Cinerarias 
Excursions 
when dark purple perennials are much needed in the border. It 
attains the height of five to six feet after it gets well established. 
Aconitum Autumnale is the old-fashioned September blooming 
kind. It is very like Napellus and seldom more than three feet high. 
It has also a greenish white variety which is rather poor. 
Aconitum Fischeri is a large-flowered, semi-dwarf variety. It 
comes late in September. Its pale greyish-blue blossoms are larger 
than any others. It is fine planted with Gladiolus America. Aconitum 
Wilsoni is the latest variety to bloom. It was brought from China by 
Professor Wilson and is a great favorite in the gardens that are not 
threatened by early frosts. It is Ksted as the only Aconite that is 
permissable in the Blue Border as all the others have a decided tinge 
of warm purple. It often reaches six feet. 
All Aconites prefer a semi- shaded position although they grow 
well in the open border if they have plenty of moisture. They are 
listed as shade lovers and therefore are often given the worst position 
in the garden overhung by shrubs or starved by tree roots, but when 
given proper situation they are simply stunning. 
Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to attend the 
Annual Meeting in June will see Aconites in perfection in the delect- 
able Httle garden at "Villa Latomia." 
The fact that Aconite roots are deadly poison to eat has kept 
many people from using this valuable plant. One never eats one's 
Holly-hock roots which look exactly like Horse-radish, nor chews 
DigitaUs stalks, nor munches poppy seed, all of which would make one 
deathly sick; therefore, why would even a child be hkely to make a 
meal of these queer Httle roundish roots? I ask you ! 
The great admiration expressed for the exquisite colors of the 
hybrid Star Cinerarias at the New York Flower Show, has brought 
us a number of queries about the possibility of using these ideal plants 
in our Spring borders. We have taken up the question with various 
growers and are sorry to have to report that it is not possible to use 
them out-of-doors in this chmate even with the help of the green- 
house. I have seen them growing luxuriantly out under the Live Oak 
trees in a garden in Santa Barbara where they seeded themselves 
year after year but their silvery-blue-grey clouds are not for us except 
as greenhouse pets. Sutton makes a specialty of the seed of these 
Star Cinerarias in separate colors thus protecting the unwary pur- 
chaser from those screaming magentas and violent ultramarines which 
have kept us from realizing what this gem of winter flowers can be. 
For those who are near New York City in these spring months we 
suggest an excursion to the Bronx Botanical Garden in April, when the 
spring bulbs planted by Scheepers are at their height and again when 
the Weeping Cherries are in bloom (about the middle of May). 
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