July iS, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



285 



resembles a Thistle, so much so in fact as to endanger its 

 existence when the border is being weeded, but a label 

 has so far protected it. The flowers are produced in whorls 

 round the stem for the greater part of its length, or about 

 two feet, and on first opening these are white and resem- 

 ble those of a Verbascum, but each day they change color 

 through various shades of pink to a deep carmine as 'they 

 fade. There seems to be no special care needed in the 

 cultivation of Morina longifolia ; it is a plant that should 

 be put in the front row of the border, because of its dwarf 

 habit, and it will not then be smothered by coarser-grow- 

 ing plants, as is too often the case with the weaker bor- 

 der-plants. Two other species, M. Wallichi and M. Coul- 

 teriana, are in cultivation, but are exceedingly rare ; the 

 plant often seen in seed-lists as M. elegans is synonymous 

 with M. longifolia, and all are natives of the Himalayas. 

 The easiest way to propagate the plant is by seeds, which 

 germinate freely when sown in the greenhouse in spring. 

 Mr. Orpet writes that the plant he has raised promises to 

 seed this year. 



Strophanthus Petersianus. — This new plant has lately 

 flowered for the first time in a stove at Kew, and has 

 attracted attention on account of its yellow and red octo- 

 pus-like flowers, borne on the ends of short lateral branches 

 which spring from the main stem. The plant is a climber 

 with ovate-lanceolate leaves, and the flowers are funnel- 

 shaped, with a broad-mouthed tube one and a half inches 

 long, the apex surrounded by a fringe of erect lanceolate 

 scales half an inch long, and the five twisted corolla lobes 

 hanging down to a length of six inches, suggestive of the 

 arms of the octopus or the snakes of Medusa. Strophan- 

 thus is a tropical genus of about twenty species of trees and 

 shrubs, some of which are known to yield a most deadly 

 poison. Several species, namely, S. dichotornus, S. Bullen- 

 ianus and S. longicaudatus, are known in gardens, but they 

 are inferior in floral attractiveness to this new one. The 

 Kew plant was raised from seeds received from Delagoa 

 Bay in 1884. 



Rosa setigera. — We have often spoken of the value of 

 this native Rose, the only American Rose with climbing 

 stems, and yet it takes a long time for even a good plant 

 to work its way into gardens, and this one is still too 

 much neglected. The Prairie Rose is perfectly- hardy in 

 the northern states ; it has clean, large and abundant 

 foliage, and it has the merit of blooming after the general 

 rose season is past, being at its best in this latitude in the 

 second and third weeks of July. When trained to a pillar 

 or over a veranda its clusters of large, rose-colored, single 

 flowers make a brighter display than any of the double- 

 flowered Roses. It can also be planted alone in an open 

 space, where its stems will rise for three or four feet and 

 then arch over and trail on the ground, forming a mound of 

 foliage ten or twelve feet in diameter. It is still more ef- 

 fectively planted at the top of a bank, from which its strong 

 and graceful shoots will trail down for a distance of fifteen 

 or twenty feet. Unfortunately, it has no perfume. 



Lythrum Salicaria. — This is not a native plant, but it has 

 'become so thoroughly naturalized that it is common in 

 moist meadow-land throughout all our eastern states. In 

 Europe it is found, naturally, on the banks of rivers, and 

 here it can be most effectively used on the borders of 

 water where its tall spikes, from four to six feet high, 

 bearing abundant dark purple flowers, are seen to the best 

 advantage, with a background of foliage. This long in- 

 florescence, too, makes the plant useful for cutting when 

 the spikes are loosely arranged in large vases. There are 

 one or two well-marked varieties which are as good or 

 better than the type, and all of them keep in flower for 

 a long time. This loose stripe belongs to that sturdy class 

 of plants which need no looking after when they once get 

 fair root-hold. 



Nelumbium speciosum. — About five years ago we gave an 

 illustrated account of a pond in New Jersey where the Sacred 

 Lotus had become naturalized, but the cultivation of all 



aquatic plants has increased so rapidly in this country that 

 it is no longer extraordinary to find this Lotus running wild. 

 The latest example of this which has come to our notice is 

 in a pond near Little Falls, New Jersey, in which Mr. N. 

 Radcliffe placed a single root of Nelumbium speciosum in 

 May, 1892. He set the root a short distance from the shore 

 of a small pond rather more than one hundred feet long and 

 fifty feet wide, and built a stone-wall about it two feet thick 

 for protection. This boundary, however, has failed to restrain 

 it, and this year it has occupied at least two-thirds of the 

 pond and is rapidly taking possession of the remainder. 

 Many of the large leaves measure more than thirty inches 

 in diameter, and a hundred open flowers can be seen any 

 morning, borne on graceful stems which hold them five or 

 six feet above the water. No aquatic plant is more effec- 

 tive than this Nelumbium with its noble foliage and pink 

 flowers of giant size, but without any suggestion of coarse- 

 ness, and few plants require less attention. 



Cultural Department. 



The Rock-garden. 



THE rock-garden in July lacks some of its brightness in 

 June, but with many new flowers it continues interesting. 

 Campanula Carpathica, in many varietal forms and shades of 

 blue and white, from self-sown seedlings, with the dwarf va- 

 riety of C. grandiflora, from Japan, known as Mariesi ; the 

 handsome C. macrantha, C. Tenorei, C. Pallasii and C. Gar- 

 gauica combine to make blue a dominant color. Columbines, 

 with the exception of Aquilegia chrysantha and A. Skinned, 

 are all gone by. Pinks are in profusion. Dianthus arenarius, 

 the Sand Pink, is particularly happy, and will evidently carefor 

 itself without any trouble. Several seedlings appear, but as 

 we have also the nearly allied forms of D. plumarius, the 

 Cyclops and Maiden Pinks, it is doubtful whether they will 

 come true. The Sand Pink is a compact-growing, small-tlow- 

 ered species, with much-slashed petals, of light rose, and a 

 blotch of magenta at the base of each petal. A mass of these 

 is very effective. D. subcaulescens is a most diminutive and 

 truly alpine species and delights to penetrate clefts of rock. It 

 is becoming re-established after removal last year, when it- 

 appeared as if we should lose it. The flowers are small, light 

 rose, borne on slender stems not more than two inches long. 



Interspersed among these low-growing plants we have the 

 Meadow Sweet, Spiraea ulmaria, white ; S. venusta and S. 

 palmata, pink ; some tall Campanulas, Aster concolor and A. 

 Bessarabicus to break the surface effectively. CEnothera Mis- 

 souriensis comes in toward tire end of June and continues to 

 blossom until autumn. It is an excellent plant for rather dry 

 soils and ought to be in every garden. Here we have it where 

 its trailing stems gracefully hang over the rocks. Heuchera 

 sanguinea, too, is a continuous bloomer. Alyssum argenteum, 

 with silvery leaves and heads of greenish-yellow flowers, is 

 not particularly showy, but it deserves a nook in the rock-gar- 

 den. Rock Roses come and go, their flowers lasting but a 

 day or two. These low-growing evergreens are perfectly at 

 home in sunny positions in dry soil. Aster concolor, although 

 strictly speakinga border plant, we find a place for, and against 

 a wall in restricted territory is very showy. 



Sedums, Sempervivums and Saxifrages along the edges of 

 paths must not be overlooked, and are just where they ought 

 always to be. They are chiefly noted for neatness of habit and 

 symmetry of form, and among them the cobwebby Semper- 

 vivum arachnoideum is conspicuous. If not particularly 

 striking in bloom, many of them are quite pretty, and where 

 we have them in abundance some are allowed to bloom, 

 although this means death. The flowers are borne in dichoto- 

 mous cymes, and present an umbel-like head of star-shaped 

 blossoms, generally red or rose in color, but sometimes yel- 

 low. The best-known species and varieties are S. arenarium, 

 S. Atlanticum, S. barbatulum, a pretty little species, and very 

 distinct; S. calcereum, one of the commonest, and often 

 used for bedding ; S. glaucum, S. grandillorum and S. Tecto- 

 rum. Among Sedums, S. acre is a very common but prettv 

 yellow-flowered species ; S. Anacampseros, with rather broad 

 glaucous foliage and running underground stems, comes up 

 between the rocks, and could be used with advantage to cover 

 barren rocky places. The flowers are small, purplish, borne 

 in dense globose heads. S. glaucum is dwarf, neat, but ten- 

 der ; S. lydiuni, a pretty pink; S. sexangulare, very neat, 

 green ; S. pulchellum, the Widow's Cross, is one of the hand- 



