362 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 26, 1888. 



other garden plants in front of shrubs, or (iften in the - 

 lawns at a considerable distance from shrubs, detracts from 

 rather than adds to the beauty of the park. Indeed, it 

 would be vastly benefited if all such inharmonious 

 elements were cleared away and greater simplicity and 

 naturalness allowed to prevail. All such plants are clearly 

 out of place outside the flower-garden. In the Fens, as a 

 part of the new Boston Park system is called, where the 

 attempt is made to connect a salt marsh with the roadway 

 surrounding it, by means of slopes planted in imitation of 

 nature, the effect has been curiously marred by the intro- 

 duction among the shrubs of great numbers of showy 

 flowered perennials — garden Phlo.xes, Carpathian Hare- 

 bells, great masses of brilliant Monardas, Yuccas from the 

 sandy fields of the South, and many more incongruous 

 and inharmonious plants, which seem curiously out of 

 place on the margin of a New England salt-marsh. 



There are herbaceous plants, however, vi'hich, if used 

 with discretion, can be made to add to almost any land- 

 scape, however natural its motive or simple its com- 

 position. We have already pointed out in these columns 

 how several varieties of liulbous plants can be used 

 naturally on the margins of woods and shrubberies with the 

 most charming effects, but there are many more robustly 

 growing plants, especially among those which flower at 

 this season of the year, which, if used sparingly, in con- 

 nection with shrubbery, can be made to play an important 

 part in the decoration of parks. Those herbaceous plants 

 which, when fully grown, approach shrubs in outline, are 

 the best for this purpose, and generally can be used with 

 safety in connection with shrubs. The Flora of North 

 America abounds in such plants — perennial Sunflowers, 

 Silphiums, Rudbeckias, Vernonias, Asters and Golden Rods. 

 No country in the world possesses so many handsome 

 plants of this sort as North America, but they are little 

 known yet except by a few botanists, and their really 

 great decorative value is not appreciated. There is 

 nothing in the habit of such plants which jars upon the 

 most retined taste when they are planted among shrubs, 

 while their flowers, which appear long after those of nearly 

 every shrub have disappeared, light up the shrubbery bril- 

 liantly. Even these plants, however, should be used 

 cautiously and never in great masses, in connection with 

 shrubs. A shrubbery in the United States m late Sep- 

 tember on the borders of which are blooming, just in the 

 right places, a Silphium and a Vernonia, a Sunflower, or 

 one of the great Rudbeckias, is an object not easily 

 forgotten. 



August in the Pines. 



IT is late in August, and waning summer has held 

 some of her choicest floral treasures until now. On 

 the borders of a pond stands the handsome Subba/ia 

 ch/oroides, its loose panicles of deep rose-colored flowers 

 showing to best advantage against the delicate green of 

 the grasses and sedges about it. Two other species of 

 Sabbatia are near by — 6". lanceolata, which has a flat pani- 

 cle of white flowers, and 6". stel/aris, with rose-purple 

 corollas almost as beautiful as the first mentioned ; the 

 flowers, however, are smaller. 



And here among the grasses is the rare Coreopsis rosea, 

 with yellow florets and rose-colored rays. C. lanceolala is 

 also here, with bright yellow flowers, and rays an inch or 

 more in length. Both species are not only beautiful here, 

 but they will help to brighten any garden, for they take 

 kindly to cultivation. 



The pretty Mist-flower {Conoch'niiaii C(xlesliiniiii) is just 

 coming into bloom. Its corymbs of blue flowers are as 

 fine as any of the garden Ageratums, which it closely 

 resembles. The climbing Hemp-weed {Rlikania scandens), 

 with flat corymbs of pale pink flowers and halberd-shaped 

 leaves, is twining over bushes, and hanging out from the 

 main plant are many graceful, drooping sprays swaying 

 in the wind. 



The bright orange flowers of Polygala lulea are more 

 abundant this month than last. These, together with the 

 Mist-flower and sprays of the climbing Hemp-weed, form 

 a charming combination for house decoration. 



Our Pine-barren Gentian (Gentiana arigusliflord) is just 

 beginning to open its lovely, blue, funnel-shaped flowers. 

 The corollas are two inches in length and quite open. It 

 is almost as pretty as. the Fringed Gentian — the queen of 

 these flowers — which has a wide range from New Eng- 

 land to our Barrens, and probably further south. 



The Shell-flower (Chelone glabra), which also has a 

 wide range, finds a home in the Pines, and its compan- 

 ion, the Monkey-flower {Mimulus ringens), is here, too. 

 The Purple Gerardia is abundant among the grasses, and 

 is one of our beautiful plants that does not make itself at 

 home in gardens. 



Tall plants of the large, showy Rose-mallow {Hibiscus 

 Jl/oscheu/iis), with corollas six inches or more across, are 

 standing like sentinels over their more humble neighbors. 

 Some of the flowers are white with a crimson eye ; others 

 are pink and rose-color. The plants and flowers are 

 larger and more stately than the Hollyhocks of our gar- 

 'dens. 



Many shrubs and trees are beautiful now in their 

 mature leaves and fruit. Magnolia glaiica, with its shin- 

 ing, glossy leaves, and red, cone-like fruit, is more hand- 

 some now than when in flower. The leaves are perfect, 

 neither insect nor fungus have marred their beauty, and 

 nothing can be more charming for house decoration in 

 large vases than small branches of this IMagnoHa, with the 

 central fruit surrounded by the rich foliage. The leaves 

 of the Sumach (Rhus copallina) are also of the deepest 

 shining green. They have not yet taken on their rich, 

 autumnal tints, and are as perfect as the Magnolias — 

 neither moth nor rust hath corrupted them. 



The treacherous poison Sumach {R. vcne?ia/a) is hold- 

 ing out its tempting, beautiful foliage. To many persons 

 it IS harmless, but to me it is a virulent poison, and I can- 

 not restrain a cry of fear as I come suddenly upon it, 

 whereupon a boy near by, wlio is catching frogs, calls 

 out : " 'Tain't pizen ; I have eat it lots o' times," and then 

 he pulls off a handful of leaves and Vigorously chews 

 them. On expostulating with him he clinches the argu- 

 ment with, "I k7ioiv 'tain't pizen. Pop says it won't 

 ]iizen a chicken." And with lofty scorn for my terror, he 

 continues to chew the leaves so harmful to me, while 

 pursuing his amphibious game. 



The Pine-barren Sunflower {Helianlhus angusli/olius), 

 with narrow, long, almost grass-like leaves, is in bloom. 

 This is a very marked and distinct species, and I have 

 never noticed that it hybridizes with any of the other 

 Sunflowers. Some of the plants are six to seven feet in 

 height, full of bloom and very attractive. It does fairly 

 well in cultivation. 



Passing from the damp Barren to the dry, sandy woods, 

 I find the Yellow Gerardias (G. flava and G. quercifolia) 

 in flower, with inflated tubes somewhat of the form of our 

 garden Foxgloves. Fine plants of Rudbeckia fulgida are 

 also in bloom, which are always attractive, with their 

 bright, orange-yellow rays, and dark, rounded disks. And 

 here, too, is the Golden Aster {Chrysopsis Marianna) and 

 the showy Double-bristled Aster {Diplopappus linarii/olius), 

 with numerous violet rays and many narrow leaves along 

 the entire length of the stems. 



The Blazing-star (Liatris scariosa), with long spikes of 

 rose-purple flowers, commands our attention by its erect 

 and stately bearing, while in contrast with it, the Rattle- 

 snake-weed {Hieraciuvi venosum) holds its rosette of leaves, 

 which are beautifully veined with purple, close to the 

 ground. From the midst of the leaves rises a slender, 

 naked stem, which branches at the top into a loose 

 corymb of pale yellow flowers. 



Away back from cultivated ground, by the side of 

 an old, deserted, nearly obliterated wagon-road, is the 

 Pimpernel, or Poor Man's Weather-glass (Anagallis arvensis). 



