AMONG THE FLOWERS WITH REXFORD 



83 



petuals, BourbonSj ramblers, polyanthas 

 and mosses. Therefore, plant them on 

 southern or eastern exposures. In the lim- 

 ited space of city gardens, bricks or 

 squares of paved walks may be taken up 

 and noisette roses planted in the excava- 

 tions, made rich with mellow soil. The 

 branches will climb in every direction 

 where a support offers itself, and in no 

 wise suffer by the exposure. jSToisette 

 climbers are strictly ever-bloomers. 



The Japan Branching Lily for Easter 

 should now be potted. The Bermuda lily 

 bulbs are looked upon with distrust be- 

 cause of some disease among them. It is 

 probable in the near future it will be erad- 

 icated in a class of plants to which the 

 flower lovers of the world have so long 

 turned for Easter. The new J apan branch- 

 ing lily has blooms quite similar to the 

 Bermuda Easter lily. It blooms in May 

 or June if bedded out, and at Easter if 

 potted and forced. Pot the bulbs now if 

 lilies are to be had for Easter. 



Dahlias are the favorite autumn flowers 

 for the sacred flower festival of the South, 

 All Saint's day, occurring on the 1st of 

 J^ovember. The city of 'New Orleans ob- 

 serves the beautiful custom of decorating 

 the cemeteries with flowers. Throngs of 

 flower-laden devotees as well as the 

 "stranger within the gate" sacredly observe 

 All Saint's day, visiting the cemeteries. 

 Palm branches, roses, ferns, chrysanthe- 

 mums and many other decorative plants 

 and flowers are beautifully profuse, but 

 dahlias are the most distinctive. They 

 are extensively grown to stately perfection 

 especially for All Saint's day. Dahlias 

 are superb autumn bloomers. Prince Bis- 

 marck in blackish purple is called the 

 "mourning dahlia" in New Orleans. In 

 conjunction with Snowflake in pearly 

 white it makes very effective decorations. 



Conservatory Plants.—There are flowers 

 to bloom the year round in Southern gar- 

 dens. Yet there is a sweetness, a delicacy 

 and dainty loveliness about the conserva- 

 tory and window plants too charming to 

 forego. The Horticultural Hall at Audu- 



bon Park, New Orleans, is a flne exam- 

 ple of the difference in the winter-time 

 beauty and sweetness of the same plants 

 that grow out and bloom without abso- 

 lutely requiring protection. Plants are 

 not always kept indoors because they can- 

 not endure the cold in the open, but be- 

 cause they are brighter and sweeter in the 

 conservatory. 



English Ivy is an example of a very 

 hardy evergreen vine that is well worth 

 potting and forcing for interior decora- 

 tion. Subjected to the cold the ivy leaves 

 are dark and leathery. Indoors, with 

 moderate heat and moisture, the green hue 

 becomes bright and shiningo Ivy will grow 

 steadily all winter in a temperature of 

 from fifty to seventy degrees. For arch- 

 ing doorways, windows, vestibules, halls, 

 and for mirror effects no vine surpasses 

 the English ivy. Our American ivy had 

 its origin in a hand-grasp of short sprays 

 brought directly from Melrose Abbey by 

 MrSo Eenwick, nee the beautiful Jeannie 

 Jeffrys, who is believed to have been the 

 "blue-eyed lassie" that inspired the ex- 

 quisite ballad of Eobert Burns. She pre- 

 sented Washington Irving with the plants, 

 and he in turn planted them at Sunnyside, 

 his home on the Hudson, which in time 

 became embowered in the ivy, which has 

 since spread all over our country. 



The Otaheite Orange is another instance 

 of plants petted indoors from sheer love. 

 The orange blooms and bears from north- 

 ern Louisiana to the gulf coast; neverthe- 

 less, the little otaheite is grown in windows 

 and hothouses that are shaded outside by 

 the beautiful orange trees glittering in 

 green and laden with golden fruit., The 

 otaheite, like all oranges, blooms, bears 

 and ripens fruit all at the same time. 



Maid of Orleans, the ncAv double white 

 jessamine, is a more available winter- 

 bloomer than the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

 Potted now and kept at seventy degrees of 

 heat, Maid of Orleans will bloom all win- 

 ter, as white and fragrant as the waxen 

 tuberose, and as full and double as a Ca- 

 mellia jyponica. 



