July 7, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



267 



may or may not survive the summer if the soil is not too wet, 

 but the safe practice is to lift them. 



There are more than a score of species. From a garden point 

 of view they may be divided into two sections— the Star Tulips 

 and the Mariposa, or Butterfly Tulips. The former are free- 

 growing plants, many-stemmed and bear a profusion of 

 small flowers, with petals closed into irregular globes. Calo- 

 chortus pulchellus (yellow), C. albus and the' red form C 

 amcena, are the best trio. The Butterfly Tulips are entirely 

 different in habit and form, and find their most distinct expres- 

 sion in the white and roseate flowered kinds, as these are 

 spotted and lined with the butterfly markings, from which 

 they receive the popular name. The markings are quaintly 

 beautiful in dull reds, browns, yellows and green, sometimes 

 in eye-like forms, at others in a few bold lines sketched, as it 

 were, on some part of the broad petals, mostly on the base, 

 but sometimes in the centre. Markings of similar character 

 are also found on the very narrow green sepals. The flowers 

 are three-petaled and about three inches in diameter, borne 

 about twelve inches high on thin stems. The foliage is narrow 

 and scanty. A good selection of these would be C. venustus 

 cenlatus, C. pictus, C. venustus roseus and C. Eldorado (rose). 

 Of the yellow self-flowered kinds, perhaps, the best is Calo- 

 chortus luteus, var. concolor, a deep golden flower and a vig- 

 orous species. There are also many purple forms, mostly 

 self-colored or slightly shaded, which do not appeal to me as 

 favorably as the others, though there are spotted kinds. The 

 best is probably C. splendens, a lilac-colored form, which has 

 finely dentated petals and the base of the cup filled with hair- 

 like growths. Many of the Calochortuses have these growths, 

 but none, I think, in such profusion. Probably the specific 

 name of this species refers rather to some one's botanical 

 enthusiasm than the gratification of his color sense. C. Cata- 

 linae is a distinct kind, the white petals being flushed with 

 purple on the outside. Calochortuses seem to be attractive to 

 a number of different insects, and they bear seeds freely. C. 

 Plumarias seems to be a late-flowering species. 

 Elizabeth, N. J. J. ± V. Gerard. 



The Abelias. 



'T'HERE are some half a dozen species belonging to this 

 genus, with one or two varieties, natives of northern India, 

 Japan, China and Mexico, where one species grows at an ele- 

 vation of 10,000 feet above the sea-level. Abelia rupestris, 

 introduced by Robert Fortune from China nearly fifty years 

 ago, is the species best known in this country, where it is fre- 

 quently called A. floribunda, the name of a red-flowered 

 species from Mexico. A. rupestris has flowers about an inch 

 long, and white, the two lower divisions of the corolla bein°- 

 faintly tinged with pink. The calyx is of a brick-red color, and 

 at certain times of the day the flowers are delicately scented 

 Although in this latitude A. rupestris will commence bloom- 

 ing by the latter part of June, it keens on unfolding its flowers 

 late into November. It would be hard to find a more desira- 

 ble decorative shrub. It can be grown to form a perfect hedge 

 or a compact specimen on the lawn when kept free from other 

 things, or it may be had in long graceful branches by allowing 

 the strong shoots to develop and by removing the twiggy growths 

 at the base of the plant. For grouping in city parks and for 

 cemetery use its long period of flowering should alone recom- 

 mend it. The species is, without doubt, quite hardy in this 

 vicinity, as plants which were put out by Downing are yet in a 

 flourishing condition and promise to remain so for years to 

 come. When we have the thermometer registering a few 

 degrees below zero it is untouched, save in the shedding of its 

 foliage, which in ordinary winters is evergreen. At Philadelphia 

 I understand it stands out without protection, and at Mr. C. A. 

 Dana's place, on the north shore of Long Island, it thrives witli 

 a little protection in winter. There is a variety of A. rupestris 

 called grandiflora which has larger flowers but fewer of them 



The Mexican Abelia floribunda is at home on the peak of 

 Orizaba, 10,000 feet above sea-level, and on the Cordilleras of 

 Oaxaca. Although it has withstood several winters here it 

 cannot be recommended for situations farther north but for 

 the southern states it ought to be an admirable plant. It has 

 pendu ous flowers about two inches long, rosy purple in color 

 and it blooms at an earlier period than A. rupestris ; but there 

 are enough scattering flowers all through the summer to make 

 the plant attractive. 



Abelia triflora is a native of the western Himalayas, where 

 it flourishes at an altitude of 9,000 feet. It forms a very pretty 

 little shrub with whitish yellow and pink flowers in clusters at 

 the ends of the branches. It is quite hardy with us, and so are 

 A. serrata and A. umflora. 



The most successful way of propagating these plants is by 

 cuttings taken just after the wood is ripe in the fall. Flowering 

 shoots with the ends cut off make good cuttings, which can be 

 rooted in a cool frame or propagating-house. 



Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver. 



T I 



Irises in Late June. 



'HE English Irises closely succeed the Spanish kinds 

 and keep up a succession of attractive flowers. As is well 



known, these bulbous Irises are not English, but Pyrenean 

 and gained their name in Holland because they were intro- 

 duced through the former country. The bulbs of this species 

 are longer and rougher than those of the Spanish varieties 

 The leaves are wider and the flowers are larger in all their 

 parts. They are white and all hues of purple from blue to red 

 and their effect is distinct from that of the bn>hter-colored 

 Spanish Irises. The white-flowered form, known as Mont 

 Blanc, is the choicest of this species, for it seems to be a true 

 species. Shortly after the middle of July appear the Japanese 

 Irises, as the hybrids of I. laevigata, or fcempferi, have come 

 to be known. The type of this species is a blue-purple and 

 as is frequent in wild plants, a white-colored form. These 

 Irises as imported have usually the same characteristic* of 

 flower and foliage, though the Japanese offer as a type form 

 one with shorter and broader leaves. This may possibly be 

 the form lately noticed in an importation and separated by 

 Baker as I. albo purpurea. It is curious that though some fine 

 forms of I. Iasvigata were sent here by Air. Thomas Hogg soon 

 after the Japanese treaty ports were opened many years ago they 

 did not meet with general appreciation until a few years'a°- 

 The type has evidently been broken for many years, and 

 besides the typical forms there will now be found those' with 

 colorings through the entire gamut of purples from the blue 

 to the dull-red end of that spectrum. They also appear in 

 selfs and mixed colorings, the mixtures being in spots and 

 reticulations usually. There are also single and double forms 

 which furnish altogether an extensive field for variation and a 

 decided choice. As a rule, with their ordinarily sombre, dull 

 colorings the thin large flowers, floating, as it'were, and' well 

 raised on tall stems above the narrow foliage, are very effec- 

 tive in garden groups. Some of the forms, especially those 

 which are double and splashed with varied colorings, do not 

 seem to me great gains, and, like a good manv other latter-day 

 Japanese articles, seem to be produced to cater to the present 

 department-store standard of taste. I notice that one of this 

 type is frankly named in the catalogue, " Maple leaves spoiled 

 by rain." 



Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard. 



Flower Garden Notes. 



A LTHOUGH semi-tropical bedding plants are not making 

 Jri - rapid growth, owing to continued cool nights, the weather 

 in May and June suited most plants exactly. Perennials of all 

 sorts have made remarkably vigorous growth, the frequent 

 copious rainfalls during the past six weeks having been just 

 what they needed. We have recently gone through our "beds 

 of herbaceous stock and securely staked all the plants which 

 required it, and carefully hand-weeded the beds at the same 

 time. Seed-pods of Papaver orientale have been cut off, and 

 of a few other plants which become nuisances if allowed to 

 seed without restraint, and bare spaces of ground have been 

 lightly stirred with a hoe. Now that warm and dry weather is 

 setting in, the advantages of leaving on the old manure which 

 covered the beds during early winter and of not wheeling it 

 away or digging it into the ground are apparent ; beds with a 

 mulching of this sort can stand quite a severe drought without 

 suffering. Perennial borders usually have a somewhat seared 

 and dilapidated appearance after the middle of July, when 

 Pfeonias, Irises and many other showy flowers have waned, 

 but Zinnias, Dianthus, Gaillardias and numerous other bright 

 annuals among these plants make the beds a mass of color 

 from the latter part of May until thev are cut down by frost. 



Seeds of such biennials as Sweet William, Canterbury Bells, 

 Antirrhinums, Wallflowers, etc., have been recently sown, and 

 will be kept well watered until they germinate. When I; 

 enough to handle, these are pricked off in nursery rows a foot 

 apart. Coreopsis grandiflora is one of the best hardy plants grown 

 for cut flowers, and a sowingof it may be made now to advan- 

 tage. Weliftand pota number of these plains late in the tall ami 

 force them into bloom by the middle of May; they are par- 

 ticularly acceptable on Memorial Day, when bright yellow 

 flowers are rather scarce. Pansies we sow early in August, 

 and find Tnmardeau the best all-round variety. Tin 



