The Garden Magazine, February, 1921 
Foxgloves (Digitalis), rose, white, yellow, and a few spotted 
ones raise peaked heads above the Canterbury Bells (Cam- 
panula), of white, purple, and rose. Passers-by frequently 
stop to look in at this floral city of spires and steeples! 
Along each side of the open drive-way is a row of venerable, 
sun-loving Yuccas, when in full bloom beautifully reminiscent 
of Longfellow’s: 
“The roads should blossom, the roads should bloom, 
So fair a bride shall leave her home! 
Should blossom and bloom with garlands gay, 
So fair a bride shall pass to-day!” 
The stepping-stone walk offers perhaps the most fascinating 
stroll in all the garden. Here fragrant, old-time Madonna 
Lilies (Lilium candidum), reaching more than waist high, pour 
out their incense above the flanking rows of Lupins, spired pink, 
blue, and white. 1 always wish the Lupins would wait just a 
few weeks so as to be at their height when the Lilies bloom. 
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Character and distinction are lent to a border of mixed 
Perennials by dozens of little turrets of white, fluffy Snake-roots 
(Cimicifuga), some of which bloom in July and August, and some 
late in September. 
An Artemisia lactiflora towers above the Rynstrom Phlox; 
its long, sensitive spires droop at the least lack of water, but 
speedily revive when they get a good drink. Then there is a 
group of Monkshoods, which will accommodatingly endure a 
deal of shade; their deep, violet-blue spires grow in great pro- 
fusion three feet or so high, and have a charming grace. Liatris 
with its tall, rosy-purple minarets, and the little Astilbe, humble 
in growth and tiny of spire, each have their well-merited nook 
in my garden. There are other plants, too, quite a number of 
them, interestingly turreted, which furnish welcome accent 
here and there; but if your choice be restricted to a few, let me 
urge the inclusion of, at least, Eremurus, Madonna Lilies, and 
Delphiniums. 
THE GAY-FEATHER OF THE PRAIRIE STATES 
Liatris pycnostachia, commonly known as Gay-feather or Blazing-star, though native to the West, will with 
but little coaxing, flourish anywhere. For best effect it should be planted in mass, preferably alone. From 
two to five feet high, with heavy spikes of purple and rose-red, this curious prairie plant interjects a rich, 
rather strong color note which makes advisable a certain amount of caution in choosing its garden neighbors 
