AMONG THE FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES 



IN THE GARDENS AT WOODBANKS. 



'HE CORNFLOWERS.— What 

 is there so attractive about 

 plain, old-fashioned flowers like 

 the annual centaureas, other- 

 wise known as corn-flowers, 

 bluets, batchelor's-buttons in 

 Kentucky, and perhaps other 

 parts of the country as pinks, 

 and in Germany as Kaiser 

 blume ? In part it may be old 

 associations, but it is not alto- 

 gether this, for plants must have some merit besides to 

 keep a firm hold on popular favor. Again and again, as 

 visitors pass through the 500 distinct sorts of hardy 

 flowers on the editors' grounds, they will stop before a 

 mass of corn-flowers and say, "Among them all, I love 

 these old things most." 



Well ! The colors arc bright, the typical form being a 

 beautiful blue tint ; then there are white, rose, sky-blue, 

 light and dark purple, and a mingling of all these colors 

 in stripes and shades. The flowers have long wiry stems, 

 which render them most convenient as bouquet flowers. 

 The plants are of the easiest possible culture, grow in 

 almost any soil, and the seeds sow themselves; thus, 

 although the centaureas are annuals in character, practi- 

 cally they are perennials. 



Two new varieties of centaurea have been grown on 

 our grounds this season, and seem quite promising. One 

 is Centaurea Marg-arita, shown in the engraving at 

 about life-size. The flowers, as may be observed, are 

 of much substance, and very much larger and fuller than 

 the ordinary C. cyanus ; the leaves, also, are broader and 

 more distinct in form. The type is pure white, but one 

 plant in our mass has rose-colored flowers of a delicate 

 shade. The pure colors, fine texture and long stems 

 peculiar to the common form of these centaureas seem 

 destined to give them a prominent place among flowers 

 useful for summer cutting. It must be said that the new 

 forms do not flower with the almost excessive profusion of 

 the old corn-flowers. They grow about a foot and a half 

 high. The form illustrated was sent out as a biennial, 

 but was sown here in May, and was in flower by July 15. 



The other centaurea to which we have referred is a 

 variety of C. cyanus, called Victoria. Its charming 

 peculiarity is a diminutive form of growth and blooms ; 

 the plants forming dense rounded bushes about six inches 

 high. The flowers are much smaller than those of the 

 type, are bright blue and borne in profusion. It is a 

 self-sower, like the parent plant. 



The Roses in August. — "Maximum results for a 

 minimum outlay" is our motto in conducting the orna- 

 mental grounds at Woodbanks. These grounds cover 



four acres, and are planted with about 3,000 trees, shrubs 

 and hardy flowers, in 1,030 distinct varieties. Visitors 

 are surprised to hear that the work of tending them is all 

 done by one man, occupying not more than three-fourths 

 of his time. Our plan of hybrid perpetual rose-culture 

 will give some idea of the simple principles to which suc- 

 cessful gardening may be reduced: (i) Tillage two 

 spades deep, our soil being well drained and a peculiar 

 natural mixture of fine sand and clay. (2) The plants 

 are fed freely every autumn with our universal garden 

 compost : two parts rotted sods to one part of rotted 

 manure. (3) Rather severe annual pruning in early 

 spring. (4) Thinning out roughly about one third of the 

 blossom-buds in June, and cutting all flowers as they 

 begin to fade. (5) Winter protection by laying down 

 and covering the tops with earth. 



Our crop of roses was fine in size, quality and quantity 

 not only during June, but even up till now (August 20) 

 we have had a fairly good show of flowers. There has 

 not been a day this summer that we could not pick an 

 attractive bouquet of ro'-es from a bed of 35 plants. The 

 kinds now showing handsome bloom are the superb 

 rugosa hybrid Madame G. Bruant, Francois Michelon, 

 Coquette des Blanches, Magna Charta, Marchioness of 

 Lorne, Anna de Diesbach, General Jacqueminot, Prince 

 Camille de Rohan, and Alfred Colomb. To this list must 

 be added that wonderful new polyantha, Clothilde 

 Soupert, which, with the same winter protection given 

 hybrid perpetuals and remontants, appears perfectly 

 hardy here. 



Roses budded upon manetti or other wild stocks do 

 not give results according to our motto, and so we are 

 compelled to decide against them. Most ordinary gar- 

 deners overlook the wild rose-sprouts, and a busy editor 

 has little time for keeping them down. Budded roses 

 are comparatively a failure under our system, but with 

 so many fine sorts that grow vigorously on their own 

 roots and give profuse crops of perfect flowers, we do 

 not feel the need of them. Still, there are many roses 

 especially fine in quality but feeble in growth which 

 would be of little value unless budded on stronger roots 

 than their own. No aspiring rosarian should think of 

 dispensing with budded roses. But as advocates of rose- 

 culture for the millions, we cannot recommend them to 

 the average grower. 



If the simple, consistent course of culture marked out 

 above is followed, there will be little trouble given by 

 insects in outdoor rose-growing. Only the plants en- 

 feebled by bad pruning, poor soil or overcrowding will 

 be likely to suffer from them. 



Summer Caterpillars. — Speaking of insects reminds 

 us of a simple caterpillar-catcher improvised during the 



