FLOWERS FOR TFIE HARDY GARDEN 



17 



Diccnlra spcclabilis 



Dicentra • Bleeding-Heart 



Spectabilis. Here is ;i fine old plant that is 

 again coming into favor, and most deservedly so. 

 Almost every old farmhouse has its clump of 

 "Bleeding-Hearts," as should every garden, old 

 or new. Early in the spring the plant sends 

 up its succulent, bronzy green shoots, and by early 

 May they have developed into a circular mass of 

 delicate fern-like foliage from which rise many 

 gracefully arching leafy stems, hung with innumer- 

 able blossoms that tremble in the slightest breeze. 

 These blossoms are rose-pink, heart-shaped, with a 

 pearly pendant at the tip, set between two tiny 

 reflexed petals. A more quaintly and daintily 

 formed flower it would be hard to imagine. Children, 

 especially, always delight in them and, by pulling 

 them to pieces, form microscopic rabbits, harps, and 

 many other marvelous things. Love-Lies-Bleeding, 

 Lady's Eardrops, Seal-Flower, and many other 

 names testify to the poetic analogies suggested by 

 this delightful plant. Can be left undivided 

 indefinitely, and will thrive in partial and even in 

 absolute shade. 3 3-2 ft-; space about the same. 



Digitalis • Foxglove 



Foxgloves, with their immense downy leaves and 

 lowering spikes of bloom, always make one of the 

 most striking and impressive pictures in the garden. 

 Few plants so combine massiveness and vigor with 

 such decorative grace of outline. White Foxgloves 

 look well with almost every garden flower, and are 

 particularly fine outlined against a mass of green 

 in the shrubbery border, or rising here and there 

 from a bank of ferns. Or they may be used with 

 splendid effect grouped in regular rows on each side 

 of a broad grass walk. 



Foxgloves in the border always seed themselves 

 so freely that I see no reason why we could not 

 follow the English plan of naturalizing them in 

 thickets and along the edges of woods. To come 

 on a colony at the end of a long woodland vista 

 would be ;i treat lor the artistic sense indeed. 

 Foxgloves are generally considered biennials, but 

 they can be made to live one additional year and 

 often more by cutting the (lower-stems close to the 



Digitalis, continued 



ground immediately after blooming. This 

 will cause new crowns to form around the 

 old onss, which will carry' the plant safely 

 over winter, when they should be protected 

 by a light, porous mulch. It would be a 

 small fox indeed that could wear a Digitalis 

 blossom lor a glove; much more do they 

 resemble inverted thimbles, set closely along 

 the stalk in overlapping rows. Foxgloves 

 grow readily in shady places. June and July. 

 From 3 to 6 feet, according to soil and 

 situation; space 18 in. 



I offer the plants in two colors, rose-pink 

 and white, both attractively dotted with 

 brown within the throat. 



Doronicum • Leopard's Bane 



Excelsum. A very valuable and little- 

 known perennial for early spring blooming, 

 that will do well in damp, partly shaded places 

 as well as in full sun. The leaves are broad, 

 and spread out close to the ground; the stems are 

 long and slender, and the flowers upright, daisy- 

 shaped, 4 inches across, with narrow, gracefully 

 recurving petals of clear yellow. The only flower 

 of its type in bloom so early in the year, and a very 

 showy and lasting one. Should be planted in good- 

 sized masses. Late April and early May. 2}-£ ft.; 

 space 1 ft. 



Digitalis, the stateliest of perennial: 



I shall be glad to give my customers any helpful information I can regarding their gardens and 



gardening problems 



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



