December, 1910 



'V H E GAR J) E N M A (i A Z I N E 



217 



The feathery plumes of the newer alum roots (Heuohera) were a revelation In color and size 



am unalterably opposed to gardening in the 

 thin sparse fashion which some gardeners 

 affect, and never let an inch of soil appear. 

 Let the earth be never so good nor so 

 carefully weeded and cultivated, it is only 

 now and again that an edge of turf should 

 be seen "in my foolish opinion" as the 

 Reverend Joseph Jacob's old gardener 

 is apt to remark to his master, the delight- 

 ful writer on flowers. 



Sixteen peonies with grand French 

 names graced my trial garden this year, 

 standing demurely equidistant from each 

 other in a stiff row. Their bloom was 

 feeble, small and hardly worth noting for 

 this first season; next year they should 

 be subjects for observation. It was a 

 disappointment that Baroness Schroder 

 refused to show a single flower this spring. 

 For lo, these many years have I looked at 

 prices and longed to possess this glorious 

 peony; and now that she is within my 

 gates to find her refusing to speak to me 

 must be set down as one of the sorrows of 

 this trial-garden. 



But the daffodils! Early in the spring 

 those wonderful varieties suggested by 

 Joseph Jacob in the columns of The Gar- 

 den as representative of the various classes 

 — those far exceeded and outshone all 

 anticipation. Mr. Jacob's Ust will be 

 interesting to lovers of the narcissus in 

 this country. I subjoin it : 



Yellow Trumpets: Emperor, Glory of 

 Leiden, Maximus, Golden Bell, P. R. Barr, 

 Queen of Spain (Johnstoni). 



White Trumpets: Mme. de Graaff. 



BicoLOR Trumpets: Apricot, Empress, 

 J. B. M. Camm, Victoria, Mrs. W. T. Ware. 



Cups with Yellow Perianths: Al- 

 batross, Lucifer, Citron, Duchess of West- 

 minster, White Lady, Ariadne, Tulworth, 

 Dorothy Wemyss, M. M. de Graaff, 

 Minnie Hume, Artemis, Waterwitch, 

 Crown Prince, and Flora Wilson. 



Pheasant Eyes: Ornatus, Homer, 

 Horace, Cassandra, Recurvus, Eyebright 

 and Comus. 



Doubles: Argent, Orange Phoenix, 

 Golden Phoenix. 



Bunch-flowered: Elvira (Poetaz), 

 Campernelle jonquils (rugulosus variety). 



Of each of these I planted two a year 

 ago. Fifty varieties set some four inches 

 apart gave three good rows of daffodils, 

 and of these but four or five were already 

 familiar. The first to really attract and 

 enthrall me was Eyebright. It draws as 

 a star at night. Its rarely brilliant color 

 and distinct form make it one of the 

 greatest joys afforded by the trial garden. 

 Next came the wonderful Argent, a fine star- 

 shaped flower, half-double, pale yellow and 

 cream-white. Then, inorder, Barri conspicu- 

 us was a very fine daffodil, yellow perianth, 

 with cup of brilliant orange-scarlet. Then 

 Mrs. Walter T. Ware, one of the best of the 

 lot in every way. Gloria Mundi is a very 

 beautiful flower, yellow perianth with 

 a bright cup of orange-scarlet. Sir Wat- 

 kin, a huge daffodil, and effective, is 

 entirely yellow. Minnie Hume, a pale 

 flower full of charm. Artemis, a beauty, 

 small but of compact form. Eyebright 

 and Firebrand were the brightest and 

 most glowing of the fifty. Elvira of the 

 poetaz group is a telling flower with its 

 rich cream-white bunches of bloom and 

 pale cup of straw-color. This daffodil, 

 grown in masses in woodlands, should 

 produce a very marvelous spring picture. 

 I have fancied, too, that its fine flowers 

 above the low Iris piimila, var. cyanea, 

 might be a sight worth seeing. 



These fragmentary notes are all that 

 can be given here. It is hard to choose 

 from so many perfect flowers a few which 

 seem more remarkable than the rest. My 

 practice was, as these daffodils came 

 toward flowering to cut one from each 

 bulb, whfle hardly out of the bud, label it 

 with a bit of paper high up on the stem 

 and keep it before me in water for obser- 

 vation and comparison. They were un- 

 mitigated "joys" — as daffodils always 

 are. What a marvel to have a few garden 



things such as tulips, daffodils and phlox 

 subject to no insect pests, living through 

 the severe winters of our climate and in 

 such variety as to amaze those who like 

 myself are only beginning to know what has 

 been done by hybridizers. 



Among the joys of the summer in the 

 trial spaces was Clematis recta. So satis- 

 factory was it here that I count on using 

 it freely in the main garden. It grew to a 

 height of, perhaps two feet with loose 

 clusters of white bloom much like those 

 of the climbing C. paniculata, held well 

 above a pretty and shrublike plant whose 

 dehcately cut foliage is of a remarkably 

 fine tone of dark bluish green. The green 

 holds its own well in hot, dry weather, and 

 gives it value as a low background after 

 its bloom has gone. 



Cranibe cordifolia, first brought to my 

 attention by the editor of The Garden 

 Magazine, has shown this year what it 

 can do, and it is undoubtedly of 

 value for large bold plantings where its 

 leaf, (which reminds one of rhubarb), and 

 its tall white sprays of bloom should be 

 immediately effective. The flowers call 

 to mind the native spurge or Euphorbia 

 corollata. Of the whiteness of milk, they 

 are beautifully carried in strong sprays. 

 Under the hot sun of the past season they 

 proved short-lived, and instead of drying 

 on the stem, the flowers dropped to the 

 ground with a consequently untidy 

 result. 



Perennial phloxes receive some atten- 

 tion in this trial garden. Of these one 

 new to me, Antonin Mercie, shall have 



No errors must occur in the garden proper. Af 'er 



a test In the trial garden a new-comer is fitted to 

 its proper place here with positive effects 



