200 
T HE GARDEN M A G A Z I X E 
J A X r A R Y , 19 17 
Papaws from Seed.— If a Papaw plant 
found in the woods could be transplanted with 
enough care — and earth — no doubt it would 
live, but it seems that by the time a Papaw 
seedling is big enough to be found it is too big 
to transplant, and the result is that even when 
great care is used it dies. Raising Papaws from 
seed is slow work, and not absolutely certain, 
This seedling Papaw is six years old and five feet high 
but there is a much better chance of success 
than by the transplanting method. 1 he bush 
shown in the picture is six years old, and five 
and a half feet high. Four pots were planted 
in October with seeds fresh from the fruit. 
These were placed in a light cellar with a 
temperature of about sixty degrees, and kept 
moist through the winter. In March the 
little plant broke through the surface of one 
of the pots. Then it was moved to a sunny 
window where it stayed until well into April 
when it was placed in a cold frame. In mid- 
May the pot was removed, and, without root 
disturbance, the plant was set out in a place 
where it has shade in midsummer after three 
or four o’clock in the afternoon — and more 
shade would be better for it. No fruit has 
yet been produced by it, but it is worth its 
place as a shrub even if it never bears. It has 
taken care of itself, and has been troubled 
with nothing except grasshoppers, which will 
eat it bare of leaves if they are not stopped. 
When the first signs of their depredations are 
discovered the foliage is sprayed with arsenate 
of lead, and they do no further damage except 
to themselves. — //^ L. U ilson, Indiana. 
California Tree Poppy. — A Poppy is 
always a delight. The simple form of silken 
petals, cor^bined with the wayward grace 
common to all members of the great order, 
make a strong appeal to all flower lovers. 
For many years I looked covetously at the 
photographic representations of Romneya 
Coulteri, the California Tree Poppy, and read 
regretfully that it was not for the rigorous 
climate of New York. Hut one May day, in 
the spirit of adventure, I brought home from a 
nursery, a tiny plant, hardly more than a 
newly rooted slip, in a pot and set it out in 
light soil against the high south wall of my 
garden. The nurseryman assured me that it 
would not live over the winter in the open. 
All summer I watched my little green experi- 
ment waxing in strength and when the 
ground froze in early December covered it 
with a warm blanket of manure. When spring 
came again and the blanket was turned back, 
behold, there were many pallid shoots to 
meet my delighted gaze! Romneya Coulteri 
had weathered a New York winter during 
which the thermometer had fallen many de- 
grees below zero. That summer it grew four 
feet tall and decked itself grandly the summer 
through with many lovely white silken blos- 
soms, as large as porridge bowls, that exhaled 
a delicate fragrance. This was four years ago 
and we have almost become accustomed to 
the wonder of finding our great Poppywort 
alive and well each spring, for it is still here. 
My neighbor has a plant that has come un- 
scathed through the last three winters in a 
much more exposed position and with only 
such protection as the rest of the garden 
receives. 
This noble plant is a Californian and un- 
doubtedly requires a light, well drained soil 
and little moisture in summer. It should 
be set out in early spring and left undisturbed 
for many years. The wise ones tell us that 
under favorable conditions it will grow to a 
height of seven feet, but five seems to be the 
limit of Romneya aspirations in my garden. — 
Louise Beebe Wilder. 
A Ground Cover for a Sunny Border. — 
I have found the common Soapwort, a very 
satisfactory hardy plant for a ground cover 
in a sunny border. Its roots are a fibrous 
mass, and its top branchlets do not take root 
their entire length as many creeping plants 
do. It grows out on all sides covering the 
ground to quite an extent. Its rosy pink 
blossoms come in Alay, literally covering 
the entire plant, and it is in blossom about 
three weeks. 
Its seed pods then turn brown; but as soon 
as the seeds are ripe the whole plant puts on a 
fresh covering of leaves. In August or spring 
a few seedlings may be found under the 
branchlets. I have one root planted beside 
a mass of .Arabis albida and a good deal of 
Phlox subulata to the south of the house be- 
tween the house and a drive. These plants 
Our nature plants are often good enough to use but we 
• neglect them. The Soapwort as ground cover 
follow each other in their period of bloom 
making the border interesting in the early 
spring months and after that fresh looking 
through the hot summer months. I find it 
does best in this locality (Chicago) when left 
uncovered during the winter. 1 he exposure 
to the severe weather seems to harden it so 
it withstands the changes of freezing and 
thawing in spring. — K. II. Perigo. 
A new Chinese Dogwood. — Amongst the nu- 
merous new shrubs introduced to cultivation 
from Western China by Mr. E. H. Wilson, 
Cornus paucinervis is one of the most distinct 
and interesting. Mr. Wilson describes finding 
it growing in Eastern Szechuan, in “the Ancient 
Kingdom of Pa,” as a fluviatile, low-growing 
shrub, with spreading branches; and, laden with 
A new hardy Dogwood from China that flowers in late July, 
(Comus paucinervis) 
small flat corymbs of white flowers, it formed a 
most attractive bush by the water’s edge. 
In the month of March, 1909, five seedlings, 
three to five inches high, were obtained from 
Dr. C. S. Sargent, Director of the Arnold 
Arboretum. In 1913 they flowered for the 
first time, and are perfectly hardy here in 
Rochester, N. Y. Although described in its 
natural habitat as being partial to the banks 
of streams, it does very well with us in fairly 
dry, sloping, well drained soil. 
It is the last of the Dogwoods to flower and 
is in full bloom from July 15th to 20th. 
Cornus brachypoda was, previously, the latest 
Dogwood to flower with us, but C. paucin- 
ervis is a week to ten days later. 
The white, showy flower clusters are pro- 
duced abundantly from the terminals of the 
branches and branchlets, and are supported 
on stalks about one and a half inches long. 
The leaves are entire, lance-shaped, and 
average one and three-fourths inches in 
length, nine-sixteenths of an inch wide, deep 
green above, pale green and covered with a 
fine, hardly perceptible, tomentum under- 
neath. They taper gradually at the apex and 
base, and are supported on very short petioles 
about an eighth of an inch in length. 1 he 
jet black fruits, which are quite showy, ripen 
about the first of October. 
The few plants we have show great vari- 
ability in habit. Some are inclined to be up- 
right in growth, and others to be semi- 
prostrate; and at the present time none of the 
plants are more than three and one half feet 
in height. The seeds grow readily and if 
sowed as soon as ripe in flats and left outside 
in winter they wilt germinate the following 
summer . — John Dunbar. 
Is Galtonia or Hyacinthus Candicans Hardy ? 
— This bulb played me a mean trick 
last spring — it failed to “come up.” I had 
