180 



GARDEN FLOWERS. 



red, and white comprise the sum of their colors. These 

 colors, hoM^ever, are so bright in most species and varieties 

 that when considered along with the noble plume-like mode 

 of flowering some astonishment may be fairly expressed 

 that they have received so little employment. 



Delphinium elMum, tall larkspur, grows five to six 

 feet high with strong, erect stems and five-lobed leaves. 



The flowers are blue, and 

 appear in July, August, 

 and September. This is 

 one of the oldest species, 

 a native of Siberia, and is 

 very striking and hand- 

 some. DelphiniuTn formo- 

 >ii(m, beautiful larkspur, 

 however, is finer. It grows 

 only three to four feet 

 high, Avith stems of medium 

 strength and straggling, 

 and produces graceful ra- 

 cemes of bright gentian- 

 blue flowers. It blooms 

 freely from June to Sep- 

 tember. The flowers are often an inch across. There are 

 some fine improved double-flowering varieties of D. grandi- 

 florvm. They are of all shades of blue, with large veiy 

 double flowers on spikes often two feet long. These plants 

 grow four to five feet high, and flower throughout the sum- 

 mer and fall. 



Dictamnus fraxinella (gas-plant) grows from one to two 



QAS PLANT. 

 (dictamnus fraxinella.) 



