June 24, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



297 



they form broad, round masses of large, handsome foliage, 

 larger, and almost as beautiful as that of the Camellia, and, in 

 June, cover themselves with great broad clusters of creamy 

 white flowers. Naturally they inhabit swamps, but they seem 

 to grow better in good, well-drained soil. Viburnum cassi- 

 noides is a more northern plant, and flowers rather earlier than 

 Viburnum nudum, a native of the region from New Jersey to 

 Florida. Both are equally hardy here, and there is little to 

 choose between them as garden ornaments, although the 

 leaves of the southern species are thicker and rather more 

 lustrous than those of its northern relative. No one will make 

 a mistake in planting either of them or in giving them a con- 

 spicuous place in any garden, however carefully selected its 

 contents may be. 



The Cranberry-tree ( Viburnum Opulus), the wild form of the 

 familiar Snowball-bush, is now so well known and so com- 

 monly planted that another notice of it does not seem neces- 

 sary. It occurs in all the three northern hemispheres ; and it 

 is, perhaps, worth recording that there are now growing in the 

 Arboretum plants raised from seed sent from northern China, 

 which are much more ornamental in flower than either the 

 North American or the European forms ; the sterile ray flowers, 

 being twice as large, and rather more than an inch across, 

 while the anthers, instead of being green, are bright purple. 

 The plants are perfectly hardy, and this variety should be 

 better known and generally planted. 



But the most beautiful of all the American Viburnums, so 

 far as concerns the flowers, is the Hobble-bush (V. lanta- 

 noides), figured in Garden and Forest (Vol. ii., p. 535, f. 141). 

 It produces, like Viburnum Opulus, neutral ray flowers around 

 the outside of the cymes, and these are very large and pure 

 white. The leaves are broad and thick, and, in the autumn, 

 turn to a brilliant scarlet color. Naturally this plant grows 

 under the dense shade of trees in the northern forests, which 

 it cheers in early spring with its great clusters of flowers, and 

 again in autumn with the bright colors of its leaves. It is a 

 difficult plant to cultivate, and we have heard of a single in- 

 stance only where, brought into the garden from the woods, 

 it has been made to grow successfully. Mr. Dawson has 

 found that, grafted on the European Viburnum Lantana, it 

 grows stronger and more vigorously than it does on its own 

 roots, and his stock of grafted plants now gives promise of 

 ultimate success. It is such a beautiful plant, and one so well 

 suited to flourish under the shade of trees, that serious efforts 

 to get it established are well worth making. 



Arnold Arboretum. P. C. 



. Some Early Spiraeas. 



FROM several causes the Spiraeas have not done so well at 

 the Arboretum this season as usual. Some were injured 

 in winter, but the most damage was done by frosts in the first 

 week of May and again about the 18th or 19th, when a great 

 many buds were very much hurt. This frost apparently 

 affected the buds of the hardiest as well as the more tender of 

 the early-flowering species. 



Spircea pubescens, of which an illustration appeared on page 

 331 of the first volume of Garden and Forest, proved some- 

 thing of a disappointment this season. In a series of perhaps 

 a dozen plants the blossoms were uniformly straggling and 

 few, and the numerous naked stems and branches plainly 

 showed that the plants were either all equally injured during 

 the past winter, although planted in different exposures, or it 

 may be that they are short-lived and degenerate after a certain 

 period. The plants under notice were raised from seed col- 

 lected by Dr. E. Bretschneider in the mountains near Pekin, 

 China, and sown at the Arboretum in the beginning of the 

 year 1883. Whatever may have been the cause of its present 

 unsatisfactory condition, S. pubescens is well worth cultivation 

 and frequent propagation on account of the earliness of its 

 blossoms. These resemble the more common species known 

 as S. trilobata, or the improved form known in gardens 

 as S. Van Houttei, but they are of especial value because 

 they appear two or three weeks before the flowers of the others. 

 The blossoms are of about the same size, and are borne in 

 similar clusters as in the two already mentioned. The foliage 

 is of a light green color, and the young shoots and the under 

 sides of the leaves are quite densely pubescent or dow'nv. 



As already stated, this is one of the earliest-flowering spe- 

 cies, but it is not so early as 5. Thunbergii, which ranks 

 as the very earliest of the hardy species in cultivation here. 

 Its value lies not so much in the abundant white, early spring 

 flowers, by which its branchlets are covered, as in the fact that 

 the fine soft foliage makes the plant a pleasing and orna- 

 mental object throughout the season, and in the brilliancy of 



its foliage in late autumn it is not equaled by any other species 

 in the genus. It is scarcely surpassed by any other hardy 

 shrub in its autumn coloring, and it has the great merit of 

 holding its leaves until very late in the season. 



The old-fashioned double-flowered S. prunifolia closely 

 follows S. Thunbergii in its blossoming. Like many others, 

 the plants of this species have a bare and straggling appear- 

 ance as they grow tall and old. They grow easily and rapidly, 

 and better results in bloom will be obtained if old stocks are 

 occasionally removed and new shoots put in their place. 

 S. prunifolia is usually fairly hardy here, although the 

 tips of the branches are often winter-killed. What has been 

 called the single-flowered type of this plant was received at 

 the Arboretum several years ago, but it has been so much 

 injured every winter that it has not been possible to get any 

 idea of its normal growth and appearance. The few blossoms 

 which have developed in early spring, through careful winter 

 protection, have shown much likeness to those of S. Thun- 

 bergii. 



In small gardens, where only a limited number of plants 

 can be grown, there is probably no Spiraea which gives such 

 general satisfaction as the form known as S. Van Houttei, which 

 is generally considered to have been derived from the Asiatic 

 S. trilobata, which is smaller and not so beautiful or graceful 

 as a flowering shrub. S. Van Houttei is perfectly hardy, even 

 in such a rigorous winter climate as that at Montreal, in 

 Canada. Besides the beauty of its long sprays of white blos- 

 soms, which appear early in June, the plant has the merit of 

 having clean, dark green foliage throughout the remainder of 

 the season. It usually falls, however, without assuming any 

 striking colors in the autumn. 



More beautiful and striking in its individual blossoms 

 than any of the preceding kinds are the flowers of S. Can- 

 toniensis, which is very frequently found in catalogues and 

 gardens under the name of S. Reevesiana. The blossoms are 

 much larger than any of those mentioned, in larger corymbs, 

 and of the purest white color. But, unfortunately, in New 

 England this plant cannot be considered sufficiently hardy 

 to be recommended for general planting. In well-drained, 

 sheltered situations it sometimes thrives fairly well and pro- 

 duces a good show of blossoms, but, under most circum- 

 stances, the stems and branches become so much injured in 

 winter that comparatively few blossoms appear in early June, 

 the regular flowering period. 



The double-flowered form of this species is quite handsome 

 when well grown, but it suffers equally with the type from lack 

 of hardiness. In a little less rigorous climate S. Cantoniensis 

 is one of the most beautiful species which can be grown. 



Arnold Arboretum. J . G. Jack. 



Hardy Flower Garden. 



A T no season of the year does the garden present a prettier 

 ■**■ appearance than at this season ; the gorgeous Oriental 

 Poppies, and the Iceland Poppies too, are at their best, with 

 Pseonies, German Iris, Dictamnus Fraxinella, with its flash- 

 light in the evening when fire is applied to it. The Pyrethrums, 

 double and single, are also now showing their full beauty, 

 and the recent exhibits at the meeting of -the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society indicate plainly that they are fast grow- 

 ing in favor. It is often stated that double Pyrethrums can- 

 not be raised from seed, and this may be true of some seed, 

 but last fall I sowed two packets of seed and the plants were 

 grown on in pots. They are now all in flower, and fifty per 

 cent, are double, the rest being single, and many are as good 

 as imported named kinds. The seeds cost about twenty-five 

 cents and were obtained from Germany. For cutting pur- 

 poses these " Painted Daisies " are valuable ; they last a long 

 time, and, when mixed with sprays of such plants as Gillenia 

 trifoliata, have a pretty effect. Dodecatheon Meadia is bloom- 

 ing finely, and these American Cowslips are well worth grow- 

 ing, even in the most select borders, but care should be taken 

 to secure bright-colored forms, as those of a pale, undecided 

 • pink are not worth the space they occupy. In some localities 

 this Dodecatheon can be obtained of a bright rose color, and 

 this is worth growing. Much can be done, however, toward 

 improving the color of the flowers by applying burnt soil or 

 refuse. 



Helianthus divaricatu.s, Artemisia Pontica and some other 

 plants which dealers persist in advertising spread rapidly 

 and crowd their way among their neighbors, and are most 

 difficult to get rid of. Heliopsis Icevis is another weedy sub- 

 ject which seeds abundantly in fall and appears everywhere 

 the following summer. Dealers in hardy plants should never 

 disseminate such subjects without a full explanation of their 



