1882.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



87 



WILD FLOWERS. 



Many of our native plants have for years 

 been cultivated in Europe among the choicest 

 garden flowers, where it happens frequently 

 that American citizens admire their beauty, 

 while at home they would consider beneath 

 their notice the " weeds " growing in mead- 

 ows and by the roadside. 



There seems to set in a healthy reaction in 

 this respect, however, and an appreciation 

 of the beautiful for beauty's sake. Clumps 

 of native Ferns and various wild flowering 

 plants, Skunk Cabbage even, with a ball of 

 earth carefully wrapped in moss, are daily 

 offered for sale in our streets, where they find 

 eager admirers and buyers. Many of these, 

 we fear, will meet with disappointment, how- 

 ever, when these children of the woods, 

 deprived of their native elements, refuse to 

 thrive in a glazed flower-pot, exposed to the 

 burning sun on the window-sill. Yet many of 

 these plants succeed admirably under culti- 

 vation, in a city yard even, when some care 

 is bestowed upon them ; and the following 

 communication upon this subject, from our 

 esteemed correspondent Mrs. M. F. Pike, 

 will be of interest to many of our readers : 



"lam pleased to notice the good words 

 you have for wild flowers. Your remarks on 



LOBELIA CABDINALIS 



were especially interesting to me, as I have 

 cultivated it for some time. This beauti- 

 ful plant grows in clumps in the boggy 

 woods of Long Island, and may be found, 

 without much trouble, not far from Brooklyn, 

 It may not be so well known that, with 

 but little care, it will accommodate itself 

 to cultivation more" easily than most wild 

 . flowers. I had a clump cut out of the fibrous 

 earth— this the Lobelia loves best — without 

 touching the roots. The flower-spikes were 

 nearly ready to open, and, to my surprise, 

 they not only not wilted, but opened brightly 

 and seeded. I expected to see no more of 

 them, but was delighted to see them come up 

 the next spring, and for three seasons since 

 they have flourished, and their rich spikes of 

 brilliant blossoms are, if possible, finer than 

 in their native wilds. The only care they 

 receive is a coat of dead leaves in winter. 



"I would also add a good word for the 

 greater attention to 



PERENNIALS 



in private gardens, as they give such a 

 wealth of bloom before it is possible to 

 decorate a plot with Annuals. If judi- 

 ciously chosen and mingled with bulbs, 

 flowers may be had from the time the frost 

 leaves the ground in spring till it returns 

 with its scathing breath to lay low the last 

 lingering starry Chrysanthemums. 



"My blue, pink, and white Hepaticas, the 

 delicate Anemones, Blood-roots, and other- 

 pets I have from time to time transplanted 

 to my city home, have already rewarded me 

 with their early flowers, and the exquisite 

 Violets, blue, striped, yellow, and white, are a 

 beautiful sight. When all are in bloom, peep- 

 ing out from my Ferns and Lilies of the 

 Valley, I would not change my wild bouquet 

 for many a costlier one.' 



" Now is the time to try the experiment, 

 my fair flower-loving sisters. Try it, and 

 you will gain as much in health and pleasure 

 for yourselves as you will add beauty to the 

 shady side of your gardens by searching for 

 Nature's lovely children in her wild haunts." 



HOLLYHOCK. 



(Althiea rosea.) 



For massive floral effect during late sum- 

 mer and autumn, the lately introduced 

 choice double varieties of Hollyhocks are 

 second to no other class of plants, the Dah- 

 lias even not excepted. Flowering at the 

 same season, the two plants may be com- 

 bined to good advantage, the Hollyhock 

 forming an excellent background to a group 

 of Dahlias. 



Its stately character, growing five to eight 

 feet in height, and its profusion of bloom 



DOUBLE HOLLYHOCK. 



and color, make it a most desirable plant for 

 extensive grounds, where they may be planted 

 so as to produce the most striking effects. 

 The wealth of the shades and colors of its 

 flowers is almost as varied as in Gladiolus, 

 ranging from white and yellow to orange, 

 rose, scarlet, carmine, maroon, and dark 

 purple, almost black. The flowers are four 

 inches and over in diameter, very double, 

 and thickly set around the magnificent 

 spikes, extending two feet and more. 



The plant is a biennial, and seeds sown at 

 any time during summer up. to September 

 will flower profusely the following season. 



The young plants should be protected dur- 

 ing winter, and the following spring be 

 transplanted to their blooming quarters. If 

 sown during February or March in a hot-bed 

 or greenhouse, and afterward transplanted 

 to the open ground, they will generally 

 bloom the first year. They come pretty true 

 from seed, yet, when it is desired to preserve 

 very choice sorts, propagation by cutting 

 has to be resorted to. For this purpose 

 the stalks are cut off about ten inches from 

 the ground, immediately after flowering. 

 Numerous small shoots or tops will soon 

 start, and these are used for cuttings, and 

 treated like other soft-wooded plants. 



The Hollyhock is a gross feeder, and 

 although it will grow in any good garden 

 soil, to reach perfection it must have a good 

 supply of rich manure in the soil, and is 

 much benefited by an occasional drenching 

 of liquid manure. 



SIBERIAN SQUILLS. 



(Scilla Sibirica.) 

 The Siberian Squill, is the brightest, best, 

 and earliest of all our blue-flowering hardy 

 bulbs. A week or two after the first Cro- 

 cus blooms appear, the deep blue blossoms 

 of the Siberian Squills spring up, and they 

 stay with us, advancing in size and bright- 

 ness, till the Tulips come. They ripen many 

 seeds, and a profusion of self-sown seed- 

 lings spring up all around them ; in fact, 

 they reproduce themselves more numerously 

 than any other bulbs I know of. They are 

 as hardy as Dandelions, and, next to Cro- 

 cuses and Snowdrops, among the cheapest 

 bulbs in the market. Plant them anywhere 

 — in your mixed borders, toward the front 

 of your shrubbery clumps, in patches in the 

 grass, about the rockery, or wherever else is 

 convenient, but, if practicable, somewhere 

 where they will not be lifted every year to 

 make room for summer plants, as might be 

 the case if you planted them in beds which 

 you meant to fill with Coleuses and Gerani- 

 ums in summer. Plant them four or five 

 inches deep, and the richer and deeper your 

 soil, the stronger and brighter shall be your 

 Squills. Wm, Falconer. 



TIGER FLOWERS. 



( Tifjrldia.) 



The species cultivated are T. pavonia and 

 T. conchiflora, the first bright orange-red, the 

 latter with yellow flowers, both spotted with 

 dark purple. They are natives of Mexico, 

 and are, next to the Gladiolus, the most 

 showy and brilliant summer-flowering bulbs, 

 deserving a place in every garden. The bulbs 

 are tender, and should therefore not be 

 planted before the middle of May. They 

 succeed best in a rich mellow soil, but do 

 well in an ordinary flower border, and should 

 be planted about two inches deep. The gor- 

 geous flowers last only one day, but as new 

 ones expand daily the clumps are in almost 

 continuous bloom. 



Tuberoses. — With good bulbs to begin with, 

 there should be no difficulty in raising these 

 delightful flowers. They require a deep, rich, 

 light soil, and should be planted not less than 

 four inches deep, and not before the middle 

 of May. If flowers are desired earlier, some 

 bulbs should be planted in pots, started in 

 the house or hot-bed, and afterward, when 

 all danger of frost is over, transplanted into 

 the open ground. 



