January, 1912 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



lot 



hawthorn. Other peculiarities are the 

 shape of the leaf and the shrubby or 

 woody nature of the stems — at least at 

 the base. The flowers are whitish or 

 pinkish and have purple anthers. A Roch- 

 ester nurseryman calls this an evergreen 

 species, but as his descriptions follow 

 English books with suspicious closeness, 

 I am inclined to doubt this. I have never 

 seen this plant and cannot be sure I have 

 it in. the right section. 



Probably the darkest colored flower of 

 the group is 5. Anacampseros, which is 

 like the live-forever in rarely producing 

 any flowers. For this reason Barr calls 

 it the "evergreen orpine." The flowers 

 are purple or violet. It is an old European 

 plant that was formerly valued for its 

 reddish stems and bluish-green leaves, but 

 it has been rather eclipsed by Siebold's 

 stonecrop, from which it differs in having 

 the leaves arranged alternately instead of 

 in threes. 



Siebold's stonecrop (S. Sieboldii), is 

 the best foliage plant in the genus Sedum. 

 It is showier than it seems from the picture 

 on page 255, because the leaves are a 

 conspicuous bluish gray, with pink edges. 

 A close look at the picture will prove that 

 the leaves are arranged in threes. The 

 flowers are rosy pink, but they are of 

 secondary interest, because the blue tone 



of the foliage attracts the attention of 

 every visitor. It is considerably used in 

 carpet bedding and seems to me in far 

 better taste than puqale-leaved plants, 

 because it is easier to harmonize with other 

 colors. I had this true to name from 

 five different nurserymen and it comes true 

 also from seed. The variegated variety 

 is even more conspicuous but I do not 

 care for it. There are too many variegated 

 plants already. 



The only rival of Siebold's stonecrop is 

 S. Ewersi, which some people think is a 

 trifle bluer even than Sieboldii. I shall 

 never forget the pretty effect this made 

 at Gravetye, where Mr. Robinson used it 

 for edging rose beds. It can be easily 

 told from Siebold's stonecrop, because the 

 leaves are opposite. Both of these species 

 will bloom from September until hard 

 frost. The flowers of Ewersi are pinkish, 

 but those of the variety Turkestanicum 

 are a deep violet. 



YELLOW CREEPING STONECROPS 



The prettiest of this group, so far as I 

 know, is the Kamtschatkan stonecrop 

 (S. Kamtschaticum) , which was in bud on 

 June 8th when I noted it at Gravetye, edg- 

 ing rose beds. Outside of the mossy group, 

 this seems to me the most valuable yellow- 

 flowered stonecrop. It is not as showy as 



the tall, yellow kinds, but daintier. At 

 Henley I noted on June 20th, a variegated 

 variety with a gaudy margin of creamy 

 yellow, which was red in the bud, but 

 yellow in flower. This species i> called 

 "Orange stonecrop" in English books, but 

 I fail to see any orange in it. Unfortun- 

 ately my notes do not record its winter 

 behavior in my garden, but I saw a plant 

 at South Orange, X. J., labelled Kamt>chat- 

 icum, which was the best of all stonecrops 

 for winter beauty. Whether it was true to 

 name I cannot say, but on February 25th, 

 1906, I noted a bed 4 x 15 ft., which was 

 "completely covered with a soft, rich, 

 warm red with no tinge of purple. It is 

 the showiest of all the many evergreen 

 perennials in this nursery. The little 

 rosettes are one inch across and contain 

 about fifteen prettily toothed leaves." 



Very like the preceding is the hybrid 

 stonecrop (S. hybridum), which is pictured 

 on page 256. Both species have the leaves 

 toothed above the middle, as may be seen 

 in the photograph, but the petals of Kam- 

 tschaticum are lanceolate, while those of 

 hybridum are linear. A Philadelphia 

 nurseryman sent me an interesting plant 

 miscalled 5. hybridum, which had rosy 

 flowers and turned out to be an early 

 variety of the Telephium group. From 

 tw y o other nurserymen I got a yellow 



Sedum ternatum. a white flower of June. Example of the creeping stonecrops The wall pepper {Sedum acre) which has yellow flowers in June and July. Ex- 

 which have trailing barren stems, while the erect flower stems are rarely over ample of the mossy stonecrops which make evergreen carpets on rocks and in 

 six inches high. They are excellent for edgings bulb and rose beds. Peters' garden. Islip 



