1875 .] 
AMERt(’AN AG-RICUL' V URI ST. 
101 
“Standing Cypress” —{Gilta coronopifolia.) 
One of the most beautiful of all garden plants 
is Gilia coronopifolia , which is found in some 
catalogues as Ipomopsis , a name formerly given 
pect such persons to wait a whole year for 
anything. They want plants that will bloom 
right off and all the time, and after they have 
flowered all summer in the garden, they must 
be taken up and bloom all winter in the house. 
or sometimes the flower-cluster branches, in 
which case the plant does not grow so tall. 
The flowers are about an inch and a half long, 
tubular, with five small lobes, of alight scarlet 
color with the throat and the inside of the lobes 
to it, but it not being distinct from Gilia, it s 
now united with that. From the general re¬ 
semblance of both foliage and flowers to the 
well-known Cypress vine, (Quamoclit vulgaris), 
this has received the garden name of Standing 
Cypress. Though so beautiful, the plant is 
rarely seen in our gardens, for two reasons; 
one of these is, it is a biennial, and must be 
cultivated one whole year in order that its flow¬ 
ers may be enjoyed the next year. It is to be 
regretted that many really desirable plants are 
scarcely ever cultivated because they are bien¬ 
nials. We are generally an impatient people, 
and novices in flower gardening excel all oth¬ 
ers in inability to wait. Some of these dig up 
the seeds the next day after sowing them to see 
why they don’t come up, and we cannot ex- 
The idea that a plant has ways of its own that 
must be consulted, never enters their heads. 
Every considerable garden should have in some 
inconspicuous place a nursery bed in which 
seeds of biennials, and perennials also, can be 
sown, and the young plants cared for during 
one season; in the fall or the next spring the 
plants may be set where they are to bloom. 
Another reason for the infrequency of this Gilia 
is the difficulty of keeping the young plants 
through the winter. It is not the cold that de¬ 
stroys them—indeed, if much protected they 
are quite sure to die, but excessive moisture is 
fatal to them, and it is of little use to try them 
in a garden with a very damp soil. We have 
seen them kept very well when set upon a 
ridge, and if a dry place can be found near a 
fence, they are likely to do well there, as the 
fence not only breaks the force of driving 
storms, but the shade thus afforded prevents 
alternate freezing and thawing. The surest 
way is to keep the plants in pots ; it is found 
that small plants winter better than large ones, 
and if the seeds are sown in August, they will 
be large enough by cold weather to place 
singly in small pots, which may be kept in a 
cool greenhouse or even in a frame. The plant 
usually grows about 3 feet high, but under 
favorable conditions it is 4 or 5 feet with 
finely divided, exceedingly delicate and hand¬ 
some foliage. The flowers are borne in a long 
and narrow panicle at the upper part of the stem, 
speckled with white or yellow. Some two or 
three years ago we mentioned the receipt of 
some specimens of the flowers of this Gilia, 
from Mr. P. J. Berckmans, Augusta, Ga., (who 
obtained them from a friend in Florida), which 
measured 2 and 3 inches across. Mr. B. pro¬ 
cured some seeds of the plant producing these 
monstrous flowers, and sent us a portion of the 
seedlings. None of the plants produced unu¬ 
sually large flowers, but they had a greater 
tendency than usual to branch; on this account 
BASSET APPLE. 
our engraving, made from one of these, shows 
a more branching habit than common. Aside 
from the brilliancy of its flowers and the at¬ 
tractive character of its foliage, the plant has 
the great merit of keeping in bloom for a long 
time. It is found from South Carolina to 
