August 15, 1S88.] 



Garden and Forest. 



291 



flowers far above my head. Many of the flowers are 

 beyond my reach, but I can look up into the bell, and see 

 the dark purple spots on its lining- of orange. No more 

 stately Lily grows in all the world. A little beyond, on 

 dry, sandy soil, is the Orange-red Lily (Z. Philadel- 

 phicuiii), with erect, bell-shaped, reddish flowers, also 

 spotted with jiurple, while an exuberance of the glowing 

 Butterfly-weed {Asclepicis iuberosa) fairly illuminates the 

 landscape. This plant is well named, for myriads of but- 

 terflies are contending for its sweets. 



The Wild Bean {Apios iuberosa) clambers everywhere, 

 covered with dense r-acemes of fragrant, pea-shaped flow- 

 ers, while just beneath it trail the yellow clusters of the 

 Pencil flower {Slylosanllics e/a/or). Here, too, are seen 

 the great purple flowers of the Beach Pea {Lathyius 

 inaritimus), and the dense clusters of yellowish-white and 

 pink flowers of the Goat's Rue {Teplirosia Virgiuica), 

 creeping modestly about decayed stumps. 



The little Partridge-berry {JMilchella repens) carpets the 

 ground, and its delicate and fragrant flowers of white and 

 pink are strung along in pairs among the glossy little 

 leaves. And here blooms the Spotted Wintergreen {Chiin- 

 ophila macidaia), one of the most beautiful of modest wood- 

 plants, with nodding flowers of waxy pink, ^^■hile near by, 

 beneath a thick growth of Chestnut Oaks, are great clus- 

 ters of its pallid relative, the parasitic Indian Pipe {I\Iono- 

 tropa tmiflord). 



And now I detect the anise-scent from the crushed 

 lea\'es of the sweet Golden-Rod before I see the flower, 

 which has already opened. It is the advance guard of 

 autumn, announcing the approach of that tidal-wave of 

 blue and gold that will cover all the waste places as with 

 a sea, and make them more glorious in the dj'ing )'ear 

 than they were in all the time of spring promise and sum- 

 mer ripeness. 

 Viiiciaiid, N.J. Alary Treat. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Slropholirion Califoniicuin oi Torrey is the most remark- 

 able among the many hardy bulbous plants at present in 

 bloom in the Royal Gardens at Kew. It is singular in 

 growth, unique so far as I know as a bulbous plant 

 possessing a tall twining flower scape. The Kew plant 

 has now several scapes fully five feet high, and perhaps 

 six feet when imtwisted, and each is surmounted by 

 a dense umbel of delicate rose-piidv flowers of a peculiar 

 shape, the perianth segments being saccate. There are no 

 leaves to the plant now, so that the naked scapes have a 

 strange appearance, twisting from left to right round stout 

 stakes. It is perfectly hardy at Kew in light soil and 

 seems to get stronger every year. It is not known much 

 in a general way, though it is quite a "commercial" plant, 

 as some of the nurserymen here term showy plants. It is 

 nearly allied to Brodisea and Brevoortia. 



Heuchera sanguinea is another western plant (intro- 

 duced five or six years ago) that has proved itself a hardy 

 herbaceous plant of the highest value. Many are of my 

 opinion that it is the finest hardy plant brought to this 

 country for many years, because it has so many good 

 points, being hardy beyond a doubt, rapid and sturdy of 

 growth, not fastidious as to soil or situation, neat in 

 growth and bearing a prodigious crop of the loveliest 

 flowers. They are borne in paniculate spikes about a 

 foot high, are small and bell shaped, and droop on slen- 

 der stalks in a most graceful way. The color is a deep 

 crimson coral, totally unlike any other flower of a similar 

 class, anda color, moreover, which everybody admires, and 

 especially for cut sprays and for vases. The foliage, like 

 the rest of the Heucheras, is evergreen, of rounded out- 

 line, with shallow lobes. It is a native of northern Mex- 

 ico, and was introduced in commerce by Mr. T. S. Ware, 

 of Tt)ttenham. I have just seen a large specimen of 



it in a border, carrying quite a sheaf of liloom. It 

 blooms for several weeks, beginning about the middle 

 of June. 



Roiiineya Coul/eri. — I have just seen this glorious Cali- 

 fornian Poppywort in flower in Kew gardens. It may, for 

 aught I know, be a common plant with you, but with us 

 it is one of the rarest and choicest border flowers we have. 

 One need not be an enthusiast to admire its great satiny 

 blossoms of snowy whiteness and adorned in the middle 

 M'ith a tuft of stamens like a golden tassel. There is 

 sucli delightful harmony, too, between the glaucous and 

 much divided leafage and the blooms. It has the reputation 

 of being a " miffy" plant — that is, it wants much attention 

 and then often does not reward us by behaving well. The 

 best specimen I have seen of it was in a lady's garden in 

 Surrey. This was four feet high and a )'ard across, bore 

 many stems and many flowers, and so enraptured was I 

 that I sat by the plant an hour. It is assuredly worthy 

 of the stir that is made about it, and who could begrudge 

 time and labor to bring such a fine flower to perfection.? 

 It would be wrong to call it a hardy plant; it is not strictly 

 so, and I put it in the same category as Carpenteria, 

 Calochortus and many other lovely plants from California. 



The Blue Poppy of the Himalayas (Meconopsis Wallichii) 

 is now the pride of many a hardy-flower lover. It has 

 just commenced to unfold its stately pyramid of buds and 

 will continue to bloom for several weeks to come. Among 

 hardy plants this Poppy is unique in the color of its flowers, 

 and no plant resemlDles its habit of growth. It is generally 

 described as a perennial, but really it is but biennial in 

 duration, as it develops its growth — a tuft of deeply pin- 

 natifid leaves — the first season from seed, flowers the next, 

 and then dies. The leaves are a foot or more long, of a 

 pale green and densely covered with tawny brown hairs. 

 The flower stem rises from three feet to even seven feet in 

 height, according to the strength of the plant ; it is gener- 

 ally much branched, and is loaded with a multitude of 

 blossoms and buds. The open flowers are bell-shaped, 

 two inches across, and of a peculiar shade of pale blue. 

 The buds begin to open from the top downwards, the 

 contrary being usually the case in plants. It is a perfectly 

 hardy plant, but requires a spot sheltered from cold winds. 

 The pale blue is the original color of the flower, but there 

 is a variety with deep brownish-purple flowers named 

 var. fnsco- purpurea, and of this Mr. G. F. \\'ilson, the 

 celebrated Lily grower in Surrey, had some fine blooms 

 the other da)-. Mr. Wilson showed me at the same time 

 a stem of the Caucasian Lily (Li/aim S::ovilsianum) measur- 

 ing fully seven feet high, with a dozen of its iiandsome, 

 primrose yellow flowers. There was also a stem of L. 

 Hansoni, six feet high, carrying eleven flowers. These are 

 average examples of the growth which Mr. Wilson gets 

 in his Lilies, which are the admiration of all who see 

 them. 



The Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra ainifolia) in pots. — I fancy 

 I omitted to mention in my last letter the fine display 

 made by Messrs. Veitch of this American shrub at the last 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society. A dozen or 

 more compact little pot bushes, averaging about two feet 

 high and as much through, and each carrying a large num- 

 ber of flower spikes, -were shown. The elegance of the 

 bushes, their feathery spikes of white flowers, deliciously 

 scented, attracted attention, and though such an old shrub 

 in English gardens, I will say common shrub, it was known 

 by comparatively few. Few persons have seen it grown as 

 a pot plant. If it could be forced into liloom early in the 

 season it would be charming for the green-house, as is also 

 the Fringe tree, Chionanthiis Virglnica. which Messrs. 

 Veitch showed in flower in pots in IMarch. 



X'ery interesting is the new race of late-blooming Azaleas 

 derived from the lovely A. occidenialis of California, which 

 for many years was only to be found in choice collections 

 here. The development of these hybrids is due to IMr. 

 Anthony Waterer, at whose nurseries I lately saw these 

 beautiful and promising plants in bloom. The typical .!. 



