464 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 188. 



be used, and these should be planted about six to eight inches 

 apart each way. These need not necessarily be removed in 

 summer, as there will be ample space between them for the 

 insertion of Coleus, Vinca, Geranium, and other bedding- plants. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. 0. Orpet. 



The Newer Phloxes. 



THE garden Phloxes have lately taken a fresh start in the 

 way of improvement. Many of the newer sorts have indi- 

 vidual Mowers which are enormous as compared with the best 

 of the older ones, as, for example, Juliet Round and Cross of 

 Honor. Eclaireur has a very dark carmine, flower, immensely 

 large and of a rich shade. The plant is dwarf, and the truss as 

 fine as the flower. Bounetain is of a rich rose-color, paler at 

 the centre, and having a ring of a brighter tint midway be- 

 tween the centre and circumference of the corolla. But of all 

 mv collection Liberie' is most novel, and perhaps most beauti- 

 ful. The clusters are large, but not the largest, while the 

 flowers are of a deep salmon, with an intense carmine centre. 

 Gold-leaf is notable mainly for its bright yellowish leaves. 

 But we have little reason for indulging in abnormal colors in 

 foliage or encouraging their propagation. Snowflake has large 

 panicles of pure white flowers of the first quality. But of all 

 the whites I have found none to surpass Croix du Sud. The 

 flowers are porcelain-white, with a touch of carmine at the 

 centre, and the plant is decidedly a dwarf. Aurore Boreale 

 has a deep purple centre, surrounded by a shade of orange, 

 and is very effective. General Breart has attractive flowers, 

 which are white, touched with violet and a distinct violet cen- 

 tre. The Nearry has a deep rose-colored flower of the finest 

 form and texture, while the centre is a rich carmine. Richard 

 Wallace is better known. It is a fine flower, white, with rosy 

 eye. Paul Bert, a bluish lilac, with violet centre, is a grand 

 flower. Panama is a noble white, and of the best possible 

 form. Diplomate is a soft rosy carmine, and very satisfac- 

 tory. Deliverance approaches as near to scarlet at the centre 

 as can be found in any Phlox, while the body of the flower is 

 lilac. Regulus is a dwarf plant, giving fine panicles of salmon, 

 with dark centre of violet shade. 



The Phlox is one of our most reliable flowering plants, 

 and is capable, evidently, of still further improvement. Its 

 propagation and cultivation are so very easy as to make it the 

 universal home flower. Its chief drawback is a tendency to 

 multiply shoots and flowers at the expense of size and quality. 

 The plants should be divided every second year. My plan has 

 been to transplant them to a new bed, cutting them away un- 

 til the root is reduced to a capacity of about three stalks. In 

 the old bed I allow a few roots to send up shoots, which blos- 

 som much later. In this way my Phlox season is prolofiged 

 until November. Root cuttings make fine plants. 



The Phlox requires soil that is strong, but not too highly 

 manured. It must also be mulched thoroughly during the 

 dry season, or the flowers will be unsatisfactory. ' No other 

 plant on our lawns is so easily affected by drought or by dry 

 weather. I mulch with fine cut grass, or with well-rotted 

 manure, which is mainly sawdust run through the stables for 

 beddin"-'. Next to my Roses, Lilies and Gladioli I place the 

 Phloxes. It is not a good flower for culling, as it has a habit, 

 in vases of water, of dropping very quickly. It is, however, 

 beautiful, fragrant, refined and very florilerous. 



„,. XT v E. P. Powell. 



Clinton, N. Y. 



Protecting Plants in Mild Climates. 



PASSING along one of the streets of Raleigh recently I was 

 attracted by a massive bush, almost a tree, of Erythrina 

 crista galli, loaded with great spikes of its gorgeous flowers. 

 It was standing in a smoothlv shaven lawn, and looked like 

 one of the oldest inhabitants. As I have kept up my old habit 

 here of lifting Erythrinas and keeping them in a cellar, I was 

 curious to know if this great plant was lifted. On inquiry of 

 the owner I was assured that it had occupied its present place 

 for many years. "We saw it off a foot or more above the 

 o-round each fall, after frost has cut the top, and make a mound 

 of saw-dust over it, and it has greatly increased in _ beauty 

 since we quit lifting it years ago." I am inclined to think that 

 a mound of earth, sodded over, would be an improvement on 

 the saw-dust, and shall try it this winter. 



This mounding with earth is a very effective protection for 

 half-hardy plants, particularly if a cover is put over the earth- 

 mound to keep it dry. Amateur gardeners in mild climates 

 frequently lose half-hardy plants that they could save with a 

 very little effort. The Lantana and Aloysia ciiriodora can 

 both be wintered over here by the same treatment our friend 



gives his Erythrina. A Lantana, trained to a single stem, and! 

 pot-grown for a year until the stem gets somewhat woody, will 

 do better for treatment than a young plant set out in spring. 

 Cannas are commonly wintered here where they grow by cut- 

 ting down the tops and laying them over the bed, but they 

 ought to be lifted each alternate spring, and reset as growth 

 begins, otherwise the rhizomes get so tangled up that growth 

 is impeded. Canna flaccida gets to be quite a weed without 

 any protection, and its rhizomes creep under the fences and 

 invade neighboring grounds. It is hard to make our people 

 understand that these tuberous roots ought to be lifted, di- 

 vided and reset in spring. The fact that they live over 

 without attention in great masses and grow vigorously is ac- 

 cepted as evidence of hardiness, but the scarcity of flower- 

 spikes on these masses shows plainly that the cold has 

 destroyed the flower-germs already formed in autumn. The 

 earthen mound might insure the safety of the flowers, but 

 there is no doubt that the lifting and curing of the bulbs, as 

 practiced at the north and by commercial growers here, is the 

 best plan, even for this section. 



For plants with evergreen leaves, like the Gardenia florida 

 and the Camellia, we find that the best protection is one that will 

 allow a circulation of air, and at the same time give shade 

 from the early morning sun. Therefore, we stick branches 

 of Pine and Cedar thickly around them, but do not tie them 

 up at all. In the flat, low country of eastern North Carolina 

 these need no protection at all. This same protection with 

 evergreen boughs will always insure the safety of the Fig 

 here. The past two winters have been so mild that there is 

 danger our growers will have so much confidence in the 

 safety of their Figs as to neglect even this protection, 

 and a sudden cold snap may injure the plants, or, at least,, 

 destroy the early crop. The cover of evergreen boughs can 

 do no harm even in a mild winter, and will always insure a 

 crop. When the southern people learn the full value of a light 

 protection here our gardens will take on new beauty and pro- 

 ductiveness. 



Raleigh, N. C. W. F. Massey. 



Centranthus ruber. — Red Valerian is one of the hardy plants- 

 the seeds of which are a regular stock article of the seedsmen, 

 and are offered with much praise and with no qualification. 

 The descriptions are correct, as far as they go, for the plants- 

 are neat, strong-growing trailers, covered in the spring with 

 large rosettes of pink flowers. They are not such flowers as- 

 one would care to gather for bouquets, but for a wild place, 

 trailing over stones, the plants would be desirable were it not 

 for the unmistakable polecat-like odor emitted by the stems. 

 The smell of this plant is so curious and interesting that I have 

 continued to grow it, though I should scarcely recommend it 

 for general culture, in the endeavor to locate the source of the- 

 scent, which seems to hover over the plant instead of being 

 strongly localized in its parts. There seems not only an open- 

 ing for a chart of colors, but for a scale of scents in describing 

 flowers, since the favorite description of "fragrant" and " very 

 fragrant " fails to convey a lucid idea to the intending grower. 

 No one, for instance, in describing perennial Phlox thinks it 

 necessary to mention the fragrance as that of burnt sugar,, 

 which is homely, but exactly describes the odor. Many plants, 

 such as night-blooming Ipomceas and Nicotiana, are found to 

 have the fragrance of the common Datura, a fact which some- 

 how escapes the notice of the trade-writer. However, we are 

 a nation of advertisers, and are accustomed to making the most 

 of our own wares, so that if our friends, the commercial grow- 

 ers, characterize a flower which looks like Canton-flannel as 

 " ostrich-plumes," the proper attitude is not one of irritation, 

 but amused attention. 



Nicotiana affinis does not seem to me to be an improvement 

 on N. acutifolia, which for some years came regularly in my 

 garden from self-sown seeds. N. affinis has larger flowers, 

 and fragrance which is rather Datura-like, but it only expands 

 its flowers late in the afternoon, and during the rest of the day 

 the plants are unattractive. N. acutifolia only closes its flow- 

 ers as they fade, and in this respect is a superior plant in the 

 border. They are such easily grown and effective annuals 

 that they are both desirable where space can be spared, the 

 laro-e leaves requiring considerable room in which to develop 

 properly in true character. 



Elizabeth, N.J. U - 



Cereus triangularis, now in bloom in the Palm-house, was- 

 introduced in 1690 from Mexico. The specimen must have 

 been in the garden for a great many years, as shown by 

 its dimension and appearance. It covers the entire roof of 

 the north end of the Palm-house, and I should say it will 



