392 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 182. 



and in shape, size and growth it is said greatly to resemble 

 Catherine Mermet. 



Ernest Metz apparently did not strike the popular fancy to 

 any great extent as a dark pink Tea, and has not proved able 

 to compete with others of purer color, and consequently but 

 little is heard of it now. 



The future of Waban seems assured from the favorable re- 

 ports received from all sides upon this fine sport from Mermet, 

 and it has been planted in large quantities by the leading cut- 

 flower growers to supply the market for the coming winter. 

 There is apparently but little change among the Hybrid Per- 

 petuate planted for winter use, except the improvement made 

 in quality of flowers produced, and the favorites of former 

 years, such as Mrs. John Laing, Madame Gabriel Luizet, Hein- 

 rich Schultheis, Ulrich Brunner and Anna de Diesbach, will 

 doubtless continue among the most popular. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin. 



Hardy Plant Notes. 



HTHE successful cultivation of Iris Susiana out-of-doors (see 

 ■*■ Garden and Forest, vol. iv., p. 357) is rather unusual, but I 

 think it can be explained. The cultivation of this Iris in Holland 

 has apparently been better understood of late years, and, as I 

 have before stated, seven out of twelve rhizomes, purchased last 

 fall, flowered this spring. This success is also unusual, but is 

 owing, perhaps, to the very fine roots the Dutch growers sent 

 us last fall. The principal reason for advocating pot-culture 

 is, that all of the Oncocyclus group of Iris enjoy a thorough 

 baking in the sun after the flowering season is past and the 

 leaves have died off. Our plants are now undergoing this 

 treatment in a cold frame, and after this thorough ripening 

 will start to grow vigorously next fall. I have never heard of 

 any one who has successfully grown this Iris in the open air 

 any length of time. Our experience has been similar to that 

 of Mr. Barker's in the Harvard Botanic Garden, and a good 

 round number of roots have been used to experiment with. 



We hear much of the new Iris Gatesii. It belongs to the 

 same group as /. Susiana, and is, we are told by Herr Max 

 Leichtlin, the largest-flowered Iris known, and exceeds the 

 Mourning Iris in beauty; let us hope that the plant may soon be 

 common. /. Iberica is, to me, quite as beautiful as /. Susiana, 

 and I think the markings are much more delicate and refined. 

 The plant itself, when in flower, does not exceed six inches in 

 height. With me it flowers perfectly well in the open ground, 

 but we do not often see it in bulb lists. I quite agree with Mr. 

 Gerard (vol. iv., p. 334) that it is "difficult to understand why, 

 cultural skill being equal, Irish bulbs should be better than 

 others," but certain it is that in Ireland the Narcissus has found 

 a most congenial soil and climate, for any one who has seen 

 them there will find it hard, as I did, to believe they are not 

 indigenous. But the fact is, that many of the commonest 

 weeds here in New England are not native, and yet they grow 

 with more vigor than in their original homes. 



Mr. Orcutt's nofes on the new Californian Poppy suggest 

 the query why the lovely Romneya Coulteri is scarcely to be 

 had here in the east. I have repeatedly purchased seeds and 

 sown them with all care, but have failed to raise anything be- 

 sides weeds. I sent to California for plants last fall and re- 

 ceived nothing but excuses in return. A leading eastern firm 

 to whom I applied "did not have it," although it was adver- 

 tised in their lists. It is common in England, and I suppose 

 the only way to get it is to send there, for American plants are 

 appreciated there as they deserve to be; even the common 

 Rudbeckia hirta is there thought worthy of two synonyms, 

 and the number of these may sometimes be taken as a fair 

 index of the popularity of a plant. 



So. Lancaster, Mass. £■ 0. Orpet. 



Some New Tufted Pansies. 



THE cultivation of the so-called tufted Pansies is in- 

 creasing in this country, and is likely to become still 

 more general, and we therefore reproduce from The Garden 

 some notes by Mr. W. E. Gumbleton on the merits of a 

 few of the newer varieties sent out by Messrs. Dobbie & Co., 

 Rothsay : 



Wonder. — This is an extremely pretty variety of most com- 

 pact and tufted habit of growth in the way of Ardwell Gem, 

 but a decided improvement on that good old variety. It is a 

 profuse and continuous bloomer, and has flowers of a good 

 size, of a clear, pale canary-yellow, with a deeper centre clearly 

 penciled with a few distinctly marked black lines. This is 

 quite an acquisition. 



Cottage Maid. — This is in the way of Countess of Kintore 

 but an improvement on that pretty old variety, with most dis- 

 tinct, deep plum-colored centres and almost pure white upper 

 petals. It is also of good and compact habit of growth. 



Vernon Lee. — This closely resembles the excellent and ef- 

 fective older variety Jackanapes, with flowers of the same 

 combination of golden lower petals and rich brown upper part 

 of flower, the only difference being that in the newer variety 

 the flowers are of more perfect form and better substance, 

 and the outer half of most of the upper petals is distinctly 

 laced with gold, which is never seen in Jackanapes. The habit 

 is also compact and good. 



Queen of Scots. — This is much in the way of Cottage Maid 

 save that the flowers are rather larger, the upper petals of a 

 purer white and the centres purple instead of plum color. The 

 habit of growth, however, is not quite so satisfactory. 



MRS. Grant. — This is a rather pretty and extremely free- 

 blooming sort, of compact habit of growth, and may be briefly 

 described as a paler own sister to Cottage Maid, with more 

 clearly colored upper petals. 



Bronze Medal. — This variety has nothing to recommend it 

 save its compact habit of growth. Its flowers are small and 

 poor and of a pale washy shade of brown, quite inferior to 

 many older and better-known varieties. 



York and Lancaster. — A most striking variety mottled 

 somewhat like the old Rose of that name, but with purple in- 

 stead of rose color. 



Blue Cloud. — A most lovely variety, which may be briefly 

 described as a white Duchess of Fife with a distinct bordering 

 of pale blue round all the petals. This should prove a great 

 acquisition. 



Dawn of Day. — This is also a most distinct and showy va- 

 riety with large white flowers distinctly and most effectively 

 penciled with blue. Quite an acquisition. 



Bullion. — A fine, deep, bright golden yellow, rather a small 

 flower, but a very telling shade of color. 



Max Kolb. — This is one of the older sorts, but not so well 

 known as it deserves to be. It is quite the best and most con- 

 tinuous blooming blue Pansy known to me. The flowers are 

 of large size, borne on stout erect foot-stalks well raised above 

 the foliage, and of a fine intense shade of blue, not quite so 

 deep as those of A. Grant, but of rather larger size than those 

 of that fine variety. The centres of the flowers are black, with 

 a small yellow eye. Altogether a most excellent variety. 



Orchid Notes. 



Cypripedium barbatum, var. superbum. — The numerous 

 varieties of C. barbatum are all more or less useful — as, indeed, 

 is the species itself — and they find favor with many growers in 

 preference to the more expensive species and hybrids. The 

 flowers of this variety are much larger than those of the type, 

 and their coloring is more distinct and beautiful. The purple 

 of the lip is deeper in shade ; there is more of the purer white 

 in the dorsal sepal, less green, and the purple lines are broader 

 and brighter, approaching reddish purple. It is even more 

 floriferous than the free-flowering species, and the length of 

 the erect scapes, often exceeding fifteen inches in strong plants, 

 with the superior lasting quality of the flowers when cut, ad- 

 mirably adapts them for decorative work. The variegation of 

 the foliage, too, is moredistinctand handsome. Had I to choose 

 one Cypripedium, conspicuous above all others for beauty 

 combined with utility and ease of management, from the al- 

 ready long list of species, hybrids and varieties now in culti- 

 vation, I should select this variety. It will give satisfaction as 

 to growth, and bloom in an atmosphere of intermediate 

 warmth, but plants grown in the higher temperature of a 

 stove have the flowers and leaves of a somewhat better color. 



PHALiENOPSiS Luddemanniana. — Many of the Phalaenop- 

 sis are more showy than this one, but it is a pretty free-flower- 

 ing species, well worthy of a place in any general collection of 

 stove-plants. It was introduced to English gardens from the 

 Philippine Islands in 1865, butappears to have flowered earlier 

 with Monsieur Luddemann, of Paris, in complimentto whom it 

 was named by Professor Reichenbach. This Monsieur Ludde- 

 mann wasoneof the great Orchid kings of his time, and thenow 

 historical collection of Monsieur Pescatore had been under his 

 management. P. Luddemanniana is small of growth com- 

 pared with most other species, the succulent, oblong, acute, light 

 green leaves being little more than six inches in length at their 

 best. The flower-stems are usually longer than the leaves, and 

 appear at various seasons of the year, bearing from four to six 

 blooms two and a half inches across. Petals a trifle smaller 

 than sepals, both oblong, acute, white, with numerous trans- 



