88 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
March, 1 9 I 7 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS 
' I 'HE decided tendency of the average 
American garden owner to concentrate 
more and more on ironclad plants for the 
outdoor garden meets with an active response. 
The recent discoveries of hosts of new plants 
in China, and which are so admirably adapted 
to American conditions, is stimulating the 
dealers to reach out for the best of them, and 
quite a number are offered this year for the 
first time. Since it takes time to work up a 
commercial stock of anything of this nature, 
we cannot expect to find all the possible 
acquisitions put before us at one time, and 
the tendency seen this year may be taken as an 
indication of the way the tide of novelty in- 
troduction is to flow for the next few years. 
It is equally to be noted that a few meri- 
torious native plants are being given some 
attention. A strange condition it is that has 
hitherto sent us to the European grower when 
we wanted many noteworthy native plants, a 
condition that is not yet entirely obviated 
indeed. 
Among the specialties of this season’s offer- 
ings are also a few plants, old so far as discovery 
is concerned, yet appropriately novelties, when 
regarded from the viewpoint of the gardener. 
Aquilegia akitensis. A Japanese alpine 
Columbine with large blue and yellow flowers 
(Dreer). 
Anemonopsis. From Japan. (Be careful 
not to confuse this genus with Anemopsis 
which is a Mexican drug plant.) The bell- 
shaped flowers are rich violet, large and of a 
waxy appearance. Adapted for shaded loca- 
tions. Height 25 feet. (Michell) 
Anemone hupehensis. From central China, 
allied to Anemone Japonica. Grows from 10 
to 12 inches high, flowers ij inches in di- 
ameter, pale mauve-rose, from early in Aug- 
ust until late Autumn. (Dreer) 
Aster amellus King George. Individual 
flowers are said to frequently measure three 
inches in diameter. Blue. (Dreer) 
Aster novae-ang/iae Glen Eyre. Bright 
pink shading to lavender-pink. (Pierson) 
Erinus alpinus. An alpine plant imported 
from Europe and valuable for wall or rock 
garden. (Knight & Struck) 
Hemerocallis citrina. A species from China. 
About four feet high, with pale lemon-yellow 
flowers. (Dreer) 
Hemerocallis Meehani. A garden hybrid 
Day Lily with deep yellow fragrant flowers. 
(Meehan) 
Heliopsis scabra varieties. 1 hese resemble 
somewhat the hardy Sunflowers. Blooming 
season July — August. Var. gratissima. Single 
flowers with 4 or 5 rows of reflexed florets of 
ochre yellow shade. 3 ft. Var. excelsa. 
Double flowering having 4 or 5 rows of petals, 
with fringed tips, chrome-yellow. 4 to 5 ft. 
(Michell) 
' Hibiscus Mallow Marvels. This year sees 
the offering of named varieties of what has 
hitherto been a mixed strain: Purity, white; 
Mammoth, creamy white, crimson centre; 
Maiden Blush, blush white, crimson centre; 
Nymph, light pink, white centre; Early Bell, 
light pink, crimson centre; Monstrosa, deep 
pink, crimson centre; American Beauty, shade 
of American Beauty Rose; Giant Crimson, 
crimson, maroon centre; Fez — small, turkey 
red bell flower. (Meehan) 
Lychnis Ilaageana varieties. (1) grandi- 
flora unit, fringed apricot colored flowers, and 
(2) grandiflora alba white. Also L. Senno, 
a Japanese species reintroduced. Brilliant 
crimson. (Dreer) 
Lychnis A rkwrightii . Hybrid of chalce- 
donica and Haageana, and flowering in early 
summer in shades of scarlet and orange. 
(Knight & Struck; Farquhar) 
Oxytropsis hybrida var. grandiflora. From 
the Swiss Alps and revels in a hot, dry position, 
forming tufts of silver foliage from which 
issue many spikes of pure white pea-shaped 
blossoms. (Dreer) 
Phlox pilosa splendens. One of the early 
flowering types forming a dense growing bushy 
plant, fifteen inches high, producing lilac- 
rose flowers in May. (Michell) 
Phlox argillacea (the Silvery-lavender 
Phlox). Found in the sand barrens of the 
middle West. Various shades of white, pale 
lavender and lilac, May to August. Peren- 
nial adapted to dry situations. (Palisades) 
Polygonum in variety, (1) liehiangensis. 
From northern China. Flowers from July 
until frost in sprays of creamy white. (2) 
sericeum. Flowers from May until June. 
Two feet high. Feathery spikes of white 
flowers. (Dreer) 
Poppy, Oriental, var. King George. Petals 
are deeply cleft or fringed, not unlike those of 
the Parrot Tulip. Scarlet, with a black 
blotch at base of each petal. 
Poterium obtusatum. Feathery dark pink 
flowers with a bright sheen. Flowers from 
July until September. (Michell) 
Thalictrum dipterocarpum (Meadow Rose). 
Rosy purple; blooms from June to August 
already has been referred to in these pages. 
(Michell) 
Trollius (Globe Flowers) in variety. Var. 
Ledebouri. Cup-shaped flowers, rich orange 
color; height of flower season May and June. 
Var. pumilus yunnanensis; Golden-yellow 
salver-shaped flowers. (Dreer) 
Veronica spicata rosea var. Erica. Spikes 
of pink flowers on bushy plants 10 to 12 inches 
high during June and July. (Dreer) 
Specialists in Peonies present new or rare 
varieties as the occasion offers. It is some- 
what difficult to decide here just when a 
variety ceases to be a novelty in the broad 
interpretation. Nothing can be offered to 
the trade or public that is strictly new as it 
takes several years (five to ten) to get up a 
sufficient stock of a really new variety and 
by the time it is offered freely it is no longer 
really new, but may be rare. Equally some 
old varieties are still so rare that they become 
practical novelties if any grower is able to 
work up a sufficient stock. Each Peony 
grower has “up his sleeve” some few seedlings 
as yet unnamed and unintroduced among 
which are many of merit. Such a one as 
Therese (Dessert 1904) is unpurchaseable in 
any quantity at any price. There is offered 
in America this year (Farr) for example a 
group of eight Peonies of German origin, 
raised by Goos & Koenemann. these have 
been under trial and observation in this 
country for several years and in the trials of 
the American Peony Society were regarded 
with much interest. 1 he reader may turn 
back to the issue of September, 1916, for 
other information on recent Peonies. Domes- 
tic raisers such as .Shaylor and Brand offer 
their own seed as before. 
Both German and Japan Irises include' a 
few newcomers. Perhaps the most interest- 
ing happening is in the introduction by Farr of 
a set of American raised named seedlings of the 
Japanese type, which will not be available for 
distribution till next summer. In the German 
section there is a golden-yellow novelty Sher- 
win-Wright (Dreer) supposed to be a chance 
seedling from the well known Honorabilis. 
PLANTS FOR THE GREENHOUSE 
L'OR the conservatory and greenhouse, 
apart from the regular “florist’s flowers” 
and Roses, etc., the greatest variety of 
new things is to be seen in (1) improved forms 
of the already popular ferns, some of which 
were illustrated in The Garden Magazine 
for last December — (2) additions to the fam- 
ily of splendid large-flowered hydrangeas of 
French origin, of which some notice was given 
in the Novelty Review of a year ag^ Crotons 
are offered by one dealer in an assortment of 
twelve. All these are naturally of foreign 
origin. In flowering plants there is a new 
fringed strain in Chinese Primrose, Pink 
Pearl, and Calceolaria Cotswold. Hybrid, 
with flowers of lemon-yellow and gold to 
brown. 
Buddleia asiatica. The white flowering, 
extremely fragrant, blooming December to 
April, which is only a greenhouse plant in 
the East, is recognized as a useful garden plant 
for Southern California. (Coolidge) 
An American hybrid from the foregoing 
and B. officinalis is the winter flowering 
Buddleia Farquharii. The first authentic 
hybrid in the genus. The flowers are pale 
pink, fragrant and borne in long, cylindrical 
tail-like clusters. 
I wo Snapdragons, both pink, reflect popu- 
lar fashion in floral colors. De Soto (Vaughan) 
is described as “Enchantress” pink and 
Weld Pink (Farquhar) is given a salmon 
shading to orange. Both are large flowered 
types, suitable for cut flowers. 
AMONG THE ROSES 
TJTERE we find a rich assortment of new 
things. The sensational Lillian Moore 
which won the Thousand Dollar prize at the 
Panama-Pacific Exposition, in the open garden 
trial, naturally claims the leading interest in 
the list of introductions from the Irish pro- 
ducers (to whom we all look each year). It 
was the winner in a contest of six hundred 
varieties. The originator’s description is 
“pure Indian yellow with a slightly deeper 
centre.” 1 his is from Hugh Dickson. (Totty) 
Other introductions of that raiser for this 
year include: //. D. M. Barton a bedding Rose 
of the type of Gen. McArthur. Ethel Dick- 
son silvery-flesh reverse petals. This variety 
resembles Mdm. Chatenay in type. Golden 
Spray sending up long branching shoots. 
Th£ flower in the bud state is a deep Marechal 
Niel yellow, long and pointed; but when open 
the bloom is practically a single, six inches 
across. Ulster Standard three inches in 
diameter, crimson, plants two feet in height. 
From France we get Madame Collette Alar- 
tinette (of Pernet-Ducher who gave us Rayon 
d’or; Sunburst; Mrs. Aaron Ward.) This 
latest aspirant to public favor is described as a 
rich golden-yellow in the bud which opens to 
a marvelous old-gold, and one grower says it 
fades less than any other yellow (Pierson, 
Totty and others). Another Rose classed 
in the yellow section is Primerose (Soupert 
et Notting variety) reminding one of Ophelia 
in its habit and inflorescense but has consid- 
erably more apricot in the shadings. An- 
other Pernet Rose — Admiral Ward. (Dreer) 
named for the well-known American amateur. 
A large globular flower of intermingled shades 
of fiery crimson red; foliage bronzy green. 
A Rose of purely American origin is the 
variety Los Angeles, raised by Howard & 
Smith, of Los Angeles — hence its name. 1 hey 
describe it as a flame-pink deepening to coral 
