176 



Garden and Forest. 



[June 6, 1SS8. 



Achimenes, Gesneras, Begonias, Anthuriums, Clerodendrons, 

 Dipladenias, Crinums and Crassulas. To these can lie added 

 a host of Orchids. If it really is desirable to maintain a 

 g-ay conservatory all summer long, it will be necessary to 

 keep up a supply and succession of flowering plants in sum- 

 mer as we do in winter. Hydrangeas, Plumbago, Cocks- 

 combs, Brugmansia, Clianthus, Justicias, Erythrina, Japan 

 Lilies, Crape'Myrtle and plants of their kind are used for this 

 purpose, and tliey often are supplemented by the commoner 

 annuals. But there is a peculiar cheapness about this sort of 

 decoration. Plants that thrive better out-of-doors than in the 

 green-house in summer assume a very unhappy aspect when 

 in conservatory service during that period. 



Hardiness of Perennials. 



THE question ; — What is the test of hardiness ? recurs 

 every spring. Too often we conclude that a plant is not 

 hardy because it does not survive the winter, under certain 

 conditions. But a wider experience proves that a plant's 

 ability to endure winter cold depends as much upon summer 

 heat as upon winter climate. The conditions of a plant under 

 cultivation, differ widely from those of the same plant in its 

 natural habitat. Observation seems to show that perennials are 

 more common in woods, or shadv ]>laces, and moist meadows ; 

 whereas annuals mostly grow in dry and exposed situations. 

 May we not infer from this, that exhaustion during the hot sea- 

 son by excessive blooming and seed producing, as in the case 

 of Aubrietias and Sweet Williams, tends to make annuals rather 

 than perennialsof them.and lessens theirability to endure winter 

 cold ? For this reason, we can never hope, perhaps, to practice 

 spnng bedding in this country with the success attained in 

 England. Some of the most successful gardeners in America 

 have pronounced it uncertain. I am referring more especial- 

 ly, though not exclusively, to plants suitable for the rock-gar- 

 den. In forming a rock-garden an eastern or south-eastern 

 slope is certainly preferable, but culture will, I think, be attend- 

 ed with greater success if sonie shade can be secured, such 

 as is given by large trees at some distance away, so as not to 

 have their roots penetrating the soil in which the plants are 

 grown. 



Apart from the question of reduced vitality, through exces- 

 sive hefit in exposed situations during summer, the ability to 

 endure winter is not measured by counting the degrees on 

 the thermometer. It depends upon other conditions than the 

 mere amount of cold. Equable conditions are required. Any 

 plan by which we can exclude sun-light and admit air, and so 

 prevent alternate freezing and thawing, will help. I am sur- 

 prised to find Narcissus hardy here when I had given them up 

 further south. Chionodoxa Litcillice and Scilla Siberica grow 

 and bloom beautifully when protected by a little litter. Priimila 

 denticulata and Sohianella alpina, both requiring protection in 

 England, are strong and healthy after the winter. Myosotis 

 dissitiflora -AViA Digitalis grandiflora, &1, well as the common 

 Foxglove, ai^e a surprise to me this spring, knowing that they 

 grow wild in the woods in England, and being biennials which 

 retain their foliage naturally, I felt sure they could not survive. 



Prevention of exhaustion by partial shade in summer, and a 

 plan, such as a light covering of litter, in winter, to prevent 

 alternate freezing and thawing, are among the most import- 

 ant considerations in the successful culture of hardy peren- 

 nials. 



" Wdlesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Forget-me-nots. — Fpom March till June Forget-me-nots, 

 grown in cold frames like Pansies and Polyanthuses, attain 

 full perfection. If needed for cut flowers only they may re- 

 main to bloom in the frames, but if required for out-door gar- 

 den decoration in spring, about the end of March or first of 

 April we can lift them with good balls of earth and transplant 

 in some warm, well-sheltered spot. The finer forms of For- 

 get-me-nots have not proved hardy here. No doubt the com- 

 mon marsh Forget-me-not [Myosotis pa/ustris) of Europe, also 

 some of the stronger forms of M. alpt'stris, can be naturalized 

 in moist, somewhat shady places in the Northern States, but I 

 have never had any of the varieties of M. dissitiflora or M. 

 Azorica live over winter as unprotected hardy plants. 



Although the Forget-me-nots are all perennials, it is only as 

 annuals that they can be treated successfully with us. True, 

 we may raise a young stock from cuttings or division, but 

 from seed is by far the easiest way. It is a mistake to sow 

 the seeds in spring ; spring-sown plants grow large and leafv 

 during summer and many of them die off in fall. Better sow 

 the seeds in July. This will give nice sized plants for winter- 



ing over in frames for next spring's blooming. Indeed, the 

 self-sown seedlings that come up so numerously in the beds 

 whei-e the old plants have bloomed, make capital stock to 

 winter over for spring work. Forget-me-nots like good soil 

 and are impatient of drought at any time. 



We have white as well as blue flowered varieties of all the 

 common species, and rose-colored forms of some, but a blue 

 Forget-me-not, like a Violet, is more desirable than one of 

 any other color. For cut flowers M. dissitiflora is preferable, 

 and both the blue and white varieties are good. Another 

 one that gives great satisfaction is M. alpestris robusta 

 grandiflora. It is a little later in coming into bloom than 

 IM. dissitiflora, but after it does come in it is cut in preference 

 to any other. We have also the new M. alpestris Victoria, 

 now in l:>loom and very beautiful. The plants are dwarf, very 

 compact in habit, and copious in bloom, but while they 

 make admirable specimens either in the frame or spring-gar- 

 den, their flower branches are not long and ample enough for 

 cut flowers. W. F. 



Onosma stellulatum, var. Tauricium. — This is a neat alpine 

 plant of the Borage family, happily named by Mr. Burbidge the 

 " Golden Drop." It lias a semi-shruliby, trailing habit, and 

 hairy, gray-green, lanceolate, evergreen foliage. The flowers 

 are arranged in graceful, arching cymes, 6-10 long, bear- 

 ing graceful, lemon-colored, deliciously-scented flowers, 

 in succession along more than half their length. It is 

 perfectly hardy in the United States, having been thoroughly 

 tested. It has never, to my knowledge, produced seed, but 

 cuttings taken in spring from plants housed during winter, 

 just after commencing new growth, and with a heel of old 

 wood, which last is absolutely essential, strike easily in a tem- 

 perature of 50°. The foliage must not be kept damp, so an 

 ordinary glass cutting box will not do so well as the open bench. 

 Young plants planted out in spring make handsome specimens 

 by fall, and if taken up and potted in 6-inch pots will bloom 

 beautifully during tlie late winter months — February and 

 March. This Onosma is both rare and beautiful. It ought not 

 to be rare in this country, for it is propagated far more easily 

 here than in England, where it is much admired, and always 

 sells at a comparatively high price, solely on account of tlie 

 difl-fculty in its propagation. T. D. H. 



Mackya bella. — Fine racemes of the handsome flowers of this 

 plant, which botanists nowconsider a species of ^jr.yj'/ijj'z'rt, were 

 shown at a recent exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, from the gardens of Mrs. F. B. Hayes, at Lexington. 

 It is a native of Natal, and has not been in cultivation very 

 long, having been introduced into English gardens in 1869 by 

 its discoverer, Mr. J. Sanderson. It is a tall, slender shrub, 

 with virgate branches, producing terminal racemes of pale 

 hlac, campanulate flowers, the throat of the corolla delicately 

 penciled with purple veins. It is a member of the Acanthus 

 family. Mackya bella is a free growing green-house plant, but 

 it requires special treatment to induce it to flower freely. It 

 should be encouraged to grow vigorously in summer, during 

 wliich period it requires an abundance of water. During the 

 winter months water should be withheld, and the plant, which 

 loses its leaves, allowed a period of entire rest. Thus treated 

 it will flower profusely along the ends of all thoroughly ripened 

 shoots. Mackya is one of those plants which repays the care 

 necessary to induce it to flower freely, and should be more 

 generally grown than it is in this country at present. S. 



Fragrant Herbs for Edging Plants. — Fragrant herbs, as 

 Thyme, Marjorum and Savory, are the delight of many an old 

 country garden, and as they grow so neatly and are so easily 

 raised "from seed, there is no reason whv we cannot have them 

 here, and in abundance. As edgings to little beds or borders 

 of mixed plants they are neat and appropriate. Both the 

 broad leaved and lemon Thyme are perfectly hardy; Savory 

 and Marjorum seldom live over winter, but they tjuickly make 

 good plants from seed sown in spring. All the variegated 

 leaved varieties of Thyme are also hardy enough, but must 

 be increased by division or cuttings, as they do not perpetu- 

 ate their variegation from seed. To these add Lavender, and 

 if desirable its flowers can be cut off. Two other fragrant 

 plants of stocky habit, and well fitted for edgings, are Calamintha 

 alpi?ia and Tliynnis patavinusy both are easily obtained from 

 seed. 



Strawberries and Birds.— Cat-birds and robins are more de- 

 structive to the crop just as the berries are beginning to turn 

 than later on when the full crop is ripe. The best way to 

 circumvent the l)irds in a small home-garden is to erect 

 a temporary frame around and over the bed, and spread 

 over it a "fine-meshed seine or fish net. Instead of a 



