THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



I'Jl 



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153. The graceful sunflower {Helianthus orgyalisK 

 Small yellow flowers in loose spihes three or four 

 feet long. Notice the narrow, arching leaves 



Buckwheat has two big brothers known as 

 giant knotweed and sacaline, which are grown 

 for their general lustiness and not for their 

 flowers. The giant knotweed (Polygonum 

 Sieboldii, but known to the trade as P. cus- 

 pidatum), sometimes grows only three to five 

 feet high, but will grow much higher. It 

 produces "clouds of bloom," as Professor 

 Bailey says, and is a "very effective plant for 

 told mass effects." Sachaline (P. Sachalin- 

 ■ense) often grows ten or twelve feet high, 

 and it is worth while to let its reddish stalks 

 stand all winter. 1} spreads rapidly by run- 

 ners — too fast for a border — and is a coarser 

 species with less beautiful flowers, but "for 

 planting in rough places where a thick cover 

 is required," says Professor Bailey, "it is one 

 of the best of all herbaceous perennials." 



The compass plants are another interesting 

 set of big fellows. Some of them are the 

 resin weeds of the prairies. I like best the 

 great Silphium perjoliatum, also called cup 

 plant or Indian cup, presumably because of 

 the way the leaf bases come together in oppo- 

 site pairs to form a sort of cup. They are 

 something like sunflowers, but coarser and 

 less showy. I presume 5. perjoliatum is the 

 compass plant of Longfellow's poem. 



Perennial sunflowers? Certainly. There 

 are a dozen of them worth cultivating and 

 none of them are as coarse as the common 

 annual sunflower, with its huge flower some- 

 times a foot across. Its seeds are fit for 

 chicken feed and oil. At the other extreme 

 from this is the graceful sunflower (Helian- 

 thus orgyalis), worth growing for its foliage 

 alone. It has narrow, drooping leaves, grows 

 ten feet high, and has small, pale-yellow 

 flowers scattered along spikes sometimes 

 four feet long. It has a brown disk and 

 grows on the dry prairies f om Nebraska 

 westward. Buy this plant this year. You 

 will never regret it. Another pale-yellow 

 sunflower is Helianthus giganteus, which 

 grows in wet ground from Canada to Florida 

 and west to Nebraska. It has flowers two 

 or three inches across, with numerous rays 

 (twelve to twenty), and its variety sub- 

 tuberosus is known as the Indian potato. 

 Maximilian's sunflower (H. Maximiliani) 



is probably the western representative of 

 this species, and differs in having deep-yellow 

 flowers an inch and a half across, with fifteen 

 to thirty rays. It usually grows two to four 

 feet high, sometimes ten. The coarsely 

 serrate sunflower (Helianthus grosse-serra- 

 ius) is an eastern and southern species with 

 yellow flowers an inch and a half across. In. 

 the wild it has forms that run into Helianthus 

 giganteus. The Jerusalem artichoke is a 

 mighty grower, and sometimes becomes a 

 nuisance in the border. Its tuber is a poor 

 substitute for the potato, and domestic ani- 

 mals eat it out West, but I have seen it fetch 

 a high price in the fancy grocery stores in 

 New York in the dead of winter. All these 

 sunflowers bloom from August to October. 



OCCASIONALLY SIX FEET HIGH 



The following are among the best peren- 

 nials that do not normally grow as tall as a 

 man, but may do so under the most favorable 

 conditions: 



Larkspurs, the most beautiful of tall blue 

 flowers. 



The American Turk's cap lily (Lilium 

 superbum), the best tall, orange-red lily. A 

 swamp-loving species, excellent for naturaliz- 

 ing in meadows where the grass is not mown. 



The giant daisy (Chrysanthemum nligi- 

 nosum, but known to nurserymen as Pyreth- 

 rum uliginosum). It blooms the first year 

 from seed. Needs moist soil. Suffers greatly 

 from drought. 



Physostegia Virginica, var. alba, which 

 has graceful spikes of flowers something like 

 heather borne in great quantities from the 

 middle of June until frost, if not allowed to 

 go to seed. 



Any species of rheum that you can buy 

 from a nurseryman. They have the largest 

 leaves of any perfectly hardy perennials and 

 their huge flower clusters are interesting and 

 striking objects. 



Black cohosh (Cimicijuga racemosa), with 



154. The plume poppy {Bocconia cordata) , with 

 gray leaves something liKe those of bloodroot and 

 feathery masses of small white flowers, which are 

 also beautiful in seed 



155. The obedient plant {Physostegia "Virginica). 

 The flower stays in any position it is turned, to right 

 or left. Sometimes grows six feet high. Flowers 

 an inch long, purple, pinK, lilac or white. 



beautiful decompound leaves and feathery 

 masses of white flowers in racemes some- 

 times a yard long. Needs partial shade. 



Strong-glowing plants of the carrot family 

 make very bold and striking objects for 

 lawn specimens and for bog gardens. Hera- 

 cleum giganteum and Archangelica hirsuta 

 are two representatives of this remarkable 

 type of vegetation which can be procured 

 from nurserymen. These giant parsnips 

 should not be allowed to go to seed, or they 

 may spread too much. 



DIRECTORY OF TALL PERENNIALS 



BEST FOR THE BORDER 



Omitting the coarsest things, which are better 

 lor the wild garden 

 Si x- footers 

 Single hollyhocks Helianthus orgyalis 



Bocconia cordata Arundo Donax 



Rudbeckia Golden Echinops Ritro, var. 

 Glow tenuifolius 



Not Normally Six Feet High 

 Larkspurs Physostegia Virginica, 



Giant daisy var. alba 



BEST FOR THE WILD GARDEN 

 Natives — Si x-footers 

 Joe-Pye weed Silphium perfoliatum 



Perennial sunflowers 



Natives — Not Normally Six-footers 

 Cimicifuga racemosa Physostegia Virginica 



Not Native to United States 

 Scotch thistle Sachaline 



BEST FOR THE BOG GARDEN 



Damp soils, the edges of streams, ponds, 



water-lily basins, etc. 

 Ravenna grass (Erian- Helianthus giganteus 



thus Ravennce) Lilium superbum 



Joe-Pye weed Giant parsnip 



BEST FOR SHRUBBERY 



All the things that are too coarse for the 

 border, especially the autumn-bloomers, since 

 there are no autumn-blooming shrubs, save 

 witch-hazel. 



Hel. grosse-serratus Arundo Donax 



Jerusalem artichoke Heracleum 



