FLOWERS FOR THE HARDY GARDEN 



39 



Vinca, continued 



leaves are small, oval and of a smooth, leathery 

 texture. The flowers which appear in quantities in 

 April and May, are about an inch across, flat, with 

 live square-edged petals of a delicate lavender-blue. 

 The Periwinkle has always been a familiar feature 

 of cemeteries and is used to some extent for edging 

 beds of shrubbery and evergreens and carpeting 

 spaces of bare shady ground, but I am convinced 

 that its highest source of value has hardly been 

 touched. I mean its use in connection with spring- 

 flowering bulbs. It is always something of a problem 

 to know how to treat bulbs on a small piece of 

 ground where they cannot be naturalized freely 

 in masses. The hardy border can satisfactorily 

 accommodate only a limited number, while everyone 

 knows how inconvenient they are planted in the 

 lawn, and everyone (I hope) is beginning to realize 

 how very ugly they are planted in round, solid beds. 

 But if a good-sized space about a group of trees or 

 shrubs were carpeted with Periwinkle and the bulbs 

 planted there, they could send up their blooms 

 through the leafy setting and finish their growth 

 undisturbed, while the Periwinkle, without aid of 

 mower or sprinkler, would keep its expanse of green 

 fresh and neat the year round. In this way charm- 

 ing spring gardens could be made in the space of a 

 few square yards, or the plan could be elaborated to 

 any extent. Almost any sort of I lolland bulbs would 

 thrive, from crocuses and scillas to tall Darwin 

 tulips; but perhaps narcissi or daffodils would be 

 the most permanent and satisfactory, and they 

 would also have the merit of contrasting well with 

 the vinca blossoms. It would be best to have the 

 ground well dug and fertilized and Vincas and bulbs 

 planted at the same time; for when the Vinca has 

 started to spread it would be a rather hard matter 

 to plant anything else, as it roots from every joint. 

 These roots are shallow, however, and in no way 

 interfere with the bulbs below them. Plants set 

 1 foot apart will quickly form a solid mass. 



Yucca 



Spanish Bayonet; Adam's Needle 



Filamentosa. Here is a native American plant 

 that has been appreciated at something like its real 

 worth. From the arid regions of New Mexico and 

 Arizona where the Yucca had its original home, it 

 has spread over practically the whole llower-garden- 

 ing world. 



No one can mistake the Yucca; it has a form 

 totally unlike any other plant. It is simply a huge, 

 rounded cluster of long glaucous, evergreen leaves, 

 narrow, and sword-like, ending in needle-pointed 

 spines. From this, in early summer, arises a stout 

 llower-stem, 4 to 6 feet tall that by July has de- 

 veloped an enormous oval cluster of bell-shaped 

 flowers, creamy white, faintly tinged green, 2 inches 

 across. 



Few persons know that the Yucca is fragrant, for 

 the very good reason that there is no scent present 

 in the daytime. In that delightful book, "Old Time 

 Gardens," Mrs. Florence Morse Earle mentions this 

 characteristic in the following passage: "The tall 

 columns of the Yucca or Adam's Needle stand like 

 shafts of marble against the hedge trees. In the 

 daytime the Yucca's blossoms hang in scentless 

 greenish white bells, but at night these bells lift 



Yucca, continued 



up their heads and expand with great stars of light 

 and odor,— a glorious plant. Around their spire of 

 luminous bells circle pale night moths, lured by 

 their fragrance. Even by moonlight we can see the 

 little white detached fibers at the edges of the leaves, 

 which we are tplcl the Mexican women used as 

 thread to sew with .... When I see the 

 Yucca in bloom 1 fully believe that it is the grandest 

 flower of our gardens." The fragrance of the Yucca 

 is much like that of the wild pond-lily. 



Aside from their usual use as specimens on the 

 lawn, Yuccas are wonderfully effective isolated in 

 groups against a background of evergreens or dense 

 shrubbery, or planted among boulders, or climbing 

 in scattered ranks up steep slopes, where they will 

 thrive with little moisture, being children of the 

 desert. And they arc invaluable for grouping at 

 the entrance to flower-gardens, or at the beginning 

 or end of broad walks and borders. As Miss Jekyll 

 says, "No plant makes a handsomer 'full stop' 'in 

 any (lower garden." 



One of the most curious chapters in natural history 

 is the story of the interdependence between the 

 Yucca and the little gray moth that fertilizes the 

 blossoms. The Yucca can mature no seed without the 

 help of the moth, nor can the moth find any food for 

 its young except in the developing seed-pods of the 

 Yucca. Yuccas arc best planted in the spring. Space 

 3 ft. 25 cts. each, $230 per doz., $15 per 100. 



Spires of Yucca loaded with tOaxy while bells 



Unless otherwise noted, all plants in this catalog, 15 cts. each, $1.50 per doz., $10 per 100 

 Six plants sold at the dozen rate. AH plants listed at 25 cts, each are $2.50 per doz., $15 per 100 



