GARDEN NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



725 



usually from ten inches to a foot high. It prefers for 

 location little ravines between the mountains, where it 

 has shade and moisture, but it does not avoid sunlit 

 mountain-slopes. Take it altogether, you will seldom 

 find a prettier, more delicate and captivating wild- 

 flower. If it proves successful under the new conditions 



which it must endure in cultivation, it ought to be given 

 a good place in gardens. The pentstemons are all per- 

 ennial, and their white or purple flowers are borne in 

 pretty panicles. Almost all the family is native among 

 mountains and foothills of America. 



Motitana. F. A. Waugh. 



GARDEN NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



NEW DAISIES, CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND CALLAS 



OME Michaelmas Daisies. — An in- 

 teresting trial being made in the 

 gardens of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society this year is that of the peren- 

 nial aster, or Michaelmas daisy, as 

 the flower is familiarly called in Eng- 

 land, because it blooms near the feast 

 of Michaelmas. The aster was frowned 

 upon until recent years, and the wild, 

 weedy kinds were not likely to command attention ; but 

 a judicious selection now includes many beautiful varie- 

 ties, free, graceful and with flowers individually of fine 

 form and size, whilst representing a charming graduation 

 of refined and tender shades. When a large collection, 

 as at Chiswick, is brought together, the great difference 

 in habit of the various kinds is conspicuous. Some are 

 but a few inches from the ground, others towering high, 

 even to eight feet . 



The aster is a delightful autumn flower, a relief and a 

 contrast to the prevailing yellow color of the autumn- 

 blooming perennials, and charming effects may be pro- 

 duced by planting them among shrubs, over which they 

 fling their graceful flower-laden shoots. The usual plan 

 is to plant them in the borders, and for giving rich color- 

 ing nothing is more suitable than such varieties as A. 

 Icevigatiis, which is the same as A. lo7igif alius fovmo- 

 sus. A few notes upon some of the finer kinds of asters 

 grown at Chiswick may be of value to the American 

 readers of this magazine. One of the most conspicuous is 

 a beautiful variety of A. Novi-Belgii, named Robert 

 Parker. It is a splendid aster, fully six feet in height ; 

 the flowers are large, and pale lavender in color. It is a 

 fine variety for the background of a large border. The 



following forms of this type are also noteworthy ; Har- 

 pur Crewe, tender rosy white ; Archer Hind ; Ravenna, 

 rich lilac ; Purity ; and Psyche, light blue. A. IcEvis. a 

 Harvard variety, is one of the most beautiful starworts 

 I have seen. The habit of the plant is free and graceful, 

 and the flowers are of a delightful pink color, as tender 

 as on a Marie Van Houtte rose. Of the forms of A. 

 Nova-AyigUce, the two most conspicuous are A. 7-oseus 

 (flowers rich rose) and A. pulchcUiis (deep violet-purple,) 

 a well-named variety. A. dcnsus is very dwarf, at least 

 for a variety of Novi-Belgii ; the plant is about three 

 feet in height, and smothered in flowers. A. amellus is 

 too well known to need description. The early Septem- 

 ber-flowering A. acris only grows about 2^ feet in 

 height, and every vestige of its leafage is hidden by a 

 wealth of violet flowers. One of the most distinct asters 

 in the collection is A. Arcturus. It presents a splendid 

 contrast in color, as its leafage is deep green and the 

 flowers a deep violet-purple. Very different from this is 

 A. tenosyrus, with yellow flowers and no ray-florets — 

 simply the raised disc; the habit of the plant is dense 

 and bushy. This is a very showy border kind, its dis- 

 tinctive coloring adding to its value. I may also note 

 A. horizoyitalis, with small, white flowers thickly set on 

 wiry, spreading, dark-colored shoots; A. Shortii ; A. 

 piaiiceus, the flowers very large, white, touched with 

 lilac; A. ericoides, A. T7-adescanti , A. cor dif alius dSiA 

 the beautiful A. Lindleyamcs. 



Early chrysanthemums are gaining much attention 

 in England. The first flower show of great importance 

 was held at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, by the 

 National Chrysanthemum Society, in October. Each year 

 the list of new early-flowering kinds grows larger. The 



