" F. M. THOMAS 



"Pay Your Money and Take Your Choice 



CONTINUING LAST MONTH'S APPRAISAL OF RECENT OFFERINGS OF HARDY PERENNIALS FROM AN AMERICAN 



GARDENER'S VIEWPOINT— PLANTING CAN BE DONE THIS MONTH 



Pennsylvania 



FEW perennials give a more imposing 

 effect in a flower garden, than a well- 

 grown clump of Helenium, either rubrum 

 or Riverton Beauty. I acknowledge that 

 the striking and unique color of rubrum is 

 a rather hard one to work into a definitely 

 planned garden, but well placed it is a 

 joy, and in any case there is always the 

 shrubbery border to fall back on. Any one 

 who has seen a Wallflower can easily form 

 an idea of the color of rubrum; a rich 

 terra-cotta red, fading to a sort of burnt 

 orange, a much purer and warmer shade 

 than the older Riverton Gem. But it must 

 positively be grown in full sun; even a little 

 shade will metamorphose it to a dull bronzy 

 yellow. Riverton Beauty is the richest lemon, 

 with a brown-black centre, a far superior 

 plant to the original H. autumnale superbum, 

 though not growing quite so tall. I have 

 sometimes wished that these Heleniums might 

 bloom a little later, so as to be in harmony with 

 the glory of the autumn colorings they so 

 much resemble. 



COME Day Lilies (Hemerocallis) deserve 

 ^ attention; Queen of May and citrina. The 

 latter is a most interesting plant. The long 

 slender flower stems rise four or five feet high 

 out of a mass of the most gracefully arching, 

 narrow, fountain-like foliage imaginable. The 

 flowers themselves are the palest lemon, 

 tinged green on the outside, trumpet shaped, 

 not widely expanded, and with very long, nar- 

 row petals. And their fragrance is delicious, 

 probably finer than that of any other Hemero- 

 callis. Queen of May is a plant of a very differ- 

 ent sort, with coarse strap-like leaves, and 

 sometimes as many as twenty flowers and buds 

 on its stout branching stems. The flowers 

 are funnel shaped, widely open; of a uniform 

 deep chrome yellow. With me the plant has 

 a second blooming season in late September 

 or October and then the stems are much taller, 

 some of them over five feet, but the flowers 

 are sometimes so late as to be injured by the 

 early frosts. 



'fi;|/ 



The Lemon-yellow Day-lily (Hemerocallis citrina) is one 

 of the newer Chinese real acquisitions. Fragrant flowers 

 on five foot stalks 



Among the improved Sneezeworts (Helenium) is Riverton 

 Beauty, rich lemon yellow with centre of brown black 



H. Middendorfiana also blooms again in the 

 fall, and occasionally, if the season has been a 

 rainy one and the ground is rich,luteola,apricot, 

 and aurantiaca will do the same; luteola is one 

 of the finest pure yellow Day Lillies I have 

 grown, only surpassed by aurantiaca major, 

 which, however, is not entirely hardy here. 



EXCLUDING Perry's White, the Oriental 

 ■ L/ Poppies I mention are not very new. Nev- 

 ertheless, they have become known surprisingly 

 slowly, considering all their very apparent 

 good qualities. Surely now that we have so 

 many and such exquisite shades, it is about 

 time to permanently discard the old P. 

 orientale, with its glaring shade of brick-red. 

 Of real scarlets we now have several; Beauty 

 of Livermere (very dark), and Goliath (lighter), 

 are all that could be wished. And of the 

 salmon pinks there are a host. Mary' Stud- 

 holme, Mrs. Perry, Jennie Mawson, Princess 

 Victoria Louise and Princess Ena are some of 

 the best. Though there is not a great deal 

 of difference on the whole, each one has its 

 little point of distinction. Mrs. Perry is 

 probably the largest and the most intense 

 salmon; Princess Victoria Louise is a shade 

 paler, with petals more numerous and more 

 ruffled; Mary Studholme has a silvery tone, 

 and Princess Ena is small and tulip shaped. 

 To my mind Jen-Me Mazvson combines the 

 most good qualities, both in color and habit; 

 Silberblick is a freak flower, with white spots 

 instead of black ones, but the color is not at- 

 tractive. The same is true of Semi-plenum, 

 which, as its name implies, is partly double. 

 Perry's White is a most curious and handsome 

 flower. It has been described as "satiny 

 white," but to me "paper white" would seem 

 nearer right; certainly its texture distinctly 

 suggests that of paper, rather coarse tissue 

 paper, slightly crinkled. The spots at the 

 base of the petals are really deep maroon, 

 but they appear black, and there is something 

 about the total absence of color that at once 

 recalls a Japanese print. No doubt we can 

 make very striking garden pictures with this 

 variety, as it becomes better known. Silver 

 Queen, another white, is of a different tone, 

 a gray-white, or rather a lavender-white, if 



53 



such a term could be used. With its dwarf, 

 slender growth, Silver Queen very much re- 

 sembles an enlarged Shirley. Mahoney is 

 unique; a very deep maroon red, like an ox- 

 heart cherry. Nothing could be more effec- 

 tive with the salmon and white varieties. 



/"\F THE new Phloxes, three seem to me of 

 ^ first class quality Thor, W. C. Egan and 

 Tragedie. Tragedie (described as "carmine"!) 

 is a pure deep scarlet, a scarlet with no hint 

 of yellow, as in Coquelicot and its derivatives. 

 For those who love brilliant and intense color 

 effects, it should prove a great acquisition. 

 Unfortunately it is not quite so robust a 

 grower as some of the newer kinds. IV. C. 

 Egan has been described as "mauve," which 

 gives no idea whatever of its clear, cool 

 pink, ?. pink with less lilac in it than Mme. 

 Paul Dutrie, but nevertheless inclining to the 

 blue rather than to the yellow end of the 

 spectrum. It has a centre of deeper, cherry 

 pink, and the flowers and trusses are of un- 

 usually large size. Thor is the best deep 

 salmon pink to date; a shade of the greatest 

 richness, several degrees deeper than Elizabeth 

 Campbell, but still distinct from the salmon- 

 reds of varieties like Baron von Dedem or 

 Gen. Van Heutchz. Thor also has blooms of 

 splendid size. Happily the incomparable 

 Elizabeth Campbell needs no recommenda- 

 tion; it has already become the most popular 

 of Phloxes, and with good reason, possessing, 

 as it does the most charming warm pink of 

 any hardy plant. Asia, Africa, and Australia 

 make an imposing appearance in some lists of 

 novelties, but I am sorry to say that all three 

 of the nations were a decided disappointment 

 to me. Asia is of a rather muddy shade, 

 Australia verges on the magenta, and Africa 

 is a trifle harsh and crude, though by far the 

 best of the three. One plant that should be 

 welcome in every garden is the Perry's Variety 

 of Phlox divaricata. Contrary to catalogue 

 opinion, I pronounce it a distinctly paler shade 

 of lavender than our native P. canadensis, but 

 its flowers are so much larger, its habit so much 



The Pale Blue Sage (Salvia azurea) though not new is 

 a practical novelty to many. Useful both for border and 

 cutting 



