The Garden Magazine, June, 1920 
267 
not deter any garden lover from obtaining this unique American plant, 
for it is not the muddy magenta so universally despised but a clear, 
pure color that is very attractive. The buds before they open show a 
wonderful intense reddish purple, and as the flowers expand this color 
gradually softens until the petals drop. Of course in placing these 
plants some judgment should be used as to the associates. Mv pink 
Azaleas are gone by the time the flowers of the Raspberry appear. 
White or yellow flowers would be good neighbors. Now that our native 
American plants are likely to receive more attention than they have 
had in vears past, this one seems to be a worthy candidate for favor 
among gardeners who like to 
wander from the beaten path. 
— Bernard H. Lane, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
Welcome 
Iris 
O NE of the 
hardiest 
and most effi- 
cient of the 
Irises, yet almost a stranger to 
our gardens, is I. pseudacorus. 
My first practical acquaintance 
with it was in a railway gutter. 
Someone had thrown away a 
lot of it — just dug it up and 
heaved it over the fence — plain 
testimony to its thrifty spread- 
ing character. In the railway 
gutter was some moisture, seep- 
age from blind springs along 
the way. Here it was multi- 
plying like Cat-tails in a swamp, 
and just at the time when 1 dis- 
covered it, it was all radiant 
with soft yellow blossoms. 
Later in the summer, when the 
blossoming season had passed, 
I took a wagon and hauled out 
several wagon loads to plant 
along the margins of the pond 
on the Massachusetts Agricul- 
tural College campus; and it is 
this pond-side planting which is 
shown in the photograph. The 
flowers are rather fragile and 
soft and do not last long, but 
they are remarkably beautiful 
in their season, being large 
enough, of good form and a 
most delicate soft canary- 
yellow. The foliage is strong 
and clean. In fact, the habit 
of the plant itself leaves little to be desired. It should be used 
in large bold masses, rather than in small intimate garden plant- 
ings where other species of Iris might be better. — Frank A. 
Waugh. 
R 0C ky { ] DUALLY in an account of Rocky Moun- 
Mountain ^ tain Columbines 1 find such expressions 
Columbines as ' “short-lived,” “uncertain,” “not 
permanent,” etc. Now, have 1 made a dis- 
covery or is it known that some insect stings the flower stalk and de- 
posits an egg in it? The little worm is brown and tan, or dirty yellow, 
in rings. 1 do not know whether the parent is a fly or moth. The worm 
eats toward the root and into it taking the centre first, then the larger 
roots, until it gets its own growth. If you try to find it in the stalks 
it moves in either direction and is quite lively. If the stalks are hollow 
the worms are there or in the 
root. They grow larger than 
cut worms, about the same 
color and taper a little toward 
each end. By cutting the flower 
stalks after the best bloom is 
over and destroying them with 
any worms that escape 1 have 
kept my original plants for sev- 
eral years. When the worms are 
in the roots dig them out with 
a piece of wire or if deep it is 
best to take the plant up and 
divide it. The common wild 
Columbine suffers from this 
same pest and my neighbors 
have many of these. It does 
not seem to bother the yellow 
Columbine. — Clare G. Bush, 
Rochester, Minnesota. 
Picking 
Sweet 
Peas 
AS ALTOGETHER AT HOME AS A NATIVE 
Growing wild in many parts of New England Iris pseudacorus is here naturalized 
on the Campus of the State Agricultural College at Amherst, Massachusetts 
Oh, Where 
Can They 
Be Had? 
X/OLJR correspondent E. 
* wishes to know where 
L. Cabot who 
to get the good 
things that can not be found in the usual 
catalogues will doubtless find many sym- 
pathizers. Since the ban upon importation 1 should like to know 
where I can get spring bulbs of Squills, Snowdrops, Chionodoxa, Or- 
nithogalum. I doubt if the new Iris Society will thrive, for apparently 
none of the dealers have anything to offer but the commoner species. 
Where can 1 get English Iris, or Spanish, or Dutch, or Iris Susiana 
or any of the bulbous group? Much, I admit, is advertised, but hardly 
anything out of the ordinary can be supplied. Where can I get Iris 
fulva; Daphne Mezereum; Austrian Copper and Austrian Yellow Roses; 
Ranunculus Ficaria; Arethusa bulbosa; Ixiolirion macrantha; Muscari 
commosus monstrosus (Plume Hyacinth) — and so on? I suppose the 
principal interest in gardening is in the discovery of these things in the 
catalogues. But I wish (Mr. or Mrs. or Miss) E. L. Cabot had men- 
tioned one or two of the things he (or she) wanted. Might not place 
be found for such inquiries in The Open Column? The advertising 
manager may cry "trespass” at this suggestion, but let him consider 
the service to the readers and consequent increased circulation. — 
Julian Hinckley, Long Island. 
T WANT 
I to tell 
the Neigh- 
bors how 
I pick Sweet Peas. Although 
probably 1 am not the only 
person to discover this meth- 
od, yet I feel 1 want to pass 
it on, because the results are 
so satisfactory. First, let me 
state my objections to the com- 
mon methods of’ picking the 
flowers. I n cutting Sweet Peas 
with shears, every lateral bud 
which grows in tlie axils at the 
nodes, and directly at the bast 
of the flower stem, is left to de- 
velop. The result is innumer- 
able lateral branches with in- 
ferior flowers. The top of 
the vine almost stops growing, 
while the flowers produced there have shorter and shorter stems 
with consequent loss of vitality to the whole plant, especially when 
warm weather comes on. In other words the poor roots have 
such a task in providing nourishment for the numerous lateral 
progeny, that they become discouraged and weakened; then aphis 
finish the job. Some advise going over the vines at intervals 
and cutting off these laterals. But who has time to do it? And if one 
should, it is more than likely to be already too late. Why allow 
laterals to grow at all, except to replace a broken or injured top? Then 
some one advised me to pluck the flower stem from its socket, which 
usually brings the tiny lateral bud with it. Yes it did, and sometimes 
the whole plant too, which was often jerked off at the roots. And 
even though the plant were not broken, this method almost invariably 
bruised or skinned the main vine. It was too violent. It was by ac- 
cident that 1 found how to pick the flower stem and lateral bud at one 
operation, and with no risk of injury to the yine. Steady the vine 
with the left hand below the flower. With thumb and finger of right 
hand grasp the flower stem and lateral bud together firmly and as close 
as possible to the main vine. Using this base, and with the fingers as a 
turning pivot, bend the stem sharply to one side, in direction opposite 
the side of the lateral bud, until flower stem and main vine are at least 
at right angles with each other. Usually this is all that is necessary to 
give a clean separation to both bud and stem from their socket, without 
any injury whatever. Should it fail however, just use the same move- 
ment turning them toward the lateral bud side this time. No plucking 
is necessary if the thumb and finger are held just as near the base of the 
