312 
PARK AND CE/AETERY. 
had been planted by some notable personage. 
As the residence of the good Queen of England 
the place is always of interest, aside from the many 
objects of horticultural interest it contains. This, 
and the company of some dear English friends, 
made my visit one of the most enjoyable of many 
others I had in England last summer. 
Joseph Meehan. 
Flowers at the nissouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis. 
It would not have surprised me to find the Gar- 
den as bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard instead 
of quite trim and nearly as flowery as ever, for 
there has been a fearful and wonderful combination 
of weather this year. It has been, in the main, fa- 
vorable to vegetation (although too rainy) but St. 
Louis has suffered by reason of unprecedented lo- 
cal conditions. 
Owing to the early opening of the season work 
was well advanced when the heavy rains of early 
May damaged spring bedding and necessitated 
much replanting. Then, on May 21, the severest 
hail storm ever experienced at the Garden wrecked 
glass to the extent of 7000 panes— some of it heavy 
green cathedral glass and made sad havoc in the 
summer bedding, then about finished. 
The replanting was being pushed rapidly for- 
ward when, six days later, the memorable tornado 
that caused such wholesale and incalculable havoc 
in St. Louis arrived, to undo the entire work of the 
season, as well as damage to trees and shrubs that 
neither time nor money can make good. 
The severest loss is among trees, 450 of large or 
fair size going down before the fury of the awful 
gale that accompanied and followed the tornado 
proper, which, revolving at terrific speed, dropped 
to the earth at a point nearer the center of the city 
where it began its ravenous meal by swallowing 
beautiful Lafayette Park whole. 
In addition to this great calamity there have 
been heavy rain storms throughout the summer, and 
the last part of July and early part of August have 
been frightfully hot, so that, altogether, bedding 
plants have had rather a hard time even since being 
allowed to take root at all. 
Despite all this the Garden looks attractive and 
fairly well furnished with flowers. 
Eight or ten tree-shaped Crape Myrtles about 
four feet high planted out in an open group were 
lovely in their cloud of rosy creped blossoms, and so 
Japanesque in effect that it seemed natural to find 
their odor the same as that of the Japanese Lilium 
speciosum although fainter as became their fragile 
type. The Crape Myrtle is tender here and is 
wintered indoors. 
Hibiscus Chinensis, also tender, made an 
excellent show planted out near the Palm House as 
well as in other locations. 
Long beds of roses in three colors and varieties 
only, viz., Agrippina or Cramoisi superieur, bright 
red; Hermosa, pink; and Cels, an old fashioned 
creamy white rose. These are all ever blooming 
and are alike in flower and habit. They bloom 
continuously and abundantly and are relied on to fur- 
nish the bulk of summer roses. 
A bed of Hybrid Remontant roses showed 
Souv. de la Malmaison in good flower, better than 
any other variety. Lantanas were especially good; 
L. caviara, deep scarlet, L. nivea, white, and a pink 
variety with some yellow florets were all in good 
flower. The last I am unable to give its specific 
name through my inability to locate the label that 
I do not doubt was there. These three Lantanas 
together with L. Californica withjclear, soft yellow 
flowers would be fine massed together if care was 
taken to divide the pink from the scarlet by plenty 
of the white, L. nivea. 
There was a bed of showy milkweed, Ascelpias 
curabserica. It is taller than any I have heretofore 
seen in cultivation, not less than three feet, and has 
handsome flowers combining dark scarlet and flame 
color or orange scarlet. Another unusual looking 
bed was filled with two varieties of Polygonum. 
In the centre of a round bed were three or four 
plants not less than four feet high of the silvery 
leaved P. lanigerinn, its flowers long, drooping, 
finger-like, white racemes, and these were sur- 
rounded by a circle of the gieen-leaved P. orientale 
with rosy fingers. Other beds noted were filled 
respectively with Salvia splendens, variegated 
hardy sage, thelow spreading, blue flowered Cerat- 
tostigma plnmbagmoides\ Ageratum, var. Cope’s 
pet. Verbenas, Torenia Fourneri, carpets of Meseni- 
bi'anthemimt cordifolinni, Jerusalem cherries in 
fruit, Nierenibergia with lavender petunia- 
like flowers; Stevia freviarista variegata, Justicia 
velascina, its odd flowers, shaped something like 
those of the Balms, and of a clear flesh pink ; 
double Portulacca, Gaillardia aristata ; carpets of 
Lobelia erinus, Pertstrophe angustifolia and of 
Thunbergia in plain yellow and the same with a 
chocolate eye ; and, the most effective and refresh- 
ing beds in the garden, luxuriant masses of rose 
and of white Vincas planted in oblong beds three or 
four feet wide, the two varieties massed half and 
half lengthwise in the beds. Apparently rainy 
weather suits Vincas, for I’ve never seen such vigor- 
ous growth nor large flowers before, nor such an 
abundance of bloom, among Vincas. A new and 
helpful feature of the Garden that should appeal to 
amateurs is a section labeled “All of the plants in 
this section are strictly hardy in St. Louis,” and 
