches high. The flowers are in whorls and are 

 on long pedicels. The lower lip of the flower is of a bright 

 blue, and the upper petal is white. This pretty annual requires 

 a cool shady position and a rather moist soil. 



Harvard Botanic Garden. Robert Cameron. 



The Rock-garden. 



THE feature of the rock-garden in May is its masses of 

 bright color, supplied by pink and white Moss Pinks, ultra- 

 marine blue Mertensias, the clear white of Arabis albida, and 

 the golden Alyssum saxatile in variety. In June the garden 

 undergoes an entire transformation, and we have a miscella- 

 neous variety of plants. In fact, the whole charm of the rock- 

 garden lies not so much in ils masses of color, arrangeil for 

 effect, as in an interesting variety of plants, many of which 

 have some charm or association which we cherish. How 

 important it is that the care of these plants should be in the 

 hands of some one specially interested m them was impressed 

 upon me recently when' a mass of seedlings of Aster Tar- 

 taricus came near being weeded out. This beautiful species, 

 with large lavender-blue flowers, blooms in late summer. It 

 is one of the plants of moderate growth, not exceeding two 

 feet high, which we need to break the monotonous effect 

 where the collection is made up almost wholly of low- 

 growing plants. Its color, too, contrasts charmingly with 

 tiie later-flowering Iceland Poppies, which are mostly of yel- 

 low and orange shades. Again, it is important to weed out 

 many plants which, by their abundant reproductiveness, would 



soon overrun many of the lesser, and often choicer, kinds. 

 QEnothera riparia will grow almost anywhere. While not 

 especially showy, it is yet a neat little species, and useful to 

 leave where others grow less freely, but it sows itself so 

 easily that it is sometimes a temptation to do away with it 

 altogether. Campanula Carpatica, one of our best dwarf 

 Belltlowers, is abundant all over the garden in many forms, 

 including the distinctly beautiful C. turbinata. These dwarf 

 BellHowers are so charming as seen among the notches and 

 crevices of the rocks that it is not easy to have too many of 

 them. But they persistently and insidiously grow up from 

 the seedling stage, encroaching upon the territory belonging 

 to other plants, and even threaten our paths. They are not 

 alone in this respect. Many of our choicest plants, seeding 

 themselves, have found a safe retreat during winter among 

 the mossy undergrowths in the gravel paths. Here, while all 

 our old plants of the beautiful Primula rosea, from the Hima- 

 layas, the most delightful of our early Primroses, were killed 

 outright, self-sown seedlings from last year, which scarcely 

 made growth enough to be visible, broke away with a fine 

 growth this spring ; otherwise we should have lost them 

 entirely. 



That the large Oriental Poppies are fit subjects for the rock- 

 garden some will not be willing to admit. Perhaps in a small 

 garden in limited grounds they might appear glaring and some- 

 what coarse in growth, but in a large garden, where trees, 

 shrubs, grassy slopes and water all enter into the landscape, 

 they are C[uite appropriate. Of these we have several fine 

 varieties, varying from the deepest crimson through orange 

 shades to almost pink. So, too, in a large garden such shrubs 

 as the Japanese Photinia villosa, a near ally of the American 

 Shad-bush, the low-growing Hypericum Buckleyi, the dwarf 

 Evonymus Americanus, Spiraea bullata, Fothergilla Gardeni 

 (a handsome little bush with heads of white flowers in early 

 spring), Leucothoe Calesbsei, Anemone Japonica and A. flori- 

 bunda, the dwarf Rhododendrons, R. Wilsoni and R. ferru- 

 ginea, now in bloom, are all effective, not to mention Kal- 

 mias and a host of other flowering shrubs and evergreens 

 which could be used in an extensive arrangement of this kind. 

 Some of our handsomest native and also foreign single Roses 

 are most appropriate here. Rosa rugosa has been in bloom 

 for a month past, and apart from the effectiveness of its abun- 

 dant large violet and white flowers in summer, and its large 

 orange-red hips in autumn and winter, it always exhales a 

 pleasant odor. Then we have the Dawson Rose, a hybrid of the 

 Mulliflora and Jacqueminot types ; the Persian Yellow, the Bur- 

 net, the Sweetbrier, and still several others of shrubby charac- 

 ter, as well as the trailing Rosa Wichuraiana, of more recent 

 introduction from Japan. Clematis tubulosa, deep blue, and 

 C. Davidiana, lighter blue and fragrant, are rambling sub- 

 shrubs which are useful in giving character. 



Phlox stellaris, light blue, a chance seedling of deeper blue, 

 and a few scattered flowers of the rose-colored P. amcena are 

 all that remain in bloom of tlie low-growing Moss Pinks allied 

 to v. subulata. P. Carolina is just opening. It came tons a 

 few years ago among a lot of Silene Virginica, collected in its 

 native habitat. This latter is a most attractive little gem ; the 

 color of its flowers being the most brilliant crimson. It sows 

 itself freely, but mostly in shaded spots. This really is the 

 only way we can keep it, as transplanted plants soon die out. 

 The typical Aquilegia Canadensis is out of bloom. We weed 

 out those which have been encroaching on other plants, being 

 sure of enough seedlings to keep up a good display. This 

 beautiful Columbine deserves more extended cultivation. It 

 is one of our earliest plants to bloom, coming into flower with 

 the Wood Lilies, Hepaticasand Dog's-tooth Violets, and before 

 the Moss Pinks, Rock Cressand the mass of otherspring flowers. 

 Some hybrids with Aquilegia citrulea are nearly as bright in 

 orange and red shades, and these with A. glandulosa, A. Skin- 

 neri, A. Olympica and A. chrysaniha, scattered through the 

 whole garden, serve to make a most attractive picture. Ajuga 

 alpina, A. reptans and a white-flowered form of the latter are all 

 neat-growing kinds, with verticillate spikes of blue and white 

 flowers. CEnothera Missouriensis just now shows a few of its 

 magnificent sulphur-yellow fragrant blooms. This is the best 

 of all the evening Primroses, and is a day bloomer as well. 

 The CranesbiUs are among our best rock-garden plants. Gera- 

 nium pratense, in blue and white varieties, is pleasing in 

 foliage as well as in flowers. G. phajum. of deep purple color, 

 is also good. G. sanguineum is the dwarfest and most con- 

 tinuous bloomer, lasting from now until frost. Potentilla tri- 

 dentata makes an excellent plant for crevices. Its white 

 star-shaped flowers are pretty and continue for a long time. 

 Erodium Manescavi, the Giant Heron, usually considered tender, 

 has stood the«evere test of last winter, and is again in bloom. 



