February, 1911 



THE GARDEN MAGAZI N E 



17 



also A. blanda, vars. alba, grandiflora, 

 Scythinica, and Taurica. 



YELLOW, ANOTHER RARE COLOR 



Rare as blue is among the windflowers, 

 yellow is still rarer. Therefore collectors 

 will be glad to know about A. ranuncu- 

 loides — which, as its name implies, is as 

 golden as any buttercup. The form from 

 southern Europe may not be as hardy as 

 the Siberian, for Robinson says it blooms 

 less freely than the Italian windflower 

 on common soils, though it is happy on 

 chalk. A nurseryman in Massachusetts 

 says it soon makes broad clumps and 

 blooms in March or April. 



It is a very pretty idea to carpet a 

 piece of woods with golden blossoms that 

 spring as if by magic out of the bare earth 

 before the trees have put forth their 

 leaves, but I doubt if anyone can furnish 

 this yellow anemone in quantities sufficient 

 for naturalizing. Probably the winter 

 aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) would paint 

 such a picture more cheaply. You will 

 find it offered in every American bulb- 

 catalogue. But I hope some one who can 

 afford the yellow wood anemone will im- 

 port it and send us a picture of it when 

 a colony of it is established. 



THE FAMOUS WOOD ANEMONE 



The wood anemone of history and 

 literature is A. nemorosa, a lovely white 

 flower which grows abundantly throughout 

 Europe and Northern Asia, blooming in 

 April and May. The flowers are only 

 an inch across but full of charm, as may be 

 seen by the picture. The double white 



variety is said to be a good garden plant, 

 but I should think it safest to give all the 

 wood anemones shade during the hottest 

 part of the day. 



Collectors can get a rich haul by studying 

 this species in foreign catalogues. The 

 range of color is indicated by varieties 

 alba, caerulea, and rosea. Of double forms. 

 I find alba plena, rosea duplex and rubra 

 plena, the last of which was said by the 

 late Mr. Forbes, of Hawick, Scotland, to 

 be "rosy crimson" and "blooming in 

 June or July," both of which statements 

 sound dubious. Another quaint double 

 form is the "Jack-in-the-green" anemone 

 (var. bracteata), so called because of the 

 pretty way in which the double white 

 flower is set off by its snug collar of green. 

 As to the largest variety there is dispute, 

 two of the claimants being grandiflora 

 and Vestal. 



But the most surprising thing is to find 

 a flower that is normally white varying to 

 sky blue. The most celebrated example 

 is A. Robinsoniana, named after William 

 Robinson, the leader of English gardening. 

 I shall not believe it is sky blue until I see 

 it, and my suspicion is deepened by the 

 fact that many catalogues describe it as 

 pale lavender. Other "blues" are Con- 

 nubiensis, Alleni and Blue Bonnet. The 

 two latter are claimed to be even better 

 than Robinsoniana. 



It sounds too good to be true — a blue 

 anemone flowering in April before the trees 

 leaf out and dotting the forest floor with 

 the color of the sky. Yet Americans are 

 taking it seriously, for all the plants offered 

 last year at $7.50 per 100 were sold. 



Some of our millionaire friends must have 

 been awake. We need a blue flower of 

 that kind very badly at that time to re- 

 deem those shabby, uninteresting woods 

 near all our great cities. 



OUR BEST WHITE WINDFLOWER 



You may have noticed that I did not 

 recommend the European wood anemone 

 (A. nemorosa) for naturalizing. That, 

 Mr. Millionaire (nudge him), is because 

 I want you to plant a few thousand of 

 its American equivalent, which is A. 

 quinquefolia — our best white windflower 

 of early spring. It is so much like the 

 European that botanists formerly consid- 

 ered it the same thing. And a collector in 

 New Jersey offers 1000 plants of what he 

 calls "nemorosa" for only $5. Of course 

 it must be the American species, as this 

 price is far below what the European species 

 costs. 



As collectors will need to know the 

 botanical differences I will quote them from 

 Britton. The American species has a more 

 slender habit, slender petioles, less lobed 

 divisions of the involucral leaves, paler 

 green foliage, and smaller flowers. 



Take my word for it — this is one of 

 the daintiest and most exquisite plants 

 known to the art of wild gardening. 

 The books say it is a white flower. Ah, 

 the letter of truth again! It is white 

 on the inside; but half the time you will 

 see the outside, which is one of the purest 

 and most tender pinks in creation. Verily, 

 Nature is better than any account of it. 



Mr. Backhouse, of York, an authority 

 on alpine flowers and rock gardens, says 



The European pasque flower (Anemone Pulsatilla) as grown at Rochester. N. Y 



The wood anemone of Europe as grown at Rochester. N. Y. 



