258 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1912 



flowered plant which corresponds perfectly 

 with this photograph made at Kew. 



Sedum Japonicum is very close to the 

 two species just described but differs in 

 having entire leaves. I had this from 

 four American nurserymen but could not 

 see that this species has any special garden 

 value over the Kamtschatcan or hybrid 

 stonecrops. The "variety roseum" of a 

 Massachusetts catalogue does not sound 

 right. I do not believe there is any yellow 

 flowered Sedum with a rosy variety. The 

 variety macrophyllum, however, has an 

 excuse for being, viz., a later season of 

 bloom. I saw this at Riverton, N. J., 

 full of buds on September 12th, 1907. It 

 is said to have "waxy white flowers with 

 light pink centres. " 



We now come to the glaucous or gray- 

 leaved members of the yellow-flowered 

 group. S. spathulifolium I noted at Grave- 

 tye in bloom among the roses on June 7 th 

 — a plant labelled spathulatum which I 

 presume was the same — a rather large 



flower with a good mass effect at a distance, 

 but rather coarse when viewed close at 

 hand. It is native to the Pacific Coast 

 and is very close to S. obtusatum, a species 

 I have never seen. The only hint I can 

 find of distinctive beauty in S. obtusatum 

 is Barr's statement that the foliage is 

 emerald green in spring and shaded bronze 

 in autumn. 



FOR COLLECTORS ONLY 



Just to show that we are not "such 

 a much" in this country, I will give a list 

 of a few sedums offered by two English 

 nurserymen which I have never seen 

 catalogued in America and therefore were 

 not described in Bailey's "Cyclopedia"; S. 

 altissimum, amplexicaule, atratum, Braunii, 

 coccineum, Corsicum, crista-galli, cyaneum 

 farinosum, grandiflorum, Ibericum, Oreg- 

 anum, pallidum roseum, Pittoni, pruinatum, 

 rotundifolium, speciosum, spirale, Stahlii, 

 turgidum. 



The only one of these that excites my 



cupidity is 5. cyaneum, for a blue-flowered 

 perennial stonecrop ought to be a good 

 thing. Perhaps, however, it is only the 

 foliage which is bluish, in which case I 

 doubt if it equals vS. Sieboldii. 



Any one who has a greenhouse ought to 

 have the scarlet stonecrop (S. sempervi- 

 voides) the only good red in the genus that 

 is absolutely free from all purple or magenta 

 taint. It is an annual or biennial plant with 

 the habit of a houseleek. For a seductive ac- 

 count of it see the "English Flower Garden." 



Two old chestnuts on which no one need 

 waste good money are S. purpureum and 

 variegatum. These names have no botan- 

 ical standing, as you can see from Bailey's 

 ' ' Cyclopedia. " A lot of purple-leaved truck 

 is offered under the names of S. atropurpur- 

 eum and speciosum — the latter often 

 a typographical blunder for spectabile as 

 faboricum is for Fabaria. If I am wrong 

 about these purple-leaved plants correct 

 me, but to me they are gaudy rubbish and 

 spoil a garden. 



Making a Garden in Alkali Land — By Mrs. E. h. PWhead, 



Idaho 



THE TRIUMPHANT STORY OF A SIX YEARS' STRUGGLE IN RECLAIMING AN ALKALI FLAT ON THE SAGE BRUSH 

 DESERT— DIFFICULTIES IN GETTING A LAWN TO GROW— HOW WATER MAY BE ABUSED ON ALKALI LANDS 



I" HAD longed all my life for a wee spot 

 *- of ground that I might call my own; 

 at last it came, and to some it might look 

 like one of the ironies of fate that my 

 future Garden of Eden was located in a 

 barren, desolate, alkali flat, on five lots 

 of ground. But to me it was rather a 

 glorious realization of long cherished 

 dreams. Others had made the desert 



blossom like the rose — why not I? Blessed 

 be nothing and blessed be those who know 

 nothing. 



Our little town is situated in the heart 

 of an immense sage brush desert in the 

 semi-arid West — a desert which is being 

 reclaimed by National Irrigation projects 

 representing millions of dollars, and is 

 fast becoming one of the most celebrated 



It took two years before a Dorothy Perkins rose would grow at all ; but after that four years gave great results 



fruit belts in the United States. In all 

 these sage brush deserts there are occa- 

 sional alkali spots. Our town was located 

 on a most desolate low-lying alkali patch; 

 and our lots were in the lowest, most 

 alkali infested part of town. A few 

 straggling sage-brush and grease-wood, 

 much tenacious salt-grass, alkali standing 

 brownish white upon the soil so that one 

 could scrape it up by the spoonful, much 

 enthusiasm and good will were our only 

 assets on these lots. The lots had never 

 been cultivated or irrigated, and often 

 there was no rain for months during the 

 summer. 



But our spirits were high. Our own 

 home, and our own garden spot! In the 

 fall while the home was building we had 

 the sage brush grubbed, the land plowed 

 and leveled, fertilizer and sand hauled; 

 in the spring the land was again fertilized, 

 the rows and ditches for irrigating were 

 made, and then came the planting. How 

 my imagination ran riot when I studied 

 the seed catalogues. There were to be 

 numerous trees outside the yard, a hedge 

 of flowering shrubs, a rose hedge, perennial 

 border, flowers everywhere, and a small 

 vegetable garden. We worked and we 

 planned, we planted and we irrigated, we 

 watched and we waited. 



Not one tree lived, not one flower 

 bloomed, not one spear of grass grew on 

 our carefully planted lawn, not one vege- 

 table matured, one faithful little hardy 

 yellow spring rose stayed with us, throve 

 and blessed us with promises and hopes 

 for other flowers. The alkali was so strong 

 in the soil, that with the first irrigation 

 it seemed to fairly eat up the seeds; the 



