96 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 315. 



This unlooked-for novelty is in the charge of Mr. Koopman, 

 of the Gartner Lehranstalt. 



There is at Scharfenberg a magnificent specimen of 

 Celastrus articulatus, planted ten years ago, which came 

 there named Celastrus paniculatus. This Japanese creeper 

 has grown wonderfully, having reached an immense height 

 and entirely covered a tower which flanks the building. 

 The plant flowers luxuriantly, but the flowers are all femi- 

 nine, so that its most ornamental feature, the rich orange 

 tint of its fruit, is wanting. Up to the present time all 

 efforts to obtain a male plant have been unsuccessful. Are 

 plants of both sexes to be had in America ? [Yes, in great 

 numbers. — Ed.] 



Berlin. 



c. Bom. 



Cultural Department. 



Annual Flowers from Seed. — IV. 



TDANSIES are mosily treated as annuals in gardens, but 

 ■*■ they are so generally grown by commercial florists that 

 owners of gardens look to them for their annual spring sup- 

 plies. They are, in this climate, best sown in August or Sep- 

 tember and wintered over in a cold frame. There is, however, 

 much satisfaction in growing one's own seedlings, even if 

 delayed as late as this time, provided a rich cool piece of 

 ground can be used, moderately shaded, as on the north of a 

 picket-fence. The flowers will be small in summer, which, 

 however, is a venial fault, for the Pansy in late years has been 

 "improved" too much in the matter of size. The greatest 

 development has been reached in the Giant Trimardeau, 

 whose immense thin petals and washy colors seem to make 

 these among the least pleasing of garden flowers. One cannot 

 go amiss among the other strains offered by the florists, al 

 though most of them need careful weeding out to secure only 

 plants with the pure deep colors which have always endeared 

 the Pansy to flower lovers. But for sweet flowers, with perfect 

 purity of coloring, there should be tried the tufted Pansies, or 

 hybrid Violas, names by which they are known in England, or 

 as now offered by our seedsmen, Sweet-scented Pansies. 

 These charming plants are crosses between the modern Pan- 

 sies and some species of alpine Violas. As plants they vary, 

 but are mostly of a somewhat tufted habit, with rather thinner 

 stems than Pansies, and they usually produce many basal, 

 or, rather, root breaks, from which they rapidly increase. The 

 flowers are generally rather small, in good forms scarcely two 

 inches broad, often self-colored, or possibly with a delicate 

 ground color and markings or shadings of another color. 

 Usually they are delightfully fragrant, with a fresh delicate 

 Viola odor. They flower very freely at all times if not allowed 

 to become dry at the roots. The plants are more hardy than 

 Pansies, though in this climate care must be taken that they 

 are not thrown out of the ground during the frequent thaws 

 occurring in our winters. 



The principal objection to Poppies which occurs to me is 

 the fact that in a small garden one can only devote an absurdly 

 small space to flowers of such beauty. The typical scarlet 

 kinds must be grown with caution, as they are eye-filling to a 

 degree which blinds one to the other occupants of the borders, 

 but the white-eyed Shirley Poppies are the daintiest poems in 

 colors, and should be planted in every garden. They are fragile 

 to a degree, and the plants are short-lived, but their glories are 

 such as will linger in the memory long after they have de- 

 parted from the borders. It is not always the friends who are 

 longest in evidence from whom we gain the most pleasure. 

 The double Poppies, while not so airy, are yet handsome 

 flowers and more enduring. But the most satisfactory variety 

 in all respects for a small garden is the Iceland Poppy in its 

 various shades of white, yellow and deep reddish-orange. 

 These charming little plants make dense low clumps of foli- 

 age ; they are easily grown from seed, which may be sown 

 now, as one sows other Poppies, by mixing the seed with soil 

 and scattering it broadcast. The plants will flower this season, 

 and, being perfectly hardy, will, next year, be in fine condition 

 to throw up numerous flower-stalks as soon as the snow is 

 fairly melted. They continue flowering for a long time if the 

 seeds are not allowed to form. It is usually necessary to thin 

 out the young plants so as to allow room for the proper devel- 

 opment of a required number. 



It is not customary to class Roses among annuals, but we 

 have now a new race of the Polyantha or many-flowered Roses, 

 which will flower in ninety days after seed-sowing. The seed 

 are the size of ordinary Rose-seed and germinate readily at a 

 moderate temperature. The young plants grow vigorously, 



and may soon be transplanted into the border. In the course 

 of the season they make thrifty bushes one to two feet high, 

 and usually with reddish stems and bright foliage. The numer- 

 ous flowers are sometimes single, and in some cases are 

 dainty little perfectly double ones. The colors are various 

 tints of red, shading to pure white. They give successive crops 

 during the season, and the plants, which are hardy and peren- 

 nial, in the late year are attractive with their crop of bright 

 scarlet hips. 



Salvia splendens is a universally appreciated flower of great 

 value in the garden, and is easily grown from spring-planted 

 seeds, which germinate readily and strongly. There have been 

 several varieties of this Salvia offered, but none have proved 

 better than the type. The blue Salvia, S. patens, is a charming 

 flower of a most beautiful hue, but the plant is a straggling 

 grower, and is only to be recommended to those who wish to 

 grow the more uncommon flowers having some especial value. 

 It requires but a glance at any current seed-catalogue to as- 

 sure one that Sweet Peas are at present the most popular an- 

 nuals in cultivation. New varieties, always named, are being 

 added to the list each year, and while there is a tendency to 

 crowd the list with novelties, it may be said that among the 

 newer flowers of Eckford and other specialists there are many 

 distinct and beautiful kinds which are a real improvement in 

 color and size over the old favorites. The cultivation of Sweet 

 Peas is very simple, provided the sowing is made as early as 

 the ground can be turned in the spring, though it is better to 

 have the soil prepared by thorough deep working and manur- 

 ing during the previous fall. Trenches six inches deep should 

 be made, and the seed sown thinly and covered with half an 

 inch to one inch of soil. As the plants gain in height the soil 

 may be hoed up to the plants until the ridge is nearly filled. 

 They need a supply of moisture, and it is always well to leave 

 a depression of the ground over the roots. Sweet Peas are 

 divided into two general classes — the white-seeded and the 

 black-seeded. The latter have feebler germinating powers, 

 and care should be taken in planting to cover them lightly, 

 only enough to envelop them in a close moist covering of 

 light earth. Sweet Peas are readily moved when young, and 

 if the garden is wet and cold progress may be made by plant- 

 ing the seed singly in thumb-pots, which should be plunged in 

 light earth in a warm sheltered spot. Here the seeds will ger- 

 minate quickly and the roots run through the drainage-holes. 

 When the permanent quarters are ready the plants may be 

 lifted carefully and transplanted with entire safety after break- 

 ing off the pots. As to varieties, it will serve to indicate only 

 a few of the most desirable colors. In white Peas, Emily Hen- 

 derson is valuable for purity of color and freedom of flower. 

 These are also of the largest size, of good shape and substance. 

 I have seen stems of these bearing five and six flowers. This 

 is a white-seeded variety. Of the black-seeded sorts bearing 

 white flowers, Mrs. Sankey seems the best variety. For pink 

 Peas, Blanche Ferry leaves little to be desired. Cardinal is the 

 brightest scarlet, and is a large flower. A good yellow Pea is 

 desirable, and in Mrs. Eckford is promised a deeper color than 

 before secured. This I have not yet grown. The darker Peas 

 I know nothing about, as I do not fancy this class, and have 

 not given them a trial. 

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



Alpine Poppies. 



THE Iceland Poppy is now familiar to almost every one, and 

 during recent years our gardens have been enriched with 

 varieties which are double or novel in their color. Our Swiss 

 Poppy seems quite as interesting, and it is not only one of the 

 best among our white alpine flowers, but one of the most 

 freely flowering of all plants. It forms a dense turf-like mass 

 of fine-cut bluish green and generally glabrous leaves. The 

 stems in the Alps never exceed five inches in height, but the 

 flowers are large, the four petals being ample, crimped and of 

 a beautiful white with a silky lustre. The numerous colored 

 anthers at the centre make an interesting contrast with the 

 glittering white of the corolla. The flowers are very numerous, 

 and I once counted about eighty on a single plant on our 

 rockery here. The flowers appear from May to the month of 

 October. In its native mountains there are often found varia- 

 tions from the type in form and color. One of these, Papaver 

 Rhceticum, has petals of orange-yellow, with villous foliage, 

 and the divisions of the leaves are broader. It grows only in 

 the Engadine Alps. P. Burseri is a white form of this species, 

 which is found in the Tyrol. P. Pirenaicum is another nearly 

 allied species with leaves, stems and calyx very villous and 

 yellow flowers. All these plants are polymorphic, and have 

 given many horticultural varieties with red, pink, pale rose, 

 violet, whitish and yellowish tints. These Poppies of the Alps 



