Volume XXIX Number 5 



JUNE, 1919 



M 



OCKO RANGES breathe 

 the very atmosphere of the 

 old-fashioned garden. Pop- 

 ular because of their abso- 

 lute reliability, and remark- 

 able because of their dependability for 

 bloom in the merry month of June; so 

 much at home in our gardens and old- 

 time hedge rows as to have run wild here 

 and there and become almost a part 

 of the country side! An added inter- 

 est in these shrubs is the fact that 

 the family is in part a good American 

 one. 



The fragrance strongly reminiscent 

 of orange blossoms, and the profusion of 

 the glistening white flowers in the early 

 heated days of summer, all help to secure 

 for the Mockoranges a high place in 

 popular esteem. True, there are some 

 without the fragrance; and the absence 

 seems to excite wonder — always so closely 

 associated in the popular mind is this 

 flower and its fragrance. 



Of ancient esteem as a garden plant, the 

 name (as given by botanists) carries the 

 mind back to the days of the ancient kings 

 of Egypt, for it is given in honor of 

 Ptolemy Philadelphus who reigned two 

 hundred and fifty years before the Chris- 

 tian era. It is a pretty association that 

 gives this old garden favorite the old 

 name of Philadelphus. 



In the old-time gardens Mockorange 

 was also known as Syringa, which how- 

 ever belongs properly to the Lilacs. The 

 famous old herbalist, Gerarde (to whom 

 we always go as the court of last resort in 

 hunting up the early histories of popular 

 old-fashioned plants) calls Philadelphus 

 coronarius, "white pipe," and the Lilac 

 was the "blue pipe," and so the name 

 Syringa got applied to both plants though 

 widely different. 



The wizardry of the horticulturist has 

 in recent years done much in blending 

 extreme characters of different Mock- 

 oranges and giving us wonderful showy 

 novelties with greatly improved flowers 

 of much beauty that are slowly but 

 surely winning their way to favor. 

 More about these will be found on 

 pages 198 to 250. 



The Garden 



Magazine 



Avalanche is representative of the modern type of Mockorange. Could any garden want a more effective flowering shrub for June? 





