1880 .] 
AMERICAN AO RIG fJL' V URIST. 
21 
The Two-Colored Bush-Clover. 
The great value of hardy late blooming plants in 
our climate has rarely been so strikingly manifested 
as it was last autumn. Two or three sharp frosts 
took away the very tender things, after which the 
hardy late bloomers had it all their own way for 
some weeks. The Two-colored Bush-Clover which 
blooming plants. This Lespedeza is given in the 
European journals and horticultural works as a 
shrub; it is shrub-like in habit, but not in dura¬ 
tion. The stems, though quite strong and woody, 
die down nearly or quite to the ground at the end 
of the season, new ones appearing the next spring, 
and growing rapidly. It is really a herbaceous 
perennial rather than a shrub, and as would be 
especially suited to our summers, are the Tuberous- 
Rooted Begonias, especially the hybrids. The 
genus Begonia is a very large one, and its numerous 
species, natives. mostly of South America and 
tropical Asia, present such a diversity, that there 
are several distinct groups. One section, of which 
Begonia Bex is an example, has very short stems and 
insignificant, flowers, but most beautiful leaves, and 
the two-colored ^puSH-CLOVER (Lespedeza bicolor). 
TUBEROUS-ROOTED BEGONIAS. 
has been for some years a favorite with us, showed 
how well it deserved our partiality by holding out 
to the very last, and bloomed until checked by ex¬ 
haustion rather than stopped by the cold. The 
title given above is a translation of its botanical 
name Lespedeza bicolor. The genus Lespedeza , so 
named in honor of Lespedez, one of the Spanish 
governors of Florida, is one of the large Pea Fami¬ 
ly (Leffttmimsee); its neat three-parted leaves and 
very small flowers (though not in close heads) are 
enough like those of clover to warrant the com¬ 
mon name of Bush-Clover. There are several spe¬ 
cies found in most parts of this country, but as 
none are very showy they rarely attract the atten¬ 
tion of any but botanists. The species in question, 
L. bicolor, comes from the region of the Amoor 
river in Northern Asia. It forms a much branching 
half shrubby plant from three to five feet high; its 
branches being long and slender, droop at their ex¬ 
tremities, giving the mass a most graceful appear¬ 
ance; the stems and foliage are of a very pale green, 
being covered, at least when young, with light 
silky hairs. The flowers, shown of the real size in 
the engraving, are in sufficient numbers to com¬ 
pensate for their small size, as they quite clothe the 
branches. In color they are of a delicate tint of 
rose, which may he described as violet cose. The 
general effect of the plant, the modest flowers com¬ 
bined with, rather than contrasted with, the subdued 
color of the leaves, is most pleasing. Not the least 
of its good qualities is its long endurance; beginning 
in August, it remains in flower until the time of 
killing frosts, and is a capital addition to our late- 
inferred from its far northern origin, is perfect¬ 
ly hardy. It is not particular about soil, and 
is easily multiplied by cuttings. We received 
this plant as Desmodium pmduliflorum, and there 
seems to be much confusion between the two, 
Desmodium and Lespedeza, in European collections. 
The Tuberous-Rooted Begonias. 
While planting in bedding designs, or as the 
French call it, “Mosaic planting,” with Coleuses 
and other plants with colored foliage has been suc¬ 
cessfully done in this country, the attempts to pro¬ 
duce similar effects with flowers have rarely been 
satisfactory. This general failure is due to follow¬ 
ing English examples. Excellent designs, with the 
plants to be used in carrying them out, have been 
given in the English journals,' but au attempt to 
reproduce these with the same materials, in this 
country, have been mostly miserable failures. The 
difference in the climate of the two countries will 
account for this. Plants that in the moist climate 
of England will bloom all summer, with us have a 
very short flowering season and are done with. For 
garden decoration of this kind, the working out of 
designs with flowers, we must find a very different 
set of plants from those used abroad. While our 
hot summers make most of the plants used for this 
work in England, unavailable with us, we, on the 
other hand, can employ those which the English 
gardener would not think of putting in the open 
ground. Among the plants with brilliant flowers, 
are solely cultivated for the ornamental character 
of their foliage. Another set, represented by the 
beautiful B. hybrida multiflora, are profuse bloom¬ 
ers and are among the most popular winter flower¬ 
ing plants. Not many years ago there were intro¬ 
duced several species different from others in habit, 
in producing a large tuber at the base of the stem ; 
these, their flowering season being over, stopped 
growth, dying down to the tuber, which, after a sea¬ 
son of rest, was started anew. B. Boliviensis, B. 
Vietchi, and B. Frochdi , and others, are South 
American species of this group. Soon after the 
Tuberous-Rooted species came into cultivation, it 
was found that they hybridized with the greatest 
ease, and that the resulting hybrids often excelled 
the original species in the size and brilliant coloring 
of their flowers ; they are now among the most 
popular plants abroad, and are rapidly coming into 
favor as they are better known in this country. 
The plants have generally a good habit, grow from 
one to two feet high, and produce the greatest pro¬ 
fusion of flowers, differing widely in size and shape, 
and presenting a wide range of colors, which are 
clear and well defined, and often . remarkably 
brilliant. The engraving, made up of a collection 
from a number of these new hybrids, shows all that 
a wood-cut can give, the shape and relative size of 
the flowers, and whether they are dark or light; 
the brilliancy in some, and the delicate tinting in 
others, we can not give; they are given here at 
about half their real size, and are of every shade 
from pure white through the most, delicate rose and 
pink to the deepest shades of crimson and scarlet. 
