}81 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL JJORTICUI/TURAL SOCIETY- 



ASTERS AT WISLEY, 1906-07. 



A ti;i LL of Michaelmas daisies was held at Wisley during 1903 and 1907 

 in which .*>2"> stcoks wore planted, representing 300 distinct varieties. 

 The collection included 134 varieties from the Society's Gardens at 

 Chiswiok, which contained the nucleus of the trials of 1892 and 1902, 

 reported upon in vols. xv. and xxvii. of the Journal. The genus com- 

 prises not less than 250 species, of which more than one-half are North 

 American. Of those reported on in the trial, with the exception of 

 , A melius, canus, and Linosyris, which lack the Michaelmas daisy 

 habit, all are from North America, and the great majority of them from the 

 Pastern United States. As a rule, those species having the widest natural 

 distribution have proved most amenable to cultivation ; but it is to 

 the species Uteris and Novi*Belgii that our gardens are most indebted, 

 it having been estimated that considerably more than one-third of the 

 varieties cultivated have rosultel from distinct crosses between these 

 species. So hopelessly have the specific characters become mingled that 

 it has b2en a continued source of difficulty to botanists to determine to 

 which species many of the garden forms should be referred. In the report 

 the varieties have bean entered under their proper names simply, but for 

 convenience of reference the names of the species under which the 

 varieties have been classed are ins 3r ted in brackets at the end of the 

 description. It will be scan that in mxny casas the same variety has 

 been referred to two or more species (e.g, Calliope) ; that in others, 

 varieties very similar in habit and flower have been referred to different 

 specks (e.g. densus and decorus) ; and that a variety is sometimes 

 referred to a species to which it has no apparent resemblance {e.g, Alice, 

 Jessie Crum). 



Most cf the Michaelmas daisies prefer a deep, well-manured, strong 

 soil, inclined to be wet rather than dry. All varieties that show a 

 tendency to become rampant should bo lifted every year, only two or 

 thrco of the outside growths being replanted to furnish the fresh clump, 

 this work being preferably carried out in spring as soon as fresh growth 

 begins. For tho purposes of the trial the plants were grown in rows 

 4 feet apart, with 4 feet between each plant in the row. 



It must be borne m mind when examining the report that collected 

 forms of many of tho species show great variation, and that the periods 

 of flowering and heights recorded represent tho results of only one set of 

 observations, which soil, season, and climate might considerably mcdify. 



Tho following is a list of tho best species and varieties selected at the 

 trials of 1892, 1902, and 1907. The names of tho most decorative 

 varieties at Wisley, 1907, are printed in italics. 

 Commencing to flower in August : — 



White, 8 feet or loss : corymbosus, Perseus, Sensation, vimincus, 

 perfectus, White Queen of the Dwarfs. 

 5 fo"t : Albion, Dot, White Queen. 



