1883.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



27 



DOUBLE ACROCLINIUM. 



Arrorliniiim roseum flore plena. 



The original single form of this beautiful 

 everlasting flower has, ever since its intro- 

 duction from Australia, been a great fa vorite 

 in the flower-garden, and when dried, its deli- 

 cate pink, daisy-like flowers, with yellow cen- 

 ter, have become almost indisponsable in the 

 composition of wreaths and bouquets. 



The new double variety repre- 

 sented in our illustration is certainly 

 a great improvement, and a most 

 beautiful and valuable novelty, pos- 

 sessing all the delicate tints and 

 shades of the single form. It comes 

 almost entirely true from seed, giving 

 about seventy-five per cent, of double 

 flowers, which are a little larger than 

 the single ones. 



The seed may be sown in the open 

 border in May, and will produce a 

 profusion of flowers in time for dry- 

 ing for winter bouquets, for which 

 purpose they should be cut the first 

 day they open, and carefully dried 

 in the shade. A prolongation of 

 flowers may be had by sowing the 

 seed in a hot-bed, or in boxes in the 

 house, and transplanting afterward 

 the young plants to the open ground, 



HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS, 



The increasing interest in the cul- 

 tivation of Herbaceous Plants makes 

 itself decidedly felt in the frequent 

 discussions of the subject before our 

 foremost Horticultural Societies. The 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 especially has devoted much atten- 

 tion to this class of plants, and the 

 following remarks, condensed from Mr. TV. 

 H. Manning's address before a recent meet- 

 ing of this excellent institution, cannot but 

 be of interest to many of our readers : 



The use of tender plants and annuals for 

 bedding purposes in summer decoration has 

 been in vogue for about a quarter of a cen- 

 tury, and they have almost entirely super- 

 seded hardy Herbaceous Plants for general 

 cultivation. Extremely brilliant and beauti- 

 ful effects are produced by them in beds, 

 ribbon -gardening and mosaic work, and in 

 many situations it is not desirable that they 

 should be superseded by anything less showy ; 

 but that hardy Herbaceous Plants should 

 be used more generally in the place of tender 

 plants, and many annuals, and to a con. 

 siderable extent for bedding purposes, is de- 

 sirable, 



The yearly renewal of tender plants re- 

 quires considerable expense every spring, 

 when there are no means for keeping them 

 through the winter. When such means are 

 at hand, a skill in propagation, preparation 

 of the soil and after-cultivation that most 

 persons are unable to give, is required to 

 insure success. The seeds of most annuals 

 must be carefully gathered each fall, 

 planted in the spring, watched and cared for 

 during germination, and then often trans- 

 planted or thinned out. These plants sel- 

 dom afford flowers until June or July, and 

 are killed by the first frost, and after this 

 the bed is a mass of decaying vegetation or 

 bare earth. 



Hardy Herbaceous Plants, the first cost of 

 which is but little more than tender plants, 

 in good garden soil will live and blossom 



without failure year after year, and are con- 

 tinually increasing, so that a person, with 

 little trouble or expense, can enlarge his own 

 stock of plants and give to his neighbors. 



With a proper selection of one or two 

 dozen species, flowers will be had from the 

 time the ground is open in the spring until 

 it is closed by the severe frosts ; and, with a 

 greater number of species and varieties, all 



DOUBLE ACROCLINIUM, FRESH. 



colors can be found among the flowers at 

 any time during the season, and in a collec- 

 tion of hardy herbaceous plants there is a 

 never-ending variety and source of investi- 

 gation, study, and experiment; for the 

 lover of flowers there are new beauties 

 every day, and new flowers open for his 

 pleasure at short intervals ; for the botan- 

 ist, a large collection of herbaceous plants is 



DOUBLE ACROCLINIUM, DRIED. 



a valuable field for study and investigation ; 

 for the horticulturist, there is an immense 

 field in the introduction of new varieties, in 

 the cultivation of rare and difficult species, 

 and, above all, in the development of this 

 class of plants, or certain sections of it, by 

 hybridization, by selection of the best seeds 



and seedlings, and by careful propagation of 

 sports and curious variations. 



See what has been done with the Holly- 

 hocks, Phloxes, Irises, and Delphiniums. 

 Why not improve other flowers as well ? 

 In England, the Pentstemons of our country 

 are found to vary freely under cultivation, 

 and fine varieties have been obtained in all 

 shades of red, blue, and orange-scarlet. 

 Here is a broad field for any culti- 

 vator who wishes to work up some 

 specialty. The Anemones are ano- 

 ther promising class for cultivation ; 

 the beautiful European varieties of 

 Anemone coronaria are not hardy 

 here, but there are hardy species and 

 varieties, with shades of red, blue, 

 white, yellow, and greenish-yellow, 

 and double varieties. The Lilies are 

 a most interesting class for the hy- 

 bridizer to work among, and many 

 other promising flowers might be 

 mentioned ; but any person who is 

 sufficiently interested will find them 

 for himself. 



Where room and money are lim- 

 ited, a hardy herbaceous bed is pref- 

 erable to the usual bed of tender 

 plants or annuals. The herbaceous 

 bed may not be so showy, but to the 

 constant observer it is many times 

 more interesting. 



The usual arrangement of a hardy 

 herbaceous bed is with the taller 

 plants behind, or in the middle, 

 descending gradually to the low- 

 growing species on the edge. Re- 

 gard should be had to a proper con- 

 trast of colors, and a sufficient 

 variety in the plants ; but we can 

 vary this arrangement, and pro- 

 duce fine bedding effects with hardy plants. 



Most of these plants require no special 

 cultivation ; they will succeed in good gar- 

 den soil, which should be well enriched 

 when they are planted, and whenever the 

 roots are divided and reset, which should be 

 in the fall, with protection through the win- 

 ter, or early in the spring, and as often as 

 every three or four years, or they will ex- 

 haust the soil about them, and begin to die 

 out in the middle, or will disappear entirely. 



The beds should be kept free from weeds. 

 Many of the tall-growing plants will require 

 staking ; the stake should not be conspicu- 

 ous, and care should be taken that the form 

 of the plant is not disfigured by tying. 



THE WILD GARDEN. 



The wild garden is a desirable feature in 

 an estate where there is plenty of room and 

 a suitable place. Here fine foreign flowers 

 can be introduced among the already grow- 

 ing natural ones with fine effect ; beautiful 

 aquatics in the waters ; bog plants in these 

 places, and woodland plants among the 

 trees, giving each plant the place most 

 suited to it ; and the natural beauties of a 

 place can be greatly added to without giving 

 an artificial appearance. 



Hardy succulents are used with a fine 

 effect in separate beds, and they will, no 

 doubt, have a more prominent place in the 

 future garden. They will grow in the most 

 barren spots. In many of them the arrange- 

 ment of the leaves is very pretty, and others 

 have fine flowers. Although some of the most 

 beautiful succulents are not hardy, many may 

 be wintered out-doors by mulching them. 



