284 



The Garden Magazine, February, 1920 



should fall on gardens practically made — for the year ahead. Aside 

 from seed sowing spring becomes, under this system, mainly a sea- 

 son for finishing touches — of delightful leisurely effort.— E. A. S., Cal. 



Clematis as 

 a Vine Over 

 Shrubbery 



THOUGH of all the Clematis perhaps 

 the most plebeian, Clematis virginiana 

 is one of the very few vines that may be 

 depended upon to grow among shrubbery 

 in a very satisfactory manner. Many a better vine can be found for 

 the fence or against the wall, but among shrubbery, there to bring 

 additional color when the shrubs themselves are out of bloom, this 

 native is as to the manner born. Among the sturdier shrubbery 

 groups, such as might be built of Chokecherry, the Bush-honey- 

 suckles, the Viburnums and others, this vine becomes a distinct 

 addition to the variety and interest of the group. The foliage 

 though distinctive enough, does not stand out in marked 

 contrast to that of the shrub it may be growing upon. It 

 is a summer bloomer, when spring flowers are all gone and autumn 

 has not yet announced itself. I have known it to bloom some 

 years as late as the end of August and the beginning of September. 

 Then there is the additional effect produced by the feathery plumes 

 of the tiny fruit, another reason for growing it over shrubbery, 

 though the fact that staminate and pistilate flowers are borne 

 on different vines, makes the fruit a matter of chance. The 

 vine thrives in rich or poor soil, resists drought or excessive 

 moisture equally well; it prefers, 



however, a cool moist soil 

 L. Meller, So. Dakota. 



-C. 



Little Known 

 Flowering Peas 











*fe • ' t^&*- 



it ■ 



1 4*tr * , 





I GET a 



* great 



deal of 



pleasure 

 every year from the Tuber Pea 

 (Lathyrus tuberosus), obtained 

 many years ago from the Pali- 

 sades Nursery but I have never 

 seen it elsewhere, nor does the 

 "Standard Cyclopedia" make 

 mention of it. Mr. William 

 Robinson, however, in "The Eng- 

 lish Flower Garden" says it is a 

 native of Europe and West Asia 

 and has become naturalized in 

 England. It climbs like other 

 Peas, and it is like a Sweet Pea 

 in miniature tiny leaves, the most 

 thread-like tendrils and small 

 blossoms of an unusual wine-red 

 shade. It is a true perennial and 

 perfectly hardy. I planted my 

 one tuber at the top of a low re- 

 taining wall, but it has very clear 

 ideas of its own as to where or 

 how it will grow and 1 do not 

 think it has appeared twice in 

 the same place. It has come out 

 through various joints of the wall 

 face, sometimes forcing itself 

 through the thick growth of some 

 other plant already occupying 



the joint; often it makes its appearance at the wall top; but 

 never by any chance where the faded label bearing its name 

 still stands. It has apparently never increased and the whole 

 plant is so slender and delicate, that usually I do not notice it 

 until sometime in early July I am surprised by its charming 

 blossoming. Last summer the small tangled thing greeted me from 



the top of a stalk of dwarf Chinese Larkspur. 1 should say this 

 Pea wanted good soil with some stones in it and plenty of sun. Two 

 other members of this family grow in the garden though I am able 

 to say little definite about them. Lathyrus cyaneus has dwelt 

 here for four years without accomplishing more than the three inches 

 of its first season. It appears quite cheerful and sturdy but has pro- 

 duced none of the bright blue flowers for which it is supposed to be 

 valuable, nor has it arrived at its promised height of eight inches. 

 The other is L. pubescens, raised from seed last season and already 

 a slender lax-stemmed plant about six inches in height. I also 

 planted L. rotundifolius, but with no result as yet. However, 

 hope is not relinquished, for germination takes place very slowly with 

 the seed of these plants and this spring may bring them forth. 

 L. vernus is, Mr. Robinson says "one of the most charming of bor- 

 der flowers." — Louise B. Wilder, N. Y. 



What Name 

 for Iris ? 



WHY not simply Iris? No genus name 

 is more musical or poetic than this. 

 If all nurserymen, as many do, would ad- 

 here strictly to botanical nomenclature, 

 with the folkname, when known, added instead of falling into loose 

 commercial inexactness, sometimes "faking", the gardening public 

 would be thankful. Mrs. Wilder's suggestion, that the folk name of 

 "flags" appeals is true and when it is made the "flag flower" of 

 Indian legend, what can be better? — Ella Porter Mc- 



Kinney, New Jersey. 







An Oil Heated 

 Hot-Bed That 

 Works 



«... l^ *^~ 



-efcV* 



K \S* : hi 





DRESSING THE SHRUBBERY IN MIDSUMMER 



Though not in itself a striking plant, Clematis virginiana is charming 

 when its delicate flowers are scattered over any of the strong shrubs such 

 as this Chokecherry, which supports its growth with no injury to itself 



COR the 

 1 past 

 two or 

 three years 

 the purchase of suitable manure 

 for hotbed heating has been diffi- 

 cult. So I purchased, in January, 

 1 918, 'a small hot-water heated 

 garden frame, 5 ft x 8 ft. This 

 is built like a very small green- 

 house — a ridge in the middle 28 

 in. high from the ground with two 

 sashes fitted and hung on hinges 

 on both sides. The sides are 18 in. 

 high and double glazed — as is the 

 entire house. One end is entirely 

 glazed, but in the centre of the 

 other, on the outside of the house 

 is built a small box which contains 

 the heating apparatus, a galvan- 

 ized iron two section boiler hold- 

 ing about two gallons of water 

 heated by means of a two-blaze oil 

 burner. The oil tank that supplies 

 this heater holds a gallon. The 

 heating pipe is 2 in. galv. iron and 

 runs around all sides of the house 

 and thence back to the boiler. 

 The first season of its use this 

 heater could hardly be called a 

 success. With almost noexception 

 just as the first true leaves were 

 formed, the seedlings would have a 

 mottled appearance thence turning 

 to black and finally withering altogether. I had come gradually to 

 the conclusion that the heater box was too closely connected to the 

 frame as I detected strong odors such as are always associated with 

 kerosene lamps, and by the end of six weeks the glass around the 

 sides of the house was streaked with a brown, greasy substance. 

 Several other objectionable things I found. On either side of the 



