218 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Decembee 1910 



special mention, first because of its good 

 color, a light lilac-lavender, next because 

 of its rather early bloom — August 5th or 

 thereabouts in this latitude — and last 

 because of its rather low and very branch- 

 ing habit. The spread of its good green 

 leaves and full flower trusses makes it an 

 unusually good phlox for the formal 

 garden, and its resemblance in color to 

 Eugene Danzanvilliers, the taller and more 

 pearly lavender phlox, fits it admirably 

 for use before the latter. If Lord Ray- 

 leigh were just a little later, what a de- 

 licious combination of lavenders and violet 

 could be arranged! Phlox R. P. Struthers, 



a brilliant dar'.i pink, reddsr than Pantheon, 

 not so red as Coquelicot, more perhaps on 

 the order of the fine Fernando Cortez 

 than any phlox with which I can compare 

 it, is another immense acquisition. This 

 is also early with a much larger truss of 

 bloom than Fernando Cortez. Standing 

 below groups of sea holly (Eryngimn 

 ametkystinum) great masses of this would 

 prove most telling. 



Of many other experiments and tryings- 

 out should I like to write here: of Mr. 

 Walsh's fine rambler roses, notably Ex- 

 celsa, which is in a fair way to equal the 

 popularity of Lady Gay; of some new 



larkspurs; a small collection of columbines 

 and another of hardy asters. I will 

 only add a word concerning the one sor- 

 row of a trial garden which has no cure^ 

 It is the loss of what the good old English- 

 man without whom I should be helpless is 

 pleased to call "laybells." When a 

 "laybell" is gone then is the garden 

 world upside down! ^\11 my bearings 

 are lost: and I hate the anonymous 

 inhabitant, the creature without identity, 

 who has the effrontery to stand up and 

 bloom as though he were perfectly at 

 home where those who see him know 

 him not! 



Sixth Annual "Round-up" of Gardening Achievements 



SOME OUT-OF-THE-ORDINARY EXPERIENCES OF "GARDEN MAGAZINE" 

 READERS WHICH HELPED TO SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS IN NOVEL WAYS 



Remarkable Longevity of Seed 



By P. S. Hunter, Virginia 



THE grounds of Fonthill, the residence 

 built by the late Senator R. M. T. 

 Hunter some time in the eighteen thirties, 

 contained many beautiful plantations of 

 trees and flowers. A space of perhaps 

 a quarter of an acre was laid off in beds 

 and walks by an engineer to form what 

 was then called a "flower knot." Every 

 autumn these beds were all dug out about 

 a foot in depth and filled -with fine soil. 

 Hyacinths, tulips and anemones, bordered 

 by cowslips and pansies, made these beds 

 glow with the most vivid coloring in early 

 spring; and later, countless annuals of 

 many varieties occupied their places and 

 bloomed with such effect that this "flower 

 knot" had a county -wide reputation for 

 its beauty. 



The lady who had these flowers died in 

 1866, and a few years later that part of 

 the ground was abandoned and allowed to 

 become entirely overgrown by weeds and 

 brambles, thickly matted with woodbine. 

 This year, the owners of the place decided 

 to reinstate the old flower knot and with 

 some difficulty traced out the old walks 

 and beds and cleared away the mass of 

 vegetable rubbish with which it was 

 covered. 



Scarcely had this been done, when 

 there sprang up the most luxuriant 

 growth of the old-fashioned white petunia, 

 heliotrope and catchfly, the seeds of which 

 must have lain dormant for at least forty 

 years. 



This seems incredible, but the old 

 flower knot is again resplendent with 

 the beauty of the past. 



Forty-eight Hollyhocks on a Stalk 



By A. D. R., New Jersey 



T DO not know the record for hollyhocks, 

 -*- but I submit a photograph of a stalk 

 which bore forty-eight blossoms, not count- 

 ing the buds. Can anyone beat this? 



A triuraphi in hollvhocks. This stalk had forty- 

 eight blooms open at one time 



A Pink and Lavender Garden 



By Leila B. Boynton, California 



A CHANCE mixture of lavender and 

 -'*• pink sweet peas in my garden a 

 year or so ago made me so enthusiastic over 

 the color combination that I resolved to 

 devote most of my energy the next year 

 toward having a pink and lavender garden. 



The preparations necessarily began then, 

 in May, for I intended that perennials 

 should have a large share in the result. 

 During all the summer months I was busy 

 sowing and transplanting — first aquile- 

 gias, then hardy asters, Canterbury bells, 

 and pinks. In the fall hyacinths and 

 Spanish iris were set out, and the sweet 

 peas planted for fall growth. I was for- 

 tunate enough to have received as a gift 

 some light blue — almost lavender — 

 German iris, and had already planted in 

 my garden quantities of the pink and 

 lavender ivy geranium. 



My garden bloom began in February, 

 and continued to October, a mixture of bulb 

 blossoms, annuals, and perennials, varying 

 from light pink to rose and from lavender 

 to blue. The German iris was the first 

 to bloom during February, and, since I 

 had taken special care with the roots in 

 transplanting, gave a mass of gorgeous 

 color. At the upper end of the garden, 

 at about the same time, blossomed my 

 hyacinths. Some of them were disap- 

 pointing, but, in general, they well repaid 

 their planting. In April the pink and 

 lavender sweet peas began to bloom and 

 continued through two months without 

 ceasing. In May there were pinks in the 

 border, some of the beautiful new hybrid 

 aquilegias, and in the corners and in all 

 vacant spaces the lavender centaureas. 

 Though my Canterbury bells were really 

 too blue for this garden, they were quite 

 pretty in themselves. 



A little later, against the background 

 of ivy geranium, pink poppies rioted all 

 down the border. July brought my first 

 planting of gladiolus in both the chosen 

 colors, and with them camellia-flowered 

 balsams. The latter I had potted at first 

 until I could choose the shades, and then 

 transferred into the border. With my 

 asters, the next blooms to appear, I had 

 marvellous success. Hours of time were 

 devoted to them before they reached per- 

 fection but the results were worth all 

 labor. By the choice of early and late 



