July 29, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



35i 



and there, there are patches of ground made clear from the 

 cover, and these are either carelessly planted with some com- 

 mon and usef id vegetable, or else are left free to the wayward 

 ways of nature, and bear rank weeds, moist-looking and cool 

 to the eyes, and freshening the sense with their earthy and bit- 

 ter fragrance. There is a lane opened through the thicket, so 

 broad in some places that you can pass along side by side ; in 

 some so narrow (the shrubs are forever encroaching) that you 

 ought, if you can, to go on the first and hold back the bough 

 of the Rose-tree. And through this wilderness there tumbles 

 a loud, rushing stream, which is halted at last in the lowest 

 corner of the garden, and then tossed up in the fountain by the 

 side of the simple alcove. This is all. Never for an instant 

 will the people of Damascus attempt to separate the idea of 

 bliss from these wild gardens and rushing waters. 



Notes from a Wild Garden. 



MY wild garden is a narrow strip of land, less than an acre 

 in extent, which I began to plant four years ago. Some 

 twenty years before this it had been planted with Grape-vines, 

 which were dug out so thoroughly that they have not since 

 troubled me by sprouting. Already this little spot begins to 

 assume quite a wild and woody look. A group of Sassafras trees 

 is especially fine. Sweet Gum, Wild Cherry and Maples are also 

 making a good growth. Conifers are doing well, none better 

 than the Hemlocks. The finest one, planted four years ago 

 this spring when less than three feet in height, now measures 

 nine feet high, with a spread of branches eight feet in diame- 

 ter. It is graceful and luxuriant, with nowhere a dead twig 

 to be seen. 



The frost of early May injured a good many trees and shrubs, 

 among others the Hollies, Mulberries and English Walnut- 

 trees ; also the Japanese Akebia and Actinidia, but they are 

 now growing rapidly, and are apparently making up for lost 

 time. 



Among the herbaceous plants is Xerophyllum setifolium, 

 which is considered a most difficult plant to cultivate, but I 

 have succeeded in establishing a number of fine plants. They 

 were set four years ago, and this spring twenty-three bloomed, 

 making a fine display. I was told by those who had tried to 

 cultivate it that it would surely not live longer than the first 

 summer. But I was undismayed, and had a strong man take 

 up the plants with such great balls of earth that some of them 

 could hardly be crowded into a bushel basket. I stood by 

 during the removal, and rejected every one that could be sus- 

 pected of mutilation. We had a great wagonful of them and 

 other plants, and when we reached home the Xerophvllum 

 was set in a trench somewhat lower than the surrounding 

 ground, and well watered. This is all the care they have ever 

 received, beyond an occasional watering the first summer, and 

 every plant is flourishing. 



Helonias bullata is also growing nicely. This charming 

 plant blooms among our earliest flowers in April. Notwith- 

 standing that its native home is only in dense Cedar swamps, 

 where it is often entirely covered with water, it is not difficult 

 to grow in common garden-soil. It is a rare local plant, be- 

 longing in the Lily-family, and in early spring sends up a 

 naked flower stem, a foot or two high, surmounted by a dense 

 raceme of showy purple flowers. The leaves are evergreen, 

 and are handsome the entire year. 



Under and among the trees and shrubs many creeping 

 plants have become at home and are growing nicely. Trail- 

 ing Arbutus blooms freely here, as does the Partridge-berry, 

 while the aromatic Wintergreen is full of bloom now, with 

 promise of pretty clusters of scarlet berries in late autumn and 

 winter. The wild Yam is here too, climbing about in its grace- 

 ful way. This vine is much handsomer and far more delicate 

 than the Chinese Yam, which florists are sending out under 

 the name of Cinnamon Vine. Apios tuberosa is clamber- 

 ing about here and there without care, having been brought 

 in among clumps of plants from the damp Pines, where it is 

 very abundant. But it is quite welcome here, with its dense 

 clusters of fragrant dull purple flowers. 



Wild Lilies and cone-flowers, Rudbeckias, and various Sun- 

 flowers, with one species of Golden Rod, Solidago odora, are 

 now in bloom. Groups of Yucca, too, are scattered about 

 with their wealth of flowers on the tall stems, which in the 

 moonlight look like ghosts. 



Among the shrubs, Azalea viscosa is still in bloom, and 

 Clelhra alnifolia is just beginning to open its flowers. This 

 is one of our most desirable shrubs. Its dense raceme of 

 white flowers is fragrant and handsome, and it remains in 

 bloom a long time, commencing about the middle of July 

 and continuing through August. The sweet-scented shrub 



Calycanthus is still in flower, and so are wild Roses from 

 the Pines. But among the most attractive features of the 

 wild garden are the Ferns, of which there are several species 

 perfectly at home, growing luxuriantly in the shady places. 

 Vineiand, N. j. Mary Treat. 



Southern California Notes. 



THE tall scarlet Larkspur {Delphinium cardinale) was intro- 

 duced into cultivation, I believe, about the year 1858, from 

 California. It has figured repeatedly in recent years as a nov- 

 elty, although it may be found quoted constantly in many 

 European catalogues. 



I have lately seen this showy plant in great abundance on 

 hill-sides east of San Diego, where the brush had been burned 

 off the preceding fall. Attaining a height of five to ten feet, 

 and covering densely almost the entire hill-side bordering the 

 Potrero valley, the brilliant flaming flowers produced a strik- 

 ing resemblance to a hill-side on fire. 



The large perennial roots, when in a dormant condition, 

 may be sent with safety in a perfectly dry condition to any part 

 of the world. The plants are also easily produced from seed, 

 and will thrive luxuriantly in any rich soil. They are considered 

 quite hardy. The sepals and two lower petals are scarlet ; the 

 two upper petals a delicate lemon-yellow tipped with scarlet and 

 with a portion of the back also scarlet. The stigmas are tipped 

 with scarlet. The sepals are tipped with a delicate pea-green, 

 but scarlet is the predominating color, and unless closely ex- 

 amined no other color will be observed. 



Dormant roots of Dodecatheon Clevelandi, sent to France in 

 a dry state the past season, failed to grow in all but a few cases. 

 No reports have yet been received from England or Holland, 

 where roots were also sent, but as they are catalogued it may 

 be presumed that they did well under proper treatment. This 

 lovely plant has been denounced as one of the novelties lack- 

 ing positive merit, but it is doubtless the handsomest of the 

 genus. The centre of the flower is a rich prune-purple, 

 bordered with bright lemon-yellow, the reflexed divisions of 

 the corolla pure white, or tipped with lavender or phlox-purple. 

 In individual plants the divisions are sometimes pure white 

 throughout, or of a deep, brilliant purple, or of an inter- 

 vening tint. 



Papaver Califomica is another plant of recent introduction. 

 The flowers are about two inches in diameter, of a bright 

 saturn-red to orange-chrome color, the centre of a delicate 

 sulphur-yellow. Max Leichtlin writes that it has flowered with 

 him the past season, but, while he considers it interesting bo- 

 tanically, he does not consider it worth cultivation. It has 

 been curiously described in one catalogue as possessing flow- 

 ers ten inches across, and of a different color from its own. 



The effect of fire upon the vegetation of a country is an in- 

 teresting subject for investigation. For the past twelve years 

 I have been botanizing in southern and Lower California, and 

 only in late years has P. Califomica been seen either by my- 

 self or other botanists. John Spence was the first to find it on 

 brush-lands in the Santa Ynez Mountains, but only found it 

 where the land had been stripped by fire. In 1889, I believe, 

 I first found it east of San Diego, near Campo, at a similar ele- 

 vation, where the land had previously been burned over. Last 

 year I found it sparingly in the same locality, and in great pro- 

 fusion in another locality near by that had been burned over 

 the preceding fall. This year I could find no trace of the 

 plant in either of these burnt areas. But between the two 

 localities, where brush-fires raged last fall, I found it thriving. 



Wherever fire has raged the previous year I have not failed 

 to find this Poppy, but the second, or third year at most, it 

 seems to again entirely disappear. As I have traveled over 

 the same route yearly, its presence in previous years would 

 have been detected long ago by myself and others as well. 



In the mountain districts denuded by fire, the following 

 spring is sure to reveal a wealth of unsuspected beauty. 

 Dicentra chrysantha, in some localities, is sure to become sur- 

 prisingly abundant. The scarlet Larkspur, as above noted, 

 owes its luxuriance and abundance to the preparation of the 

 soil by fire for its reception. Calochortus Weedii often appears 

 by thousands in a burnt district where its presence previously 

 was scarcely suspected. Phacelia Orcuttiana, as well as 

 Papaver Califomica, appears to be a "fire-plant." And the 

 number of other plants which are found in their greatest pro- 

 fusion and at their best in a burnt area are legion. In a few 

 years such plants retire again into comparative obscurity. 



The Pride of California (Lathyrics splendens) is one of these 

 plants which seem to be benefited by the ordeal of fire, which 

 renders the vine more prolific and adds brilliancy to the blos- 

 soms. 



Orcutt, Cai. C. P. Orcutt. 



