;6o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 499. 



of its great pinkish-purple bouquets still sway in the wind, 

 sometimes at twice the height of a man, but for the most 

 part they are now faded" and dry. The white Boneset, 

 however, still flourishes ; and the most beautiful member 

 of this genus has just reached its best. August does not 

 show the White Snakeroot, Eupatorium ageratoides, as early 

 September shows it. And it is not merely a chief ornament 

 of these particular days. It is one of the most beautiful of 

 the Composite, and no more charming flowering plant of 

 an analogous kind grows in any garden. Through the 

 fence, from the woodland border, in the meadow thickets, 

 it spreads its polished dark red branching; stems, bearing 

 their numerous corymbs of blossom. Its flowers are larger, 

 more brightly white, and less hairy-looking than those of 

 the other Eupatoriums, and Nature has done so well with 

 this plant that the gardener would not need to " improve " 

 it to tit it for frequent use in the pleasure-ground. Indoors 

 it looks best when arranged by itself, for its own stems and 

 leaves and flowers furnish contrast enough, and none of 

 their charm ought to be hidden. It is appropriate for small 

 bouquets for mantel or table decoration, as well as for large 

 arrangements, simulating its effect as it grows. But in 

 neither case should it be too closely massed. Its graceful 

 habit and the color of its branches should always be 

 revealed. 



The most conspicuous plant which is now in its prime is 

 the many-branched form of the Button Snakeroot, also 

 called the Blazing Star, although it is hard to see why, for 

 its heads are not star-shaped and their color is a deep red- 

 purple. When it grows under favorable conditions where 

 it has plenty of moisture, the rich-hued "buttons" of Lia- 

 tris scariosa are remarkably numerous, and are well set off by 

 the very dark green of its abundant foliage. It is not one of 

 the more graceful Compositae, but itisstately andhandsome. 

 It may be massed in house decoration because Nature 

 grows it in masses. And its dark tones may well be 

 relieved, as Nature often relieves them, by the admixture 

 of a few sprays of Golden-rod. But it should never be 

 combined with Asters. Their more delicate habit unfits 

 them for its companionship, while when their blossoms 

 are blue or lilac they do not harmonize with its redder 

 purple. 



The most popular flower of this season is undoubtedly 

 the red Lobelia. The most careless eye cannot ignore the 

 Cardinal-flower as its graceful spike flames against the dark 

 hollow above a shadowed pool or springs from a brookside 

 tangle. The village child delights to discover it, and the 

 most captious taste need ask nothing more beautiful than 

 its distinctive form and dark velvety red color — the most 

 beautilul red, in tone and in texture, which any of our wild 

 flowers can show. Nevertheless, when the Cardinal-flower 

 is brought home and put in water its effect is usually a dis- 

 appointment. This is because it is most often arranged in 

 bunches with only a slight admixture of green. Its color 

 then survives ; but the effect, as of a lance-like flame, 

 which was so enchanting in Nature, has disappeared. If 

 a bowl is rilled with foliage and then a few tall spikes of 

 the Cardinal-flower are set in it one by one so that the indi- 

 viduality of each is preserved, a much better result will be 

 attained. And the foliage ought to be of the darkergreens, 

 like the leaves of the plant itself. So deep a red as that 

 of this Lobelia does not contrast well with yellowish 

 greens. 



Admirable, too, is the Great Lobelia, L. syphilitica, with 

 its flowers of an intense blue, rivaled only by the blue of the 

 Gentians. It has not the grace of I., cardinalis, nor its 

 vivid effectiveness, but is a desirable addition to the re- 

 sources of the decorator of the house at this particular 

 season. It will be forgotten when the Gentians come, but 

 as yet only one of these is available. This is the Closed 

 Gentian, G. Andrevvsii. Delightful in color, it is stately and 

 decorative in habit, and is well worth seeking, for it lasts 

 longer after cutting than almost any other flower of the 

 season. Nothing else should be combined with it. Its 

 strong stems should lift their fine whorls of dark green 



leaves and their clusters of oval blossoms, deep blue 

 streaked with white, from the glass or vase undisturbed by 

 contrast with any plant of another habit and color. 



The various Compositai- of the genus Prenanthes (the 

 Rattlesnake-roots) now add variety to the roadside and 

 forest border. The tall, slender stems and slim panicles 

 of nodding heads which some species produce have an 

 attraction peculiar to themselves, and much of it may be 

 preserved when they are brought indoors if Nature's 

 methods of arrangement are again observed. The flower- 

 stalks should be kept of their full length, or nearly so, only 

 two or three of them should be used, and they should be 

 allowed to rise well above the general level of the contents 

 of the vessel in which they are placed. 



The Swamp Loosestrife, Decodon verticillatus, is not yet 

 out of bloom, and the light pink of its delicate blossoms 

 makes it peculiarly attractive at a season when purples 

 and yellows so largely carpet the earth. This plant, send- 

 ing out near the ground long recurved stems covered with 

 whorled leaves and axillary clusters of flowers, should not 

 be arranged in the house to simulate the aspect of erect- 

 growing plants. A number of its stems should be placed 

 in a low flat vessel, curving outward from it in all direc- 

 tions, and this vessel should be set on the floor so that the 

 eye may look down upon it as it does upon the plant itself 

 when it grows in the wet ground by the pondside. 



Every one who loves plants must long ago have discov- 

 ered for herself the best ways in which to make use of the 

 Golden-rods and Asters. And the many berries which are 

 available at this season are not difficult to manage. Com- 

 mon sense decrees- that they should be shown with their 

 accompanying leaves as they grow on the branches. But 

 there is one plant, the White Baneberry, the fruit of which 

 is conspicuous just now, which teaches an interesting 

 lesson in regard to natural beauty. This is the lesson that 

 if any of Nature's products seems ugly, it is because it is 

 taken out of its right environment. Even a snake is beauti- 

 ful as we catch a glimpse of it gracefully gliding among thick 

 foliage. Even a bullfrog is very handsome as he sits on a 

 half-submerged log, half-submerged himself. And even the 

 flower which is least attractive when put in a vase or held 

 in the hand and examined, has its own peculiar charm 

 when seen, or half-seen, amid its natural surroundings. 

 This lesson is strikingly enforced by the fruit of the White 

 Baneberry. When examined it is distinctly ugly. The white 

 berries, each perched on the end of a thick stiff red stalk, 

 and these stalks set stiffly at wide intervals around the 

 stem, look as though, not the skillful hand of Nature, but 

 the 'prentice hand of some human workman had both 

 shaped and colored them. The spike looks as though it 

 had been manufactured, not grown, and manufactured 

 with dead wood and paint, not with vital vegetable tissues. 

 Yet a spike of White Baneberry as it grows in the roadside 

 tangle, revealing itself as shining sparks of white and lines 

 of crimson, is a very delightful object. It is wisest to 

 admire it and pass it by. No good effect can be produced 

 with it if it is picked and brought home. And much the 

 same may be said of the thick scarlet spadix of the Jack- 

 in-the-pulpit. 



By the seashore many delightful plants which are not 

 named here may be found in early September. But even 

 amid the less varied flora of the hills there is one which 

 must not be forgotten. It is very lovely in itself, and it is 

 all the more attractive because strength and showiness, not 

 extreme delicacy and fragility, are the qualities we look for 

 in the plants which blossom at this season. No vernal 

 plant exceeds the Slender Gerardia, G. tenuifolia, in the 

 qualities which its names denote. Some of its larger 

 yellow-flowered brethren still show their blossoms, although 

 their real season is August. But only an examination of 

 the fashion of their flowers could suggest that they are 

 indeed its brethren. It is impossible to describe the 

 delicacy, the fragile, airy grace, of this little species with 

 its tiny almost thread-like leaves, its rosy purple flowers, and 

 its paler, almost white, globular flower-buds. The red and 



