GARDEN FLOWERS. 
(Read before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in Boston, February 14, 1885.) 
W ITH the awakening of spring comes the first flow¬ 
ers, alike pale and delicate, in native and culti¬ 
vated species. Under the snow they have been waiting, 
and they seem to shrink from the light. As the season 
advances, brighter colors appear. Crocuses, Scillas, Hya¬ 
cinths, Crown Imperials, Tulips, Narcissi, and many 
other flowering bulbs make our gardens gay. These 
have all been planted out in the autumn and need not 
enter into this discussion. Nevertheless, they are an im¬ 
portant feature in the garden, which must necessarily be 
almost without flowers through the spring months, unless 
we have spring bulbs. None that I have mentioned need 
be renewed or transplanted every year, except Hyacinths, 
which are the best the first year and gradually deteriorate. 
In the spring it is more pertinent to take up the subject 
of summer flowers, and for this reason I shall confine 
myself to flowers that come after spring bulbs have done 
blooming. Among the many flowers worthy of cultiva- 
ticn, it is difficult to select a few. I hope you will not 
think, because I speak of particular kinds, that I consider 
them the most worthy of cultivation, but rather for the 
reason that I have grown them and they are familiar to 
me. There was a time, and not very long ago, when we 
could have talked up the subject of familiar garden 
flowers, and disposed of it in half the time we can now. 
Times have changed and flowers have multiplied in num¬ 
ber and species until it would take half a dozen papers 
like this to exhaust the subject or even treat it fairly. 
Not only have we more known species, but each is divided 
into almost countless varieties, so it is simply impossible 
to speak of more than a small number of our cultivated 
flowers in the short time allotted to this subject to-day. 
Therefore, I will talk of some flowers that grow in my 
garden. 
Roses have been so ably and exhaustively treated and 
discussed by this society that little remains to be said of 
them. For every variety of years ago, there are hundreds 
now. In the old time no one thought of improving the 
Rose. Why should they? Had it no( been sung and 
praised from time immemorial ? and were not the same 
Roses good enough for them ? I suppose it did not 
enter into the minds of our forefathers that there could 
be any improvement. The Damask was the Rose among 
Roses. Centifolia or Cabbage, as it is commonly called, 
the old White Rose, and some other sorts were grown in 
all old gardens. Well do I remember the bushes in our 
home garden laden with their wealth of fragrant blos¬ 
soms and the low red Roses which were my beau ideal 
in childhood. These old Roses are like voices of the 
past to aged people. Except as souvenirs, they have 
been superseded by an entirely new class. 
Take the Lily. From a very few varieties, what an out¬ 
growth there is. We have them from many countries. 
There are seedlings, hybrids and sports, and collectors 
are on the lookout for new sorts every year. The Lilies 
to which “ Solomon in all his glory ” was not to be com¬ 
pared were probably Amaryllis lutea, a small yellow 
Lily, which blooms abundantly in Palestine. What 
would have been said, if the Lilies in question had been 
auratum ? 
The Gladiolus not many years ago was confined to a 
very small number of varieties, and now their name is 
legion. Not only is there increase in quantity, but also 
in quality. The flower must not only be different, but 
superior or the growers discard it. Careful hybridization 
has brought and is bringing about a great many changes. 
In no flower is there greater change than in the Dahlia , 
which was introduced into Spain from Mexico, by seed, 
the latter part of the seventeenth century. The seed 
produced three distinct varieties, one semi-double and 
the other two single. These seedlings were named 
Dahlias after a Swedish botanist named Dahl. They 
were distributed throughout Europe, and were the only 
varieties grown for some years. After a time some one 
experimented with seed and finally succeeded in pro¬ 
ducing double flowers, when the single were discarded 
as worthless. Later it was introduced into this country 
and was considered the flower. Then it went out of 
fashion—for there is fashion in flowers as well as in every¬ 
thing else—but within a few years the Dahlia has again 
come into notice. We have it in a great variety of col¬ 
ors, double and single, large and small. I like the sin¬ 
gle sorts best for cut-flowers, and either the single or 
double will flower abundantly the first year from seed, 
provided the seed is sown early in the spring and the 
plants put out as soon as possible, that is, as soon as 
there is no danger of frosts. After the first year there 
is no difficulty in propagating by tubers. 
Helianthus multiflorus fl. pi., the Perennial Sun¬ 
flower, is not as extensively cultivated as it should be. I 
find quite old people know it better than younger ones. 
For it had been lost to cultivators until some one found 
it, probably, in some old garden. I cannot see how any 
one could let it go who once possessed it. It is herba¬ 
ceous and perfectly hardy, commencing to bloom in mid¬ 
summer and blooming until severe frosts. It is a beau¬ 
tiful plant, growing from four to six feet in height, pro¬ 
ducing abundantly perfectly double, pure yellow flowers, 
about three and a half inches in diameter, and is the 
most showy of all flowers, either for cutting or for garden 
decoration. 
There are many hardy plants and shrubs worthy of 
cultivation which require no special care, and there is a 
growing tendency toward hardy flowers, especially her¬ 
baceous and bulbous sorts. What is more beautiful in 
late summer and autumn than Anemone jap 07 iica ? The 
white variety Honorine Jobert is the finest of them. 
Often it grows four feet in height. Large bunches of 
dark-green leaves are surmounted by numerous pure 
white single flowers resembling Helleborus Niger (Christ- 
