April, 1907 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



157 



in recent years, and the ever-blooming 

 variety, with good management, will give 

 scattering flowers from July until frost. 



Everybody knows, or ought to know, the 

 cinnamon vine (Dioscorea divaricata), so 

 called because of the cinnamon-like fragrance 

 of its small white flowers. It is chiefly 

 valued, however, for the rapidity of its 

 growth and beauty of its heart-shaped leaves. 

 It is a twiner which grows from ten to thirty 

 feet in a season. This interesting plant is 

 really a variety of the yam, or Chinese 

 potato, and although a native of the Philip- 

 pines, it is tolerably hardy in New York. 

 It bears little tubers in the axils of the leaves 

 and these are what we plant to produce the 

 vine. It is not until the second year that the 

 large roots or yams are produced. Its 

 nearest alliance is to the lily family. It is 

 excellent for porch decoration and the roots 

 are easily stored over winter in the cellar. 



The summer hyacinth (Galtonia candi- 

 cans), is disappointing if grown singly, but 

 very effective in masses. It belongs to the 

 lily family and has small white, six-parted 

 flowers shaped like a hyacinth, but in a 

 larger and looser cluster. It grows about 

 two and one-half to four feet high and bears 

 from twelve to twenty of its fragrant flowers 

 in a raceme. Although it comes from South 

 Africa, it is hardy in New York and tolerably 

 so in New England when heavily covered. 



The following are interesting, but of minor 

 importance. 



BULBS OF THE LILY FAMILY 



The Mexican star (Milla biflora), has 

 fragrant, waxy white, salver-shaped flowers 

 about two inches across and grows from six 

 to eighteen inches high. It can be grown 

 in gardens for summer bloom, but is prob- 

 ably commoner as a window plant for late 

 winter and early spring bloom, being treated 

 like Freesia. 



The coral drops (Bessera elegans), has 

 umbels of pendulous flowers which are 



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vermilion outside and have a white cup 

 inside with long purple stamens. There 

 are usually four to ten flowers in an umbel. 

 A strong variety will sometimes send up six 

 to ten stalks with ten to twenty flowers in an 

 umbel. This plant grows one or two feet 

 high and is said to bloom for two months 

 in late summer or early autumn. 



BULBS OF THE AMARYLLIS FAMILY 



The rain lily and evening star (Cooperia 

 pednncidata and Drummondii), have waxy 

 white, fragrant, solitary flowers about two 

 inches across and are often tinged red outside. 

 They are natives of Texas, where they spring 

 up in three days after a rain. There is a 

 full account of them in The Garden Mag- 

 azine for June, 1906, page 273. 



The zephyr flowers (Zephyranthes) , are 

 probably more grown in windows than in 



An unusual picture of Montbretia, showing its 

 delicate beauty in fruit 



Another unusual picture showing a singular stage in 

 the development of the Montbretia flower 



gardens. The Atamasco lily (Z. Atamasco), 

 is a white-flowered, spring-blooming species, 

 native to the southern United States. 

 Its flowers are about three inches long and 

 .appear from March to June. The best 

 autumn-blooming species with white flowers 

 is Z. Candida, with flowers one and a half 

 to two inches long; the best yellow-flow- 

 ered species is Z. Andersonii; the best 

 rosy-flowered species is Z. carinata, a summer- 

 blooming species with flowers two and 

 one-half to four and one-half inches across. 

 This description should be carefully compared 

 with the plant commonly offered under the 

 name of Z. rosea, which, according to books, 

 has flowers that are only one and one-half 

 inches broad. The zephyr lilies are all 

 natives of South America and cannot stand 

 any frost. 



The Alstrcemerias are interesting because 

 they have the colors of a parrot — red, green 

 and yellow. Unlike most South American 

 plants, they will survive our northern winters 



The torch lily or red-hot poKer plant. A splendid 

 scarlet-orange flower. The best variety is the Ever- 

 blooming (Tritoma PfUzeri) 



if heavily covered with leaves, but they 

 multiply so rapidly that it is better to lift 

 them every year and replant them. They 

 have tubers attached to a common stem 

 something like a sweet potato, and demand 

 partial shade and an abundance of water 

 at all times of the year. Plant the bulbs 

 six inches deep. Some of the species com- 

 monly offered by northern seedsmen are 

 aurantiaca, Brasiliensis and Chilensis. 



BULBS OF THE IRIS FAMILY 



The most popular plant in the group is 

 Montbretia, which has numerous orange-red 

 flowers, and is interesting as being a bi- 

 generic hybrid (its parents being Crocosma 

 aurea and Tritonia Pottsii). Its correct name 

 is Tritonia crocosmaflora. This plant may 

 be heavily mulched and left in the ground 

 all winter, but the flowers are much better 

 if the plants are lifted every fall and stored 

 in damp earth indoors over winter. 



I have never heard of any white gladiolus 

 of prime merit, and, indeed, white is a rare 

 color in the iris family, but there is a plant 

 which might be called a white gladiolus 

 which is known to the trade as Watsonia 

 Ardemei. Its correct name, however, is 

 Watsonii iridijolia, var. O'Brieni. This 

 grows three to four feet high and bears about 

 a dozen flowers, each two inches across. 

 This is treated exactly like gladiolus in Cali- 

 fornia, but here must be raised under glass. 



There is a charming little flower from 

 Abyssinia called Acidanthera bicolor, which 

 has gladiolus-like foliage and fragrant white 

 flowers about two inches across with a large 

 triangular blotch in the centre. The flower 

 tubes are about six inches long. This plant 

 grows about two feet high and blooms in 

 July or August. Keep the bulbs warm and 

 dry through winter. 



