](i 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 191] 



running the gamut of color, since varieties 

 alba, lilacina and grandiflora have already 

 been offered. 



Hepaticas will probably never be com- 

 mon garden flowers because they need 

 partial shade in summer. They do not 

 look happy if you bring them from the 

 woods and put them into flower-beds with 

 garden flowers. They look well when 

 carpeting the ground beneath shrubs. 

 But they are most beautiful when grow- 

 ing by the thousand in real woods. 

 And I hope every wealthy person who 

 reads these words will think about that 

 sinful woodlot of his which the cows 

 have spoiled. I hope he will restore 

 the native wildness of that spot by ex- 

 cluding cattle and planting wild flowers 

 that will multiply without care. He 

 can have iooo hepaticas, either round or 

 sharp-lobed, gathered for him at a cost of 

 only $25. 



Mr. Collector, of course, is not interested 

 in pictorial effects, but in getting all the 

 different varieties. He will have to import 

 some of them, and pay half a dollar each 

 for the rarest sorts. 



RUE ANEMONES, THE MOST ELOWERS 



One flower on a stem is the rule with 

 these early flowers, but a charming ex- 

 ception is the rue anemone, which bears 

 several white, rarely pinkish, flowers, only 

 an inch across, but lasting a good while. 

 I hope my wealthy reader is still awake 

 because I want him to plant several 

 thousand rue anemones in that shame- 

 fully neglected woodlot. He can buy 

 1000 of the interesting clusters of little 

 tubers for a sum I blush to mention — 

 $3.00. 



What a pity that we must give up 

 the musical and, expressive name Anemo- 

 nella. The botanists have revived an 

 older name — Syndesmon. Sometimes it 

 seems as if the smaller a plant the more 

 they pick on it and load it down with 

 hard names. This rue anemone, for in- 



Wood anemone and trillium in the rock garden of 

 Prof. C. S. Sargent. Brookllne. Mass. 



stance, has the soul of an anemone, but 

 the clothing of a rue. Hence it has been 

 burdened with the following names which 

 you will find in nursery catalogues to this 

 day: Anemonella thalictroides, Thalictrum 

 anemonoides , and last and worst Syndes- 

 mon thalictroides. 



PASQUE ELOWERS THE LARGEST 



The most famous wildflower of the 

 Rocky Mountains is the American pasque 

 flower {Pulsatilla hirsutissima) which is 

 here pictured blooming amid the snow. 

 The blossoms are purple, bluish, or 

 whitish, and would probably measure 

 three or more inches if spread out. They 

 are as satiny as any poppy. Tourists 

 who buy souvenir collections of pressed 

 wild flowers in Colorado always get this 

 pasque flower. It is famous for the buds 

 coming out of the ground before the leaves, 

 and also for the wonderful silkiness of 

 the whole plant, even the blossoms having 

 these long, soft, white hairs. After bloom- 

 ing an extraordinary thing happens. The 

 flower stalks, which have been only three 

 to six inches high, grow at least two inches 

 and sometimes a foot more. And to 

 crown the wonder the seeds form a mass 

 of fluffy stuff, resembling the feathery- 

 fruited species of clematis. 



You will find this charming flower 

 catalogued only under the name of Anem- 

 one patens, var. Nuttalliana, because Gray 

 thought it a variety of a European spe- 

 cies. 



The name "pasque flower" refers to 

 the fact that the most famous of the group 

 in Europe blooms about Easter. This is 

 Anemone Pulsatilla, which is found all 

 over Europe in dry, sandy or chalky 

 soils. William Robinson says that it 

 makes large clumps in the garden and 

 bears larger flowers, but is prettier in the 

 wild state, especially when "just showing 

 through the dry grass of a bleak down 

 on an early spring day." 



THE TRUE ANEMONES 



We come now to the true anemones, 

 which never have the silky leaves and 

 feathery fruits of the Pulsatillas. Indeed, 

 the pasque flowers are as showy as a poppy, 

 whereas the anemones have a more spirit- 

 ual beauty. I think we ought to call them 

 "windflowers" oftener than we do. Of 

 course, every flower is charming when 

 stirred by the wind, even a fat old hya- 

 cinth. But the name "windflower" would 

 open the eyes of many persons who are 

 blind to the beauty of growing things. 

 Anemone is simply Greek for windflower. 

 The ancients had a notion that these 

 blossoms opened only when the wind was 

 blowing. 



The only mean thing about anemones 

 is the way to pronounce them. If you, 

 Mr. Collector, began to enthuse about 

 your anemones, people will look blank a 

 moment and then exclaim, "Oh! dnny- 

 monies! Now I know what you mean!" 

 But the classical scholars insist that 

 the Greeks said Anemone. Consequently 



Hespatica angulosa has flowers as large as a half 

 dollar when well grown 



your botanical purist will use one system 

 of pronunciation for the English names 

 and another for the botanical names. 

 Thus, it is correct to say Japanese anemone, 

 but the scientific name is Anemone 

 Japonica. 



But book learning is very dull compared 

 with the flowers themselves. The most 

 exciting of the early anemones, undoubtedly, 

 are the two sky-blue species which make 

 such ravishing pictures in England when 

 naturalized in woods, blooming with the 

 snowdrops and earliest daffodils, and 

 making the best possible foil for them. 



TWO SKY-BLUE ANEMONES 



The Grecian windflower (A. blanda) 

 is probably better than the Italian {A. 

 Apennina), for it has the reputation of 

 being earlier and larger. Some say its 

 tubers are less liable to decay from wet- 

 ness, especially in winter. Certainly they 

 are rounder and more bulb-like, while 

 those of the Italian windflower are more 

 slender and cylindrical. Both must be 

 planted in early autumn. Roots of the 

 Grecian species cost $8 a 1000; those of 

 the Italian $12 to $25. 



On the other hand Mr. Mallet declares 

 that the Italian windflower "thrives in 

 almost any soil, and for purposes of nat- 

 uralizing it is a better plant in damp or 

 wet soils." 



There are white, pink and rose varieties 

 of both these species, but they are costlier 

 and collectors only want a few of them for 

 contrast with the blue. 



I hope every enthusiast who can afford 

 to naturalize these precious blue winter 

 windflowers will try them, but the general 

 public would better put its money into 

 Siberian squills and glory-of-the-snow — 

 which also bloom in March and have 

 good pure blues. Of course, they are 

 different in form, being bell-shaped like 

 diminutive lilies, while the anemones are 

 more starry and open. But $8.00 is 

 something. And 1000 scilla bulbs in the 

 long grass will probably give you a prettier 

 picture for the money next March, and 

 every March, on. the first day the lawn 

 turns green. 



Collectors will naturally desire A. Apen- 

 nina, vars. alba, flore pleno, and purpurea; 



