176 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 164. 



C. tubispatlia is more rarely seen. Its leaves are of medium 

 size, pale green, and ornamented with a row of chocolate 

 brown blotches on each side of the midrib. This species is 

 nearly or quite deciduous, but should be taken care of during 

 the winter, in order to keep the tubers in good condition. 



One ol the best known of this genus is C. zebrina, and a very 

 useful one it is too, for it will bear more hardship than any 

 other member of the family — not only making a satisfactory 

 house-plant, but also being useful for out-door work in 

 summer. 



C. Vanden Heckei is another easy one to manage, and has 

 erect leaves of dark green, shaded with lighter color, the mid- 

 rib being margined with white, and two bands of the same 

 are found between the midrib and margin. 

 Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplill. 



The Wild Garden. 



I HAVE in mind a piece of ground about three feet square 

 which contains fourteen varieties of transplanted wild flow- 

 ers. They are interesting to watch from the uncurling of the 

 first Fern-frond in April till the Arum drops its scarlet berries 

 in October. In most yards there is a shady corner in which 

 wild plants might be set. The soil need not be stirred, or en- 

 riched or changed for leaf-mold. If once or twice in the 

 summer the grass-roots are pulled out it is about all the atten- 

 tion required. Wild flowers are used to "short commons" 

 and to exerting themselves to hold their own. Nature does 

 not see fit to pet or coax them, as so many other plants are 

 always pushing and crowding for a foot-hold. So these wild- 

 ings get a certain hardy, wiry toughness, though it seems as if 

 the winds must be somewhat tempered to the delicate Spring 

 Beauty. This has a small tuber buried as deep as the height 

 of its stem above ground. It is frail, but bears careful trans- 

 planting. The Hepatica or Liverwort, which has hardy leaves, 

 may be found and moved at any time when the ground is not 

 frozen. As early as January the mass of gray downy buds at 

 its heart may be seen. The blossoms have quite a range of 

 color, something unusual in a wild flower. The bright blue is 

 perhaps prettiest, especially when wide open, in the sun, but 

 the pink and lilac ones are of so pure and fresh a tint as never 

 to seem faded. The Bloodroot grows best in rich garden-soil, 

 its leaves and blossoms becoming large and showy. In lifting 

 the plant it should be remembered that its root-stock is at right 

 angles to the leaf-stem. It blooms before the leaves are fully 

 developed. The seeds, of pin-head size, are abundant; and it 

 would be an interesting experiment to plant them. 



Of the twenty-two varieties of native Violets only two have 

 been tested in the garden. The Arrow-leaved, found by a dry, 

 hilly roadside, lived only through the summer. The Bird's- 

 foot Violet grows in a fringy clump, as the dark leaves are 

 finely divided even to the stem. The blossoms, in cultivation 

 often over twenty in number, are light blue, shaded to white 

 at the centre, and it is altogether a superior plant. My first 

 sight of it was in a Pine-woods, which it seemed to light up as 

 a line of poetry might a chapter of prose. I have seen it once 

 since growing on a rocky hill-top, from which I dug it and car- 

 ried it wrapped in wet Oak-leaves a number of miles to my 

 garden, where I introduced it to the Maiden-hair Fern and 

 other select society. 



Arisama triphyllum, or " Jack-in-the-Pulpit," grows amaz- 

 ingly in rich soil, but is really prettier when^mall. It has a co.rm 

 or solid bulb, with an extremely acrid taste, and said to be 

 poisonous. This Jack has his time of peering solemnly from 

 under his leafy sounding-board, and then, his message deliv- 

 ered, there goes on all summer a transformation by which he 

 becomes a bunch of shining, scarlet berries. The small, 

 imperfect ones, which ripen in the woods, give no hint of the 

 beauty of a fully developed specimen. One which grew in 

 the garden last year ripened in September, and' lasted for a 

 month. It was fourteen inches high, and had sixty berries, 

 each of which contained from one to five large, white seeds, 

 and a few drops of orange-colored juice. The dull crimson 

 receptacle, seen by removing the berries, was covered with 

 depressed scars where the berries joined. Its interior, like 

 the stem, was filled with white, webby pith. 



I shall never forget coming upon a great circle of cardinal 

 flowers in full bloom in a moist sunny glade. I gathered a 

 handful, and, showing them to the one on whose farm they 

 grew, I for the first time heard them called " Nosebleed," a 

 name more true than beautiful, and was told of their use in 

 dyeing. By setting a vase of them in a plate of water one may 

 notice particles falling and dissolving a brilliant coloring 

 matter. 



Several roots from a river-bank were set in rich garden-soil, 

 which was prepared by wetting, for a foot or more in depth, 



to the consistency of thick mud. Planted in August, they 

 were well established before winter, and the next year grew 

 on through six rainless weeks with no watering at all. By 

 August the tall blossom-stem showed the brightest color in all' 

 the garden. Its top nodded, but it need not have been so- 

 modest. But some rushes, accidentally taken up with it, did 

 look out of place standing stiffly by a graceful Columbine. The 

 purplish blossoms of the Wild Bean, Phaseolus perennis, are due 

 in August, as are the wild Crimson Pinks. All these, with a Cran- 

 berry-vine and varieties of ferns, complete the company of four- 

 teen which live in one little wild garden. 

 Hartford, Conn. Amy Wig htm an. 



The Spring Garden. 



C HARP frosts still continue every night to bind the surface 

 ^ of the garden, and, despite the daily advancing sun, there 

 is still much chilliness in the air. Under these conditions the 

 spring garden makes very slow advances. However, one can 

 note, from day to day, continued progress among the hardy- 

 plants, and bulbous ones especially are the least influenced by- 

 adverse conditions of temperature. 



Iris reticulata major — blooming in March — is a noticeable 

 addition to the early-flowering bulbous varieties, and perfectly- 

 hardy. The flowers are larger than those of the type, and of 

 a rich deep royal purple, with a spot of yellow on the falls. The 

 falls do not droop as much as the typical /. reticiclata, thus 

 increasing its apparent size. The flowers of these dwarf Irises 

 are quite persistent, this variety lasting in good form for ten 

 days. Iris Bakeriana blooms' were in good condition eight 

 days when they disapp eared under the snow. In the mean 

 time they had passed through a night when the temperature 

 had dropped to zero without apparent harm. Aside from the 

 beauty of the early spring flowers, there is an unfailing interest 

 in watching, year by year, their development under the various 

 adverse conditions, and one acquires a friendship for them_ 

 which is stronger and more personal than the regard for those" 

 of other seasons. Of quite a different form of beauty is Iris 

 Persica, the first flowers of which are just expanded. This is 

 an old variety, not grown as generally as it should be. It is a 

 bulbous variety, placed in the Juno section, and the flowers, 

 white, with purple and yellow markings, appear before the 

 leaves, and are apparently stemless. It seems to be hardy in 

 not too wet locations, and, like most hardy bulbous plants, 

 should be planted early, so as to form roots before winter. Of 

 course the flower-buds are formed in bulbs before they go tO' 

 rest, and even late-planted bulbs will flower well, but pre- 

 cautions should be used in planting out, and especial care 

 will be necessary if they are grown in pots in a cold frame 

 from which frost is not entirely excluded. 



Some of my surprises last winter were losses of Iris juncea 

 and Homeria collina in pots, while plants of the same are alive- 

 in the open. Ornithogalum Arabicum potted up was destroyed, 

 while those planted out under the same sash are aiive and vigor- 

 ous. It would seem that in pots, with their rigid sides, frost,, 

 for some reason, takes a stronger hold, and is apt to disente- 

 grate bulbs, which, in freer soil, would escape ruin. This 

 fact is probably familiar to professionals, though I have never 

 happened to see it in print, which leads me to say that these 

 small points which every one is supposed to know are exactly 

 the things which interest the amateur gardener and save him 

 from losses and disappointment. Our professional friends, 

 who are kind enough to impart to us a great deal of instruction 

 in their catalogues and the horticultural press, do not seem to- 

 realize how little we amateurs know about cultural matters, 

 and how helpful it is to have the simplest hints. But to return 

 to the garden. Anemone blanda alba, from Herr Leichtlin, 

 seems a different form of flower from those of the type from 

 Asia Minor, the petals being fewer and blunter. The white i& 

 of a more creamy tint than in white forms of the latter variety. 

 One cannot have too much of either, as a bed of these on a 

 sunny day in February and March produces an effect which 

 cannot be secured from any other flowers at that season. 



Chionodoxa gigantea or grandiflorum, as it is now named, 

 retains its character as a distinct variety. Established plants 

 throw flowers larger than C. Lucilim, and of a more slaty blue,, 

 and without the distinct white eye of that variety. A crop of 

 Chrysanthemums were grown over my bed of small bulbs last 

 season, and the condition of the Chionodoxes this spring is a 

 practical example of the folly of expecting to double-crop such 

 a bed without injury to the bulbs. 



One always welcomes the Narcissi as the first of the really 

 conspicuous spring flowers, and the first satisfactory for cut- 

 ting. Trumpet Major is open on the border, and a collection 

 in a warm corner is in all conditions from bloom to apparent 

 dormancy, thus promising a long season. So far the flowers 



