SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS — HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS 



31 



Cannas. There is no plant grown as an ornamental 

 plant that has been so much improved in its flowers as 

 the Canna, or Indian Shot plant. The old varieties were 

 tall-growing and were used entirely for their tropical- 

 looking foliage, as the flowers were small and inconspic- 

 uous. But of late years innumerable varieties have been 

 produced of a more dwarf character, and bear large 

 heads of immense and showy flowers, from almost pure 

 white to the deepest crimson, some golden yellow spotted 

 with red, some pure yellow, some pink and deep rose, and 

 many scarlet edged with yellow. They are grown now not 

 only for their foliage but for their masses of flowers. Some 

 have dark, bronzy purple foliage, the darkest of which is 

 the Black Beauty, which is grown entirely for its foliage, 

 as its flowers are small. But one of the more recent 

 varieties, King Humbert, has also immense red flowers 

 with dark purple red leaves. The Orchid-flowering va- 

 rieties are among the most showy. Italia, Austria, Mrs. 

 Grey, Pennsylvania and Louisiana belong to this group, 

 and vary in the color of their flowers from golden yellow 

 to crimson. 



Dahlias. The Dahlia for a time went out of fashion, 

 but of late there has been a great revival of interest in 

 these plants, as many new varieties have been produced. 

 Florists divide them into the Show, Decorative, Cactus- 

 flowered and Single-flowered sorts. The Show Dahlias 

 are the old formal type, very perfect in shape, but in the 

 large-flowered sorts of the show section rather useless for 

 cutting as compared with the show varieties of the pom- 



pone or small-flowered sorts. The Cactus-flowered va- 

 rieties are of comparatively recent production. They 

 have curiously piped and twisted petals, and are among 

 the best for cut-flowers, as they last longer in water than 

 any others except the simple-flowered ones. The Decora- 

 tive or Peony-flowered sorts have large, double flowers 

 of a less formal shape than the Show varieties, and there 

 are many very handsome varieties in this class. There 

 has been a good deal of interest, too, in the Single-flowered 

 sorts, starting with a handsome single Dahlia known as 

 the Twentieth Century. For cut-flowers the single- 

 flowered Dahlias are taking a prominent place. 



Hydrangea Hortensia. There is no more showy border 

 plant than the old Hydrangea Hortensia. Its flowers are- 

 normally pink when grown in pots or tubs, but when 

 planted in the open ground they almost invariably turn' 

 blue. The plant is suffruticose, or half-shrubby, and the 

 tops are rather tender and need some winter protection. 

 I grew them finely years ago in a locality where the mer- 

 cury always fell below zero at times. I protected them by 

 bending the branches to the ground and pinning them 

 fast, and then cutting grass sods, sodded them all over 

 so that they looked like green mounds all winter. They 

 always came out right in spring and bloomed finely. In 

 sheltered places here a cover of pine boughs is sufl&cient. 



Recently a number of new varieties have been intro- 

 duced from Japan such as Hydrangea Otaksa and Thomas 

 Hogg. These are white and pink, dwarf in growth; bloomi 

 in immense heads. All are well worth growing. 



The McFmrland Publicity Service, Harrisburg, Pa. 



